Comparative Policy Analysis Study

by | Mar 8, 2022 | Analysis

 

Context
The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2019 (Fair Chance Act) was passed to address how and when federal employees can consider criminal records in employment opportunities. Within the Act, there are provisions for how criminal records can be considered by public employers and occupational licensing agencies.
Federal laws are in place to address criminal background checks for care providers in vulnerable populations, including teachers.
States determine the standards that must be met in order for professional educations to obtain a state-level teaching license.
There are efforts to restrict licensing agencies from preventing the employment of applicants with prior criminal records (see here: https://ccresourcecenter.org/state-restoration-profiles/50-state-comparisoncomparison-of-criminal-records-in-licensing-and-employment/)
Focus of Your Analysis
Following the establishment of the Fair Chance Act, this research focuses on the current status of how Virginia, and the bordering states of NC, MD, TN, KY, WV, plus the District of Columbia are similar and different in terms of their policies related to crimes that will prevent teachers from becoming certified and obtaining licenses in their states. In other words, what crimes can prevent certification and licensure, by state? Are there processes to appeal? Etc.

Resources you may find helpful

“The Many Roads to Reintegration”: A 50-state report on laws restoring rights and opportunities

The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certifications Model Code of Ethics for Educators is often used as the foundation for state-level and local policies. Others that may inform state and local policies are the Association of American Educators Code of Ethics for Educators and the National Education Association Code of Ethics for Educators. I recommend using those as a starting point and then explore how the various states in your study have interpreted them in their own Code(s) of Ethics or Code(s) of Moral/Professional Conduct. Explore if there are legal cases involving teachers that resulted from a “breach” of these codes. Do the state-level codes vary in how detailed or “strict” that they are? Are there any particular aspects of the various codes that stand out?

 

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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