Gender Differences in Academic Underachievement Research Paper

Gender Differences in Academic Underachievement - Research Paper Example Methods 10 Participants 10 Design and procedure 10 Data analysis 10 Summary 11 References 12 1. Introduction Background Secondary and high school students in US, UK and other countries have been witnessing an increasing drop in educational achievement of boys when compared to girls. In some of the school settings, research has found that girls outperformed boys in English more than in other subjects (Bush, 2005). While there may be many reasons for underachievement of both, it is more prevalent with performance of boys rather than that of girls. More boys who underachieve in GCSE test in the UK are found to fail or underachieve in the elementary too. It is likely that boys are four times prone to underachieve than girls of the same age. There is an ‘anti-education culture’ (Paton, 2007) gaining acceptance among ‘the lads’, particularly in the working class boys who develop a ‘counter-school culture’ in terms of ‘hegemonic masculinityâ€⠄¢ in which the teachers are also found to be accomplices to an extent (Abraham, 2008). Patterns of interaction among underachieving boys and girls are also similar as boys tend to develop anti-education culture more prominent in the early years while girls develop similar behavioural traits at later stages (Myhill, 2002). A study by AUT University in Auckland reveals that more teenage boys, as high as 72 percent, are underachieving and are over-represented in suspension and stand down rates than girls. Also, 10 percent more of girls are entering university when compared to boys (Boys underachieving in school and overrepresented in suspensions, 2009). Although, there has been a general disparity between girls and boys attending primary education in many countries across the globe, over the last three decades, the intervention of Commonwealth has ensured equality in education and gender parity. This has led to increased participation among girls on par with boys. However, underachiev ement in education by boys is a serious concern faced by almost all countries and is inevitably compared with participation and performance of girls (Jha and Kelleher, 2006). Need for the Study Motivation techniques for underachieving students, which section, is dominated by boys are to be identified to tackle the problem of underachievement in education by boys. It may be that the issue of underachievement is blown out of proportion by a section of the organization or media but the problem remains. Several researchers have tried to understand the reasons behind the anti-education culture exhibited by boys but somewhere down the line, there is a lack of clarity on the nature of problem and the necessary remedies that need to be included in addressing the issue on hand. Statement of the Problem The purpose of this study is to understand the reasons behind underachievement in education by boys. It is to be understood at what stage, boys who underachieve start to show behavioural or pe rformance symptoms. Gender differences and their influencing factors will also have to be related to understand the anti-education culture that boys are found to exhibit. It is also important to understand what solutions can be obtained in this regard and to what extent are they measureable. Limitations This study is limited in scope as it focuses on understanding gender differences and differences in educational performance in the different levels or forms. Although reasons for

Sales Developing and Merchandising Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sales Developing and Merchandising - Assignment Example s of the product, external sales development techniques, the tools and techniques of internal sales promotion and merchandising and role played by the staff in ensuring the success of the hotel. The hotel under consideration is called the APA Hotels & Resorts. As a point of departure, the APA Hotels & Resorts are headquartered in Japan. This hotel has a slogan that assures the clients top quality products and services. The hotel endeavours to attain non-nonsense frugality. A long side the normal services that are offered at a cost, the hotel offers a free breakfast. The rates are affordable. They range form 5500-14000JPY. The hotel has over 76 properties well spread across various nations. The hotel offers a wide range of accommodation facilities, which range from a single executive room for one person to double executive suite for two people. Consider the following cost of various classes of accommodation. In essence, the nature of products and services offered form a fundamental basis in which the organization creates its market niche. The larger the market niches the more the revenues. Essentially, in the hotel and & hospitality industry, the competition among the primary players depends on the quality of the products and the nature in which they are presented to the clients (JONES & LOCKWOOD, 2004). Giving more insight on the manner of product presentation in the modern business milieu has taken a technological dimension, which has seen numerous organizations embrace internet marketing and distribution. In the hotel industry, the hotels and resorts use internet application in creating channels, which help in the overall management of the organization (ANDREWS, 2009). The aspect of product differentiation is attributed to this context where the organizations such as the APA Hotel and Resort use the best procedures and superior raw materials to produce unique products. It is imperati ve to note that product differentiation helps APA Hotels & Resorts to identify

Pathological Explanations of Poverty

Pathological Explanations of Poverty Discuss the pathological and structural explanations of poverty. Poverty was first identified by Sir William Beveridge in 1942, as a major social evil in society. It is a highly contested and multi-dimensional social problem that has no single agreed definition. Kilty et al defines poverty as ‘an overall condition of inadequacy, lacking and scarcity’. She further claims, ‘it is destitution and deficiency of economic, political and social resources’ (Kilty et al, 1997: 30 cited in Kane Kirby, 2003: 52). Social scientists have established two main representations of poverty. These are absolute and relative poverty. Absolute poverty denotes a lack of access to a minimum level of subsistence that is required to live a healthy lifestyle. This includes basic life necessities such as food, water, clothing and shelter. In contrast, sociologist Peter Townsend defines relative poverty in terms of relative deprivation which means that the living standards of the poor are considered far too removed from the rest of society (Holman, 1978; Pantazis et al, 2006). Sociologists have identified numerous explanations for the existence and persistence of poverty. These include unemployment, homelessness, ill health, old age, lack of access to education and an underprivileged socio-economic position in society. In this essay, I will discuss two major sociological/political theories of poverty, one known as the pathological explanation and the other as the structural explanation. As part of the pathological perspective I will explore individualistic, familial and subcultural understandings of poverty. In contrast within structural accounts, I will examine class, agency and inequality approaches to poverty. In doing so, I will discover their solutions to help tackle poverty and will also evaluate the relevance of both pathological and structural explanations in the contemporary world (ibid). Pathological explanations of poverty are favoured by those on the right of the political spectrum. Firstly, according to the individualistic viewpoint social problems like poverty, unemployment and crime stem from individual deficiencies and limitations. For instance, it is argued that the poor have a character defect. They are deliberately indolent individuals who have made bad choices in life. Therefore, they are held responsible for their own plight. Individualistic explanations also attribute poverty to the biology of the poor. In support of this, Charles Murray (2000) claims that ‘by choosing to be poor people pass on inferior genes to their offspring’ and ‘over time, there is a deterioration in the genome of the poor’ (Fitzpatrick, 2011: 101). Nevertheless, it must be noted that there is no scientific evidence to prove that poverty is an innate problem (Fitzpatrick, 2011; Holman, 1978). Successive governments have adopted different policy approaches to tackle poverty. A historic example is of the 19th century Poor Law Amendment Act which was introduced in 1834. The act took into consideration the widely accepted individualistic ideology of its time, which believed poverty to be a moral failure of the individual. As a result, workhouses were introduced to instil discipline in poor citizens. The conditions of a workhouse were deliberately terrible in order to discourage people from applying for state assistance and instead, provide them with the incentive to find work. Later, the act was heavily criticised for purely treating the symptoms of poverty rather than the actual disease itself. Alternatively, familial explanations of poverty blame the individual’s family circumstances for shaping their disadvantaged lifestyle. For example, if a child lives in a family environment that is characterised by laziness, poor educational attainment, unemployment, delinquency and dependence on the welfare state, then the child is more likely to grow up dysfunctional (Fitzpatrick, 2011; Kane Kirby, 2003; Townsend, 1979). Familial explanations also attribute poverty to the child rearing practices of lower class families. It is argued that these families encounter multiple deprivations in life and are thus, unable to provide their children with a decent upbringing. This has a negative impact on the child’s life opportunities. According to the cycle of deprivation theory, family pathology is responsible for transmitting social deprivation intergenerationally. This is due to the belief that poverty runs in families. Furthermore, in an attempt to end the generational cycle of poverty, in 1998 the New Labour government introduced Sure Start programmes which are a form of educational intervention in the lives of children. They were set up with the aim of improving deprived children’s life chances, so that they do not face disadvantage in the school life (Kane Kirby, 2003; Shuffelton, 2013). The third well-known pathological explanation is the subculture of poverty theory which was coined by the American anthropologist Oscar Lewis. Lewis claimed that poor families exist within a subculture which is made up of unique behaviour patterns and characteristics. These are distinct from mainstream society and include: long-term unemployment, substance abuse and welfare dependency. Subcultural explanations claim that groups who share these negative characteristics are destined to remain within a self-perpetuating cycle of poverty. They begin viewing poverty as an accepted lifestyle and make little effort to improve their circumstances. However, this is not necessarily true as an individual’s changing economic circumstances can lift them out of poverty. Additionally, many people do make an effort to improve their situation through work and the education system. Overall, subcultural explanations have proven beneficial in explaining the persistence of poverty in the contempor ary world (Holman, 1978; Kane Kirby, 2003; Waxman, 1977). Pathological explanations of poverty have received considerable support from New Right theorists, the Conservative Party and other Right Wing academics like Charles Murray (1984), who is highly critical of the welfare state. Murray asserts that welfare benefits have gave birth to an underclass in society and a generation of the unemployed. He argues the welfare system is a poverty-perpetuating system, as over-generous welfare benefits have encouraged recipients’ to become dependent upon them throughout their entire lives. Nevertheless, Murray has been criticised for underestimating the desire of the underclass to be free from state assistance. Likewise, his ideological position has meant that he has also lacked focus in explaining how wider structural factors may also cause poverty (Fitzpatrick, 2011; Holman, 1978; Niskanen, 1996). Murray’s underclass theory has influenced contemporary government approaches to tackle welfare dependency. For instance, the current UK coalition government has adopted radical policies that involve cutbacks in benefits and the introduction of disciplinary workfare programmes, where welfare claimants are obliged to undertake voluntary work or training in return for their benefits. The coalition government has also expanded apprenticeships. The aim of such policies is to help welfare dependents regain the incentive to work. This is by teaching them the skills needed for a decent paid job. Overall, pathological explanations of poverty have numerous strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the political scientist Michael Harrington asserts that, ‘the real explanation of why the poor are where they are is that they made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents in the wrong section of the country in the wrong industry or in the wrong racial or ethnic group. There are two important ways of saying this: the poor are caught up in a vicious circle; or the poor live in a culture of poverty’ (Harrington, 1962: 12 cited in Kane Kirby, 2003: 98). Here, Harrington illustrates his support for the pathological explanation by highlighting the importance of familial and subcultural explanations in understanding poverty (Fitzpatrick, 2011; Holman, 1978; Niskanen, 1996). Pathological explanations have also been criticised for ignoring how wider societal and situational factors cause poverty. For example, circumstances where an individual loses their job, partner or experiences ill health may push an individual into a poverty lifestyle. In addition, the theory does not explain why particular groups like ethnic minorities are more vulnerable to poverty. For example, the structural perspective of poverty would argue that ethnic minorities experience discrimination and social exclusion in all areas of life. This is often attributed to their race, religion or culture. Within the workplace, they are treated as a source of cheap expendable labour, are provided with menial tasks and are paid well below the minimum wage. This example illustrates how social injustices can create poverty in society (ibid). In opposition to the pathological perspective, structural accounts of poverty are favoured by those on the left of the political spectrum. Firstly, according to the Marxist explanation by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), poverty is a key ingredient of capitalist societies. All capitalist societies are characterised by class conflict between the bourgeoisies, who are the owners of the means of production and the proletariat or working class who sell their labour power in return for wages. Marxists argue that the proletariat experience marginalisation, exploitation and alienation at the hands of the bourgeoisie. This is clearly evident in the labour market where they are treated as a reserve army of labour, are made to work for long hours and are paid low wages in return. Although this enables the capitalist system to thrive, it creates inequalities in wealth and income and keeps the proletariat located at the very bottom of the social hierarchy (Fitzpatrick, 201 1; Kane Kirby, 2003) Karl Marx anticipated a revolution to occur where the proletariat collectively unite for radical social change. He argued that this revolution will give rise to a communist society which is based on equal distribution of wealth and thereby, will ensure the entire elimination of social problems. Nevertheless, Marx has been criticised for overestimating a revolution which has failed to occur. Therefore, the Marxist theory failed to come up with an adequate solution to the problem of poverty and instead, it continues to blames poverty on the evils of capitalism. Overall, Marxists argue that class conflict is an inevitable feature of every capitalist society and therefore, social class is the main socio-economic determinant of whether people experience poverty in the contemporary world (ibid). Secondly according to the agency perspective, poverty is caused by the failure of public services and inadequate welfare benefits. Although, social services play a vital role in alleviating social and material deprivation, this theory argues that they have proven inefficient in tackling poverty. Also, government policies and institutions that have been set up to eradicate poverty have not performed their duties and have failed to serve the needs of the poor. Consequently, it is argued that there is a need to improve both the access and administration of welfare services. Alternatively, advocates of the pathological explanation criticise structural explanations for advocating a hand-out approach to welfare, which they believe fosters a dependency culture and serves to perpetuate poverty in society. They argue that policy solutions should focus on making individuals self-reliant and not providing them with a cradle to grave welfare state (Holman, 1978; Pantazis et al, 2006). In response, advocates of the structural interpretation criticise pathological accounts for ignoring the rise in the number of the working poor who are also reliant on state assistance. This rise in the number of the working poor provides evidence against the pathological view that work is the best route out of poverty. Structural accounts of poverty have blamed the rise of the working poor on the retrenchment of welfare provisions by the New Right, which they argue provided people with an additional support mechanism. On the other hand, the third well-known structural perspective is based on an inequality approach and argues that poverty is attributed to inequalities in society in terms of race, gender, age, ethnicity and social class. Generally, it is argued that there is more poverty where there is economic inequality. For instance, Britain is an unequal society in terms of wealth and income. There is a huge gap between the rich and poor which demonstrated by the clear north/south divide in the country (Fitzpatrick, 2011; Holman, 1978) In order to tackle income inequality, structural viewpoints argue for a redistribution of wealth in society and the need for governments to implement inclusive policies that help integrate the poor back into society. This includes people with disabilities who face social exclusion in the labour market. Structural explanations also advocate for a change to the structure of society, and a redistributive taxation system and also greater economic growth which will create more jobs and help alleviate economic inequality. On the other hand, Unwin 2007 argues that because ‘people are both: individuals and social creatures. it is impossible to tackle poverty from just one or the other perspective’ (cited in Bourassa, 2009: online edition). Unwin argues a more effective solution would involve a combination of both structural and pathological understanding of poverty in explaining poverty in the contemporary world (Harrop, 2015: Online; Gooby, 2015: Online; Luebker, 2014). In conclusion, poverty has proven to be a highly complex and difficult challenge for all contemporary governments. Social scientists have established two compelling accounts of poverty. These are pathological and structural explanations of poverty. Pathological explanations of poverty are favoured by those on the right of the political perspective. According to the political right, poverty is blamed on individual, familial and subcultural factors. In contrast, structural explanations are favoured by those on the left wing of the political spectrum. According to the political left, poverty is a consequence of structural and societal factors. These include an individual’s social class, an inadequate agency and societal inequality which all help explain the cause of poverty in society. Research has shown that both perspectives have numerous strengths and weaknesses. One solution would involve a combination of the two perspectives, as it will offer a more holistic approach in unde rstanding and tackling poverty in the contemporary world.

Winston Churchill Essay -- essays research papers

Winston Churchill: Britain’s Man of the Century Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. Winston S. Churchill It was words such as these and the certitude in which he said them that played an important role in guiding Britain’s people through the trials and tribulations of the Second World War. Churchill was also an accomplished writer who composed several campaign reports and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 for his six volume history of World War II. But there is much more to this noble man other than his tongue and his pen. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill is a great mind because of the everlasting impression he left on Britain through his genuine leadership, his firm resolution, and his unrelenting defiance. It was divine intuition that put Winston Churchill in a position of leadership made evident by the amazing effect he had on his countrymen through the words that he spoke and through his idea of forming the "Grand Alliance". When his speeches were broadcasted over the radio during wartime, Britain stopped. Every citizen listened to each word he said with great attentiveness. Churchill’s Blood, Sweat and Tears speech is a fine example of his beautiful art of speaking as it filled the people of Britain with much needed hope and bountiful courage: You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. (Churchill) His manner of speaking was just as important as what he was saying, hence without his brilliant oratory, Churchill would not have been as successful in politics. As far back as 1930, Winston Churchill had the idea that the only way to stop Hitler was to form the "Grand Alliance" with France and the Soviet Union. He was certain that a unified and resolute front could cause Hitler to back down. It wasn’t until 1941 that his idea was put into action, but when in place, the "Grand All... ... Parliament rarely changed parties and Churchill was execrated for years by the Conservatives for his betrayal. Unaffected by his former party, Winston Churchill, as undersecretary of state for the Liberals, played a considerable part in making peace with the Boers. His decision to leave the Conservatives was largely criticized, but the ends justified the means in this case as it led to his political greatness. Winston Churchill lead his country with such grace through the uncertain times of war, he showed great resolve especially while Prime Minister during Britain’s darkest hour, and he also chose to defy strong opposing forces to maintain honesty within himself. On January 24, 1965, Sir Winston Churchill died of a massive stroke and was later buried in a little churchyard near Blenheim Place, his birthplace. Winston Churchill was a very kind and gentle man with a terrific sense of humour and it is safe to say that such an individual will never again come to pass. Although he lies in eternal rest today, his unmatched spirit lives on in the heart and soul of every British citizen of the past, present, and future.

Healthcare Industry

The global healthcare industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.7%. This is made possible by the leveraging of various analytics tools and practices by the healthcare providers for improving their operational efficiency. Source: http://www.thehealthcareanalytics.comUnited States is at the front of the growth, accounting for 65.84% which can be attributed to country's substantial investment in healthcare. Europe and Asia are on a path of steady growth with increased expenditure on technology, R;D and the emergence of Big Data. Source: http://www.thehealthcareanalytics.comThe volume of data available is expected to be increasing at an exponential rate in the years ahead. Current cumbersome techniques of evaluation will soon have to pave the way for advanced analytics. These techniques, which have the ability to process, act on, manage and distribute data from variety of sources, will become the backbone of the healthcare sector. With this evaluation, the vast health data will be better understood and more effective, real time, specific decisions can be taken. Source: http://www.techferry.com Current SituationBefore discussing about the future, it is important to reflect upon the current scenario. After the introduction of Electronic Health Records (EHR), amount of data collected have gone up significantly, creating meta data that can be used for querying. Healthcare organizations have resorted to analytical tools to improve the efficiency of patient examination. With a wide range of information about patient's history, genetics and demographics, more customized quality care could be provided. More and more venture capitalists have started investing into healthcare analytics. However, healthcare organizations are a long way from making effective use of such information. Proper understanding about the vast applications of such a resource is still scarce. Differentiating between quality data and noise has been becoming more and more difficult. High cost of analytic solutions and lack of skilled professionals have been a pain point in many organizations. Leveraging bigdata analytics in healthcarePatient profile analytics: Analytics can be applied to the existing patient profiles to identify those who may need preventive care. Patients who are at a risk of developing a disease like diabetes can be helped with lifestyle changes and preventive care.Public health: By analysing the large amount of data available, disease patterns can be identified and outbreaks can be predicted by finding various correlations among the data points.Resource management: With the development of location tracking technologies like RFIDs, patients, staffs, instruments and other resources in the enterprise can be effectively tracked and managed on a real time basis.Fraud analysis: Hospitals on a daily basis receives large number of insurance claims. With the help of big data analytics, valid claims can be segregated out reducing wastage of time and resources.Genomic Analytics: Genes of an individual and high-powered computing are combined to produce personalize d treatments for each patient. Genetic disorders can be identified and target therapies can be developed.Real-Time health care: Various mobile applications are being developed that help individuals to manage their care in a personalized manner. Wearables are being developed that can effectively track the safety and monitor the conditions in real-time by analysing the large volumes of fast moving data.R & D: Predictive modelling and statistical methods can be used to improve clinical trials and finding the follow-on indications. Trial failures can be reduced and new product development can be given the push it demands.Concerns and mitigation strategiesData Integrity: The data in many situations comes from places with questionable data governance standards. Obtaining data that meets with the standards required for accurate use is one of the major ongoing battles in organizations. Lack of understanding of the usage of EHR (Electronic Healthcare Records) and importance of capturing qual ity data further adds to the lack of data quality.Future: Improvements in data capture by prioritizing valuable data types and educating clinicians about how to ensure that data is useful for downstream analytics are some of the ways forward.Filtering: Presence of inaccurate unwanted data (noise) can derail the effectiveness of the analytics system. The data, which comes from disparate data sources in multiple formats, unless acted upon properly will lead to inconsistency. Though Data cleaning, process of ensuring the datasets are consistent, accurate and relevant, are being done, most organizations still use inefficient manual methods. Future: IT vendors are now coming up with applications which use machine learning that use rules to filter and segregate data, which will make the process effective and affordableStorage: With the latest developments in technology, amount of data being generated and captured is increasing at an alarming rate. Even though most enterprises currently pr efer on premise data storage which has the advantage of having better control on security and access, it has become difficult to modify, scale and adapt to situations.Future: Many organizations are slowly shifting to cloud storage and various hybrid approaches to store their data. This provides a highly scalable, cost effective solution which provides ease of access.Security: With the recent episodes of high profile hackings, security breaches, ransomwares etc security has become a huge concern in this technological era.From a small action like leaving the laptop unsecured to highly sophisticated hacking, data is not safe in spite of many initiatives being taken.Future: Employees are being educated in transmission security, authentication protocols, and controls over access, integrity, and auditing. Procedures such as using latest anti-virus software, setting up firewalls, encrypting sensitive data, and using multi-factor authentication are some of the ways to prevent security attac ks. As we move forward in 2018, organizations will have to analyse much more complex and high-volume data. With the development of customized, highly efficient data analytics practices, organizations can make sense of the data and use it for providing efficient personalized care. Data integrity is bound to become the most important factor as effectiveness of data analytical methods are dependent on incorporation of error free, relevant data from quality sources.References1. http://www.thehealthcareanalytics.com 2. Healthcare Industry The global healthcare industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.7%. This is made possible by the leveraging of various analytics tools and practices by the healthcare providers for improving their operational efficiency. Source: http://www.thehealthcareanalytics.comUnited States is at the front of the growth, accounting for 65.84% which can be attributed to country's substantial investment in healthcare. Europe and Asia are on a path of steady growth with increased expenditure on technology, R;D and the emergence of Big Data. Source: http://www.thehealthcareanalytics.comThe volume of data available is expected to be increasing at an exponential rate in the years ahead. Current cumbersome techniques of evaluation will soon have to pave the way for advanced analytics. These techniques, which have the ability to process, act on, manage and distribute data from variety of sources, will become the backbone of the healthcare sector. With this evaluation, the vast health data will be better understood and more effective, real time, specific decisions can be taken. Source: http://www.techferry.com Current SituationBefore discussing about the future, it is important to reflect upon the current scenario. After the introduction of Electronic Health Records (EHR), amount of data collected have gone up significantly, creating meta data that can be used for querying. Healthcare organizations have resorted to analytical tools to improve the efficiency of patient examination. With a wide range of information about patient's history, genetics and demographics, more customized quality care could be provided. More and more venture capitalists have started investing into healthcare analytics. However, healthcare organizations are a long way from making effective use of such information. Proper understanding about the vast applications of such a resource is still scarce. Differentiating between quality data and noise has been becoming more and more difficult. High cost of analytic solutions and lack of skilled professionals have been a pain point in many organizations. Leveraging bigdata analytics in healthcarePatient profile analytics: Analytics can be applied to the existing patient profiles to identify those who may need preventive care. Patients who are at a risk of developing a disease like diabetes can be helped with lifestyle changes and preventive care.Public health: By analysing the large amount of data available, disease patterns can be identified and outbreaks can be predicted by finding various correlations among the data points.Resource management: With the development of location tracking technologies like RFIDs, patients, staffs, instruments and other resources in the enterprise can be effectively tracked and managed on a real time basis.Fraud analysis: Hospitals on a daily basis receives large number of insurance claims. With the help of big data analytics, valid claims can be segregated out reducing wastage of time and resources.Genomic Analytics: Genes of an individual and high-powered computing are combined to produce personalize d treatments for each patient. Genetic disorders can be identified and target therapies can be developed.Real-Time health care: Various mobile applications are being developed that help individuals to manage their care in a personalized manner. Wearables are being developed that can effectively track the safety and monitor the conditions in real-time by analysing the large volumes of fast moving data.R & D: Predictive modelling and statistical methods can be used to improve clinical trials and finding the follow-on indications. Trial failures can be reduced and new product development can be given the push it demands.Concerns and mitigation strategiesData Integrity: The data in many situations comes from places with questionable data governance standards. Obtaining data that meets with the standards required for accurate use is one of the major ongoing battles in organizations. Lack of understanding of the usage of EHR (Electronic Healthcare Records) and importance of capturing qual ity data further adds to the lack of data quality.Future: Improvements in data capture by prioritizing valuable data types and educating clinicians about how to ensure that data is useful for downstream analytics are some of the ways forward.Filtering: Presence of inaccurate unwanted data (noise) can derail the effectiveness of the analytics system. The data, which comes from disparate data sources in multiple formats, unless acted upon properly will lead to inconsistency. Though Data cleaning, process of ensuring the datasets are consistent, accurate and relevant, are being done, most organizations still use inefficient manual methods. Future: IT vendors are now coming up with applications which use machine learning that use rules to filter and segregate data, which will make the process effective and affordableStorage: With the latest developments in technology, amount of data being generated and captured is increasing at an alarming rate. Even though most enterprises currently pr efer on premise data storage which has the advantage of having better control on security and access, it has become difficult to modify, scale and adapt to situations.Future: Many organizations are slowly shifting to cloud storage and various hybrid approaches to store their data. This provides a highly scalable, cost effective solution which provides ease of access.Security: With the recent episodes of high profile hackings, security breaches, ransomwares etc security has become a huge concern in this technological era.From a small action like leaving the laptop unsecured to highly sophisticated hacking, data is not safe in spite of many initiatives being taken.Future: Employees are being educated in transmission security, authentication protocols, and controls over access, integrity, and auditing. Procedures such as using latest anti-virus software, setting up firewalls, encrypting sensitive data, and using multi-factor authentication are some of the ways to prevent security attac ks. As we move forward in 2018, organizations will have to analyse much more complex and high-volume data. With the development of customized, highly efficient data analytics practices, organizations can make sense of the data and use it for providing efficient personalized care. Data integrity is bound to become the most important factor as effectiveness of data analytical methods are dependent on incorporation of error free, relevant data from quality sources.References1. http://www.thehealthcareanalytics.com 2.

Campari Case

CAMPARI CASE STUDY Andrea Dimichele 4105507 QUESTIONS: * What are the functional areas in the supply chain function and which is the guiding element of the whole function? * What may be the advantages and the disadvantages of a stable production cycle producing batches of large dimensions? * How do Campari's distribution flows work and which logics do they satisfy? * What is the role of customer service and what do the people involved in this function do? * How does the online auction system work? The functional areas in the supply chain of Campari are: Procurement of materials Production: sites where the products are made and ready to the first delivery, to the distribution center there are 13 all over the world. Logistics and transports: that is probably the guiding element of the whole supply chain. A huge products portfolio let Campari’s group to focus the attention on the distribution process. It is split in two different channels, the modern one (GDO, DO) and the traditi onal one (wholesalers, liquor stores and ho. e. ca day and night). Certain areas let Campari to distribute its products directly to customers such as disco for spirit segment or directly to restaurants for Wine segment (i. e. Sella ; Mosca). Distribution strategy so is fundamental to GARANTIRE a constant and efficient position and to be close to customers. For this reason Campari group in Italy decide to outsource this process of supply chain. In fact the central distribution center is owned by ‘’Gruppo Zanardo’’. As DonatellaRampinelli, Customer management director, highlight ‘’ the choice to outsource the distribution process in founded on logics of efficiency and EFFICACIA. Until 1991 distribution process was owned by Campari but this generate very high cost for the company so starting from 1995 they decide to outsource the process (also more focused in GDO channel) and this permit also to maximizing the effect on warehouse management ( sto cking, order management, inventory). Export Management: that involve foreign order, management of commercial border and custom paperwork and physical delivery management.Administrative: that involve administrative and physical paperwork related to import/export, management of warehouses, or the introduction of new products (custom codes and quantification of taxes). Customer management * The advantages of having a stable production cycle producing batches of large dimensions is that it could facilitate planning of production, warehouses, distribution, and order. Standardization of the process. Another could be cost saving in terms of production process, using economies of scale or the fully disponibilita of products in order to maintain customer loyalty.On the other hand disadvantages are related to higher stock and warehouse costs (also due to taxes) †¦.. * The distribution process start from the order of the customer, it could be inserted directly from headquarters (fax-mail) or arrive from the SAP CIS through EDI (electronic data interchange) or via CRM (customer relationship management) through the sales force. The process of distribution end with the shipment that could be shipped from production plants directly to customer or passing through distribution centers.The process of shipment as already said is outsourced in order to reduce transportation costs, in order to obtain better quality and have on time information on the status of deliveries. Obtaining information in real time about the status of the shipment is fundamental in order to be able to inform the customer in real time and also in order to a better planning of next shipment, warehouses and problem solving (returns, substitutions, delays, urgencies, and so on). * Customer service†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ How does the online auction system work? *

Socratic Dialogue Definition and Examples

Socratic Dialogue Definition and Examples In rhetoric, Socratic dialogue is an argument (or series of arguments) using the question-and-answer method employed by Socrates in Platos Dialogues. Also known as  Platonic dialogue. Susan Koba and Anne Tweed describe Socratic dialogue as the conversation that results from the Socratic method, a discussion process during which a facilitator promotes independent, reflective, and critical thinking (Hard-to-Teach Biology Concepts, 2009). Examples and Observations The Socratic dialogue or the Platonic dialogue usually begins with Socrates professing ignorance of the subject matter. He asks questions of the other characters, the result being a fuller understanding of the subject. The dialogues are usually named after the key person interrogated by Socrates, as in Protagoras where this famous Sophist is questioned about his views on rhetoric. The dialogue has obvious relations to both dramatic form and argumentation. In the dialogues, the characters speak in ways appropriate not only to their own views, but to their speaking styles as well. Lane Cooper points out four elements of the dialogues: The plot or movement of the conversation, the agents in their moral aspect (ethos), the reasoning of the agents (dianoia), and their style or diction (lexis).The dialogues are also a form of dialectical reasoning, a branch of logic focusing on reasoning in philosophical matters where absolute certainty may be unattainable but where truth is pursued to a h igh degree of probability. (James J. Murphy and Richard A. Katula, A Synoptic History of Classical Rhetoric. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003) The Socratic Method in Business[S]he could see that he was trying to teach the other men, to coax and persuade them to look at the factorys operations in a new way. He would have been surprised to be told it, but he used the Socratic method: he prompted the other directors and the middle managers and even the foremen to identify the problems themselves and to reach by their own reasoning the solutions he had himself already determined upon. It was so deftly done that she had sometimes to temper her admiration by reminding herself that it was all directed by the profit motive ... (David Lodge, Nice Work. Viking, 1988) The Socratic Method, According to H.F. Ellis What is the argument of the Idealist School of Philosophy against the absolute existence, or externality, of the objects of experience? A question of this kind is best answered by the Socratic Method, an admirable arrangement whereby you call yourself Philosopher and your opponent, who has no will of his own, Man in the Street or Thrasymachus. The argument then proceeds thus. Philosopher: You will, I suppose, agree that the Understanding, through the same operations whereby in conceptions, by means of analytical unity, it produced the logical form of a judgement, introduces, by means of the synthetical unity of the manifold in intuition, a transcendental content into its representations, on which account they are called pure conceptions of the understanding? Thrasymachus: Yes, I agree. Philosopher: And further, is it not true that the mind fails in some cases to distinguish between actual and merely potential existence? Thrasymachus: It is true. Philosopher: Then S is P must be true of all predicative judgements? Thrasymachus: Certainly. Philosopher: And A is not -A? Thrasymachus: It is not. Philosopher: So that every judgment may be taken either intensively or extensively Thrasymachus: Indubitably. Philosopher: And this is through the activity of the apperceptive unity of self-consciousness, sometimes called cognition? Thrasymachus: Indisputably. Philosopher: Which arranges the phenomena of the sense-manifold in accordance with the principles of a primitive synthesis? Thrasymachus: Incontrovertibly. Philosopher: And these principles are the Categories? Thrasymachus: Yeah! Philosopher: Thus the universal is real and self-existent, and the particular only a quality of the understanding. So, in the end, your opinion is found to coincide with mine, and we agree that there is no a priori necessity for the continued existence of unperceived phenomena? Thrasymachus: No. My opinion is that you are talking a lot of balderdash and ought to be locked up. Am I not right? Philosopher: I suppose you are. It will be observed that the Socratic Method is not infallible, especially when dealing with Thrasymachus.(Humphry Francis Ellis, So This Is Science! Methuen, 1932) Example of a Socratic Dialogue: Excerpt From Gorgias Socrates: I see, from the few words which Polus has uttered, that he has attended more to the art which is called rhetoric than to dialectic. Polus: What makes you say so, Socrates? Socrates: Because, Polus, when Chaerephon asked you what was the art which Gorgias knows, you praised it as if you were answering someone who found fault with it, but you never said what the art was. Polus: Why, did I not say that it was the noblest of arts? Socrates: Yes, indeed, but that was no answer to the question: nobody asked what was the quality, but what was the nature, of the art, and by what name we were to describe Gorgias. And I would still beg you briefly and clearly, as you answered Chaerephon when he asked you at first, to say what this art is, and what we ought to call Gorgias: Or rather, Gorgias, let me turn to you, and ask the same question, what are we to call you, and what is the art which you profess? Gorgias: Rhetoric, Socrates, is my art. Socrates: Then I am to call you a rhetorician? Gorgias: Yes, Socrates, and a good one too, if you would call me that which, in Homeric language, I boast myself to be. Socrates: I should wish to do so. Gorgias: Then pray do. Socrates: And are we to say that you are able to make other men rhetoricians? Gorgias: Yes, that is exactly what I profess to make them, not only at Athens, but in all places. Socrates: And will you continue to ask and answer questions, Gorgias, as we are at present doing and reserve for another occasion the longer mode of speech which Polus was attempting? Will you keep your promise, and answer shortly the questions which are asked of you? Gorgias: Some answers, Socrates, are of necessity longer; but I will do my best to make them as short as possible; for a part of my profession is that I can be as short as any one. Socrates: That is what is wanted, Gorgias; exhibit the shorter method now, and the longer one at some other time. Gorgias: Well, I will; and you will certainly say, that you never heard a man use fewer words. Socrates: Very good then; as you profess to be a rhetorician, and a maker of rhetoricians, let me ask you, with what is rhetoric concerned: I might ask with what is weaving concerned, and you would reply (would you not?), with the making of garments? Gorgias: Yes. Socrates: And music is concerned with the composition of melodies? Gorgias: It is. Socrates: By Here, Gorgias, I admire the surpassing brevity of your answers. Gorgias: Yes, Socrates, I do think myself good at that. Socrates: I am glad to hear it; answer me in like manner about rhetoric: with what is rhetoric concerned? Gorgias: With discourse. Socrates: What sort of discourse, Gorgiassuch discourse as would teach the sick under what treatment they might get well? Gorgias: No. Socrates: Then rhetoric does not treat of all kinds of discourse? Gorgias: Certainly not. Socrates: And yet rhetoric makes men able to speak? Gorgias: Yes. Socrates: And to understand that about which they speak? Gorgias: Of course... Socrates: Come, then, and let us see what we really mean about rhetoric; for I do not know what my own meaning is as yet. When the assembly meets to elect a physician or a shipwright or any other craftsman, will the rhetorician be taken into counsel? Surely not. For at every election he ought to be chosen who is most skilled; and, again, when walls have to be built or harbours or docks to be constructed, not the rhetorician but the master workman will advise; or when generals have to be chosen and an order of battle arranged, or a proposition taken, then the military will advise and not the rhetoricians: what do you say, Gorgias? Since you profess to be a rhetorician and a maker of rhetoricians, I cannot do better than learn the nature of your art from you. And here let me assure you that I have your interest in view as well as my own. For likely enough some one or other of the young men present might desire to become your pupil, and in fact I see some, and a good many too, who have this wish, but they would be too modest to question you. And therefore when you are interrogated by me, I would have you imagine that you are interrogated by them. What is the use of coming to you, Gorgias? they will say. About what will you teach us to advise the state?about the just and unjust only, or about those other things also which Socrates has just mentioned? How will you answer them? Gorgias: I like your way of leading us on, Socrates, and I will endeavour to reveal to you the whole nature of rhetoric.(from Part One of Gorgias by Plato, c. 380 BC. Translated by Benjamin Jowett) Gorgias shows us that pure Socratic dialogue is, indeed, not possible anywhere or at any time by showing us the structural, material, and existential realities of power that disable the mutually beneficial search for truth. (Christopher Rocco, Tragedy and Enlightenment: Athenian Political Thought, and the Dilemmas of Modernity. University of California Press, 1997) The Lighter Side of Socratic Dialogues: Socrates and His Publicist, Jackie At lunch, Socrates voiced his misgivings.Should I be doing all of this? he asked. I mean, is the unexamined life even worthAre you being serious? interrupted Jackie. Do you want to be a star philosopher or do you want to go back to waiting tables?Jackie was one of the few people who really knew how to handle Socrates, usually by cutting him off and answering his questions with a question of her own. And, as always, she managed to convince Socrates that she was right and avoid being fired. Socrates listened to her, then paid for both of their lunches and went right back to work.It was shortly after that fateful lunch that the backlash began. Socratess constant questions had become intolerable to many of the Greek elite. Still, as his Publicist had promised, he had become a brand. Imitators all over Athens were now practicing the new Socratic Method. More and more young people were asking each other questions and doing it with Socratess patented smart-assy tone.A few days later, Socrat es was brought to trial and charged with corrupting the youth.(Demetri Marti, Socratess Publicist. This Is a Book. Grand Central, 2011)

June Themes and Activities for Elementary Students

June Themes and Activities for Elementary Students If youre still in the classroom when summer starts,  use these ideas for inspiration to create your own lessons and activities or use the ideas provided. Here is a list of June themes, events, and holidays with correlating activities to go with them.   Celebrate Month-Long June Themes and Events National Safety Month - Celebrate safety by teaching your students tips about fire safety, how to avoid strangers, or other safety topics. National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month - Celebrate National Fruits and Vegetable month by teaching your students about the importance of nutrition. Dairy Month - This is the time of the month when we are all reminded of the great importance of everything dairy. During this month try this milk paint recipe with your students. Great Outdoors Month - June is a special time to celebrate the great outdoors! Plan a field trip with your class and dont forget to set the rules for a successful trip! Zoo and Aquarium Month - Teach students about the zoo with a few animal crafts, and all about the aquarium by having students create an ecosystem. June Holidays and Events June 1st Donut Day - Whats a better way to celebrate Donut Day than to eat them! But, before you do that, first have students use a plastic knife to try and cut the donut into different sections to reinforce fraction skills.Flip a Coin Day - Sounds like a silly day to celebrate, but there are endless opportunities for students to learn from just flipping a coin! Students can learn probability, or you can have a coin toss challenge. The ideas are endless.Oscar the Grouchs Birthday - Kindergarten classes will love celebrating Oscar the Grouchs birthday! Celebrate by having students make birthday cards and sing Sesame Street songs.Stand for Children Day - Honor Stand for Children Day by making sure they will be college ready. June 3rd First U.S. Spacewalk - Celebrate Ed Whites spacewalk by having students participate in space-related activities.Egg Day - National Egg Day is a fun day to promote eggs. Use this day as an opportunity to teach your students the importance of eggs. Egg carton crafts would also go perfectly on World Egg Day!Repeat Day - Repeat Day can be a fun opportunity for students to review what they have learned. On this day have students repeat everything they did the day before. From wearing the same clothes to eating the same lunch, and learning the same things. June 4th Aesops Birthday - This is a day for students to discover all about Aesop by reading his famous fables.Cheese Day - Celebrate Cheese Day by having students bring in different cheese snacks and singing the Cheese song.First Ford Made - In 1896 Henry Ford made his first operational car. On this day have students discuss what life would be like if we didnt have cars. Then have students write a story about their ideas. Use an essay rubric to assess their work. June 5th First Hot Air Balloon Flight - In 1783 Montgolfier brothers were the first to take a hot air balloon flight. Celebrate the Montgolfier brothers great accomplishment by teaching students the history of balloons.National Gingerbread Day - Celebrate this yummy food by having students create gingerbread crafts.Richard Scarrys Birthday - Richard Scarry, born in 1919 is a famous author of childrens books. Celebrate this magnificent author by reading his book, The Best Christmas Book Ever.World Environment Day - Celebrate World Environment Day by learning unique ways for reusing and recycling items in your classroom. Plus, teach your students about how to take care of our earth with these activities. June 6th D-Day - Discuss the history and show pictures, as well as read some personal stories about that day.National Yo-Yo Day - Buy enough Yo-Yos for students to have a contest. The first person to keep it going the longest wins! June 7th National Chocolate Ice Cream Day - Celebrate this fun day by eating ice cream during snack time. June 8th   Frank Lloyd Wrights Birthday - Celebrate this special birthday by having students make an airplane craft.World Oceans Day - Take a field trip to your local Aquarium to celebrate this day. June 10th Judy Garlands Birthday - Judy Garland was a singer and actress who starred in the Wizard of Oz. Honor her great accomplishments by viewing the movie she was best known for.Ballpoint Pen Day - This may sound like a silly day to celebrate, but students will love being able to write with different color pens throughout the day instead of the same old boring pencil. June 12th Anne Franks Birthday - Born in 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Anne Frank was a true inspiration to all. Honor this beautiful girls heroism, by reading the book Anne Franks Story: Her Life Retold for Children.The Baseball Was Invented - What is a better way to celebrate the day the baseball was invented then by having students participate in a class baseball game! June 14th   Caldecott Medal First Awarded - In 1937 the Caldecott Medal was first awarded. Honor the winners of this award by reading your students the books that won.Flag Day - Celebrate this day with Flag Day activities. June 15th Fly a Kite Day - This is a special day to celebrate with your students because it is the anniversary of Ben Franklins Kite Experiment in 1752. Celebrate this day by making a kite with your students. June 16th Fathers Day- Every third Sunday of June we celebrate Fathers Day. On this day have students write a poem, make him a craft, or write a card and tell him how special he is. June 17th Eat Your Vegetables Day - Its important to eat healthily. On this day have students bring in a healthy snack, and discuss the importance of healthy eating and getting enough sleep. June 18th International Picnic Day - Have a class picnic to celebrate International Picnic Day! June 19th Juneteenth - A day to celebrate the commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Discuss famous women in history, and slavery statistics. June 21st First Day of Summer - If you are still in school you can celebrate the end of school with fun Summer activities.World Handshake Day - Have students describe their ideal world and draw a picture of their interpretation of World Handshake Day.United Nations Public Service Day - Help students recognize the importance of giving back by taking a field trip to your local food shelter or hospital. June 24th International Fairy Day - Have students write a fairy tale to honor this special day. June 25th Eric Carles Birthday - This beloved author should be celebrated every day. Honor Eric Carles birthday by reading some of his famous stories. June 26th Bicycle Patented - Where would our world be if we didnt have the bicycle? Use that question as a writing prompt for your students. June 27th Helen Kellers Birthday- Born in 1880, Helen Keller was deaf and blind but still seemed to accomplish a great deal. Read a collection of inspiring quotes by Helen Keller while teaching your students her back-story.Melody for Happy Birthday Song - Have students use the melody of the Happy Birthday song to re-write their own version of the famous song. June 28th Paul Bunyan Day - Celebrate this fun-loving giant lumberjack by reading the story The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan. June 29th Camera Day - On Camera Day have students take turns taking photographs of each other and turn their photos into a class book. June 30th Meteor Day - Show students how a meteor shower  actually works.

A Comparison Of Machiavelli And Hobbes Politics Essay

A Comparison Of Machiavelli And Hobbes Politics Essay Machiavelli and Hobbes were the most important political philosophers of early modernity. Politically, modernitys earliest phase starts with  Niccolà ³ Machiavellis works which openly rejected the medieval and Aristotelian style of analyzing politics by comparison ideas about how things should be, in favor of realistic analysis of how things really are. He also proposed that an aim of politics is to control one’s own chance or fortune, and that relying upon providence actually leads to evil. Machiavelli argued, for example, that violent divisions within political communities are unavoidable, but can also be a source of strength which law-makers and leaders should account for and even encourage in some ways.   [ 1 ]    Machiavelli’s recommendations were sometimes influential upon kings and princes, but eventually came to be seen as favoring free republics over monarchies. Machiavelli in turn influenced  Francis Bacon,  Marchamont Needham,  Harrington,  Jo hn Milton,  David Hume, and many others.   [ 2 ]    Important modern political doctrines which stem from the new Machiavellian realism include  Mandeville’s influential proposal that â€Å"Private Vices by the dexterous Management of a skilful Politician may be turned into Public Benefits† (the last sentence of his  Fable of the Bees), and also the doctrine of a constitutional â€Å"separation of powers† in government, first clearly proposed by  Montesquieu. Both these principles are enshrined within the  constitutions  of most  modern democracies. It has been observed that while Machiavelli’s realism saw a value to war and political violence, his lasting influence has been â€Å"tamed† so that useful conflict was deliberately converted as much as possible to formalized political struggles and the economic â€Å"conflict† encouraged between free, private enterprises.   [ 3 ]    As I said in the first paragraph of this e ssay I will start with  Thomas Hobbes, attempts were made to use the methods of the new modern physical sciences, as proposed by  Bacon  and  Descartes, applied to humanity and politics. Notable attempts to improve upon the methodological approach of Hobbes include those of  Locke,  Spinoza,  Giambattista Vico  and Rousseau.  David Hume  made what he considered to be the first proper attempt at trying to apply Bacon’s scientific method to political subjects, rejecting some aspects of the approach of Hobbes.   [ 4 ]    Modernist republicanism openly influenced the foundation of republics during the  Dutch Revolt  (1568-1609),  English Civil War  (1642-1651),  American Revolution  (1775-1783) and the  French Revolution  (1789-1799 A second phase of modernist political thinking begins with Rousseau, who questioned the natural rationality and sociality of humanity and proposed that  human nature  was much more malleable than had been pr eviously thought. By this logic, what makes a good political system or a good man is completely dependent upon the chance path whole person has taken over history. This thought influenced the political (and aesthetic) thinking of  Immanuel Kant,  Edmund Burke  and others and led to a critical review of modernist politics. On the conservative side, Burke argued that this understanding encouraged caution and avoidance of radical change. However more ambitious movements also developed from this insight into human  culture, initially  Romanticism  and  Historicism, and eventually both the  Communism  of  Karl Marx, and the modern forms of  nationalism  inspired by the  French Revolution, including, in one extreme, the German  Nazi  movement.

Psychopathology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Psychopathology - Assignment Example ce characterized by such feelings to a greater degree than seems warranted by the external circumstances, typically with lack of energy and difficulty in maintaining concentration or interest in life.† Mary’s father had an addictive personality, and was an alcoholic. He was very promiscuous and had known relationships with as many as 9 women that Mary knows of. He was given to physical and verbal abuse, which led to Mary’s mother separating from him when Mary was six years old. Mary’s mother also had an addictive personality and was abusive. After her separation, she moved to London, and the stress of providing for the children brought out her abusive side, till Mary left her house at age 17. Mary has younger siblings who she was responsible for after leaving her mother’s house. This includes brothers as well as sisters. Mary was their primary caregiver till they reached adulthood after they left their mother. Mary has felt protective and responsible towards them as she was the oldest. Mary found it difficult to have relationships as she experienced trust issues – possibly stemming from her parents dysfunctional relationship and eventual separation. She eventually met her present husband, a dentist belonging to a middle class background who convinced her that he would be loyal to her and would never leave her. They have now been married for 17 years; but their present relationship is somewhat distant. She has 2 daughters, who she has devoted all her time to. Her relationships with her daughters are not very healthy at the moment, especially since her elder daughter aged 16, found out that she was pregnant. This incidence was the triggering point that started the depressive experiences that Mary has presented with. Mary comes from a small town culture, but moved to London with her mother at an early age. The middle class notions of propriety were what forced her mother to move to London; but Mary seem to identify with them and holds her family to

Achilles Will Return After These Messages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Achilles Will Return After These Messages - Essay Example There are three traditional levels of conflict in fiction: man against the world, man against man, and man against himself. The distinguishing characteristic of soap opera is that it takes place entirely on the second level. A soap opera character may have a job or a role in society, or inner conflict, but the most important thing about them will always be their relationships with other people. A soap character might be introduced via an external event, such as a murder or a corporate merger, but they will be defined entirely by their friends, lovers, enemies, grudges, and so on. Soap operas subordinate all other concerns to personalities and interpersonal conflict. To take a recent example (SoapCentral.com) from popular daytime soap Guiding Light: â€Å"Desperate to redeem himself as a father, Alan convinced Phillip to undergo the bone marrow transplant with Alan as the donor.† The phrasing is key: this isn’t a medical drama or even about saving a life, it’s about Alan trying to redeem himself. In soap opera, the character felt it personally necessary, and no other considerations need enter. Achilles’ behavior through much of the Iliad, that is to say hiding in his tent doing nothing, is often described as that of a sulky adolescent ignoring his responsibilities out of pique. While that reading isn’t far off base, another angle would be to point out that his behavior is that of a soap opera character. Is he tired of the war, or does he have some larger problem? No, he has simply been personally affronted by Agamemnon over t he matter of Briseis, and so refuses to fight. â€Å"Truly the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon has dishonoured me: for he has taken and keeps my prize through his own arrogant act.† (Book 1, line 355) His feelings are of paramount importance, and the war can go hang. Indeed, within the context of a soap opera, the war is irrelevant. The questions of offense and personal honor are where the story lies. Of course, Achilles does return to the war in time, but why he does so is just as telling. He does not rally heroically just as the Trojans are about to overrun the Achaean positions, as would happen in a war story. He does not come to the realization that some things are more important than his hurt feelings, as might happen in the story of a personal journey. Rather, he charges back into battle when the Trojans have the temerity to kill his lover, Patroclus. To put it another way, he left the war because the Achaeans hurt his feelings, and reentered it because the Trojans hurt his feelings even worse. â€Å"†¦neither doth my own heart bid me live on and abide among men, unless Hector first, smitten by my spear, shall lose his life, and pay back the price for that he made spoil of Patroclus, son of Menoetius.† (Book 18, line 90) If this is not soap opera characterization, it is difficult to say what else it might be. The Iliad is often described as one of the founding documents of Western literature. It is certainly one of the earliest stories to have come down to us roughly intact, and its influence on other works is incalculable. To point out that it is, effectively, a soap opera is not to somehow demean the Iliad, but rather to ennoble the concept of a soap opera. I find it hard, today, to read the Iliad and not think at

Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports - Essay Example The drama of performance on world scene is so overpowering that athletes sometime fall in the controversy of doping (use of performance enhancing drugs) in sports. A winning athlete is the star of the public eye just as a politician, musician or a literary figure and their image is a delicate balance training, character and publicity. When athlete resorts to taking performance enhancing drugs, they not only hurt themselves but in turn set in motion a chain of events that destroys the sport each time a new case surfaces. The controversy which has been built around athletic doping or use of performance enhancing drug to maximize sport performance can be traced back to 490 BC in the legendary marathon run by Feidipides, which made him a superhero at the cost of his life (Savulescu, et al. 2004). Performance enhancing drugs has been reported to be used even since the Greeks started the Olympics in 776 BC. Olympic athletes were believed to have used herbs and mushrooms in an attempt to improve their performance. However, it was not until the early 19th century that the problem became a menace to the sport. Today, the thrust for winning is so high that there are reports that performance-enhancing drugs have been used in college, high school and junior high/middle school athletics around the world (Kidsource OnLine, 1996). The desire to outperform the other competitors at any cost is so demanding. The performance oriented athletics with result at its core is fuelled by different levels of drugs which enhance shot-term and long-term performance. The progress in technology offers greater lure to administering different levels of biological intervention. ... The progress in technology offers greater lure to administering different levels of biological intervention. The health and the fitness should be the core of rational judgment rather than emotional euphoria of success. The use of doping takes away the human element of ethics and honesty in sports. An athlete stoops down to the level of an animal with no reason, choice or judgment. Some of the performance-enhancing drugs are dangerous; they have multitude physical, mental and emotional side effects ranging from short-term to long-term. Anabolic steroids are associated are associated with a range of side effects, including heart attacks and liver cancer. Some doping substances are permitted in low doses like alcohol and caffeine. Another form of doping is blood doping either by blood transfusion or use of the hormone erythropoietin. In recent times tetrahydrogestrinone(THG) and modafinil are causing controversy throughout the sporting world. The number and variety of drugs use by athletes are rather alarming. Substances used as ergogenic aids are meant to primarily increase size, endurance and strength of the athletes. Performance increasing drugs also include beta-adrenoceptor blockers and beta-adre noceptor agonists, calcium-channel blockers, diuretics, growth hormone and growth hormone stimulants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, iron, theophylline and in some situations, vitamins (Lajis, N.D.). These substances used to boost athletic performance, increase strength and improve appearance present a serious health risk. Use of enhancement drugs violates athlete's autonomy. Besides, such illegal acts questions their confidence, morals, ethics and takes away

The Economics of Airlines and airport Case Study

The Economics of Airlines and airport - Case Study Example It was approved by the Government on the basis of figures that were provided by Oxford Economic Forecasting in two reports commissioned by the aviation industry, and which projected economic benefit to the UK of 5 billion pounds over a period of 70 years (BBC report). The benefits from the use of all existing runways before expansion was estimated to be 6.7 billion pounds, with costs being 1.9 billion pounds and net benefits being 4.9 billion pounds.(Dept of T, 2003). Estimated investments made into Heathrow were 3599 million in the last ten years, with projected investments over the next ten years being 6398 million, with a net economic contribution of 5 billion pounds to the economy(www.heathrowairport.com). In the graph above, Series 1 represents the total benefits of the construction, Series 2 represents the costs associated with the construction, while Series 3 represents the new benefits of the construction. The Government finally commissioned one new terminal at Heathrow airport, which has just become functional and this expansion was justified on the basis of the projected gains of 5 billion pounds. ... Estimated investments made into Heathrow were 3599 million in the last ten years, with projected investments over the next ten years being 6398 million, with a net economic contribution of 5 billion pounds to the economy(www.heathrowairport.com). However, with the expansion of Heathrow airport to include one additional terminal, the economic benefits were projected as follows: (Source: DT, 2003). In the graph above, Series 1 represents the total benefits of the construction, Series 2 represents the costs associated with the construction, while Series 3 represents the new benefits of the construction. The Government finally commissioned one new terminal at Heathrow airport, which has just become functional and this expansion was justified on the basis of the projected gains of 5 billion pounds. The arguments that have been advanced suggest that an expansion of Heathrow through the additional terminal will contribute to better management of passenger traffic and provide effective transportation with other European airports, which are emerging as attractive destinations (www.stopheathrowexpansion.com). But a Report on the Heathrow expansion questions whether it is really necessary and concludes that the competitiveness of the airport will not necessarily be impacted negatively without it (www.stopheathrowexpansion.com). Social and Environmental aspects The Department of Transport in 2000, produced forecasts for air traffic and according to this, there are likely to be 400 million passengers per

Www.ideo.com and www.kickstarter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Www.ideo.com and www.kickstarter - Essay Example Kickstarter.com has a terrific vision making dreams into realities. Projects, creative ideas and other dream endeavors become reality with the funding that could be provided by kickstarter.com. Looking closely at the reviews for kickstarter.com, the website both has good and negative reviews. For the good reviews, the website was able to materialize projects would not have left the trestle board if it was not funded through kickboard. One of the projects was the Dewey Mac, Kid Detective Book which is a make DIY (do it yourself) and STEM Spy Gadget (Carroll). The idea was to make children experiment from STEM (Science, Technology and Math) experiences to be able to play the game. The participant would be building real working toys such as foxhole radio and glass ear from materials that could be readily found at home. In the process, it strengthens the STEM skills of children while having fun. The kit received various awards which could not have been possible without kickstarter.comâ⠂¬â„¢s help. Another project that materialized through kickstarter.com was the â€Å"Foodie Dice: Play with your food† project (Tumbleweeds). The idea was to inspire cooking combinations from the dice by merely rolling them. It is composed of 5 primary dice and 4 seasonal veggie dice that could produce creative concoctions by merely rolling them. The project receive $86,371 pledges and 2,333 backers (Tumbleweeds). III. Conclusion There are also some negative reviews about kickstarter.com such as non-notification of projects that it dropped that confuses the creators (sitejabber.com). But comparing these operational glitches to the benefit that kickstarter.com does to creative people, it is negligible. People in general are still grateful to the help that kickstarter.com extends to the creative. In sum, kickstarter.com serves as a bridge between people who have great ideas who does not have the resources to materialize it and those people who have resources who would like to h elp creative to materialize their ideas. Part II I. Title: www.ideo.com II. Introduction Ideo.com also deals with creative ideas just like kickstarter.com except that it does not look for fund those ideas into reality but rather help its customers to tap on their latent creativity to realize their creativity. Ideo is a design and innovation consultancy company founded in Palo Alto, California in 1991 by David Kelley, a Stanford Professor, Moggridge Associates, Matrix Design and Steelcase. Its current CEO is Tim Brown. It offers its consultancy services to its clients to help them design their products. Among the products connected with Ideo are futuristic PDS, sports watches and media panel (ideo.com). They call it â€Å"creative confidence† or design thinking where people discover their inherent creativity and transform them into a positive force in an organization (ideo.com). Compared to kickstarter.com where they look funding to help creative ideas materialize, ideo.com br ings out the creativity of people by actively engaging with their customers in the design of their products. III. Body Ideo.com can be classified as a cutting edge company in terms of design. Many of the known brands and popular products that we are using right now are in fact designed by the company. Among these companies are Samsung and British Airways. They collaborate with its customers and help them come up with a design and innovation that is consistent with the brand of their customers. IDEO integrate the needs of people, the possibility of technology and the requirement of business success as its approach to industrial design. It helps its customers

Interpretation and criticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interpretation and criticism - Essay Example At the time when Sontag wrote this, pop art was very popular, which had room only for experience, but hardly much for interpretation. This was also a fall-out of the fact that art critics just before this time were very eager to categorize every work of art into certain theories and pre-conceived notions, which made way for a very forced manner of looking at things. It is also true that music needs to be analyzed in order to be learned, and this involves the dissection of their beloved medium for music lovers who also yearn to master it. But after one has absorbed the technicalities of music, they become a sort of second nature, and do not hinder the love and appreciations of the art form. In fact, when one is aware of how exactly the music is made, the enjoyment becomes keener. It is just a matter of going through the difficult transitional learning phase without losing interest or ardor. From our discussion here it is clear that analysis and interpretation are necessary in order to appreciate and gain an understanding of art. But it is important to do this while keeping fresh the immediate experience that art provides, so as to fully enjoy it and not impose any meanings that even the artist may not have intended in the first place. Athol

Www.ideo.com and www.kickstarter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Www.ideo.com and www.kickstarter - Essay Example Kickstarter.com has a terrific vision making dreams into realities. Projects, creative ideas and other dream endeavors become reality with the funding that could be provided by kickstarter.com. Looking closely at the reviews for kickstarter.com, the website both has good and negative reviews. For the good reviews, the website was able to materialize projects would not have left the trestle board if it was not funded through kickboard. One of the projects was the Dewey Mac, Kid Detective Book which is a make DIY (do it yourself) and STEM Spy Gadget (Carroll). The idea was to make children experiment from STEM (Science, Technology and Math) experiences to be able to play the game. The participant would be building real working toys such as foxhole radio and glass ear from materials that could be readily found at home. In the process, it strengthens the STEM skills of children while having fun. The kit received various awards which could not have been possible without kickstarter.comâ⠂¬â„¢s help. Another project that materialized through kickstarter.com was the â€Å"Foodie Dice: Play with your food† project (Tumbleweeds). The idea was to inspire cooking combinations from the dice by merely rolling them. It is composed of 5 primary dice and 4 seasonal veggie dice that could produce creative concoctions by merely rolling them. The project receive $86,371 pledges and 2,333 backers (Tumbleweeds). III. Conclusion There are also some negative reviews about kickstarter.com such as non-notification of projects that it dropped that confuses the creators (sitejabber.com). But comparing these operational glitches to the benefit that kickstarter.com does to creative people, it is negligible. People in general are still grateful to the help that kickstarter.com extends to the creative. In sum, kickstarter.com serves as a bridge between people who have great ideas who does not have the resources to materialize it and those people who have resources who would like to h elp creative to materialize their ideas. Part II I. Title: www.ideo.com II. Introduction Ideo.com also deals with creative ideas just like kickstarter.com except that it does not look for fund those ideas into reality but rather help its customers to tap on their latent creativity to realize their creativity. Ideo is a design and innovation consultancy company founded in Palo Alto, California in 1991 by David Kelley, a Stanford Professor, Moggridge Associates, Matrix Design and Steelcase. Its current CEO is Tim Brown. It offers its consultancy services to its clients to help them design their products. Among the products connected with Ideo are futuristic PDS, sports watches and media panel (ideo.com). They call it â€Å"creative confidence† or design thinking where people discover their inherent creativity and transform them into a positive force in an organization (ideo.com). Compared to kickstarter.com where they look funding to help creative ideas materialize, ideo.com br ings out the creativity of people by actively engaging with their customers in the design of their products. III. Body Ideo.com can be classified as a cutting edge company in terms of design. Many of the known brands and popular products that we are using right now are in fact designed by the company. Among these companies are Samsung and British Airways. They collaborate with its customers and help them come up with a design and innovation that is consistent with the brand of their customers. IDEO integrate the needs of people, the possibility of technology and the requirement of business success as its approach to industrial design. It helps its customers

The Stanford Prison Study and Obedience of the Masses Essay Example for Free

The Stanford Prison Study and Obedience of the Masses Essay The Stanford Prison Study conducted by Philip Zimbardo during the early 1970s showed the power of institutions to subject the masses to their own designs, despite the fact that institutions are generally represented by fewer people than the numbers constituting the masses.   Nevertheless, the study has been harshly criticized because it exposed its subjects to torture.   Seeing that scientific studies are essentially designed to benefit humanity at large, the fact that the prison guards inflicted torture upon the prisoners is despicable in the eyes of the scientific community.    The research should have been stopped at the first instance of torture.   However, conditions continued to worsen at the experimental prison created by Zimbardo (Macionis, 2005).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though the findings of the Stanford Prison Study are valuable in understanding human behavior, the study had been poorly designed because it did not exclude sadism as well as humiliation of the participants.   Nowadays, there are activists working against animal torture in scientific experiments.   But, the Stanford Prison Study included only humans in its design. The study is also criticized because its pool of participants was small.   What is more, Zimbardo had instructed the false prison guards to instill a sense of fear and powerlessness in the participants.   The prison guards were further instructed to work on stripping the participants off their individuality (â€Å"Stanford Prison,† 2007).   It is but obvious that an experimental design that does not control for sadism and dehumanization is unethical at best.   Besides, a scientific experiment that seeks to instill fear in the participants is comparable to terrorist acts in our times!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Despite its careless design, the Stanford Prison Study has provided humanity with a helpful message against torture, in addition to blind obedience to authority.   In a situation where obedience is demanded of the common people, and those demanding obedience are assumed to be powerful enough to inflict torture if their demands are not met; the common people normally have no choice but to obey.   In the process, the latter may lose their peace of mind, and some might even have to bear the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder for as long as they live.   All the same, the entire world bears witness to the truth of subjection and obedience.   At all places in the world, the Stanford Prison situation has occurred in one form or another.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While countless prisons around the world bear testimony to the fact that prisoners can be emotionally traumatized and jailers can be extremely cruel, a basic example of the situation could be witnessed in abusive homes, where family members must subject themselves to an abusive father or mother for the simple fact that the latter appears as powerful enough to inflict torture.   People are also known to subject themselves to cruel circumstances that are often created by bad governments and politics around the world. It is certain that most of the people of Israel and Palestine, for instance, do not wish to engage in war.   However, the factions that fight amongst themselves are powerful enough to inflict torture.   Hence, the common people feel traumatized and impotent enough to allow the painful situation to persist.   Despite the fact that the common people wish for peace, and are greater in number, the groups that invade their peace carry arms which give them a very powerful image.   This image is scary enough to make common people extremely obedient.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a matter of fact, the Stanford Prison situation is not unique by any means.   People subject themselves to powerful images at all times. Even so, the power of the Stanford Prison Study is the realization that human beings do not have to believe in images of power and subject themselves to torture.   This realization can be strengthened by modern-day conception of quantum reality – that is, we are not certain that the powerful images are real.   Indeed, it is possible for people to help themselves out of torturous situations. References Macionis, John J. (2005). Sociology. (Tenth Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Prentice Hall. Stanford Prison Study. (2007). Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment.

The Disavantages Of Education

The Disavantages Of Education Educational disadvantage refers to situation where some individuals derive less benefit from education system than their peers. The Education Act 1998 defines educational disadvantage as impediments to education arising from social or economic disadvantage which prevent students from deriving appropriate benefit from education in schools. Educational disadvantage is demonstrated in many ways, most often in poor levels of participation and achievement in formal education system. (Matheson, 2000, 7) Many fundamental changes that have occurred within British economy, have called for structural changes to be made to education system. These include 1944 Education Act, which made secondary education compulsory, and introduced tri-partite system of schooling, as well as introduction of National Curriculum in 1988. Although These measures appear to have brought about à Ã‚ ° rise in overall attainment levels and made an impact on social gap in schools and wider society, official statistics and sociological research indicates that class-based inequalities in educational attainment have shown no tendency to decline (Phillips, 2001). In face of this remarkable resilience of class inequalities, educational reforms seem powerless (Health, 1989, quoted in Bilton, 1996, p359). Equal Opportunities Education should provide equal opportunities for all pupils to reach Their fullest potential, regardless of Their race, gender, ethnicity, class, or ability. However, Social class continues be one of main causes of educational disadvantage in schools and in society. The Liberal Democrats spokesman Paul Willis claims that, when it comes to educational achievement social class is still strongest indicator of success (http//education.co.uk/schools/story/html). For example, in 1993 over 70% of children whos parents were from professional backgrounds obtained 5+ GCSEs passes at grade A C, whereas only à Ã‚ ° mere 14% of children of working class parents obtained 5+ GCSE passes (http//education.co.uk/schools/story/html). However, contrary to this, not all pupils from working class backgrounds are educationally disadvantaged, some do just as well as children from middle class backgrounds if not better. In this respect, one could argue that education can also be seen as à Ã‚ ° pathway f or upward mobility and à Ã‚ ° means of reducing structural inequalities in society. So what is role and function of education? Section 1 -Educational Disadvantage One perspective is that of functionalists, They have often viewed education system as offering opportunities for mobility of individuals. However, conflict ories have, by and large, argued that role of education is to maintain à Ã‚ ° system of structured inequalities (Bilton, 1996). Despite fact that current education system is seen by many politicians and functionalists as being à Ã‚ ° means of combating or even reducing inequalities within society, many children who are born into working class homes still fail to achieve educationally as well as middle or upper class children. In à Ã‚ ° recent article published by The Observer Newspaper, it was found that in todays society à Ã‚ ° bright child born into à Ã‚ ° poor working class family, will do worse at school than à Ã‚ ° child with low intelligence but rich middle class parents (article from The Observer, Bright, 2002). According to this perspective, one could argue that education system acts as an agency of selection within society and determines type of schooling received, and hence ones future position in society. This type of socialisation is achieved by means of Hidden Curriculum, serving to control level of social mobility from one generation to next. Sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, claims that role of education is to hand on cultural values and behaviour patterns of society to its young (Bilton, 1996). Many aspects of hidden curriculum can be seen as being embodied in social system of School and These reflect interests of society as à Ã‚ ° whole. It is believed that Schools and Teachers unintentionally treat and label children differently according to Their ability or social background (Kyriacou, C. 1997). This can be seen as having à Ã‚ ° powerful influence on way in which pupils see mselves and consequently what They learn. Thereby Teachers perception of à Ã‚ ° pupils ability strongly a ffects how that pupil progresses (http://www.harland64.freeserve.co.uk). Another manner in which schools reinforce social inequalities, thus disadvantaging working class pupils, is through system of streaming pupils into different ability groups. Sociologists Lacey and Hargreves studied effects of streaming in schools and found that children from working class backgrounds were more likely to be placed in lower ability streams (Bilton, 1996). This form of streaming of pupils can be seen as mirroring hierarchical social class divisions in society, allocating people to different positions within economic system. Therefore it could be argued that aspects of hidden curriculum, such as teachers perception and streaming of pupils can all be seen as à Ã‚ ° powerful means of social control. I would argue that it is consequently important, if not imperative, that teachers and schools have high expectations of Their pupils and do not limit horizon of any child. Even though Education should provide à Ã‚ ° pathway out of poverty and disadvantage, too many children are failing to take advantage of opportunities available to Them. Evidence of this can be found in statistics that demonstrate that early leaving is worst among socially disadvantaged, which in turn becomes à Ã‚ ° primary source of social disadvantage in future. For example Halsey, Health and Ridges (1980) study Origins and Destinations found that those from higher social backgrounds were much more likely to stay in education past minimum leaving age, than those from working class backgrounds (Halsey, Health and Ridge in Bilton, 1996). As à Ã‚ ° result They are not getting education or skills They need for adult life. However for those who do stay on in education, class-based inequality continues to disadvantage Them, higher They move up educational ladder. Estelle Morris quoted in Observer (2002), in relation to class based inequalities within schooling system stated It gets worse as you go through school. (Estelle Morris quoted in Observer, 2002). However, Bowles and Gintis (1976), argue that inequality and disadvantage faced by working class pupils in school correspond to disadvantage They will face in world of work in à Ã‚ ° capitalist society, workings of school system being seen to be tied to and reflecting workings of capitalism. Bowles and Gintis argue, that experience of schooling differs according to level, and that These differences are related to particular point of entry into labour force for which They prepare (Ball, 1986, p 39). They go on to explain that variations in social relationships and social structures are in turn related to social class of students, supporting Their position with historical and statistical data to demonstrate that social background of pupils is primary determinant of Their attainment at school (Ball, 1986, p 40). Clearly Then schools could be said to be preparing pupils for Their future class based role and function within society. The Governments Education White Paper states that social class gap amongst those entering university remains too wide, accordingly government states that Their priority is to reach out and include those from groups that have been under-represented in higher education, These including young people from semi-skilled or unskilled family backgrounds and certain minority ethnic groups. Although government strategies such as Education Bursaries and Sure Start are specifically aimed at lifting educational achievement of disadvantaged, one could argue that o r polices seem to work against These policies and initiatives. For example recent introduction of top up tuition fees for universities will only serve to extend exclusion of working class pupils. The fear now is that if university costs rise any more, They will deter all but wealthiest students (Bright, 2002). This argument is pursued by cultural deprivation ory, stating that those at bottom of classroom are deprived or deficient in certain values, attitudes and skills essential for educational success and its affects are cumulative. However it does face considerable criticisms as people question whe r values and attitudes of different classes are actually that different. For example Rutter M and Madge N in cycles of disadvantage (1976) argue that although children from poor backgrounds were more likely to underachieve at schools, cycles of disadvantage do not exist. Bourdieu P (1977) takes à Ã‚ ° Marxist view and has developed his own distinctive cultural explanation for achievement and suggests that There is an element of cultural capital in society. Thus higher à Ã‚ ° persons position in class system, greater amount of dominant culture They are likely to have. Culture is regarded generally as superior as those at top define it as such. Thus it becomes highly sought after and highly valued and consequently it forms basis of educational system. Thus because middle class culture is closer to that of school culture They refore are more likely to succeed. Evidence of this has already been discussed through Bernsteins studies. One theory suggests that chief reason why à Ã‚ ° students family life affects his/her education is based on size of family. More specifically, it suggests that those coming from à Ã‚ ° family with fewer children perform better academically than those coming from à Ã‚ ° family with many children. One main reason for this is attributed to dilution of familial resources available to children in large families and à Ã‚ ° concentration of such resources in small ones (Blake 11). For example, in families with many children parents have less time, less emotional and physical energy, less attention to give, and less ability to interact with children as individuals (Blake 11). Another reason that attention may be diluted is because of many siblings. Often mother is pregnant or recovering from pregnancy, which lessens her ability to care for children. In addition, money is also often diluted. Blake says of that: This type of dilution involves not only parents treatment of individual childrenability to provide personal living space, cultural advantages such as travel, specialized instruction such as music lessons, specialized medical or dental care, as well as continuous and advanced schoolingbut, as well, to provide settings advantages of which are not divisible: living in à Ã‚ ° desirable neighborhood, or having à Ã‚ ° wide range of excellent reading material or recorded music in house. (11) This suggests that children coming from à Ã‚ ° poor background are already at an educational disadvantage, possibly even before any formal schooling occurs. Travel enables à Ã‚ ° child to become à Ã‚ ° more cosmopolitan person and teaches children about different cultures of world. Music teaches dedication and helps with memorization skills. Other problems are associated with large families as well. A study by Lori Heise and Jane Roberts showed that children from large families dont interact with others outside family group as much as those in à Ã‚ ° smaller family, which can limit their understanding of certain social roles (Blake 11). It also places them at à Ã‚ ° disadvantage in school, where they make not have many friends or feel left out. This can lead to poor grades. This is so because child may become depressed and find it hard to focus on schoolwork. Without friends to greet them, many times child chooses not to even go to school. In addition, in families where lots of children are around, intellectual level may be more childlike, so kids arent exposed to adult conversation, vocabulary, and interests (Blake 11). The children spend most of their time playing with other children. In à Ã‚ ° family with one or few children, child often has no other choice than to play with their parent/s. Similarly, older siblings may often baby-sit or be treated as adult figure, meaning that parents are not as involved. The older children are often expected to help take care of his or her brothers or sisters. The parents are not home as often when à Ã‚ ° babysitter is available. Having à Ã‚ ° large family can also lead to financial burden and in turn à Ã‚ ° burden on childs academic success. It is often thought that income does not affect ones education until college; after all, education until that point is free. Studies have shown otherwise. It was found that only-child boys were twice as likely to graduate from high school as boys from families of seven or more, and same holds true for girls (Blake 41). Of graduates, there is again à Ã‚ ° large gap between two groups for college attendance (meaning that children without siblings are much more likely to attend college than those from large families). However, distinction is not as large as in high school graduation rates. Once in college, family size has à Ã‚ ° relatively small effect on number of years of college schooling à Ã‚ ° student receives (Blake 45). This indicates that higher level of schooling, less family size is influential. Blake suggests that this is due to many from large families who drop out of school and who are retained multiple times (Blake 45). Section 2 Schools Efforts The influence of what happens in school is also à Ã‚ ° major factor. For example bullying, pressure of exams and more commonly just plain boredom. School truancy is one of most common outcomes of bullying. Bullied children prefer to risk getting caught out of school than to get caught by bullies. One research study reports that one third of girls and one quarter of boys described being afraid of going to school at some time because of bullying (Balding, Young people in 1995, 1996). Bullying is very often due to racism, which in general terms consists of conduct or words or practices which disadvantage or advantage people because of Their colour, culture or ethnic origin (The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry). As we have seen, There are many reasons and causes for truancy and unfortunately, several cases of persistent truancy result in exclusion from school. A department for education report showed that permanent exclusion represents 0.4% of primary school pupils, 0.34% for secondary and 0.54% for special needs schools. OFSTED research highlights poor acquisition of basic skills, particularly literacy, limited aspirations and opportunities, poverty and poor relationships with pupils, parents and teachers. Excluded pupils generally experience considerable disadvantage with high levels of family stress, including unemployment, low income and family disruption. Most excluded pupils are white, male, young teenagers but à Ã‚ ° number of groups are disproportionately likely to be excluded. Children with special needs are 6 times more likely than o rs to be excluded (Dfee, Permanent exclusions from schools). Children in care are 10 times more likely to be excluded according to à Ã‚ ° National Foster Care report (National Foster Care Association). Perhaps as may as 30% of children in care are out of mainstream education (Sinclair et al). Students from lower-income families suffer other disadvantages as well. Economic hardship and stress have been known to affect relationship between parent and child. In addition, if socioeconomic status of student is low, amount of parental support, control, and consistency is often low as well. A study by Saucier and Ambert revealed, Adolescents from intact families have been found to be more optimistic about future than those from homes in which there has been à Ã‚ ° separation, divorce, or parental death (Brantlinger 154). The amount of parental involvement with education was also found to vary with income. Most students studied claim that their parents attended conferences and activities in elementary school, but there became à Ã‚ ° gap during junior high and high school. High-income students say their parents still attended, while low-income students parents did not. Additionally, high-income adolescents parents were much more likely to receive help with schoolwork, such as editing written assignments, than were low-income parents. This could be à Ã‚ ° result of education parents had received. After all, low-income parents had often dropped out of school prior to graduation, while high-income parents had high-levels of educational attainment (Brantlinger 156). A study by Carlos Torres and Theodore Mitchell showed that powerful more affluent parents played à Ã‚ ° significant role in maintaining à Ã‚ ° hierarchical track structure for their child. These parents ensured that their children did w ell in school. This was made achievable possibly through extra help, tutoring, and increasing pressure placed on child to do well (163). Family size and parenting techniques can be related to wealth differences. For example, smaller family, higher proportion of income can be spent on child(ren). Those with better parenting techniques also have à Ã‚ ° higher economic standing than other parents. Better parenting methods can be linked to parents having received à Ã‚ ° higher education. In turn, they often have more money. While it was found that family size and parenting techniques affect ones education, it is merely because of wealth. For example, it is not actual number of people in family, but amount of money family has because of number of members. Economics are key factor as to why ones family life affects ones education, and its à Ã‚ ° cycle. Children often grow up to be in same economic class as family he came from. Therefore, if à Ã‚ ° parent didnt attend college, student is less likely to (Shumow 37). So what can we do about this problem? How can we give economically disadvantaged children à Ã‚ ° good education? There are several options: For one state funding for poorer schools could be increased. Also, if poor communities applied for grants, they could use them to fund their schools. There are also programs out there to help poor schools. The SETA Head Start Program and Equity in Education Project were developed for purpose of improving lives of low-income children by providing quality, comprehensive, child development services that are family focused, including education, health, nutrition, and mental health (Head Start Home Page Screen 1.) By getting communities involved and educated about programs such as these it is very possible to prevent educational disadvantages like coming from à Ã‚ ° low-income household or neighborhood. No matter how many elected school officials declare that poverty is not an excuse for poor school performance, fact remains that children in poverty do not achieve well in school. In à Ã‚ ° study by Abt Associates, researchers examined performance of children in high- and low-poverty schools. High-poverty schools were defined as those with 76% or more of student body eligible for free or reduced-price lunches; low-poverty schools had 20% or less of student body eligible for federally subsidized lunches. The researchers first divided students into categories A, B, C, or Ddepending on what grade they commonly took home on their report cards. Then they looked at performance on achievement tests. Students in low-poverty schools who got As on their report cards scored as one would expect: 87th percentile in math, 81st in reading. Students in high-poverty schools who got As scored higher than their classmates who got lower grades, but they attained only 36th percentile in reading and 35t h in math (Cirasulo 44). One can only imagine sledgehammer that will hit these students when they have to compete with students from more affluent schools.National targets to reduce level of exclusions are all very well, but this will not work unless schools are given resources and support They need to tackle growing number of pupils who ruin education of Their fellow students. Section 3 Analysis Several scholars (Pring (1996), Hamilton (1996), Elliot (1996), White and Barber (1997)) have been critical of research in IS, and responses have provided researchers SE (Sammons et al, 1996; Mortimore and Sammons, 1997, Mortimore and Whitty, 1997). The criticism has focused on three main issues. The first is that IS research has claimed too much for their conclusions, and this is a view with which we have any sympathy and I return. The second charge is that it inevitably focuses on the limited cognitive learning outcomes and ignores the many other aspects that are important. With this view we have little sympathy. We do not understand the nature of current research that relates below. The third charge against SE research is that it has helped in the process of governmental centralization and control of education and professional education. Both agree and disagree with this! We disagree because they do not accept that SE researchers as a group have consciously supported such government actions, but would be willing to admit that some people involved in the SE may be guilty. However, we agree that the government and parastatals have cherry picked what is to be used to help legitimize their policies. There is no shortage of particular examples. Many threads of research have been quoted out of context For example, work on reading Ofsted (Ofsted, 1996) has tried to justify some questionable investigation by appealing to aspects of the literature (Mortimore and Goldstein, 1996) and the report task force produced for literacy Labour Party tried to justify his comparisons between primary schools by references questionable consumption settings (Goldstein, 1997). Some causes of minorities not being able to achieve same educational level as White Americans is because they have many obstacles in front of them. Some obstacles include not being able to speak language properly, desegregation, and discrimination. Some minorities start off only speaking their native language. So when they come to states they automatically have to face obstacle of learning native language, which is English. It is very difficult for those children whose parents do not have to learn English. When children come home from school they dont get to practice what they learned because they have to speak their native language to communicate with their parents. It is much easier for those whose parents are learning language because they can practice together and help each other out. Another barrier minorities have to cross is desegregation. They are automatically desegregated because they dont have same education level as average white American. Most of them immigrated here wit h no schooling what so ever. So when they arrive they not only have to learn language but start from scratch. Because they have no schooling behind them they are considered educationally handicapped and placed in à Ã‚ ° different class to start learning language and basics. Also then they are not expected to do as well as average white American because teachers show pity for their hardship. So when they dont do so well on à Ã‚ ° test teacher is not as tough on them as they would be on an average student because they are considered educationally handicapped. Another factor they face is discrimination. Most average Americans do not believe that minorities are as smart as they are so they put them down. Minorities are easy targets so white Americans take advantage of situation. Most minorities have problems speaking language so they dont feel comfortable making friends. Then it only makes it harder when they are made fun of or put down. They loose their confidence and tend to give up. There still is à Ã‚ ° lot of concern because minority enrollment percentages still lag behind that of white-students in American colleges, report concludes. While nearly 42 percent of white high school graduates attend college in 1993, only 33 percent of African-American high school graduates and 36 percent of Hispanics enrolled. And 82 percent of minorities go to public universities, and compared with 63 percent of white students. The gap in college participation between whites and minorities is cause for continuing concern, says Robert Atwell, president of ACE. We have à Ã‚ ° long way to go before we can claim to have achieved equality of educational opportunity and achievement. In conclusion, it is not easy to define social class in itself, as it is à Ã‚ ° many-stranded notion and in modern society people do not always easily fit into social class categories. There are many factors that account for educational disadvantage, one of which is clearly Social Class. However, it also important to be aware that it is but one factor that influences educational achievement, as social class is also à Ã‚ ° contributory factor to o r forms of inequality, which may also impact upon educational attainment of children. That said, it is clear that social divisions in society do in fact mirror educational disadvantage, its existence being defined for à Ã‚ ° variety of reasons, based upon oretical standpoint of commenter. Similarly, the earliest study of Mortimore et al (1988) in primary schools, twelve key characteristics of effective schools were illustrated: 1. Purposeful leadership of the staff by the head-teacher 2. The involvement of the deputy head-teacher 3. The involvement of teachers 4. Consistency among teachers 5. Structured lessons 6. Intellectually challenging teaching 7. Work-centered environment 8. Limited focus within sessions 9. Maximum communication between teachers and students 10. Record keeping 11. Parental involvement 12. Positive climate The knowledge and experience of schooling in society seems to reinforce à Ã‚ ° particular view of world, which in turn serves interests of particular groups in society. Never less, Education system appears to be key to counteracting inequality, despite present education system having quite opposite effect. The discussion within this paper would suggest that education system continues vicious cycle of disadvantage and social exclusion between generations. What is clear is that Education should not be seen in à Ã‚ ° vacuum, it visibly reflects society in which child lives, learns, plays and will later grow to work. Conclusion The problem with minority and their education is à Ã‚ ° huge problem in today society. There are different aspects of problems in educational system that needs work. I believe there are many solutions to this problem. First, schools need to be all equally funded. Some school districts receive more money then others and they need to receive same so that they can have proper funding for teachers and necessary equipment. They need to provide grants to institutions of higher education, either directly or through area wide planning organizations or States, for purpose of providing assistance to economically disadvantaged and minority students who participate in community development work-study programs and are enrolled in full-time graduate programs in community and economic development, community planning or community management. Another solution that could help this problem is to have fund razors among each minority so they can go ahead and help there own heritage. They can help them with such things as scholarships or helpful things such as educational programs and places they can go to broaden their horizons. They can have communities that help out there children with hardest things to cope with in united states especially coming from à Ã‚ ° different country that will tell them how to prepare to live in united states and get ahead in life. Education is very important and it will get you à Ã‚ ° lot of what you want and as bible says Moses was educated in all wisdom of Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action