Opposing School Uniforms Essay -- essays research papers

School Uniforms In 1993, Will Rogers Middle School in California’s Long Beach County School District began discussing the idea of a school-wide uniform policy. That fall, Will Rogers became the first school in Long Beach County to have a mandatory uniform policy. Other schools in the district soon followed drawing national attention, including a personal visit from then President Clinton. Recent memories of school shootings around the nation caused President Clinton to urge other school districts to move to uniforms in his 1996 State of the Union Address. This started a seemingly endless debate over school uniforms in public schools. In order to be legal, every uniform policy has to have an option to not participate. Students that â€Å"opt-out† attend other schools that do not have uniform policies. Most Republicans and the more moderate Democrats are in favor of uniforms while the more liberal Democrats oppose them. People in favor of uniforms support them for several reasons cited in a US Government manual on school uniforms: †¢ decrease in violence and theft—even life threatening situations—among students over designer clothing or expensive sneakers, †¢ prevention of gang members wearing gang colors and insignias at school, †¢ instilling students with discipline, †¢ helping parents and students resist peer pressure to buy expensive clothing, †¢ helping students concentrate on their school work, and helping school officials to recognize intruders who come to the school. (â€Å"Manual† par. 2) People against uniforms oppose them for several reasons: uniforms violate the first amendment right to freedom of expression, the claims of the supporters are not true, and problems in the schools are much bigger than a little ans... ...lace, I think a big part of the improvement in statistics was due to the implementation of uniforms. While a strict dress code, or uniforms, would probably improve the statistics, it is not the best option. I think the best option is a mandatory identification badge. Students would be required to wear a visible photo I.D. at all times when on campus. One school I visited had badges worn on a necklace. This policy has a few of the benefits of uniforms, like intruders being easily recognizable, but it does not impose on the student. This is a very realistic option. A great deal of employers require their employees to wear name badges while they are on the job (Nurses, Factory workers, etc.). Most employers do not specify a uniform to be worn. Uniforms are not the one-word answer to today’s problems, but uniforms and/or ID badges could be used as part of the solution

Child Abuse and Neglect Essay

Crisis is a condition, which upsets the balance in the regular functioning of a person, family or a society in a destructive fashion and the situations can not be overcome through general problem solving resources. Crisis leads to a stressful situation, which is generally difficult to cope with, and needs proper and planned ways of intervention to be resolved. To understand crisis, a scenario can be discussed. In this case the person in crisis was a girl of 13 years of age belonging to an Indian tribal family. She worked for a family as domestic help. She was very thin and weak but extremely aggressive in nature. The person who identified her problem was the lady who employed her. The lady was a housewife from a well to do family. According to the lady, the girl started working at her place at the age of 11. She belonged to a local tribal family where girl child was not at all welcome. She had three younger sisters and a brother. Her parents were working as daily laborers. Her father spent all the hard earned money to the local wine shop and her mother found it extremely difficult to support the family with her meager income. She sent her eldest daughter to work and earn money for the family. Not only that, her father used to beat her and her mother regularly for money. The girl was extremely malnourished and neglected and was used as a money earning machine. Her employer tried to send her to a school but did not succeed as according to her family going to school was complete wastage of time. The problems of child labor, lack of education, gender bias, physical abuse, problem between parents all existed together in her life. This was not a typical case but a general picture in several poor backward class families in India. The situation is treated as a crisis because the solution of all these problems was beyond the capacity of the little girl. She was the victim of the situation of chronic crisis in her family and was unable to cope with the situation. It was evident from her aggressive nature, attraction towards bad company, eagerness to shun her family, physical injuries and weakness, etc. She was a victim of developmental crisis. Her parents unknowingly restricted the development of her physical and psychological health. Hailing from a poor tribal family only aggravated her situation. The social class she belonged to was not at all favorable to a girl child. They generally thought of them as family burden as the child was unable to earn for them and after growing up was going to support another family after marriage. Lack of knowledge and education made them treat school education as wastage of time and money. Being a child the girl could not speak her mind or was suppressed forcibly. Thus, she lacked education, was forced to work, losing her psychological balance and was growing to lead a cluttered and abusive life and may also become a problem for the society. Timely intervention at the time of crisis is the most important part in crisis intervention. In most of the cases of child abuse it is often too late before the society comes to know about the occurrence and can take any action to save the child or repair the damage. In this case as the event was of chronic crisis the intervention may start as soon as the crisis was identified. Here the child needed a support system either from family or outside. Her employer in this case could provide the support, which was lacking from her family. (â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†) During crisis individuals generally experience some common feelings that can affect psychological balance and produce impact on assessment and treatment of the crisis. These kinds of feelings and their reflection in life should not be treated as mental illness. In such conditions people may show disorganized and confusing behavior where they forget important details or practice inappropriate actions which were helpful in the past. They tend to confuse fear and wishes with reality. To cope with such disorganization they tend to be involved in insignificant activities. Crisis laden people may become hostile or emotionally distant from any sort of intervention. Some people act impulsively without thinking about the consequences and lead to more complex situation. People may depend completely on the person trying to help them in time of crisis, like in this case the child can depend on her employer and expect her to fill the gap created by her parents. Identity crisis, lower self-perception, and withdrawal are also observed as common behaviors. (â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†) To intervene to the crisis, the assessment of the situation is the key point. Every individual or family responds to certain situations differently. Still it is necessary to assess the risk of abuse in the given situation. To assess the crisis it is required to consider each member of the family individually as well as the part of the family. Listening to each member’s version of the crisis individually may help reach the root of the problem. Active and careful listening is the most important criterion of the crisis worker while assessing the crisis. Identifying the underlying problem and precipitating events, observing family interactions and conditions and determining the family needs carefully help assessing the risk to the family members accurately. The safety measures can be practiced accordingly especially for children. A few screening instruments may be helpful in this respect, namely, Child Abuse Potential Inventory, Child Maltreatment Interview Schedule, Family Assessment Form (FAF) and few Family Risk Scales. Training to use all such instruments can be very helpful for the crisis worker. Before terminating the service the crisis worker should be very sure that the risk factor has been removed completely and the child or other family members are totally safe. All family members should be involved in each and every step of crisis assessment and intervention. Non-judgmental and open-minded crisis worker helps the family best in crisis assessment and intervention. S/he must understand the social customs and family traditions and must convince the person or family in crisis that s/he came to listen to their problem and to help them in coping with the situation and not to accuse them. Lack of understanding or acceptance at either end may lead to more complicated circumstances. (Blakester) For successful crisis intervention the crisis worker first needs to understand the crisis thoroughly and needs to be competent enough to provide expert support to the victims. Crisis intervention is time limited. Therefore the crisis worker needs to set specific goals to make the intervention as a success. Like in the present case it was not possible to solve all the family problems, which were the root causes of the child’s crisis at a time. So the crisis worker should prioritize the problems to be solved. The worker can first try to make good rapport with the girl and the family of the girl and listen to the problems carefully. The family first needs to understand that their child is facing a crisis due to their behavior. This may help the girl as well as her family to accept his/ her intervention to solve the crisis. S/he can try to find out their actions to deal with the situation. The worker can try to find out the strength of the girl that can improve her self esteem and her needs which need to be taken care of. Her family’s potentials and requirement need also be assessed. The reasons behind the crisis can then be chalked out. Once the reasons are established, the worker can suggest alternative approaches which can motivate the child and her family to overcome the crisis. The crisis worker can then help them with the formulation of goals, objectives and actions based on their priorities. The actions must be achievable at first to increase the confidence of the family. To be successful the worker needs to be focused but at the same time compassionate and flexible to slight changes in goals. In this case, the family can first stop the physical abuse of the child. Then they can try to improve interpersonal relationship by listening to what the girl has to say. If possible they can help her with her needs and if not then try to make her see the reasons peacefully. They can spare her a little time for her education. Simultaneously, the girl’s father needs counseling to cope with his bad habit and be able to support his family. As the crisis worker finds the situation to improve s/he can reduce support slowly and observe the family if they can continue with their own. Follow up must always be done to motivate them to work positively. (â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†) An event of successful crisis intervention in a child abuse case can be cited to conclude the discussion on a positive note. Windale in the New South Wales Lake Macquarie region of Australia was declared the most socially disadvantaged community of New South Wales in1999. All possible events of child abuse were present in the community. Percentage of child protection was only 1, the worst in New South Wales. (Blakester)Under these circumstances a community centre named Alcazar Centre was established there attached to the local primary school. The community centre initiated programs as below: †¢ parenting classes; †¢ the staged introduction of preschool-aged children to schools; †¢ joint exercise and sociability groups for isolated mothers; †¢ an Aboriginal health service and community nursing; †¢ the identification of talented youngsters and provision of academic extension opportunities; †¢ locally created scholarships and the Department of Housing’s relocation of some families to make schools more accessible; †¢ the involvement of fathers in making various contributions to the life of the school and a general increased involvement by parents in school life; †¢ a Shop Smart nutrition program; †¢ improved street lighting, enabling safe travel at night, and a Windale ‘welcome’ landmark, building community pride; and †¢ the sponsorship of school and sporting needs by local businesses With regular work on the above programs Windale Primary School became the model of schools as community centres across whole New South Wales. The Alcazar Centre was given an Award for Excellence by the Director General of the NSW Department of Education and Training. Windale community proved that prevention of child abuse is possible with case specific approach and almost insignificant steps can altogether make the difference. The child protection in Windale community was found to reach 25%, being the best in New South Wales in 2003. (Blakester) Works Cited 1) Blakester, Adam, â€Å"Practical child abuse and neglect prevention (Case Study 2)†, Child Abuse Prevention Newsletter, vol. 14 no. 2 Winter 2006, Australian Institute of Family Studies, National Child Protection Clearing House, ISSN 1447-0039 (Print); 1447-0047 (Online), 13 June 2008, < http://www. aifs. gov. au/nch/pubs/newsletters/nl2006/winter. html > 2) â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Gentry, User Manual Series 1994, Circle Solutions, Inc. , McLean, VA, under subcontract No. S-105-89-1730 with Westover Consultants, Inc. , 12 June 2008,

Argument Essay Random Drug Testing

ARGUMENT ESSAY RANDOM DRUG TESTING Drug abuse has always been a very delicate question as it always it deals with the health, well-being and even lives of human beings belonging to any country. Many people have argued that mandatory drug testing is a violation of their civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment grants you the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, otherwise known as a person's right to privacy.However, employers have the right to know whether or not the people working under them are stable to do their jobs. Indeed, for safety of all the humans randomly drug testing is the best way to maintain the quality of the employees. Legalizing drug testing has provoked quite an upheaval. Advocates claim that employers have every right to expect their workers to be sober on the job, especially when safety and security are on the line.Although, those who oppose random drug testing, argue that testing positive may not necessarily mean that the emp loyee was intoxicated while working that all it proves is that they likely put a buzz on, someplace, sometime. So they all mean that randomly drug testing may interfere the employee`s personal life which is not really necessary to maintain his/her job safely. By the way ,this kind of un trustful behavior may damage the relationship between the employers and employees. However, drug addiction is a very complex illness that many people do not become aware of until it is too late.All people have different reasons for doing drugs that have this illness, but all of them have many things in common including: unreliability – a very common characteristic when diagnosed with a drug addiction problem, and depression – a state that degrades a person's state of life and causes a loss of interest in everything they do(Wilson). By the way, teenagers are out of high school over 80 percent of them have experimented with drugs and alcohol. When they move on past graduation and into the unsupervised years of college this shocking statistic even goes up.If it is so easy for minors to obtain illegal substances, a working adult has an even greater opportunity to acquire them. Countless people could be using drugs and alcohol on a regular basis that no one would even know about. Not more than one month goes by before you hear about some teenager dying in a car accident because of alcohol and his parents being shocked, or about neighbors that were stunned by a murder that happened in their neighborhood by a man who seemed to be just like everyone else. The truth is nobody can really know what someone is doing behind closed doors, and it could end up hurting someone else.Drug misuse is associated with domestic violence, increased involvement with crime and police and decline in work quality. Obviously these characteristics would not even make a close to feasible argument as to why a person like that would be a candidate for any job(Terry). Because no person in their rig ht state of mind would describe themselves in that manner during an interview, a simple drug test would show that information without anyone being hurt. It may vary depends on the situation because of that being prejudice about this topic may be conclude with the fire of your innocent and hard worker employee.Drug abuse is getting increase day by day and it brings many concerns for parents ,employers and school directors. Because of all the responsibility of the safety is on the leaders shoulders, we should accept all the things that they have been doing for the maintenance of safety. In this point of view, as it is not ethically true randomly drug testing may abused. Additionally, it may prevent the future danger possibilities which may cause the bankruptcy of the company(Danny, p. 53). Because of all these dangers a little bit of prevention would be ignored.Some people may reject these kind of checkups but they would logically accept because people may abuse things if they have ch ance. Finally, as an employer you have a responsibility to oversee the people that work for you and you are accountable for their actions on the job. Ethically, randomly drug testing may interfere the employees personal life it is essential to make it for the safety of the job. Because of the drug abuse is widely distributed and has many side effects on people`s daily life , employers have rights to check up their employees.It is only logical that they have the right to know whether or not their employees are capable of doing something that could hurt their company or the people who use their services, or whether they just wouldn't be productive enough to produce an acceptable quality of work. Sometimes we can do things which we do not prefer but because of the importance of situations may forced ourselves to do them. Work Cited Danny, Michael. Drug Warriors. London: London press,2009. Terry, Steve. Employments Drug. New York: Macmillan,2007. Wilson, John. Against To The Drug Addict ion. Los Angeles: Penguin,2005.

Apple a Day

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away Eating Healthy and exercise are essential to the health and well-being of all people. A healthy diet along with exercise can help you live longer, feel better about better food choices; provide you with more energy, help you stay at a healthy weight, and help you fight stress. Do you want to live longer and be healthier? Then make that first step and maximize the benefits from being active and eating healthier. It is important to make sure and eat fruits and vegetables daily, at least 5 servings.The best way to be healthier is to incorporate into your daily routine eating fresh fruits and vegetables such as: apples, bananas, strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, grapes, carrots, potatoes, peas, and broccoli. This list can go on and on and you will find there are plenty of fruit and vegetables that you will enjoy. â€Å"Vegetables and fruits are clearly an important part of a good diet. Almost everyone can benefit from eating more of them, but var iety is as important as quantity. No single fruit or vegetable provides all of the nutrients you need to be healthy.The key lies in the variety of different vegetables and fruits that you eat† (Willet, 2007, Harvard School of Public Health). Doctors and nutritionists highly promote fruits and vegetables because they offer many benefits to being healthy. They are excellent sources of essential nutrients, such as vitamins and anti-oxidants. People who eat diets rich in fruits and vegetables have a decreased risk of several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. As the saying goes, â€Å"an apple a day keeps the doctor away. A healthy eating plan will protect against many health problems and improve the way our body functions. Annabel Bentley, BUPA assistant medical director, has this advice: â€Å"As one of the leading independent health and care providers in the country, BUPA is pleased to support this campaign. A balanced diet i s one of the best ways to maintain good health and help prevent the onset of some serious diseases. Eating well need not be expensive or complicated and this new campaign is geared to leading people towards the right things to eat. † Eating healthy can help in living a longer and healthier life.It can also strengthen your immune system, which can help in fewer sicknesses. The benefits from eating healthy go on and on and will improve your lifestyle dramatically. Proper eating can even help some have healthy lush looking hair, skin and nails and everyone wants to have beautiful skin, hair and nails. Eating healthy can help in feeling better within oneself. A healthy diet along with exercise will provide the body with more energy and make you feel better about yourself and can help fight stress and depression. Eating unhealthy can cause many health problems.Besides obesity and diabetes, there is high blood pressure, heart problems, breathing difficulty, anemia, and joint problem s all due to extra weight. Healthy eating can help protect people from cancer, heart attacks, diabetes and problems with blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force that pushes the blood from the heart through the arteries in the body. High blood pressure becomes dangerous because is makes the heart work too hard. Even when the pressure is only slightly raised for a long period of time it can damage arteries and cause organ damage.I personally have high blood pressure and the doctors are constantly advising me to eat better, exercise and lose weight and when I apply their council my blood pressure does improve dramatically. † High blood pressure is a primary risk factor for heart disease and stroke. As such, it is a condition that is important to control. Diet can be a very effective tool for lowering blood pressure. One of the most convincing associations between diet and blood pressure was found in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) study.This trial examined the effect on blood pressure of a diet that was rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products and that restricted the amount of saturated and total fat. The researchers found that people with high blood pressure who followed this diet reduced their systolic blood pressure (the upper number of a blood pressure reading) by about 11 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) by almost 6 mm Hg—as much as medications can achieve† (Appel, Moore, Obarzanek,1997, clinical trial).By making sure to eat a balanced diet then the occasional fatty food or takeaway will not hurt, but it will become a problem if you eat fatty foods everyday. It can be easy to fall into the trap of eating takeaway food every night because most people have busy hectic lives and find that they do not have the time or energy to cook something healthy. â€Å"Junk food has become a pillar in modern society. It offers a quick fill, fast service, or you can bring it home to watch a m ovie with. From chips, pop, ice cream it goes on and on.There is no nutritional value in any of it. Even the canned produce should be considered junk food. Preservatives are jamming the tops of these containers of fruits in order for them to remain edible for months and months† (Healthy Eating, 2008, Health benefits of food). While it would be nice to take a pill and wake up 15 lbs lighter, the truth is that weight loss takes time and effort as well as a commitment to eating healthy everyday. The best way to begin to reduce the amount of weight people put on would be to reduce any un-necessary fat intake.Fat intake can be difficult to manage because fat makes food taste so much better. It is so tempting to grab a donut or candy bar when craving a snack, but it can be just as easy to grab an apple or a bag of carrots and your body and your health will reap better benefits from it. â€Å"Most people who work at eating better know that the salad bar can be a terrific way to eat out, eat great food and have a healthy meal. There are a few items that can tip the scales as far as fat and calories are concerned, especially if you are trying to watch your weight.A major offender is salad dressings. † Doctor Gourmet, (2008). Weight is such a sensitive subject for many people, young and old , which is why it+ does need to be addressed, because people today especially children are becoming obese at alarming rates. Many people think that it is just too difficult to eat healthy, or they do not know what to eat. â€Å"What you should eat is actually pretty simple. But you would not know that from news reports on diet studies, whose sole purpose seems to be to confuse people on a daily basis.When it comes down to it, though—when all the evidence is looked at together—the best advice on what to eat is relatively straightforward: Eat a plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; choose healthy fats, like olive and canola oil; and red meat and unhealthy fats, like saturated and trans fats, sparingly. Most important of all is keeping calories in check, so you can avoid weight gain, which makes exercise a key partner to a healthy diet† (Willet, 2007, Harvard School of Public Health) As for keeping the weight off, avoid the elevator and take the stairs.If you take the stairs regularly, you will burn more calories. As you do it more often, you will learn that you have more energy. In order to be healthy, we need to learn what it means to eat healthy and to live healthy. The first step is making sure to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis and avoid unnecessary fats in our diet. The best way to avoid fats is by not eating fast food or junk food on a regular basis. Exercise needs to be a top riority in our lives to keep stress away and to feel energized, even if it is as simple as a walk in the park. When it comes to diet and exercise, you have to ask yourself a very important question. How mu ch do you care about yourself? It is up to all of us to make a commitment to set aside a little time each day for exercise. As far as eating healthy is concerned, just focus on each individual day. Do not go to the extreme, because this is setting you up for failure. Just make small changes throughout the day.At night, simply walk away from that huge slice of chocolate cake. It is all up to you to live a healthy lifestyle. Discipline, control and focus can be hard to maintain when it comes to eating healthy and exercising regularly. It can be hard, especially in the beginning, but it is essential that you be consistent. By being consistent it will get easier and easier to make necessary lifestyle changes. By making these positive lifestyle changes in your life it will go a long way in living a long healthy life for years to come.

Module 5 (survey) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Module 5 (survey) - Assignment Example It is hard most of the participants to remember or tell the truth about the asked questions. This is when the participants are asked about how the employees in a pharmacy have been responding to them when attending the pharmacy. Also, they might not be able to remember the products they have been getting from the pharmacy when asked (Groves & Couper, 2011. The research should make sure that large sample of the selected participants reply. This will be hard, as some of the participants will look down upon the survey questions presented to them and may decide not to reply. The questions may be designed in a general manner that it will not be appropriate for all respondents. For example, questions might be designed in English, which will not be understood by old people (Larossi, 2006). Assure a common understanding – everyone should understand the questions written in the same way. The researcher should not assume everyone understands the same way that he/she may use abbreviations, which are not understood by everyone. Start with interesting questions – interesting questions should be brought at the beginning of the questionnaire. This will attract the attention of the respondent and he/she will have the courage to handle difficult or threatening questions

Reflective Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Reflective Portfolio - Essay Example To make the best use of the funds as well as for the provision of the best care at care homes the public care body introduced numerous policy initiatives. This is made more visible by the National Health Systems (NHS) Plan as well as the reaction of the government towards the Royal Commission on the Long Term Care. The reason behind this has been the helplessness of the residents, the impacts of the demographic changes upon the number of the old people requiring residential care such as subsidy. It has further been noted that there is high cost associated with such care. Therefore, it is quite important to comprehend the key aspects of such health care provisions (Personal Social Services Research Unit, 2001). With the partnership among the local authority and the NHS, the social care related services are generally provided in Cambridgeshire. It has been evident that the Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust aims at serving the older people with all the necessary health as well as the social care related support that can be made available at one place (Cambridgeshire Country Council, 2011). However, it has been noted that there is discrepancy in the provision of the services to the people under the NHS scheme. ... B. Framework of Legislation, Codes Of Practice Influencing Social Care I. National Care Standards Commission Regulations and Standards It is worth mentioning that the care homes for the older people need to meet the National Minimum Standards that have been identified by the National Care Standards Commission in order to determine if the care homes tend to meet the needs of such standards, as well as work for the welfare of the people living there. The standards tend to verify that whether the care homes consist of the individuals who may work at unique and complex situations. In addition to this the individuals need to possess specific skills and knowledge that may be required to deliver individually tailored as well as all-inclusive services. There are various themes that support the drafting of the National Minimum Standards for the care home of the elderly people. The regulators are supposed to comply with the various themes that have been drafted. While applying the standards it is important for the regulator to prove that the policies, the activities the facilities as well as the services that the care centre provides will deliver positive results. While applying the standards the inspector may ask for evidences that prove that the care homes are meeting the needs of the service users and their changing needs are taken care of. Since it is the manager along with the staffs who are responsible for looking after the old age people in such care homes, therefore in implementing the standards the regulators may look for the evidences that tend to show that the managers as well as the staffs of the particular health care organisation have achieved TOPSS requirement which is understood as The National Training Organisation for social care (Department of

Battle of Fredericksburg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Battle of Fredericksburg - Essay Example It started December 11, 1862 and ended four days later. The importance of the battle for both sides is paramount. The outcome, for instance, could prop up the Lincoln administration’s campaign for public support, which has suffered a great loss in public confidence owing to the failure of the Union forces to crush the Confederate army and defeat General Lee once and for all. On the other hand, for the Confederacy, the battle, though did not have any significant strategic import, achieved a psychological boost that trumpeted the might and capability of their forces. According to Eckenrode and Conrad, the battle is the culmination of the peak of the confederate strength in the course of the Civil War.1 How Fredericksburg came to be the battleground for this winter war was explained by Longstreet and Piston who wrote: Before the end of November it became evident that Fredericksburg was to be our winter station and the scene of a severe battle before it could be relieved†¦ To wards the latter part of the month General Jackson was called down and assigned position on the right near Hamilton’s Crossing and the Massaponax. ... Under cover of this fire, the Yankees attempted to construct two pontoon bridges opposite the city, but were repeatedly driven off by our sharpshooters in the rifle pits along the shore and in the houses.3 In the beginning the battle was expected to be a victory for the Union forces because they outnumbered Lee’s men. Under the command of General Ambrose Burnside, the Union army was 120,000 strong. General Longstreet wrote about the fateful day before the assault took place: â€Å"The flags of the Federals fluttered gaily, the polished arms shone brightly in the sunlight, and the beautiful uniforms of the buoyant troops gave to the scene the air of a holiday occasion rather than a spectacle of a great army about to be thrown into the tumult of battle.†4 But the attempt to rebuild a destroyed bridge necessary to cross into the city cost the Union Army a month, allowing Lee’s Confederate forces to receive reinforcements such as James Longstreet’s 41,000 men who began fortifying Marye’s Heights, which overlooked a wide canal and drainage ditch that the Union troops had to cross; â€Å"Stonewall† Jackson’s 39,000 soldiers who were positioned in Longstreet’s right flank; and, Lee’s 90,000 assembled army, who with the time wasted by the Union forces rebuilding the bridge, was able to secure the heights that covered most of the ground river. As events unfolded, the tides were turned and the expedition became a debacle for the Union army. The difficulty of the assault was recounted no less than General Burnside who later wrote about the bloody ambush: The stone wall [commanded by Longstreet’s men] proved too strong for the valor of our troops. Never did a hotter fire greet an advancing party. The plain in