College Preparedness Essay

Today’s students face a world influenced by a global economy, technological advances and rapid changes in the way we share information, communicate and conduct business. It has never been more critical to help them build the knowledge, skills, behaviors and awareness necessary to succeed in college and beyond. Improving postsecondary success for all our citizens, but most urgently for low-income and minority students, is vital to our nation’s economic and social health, and global competitiveness. Yet, college remediation and completion rates suggest that many students leave high school without the skills and knowledge required to succeed in postsecondary education. (media. collegeboard. com/Feb. 26,2013) College today means much more than just pursuing a four- year degree at a university. Being â€Å"college-ready† means being prepared for any postsecondary education or training experience, including study at two- and four-year institutions leading to a postsecondary credential (i.e. a certificate, license, Associates or Bachelor’s degree). Being ready for college means that a high school graduate has the English and mathematics knowledge and skills necessary to qualify for and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing college courses without the need for remedial coursework. Although students have ambitious educational and career aspirations, many lack basic information about how to fulfill their postsecondary goals. Many students and their parents fail to plan because they do not have the essential information resources, personal support networks, and structured programs they need to effectively perform educational and postsecondary planning activities (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000; Hrabowski et al. , 1998; McDonough, 1997). Some students and their parents have a vague understanding or hold misconceptions about high school course requirements for college admission, the importance of teachers in college planning, and college tuition costs (Choy, Horn, Nunez, & Chen, 2000; Hrabowski, Maton, Greene, & Greif, 2002; Schneider & Stevenson, 1999; Venezia et al., 2003). (www. aypf. org/ Feb. 27,2013) There are multiple steps that students and their parents can take to successfully plan for postsecondary education and become college ready. These steps build upon one another to help students make the transition from secondary to postsecondary education and training (McDonough, 1997). The early stages of postsecondary planning can include, but are not limited to: 1) Considering postsecondary education, 2) Deciding to attend college, 3) Maintaining good  grades, 4) Gathering information about the college admissions process (including college admissions tests), 5) Discussing educational and career goals with counselors, teachers, and parents, 6) Obtaining information about colleges and academic programs, 7) Obtaining information about financial aid opportunities, and 8) Exploring college major and career interests. (www. act. org/Feb. 27,2013) Schools should provide the tools, information, and resources to guide students and their parents through the postsecondary planning process and make successful educational transitions. And it is important for schools to initiate this planning process by the middle school years. This early educational planning can guide students’ experiences in middle and high school and help them make informed educational decisions. A key aspect of early educational planning involves the exploration of educational and work options. Students have many postsecondary choices, including two-year colleges, certificate programs, four-year colleges, the military, and employment. They often begin taking steps to make their educational goals a reality by taking college preparatory courses, maintaining good grades in these courses, participating in extracurricular activities, and learning about ways to finance postsecondary education (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000). And they may regularly engage in conversations about their futures with their friends, parents, teachers, and counselors (McDonough, 1997). College Costs. Most parents believe that a college education is the best investment they can make for their children (Miller, 1997). Developing a plan to pay college costs is an essential part of early educational planning, often leading students and parents to discuss college costs, research various colleges and their academic programs, and explore financial aid opportunities (Hossler, Schmit, & Vesper, 1999). However, many parents neglect or are unable to save money, or do not have a plan to pay for college when their children are young. These families may perceive that they cannot afford college. Many students and parents also lack knowledge and information about college costs and options of paying for postsecondary education. Even among high school juniors and seniors who plan to attend college, few have accurate information about college costs. Schools can help students develop educational goals by providing career and postsecondary planning information, beginning in the middle school. Counselors, teachers, principals, and other school personnel often influence students’ educational goals and postsecondary planning. Throughout their school years, most students take standardized achievement tests and complete career interest measures to assess academic performance and assist in postsecondary planning. Schools can integrate test information into the course selection process to show students how test results align with classroom performance and what academic skills they need to develop through future courses. Counselors and teachers can review assessment results with students and parents to guide course selection and placement in the proper course level to fit the students’ academic preparation and achievement (Wimberly, 2003). Low-income parents and students often report that they do not receive adequate information about financial aid. They often lack knowledge about the application process and what financial aid is available to them. Consequently, low-income parents and students may not develop a college finance plan (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000). Many high achieving low-income students are more likely to enter the military than college because of failing to develop a plan to pay for college costs (Choy, 2000). Popular media stories about rising tuition costs and budget cuts at colleges and universities may compound the issue by making it seem that a college education is unaffordable. This, in turn, may cause many students and their families not to seek college finance information. Students often enter their senior year of high school believing they are ready for college because they have completed required courses. This leads to the development of particularly bad study habits and skills during the senior year (Conley, 2001; Kirst, 2000; National Commission on the High School Senior Year, 2001). In this fashion, the lack of a coherent, developmentally sequenced program of study also contributes to deficiencies in other key areas, including study skills and time management. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a preparation program that emphasizes time management and study skills but does not sequence challenge levels that develop these skills progressively from year to year. What does it mean to be college ready? Previous research suggests that being ready for college means having the academic content knowledge and skills needed to pass college level courses (Conley 2007; Roderick, Nagaoka & Coca 2009), including course grades, standardized test scores, and the degree of rigor of courses taken. Additional research suggests that motivational or non-cognitive factors can be important determinants of success in college (Dweck, Walton & Cohen 2011). These factors include tenacity: maintaining a positive attitude toward learning and being able to persist when the going gets tough. Being college ready also encompasses having â€Å"college knowledge† that includes knowing how to apply to college and for financial aid (Conley 2007). Because college is truly different from high school, college readiness is fundamentally different than high school competence. Students fresh out of high school may think a college course is very much like a similarly named high school class taken previously only to find out that expectations are fundamentally different The college instructor is more likely to emphasize a series of key thinking skills that students, for the most part, do not develop extensively in high school. They expect students to make inferences, interpret results, analyze conflicting explanations of phenomena, support arguments with evidence, solve complex problems that have no obvious answer, reach conclusions, offer explanations, conduct research, engage in the give-and-take of ideas, and generally think deeply about what they are being taught (National Research Council, 2002). College is different from high school in many important ways, some obvious, some not so obvious. College is the first place where we expect young people to be adults, not large children. Almost all of the rules of the game that students have so carefully learned and mastered over the preceding 13 years of schooling are either discarded or modified drastically. The pupil-teacher relationship changes dramatically as do expectations for engagement, independent work, motivation, and intellectual development. All of this occurs at a time when many young people are experiencing significant independence from family and from the role of child for the first time. No wonder that the transition from high school to college is one of the most difficult that many people experience during a lifetime. At the same time, college faculty consistently report that freshman students need to be spending nearly twice the time they indicate spending currently to prepare for class (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2006) These students do not enter college with a work ethic that prepares them for instructor expectations or course requirements College freshmen who are most successful are those who come prepared to work at the levels faculty members expect. Those who do not are much less likely to progress beyond entry-level courses, as witnessed by the high  failure rates in these courses and the significant proportion of college student who drop out during the freshman year. Finally, the relationship between teacher and student can be much different than in high school. An oft-cited example by college faculty is the first-term freshman who is failing the course, shows up at office hours near the end of the term, and requests â€Å"extra credit† in order to be able to pass. College instructors are often mystified by such requests. The students are equally mystified by the instructor reaction, since this strategy has worked very well for the student throughout high school In other words, the cultural and social expectations about learning and performance that students encounter tend to be vastly different as well. The scores students receive on state tests may not be good indicators of college readiness, but students may believe that passage of the state test is just such an indicator. Recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) suggest a fundamental disconnect between trends and scores on state tests and on NAEP tests, which has triggered a federal study of state definitions of â€Å"proficiency† (Cavanagh, 2006) When performance on state tests is compared to NAEP performance, significant differences exist from state to state, and students can show improvement on state tests and not corresponding improvement on NAEP In other words, it is very difficult to know what successful performance on a state test really means. A student who meets all aspects of the college readiness definition would gain in several ways. One is, the student would be comfortable in essentially any entry-level general education course. This is an important level to attain because failure to succeed in one or more general education courses during the first year is closely associated with failure to continue in college (Choy, 2001; Choy, Horn, Nunez, & Chen, 2000). A definition of college readiness must also address the issue of how students combine the various facets of college readiness. For students, the combination is more complex because it includes the elements under the school’s control along with those that are not. In particular, students need to understand what it really means to be college-ready. They need to understand what they must do as well as what the system requires or expects of them. They must, first and foremost, understand that college admission is a reasonable and realistic goal that can be attained through planning and diligent attention to necessary tasks. Successful academic preparation for college is grounded in two important dimensions—key cognitive strategies and content knowledge Understanding and mastering key content knowledge is achieved through the exercise of broader cognitive skills embodied within the key cognitive strategies. With this relationship in mind, it is entirely proper and worthwhile to consider some of the general areas in which students need strong grounding in content that is foundational to the understanding of academic disciplines The case for the importance of challenging content as the framework for developing thinking skills and key cognitive strategies has been made elsewhere and will not be repeated in depth here (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). Our study clearly shows that many students and their families are not considering college finances as part of their early educational and postsecondary planning. As early as sixth grade, schools can help reverse this trend by encouraging families to explore college finance options. School personnel should be knowledgeable about financial aid and scholarship opportunities, the financial aid process, and how students and parents can obtain financial aid. Schools should also partner with local college financial aid officers, bank representatives, and other community resources to provide financial aid information and help with early postsecondary planning. Students need to take the responsibility to utilize the information presented to them on college academic and financial requirements and to discuss this information with adults in their lives who may be able to help them. Not all students have supportive family environments, but support can come from other quarters as well, and students need to be encouraged to reach out to and interact with adults who can help them navigate the college readiness gauntlet, whether these adults are relatives, community service staff, or adults at the school who may be paid staff or volunteers. Young people need personal contact and guidance to know how to become, and believe they are capable of being, college-ready.

The History of Policing

The history of policing in the United States is broke down into three general eras they are the political era from 1840 to1930, the reform era from 1930 to 1980 and the community era from 1980 to present. As we look at these eras we find that some of the tactics and policies that were effective in one era were quite ineffective in another or in contrast that some tactics that were thought ineffective are now being considered necessary for an effective and productive police force. In the political era officers were appointed by politicians and would remain loyal to those who appointed them. In this era officers provided several services that would include running soup lines, helping immigrants find jobs and establish themselves, the officers would at times allow new immigrants temporary housing in the station house. The main means of patrolling their beat was on foot. These officers would also live in the neighborhoods that they patrolled this would prove to be both beneficial and detrimental. The beneficial part was that they knew their neighborhood they had a personal stake in maintaining order. The detrimental part was that they had a tendency to keep those who â€Å"did not belong† or â€Å"strangers† out of the neighborhood by using â€Å"Curbstone justice† this often resulted in discrimination. In the reform era the public grow tired of the corruption, brutality and unfairness of police forces and wanted to follow J. Edgar Hoover's reform of the Bureau of Investigation. Those that wanted these changes became known as â€Å"reformers† and they demanded change, they saw politicians as the problem with policing and wanted to remove the ties between politics and police. These reformers began to get changes made across the country things like civil service exams, making it illegal for an officer to live in the area that he patrolled and making changes to how the chief of police was hired or fired. Changes were also made to the why officers did their jobs and even what their jobs were. Police focused on law enforcement and controlling crime all of the other duties became Social work. This system removed foot patrols and wanted officers to be distant and removed from the communities they served, the belief was that this would enable them to administer the law in an objective manner. In 1967 the â€Å"President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice ratified this orientation: heretofore, Police had been conceptualized as an agency of urban government; the President's Commission reconceptualized them as part of the Criminal Justice System.† The community era started in the 1980's however the research that much of this era is based on began in the late 1970's in places like Flint Michigan were foot patrols were brought back throughout the city. The city even voted twice to raise taxes in order to maintain the foot patrols. The result of the foot patrols were â€Å"reduced fear, increased citizen satisfaction with police and increased morale and job satisfaction of the officers.† Other programs like the â€Å"Safe and Clean Neighborhood Program† in New Jersey had similar success. Research also showed that increasing other types of patrols that focus on police-citizen interactions also had similar results. These studies lead to a new way of policing referred to as community policing. This new tactic put officers back in the communities and changed what was expected of them. Officers were now tasked with maintaining order, negotiating conflicts and solving community problems these tasks require neighborhood and community involvement. Community policing encourages people to bring problems to an officer or to a local police station and gives the officer and the station the ability to devise and implement solutions, it is also a strategy that allows officers to learn what is expected or wanted by their community then gives the officer the ability to deliver results that will meet these expectations. The intension is to deliver on what the community wants and in turn gain the trust and cooperation of the community, this trust and cooperation will in turn reduce crime and gain effective information from the community when needed to solve crime.The history of policing in the United States has gone through several changes since the political era of the 1840's. With wide spread changes made in the reform era of the 1930's that took police away from the community and kept them distant from those that they served. It took research conducted in the late 1970's and early 1980's to discover that better information on crime and criminals could be obtained by police from citizens and that patrol officers were in the best position to obtain this information. This research has lead to the community policing that we see in today's police departments.

Innovation Report

INNOVATION REPORT ON DABUR CHYAWANPRASH GROUP MEMBERS LAVANIA SAJEED KHAN MUGWANEZA ELYSEE CONTENTS OExecutive summary OIntroduction OInnovation:  §Innovation model  §Dabur as an innovative product  §Market pull OProduct features OConclusion OReference EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Dabur India Limited is the primary market influential in FMCG products. Many initiatives were taken by the company which includes reduction in price, reducing the impact on environment, introduction of a new product and improvement of quality which is making them a leader in the market. Dabur has positioned its products in the ‘natural health’ category. To meet the fitness and individual grooming wishes of their customers with secure, effective and ordinary solutions, Dabur India Ltd has synthesized a profound information of Ayurveda and herbs with modern science. Dabur India Limited is the 4th largest FMCG Company in India with revenues of Rs. 4110 crores and is ranked among the top 50 OTC(Over-the-Counter) Companies in the world. We see the diversification and expansion in their product segments under various brand names. It is trusted worldwide and is the world’s foremost Natural Health Care and Ayurvedic Company. Dabur has been in the front position by establishing an alternate way of living by going beyond national boundaries and hence they are marketing their products in many countries outside India. Combining luxury, nutrition and wellness, the â€Å"nutraceutical market† is growing at a faster pace. Chyawanprash is made by using various herbs and is one of the products of Dabur India Ltd which is in great demand in the market. Herbal supplements were gaining popularity as preventive supplements. Thus, the concept of preventive care coupled with the rising use of herbals was a major reason for the relatively rapid growth of herbal medicines over allopathic drugs. Another major segment where herbal products outperformed allopathic drugs was in the segment of ‘lifestyle disorders’. The increase in lifestyle disorders like diabetes,joint pain,stress caused individuals to consider herbal medicines, as these diseases were lifetime problems and using herbals in conjunction with allopathic products would reduce the allopathic dosage and thereby reduce the incidence of side effects. A shift from prescribed medication to self-medication was a significant shift. As prescription products proved to be expensive, consumers started buying OTC products. Shlomo Maital, D. V. R. Seshadri,2007 Many products including Dabur Chyawanprash started appearing in OTC form,hence these products benefitted. Hence the product’s innovation is in using herbal supplements and dominating the market segment over other allopathic medicines. It has identified its market segments by implementing the market pull strategy and thereby produces the products according to the changing needs and preferences of the consumers. Example: Chyawanprash which is for adults and Chyawanprash Junior which is for children. Chyawanprash Junior has various nutrients required for growing children and is present in different flavours to attract that segment of the society. It typically uses product innovation where the company comes up with innovative value added features like being sugar free to its existing product category to increase the demand and therefore to occupy the Number 1 position in the market. INTRODUCTION: Driven by a vision to bring Ayurveda to society in a contemporary form, Dr. Burman founded the Dabur India Limited in 1884 by targeting to a large number of people who didn’t have access to proper cure; hence he came up with the idea of Ayurvedic medicines to treat people in a natural way. His rigorous hardwork made the company grow from a small Ayurvedic pharmacy, to a well-established company which is a global leader in the market. Dabur India Ltd has effectively changed its position from being a small business to an efficiently managed venture. Their continuous innovation is the secret to their success and Dabur India Ltd retains the focus on quality and has an ISO 9002 certification. It has three major strategic business units (SBU’s) which includes Consumer care division, Health care division and International business division. VARIOUS PRODUCT INNOVATIONS OF DABUR: Launched Chyawanprash in tin pack-The ancient curative was in a packaged form and it dominated the market by being the wide seller with a huge market share. Entered Oral Care segment- Introduced a herbal toothpowder which was called Lal Dant Manjan. It was well-packed and was made available to the masses at affordable prices. Launched Hajmola tablet- Used to control indigestion and became popular world wide and thereby came up with Hajmola tablets which are of different flavours.. Became successful by coming up with Real Fruit Juice- Real Fruit Juice was very much successful throughout India and hence accounted for majority of the company’s share. First-ever online shopping portal – First-ever online shopping portal www. daburuveda. com[->0] came into existence. Nutrigo-A new range of health supplements. WHY CHYAWANPRASH? -It is an authentic ayurvedic product,hence they do not make use of any chemicals. -No side effects. -Superior in quality. -Improves immune power and stamina. -Has a huge market share. INNOVATION The practical refinement and development of an original invention into a usable technique or product; or a process in which creativity is applied to every facet of an organization’s value chain, from beginning to end, to develop new and better ways of creating value for customers. Shlomo Maital and D. V. R. Seshadri. Chyawanprash is an example of Product Innovation: The development of new and improved product is called product innovation, so it is definitely a product innovation because it came up with new products which are first of its kind in the market with better product attributes. DABUR AS AN INNOVATIVE PRODUCT By expanding their presence through smart innovations, managing costs efficiently and getting consumer insig hts, the company takes into consideration these opportunities very seriously to stay ahead in the market. Chyawanprash is a very good example of product innovation because the original flavor of the product was the first of its kind and shook the existing market with its innovative idea and superior quality. â€Å"Innovation is becoming increasingly important in attaining and maintaining competitive advantage†. ShlomoMaital,D. V. R. Seshadri After it established a position for itself in the market, they came up with two different flavors like Mango and Orange. Chyawanprash targeted for children were known as ‘Chyawanprash Junior’ with yummy chocolate flavours that children would like and has all the nutrients that a growing child may require apart from the child’s normal diet. Another product which was launched in the market was called Chyawanprash sugar free. As Dabur Ltd came up with new innovations, it was able to cater to the needs of various segments of the society and age group in terms of product attributes, affordable price and variety in flavours. MARKET PULL : It is a strategy where the needs of the consumers are satisfied and one of the main motive of this strategy is to make profits. Since majority of the people these days are prone to various diseases due to unhealthy eating habits, the company adopted various techniques for manufacturing the product. Chyawanprash is sometimes given as a prescribed medicine by Doctors which boosts the energy levels and strengthens the immune system of the body. Hence it uses the market pull approach where it identifies the need in the market and manufactures its products accordingly. Understanding that a majority of the people have become health-conscious, age-old traditional practices are blended with science in making the product, thereby ensuring that there are no side-effects. Research was done and it was found that children are not really health-conscious and hence their main target segment was people above 30years of age. The R&D found out that small kids did not eat Chyawanprash until and unless they were given by force by their parents, hence they came up with fruit-flavoured Chyawanprash exclusively for children which were first of its kind in the market. INNOVATION MODEL ADOPTED BY DABUR CHYAWANPRASH: SIMULTANEOUS COUPLING MODEL Continuous innovation can be attributed to the company’s success. After Chyawanprash became the leader in the market, the company’s continuous R&D activities have helped in identifying the changing preferences and tastes of the consumers based on the demographic details of the consumer. Research was done and it was found that people belonging to the age group 13-30 were not really health-conscious and hence they strategically divided their target segments into two groups and manufactured products to suit the needs of both these segments. 1. Dabur Chyawanprash Junior for children was made of various yummy flavors like Chocolate,Orange and Mango. 2. Dabur Chyawanprash for people above 30. It is very good for health as it contains anti-oxidants and hence it is a health supplement for people belonging to various age groups. GROWTH OF THE COMPANY IN OTHER COUNTRIES: Because of the brand loyalty that has been built over a long period of time, the company has crossed the Indian boundaries and has established a foot-hold in places outside India. Dabur’s overseas product portfolio is specially made to suit the needs and aspirations of the consumers in the international markets spreading through the Middle East, North Africa, West Africa, Europe and South Asia. Dabur has a number of manufacturing facilities in International business as well. The company has its manufacturing facilities spread across the Asia & Africa with 8 being in India and 5 outside India. The company has a world-wide recognition. Dabur is on the verge of becoming a global market leader. PRODUCT FEATURES:  ·Made by using the age old approach of Ayurveda.  ·Healthy and prescribed by Doctors.  ·Available in different flavours.  ·Protects from day to day ailments like cough and cold to ‘lifestyle disorders’. It is very good for health and hence recommended to all age groups because it contains anti-oxidants which helps to fight against diseases. CONCLUSION: There is considerable increase in the sales of the company which means there is greater demand for the products in the market. Dabur has come up with various innovative products under various brand names for different product categories like food products, Health care products etc. Dabur Chyawanprash contributes for the company’s majority of the market share. Dabur with its various product features is in the fore-front and is able to keep customers loyal to their brand. Its vision of being in the forefront in the healthcare sector by providing remedies and care from ‘head to heel’ is now becoming a reality. Since the costs are affordable, people belonging to the lower strata of the society have started consuming Chyawanprash because of its added advantage. REFERENCES: http://www. dabur. com/About%20Dabur www. thehindubusinessline. in[->1] http://www. dabur. com/en/Investors1/Annual_reports/2010-11/Dabur-Annual-Report-2010-11. pdf http://www. dabur. com/Chyawan%20Junior [->0] – http://www. daburuveda. com [->1] – http://www. thehindubusinessline. in

Female delinquency in sociology and criminology Essay

Female delinquency in sociology and criminology - Essay Example The women's movement has caused assertiveness and was said to encourage young women to adopt certain "male behaviors" such as drinking, stealing, and fighting. The social and environmental risk factors also contributed to the increase in female delinquency. The study by Lind & Shelden in 1998, as cited by Weiler revealed that the interaction of social class, race, ethnicity, and culture cause young women to behave violently (65). The research showed that girls from low-income families seek recognition by adopting a "bad girl" image because of their disappointment of not being able to attain a college degree. Furthermore, in a study by Artz, he showed that a girl’s poor school performance increases their risk of violence and delinquency, more than boys (66). In the same study, Art also found out that women jailed for crimes as compared with their male counterparts, usually are victims of previous sexual or physical abuse. In conclusion, although there is an increase in female d elinquency over the past few years, one can still say that in general, girls are still less delinquent than boys because of their nurturing qualities. It can be observed however, that social and environmental factors contribute a lot to female delinquency.

Are the virtues of justice, prudence, and beneficences suffient for a Essay

Are the virtues of justice, prudence, and beneficences suffient for a good life - Essay Example Secondly, it leads people to become biased to the attitudes and interests of the society rather than helping them to act impartially with all human beings. Lastly, the view of Adam Smith is unclearly justified. This essay will analyse Adam Smith’s views about living a good life and its criticisms. First, the essay examines Adam Smith’s view on the issue and its strengths and weaknesses. The essay will also highlight the criticisms of Smith’s view and their strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, it will provide my position about the issue. In this essay I will conclude that the virtues of justice, prudence, and beneficences are very essential; but they are not sufficient for a good life. Other considerations that need to be observed include rationality, human development and scientific approach of solving problems. These additional factors work with the moral virtues suggested by Adam Smith to enable the society achieve good life while meeting the interests of human beings without bias. Being happy is enhanced by living morally and having enough resources to support individuals and societies to solve their problems and resources. Therefore, human development in terms of soci al, economic and political advancement supports human life and enables people to live morally and happily. In the book The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith attempts to explain the source of morality, and why people exhibit virtues and decency even if they may conflict with their self-interest (Roberts, 2014). In the opening sentence of the book, Smith argues that even though human beings may be selfish, they still care about the happiness of other people (Roberts, 2014). Although one may not benefit from the happiness of others, they are usually pleased to see that they are happy. Smith argues that a human being should be totally virtuous in order for the economic system to function in such a way that it can maximize wealth. As a philosopher, Smith argues that there

Economic Policy Proposals of Barack Obama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Economic Policy Proposals of Barack Obama - Essay Example He intends to do so by extending tax cuts, curtailing the regulatory constraints, encouraging research and development, extending mortgage refinancing to responsible home owners and investing in the fast deteriorating infrastructure (Thoma, 2012). Obama’s proposals also made a mention of dealing with the budgetary deficit and regulating the financial markets (Thoma, 2012).  If one carries out a macroeconomic analysis of some of the salient proposals extended by President Obama, they do promise positive economic results in a long term context. For instance, Obama’s proposal of reviving the manufacturing sector by offering tax cuts is indeed favorable. There is no denying the fact that America has lost a large proportion of jobs at home owing to the flight of manufacturing to countries like China (Kind, 2006, p. 29). Manufacturing sector constitutes the cornerstone of any vibrant economy. Revival of the manufacturing sector clearly means the retention of good jobs at ho me that will directly translate into a good standard of living for the American citizens (Weiss, 2002, p. 83). Boosting the manufacturing sector will directly support Obama’s proposal of reviving exports. The export of goods produced by a competitive manufacturing sector will of course bring back the wealth generated by it to the local communities, through the sale of goods in the local and global markets. This will also have a positive spillover effect in the small businesses that serve as ancillary units supporting the big manufacturing companies.

Discussion #10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion #10 - Essay Example Remembering things of the past ,increase attentive ability to observe things in the environment and a great sense of humor more urge to learn and being more informative,different ways of performing things, motor or physical activities and speech. Giftedness is either inherited or is adopted from the surroundings. It often runs in families. In order to cope up with such children they are indulging in school activities at an early age so that their abilities are more polished. (Mail Online, 2015) Such children must complete the curriculum early and move on to advanced level. Teachers must help them to learn to how to gain knowledge and how to make best use of their knowledge. Teachers must give them projects to enhance their knowledge.Teachers must engage them in decision making projects and help them to avail the chance of taking responsibility. (Globalpartnership.org, 2015) Gifted children as compare to others sleep less and are usually highly active when they are awakened. The Extended family all required in such cases including grand parents or close group of friends and families who can take care of the children while the parents are having rest. According to this article full time ability grouping of gifted students has been criticized. Students in regular classes and in special ones are divided according to their ability,sex and social status. It has been estimated that children in gifted classes have more interest in school. These classes make efforts to enhance the imagination of these children. Children with the same flaw happen to spend more with each other. They get along pretty well. Disabled children tend to consume more time during feeding. Even potty training requires a lot of time and patience. They also find it difficult to adjust in their age group of normal children. In this way, their parents need to be beside them 24/7, which costs their

Evaluating Internet Sources Government Shutdown 2013 Research Paper

Evaluating Internet Sources Government Shutdown 2013 - Research Paper Example Policymic.com is an online publication whose purpose is to inform, sell, persuade and educate. The site is current as it is designed to avail news and analysis of society’s politics, entertainment, arts, and identities. The audience for this site is the general public and the information provided in the politics section is appropriate for college-level research by political science students giving its relevance. While the site provides sources for its presented information, it is evident that majority of their publications/articles are outsourced from the general public; and the selling aspect in arts and entertainment/personalities, the sight may not be necessarily authoritative. The addressing of the government shutdown 2013 in relation to the 1995 shutdown, downgrades the site’s estimation and analytical aspects thus jeopardizing its accuracy. The final evaluation of the site is that policymic.com is not a good source to use at college-level research. The Guardian is an online editorial website whose purpose is to inform, analyze and educate. As an editorial and politically independent website, the site is current and up to date on with information on business, technology, politics, environment, and lifestyles. The audience for this site is the general public and the information provided in their various topics is relevant and appropriate at college-level research. The authoritative aspect of the website can be traced back to the source of its articles and the manner in which they are detailed. This translates to accuracy and reliability making it a good source to use for college research. Cnn.com is an online editorial whose purpose is to inform, educate, entertain and persuade. The site is current and up to date on political issues, news, and social trends. The audience of the site is the general internet community providing its relevance and reliability for college-level research.  

Human Resource Management in a Business Context Essay - 2

Human Resource Management in a Business Context - Essay Example claim strategic HRM as organizational systems that use people as a means to achieve sustainable competitive advantage (Snell et al., 1996). Nevertheless, almost all theorists agree on the fact that strategic HRM involves the achievement of a strategic fit between business strategy and HR strategy. For instance, rather than waiting for the employee to design and find his/her replacement, managers now proactively get involved in strategic planning to determine the staffing needs of organizations and conduct recruitment and selection accordingly. This has given way to the matching model whereby HR strategy flows out of the business strategy. The â€Å"fit† perspective has been widely acknowledged in HRM literature with the claim that the HR function needs to be aligned with other functions in the organization. Holistically, HR domains such as the recruitment, selection, training and development of employees are contingent on organizational goals. For instance, companies wishing to enhance their customer management would require corresponding HR practices that empower employees to ensure their satisfaction so that they may keep their customers satisfied. Furthermore, it is important to note that this â€Å"fit† may be internal or external. An external fit would require HR practices to be aligned with external environment (such as recession, outsourcing, downsizing, increased female participation), whereas, an internal fit would require the HR working in sync with other departments in the organization such as finance, IT, marketing etc. In the contemporary world, however, an â€Å"internal† fit is alm ost always assumed with HR of most organizations. It is the â€Å"external† fit that is gaining momentum owing to globalization and the volatile environment. Strategic HRM has evolved as a means of securing sustainable competitive advantage. This is in line with the theory of â€Å"rational choice† which claims that giving strategic

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical Analysis Essay McDonalds is commonly known as a satisfying fast food restaurant that can be found all over the United States. It has great tasting food and a warm, fun environment for parents and children. McDonalds continuously tries to be portrayed as a healthy, happy, and family friendly setting to attract their intended audience but in reality, this food is extremely bad to eat. They provide commercials and advertisements that look very appealing to the human eye because the meals they sell are commonly eaten in the United States. Between the food and the environment, it is hard to pass up a trip to this restaurant. They are most famous for their burgers, fries, and milkshakes which are typical meals that young kids and their parents like to snack on without realizing how unhealthy they can be. Ronald McDonald, the restaurants character, is an interesting man that looks like a clown, which is an attraction to a little kid that wants to eat there. McDonalds is a great example of how restaurants say and do whatever it takes to get more customers using pathos and ethos. McDonalds puts out commercials where all their customers; parents and children, look extremely happy and healthy when in this atmosphere. The indoor playgrounds and appealing food make it seem like it is one of the best places to eat out, but customers do not realize that what they see in this advertisement is too good to be true. The people may seem to look friendly and skinny on television and on billboards, but in reality, those that eat at McDonalds all the time are not in shape and most likely do not feel good about their health. This chain restaurant uses the technique of pathos to try to attract more customers by making the people in the commercials look as if they feel great and make them look overly happy to be eating this food. Those that eat at this restaurant are really looking for cheap food on the go. McDonalds is very well known in the country to have reasonably priced, good tasting food. Those that have experienced eating here know it tastes good and those who have not tried it yet, have heard about it, so it is safe to conclude that they use the technique of ethos as well. Reputation in any restaurant is important because if there is a bad reputation no one will want to eat there Although the food at McDonalds tastes exceptionally good, they are falsely advertising the environment that this restaurant brings about. It may be delicious but it is necessary to make sure that people know it is not good for them and can be very detrimental to their health. McDonalds incorporates pathos and ethos in order to advertise the best way they possibly can to attract the customers and to make more money.

The Aims Of Education In The Islamic World Religion Essay

The Aims Of Education In The Islamic World Religion Essay In any society, education is a major vehicle for the transmission of ideas, attitudes, and beliefs. This means that control over educational content and access to classrooms can become valuable commodities in a conflict. Education, and especially the teaching of history, can perpetuate negative judgments about the other, engendering hostility and aggression among the young, and firing up the fever to go to war. But educational content and teaching approaches can also provide powerful means to change these attitudes, to promote tolerance and a willingness to settle conflicts without resort to violence. In order to increase the capacity of the educational sector to promote conflict prevention, peacemaking and post-conflict reconciliation it has to enhance the ability of teachers and scholars to incorporate peace education and conflict management into curriculum and classes many institutes, both Islamic and others, mostly under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO  [1]  , all work together with the main objective to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms. Under its current Education for All campaign, it conducts research and runs programs in countries in Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) advocates and works for the protection of childrens rights to h elp the young meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. Among other programs, they have developed peace education programs in a number of countries, including Afghanistan and Indonesia. The mission of the Association of Arab Universities is to enhance cooperation among universities in the Arab world. It is associated with central governments through their respective ministries of education. (www.aaru.edu.jo). Islam has, from its inception, placed a high premium on education and has enjoyed a long and rich intellectual tradition. Knowledge (ilm) occupies a significant position within Islam, as evidenced by the more than 800 references to it in Islams most revered book, the Koran. The importance of education is repeatedly emphasized in the Koran with frequent injunctions, such as God will exalt those of you who believe and those who have knowledge to high degrees, O my Lord! Increase me in knowledge and As God has taught him, so let him write. Such verses provide a forceful stimulus for the Islamic community to strive for education and learning. Islamic education is uniquely different from other types of educational theory and practice largely because of the all-encompassing influence of the Koran. The Koran serves as a comprehensive blueprint for both the individual and society and as the primary source of knowledge. The advent of the Koran in the seventh century was quite revolutionary for the predominantly illiterate Arabian society. Arab society had enjoyed a rich oral tradition, but the Koran was considered the word of God and needed to be organically interacted with by means of reading and reciting its words. Hence, reading and writing for the purpose of accessing the full blessings of the Koran was an aspiration for most Muslims. Thus, education in Islam unequivocally derived its origins from a symbiotic relationship with religious instruction. HISTORY OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION This was the way, Islamic education began. Pious and learned Muslims (mu allim or mudarris), dedicated to making the teachings of the Koran more accessible to the Islamic community, taught the faithful in what came to be known as the kuttÄ b (plural, katÄ tÄ «b). The kuttÄ b could be located in a variety of venues: mosques, private homes, shops, tents, or even out in the open. Historians are uncertain as to when the katÄ tÄ «b were first established, but with the widespread desire of the faithful to study the Koran, katÄ tÄ «b could be found in virtually every part of the Islamic empire by the middle of the eighth century. The kuttÄ b served a vital social function as the only vehicle for formal public instruction for primary-age children and continued so until Western models of education were introduced in the modern period. Even at present, it has exhibited remarkable durability and continues to be an important means of re ligious instruction in many Islamic countries. The curriculum of the kuttÄ b was primarily directed to young male children, beginning as early as age four, and was centered on Koranic studies and on religious obligations such as ritual ablutions, fasting, and prayer. The focus during the early history of Islam on the education of youth reflected the belief that raising children with correct principles was a holy obligation for parents and society. As Abdul Tibawi wrote in 1972, the mind of the child was believed to be like a white clean paper, once anything is written on it, right or wrong, it will be difficult to erase it or superimpose new writing upon it. The approach to teaching children was strict, and the conditions in which young students learned could be quite harsh. Corporal punishment was often used to correct laziness or imprecision. Memorization of the Koran was central to the curriculum of the kuttÄ b, but little or no attempt was made to analyze and discuss the meaning of the text. Once students had me morized the greater part of the Koran, they could advance to higher stages of education, with increased complexity of instruction. Western analysts of the kuttÄ b system usually criticize two areas of its pedagogy: the limited range of subjects taught and the exclusive reliance on memorization. The contemporary kuttÄ b system still emphasizes memorization and recitation as important means of learning. The value placed on memorization during students early religious training directly influences their approaches to learning when they enter formal education offered by the modern state. A common frustration of modern educators in the Islamic world is that while their students can memorize copious volumes of notes and textbook pages, they often lack competence in critical analysis and independent thinking. During the golden age of the Islamic empire (usually defined as a period between the tenth and thirteenth centuries), when western Europe was intellectually backward and stagnant, Islamic scholarship flourished with an impressive openness to the rational sciences, art, and even literature. It was during this period that the Islamic world made most of its contributions to the scientific and artistic world. Ironically, Islamic scholars preserved much of the knowledge of the Greeks that had been prohibited by the Christian world. Other outstanding contributions were made in areas of chemistry, botany, physics, mineralogy, mathematics, and astronomy, as many Muslim thinkers regarded scientific truths as tools for accessing religious truth. Gradually the open and vigorous spirit of enquiry and individual judgment (ijtihad) that characterized the golden age gave way to a more insular, unquestioning acceptance (taqlid) of the traditional corpus of authoritative knowledge. By the thirteenth century, according to Aziz Talbani, the ulama (religious scholars) had become self-appointed interpreters and guardians of religious knowledge.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ learning was confined to the transmission of traditions and dogma, and [was] hostile to research and scientific inquiry. The mentality of taqlid reigned supreme in all matters, and religious scholars condemned all other forms of inquiry and research. Exemplifying the taqlid mentality, Burhà ¤n al-Din al-Zarnà ¼ji wrote during the thirteenth century, Stick to ancient things while avoiding new things and Beware of becoming engrossed in those disputes which come about after one has cut loose from the ancient authorities. Much of what was written after the thirteenth century lacked originality, and it consisted mostly of commentaries on existing canonical works without adding any substantive new ideas. The lethal combination of taqlid and foreign invasion beginning in the thirteenth century served to dim Islams preeminence in both the artistic and scientific worlds. Despite its glorious legacy of earlier periods, the Islamic world seemed unable to respond either culturally or educationally to the onslaught of Western advancement by the eighteenth century. One of the most damaging aspects of European colonialism was the deterioration of indigenous cultural norms through secularism. With its veneration of human reason over divine revelation and its insistence on separation of religion and state, secularism considered by many as anathema to Islam, in which all aspects of life, spiritual or temporal, are interrelated as a harmonious whole. At the same time, Western institutions of education, with their pronounced secular/religious dichotomy, were infused into Islamic countries in order to produce functionaries to feed the bureaucratic and administrative needs of the state. The early modernizers did not fully realize the extent to which secularized education fundamentally conflicted with Islamic thought and traditional lifestyle. Religious education was to remain a separate and personal responsibility, having no place in public education. If Muslim students desired religious training, they could supplement their existing education with moral instruction in traditional religious schools-the kuttab. As a consequence, the two differing education systems evolved independently with little or no official interface. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION 3.1. Problems in Islamic Schools Before proceeding further, and in order to have a better understanding of the Aims Islamic Education it is better to first examine the problems facing the contemporary Islamic schools in the Western World. Generally these are: No Adaab or Islamic etiquette or behaviour Parents want teachers to be lenient Some girls and boys meet secretly in the basement. They have girl-friends and boy-friends. They do smoke. Profanity is written on the walls, desks, blackboards, etc. Behave roughly: laughing, talking, screaming, rip off their Hijab on the buses. Discipline: Behaviour is no different from the Public Schools. Teachers are not fair. Spoiled kids as their parents are rich or important. Less school activities for girls. Little opportunity to interact with other students. Islamic schools are running without an Islamic curriculum, often without a syllabus. No textbooks. No qualified and trained teachers or certified teachers. (Quality in education is not possible without good teachers.) Those who attend Muslim high schools do not fare better in college. Non-Muslim teachers who are qualified and certified. (Live-in boyfriend rejects institution of marriage. Wear tight and revealing outfit. Promote gay agenda, anti-religion agenda, or insensitive to Islamic values and events) Qualified and certified Muslim teachers work in Public schools. As Islamic schools do not offer viable salaries, benefits (pension health benefits, etc.) When they leave Islamic schools and graduate from colleges, some of them, they do marry non-Muslims as the Muslim community and their parents have exerted zero influence on them. Chronic shortage of space, science labs, auditoriums, gyms, playgrounds, libraries, bathrooms. High turnover rate (30 to 40 percent annually) of teachers. Parents fear Islamic schools trade off academics for Islamic environment. Organization, planning and discipline -suffer most in Islamic schools. Governance is the big reason why most Islamic schools suffer Do not develop an autonomous and unique decision-making (governance) structure School Boards require training in how to run a school School Boards rarely include women Parents do not play a part in Governance structure No qualified administrators Some parents worry Islamic schools offer an inferior quality of education. Children are not prepared to face competitiveness and the challenges of the modern world. Seriously lacking in Muslim literature and culture. For many Muslim families, Islamic schools are not affordable. In sparse Muslim population areas, Islamic schools are not financially viable. Very few trained Muslim teachers in special education or none The Arabic language has three terms for education, representing the various dimensions of the educational process as perceived by Islam. The most widely used word for education in a formal sense is talim, from the root alima (to know, to be aware, to perceive, to learn), which is used to denote knowledge being sought or imparted through instruction and teaching. Tarbiyah, from the root raba (to increase, to grow, to rear), implies a state of spiritual and ethical nurturing in accordance with the will of God. Tadib, from the root aduba (to be cultured, refined, well-mannered), suggests a persons development of sound social behavior. What is meant by sound requires a deeper understanding of the Islamic conception of the human being. Education in the context of Islam is regarded as a process that involves the complete person, including the rational, spiritual, and social dimensions. As noted by Syed Muhammad al-Naquib al-Attas in 1979, the comprehensive and integrated approach to education in Islam is directed toward the balanced growth of the total personalityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦through training Mans spirit, intellect, rational self, feelings and bodily sensesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦such that faith is infused into the whole of his personality. In Islamic educational theory knowledge is gained in order to actualize and perfect all dimensions of the human being. From an Islamic perspective the highest and most useful model of perfection is the prophet Muhammad, and the goal of Islamic education is that people be able to live as he lived. Seyyed Hossein Nasr wrote in 1984 that while education does prepare humankind for happiness in this life, its ultimate goal is the abode of permanence and all education points to the permanent world of eternity. To ascertain truth by reason alone is restrictive, according to Islam, because spiritual and temporal reality are two sides of the same sphere. Many Muslim educationists argue that favoring reason at the expense of spirituality interferes with balanced growth. Exclusive training of the intellect, for example, is inadequate in developing and refining elements of love, kindness, compassion, and selflessness, which have an altogether spiritual ambiance and can be engaged only by processes of spiritual training. Therefore Education in Islam is twofold: acquiring intellectual knowledge (through the application of reason and logic) and developing spiritual knowledge (derived from divine revelation and spiritual experience). According to the worldview of Islam, provision in education must be made equally for both. Acquiring knowledge in Islam is not intended as an end but as a means to stimulate a more elevated moral and spiritual consciousness, leading to faith and righ teous action. EDUCATION OF MUSLIM CHILDREN CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Education is the birth right of every Muslim and Muslimah. Islam puts considerable emphasis on its followers to acquire knowledge. Investment in education is the best investment one can make, because it eventually leads to intellectual property. Intellectual property is the intangible property, which no one can steal or destroy. This is the property on which no Government can levy a tax. It was as a result of application of knowledge that Muslims were the superpower of the world for twelve centuries.   Today, globally Muslims have the lowest literacy rate. Education of Muslim children in the west has both opportunities and challenges.   In the Western World the purpose of education is to provide for the economic prosperity of a nation. At a personal level the purpose of education is to acquire academic and professional skills that enable one to earn a respectable living with riches and fame, and also a luxurious and comfortable life. For a Muslim providing economic prosperity of a nation does not contradict his/her Islamic beliefs, however focusing the goals of education solely for the purpose of money making is unpalatable. Muslims want to impart Islamic education. The vast majority of Muslims think that Islamic education means acquiring Islamic religious knowledge-study of Quran, Arabic, Hadith, Sunnah, Seerah, Fiqh, Islamic history, and allied subjects. As a matter of fact, in the present world broadly speaking we have two types of Muslims: a) those who have followed the Western type of education, or secular education, and b) those who have acquired Deeni or Islamic education. In the twentieth century, due to colonialism and Western influence, Muslim parents concentrated on imparting only Secular education to their children. The weak or not so bright students were sent to Deeni (religious) Madrasas (schools) in their own countries or to one of the Middle Eastern countries. The Muslims who immigrated to Western countries became aware of their religious identity and wanted to impart both Islamic and Secular education, what is now known as Integrated Education. When they lacked the numbers and resources, they sent their children to public schools during the week and to the Islamic schools in the Mosque or Islamic Centre during the weekends. As their numbers grew and acquired sufficient resources, they have opened full-time Islamic Schools from kindergarten to 12th grade (senior or final year) in High School.  [2]  It takes about two to three years of full-time study to become a Hafeez. During this time the student takes an equivalent to sabbatical leave from his or her public or parochial school.   The greatest objective of education is to prepare the young generation for leadership. Islamic education is of course has the highest objective, and more than that can hardly be imagined. The aim of Islamic education is Character building. Growth and development of an Islamic personality should be the final goal of any Islamic School. Islamic values are the foundation of the Islamic personality. For Muslims the educational aim is to develop the personalities of children to the end that they will be conscious of their responsibility to God (the Creator) and to fellow humans. The aims and objectives of Islamic education have been defined in the Recommendation of the Committee of the First World Conference on Muslim Education as: Education should aim at the balanced growth of the total personality of man through training of the human spirit, intellect, rational self, feelings and senses. The training imparted to a Muslim must be such that faith is infused into the whole of his/her personality and creates in him/her an emotional attachment to Islam and enables him to follow the Quran and Sunnah and be governed by Islamic system of values willingly and joyfully so that he/she may proceed to the realization of his/her status as Khalifatullah to whom God has promised the authority of the universe. There is a need to prepare the younger generation having leadership quality and not to be the followers of alien ideologies but to play the role of torchbearer by their excellence in knowledge, character, and positive action. Some scholars believe that this quality can be developed in Muslim youth by a direct study of the Quran with a view to solve the problems of life in its light. A program of action to bring up the younger generation for leadership has not yet been formulated.   

Understanding The True Meaning Of Heritage

Understanding The True Meaning Of Heritage Alice Walker illustrates the significance of heritage in material objects by contrasting the family members in the story Everyday Use. Walker uses Mamma and Maggie, the youngest of the two daughters, as an example that heritage travels from one generation to another through experience and learning. However, Dee, the oldest daughter, possesses a misconception of heritage as material. During Dees visit with Maggie and Mamma, the contrast of the characters becomes a conflict because Dee misplaces the significance of heritage in her hope for displaying her racial heritage. Dee doesnt understand the true meaning of her heritage, unlike her sister and mother who do understand the true story behind the quilt and churn top. In Everyday Use Walker embodies the different sides of culture and heritage in the characters of Dee, Maggie and Mamma through symbolism in the quilt and churn, characterization of Mamma and Dee, and the impact of setting and education. Dee, Maggie, and Mamma each have a different outlook on their African heritage and culture. Unlike Mama who is rough and man-like, and Maggie who is shy and scared, Dee is confident, and beautiful: first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is Dee. Her feet were always neat-looking, as if God had shaped them Dee next. A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders (Walker 111). Maggie has lived in Dees shadow her whole life. Mamma describes Maggie as walking with her chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire (Walker 109). Even though the fire has had a major impact on Maggies body and personality, she still lives a satisfying and practical life, sharing the daily chores with Mama. In the near future she will marry John Thomas, a local man who seems to be a realistic choice (Walker 110). Mama i s more into the rough work, such as kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man, with her rough, man-working hands (Walker 110). Mamma symbolizes a simple satisfying way of life where items of culture and heritage are valued for both their usefulness as well as their personal significance. Mamma dreams a dream that her daughter, Dee, will arrive home and embrace her with tears in her eyes, and show affection for her. But when she comes home, Dee is seen as a stranger. She greets them saying Wasuzo-Teano! When Mamma refers to Dee by her name, Dee replies with No, Mama. Not Dee, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo! Mamma asks, What happened to Dee? Dee replies with, Shes dead. I couldnt bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me (Walker 111). Dees proclamation of her new name is a turning point in the story in which pushes Mammas limits (Farrell 179-86). In this part of the story Dee is rejecting her family history. Dee doesnt understand that there is actually a story of how she got her name. Mamma is quick to point out that Dee is named after her aunt, who was named after her grandmother. Even though Dee may not be an African name it is based on custom, tradition, ancestors and the heritage of the Johnson family. Mamma also doesnt show her true feelings of Dees arrival. She replaces her own fears onto Maggie when she anticipates that Maggie will be awed by Dees company. However, Maggies behavioreven her limited use of languageconveys disgust with her sister rather than envy and awe (Tuten 125-28). Mamma expects Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that no is a word the world never learned to say to her (Tu ten 125-28). Dee can be described as selfish and unappreciative because she obviously forgets where she came from. In a sense she forgets who she really is and the kind of household she grew up in. Mammas life growing up was different from the life Maggie and Dee grew up in. Mamma mentions that after second grade, the school was closed down, and because of this she is not educated and cannot read (Walker 110). Critics see Dees education and her insistence on reading to Mama and Maggie as further evidence of her separation from and lack of understanding for her family identity and heritage (Farrell 179-86). Tuten, for instance, argues that, in this story, Walker stresses not only the importance of language but also the destructive effects of its misuse. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Rather than providing a medium for newfound awareness and for community à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ verbal skill equips Dee to oppress and manipulate others and to isolate herself (Farrell 179-86). Similarly, Donna Winchell writes that Dee tries to force on Maggie and her mother knowledge they probably do not need. She continues, Mrs. Johnson can take an objective look at whom and what she is and find not disillusionment but an easy satisfaction. Simple pleasures-a dip of snuff, a cooling breeze across a clean swept yard, church songs, the soothing movements of milk cows-are enough (Farrell 179-86). Although they were sisters, Dee and Maggie were two very different individuals with different aspects on certain objects such as the quilts and churn top. Maggie and Dee are very different from each other. Maggie is more of a passive individual who is unconfident and ashamed because of the burn scars that are located up and down her arms and legs, but Maggie understands the history behind simple objects, like the quilt, and the importance that it holds, unlike Dee. Dee takes the hand-crafted churn top, which she will apply as a centerpiece for the alcove table (Walker 112-113). Dee only wants these things to show off her African heritage, but Mamma and Maggie actually need these things to survive. Dee doesnt realize the true value of it. Her mother and sister use the churn top everyday by making butter. Dee is only concerned about fashion and the beauty of objects. Dee relates the items with her heritage now, but thought nothing of her heritage in her youth as she was growing up. Dees chase of her heritage is external, wishing to have these different items in order to display them in her home and using them to show off to her friends. Dee wants to keep the items as souvenirs and display them in her home. She wants the items because she understands each to have value, but Dee doesnt understand the deeper meaning behind the quilt or churn top. For example, instead of being used for warmth, she uses the quilt as a symbol of art or fashion to display on her wall. Dee and Mamma have different point of views on the quilts, and this makes their relationship complicated. Dees interpretation of the quilt conflicts with Mammas understanding of the quilts. There are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. Imagine! (Walker 113). This line represents that Dee considers the quilt worthless because the quilt is hand-stitched, not machined. Dee plans to show the quilts or Hang them, (Walker 113) unlike Maggie, who will actually put them to everyday use (Walker 113). Mama knows that there is a connection of heritage in Maggie, and she knows that It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught Maggie how to quilt (Walker 113). Mama expresses herself in the climactic scene of the story not through words but through deeds: she hugs Maggie to her, drags her in the room where Dee sits holding the quilts, snatches the quilts from Dee, and dumps them into Maggies lap (Tuten 125-28). Its because Maggie has such a great connection with her heritage that Mama takes the quilts from Dee who held the quilts securely in her arms, stroking them clutching them closely to her bosom (Walker 113) and then hands them to Maggie. Only by reaction does she finally speak and tell Dee to take one or two of the others. Instead of using words, Mamas actions silence the daughter who has used language to control others and separate herself from the community: Mama tells us that Dee turns and leaves the room without a word (Tuten 125-28). Dees past is another reason of why she doesnt understand the importance of her heritage. Mamma remembers Dees childhood and her appreciation of nice things. Dee was not the least upset when their home burned to the ground while she was just a girl, Why dont you do a dance around the ashes? Id wanted to ask her. She had hated the house that much (Walker 110). Dee is misinterpreting her heritage as material goods, as opposed to her ancestors customs and way of life. It could be because she left her hometown to get an education and become a more sophisticated and independent young woman. Dee believes heritage to be as concrete as a quilt on the wall or an old-time butter churn in the alcove. Dee has an understanding that the items are hand made by her ancestors, but remains unaware of the knowledge and history behind them. Mamma knows the traditions behind the quilts and it puts their ancestors memories to everyday use. Unlike Dee, Maggie understands the true meaning of her African heritage, and she believes to put all items to good use. On the other hand, Dee enjoys flaunt ing the beauty of objects instead of using them for their specific use. Through the story Everyday Use Walker presents that heritage is a practiced tradition. People can learn about their heritage and culture from one generation to the next. It is not suddenly picked up. A person who possesses real heritage and culture make use of it every day of their life.

The cultural relevance of the Bic Maxi lighter :: Culture Cultural Lighters Essays

The cultural relevance of the Bic Maxi lighter According to William J. Thomson, the natives of Easter Island’s â€Å"method of obtaining ï ¬ re requires considerable preparation of material and patience on the part of the operator. A pointed stick of hard wood is rubbed against a piece of dry paper-mulberry until a groove, is formed, which ï ¬ nally becomes hot from the friction and ignites the lint or ï ¬ ber thrown up at the end of the groove. This is blown into a ï ¬â€šame, and dried grass added to it until the ï ¬ re is sufï ¬ ciently established.†1 Society is still dependent on ï ¬ re today. If not for bare survival, ï ¬ re is used for some simple enjoyments of life: candle lights, barbecues, ï ¬ replaces, etc. But contemporary methods of obtaining ï ¬ re often simply require a ï ¬â€šick of the thumb. The portable disposable cigarette lighter is a very ubiquitous tool used by many of us who require a ï ¬â€šame once in a while. This paper will discuss the Bic Maxi lighter (ï ¬ g. 1 soon) a nd its relationship with some of western culture’s contemporary issues, mainly: branding, individual responsibility, the mainstream and ecology. It will illustrate the Maxi’s cultural relevance by presenting the implications of its belonging to the Bic brand, some background issues related to the Child-Guard mechanism, its popularity and omnipresence, and its impact on the environment. Will follow a discussion of the eminent disappearance of the Maxi as a product dependent on a socially deviant behavior. It is branded Although they are regarded by many as threatening to our health, destructive to our environment and corrupting our children, brands are an important part of the postindustrial commercial life.2 Many recent books have been chanting an anti-brand rhyme: Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation (2001), Franà §ois Dufour and Josà © Bovà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s The World is Not for Sale (2001), and most importantly, Naomi Klein’s No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (2000). But still, brands are everywhere: â€Å"products, people, countries and companies are all racing to turn themselves into brands — to make their image more likeable [sic] and understandable.†3 Madonna, Canada, Starbucks, Martha Stewart, The European Union, Microsoft are all selling the greatness of being alive, surrounded by their music, culture, coffee, craft, money, software, etc. Historically, brands were â€Å"a form not of exploitation, but of consumer protection. In pre-industrial days, people knew exactly what went into their meat pies and which butchers were trustworthy; once they moved to cities, they no longer did.

Labor Law Cases and Materials Essays -- employee union, national labor,

1. In the case Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 502 U.S. 527 (1992), Lechmere was a large retail store located in a plaza that also contained several smaller satellite stores. In this case the union filed an unfair labor practice against Lechmere for violating Section 7 of the NLRA for not allowing its non-employee organizers to distribute literature on the companies parking lot. There was not sufficient area for on public property for these organizers to be able to speak with employees. In this case the NLRB ruled in favor of the union stating that â€Å"The right to distribute is not absolute, but must be accommodated to the circumstances, where it is impossible or unreasonably difficult for a union to distribute organizational literature to employees entirely off the employer’s premises, distribution on a nonworking area, such as the parking lot and the walkways between the parking lot and the gate, may be warranted.† In the case of Republic Aviation Corp. v. NLRB, 324 U.S. 793 (1945), the employer fired four employees in total for violating the company’s policy stating, â€Å"Soliciting of any type cannot be permitted in the factory or offices.† One employee was soliciting union membership in the plant by passing out application cards to employees on his own time during lunch, and three other employees were discharged for wearing UAW-CIO union steward buttons in the plant after being requested to remove them. The NLRB ruled in favor of these employees having the reinstated and had the company remove its no solicitation rule because it violated Section 8(1) of the NLRA. You can see by these two cases that there is a difference between employee and non-employee union organizers. The main difference being in where they ... ...intention of entering in to a collective bargaining agreement. â€Å"Section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act states that â€Å"to bargain collectively is the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, or the negotiation of an agreement, or any question arising there under, and the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached if requested by either party, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession† (Cox, Box, Gorman, Finkin, 2011). Works Cited Cox, A., Bok, D. C., Gorman, R. A., & Finkin, M. W. (2011). Labor law cases and materials. (5th ed.). New York, NY: Thompson Reuters/Foundation Press.

Coyote Community College Essay

This paper tends to discuss the and review the types of measures included in each perspective of the Coyote Community College such as Funder/financial perspective, Student/participant perspective, Internal Process perspective, and Innovation and process perspective. In addition, this review paper also discusses about how these said perspectives are measured based from the description of the college and even the college’s environment. The Funder/Financial view includes the measures: State revenues ? Tuition and fees revenues ? Grant and foundation funding ? direct costs (Evans & 2007) The Student/Participant view includes the measures: Enrollment ? % of the citizen’s participating in programs and also events ? Student goal attainment ? Number of students completing their occupational degree and certificate programs ? passing rates on licensure and Certification exams ? Certificate programs ? Student success at transfer institutions ? Graduate placement rate ? Graduate hourly rage ? New Mexico state competency examination pass rates ? Student persistence ? course completion rate ? % Technology delivered offerings ? Responsiveness to request for courses and workshops ? Student/stakeholder satisfaction with programs and instructional services (Evans & 2007) The Internal Process view includes the measures: High value content of curricula ? Cycle time for curricula development ? Implementation of individualized learning ? Learner involvement in active learning ? Basic skills improvement ? Attainment of program competencies ? ESL/Remedial preparation for college eligibility ? Access for underserved groups ? Student satisfaction with student services ? Student satisfaction with support process The Innovation and Resource view includes the measures: Faculty/Staff satisfaction surveys ? Faculty/Staff retention ? ESL expertise ? Training and development in key areas ? Faculty and Staff technology tool availability ? Investment in technology to support learning programs (Evans & 2007) How measures are made In order to put the inputs for measuring each of the Coyote Community Colleges’ perspectives, they uses the â€Å"LEARN Philosophy† which basically stands for Learning Excellence, Assessment, and Recognize Needs (Evans & 200). The balanced scorecard that they use is called the LEARN board. It is explained that the institution’s stakeholders are represented although the four perspectives of the LEARNing board, since it is systemized in this kind of measurement, the leadership team are able to balance all of its stakeholder’s needs (Evans & 2007). In order to make and complete these measures on each and every perspective, the Vice President and the Dean of Instruction conducts a monthly meeting with the managers of the different offices’ reports. They do this to gain the reports regarding with the progress reviews towards their certain goals (Evans & 200). On the simplest explanation, the actual of the institution are obliged to submit their annual report to the Leadership Team, who on the other hand, summarizes all the performance made. This performance includes the relevant learning board measures during the current academic year. Therefore, in order to do the systemized measuring, the institution collects all the data from each and every actual, and then summarizes it to figure out whether they did or did not meet their institution’s goal. They base their measuring from all their institution’s perspectives. References Evans, J. R. , & , W. M. L. (2007). Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence (7th ed. ): Thomson South-Western.

Pedestrian Counts

1. Pedestrian Counts My Isoline Map of Cambridge shows that, as I predicted, the overall trend of my data is that the further you move away from the city, the fewer the number of pedestrians. This theory is backed up by my scatter graph, which shows a negative correlation meaning that the pedestrian counts and the distance away from the city centre are inversely proportional, with lower counts the further you move away. The two innermost, red coloured zones of the map have pedestrian counts in the mid four hundreds. These counts are this high for a number of reasons. They are in the centre of Cambridge's CBD, and as a result are filled with high demand shops and services, and a large number of densely populated office blocks. For instance the reading recorded on Market road, showing 419 people passing that point in ten minutes was most probably due to the famous ‘Cambridge Market' which lies there. The highest reading of 465 on the corner of St Andrews street was again due to the presence of a great many shops and services. I also note that the time when these readings were taken is also important. The fact that they were taken at 11:30am on a Wednesday morning is crucial as this would be one of the times where the highest density of people would be shopping and working in offices. If these readings had been taken at 11:30am on a Sunday then I believe that the results would have been very different. At point number 27 I would say that there is an anomalous result. A pedestrian count of only 90 here does not keep in with the 400+ trend, and though there are a few similar results around it, such as the 107 at point 28, I feel that this result is an anomaly. A possible explanation for this is that there are very few shops in that area, but I think that a more likely one is that the boys took the reading at a point which was not actually on the main road, but down a tiny side street. Of course the boy may simply have got it wrong. The next zone on the Isoline map is coloured orange and deals with pedestrian counts from 300 down to 200. These points are situated mainly near the larger collages meaning I would estimate that the majority of the pedestrians would be tourists. This theory is corroborated by the fact that the highest reading of 270 was recorded at the corner of the St John's Collage, a place of great tourist interest. The final yellow zone is for counts of 200 to 100. They seem to be mainly clustered around the western side of the shopping district, with four out of the seven reading found here. The other three readings are on main roads, with the highest of 178 being found at a junction of two main roads. This Isoline map is similar to the Burgess Urban model, in the highest density of people are in the centre of the town. However, it also differs from it as the zones are clearly not circular, with no people being found on the river. 2. Tax Discs As you can see from my tax discs map, most (12 out of 20) of the cars I surveyed were registered in Cambridge. This fits my prediction, and the is obviously because the survey was carried out IN Cambridge, and therefore any residents surveyed were very likely to have their car registered at the placed they lived. In regard to the other 8 cars not registered in Cambridge, the ones registered in relatively far off places such as Kent and London and were most probably belonging to tourists who had come up to see Cambridge.

Chemistry of Chocolate Essay

Chocolate is made from the cacao bean. According to Rodney Lipson, â€Å"Cacao has been a cultivated crop for at least three thousand years, probably quite a bit more. The people who first utilized Cacao were the inhabitants of what is now Venezuela† (Lipson) This group of people would eventually spread the cacao bean in northwestern South America. Cacao was clearly highly valued by these people and they spread it northward through trade with their neighbors. It was probably the Maya, over 1500 years ago, who brought Cacao to Yucatan in what is now Mexico. The Aztecs who got Cacao from the Maya, used Cacao in a number of ways, one common way was as a bitter spice in food and possibly also as a base for pasta or bread, but the most well-known way that Cacao was as a drink. While the Maya drank Chocolate hot, the Aztecs seem to have often taken it cold. The Aztecs called the drink, and apparently the bean as well, Xocoatl. From this word comes the pan-European word Chocolate. When Europeans first made contact with the Aztec civilization, Cacao was being cultivated and used extensively. The Spanish Conquistadors quickly noticed the benefits of Chocolate and used it to keep their armies marching long distances with little food. From the Aztecs the Spanish took it to Europe. Chocolate was widely used in Catholic countries after 1569 when Pope Pius V declared that Chocolate, the drink, did not break the fast, despite the hearty nutritional aspects of Chocolate† (Lipson). Chocolate continued to be moved from country to country through trade and exploration. Soon chocolate found its way into America, and according to Lipson, â€Å"In 1900 Milton Snavely Hershey, a Mennonite from Pennsylvania, began producing milk-chocolate bars and â€Å"kisses† with great success. He was anti-alcohol and saw Chocolate as a good, profitable alternative. His empire grew even larger during World War I, when Milton Hershey encouraged the US Army to add four Hershey bars to each soldiers daily ration† (Lipson). Because of Hershey, chocolate was now affordable for everyone, and his methods of making chocolate are still used today. Peter’s chocolate tells us that chocolate is made by, â€Å"storing the cacao beans in silos or warehouse. These rooms are well aired, kept at cool temperature and the humidity regularly checked. Before the production stage, the beans are sorted and cleaned. Cocoa does not acquire the richness of its color and the fullness of its flavor until it is roasted. The degree of care given to this operation has considerable influence on the ultimate quality of the end product – either cocoa powder or chocolate. When roasting is complete, the beans are cooled and their thin shells removed by a winnowing machine. The husked and winnowed beans are called â€Å"nibs†. Here’s where the first secrets of the chocolate manufacturer come in. The nibs are blended, combining as many as eight to ten varieties. It is control of these subtle mixtures that maintains a constant quality and brings out the flavor of each particular variety of chocolate. The roasted and winnowed nibs then pass through refining mills and are ground. The heat generated by grinding causes the cocoa butter or fat to melt and form a fine paste or liquid known as chocolate â€Å"liquor. † This goes to large hydraulic presses which remove most of the cocoa butter. The â€Å"cake† which is left may eventually be made into cocoa powder. The cake goes through several processes in which it is crushed, milled and finely sifted. After the cocoa paste, cocoa butter, milk, sugar and additional flavorings have been carefully weighed out in accordance with the recipe, they go into a mixer where rotating, kneading arms thoroughly mix all the ingredients. The result is a homogeneous, paste-like mixture which is already pleasant to taste, but still feels gritty to the palate. The chocolate is put in a conching machine. While in the machine, the chocolate turns over in the conching machine, a controlled amount of air ventilates the mass, allowing the full aroma and flavor to develop. The still-warm conched chocolate is placed in a tempering machine so that it can be slowly and steadily cooled. The tempering prevents separation in the chocolate when it’s filled into bar molds and hardens† (Peter’s). This results in the average chocolate bar.

Investigate a Type of Public Speech Such as Political Speech, School Assembilies Etc.

A political speech is a type of public speech; public speeches are usually prepared with the intentions of informing, influencing or entertaining an audience. The main purposes of a political speech are to transmit information among others, motivating people to act either for or against something or to tell a story. A good orator should be able to change people’s emotions and keep the audiences interest. For my language study I am analysing David Cameron’s speech to his campaigners in Brighton before the election 2010 because I thought it would be an interesting topic as it is in current news. Firstly, David Cameron’s excessive use of pauses is interesting. They seem to be the most used technique in the transcript, for instance David Cameron says ‘we’ve got the ambition (1) to make this country great again (2) and as you go out there (1)’ this shows that there are a lot of long pauses in just one utterance, a pause can sometimes be just a hesitation but in political speech is it more likely to be deliberate. It is an interesting technique because when the orator has paused, even if only for a second, it gives the audience a chance to reflect on what has been said and interpret the information said across in their own way. However, many people may not realise that whilst letting the utterance play on the audience minds it also gives the speaker the chance to develop and prepare in his head how he will express his next point to the crowd, the longer pauses in this particular transcript seem to be after every main point so the crowd will remember those points in particular when they come to vote. Secondly, David Cameron uses pragmatic phrases in his speech such as â€Å"when we get knocked down we don’t roll over and die we get up and fight (1)† pragmatic phrases are common in political speeches to create humour or to give what is being said a second interpretation, some people make take this point literally and think about the current wars in Afghanistan but others may think of it as a personal comment made directly to them to tell them that they should never give up on what they believe in and that they should always be determined. The purpose of the pragmatic phrase in this particular speech is probably to make the audience relate to the points being made and think that they can relate to the orator themselves. Another intriguing technique is the use of repetition in this speech, â€Å"another day we’re not gripping our problems (1) another day we are wasting our opportunities (1) another day when this country is not being all that it could be (2)† repetition in this utterance is powerful because it gives the speech more drama and make more of an impact and stick in the audiences minds for when it is really needed, at the polling station. The orator might choose to use repetition to make the speech easier to remember if he does not want to seem like he is reading off a sheet because a good orator needs to at least try and look like he is delivering it naturally because that is what the audience would want. Also, in the transcript quote above the main points are emphasised, words that are emphasised are more likely to be remembered because they are spoken louder and clear than all the others. . In political speeches, language is affected because it is slowed right down and is spoken more precisely, because in theory, a speech is a performance and you would want people to listen and not think, boring! A political speech is prepared, but that does not mean that the audience does not want a natural delivery, they would not want any false starts, that are seen in normal face-to-face conversations, because that would make the audience lose confidence in the speaker, also there is no slang unless that is the way the speaker wants to put the speech across. Generally, in political speeches politicians tend to use words that the audience don’t really understand, the audience might not like this because they feel that politicians’ should talk in a way that every educational ability can understand and try not to diverge away from them, however that’s what is so interesting in this speech is the lack of political jargon, i would have thought there would have been a lot. However, i realise that the orator may not want to speak in political jargon because he may want to act like one of the public and speak in a way they are more likely to understand because if the audience understands the pitch they are more likely to vote for the one they actually know what was said. The delivery of a speech welcomes peoples own interpretations and opinions, and politics is all about opinions.

Islamist movements Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Islamist movements - Assignment Example Hamas is best known throughout the world for carrying out Suicide bombings and other homicidal attacks against Israeli civilians to further its goal of creating an Islamic Republic of Palestine in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. However, the views of these Islamist movements as portrayed by the Western media has also shifted ideologically even though they are still, at large, dispersed in both positive and negative directions. In particular, the way the media of the West has recorded speeches delivered by the leaders of these groups is moving in a different direction. This research study is, therefore, aimed to initiate an investigation into the area of an ideological shift in the portrayal of these speeches and rhetoric by Western media. To make it more precise, this issue will be addressed from the viewpoint of the British and French media and how they have shifted in depicting the speeches and rhetoric of Osama bin Laden and Hamas movement of Palestine. The aim here is to look into the underlying causes of this shift, the way these speeches were portrayed before and the way they are portrayed now. The west waged a war against Afghanistan's fundamentalist groups and then against the dictator leadership in Iraq. However, the true war started right after the collapse of the twin towers when the TV screens, newspapers and magazines of the west launched a media attack against those suspected in the attacks. Islam was defined as a portrait of Bin Laden and terrorism. The term Islamic Fundamentalist was given life as a very negative, degrading or anti-western term in the western dominated media. As a result, a counter attack was launched by Islamist movements. Interviews of Bin Laden were published in the Middle Eastern press, videotapes were launched, audio files released widely over the internet casting views of these movements. The reaction of the West to these releases can however be seen as a transition of responses in which, initially the portrayal was very negative but gradually it entered into reasonableness. Forums and discussions started taking place in which both Western ideologists and Muslim scholars took part. While a marked improvement in the perception of Islam within the Western countries can be acknowledged, yet the beleaguering tendency to portray a distorted image of Islam within their media still remains intact. This study will, therefore, enable a better understanding of why these media were biased, if ever and what exactly are the ways that should be adopted to remove any biasness if there ever was. According to a discussion conducted by the BBC on perceptions of Islam in the British media, "Islam in the British media will continue to improve. More and more journalists are now anxious to pursue the truth. The BBC world Service in English has frequently sought Liberty's opinion on and analysis of developments in various parts of the Arab world. Today many more journalists and producers than ever before are anxious to provide their audience with fuller stories, clearer pictures and fairer images.". (Perceptions of Islam in the BBC and other Western media) The fact cannot be denied about recent awareness on the part of some journalists, TV and radio producers and commentators of covering some Islamic issues in a more objective manner. The coverage of the Bosnian tragedy as well as of the Chechnyan problem by the British media has been quite fair in spite of the biased policy of the