Are Your Ears Open Essays (1227 words) - Audiology, Cognition

Are Your Ears Open Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when youd have preferred to talk. (Deep and Sussman 76) Upon studying listening within another course, the vast and somewhat unclear subject began to become clearer. The act of listening entails in-depth processes that elude a majority of peoples knowledge. The act of listening involves four main parts: hearing, attention, understanding and remembering. Listening entails a vast amount of information that a majority of people does not know or understand. The common view on listening often does not even involve true listening. People often mistake hearing for listening. Just because you heard something does not necessarily mean that you were listening. While others do not even realize that listening is one step of a four-part process. While two people are involved in communication, the one receiving the message while listening formulates the next phase within their head. They miss a large percentage of what the person involved in speaking is saying (Tubbs and Moss 141). The reasons [for ineffective listening] are so obvious that they are sometimes overlooked. First, listening is mistakenly equated with hearing and since most of us can hear, no academic priority is given to this subject in college. Second, we perceive power in speech. We put a value on those who have the gift of gab. How often have you heard the compliment, He/she can talk to anyone? Additionally, we equate speaking with controlling both the conversation and the situat ion. The third and last reason we dont listen, is that we are in an ear of information overload. We are bombarded with the relevant and the irrelevant and it is easy to confuse them. Often it is all just so much noise (Koehler 543-544). The false perception of listening embodies the common view that people involved in communication often have. The first element in the listening process is hearing, which is the automatic physiological process of receiving aural stimuli. Sound waves are received by the ear and stimulate neurological impulses to the brain. Next we place these sounds in a meaningful order or sequence so that they may be recognized as words. Third, we recognize words in a pattern that constituted a language, which then helps to convey the message from the communicator to us (Brooks 82). Another major factor in peoples difficulty to maintain effective listening is the speakers rate. According to a study done by Blain Goss, the average speakers rate is between 100 and 150 words per minute (Goss 91). Our brain often utilizes this free time to daydream and not truly focus on the issue at hand. Unfortunately, when you stop talking, you sometimes start arguing mentally as another way maintains your viewpoint. Arguing mentally is like talking to yourself very, very quietly, just loud enough to keep you from listening to someone else. The second step the in enhancing verbal communication is to stop arguing mentally and seriously consider whats going on as it is happening moment by moment. Do not reflect, for thats old news. Do not start imagining, for thats somewhere that doesnt exist yet. Understand whats going on now-right now (Adler 16)! Attention, the next element within the listening process deals largely with the amount of concentration on a speakers words. Humans utilize selective attention during their everyday communication. Selective attention occurs when we attend to a certain amount of stimuli while filtering out others (Tubbs and Moss 143). A widely recognized study, called the cocktail party problem (Bostrom 11) deals directly with the use of selective attention during a party. The test uses a party scene where numerous conversations occur simultaneously. The researchers study how the subject attends to one conversation at a time, while tuning out all others. Another issue in determining the attention level is threshold. A threshold is the minimum level of stimulus intensity that enables us to pay attention (Moray 18). Attention thresholds vary depending on several key factors, including our motivational sate and arousal level. Arousal, or the level of alertness, plays a key role in a listener aptitude for paying close attention. Our specific state of arousal determines our threshold for paying close attention to stimuli. The third facet of the listening process is understanding. Understanding

Child labor Essays - Childrens Rights, Childhood, Human Trafficking

Child labor Essays - Childrens Rights, Childhood, Human Trafficking Child labor is a worldwide issue but particularly in developing countries. I have chosen this topic due to my interest on childrens rights. I have found it very cruel to force little children to work while childhood is a critical time for healthy human development. What is child labor? Child labour is defined as employment of children in an early age 5-17, under hazardous conditions. Not all works are defined as child labor and only it can be called Child labor when the conditions under which it is performed and the time that it takes is not suitable for child depending on their age or ability. Statistics have shown that currently Eritrea, Somalia are the top the latest list for countries where child labour is most prevalent. Throughout the research that UNICEF has done there is an estimation of 150 million children aged 5-14 in developing countries were involved in child labour in 2011. Of these children, the international labour organisation (ILO) estimates that 60% work in agriculture. Key point one: There are many forms of child labour worldwide and the main reason for its occurrence is poverty. Children are to pay off debts incurred by parents and grandparents or in many instances children are orphans and have no place to go. Therefore nowadays there are many children who are employed by child traffickers in different areas such as agricultural labor, mining, manufacturing, domestic service, types of construction, scavenging and begging on the streets. Most child laborers do not receive protection and when they get ill or injured not only their regular wage but also their cost of treatment is not received. In fact child traffickers violate childrens right by employing them with unfair wages and in some cases just providing them food. In this case childrens lack of knowledge let child traffickers to continue their crime. Key point two: impacts The impacts of Child labor is vast. As we all know the fact that all of our development such as physical, cognitive (thought/learning) and behavioral happens during our childhood therefore it is a critical time for us. In this age children need should be taken into consideration more than any other time in order for them to have a healthy and safe development. Unfortunately Child Laborers miss out on this opportunity. Many of these children work under hazardous conditions and these hazards and risks affects adults and for sure more strongly children. These risks cause last-longing injuries and lack of physical development essentially on brain development while working in a place surrounding with poisonous gases like manufactories. These children may also suffer from mental pain from working and living in an environment where they are harassed or experience violence and abuse. In addition, child labor affect childs future as their chance of education is denied and later on as adults t hey have little chance of obtaining a decent job and escaping the cycle of poverty. United nation has said that "All of the worst forms of child labor must be eradicated. Child labor not only violates human rights but also the natural foundation of a serious threat to the future social and economic development. Trade, competition and economic efficiency should not be an excuse for the violence. "(The declaration of employment and decent work / Board of Directors of the United Nations. Geneva 2007) I strongly agree with this quote. I believe that communities across the world should take this issue into earnest consideration so that the steps taken towards child labour would bring an end to this issue which has been recognised as a social problem. I feel the best way to abolish child labour is to abolish poverty as long as it is the main cause of this issue. The other way to alleviate child labour is to have stronger government intervention. Bibliography: Child Labor and Child Abuse in Developing Countries 2011, Unite For Sight, 1 February, accessed 23 June 2015, uniteforsight.org/gender-power/module4>. Erin, S 2010, Why does child labour happen?, Globalization and Child Labour, 1 November, accessed 25 June 2015, http://globalizationandchildlabour.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/why-does-child-labour-happen_30.html>.