Freedom Writers Movie Review

Introduction â€Å"Freedom writers† is a Christian movie that presents strong moral teachings to young people. The movie portrays a strong and civilized view of the world; it encourages development and use of positive moral values by people in making the world a better place. The main values encouraged in the movie include doing right, being kind, polite, respecting other people, seeking the truth and applying it in life. Precisely, its main theme is centered on promoting good moral values.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Freedom Writers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Brief synopsis of the plot The movie focuses on a young teacher (Hillary Swank) who teaches in a high school made up of students from different racial backgrounds (IMDb 2012). She promotes cohesion and peaceful existence among students by teaching them about the genocide against the Jews that took place during World War II (IMDb 2012). She successfully transforms the rogue students into good people by instilling good moral values in them. In addition, she encourages them to do the right thing all the time, be kind to others and use the moral values learnt in class to improve their lives. Synopsis of the moral issue Doing right all the time is the main moral issue highlighted in the movie. Doing the right thing presupposes being polite, kind, respectful, seeking the truth and using it to transform lives. The students, who come from different racial backgrounds, form ethnic gangs that they use to perpetuate violence, racism and hatred among themselves. The students carry their street gang activities and racism sentiments into class, giving the teacher a rough time in dealing with them. However, she teaches them of the importance of doing the right thing always. Gradually, the students change and become better people with positive and strong moral values. According to the natural law theory, good moral behavior is part o f human nature which is realized by observing the nature of humanity (Finnis 53). The students were able to critically evaluate the evils of racism and violence in the society, and thus change. Learning about the Jews holocaust, they realize the dangers of racism and violence motivating them to change their morals. According to Kantianism, an act is more important than the outcome, thus everyone should be more concerned with the moral value of actions (Ward 47).Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Doing right is more important than the outcome of doing right. It is expected that practicing good moral values generates positive outcomes. Therefore, it is more important to be kind, polite and respectful because by exercising these moral values, good outcomes are guaranteed. Utilitarianism teaches that the outcome of an action determines its moral value as evident from the students chan ged behavior. The social contract theory holds that individuals willingly give up a portion of their freedom in exchange for protection of their rights (Rousseau and Cole 72). The students in the movie give up a portion of their freedom that allows them to perpetuate violence, racism and other evil deeds. The best theory to operate under the given moral issue in the movie would be the natural law theory. The students would learn best by observing the actions and the consequences of humanity in the society they live. For example, by learning the consequences of racism and gang violence, the students would be highly motivated to change their behavior for their good and the good of the society. If presented with the same moral issue, most students would fight back and thus perpetuate violence and racism. According to utilitarianism, the moral value of an action is determined by its outcome. Most students would argue that by fighting back, they protect themselves and discourage other st udents from bullying them into silence and submission. Conclusion The movie ‘freedom writers’ encourages people to develop and use positive values to make the world a better place. The main values encouraged in the movie include doing right, being kind, polite, respecting other people, seeking truth and applying it in life. Precisely, its theme is centered on promoting good moral values. It can be viewed from different philosophical perspectives based on the moral issue presented in the movie. Works Cited Finnis, John. Natural Law and Natural Rights. London: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. IMDb: Freedom Writers. n.d. Web. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463998/plotsummary.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Freedom Writers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Rousseau, Jean and Cole, G. The Social Contract. New York: Cosimo Inc, 2008. Print. Ward, Ian. Kantianism, Postmodernism, and Critical Legal Thou ght. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997. Print. This essay on Freedom Writers was written and submitted by user Jaidyn Y. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

A Beginners Guide to Using Nominalizations in Business Writing

A Beginner's Guide to Using Nominalizations in Business Writing As businesses become more international, so must our writing. Most of the time, good business writing skills transfer very well to global audiences, but there is some confusing vocabulary that global business writers should try to avoid. Avoiding nominalizations Nominalizations are nouns that refer to a process. As a quick reminder, a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often found as the subject of the sentence: Efficiency is important. But they can also be found as: the object of a verb: This is my or the object of a preposition: Let’s go in the office. Nominalization itself is an example of a nominalization, but more common examples are words like evaporation, condensation, mechanization, and optimization. As you have probably noticed, they often end in –ation/-tion/-ition. These are the types of words often used in science or in highly specialized fields, and they make it easier for us to talk about our fields of expertise. However, they are often difficult to understand for native speakers outside of that field, never mind non-native speakers! So how can we avoid them? Since nominalizations are nouns that refer to a process, there is always a verb hidden inside each one. For example: evaporation – evaporate condensation – condense mechanization – mechanize optimization – optimize hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(41482, '39de76fa-b005-4d0a-9136-a9a423513681', {}); The easiest way to avoid using nominalizations is to rewrite the sentence using the verb of the same meaning. Here is an example: Heating water to the boiling point causes evaporation. vs. Heating water to the boiling point will cause it to evaporate. Even though the second sentence is longer, the use of â€Å"to evaporate† is much clearer for non-native and native speakers alike because the nominalization is less commonly used overall, and â€Å"to† usually alerts readers to a verb. Let’s look at another example, this time with a more involved rewrite: Optimization of our work force is a key goal of our company. vs. Our company wants to optimize our work force. In the first sentence, the actual agent (actor) is unclear – optimization is the subject of the sentence, but optimization doesn’t actually do anything. Our company will be doing the actual action. The revision in the second sentence is much clearer for two reasons: (1) the subject, our company, is the actual agent, and (2) the use of the verb, to optimize, is much easier to identify. As you can see, using nominalizations can lead to more complex writing and can be difficult to understand if the reader is outside the area of expertise. Using the verb hidden inside each nominalization will force you to write more clearly and be more direct. (In case you wondering what the verb hidden in nominalization is, it’s â€Å"nominalize† which means â€Å"to make into a noun.† Unfortunately, even this isn’t very clear, either!) Writing for a global audience is not so different from good business writing. Short, clear, direct sentences help your reader to respond in a timely manner. If you are looking to improve your writing, see our full list of business writing tips.Instructional Solutions offersNon-Native Business Writing WritingClassesfor participants for whom English is not a first language that willhelp youwrite better at work.