Nick as reliable narrator Essay

â€Å"I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known†. Discuss. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the great American novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is often heralded as one of the greatest narrators of all time. However, whether Nick was a reliable narrator is an issue that is up for debate, with my personal belief being that Nick was not a reliable narrator, due to his fondness for exaggeration and contradiction, and his obvious idolization of Jay Gatsby. Firstly, Nick is predisposed with a theatrical and exaggerated nature. This is visible from the very quote being discussed in this essay: Nick states that he is â€Å"one of the few honest people [he knows]†. This shows clearly how Nick does not put much in store by modesty or restraint or objectivity, even when discussing his self. These theatrics furthermore lead to inconsistencies and further contradictions within the narrative—Nick states at one point that â€Å"sometimes [pa rty guests] came and went [to Gatsby’s parties] with a simplicity of heart† but that he, actually, â€Å"was invited†¦ the honor would be entirely Gatsby’s†¦ if I would attend his ‘little party’†. However, it’s seen later on in the narrative that despite Nick’s posturing, Gatsby does not recognize Nick at his own party. This therefore shows how Nick’s theatrical and exaggerated nature occasionally compromises the objectivity of his narrative, and therefore, with his history of being contradictory (as evidenced in the previous paragraph) this therefore shows clearly that Nick’s objectivity is not to be trusted, and that he is an unreliable narrator whose vanity supercedes his honesty. Furthermore, Nick exhibits his tendency toward contradiction through various points in the text. He states very early off in the text that he’s â€Å"inclined to reserve all judgment†, when he, in fact, does nothing but pass (negative) judgment on other people repeatedly throughout the text: he describes George Wilson as â€Å"a spiritless man† and Jordan Baker as being â€Å"incurably dishonest†, Tom as â€Å"pathetic† and Mr McKee as â€Å"feminine†. However, Nick lauds himself as being â€Å"one of the few honest people [he knows]†Ã¢â‚¬â€something his clearly judgmental behavior proves him not to be. This, in and of itself, is indicative of Nick’s contradictory nature. The fact that Nick is so given to contradiction therefore casts doubts on whether his narrative is completely trustworthy. It is also important to note that Nick, as a narrator, does not seem to be intentionally malicious in making judgments of other peopleâ⠂¬â€these judgments instead seem to  integrate themselves effortlessly into the narrative in a way he seems not to notice (except in the case of Gatsby, as will be expounded upon later on in this essay). His contradictory nature kicks in mostly in his expansive descriptions of himself (his tendency toward exaggeration/theater, as explained above), in his describing himself as â€Å"honest† and, later, as an esteemed invitee of Gatsby’s party, to name a few examples. This ambiguous contradiction therefore blurs the line between fact and fiction as the reader, led through the story through Nick’s perspective, is caught in the ambiguity of Nick’s judgments and is unable to detach himself to decide whether they are, as unconscious as they seem, truth or scathing fiction. In other words, the reader is made uncertain if Nick’s contradictory narrative is purely a result of his exaggeration and his conceit, or whether a grain of truth lies in his judgments. Therefore, we can see how Nick’s contradictory nature and his tendency toward ambiguity clearly makes Nick Carraway not an unbiased and objective narrator who is reliable in any way. Finally, Nick is an unreliable narrator due to his obvious partiality toward Gatsby. Nick states clearly at one point that â€Å"[Gatsby] represents everything for which [he has] an unaffected scorn†, and repeatedly expresses his good opinion of Gatsby through favorable descriptions of him and his actions (â€Å"elegant young rough-neck†). He also opens the novel with a line that seems to beg the reader’s good opinion of Gatsby, beseeching the reader to â€Å"remember that all the people in the world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had†. This impartiality is evident throughout the text, where Nick will repeatedly disregard right and wrong or the feelings of others to benefit Gatsby: as evidenced by his assisting Gatsby with getting into Daisy’s favor. This shows clearly the extent of Nick’s dedication to Gatsby, and the degrees to which Nick will go to protect him. This obvious and unflagging dedication to Gatsby therefore forces the reader to see the story through Nick’s eyes of idolatry. Where the more ambiguous and offhand contradictions may at least provide the reader space to speculate, it is almost impossible to imagine a story without Gatsby as how Nick portrays him: a tragic, righteous hero—and thus we can see that, in narrating Gatsby’s story, Nick Carraway cannot be an objective narrator. Therefore we can see how, through various intervals in the text, Nick Carraway is actually not an unbiased and â€Å"honest† narrator as he is influenced variedly  by his contrad ictory and theatrical nature, as well as his obvious idolization of Gatsby.

Harvey Milk Essay

Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who is known for being the first man to be elected to a public office while being openly gay (Scruggs). He was born in the year 1930 May 22 and was murdered on November 27, 1978. Up until this time, he made a name as a San Francisco civil rights activist who largely helped campaign for the rights of homosexuals hence opening up the American society to gay and lesbian issues (Milk Foundation). However, this was not the only field he dealt with but as a human rights visionary, he championed improvement of education, housing, child care and public transportation. He started off his numerous professions by joining the Navy in 1951 from which he was honorably discharged in 1955 in the rank of junior lieutenant (Milk Foundation). He then took up a teaching job in a high school and afterwards did finance jobs. All this time he was not in the public limelight until a 1970 protest of Cambodian invasion by America where he publicly burned his BankAmericard. He was then dismissed from his job after which he tried in vain to vie for public office in the Board of Supervisors three times in San Francisco triggered by a public scandal known as the Watergate. However he finally succeeded in 1977 becoming the first gay official to be thus elected. Milk’s agenda in politics consisted of campaigns for the government to respond to individual needs, emphasis on gay rights and also retention of San Francisco neighborhoods uniqueness (Gardner, and Krakow 31). During this tenure a gay rights law was passed barring discrimination of persons in respect to housing and employment based on sexual orientation. In the same period, it was announced that more gay persons were to be hired as police officers. Milk also initiated programs that were to benefit minority groups, the elderly and also workers. He gained popularity for being behind the quashing of a senate proposal to bar gay and lesbian teachers from public schools in California. Milk was shot on November 27 1978 in City Hall by Dan White a former city supervisor who protested at the passage of the gay rights law (Jim 71). This resulted to nationwide protest with riots erupting in San Francisco especially in light of the light sentence handed to Dan White who later committed suicide. The advantages of Harvey Milk are mainly entrenched in his human rights campaigns. He was bold to fight against the government of the day and as a result programs to cater for transport issues and housing especially for the poor were created. In addition, Milk was able to champion causes against corruption in government evidenced by his initial prompting to join politics during the Watergate scandal which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon (Scruggs). Milk can be said to have generally influenced generations to stand up and fight for their rights especially in the face of strong opposition. He is said to indeed be an inspiration. The disadvantages on the other hand are mainly entrenched in moral issues which his main adversaries fielded (Scruggs). Such persons argue that Milk made mistakes that have had rippling effects on society especially on moral grounds. Milk is said to have helped open up society to violation of family values that are central to the advancement of society. His bold stand in favor of homosexuality is demonized by many. In addition, it can be argued that Milk’s hard-line stand on various issues was one of his grave mistakes. It can be said that such stands caused unnecessary friction in society and upset social harmony by inciting people against the government. Despite these shortcomings milk has been immortalized as evidenced in the names of Harvey Milk Democratic Club, the Harvey Milk High School in New York and the annual Harvey Milk Memorial Parade in San Francisco.

Mike

The short story â€Å"A New Leaf† by F. Scott Fitzgerald rang many alarms for me the first being I found myself completely stumped in the matter of which form of fiction this specific piece was written. I personally found it highly entertaining like that of commercial fiction yet I can definitely see the potential message behind the story to get a meaningful lesson across. â€Å"A New Leaf† is so entertaining for me because it is literally one of the pieces you can see in your head as you are reading it.My personal favorite moment was envisioning just how Julia felt as she went dancing in the evenings with Mr. Ragland. I picture it as something magical like every moment she is with him the rest of the world melts away. She is completely content with a night just enveloped in Ragland’s arms all the while he fights the temptation of having another drink in her presence. I think the overall tone of the story could be taken as literal fiction.The main message being p atience is a virtue or sometimes it can be better to let someone hold on to a small glimmer of hope for the common good than to crush their spirits with the absolute truth. I personally believe sometimes it is greater to let someone believe a small lie than to kill their belief in their own ability to find hope. Phil is the main demonstrator of both of my points. In the story he waits for Julia obviously loving her throughout the whole story. He lets her make her own decision to stay with Dick in the beginning of the story although it was against his will and better judgment.Later in the story he comes back into the story not to hurt Julia with the knowledge of Dick’s shortcomings and foolery but as a friend with a warning. Through all of this Paul shows great restraint and immense love for Julia; he waits for the time to be right to confront Paul in a private fashion. Finally knowing all of Dick’s dirty secrets after his death Paul still refuses to tell Julia she was wrong about Dick all along. He did not take away joyful feelings that Julia felt about Dick dying trying to change his lifestyle even though he knew the real truth all along. Mike The short story â€Å"A New Leaf† by F. Scott Fitzgerald rang many alarms for me the first being I found myself completely stumped in the matter of which form of fiction this specific piece was written. I personally found it highly entertaining like that of commercial fiction yet I can definitely see the potential message behind the story to get a meaningful lesson across. â€Å"A New Leaf† is so entertaining for me because it is literally one of the pieces you can see in your head as you are reading it.My personal favorite moment was envisioning just how Julia felt as she went dancing in the evenings with Mr. Ragland. I picture it as something magical like every moment she is with him the rest of the world melts away. She is completely content with a night just enveloped in Ragland’s arms all the while he fights the temptation of having another drink in her presence. I think the overall tone of the story could be taken as literal fiction.The main message being p atience is a virtue or sometimes it can be better to let someone hold on to a small glimmer of hope for the common good than to crush their spirits with the absolute truth. I personally believe sometimes it is greater to let someone believe a small lie than to kill their belief in their own ability to find hope. Phil is the main demonstrator of both of my points. In the story he waits for Julia obviously loving her throughout the whole story. He lets her make her own decision to stay with Dick in the beginning of the story although it was against his will and better judgment.Later in the story he comes back into the story not to hurt Julia with the knowledge of Dick’s shortcomings and foolery but as a friend with a warning. Through all of this Paul shows great restraint and immense love for Julia; he waits for the time to be right to confront Paul in a private fashion. Finally knowing all of Dick’s dirty secrets after his death Paul still refuses to tell Julia she was wrong about Dick all along. He did not take away joyful feelings that Julia felt about Dick dying trying to change his lifestyle even though he knew the real truth all along.

The Four Building Blocks of Competitive Advantage Research Paper

The Four Building Blocks of Competitive Advantage - Research Paper Example Each of these concepts has very different implications for the organization as it relates to being able to successfully outperform competition. Competitive advantage is defined as the specific strategic advantages that a company maintains over rival companies in the same market or industry that serves to strengthen business position. Others consider competitive advantage to be the implementation of a unique value creation that is not currently being exploited by competition (Clulow, Gerstman & Barry, 2003). Whatever the actual definition of competitive advantage, it cannot be successfully achieved without efficiency, quality, innovation and customer responsiveness as the foundation of business. Efficiency means being able to produce more outputs than competition at a much lower price for inputs. The end result of being able to achieve this is having a cost advantage over competition. Cost advantages give the business opportunities to consider flexible pricing structures as they can n ow provide products at a much lower input cost. Efficiency could be achieved by setting up a lean production system that uses less physical raw resources and also reduce reliance on labor payments for manufacturing. A business might be able to find, through strategic alliances along the supply chain, opportunities for volume discounts on raw product procurement. This represents lower input costs to achieve the same or higher outputs. Quality is a very important dimension for achieving competitive advantage.

Selection Decision Making Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Selection Decision Making - Case Study Example A selection plan gives an overview of how the job looks like thus making it easy for the recruitment panel to pick the most desirable applicant. It contains key job responsibilities, makes it clear of what must be performed and acts as a guide in selection procedures. The format is as given below. The table above illustrates scores of all the ten applicants. The analysis was based on multiple predictor methods; clinical prediction and rational weighing. However, since clinical prediction and unit weighing produce similar results, it was considered wise to include the unit weighing column. The unit weighing figures were derived from averaging each applicant’s scores in individual assessment methods. Basing on the unit weighing results, tangle wood will consider the highest scores. Therefore, Heckman; 76, Reznor; 73 and Scores; 70 will be the most preferred applicants. The rational weighing results were obtained by assigning a weight to every assessment method and summing up the scores. The assigned weights were biodata; 30%, Applicant exam; 10%, Retail knowledge; 30%, Conscientiousness; 15%, Extraversion; 15%. Biodata and retail knowledge were allocated the largest weights because the job position demands experience from applicants. Applicant exam was assigned the lowest weight mainly because it measures the least important KSAOs required in the managerial position. From the data, Tangle wood will consider Heckman; 76, Reznor; 69, Renoir; 67.5. If tangle wood decides to use multiple hurdle selection as its first stage in identifying the best five applicants, and further apply interviews and resumes to get the top three finalists, the five suitable candidates would be Reznor, Yorn, Greer, Renior and Durvall. This is quite interesting since Heckman who tops in both rational and unit weighing does not appear in the top five when using test scores. Since conscientiousness and extraversion prove the ability and suitability of an applicant to perform and

Psychological Assessment of Breast Cancer Patient Essay

Psychological Assessment of Breast Cancer Patient - Essay Example This paper carries out a psychosocial assessment of Irene’s case, a 51-year old female who is diagnosed with breast cancer. After identifying major psychosocial issues using Spade’s framework a treatment plan is formulated and discussed. Psychosocial Vital Signs Perception: Due to her age Irene may overestimate her current illness. According to the profile, she is already experiencing some levels of anxiety due to the absence of counselling. Perhaps due to the absence of her two children, and the limited support that her husband can give her, Irene perceives her health condition as life-threatening and something extremely depressing. Personality Style: Irene shows needs for protection and support. Yet she shows a degree of determination and optimism. She assures herself every now and then that she will be okay. But then relapses to depression when she thinks of her relationship with her husband after the surgery. She afterwards becomes bitter because of the thought that her husband will be disappointed of her and see her unattractive after the surgery. Irene displays efforts to hide or repress her emotions. Support: The current support that Irene has comes from her husband, whom she lives with, her surgeon, and her breast care nurse. Later on, after the surgery, Irene will be supported by a multidisciplinary team. Other possible sources of support are her children and other close relatives. Due to the constant support from her husband, Irene’s perception of her health condition erratically shifts from lack of concern to anxiety. Coping: Irene seems to be coping with her health illness by seeking for social support and controlling her emotions. Anxiety: Irene is experiencing four major anxieties. First is the thought that her husband will be dissatisfied of her after the surgery; second is the possibility of surgical failure; third is her belief that old age brings many infirmities; and fourth is the thought that due to her age she will be e xperiencing other illnesses aside from breast cancer. Cultural Issues: The diagnosis evidently affects Irene’s self-worth as a woman. She obviously adheres to the assumption that women’s breasts are marks of womanliness and beauty. Hence Irene seems to be having second thoughts about seeking treatment. Lifestyle Information: She currently lives with her husband .She works as a receptionist at a plumbing supply store. She is a non-smoker and drinks two glasses of wine each week. As shown in the profile, there seems to be no indication that Irene will develop breast cancer. Major issues risked by the current health event for Mike: Irene’s diagnosis has perhaps the same psychosocial effects on her as those of Mike. Mike, early on in the diagnosis, displays signs of distress and despair. Irene’s health condition may also lead to marital problems, severe financial or resource constraints, and family maladjustments. Based on Irene’s psychosocial vital si gns, three major psychological needs are identified, which are (1) support for psychological distress, (2) appropriate coping strategies, (3) and psychosocial support for Irene’s husband and entire family. The psychosocial assessment identifies anxiety and despair as the most obvious

Liberal International Thought Since Immanuel Kant Essay

Liberal International Thought Since Immanuel Kant - Essay Example This essay stresses that liberal thought has followed Kant’s opposition to direct democracy, where individuals in society cannot directly participate in politics. Instead, it has followed the tradition of people selecting representatives to provide representation on the national stage. The discussion above has sought to show that liberal international thought has not really moved on since Immanuel Kant through a study of liberalism in the contemporary world. The arguments within it have shown that from the time of Kant, a liberal international thought has essentially remained the same with very few variations between the various thinkers and has come to the conclusion that liberal thought has become inflexible. One of the arguments that have been made is that Kant’s ideas concerning the creation of constitutional democracies all over the world to ensure peace are still being practiced. Furthermore, a liberal political thought has continued to follow the Kantian belief that the power of the state has to be limited in order to protect individuals against the arbitrary use of power by leadership, hence the definition of the extent of a leader’s authority in a constitution. The discussion has also argued for the persistence of meliorism, which is an idea that was vigorously supported by Kant and remains relevant in liberal international thought today. In addition, it has been argued that liberal Kantian thought has led to a situation where there have developed conflicts between liberal countries and those that tend to be more conservative.

Illegal Immigration and High Rating Crimes in the United States Essay

Illegal Immigration and High Rating Crimes in the United States - Essay Example The intention of this study is hate crime generally as crime that is targeted at victims due to their affiliation to particular a social group. The social group may be defined in terms of disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation, race, religion, class, age, ethnicity, nationality, social status, gender, or gender identity according to Lipman, J. and Francine. Better stated, hate crimes are crimes that are motivated by bias usually taking the form of assault, violence and at the worst, murder. Other forms of hate crime include harassment, bullying, insults, verbal abuse and the use of offensive words in writing or painting, just to mention a few. Hate crimes inflict a lot of psychological and sometimes physical pain to victims of the crime. It basically infringes on people’s fundamental and civil rights. Statistics show that the United States of America has high rates of hate crimes, the Black Americans commonly being the victims. In fact, out of 8000 reported hate crimes in the US recorded in 1995 by the FBI, about 3000 cases involved Black American victims. This minority group faced the highest level of victimization in the year. However, this is not to say that Minority groups such as the Hispanics, Muslims, Gays, Jews, Native Americans and Asians do not face a lot of hate crimes. Illegal immigration is the act of foreigners violating national immigration laws and/or policies by entering and residing in a place without official authorization. Illegal immigrants are naturally aliens.... ate crime include harassment, bullying, insults, verbal abuse and the use of offensive words in writing or painting, just to mention a few (Stotzer, 2007). Hate crimes inflict a lot of psychological and sometimes physical pain to victims of the crime. It basically infringes on people’s fundamental and civil rights. Statistics show that the United States of America has high rates of hate crimes, the Black Americans commonly being the victims. In fact, out of 8000 reported hate crimes in the US recorded in 1995 by the FBI, about 3000 cases involved Black American victims (Stotzer, 2007). This minority group faced the highest level of victimization in the year. However, this is not to say that Minority groups such as the Hispanics, Muslims, Gays, Jews, Native Americans and Asians do not face a lot of hate crimes. Illegal Immigration in the United States of America Illegal immigration is the act of foreigners violating national immigration laws and/or policies by entering and resi ding in a place without official authorization (Miller, 2007). Illegal immigrants are naturally aliens. The United States suffers illegal immigration as a result of the wide perception, by people across the world, that the country is a haven of opportunities. As of 2008, the Center of immigration studies estimated that close to 11 million people illegally lived in the US (Bahrampour, 2010)). Other bodies give slightly different statistics relating to illegal immigrants in the country. The Pew Hispanic Center reported in 2005 that about 55% of the illegal immigrants were Mexicans, 3% Africans, 6% Canadians and Europeans, 13% Asians, and 22% Latinos (Passel, 2006). There are many people who have had conducted studies related to illegal immigration and associated problems. According to Miller

Admission Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Admission - Essay Example The academic study shifted my attention more towards the influence and importance of modern age literature as most of the works I’ve done had been about the authors of this century. As an undergraduate I did dissertations on Alfred de Musset’s Lorenzaccio, Stendhal’s Chartreuse de Parme and a personal research on Napoleon’s image in Romantic literature. My present subject of research is ‘Gerard de Nerval and his attitude towards Orient in his Voyage en Orient’ which is being done at the University of Tehran as part of my Masters Degree curriculum. However I have particular interest in the works of Andrà © Malraux and George Perecand and few other novelists of the 20th century. My deep prior learning on the history of French literature also encouraged me to have an interdisciplinary work combining political history & literature. I intend to make my research lead towards a professional career. As the research would gain me enough understanding in literature, history and politics, I could serve as a knowledge base to answer questions on a period, a culture or a writer. This in turn is a necessity to chase my career goal to be a university teacher, which I have nurtured through my desire to teach and through the experiences I have gained while working as a teacher in a local school. Extensive individual work and group research would be required to get into the minute details of the subject resultantly serving to develop my capacity and knowledge. Huge lacunas and limitations like lack of resources and limited availability of efficient supervisors in Iran shorten the scope of my further research and study within the country. This became quite evident to me, when I had the idea of comparing the work of Andrà © Malraux to that of Ernest Hemingway. As I initiated the study, I got discouraged by my professors because of the insufficient expertise in American as well as French

Advise Peter and Anna with regard to the law relating to Essay

Advise Peter and Anna with regard to the law relating to misrepresentation - Essay Example The available remedy depends on the misrepresentation. The remedies mainly entail either rescission or payment or both of the losses incurred by the claimant as a result of misrepresentation. The right of rescinding the contract may, however, get lost in some instances. The law dealing with misrepresentation is found mainly in the common law with misrepresentation Act of 1967. Peter and Anna have entered in a contract with Neil and misrepresentation aspect is revealed. The document analyzes the possible measures that Peter and Anna can take to make sure that justice on their side gets served (Stone 2009, p.54).   The misrepresentation act got developed to protect consumers from fraudulent or false claims that induce an individual into entering into a contract or buying something. It also gives a person who finds himself in such a situation to claim the damages or losses incurred in case of fraudulent misrepresentation. The misrepresentation law is a common law and statute’s amalgam. Fraudulent misrepresentation is one of the available misrepresentations. It incorporates any presentation that turns out to be untrue while the presenter gave the lie either knowingly, without its truth’s belief as well as just carelessly/recklessly. The plaintiff in return suffered some damages as a result of this presentation that was made by this presenter (Poole 2012, p.45).   The negligent misrepresentation, on the other hand, enables the claimant to claim against the defendant on the representation that the defendant had made. The claimant has to show that the negligent misstatement of the defendant had caused the claimant to incur some losses. The last misrepresentation is the innocent misrepresentation. It refers to a situation whereby a person may manage to offer reasonable grounds for believing that the defendant’s false statement was true. The innocent misrepresentation makes use of the following basic elements. The person must make a

Impact of Social Networking Sites Essay Example for Free

Impact of Social Networking Sites Essay Decreased productivity: * Employees would get distracted when they have access to social networking sites. This will decrease their work efficiency, hence decreasing the productivity of the company. * Even if they are using the social networking sites for promotion or advertisements (job-related work), it is impossible to justify or make sure that every second they are on the social networking site, they are doing job-related work. If we cannot justify that, we cannot justify the salaries of the employees because they are paid to work, not to facebook. * It does not do the company any good in terms of their productivity if they allow their employees to access social networking sites in workplaces, as they would not be able to track what they employees are doing (whether they are doing job-related work or not). Hence, this is not cost-efficient and it is a waste of human resource as the salaries paid to the employees are not justified. * Company Security. The social media is on the World Wide Web and it is very easy for anyone and anybody from anywhere to simply hack in or simply cause a little trouble. Say, some private projects get accidentally exposed. Information can be easily gotten from the internet, and so unwanted information leaked can also be spread like wild fire. Employees will undoubtedly end up chatting with friends on the social media sites, and may accidentally leak out info when complaining to a friend, whom they did not know was from a possible competitor of the company, for example. Schools: Insignificant educational information on the social networking site: * Although some may argue that students can learn something new through the social networking sites, but the truth is the information we get on social networking sites are not significant in terms of educational purposes. What we normally see on these sites are probably latest updates that our friends post. Hence, there is no educational information on social networking sites. If we allow them in schools, we would be diverging our attention away from the main purpose of a school: which is to educate our next generation. * Furthermore, supposing social networking sites could be used for educational purposes and it would be as effective as our current education system, there will be no need for schools or even teachers. The students can have self-directed learning using the social networking sites at home. It will be a distraction to the students: * No matter how hard we can try to deny the fact, but the fact remains that social networking sites will just become a distraction to the students in schools where they are supposed to be educated. The students would probably be distracted and start updating their status on facebook or twitter etc. This decreases the student’s ability to listen to the teacher and eventually affect one’s learning which is not justifiable as more of the schools receive funds which comes from the government and eventually the taxpayers’ money. Hence, with needed justification from the government to the taxpayers, we cannot allow social networking sites in schools to prevent more distraction. Decreased face-to-face communication: * The students would lose valuable opportunities for direct face-to-face communication if social networking sites are allowed in schools. They would be able to communicate even behind the computers; however this is not beneficial to the student’s development as they might not be able to communicate efficiently to others when they go out to work in the society. Social networking sites are not effective for teaching and learning of the syllabus: * Social networking sites cannot meet the need of the some subjects, for example Mathematics where graphs need to be drawn and social networking sites would not be able to meet this need. * Also, exams cannot be done in social networking sites as the answers of every candidate needs to be protected, hence it does not make any sense to allow social networking sites in schools because it is not suitable for the syllabus. What they say:| What we say:| WORK: Social networking sites can be used for promotion of the company’s products. It is very efficient as the audience base is very large.| Yes we agree that it will be effective advertisement for the company if social networking sites can be used, however we cannot justify that every second that the employee spend on social networking sites, it would be for promotion purposes. This is precisely why we cannot allow them in the workplaces because it decreases work efficiency and productivity which is more significant to the company compared to advertisements. Another point is, it is easier, once uploaded to media websites, for people, to vandalise and find faults with , e.g. the video used for advertisements. Editions can be made and reposted (with simple hacking) and doom the company. To go through the trouble to specially ensure high security defeats the purpose of a wide spread and open internet online.| WORK: Save cost to advertise on social networking sites, because it is free and effective for small companies.| First, no company will not have a budget for advertisements. Second, even if they don’t have budget, they cannot justify that every second that the employee spend on the social networking sites will be for promotion. Hence, they might lose productivity while trying to save money on advertisements. Third, this kind of advertisement is not as effective as media advertising as people might just ignore the posts posted by the companies. (Compared to media advertising where impact on the consumers will be greater.)| WORK: Helps in efficiency and effectiveness, as speed is increased, internet gives ample information, easier to complete tasks online, and even if the person is not there in person, the same work could still be done, if not more effectively.| Half the time, as seen from results, we end up getting distracted by other news and information along the way while doing the job. At the end of the day, job is incomplete or a sloppy job as employee was distracted. Sure, employers could try to enforce certain restrictions on certain functions, or have a time limit, but it will then negate the advantages of using social media. | SCHOOL: Social networking sites could be used as convenient sources for students to discuss, brainstorm and do groupwork. Also, teachers could use them platforms for storing extra notes, and useful information, updates, and even extra notes about what to prepare for future lessons. This reduces time wastage on preparing and talking about things which can easily be read. If they need clarification but forgot to ask during class, you have SOCIAL MEDIA to the rescue! | Such benefits are common place and often discussed. But we managed before without such social media, without much difficulty, and it is not worth using social media with all the disadvantages that come with its use. Distractions, inattentiveness, the tendency for students to bicker nonsensically, e.t.c lead to excessive time wastage.In class, they have lesser tendency to waste time, as there is the presence of the teacher or even without the teacher, in person to person, they are more likely to think and try to brainstorm whatever ideas they get immediately, and can bounce off each other.if really such a need to share notes e.t.c., still social media is not the correct choice. File-sharing websites or simply creating an email update group would be far more efficient. |

Animal Testing Essay Example for Free

Animal Testing Essay Abdulrahman.Bahjat AUIS August 5, 2013 We are at war, and we will do what we need to win (joey-gruber.tripod). There is much debate over whether animal testing should be allowed or not. Some people think that it is not essential to sacrifice animals for human benefit because they are being abused and tortured severely during experiments. Those People who stand against animal testing claim that humans eliminate many lives on Earth in order to safe humans lives, So there is no justice because even animals have the right to live on earth, yet these people do not consider the truth that animals are being used in the food industry. Many organizations such as (PETA), which is the biggest organization against animal testing, think that animal testing is one of the most disturbing experiments ever, and it should be banned. However, these organizations absolutely do not look at the big picture because animal testing uses only common pests to test on, improves health and medicine, and ensures the safety of cosmetic products for the human use. Many organizations claim that animal testing reduces animals numbers and lead them to face extinction. In addition, these people say that through animal testing humans destroy the lives of many organisms. However, researchers use only pests in their experiments to test on. Animal testing gives humans more benefit by decreasing the pests to humans. 60% of all animals are mice and 20% are rats and guinea pigs and rabbits are 10% all together(PETA). This claim comes from an organization which is surprisingly stands against animal testing. The statistic above shows that animal testing does not damage animals on our planet. Many diseases are being transmitted to humans by these pests like rats. One of the most historically dangerous rat-borne diseases is the bubonic plague, also called â€Å"Black Plague,† and its variants†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. fleas transported on rats are considered responsible for this plague during the Middle Ages, which killed millions(Orkin). It is really obvious that many people know what happened during the Middle Ages when Black Plague spread over London. It was one of the historical diseases that killed thousands of people, so we can avoid such these devastating diseases by reducing rats numbers simultaneously with getting benefit to our race. Many people think that animal testing does not  improve human health and medicine, and it is only used to develop silly things, such as toiletries. Also, those people think that humans cannot ensure the safety of drugs through animal testing because they say that humans do not have completely similar body to animals. However, those people do not know the fact that is the major pro for animal testing is helping researchers in creating drugs and treatments to improve human health and medicine. Animal testing is very essential to many scientific communities. In fact, there are many people who stand against animal testing for cosmetic products, but still support animal testing for medicine function. Many medical treatments, especially for cancer and HIV drugs are being found through animal testing (About Animal Testing). These diseases that I listed above are the most severe diseases that humans ever known because they have been suffered from, but through animal testing scientists are making great progress to figure out drugs that can end the tragedy of these diseases. Animal testing helps to ensure the safety of drugs and many other substances humans (About Animal Testing). Basically, drugs can carry a great danger to humans if they are used without any assurance of its safety. This means that through animal testing we can prevent the potential danger of drugs simultaneously with saving many human lives. Furthermore, some people think that we cannot ensure the safety of cosmetic products for human uses because humans and animals do not have completely similarities outside structure between them which may lead to many mistakes after using these products. However, those people do not look at the details which are the ones that matter. When scientists use animals to test on, they really do not care about the external structure, but they really care about the common organs and physical traits. Through animal testing we can test even the first toilet paper in order to know whether these products are safe for human use. Researchers often work with animal models that have biological systems similar to that of a human(Amprogress). This is why scientists use animals as models to test on because the common similarities that humans and animals have. It is really an inevitable fact that even if humans find out new methods of testing, companies will restore animal testing on new products to ensure full safety of any product (cosmeticproduct-europe). Animal testing is an irreplaceable, and without it we can rarely achieve full safety insurance. It is really important to test all cosmetic products  on animals because these products are usually chemical products that carry danger with them. In conclusion, I think that animal testing is really needed to improve the quality of societies, and that can be achieved by the results and discoveries of animal testing. Animal testing is a great way to find out how a living body reacts to different products which can help us to find out whether these products are safe to be used by humans, so if humans want to develop their communities, animal testing cannot be avoided. Cited Work: 1-Joey Gruber Tripod, http://joey-gruber.tripod.com/id2.html# 2-Peta, http://www.peta.org/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=statistics 3-Orkin, http://www.orkin.com/rodents/rats/rat-borne-diseases/ 4-About animal testing, http://www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk/using-animals-testing-pros-versus-cons.html 5- Amprogress, http://www.amprogress.org/AnimalResearchFAQ 6- Cosmeticproduct-europe, http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Formulation-Science/L-Oreal-animal-testing-alternatives-vital-but-ensuring-product-safety-is-a-MUST

Difference Between Criminal And Civil Procedure Law Essay

Difference Between Criminal And Civil Procedure Law Essay Law is a set of general rules which are created by a superior entity in order to regulate human behaviour and maintain justice and peace in the society. Law applies to everyone living in a particular territory  [1]  . There are as many legal systems in the world as countries, but for academic reasons we classify them into three main categories: Continental (Civil, Romano-Germanic) legal system, Common (Anglo-American) legal system and Religious legal system. Law can be split up in different branches such as, Criminal law, Civil law, Commercial law, etc. In this essay I will discuss the differences between Criminal and Civil procedure in Continental and Common legal system. Continental legal system is the oldest and most widely implemented legal system in the world. It derives from Roman law, Canon law and Commercial law. The Roman law started its contribution by the XII Tables which were published in 450 B.C. Later in the year 530 Justinian codified Roman law by publishing Corpus Juris Civilis. According to Justinian Roman law consisted of Ius Civile the body of laws which applied to local citizens, Ius Gentium the laws which applied to foreigners and Ius Naturale the body of laws that were considered common to all human beings  [2]  . The Canon law was developed by the Church in order to administrate and monitor the rights and obligations of the people. The needs and interests of merchants lead to the development of Commercial law. The historical sources of concepts, institutions, and procedures come from these three sub traditions. Today it is dominant in most parts of Western Europe, all of central and South America, many parts of Asia and Afric a. Continental legal system has influenced the laws of specific nations, the law of international organizations and international law. The main feature of this legal system is that all the laws are codified (i.e. written down). Common Legal System: The Common law system is one of the most influential legal systems of the world. Before 1066 in England there was no legal system, instead it was based upon oral customary rules, which varied from region to region. In 1154, Henry II institutionalised common law by establishing a unified court system which was common to the whole country. The common-law system exists in England, the United States, and other countries which were colonized by England. This makes it one of the most widespread legal systems in the world. Common Law system is mainly based on the case law or judicial precedent, this system doesnt use legislation as a primary source of law instead legislation for them is a clarification of legal rules and principles which are essentially derived from case law/judicial precedents. In this type of legal system law is developed on a case-by-case basis. In the common law system the solution to a case becomes a part of the law. This concept is known as Stare Decisis. Difference between Common and Continental Legal system: In the Common legal system the judges have very broad interpretive power. However in the Continental legal system the judges serve as civil servants who receive salary and belong to an organization of judges  [3]  . In Continental legal system all the laws are written and codified, and unlike Common legal system they are not determined by the judges. Instead they are determined by the parliament. Legislation is the primary source of law and the court system is not adversarial (i.e. the judge takes an active part in the hearings/trials). Also in the Continental legal system any updates to the laws must be made through legislation or some other long process. While in the common law system laws can be changed/updated by single rulings. This allows the common legal system to develop faster than the continental legal system. In the Continental legal system there is a major difference between public and private law. Private law includes the rules governing civil and commercial relation ships, whereas Public law consists of matters that concern the government. Similarly in Common legal system there is a difference in private and public law; however the process is slightly different. Substantive and Procedural Law: There are two main categories within law known as substantive law and procedural law. Substantive law deals with creating and defining the rights and obligations of individuals and parties. It refers to all categories of public and private law. On the other hand, procedural law is the body of legal rules which regulates the process of determining the rights and obligations of parties. Procedural law is also referred to as adjective law  [4]  . It is made up of state or federal statues, rules proclaimed by courts and standards established by constitutional law  [5]  . Common legal system pays more attention to procedural law than to substantive law. However, substantive law plays a vital role in Continental legal system. Criminal Law and Procedure: Criminal law is the body of rules and statues which define the conduct which is prohibited by the state/government because it may harm the society/public. It is a welfare that establishes punishment which will be imposed if this law is broken. Criminal procedure states the rule under which criminal cases are conducted. It involves investigation, prosecution, adjudication and the punishment of the crimes. A regular criminal proceeding, in the Continental legal system, is divided into three main parts: the investigating phase, the examining phase and the trial. The public prosecutor conducts the investigative phase and also takes an active part in the examining phase, which is supervised by the examining judge. This phase is mainly written and it determines whether there is a need for a trial or not  [6]  . The trial is a relatively brief and informal affair conducted by a judge without a jury. The defendant does not necessarily have the right to keep silent. Sometimes the trial do es not require all the witnesses to be present and may last in excess of a year. On the other hand, in the Common legal system a criminal proceeding starts with a police investigation which is aimed at collecting evidence that will prove the defendant guilty. Then an adversarial trial is conducted before either a judge or a jury. The attorneys conduct the trial and try to convince the judge in their favour. The trial is continuous and the evidence against the defendant must be presented by live witnesses in court. One of the basic differences in criminal procedure in Common legal system and Continental legal system is that, the judge in Continental legal system plays a more active role in determining the facts of the case (i.e. takes an active part in the proceedings) while the contrary is true for Common legal system. Also, the continental legal system relies more on written argument than on oral argument. However, in the common legal system everything in the trial is primarily oral. Civil Law and Procedure: Civil law is the body of rules that delineates the private law (e.g. contract law, property law, family law, etc.). It is opposed to criminal or public law. Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow while judging civil lawsuits (i.e. non-criminal matters). It administers how a lawsuit/case will be carried out (i.e. the whole process). It is a general part of the private law and can be exercised by anyone to impose, redress or protect their legal rights. In the Continental law civil procedure is found in codes, whereas in the Common legal system it is found in rules of court made under statutory powers. Historically, in the Common legal system civil procedure lawsuits included a jury and a judge. The matter of law was reserved for the decision of the judge and the matters of fact for the jury. Even though, this practice is greatly discontinued in most of the modern Common legal countries the United States still employ it. The litigatio n is commenced by means of a document drawn up by the claimant which is then validated by the court. Hereafter, pleadings are followed by disclosure (i.e. disclosing evidence to the other party). Trial is usually lead by a hearing in which problems arising in pretrial procedure might be determined and attempts to compromise are made. In Continental legal system trial by jury is unknown and the litigation is usually conducted by a multijudge court. The issues of law are often determined by a series of hearings. The prominence is more on written evidence than on oral presentation  [7]  . Difference between Criminal and Civil Procedure: In criminal lawsuits, the litigation is always filed by the state, whereas in civil lawsuits a private party files the litigation and becomes the claimant. In criminal lawsuits a guilty defendant is punished by either imprisonment, fine paid to the state or death penalty (exceptional cases). On the other hand, the losing defendant in civil lawsuits is generally supposed to reimburse for the losses caused to the claimant. In criminal lawsuits the burden of proof is always on the state (i.e. the state must prove that the defendant is guilty), since the defendant is assumed to be innocent until proven guilty. However, in the civil lawsuits the burden of proof is initially on the claimant, but in some cases it shifts to the defendant. In criminal cases the defendant is protected by a number of protections which are specified in the constitution (or legislation). But in civil cases there are no protections offered to defendants. Another difference between criminal and civil lawsuits is th at, criminal cases have to be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Civil cases only have to be proven on the balance of probabilities  [8]  . It can be seen that there are many differences in the Common legal system and the Continental legal system. These differences exist not only in their historical background but also in their approach to legal matters. I personally believe the procedures are flexible and the parties to the case enjoy more rights and obligations in Common Law system, since the Judge refers to a previously held similar cases and the legislation is not codified. As we know, there are clearly many differences between Common and Continental legal systems, however it should be noted that in the recent times both systems have started to converge in their use of the sources of law. As De Cruz (1999) mentions, in the recent times the English legal system has started to give more significance to legislation. On the other hand the Continental legal system has also started to rely on precedents, especially in German constitutional and French administrative courts. Thus, this leads us to think that there is a possi bility of the legal systems converging together. This concept is known as the Convergence theory. This might be possible in some aspects, however not completely because of the enormous difference in ideology, social and economic policies, morality and many other things.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome :: essays research papers fc

Irritable Bowel Syndrome Introduction to IBS Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder of the intestines that leads to crampy pain, gassiness, Bloating, and changes in bowel habits. Some people with IBS have constipation. Others have diarrhea or frequent loose stools, often with an urgent need to move the bowels and some people experience both. Sometimes the person with IBS has a crampy urge to move the bowels but cannot do so. As much as 20% of the US population suffers from irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common digestive disorders disorders in North America. Over three millions doctor visits are made each year due to IBS. Almost 50% of referrals to a gastroemterologist are for irritable bowel syndrome. Twice as many women suffer from irritable bowel syndrome than do men. Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome usually start early in life. Half the patients have symptoms before they reach the age of 30. Through the years, IBS has been called by many names -- colitis, mucous colitis, spastic colon, spastic bowel, and functional bowel disease. Most of these terms are inaccurate. Colitis, for instance, means inflammation of the large intestine (colon). IBS, however, does not cause inflammation and should not be confused with ulcerative colitis, which is a more serious disorder. The cause of IBS is not known, and as yet there is no cure. Doctors call it a functional disorder because there is no sign of disease when the colon is examined. IBS causes a great deal of discomfort and distress, but it does not cause permanent harm to the intestines and does not lead to intestinal bleeding of the bowel or to a serious disease such as cancer. Often IBS is just a mild annoyance, but for some people it can be disabling. They may be afraid to go to social events, to go out to a job, or to travel even short distances. Most people with IBS, however, are able to control their symptoms through diet, stress management, and sometimes with medications prescribed by their physicians. Causes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome The colon, which is about 6 feet long, connects the small intestine with the rectum and anus. The major function of the colon is to absorb water and salts from digestive products that enter from the small intestine. Two quarts of liquid matter enter the colon from the small intestine each day.

what to do about education Essay -- essays research papers

What to do about Funding in Public Schools The public school system in America has long has been an issue of discussion amongst people everywhere. The school system is something we deal with in every state and city in America. It is one system in our country that is in need of great evaluation when it comes to the issue of funding. There are funding gaps that are so large from school to school when it comes to the issue of funding that we have some schools that are barley in suitable living conditions, have the oldest materials and are very understaffed to schools that have the best of everything in every aspect to include the teachers. Is this the type of unbalanced system you want your kids in? People often complain that we need to do something about, give more funding here or there, but the problem surrounding school funding is that we often distribute funding in the wrong way. Well I say it is time we as a whole step up and do something about it; I say we move to a voucher system to develop some competition within public education. If we do not act on making our schools more equally funded we will put ourselves in a downward spiral until only a few schools are able to provide an adequate education to our youth, I mean come on our nations children already lag behind in many standardized test when compared to other countries. We need to seize our chance to improve on this now because if we let it slide I can guarantee you the problem will only worsen and the public education in our country will only fail. We need to setup a system based more on competition so we can get the schools to want to give our youth a good education. Now many people may oppose to the idea of making schools â€Å"compete† for students with the voucher system. They would say that this may be too expensive or it would take away the idea of public schooling and not make it free in the sense that we think of school as free. Many would say it would be turning the public school system into a â€Å"business.† While I do agree that it would turn the public school system into a business I do not agree that it would take away from our schools being public in the most literal sense of the word. But it would give people a good way to have a little power in the public system because it would allow parents to decide where they would send their children, not the state. It would also add some incentive for ... ... given a better education simply because his or her parents make more money. That does not make a child smarter, rather more privileged. And I thought schools did not cater to the students. Well that is what the system seems to be doing at this point.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I feel the subject of school funding is one that is in need of serious evaluation. And I feel that the voucher system is the best way we can tackle the subject. Now instead of just talking about making reforms we can go ahead with it and actually do something about it. Our schools need to better prepare out students for their lives. The only foreseeable way to do this would be to impose the voucher system. Without it there will be no competition among schools and there will be no more advancement than there currently is. If we have competition this will encourage improvement among our children, it will make them come up with new ideas and push to really make themselves the best students they can be. In closing I must say that all children are different, so we need to treat them all different and appeal to how each of them learns. If we do not do that then we are keeping ourselves in that downward spiral.

Dinner Party :: Personal Narrative Companies Business Papers

Dinner Party I walked out into my dinning room where I had been mulling over the table all day. I wanted everything to be just so. I glanced at the place settings for the hundredth time, trying to decide if I should sit Alfred Zingale and Matthias Arndt next to each other. It wasn’t that I was worried about conflicting views, actually it was quiet the contrary, and I didn’t want them to be able to double team the other guests. Finally I decided that just because they have essentially the same opinions, I wouldn’t separate them. In my mind they come as a unit because they had co-authored a book. The place cards had been set and I made up my mind that I would do no more rearranging. I bent over the table in my grey sleeveless dress and lit the deep red candles that were extending upward out of the floral arrangement. The guests would be arriving soon and I began to think over the whole situation. Each person has written a book about the dot com industry, how they can b e successful as well as how to invest wisely in one. I was hoping to learn a lot of information so I could make a good decision on whether my company would benefit from being online. These thoughts drifted through my head until the doorbell rang. I opened the door to a short plump woman with reddish brown hair in her late 40’s was standing on my stoop. She wore a pale green dress suit, but looked quite attractive. She extended her arm, shook my hand and introduced herself as Anita Rosen. As the only woman who was attending the dinner party that night, it was a given who she was, but all the same she was quite pleasant. John Cassidy was next to arrive. He looked like the typical â€Å"guy next door† type. I bet he could have been pulled straight from a magazine. He wore a blue knit sweater vest. As soon as he was in the door, the bell rang for the final time. Zingale and Arndt stood at the door. Zingale was thin with a moustache, black hair parted on the side. Arndt wore glasses, was shorter and much plumper.

Is stress necessary to motivate us

I do not agree that stress is necessary to motivate us. I get motivation from being stress-free. I have better days when I am not stressed. I am happy and joyful, instead of angry and frustrated. When I get stressed I just am down or angry and don't want to be bothered. I have kids, and they can tell when I have a stressful day because it shows on my face. Then they are not happy and I just get more stressed then before. If people did not feel any stress their productive levels would probably be very good.Getting things done eliminates worries. If you are not stressed than you can focus on getting done what needs to be done. I think my ideal level of stress is when I am so fed up I want to explode. If I start to cry and I just feel like I can't take anymore, my stress level is very high. I try to control my stress level, and try to be a very happy person. That's how I like to be. Under no circumstances is it ever acceptable to treat coworkers or employees differently because of their differences.You should never judge a book by its cover before taking the time to read it. Our differences are what make us who we are. You and your coworkers are not going to see everything the same, so you should take in their differences, and accept them as they are. I think you should recognize coworker or employees openly. Everybody has something they do one way, and the next person does it another way. It is okay to take in others judgment, and look at it as a positive, and not a negative thought.

IKEA Looks to Further Penetrate the U.S. Market

Given the SWOT analysis presented in the case, what are IKEA’s key competitive advantages? What strategic focus should the company take as it looks to further expand into the U. S. market? * IKEA’s low cost structure has been the very core of its success. It’s low-cost and high-quality strategy fits with the current state of the economy. Offering convenience factors within IKEA’s stores would fit well with IKEA’s low cost structure. It maintains its low-cost business model by creating a different furniture shopping experience. IKEA supplies customers with all possible materials needed to complete their shopping when they enter the store (that are, measuring tape, paper, pencils, catalogs, strollers, and shopping bags). Although IKEA is not set up as a traditional furniture store, the company does provide several added amenities. There is no denying that brand image is a key strength for IKEA. IKEA considers the environmental impact of every step in its business processes by making products that are environmentally conscientious and cost-effective. * To further expand into U. S. arket, IKEA must address two key issues. The first is the overwhelming individuality of U. S. consumers. Further expansion into the U. S. market will require IKEA to adapt its offerings and stores to local tastes. The second key issue is quality. Although American consumers are increasingly value-driven, they also demand quality products. Many Americans view self-assembled furniture as being lower in quality, and similar to the type s of furniture one might buy at Walmart or Target. 2. What factor is the biggest reason for IKEA’s growth and popularity: value or image? What can IKEA do to sustain growth after it loses some cache? * There is no denying that brand image is a key strength for IKEA. Even if they have not been in a store, most people around the globe recognize the blue and yellow logo as a symbolic representation of trendy, modern, and fashionable furniture which have been based on Swedish home-based clean and efficient service. * Diversification can be a good way that IKEA does to sustain growth after it loses some cache. Product innovation and market development such as IKEA’s expanding goal in U. S. market. It is a risky strategy but with careful selection of the right kind of businesses, considerable improvements in profitability can be experienced. To try and maintain growth, IKEA is considering diversification outside of the furniture market. 3. What strategic alternatives would you suggest IKEA employ to further penetrate the U. S. market? * Add more services to enhance customers’ experience, and implement a customer relationship management system to track current customers and communicate with them. Keep IKEA’s brand image and focus on correct placement of stores. Expand product lines to flank the budget line with a higher-priced line. Clever advertising and promotion. 4. Speculate on what will happen at IKEA stores as they are adapted to fit local tastes. Is the company’s trade-off of service for low cost sustainable in the long term? * IKEA’s management philosophy; â€Å"Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea is to offer a wide range of well-designed, functional, home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford them. and all its activities is founded on its mission of offering wide variety of functional furniture for the house, of a quality and at a price affordable by a majority of people. This mission shows IKEA’s competitive advantage, positioning strategy and marketing mix. Tailoring IKEA’s stores and product to local tastes will cause IKEA to change its mission, to lose its competitive advantage and to redesign its positioning strategy and marketing mix.

Coping with Anxiety

Kathrina is a 20-something professional with dilemmas that disrupt her from being productive in her career. It also gives her inconsistent sleeping habits, which results from an uneasy feeling from the anxiety that she feels. Furthermore, she feels that her way of coping with such is not improving at all. Such predicaments hamper her career as a real estate agent, which she finds a big deterrent in producing sales. Kathrina’s biggest dilemma is that her parents expect a lot from her.She doesn’t want to leave home yet she already feels uneasy about her situation at home. With this in mind, she resorts to me, a behavioral psychiatrist. Kathrina opts to undergo a series of sessions that will give her the opportunity to deal with anxiety and stress. 1) As a behavioral therapist how would you proceed in therapy in the case of Kathrina? First, I would like the patient to describe her environment while she was growing up. This would help me ascertain what is it like to live in her environment during her childhood.It will allow me to determine how she generates feedbacks and how she behaves in this type of environment. As a behavioral therapist, I have to make her understand that her environment is responsible for her apparent behavior. The environment she thrives in conditions her to be behaving in such way. The environment includes all the people around her and the behavior of this people. She has to understand that her behavior does not deliberately stems from her. In behavioral psychology, it is suggested that behaviors are attained through the environment’s conditioning (Wagner, 2008).As the individual interacts with her environment more, the more she is conditioned to act accordingly to her environment’s standards. As the individual accommodates this conditioning into her system, the more she is influenced by her environment’s conditioning. As I proceed with the subject’s current situation, I learn that she really accommo dates and tolerates the behavioral standards of her situation. She does not have a hand in her apparent behavior at all. The stress from her work is not responsible as well.The environment which is her home is the primary stimulus that affects her behavior, and causes her numerous dilemmas. In a branch of behaviorism, classic conditioning is used to condition a subject to respond to a certain stimulus. Classic conditioning is a type of conditioning in behaviorism, which conditions a subject by instigating a stimulus in order to generate a favorable response (Van Wagner, 2008). In Kathrina’s case, her parents conditioned her in the most effective manner. This leads us to the speculation that Kathrina might not have received classical conditioning at all.Another type of conditioning, Operant conditioning can be suggested as the possible culprit for the apparent behavior of Kathrina. Operant conditioning takes place whenever the subject is conditioned through punishment and rewa rd reinforcements. In Kathrina’s case, she might have received more reward reinforcements than punishment reinforcements. Yet this brings to us the notion that she might have been conditioned by reward reinforcements even if her parents are wrong in giving her reward reinforcements.With this in mind, Kathrina’s case will remain unsolved, and I will suggest further therapy sessions for her to be able to cope up with stress and chronic anxiety. 2) How does behavioral therapy fit, or not fit, with your own personal style? The behavioral approach to therapy is not proper at all. It is very subjective and not objective at all. It is one-dimensional because it simply analyzes the environmental factors that contribute to the individual’s behavior. Both operant and classical conditioning are subjective in approach, and analyzes a subject’s behavior in a bias manner.In Kathrina’s case, her behavior is not really caused by her environment alone. She has also a hand in contributing to her mental tortures. With this in mind, she must shrug her dilemmas aside. Apt therapy can also aid her in this situation she faces. References Van Wagner,K. (2008). Behaviorism. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://psychology. about. com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism. htm Watson,J. Behaviorism Explained. General Psychology. Published Diestro Ltd. 2000.

Creating Performance Goals and Measures for Your Charter School Essay

This document is designed to provide guidance and assistance in developing sound goals and measures – both educational and organizational – for inclusion in your charter agreement with [Authorizing Agency]. The following guidance focuses especially on providing deeper guidance for developing strong educational goals and measures – i.e., those that will comprise the Academic and Student Non-Academic Performance indicators of your charter agreement. This task demands particular attention because educational performance indicators are often more challenging to state in meaningful, objective terms than are non-educational measures, such as those focusing on Organizational and Management Performance (the third category of performance indicators required for your charter agreement). However, the principles for developing all of these types of goals and measures are very similar; thus, to the extent applicable, you should follow the guidance in these pages for developing your non-educational goals and measures as well. I. General Criteria for Goals Goals should be SMART: Specific and Tied to Standards Measurable Ambitious and Attainable Reflective of Your Mission Time-Specific with Target Date 1. Specific A well-defined goal must be specific, clearly and concisely stated, and easily understood. Academic goals should be tied to academic standards that specify what students should This document was first developed by Margaret Lin as a guidance tool for the Charter Schools Office of Ball State University (IN) to offer to the schools it oversees. It has been adapted for distribution at the Annual Conference of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, Nov. 13-14, 2003, San Diego, CA. Many of the concepts, definitions and principles in these pages are adapted from the following sources: Measuring Up: How Chicago’s Charter Schools Make Their Missions Count, by Margaret Lin (Leadership for Quality Education, 2001); Guidelines for Writing Charter School Accountability Plans, 2001-2002 (Charter Schools Institute, State University of New York), http://www.newyorkcharters.org/charterny/act_guide.html; and â€Å"Some Expectations Regarding the Contents of Charter School Accountability Plans,† District of Columbia Public Charter School Board. know and be able to do, for each subject or content area and for each grade, age, or other grouping level. Equally important, academic goals should be developed with solid knowledge of students’ baseline achievement levels. 2. Measurable A goal should be tied to measurable results to be achieved. Measurement is then simply an assessment of success or failure in achieving the goal. 3. Ambitious and Attainable A goal should be challenging yet attainable and realistic. Academic goals should be based on a well-informed assessment of your school’s capacities and your students’ baseline achievement levels. 4. Reflective of Your Mission A goal should be a natural outgrowth of your school mission, reflecting the school’s values and aspirations. 5. Time-Specific with Target Date A well-conceived goal should specify a time frame or target date for achievement. Ball State expects its charter schools to specify both long-term goals that each school expects to achieve by the end of its fourth year of operation, along with annual benchmarks that will enable the school, authorizer and other stakeholders to monitor and assess the pace of progress. Definitions of Key Terms To develop adequate learning goals and measures, schools should begin with a clear understanding of a few essential terms: Goal: A clear, measurable statement of what students will know and be able to do in order to be considered â€Å"educated† after a certain length of time attending the school. Standard: A clear, measurable statement of what students will be expected to know (a content standard) or be able to do (a performance or skill standard) at a given point in their development, usually each year and at graduation. (Standards are usually defined grade-by-grade and subject-by-subject, and are thus more specific than – but necessary to support – overarching school goals.) Assessment (sometimes also â€Å"measure†): A method, tool or system to evaluate and demonstrate student progress toward – or mastery of – a particular learning standard or goal. (Examples: A standardized test, or a portfolio-judging system) Measure: An application of an assessment that defines progress toward or attainment of a goal and indicates the level of performance that will constitute success. (Example: â€Å"Students at the Successful Charter School will improve their performance on the reading portion of the Stanford-9 by at least 3% per year, on average.†) Assessments – and by extension, measures – should be valid, reliable, and demonstrate scoring consistency: †¢ Valid: Assesses the skill or knowledge it is intended to assess. Reliable: Provides consistent results when taken repeatedly by the student at a given point in his/her development, as well as by other students at the same point in development. Scoring Consistency: Produces consistent scores, ratings, results or responses when a particular assessment tool, scoring guide or rubric is used by different evaluators to assess the same student performance or work sample. 3 II. Essential Principles to Guide the Development of Sound Educational Goals and Measures †¢ Your mandate as the operator of a charter school is not just to teach well but also to demonstrate objectively – in ways that are clear, understandable and credible to a variety of external audiences – that you are doing so. Thus, you must measure and report academic progress precisely and extensively. Distinguish between goals and measures. Goals are the starting point, but require valid, reliable ways to measure and demonstrate that you have achieved them. Make sure that your goals are clear, specific and measurable. Your measures for attainment of those goals should describe how you will assess progress, and how much progress will constitute success. Educational goals must be connected to a well-defined set of learning standards for both content (what students should know) and performance (what students should be able to do). Such standards should exist for every subject or content area and each grade, age or other grouping level in the school. Focus on outcomes and evidence of learning, not inputs. For example, participation rates or the number of hours spent on an activity are not sufficient measures of success. Participation and investment of time are  necessary first steps, but they are inputs, not measures of learning and accomplishment. In developing goals for your accountability plan, focus on what’s most important. Ten or fewer clear, well-chosen and carefully measured educational goals (for both Academic and Student Non-Academic Performance) should allow you to provide a convincing story of your progress and achievements – and will be more effective than listing a score of vague, trivial, redundant or hard-to-measure indicators. The measures you develop to assess achievement of each goal, if not based on standardized assessments, should be demonstrably valid and reliable. (The attached framework will provide some help in developing validity and reliability of assessments.) A Note on Defining Standards: Milestones on the Path to Broader School Goals Educational goals must be tied to clear content and performance standards specifying what you expect your students to know and be able to do in order to graduate or be promoted to the next level. These standards need only to be referenced in your accountability plan, but they form the foundation of your school’s education program. As such, selecting and developing grade-bygrade, subject-by-subject standards is an essential component of accountability planning that goes hand-in-hand with broader goal-setting. Of course, many of your school standards will be Indiana state standards. However, most schools have important aims beyond the state requirements, and developing these supplemental standards is a technically challenging task. It usually consists of several steps, including: 1. Articulating desired characteristics of â€Å"educated† students at a general level – or setting your  school’s overarching goals; 2. Breaking these general qualities and goals into more concrete graduation or exit standards; and 3. Benchmarking these exit standards down into specific and measurable grade-age-level content and performance standards.2 III. Practical Steps for Developing Sound Educational Goals and Measures †¢ Define a set of goals that describe what success will look like at your school. These goals should be carefully selected to reflect the breadth and depth of your mission, and should answer critical questions such as: How will you know if your school is succeeding (or not)? What will be important characteristics of â€Å"educated students† at your school? What will students know and be able to do after a certain period of time? Outline your goals in precise, declarative sentences. Example: â€Å"All students at the Excelencia Charter School will be proficient readers and writers of Spanish within four years of enrolling.† Identify at least one and possibly multiple measures to assess and demonstrate progress toward each goal. These measures must indicate both (1) the level of performance you will expect your school or students to achieve, and (2) how much progress will indicate success. (It is not sufficient to say you’ll administer a certain type of assessment; you must explain how you expect your students to perform on it to demonstrate progress and success.) Adapted from Accountability for Student Performance: An Annotated Resource Guide for Shaping an Accountability Plan for Your Charter School (Charter Friends National Network, 2nd ed., 2001), p. 5, http://www.charterfriends.org/accountability.doc. You may develop different types of measures to assess (1) absolute achievement; (2) student growth or gains; or (3) achievement compared to other schools. (The box below provides an example of different ways to measure achievement of the same goal.) For every goal, choose means of assessment that make non-attainment of the goal as objectively apparent as success. That is, the assessment(s) should tell you (and external audiences) immediately whether you have achieved a particular goal or not. Make sure that your measures of student learning are based on knowledge of your students’ baseline achievement levels. Without such knowledge, your measures will not be meaningful or realistic. Set long-term goals as well as intermediate (typically annual) benchmarks to assess progress. Administer assessments corresponding to this timeline to provide longitudinal data over the term of the charter. To have time to counter learning deficits that students may have upon entering your school, you may consider setting certain goals for students who have been enrolled in your school for a certain period of time, such as â€Å"students who have been in the school for at least three years.† For every measure you develop, ask yourself, â€Å"Will this measure be readily understandable and credible to someone who doesn’t spend a day or a week in our school getting to know us?† Remember, your school will be judged by the media, community leaders and the public at large, in addition to your authorizer and parents. For measures not based on standardized tests, establishing external credibility typically requires demonstrating validity and reliability. (The attached framework offers an overview of one way for schools to do this.) Understand what data you will need to gather to support each measure. Remember, if you have no data, you have no case proving your school’s achievements. Likewise, if you have insufficient data, you have an insufficient case. There is no single best way to measure achievement of a particular goal. As charter schools, you are free to choose measures that you prefer, provided that they are also meaningful and persuasive to external audiences. The following example shows how three different measures might be applied to a single learning goal. (These goals could be developed by one school or by three different schools that have the same goal.) Note that each measure describes how progress will be assessed and how much progress will constitute success. The third measure allows the school to assess skills beyond those measured on standardized tests, and would thus require some demonstration of validity and reliability or be used in addition to externally validated assessments.

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