History 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

History 3 - Essay Example Despite enjoying all these earthly pleasures, the merchants and samurai who enjoyed the floating world felt that their lives were meaningless. The floating world came about due to the emphasis on formal education, literature and philosophy. The participants of the floating world culture included, sumo wrestlers, theater actors, prostitutes, geisha the samurai and the wealthy merchants. The more people were more knowledgeable after going through formal education, their social lives mainly revolved around the floating world. Tokugawa Leyasu assumed power after he was able to defeat the Hideyori (the son of Hideyoshi) loyalist and some of his other western rivals in the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 (Bentley & Ziegler 2011). This is after Hideyoshi had died in the year 1598. In the year 1603 Tokugawa Leyasu was appointed shogun by the then emperor. In the year 1615 Tokugawa Leyasu captured the Osaka castle. By capturing the Osaka castle this meant that he had no more rivals. Immediately after assuming power in 1600, Tokugawa Leyasu distributed gained land to the daimyo. Leyasu put in place a law that required the daimyo to spend every second year in Edo. Through these strategies the shoguns were able to control the daimyo as this made sure that daimyo were not financially stable. Tokugawa Leyasu promoted foreign trade with the English and the Dutch. However, Leyasu forbade the locals from travelling and abroad. This isolated japan from the rest of the world. During this time domestic trade and agriculture greatly improved. Another factor that led to the economic and population growth under the shoguns period was peace. Tokugawa was able to take control of warring states. Political stability also led to economic and population growth. The Qing dynasty ruled the Chinese empire from 1964 to 1912 (Bentley & Ziegler 2011). The Qing dynasty rose into power after the fall of the Ming dynasty. With the help of General Wu Sangui

Gaps in academic achievement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gaps in academic achievement - Research Paper Example A critical investigation of existing literature reveals that the problem of educational gap presents numerous challenges to policy-makers. Many studies have examined the achievement gap between black and white students, the contributing factors and the underlying implications. The growing consensus that the achievement gap between black and white students persists even after controlling for various observable characteristics, has been contested.   In a survey that used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K), the latest data administered by the Education Department, Fryer and Levitt demonstrated that the achievement gap between black and white students can be eliminated by controlling for observable characteristics of the environment and school (Fryer and Levitt, 2004). The researchers asserted that the gap between black and white students widens once students enter school (Fryer and Levitt, 2004). The author’s main argument is that black studentà ¢â‚¬â„¢s underachievement is due to attending lower quality schools. The study is robust and compares results obtained in previous randomized studies with nonrandom sample frames. In a study that examined the extent to which family wealth affected test scores among young black and white students, Conley and Yeung (2008) found little evidence that the achievement gap between black and white students could be explained by wealth disparity. The researchers used data from PSID, a longitudinal study using a sample size of 5,000 participants (Conley and Yeung, 2008).