Coursework

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Coursework 1

The article, Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of the Past, argues that today’s sports lack a degree of sportsmanship, with most sportsmen divulging bad behavior (Ender, 2007). I agree with the points brought across in the article, because I believe that a higher percentage of sportsmen take on sports, not because they love these sports, but because they are looking for a source of income. For that reason, they end up engaging in bad sporting activities hence loosing the essence of sportsmanship. Just as the article explains, the overall level of sportsmanship in today’s sports world is lacking owing to the fact that most players and athletes are not taught the importance of sportsmanship during the first years of training. Most players and athletes have forgotten the importance of engaging in sports as a fun activity, and instead, play sports to win or to gain returns. To combat poor sportsmanship, parents and coaches need to teach their athletes the importance of good sportsmanship at a young age. I do not think that religion plays any role in sports for athletes. Good sportsmanship arises from individual understanding of morals.

Coursework 2

The word renaissance refers to the period characterizing the end of the middle ages from around the 14th century, through to the 16th century (Bailey, 2005). It is a period when the society underwent both a cultural and artistic transformation, hence the rise of modernity. Humanism, on the other hand, refers to a renaissance cultural movement that focused its ideas and beliefs on the human beings (Bailey, 2005). Artists such as Donatello are remembered for their trademark sculptures and painting that supported humanism during the renaissance period. An example of the usage of this is in the two sculptures, Saint Mark (1411-1413) and Kouros (556 BCE). These two pieces of art present the most famous statue sculptures that were developed through the renaissance period. The biggest similarity and correlation between the two is that they are both sculptures of human beings, thus embrace the foundations of humanism. These two pieces of art came from different countries, and for that reason, had different functions. The Saint Mark originated from Florence in Italy and served religious functions whereas Kouros came from Greece and was a representation of the Greek culture.

Coursework 3

Transition into adulthood is a significant part of the human life, as it signifies the climax of human growth and development. Throughout history, there have existed various initiation rites that have been used to welcome people from childhood to adulthood, which vary across the different cultures. In essence, such transitions have different social and religious connotations, as young adults are granted more religious responsibility as well as considered to be sexually mature (Jekielek & Brown, 2005). Societal changes have led to a change in the nature of initiation rites associated with transition into adulthood. Modernity, for example has forced a number of communities to drop their cultural transitional practices such as circumcision for their young adults. As a result, young adults today are not better off than before because they tend to lose their religious and cultural values at a time when these values matter the most. Most young adults do not understand the importance of their transition into adulthood and for that reason are not aware of their responsibilities as young adults. They enter their adulthood without a recognition of the seriousness of this phase in their life time and in most cases end up failing in their performance in adulthood (Jekielek & Brown, 2005).

References

Bailey, D. (2005). Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic.

United Kingdom: Routledge Publishers.

Ender (2007). Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of The Past? Sportstales. Retrieved from:

http://sportales.com/sports/is-good-sportsmanship-a-thing-of-the-past/

Jekielek, S. & Brown B. (2005). The Transition to Adulthood: Characteristics of Young Adults

Ages 18 to 24 in America. Retrieved from: http://www.prb.org/pdf05/TransitionToAdulthood.pdf