Monday, September 30, 2019

Leadership & Change Management Essay

Transactional leadership styles are more concerned with maintaining the normal flow of operations. Transactional leadership can be described as â€Å"keeping the ship afloat. † Transactional leaders use disciplinary power and an array of incentives to motivate employees to perform at their best. The term â€Å"transactional† refers to the fact that this type of leader essentially motivates subordinates by exchanging rewards for performance. A transactional leader generally does not look ahead in strategically guiding an organization to a position of market leadership; instead, these managers are solely concerned with making sure everything flows smoothly today. Transactional leadership motivates followers by setting up social or financial transactions that persuade them to act. For example, a transactional leader might offer bonuses to her sales staff for exceeding quotas. The bonus is a form of financial transaction. Transactional leadership often is set in opposition to transformational leadership, which is a leadership style that relies on convincing followers that a particular vision of what the organization can achieve is worth working toward. Transformational leadership A transformational leader goes beyond managing day-to-day operations and crafts strategies for taking his company, department or work team to the next level of performance and success. Transformational leadership styles focus on team-building, motivation and collaboration with employees at different levels of an organization to accomplish change for the better. Transformational leaders set goals and incentives to push their subordinates to higher performance levels, while providing opportunities for personal and professional growth for each employee. Transformational leadership might sound preferable because the leader doesn’t cynically harness the self-interest of her followers, as the transactional leader does. But there’s a problem. A transformational leader might not be forthright with her followers. For example, a business owner might motivate her workforce with stirring speeches about the nobility of hard work, while her real aim is to increase production for personal gain. This type of transformational leader might be called inauthentic. Advantages Both leadership styles are needed for guiding an organization to success. Transactional leaders provide distinct advantages through their abilities to address small operational details quickly. Transactional leaders handle all the details that come together to build a strong reputation in the marketplace, while keeping employees productive on the front line. Transformational leadership styles are crucial to the strategic development of a small business. Small businesses with transformational leaders at the helm shoot for ambitious goals, and can they achieve rapid success through the vision and team-building skills of the leader. Applications Different management styles are best suited to different situations. When it comes to front-line supervisors of minimum-wage employees, for example a transactional leadership style can be more effective. Shift supervisors at a fast food restaurant will be much more effective if they are concerned with ensuring all of the various stations run smoothly, rather than spending their time thinking up better ways to serve hamburgers. On the other hand, CEOs or sales managers can be more effective if they are transformational leaders. Executive managers need the ability to design and communicate grand strategic missions, passing the missions down to transactional leaders for implementation of the details. Organizations emphasize the concept of leadership in training managers or group leaders to propel a team or the organization forward. Within leadership, the effectiveness of the transformational versus transactional leader is often debated. Transactional leadership relies more on a â€Å"give and take† understanding, whereby subordinates have a sense of duty to the leader in exchange for some reward. Transformational leadership, on the other hand, involves a committed relationship between the leader and his followers. In 1985, industrial psychologist Bernard Bass identified and wrote about four basic elements that underlie transformational leadership. Idealized Influence Transformational leaders act as role models and display a charismatic personality that influences others to want to become more like the leader. Idealized influence can be most expressed through a transformational leader’s willingness to take risks and follow a core set of values, convictions and ethical principles in the actions he takes. It is through this concept of idealized influence that the leader builds trust with his followers and the followers, in turn, develop confidence in their leader. Inspirational Motivation Inspirational motivation refers to the leader’s ability to inspire confidence, motivation and a sense of purpose in his followers. The transformational leader must articulate a clear vision for the future, communicate expectations of the group and demonstrate a commitment to the goals that have been laid out. This aspect of transformational leadership requires superb communication skills as the leader must convey his messages with precision, power and a sense of authority. Other important behaviors of the leader include his continued optimism, enthusiasm and ability to point out the positive. Intellectual Stimulation Transformational leadership values creativity and autonomy among the leader’s followers. The leader supports his followers by involving them in the decision-making process and stimulating their efforts to be as creative and innovative as possible to identify solutions. To this end, the transformational leader challenges assumptions and solicits ideas from followers without criticizing. She helps change the way followers think about and frame problems and obstacles. The vision the leader conveys helps followers see the big picture and succeed in their efforts. Individualized Consideration Each follower or group member has specific needs and desires. For example, some are motivated by money while others by change and excitement. The individualized consideration element of transformational leadership recognizes these needs. The leader must be able to recognize or determine through eavesdropping or observation   what motivates each individual. Through one-on-one coaching and mentoring, the transformational leader provides opportunities for customized training sessions for each team member. These activities allow team members to grow and become fulfilled in their positions. The Benefits of Transformational Leadership Motivation A transformational leader uses her belief in the vision of the company to inspire the staff to be more productive and work towards company goals. The drive behind a transformational leader is to find ways in which she can get the entire staff on board with corporate strategy and planning. When the entire company is on the same page with the corporate vision, it can make achieving that vision easier. Planning Inspirational managers do not focus their energy solely on motivating the staff. A good transformational leader has broad visions for the company’s future, and those visions can become instrumental in company planning. Whether it is refining the overall business plan or affecting individual marketing programs, the transformational manager has ideas and visions for the future of the company that he wants to share with the management team and work to turn those plans into reality. Retention The idea of transformational leadership is to reach out to each employee and bring out the best in them. An inspirational manager spends time with each employee discussing ways to make the employee’s job easier, and helping to create plans for developing the employee’s career. This individual attention that is offered by transformational leaders helps to create a strong bond between the manager and his employees that will reduce employee turnover. Growth  A manager that is not intimately involved in the growth of the company and the development of her staff can start to struggle with managing her department as the company grows. A transformational leader is constantly involved with the growth of the company and the ongoing development of employees. As the company grows, the transformational leader maintains that close contact to the company and employees and can make the process of growing a more involved experience for new and veteran employees.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

John Williams (Composer) Essay

Born in Queens, NY, in 1932, John Williams is arguably the most sought-after composer in Hollywood today. Musically, John Williams greatly influences my work and I find his grandiose, sweeping scores a benchmark to which I would like to progress to in my composing career. With 47 Academy Award nominations, he is the most nominated musician in Academy Awards history and the second-most nominated person of all-time (second to Walt Disney). However, Williams’ rise to fame has been slow and it has taken many years for him to become the household name he is today. This encouraged me, as it showed that even a musical legend like John Williams started out small and worked his way up. During his time studying at Juilliard, he worked as a jazz pianist in New York clubs and after his studies, he moved to L.A. where he began working as a studio pianist for renowned composers, such as Henry Mancini and thus, some of his more comedic scores show Mancini’s influence. He soon gained notice in Hollywood for his versatility in composing jazz, piano and symphonic music. When composing a piece of music, I always look to John Williams for inspiration. One of his most famous techniques, and a technique I greatly appreciate, is the concept of leitmotif and his ability to write a fitting and recognisable piece of music to accompany a particular character; a favourite of mine being â€Å"Princess Leia’s Theme† from Stephen Spielberg’s space epic Star Wars. Williams’ collaboration with Stephen Spielberg began when Spielberg was an all but unknown director, with the film The Sugarland Express and with the momentum of that success, they began a long collaboration together, working on films such as Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List, Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurrasic Park and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the latter’s musical and film concepts being worked on simultaneously by Spielberg and Williams, an unusual step for a Hollywood film but typical of John Williams for pushing boundaries. His ability to write so many different styles of music, from Schindler’s List to Indiana Jones, is a skill I which greatly inspires me, as well as his flair for conveying a particular theme; particularly in E.T, where his music depicts the childlike innocence of the film. He is a chameleon of sorts and his seemingly effortless approach to composing exquisite pieces of music for completely different genres makes him stand out amongst other notable musicians of our modern culture. He also takes a lot of inspiration from composers such as Richard Strauss and Wagner, and it is evident in the style of some of his work that he admires the grand, symphonic scores and neoromatic style of Golden Age composers Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. When orchestras are performing his pieces, John Williams likes to be the one to conduct, adding more passion and depth to the music that wouldn’t be there if it were another conductor. I have viewed many videos on Youtube of orchestras playing Williams’ creations and each time they have played with a fervour and respect that spawns a magical, tangible atmosphere, making the music stay with you long after the orchestra has stopped playing. The fact that his scores are not particularly technically difficult, yet still require a musician of great calibre to play them, shows how much effort Williams puts in to evoke the emotion and theme of the film. Star Wars is perhaps Williams’ most famous and memorable scores and is the highest-grossing non-popular recording of all-time. The combined scores add up to more than 14 hours of orchestral music – a magnitude unheard of by most musicians. It is this tenacity and dedication that I admire most about John Williams and is, most likely, what gave him the remarkable career he has enjoyed for so many years.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Culture of the Nacirema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Culture of the Nacirema - Essay Example I personally have not read about any case studies of "primitive" people who are so economically-minded, and a well-developed market system like this is proof for me of how civilized the Nacirema are. A second positive aspect is how well-knit the families are. Every house has a shrine where they cleanse their bodies and everyone enters this room "in succession" (Miner, n.d). Parents openly discuss purification rites with the children (Miner, n.d) and see it of utmost importance to initiate their children. The entire family has a common pursuit, desire to purify the body, which keeps them connected to each other. A third positive aspect is the fact that they put a lot of emphasis in cleansing and purifying the body. They are obsessed with hygiene and appearance, and I find it interesting that they share the belief that most people in developed, modern societies have, that good appearance have an effect on "social relationships," (Miner, n.d). This makes sense since I myself would not b e attracted to people who are unclean and dirty. A fourth positive aspect of the Nacirema is how they have a "listener", who for me is the equivalent of a psychotherapist. The listener simply listens to what his clients tell him about their problems (Miner, n.d). Lastly, it's interesting to see how the entire Nacirema society is neatly distinguished into different social roles; there are medicine men, herbalists, mouth men for example, and they are all highly trained in their own professions. Â  One negative aspect of the Nacirema is that they are a greedy people; they desire gifts at every service rendered and people are not entered into the latipso shrines for treatment if they cannot afford a gift to the healers, no matter how ill they are (Miner, n.d).

Friday, September 27, 2019

Ratio Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ratio Analysis - Essay Example They are of interest to the creditors to determine the firm’s ability to meet its short term financial obligations. So far the liquidity ratio of the company indicates that the liquid assets of the company are higher compared to its own average, meaning that the company as assets that can be easily be converted to cash. The indication of good liquidity ratio reduces the worry of the creditors since the business is at a position to easily pay its short term liabilities. Profitability ratios concentrate on the major areas such as asset turnover, profit margin, return on assets, and return on common shareholder’s equity. Profitability ratios are used by investors to measure the management effectiveness as shown by returns generated by the profit margin (Weygandt et al, 2010, p 723). The company’s ROE has been registering a slight decrease, from 17% in 2009 to 15% in 2011, meaning that the company is earning less returns on its capital. As calculated the highest profit margin is 4.97% in 2011 which is low, meaning that the business is not that profitable. The solvency ratio of the company is based on debts to total assets and times interest earned. It is used by shareholders and potential investors to determine financial risk of the business. When calculated in 2011 debt to total assets is 23.33% which gives a healthy indication of the company’s performance. During the same year the times interest was 8.3% which backs the claims o f the company’s financial healthiness. Therefore from the solvency ratios the management can learn that the company is capable of paying back its long term obligations (Weygandt et al, 2010, p

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The case of banjo jones and his blog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The case of banjo jones and his blog - Essay Example A second important fact of this case is that the writer of the web blog, Steve Olafson, was a journalist working for the Houston Chronicle. This is important because Mr. Olafson was a very talented writer that brought to the public very great information. He was able to provide powerful insights and opinions which other normal blogs lacked since many webmasters did not have the education and years of experienced Steve possessed. Many politicians, business owners and other publishing houses wanted to know the identity of Bango Jones. A third key fact of the case was that Mr. Olafson was fired by the Houston Chronicle for expressing his opinions on the internet. The newspaper violated Steve’s freedom of speech, which is very ironic since newspapers are in business because of freedom of speech protections. A missing fact in this case is whether the claim that Steve used the blog to constantly attack politicians and institutions such as Dennis restaurant were true. The majority of the material of the website was column writing in which Steve’s prefer topics were stories about neighborhood kids, baseball and other sport coverage (Orlowski, 2002). Another important missing fact is the ultimate consequence of Steve actions. Did he ever serve jail time for his alleged bridge of confidentiality? The answer is no, Steve served jailed time around that time for an unrelated matter concerning protection of a source from the Eastern Post, a decision which was later overturned by the judge (Orlowski, 2002). A third missing fact is if Steve Olafson and the Houston Chronicles became enemies. They did not become enemies. Three years later the new administration at the Houston Chronicles created a corporate web blog and included Steve’s blog as a link within the website claiming that St eve Olafson was a great journalist and reporter (Jossip,

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Laurell K. Hamilton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Laurell K. Hamilton - Essay Example In all of Hamilton’s novels one can come across a number of contemporary themes that goes well in tune with the contemporary American socio-cultural milieu. For instance, her works deal with such contemporary themes in American literature such as gender, sex, identity, oppression, and morality. The paper seeks to explore what makes Hamilton a contemporary writer who deals with contemporary themes in literature and in doing so the paper focuses on the dominant themes in her writings. The themes of gender and sex are dominant in Hamilton’s writings and it is these themes that attribute her works a contemporary nature even though her plot and characters stem out of mere fantasy. One can clearly see that her women protagonists challenge the very notion of the stereotyped gender and sex roles played by women in a male dominated society. Nick Mamatas is right when the author remarks that Hamilton accomplished something quite impossible by creating â€Å"a new subgenre, urban fantasy-adventure with a female lead, and build a new audience for it† (Hamilton & Wilson, 2009, p. 5). In fact, Hamilton created her female protagonists in such a way that the female readers could easily identify with the central characters and her female protagonists undertake such actions which females thought to be impossible in the real life. In all her novels and short stories, one can find that the male characters are forced to follow the female lead. For instance, in the Anita Blake series, Anita Blake assumes a tough personality who always triumphs over men. Thus, one can see that Hamilton challenged the conventions of a standard fantasy novel where the heroine always played a submissive role to the heroes. Her heroines do not end up their lives in the hero’s bed for domestic-sexual bliss. Usually, in popular fiction, â€Å"even if a woman triumphed over a man intellectually, economically, or rhetorically in a scene or two, by the end of the book the female l ead would be humbled and ready to submit to the male lead† and â€Å"Hamilton changed that† (Hamilton & Wilson, 2009, p. 9). Thus, it can be concluded that Hamilton’s writings depict the changing gender roles played by women and such a theme is very much contemporary in literature. No doubt, the themes related to literature derive the real or imaginary life of man and a theme in literature is said to be contemporary when it represents the existing socio-cultural milieu. The readers feel that the writer is giving vent to their own emotions, feelings, grievances, frustrations and experiences. A close reading of Hamilton convinces one that her treatment of sex and female sexuality was very much bold and unconventional. When one finds Anita Blake at the beginning of Hamilton’s series, she is a 27 year old celibate Christian who keeps strict moral codes in her life. However, one finds her supporting premarital sex and engaging in extra marital relations as the story progresses. However, Hamilton gives Anita a reason to go hog wild with sex, and in doing so she unbridged the gap between humans and monsters. In Cerulean Sin, Anita herself states, â€Å"one of my favourite things about hanging out with the monsters is the healing. Straight humans seemed to get killed on me a lot. Monsters survived. Let’s hear it for the monsters.† It is thus evident that Hamilton’s treatment of the theme of sex and sexuality assumes contemporary relevance. Nathan Brazil, reviewing Laurel K. Hamiilton’

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Individual Project and Presentation (3,000 words 50%) A student Essay

Individual Project and Presentation (3,000 words 50%) A student negotiated project and structure interview on a specialism of t - Essay Example It is the contemporary reality that ICTs or Information Communication Technologies have entered all spheres of our life. As a teacher of ICT, the practitioner finds himself using it more and more every day. In the context of formal education, ICT is recommended to be used by children from their earliest years. Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford (2000) position that since the early age children ought to be finding out as well as identifying the uses of ICT in everyday life. Computers along with programming toys are recommended for use to support learning. Use of play will provide a well-structured foundation for the later use of applications. In other words, the priority of modern education is to integrate ICT across the curriculum. The term ICT is used in modern education when one speaks about digital literacy. While the first associations with this term are the Internet, mobile phones, computers, Facebook, television, games, and Twitter, in education a few scholarly definitions are used. Specifically, Hague (2010), who says that ‘digital literacy’ is a confusing term, provides the following definition: digital literacy constitutes â€Å"critical and creative and cultural practices that allow one to understand and share the meaning and knowledge in different modes and formats through various forms of engagement with technology and media† (Hague 2010, 6). ... Indeed, Eshet-Alkalai (2002) says that the term’s indistinct use leads to ambiguity as well as misunderstanding, low-quality communication, and development of misconceptions. It is noted that a certain inconsistency exists between the supporters of the view that digital literacy is majorly about technical skills and those who support the view that digital literacy is about focus on both cognitive and socio-emotional aspects of functioning in an extensively digital environment. Hence, one of the research questions in this paper is â€Å"Is digital literacy more than just using a computer?† Two other questions are: â€Å"Is digital literacy covered in enough depth in the setting?† and â€Å"Should digital literacy lessons be taught earlier?† First of all, let us critically analyse views on the problem of the nature of digital literacy and its major components in available academic sources. The very concept of digital literacy, the term that is widely used to day, was introduced by Gilster (1997) back in 1997. Gilster (ibid) provided a generic explanation of digital literacy rather than a list of competencies and skills that defined digital literacy. In his view, digital literacy is simply an ability to comprehend and utilize information from a range of various sources, i.e. a sort of literacy typical for the digital age. Needless to say, the definition was quite broad, but it evidently opened the door to interpretations by different authors. While the term had been used before, it was Gilster (1997) and then Eshet (2002) that contemplated digital literacy as a broader concept. Specifically, Gilster (1997) explicitly observes that digital literacy is all about mastering ideas rather than

Monday, September 23, 2019

Sir Richard Branson - Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sir Richard Branson - - Case Study Example Also, we will look at other attributes that if incorporated in his life, would zeal his future adventures, like space tourism. Leadership Styles The identification of a leader is an always lagging factor. Leadership is being proven by the future orientation of the leader. Here first of all we are going to focus on transactional leadership, authentic leadership, and transformational leadership. Then we will focus on the relationship between the leader and the members, and at last we will conclude this section by throwing some light on the global leadership. Transactional leadership is focused on the self-interest of the followers and thus motivates the followers to a particular goal. Here the leader is empowered with the formal authority to mould the followers. These leaders control, organize and plan for the short term. To run a successful transactional leadership style, it is highly required that all the process are well defined, and the goals and obstacles of the organization is cl early understood. This is good for the businesses which are well established. In such a structured environment, it is possible to push the followers to some defined goals. Though not very impressive like a hero, the transactional leaders are the foundation of any organization. ... Transformational leaders are a few steps ahead of an authentic leader. The words that describe them are visionary, inspiring, daring, and ethical. They can understand the future trends. They understand the possibilities with such changes. They can make their followers understand their visions and take the necessary step to mould the organizations. Thus transformational leadership creates synergy. These kinds of leaders are found in every level of the organizations. Even in the start ups, they are clearly visible. Thinking out of the box is a central theme for these people. These leaders do not waste time in blame game; rather focus on the core issues. They are a real inspiration to their followers. These are the people who are called charismatic leaders (Huang and Hsu, 2011, p. 870). Now let’s focus on the leader and follower relationship. It is important to know the interdependency and reciprocity between these two layers. The relationship between the leader and the followers grows with increasing transactions. From simple stranger phase, it grows into acquaintance phase and then transforms into mature partnership. Though the dynamics of leadership is well researched, the dynamics of followers is less understood as there is no such in depth research. There is a bias that leaders are the only movers and shakers. In reality, followers’ dynamics has also an effect on leadership style (Kean, 2011, p. 35). A real leader clearly understands the dynamics of the followers. With the globalization in process, there are numerous organizations that have presence across the globe. In leading such a global organization, the

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Online Grading System Essay Example for Free

Online Grading System Essay Introduction Grading System is an exercise in professional judgment on thepart of the teachers. It involves the collection and evaluation of evidence on students’ achievement or performance over a specified period of time. Through this process various types of descriptive information and measures of students’ performance are converted into grades that summarize students’ accomplishments. Online Grading System is a web-based application that can be used to create report cards, class grade list and roll sheet attendance report. It posts the grades of the students online. The students have an account to access their report card. Parents can view and be updated on the performance of their children. While teachers work load can be lessen through computing the grades automatically. Background of the Study Teachers all over the nation have discovered that when they utilize an online grading system, they are able to quickly and easy update, track, and grade student performance in much less time than they ever thought possible. Parents and students also enjoy being able to take part in an online grading system. This is because students and parents can access an online grading system with a password and can track grades and assignments whenever they need to. This helps students become more aware of their grades and also helps parents get involved in their child’s schooling. And as any teacher will tell you, when parents and teachers can work together to help a child succeed, that child has a much better chance of getting the most out of his or her schooling. The other great thing about an online grading system is that it can also be used to create report cards, assignment reports, class grade lists, student GPA, seating charts, roll sheets, attendance reports, and more.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull Essay Example for Free

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull Essay After reading on Jonathan Livingstone seagull, write down reflective value and believe about the meaning and purpose of life. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is about a very independent bird, who dared to question what was being taught and told to him by the elders. He didnt just want to spend his days searching for food and hanging out doing what was expected of him. He was different, and dared to dream. He spent his days learning to fly faster and better than any other gull in the flock. He learned from all of his searching and trying that he could do anything, if he wanted it badly enough and just went for it, even to the point of becoming an outcast. At one point in time, in so learning and perfecting his craft, he crash landed and died, going onto a higher lever of his awareness, to learn more lessons from his guide, Fletcher. He continues through the story, becoming more and more proficient in his endeavours and in turn becomes a teacher/guide to others, becoming a kind and loving soul along the way. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a bird who wants nothing more than to fly. Raised in a group of gulls that saw flying as only a means to an end, Jonathan challenged their way of life by believing that flying could be about more than transportation or getting food it could be about joy and happiness and freedom. When told he was irresponsible for trying exceed his expectations Jonathan replied: Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads and now we have a reason to live to learn, to discover, to be free! An outcast from his flock, Jonathan took his exile with a grain of salt, finding joy in his love for flight and his constant desperate desire to grow and to learn. He pushes himself to the breaking point and is never satisfied enough with his knowledge and never tires of the quest to obtain more. Bach gives us a character that stands alone with his ideas and beliefs and is rewarded for his patience and courage. The second half of the book shows Jonathan learning so much that he transcends his earthly form into a higher plane of being. Here, Jonathan is met with other gulls who like him, strive for excellence and do not see flying as a means to an end, but simply love to fly for the sake of loving it. This part begins to reflect a bit of the Buddhist mindset about heaven and a universal knowledge which can seem a bit confusing at first. Jonathan finally returns to his flock on Earth to try for better or worse to show that there is more to life than what they are striving for. This is a fable about the importance of making the most of our lives, even if our goals run contrary to the norms of our flock, tribe or neighbourhood. Through the metaphor of flight, Jonathan’s story shows us that, if we follow our dreams, we too can soar. Amazing inspiring story of seagulls. It tells us nothing is impossible in this world. You just have to have the desire to achieve it.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Poor Time Management Skills

Poor Time Management Skills ICBT leads in delivering Edexcel HNDs. However, recent observations showed HND Business Management students showed an increase in poor attendance punctuality, failed in on time delivery resulting in late non-delivery of assignments, the main reason identified for the negative results were, students poor time management skills. This negatively effects key stakeholders such as institute, students, parents lectures, resulting in inability of students to achieve good grades, increased stress years taken to complete the HND, reduced the practice working on deadlines, makes ICBT unable to reach its mission vision, impacts the existing positive image with Edexcel the market, fades parents goals hopes, increases pressure upon lecturers leads to demotivation as results are not achieved as expected from students. The importance of a solution was recognized, identified improving students planning organizing, prioritizing goal setting skills improves time management skills. Improving the said skills, increases students on time submission rates, capability to work on time reduces stress, enable ICBT reach its mission vision maintain good name with both Edexcel the market, reduce work load pressure incenses motivation of lecturers lead parents see their children achieving success. Introduction Established since year 2000 (ICBT, 2011) International College of Business Technology Ltd (ICBT) has become one of the most leading private sector higher education offering institute in Sri Lanka offering variety of internationally accepted study courses. It was observed most students at ICBT studies Edexcel HNDs, ICBT is most popular in delivering HNDs as ICBT was awarded by Edexcel International (The Sunday Times, 1996 2011) as the leading center for Edexcel HNDs in Sri Lanka However recent observation showed students studying Edexcel HND business management shows average poor attendance punctuality, fail to submit assignments on due dates resulting in late submissions not submitting assignments. The main reason identified for students inability to submit assignments on time poor punctuality, was students poor time management skills. Symptoms identified through observing students which led me to look into these problem was students grades achieved, on average students poor attendance, poor punctuality, students complaints on subject matters, students non-verbal expressions such as showing less interest concentration towards lectures, sleepiness, negative attitude towards lectures, talking with friends while lectures are being conducted within the class room, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The importance of identifying finding a solution to these problem was recognized upon identifying the negative effects it could have upon all key stakeholders involved such as students, parents, lecturers the institute the benefits it could bring to the mentioned stakeholders as discussed below. Improved students time management skills, will increase students ability to submit assignments on time, which could be a criteria leading to achieve high grades, reduce both stress levels enable students to complete the HNDs within the time frame of eighteen months, avoid additional payments required on on late extension re-modules of assignments. Further more achieving high grades would increase students knowledge skills levels, which would benefit in gaining building core competencies necessary when entering the job market. Also finding a solution to improve students time management skills, would increase students practice ability to mange time effectively, efficiently under pressure of work while in the university, which could be highly believed would be useful in their career life as time management is considered as a vital interpersonal skill in todays business world. Further if strategies are not implemented to improve students time management skills it would make it impossible for ICBT to reach its mission vision as identified in figure - in appendix , as ICBTs mission of enhancing quality of human resources available to the market, would be negatively effected as students poor grades, poor time management skills, poor punctuality, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ would not result in an increase of quality human resource available to the job market in the future, it would not enable ICBT to reach its vision, since poor performance of students would effect ICBTs reputation recognition in both the local international market negatively, impacting both international local market growth negatively. Also if this results in an continuation, there is an high possibility that ICBTs quality of education reputation in the private higher education could be adversely effected, resulting in ICBTs reputation recognized by Edexcel International as discussed above to de teriorate. Students ability to mange time effectively is a vital factor that could effect a child ability to meet parents goals hopes, such as seeing children passing exams with good grades on planned time frame being highly educated, having a good career a work life balance. Further good time management skills would result in not requiring to pay any additional payments to the college on late submission or re-modules resulting in less financial burden upon parents. Increase in students time management skills would increase students ability to submit assignments on time, this would enable the lecturers to complete checking the whole batches assignments on a particular day, without the need of carrying forward any due checks, putting additional pressure burden upon them. Further effective time management plays a major role in students ability to achieve a Distinction criteria other good grades, which could be a motivating factor for lecturers act as proof of lecturers high performance. As problem was identified ICBT City campus Edexcel HND business management students, area of influence or the scope of the study was identified as the collection of all the current registered Edexcel HND Business Management students at ICBT City campus. As identified discussed above how students poor time management skills effects students other core stakeholders such as parents, lecturers, the institute, the importance of finding a solution for this problem was highlighted by doing so it would not only fulfil the knowledge gap, but also bring massive benefits to all the key stakeholders as discussed below. Research Problem Why are ICBT City campus Edexcel HND Business Management students inefficient in their time management? Research Questions What is time management? What is efficiency effectiveness? What is effective time management? What are the factors influencing effective time management of students? Research Objectives Identify what is time management by reading articles other relevant documents published on time management on or before 12/09/2012 Read articles other relevant documents identify what is efficiency effectiveness why it is important to students before 13/09/2012 Identify what is effective time management by reading articles other relevant documents published on effective time management skills on or before 16/09/2012 Search relevant theories literature to identify factors effecting effective time management of students on or before 18/09/2012 Literature Review Time management involves balancing all the activities in which a person participates within the confines of the week (Canyons, 2001-2012). Efficiency effectiveness plays a vital role towards determining an individuals ability to balance manage all activities of a perticular time period. Efficiency is where time or effort is well used for a planned task efectiveness is doing the right thing. Therefore effective time management could be considerd as an individuals ability to ensure right things are done at the right time, while ensuring time effort is well used for the planned task. However factors effecting time managemnt skills of an individual is discussed below. A study done to find the relatinship between, delay the lack of ability to set daily routines associated with academic activities (Dietz, Hofer Fries, 2007) suggested that students planning is important to prevent delays in academic work, while Drucker in 1967 recognized that planning activities task does not always ensure completion of planned work, specially when time presure is high. However a study done by Gerhard in year 2007, showed that student planning is only one factor among several other factors that could effect time mangement, through results observed by both pre post training skiils observed, which focused on four criterias such as self assesment, goal setting, time mangement self regulation, which was capable to show a major increase or improvement in between students pre post self managemnt skills. According to Sandberg in year 2001, stated that effective utilisation of time would help to achive goals as planned, it is the art of arranging, organising, scheduling, budgeting ones time for the purpose is the factors that influence effective work productivity. Obi in year 2003 stated that time mangemnt involves accurately identifying tasks to be performed, planning scheduling of activities, prioritisng activities in order, allocating time to tasks according to the degree of imporatane that enhances productivity. Olaniyi in 1998 Akomolafe in 2005 argued that, there is nothing to mange in time as time is beyod human control, what individuals are capable to do is to decide what to do with the available time how well to organize activities within the available time frame. Adedeji in year 1998 also came up with a strong similar argument that supports, Olaniyis Akomolafes findings, where he sead time is an scares resource utilization of time could be achived by doing the right thing at the right time. A study done by university students in the United states (Macan, et al, 1990) identified a four factor model which effects students time managemnt skills they were setting goals and priorities, planning and scheduling, perceived control over time, and preference for disorganisation. Out of the four factors perceived control over time had shown the strongest contribution to students academic and emotional adjustment. Further Macans identification that goal setting could infleunce time managemnt was also surported by Richards in 1987 where Richardss concluded that setting life goals keeping time logs were important techniques for effective time managemnt. McCay in 1959 developed a concept for time management training programme, where the critical elements highlighted in it were, giving insight into time consuming activities, changing time expenditure, increasing work day efficiency by teaching people how to make daily planning, how to prioritise task how to handle unexpected tasks. A study done by Britton Tesser in 1991, had identified that 67% of undergraduate students find time managemnt as the most difficult task to manage 36% varience among the grades werte due to time mangemnt skills. This further highlights proves the importance of finding why and how time mangemnt skills could be improved among ICBT City campus HND Business managemnt students. Planning organizing skills Figure (Conceptual model) Time management Prioritising skills Gaol setting skills Alternative Hypothesis identified Students planning, organizing prioritising goal setting skills effects time management Planning organizing skills is the ability to manage self and/or others, and resources including time and surrounding circumstances to reach a specific goal (University of Strathclyde, n.d) Prioritizing skills is the ability to define, rank, and assign levels of importance to tasks, activities, and/or issues and deal with matters of higher importance first. Create a list of items in order in which they need to be completed or delegated. Align personnel and other resources according to priority while maintaining organizational mission, vision, and objectives. Determine matters of urgency and handle accordingly (Selection criteria examples, 2012) Goal setting is the ability of an individual to establishing specific, measurable and time targeted objectives (Objectiveli, 2012) Time management is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools, and systems that work together to help you get more value out of your time with the aim of improving the quality of your life (Time thoughts, 2004 2011), time management skill of an individual depends upon the individuals planning organizing, prioritising goal setting skills. Methodology The sampling frame would be derived from the current ICBT city campus HND Business management students registers, available from the programme coordinating office, which would give a complete list of all students registered for the course under each batch. Out of the sampling frame, a student sample would be obtained in order to conduct the research. However, HND Business management batch 38 46 would be excluded from, the survey as batch 38 has already completed the HND only awaiting for the finalised results batch 46 would be excluded, as the batch is the freshest HND Business management batch, which has started on the second week of September 2012, would not enable to gain required information. In order to avoid the sampling error study would be done to identify the most suitable sampling method to be adopted a larger sample size would be considered in the survey, than the sample size requirement calculated through the sample size calculator. Table (Operational model) Criteria to be measured Measurement unit Planning organizing Skills Ability to estimate time effort required to complete a task Ability to organize systems required resources Organize personal time to carry out responsibilities Maintain satisfactory preparation time for scheduled deadlines Capability to develop schedules timetables with clear milestones deadlines Ability to measure results milestones for self Prioritising skills Ability to identify critical task arrange tasks in logical order Establish priorities systematically differentiate between urgent, important unimportant tasks Ability to monitor or adjust priorities on a daily basis Goal setting skills Ability to set SMART objectives Criteria to be measured Measurement unit Time management skills Students attendance On time delivery, late submissions not submitted rates of assignments (University of Strathclyde, n.d) (Top achievement, n.d) To measure the relationship of the conceptual model identified in figure an operational model had been created in table above. According to the conceptual model organizing, planning prioritising goal setting skills are considered as independent variable time management skills is considered as a dependent variable. Table - (Logical link created to prove the accuracy of measuring units used in the operational model) Criteria to be measured Measurement unit Logical link to prove accuracy of measuring unit Planning organizing skills Ability to estimate time effort required to complete a task Ability to estimate the time effort required to complete particular task, would enable a student to plan in advance on future tasks help to identify how much remaining time is available towards achieving other tasks Ability to organize systems required resources Ability to organize systems resources required to accomplish an task in advance, would help students to fully utilise its separated time towards achieving the task, without the need to use that time in finding required resources systems which would save time Organize personal time to carry out responsibilities If students have the ability to organize time to carry out personal responsibilities in their lives, the separated time could be fully utilized in meeting personal responsibilities, where this would help to avoid personal responsibilities interrupting at times students are engaged in academic work. Maintain satisfactory preparation time for scheduled deadlines Students ability to maintain satisfactory preparation time for scheduled deadlines would help to avoid stress levels of students, an increase their ability to accomplish their goals as planned. Criteria to be measured Measurement unit Logical link to prove accuracy of measuring unit Planning organizing skills Capability to develop schedules timetables with clear milestones deadlines Ability to set clear milestones deadlines with the use of clear schedules time tables, would lead to student motivation also highlight the targets students have to achieve at each given time or date thereby enable to plan organize tasks Ability to measure results milestones for self Ability to measure results milestones for self, would give an students a clear personal idea on where adjustments needs to be made thereby help to plan organize tasks more accurately in the future Prioritising skills Ability to identify critical task arrange tasks in logical order Students ability to identify critical tasks would enable students to give more priority towards achieving them, among other less important tasks Establish priorities systematically differentiate between urgent, important unimportant tasks Ability to priorities systematically differentiate between urgent, important unimportant tasks, would enable a student to give more priority accordingly to urgent, important unimportant tasks. Ability to monitor or adjust priorities on a daily basis In general there is high possibility that sudden unexpected tasks may arise than expected, or an unmet task as planned, may be have to reposition into daily tasks. At a given situation, students ability to accurately monitor readjust the set plans accordingly would enable to reprioritise tasks accordingly. Goal setting skills Ability to set SMART objectives Ability to set SMART objectives would enable student to avoid underestimation or overestimation of work capabilities Criteria to be measured Measurement unit Logical link to prove accuracy of measuring unit Attendance Students attendance records Students attendance records would provide an clear understanding on students punctuality attendance, which could be count towards time management skills Assignment submission rates On time delivery, late submissions remoulded rates Students on time delivery, late submissions remoulded rates of assignments, would set a clear criteria towards evaluating time management skills, as ability to submit assignments on time mostly depends on students ability to manage time effectively Students planning, organizing prioritising goal setting skills would be measured using pre determined questioners used by researches that have been capable of measuring students planning, organizing prioritising gaol setting skills. The results obtained using the questioners would be compared against students late on time assignment submission rates, re-module rates attendance in determining if, HND Business management students planning, organizing prioritising goal-setting skills has an effect upon time management skills. Data collection plan Note Questioner attached in the appendix Data / Information required Primary / Secondary data Source of data Sampling frame Secondary data Data obtained through the programme officeof ICBT city campus Data / Information required Primary / Secondary data Source of data On time assignment, late submission re-module rate of assignment submission of students Primary data Questioners distributed among the sample students Student attendance Primary data Questioners distributed among the sample students Students planning organizing, prioritising Goal setting skills Planning organizing skills Primary data Questioners distributed among the sample students Prioritising skills Primary data Questioners distributed among the sample students Goal setting skills Primary data Questioners distributed among the sample students Sampling methods to be adopted Simple random sampling All students considered under the population will be listed in Excel software according to batch wise, in order to the student register, a sample of students would be selected using the, random formula provided in Excel in order to conduct the survey. Simple random sampling would avoid biasness in selection of students for the sample, enabling every student considered under the population to have an equal chance of being selected for the survey would thereby be capable to represent the whole population. Difficulties limitations faced in using Simple random sampling Although the list of students names are readily available at the programme coordinating department gaining access to the list may be challenging as it may require permission from a authorised personal, as the list of students names may be protected under certain privacy policies Efficiency of the programme coordinating department team influence the ability to gain information on students names list, which may influence the time required to complete the research positively or negatively The list of students names provided by the programme office may not be readily available in one single document, therefore it may be difficult time consuming to bring all data together into one single document or worksheet to create a final list from where a sample could be created. There may be a possibility that all students chosen to represent the sample may have planning, organizing, prioritising goal setting skills, or all the students chosen to represent the sample may not have planning, organizing, prioritising goal setting skills, which may create an inability in comparing the results of both kinds of students, arrive at a valid conclusion. Project plan (Gantt chart) of the research Activity completed Activity not completed X Table Task Start date Finish date Length Task dependent on Progress (Activity completed/ not completed) Comments rescheduled date if task not accomplished as planned 1 Research proposal 10/09/2012 20/09/2012 1 week 4 days Was able to complete task before the planned date 2 Prepare the questionere 13/09/2012 16/09/2012 4 days Was possible to prepare the questionere by 15/09/2012 3 Get the student names list required from the programme office 24/09/2012 27/09/2012 4 days Was able to obtain the names list on 13/09/2012 before the planned date of 27/09/2012 4 List the student population in Excel sheet use simple random sampling to select the sample students 27/09/2012 30/09/2012 4 days 3 Task Start date Finish date Length Task dependent on Progress (Activity completed/ not completed) Comments rescheduled date if task not accomplished as planned 5 Distribute questionere get the feedback from all selected sample students 01/10/2012 20/10/2012 20 days 2 4 6 Start editing, coding, data entry, data analysis of data obtained through thequestionere 21/10/2012 05/11/2012 15 days 5 7 Final research project 06/11/2012 30/11/2012 25 days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Conclusion ICBT well renowned private higher education provider has been recognized as the leading center for providing Edexcel HNDs in Sri Lanka (The Sunday Times, 1996 2011). However, it observed students studding HND Business management has shown an increase in poor attendance punctuality, fail to submit assignments on due dates, influencing all key stakeholders such as students, lecturers, institute the parents negatively. The reason identified for poor attendance punctuality, failure to submit assignments on due dates was students poor time management skills therefore imporatance of identifying finding a sollution to these problem was recognized. Through a detailed literiture, conceptual model was derived where which displayed planning organizing skills, prioritising skills goal setting skills influence students time managemnet skills, therefore the alternative hypothesis developed was, Students planning, organizing prioritising goal setting skills effects time management. Planning organizing, prioritizing goal setting skills was identified as the indipendent variable, where it could influence the dependent variable which is time managemnt skills. The operational model identified in table - lists the measurements that could be used in mesuring all the dependent indipendent variables. In order to to find how ICBT HND Businesss Managemnt students planning organizing, prioritising goal setting skills effects time managemnt, the sampling frame was identified as all the current students studing HND Business managemnt at ICBT City campus. However batch 38 46 would be excluded from the survey as batch 38 has already completed the HND batch 46 would be excluded, as the batch is the freshest HND Business management batch, would not enable to gain required information. Data collection plan in table shows the data required the sources of data collection in gathering the required details. Simple random sampling was identified as the suitable sampling method to derive the sample to conduct the survey, in order to minimise the sampling error a larger sample size would be considered in the survey, than the sample size requirement calculated through the sample size calculator. Difficulties in adopting simple random sampling method are listed on page- Table shows the project developed to conduct the research.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Hawthorne :: Essays Papers

Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American novelist lived from 1804 to 1864. Hawthorne’s works are deeply concerned with the ethical problems of sin, punishment, and atonement. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825 and returned to his Salem home living in semi-seclusion and writing. Hawthorne’s exploration of these themes were related to the sense of guilt he felt about the roles of his ancestors in the 17th-century persecution of Quakers and in the 1692 witchcraft trials of Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s views on women in male dominated roles were portrayed as the weaker sex. Allegory and symbolism are combined in Hawthorne’s work to create sarcasm and deep thought to his novels. Allegory is a narrative, either in verse or prose, in which characters, action, and setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of a story. Symbolism is used to designate an abstract quality or concept. Through both of these concepts Hawthorne revealed the irony in his writings. These elements helped Hawthorne become a leader in the development of the short story. â€Å"Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment† contained mostly romantic symbolism. Dr. Heidegger is the perfect example of the scientific world gone mad. Medbourne is mostly interested in the economy and is a corrupted businessman. Killigrien is basically interested only in himself. Gascorgin is a corrupt politician. Wycherly is an example of social scandal and vanity. The allegory is that Hawthorne is concerned with women’s roles in a male dominant society and the dangers of applied science. â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† is assembled with Romantic and Anti-Transcendentalist elements. Light is one of the main components of symbolism in the story. Dr. Rappaccini is evil and cares more for science than mankind. Professor Baglioni is basically good and practices â€Å"apt† science. Giovanni is Anti-Transcendentalist and Beatrice is Transcendentalist and are both victims of corrupt science. Hawthorne’s use of nature in â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† is used in the allusion to the Garden of Eden. Beatrice was poison and forbidden like the apple in the Garden of Eden. An antidote will destroy poison, therefore when Beatrice drank it, she died. Hawthorne :: Essays Papers Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American novelist lived from 1804 to 1864. Hawthorne’s works are deeply concerned with the ethical problems of sin, punishment, and atonement. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825 and returned to his Salem home living in semi-seclusion and writing. Hawthorne’s exploration of these themes were related to the sense of guilt he felt about the roles of his ancestors in the 17th-century persecution of Quakers and in the 1692 witchcraft trials of Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s views on women in male dominated roles were portrayed as the weaker sex. Allegory and symbolism are combined in Hawthorne’s work to create sarcasm and deep thought to his novels. Allegory is a narrative, either in verse or prose, in which characters, action, and setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of a story. Symbolism is used to designate an abstract quality or concept. Through both of these concepts Hawthorne revealed the irony in his writings. These elements helped Hawthorne become a leader in the development of the short story. â€Å"Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment† contained mostly romantic symbolism. Dr. Heidegger is the perfect example of the scientific world gone mad. Medbourne is mostly interested in the economy and is a corrupted businessman. Killigrien is basically interested only in himself. Gascorgin is a corrupt politician. Wycherly is an example of social scandal and vanity. The allegory is that Hawthorne is concerned with women’s roles in a male dominant society and the dangers of applied science. â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† is assembled with Romantic and Anti-Transcendentalist elements. Light is one of the main components of symbolism in the story. Dr. Rappaccini is evil and cares more for science than mankind. Professor Baglioni is basically good and practices â€Å"apt† science. Giovanni is Anti-Transcendentalist and Beatrice is Transcendentalist and are both victims of corrupt science. Hawthorne’s use of nature in â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† is used in the allusion to the Garden of Eden. Beatrice was poison and forbidden like the apple in the Garden of Eden. An antidote will destroy poison, therefore when Beatrice drank it, she died.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Lack of Economic Equality in Society Essay -- Economics Wealth

"Everywhere in the world there are gross inequities of income and wealth. They offend most of us" stated Milton and Rose Friedman in "Created Equal" (280) . Economic inequalities cause poverty, this disparity fuels social conflict. This economic oppression thrives within the heart of all societies. Poverty is recognized in many forms: hunger, homelessness, being ill without the ability to seek medical attention. Poverty also includes powerlessness, lack of freedom, spurred on by lack of representation. During economic change, whether gradual or suddenly, the fallout has an effect on all people. Social inequality is deeply and tightly woven throughout the world, defined by race, ethnicity, gender, or age differences. These inherent traits can dictate wealth, education, power or prestige, unfortunately, the female gender is most victimized. Women represent a staggering 70 per cent of the populous living at poverty levels. Gender alone should not be the determining factor regarding placement within society, experience and equal productivity should dictate compensation especially for similar scopes of work. Throughout history, male and female positions have been subjected to an enduring binary placement relating to jobs, income, and wealth. Women's economic history exemplifies centuries of sex prescribed inequality within the labor markets, within the structure of political rights, human rights or civil rights. Recent advances have buffered these inequalities in part, but true balance of equality has yet to be reached. The economic experience of women reflects the paradox of inequality, distilled within the c... ...tatus, education, employment, wealth and political power. Some writers prefer the terms "subordinate group" and "dominant group" rather than "minority" and "majority?. Even though women make up the majority of people in a number, women are still considered a minority and hence will continue their struggle for equal recognition. Ultimately, until a balanced representation is complete the struggle will continue. Any notion that society can change overnight is not realistic. Progress has been made, more in some areas of the world as opposed to others. The world should recognize the power and strength that women have, further, the power and strength they have not abused. Women?s contribution to society as workers, companions, mothers should be honored as opposed to oppressed, without gender being a considering factor.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Should Smoking Be Banned in Public Areas

Should smoking be banned in public areas? In recent decades, if smoking should be banned in public occasion has sparked a great deal of controversies. The term ‘public areas’ refers to the facilities or occasions which involving people in general and normally are provided by government. This essay will argue that smoking should be banned in public for the following reasons: the smoke produced by the combustions of tobacco will lead to the passive smoking, the bad impression and effects to adolescents and a large number of healthy issues related to smoking in public.Firstly, it could be argued that many kinds of harmful gases will be produced by the combustion of cigarette, which is compelled to the multitudes. The public regions are provided by government, every citizen has the right to accept this welfare. It is significantly annoying for the pedestrians when there are smokes around them. As a consequence, they have to suffering the passive smoking. What is more, this k ind of harm is especially serious to children and pregnant, while they are more susceptible.According to a incomplete statistics from a scientific survey, the rate of respiratory system diseases increased by 23. 6 percentage in Tokyo, 2008, which is suspected related to the passive smoking. Although it may be argued that individual has the right to choose what to do, it is still immoral for others to smoke in public areas. Another argument about the prohibition of smoking in public is that this will produce bad impression and negative effects to teenagers. For young generation, curiosities impel them to seek anything excited and faddish and smoking are easily acceptable for adolescents.When smokers appeared in public places, it is so visible for residents and teenagers are easy to copy this behavior. Many jurisdictions now ban smoking in public when young generation are present. However, even with these restrictions, children still face harmful impressions if adults continue to smok e by ignore the law. Finally, a more important problem faced by smokers is the healthy issue due to the tobacco. The poisonous substances contained in the tobacco are the most significant reason for all kinds of healthy issues. For instance, lung cancer is one of the largest killers in the Western world.The risk of developing lung cancer is increased 10 to 40 times if individual smoke. By ban the smoking in public places, the frequency of smoke may decrease. While mental stress indeed can be released by smoking, it still unmoral to smoke in public occasions. In conclusion, it can be strongly argued that smoking in public places should be banned. Not only the effects of passive smoking, but also the negative impression to adolescents is unbeneficial to the whole society. More importantly, a great number of healthy problem related to smoking still a handful.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Good Education vs. Bad Education Essay

Persuasive Research Paper By; Karen Elzy Date: July 25, 2010 Course: COM 220 Teacher: Sherry Ann Smith Good Education vs. Bad Education Does one think he or she can get very far without having a great education? Statistics shows that people with a great education are much more successful than those who do not receive a great education. Many people who graduate from high school and college are guaranteed to get a better job and higher position than those who have never finish their high school or college education. There are some teachers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and many other higher educated people who have succeeded with farther education than people who wish not to succeed and not get an education. Good education is better than bad education because the outcome will be much greater with a good education than with a bad one. Nelson Mandela stated that, â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world. † This is true. Every human should want to be educated, because the world is full of technology which influences our world greatly. People who are not educated enough will surely be uniformed and left behind in today’s society. Technology is in business officers, schools, hospitals, doctor offices, stores, homes, and many other places. Today, the school systems start off with teaching the students how to use computers in kindergarten. The students are using this knowledge that they have learned from school and relating it to their parents. Parents should keep their children in school so they can learn everything which being taught by the instructor, and by doing this, the outcome will be rewarding. Teachers are a gift to students and parents because they are teaching the students everything that there is to learn about education. Without teachers, students will not learn the knowledge they need to succeed in this world without a good education. Many surveys show that a good teacher from the 1920-1980’s are more experienced in age in teaching than those teachers who are fresh out of college. Older teachers have more experience and knowledge in child development than college teacher who just beginning and this really matters. Many new teachers cannot explain problems to their students when they write it on the broad. This is what I call bad education, because the student cannot figure the problem out either. When students are failing because of these situations this is when the teacher should call the parent in to see if they could work out a way to help solve this problem together. Many teachers today are not concern about the outcome of their students, so it is very important for the parent keep in contact with that teacher and their child grades. This is when bad education is a part of the student and the teacher who is teaching. Many student drops out of school because of lack of consistency they receive. Having a good education will ensure one to have a better job than anyone who does not have an education. By continuing one’s education and getting a college degree, applying for major jobs will not be such a hassle. The reason being is because most companies directly look at the education section of an application or resume. The perks with having a good job will be such as: paid vacations, top salaries, 401k, good insurance packages, and many others. Many people may start out in a great established company and learn everything about it; then continue or progress their own business and become more successful than that previous business. Having knowledge causes all these successes. How can one have a good job without learning skills from education? Many jobs are skilled and furthering education will help with a much more skilled jobs or profession. Encouraging education by talking to the students will bring love, wealth, values, and family respect. When students feel they do not have any encouragement they will drop out of school, some will go to jail, depression, drug abuse, and steal: the results of this are a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Going to school is not just about being there physically. It is important to pay really close attention to what the instructor is teaching. Clowning around would be a very horrible idea. This can cause one to miss important information for one’s future workplace. Employers will not take him or her seriously if they look at one’s transcript and thinks they have goofed off while in school. They will think that it will be brought to their workplace. Furthermore, paying attention will guarantee one the skills that can help in their future workplace this can help one to advance faster than other employees. This can help one to get a promotion and earn a better pay. Having a bad education will really hurt one. Going to a school in which appropriate information is not taught is not such a good idea. This will cause someone not to find a good job. Employers may think that important skills are lacked of their job. Bad education will definitely not lead to a great place. Poverty will be definitely in question that will cause one’s family to suffer. In question why would one want to suffer do to this bad outcome? The economy today is suffering enough, and education should be ones top priority to help with tomorrow’s economy. The economy is suffering from lack of jobs and has caused many people to become homeless. If some of the people would have finish their education then some of them would not be homeless due to the economy. Many homeless children do not attend school because of their situation. Many kids are being teased by other children because of their homeless situation, this cause a problem in education as well. Homeless kids are rated highly in education than some children who attend daily. Many children miss out on education because of being homeless. Many people were deprived of continuing their education due to lack of funding. Today people are successfully continuing their education because of grants and low interest rates on loans for education. There are people who have not attended school for a long period and due to available funds have returned. The president of the United States of America has helped make this possible for adults and others to go back to school. Many opportunities through programs as these help to better education. If some of these programs were offered earlier maybe most people would have finished school. There are things that can cause bad education. For example, mental and physical abuse can cause one to have a low self esteem about them. If someone were to lose a parent or someone close to them this would cause him or her to avoid school. Many kids bully other kids and cause them to drop out or not wanting to return to school at all. Parents need to pay close attention to his or her children in order to make sure he or she is not facing any of these problems. Many schools pay close attention to children attitudes to see if any changes have occurred. There have been many reports about abuse and kids who suffer in their education because of such reason. There are after school programs to help further children education, and to help working parent who do not have the proper time with helping their children with their homework. These programs are designed to help with homework, study skills, testing, and behavior conduct. There are many dedicated teachers and teacher aides who take the time out to help children advance in his or her education. Many parents are very grateful to these teachers and teacher aides for their time and effort in helping his or her children. Through these programs many children have passed leaped and other important test for school. These children who attend these programs have good study habits and are very dedicated to their learning. The outcome help the children score higher on different test and help them to become honor and respectable. Distinguishing good and bad education is not hard to do. A good education can include a school and/or instructor meeting and talking to their students. A good school and/or instructor will build their student’s confidence to make them feel like learning, participating in classroom activities, and getting to know the students parents. A good education can also include such things as, after school tutoring, respecting and giving respect, and make their students get involved; however, it is not limited to these things. Having a good education guide will make the student understand all material efficiently. For example, the instructor will make sure everything is explained fluently and is understood, their classroom will be in order. They will make sure the material is not boring and make sure their students are alert; they will care and make sure to encourage their students on how important their work is and how far it will take them in life if they complete it and earn their diplomas. A bad education is kicking out a student for asking a question that the instructor may have answered or may have not; patience is very important when it comes to education. If an instructor is rude and unenthusiastic, it can make the student feel as if they need not to complete the course. However, if the instructor stop and help challenge them, the student will look forward to getting their education and make sure to make every class. If an instructor shows that they are only there to get a paycheck, this can more than likely stop the enthusiasm of the student. A bad instructor can indeed make their student feel dumb which can cause a student to be a dropout and end up as a statistic. Remember education is important so the school, instructor, and student shall take it seriously. A good education will help one get a great job that has a good pay and great benefits. The result of a good education can lead to making friends that can be there for a lifetime and a possible business partner. However, if one receives a bad education, if can lead to a road of failure. Bad education will really hurt one in the long run; he or she may not be able to get a good job, a steady job, and may end up living in poverty. Employers may think that one lack some skills and give one a very low position and may be even under paid. The economy will not suffer if everyone would stay in school and receive their education. Thanks to the many opportunities of grants and loans to help further education, it can really make everyone’s future bright. If people would pay close attention to kids they can see if they are facing major problems that are preventing one from their education. After school programs are very helpful in helping students to advance in their studies, and it is also a great tool to their parents as well. In order for one to succeed, one must be in an effective school system with reliable material being taught. One must also have an instructor to encourage them and help out if the understanding is not present. Encouraging education by talking to the students will bring love, wealth, values, and family respect. If the encouragement is not present and/or a bad education would be received by the student which can cause them all kinds of downfalls in the future. Staying in school, being focused and getting their proper education are the goals in being successful. In conclusion, good education is better than a bad education because the outcome is much better and the future will look much better with a good education rather than a bad education. As Nelson Mandela says, â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world†. Many doctors, lawyers, engineers, writers, public speakers, and even teachers and students have really changed our world today. Education is the key to everyone’s success story. Good Education Vs. Bad Education References Hein, Karen. â€Å"Young People as Assets: A Foundation View. † Social Policy 30. 1 (1999): 20. General One File. Web. 13 June 2010.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Pied Beauty

The poem opens with an offering: â€Å"Glory be to God for dappled things. † In the next five lines, Hopkins elaborates with examples of what things he means to include under this rubric of â€Å"dappled. † He includes the mottled white and blue colors of the sky, the â€Å"brinded† (brindled or streaked) hide of a cow, and the patches of contrasting color on a trout. The chestnuts offer a slightly more complex image: When they fall they open to reveal the meaty interior normally concealed by the hard shell; they are compared to the coals in a fire, black on the outside and glowing within.The wings of finches are multicolored, as is a patchwork of farmland in which sections look different according to whether they are planted and green, fallow, or freshly plowed. The final example is of the â€Å"trades† and activities of man, with their rich diversity of materials and equipment. Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings; And here come two more hyphena ted words, along with two more examples of â€Å"dappled things. † The first example is â€Å"Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls. † This is probably the trickiest image in the poem, partly because we're not nearly as familiar with chestnuts as 19th-century English people would have been. Chestnut-falls† is not too hard to imagine. It refers to chestnuts that have fallen off the chestnut tree. This hyphenated word points to the specific chestnuts that have fallen from the tree. But â€Å"Fresh-firecoal† requires some background on nuts, a field we at Shmoop like to call nut-ology. When they are on a tree, chestnuts are covered by a spiky, light-green covering, but the nuts themselves are reddish-brown. When the nuts fall, they are â€Å"fresh† from the tree. Because of the contrast of red nuts with their outer covering, they look like the burning of coals inside a fire.To add another layer to this chestnut conundrum, people also like to cook these delecta ble nuts over fire. When the nuts get hot, they open up to reveal their â€Å"meat,† inside. These opened chestnuts also look like embers. We're almost certain you now know more than you ever wanted to about chestnuts. Fortunately, the second example of a â€Å"dappled thing† in this line is much easier. Finches are small birds with streaks and spots. The speaker focuses only on the finches' wings – a sign of his great attention to detail.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

8 Stages of Man

Cameron Roney Lifespan Development Eight Stages of Man Interview General question on childhood: I interviewed a seventy year old woman named Virginia that I met while doing my community service. I asked her to think about her first ten years of life and to describe times that she can remember being cared for. She said that it was her grandmother that did most of the caretaking for her, especially when she was sick. She recalled one time when she had a really bad sinus infection that her grandmother helped her through.When I asked her if she could think of any time she was not very well cared for, the only time she could think of is when her father would come home bombed, which sparked some intense arguments in the family. She recalled feeling very lost during these times. Fun times in her childhood consisted of time with her family since she did not have any friends as a child. Specifically, she remembered having a lot of fun planting pumpkin seeds with her family. Trust vs. Mistrust : I asked her to describe her relationship with her parents. She said they were very close, and she went hunting with her father often.She got a lot of adult attention. She considered herself to be pretty self reliant and optimistic despite her loneliness. She feels that her seclusion from children her age was a big factor in developing her independence and self reliance. She was trustful of her parents and family, and trustful in herself to deal with most problems that arose in her life at that time. Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt: Virginia reported to be fairly active, and she is. She runs a local community donation center and does a great deal of work for her church. She describes herself as self reliant.When looking back, she does not feel that she relied on others very much. She considered herself to be adventurous, but not careless. She was not overly fearful, but she wasn’t overly risky either. All in all, she is a very active woman for being seventy years old. Initiative vs . Guilt: When I asked her about her efforts to stay active, she spoke about her work involving the construction of a new church, her being the chairman of the building committee, and her work at the community donation center. She does a lot to help care for her mother and helps her children when she can.She says that all of this is a handful, but she enjoys the activity. She says that when she was younger she did consider herself to be a creative person and could think outside the box. She is an extremely able bodied woman for her age. Industry vs. Inferiority: I asked her to describe her career and her accomplishments. She recalls her thirty five years as a physical therapist. She considered it her responsibility and calling in life. She talked about one boy in particular that she worked with who lived out of town.She worked with him for three years because no one else could reach him. When I asked her about times when she felt that she had been competent and productive and develop ed her skills. She recalls doing a lot of odd jobs which taught her a lot of new skills. She found creative ways to solve problems unique to the different fields she worked in. When I asked her to describe some times that she felt incompetent or ineffective she talked about times when she would overburden herself with too many jobs or trying to handle an extremely large workload herself.She considers herself competent and capable, and really has accomplished a lot in her time. General Question on Identity: I asked her to think about her encounters with her peers when she was between 10 and 19 years of age. She said that she was not so accepted by those around her. She was overweight as a kid. She moved to a new high school which was in a city. This was tough on her because she had grown up in a very secluded setting and she lagged socially. She considered this a huge cultural shift for her. She felt very lost and really had a hard time finding herselfIdentity vs. Identity Diffusion: When I asked her about her experiences as a teenager trying to find herself and who she was and what she wanted out of life, she said that she had always wanted to help people. She wanted to be an architect for the longest time, but she was discouraged when her sister got very sick and saw the therapy she went through. She said that is when she decided to become a therapist. She says that she has a very strong sense of who she is and what her purpose is now. She also says that she is fairly headstrong and not easily influenced by others.To sum up, she has a strong sense of identity. General Intimacy Question: I asked Virginia to think back to her twenties and thirties and the experiences with imported others in her life at that time. She said she had a lot of support and encouragement from those close to her. She was not dependant, but it definitely helped her through some rough times in her life. Intimacy vs. Isolation: I asked her to describe her marriage, and this is where the b ulk of the interview took place. She said that her marriage was rough at first.Her husband was an ex-marine who killed 14 men during his time in the military. He was introverted and very little communication took place between them. It took him thirty years to open up to her. She says that the last years of their marriage have been the most rewarding. Her only sibling died when she was eighteen, but when she was alive they were very close. She was teased a lot, although there was not much fighting between them. They relied on each other for fun which brought them very close together. I asked her who she felt the most comfortable confiding in.She said that she only really felt comfortable confiding in her grandmother and father, but they have both passed away. I asked her if there was anyone close to her that she felt she couldn’t really open up to. Aside from her husband until the later part of their marriage, she talked about her children. She has four, and of all of them th e oldest is the most independent. This caused a lot of friction between them during his adolescents and young adulthood, but they have since grown closer. Her third daughter has been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and she has spent a lot of time trying to help her open up.In my opinion, the only time that she has had any real intimacy with those close to her was during her early childhood and late adulthood. Most of her life between those times she seems to have been pretty isolated. General Generativity Question: I asked her to reflect on her life from ages thirty to sixty five. I asked her to describe he experiences of taking care of others around her. This was a pretty depressing part of the interview. She said that she often felt inadequate as a mother. She says that she should have gone another direction regarding the way that she brought them up, and that she often regretted having children.She is now pretty involved with her children, and she helps her youngest daught er financially. She gives advice when she is asked. She has definitely taught and helped her children, but I think that it is pretty clear that she lacks a feeling of generativity. Generativity vs. Stagnation: I asked if she feels that she has done enough to have a positive impact on those around her. She feels that from her experiences she has learned to do better and guide gently. She considers herself to be pretty understanding. I asked her in what ways she has tried to pass along her knowledge.She says that she has passed her knowledge along to her children, and she has done a lot of work with juvenile offenders in her community service. She says that she always tried to accept them for who they were, regardless of what they were dealing with. Regarding generativity, she has had a hard time with it, but she feels that she does a lot better now that she has her experiences to draw back to. General Question on Integrity: I asked her about her lifestyle compared to others, and she said that she lives a relatively laid back life. She is fairly chilled out and relaxed. She tries to do her part, but she does not feel pushed.I asked her about how she felt about her mortality. She said that she is not joyous about it, but she is accepting. She finds comfort in her faith. Integrity vs. Despair: I asked her about her current goals. She says that she strives to stay active, she wants to learn to play the piano, and she wants to lose twenty pounds. She feels comfortable about her life and the decisions she made. When I asked her about her opinion about the future of the united states, she said that she is very pessimistic about President Obama, the recession we are experiencing, and the national defeciet.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Amyloid Hypothesis of Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer’s disease affects the brain as a result of a regenerative disorder. This then causes loss in memory, thinking and alteration in behavior patterns and is regarded as the largest cause of dementia cases. The patients who are suffering from this disease require the provision of services from resource rich health facilities (Pohanka, 2014). The most affected population is the elderly people although a small proportion of young people are also affected by Alzheimer’s disease. This paper therefore explores alzehaimers disease amyeloid hypothesis in respect to the progress towards the development of treatment options. The amyloid hypothesis argues that when the amyloid beta peptides occur in the brain tissues, they lead to the development of the Alzheimer’s disease. This peptide cause autosomal forms of mutations in three regions namely: presenelin 1, 2 and the amyeloid precursor proteins. The association between this disease and amyloid beta peptide was upon the examination of brain where plaques were found (Selkoe and Hardy, 2016). Therefore, the amyloid cascade provides an explanation to the process via which the Alzheimer’s disease occurs. These include the genetic causes via mutations, phenotypes and pathology as well as the risks involved. There have been therapeutic drugs produced to target this peptide so as to lower its levels of production. This is expected to cause a clearance in the amounts and levels of amyloid beta protein which in turn should reduce the aggregation of peptides to form plaques. However, it is not clear on the amount of the amyloid peptide which is found in the brain. Something that needs to be noted is that the amyloid beta peptides are the primary components of the neurotic plaques in the brain tissues of the patients who have Alzheimer’s disease. This is due to the fact that different parts of the brain can carry different amounts of the amyloid peptide and the Alzheimer’s disease is normally heterogeneous (Drachman, 2014). Another close association between this peptide and this disease is from the cloning of the gene which encodes beta amyloid precursor protein as well as its location in the chromosome number 21. Moreover, it has been found that Down’s syndrome leads to the neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease. With time, the genetic mutations in the amyloids precursor protein have be found to be a key factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Since the amyloid beta peptide has been found to be usual product of the metabolism in beta amyloid precursor protein in a person’s life, it can be meas ured by use of a culture medium, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. This measures whether there are any abnormalities which result from the beta amyeloid precursor proteins (Morris et al., 2014). However, recently there have been objections raised against the amyloid hypothesis. One of the objections is that the number of amyloid deposits in the brain tissues does not correlate with the level of cognitive impairments that develops in a patient. In another way, the amyloid hypothesis brings objections since the neurotoxic effects of the amyloid peptide and the effects to the brain have not been studied in vivo. It is also evident that the soluble oligomers of amyloid peptide are responsible for the dysfunction in the brain as opposed the amyloid monomers in Alzheimer’s disease patients. These and many other objections support a reasoning that the neurodegeneration of the brain in Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the injury from some diffused oligomeric assemblage of misfolded proteins (Demetrius et al., 2015). As a result of this, the large polymeric aggregates make the inactive reservoirs which are equal to the neurotoxic assembly. On the other hand, the plaques in the brain do not necessarily indicate protection to the host. This is because the observation of these plaques in neurodegenerative diseases means that the reservoir of toxic proteins has occurred in the brain. Experiments involving transgenic mice in which the amyloid beta proteins were deposited in the brain did not indicate any loss in the cognitive abilities. This unexpected behavior by the transgenic mice could be due to differences in the species used, lack of human inflammation mediators and the short period of exposure of mice to the amyloid beta peptide. Since the Alzheimer’s disease is as a result of lack of balance between the deposition and the clearance of amyloid beta peptides, then there is a need to get treatment strategies for this disorder. One of the approaches would be the inhibition of either the beta or the gamma secretase enzymes which are crucial for the formation of beta amyloids and amyloid precursor proteins (Doody et al., 2014). For the beta secretase, there are some screening which is being done for a chemical compound to find out whether it can be able to bind on the active site of aspartyl protease and hence cross the blood brain barrier. For the gamma secretase, there are chemical compounds which have already been found but no clinical trials have been done on humans yet. However, it would be advisable to adopt more different treatment approached for the amyloid beta associated Alzheimer’s disease since the previously proposed strategies have some limitations (Karakaya et al., 2013). For instance a different approach that can be used would involve the use of immunization strategies. The most recommended immunization methods would involve the use of amyloid beta proteins in the cerebral so that they can lower the amounts of peptide clearance from the brain (Aisen and Vellas, 2013). A kind of different approach would involve the use of anti-inflammatory methods and drugs to aid in the clearance of the amyloid beta proteins in brain tissues. The use of the anti-inflammatory methods is recommendable because it has been found that as the amyloid proteins accumulate in brain tissues, the rate of inflammatory process increases. For a long period of time, the hypothesis concerning the association of amyloid beta proteins and the Alzheimer’s disease has been investigated. This calls for the development of therapeutic strategies based on the anti-amyloid beta peptides. In order to get treatment options for this disease. The treatment therapeutics needs to be closely based on the various characteristics that are observed in the amyloid peptides with respect to Alzheimer’s disease. By the adoption of various methods of treatment involving amyloid precursor protein gene cloning, the scientific world will find out whether there is an association between the amyloid beta protein hypothesis and the Alzheimer’s disease. Aisen, P.S. and Vellas, B., 2013. Passive immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease: what have we learned, and where are we headed?. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 17(1), p.49. Demetrius, L.A., Magistretti, P.J. and Pellerin, L., 2015. Alzheimer's disease: the amyloid hypothesis and the Inverse Warburg effect. Frontiers in physiology, 5, p.522. Doody, R.S., Thomas, R.G., Farlow, M., Iwatsubo, T., Vellas, B., Joffe, S., Kieburtz, K., Raman, R., Sun, X., Aisen, P.S. and Siemers, E., 2014. Phase 3 trials of solanezumab for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(4), pp.311-321. Drachman, D.A., 2014. The amyloid hypothesis, time to move on: Amyloid is the downstream result, not cause, of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 10(3), pp.372-380. Karakaya, T., Fußer, F., Schroder, J. and Pantel, J., 2013. Pharmacological treatment of mild cognitive impairment as a prodromal syndrome of Alzheimer's disease. Current neuropharmacology, 11(1), pp.102-108. Morris, G.P., Clark, I.A. and Vissel, B., 2014. Inconsistencies and controversies surrounding the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease. Acta neuropathologica communications, 2(1), p.135. Pohanka, M., 2014. Alzheimer s disease and oxidative stress: a review. Current medicinal chemistry, 21(3), pp.356-364. Selkoe, D.J. and Hardy, J., 2016. The amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease at 25 years. EMBO molecular medicine, 8(6), pp.595-608.Trt