Literary of Dead Poets Society

Bill Beattie once said, â€Å"The aim of education should be to teach us how to think rather than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.† All too often, however, individual thoughts are crushed by the powerful weight of conformity. In the film Dead Poets Society, conformity exercises it†s influence and the results prove disastrous for some. For others, the effect of conformity compels them towards individual strength and the discovery of one†s true self. Modern education is one of the largest â€Å"offenders† when it comes to conformity, and that point is illustrated repeatedly in the film Dead Poets Society. At Wellton, students of all walks of life are expected to learn the same lessons the same ways. They are expected to memorize the important facts and regurgitate the same facts during exams. Latin class involves recitation, while chemistry involves memorization, and as long as the students can deliver what they have been told, they are successful in life. The new English teacher, Mr. Keating, challenges his students to think for themselves and to resist conformity. He most memorably illustrates how easily conformity affects people during his lesson involving a stroll in the courtyard. He instructs three of his pupils to walk around the courtyard. The three boys march in unison, and the remainder of the pupils begin to clap in time with the marching. He asks why the boys are clapping, and they do not know. Perhaps they were clapping because everyone else was clapping, or perhaps they were just having a good time. However, it cannot be disputed that the group conformed without thinking. All too often, the words of the textbook are considered undisputed fact. All chemistry textbooks will list the elements with the same symbols and all Latin textbooks will list approximately the same translations. The poetry textbook, written by a Dr. Pritchett, attempts to lump words that are meant to touch the heart into the same factual categories of math and the sciences. Can Dr. Pritchett†s method of analyzing poetry by graphing its importance and perfection be used to measure what one feels? More importantly, is Dr. Pritchett†s method the only method that one must use when measuring the greatness of poetry and can poetry be looked at using only the mind and not the heart? Mr. Keating did not feel that poetry was meant to be analyzed using measurable techniques but rather through the feelings of one†s heart. He summed up his feelings on Dr. Pritchett†s method of measuring the greatness of poetry in one word, â€Å"Excrement.† He took his class on a journey of self-discovery, a journey where they learned that there is not always a right answer or a wrong one. In order to find one†s true self, one must learn to resist conformity and walk one†s own way, as was illustrated in the lesson out in the courtyard. He taught them that just one perspective is not necessarily the only way of viewing a situation as was revealed in the lesson where he stood on his desk. At Wellton Academy, individuality is strongly discouraged, and the fight for individuality often results in dire consequences. Mr. Keating became a mentor, as well as a teacher for his students, and he helped them discover the strength necessary to be one†s true self. Individuality, unfortunately, does not come without a price. Often the price is fear, especially fear of what others will think, but the cost is often much higher. Neil Perry, one of Mr. Keating†s students, paid with his life. He committed suicide when his father insisted he conform, and go on to Harvard to become a doctor. Charlie Dalton was expelled from Wellton for his unwillingness to conform. Todd Anderson found the courage to stand up for himself and realized he had value in the world. It is not just to say that education is only about textbooks and memorization. The memorization of the Periodic Table of Elements in Chemistry has very little impact on a large part of life; such as that of personal relationships, friendships, love, loyalty and trust. All the characters in the film are human, and therefore have the same physical components in their bodies, but their feelings and point of view are unique unto themselves. The true danger of education is the attempt to call for all people to see the world in the same way.

Portfolio Models Essay

The use of portfolio models in marketing has been gaining increasing use since 1960s. The portfolio models were developed with the aim of helping in the development of market share and growth. These models have been used as strategic thinking model in the making of business decision. These models include BCG, General electric/shell, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models. Each model has been criticized on the capabilities and according to its scope on market share. These models have been found to lead to the wrong decision in investment and other business processes. The portfolio models assume a causal relationship between the market share and the profitability of a product in the market. The common scope of portfolio models is the way it tries to ignores some of the most relevant strategic issues in business. Therefore, all models cannot be taken as an effective strategic decision making model. It should however be discarded or it should be used with caution. This paper does not recommend the use of portfolio models and an alternative way should be sought to replace this. Introduction Portfolio models can be defined as a method or strategy in which a new product will be introduced in the market and perform as it was expected. In the 1960s, there was growing assertion of the use of portfolio models in marketing. There was growing interest on the development of market share and growth strategy which later came to be known as marketing portfolio. The BCG matrix, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models and GE/S were meant to achieve the marketing needs especially when introducing new products in the market. They were meant to stimulate strategic thinking especially among the senior marketing executives in the turbulent business environment. However, there has been dysfunction of these models in the way they are taught and the way they are applied in the market. This study will look into the applicability of portfolio models in strategic decision making in marketing. The study will evaluate the view from a number of literature to understand whether the model can really be applied to the decision making process or not. This paper therefore evaluates the available literature which has given an insight into this model to understand how it can be applied in strategic marketing decision. There are other methods that were introduced to give a product a distinctive market share especially when it’s introduced. There are four commonly used methods to approach this matter, the Boston consulting group (BCG), the General electric/shell (GE/S), Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models. Therefore to give the clear meaning of the portfolio model, there is a need to understand how the portfolio models work. The first step to be taken when using the above models is to understand the different business/ marketing strategies of the company. Portfolio models in marketing decisions Portfolio models management generally defines the way business comes up with strategic decision to venture into the market. In this definition, the strategic marketing decision is a method by which marketing ideas are made and implemented in order for a product to have stronger grounds in the market. At any one time, company will be coming up with new product which will need to be introduced to the market in the most successful way. Portfolio models therefore provide the business with important tools for analyzing of the strategic decision to determine their effectiveness in the market (Abell and Hammond, 1979, p. 42). Purpose of portfolio models in strategic decision making in marketing There are mainly four main purpose of using the portfolio models in the strategic marketing decisions which are pursued in portfolio management and must be achieved through any model that is used. These goals include the maximization of portfolio, seeking of the right balance of the available projects, aligning of the portfolio strategically, and aligning the projects to the available resource (Ansoff, 1984, p. 12). Smith and Swinyard (1999, p. 2) also show that portfolio marketing models are important for an organization to assess the overall success of a new product in the market before a lot of money is used in the development of the product. They both call for the use of multiple marketing models in order to achieve the overall success of introducing new products in the market. This will reduce the failure rate of the products and extend their life cycle in the market. (Thomas, 2002, p. 61) The models can also be used as important tools to forecast the level of competition and therefore draw upon effective way of beating this competition. They help to forecast the performance of a product in the market so as to draw up strategies to effectively introduce it in the market. Edgett, Cooper, and Kleinschmidt (2002, p. 2) showed that in order to achieve full development of a new product in the market, there has to be effective portfolio management. There are different types of portfolio models that include the BCG, GE/S, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models. In his review of the portfolio models, Day (1977, p. 32) showed that the use of bubble diagrams had been gaining increasing use in business. Day shows that these models resemble the portfolio models with stars, cash cows, dogs, and others. He showed that these models could be used successfully to forecast the market in the future. Day therefore asserted the role of matrix like Boston matrix in marketing. The Boston matrix could be used to show four quadrants as has been shown by Day and corresponding strategies which could be used in each quadrant. However Day criticizes the matrix on the sense that it is too narrow on its scope. He asserts that the BCG matrix has a narrow focus on the market share of the product. On the other hand Morrison and Wensley (1991, p. 106) provided an insight into the portfolio planning models as used in making business decision. They asserted that the use of BCG matrix in portfolio management is inhibited by difficulties in measurement of the rate of market growth and the relative market share of the product. This is due to a number of reasons. They gave the most prominent reason being the fact that market boundaries are often very difficult to fix which meant the different matrix methods will give different recommendations for a given situation. Therefore they argue that the common scope of BCG matrix in a way ignores some of the most relevant strategic issues in business. Though these other models are not as famous as BCG, Day still argues that use of them could also lead to success in the market. Day advocated and recommended the use of Porters competitiveness that he viewed to have higher possibilities of success than other models if its well implemented. It is commonly used in an already operating business with other products in the market. The experience curve can only be help to the company that has been in the market for sometime with a different product. The experience that the company has gained in the given period will determine the strength of the company in the market. This has been used by several companies like coca-cola in the introduction their mineral water. It would be hard for a company that has not been doing well in the market to succeed with the new product. They showed that Boston matrix was a technique for one season and not for all the season. This is because its popularity and use increased in the 1960s and 1970s and then plummeted due to the challenges faced in the market. They showed that the single chart could be successfully used to determine the growth potential and the competitive strength of a product in the market but this has rapidly changed with time. Armstrong and Brodie (1994, p. 38) evaluation on the applicability of the Boston matrix concluded that the use of the matrix to guide investors often would result to wrong decision through the use of BCG. General Electric and Shell, Porters competitive models are designed for long term use in the market, once the product has been introduced in the market, the models techniques still continues to support the product through the entire life in the market. Whichever model is used, it has to be used for entire life of the company because no other model will fit without altering the companies business especially when the company is introducing new product in the market. Although they based their study on a small number of graduates in a class, they gave a further warning against the use of the matrix in a simple mind. Armstrong and Brodie (1994, p. 3) carried out a study on the effect of the portfolio planning methods on the overall decision making process. Their study pointed out the weakness in the use of BCG matrix in making strategic decision in an organization. Their study revealed that the use of BCG matrix in making investment decisions was highly likely to lead to unprofitable investment while Robert and Merton (1989, p. 210) advocates that the implementation of other models instead of matrix were intended for lifetime decision making. If not well implemented, there is a probability of causing life time losses and would be hard to recover unless the product is withdrawn from the market. Each model has some weaknesses bas they are exposed out in the way models assume a casual relationship between the market share and the profitability of a product in the market. Morison and Wesley (1991, p. 26) also pointed out lack of consistency in the use of the portfolio models in determining market growth and profits. These studies give varied views on the use of Boston matrix, GE/S, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models in making marketing decision. They all seem to point out on the weaknesses of these models in light of their theory and application. There are other ways a business can prosper other than using portfolio models. The strategies used in introducing the product in the market is all that matters, portfolios are just to give the business a rough idea on how to approach the marketing matter but not to give a conclusive tread which the business should follow. Conclusion Portfolio models are applied in portfolio management. They are applied in management to make strategic marketing decision. Though they had gained increasing use in different times, they have some weaknesses that are fatal to the welfare of the business in future. On the other hand they may give a rough idea on how to approach the market issues and on how to introduce the new product in the market. In all portfolios, not is able to predict the growth and the profit margins or losses on the other hand for the product, thus making them less important tool for the marketing. However the use of models should be discarded and there be implemented new strategies that would be able to address the issues of the business on long term and in both growth and revenues that are likely to be gained by the introduced product. Recommendations: The use of portfolio models is not recommended and if they have to be used, they must be implemented with great caution. None of all models has proofed an effective strategic decision making in regard to the marketing issues. It should however be discarded or it should be used with caution. This paper does not recommend the use of portfolio models and an alternative way should be sought to replace this.

Leadership in Infromation Technology Research Paper

Leadership in Infromation Technology - Research Paper Example However, little population ranks self-knowledge as most critical. Using means, the rank order of knowledge domains is as follows: Business environments (1.5) Technology (2.14) Self and human resources (2.57 and 2.57) Finance (3.86) Much of the literature available addresses leadership at a strategic level. Clearly the most critical role of effective IT leaders is perceived to be the communicator role, followed by facilitator, guide, partner, and collaborator. Informal management styles seem to be preferred in technology intense organizations. (Lewis, S. & Lewis, 2005) The roles of tactician, technical guru, and human resources leader receives middle rankings while commander, servant, dictator, king or queen receive the lowest ranking for effective IT leaders. Congruent with this ranking of roles for effective IT leaders, team building is considered the most important function, followed by management, then creating. Leadership in Information Technology in Private Industry When the inf ormation technological skills of leadership are combined with an ability to use software to solve IT problems as in Acorn Computer City, New York, leaders of the organization are better equipped to move among the various agencies comprising our society. It was assessed whether leaders of IT firm can be trained, what characteristics are important for IT leaders of the organization, and what is the best environment to encourage IT leadership. While strategic leadership is possible at all levels within the organization, there is a need for work on leadership at the project leader/project manager level. As Sear (2008) pointed out, IT leaders have a difficult time making the transition from skilled technical work to project leader. Not only are they better able to use software to manage their... The concept of communication with a physician via e-mail is not really a future capability; it is available now and used to a very limited extent. What stands in the way of its widespread use is not the absence of cutting-edge communication technology, but rather a broken payment system. Physicians are paid relatively well for procedures, relatively poorly for office visits, and not at all for telephone or e-mail advice. Increasing the bandwidth for patients without fixing reimbursement is more likely to lead to a future state where frustrated patients complain, "My doctor doesn't return my phone calls or answer my e-mail." One of the more contentious but critically important issues today is the so-called misalignment of the costs and benefits of health IT. Essentially, the argument is that under our current fragmented healthcare system, physicians and hospitals pay for IT, and most of the benefit flows to payers. The Center for Information Technology Leadership modeled the cost and benefit of an ambulatory computerized physician order entry system, and concluded that 89 percent of the benefit accrued to payers, with only 11 percent flowing to providers (Johnston et al. 2003). Nelson references the landmark Wang study, which looked at system benefits of an advanced EHR in an office practice. Wang concluded that primarily by reducing pharmacy expenditures and avoiding redundant testing, payers would save about $86,000 per physician over five years-thus making the first real economic argument for payers funding EHRs for physicians.

Battle of Little Bighorn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Battle of Little Bighorn - Essay Example His over-zealous approach, arrogant attitude, and egotistical need for glory led an inexperienced and exhausted 7th Cavalry onto a battlefield of unknown terrain to fight an enemy of unknown size. As the sun set, Little Bighorn was littered with the remains of 220 under-equipped and unsupplied soldiers that Custer led to their death. The Battle of Little Bighorn may not have been winnable, but under Custer's command it was a certain death sentence and a complete failure. The preparation for the Battle of the Little Bighorn began at Fort Abraham Lincoln as early as the Fall of 1875. Here, the Army made two errors that would later prove fatal. The troops provided were inexperienced and had reportedly had been in only one previous Indian skirmish. Though the choice of soldiers may not have been Custer's, their mental and physical preparation was the ultimate responsibility of the field commander. According to a 1909 interview with Second Lieutenant Winfield S. Edgerly, "...[N]o one expected the Indians would make a stand anywhere and fight." (as cited in Hammer, 1990, p. 53). He further illuminates Custer's attitude toward the ensuing battle when he contends, "Custer's idea was that Indians would scatter and run in all directions" (as cited in Hammer, 1990, p. 53). ... The final estimation places the Indian force at between 5000 and 8000 warriors. Due to Indian agents' desire to inflate reservation populations and maximise government-sponsored goods, the Army initially estimated that there were only about 1000 Indians off the reservation (Fox, 1993, p. 233). Yet, once again, it was Custer who failed to adjust and conceive the most rudimentary battlefield planning. Though the Army had miscalculated the Indian force, Custer was warned of the impending size of the opposition as estimates began to rise when Custer's scouts reported a larger force as early as June 22 (Fox, 1993, p. 233). The reconnaissance issue also includes a failure to adequately scout the terrain on which the regiment was planning on waging their attack. Three hours before the battle, Benteen reported that there were "hills on all sides" (as cited in Sklenar, 2000, p. 115). Yet, Custer pressed on not only into unfavourable, but also unknown terrain. The area where Custer died provided a poor defensive position and gave the adversary a distinct advantage (Fox, 1993, p. 231). The hills where Custer's men were situated were sloping and cut with deep ravines, forcing the men to dismount and take up defensive positions (Bereit, 2000). The overwhelming strength of the Indians allowed them to repeatedly stampede Custer's position. When Custer reached within 15 miles of the Little Bighorn, Mitch Bouyer, the mixed-blood scout, reported to Custer that the force was the largest he had ever seen assembled (Fox, 1993, p. 233). Bloody Knife, an Ankara scout, agreed. However, Custer berated Bouyer for his cowardice and ignored his scouts' intelligence. At this

Quality improvement in clinical practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Quality improvement in clinical practice - Essay Example Sufficient application of patient safety within various organisations contributes to overall quality of services offered within a specified establishment. Patient safety and healthcare quality, therefore, remain two components which affect each other directly. This paper seeks to analyse the element of patient safety within various healthcare organisations. The paper presents a discussion of the various factors influencing the occurrence of patient safety incidents within a hospital setting. Patient safety incidents become significantly affected by three major factors; human factors, medical complexity and system failures within healthcare organisations. Majority of issue leading to the occurrence of these instances could be regulated through adoption of efficient patient safety framework and policies, enhancing patient safety. The current framework includes guidelines provided by government organisations regarding processes of implementing sufficient patient safety policies. Numerou s organisations continue to follow the government provisions; however, modifications enhancing safety become necessary in increasing the efficiency of the safety systems. These modifications, however, must conform to the provisions of regulating government authorities, charged with overseeing implementation of patient safety. ... ons 13 References 14 Introduction Patient safety refers to the prevention of erroneous occurrences, related to healthcare provision, which could present adverse effects on patients. Comprehensive safety includes the capacity for employees to operate within stipulated regulations, seeking to minimise occurrence of medical mistakes (Hughes, 2008). Such medical errors could potentially harm patients through presenting a hazard to patients. The inclusion of these regulations within different healthcare establishments ensures that patients remain unexposed to dangers, while residing within these establishments. Patients commonly attribute patient safety to quality healthcare; hence seek healthcare from organisations where they feel safe. Safety of patients remains fundamental to establishing a good reputation for various healthcare organisations. Enhanced safety operation ensures minimal cases of injuries and deaths of patients while residing within hospitals. The inclusion of safety proc edures within the healthcare sector remains fundamental in improving the quality of services offered within healthcare organisations. Patient safety has been identified as an indistinguishable component of overall patient safety (CokerGroup, 2008). Through patient safety, the balance realised between the realised operational procedures and provided guidelines comprise patient safety. The quality of healthcare resides within the perception of individuals receiving the care. This perceived quality could become enhanced through ensuring patient safety while receiving medical services, within a medical organisation. Enhanced patient safety, therefore, signifies quality healthcare to the recipients of the services. While safety procedures can become clearly defined, quality cannot be defined,

Healthful Eating for Weightlifters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Healthful Eating for Weightlifters - Essay Example The awareness for such healthy outlook is more universal now than ever before. There are more fitness camps, more gyms in the neighborhood, more health and fitness equipment and facilities, and those who do not have access to these or do not feel their need have viable alternatives in aerobics and yogic stances. (Robert J. Buresh, MS, et al). The first step towards the achievement of good health and physique is proper diet and exercise. This paper is focused on healthful eating for weightlifters. As such, we are going to concentrate on those muscles that help weightlifters. There are muscles for activities such as marathon runners. These muscles are made up of Type 1 fibres and are ideally suited for runners and other activities of aerobic nature. The Type 2 fibre muscles develop for the purpose of short bursts of energy and are ideal for weight lifters. (Jonny Bowden). Therefore, the diet and exercises for weightlifters are framed after examining two factors. Factor number one is the weightlifter. Diet and exercise comprise factor number two. In order to satisfy the criteria for factor number one, the weightlifter's age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, present state of health, health history, and disability (if any) are recorded. The recording of data for factor number two will include present diet and physical activities, heart beat and pulse rates, calories level, and health related problems (if any). 4. Healthy Eating and Exercises It may not be possible to obtain the complete regimen of diet and exercise suitable for a particular person in one day. Getting hold of the regimen is the first step. Gradually, the process may undergo changes as the weightlifter continues on the diet and workouts, and upgrades to diets and physical activities which help in performance improvements. As a first step, the regimen comprises the following. 4.1 Nutrition The nutrition that results from dietary intake in our bodies is necessary for all of us. The body will simply collapse without nutrition. It is necessary for our health. Nutrition helps combat diseases, and cushions the effects of fatigue. It is important that the weightlifter consumes diet of the right nutritional value to suit his needs. The diet has got to be such that the conversion of body fat into muscle is easily achieved when combined with exercise. 4.2 Essential to Long Life A diet that provides healthy nutrition is essential for long life which is free from sickness and infirmities. It is important for the weightlifter to bear in mind a positive lifestyle is one of the key ingredients in performance improvement issues. Performance is not only related to diet and exercises but it is a matter of the mind as well. After

Discussion Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 17

Discussion Questions - Essay Example The other ways of engaging stakeholders is by using evaluation recommendations and organization. Among the seven stakeholder analysis and identification techniques, the most valuable technique involves developing facilitation skills. According to Wholey, Hatry and Newcomer (2010), evaluators need the facilitation skills because they are helpful when it comes to building relationships and managing conflicts among other activities. Developing facilitation skills such as people skills, social skills and technical skills is the most effective way of deal with all work. To improve or develop these skills, evaluators have to keep practicing and look for opportunities and wait for feedback. Engaging with other experienced evaluators is also helpful. Evaluators who work on perfecting these skills are more advantaged than evaluators who do not have the formal feedback when involved. Stakeholders can use the power direction versus the interest grid to determine their influence on each other. Stakeholders understand how influence adds depth to power versus interest grid in different ways. One, the stakeholders are in a better position, to identify the actors that are the key to promoting a smooth evaluation process. In addition, stakeholders gain the power to know where there are existing channels of influence or where such channels need get created. Using the power direction versus the interest grid also clarifies where to get coalition support to promote a smooth evaluation process or formation of findings. The completed power versus interest grid is later used to complete the bases of power-direction of interest diagram. The diagram is used by each stakeholder to indicate the source of power that is available to them. The diagram is also effective in showing the stakeholders their interests which they seek to achieve. According to Wholey, Hatry and Newcomer (2010), power may come from a person’s access or control over different resources. In context to

Chinese Economic Revolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Chinese Economic Revolution - Research Paper Example As a result there was a wide variety of goods and services to choose from. Chinese producers were also able to export their goods and expand their businesses overseas. By the late 1980’s these reforms had accomplished extraordinary results: incomes increased, more consumer products, food and housing was made available and the country experienced high growth rates. The economic reforms were Chinese government’s way to emphasize an increase production, consumption and people’s income as well as advancement in technology without it having an adverse impact on budget deficits, inflation and unemployment. The first of these economic reforms were introduced in the agricultural sector. Under the agricultural reforms, agricultural land was divided among farmers who became owners of the lands they worked on. The farmers were allowed to keep the agricultural output if they agreed to give a small share of it to the government. This was a popular move among the farmers who f ound a way to increase their incomes. The result of these reforms was a dramatic increase in production of agricultural goods and this move stimulated the growth in the agricultural industry. Farmers were also able improve their standard of living as the reforms allowed them to increase their income by producing more goods (Myers 1991). Foreign trade played a significant role to boost China’s economy once the new economic reforms were introduced. In the years preceding the economic revolution foreign trade rarely contributed more than 10% to China’s GDP as the country mostly relied on self-sufficiency. However after the reforms the contribution increased significantly and by 1986 foreign trade contributed to 36% of the... The modern world has become familiar with the phrase ‘Made in China’. Chinese goods and services are being sold all over the world. There is clearly a shift in economic power from the developed West to China and India. The remarkable growth of China can be credited greatly to the Chinese Economic Revolution that occurred in the late 1970’s. The remarkable growth of China can be credited greatly to the Chinese Economic Revolution that occurred in the late 1970’s. In 1978 Deng Xiaoping introduced economic reforms in China. There were two phases to the reforms. In the first phases focus was on the countryside. A ‘Household Responsibility System’ was introduced which made peasants, working on farms, owners of those lands. The second phase of these reforms focused on industrialization and worker welfare as well as on enterprises. One of the key changes as a result of these reforms was that control was shifted from state-owned to private enterprise. These reforms were against the communist philosophy as they supported a free-market system. These reforms helped arouse a sleeping economic giant from its slumber and take the world’s economic stage by storm. The reforms encouraged private entrepreneurship, foreign investment and foreign trade, reduced government control with focus on free-market and education of the labor force among others. The Chinese economy will continue to grow and maintain its average growth rates of 10% per annum till 2020.

Learning and Teaching Styles Essay Example for Free

Learning and Teaching Styles Essay Wk. 2 Learning and Teaching Styles â€Å"In almost every actual well-designed study, Mr. Pashler and his colleagues write in their paper, ‘Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence,’ the pattern is similar: For a given lesson, one instructional technique turns out to be optimal for all groups of students, even though students with certain learning styles may not love that technique. † (2009) I wanted to start this paper with this quote since it did involve some sort of evidence that teaching in one style still works. Students can and do succeed and have received equal scores as their peers whose learning styles matched the teachers methods of teaching. I do believe however that students may not catch on as fast and lose interest easier when being taught material. This is why I would still use different methods of teaching versus just one. As a visual learner, I understand how difficult it can be to orally receive directions for an assignment or other activity. I thrive on written directions and learning materials that need to be read or are graphed. I often had to ask the teacher numerous times to repeat the directions because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. This put me behind and my grades occasionally suffered as a result. As a past teacher who worked in a school that believed in teaching using the multiple intelligences method, I found great joy in seeing my students succeed. As teachers, we were required to hand in our lesson plans weekly to the principal. Our lesson plans had to involve each of the intelligences. This was my first real job as a teacher and I did not completely understand why we were required to do this and not use our own personal methods. Looking back, I am so grateful that I learned and saw first hand the consequences of teaching using the multiple intelligences. I enjoyed seeing my student’s motivation rise as their type of learning was focused on for a particular lesson. When I go back to teaching, I will with no doubt in my mind, use this method again. It completely fits with my style of teaching most likely because it was my first real experience and works even for those students who have a completely different learning style than I do. In an ESL classroom, â€Å"dividing a lesson into phases† (Palmberg) to make sure I use each of the intelligences is ideal. I firmly believe that this method works no matter how different a student’s learning style is from the teacher. In a sample lesson for example, I would explain the topic (i. e. vocabulary words on food items) and give the students an overview of what they will need to do and what they are expected to learn. I would read them a story relating to food or going shopping. Next I would have them write down their own list of items that their families normally buy often for a real-life experience. The next phase is to divide the class into groups and share each other’s lists. They would also discuss what their ideal list and store layout would be like if they could buy any type of food that they wanted from their ideal grocery store. They would then move on to thinking about a song or songs that is about food. We would play that song the following day. For the students who feel comfortable, creating their own body expressions describing food would be next and sharing these movements with the rest of the class. This exercise could be turned into a fun lesson where the rest of the class would have to guess which food item is being emphasized (like charades). We would next come up with a class list of favorite food items. There would more than likely be some disagreement so I would divide them up in half asking them to have a debate based on reasonable food limits and favorites to come up with an ideal list. We would do the same thing for the ideal store layout. For the sake of repetition, each original group would compare with the class their original lists and new â€Å"reasonable† list and layout. I believe this lesson would take a few days but involves most if not all intelligences. Being a visual learner, I can benefit from the students who are different from me as much as they benefit from me and the lessons I teach them using the different intelligences. For example, as I try and improve my weaknesses in some forms of learning, I can benefit from the students who learn better in a completely different way (say kinesthetic). They will get much benefit from the part of the lesson that involves movement and I will get the same benefit seeing how they react and learn to this part of the lesson. To make things fun for the students (and me) those willing could come up with their own way of teaching each other about a certain topic. I would of course give them the general rules and guidelines and they would do the rest. I think each student could benefit from this because they would more than likely use their favorite way of learning to â€Å"teach† a lesson. For those who do not want to do this, they could also benefit from this since it is an exercise that is not ordinarily done and will hold interest longer. I am not a teacher and never have been one who forces students to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable (i. e. standing up and doing a charade). I think that this will do more harm than good. The student may back off and not participate or be eager to learn for fear that they may be picked on by their peers or even the teacher. I had this experience in middle school and know how it feels. I began to pull myself away from the class and especially the teacher. As a result, I did poorly in the class. For these types of students, a more gentle approach is necessary. The teacher may ask this type of student to write an explanation of what they would do or simply tell the teacher what they would do for an assignment. This is why I am such a believer of the multiple intelligences method. It involves all students and doesn’t single out particular ones. Everyone benefits and everyone learns based on their own learning strengths. Another less popular/obvious benefit of this teaching method is related to the impact that the students learning has on their own family and home life. I think that because a student is more eager to learn as a result of the multiple intelligences method, they will carry their positive attitude into their home life and be more compliant towards their family and of course themselves. As we all know, a student’s home life reflects their attitudes and success in school. References: chronicle. com/article/Matching-Teaching-Style-to/49497/ www. sube. com/ /integrating_learning_styles_and_skills_in_e www. tecweb. org/styles/gardner. html www. tefl. net/esl-lesson-plans/multiple-intelligences. htm Gardner, Howard. 1993. Multiple intelligences. The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.

Social Networking Essay Example for Free

Social Networking Essay A social networking site can be defined as an online service that is based around the building and reflecting of social relations among individuals with common interests or social ties. Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are all different, yet the one main feature they have is that they enable users to create a profile within the website to represent themselves and allows users to interact through email, instant messaging and other communication channels within the site. The popularity and growth of social networking sites over the past years has been massive, as many people from all over the world join the social phenomenon for varied reasons. Today, there are more than 500 million active users on Facebook. As the technology advances, social networking sites have an even bigger impact on society and human relationships, both positive and negative. This paper argues that social networking sites have a negative influence on people of all ages, increase cyber bullying, personal insecurities and weaken strong personal ties as well as increase identity theft and other privacy issues and a decrease in our face to face social skills. This demonstrates that social networks do in fact cause more harm than good. Identity theft is a huge problem in today’s society and has come about as a result of the rapid expansion and availability of internet technology and the increase in personal data found on social networking sites. MySpace, Facebook and Twitter cause identity theft in two mains ways. The first being is that they encourage you to ‘edit your profile’ which includes adding your interests, full name, where you live, your email address and even personal details like your phone number an relationship status. The more information you have on your profile about you, the easier it is for identity thieves to claim they are you. The second main issue is the privacy settings on these social networking sites also help relieve personal fraud. Although there are built in features that allow users to change their privacy settings and not allow other users to view such personal details, these settings are never default, so that users are usually unaware how much information they are sharing not only with their friends, but with the rest of the world. This is why it is important for users of social networks to be aware of the stuff they are making available online and of the ways that is can potentially be used. Furthermore another privacy issue that social networking sites face is that  they encourage users to over share very private information that can easily be used against them. For example Facebook has a new thing where you can ‘check-in’ at wherever it is you may be and notifies users which gives thieves and strangers the advantage of robbing someone’s house while they are out. There is now a website called â€Å"Please rob me† that was set up to raise awareness about over-sharing and highlights these kinds of privacy issues that social networks create. In this respect social networks like these pose serious privacy concerns. Cyber bullying refers to bullying through emails, mobile phone text messages, phone calls, internet chat rooms, instant messaging and most importantly social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook. Although cyber bullying is not physical, it’s emotional and psychological effects are devastating for the victim and can often lead to suicide and depression. Cyber bulling in terms of social networks is a huge issue because more than 50% of American teens use social networking sites. Online bullying is often seen as the easy way out. Social Networking sites are a place where bullies can say things they wouldn’t usually say to someone in person, but are still just as hurtful. Bullies feel more confident online because they can contact their victims at anytime and they have no one there defending them. There have been many teens on the news in recent years because they have committed suicide due to cyber bullying. It is clear that social networking aids in the prominence of cyber bulling which is just one of the negative impacts that social working sites has on society today. The way we communicate with our peers and with strangers over the internet is changing. Another negative impact that social networks have on our relationships is the fact that while we strengthen the ties we have with people we hardly ever get to see, we are weakening our ties to the people who are close to us which brings about physical social isolation. This idea of constantly being connected is awful in the way that personal interactions between friends are more superficial than they were before Facebook and other social networking sites. Users also let more time pass between face to face encounters because they feel like they are connected because they can see what a friend is doing from their Facebook pag e. A college student found that nearly 70% of users report reading posts from someone close to them that seemed upset and even though students would offer support in some way, they wouldn’t make a personal visit. It is clear  that the rise of social networks has increased social and emotional isolation and diluted the strength our human relationships. As social networking sites become more popular by the day, the rise of negative social effects within our society also greaten. We have and will keep seeing people being cyber bullied; more cases of identity theft and additional privacy problems. We will also see our strong relationships turn into amore superficial and convenient type of relationship. Social networking sites have had a huge negative impact on our mental and social health and will continue to do so into the future, if we let it. It is also now evident that social networking sites cause all these problems, and without them they wouldn’t exist. Therefore it is true that all these social networking do cause more harm than good.

Business Strategy of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Business Strategy of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) TATA group of companies: Tata Group of companies is the largest private corporate group in India and has been recognized as one of the most respected companies in the world which was founded by Jamsedji R Tata in 1991. The company has operations in more than 85 countries across six continents and its companies export products and services to 80 nations and the Tata Group comprises (114) companies and subsidiaries in seven business sectors (Tata Sons Ltd., 2010). SBUs of TATA group 🙠 For details please refer to appendix no.1) SBUs which form a major part of the Tata group include: Tata steel Tata motors Ltd. Tata consultancy services Tata Technologies Tata tea Tata power Tata Communications Tata Teleservices Tata hotels 1.1 Company profile: Tata consultancy services (TCS) SBU of Tata group: http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ftrqMPzMyAWhIM::t=1usg=__pSSLT1wgbnRMMkApfc8zl-8DYsg= Source: http://biet.beadvg.org/images/logos/tcs_logo_cmyk.jpg Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is one of the SBU of Tata group of companies. It is a Software services consulting company which is a subsidiary Tata group .It is the largest provider of information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing services in Asia. It has offices in 42 countries with more than 142 branches across the globe. The company is listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) of India.TCS mainly offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique strategic Global Network Delivery Model which is recognized as the benchmark of excellence in the IT industry (LinkedIn Corporation, 2010) .TCS is currently investing in new technologies, new processes people in order to achieve an competitive edge (Amdocs Ltd., 2010).(For details please refer to appendix no.2) TCS helps some of the worlds largest companies to adopt the right technology-enabled solution that helps them in following manner (Tata Sons Ltd., 2010). Optimize business performance Facilitate alignment of business with technology Connect their extended supply chains Reduce product development time Improve product differentiation Provide real-time business insight Lower operational costs TCS business structure: Following diagram illustrates operating structure of TCS: Fig 1.TCS operating structure Source: http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/organizational-structure/4943569-1.html 2 Business Level Strategies: TCS has developed its business level strategy by assuming as world financial institutions are in a tremendous shock of crisis and think of scaling up revenue from other industries. (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). TCS names its business divisions as Industry Service Practice which will help them to collect maximum revenue from Banking Financial Services and Insurance Sectors. (Please refer to appendix no. 3) Generic Business Strategies of TCS: TCS provides low cost Global delivery with the help global strategy. TCS mainly focus on customer relationship management customer retention in order increase the business revenue. TCS provides timely delivery of IT services with the help of proven delivery quality framework called as (iQMS) TCS uses differentiation strategy by providing low end services in terms of cost, resources. TCS also diffenciate its high end services such as consulting in term of niche offerings. TCS has strong knowledge management system resource Strength by which they has successful in reaching the overall cost leadership in the (IT) industry. TCS has develop a resolute strategy where they are providing (IT) services according to the requirements of customer and the nature of business. targeting new markets like Middle East, Europe, and Asia-pacific. Currently TCS Focus on Centres of Excellence (CoE) to hold ability so as to construct technologies such as service-oriented architecture, testing, and virtualization which will help TCS to attempt outsized projects so as to alter customers (IT) applications. Business level strategy model: Following diagram illustrates various business level strategies of TCS which are closely related to the company. Fig 2. Business level strategy model-TCS Source: Author Business level Strategies are listed below: Global Strategies Strategic Alliance strategy Acquisition strategy TCS: Co innovation network (coin) strategy (1) Global strategy: TCS global strategy structure tend towards its global operations to implement a Customer centric and integrated approach which will help them to control external factors arising from the Economic Meltdown in western countries. TCSs global operation units is divided into five main divisions includes the established markets like North America K Western Europe as well as the new markets includes mainly Latin America, Middle east, India and Eastern Europe. TCS was the first one to set the global delivery centre in China which distinguished TCS from other corporate companies (Mitra, 2005). This global strategy of TCS will Increase Companys market growth rate at the rate of 40% every year. TCS is establishing global delivery centres outside India which demonstrate TCS as a Global company. In recent years TCS was frequently changing its approach towards global market. (For details please refer to appendix no .3) Global strategy map: Following map illustrated the countries where TCS collaborate its global strategy Mainly includes US, Mexico, China, India, Hungary, UK, West-Europe etc. http://htmlimg3.scribdassets.com/entwg1s84irfuww/images/15-8f526c1a8f/000.jpg Fig.3 Global Strategy map Source: http://www.cogmap.com/chart/tata- consultancy-services 2 Strategic Alliances strategy: Tata consultancy services have been holding a strategic relationship with various International technology (IT) vendors such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM this distinguished as service provider, customer, supplier, and alliance partner. (Mitra, 2005). The relationships with the international technology vendors have made TCS to maintain a holistic approach to create a joint venture opportunities with these international vendors on joint research by which each others strengths will provide a strategic advantage by following ways(For details please refer to appendix no.4) It creates joint engagements with (IT) vendors. It provide new or improved solutions on problems It helps to adopt a Joint go-to-market strategy for the specific (IT) solutions. 3. Acquisition strategy: TCS divides its acquisition strategy into two components. Organic means and inorganic means (Mitra, 2005). The Inorganic way of acquisitions of companies this has business sense to TCS as part of its strategy to look at expansion options has set up an internal team which will focus only on acquisition strategies.(For details please refer to appendix no.5) 4. Co- innovation network (coin) strategies: TCS have implemented a Co-innovation strategy in order to face the competition in todays globalization world. Where competition among the IT companies is increasing day by day. TCS has developed implement an innovative technology which will result in collaborating a Globally Distributed Network (GDN) (Mitra, 2005). (Please refer to appendix no.6) Bowmans strategic clock: Business level strategy of TCS can also be explained with the help of Bowmanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s Strategic clock (work of Cliff Bowman) (For details please refer to appendix no.7) Fig 4. Bowmans strategic clock Source: Adopted from (Faulkner Bowman, 1995) Based on the competition faced by TCS they are using two parallel strategies so as to sustain in the (IT) sector. Differentiation:-TCS use differentiation strategy by offering its low high end services such as consulting in term of niche offerings terms of cost resources. Expertise that is different from those of the competitors in (IT) industry which are valued by the customers. Low price:-TCS has achieved cost (price) leadership in the (IT) industry with the help of its strong knowledge management system as compare to competitors. According to Bowmans strategic clock differentiation Low price strategy comes under hybrid strategy. So, it is evident that TCS use these strategies in order to keep up with the emerging (IT) trends and working out towards its goal of being the most chosen brand in the (IT) industry. TCS Business level Strategies can also be identified and explained with the help of Ansoff matrix which divides the strategy of a company into four different categories namely, (i) Market Penetration Strategy (ii) Market Development Strategy (iii) Product Development Strategy (iv) Diversification Strategy TCSs growth and development strategies based on Ansoffs matrix Ansoffix growth matrix 🙠 For details please refer to appendix no.8) TCSS Business level Strategies can also be identified and explained with the help of Assnsoff matrix as follows: Existing Products New Products (Market Penetration) Existing Markets: USA and Europe Existing Products: ADM, BPO, KPO, consultancy services software products. (Product Development) Existing Market: USA and Europe New Product: Consultancy and package implementation services in relatively growing sectors life sciences healthcare, aviation sector, and KPO services (Market Development) New markets: India, Middle-east and Australia Existing Products: ADM, BPO, KPO, consultancy services Software products (financial products). (Diversification) New products: vertical- Specific services packages, TCS Financial Solutions, and Platform-based BPO New markets: Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East Africa and India), Existing Market New Market Fig 4. Ansoffix growth matrix of TCS Source: Author (i) Market penetration strategy: As per the growth matrix TCS is currently penetrates its range of services into USA and Europe where they provide ADM, BPO, KPO, consultancy services (in BFSI, manufacturing and retail firms) as well as they provide software products (financial products) to the firms as most large clients in US and Europe are concentrating on cutting costs of (IT) related services (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). TCS needs to be more aggressive on cost cutting strategy with good quality. (ii) Market development strategy: As per the growth matrix TCS is concentrating on new markets like India, Middle-east and Australia where they provide products like ADM, BPO, KPO consultancy services (in BFSI, manufacturing and retail) and software products (financial products) (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010).Since these are the most fast developing IT market where TCS needs to keep a paradigm as a shift in focus from US EU markets to these new markets. (iii) Product Development Strategy: As per the growth matrix TCS is selling its new products such as Consultancy and package implementation services in relatively growing sectors especially in life sciences healthcare, aviation sector, and KPO services into existing markets like USA and Europe (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). This strategy will definitely help on building expertise in these domains by strategic acquisitions. (iv) Diversification strategy: As per the growth matrix TCS has diversified their new products like vertical- Specific services packages, TCS Financial Solutions, and Platform-based BPO into new markets like Europe and other emerging markets where the market growth of the company has increased by 40 % (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010).TCS diversified its function to new markets like Latin America and Middle East for considerable expansion. In order to penetrate a new market TCS has established delivery and offshore centres in countries like Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico. 3 Strengths weaknesses based on business Level Strategies: Following table illustrates (TCS) strengths and weaknesses: Strengths Weaknesses Extensive Universal reach Strong economic performance Strong brand name and awareness Unique service Offerings Employee Management Skills (HR Skills) Innovation lab system Fame of founder Momentous publicity to financial markets Lack of focus on the domestic markets. Deficient in level of consulting Operations Source: Author 3.1 Strengths: (1) Extensive Universal reach: TCS has widespread a global reach by its product and services throughout its branches all over the world includes in UK, U.S, Middle east, Australia, Europe etc. (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). This provides a diverse revenue base for the company to have an active control on its business operations universally. (2) Strong economic performance: TCS has made apparent and strong economic presentations around the globe which makes its clients to be financially confident about the company and hence it will increase companys reputation. (3) Strong brand name and awareness: As the popularity of the brand TCS (Tata consultancy services) has been reach all over the world which made TCS a reputed brand image in the Global information technology (IT) and software industries. (4) Unique service Offerings: TCS provides a unique range of services including business consulting; information technology, business process outsourcing (BPO), infrastructure, and engineering which distinguished them from competitors belong to IT industry (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). (5) Employee Management Skills (HR Management Skills): The domestic base of TCS i.e. India is well -known for its skilled employees in IT field which naturally made TCS a very strong in HR management .TCS is also recruited its board of Directors are from overseas countries in order to adopt the strategies from all the parts of the world. (6) Innovation in lab system: TCS have most effective infrastructures and innovative labs all over the world with most modern technologies which help its employees to have an access to update the most up-to-date information to make research in various IT related fields (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). This provides TCS an competitive edge. (7) Fame of founder: Tata is recognised as the most renowned brand in Asia as well as the fame of the founder Mr.Ratan J Tata also added value to TCS (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). 3.2 Weaknesses: (1) Momentous publicity to financial markets: The Excess exposure on the financial service markets at a global level (Datamonitor, 1998). Which generally necessitate to be keep confidential as they it displays companys private policies and legal terms which is considered as the primary key weakness of Tata consultancy services (TCS) (2) Lack of focus on the domestic markets: As per the strength of TCS it has an Extensive Universal reach by its product and services throughout it are all over the world branch which provides a diverse revenue base for the company. (Datamonitor, 1998). But at the same time domestic markets are also affected due to lack of focus by the company. This is the key weakness of Tata consultancy services (TCS). (3) Deficient in level of consulting operations: Lack in Effective consulting team which show a strong reflection of decline in the growth Cycle of the TCS, Being a company which mainly works on Outsourcing on scale large projects and assignment which generally needs a very good effective consulting team which acts as the link between the Clients and company (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010).TCS company is lacking behind in its level of consulting operations. Report to the Board of Directors To, The Board of Directors, Tata consultancy services Ltd. Subject: Recommendations for the (TCS) business unit. Respected Board members, In the report which is attached along with a critical research and analysis has been done on the corporate strategy followed by your company. The research and analysis has been conducted by using various corporate strategy tools and methods and the companys past and current strategies have been highlighted. On the basis of the strengths and the weaknesses of these strategies we have stated so; following are the recommendations which I was able to generate after studying the strategies adopted by the TCS: TCS should create specific value propositions aimed directly at the relevant stakeholders which include business executives, IT personnel in order to improve your market positioning in domestic markets. The excess exposure on the financial service markets which usually need to be kept confidential is considered as the main weakness of TCS so they can should focus more on increasing their IP (Intellectual Property) assets in order to lower the momentous publicity to financial markets (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). TCS can also go for isolation strategies with premium services like IT solutions and focus on a niche market. In market Meltdowns (recession) marketing can work as a differentiator. TCS can alter its focus from Low cost advantage to high quality services considering quality being pioneer in the (IT) industry. TCS can offer diverse services to refrain from being over-dependent and increasing exposure to the vulnerabilities of few sectors like USA. TCS can adopt ADM (Application Development and maintenance) system to increase value added services, BPO to Consulting and Package Implementation (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010). Consolidation and strategic acquisitions are essential for future growth of revenues. The HP-EDS merger (one of the biggest ever merger in this industry) is evidence to this. TCS should prepare for such opportunities which are strategic fit for the company. TCS has rightly placed SMB (Small and Medium Businesses) as a separate strategic unit, which should be focused aggressively. They should also focus consulting practice on the same business unit (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2010).

Diary of A Teenage Girl. Becoming Me :: essays research papers

Diary of A Teenage Girl. Becoming Me Title Page: On the cover of Diary of a Teenage Girl, Becoming Me there is a girl with long silky brown hair. I get the impression that she is sad or lost because she is twirling her hair in between her fingers. Her head could possibly be tilted down in a depressed motion. I think her hands are the only thing visible because the author is trying to set of the mood of th young girl, and I think this is shown by the twirling of the hair between the fingers. Publication Data: Carlson, Melody. Diary of a Teenage Girl, Becoming Me. (United States of America, Multonomach Publishers, 2000) Setting: The setting is the time and place of a narratives actions. The setting in this novel is New Jersey. Three specific details of this setting are: a.) Caitlin and her family live in a small, narrow duplex with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom; b.) their house is central New Jersey and located next to a large park; c.) the house is a light brown with cream coloured shutters and has two large doors in the front. Caitlin and her family live in the duplex with one other family although the duplex has three floors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Living central allows Caitlin and her family easy access to school, church and work. She is able to attend track and field after school and hang out with her friends at the local diner. Caitlin learns more about herself by adventuring out into New Jersey and going to youth group as much as possible, learning more about God. Plot: Plot is a series of incidents which provide a solid framework for the development of a narratives conflict. Conflict is a struggle between two opposing forces. The main conflict in this novel is man vs himself. Caitlin struggles to find her true self and learn more about her religion. She makes many choices through out he novel that will impact her life forever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The conflict begins when Caitlin starts being more adventurous and starts going to parties and hanging out with the wrong crowd that she thinks are the cool kids. She meets new people that aren’t her true friends and aren’t good people. These people try and get her to do thing’s that she really doesn’t want to do and she makes the right choice in saying â€Å"No.† She immediately goes into a room where she can’t be pressured and decides not to hang out with those people anymore.

Fight Club - Conformity vs Rebellion Essay -- Fight Club David Fincher

Fight Club - Conformity vs Rebellion The conflict between conformity and rebellion has always been a struggle in our society. Fight Club is a movie that depicts just that. The movie portrays the polarity between traditionalism and an anti-social revolt. It is the story of man who is subconsciously fed up with the materialism and monotony of everyday life and thereafter creates a new persona inside his mind to contrast and counteract his repetitive lifestyle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main character is actually unnamed, but sometimes is referred to as Jack, which comes from a medical book he reads in the Tyler’s house perhaps. He is the normal, everyday, worker bee that carries on his overly boring life day in and day out because he is the typical conformist that society tells us to be. Jack is the everyday common workingman to which the audience can sympathize with and relate to. His character portrays the struggles and longevity of the American dream. He is constantly rating his life and his lifestyle by his furniture. The designer furniture that he orders out of mail catalogues defines his personality and self worth. This is due to the fact that he is constantly trying to improve and complete his lifestyle by buying certain pieces of furniture to create a modern but still simple and traditional household. His house is beyond perfection but yet he still tries to further its flawlessness, which relates to his dream of the typical Am erican. But as he constantly tries to improve himself with his furniture and work habits to define his personality, he actually fails miserably and does quite the opposite. When Jack buys his furniture he destroys every attempt that he has made to improve himself. He only falls deeper into the hole that he digs himself. Every piece of furniture that he buys, he loses another part of his identity. Jack’s conformity follows him to work as he becomes a doormat. His socialization is confined to the limits of his cubicle with the only exception being when he is on business trips. During flights he develops relationships with the passengers around him. This is not done out of a real honesty for a conversation, but out of a need to fill a void, a loneliness, a lack of self-worth. His life is full of â€Å"single serving friends†, car crashes, and wishes of an eventful death because the monotony of his life gives him strict boundaries to live by. His... ...rkingman, as Tyler is the man everyone wants to be. Fight Club shows a man that everyone wants to be but can’t because of laws and in most cases common courtesy. The movie states that there is basically a Tyler in all of us, wanting and waiting to come out. None of us will let him out though because we don’t have the courage, or maybe stupidity to do it, although Jack does. For a while in the movie Jack did get everything he wanted. He had no care in the world and couldn’t have felt better about himself as a whole. Not until later does the final message come in, without any control there is chaos. When Tyler ran rampant and did what he pleased things began to get out of hand. For instance his final act of defiance towards society was the blowing up of credit card companies in order to erase the debt record so that everyone’s debt would go back to zero. This is only to create total chaos and embody Tyler’s world without rules. Tyler sums up the m ovie in his own terms, â€Å"You are not your job. You are not how much you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your khakis. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. The things you own end up owning you.†

Against School-Engaging The Text Essay

1. Question: Why does Gatto think that school is boring and childish? How does Gatto’s depiction of school compare with your own elementary and secondary school experience? Answer: Gatto thinks school is boring because the teachers and students are bored with material. The students say they already know the material. I can compare my school experience to Gatto’s depiction of school. My experience in elementary was a breeze and easy. Then I entered secondary school and was shocked. I was shocked that I had nobody to hold my hand and tell me what to do. I was given assignments and dues dates. It was up to me to get them done in time. My teacher’s taught me with their opinion, I really didn’t learn by that kind of teaching. But I read the text and studied hard, a way that I learn the best. 2. Question: What, according to Gatto, are the six unstated purposes of public schooling? To what extent does your own prior educational experience support this bleak view of American education? Answer: The six unstated purposes of public schooling are as follows 1. Adjustive or adaptive function: more discipline then educating 2. The Integrating function: being made to be someone you are not 3. The Diagnostic and Directive Function: a lot of testing 4. The Differentiating Function: teachers holding back the students and not letting them achieve their goals 5. The Selective Function: students are being put down and not able to succeed 6. The Propaedeutic: students are taught to be robots and to do what they are told and not ask questions. This view sort of pertains to me. I was taught by the teacher’s liberal views and opinions. I was raised to respect to others opinions. But I don’t give into the thought or idea that I am to learn and think because my teacher told me so. I did my work and did quite well without using their opinions. 3. Question: To what extent would you agree that we really don’t need to go to school? Given the current state of technology and globalizing economy, do think most people would gain the abilities they need to survive and thrive through homeschooling? Answer: I think education is VERY important. I disagree that kids do not need to go to school, they need to go. I think the school system and teachers can make school more appealing to students by changing the way they teach. For example they can do group activities, hold class somewhere else other than a classroom; like Starbucks, outside in the grass, a park. Anywhere where its stimulating, that way each day is a question of where is class going to be today? Homeschooling is good if you are self disciplined. I was homeschooled the first three months of my senior year in 1997. I graduated in November 1997 instead of June 1998. It depends on the person, if you are a go getter and want a way out of the school system ( in my opinion holds you back), then homeschooling is the ticket. 4. Question: How would you go about teaching your own children to be â€Å"leaders and adventurers† to think â€Å"critically and independently,† and to â€Å"develop an inner life so that they’ll never be bored†? How many parents, in your estimation, have the time, experience, and resources to make Gatto’s ideal education a reality? Answer: In teaching my children to be â€Å"leaders and adventurers† and to â€Å"think critically and independently,† I would teach them the basics of right and wrong, respect their elders, and most importantly respect yourself. What you say and how you handle yourself is always watched by others. I would be sure to teach them to be open minded about other’s opinions. And to ask questions to why they have that opinion, you may be enlightened and see your opinion a different way. Asking questions and learning from them will make you smarter person. I believe my child will be successful in school and out of school, if I raise them with integrity, respect, good work ethics, and good morals. But in this day and age many parents cannot do that, due to the lack of time, lack of knowledge, and the lack of knowledge. I taught myself when I did the homeschooling program through BYU, it was hard not having an instructor to help me. And my parents tried to help but luckily I had internet access. My Reflection. In reading Against School, I thought it was written like a factual story. I did learn a lot about the history in how school used to be. Back in the early years, education wasn’t that important. What was important was money, race and social class. They used a lot of discipline as well. The teachers and students are bored with the material and with school in general. Often teachers teach with their opinions and what they have been taught. I think that if teachers learn with the students and be open minded with what they are teaching, the students may opt to want to learn and enjoy school. The Summary Against School is about a retired teacher named John Gatto. He explains how school is boring for the students and teachers. He feels that the students are bored because the teachers are bored too. Its same material year after year, same classroom year after year. The students want to learn freely instead of being forced to learn. He feels schools have changed our children into addicts and children into children. He also feels that we suppress our genius because we don’t know how to handle them. His solution is to let them be their own person and think for themselves.

Prostitution Should Remain Illegal in Australia

Prostitution should remain illegal in Australia. By Alex Dimitrijevic Prostitution is a dark and dangerous industry. Allowing prostitution in Australia will only expand the sex industry, have an increase in child prostitution, damage the health of the women and also be against many women’s wills. In order to prevent these negative changes from happening in our community, the Australian Government should keep prostitution illegal and possible create a stricter law to protect the women and children.Legalising prostitution means that venues such as brothels, sex clubs and massage parlours will be available for men and young boys to attend without many restrictions. These places will be advertised and made to seem ‘okay’ because they are approved by the government, when in fact, they are nowhere near okay. They are areas where women are sold and practically rented time after time. These venues are usually located in hidden, dark areas in order to function secretly but if they were to be legalised they could potentially be near your child’s school, in your local shopping centres or even down the road to you.If you want to keep your children and community safe, prostitution should remain banned. In the prostitution industry the most preferred workers are young pure women. This category falls under young girls usually in their early teens. The high demand of women in the industry will only increase the number of young girls forced to work in these dirty circumstances. It is rare to find young teenage girls willing to participate in selling their bodies and being used by men twice or triple their age but the industry needs them! So they will force and persuade these girls.More terrifying, they will be allowed to, simply because prostitution will be legal by the government that vowed to protect them. Women in the sex industry will be open to sexually transmitted infections by men who demand not to use protection. A study in the US shows that 4 7% of men expected sex without the use of a condom, 73% offered to pay more for sex without a condom and 45% of women admitted to being abused when insisting the use of a condom. This study proves to us that women in the industry risk their health and wellbeing.They get abused for trying to protect themselves and if this activity was to be legalised then the number of patients with sexually transmitted infections would rise and even lead to deaths. These infections would be passed onto the women and back onto the men who were once clean before any intercourse, those men would probably pass it onto his wife or girlfriend, and the cycle would continue. The health of many would be at risk, not just the prostitute’s. Prostitution is not a preferred occupation by many women.These women are not aware of the dangers they enter in order to earn some money. Many that do enter the industry describe it as their last option. A study shows that 67% of interviewed women did not enter prost itution voluntarily but were forced to. They work in an environment where they are treated like slaves and paid to do as they are told without arguing. They are forced to perform on men who may be sick, abusive, drunk, dirty or simply unpleasant and if they were to complain, they would be beaten. This does not sound like a job they would be proud of or looking forward to going.In conclusion, the law against prostitution should remain illegal and possibly stricter to protect the women and young girls forced to work. If this law was to be changed and this dark and dirty act was to be allowed then we would only see negative changes in our community such as the expansion of the sex industry, increase in child prostitution, damages to the prostitutes and the general public’s health and the increase in women being forced to work. The facts and evidence are there for all of us to see and they can only worsen if prostitution is legalised.

Loss of Innocence in Lord of the Flies Essay

Within the novel innocence is progressively lost through the boys. The boys were placed in a situation where they had no other choice but to grow up, and grow up fast. These boys were put in a very traumatic situation and they had to learn on their own and from each other how to survive and almost create a thriving society all on their own. Slowly they learn that their needs to be a leader, but there are no adults to precede the role of authority. Therefore the children resume power and take the role of authority. All these things make the boys lose their innocence and become very violent. No one is completely innocent and everyone has the ability to turn violent, this is demonstrated in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Having their plane crash on an abandoned island with no civilization is something everyone would find traumatizing, especially boys from the ages of about 6-12. With no adults many of the boys do not know what to do. Being put in such a traumatizing situation they learn how to grow up very fast. This is where a lot of the boys innocence is lost simply because they do not know how to act as adults and because of this they act in a violent matter â€Å"You should have seen the blood!† (70). Here is an example of how the boys take violence as something exciting, something fun, when really there is nothing good or fun in violence. Very quickly the boys realize that they need to start some survival skills if they would like to stay alive. For some of the boys this is all new, some know nothing. Luckily others have been put in situations where they have needed survival skills so some can think creatively and use materialistic objects to survive. â€Å"His specs- use them as burning glasses!† (40) Here is an example for the boys using materials they have with them to survive on the island alone. They use Piggy’s glasses to create a fire by reflecting the sun off of them. With no adult or no authority to tell them what to do, the boys have to know how to survive on their own and work off of each other. These boys have never had to take over a role of authority that normally  adults have. They have never had such power to control people. This causes complete chaos and lots of violence breaks out due to the feud between Ralph and Jack. The problem with children resuming the roles of adults is that they do not have the experience or knowledge to resume these roles. There is a major lack of authority and power on the island. What happens is that both Jack and Ralph resume authority which divides up the group of boys. â€Å"’I’m chief,’ said Ralph, ‘because you chose me. And we were going to keep the fire going. Now you run after food—‘†(150). This is Ralph claiming his authority. â€Å"I ought to be chief,† said Jack with simple arrogance, â€Å"because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.† (22). This is Jack claiming authority. Both boys believe that they have authority and they do not get along with one another. Jack turns quite violent in the novel and is violent towards the other boys. The violence that the boys have towards each other is a major part of their loss of innocence. I believe that the boys in Lord of the Flies suffered from loss of innocence in a very fast and drastic way. They had to learn how to move on from such a tragic and traumatizing situation and learn on the spot how to survive as well as well as how to thrive as a society and work together. Although the boys might not have succeeded in their objectives, but the efforts made to work towards these objectives are what caused their loss of innocence. There are people who will never be deemed violent, whether its because of their age or level of maturity. Small children are perceived as being innocent and adults are seen as mature and self-composed. Yet, William Golding presents a very different opinion in this novel. Golding suggests that under certain circumstances and in the right situation, anyone, even a child can become a savage. Everyone has the ability to turn violent it is just a matter of the situation and the circumstances. Works Cited Page Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Toronto: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Include strategies Essay

Plan, implement and evaluate at least three activities for children in the foundation stage. You should ensure that across the three plans there are learning goals from each of the 6 areas of learning. Your plans should include strategies for differentiation.  Claire Field  Preston College  Introduction  The purpose of this work is to review the nature and content of the foundation stage curriculum and to consider the theoretical underpinning and underlying principles that have assisted in the formation of this early years practice. Through the planning and implementation of three activities, spanning the full spectrum of the foundation stage curriculum, the writer aims to identify and meet the needs of foundation stage children. This work will then evaluate the provisions for these children and investigate further the ways in which differentiation strategies can be implemented to ensure all children, regardless of their abilities, or stage of development, may receive the curriculum, delivered in a style appropriate to them and their own personal requirements. In 1988 the Conservative government, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, legislated that a National Curriculum be in force for pupils between the ages of 5 and 16, because she believed that  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœa good educational system was essential for the future  success of the nation’ (Ridley, 1992, p92)  Although a curriculum was in place for ages 5 to 16, there was a distinct lack of standardised learning for the early years. Margaret Hodge joined the Department for Education in 1998 and was responsible for reforming pre-school education policy (www.news.bbc.co.uk 12/10/2006). She was actively involved in the implementation of the Foundation Stage Curriculum in September 2000 and the publishing of the guidance to accompany this. The abilities of children are multifaceted and the foundation stage curriculum gives practitioners a much less rigid approach than the National Curriculum, by following the children’s progress using stepping stones. As the foundation stage curriculum is a government legislated policy, this means that all children should follow it. As it is flexible in the way in which it is implemented, it means that different types of settings can fashion the teaching methods to follow it in their own way. This means that whether a child attends a pre-school, an LEA nursery, a work-based nursery, or indeed a childminder, they are provided with the same curriculum. This is governed by Ofsted who maintain this proviso through their regular inspections. Good planning is essential in ensuring that all the practitioners involved can build a picture of the children’s development programme. Not only does it provide them with a premeditated programme of learning, but it also gives an opportunity for discussion to take place, where they can think about how they can progress children through the various stages of learning. For the practitioner to ensure all areas of the curriculum are covered, the planning must,  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœentail attention to overall (long-term) planning, medium  and short-term planning†¦for every aspect of every  lesson’ (Cohen et al, 2004, p125) Long term planning ensures that all the areas and aspects of learning within the curriculum are covered throughout the whole year and provides a template for the medium term planning. Correct use of the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, together with the knowledge of the practitioners relating to the individual children, means that the children experience new and exciting ways to learn through play. The long term plans of the settings must be flexible. They should incorporate the schools ethos and provide for an enriched curriculum with scope for differentiation to allow inclusion. Medium term planning then identifies the specific topics of work to be covered over the term, or half term. From these the practitioner then sets out the weekly activity plans, to guarantee full coverage of the learning outcomes within the set topics. It is vital that the plans cover the whole of the six areas of learning and that the practitioner assesses the progress of the children, in order to make certain that they are all progressing to the best of their capabilities. Recording achievements as stepping stones enables early years practitioners’ to carry out assessments whilst the children are involved in activities, thus preventing the child having any knowledge that an appraisal of their skills and understandings is being undertaken. Planning and evaluating the success criteria of an activity allows the practitioner to be certain that every area of the curriculum is covered. Piaget introduced three principles of cognitive development and these apply to all of the subjects studied in this report. His first principle is assimilation. He says that children do not absorb all the information they encounter. They actively engage in the assimilation process and learn what is relevant to them at their stage of development. The schema stage is next. During this phase the children relate what they know already to their current situation. The third phase is where the child wishes to seek stability cognitively. He utilises the knowledge gained and applies it to make a general logical picture (Oakley, 2004). From this it is clear to see how the children gain the learning and knowledge applicable to them by interpreting activities in their own way.

Floods in India and Its Control Essay

Countries irrigated by an adequate river system are in many ways blessed. These rivers not only help agriculture, but they provide a cheap and efficient transport system for the development of internal trade. The saying goes—land divides, seas unite. But waterways bring also a good deal of misery to the people by causing devastating seasonal floods In India, for example, the sub-Himalayan regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and Assam are heavily flooded by the rivers of the Gengetic basin and the Brahmaputra, almost every rainy season. It brings untold sufferings to the people of these low-lying plains. Millions are rendered homeless; men and cattle die in large numbers; the damage to property including standing crops is incalculable. Besides, floods affect the health of the locality and increase the incidence of cholera, typhoid and other water-borne diseases. In 1922 and 1998 flood in North Bengal left a trail of devastation, essentially in Malda, Murshidabad areas. Floods are caused by an excessive flow of water in rivers during the rainy seasons, due mainly to torrential rain in catchment areas. This may be due to two natural causes. First, the melting of ice in glacier on the mountains may thus supply a river with volumes of water much in excess of its containing and carrying capacity. Secondly, heavy rains on the mountains cause an excess of water supply. In either case, the excess water overflows the embankments and submerges the low-lying plains. Bursting of dams and also Bridges in protective embankments lead to inundation. This causes large-scale deforestation. As for example, in the Terai regions during the war, floods destroyed the natural embankments of a river. Occasionally earthquakes, by changing the course of a river, or by raising its basin or choking and silting the riverbed cause flood Another contributory cause is the construction of railway bridges without leaving provision for the natural outflow of flood-water. Of course, floods in an agricultural country have often been looked upon as a blessing in disguise. Floods leave behind on the submerged areas a rich alluvial or silt-deposit, which greatly increases the fertility of the soil. This soil on either side of the Nile owes its fertility to the annual flooding of the area, which submerges large regions, even after the construction of Aswan Dam in Egypt. Nehru used to say—give unto the river what naturally belongs to her, i. e. homesteads should not be built on riversides or on temporary char lands. That is a sure preventive measure, better than steps to resist after-effects. Men have tried from the earliest times to build protective embankments against the incidence of floods. Ordinarily these can be made sufficiently strong to resist the usual type of floods. A system of canals to irrigate the low-lying plains affords considerable escape route for the excess water caused by a normal rainfall. But these embankments should have to be maintained properly. Modern river engineering and hydro-dynamics, however, have led to a fundamental change in the principle. It is now realised that effective control of flood should begin at the source. Flood control, therefore, in these days has moved upstream. This includes the building of adequate reservoirs in the head stream area and the application of the principle of multipurpose river control. The building of a sufficient number of reservoirs is a long-drawn and costly process. Public sentiment may not take kindly to it; for it necessarily causes large-scale displacement of population as has been noticed in the Narmada Banchao movement of Sm. Patakar. For taming the turbulent Damodar, the age-long ‘river of sorrow’, by constructing the Tilaya, Mython and other dams across her, many Bihar villagers had to be shifted, and this was not liked by the local population. The future, no doubt, belongs to successful working of multi-purpose schemes. So petty objections, raised by individual or local interest, must give way before the larger needs of the people. In recent years, the rainy season has brought heavy floods all along the sub-Himalayan plains. The overflow of the tributaries of the Ganges and the Bramhaputra has caused untold sufferings to the people of these localities. Embankments have been broken, bridges have been washed away; villages have been waterlogged, cutting off all communications for days together. The utmost damage has been caused to the towns and villages of Assam by the Brahmaputra floods. The government must put up protective embankments; help the easy drainage of water by removing artificial obstructions, and by adopting local remedies for particular regions. It has been rightly said, â€Å"Rivers that overtop their banks and flood the adjacent lowlands offer a challenge to the people who must be ready to protect their fields from inundation. â€Å"

Individual Assessment (Part 2) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Individual Assessment (Part 2) - Assignment Example Programming is the act of original formulation of processes and steps within the tendering process. The definition is applicable to both the private and public sector when it comes to tender submission. Programming is a process involved with identifying the mission, objective, procedures, rules, and the manipulation of human capital of an organization in the process of seeking success (Fischer-Hübner 2006, p. 10). In order for an organization to be effective, regardless of the situation, there must be effective channels of communication within all tiers. There should be enough human motivation and responsibility of actions. As such, the tender submission requirements do not subject management, being one of the tender aspects, into the manipulation of a mechanism (Fischer-Hübner 2006, p. 10). Tender management does not have to be viewed in an enterprise point of view alone. The main reason is that programming is an essential function that improves the existence of firms and ev en individuals. There are several factors that influence programming as an aspect of the tender submission. Per se, programming assists the two sectors when it comes to procurement requirements. As observed in the public and private sector, the process of submitting tenders is a process that does not occur in isolation. The process is related to the general flow of market awareness and the awarding process of the different organizations. There are several activities that are involved (Fischer-Hübner 2006, p. 11).

Historical Letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Historical Letter - Essay Example The Iroquois lived in villages and were mainly farmers who stayed near their fields of crops. We only lived and cultivated lands within the period of 10-20 years after the soil proved infertile due to the worn out form of farming. Although we stayed along the streams, we later moved on to hilltops so that we could protect ourselves from the attacking tribes and even used palisade which had watch towers to spot invaders (De 17-27). Farm lands were cleared by men and women followed with the actual planting by using tiny wooden spades in creating mounds. We believed that mounds would play a major role in protecting the seeds from cold, and that the three crops grown could provide both physical and spiritual sustainers of life. We used a companion planting method in growing corns. We used to plant three main agricultural crops which included corn, squash, and beans which were commonly referred to as â€Å"Three Sisters†. We always planted the crops together in a very close distanc e where some flat topped mounds of soil were created for every cluster of crops. Every mound was almost 30cm high and 50cm wide, and numerous corn seeds were collectively planted in the middle of the mounds and rotten fish or even eels were buried together with the seeds to act as fertilizer (De 17-27). It was interesting to note that the crops mutually benefited from each other like the maize provided its stalk for the beans to climb, beans provided nitrogen for other plants to utilize, while squash nicely covered the ground to prevent the growth of weeds and retain moisture in the soil. We strongly believed that the mixture of maize and beans provided a great balanced diet. The natural relationship of the three crops was very vital, hence, requiring us to plant them together. During the harvest crops were gathered, women and seniour girls did the part of scrapping the kernels off the corn ears immediately the corns dried and later stored in the containers made of bark. We made a n ice soup from the dry corn and bread with the grounded ones (Kleinberg, Boris & Ruiz 30-35). Apart from the three crops, we grew sunflowers so that we could use oil from their seeds in cooking, protecting us from the sun or cold after rubbing on our bodies and even in healing cuts. Women could gather fruits at times as men hunted bear, beaver, rabbit or deer using bows and arrows or even trapping the animals in snares. Despite the abundance of food, we ate only one great meal in the late morning using our wooden spoons, bowls or shells. We used deerskin and other animals’ hides and furs to make our clothes which we commonly used both for protection and decoration. We wore our clothes considering different times of the year: during the summer we used loincloths of soft deerskin, while during cold weather men got dressed in leather leggings and tunics and women in skirts and leggings. Shells, beads, and porcupine quills provided a lovely decoration for the clothes, necklaces, a nd bracelets (Kleinberg, Boris & Ruiz 30-35). Our customs and beliefs were simply amazing. We believed that there existed numerous spirit forces that were created by a supreme being such as the sky spirit which included the moon and the sun as well as the earth spirits that included animals and plants. Every Iroquoian believed that their dreams would become true, and it was, therefore, common to see someone cutting him or herself in a harmless way whenever he or