Enhancing Humans through Science Is Beneficial Essays - Bioethics

Enhancing Humans through Science Is Beneficial Are designer babies the scientific answer to eliminating crucial diseasesthat are transmitted through genes or is it the Eugenics of the future? Since mankind now has the option to alter genes, sex, physical appearance and intellect, are we playing God? And what families and social class would be able to afford this type of procedure? What constitutes good health is arguable.Scientists have various theories when it comes to genetic engineering for the cure of certain diseases. Inseveral countries in Europe, the practice of Eugenics is performed on parents who are susceptible to giving birth to Down Syndrome children. These tests are mandatory, and coercion is used on the parents to abort the fetus that has tested positive for Down Syndrome disease. The reasoning behind the coercion practiceis that it is cost efficient forthe government to eliminate these births for health insurance purposes and to maintain the mass population intelligence level. There are two modern examples of this. In the United States, the practice of Planned Parenthood was considered Eugenics and in Germany, Hitler practices of genocide were forms of Eugenics. Since genetic engineering is not a natural act, it is considered Eugenics. For so many years, there were families who were unable to conceive children naturally; therefore, their alternative choices were to seek help from scientific labs that provide the technology to impregnate women. One of the ways is genetic engineering combined with IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). As scientists began focusing on genetic engineering, the bar was pushed to where parents are able to choose the sex of their baby. Scientists are experimenting with genes which will give parents a choice of choosingevery trait to make a perfect baby/child. The upside to this act is the chosen gene will not disease free. The downside is genetic engineering is altering the natural way of conception and parenting of children. I find parents who use genetic engineering to designing their babies unethical. The fetus which receives these choice genes, have their future carved out for them by their parents. There are so many things that may go wrong with a designer baby. Who is to say the genes chosen, would produce the intended designer baby? The parents may get a child, a healthy baby, that is, disease free, but not of their choosing, such as eye and hair color or intellect. Lets say there is a possibility these babies will grow up and meet their parents initial potential, but find themselves superior to other children who do not perform academically as well as them. This can be the start of segregation among social classes.It could bring to life some science fiction literature as shown in novels like, Brave New World and The Hunger Games. When parents start to manipulate what is natural, they contribute to Darwins idea of perfection, an unblemished society. Since parenting does not come with instructions, each stage of the of the newborns development is a trial and error. The definition of being a parent is nurturing and raising your baby to become a healthy and productive individual. (Farlex) In reality the only families that can afford to indulge in these scientific practices will be wealthy individuals. Scientific technology is already available for those who want to alter some part of their bodies in which they are dissatisfied with, and some health insurances cover some cosmetic surgeries, but I feel they should not cover individuals who want to design an embryo to rise as their own. The cost of manufacturing embryos,which includes choosing sexes, talents and race, will become very expensive. In reality the expense may lower the demand for the genetic engineering and the intent which it was meant, will no longer be valid. Will the outcome of exploring these scientific developments wipe out disorders from the beginning? It has not been proven that using genetic engineering is safe to use on human beings to cure diseases. Whos to say that using this practice will not encourage prejudice, not among the races, but among those individuals who are deemed to be superior. It will set up a new class of genetically designed people and naturally made people. (Ahmad) This separation may cause another type

An In-Depth Review of Star Reading Assessment Program

An In-Depth Review of Star Reading Assessment Program Star Reading is an online assessment program developed by Renaissance Learning for students typically in grades K-12. The program uses a combination of the cloze method and traditional reading comprehension passages to assess forty-six reading skills across eleven domains. The program is used to determine a student’s overall reading level as well as identify a students individual strengths and weaknesses. The program is designed to provide teachers with individual student data, quickly and accurately. It typically takes a student 10–15 minutes to complete an assessment, and reports are available immediately upon completion. The assessment consists of approximately thirty questions. Students are tested on foundational reading skills, literature components, reading informational text, and language. Students have one minute to answer each question before the program automatically moves them to the next question. The program is adaptive, so the difficulty will increase or decrease based on how a student performs. Features of Star Reading It is easy to set up and use. Star Reading is a Renaissance Learning program. This is important because if you have Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, or any of the other Star assessments, you only have to do the set up one time. Adding students and building classes is quick and easy. You can add a class of about twenty students and have them ready to be assessed in about 15 minutes.It correlates with Accelerated Reader. Many schools across the country use Accelerated Reader. To maximize the effect of Accelerated Reader, students should be limited to books that correlate to their specific Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Star Reading provides teachers with each student’s individual ZPD that can then be entered into the Accelerated Reader program to limit students to books that will not be too easy or too difficult for them to read.It is easy for students to use. The interface is plain and straightforward. This minimizes the chances for a student to be distracted. Student s have two choices when answering the multiple-choice-style questions. They can use their mouse and click on the correct choice, or they can use the A, B, C, D keys that correlate to the correct answer. Students are not locked into their answer until they click next or push the Enter key. Each question is on a one-minute timer. When a student has fifteen seconds remaining, a small clock will begin to flash at the top of the screen, letting them know that time is about to expire for that question. It provides teachers with a tool to easily screen and progress monitor students who need reading intervention. Star Reading comes with a screening and progress monitor tool that allows teachers to set goals and monitor a student’s progress as they move throughout the year. This easy-to-use feature allows teachers to quickly and accurately decide whether they need to change their approach with a particular student or continue doing what they are doing.It has an adaptable assessment bank. The program has an extensive assessment bank that allows students to be assessed multiple times without seeing the same question. In addition, the program adapts to the student as they answer questions. If a student is performing well, then the questions will increasingly become more difficult. If they are struggling, the questions will become easier. The program will eventually zero in on the student’s correct level. Useful Reports Star Reading is designed to provide teachers with useful information that will drive their instructional practices. It provides teachers with several useful reports designed to assist in targeting which students need intervention and what areas they need assistance in. Here are four key reports available through the program and a brief explanation of each: Diagnostic: This report provides the most information about an individual student. It offers information such as the student’s grade equivalent, percentile rank, estimated oral reading fluency, scaled score, instructional reading level, and zone of proximal development. It also provides tips to maximize that individual’s reading growth.Growth: This report shows the growth of a group of students over a specific period of time. This period of time is customizable from a few weeks to months, to even growth over the course of several years.Screening: This report provides teachers with a graph that details whether they are above or below their benchmark as they are assessed throughout the year. This report is useful because if students are falling below the mark, then the teacher needs to change their approach ​with that student.Summary: This report provides teachers with whole group test results for a specific test date or range. This is very useful for comparing mul tiple students at one time. Relevant Terminology Scaled Score (SS)  - The scaled score is figured based on the difficulty of the questions as well of the number of questions that were correct. Star Reading uses a scale range of 0–1400. This score can be used to compare students to each other as well as themselves over time.Percentile Rank (PR) - The percentile rank allows students to be compared to other students nationally that are in the same grade. For example, a student who scores in the 77th percentile scores better than 76% of students in their grade but lower than 23% of students in their grade.Grade Equivalent (GE) - The grade equivalent represents how a student performs compared to other students nationally. For example, a fifth-grade student who scores a grade equivalent of 8.3 scores as well as a student who is in the eighth grade and third month.Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) - This is the range of readability which a student should be required to select books. Reading in this range provides students with t he optimal opportunity to maximize reading growth. Books at this level are not too easy or too difficult for the student to read. ATOS  - A readability formula that uses average sentence length, average word length, vocabulary grade level, and the number of words to calculate the overall difficulty of a book. Overall Star Reading is a very good reading assessment program, especially if you already use the Accelerated Reader program. Its best features are that it is quick and easy to use for teachers and students, and reports can be generated in seconds. The assessment does rely too much on cloze reading passages. A truly accurate reading assessment would use a more balanced and comprehensive approach. However, Star is a great quick screening tool to identify struggling readers or individual reading strengths. There are better assessments available in terms of in-depth diagnostic assessments, but Star reading will give you a quick snapshot of where a student is at any given point.  Overall, we give this program 3.5 out of 5 stars, primarily because the assessment itself isn’t broad enough and there are times where consistency and accuracy are of concern.

Health Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Economy - Essay Example (Fagnani, 1999). Principles Health economy plays an integral part in a country’s economy. The recent economic downturn has resulted in serious issues and one among them is the poor management of health economy. As the economic status of common people has gone through a tough phase, the government must help them in managing their medical expenses. This can be achieved by incorporating certain unique principles that would minimize their expenses. Insurance is one among the popular approaches that has been in use for many years. The main aim of insurance is to help the patients during surgeries or unexpected health problems. (Gruber, 2006). The insurance companies collect a minimum amount form the patients who enroll in their companies. This minimum premium amount is returned back to the investors during times of crisis. In this method, the investors are benefited since they receive the required amount of money when they are in need. This helps in the improvement of health econom y. Health financing agencies and organizations must be made compulsory in all the countries. This will ensure that the patients experience the entire benefit of the insurance scheme. (Kephart, 2007). Though this seems to be an efficient task, the amount of compensation is comparatively less. This leads to a situation where people do not get to experience the full benefits of the insurance policies. Most of the insurance policies include certain constraints that specify various restrictions. As these pre- conditions are not specified well in advance, it creates problem during the time of reimbursement. People find it difficult to manage with the amount provided by the insurance companies. Another option is to include discounting options in the medical bills. (Health Care, 2010)....   This essay discusses that the proposed evaluation method uses several concepts that enable the officials and the patients to have complete control over their medical expense. This also analyzes the medical expense incurred for a particular treatment. This enables the patient to be sure of the cost of each and every treatment. As the cost is known well in advance, the problem of huge medical bills is eradicated. Since the patients have an idea about the total cost of their treatment, they can easily pay back the money without much hassle.   Apart from this, the potential requirement of discount is more when compared to the other facilities. People are used to discounts and they prefer to get a certain amount at a discount from their medical bills. A clear analysis will help the hospital management and the concerned government to have a control over the health economy. In turn, will help them to maintain a stable facilitation that helps people.      Ã‚  Health economy is one that requires more attention when compared to the other ones in a country. Health intervention principles and policies lend a helping hand to the patients as well as the government in dealing with the increasing medical bills. The cost of implementing an evaluation method or a system depends on the hospital management and the concerned government. Even if the cost of implementing an evaluation system is more, the government must provide the necessary funds to implement them. This will certainly improve the existing situation and will help the patients at times of crisis.   Ã‚  Ã‚