Power Struggle In The Handmaids Tale By Margaret Atwood

Renowned playwright William Shakespeare, and contemporary novelist Margaret Atwood both explore power struggle from a feminist perspective. Shakespeare in ‘King Lear’ and Atwood in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ explore varying power struggles and their correlation to gender through their respective texts. Shakespeare and Atwood use the genders of their central characters to focus on power in historical and dystopian settings. Both authors explore religious frameworks, the types of power in a patriarchal society, and the implications of gender on power through use of stylistic devices and literary techniques. Gender stereotypes play a major role in both texts, with the authors conforming to the stereotype that men are violent and women are†¦show more content†¦Atwood informs the reader that Gilead was created with many casualties, and that anyone who opposes the regime is hanged or sent to the Colonies. The soldiers are called Angels, this name is ironic as Angels are supposed to be pure and good, and meanwhile they are hanging â€Å"Catholics [†¦] Jews [†¦] and Priests on the Wall for practicing their faiths. Atwood’s readers can notice clear differences between how women and men consolidate power in ‘The Handmaids Tale.’ Shakespeare employs nature imagery to expose the violent extents that his male characters will go to in order to get revenge. Lear has a lot of inner conflict throughout the play, and in his final moments of status he declares to Regan â€Å"I will have such revenges on you both [†¦] the terrors of the earth!† This dec laration is in iambic pentameter, highlighting his need to hold onto his power despite being degraded and emasculated by both of his daughters. Although Lear never acts upon his violence, Shakespeare ensures that the clichà © of good versus evil is included in his play. In the last act, Edgar and Edmund engage in a sword-fight in which Edmund dies, consolidating Edgar as the new leader. Shakespeare and Atwood’s gender conformity in their respective texts opposes feminist theory of both genders being independent from their roles. Atwood and Shakespeare explore the power struggles which are prominent betweenShow MoreRelatedThe Handmaid s Warning By Margaret Atwood1363 Words   |  6 PagesThe Handmaid’s Warning What will the future bring? What will happen as feminists speak out, women work out of home, pornography spreads and is battled, and the desire for children dwindles? Perhaps life on Earth will improve. Maybe women will have the rights they demand, porn will be defeated, and people will respect women’s bodies. Maybe mothers will miraculously have the perfect number of children: just the right amount to keep the population within its limits. Or perhaps a deterioration willRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1328 Words   |  6 Pageswill occur, as Margaret Atwood predicted in The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s setting is futuristic, compelling, and terrifyingly believable. Her main character relates to the readers as real people. Her themes laced in the plot, from exposition to resolution, stem from conflicts with other characters, inner struggles, and heart wrenching losses. Readers are captivated as Atwood intertwines her literary elements, and warns the audience of a possible reality. Margaret Atwood tells the tale of a handmaidRead MoreHandmaids1019 Words   |  5 Pagescontent, but also its language and construction. This notion articulates profoundly within Margaret Atwood’s novel A Handmaid’s Tale as it is, after all, the author’s manipulation of the language and construction which enacts as vehicles towards the reader’s understanding of the content. A Handmaid’s Tale is a confrontational post-modern work of feminist dystopian fiction; it depicts a protagonist’s struggle to adapt to a totalitarian and theocratic state where language has become corrupted. WithoutRead MoreCultural Criticism In The Handmaids Tale By Margaret Atwood1011 Words   |  5 Pagesrange of topics to analyze literature. Cultural criticism considers a variety of perspectives and branches of knowledge to discover the compilation of beliefs and customs that characterize a group of people. For a cultural reading of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a cultural critic would consider the historical background paired with theories such as Marxism and feminism to make assumptions about what culture engendered the creation of this novel. (104 words) Cultural criticism is oftentimesRead MoreShort Story By Margaret Atwood1031 Words   |  5 PagesMargaret Atwood once said, â€Å"I spent much of my childhood in northern Quebec, and often there was no radio, no television - there wasn’t a lot to entertain us. When it rained, I stayed inside reading, writing, drawing.† Born on November 18, 1939, she spent half her childhood moving to different places for her father’s study of entomology (insects). She obtained her love of writing through the different experiences that traveling provided as well as the encouragement of her parents. Though she didRead MoreMargaret Atwood s The Handmaid s Tale1305 Words   |  6 Pagesrevolution† of the 1960s and 1970s characterized by a religious conservative revival, Margaret Atwood wrote the novel The Handmaid’s Tale. With the elections of Ronald Reagan as president of the U.S. and Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of Great Britain, both religious conservati ves, many feminists feared that all the progress towards equality they had made during the ‘60s and ‘70s would be reversed. Atwood, thinking no differently than them, decided to create a novel that explored the implicationsRead MoreThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Essay2490 Words   |  10 Pagesfrom. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from,† (Atwood 24). The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, is a novel set in the near future where societal roles have severely changed. The most notable change is that concerning women. Whereas, in the past, women have been gaining rights and earning more â€Å"freedom to’s†, the women in the society of The Handmaid’s Tale have â€Å"freedom froms†. They have the freedom from being abused and having sexist phrases yelledRead MoreThe Handmaids Tale Feminism Essay1465 Words   |  6 PagesMargaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmai d’s Tale, is undoubtedly a staple piece when considering feminism in literature. While most works might take a firm stand on one side or the other when considering feminism, The Handmaid’s Tale approaches the subject differently; instead of establishing an ironclad position either supporting or condemning feminist ideals, Atwood’s novel showcases both ends of a spectrum concerning the advantages and disadvantages of such a movement in a democratic-turned-totalitarianRead MoreGeorge Orwell s The Handmaid s Tale1242 Words   |  5 Pagesleaders. While analyzing Animal Farm by George Orwell, l Lost My Talk by Rita Joe and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood it is clear that these works of literature allude to the possibility of corruption, revealing how important justice and equality are to governing societies and to me. Firstly, in George Orwell’s depiction of the events during the time of the Soviet Union shows how governments can obtain power from its citizens and how it can lead to corruption. Napoleon only cares for himself andRead MoreCritical Analysis Of The Handmaids Tale1229 Words   |  5 Pagesonce said, â€Å"I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.† In Margaret Atwood’s futuristic dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale, a woman named Offred feels she is losing control over everything in her life. Offred lives in the Republic of Gilead. A group of fundamentalists create the Republic of Gilead after they murder the President of the United States and members of Congress. The fundamentalists use the power to their advantage and restrict women’s freedom. As a result, each woman is assigned

A Study On Korean University Curriculum - 1724 Words

According to the above research about Korean university curriculum, most of courses aim to educate BIM, which means they are fully related to BIM. On the other hands, a few of them are digital graphic representation course, which educate BIM modelling in order to improve architectural presentation skill. Additionally, engineering program curriculum of the 10 universities, mentioned previously, are also researched in order to find out whether their engineering programs have any cooperation courses for BIM education. In engineering program, BIM is able to apply on administration of construction process, integrated design delivery project, construction management, structural analysis, and costing construction, and it has many other related subjects which is able to applied indirectly. However, only 2 universities have BIM course, and 1 university is planning to apply into the engineering program curriculum among the previously mentioned 10 university. According to the Universities’ engineering program curriculum, their major goal of the courses is that students have effective architectural digital design skill and flexibly responding technique to the design changes during the project. Moreover, during the courses, student can understand how data or information of architectural de sign is shared with construction by computer science and digital technology in design and construction phase. Therefore, according to the researches in terms of BIM course in architecture andShow MoreRelatedEssay on South Korean Education System and Human Development1478 Words   |  6 Pagesmany other Asian countries. In the early stages of Korean Education, many people did not have the privilege to attend any type of school; formal education was only available to the males in the elite class. The educated people had more social prestige and were allowed to skip on military service. State schools had poor quality, however, private academies helped reform the whole education process. During the late nineteenth centuries, both Koreans and foreign Christian missionaries started massiveRead MoreStatement of Purpose for Havard Application661 Words   |  3 Pagesthis would be one of my biggest traits to study China and its neighboring nations as a Korean. As a daughtor of an ethnologist, I grew up to be a nomad culturally and intellectually. When I was seven, I followed my father to China and grew up in Beijing for three years. From then on, I have been following him as he conducted fieldwork in Southwest China, learning about the most exuberant diversity a nation can express. I double majored in integrated studies of culture, a self-designed major in ScrantonRead MoreWhat Is Hagwon Offers Better Opportunities For South Korean Students Essay1439 Words   |  6 Pagesinvestigate whether Hagwon offers better opportunities for South Korean students in this educationally hypercompetitive society or not. Hagwon is a Korean word for supplemental education. But different from usual cram schools, Hagwon provides more supplementary education on regular school curriculum, topics that are not covered in the school and preparation for universities entrance exams. Almost every Korean parent believes â€Å"Korean has few natural resources, we don’t have much land, the only resourceRead MoreCross Cultural Differences Between The United States, Finland, And South Korea Essay1738 Words   |  7 Pageshuman aspect of learning such as fun and incorporating everyone’s type of learning. The educators main goal is to ensure the education of the students. The teachers in Finland tend to spend less time in the school and use their extra time to â€Å"build curriculums and assess their students† (Hancock). Finland’s generosity towards the citizens is tremendous. The state pays the citizens 150 euros for every child per month until that child turns 17 to buy food and clothing for the individual. Finland not onlyRead MoreAmerican And Korean Culture : Cultural Immersion Through Respect And Acceptance Of New Cultures944 Words   |  4 Pagesmulticultural background, in both American and Korean cultures, I felt as if I did not belong in either group due to characteristics that fit into neither category. Also being on the border of two very different health-care professions also inhibits me from fully submerging myself into a field of study. Throughout my adolescence to now, I have forced myself to conform to the American side but also felt a loss in a part of myself from the neglect towards my Korean side. I believe that I can learn how toRead MoreThe Culture Of South Korea889 Words   |  4 Pagesis extremely ancient and interesting is the South Korean culture; this culture is known to share some similarities with the North Korean culture, but after the country split into a north and south region some of those customs changed. According to the book called â€Å"Korea† by Sara De Capua (2005), the country of South Korea is at the end of the Korean peninsula on the continent of Asia, and the highest part of North Korea is at the top of the Korean peninsula and its borders connect with China andRead MoreBilingual Scholars Academic Writing Competency1312 Words   |  6 PagesWhile most studies on academic biliteracy have focused on multilingual scholars’ academic writing competency, only a few investigates undergraduate and graduate students’ attitudes toward research and their difficulties in second language writing. Gentil and Seror (2014) use their self-case studies to share their experience in acquiring both first and second language literacy with a view to drawing implication on language policy and language instruction in the Canadian context. In this journal, basedRead MoreStudy Plan Essay1055 Words   |  5 PagesI am applying to Seoul National University to continue the developm ent of my critical learning skills and to broaden my knowledge base. I feel I am now ready to complete a degree, and understand what is required to function successfully in our environment. I realize that to advance from the world of undergraduate college curriculum to that of an atmosphere of higher education in graduate training, takes much of a prospective graduate students time and effort. Throughout my life, I have workedRead MoreEmpirical Studies About Teachers Perspectives1505 Words   |  7 Pages2.4 Empirical studies about teachers’ perspectives and practices related to TBLT 2.4.1 Empirical study in London by Andon A wealth of empirical research has been carried out to investigate teachers’ understandings of TBLT and the implementation of it, aiming to identify the appropriate ways to adopt TBLT in different contexts for the reason that many scholars (Ellis, 2003; Littlewood, 2004) have pointed out that TBLT is a highly context-specific approach. They believe that its implementation isRead MoreMy First Love Is Doing Business904 Words   |  4 Pagespublicity, I did well at the sale, making over $100 in an hour. That accomplishment made me realize my passion toward marketing and motivated me to pursue a Bachelor degree in Business Management during my undergraduate studies. When I enrolled at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), marketing was my core interest: it has provided numerous opportunities for hands-on experience from class projects, such as predictive analytics with software like SPSS and Tableau, and strategic case analysis

English Writing Assessment Free Essays

The deep freeze left roads and pavements covered in ice, making driving and conditions for pedestrians extremely dangerous. Salt supplies are ‘stretched’, while thousands of schools are shut and air and rail travel are again affected y delays. In Hartley, Essex and Leeds, officials have decided to only grit key routes, leaving many roads untreated. We will write a custom essay sample on English Writing Assessment or any similar topic only for you Order Now Motorway hard shoulders are no longer being gritted, with the government proportioning salt for the worst- affected regions. There have even been reports of some local councils removing grit bins in certain areas in an attempt to reduce salt usage. Milk deliveries have also been disrupted, with tankers struggling to reach dairy farms. Some farmers have had to dump supplies as few have large storage facilities while, in Scotland, several barn roofs have collapsed under the weight of snow. In Bristol Harbor, the temperature was low enough that the sea began to freeze over. Conditions have been so poor in places that some villages have been cut off, including Princeton in Dartmouth. Up to 4,000 homes were without water after a main burst outside the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. Thousands of schools remain closed, with exam candidates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland warned they could have to wait five months to sit GEESE and A-level modules if weather prevents them taking them next week. Overnight, temperatures in Manchester fell to -ICC, with Glasgow reaching ICC, Cardiff -ICC and London hovering just below zero. The lowest temperature recorded this week was in the Scottish Highlands, -22. ICC while England’s low was -ICC in Woodward, Cheshire. Temperatures are expected to stay around freezing throughout the weekend and forecasters say winds could make it feel even colder. Page 2 of 4 Document 2 – Extract from online forums Suffolk County Council Website Discussion Forum Mike D am furious about the school closures in my area. Wave had 3-4 inches of snow and yet local schools only a mile apart have made different decisions about whether to open or close. The Government should carry out an urgent review of school closure policies. It is absolutely outrageous that teachers are still being paid when they are failing to do their job. Anonymous am a Secondary School Teacher in a school of 1,300 pupils. Unfortunately, when the weather is like it is now, school closures are a necessity. It isn’t simply a matter of whether the teaching staff can get to the school or not (though that is a factor), but also how safe it is for them when they get there. Obviously, the same applies for the pupils too, many of whom do not attend he school nearest to them and would be traveling early morning when the roads are at their most dangerous. Not to mention the fact that we’re at the mercy of the bus services on top of all this. In fact, only the other day I saw a bus struggling to get up a hill because the road hadn’t been gritted. The fact is that its often more sensible to close the school altogether than to risk teaching a small number of pupils in potentially unsafe conditions. Sarah P My children were at home for two days in the week as their school was closed because of the snow. We had a fantastic time making a snowman, sledging ND having a snowball fight in the park. We don’t see weather like this very often; can’t we let the kids enjoy it a little bit? My husband has had no real problems getting to work, and I’ve been walking to the local shops to get our food shopping. Apart from the fact that I’ve been forced to take annual leave to look after the children, is this weather really all that bad? Michelle M A lot of people seem to be complaining about school closures and teachers not being in work. Let’s be honest; the vast majority of you would happily take a ‘snow day’ if it was offered to you. I know I would! Having said that, the dads around my way haven’t been gritted and I’ve already seen one accident where a driver lost control and skidded into a parked car. My kids’ school has been closed for a few days now and my youngest has missed some Of his exams, which he’s been working really hard for, but to be perfectly honest, the break has done him good. Page 3 of 4 @ Education Development International ply 201 0 TASK 1 You live on a road that is a main bus route to the local secondary school. During the cold weather, your road did not get gritted. Write a letter to the council persuading them that your road needs to be made a priority road for rioting. How to cite English Writing Assessment, Papers

Book report free essay sample

Kemp book report The book I choose was a story entitled, Star Trap by Simon Brett. IT was published in 1982. I choose this book because I like detective novels. The storyline is very mysterious. The plot thickens when many incidents happened in the story such as a rehearsal pianist was shot in the hand by an arraign pellet and a actor tumbled down some stairs and broke his leg. As I keep on reading the story, more and more questions keep on rehearsing my mind as I try to solve the case as well based on the clues given in the story. The story is full of descriptive writing. The immensity and anger of the surrounding and the detective was investigating is made very clear, He tried to control his breath which was rasping in his throat. It wasnt only the physical effects of the chase that made him feel so shaky. We will write a custom essay sample on Book report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He gasped and trembled and, although a diluted sun was now washing the sea-front, the morning seemed colder. p. 165. Brett managed to portray the detectives fear by contrasting the hotness of the ambiance to the coldness of the people who tried to assassinate the detective. Brett makes it clear by describing the dilapidated condition of a housing area well, The lock of fiats was old, with long gloomy corridors interrupted by the stranded doormats of unwelcoming doorways. p_48_ Brett manages to underline the slovenliness if the victim after an Incident where he was pushed down the stairs and he broke his leg. He was unable to perform In the stage anymore, which caused him to abandon himself. The character that stuck In my mind Is Charles Paris who was the smart and acute detective, his panic had changed into surging confidence p. 1 11 . He shows his acumen by being able to restrain his fear and stay calm although he was in trouble. A major theme of this story is the resilience to cope with problems and solve them instead of being anxious. He was going to expose the whole shabby business, whatever it costs him. P. 171 . Although he might put his life in danger, he showed no fear to unveil the mystery of the case because It was his Job to reveal the saboteur. This Is quite a nice book to read. The detective saved the show with a mixture of luck, experience and talent. Berets plot moves on at a fair pace and has several interesting twists and turns. I would like to recommend it to my friend because the story will incite our enquiries as we keep on reading. Book Report free essay sample The book 1776 by David McCullough tells the story of the military aspects of the American Revolution. McCullough writes the book from both the British and American point of views, creating a better understanding of what both sides were undergoing during the war. Not only does he have a degree from Yale, but McCullough has also been awarded with the nations highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In addition to this, he has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize twice. He has also written multiple other non-fiction historical books and biographies such as Truman, The Great Bridge and John Adams. Further, McCullough has lectured in all parts of the country including the White House and Congress. The story begins with descriptions of George Washington, Nathaniel Greene and Henry Knox. The author describes the men’s prior experiences and backgrounds, and how they became generals in the war. Based off the descriptions in the story, the men are described as normal, everyday men who devoted their lives to a cause they believed in. We will write a custom essay sample on Book Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The general’s lack of prior experience leads to an unprepared Continental Army. The first battle described in the story is the Siege of Boston. The author discusses the military fortifications the British put in the city, which the colonists saw as a direct attack against them. The Continental Army managed to seize tons of cannons and artillery from the British army all without them knowing. Later that week, the Continental Army woke the British by firing at them, causing the British to retreat. The army soon began to transform from the small Continental Army to an army that posed a great threat to the greatest military power of the time. McCullough goes on to explain the battles of Brooklyn, Kips Bay, White Plains, and Fort Washington, all of which were loses for the Continental Army. Because of these loses, the enlistments in the army began to drop drastically. The book also explains Washington and his troops feelings of hopelessness and despair. By doing this, McCullough demonstrates the massive obstacles the Continental Army had to overcome. A major battle in the book 1776, and an important turning point of the year, was the Battle of Trenton. After crossing the Delaware River, the Continental Army opened fire on the surprised Hessian troops that were stationed there. After a 45-minute battle, the Hessians surrendered, giving the Americans a much needed victory. McCullough shows the importance of this battle by describing multiple American victories that followed, such as the Battles of Princeton and Fort Lee. Through vivid descriptions of George Washington, I learned that he was not the best military leader. There were multiple times in the war where Washington was faced with difficult decisions, and proved to be very indecisive. Also, there were times where action needed to be taken, but he couldn’t decide what to do. Even though I learned Washington wasn’t as great as the history books explain him to be, it makes me respect him more to know that he, just like any other American, flawed. One thing in the story that shocked me is how different our perception of the Revolutionary War is from the reality. An example of this was how ill trained the American army was at the beginning of the war. The army was undisciplined, disobedient, and motivated only by their paychecks. Many perceive the soldiers as valiant, zealous men, but it wasn’t until much later in the war that the soldiers rose to the occasion and became the warriors that we remember today. Another thing that impressed me was the unconquerable spirits of the soldiers during the year 1776. Fighting the strongest army in the world definitely was not easy, but the soldiers fought their hardest till the end. Furthermore, despite their lack of professional leadership, the men never gave up. In my opinion, this story was a great explanation of the events that happened in the American Revolution in the year of 1776, with opinions and descriptions of generals and soldiers from both sides fighting the war. I also found this story inspirational and motivational because of the men that were faced with the most difficult of challenges, and continued to fight. I believe any man who enlisted to fight in the Revolutionary War was a hero, to be brave enough to fight the strongest military power of the time, without much training. In conclusion, David McCullough’s extensive research through British and American archives resulted in a fascinating, well-written, historically accurate story of the turning points during the war and development of the Continental Army. The story of the American Revolution shows the power the common man can have when united with others for a common cause†¦freedom.

The Ongoing Struggle For A Family Essay Example For Students

The Ongoing Struggle For A Family Essay The Ongoing Struggle for a FamilyThe most important thing in a family is that all the people in it love each other. This excerpt is from a childrens book, written by Leslea Newman, Called Heather HasTwo Mommies. This story is intended to show kids that not everyones family is thesame. Many reasons are given to dispute gay and lesbian parenting but all founded onsome of the archaic beliefs that Hitler used to kill homosexuals during W.W.II, fear andprejudice! Although having children and being parents seems like a basic human right orchoice, many people believe that the government should have the authority todiscriminate who can are cannot have children, regardless of their parenting skills. Some say that it is unnatural for gay and lesbians to have children because theyhave to go to such extremes to have them (Oppos ..199). It is kind of ironic because ithas become mainstream for heterosexual couples that are determined infertile to useartificial insemination, adoption, and even invi tro-fertilization, and when one of theseprocedures is successful the couple is said to have had a miracle, while the gay or lesbiancouple is said to be fanatical. Lesbian couples may use sperm banks, or they may becomecoparents with a gay couple that also wishes to have children. In these cases the child has4 loving and nurturing parents instead of the standard 2. Noom 2Another opposing view is that all gays and lesbians are sexually promiscuous,therefore have HIV/AIDS, and their relationships are not stable enough to have children(Oppos..199). Lesbians and gays love and form deep and lasting commitments just likeheterosexuals. To claim otherwise is to declare that lesbians and gays are somehow nothuman and ignore the reality of their lives, (New Civil..125) Laws and social viewsseem be conflicted on what they want because they say gay/lesbian relationships are notstable, but than deny them the right to marry, therefore through laws and legislation theare not promoting the behavior that they seem to require. HIV/AIDS is a horrible diseaseand truthfully is a major concern in the gay community, but it is because of thestereotypes, lack of education, and knowledge about the disease itself that this diseasewas able to attack many gay males. Although HIV/AIDS is a concern for people ingeneral the number of lesbian women with it is almost non-existent. Does this mean thatheterosexual couples that have HIV/AIDS are not having children? No, countless articlescan be found about drug using prostitutes that give birth to a baby with HIV and stillretains custody. While in 1997, a women named Sharon Bottoms loses her child inVirginia to her mother for being gay, active lesbianism practiced in the home may pose aburden upon the child by reason of Social Condemnation attached to such anarrangement the state Supreme Court stated (issues..36). All hope is not lost though, inJune of 1997 an Ohio appeals court upheld that, sexual orientation alone, has norelevance to a decision concerning the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities,(Issues..37)Many people believe that gays and lesbians shouldnt have kids because the childwill be molested and/or be mal adjusted as a youth and adult. Lesbians and gays areinherently sick and prey on children. Giving them custody of children opens thosechildren up to sexual abuse. They cannot raise healthy children, (Oppos..199). Noom 3The statistics certainly do not support these statements, Adults who sexually molestchildren are a diverse group. No one race, religion level of intelligence, level ofeducation, occupation, or income sets perpetrators apart from the rest of the population,(New Civil.. 78). One thing is clear, most often a child molester is a heterosexual malewho is acquainted with the victim (New Civil..78). Others believe that a child of ahomosexual is most likely going to be a homosexual, and even if they are not they willhave a hard time growing up due to the teasing and stereotypes of their classm ates andcommunity. Studies have proved these beliefs false, Although studies have assessedover 300 offspring of gay or lesbian parents in 12 different samples, no evidence has beenfound for significant disturbances of any kind in the development of sexual identity. they go on to say that, the same held true for moral development, intelligence, and peerrelationships, (New Civil..132). Like all children, kids from gay and lesbian familyshave .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a , .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .postImageUrl , .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a , .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a:hover , .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a:visited , .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a:active { border:0!important; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a:active , .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u53ae6c92048f51ebb1711320cdd5770a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Personal Identity Essay We will write a custom essay on The Ongoing Struggle For A Family specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now

Death Of An Innocent Essays - Teen Dramas, Party Mom, Car Mom

Death Of An Innocent Essays - Teen Dramas, Party Mom, Car Mom Death of an Innocent I went to a party mom, I remembered what you said. You told me not to drink, Mom, so I drank soda instead. I really felt proud inside, Mom, the way you said I would. I didn?t drink and drive, Mom, even though the others said I should. I know I did the right thing, Mom, I know you were always right. Now the party is finally ending, Mom ,as everyone is driving out of sight. As I got into my car, Mom, but as I pulled out into the road the other car didn?t see me, Mom, and now I?m the one who will pay. I?m lying here dying, Mom. I wish you?d get here soon. How cold this happen to me, Mom? My life just burst like a balloon. There is blood all around me, Mom, and most of it is mine. I hear the medic say, Mom, I?ll die in a short time. I just wanted to tell you, Mom, I swear I didn?t drink. It was the others, Mom. The others didn?t think. He was probably as the same party as I. The only difference is he drank and I will die. Why do people drink, Mom? It can ruin your whole life. I?m feeling sharp pains now. Pains just like a knife. The guy who hit me is walking, Mom, and I don?t think it?s fair. I?m lying here dying and all he can do is stare. Tell my brother not to cry, Mom. Tell Daddy to be brave. And when I go to heaven, Mom, put ?Daddy?s Girl? on my grave. Someone should have told him, Mom, not to drink and drive. If only they had told him, Mom, I would still be alive. My breath is getting shorter, Mom, I?m becoming very scared. Please don?t cry for me, Mom.When I needed you, you were always there. I have one last question, Mom, before I say good-bye. I didn?t drink and drive, so why am I the one to die?

Archetypes in the Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo Mysterious, morose, cunning, rebellious, and even ingenious are only a few words used to describe Edmond Dantes as a Byronic Hero. A Byronic Hero is defined as a glorified but flawed character with immense superiority in his passions and powers. These heroes can be depicted in a variety of ways and contexts. Similar to a Byronic Hero, Edmond Dantes has suffered great wrongs and was betrayals. However, he emerges as a cruel and powerful man who believes he is taking the place of fate by having revenge on the men responsible for his suffering. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas skillfully uses symbolism to craft and portray Edmond Dantes as the ideal Byronic Hero. First used by Monsieur Morrel in his attempt to save the life of Dantes’s father, Dantes later uses the red silk purse when he is saving Morrel’s life and family’s honor. Right as Monsieur Morrel puts the gun to his head, Valentine runs through the door and calls out â€Å"’Father! Father! You’re saved! ’ She held up a red silk purse. ‘Look! Look! ’† (Dumas 129. ) The red purse becomes the physical symbol of the connection between good deed and reward. Morrel recognizes the purse and works out the connection between the good deed performed on his behalf and the good deed he once performed himself. Morrel concludes that Dantes must be his savior, suspecting that he is working from beyond the grave. This purse represents Dantes as a Byronic Hero because it symbolizes his own titanic passion to reward those that have done him fair and kindness. His intense drive and determination to live out his philosophy without regard to others beliefs only intensifies this immense fervor. When Dantes escapes from prison, he plunges into the ocean, experiencing a second baptism and a renewed dedication of his soul to God. Just after diving into the ocean, Dumas depicts Dantes as â€Å"†¦the best swimmer in Marseilles, and he was now anxious to rise to the surface to try his strength against the waves. To his joy he found that he had enforced inaction had not in any way impaired his strength and agility, and he felt that he could still master the element in which he had so often sported when a bay† (Dumas 80. ). Edmond Dantes can be seen as a Byronic Hero in view of the fact that the Byronic Hero does not possess heroic virtue in the usual sense; instead, he has many dark qualities. He emerges from the waters as a bitter and hateful man, bent on carrying out revenge on his enemies. He is washed in the waters that lead him to freedom and his rebirth as a transformed man is complete. The sea continues to appear in the novel even after this symbolic baptism. Byronic Heroes are often depicted as isolated from society as a wanderer or in exile of some kind. Considering himself a citizen of no land, Dantes spends much of his time on the ocean, traveling the world in his yacht. The sea seems to beckon constantly to Dantes, a skilled sailor, offering him escape and solitude. Dantes’s potion seems to have the power to both kill and to bring to life, a power that Dantes comes to rely on too strongly. The strength of the elixir is conveyed perfectly when the count states, â€Å"Only remember one thing. In small doeses it is a remedy, in large doses it is a poison! One drop will restore life as you have witnessed, five or six will inevitably kill† (Dumas 249). His overestimation of the elixir’s power results in the overestimation of his own power, his delusion that he is almost godlike. It is this misconception that ties the count to the prideful thinking and â€Å"larger than life† conduct of a Byronic Hero. The elixir is not powerful enough to bring the dead to life, just like Dantes himself is not capable of accomplishing anything of the nature. It is when Dantes realizes the limits of his potion that he realizes his own limitations as a human being. Edmond Dantes is viewed as the ideal Byronic Hero by means of Alexandre Dumas’s expertly used symbolism in The Count of Monte Cristo. The passion delivered by the red purse, the transformation caused by the baptismal waters of the ocean, and the pride and power brought by the elixir are all symbols that contribute to him being the perfect exemplar of a Byronic Hero. Because of these symbols, Edmond Dantes can be viewed and compared similarly or even superiorly to any of the Byronic Heroes if the 1800s.

How and why age discrimination operates in the workplace Essay

How and why age discrimination operates in the workplace - Essay Example It is a tragedy that age is lessening down the value of precious minds in the workplaces. Today, workplaces prefer young, fresh minds; while, those with experience are considered as old and bogus. Age versus experience is a very interesting debate; however, this is also true that workplaces are getting modern enough not to give space to the elderly employees. The value of experience is getting less; and, the value of young, gorgeous, handsome and fresh looks are in demand in workplaces today. What effect this discrimination creates on the aged employees is another important issue, because it gives rise to hopelessness and despair among them. What is interesting is that age discrimination starts at around mid-thirties which is not that big an age. It is not ethical for an employer to discard, de-select, fire, or abuse an employer because of his growing age. Ageism, is a growing concept in workplaces, and employers need to give serious consideration to it if they want experienced minds to generate ideas that are free of error and ambiguity. Unless a critical job is under consideration, like that of a pilot or a policeman, age should not be an issue. Age discrimination may be light or severe. This ranges from abusive remarks to proper bully. Severity converts it into harassment, which is totally illegal since it creates a sense of hostility and disrespect in the workplace environment. It is also important to discuss who the discriminator is. In a workplace setting, the harasser bringing about age discrimination may be the leader of the organization, co-workers, general staff such as canteen boy, and even customers. This paper tends to shed light on this important issue. Some important UK and EU laws have been described to give an overview of what measures are being taken to eliminate age discrimination in UK and EU organizations. Past research has been discussed in great detail, which helps understand how frequent age discrimination is and what are its effects. A counter-argument has also been discussed in detail to give a critical analysis. The report has been summarized in a concluding paragraph, and Harvard style of referencing has been used properly both for in-text citation and references section. This report can prove to be a beneficial study for those who want an overview of age discrimination in the workplace. UK and EU Laws regarding Age Discrimination Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 has been presented by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act is basically a unification and extension of already existing age discrimination regulations. It is in application since 2010 in all UK organizations. It not only protects older workers from discrimination at workplaces but also at other institutes like universities and trade associations (GOV.UK, 2013). Under this Act, older employees are protected in almost all matters related to workplace and job. This Act addresses both direct and indirect discrimination, and states that old age employees should be given equal opportunities of employment as young people, with the only exception that the employers have the right to reject or fire them if they have such a disability that hinders with their job performance. Employers are bound to make sure that the workplace environment is not hostile toward old age employees. They are bound to give them equal opportuniti

Effective communication with customers and staff Essay

Effective communication with customers and staff - Essay Example I am a customer – oriented person and I fully realize that any business environment needs to be designed under the scope of serving customers’ needs and expectations. I believe that the customer lies at the core of managements’ concern and agenda and for this reason I am focused on delivering customer satisfaction by being willing to listen to their complaints, eager to find solutions to their addressed problems and focused to delivering overall customer satisfaction. I have strong interpersonal skills which allow me to sympathize with others and understand their concerns or queries while at the same time I am confident in my interactions with the customers. I am a goal – and – performance oriented person and I am intrinsically motivated to achieve organizational objectives. I enjoy working in an environment that offers interactions on both levels – customers and employees – and I have developed strong communication skills. My leadership orientation will offer significant advantages to the store as I can inspire and motivate others to share a common vision for the company and the company’s goals and objectives. Through team work I can empower employees to engage to the organization and participate so as to achieve strategically and effectively the mission targeted.

Astrophil and Stella Essay Example for Free

Astrophil and Stella Essay For the sake of the cause he also borrows ideas from other poets, but finally he realizes that the only way to tell his feelings is to write his own words from his own heart. The poet relies on the success of his chosen wooing process sincerely. There is a turn after the octave. The sestet starts with the word ‘‘But’’, which suggests some kind of change. In this part, three words, ‘‘Invention’’, ‘‘Nature’’ and ‘‘Study’’, are personifies by the poet. He presents ‘‘Nature’’ to the reader as the mother of ‘‘Invention’’ (‘‘Invention, Nature’s child’’ (Line 10)). With this personalization, these two words get qualities, and this refers to the naturalness of using imagination to create new ideas. These two things are necessary conditions of each other. The third personalized word is ‘‘Study’’. It appears as the stepmother of ‘‘Invention’’. Mother would never be in good terms with stepmother. One reason of it can be jealousy. The poet to act up to this fact gives the ability of breathing to ‘‘Study’’ in order to be able to blow ‘‘Invention’’ away. There is still no inspiration of the poet for writing his ideas and feelings. The personalizations serve the aim to have something that can be the reason of the poet’s inability to write. Around the end of the sonnet the poet shows us a picture of a woman who is ‘‘great with child’’(Line12). He compares his situation with the state of pregnancy. According to him, express his feelings and write down them can be as difficult as giving birth to a child. The pregnant mother has millions of troubles and struggles during the pregnancy such as the poet has during the procedure of writing ‘‘helpless in my throes’’ (Line 12). After all his attempts fails, in the last line his Muse calls him a ‘‘Fool’’ and advises him to ‘‘look in thy 2 heart and write’’. The word ’’Fool refers to the poet. He makes stupid mistakes when he tries to use others love poems to express his feelings. There is some irony in the words of the Muse. The poet should not think so much about his feelings and about how to write them down. He just has to write down what is come from his heart without thinking about it. I think, the testimony of the Muse’s words is that people have to trust in themselves and in their abilities. 3

together :: essays research papers

Organizational Behavior Organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations (Robbins, p.9). Organizational behavior helps build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objective and social objective. Robbins, S. P. (2000). Organizational Behavior. Ninth Edition. Organizational Culture Organizational culture is something intangible, but can influences our work environments. In the workplace we can refer organizational culture as combination of its policies, beliefs, activities, and rituals. An organizational culture can support or hinder individual learning, encourage or discourage creativity, etc. Diversity   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Diversity is everywhere in the United States. Individuals need to understand the dimensions of culture to be effective in the multicultural environments. To achieve business excellence, corporate decisions must be based on a wide range of contributions from people with diversity in idea, backgrounds and perspectives. The various cultures in the workplace today bring richness to the environment, as the exposure to various cultures and even beyond racial and ethical differences allow people to view ideas from various perspectives to grow as a people and a corporation. Communication Communication is defined as the process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. Communication is also a technique for expressing idea effectively. A well-established communication can strengthen a group’s collective intelligence, as well as finding insights in which people often miss through traditional forms of conversation. Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Organizational effectiveness and efficiency http://www.politicalreviewnet.com/polrev/reviews/PUAR/R_0033_3352_001_20620.asp Organizational Learning The field of organizational learning explores ways to make organizations function more effectively by encourages employees to teach their full potential.

Aid and Two Gap Model

Aid and the Two Gap Model Aid is a burning issue these days. The question of countries accepting foreign aid has intrigued economists and the general public for a quite a while. Television discussions and newspaper articles have frequently focused on this issue while politicians try to fight this matter out in the parliaments. Furthermore, many are trying to unravel the enigma of aid and its effects on growth. This paper, in the little word space provided, will try to establish a relation between aid and growth.It will do so by first defining aid and growth and then moving on to some of the important models which can be used to understand this link. We will discuss the two-gap model and then move on to the Solow and Harrod-Domar model, giving empirical examples in each case. Finally, we will analyze two countries and try to inspect the reasons for their different growth rates using the logic used in the discussed models. Aid can be defined as any voluntary transfer of resources. It c an be either public (provided by donor countries or multilateral donor organization such as the IMF and The World Bank) or private (given by NGO’s. . The Organization for Economic Corporation and Development defines aid as any transfer of money or resource that fulfills the following criteria: a) The objective of the transfer should be noncommercial. b) It should be given for the purpose of economic development. c) The terms of the transfer should be concessional (interest rate should be less than the prevailing interest rate in the market OR the maturity period should be longer than usual). Aid should not be mixed with grant which is often used interchangeably with this term.Aid is any transfer that has concessional terms while grant is a form of aid that does not require the repayment of the principal. In this paper, we will often measure aid in the from of official development assistance (ODA) which is a convenient indicator of international aid flow. On the other hand, we will measure growth by scrutinizing the percentage change in GDP. One of the most widely used framework for analyzing the effects of aid on growth is the two-gap model which holds a key position in policy decisions related to foreign assistance.The two gap model is based on the Harrod Domar equation g = s/v where s is savings rate v is capital output ratio Capital output ratio is assumed to be constant. The two gap model assumes that a developing country faces either a savings gap or a foreign exchange gap. The savings gap occurs when a country faces a shortage of savings to match Investment in attaining an intended growth rate. In such a case, foreign borrowing or aid can supplement the savings and help bridge the gap between savings and investment. This allows a country to achieve the targeted growth rate. Ft < I – S (Savings gap)A foreign exchange gap takes place when a country’s exports are not enough to finance its imports. In such situations, aid is handy as it fills the foreign exchange gap and provides countries with sufficient exchange to reach the required level of imports. At a given point in time, only one of the two gaps is binding. Ft < M – X (Foreign Exchange gap) Following this further, we fit empirical data into this model. Zambia is a developing country that has continuously received aid since the mid 1960’s. In 1992, almost 80% of Zambia’s investment was financed by foreign aid.Since, Zambia has received aid over such a long period, the two gap model predicted that its per capita GDP would reach $2300 by the turn of the century. On the contrary, its GDP per capita in 2007 remained merely half of what was expected . i. e. $1300. The fig. below summarizes the analysis of the Zambian economy. To examine whether the Zambian case is an exception or does the model always fail to predict the reality, we scrutinize on various factors which could have blocked the path of growth for this country. Zambia has be en infected by violence and instability right from its independence, with bloodshed and massacres a common feature.In addition, economic growth has been hindered by the outbreak of civil war and influx of refugees from the neighboring countries. Corruption is another problem that has stalled growth which can be seen from the fact that Zambia is ranked 101 on the corruption perception index. Very recently, Sweden and Netherlands stopped aid to Zambia due to rampant corruption allegations. All these problems add to the ineffectiveness of aid on the growth of Zambian economy which can explain why the two-gap model failed to forecast the ineptness of aid.The effect of aid on growth can also be explained using two basic but important models, namely Harrod Domar model and the Solow model. Although the upshot of aid on growth is a multidimensional and complex process we only take into account the effect of aid on variables defined in these two models. The main focus of our discussion will be the saving rate which comes out to be the most imperative variable in both these models. We start through the basic Harrod Domar model. Capital output ratio, capital labor ratio and labor output ratio are assumed to be constant.Some of the important relations are as follows: S=s. Y (2) (3) (1) g= (s/v)-(? ) S=I Where: Y is income S is total saving I is Investment ? is depreciation of capital According to this model, growth can be increased by increasing s, decreasing v or decreasing ?. We shall mainly focus on the relation of aid on growth through the savings rate channel. Countries ask for aid mainly due to its perceived beneficial effect on the savings rate. As shown, saving equals investment in the Harrod-Domar model, subsequently an increase in savings will result in an increase in investment.This increase is supposed to boost the growth rate of the recipient country. Michael P. Shields offer an interesting explanation of the relation of foreign aid on growth in his paper â⠂¬Å"foreign aid and domestic savings: the crowding out effect†. If foreign aid is expected to increase savings, then equation (3) becomes g=(s+fa)/v -? Where fa is foreign aid as a proportion of income (4) (s+fa) represents the total funds available for backing investment. According to this equation, an increase in foreign aid is supposed to increase the total saving funds and hence investment by an equal amount.This suggests that an each additional dollar of foreign aid should result in a one dollar increase in investment in the economy of the recipient country. Reality however is not that perfect and it is too generous for anyone to assume such a one-to-one increase in investment from aid. Famous economist Edward Griffin offers a criticism of such approach. According to him foreign aid should be taken so as to supplement income rather than having a direct impact on savings. In such a case, an increase in income by the amount of foreign aid fa would increase consumption by (1 -s). a, thus increasing the investment by s. fa. In such a case, domestic savings can be crowded out by foreign aid by the net amount –(1-s)fa which equals (s-1)fa. Markedly, foreign aid can crowd out private savings and investment, resulting in a decrease in growth as suggested by the Harrod Domar model. The main obstacle in the way of growth in the Harrod-Domar model is the phenomenon of aid filtering out into increased consumption (1-s). fa. Aid has to be spent on investment or has to increase the saving rate (both eventually come out to be the same) for a country to grow.To see a practical example of this, we consider Pakistan, which is a country largely dependent on foreign aid. During the period 1952-2002, the total amount of aid given to Pakistan equaled 63703 million US dollars. Ghulam Mohey-ud-din examines in his paper â€Å"Impact of foreign aid on economic development in Pakistan†, the reasons for aid not resulting in the required growth for Pakistan. He sta tes three main reasons for the failure of aid to account for growth. First of all, a staggering 58% of this total aid (approx. 6945 million US dollars) was tied to development of large projects while only 13% (approx 8281 million US dollars) accounted for non-food and BOP aid. Such a large portion of aid (58%) going towards consumption invariably meant that the effect on savings was going to be very minute. Thus, financial aid tended to crowd out saving and investment. Secondly, while the nominal aid gradually increased, in reality, aid as a percentage of gross national income fell from approximately 7. 6% in 1960 to nearly 3% in 2002. This meant that aid was not catching up to the required increase in the GNI of Pakistan.Thirdly, along with the increase in aid came the burden of burgeoning foreign debt. This required huge amounts of debt servicing which reduced Pakistan’s current account. As previously explained, aid was already not resulting in much growth due to it crowdin g out savings and investment. An additional burden of debt servicing did the government no better. Accordingly, its GDP growth rate was subject to constant fluctuations and Pakistan could never attain sustainable growth. The growth rate reached a peak of 10. 22% in 1953 but since then, the average growth has gone down with the exception of one or two years.In 2002, the GDP growth rate stood at 4. 73%. Aid during a whole half of a century could not result in sustained economic growth. Another approach that looks at the impact of foreign aid on growth is the poverty trap. Many poor developing countries face an inability to grow at reasonable rates due to getting stuck in a poverty trap, which can be defined as a self-reinforcing mechanism which causes poverty to persist. We use the Solow model to analyze how aid can be used to pull countries out of this poverty trap and onto the path of self-sustaining economic growth.We assume the basic assumptions of Solow model to be true. Thus, we assume constant returns to scale production function and diminishing returns to capital. The final and important relation of the Solow model is ? k=s. y-(n+? ). k (5) k is capital per worker n is population growth Philipp Harms and Matthiaz Lutz depart from this conventional Solow model by assuming that people have to satisfy their basic consumption needs for which savings are zero until per capita income does not exceed a certain level. The modified Solow diagram is shown belowTwo steady states are shown in the above figure. k* is an unstable steady state while k** is a stable steady state. If the country’s initial capital per worker is below the unstable steady state k*, then the country is stuck in a potentially dangerous poverty trap. Low income levels result in low saving which leads to lower investment in capital stock. Increasing depreciation ? of capital will further lower the capital per worker k and result in even lower income. This vicious cycle of poverty and lac k of growth will keep re-enforcing each other unless the country is given a push start.This push can be in the form of aid, which may impact the savings rate s as discussed in the extended Harrod Domar model. Furthermore, aid in the form of foreign capital inflow can also increase capital per worker, consequently pushing the country out the poverty trap. Now we come to the analysis of growth patterns in two Arab countries namely Egypt and Palestine. We will explore the amounts and type of aid given to these countries and then investigate their underlying effects on various growth variables based on the Solow and Harrod Domar models discussed earlier in the paper.With this in mind, we turn to the empirical evidences which show that: 1. ODA/GNI ratio for Palestine has increased during the period 2000-2005, while that of Egypt has decreased during the same period. 2. ODA/Capita for Palestine has increased to $500 during the period 2000-2005, while ODA/Capita for Egypt has come down to $15 in 2003 from $179 in 1979. 3. In Egypt, 13% of the total aid was tied whereas in Palestine 8% was tied. 4. Technical aid provided to Egypt was 44% while that of Palestine was 16% of total aid during the period 2000-2004. 5.In Egypt, education was given the highest priority among the aid allocated to the social sector. While in Palestine, Education was the second lowest recipient of aid allocated to the social sector. 6. In Palestine, growth rate of real GDP from 2003-2005 was 35. 50%, while the percentage change in real GDP for Egypt was 127. 46 for the same period. ODA/GNI ratio signifies the dependency of the recipient country on the donor for foreign aid. A large increase in the ODA/GNI ratio of Palestine meant that it was becoming more and more dependent on foreign aid for support, while the opposite was true for Egypt.Consequently, Palestinian institutions kept weakening and were not given the incentive to develop due to their heavy reliance on outward help. On the other ha nd, Egypt’s lower dependency on foreign aid meant that it was getting increased opportunities to develop its institutions and stand up on its own feet. As the ODA/capita of Palestine increased to alarming heights, it signaled the reliance of Palestine on foreign donations. This could have created a moral hazard problem for the rulers of Palestine who knew that growth would result in drawing back of aid.In such a scenario, the incentive to grow could have actually vanished. Conditional or tied aid has great disadvantages because the recipient government cannot spend the aid on their desired projects. Moreover, tied aid has to be spent on specific and predetermines projects. As discussed earlier in the paper, if foreign aid is diverted to such consumption, it has the tendency to crowd out investment and savings. Although Egypt had a greater share of tied aid than Palestine, however the small size and weak economy of Palestine meant that even 8% of tied aid had a profound effect on its growth.Egypt was provided more technical aid than Palestine. Technical aid in turns translates into higher Theta in the extended Solow model. An important relation of this model is ?ke= s. ye-(n+? +theta) k Therefore higher technical aid for Egypt resulted in higher effective capital per labor and in turn higher growth than Palestine. The allocation of higher portion of aid to education by Egypt as compared to Palestine means that Egypt is contributing more to its human capital. This will in turn again stimulate theta in the extended Solow model, resulting in increase growth rate of Egypt.In the light of above discussion, it can be said that the effect of aid on growth does not only depend on variables explained in the models above. Many other factors play a vital role in this link as well. As seen in the case of Zambia, the macroeconomic and political stability are pre-requisites which feed into this complex relation as well. The aid distribution plan should be effective an d free of corruption of all sorts for it to have an impact on growth. A major chunk of aid should be distributed towards the saving and investment channel.While our analysis has tried to determine a link between aid and development, it still carries some shortcomings. The assumptions used in the models such as a fixed capital output ratio are too stringent and do not carry much weight in the reality. Some variables such as savings rate s and productivity theta are determined exogenously, while the macro/microeconomic conditions determining these variables could also affect the impact of aid on growth. Nonetheless, the analysis provides useful insight into the complex relation of aid and growth.Economicgrowth,Capitalaccumulation,Macroeconomics,Grossdomesticproduct,Investment,Economicdevelopment,Stockandflow,EconomicsAid and the Two Gap Model Aid is a burning issue these days. The question of countries accepting foreign aid has intrigued economists and the general public for a quite a while. Television discussions and newspaper articles have frequently focused on this issue while politicians try to fight this matter out in the parliaments. Furthermore, many are trying to unravel the enigma of aid and its effects on growth. This paper, in the little word space provided, will try to establish a relation between aid and growth.It will do so by first defining aid and growth and then moving on to some of the important models which can be used to understand this link. We will discuss the two-gap model and then move on to the Solow and Harrod-Domar model, giving empirical examples in each case. Finally, we will analyze two countries and try to inspect the reasons for their different growth rates using the logic used in the discussed models. Aid can be defined as any voluntary transfer of resources. It can be either public (provided by donor countries or multilateral donor organization such as the IMF and The World Bank) or private (given by NGO’s. . The Organiza tion for Economic Corporation and Development defines aid as any transfer of money or resource that fulfills the following criteria: a) The objective of the transfer should be noncommercial. b) It should be given for the purpose of economic development. c) The terms of the transfer should be concessional (interest rate should be less than the prevailing interest rate in the market OR the maturity period should be longer than usual). Aid should not be mixed with grant which is often used interchangeably with this term.Aid is any transfer that has concessional terms while grant is a form of aid that does not require the repayment of the principal. In this paper, we will often measure aid in the from of official development assistance (ODA) which is a convenient indicator of international aid flow. On the other hand, we will measure growth by scrutinizing the percentage change in GDP. One of the most widely used framework for analyzing the effects of aid on growth is the two-gap model which holds a key position in policy decisions related to foreign assistance.The two gap model is based on the Harrod Domar equation g = s/v where s is savings rate v is capital output ratio Capital output ratio is assumed to be constant. The two gap model assumes that a developing country faces either a savings gap or a foreign exchange gap. The savings gap occurs when a country faces a shortage of savings to match Investment in attaining an intended growth rate. In such a case, foreign borrowing or aid can supplement the savings and help bridge the gap between savings and investment. This allows a country to achieve the targeted growth rate. Ft < I – S (Savings gap)A foreign exchange gap takes place when a country’s exports are not enough to finance its imports. In such situations, aid is handy as it fills the foreign exchange gap and provides countries with sufficient exchange to reach the required level of imports. At a given point in time, only one of the two g aps is binding. Ft < M – X (Foreign Exchange gap) Following this further, we fit empirical data into this model. Zambia is a developing country that has continuously received aid since the mid 1960’s. In 1992, almost 80% of Zambia’s investment was financed by foreign aid.Since, Zambia has received aid over such a long period, the two gap model predicted that its per capita GDP would reach $2300 by the turn of the century. On the contrary, its GDP per capita in 2007 remained merely half of what was expected . i. e. $1300. The fig. below summarizes the analysis of the Zambian economy. To examine whether the Zambian case is an exception or does the model always fail to predict the reality, we scrutinize on various factors which could have blocked the path of growth for this country. Zambia has been infected by violence and instability right from its independence, with bloodshed and massacres a common feature.In addition, economic growth has been hindered by the outbreak of civil war and influx of refugees from the neighboring countries. Corruption is another problem that has stalled growth which can be seen from the fact that Zambia is ranked 101 on the corruption perception index. Very recently, Sweden and Netherlands stopped aid to Zambia due to rampant corruption allegations. All these problems add to the ineffectiveness of aid on the growth of Zambian economy which can explain why the two-gap model failed to forecast the ineptness of aid.The effect of aid on growth can also be explained using two basic but important models, namely Harrod Domar model and the Solow model. Although the upshot of aid on growth is a multidimensional and complex process we only take into account the effect of aid on variables defined in these two models. The main focus of our discussion will be the saving rate which comes out to be the most imperative variable in both these models. We start through the basic Harrod Domar model. Capital output ratio, capital labor ratio and labor output ratio are assumed to be constant.Some of the important relations are as follows: S=s. Y (2) (3) (1) g= (s/v)-(? ) S=I Where: Y is income S is total saving I is Investment ? is depreciation of capital According to this model, growth can be increased by increasing s, decreasing v or decreasing ?. We shall mainly focus on the relation of aid on growth through the savings rate channel. Countries ask for aid mainly due to its perceived beneficial effect on the savings rate. As shown, saving equals investment in the Harrod-Domar model, subsequently an increase in savings will result in an increase in investment.This increase is supposed to boost the growth rate of the recipient country. Michael P. Shields offer an interesting explanation of the relation of foreign aid on growth in his paper â€Å"foreign aid and domestic savings: the crowding out effect†. If foreign aid is expected to increase savings, then equation (3) becomes g=(s+fa)/v -? Where fa is foreign aid as a proportion of income (4) (s+fa) represents the total funds available for backing investment. According to this equation, an increase in foreign aid is supposed to increase the total saving funds and hence investment by an equal amount.This suggests that an each additional dollar of foreign aid should result in a one dollar increase in investment in the economy of the recipient country. Reality however is not that perfect and it is too generous for anyone to assume such a one-to-one increase in investment from aid. Famous economist Edward Griffin offers a criticism of such approach. According to him foreign aid should be taken so as to supplement income rather than having a direct impact on savings. In such a case, an increase in income by the amount of foreign aid fa would increase consumption by (1-s). a, thus increasing the investment by s. fa. In such a case, domestic savings can be crowded out by foreign aid by the net amount –(1-s)fa which equals (s-1)f a. Markedly, foreign aid can crowd out private savings and investment, resulting in a decrease in growth as suggested by the Harrod Domar model. The main obstacle in the way of growth in the Harrod-Domar model is the phenomenon of aid filtering out into increased consumption (1-s). fa. Aid has to be spent on investment or has to increase the saving rate (both eventually come out to be the same) for a country to grow.To see a practical example of this, we consider Pakistan, which is a country largely dependent on foreign aid. During the period 1952-2002, the total amount of aid given to Pakistan equaled 63703 million US dollars. Ghulam Mohey-ud-din examines in his paper â€Å"Impact of foreign aid on economic development in Pakistan†, the reasons for aid not resulting in the required growth for Pakistan. He states three main reasons for the failure of aid to account for growth. First of all, a staggering 58% of this total aid (approx. 6945 million US dollars) was tied to devel opment of large projects while only 13% (approx 8281 million US dollars) accounted for non-food and BOP aid. Such a large portion of aid (58%) going towards consumption invariably meant that the effect on savings was going to be very minute. Thus, financial aid tended to crowd out saving and investment. Secondly, while the nominal aid gradually increased, in reality, aid as a percentage of gross national income fell from approximately 7. 6% in 1960 to nearly 3% in 2002. This meant that aid was not catching up to the required increase in the GNI of Pakistan.Thirdly, along with the increase in aid came the burden of burgeoning foreign debt. This required huge amounts of debt servicing which reduced Pakistan’s current account. As previously explained, aid was already not resulting in much growth due to it crowding out savings and investment. An additional burden of debt servicing did the government no better. Accordingly, its GDP growth rate was subject to constant fluctuations and Pakistan could never attain sustainable growth. The growth rate reached a peak of 10. 22% in 1953 but since then, the average growth has gone down with the exception of one or two years.In 2002, the GDP growth rate stood at 4. 73%. Aid during a whole half of a century could not result in sustained economic growth. Another approach that looks at the impact of foreign aid on growth is the poverty trap. Many poor developing countries face an inability to grow at reasonable rates due to getting stuck in a poverty trap, which can be defined as a self-reinforcing mechanism which causes poverty to persist. We use the Solow model to analyze how aid can be used to pull countries out of this poverty trap and onto the path of self-sustaining economic growth.We assume the basic assumptions of Solow model to be true. Thus, we assume constant returns to scale production function and diminishing returns to capital. The final and important relation of the Solow model is ? k=s. y-(n+? ). k (5) k is capital per worker n is population growth Philipp Harms and Matthiaz Lutz depart from this conventional Solow model by assuming that people have to satisfy their basic consumption needs for which savings are zero until per capita income does not exceed a certain level. The modified Solow diagram is shown belowTwo steady states are shown in the above figure. k* is an unstable steady state while k** is a stable steady state. If the country’s initial capital per worker is below the unstable steady state k*, then the country is stuck in a potentially dangerous poverty trap. Low income levels result in low saving which leads to lower investment in capital stock. Increasing depreciation ? of capital will further lower the capital per worker k and result in even lower income. This vicious cycle of poverty and lack of growth will keep re-enforcing each other unless the country is given a push start.This push can be in the form of aid, which may impact the savings rate s as discus sed in the extended Harrod Domar model. Furthermore, aid in the form of foreign capital inflow can also increase capital per worker, consequently pushing the country out the poverty trap. Now we come to the analysis of growth patterns in two Arab countries namely Egypt and Palestine. We will explore the amounts and type of aid given to these countries and then investigate their underlying effects on various growth variables based on the Solow and Harrod Domar models discussed earlier in the paper.With this in mind, we turn to the empirical evidences which show that: 1. ODA/GNI ratio for Palestine has increased during the period 2000-2005, while that of Egypt has decreased during the same period. 2. ODA/Capita for Palestine has increased to $500 during the period 2000-2005, while ODA/Capita for Egypt has come down to $15 in 2003 from $179 in 1979. 3. In Egypt, 13% of the total aid was tied whereas in Palestine 8% was tied. 4. Technical aid provided to Egypt was 44% while that of Pale stine was 16% of total aid during the period 2000-2004. 5.In Egypt, education was given the highest priority among the aid allocated to the social sector. While in Palestine, Education was the second lowest recipient of aid allocated to the social sector. 6. In Palestine, growth rate of real GDP from 2003-2005 was 35. 50%, while the percentage change in real GDP for Egypt was 127. 46 for the same period. ODA/GNI ratio signifies the dependency of the recipient country on the donor for foreign aid. A large increase in the ODA/GNI ratio of Palestine meant that it was becoming more and more dependent on foreign aid for support, while the opposite was true for Egypt.Consequently, Palestinian institutions kept weakening and were not given the incentive to develop due to their heavy reliance on outward help. On the other hand, Egypt’s lower dependency on foreign aid meant that it was getting increased opportunities to develop its institutions and stand up on its own feet. As the ODA /capita of Palestine increased to alarming heights, it signaled the reliance of Palestine on foreign donations. This could have created a moral hazard problem for the rulers of Palestine who knew that growth would result in drawing back of aid.In such a scenario, the incentive to grow could have actually vanished. Conditional or tied aid has great disadvantages because the recipient government cannot spend the aid on their desired projects. Moreover, tied aid has to be spent on specific and predetermines projects. As discussed earlier in the paper, if foreign aid is diverted to such consumption, it has the tendency to crowd out investment and savings. Although Egypt had a greater share of tied aid than Palestine, however the small size and weak economy of Palestine meant that even 8% of tied aid had a profound effect on its growth.Egypt was provided more technical aid than Palestine. Technical aid in turns translates into higher Theta in the extended Solow model. An important relati on of this model is ?ke= s. ye-(n+? +theta) k Therefore higher technical aid for Egypt resulted in higher effective capital per labor and in turn higher growth than Palestine. The allocation of higher portion of aid to education by Egypt as compared to Palestine means that Egypt is contributing more to its human capital. This will in turn again stimulate theta in the extended Solow model, resulting in increase growth rate of Egypt.In the light of above discussion, it can be said that the effect of aid on growth does not only depend on variables explained in the models above. Many other factors play a vital role in this link as well. As seen in the case of Zambia, the macroeconomic and political stability are pre-requisites which feed into this complex relation as well. The aid distribution plan should be effective and free of corruption of all sorts for it to have an impact on growth. A major chunk of aid should be distributed towards the saving and investment channel.While our anal ysis has tried to determine a link between aid and development, it still carries some shortcomings. The assumptions used in the models such as a fixed capital output ratio are too stringent and do not carry much weight in the reality. Some variables such as savings rate s and productivity theta are determined exogenously, while the macro/microeconomic conditions determining these variables could also affect the impact of aid on growth. Nonetheless, the analysis provides useful insight into the complex relation of aid and growth.

What cyber events could really cause terror in the Australian population?

The whole issue of cyber events such as attacks is complex with potential debates ranging from deployments by terrorist to disruption of information systems and computer viruses. The potential damages which can be brought by cyber events have drown concern from the government, media and the society at large. This paper seeks to explain the cyber events which are likely to cause terror in the Australian population. The efficiency and effectiveness of defense department of any country relies entirely on the effective of communication and data transfer.However, if the Australian defense communication system attacked by enemies through the interruption of the communication networks in the cyberspace and put under the enemies’ influence through remote control, it would be rendered ineffective and a threat to the national security. Further to this, radar stations would be paralyzed to a level where they cannot detect unauthorized foreign aircrafts from accessing the Australian space .In addition to this, the Australian fighter jets would become vulnerable to electronic attacks. This could result from harmful software which could be instilled in advance to the avionic systems by their enemies. In this context, such cyber events put threat to the national security of Australia. The increasingly high growing rate of cyber crimes poses a threat to the security of Australian commerce and banking institutions.This is evidenced by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization’s annual report which revealed that enemies were using the internet to access confidential business information. If these institutions were attacked, this would put the whole Australian banking system at risk of losing the investor’s confidence on keeping their financial statements confidential and subjecting them to enemies hence creating a loop hole for further attacks.Cyber attacks could also lead to access to confidential government, which could paralyze government operation s. This is evidenced by the attack of the government’s internet filtering system by enemies and the overload of the prime minister’s web side with information requests. The prime minister’s web site was also attacked and loaded with pornography information. Such events impose security threats to the prime minister and the whole population at large.

Chinese New Year and the Kitchen God

Chinese New Year and the Kitchen God The Kitchen God is assigned by Yu Huang, the emperor of heaven, to watch over each family and record what they do throughout the year. A paper picture of the Kitchen God is hung in a prominent location in the kitchen. Each year during Chinese New Year, the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report on what the family has done throughout the year. The family has a thank you dinner in which a bowl of sticky rice is placed in front of the Kitchen God. It is believed that if the Kitchen God’s mouth is full of glutinous rice, he will not be able to speak about the family’s activities. Others give glutinous rice balls served in sugar soup and brown sugar bars as a bribe for the Kitchen God to say favorable things about the family. After the thank you dinner, the picture of the Kitchen God is burned and thereby sent back to heaven. A new picture of the Kitchen God is hung in the kitchen after the start of Chinese New Year festivities.

Compare and contrast the different conception Essay

Compare and contrast the different conception - Essay Example However, there are more profound explanations and awareness that karma includes and this also varies in the three religions of Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism that all adopt it. The similarities among these important religions as well as their differences give a more insightful explanation of the different dogmas that they carry. Yuvraj Krishan writes that there are three essential features of karma. First, it is an ethical law where good would yield happiness and evil will generate suffering. Second, the soul through the person who does an act has moral responsibility over its consequences and in this sense it has the effect of retributive justice. Third, justice in the second feature is carried through punarjanma or rebirth. This is the most appropriate religious explanation on why there is inequality in the world and why some men had to suffer more from others (3). It is an effect of karma that a person may be born of a lower stature in life or even be reborn as an animal or some other life form as a consequence of karma he had amassed in his past life. Thus, one who has not merited what equates to eternal life will be reborn time and again until he reaches being worthy of such state. In Jainism, the concept of karman is refined where the mind is a product thereof. The tapas or austerity is an important aspect that is considered to be material such that it can be exhausted. â€Å"It is a consequence of the material character of the karmas that intent is not the only ingredient in committing a lapse or offence; the Jainas recognize unintentional lapses† ( Krishan 50). The Jainas are stricter in their observance of the right conduct. They practice penance as the ordinary course of life and this is the most distinguishing feature of Jainism from Hinduism and Buddhism. There are five practices in Jainism that are different for monks and for laymen. For monks they are called mahavratas consisting of what

Speaker Presentation Response Papers (the lecture is recorded) Assignment

Speaker Presentation Response Papers (the lecture is recorded) - Assignment Example Indeed, her work area broadly caters to meet the needs of the children, especially those coming from less privileged segment of society. The sports events have become major platforms through which she ensures the benefits of society in myriad ways. Deb has discussed the activities of the organization and the various ways people can contribute to make the world a better place. Kroenke supports and raises funds for various non profit organizations which are working in areas like education, health, recreation, fitness etc. It has especially been very supportive to sports and sports related activities amongst children. While being sponsors for various sports team like Denver Nuggets Basketball team, Colorado Avalanche Hockey team, Colorado Rapid Soccer team etc., they also organize sports clinics for children where they are coached by famous sports persons. Most importantly, the sports events sponsored by Kroenke and myriad other creative ways are designed towards raising funds for the c auses which benefit community. There were four issues that seemed particularly important: community relationship is a real life profession; how one can respond and make life better for others; one person can make a difference; and media is a two way sword. While each of the four issues is different, the common factor that they share is the commitment to the cause. Dowling is an exemplary leader because she is capable of motivating others to a common goal. She has termed community relationship as a profession because it needs full commitment of the person. A person who can network with variety of people and convince them to a cause to an extent that he or she becomes a positive contributor to it, is indeed a true professional. This revelation has really raised my confidence because till now, I believed that my love for community work was just a hobby or part time social work. I had never realized that it had such huge scope of expansion. Like Deb Dowling, I can also make efforts in b uilding partnership and forge strategic alliances with public and private enterprises to make significant difference in the lives of people in the community. I think being an intern in the company would give me huge exposure to the myriad way that I can contribute towards the wider welfare of society. A community has various needs, part of which is met by government and the rest must come from within the society that is endowed with more privileges in life. Cut throat business and financial success has become major goals of contemporary society. When Deb said that a person must contemplate as to ‘how one can respond and make life better for others’, she has actually given a great insight into the life of people. We are all so busy in our own agendas of life that we forget we are also part of society which may require our help. The aged, the infirm, physically and mentally challenge children and adults or the poor who cannot even afford basic human necessities like food, cloth, shelter, education etc. are few of those people who should be extended help and provided with opportunities to improve their standard of living. We have often been very touched by the plight of people living in under developed countries who die of hunger or cold. Even amongst us, we are often indifferent to the needs of others because we are losing the sensitivity and compassion. There is a Mexican family in my

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

Strategic Management - Essay Example With this concern, the prime target of this paper is to determine the significance of research based view for strategic management. This study would provide a brief overview about the conception of strategic management and its importance. Moreover, the role of strategic management in helping a university in the quest for competitive advantage and the illustration of certain real as well as relevant examples would also be discussed in this paper. Importance of Resource Based View for Strategic Management In order to determine the significance of resource based view particularly for strategic management, it can be stated that resource based view can be duly considered as one of the perspectives that provide a rationale concerning how the different facets of human resourcess (HR) support an organisation to accomplish a greater competitive advantage (Cornell University ILR School, 2001). According to the resource based approach or view, the characteristics of the employees seem to be cri tical issues in the arena of strategic management. ... Research-based view of strategic management gives a clear idea of why different sorts of HR practices lead towards raising competitive advantage of a particular firm (Von Pock, 2007). Conception and Importance Of Strategic Management The conception of strategic management is regarded as an effective and significant management tool which supports an organisation in performing better job tasks (Analoui & Karami, 2003). There are different models or procedures that are used in the strategic management process of any particular organisation. In a similar regard, the procedures comprise identifying, analysing, formulating the recognised problems in a more descriptive way and finally evaluating as well as providing solutions to mitigate the problems identified. In order to determine the significance of strategic management, an organisation can achieve its expected business targets through proper conduct of strategic management. In the context of strategic management, mission as well as vis ion represents the fulfilment of organisational objectives. Moreover, the notion of strategic managements provides a clear idea about the strategic mission and vision of an organisation. Through the approach of strategic management, an organisation can properly identify its strengths along with weaknesses. The importance of strategic management is that it allows an organisation to be more active in performing various operational functions. For various organisations, it is quite necessary to implement a proper strategy because it helps them to comply with the requirements of the customers and most significantly to mitigate any sort of problem or complexity. The aspect of strategic

Organic Food vs. Non Organic Food Essay Example for Free

Organic Food vs. Non Organic Food Essay In today’s society you walk into a grocery store and you always have the option of organic or non organic food. There are even grocery stores dedicated to organic foods like Trader Joe’s, Sprouts and Whole Food market. I personally have gone organic and will never go back to eating or drinking non organic food. Organic food may be pricey but less hormones, less cow puss and blood in your milk, and less pesticides. The controversies about organic food vs non organic food is it worth it? My answer is 100 percent yes organic is the way to go. The fruits and vegetables you get at a normal grocery store that are non organic have several pesticides on it. According to the daily green, ‘ eating organic means avoiding the pesticide residue left on foods. † Though there are mixed reviews on if consuming pesticides hurt your immune system, pregnant women are taking the cautionary steps on making sure their future child will be born healthy and not be exposed to pesticides at an early age. On the Dirty Dozen list, apples are the number 1 food source of 2011, with over 40 known pesticides in just 1 apple. Not surprisingly, pesticide residue is also found in apple juice and apple sauce, making all apple products smart foods to buy organic. Strawberries have over 60 pesticides on it, so while you â€Å"wash† your strawberries remember you are eating pesticide residue remains on those strawberries you bought at the food market. 93% of Americans tested by the CDC had metabolites of chlorpyrifos a nuerotoxic insecticide in their urine. Banned from home use because of its risks to children, chlorpyrifos is part of a family of pesticides (organophosphates) linked to ADHD. Women who were exposed to DDT as girls are 5 times more likely to develop breast cancer, according to Panna. Several people are allergic to the growth hormone farmers put in their animals, but are able to eat organic meats because animals raised organically are not allowed to be fed antibiotics, the bovine human growth hormone (rbGH), or other artificial drugs. Animals are also not allowed to eat genetically modified foods. Organic meat the animals are also killed more humane than non organic animals. The animals are raised in a healthier environment, fed organic feed, and often eat a wider range of nutrients than those raised in factory farms (such as would be the case of free-range chickens and ranch cattle). Cbn. com stated, â€Å"In a recent poll, two-thirds of Americans surveyed stated they would like to be able to fit organic foods into their budgets. † Organic food may cost more but less exposure to unnecessary hormones and pesticides is worth it. Organic is the way to go, lower pesticide levels, more nutrients, no antibiotics, no added growth hormones, and environmental responsibility. Although research findings about benefits of organic produce are not conclusive, it is definite that organic stuff is safer than the produce with traces of pesticides. Organic milk, vegetables and fruits are much more expensive than the non-organic but if you can afford it then go for it. If more people start buying organic food then gradually their prices will gradually come down.

Education Studies Theories Of Learning Reflect Education Essay

Education Studies Theories Of Learning Reflect Education Essay It is widely understood that most of a childs learning and development takes place with an educational environment a school setting for example. But this does not mean to say a child learns approaches used in schools, which assist children to develop physically emotionally intellectually and develops by just listening to a teacher alone, there are a variety of different methods and sociably as well as to develop their language skills. Throughout my assignment i intend to reflect upon my own learning experiences, and discuss these in relation to different learning theories. In addition to this, i will then take into account what this may mean for my future learning and development and what different skills, qualities and abilities i feel are essential in order me to be an effective educational practitioner Before i am able to reflect on my own learning experiences, I must establish what learning actually is. I personally feel that learning is the way in which an individual has the ability to learn and develop in different ways for example cognitively emotionally and socially, we always need that guidance from a teacher, parent, peer. A leaner needs to recap over existing knowledge or behaviour in order for it to be improved or develop. What we learn at any time is influenced by our previous learning. An extension to this is defined by Nisbet (1986,p.11) who goes on to explain that we may certainly learns new ways of doing things and certain rules but we continue to rely on our previous habits that we have picked up from past experiences of learning. B.F. Skinner who was a behaviourist, his main contribution to behaviourism were the notions of positive and negative reinforcement. He also developed the idea of behaviour shaping, which is training humans to carry out new tasks through a s eries of increasingly complex activities leading to the desire goal. Where as Burns (1995, p99) talks about learning being relatively permanent changes in behavior as the result from experience, internal processes such as thinking, attitudes and emotions. Another definition of learning is defined by John Locke who was an English philosopher who believed, the learner starts off as a clean slate (Tabula rasa) onto which learning and experiences would be imprinted. Whether one agrees with the different learning theorists or theories, our personal development is largely facilitated by teachers or MKO (more knowledgeable other) who should have the motivation, understanding and knowledge to develop our full potential from an early age. Abraham Maslow believes the hierarchy needs to be met before and individual can start their learning process these are physiological needs, safety and security, belongingness and love, and self -esteem and Self-actualization. a learner whether it is a adult or child cannot learn unless they are warm, have shelter, fed and are loved. The learner has to feel safe and protected in the environment, we must also feel loved and belonging in order to achieve our full potential. Another important set of needs in the hierarchy is self-esteem, high level of confidence an individual- learner needs to have a positive view on themselves and finally self-actualization refers to the need for self-fulfilment a positive state of mind. I feel these hierarchy needs are crucial in order for an individual to learn because if we are homeless, cold, hungry, or unloved then in my opinion we would not be concerned about our intellectual development. This first experience of learning that I will discuss is learning to drive a car. Many of my friends and family had passed their driving test, and had the freedom to go wherever they wanted without asking for a lift or arranging a time that was best. I used to watch in envy as they drove past, but I was too scared to get behind the wheel myself, because I was involved in a serious car at the age of 10. I was planning to go to study away the following year at Preston University and my mum encouraged me to start taking driving lessons, so I could travel back on the weekends and be more independent, she had promised to buy me my first car and assist with the running of it. I eventually got the courage and started taking lessons. Throughout my learning I did struggle with certain manoeuvres, for example a 3 point turn in the road I used to hit the curb as I would reverse backwards, because my instructor had said he cannot give me guidance all the time because the examiner would not guide me on the day. My instructor had picked up on me finding it difficult and stopped teaching me other manoeuvres for the time being, and every lesson I had involved two turns in the road until i could do them. He made it challenging every time because he didnt take me to the same roads and some of the roads where narrower than others. So I spent 1 year working at getting to level of being a good safe dri ver then I was ready to take my test, and passed. Looking back at what it was that actually motivated me to get behind the wheel and put my fears behind me, was the fact that most of my friends my age could drive and in some sense u could say I felt left out, and was always the one sat as a passenger rather than the one actually driving. Since beginning this subject of study I have developed and understanding about different levels of motivation, a child or adult being able to be motivated themselves individually in order to learn effectively. I am going to use examples to explain what I exactly mean by this and how it is relevant to my learning experience. I was intrinsically motivated because I wanted to learn to drive, so I was more independent and didnt feel unaided, I was also extrinsically motivated because my mother said when I pass she will buy me my first car, so I was rewarded for my achievement at the end. Now I will go on to explain which theories or learning theorist are most relevant in my learning experience. REFRENCEFirstly the constructivism theory of which Piaget ideas were integrated into, he believed children using direct experience and then exploring and learning, in their own way at their own pace, whilst being involved in an activity. My learning to drive experience demonstrates that I learned at my own pace because it happened over a period of time. Banyard and Hayes (1994, p.259) explain how Albert Bandura believes that people can learn new information and behaviours by watching other people, known as observational learning where we model other behaviour and I knew roughly how to start because i used to watch my mother and friends when I was a passenger. Bruner (1960) explained how learning is an active process revisiting basic ideas over and over, building upon them and elaborating to the level of full understanding. This was possible through the concept of the spiral cu rriculum. Bruner believed information being structured so that the basics can be taught first, and then complex after, then re-visited at more complex levels later on. For example first I learned how to drive on local quite roads, then at a later stage once my confidence built up and I gained more knowledge I was taken on busier main roads during rush hour. My next learning experience I will discuss in my essay is learning my timetables. I recall back to when I was in first school about year three or four, my teacher gave me a set of time tables to learn and then take sheet home to practice . I remember I was finding it difficult to get to grips with the 6 times table, so I asked my mother to help me. She made me some flash cards and turned learning them into a game. We laid the cards out on the table and I had to match the cards together for example, the card 36 to 6 x 6. I really wanted to do well because my mother had said if i did well she would take me to toy shop. When my mother would come to pick me up from school the teacher would tell her how well i did, and when we used to go shopping into town my mother would buy a tamagotchi. So I was most defiantly motivated in learning them. When thinking about this learning experience since doing this topic, has made me come to realise that because my learning style is kinaesthetic, this was the reason why I found the flash cards helpful and easier for me to learn, because I was moving things around rather than just looking at the sheet reading them and trying to remember them. The theories that I found relevant to my learning experience here was Edward Thorndikes laws of effect theory, in addition and skinners positive reinforcement theory were the most important, both of the theories are very similar. Banyard and Hayes (1994, p.267), states that behaviour that has a positive and rewarding outcome is therefore more likely to reoccur in similar situations. The other theory i found relevant was the Social Constructivism theory, of which ideas Vygotsky ideas of learning were integrated into. Recalling back to my learning experience when I was receiving guidance and help from my mother, Vygosky would view it as scaffolding which was one of his most important concepts. He believed that without scaffolding from the More Knowledgeable other (MKO) we only have the ability to reach our zone of actual development (ZAD) meaning we would only achieve what we are cable of without help, on the other hand if our learning is scaffold then we have the ability to reach our zone of proximal development (ZPD).REFRENCE In terms of my future learning, it is important that I stay persistent so I can reach my goal in becoming a primary school teacher. I understand that every child is different with their own unique learning styles, every child learns in their own way and pace and it is important to meet their learning needs. I also believe that it is important for me to be able to view tasks how a child would receive it, as this is what will make me a effective practitioner because I will be able to adapt the teaching approach to that individual if needed Another vital part of this essay is to discuss the skills and qualities I feel are essential for any effective educational practitioner. Listening effectively to the children is an important skill a teacher needs, so they can cater for the different learning styles in order to give them the best possible opportunities to learn. I also feel it is crucial that a teacher is warming, kind and approachable so the children feel comfortable in talking about anything no matter the problem or situation. Another skill I feel is crucial is having excellent communication, having the ability to communicate with other teachers, students of all ages and parents. It is also vital that the educational practitioner has a positive attitude and is patient even in difficult situations. On reflection of my essay, I have realised how much knowledge I have achieved, which I can use in the classroom in the future. I have learnt that not everyone learns in the same way, was as the teachers need to make learning fun and efficient. Whilst doing this essay I realised why certain outcomes occurred in terms of my own learning experience i.e. motivation, positive reinforcement and support network around me.