Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PDF Ib Environmental Systems and Societies Skills and Practice Jill Rutherford Ebook Full Chapter
PDF Ib Environmental Systems and Societies Skills and Practice Jill Rutherford Ebook Full Chapter
https://textbookfull.com/product/environmental-systems-and-
societies-course-companion-2nd-edition-jill-rutherford/
https://textbookfull.com/product/environmental-health-and-
housing-2nd-edition-jill-stewart/
https://textbookfull.com/product/social-engineering-hacking-
systems-nations-and-societies-michael-erbschloe/
https://textbookfull.com/product/psychosocial-skills-and-school-
systems-in-the-21st-century-theory-research-and-practice-1st-
edition-anastasiya-a-lipnevich/
Museum Learning Theory and Research as Tools for
Enhancing Practice 1st Edition Jill Hohenstein
https://textbookfull.com/product/museum-learning-theory-and-
research-as-tools-for-enhancing-practice-1st-edition-jill-
hohenstein/
https://textbookfull.com/product/skills-for-midwifery-practice-
ruth-johnson/
https://textbookfull.com/product/social-engineering-hacking-
systems-nations-and-societies-1st-edition-michael-erbschloe-
author/
https://textbookfull.com/product/ib-english-a-language-and-
literature-ib-english-a-language-and-literature-course-book-2nd-
edition-brian-chanen/
https://textbookfull.com/product/exam-practice-workbook-for-
mathematics-for-the-ib-diploma-applications-and-interpretation-
hl-paul-fannon-vesna-kadelburg-stephen-ward/
O X F O R D I B S K I L L S A N D P R A C T I C E
Environmental
Systems and
Societies
F O R T H E I B D I P L O M A
Jill Rutherford
Gillian Williams
Photo; P80m: Radiokafka/Shutterstock; P80b: Joseph Sohm/
3
Denver Post/Getty Images; P89: BlueRingMedia/Shutterstock;
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be P124: Bartek Zyczynski/Shutterstock; P125: George Dolgikh/
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in Shutterstock; P126: Russell Gillman/Alamy Stock Photo; P131t:
any form or by any means, without the prior permission in wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock; P131b: wavebreakmedia/
writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted Shutterstock; P141: U.S. Coast Guard/Getty Images; P142:
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate George Konig/Keystone Features/Getty Images; P147: Wikimedia
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning Commons/Public Domain; P184: AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo;
You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must
Data available
and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for
978-0-19-836669-0
this work.
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Printed in India
Acknowledgements
2, May 2010 Paper 2, May 2011, Paper 2. This work has been
http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/people_and_the_environment/
human_footprint/ecological_footprint/.
Fieldwork ............................................................................................................................................. 55
Questionnaires ....................................................................................................................................75
Jill Rutherford has some 30 years of teaching, Gillian Williams graduated from Reading University
administrative and board experience within international and has taught Environmental Systems, Geography
schools. She was the founding director of the IB and TOK on the international circuit since 1993. In her
Diploma at Oakham School, England and has held senior international career Gillian has held various leadership
examining positions at the IB. She is currently academic positions including Deputy Head, Head of Year and Head
director of Ibicus International, which oers workshops to of Depar tment and has worked in Malaysia, Tanzania,
IB teachers around the world. She holds two degrees from Jordan and China. In 2011 she began advising on the IB
the University of Oxford. Her passion lies in teaching and Environmental Systems and Societies curriculum review.
writing about the IB Environmental Systems and Societies She is a workshop leader (online and face-to-face) and
ii
1 Practical work
Well done for choosing to take the ESS (Environmental Systems and
e ESS guide says that you must carr y out practical work.
●
illustrate and reinforce concepts
●
develop an appreciation of the hands-on nature of eldwork
●
develop an appreciation of the benets and limitations of investigative
methodologies.
You do practical work to gain the skills you will need for ESS.
Practical work should be totally integrated into the ESS course teaching.
the guidelines and criteria which are stated in the ESS guide. e
●
It is marked by your teacher and moderated by the IB.
your learning in the ESS course and should be integral to the theoretical
In this part of the course you carr y out investigations to help you Check your understanding of the
understand the concepts involved. It is marked by your teacher(s) terms used in ESS practical work.
• IA
and may be required by the IB as well. roughout the PSOW, you
• PSOW
will encounter and practise important techniques which will be
• Investigation
good preparation for theIA. It is marked by your teacher(s) but the
• Practical work
• Coursework
• Fieldwork
• Lab work
The PSOW:
• is the practical course that your teacher plans and your whole class
carries out
• should take about 20 hours of the course, not including writing up time
IB documents:
• does not have a specic number of activities to be done • IB ESS course guide.
• reects the breadth and depth of the syllabus so covers most of the topics
IB assignments honestly?
• contains some simple and shor t and some longer and more complex tasks
• IB animal experimentation
• is listed in the form ES&S/PSOW (which is the same for your whole class) guidelines.
1
▲ Figure 1.1 Doing practical work in the eld – in this case, a pond
‘In the eld’ is a term that scientists use to describe investigations and
a mountainside or by a pond.
●
a short piece of lab work done in 30 minutes or less
●
longer monitoring investigations over weeks or dierent seasons
●
computer simulations
●
making, developing or using models
●
gathering information from questionnaires
●
eldwork
●
data-analysing exercises
●
researching and analysing databases for secondar y data.
Methodologies
• Interviews
• Laboratory work
• Models of sustainability
2
PA R T 1 Practical work
Analytical techniques
不囗不若囗之,囗之不若囗之,囗之不若知之,知之不若行之;学至于行之而止矣。 Xunzi
‘Not hearing something is not as good as hearing it, hearing is not as good as
ere is a general belief amongst educators that you, the student, should
‘do’ in order to understand and we suspect that you think so too. You
probably remember the lessons where you were active in some way more
than you remember others where you were only a receiver of information.
We need to think about the aims of the ESS course and the aims of the IB for
you, the student, to understand why you need to do practical work in ESS.
explore these relationships using many tool kits and through dierent
evaluate the impact that individuals and societies have on the world
and its ecosystems. Once you can do that you are better equipped to
ere is no point in saying ‘things are bad and getting worse’ about the
international context.
3
The aims of the ESS course are to enable you to:
variety of scales
environmental issues
5. be critically aware that resources are nite, and that these could be
issues
So what has this got to do with you carr ying out practical work?
Aims 2 and 9 of ESS are particularly relevant to ‘doing’ rather than just
hearing or seeing. roughout the course, there are key skills that you need
to develop in order to complete the IA task and do well in the nal exams.
In the ESS guide, the practical skills are listed under the ‘
Applications and
skills’ headings of each topic and many of these are either practical skills
Sub-topic 2.5
ecosystem.
non-motile organisms.
between communities.
4
PA R T 1 Practical work
Sub-topic 4.2
for freshwater.
Sub-topic 8.4
populations.
countries.
populations.
●
facts and concepts
●
methodologies and techniques
●
values and attitudes.
●
explanations, concepts and theories
●
data and models
●
case studies in unfamiliar contexts
●
arguments and value systems.
●
explanations, theories and models
●
arguments and proposed solutions
●
methods of eldwork and investigation
●
cultural viewpoints and value systems.
●
evaluating the political, economic and social context of the issues
●
selecting and applying the appropriate research and practical skills
●
suggesting collaborative and innovative solutions that show
systems of others.
5
Format of the assesment
assessment objective?
questions
assessed using
markbands
1&2 3
structured essays)
●
academic honesty
●
malpractice
●
plagiarism
●
collusion.
for others and the integrity of their work. Upholding academic honesty also
helps to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to demonstrate the
Malpractice is behaviour that results in, or may result in, the candidate or
• Duplication of work – the presentation of the same work for dierent doing an activity in a group or going
6
PA R T 1 Practical work
unauthorized material.
All the coursework you submit to your teacher or the IB must be your
own work and ideas. If you reference or mention the work or ideas of
other people, you must cite these properly. If you do not, you may be
authentic, based on the student’s individual and original ideas with the
ideas and work of others fully acknowledged. Assessment tasks that require
You must make sure, and then sign a document to say you are sure
that your IA work is your own and you have not plagiarized any of it or
colluded with someone else in writing it. Once your work has been sent to
Your teacher must authenticate your work before it is sent to the IB. at
means they must be sure it is your work and only your work. ey may do
●
your initial proposal
●
your rst dra
●
references cited
●
writing style
●
using a web-based plagiarism detection ser vice, e.g. Turnitin.
●
No experiments involving other people will be undertaken without
experiment.
●
No experiment will be undertaken that inicts pain on, or causes
experimentation policy.
●
No experiment or eldwork will be undertaken that damages the
environment.
7
2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
• is assessed by the IB
Why do IA?
●
demonstrate your skills and knowledge in a more relaxed setting
than exams
●
pursue a personal interest.
An additional bonus is that it constitutes 25% of the nal ESS grade, so you
have up to a quarter of your grade long before you sit your nal exams.
written repor t.
If you under take an extended essay in ESS, it should not be based on the
address the assessment criteria directly so make sure you have a copy of
3. consulting with your teacher about your plan, your methods of data
8
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
Things to remember
• The repor t must be between 1500 and 2250 words in length. Less than
that and you have probably not dealt with the research question in enough
depth; more than that and you will lose marks for the communication
• Identify a par ticular aspect of ESS (something that interests you) that
allows you to apply your ndings to the wider environmental and societal
• Pick an environmental issue so that you have the oppor tunity to discuss
• Develop sound methodologies that will give you enough data to analyse.
adventurous and check out the techniques given in this book and the
• You can use qualitative and quantitative data, primary and/or secondary
environmental interest. If you do this you can apply your ndings at the
Warnings
●
You cannot do your ESS internal assessment and your extended essay
●
e work must be your own work.
●
It is not your teacher’s job to tell you what to do.
●
Teachers are required to authenticate your work – if they suspect any
form of malpractice they will not do so. is will be done through
■
discussion with you
■
reference to your initial plans
■
checking a rst dra
■
checking your style of writing
■
use of plagiarism detection tools.
●
If the teacher misses any malpractice but the IB catches it, you may
e internal assessment is marked out of 30; you are assessed against six
criteria. ey are clearly set out in the ESS guide (2017). Make sure you
have a copy of them. You cannot hope to achieve the top marks if you do
9
Criterion Marks Percentage
Planning (Pl) 6 20
Applications (A) 3 10
Communication (C) 3 10
TOTAL 30 100
thecorrect mark for your work, as not all indicators are present in all
pieces of work.
In the criteria there are verbs called command terms that tell you what to
Analyse Identify
Construct Interpret
Deduce Justify
Describe List
Design Outline
Discuss State
Evaluate Suggest
Explain
The criteria
CXT State relevant research question (RQ). Issue could be local or global. ✔
of RQ.
Pl Design repeatable method to investigate the RQ. Make sure you collect enough ✔
(values) or qualitative
(observations) or both.
in data.
any).
10
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
Method modications
C Structure and organize the repor t well. You do not have many words ✔
Be concise. ✔
star t writing.
is criterion looks at how well you establish and explore the
• Make sure your research question is clear, signicant and well focused.
• Show you understand the environmental issue and its relevance locally
or globally.
●
have a vague/broad research question like ‘Is global warming fact or
ction?’
●
just give brief notes about the environmental issue with nothing about
its relevance
●
forget to mention how the research question and environmental issue
are linked.
Do not leave the moderator wondering what you are talking about.
not you have assessed safety matters and the environmental and ethical
11
• You must design a repeatable method that allows you to collect sucient
relevant data.
Repeatable means that you must explain it well enough for someone
Sucient relevant data means enough data for you to analyse your
your question.
• Show you have assessed and understood the ethical and environmental
considerations.
●
Design a method that
■
is so unclear it could not be repeated
■
generates insucient data
■
generates plenty of data but does not address your research
question.
●
Forget to explain and justify your sampling strateg y.
●
Choose the wrong sampling strateg y.
●
Ignore risks, ethical and environmental factors.
is criterion is about how methodical you are when you collect, record,
and process your data. It also looks at how you interpret the data and the
Remember :
●
Data tables need
■
column and row headers
■
good titles explaining exactly what they are showing
■
units in the headers
■
consistent decimal places.
●
Show how you did your calculations – one sample is good.
●
Graphs need
■
labelled axes with units
■
good titles explaining exactly what they are showing
■
lines or cur ves of best t, if appropriate
■
small data points – not massive blobs.
• Make sure you process your data and then present it in the most
• If you have collected the data, present it – all of it, qualitative and
quantitative.
12
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
data, including identifying and explaining anomalies (do not just ignore
them!).
• If you have a hypothesis, remember you have not proven or disproven it;
●
Do not process and present all your data or you have made some
errors.
●
Only describe the data you have presented and ignore patterns, trends
and anomalies.
●
Do not give a conclusion or you give a conclusion that is unsupported
is criterion looks at your discussion and conclusion and how well they
are related to the environmental issue you proposed in the rst place. It
At this point you may fall foul of a poor starting point so think your
investigation ALL the way through to the end before you start it.
Remember :
●
Your research question must be based in a broad environmental area
of interest.
●
is facilitates discussion of the broader implications of your ndings
(local or global).
●
e broader discussion may not be directly linked to your ndings –
you will probably not have enough data for that but you can project
and extrapolate. You can extend your thinking to link to the real world
So, if you have not thought it through you will either lose marks or you
• Evaluate your conclusion and make the links to the environmental issue
VERY clear.
you used. DO NOT use things that you really should have thought of in the
rst place.
• Suggest how things could have been improved or even extended through
●
Only describe your data or make no link to the environmental issue.
●
Give a half-hearted evaluation of some of the strengths and/or
●
List supercial modications and/or extensions with no discussion.
13
Applications: worth 3 marks (10%)
again, if you did not identify an issue you cannot score on this criterion.
• You must use your ndings to propose and justify a possible application/
application.
●
Simply state an application/solution.
●
Do not link your ndings to the environmental issue.
●
Do not justify your application/solution.
●
Do not state some strengths, weaknesses and limitations of the
solution/application.
is is a holistic criterion (not tied in to any one section of your report).
have a clear, coherent structure that is easy to follow and makes sense?
• Present a well-organized repor t with side headings (it can be very useful
• Do not wae – you can’t really aord to waste words with this word limit
so be concise.
• The repor t must be logical – hence the comment about sticking to the
• You must be coherent – the person reading your repor t should be able to
follow your line of thought easily. DO NOT JUMP ABOUT in your thinking.
• Give a clear bibliography that is complete – the system does not matter,
just be consistent.
●
disorganized – jumps about between ideas and has no logical order
●
lacking in the appropriate terminolog y
●
disjointed and full of irrelevant information
●
dicult to understand
●
lacking a bibliography – this could cost you your diploma.
14
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
Sample IA investigations
Tip
ESS topics are interlinked so think about including more than one
• Make sure you have a focused
topic in your investigation. On the following pages, you will nd some
research question and link
suggestions.
it clearly to an appropriate
environmental issue.
ey are ver y specic and will only be applicable if you have the right
could be done and you can modify these suggestions to suit your area.
clearly and fully and justify
Topics 1 and 2
repeat it.
What impacts will the new IB C ollege building have on the local area
If you are in an area where a new building is planned you have an ideal
make sure they aid analysis).
(EIA). You may need to gain permission to conduct an initial sur vey – if it
●
identifying impacts (scoping)
●
predicting the scale of potential impacts
●
limiting the eect of impacts to acceptable limits (mitigation).
In this case the study area is probably clearly dened, as an area will have
been identied for the building. You will have to collect a wide range of
data that will constitute a ‘baseline study’ before the project starts.
1. You will need an accurate map of the designated building area. Google
i. density
ii. frequency
Techniques for all the above are described in Section 3 except for the last,
amenity value.
15
Amenity value
Amenity value means ‘why do people like this place/thing and what does
it add to their lives?’ So, for instance, if you cut a tree down will that
upset people because that tree adds to the overall feeling and look of the
is can be ver y hard to assess but a bipolar analysis could be used to get
Use a picture of the area as it is now and ask people what they like about
the area. You will have to adjust your questions to your location but here
Has lots of natural vegetation that makes it nicer Is unnatural and ugly
Is useful: for playing spor ts, sitting and relaxing Is not useful for anything
Blends in with everything around it and adds to the Is dierent from everything
Conducting this simple bipolar analysis will enable you to give a numerical
amenity value. You will have to be ver y careful if you conduct a sur vey like
this because people may get worried about the new building project. It
may be better for you to restrict your sur vey to the ESS class and friends.
is concludes your baseline study. You now know what you have before
is requires you to think about all the information you have collected
and how the proposed building may impact each of them. Some
ere are two aspects of a new building project that will impact the area.
2. e nal building.
(mitigation)
Now comes the problem-solving part – how can you reduce the impact of
the building?
16
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
human activity
• The environmental issue is
method so it is repeatable,
fully.
is can be done in any area where people walk across natural
ver y common in schools with large green areas to cross. ink about
further away from a car park in a natural area? Is it worse in certain areas?
2. You will have to decide on your sampling inter val and quadrat size etc.
4. Keep moving away from the footpath (in both directions) until there
5. Data you could collect (for methods see Section 3 and sub-topic 2.5 in
i. density
ii. frequency
c. amount of litter
17
3. Investigate ecological footprints (secondary
Tip
Topics 1 and 8
• Develop a sharply focused
●
Human Development Index (HDI)
• Make sure you cover both
●
Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDP US$) par ts equally as regarding
planning.
●
health care – life expectancy, infant mortality rate
●
education – number of years in school, literacy rates
●
or any other suitable measures.
Part 2: Once you have the data for the relationship, produce a
questionnaire to assess:
●
possible solutions
●
people’s attitudes to given solutions.
development
ere are a number of possible websites for secondar y data – the following
●
Tip
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
■
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data: a list of all data available
●
CIA world factbook
variables. You can then
data points.
●
Gapminder
■
Gapminder world tab for graphs: http://www.gapminder.org/
world
the study.
●
Nationmaster : http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php.
relationship.
■
UNDP: https://data.undp.org/dataset/GDP-per-capita-2005-PPP-/
navj-mda7
18
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
■
World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD
■
CIA world factbook: https://www.cia.gov/librar y/publications/the-
world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html
■
Nationmaster
●
Health care – life expectancy, infant mortality rate
■
UNDP: https://data.undp.org/dataset/Table-7-Health/iv8b-7gbj
■
Indexmundi: http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/topics/health
■
CIA world factbook
●
Education – number of years in school, literacy rates
■
UNDP: https://data.undp.org/dataset/Table-8-Education/mvtz-nsye
■
CIA world factbook
■
Nationmaster
■
Gapminder
●
Ecological footprint
■
Nationmaster
■
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ecological_
ecological footprint and they are introducing measures to reduce their footprint.
For this stage you can design a questionnaire that identies some of the
Carbon emissions Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and land Buy food grown locally
Turn o lights
Fly less
Crop land Land to grow food and bre for humans, animal fodder, Cut down on food intake
Grazing land Land for animal husbandry for the production of meat, Cut down on meat and dairy
Forest Land to supply timber, pulp for paper and fuel wood Reduce paper usage – recycle
Built-up land Land for infrastructure – houses, transpor t, reservoirs Have a smaller house
Water Amount of water for all types of consumption – Reduce sh consumption
19
ese are just a few suggestions for your questionnaire;
GFN/page/footprint_calculator_frequently_asked_questions/#gen6).
You can focus on one aspect of the ecological footprint or you can select
one from each area. You can use either style of questionnaire (see Section
3c) for this investigation. Always make sure your questions are relevant to
the investigation.
Tip
environmental issue.
Wash your car less often
the ecological footprint. Always make sure your questions are relevant to
the investigation.
time-consuming to develop
used it.
1. Design questionnaire.
20
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
is investigation involves the collection of primary data about the country
in which you live. You can design a questionnaire in order to investigate the
You can focus on one aspect of the ecological footprint (food, travel,
water, goods, etc.) or you can ask one question on a number of aspects.
For the questions about the ecological footprint you can use some of
ere are many footprint calculators; these are just a few suggestions:
●
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ – this asks about food, travel, home
●
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/
●
http://www.conser vation.org/act/live_green/Pages/ecofootprint.aspx –
transport.
responses.
In this investigation you can give the ‘best’ response the lowest value or
the ‘worst’ response the lowest value. So long as you are consistent it does
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
your area)
Never
Daily
Key term
Twice a day
but remember to always make sure your questions are relevant to the
investigation.
21
3. How oen do you eat meat?
This weighting is
Question Response Weight
Never 1
Daily 3
footprint will be the
Twice a day 4
lowest one.
●
Once you have designed your questionnaire you need to decide on a
●
en the data must be collated and summarized to facilitate clear data
presentation.
with no formal secondary school secondary school university and have a higher
degree – BA , BSc
Weight Responses w*r Responses w*r Responses w*r Responses w*r Responses w*r
Never 1 1 1 4 4 3 3 3 3 0 0
Once or 2 2 4 3 6 8 8 3 6 1 2
twice a week
Daily 3 3 9 4 12 2 6 1 3 1 3
Twice a day 4 5 20 5 20 3 12 2 8 1 4
Total 11 34 16 42 12 29 9 20 3 9
response
Sample calculation
= 34/11
= 3.09
(page 20). is could then inform your discussions about solutions.
4. Investigate pollution
Topics 1 and 4
What are the sources and impacts of stream pollution and some
22
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
lake is the
source of
the stream
possible pollution
pollution sources
possible pollution
sample point 4
sample point 3
sample point 2
sample point 1
freshwater ecosystem
1. electronic probes
2. biotic index
Method
1. As you get into the river to take samples or conduct kick sampling
Tip
you will cause material and invertebrates to be washed downstream;
strategies.
a. if you are using pollution probes take all measurements before you
signicant associated risks
get into the stream and disturb the sediments too much
so make sure you outline
c. get into the river and do a kick sample (see page 64).
gloves).
must take a sample at point 6 to make sure that the water upstream of
issues involved.
sample point 5 is actually clean. at conrms which site is the source
solution in detail.
23
For each sample point you can calculate the Simpson diversity index –
Kite charts are good for showing the data spatially or you could use a bar
graph for each site and place them on a copy of the map.
terrestrial ecosystem?
local ecosystems.
ecosystems.
too much fertilizer ends up in groundwater and streams this can lead
to eutrophication.
In aquatic ecosystems
You can use similar techniques to the previous example, except with this
test kits
2. temperature
4. salinity
5. dissolved oxygen.
And any others that you think may be aected by the intensive
indirect measure of the impact of both pesticides and fertilizers. (Use the
In terrestrial ecosystems
To test for such impacts you could run transect lines (minimum of
three) from the edge of the agricultural eld into the natural area. If the
NOTE: Your results will be better if you determine the dominant wind
24
PA R T 2 Internal assessment (IA) – your investigation
2. temperature.
a. density
b. frequency
c. percentage coverage
d. species diversity.
Topics 4 and 8
is is very similar to the investigation about ecological footprints (page 18).
e technique can be followed in much the same way, except that you are
only asking questions about the water footprint. You can also do this as a
ere are a number of websites that may give you inspiration for questions
SAMPLE QUESTION
● Base your categories on the countr y you are in – the lowest should
Below 150
150–500
501–1000
1001–1500
5–7 minutes
8–10 minutes
but remember to always make sure your questions are relevant to the
investigation.
25
SAMPLE QUESTION WITH WEIGHTING: the weighting should not be
This weighting is
8–10 minutes 3
●
Once you have designed your questionnaire you need to decide on a
●
en the data must be collated and summarized to facilitate clear data
presentation.
Monthly income ($) Below 150 150–50 0 501–10 0 0 10 01–150 0 More than 150 0
Weight Responses w*r Responses w*r Responses w*r Responses w*r Responses w*r
Less than 1 5 5 4 4 2 2 1 1 0 0
5 minutes
5–7 2 3 6 4 8 3 6 2 4 1 2
minutes
8–10 3 2 6 3 9 4 12 5 15 2 6
minutes
More 4 1 4 2 8 4 16 5 20 6 24
than 10
minutes
TOTAL 11 21 13 29 13 36 13 40 9 32
Water FP
= 34/11
= 3.09
26
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
a young man son off to school in his stead, feeling vaguely thankful
that I should have until Christmas to get used to the thought of him
before having to see him again.
Shortly afterward I returned to the White House and to the routine
of a social season. The Cabinet officers having all gone to their
respective homes we gave the Cabinet Dinner with all its accustomed
formalities, then came musicals, luncheons, small dinners, teas and
parties of various sorts until near the end of the year when I
introduced my daughter to society.
Helen had gone out in Washington and had attended my
entertainments during the winter of 1909 whenever she had been at
home from college and when I was ill had even acted as hostess in
my place at a dinner we gave for Prince and Princess Fushimi of
Japan, but she had never “come out,” so I gave two parties early in
the winter of 1910 in honor of her début.
We began with an afternoon At Home, for which, as my daughter
says she “got all the flowers there were in Washington,” and later I
gave a ball on the night of December 30th, when the East Room was
filled with hundreds of young people clamouring for “just one more
dance” until two o’clock in the morning.
The New Year’s Reception was followed in quick succession by the
Diplomatic, Congressional, Judicial and other state functions; the
winter passed like a dream; the Garden Party season was upon us;
then came the greatest event of our four years in the White House,
our Silver Wedding.
Twenty-five years married and all but a single year of it spent in
the public service. It did not seem unfitting to me that this
anniversary should be spent in the White House or that we should
seek to make it an event not to be forgotten by anybody who
happened to witness it. I thanked the happy fate that had given me a
summer wedding-day because I needed all outdoors for the kind of
party I wanted to give. That silver was showered upon us until we
were almost buried in silver was incidental; we couldn’t help it; it
was our twenty-fifth anniversary and we had to celebrate it.
I am not going to try to remember or to take the trouble to find out
how many invitations we issued. I know there were four or five
thousand people present and that a more brilliant throng was never
gathered in this country.
It was a night garden party with such illuminations as are quite
beyond description. Every tree and bush was ablaze with myriads of
tiny coloured lights, the whole stately mansion was outlined in a
bright white glow; there were strings of bobbing, fantastic lanterns
wherever a string would go; the great fountain was playing at its
topmost height in every colour of the rainbow; while on the gleaming
point of the Monument and on the flag stretched in the breeze from
the staff on the top of the White House shone the steady gleam of two
searchlights.
My husband and I received the almost endless line of guests under
a large tree about midway between the South Portico and the
fountain; the entire house was thrown open and was filled constantly
with people seeking the refreshment tables laid in the dining rooms
and vestibule. I have a right to be enthusiastic in my memory of that
party because without enthusiasm it could not have been given at all.
And why should not one be frankly grateful for success?
With the passing of another season, in no way different from those
that went before, I come to the end of my story. There is another
story to tell, longer and fuller, but it does not belong to me. It belongs
to the man whose career has made my story worth the telling.
After Mr. Taft was renominated, or rather after the second
convention in Chicago when the Republican party was divided, I
began to make plans for the future in which the White House played
no part. I stopped reading the accounts of the bitter political contest
because I found that the opposition newspapers made so much more
impression on me than those that were friendly to my husband that I
was in a state of constant rage which could do me no possible good.
Mr. Taft had never been subjected to bitter criticism and wholesale
attack until his term in the Presidency and I suppose I had formed a
habit of thinking that there was nothing to criticise him for except,
perhaps, his unfortunate shortcoming of not knowing much and of
caring less about the way the game of politics is played. Such
criticism of him as Mr. Bryan’s supporters were able to create for
their use in 1908 amounted to nothing. His record of twenty years’
uncriticised service stood, and he stood on it. I think we both avoided
much perturbation after we became convinced of the unfairness and
injustice of much that was said by hostile newspapers, by not reading
it. Mr. Taft took much satisfaction from those words of Lincoln’s
which Mr. Norton, his Secretary, had photographed and placed in a
frame on his office desk:
“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on
me this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the
very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep on
doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said
against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out
wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”
I wanted him to be re-elected, naturally, but I never entertained
the slightest expectation of it and only longed for the end of the
turmoil when he could rest his weary mind and get back into
association with the pleasant things of life. Fortunately we are a
family that laughs. Both Mr. Taft and the children manage to get
some fun out of almost everything, and I and my matter of factness
have afforded them lifelong amusement. They like now to tell a story
about me which doesn’t impress me as being particularly funny.
During the last campaign I was at Beverly alone a good part of the
summer, but when Mr. Taft did join me for short intervals he
brought Republican Headquarters with him, more or less, and a few
political supporters were sure to follow for consultation with him.
There was one good old enthusiastic friend who had always
supported him and who was then making a valiant fight in his behalf.
And he had faith that they would win. He assured me they would
win. He told me how they were going to do it, pointing out where Mr.
Taft’s strength lay and telling me how kindly the people really felt
toward him.
“Mrs. Taft, you mark my word,” said he, “the President will be re-
elected in November!”
“Well,” said I, “you may be right, but just the same I intend to pack
everything up when I leave Beverly, and I shall take the linen and
silver home.”
At a dinner given by the Lotos Club in New York, just ten days
after Mr. Wilson’s election in 1912, Mr. Taft said:
“The legend of the lotos eaters was that if they partook of the fruit
of the lotos tree they forgot what had happened in their country and
were left in a state of philosophic calm in which they had no desire to
return to it.
“I do not know what was in the mind of your distinguished
invitation committee when I was asked to attend this banquet. They
came to me before election. At first I hesitated to accept lest when
the dinner came I should be shorn of interest as a guest and be
changed from an active and virile participant in the day’s doings of
the Nation to merely a dissolving view. I knew that generally on an
occasion of this sort the motive of the diners was to have a guest
whose society should bring them more closely into contact with the
great present and the future and not be merely a reminder of what
has been. But, after further consideration, I saw in the name of your
club the possibility that you were not merely cold, selfish seekers
after pleasures of your own, and that perhaps you were organised to
furnish consolation to those who mourn, oblivion to those who
would forget, an opportunity for a swan song to those about to
disappear....
“The Presidency is a great office to hold. It is a great honour and it
is surrounded with much that makes it full of pleasure and
enjoyment for the occupant, in spite of its heavy responsibilities and
the shining mark that it presents for misrepresentation and false
attack.... Of course the great and really the only lasting satisfaction
that one can have in the administration of the great office of
President is the thought that one has done something permanently
useful to his fellow countrymen. The mere enjoyment of the tinsel of
office is ephemeral, and unless one can fix one’s memory on real
progress made through the exercise of presidential power there is
little real pleasure in the contemplation of the holding of that or any
other office, however great its power or dignity or high its position in
the minds of men.
“I beg you to believe that in spite of the very emphatic verdict by
which I leave the office, I cherish only the deepest gratitude to the
American people for having given me the honour of having held the
office, and I sincerely hope in looking back over what has been done
that there is enough of progress made to warrant me in the belief
that real good has been accomplished, even though I regret that it
has not been greater. My chief regret is my failure to secure from the
Senate the ratification of the general arbitration treaties with France
and Great Britain. I am sure they would have been great steps toward
general world peace. What has actually been done I hope has helped
the cause of peace, but ratification would have been a concrete and
substantial step. I do not despair of ultimate success. We must hope
and work on.”
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and
variations in spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings
as printed.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
RECOLLECTIONS OF FULL YEARS ***
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside
the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to
the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying,
displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works
based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The
Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright
status of any work in any country other than the United States.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if
you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project
Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or
other format used in the official version posted on the official
Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at
no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a
means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project
Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.F.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.