Evalue my diet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evalue my diet - Essay Example On the other hand, weaknesses of my diet can be observed in the failure to consume adequate amounts of certain crucial components of any diet. This is evident in the low intake of vegetables, which falls below average by not consuming starchy vegetables, which are required for good health, while at the same failing to stick to healthy eating in a consistent manner. This is evidenced by lack of admission to taking three meals a day, which are only taken occasionally and not frequently, while the meals that are taken are taken until I am full. This is a grave admission of a poor diet meaning that I fail to observe healthy eating habits and the failure to eat slowly shows lack of dedication to healthy eating no matter how nutritious a meal is. In addition, the bad habits of my diet are also displayed by the lack of a limiting factor in eating as a form of eliminating stress or as a way of coping with stress. Though done sometimes, eating mindlessly in response to stress portrays a form of irresponsibility in my diet, as it creates a discrepancy in healthy eating. I believe that improvements to my diet could be done through the inclusion of plenty of juice in my diet, reducing sweetened drinks, especially in the juices and other drinks. The drinks also need to be of low caloric value, which implies low sugar drinks and beverages, while making sure that they are low fat as they are as important as water is by having zero calories. Furthermore, in relation to solid meals, there is need to rid my diet of fried foods as such as fries, which are high in calories, while consuming high sugar and fat foods on rare occasions if at all there is need or craving for them. My diet can further be improved through the application of nutrients that are rarely consumed such as dark green vegetables, starchy, red, and orange vegetables that I do not consume on a regular basis. This is because it is not done in a weekly basis that is worth to be considered as appropriate as can also be seen with other crucial nutrients such as vitamin A, D and E. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, I will require making a number of changes in my diet, and these lie especially in relation to calorie intake, which translate to the first modification being the elimination of fried foods and high fat snacks from my diet. With this in mind, it is bound to reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering the amount of fat in the diet and, as a result in the body. In addition, high sugar snacks need to be eliminated or consumed on rare occasions and not sometimes, to eliminate the risk of being obese as these sugary foods contribute to obesity. To meet the recommendations there is need to include high fiber foods to cater for the high sugar diet, while water would serve as the perfect replacement for high sugar snacks and other high calorie and fried foods. In my current lifestyle, there are potential barriers that need to be overcome in order to ge t the recommended dietary measures and conduct. These include the need to allocate more time to my eating so that I do not have to eat in a hurry, the same way that there will be more time in order to have all three meals. This is because, with my current lifest

Small Non-profit Budgeting Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Small Non-profit Budgeting - Coursework Example The goals and priorities are outlined in the strategic plan. The organization then determines the amount of money that will be needed fulfill the set goals and priorities, and this data is replicated in the annual operating budget. A budget that is well planned focuses mainly on the primary goals as it provides financial adaptability that is a key ingredient for maximizing sustainability. This paper explores the ways of creating a budget for a small non-profit organization and the expenditures that the money is needed for. Budgeting is a process. You have to use the facts that you know to be true, make sensible assumptions concerning the future and project ahead on what will be coming in the form of revenues and what will be rolling out of the organization in the form of expenses. These financial estimates are just projections. They are well defined using historical data and the events that may take place in the future. For instance, salary expenses of $100,000 for three workers in a given organization will be different from the one that will be set following year considering the fact that more additional staff will be hired. When the budgeting process is carried out, similar items are taken whereby their expenses are estimated over a given period of time. For example, an organization may need to know the exact expenditure on the office supplies in a given time. The budget will outline the summary of the total amount of costs that will be spent on office supplies. Prepare the final budget.

Politics Essays Free Speech Movement

Politics Essays Free Speech Movement Free Speech Movement Berkeley, 1964: An analysis of the Free Speech Movement and its role in creating a new genre of conflict on American Campuses. Bibliography Introduction P71-2: â€Å"The Regents of the university, meeting the day before the Christmas recess began, declared that they â€Å"do not contemplate that advocacy or content of speech [on the Berkeley campus] shall be restricted beyond the purview of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution,† and set up a committee to review university policies in consultations with faculty and students â€Å"with the intent of providing maximum freedom consistent with individual and group responsibility† (After an earlier meeting, on November 20, during which thousands of students were sitting outside being led by Jon Baez in singing, the Regents had said that their policy was to make campus facilities available for â€Å"planning, implementing or raising funds or recruiting participants for lawful off-campus action, not for unlawful†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) The emergency executive committee of the Berkeley division of the academic senate (the faculty) issued an optimistic statement after the Regent’s meeting, asserting the substantial progress had been made. 72: To begin with, we must dispose of the ingeniously slogan of â€Å"free speech† which has made it possible for so many who are far from the events at Berkeley to send in forthright statements in support of the Free Speech Movement or the position adopted by the faculty on December 8 (that political advocacy or organisation should be limited only by minimum regulations designed to permit the university to function normally) In 1964 The conflict at the Berkeley campus of the University of California warrants analysis not only as a striking, historic event, but because of what followed on other university campuses. Berkeley was the first instance of a new genre of conflict between students and authority. Many of the ensuing confrontations at other North American universities were direct products of the Berkeley conflict and in those that cannot be said to be direct products of the 1964 conflict; one can still see the influences Berkeley has had in the way the conflict has unfolded and evolved. This dissertation proposes Chapter 2: Foundations for Conflict The Free Speech Movement made Berkeley a pacesetter for student confrontations with authority. However, in the years preceding the 1964 student rebellion, the Berkeley campus of the University of California had also set the pace in developing a new form of university system, developing especially successful example patterns of organisation that had begun to change the higher education system in mid-twentieth century America. President of the Berkeley campus of the University of California, Clark Kerr, regarded the university as a means of producing ‘knowledge’, obviously not a radical idea. However, Kerr’s definition of â€Å"knowledge† is not a definition of an abstract concept as one would expect. Instead he saw knowledge as a â€Å"product†. He stated that, The production, distribution, and consumption of `knowledge in all its forms is said to account for 29 percent of gross national product . . . and `knowledge production is growing at about twice the rate of the rest of the economy. . . . What the railroads did for the second half of the last century and the automobile for the first half of this century may be done for the second half of this century by the knowledge industry: that is, to serve as the focal point for national growth. These patterns of organisation may have created a more economical and efficient university, but there effect on the students were not so positive. Because of the nature of the changes, the students, led by leaders of student political organisations, began to feel like this new university system had begun to encroach upon their basic rights of free speech. Obviously then, the changes in Berkeley’s organisational structure and the political conflict which was to follow are not unrelated. Indeed, it can be said that the changes in the university, both in terms of its policy and its physical layout, contributed significantly in engendering a conflict at Berkeley. Therefore, if we are to fully understand the reasons for the sudden intensification of student activism at Berkeley, we must first investigate these organisational and policy changes which occurred at the university before the pinnacle of activism in 1964. These changes facilitated the organisation of students by political groups and for political action, making political activism relevant to students (as the nature of the changes meant that they were protesting against something which directly affected them) and encouraging innovation within student political organisations. As the remonstrations with the university began to take hold in the general university community, both with students and faculty, the instigated changes also served as a catalyst for student political groups to escalate confrontations with power interests in the larger community. Prior to the changes, political groups on campus were fighting simply for their own causes. However, by providing a shared grievance which affected nearly all students to some extent (and at a fundamental level), the changes effectively unified the student body under a common interest. Doing so created a faction comprised of student political groups, sympathetic faculty, and individual students who all opposed the changes made by the university. As an opponent, this group posed significantly more threat to the Berkeley administration than a dissonant collection of multifarious political organisations and, therefore, we must regard these organisational changes as a mistake. Ultimately, these mistakes would generate a movement which both undermined the university administration at Berkeley, and pioneered a new form of student protest whose effects can be seen in most subsequent student rebellions. We must first look at the administration-initiated changes which made the campus at Berkeley structurally conductive to the recruitment of students for collective political action. The formation of a support base of students who are sympathetic with a political cause is the fundamental process in the developing of a significant student political movement. Whilst the Berkeley campus of the University of California had been a relatively large school for many years, the influx of veterans after World War II saw the campus population swell to 25,325 students in the autumn of 1947. After a drop in the student population (the low birth rate of the depression saw the enrolment statistics drop to 17,563 students in 1953) the university enrolment reached 26,757 in 1963 and this figure was expected to remain fairly constant for the foreseeable future. In addition to the increase in numbers at the University, there was also a change in the proportions of students at varying stages of their education. As the enrolment reached its peak in 1963, the ration of undergraduates to graduate students was almost 1:1. This change in university population called for a change in the organisational systems of the university as it now had to deal not only with a greater volume of students, but also with students who had differing relationships with the university. The policies created by the university to deal with the change in the composition of the university population worked in conjunction with each other to make mass political activity more likely. At the heart of the reforms at Berkeley was the California Master Plan for Higher Education which created a new admissions policy for the university. In order to be admitted to Berkeley, a student had to be in the top 12.5% of High School graduates, allowing the university to attract a high number of intellectual young students. These new students were also enrolling in the departments of humanities and social sciences, with the percentage of new undergraduates enrolled in these subjects reaching a peak of 50% in 1962. The result of this shift was that the departments of subject areas which had traditionally provided the liberal, radical student leaders of political groups gained a disproportionate increase in students. The increase in enrolment numbers, combined with the materials taught in classes offered by the humanities and social sciences departments, meant that students were exposed to subject matter dealing with moral and social issues which could therefore evoke more liberal political attitudes. Also, as such degree schemes offer no specific vocation after completion of their studies, the students take a less career-orientated approach to university life and could be more experimental in the organisations they choose to join and the topics they choose to study. As Berkeley continued to expand in terms of the student populace, there were also expansions in the university campus itself. The increased volume of literature and students necessitated the need for expansions of the school’s library facilities. The main library was not able to deal with the requirements of the entire student population and therefore, subject-specific libraries were created, relieving the pressure on the main library building. This meant that natural sciences students tended to stay within the confines of their own subject libraries and as a result, the main library building increasingly became a meeting point and discussion area for the humanities and social sciences students and faculty. In addition to relocating some of the library facilities, in 1960, the university cafeteria, book store, Student Union and general common leisure area were moved to a block of land adjoining the university south of Sather Gate. This shifted the focal point for much of the university’s social scene to land which was considered the natural territory of humanities and social studies students. More importantly, the land was also adjacent to an area traditionally used for political recruiting. Obviously, this brought many more students into contact with radical political groups, canvassing for a variety of causes, exposing them to moral and social issues outside their field of study. Therefore, not only did politics gain a new audience of impressionable youth at Sather Gate, but also had the ability (with this new audience) to attract students who were already sensitive to such political nuances. Berkeley is a tax-supported institution and, as such, there is a duality in the way that it operates. On one side, there is free inquiry and the ability to of expression based on one’s own perceptions. However, it is also expected to show no political bias which may offer political advantage to any one political group at the expense of the general public. These regulations go back to a time where no political activity of any kind was allowed on campus. Under this earlier situation, not even candidates for the presidency were allowed to speak at Berkeley. In theory, this situation should have been resolved by the California State constitution, which prohibited religious or political canvassing and which gave the responsibility of university policy-making to a Board of Regents, stating: The University of California shall constitute a public trust, to be administered by the existing corporation known as The Regents of the University of California, with full powers of organization and government, subject only to such legislative control as may be necessary to insure the security of its funds and compliance with the terms of the endowments of the university†¦ Regents shall be able persons broadly reflective of the economic, cultural, and social diversity of the State, including ethnic minorities and women. However, it is not intended that formulas or specific ratios be applied in the selection of regents†¦ The university shall be entirely independent of all political or sectarian influence and kept free therefrom in the appointment of its regents and in the administration of its affairs, and no person shall be debarred admission to any department of the university on account of race, religion, ethnic heritage, or sex. However, although the Board of Regents act as a buffer between the university and the political pressures of interest groups within the state, 1964-1965 school year, the twenty four members of the University of California’s Board of Regents were not politically impartial. The board chairman was president of the largest chain of department stores in the West. Other members included the chairman of Bank of America, the chairman of the largest gold-mining corporation, a vice-president of Lockheed Aviation, the board chairman of two oil companies, a past chairman of the Republican States Central Committee, a Democratic Party Career woman, a national labour leader, and a past president of the state bar association. Therefore, the existence of the Board of Regents did not protect the university from the political currents of the time. In order to maintain a politically neutral environment on campus, a series of regulations were drafted. These regulations, known as Rule 17, stated that political positions were to be analysed in class, but faculty were not to take a position of favour for or against them. These regulations would therefore allow free discussion of political positions, without jeopardising Berkeley’s position of impartiality. However, it is here that the university made a clear distinction between free speech and free advocacy of action based on political ideas. Advocacy of political positions was not permitted on campus, unless administrative approval was given and representation of the converse position was present at the same time in order to give a counter argument. In the same vein, funds for off campus causes could not be gathered on campus without permission from the university administrators. However, the off-campus actions of the student body were not controlled by these regulations. An off campus political organisation could run a meeting on campus, but it would have to explain to the students present that certain kinds of discussion (for example, implementing a demonstration) must be held off campus. In this way the rights of the student to participate in off campus political advocacy was protected and the political neutrality of the Berkeley campus was maintained. However, the line between off-campus action and on campus-action was difficult to accentuate and any off-campus action which was deemed to be contentious and was participated in by Berkeley students or faculty was publicly perceived to also be occurring on campus as well. Rule 17, however, was not practically applicable, as was emphasised in 1956, when presidential candidate Adlai Stephenson spoke to a group of students via a loudspeaker mounted on a truck which was parked outside university walls (and therefore in compliance with the regulations) yet his speech could still be well observed by the students. This bizarre occurrence prompted students to seek amendments to Rule 17, and, after a protracted period of negotiation, political speakers were permitted to speak on campus without the necessity of an opponent (however, the administration added the caveat that the opposing position be represented on campus within a reasonable time limit). This amendment directly influenced the students who attended such organised events. Students were presented with a politically marginalised account and in order to hear the opposing viewpoint, attendance of a separate event was necessary, giving the speaker with the temporal upper-hand a clear advantage. The efforts of the university to distance itself from controversial political actions undertaken by students came under marked criticism, both from the students and the faculty. Conflicts with student political groups such as Slate prompted the university to pass legislation detrimental to the efforts of politically active students. For example, in 1959, the university administration ruled that graduate students were ineligible for voting, costing Slate the possibility of gaining control of the student government. In the summer of 1961, Slate was stripped of its on-campus status for violating the university regulation prohibiting a group which took an off campus stand from affiliating itself with the university. This loss of recognition was the beginning of the end for Slate and the leaders turned their attentions to the larger struggles of the community. The university policies which worked against politically active students at Berkeley began to create more widespread tension between the administration and the student body. The situation was close to boiling point. With the increase in off-campus student political activity and the seeds of discontent already sown amongst the general populace of the university, a escalation of student activism was expected. Furthermore, when viewed , and therefore necessitate discussion in order to extrapolate cogent. Chapter 3: Escalation The beginning of the escalation in student activism was prompted by the university choosing to enforce the distinction between free speech and advocacy. As the Student Union moved, so did the areas of political activity. The area around the new Student Union at the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph had become the new rallying point for student political activists. However, upon receiving complaints of noise and littering, the vice-chancellor for student affairs, Alex C. Sherriffs, launched an inquiry into the legitimacy of the complaints. He found that the root of the noise was bongo drummers and the source of the litter was a mass of discarded leaflets handed out by the various student political groups in an effort to spread the word about their organisation. Sherriffs also found that people were setting up tables on university property, and, according to the regulations, such an activity in such a location was illegal. A conflict now arose between two unfairly matched opponents: the student political groups and the administration of the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Conflict is not uncommon on the Berkeley campus. There is a long established tradition of protest and picketing. However, in this instance, the protestors adopted a radically different style. The main reason for this departure from traditional methods of dissidence, in particular the development of new techniques of civil disobedience, is the Civil Rights Movement. The protests for racial equality have given rise to new tactics of protest. In 1963, hundreds of Berkeley students, â€Å"sat-in† at a chain of lunch counters, â€Å"shopped-in† at a chain of supermarkets (with students filling their shopping carts with food, letting the check-out operator tally the total, and then declaring that they did not have the money to pay for the goods) and lay down in the automobile showrooms of Van Ness Avenue. These types of protest led in each case to the establishment concerned hiring a certain amount of Negro workers. These radical new tactics clearly worked. They also led to mass arrests and mass trials, which although led to disciplinary action, further handicapped the bureaucratic procedures by placing the courtrooms of San Francisco under considerable stress. The situation produced and the emotions evoked by the civil rights movement amongst student political groups at Berkeley was markedly different from the mood that prevailed when such groups were fighting for the loosening of the strict regulations that which once governed their political activity. As well as introducing new tactics, the civil rights movement developed a large body of students committed to these tactics and a summoned up a substantial body of public opinion in the faculty and among the liberal population of the Berkeley area who were sympathetic to them. : The Chancellor’s office delegated on to the lesser members of the administrative hierarchy the decision that the area of political activity on Bancroft and Telegraph was now to become subject de facto (as it had been de jure) to the university ban on advocacy and organisation. This was obviously unsatisfactory to the students, and thus they resorted to a direct test of the administration’s resolve to enforce the new regulations: they set up their tables and collected money, in flagrant violation of university regulations. A number were directed to appear before a dean on September 29 to discuss these violations. The official account to the chancellor of the faculty describes the situation that ensued, At 3 o clock that afternoon, some 300-400 students moved into the second floor of Sproul Hall and Mario Savio announced that all of them acknowledged violating university regulations in the same manner as those who had been instructed to make appointments with the dean of students, and they all wanted similar appointments. The Dean of Men then declared he was then concerned only with observed violations, and if students wanted appointments then they could leave their names and he would determine if and when such could be made. He also asked [the students who had been involved in observed in violations] to go in and see a dean because each had been involved in a matter of personal discipline, and requested that the crowd disperse, since he had scheduled a meeting of the leaders of the student organisations and their advisors to discuss the problem at 4 oc. Savio responded that the group would not leave unless they were guaranteed that the same disciplinary action would be meted out to all there. Unable to make such guarantees, the Dean of Men again asked the group to leave, and later announced that since, in the opinion of the administration and some of the advisors of the student political groups who had come to attend the 4:00 meeting, the environment was not conductive to reasonable discussion, the meeting was cancelled†¦The group remained in Sproul Hall until 2:40am. This transformed the nature of the conflict and also marginalised the protestors. What began as a protest involving nearly all political groups, from revolutionary socialist to extreme conservative, was changed into a movement run almost entirely by the civil rights leaders. For as soon as the tactics of the process â€Å"escalated† into questionably legal activities (like sitting in Sproul Hall, which was done for the first time on September 29th) the right-wingers could not go along. It was clear that the leadership of the movement was coming exclusively from the civil rights and left-wing political groups, but there were too few students directly committed to the left-wing groups to provide the necessary numbers for significant protest. Only the civil rights groups could evoke the emotions of the masses and raise hundreds ready to sit-in. On October 2 the movement gained their first victory: the withdrawal of the large concentration of police surrounding the campus, and a meeting with President Clark Kerr in which a pact was signed calling for an administration-faculty-student committee to deal with the issue of political activity. The movement’s next step was to organise itself internally. Confirming the fact that the right had withdrawn almost completely no right-orientated groups emerged with any positions of leadership within the movement. The civil rights leaders, who had become synonymous with direct action gained all the authority and as a result, the movement moved further to the left. Chapter 4: Negotiation and Resolution 83: As the leadership of the student movement became concentrated into a coherent force, sharing the same aims, philosophy and outlook, the university administration was becoming proportionally less organised. 88: In a situation first created by reasonable demands of the students and secondly by the new, radical tactics, the administration showed itself to be incapable of consistent, decisive or effective action. Again and again it was forced to withdraw from positions either because they were poorly argued or because the higher levels (President Kerr) moved in and changed the positions taken lower down. I feel it necessary to mention the role the faculty played in the resolution of the conflict at Berkeley, as their position was not insignificant. At the start of the rebellion, the faculty looked upon the conflict between the administration and the students as detached and neutral outsiders. However, some groups of faculty members placed themselves into the situation as mediators. They were distinguished from the great majority of their colleagues by the fact that they had been involved in student politics in the past and remained interested in their outcomes in the present. The first group of student mediators helped to draw up the pact of October the 2nd. However, the faculty, like the right-wing student political groups before them, eventually joined the list as casualties of the developing crisis. They became casualties owing to the critical change in the issues of the conflict that occurred around the beginning of November. This change became apparent in the discussions of the faculty-student-administration committee that had been set up by the October 2 pact. For the first month there had been two fairly straightforward issues: the attempt of the administration to change the status quo, which all the student political groups, left and right, and all interested faculty opposed; and secondly, the student tactics, which some of the student groups and most of the interested faculty opposed, but which everyone agreed should not lead to disciplinary action (on the ground that the original issue which had occasioned the tactics had been a just one). The problems were settled when the administration’s representatives on the committee provisionally accepted a much wider range of political advocacy and organisation on campus than had been permitted before, when a second committee (faculty) set up under the October 2nd pact called for the lifting of the suspensions that had been pronounced against the students who had violated the old regulations. Up until this point, the interested faculty members and the student FSM leaders had stood together. But now the student leaders and the administration raised a new issue, created by the possible liberalisation of the rules. If Berkeley was opened up to advocacy and organisation, what of advocacy and organisation that led to illegal action or was designed to produce illegal action? The administration’s insistence on a line between legal and illegal was immediately seen by students as a threat to actions they were already planning. The student leaders fully expected further mass arrests as a result of these actions, and they hoped to protect themselves from university discipline. It was this issue of illegal action which caused the faculty-student-administration committee to split in November. The student representatives insisted on a specific guarantee that nothing they advocated or organised on campus would lead to any disciplinary measures by the university against them or their organisations. The administration members insisted on the right to discipline individuals or organisations who advocated or organised illegal action. The faculty group proposed a formula which neither gave the students a specific guarantee of immunity nor the administration a specific ban against illegal action on campus. Under this formula the students would have conducted their demonstrations and sit-ins in all likelihood safe from university interference, as the university’s policy of the year before had been not to discipline those arrested for civil rights activities, and it seemed improbable that this policy would be changed. If, however, the university decided on a change, the students could have tested in the courts its right to punish them for illegal action advocated or organised on campus, a contingency which, they asserted, would be â€Å"against the 1st and 14th amendments† and would constitute â€Å"double jeopardy.† On this issue the students decided to revoke the pact of October 2 (in which they had agreed to only execute to legal actions), pronounced new rules to govern political activity on campus, and began to operate under them. The students now hoped that the Regents would give them what the committee set up under the pact of October 2 had not, but on November 20, the Regents insisted on maintaining the distinction between lawful and unlawful actions. At this point the student leaders split, some arguing for further drastic measures, other urging de facto acceptance of the new rules under which they had full freedom of action. A new sit-in was staged at Sproul Hall, which involved only 300 hundred students; the administration did not act against it, and it was called off after a few hours. However, on November 30, it was learned that the administration had summoned 4 student leaders to appear before the Faculty Committee on Student Conduct to hear charges against them stemming from their tussles with the police on October 1st and 2nd. As a result of this blunder, an issue that was capable of arousing the students i.e., the disciplining of their leaders, was fortuitously tied to one that could not i.e., immunity for advocacy or organisation of illegal action. Once again, on Dec 2, students occupied Sproul Hall. In the early morning of December 3, a small army of police began carrying out around 800 students. That afternoon, yet another impromptu group of mediating faculty, the department chairmen, met to formulate a compromise which offered full amnesty to the students for the actions of the past 2 months; they hoped to sell this to the President and the Regents. On Dec 4, a long threatened strike of teaching assistants was launched, and on Sunday, Dec 6, the President and the Regents accepted the department chairmen’s compromise. However, by this time the student leaders had glimpsed the possibility of gaining complete success. A number of liberal faculty members had been preparing a resolution which asserted that political activity on campus should be regulated only in terms of â€Å"time, place, and manner† in order not to interfere with the functioning of the university, and they were rounding up support for its adoption. The larger part of the faculty had now become involved, because they had been forced to confront and take a stand on the strike of their teaching assistants. The students hoped that the faculty resolution supporting their position would pass and they joined its faculty drafters in campaigning for it. On December 7 the compromise negotiated by the department chairmen was presented by Professor Robert Scalopino and President Kerr to the student body and faculty. The radicalisation of the students, thousands of whom had participated in sit-ins, strikes, and picketing, had proceeded at frightening pace over the weekend; full victory was now seen as possible, and the compromising was denounced by the student leaders as a â€Å"sell-out.† Because of their desperate desire to settle things, because of their experience of one administration failure after another, many of the faculty were by now ready to accept any agreement that might lead to peace. The administration was absent and silent when 1000 members of the Academic Senate met on Dec 8 and by a huge vote endorsed the resolution of the liberal faculty members mentioned above. This resolution, in addition to backing the view that political ac

Everyone Is Capable of Becoming a Lifelong Learner Essay -- Educationa

Every person has the ability to become a lifelong learner. The most important factor to becoming a lifelong learner comes from the direct influence of mentors and guardians that care for children throughout their developmental years. Together, they figure out the best plan of action to teach each individual student how to be better learners in hopes that the influence of lifelong learning habits will be incorporated into their worldviews when they become adults. There are some people in society who believe that the developmentally disabled person is unable to become a lifelong learner due to their disabilities. Over the last century, research on early intervention educational programs proves these unjustified beliefs wrong. These programs and services provided to the young exceptional learning community are making it possible for students to achieve their academic goals at the same level as their general education peers. This particular type of disability is caused by birth defects. Birth defects cause serious problems within a person’s physical make up and usually affect multiple body part systems. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2011) talks about specific developmental delays like nervous system disabilities (Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorders), sensory related disabilities (Congenital Rubella, Williams Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome), metabolic disorders (Phenylketonur ia, Hypothyroidism), and degenerative disorders (Rett Syndrome). Many of these developmentally delayed disorders are incurable but there are supportive programs in existence to help treat the negative effects caused by these disorders. Since the root of the disability is unable to be fixed, docto... ...-intervention.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Developmental Disabilities. Retrieved on May 8, 2012 from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dd/resources.htm Office for Civil Rights. (2011). Transition of Students With Disabilities To Postsecondary Education: A Guide for High School Educators. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved on May 8, 2012 from: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transitionguide.html Ripley, S. (2008). Intervention: The Earlier, The Better. Excelligence Learning Corporation. Retrieved on May 8, 2012 from: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=122 The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2011). Developmental Disabilities. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved on May 8, 2012 from: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/developmental_disabilities.cfm

Implementing Strategic Choice

What advice would you give to management concerning the best way to implement strategic choices in an organization? There are four types of tactics that management can use to implement strategic plans in an organization: intervention, persuasion, participation, and edict. Intervention tactics begins when a manager decides to make strategic changes. The manager creates the need for change in minds of the group (leaders, peers) by reforming the systems (Nutt, 1998).This is done by showing a comparison between the present system and a reform system and showing performance gap. Then, the manager is ready to create steps to implement intervention tactics. Before using these steps, it is essential for a manager to be educated on possibilities, redirected threats, managed anger, built confidence, and reinforced the plans (Huse, 1975). It demands high level skills to create new norms to show the need for change for the organization. 2. How would your advice change based on whether the organi zation's environment was dynamic versus stable?A dynamic organization's environment has is one that is full of possible opportunities and possible treats. Therefore, managers, specifically planners and policy makers cannot analyze future environment? s condition with an assumption that it will stay in a predictable state. Managers are challenged to make environmental decisions to improve performance. According to Carlsson and El Sawy (2008), Decision making in turbulent environments is challenging because managers must decide and act rapidly.Consequently, decision-makers must plan for the uncertainties of the environment. One of the main factors that contribute to the sense of uncertainties is lack of communication. The lack of communication that prevents managers from making organization environment decisions such as: lack of information and lack of knowledge. In contrast, in a stable and predictable environment, managers who are the decision-makers can adhere to a long-term plan w hereas the uncertain or dynamic environment plans are short-term.

On the Relationship between Literature, History, and Human Beings Essay

To assume that an object belongs to a particular set entails that an object possesses similar characteristics to all the other objects in the set. In most cases, two or more sets have a tendency to intertwine with one another since some objects in another set have similar characteristics to the objects in a different set. This intermingling of different objects with different characteristics is apparent in the field of literature. Literature here ought to be understood as a written art form that allows the creation of new worlds. Such a conception of literature is based on the assumption that literary texts are fluid and malleable in nature due to the vast meanings that may be attributed to their content. This view of literature is based on the Reader-Response Theory which assumes that literary texts may only exist within the reader’s consciousness (Murfin and Ray 426). Murfin and Ray claim, â€Å"With†¦ the literary work as a catalyst of mental events comes a redefinition of the reader†¦ (as) the passive recipient of those ideas that an author has planted in a text (427). The field of literature is thereby characterized by the intermingling of different objects with different characteristics since although some works adhere to a specific form, the meanings attributed to these works change in line with the reader’s conception of a their content. In line with this, the following discussion posits that all forms of literature, regardless of their form and content, are united with one another due to their dependence on the human mind. This is another way of stating that literature is connected to human existence due to its dependence on human production as well as on its dependence on human interpretation. Such an assumption is based on several propositions. First, literature, as an art form, reflects the social and political conditions during a particular period in history, whether on the period of its production or on the period of its reproduction. Second, the function of human consciousness in determining the meaning of a work is evident in both the author and the reader’s association of a meaning to the form and content of a text. Finally, the function of human consciousness in unifying not only human experience but also all forms and types of literary works is apparent as the production and reproduction of a work manifests the creation of new meanings and hence new ways of understanding a text. These assumption merely show that the production, reproduction, and reception of a literary work throughout history involves a dialectic process wherein a literary text serves as the main referent for the opposing meanings given to a specific event and? or concept located in a literary work. Eagleton specifies the interconnection between literature and history as she posits that the definition of the concept literature continually evolves along with the social and political conditions in a particular period in history. She claims, â€Å"[W]e can drop once and for all the illusion that the category â€Å"literature† is objective in the sense of being eternally given and immutable†¦Literature reflects†¦ the ways in which what we say and believe connects with the power-structure and power relations of the society we live in† (Eagleton 10-14). Eagleton emphasizes the dependence of the association of the values and meanings used in the analysis of literary works to a predominant belief in a particular period in history. A concrete example of this can be seen in the case of Gilman’s â€Å"A Yellow Wallpaper. † Gilman’s text was only considered as an important literary work in the later part of the 20th century which may be associated with the sociopolitical conditions that allowed the equality of both men and women and hence the recognition of woman writers and their works during that time. Another example of this is apparent in the distinction between Formalism and Modernism in literature. Formalists believe that all literary works can be analyzed in terms of their form (Eagleton 3). They argued that form precedes content as they conceived of the former as a mere expression of the later, that being â€Å"content was merely the ‘motivation’ of form† (Eagleton 3). As opposed to this, the Modernists argued that the content was more important than the form (â€Å"Brief Guide to Modernism†). The Imagists, a sub-group of Modernists, for example, wrote in free verse as opposed to the restrictive forms of sonnets or villanelles (â€Å"Brief Guide to Imagism†). This distinction between Formalism and Modernism shows the evolution of the concept literature. Given that no fixed meaning may be attributed to the term literature; one may claim that a fixed meaning was presented in relation to the term in the initial part of the discussion. It is important to note however that the meaning given to the term above merely emphasizes the fluidity of literature. Such is the case since a description of literary works as texts that enable the creation of new worlds merely provides a loose definition of the term as opposed to the rigid definition provided by the Formalists. In other words, the way literature is conceived in this discussion merely emphasizes the reader’s relationship to a work, which is the reader’s ability to identify new world or new meanings in the combination of a text’s form and content. Although the looseness of the definition specified above may seem to consider all forms of written works as literary texts, it is important to note that the definition is still grounded on what is considered to be an art form. Regardless of this definition, the point which is being emphasized here is the dependence of the term literature on the sociopolitical conditions of a period. As can be seen in the case of Gilman’s text as well as in the case of the Formalists and Modernists, the way one understands literature is dependent on the predominant beliefs during the period of a literary text’s production or a literary movement’s existence. With the relationship between literature and history mentioned above, it becomes evident why human consciousness occupies a primary role in determining the meaning of a literary work. Human consciousness provides the link between literature and history as the human mind interprets specific beliefs and associates them with the content of literary works. In the case of literary critics, the human mind interprets the predominant beliefs regarding the structure of objects in society and creates a connection between this order and the form and content of literary works. In other words, the human mind ascribes meanings to literary texts. In the same manner that human beings create a bridge between history and literature, literature also creates a bridge between human beings. This relationship between history, literature, and human beings can be seen in Albee’s â€Å"The American Dream† and DeLillo’s White Noise. In the case of Albee’s play, his discussion of the American dream not only shows the association of a specific male stereotype to the dream but its association to superficial ideals. The stereotype is apparent as the Young Man, which represents the American dream, is describes as a â€Å"clean-cut, Midwest farm boy type, almost insultingly good looking in a typically American way† (Albee 112). He was further described to possess a â€Å"good profile, straight nose, honest eyes, (and a) wonderful smile† (Albee 112). This description of the Young Man shows the dependence of his existence on a specific setup in society wherein â€Å"lights fill up†¦as he steps into†¦(a) room† (Albee 112). The Young Man’s existence, as a representation of the American dream, is dependent on a society wherein external appearance is lauded in comparison to a person’s character. Note for example that the Young Man is also described to be incapable of loving anyone else (Albee 115). He is thereby an individual who is devoid of establishing a loving connection with other human beings. By representing the Young Man’s existence to be dependent on a superficial society, Albee paves the way for different ways of reading the text. One, for example, may focus on the Young Man’s representation of the Hollywood ideal in America and its connection to the American dream. In addition, one may also focus on the Young Man’s superficial existence. Albee’s text, in this sense, is fluid since no specific interpretation of the work may be given. Its interpretation is dependent on the reader and? or audience of his play. In a similar manner, DeLillo’s White Noise is also a text open to interpretation. The text also discusses an aspect of life which is also common to all men, that being death. It is a truism that all human beings are bound to die. DeLillo’s novel associates death with the rapid developments caused by the electronic age. Consider, for example, his description of white noise in the following passage, â€Å"[T]raffic washes past, a remote and steady murmur around our sleep, as of dead souls babbling at the edge of a dream† (DeLillo 4). The novel’s title, White Noise, may be understood as a representation of death. Death, like white noise, is a sound that permeates human existence. They are both representations of the nothingness that lies outside of life and activity. Notice that it was only in the graveyard, as Jack was faced with the figures of the dead, that there was no mentioned of the white noise in Jack’s surroundings (DeLillo 71). White noise, in this sense, serves as a reminder of death. It is the sound that one hears before one encounters the death of one’s own body. In conjunction to the continuous technological developments in our world, white noise is a sound of reckoning for the possible end of the world itself. In both Albee’s play and DeLillo’s novel, one notes that both texts discuss certain universal themes. Albee’s play revolves around the theme of a country’s dream. DeLillo’s novel, on the other hand, revolves around the theme of death. Both of these are universal themes as they represent certain aspects of human experience that resounds throughout time. The relationship between literature, history, and human beings is thereby apparent in both texts as they themselves present an author’s view regarding a universal theme, one which will be experienced by all human beings throughout the existence of our race. Due to its universal character, these themes, and hence both texts which are grounded on these themes, will be interpreted in different ways by all those who will read them. Human consciousness thereby determines the meaning of a work as an author and a reader associates meanings to a work’s form and content. The universal themes of all literary works provide all human beings, regardless of the spatiotemporal conditions during their existence, with a common ground for understanding literary texts. It is partially due to these universal themes that the members of the current generation are able to find a connection with the works of authors who belong to a different generation. These themes however have been reinterpreted in line with the current generation’s experiences and conception of reality. This can be seen in Frosts’ â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Rainy Evening† and Jacoby’s â€Å"The Diner. † In Frosts’ poem, one is presented with the theme of death as the poem’s persona ponders on the mysteries associated with it. He states, â€Å"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.? But I have promises to keep, ? And miles to go before I sleep† (Poe). The persona, in this sense, attempts to ward off thoughts of death since he recognizes that life has a lot more experiences in store for him. Although Poe wrote this poem in the 1920’s, its theme continues to be found in contemporary works as can be seen in Jacoby’s â€Å"The Diner. † In the text, Jacoby speaks of another form of death, one that has been brought about by the artificial reality enabled by technological innovations. He claims, â€Å"Bright bright city lights†¦? I’ll take your pale and shadowed glow,? Whatever half-light path you show†¦? I feel so close to those in here, ? I share their loneliness and fear†¦? From the probing, searching nighttime† (Jacoby). In â€Å"The Diner,† the persona speaks of the death of human interaction caused by the alienating conditions in the modern world. In this world, although men are given the innovations that should have provided them with the chance to have longer periods of meaningful interaction with one another, the artificiality of their surroundings has led them to create artificial relationships with each other. The similarity of the theme of both Frost’s and Jacoby’s texts manifest how literature may serve as a tool for portraying similar themes whose meanings vary due to the new events and? or concepts which have been associated with it. Within this context, it is evident that all forms of literature are much more alike than disparate. Human consciousness has allowed the connection of all literary works as it has enabled the form of all literary texts to correspond with one another due to its relationship to the reader who continually participates in the active reinterpretation of literary works. As McEwan claims, â€Å"Literature flourishes along the channels of this unspoken agreement between writers and readers, offering a mental map whose north and south are the specific, and the general† (41). In this mental map, human minds throughout history interact in a dialectic dialogue with one another as they conceive, interpret, and reinterpret universal themes in literature. This dialogue allows the conception of literature as an art form that continually allows the creation of new worlds and new ways of perceiving reality. Works Cited â€Å"A Brief Guide to Imagism. † Poets. org: From the Academy of American Poets. n. d. Web. 15 May 2010. â€Å"A Brief Guide to Modernism. † Poets. org: From the Academy of American Poets. n. d. Web. 15 May 2010. Albee, Edward. The American Dream: and, The Zoo Story: Two Plays. New York: Plume, 1997. Print. DeLillo, Don. White Noise. New York: Penguin Books, 1985. Print. Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996. Print. Frost, Robert. â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. † Poets. org: From the Academy of American Poets. n. d. Web. 15 May 2010. Gilman, Charlotte. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Other Stories. London: Courier Dover, 1997. Print. Jacoby, Peter. â€Å"The Diner. † Prof. Peter R. Jacoby’s Spring 2010 Web Site. San Diego Mesa College. n. d. Web. 15 May 2010. McEwan, Ian. â€Å"Literature, Science and Human Nature. † Human Nature: Fact and Fiction. Eds. Robin Headlam and Johnjoe McFadden. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. 40-62. Print. Murfin, Ross and Supryia Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. London: Bedford? St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.

Credit risks in financial markets prior to credit crisis The WritePass Journal

Credit risks in financial markets prior to credit crisis Introduction Credit risks in financial markets prior to credit crisis IntroductionCredit risks in financial marketsLiquidity risks in financial marketsExtreme uncertainty and volatility in financial marketsThe effect of the crisis and the way aheadConclusionRelated Introduction In the last 25 years, the world suffered boom-bust economical recycling .What impressed us was the serious financial crisis happened in 1930, however, the credit crunch in 2008 was even worse. It   crisis is the culmination of a super boom that has lasted for more than twenty-five years and seems a sign of the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as the international reserve currency. It might be formed because of the bursting of the Internet bubble in late 2000.The Fed responded by cutting the federal funds rate from 6.5% to 3.5% within space of just a few months. Occasionally, came with the terrorist attack of September 11,2001.To counteract the disruption of the economy, the Fed continued to lower rates in half a century, where it stayed for a full year. For thirty-one consecutive months the base inflation-adjusted short-term interest rate was negative. These consequent activities remain the interest rate in a low level for years that the rational lender will ke ep on lending until there is no one else to lend to, when money is free, an explosion of leveraged buyouts, and other excesses became conventional. Meanwhile, an endangered supper housing bubble is growing silently. According to the national statistic in the U.S., from 2000 until mid-2005, the market value of existing homes grew by more than 50%, and there was a frenzy of new construction. A shocking discovery by Merrill was that about half of all American GDP growth in the first half of 2005 was housing related, either directly, through home building and housing-related purchases like new furniture, or indirectly, by spending the cash generated from the refinancing of mortgages. This means, starting around 2005, securitization became a mania. It was easy and fast to create â€Å"synthetic† securities that mimicked the risks of real securities but did not carry the expense of buying and assembling actual loans. Therefore, Risky paper could be multiplied well beyond the actual supply in the market. Conversely, this activity led to an enormous increase in the use of leverage. To hold ordinary bonds requires a margin of 10%; synthetic bonds created by credit default swaps can be traded on a margin of 1.5%. It turned to be an opportunity for those hedge funds to show good profits by exploiting risk differentials on a leveraged basis, driving down risk premiums. Credit risks in financial markets The story began in early 2007, signs of trouble started to multiply. On February 22, HSBC fired the head of its U.S mortgage lending business, recognizing losses reaching $10.8 billion. Later on, DR Horton, the biggest homebuilder, warned of losses from subprime mortgages on March 9. Three days after, New Century Financial, one of the biggest subprime lenders, had its shares suspended from trading amid fears that the company was headed for bankruptcy. Then it was reported that late payments on mortgages and home foreclosures rose to new highs. What`s more , Accredited Home Lenders Holding put up $2.7 billion of its subprime loan book for sale , on March 16, at a heavy discount to generate cash for business operations. Even worse on April 2, New Century Financial filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after it was forced to repurchase billions of dollars which were worth of bad loans. The effects of sub-prime problems were gradually spread across banks around the world when many of the mortgages had been bundled up and sold on to banks and investors. In July, investment bank Bear Stearns tells investors they will get little, if any, of the money invested in two of its hedge funds after rival banks refuse to help it bail them out. On 9 August 2007, investment bank BNP Paribas tells investors they will not be able to take money out of two of its funds because it cannot value the assets in them, for an excuse of a complete evaporation of liquidity in the market. Obviously, banks are refusing to do business with each other. On June 15, 2007, two large mortgage hedge funds of Bears stern were having trouble meeting margin calls. To cope with this, Bear grudgingly created a $3.2 billion credit line to bail out one fund and let the other collapse which indicated that investors` equity of $1.5 billion was mostly wiped out. As late as July 2007, Bernanke still estimated subprime losses at only about $100 billion. When Merrill Lynch and Citigroup took big write-down on in-house collateralized debt obligations, the markets actually staged a relief rallyThe SP 500 hit a new high in mid-July. People release and think it naively finished. Somehow, it was only at the beginning of August that financial markets really took fright. Shockingly, Bear Stearns filed for bankruptcy protection for two hedge funds exposed to subprime loans and stopped clients from withdrawing cash from a third fund. Though it was useless, Bear Stearns had tried to save these entities by injecting $3.2 billion of additional funding. Liquidity risks in financial markets Everything that could go wrong, once the crisis erupted, financial markets unraveled with remarkable dramatically. Investment banks with large positions of CDOs to keep off balance sheet in so-called structured investment vehicles (SIVs). By issuing asset backed commercial paper, the investment banks financed their positions by SIVs. As the value of CDOs came into trouble, the asset-backed commercial paper market dried up, in order to keep the market liquid, the investment banks were forced to bail out their SIVs. Most investment banks took the SIVs into their balance sheet and surrendered to commit that large losses were in the process. Consequently, Investment banks were sitting on large loan commitments to finance leveraged buyouts. Normally, they would package these loans as collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and sell them off, but the CLO market came to a standstill together with the CDO market, and the banks were left holding a bag worth about $250 billion. Some banks allow ed their SIVs to go bust, and some reneged on their leveraged buyout obligations. This, together with the size of the losses incurred by the banks, served to unnerve the stock market, and price movements became chaotic. So-called market-neutral hedge funds, which exploit small discrepancies in market prices by using very high leverage, ceased to be market neutral and incurred unusual losses. A few highly leveraged ones were wiped out, damaging the reputation of their sponsors and unleashing lawsuits. The banking system suffered all this pressures. They had to put additional items on their balance sheets at a time when their capital base was impaired by unexpected losses. Banks had difficulty assessing their exposure and even greater difficulties estimating the exposure of their counterparts. Similarly, they were reluctant to lend to each other and eager to save their liquidity. At the very beginning, central banks found it difficult to inject enough liquidity due to commercial banks avoiding used any of the facilities which had a responsible to attach them, and they were also ignored to deal with each other, meanwhile, these obstacles were overcome .After all, if there is one thing central banks know how to do, that is to provide liquidity. Only the Bank of England suffered a major debacle when it attempted to rescue Northern Rock, an overextended mortgage lender. Its rescue effort resulted in a run on the bank. Eventually Northern Rock was nationalized and its obligations added to the national debt, pushing the United Kingdom beyond the limits imposed by the Maastricht Treaty. Extreme uncertainty and volatility in financial markets The banking sector tended to filled with liquidity, however, the crisis refused to abate. Credit spreads continued to widen. Correlated that almost all the major banksCitigroup, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, Wachovia, UBS, Credit Suisseannounced major write-downs in the final quarter of the year, and most have signaled continued write-downs , separately, most others have signaled continued write-downs in 2008. Both AIG and Credit Suisse made preliminary fourth-quarter write-down announcements that they repeatedly revised, conveying the doubtless accurate impression that they had lost control of their balance sheets. A failed with   $7.2 billion trading at Societe Generale announced in January 2008, coincided with a selling climax in the stock market and an extraordinary 75 basis point cut in the federal funds rate eight days before the regularly scheduled meeting, when the rate was cut a further 50 basis points. This was unprecedented. Distress spread from residential real estate to credit card debt, auto debt, and commercial real estate. Trouble at the monocline insurance companies, which traditionally specialized in municipal bonds but ventured into insuring structured and synthetic products, caused the municipal bond market to be disrupted. With the intension of credit market, numourous of entities went bankruptcy. This called for large amount of compensation by the insurance companies.   No doubt that an even larger unresolved problem is looming in the credit default swaps market (CDSs). Changing in structure of financial landscape The effect of the crisis and the way ahead Over the past several decades the United States has weathered several major financial crises, like the international lending crisis of the 1980s and the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s.But the current crisis is of an entirely different character. It has spread from one segment of the market to others, particularly those which employ newly created structured and synthetic instruments. Both the exposure and the capital base of the major financial institutions have been brought into question, and the uncertainties are likely to remain unresolved for an extended period of time. This is impeding the normal functioning of the financial system and is liable to have far-reaching consequences for the real economy. Conclusion Both the financial markets and the financial authorities have been very slow to recognize that the real economy is bound to be affected. It is hard to understand why this should be so. The real economy was stimulated by credit expansion. Why should it not be negatively affected by credit contraction? One cannot escape the conclusion that both the financial authorities and market participants harbor fundamental misconceptions about the way financial markets function. These misconceptions have manifested themselves not only in a failure to understand what is going on; they have given rise to the excesses which are at the root of the current market turmoil.

Investigate the various types of assessment, and how they impact the Design Technology classroom The WritePass Journal

Investigate the various types of assessment, and how they impact the Design Technology classroom Introduction Investigate the various types of assessment, and how they impact the Design Technology classroom IntroductionBibliography]Related Introduction In the essay I explore the contribution that assessment makes towards learning. I investigate the various types of assessment, and what impact they have on the learner, drawing upon my own experience in the Design Technology classroom. In particular, I review the summative and formative ways of assessing and conclude that formative assessment is more beneficial to the learner as they gain new knowledge and skills to inform their learning, with the feedback given through this process. Conversely, summative assessment can sometimes cause problems within the classroom as children try and ‘be the best’. To bring the essay to a close, I discuss ideas for the future regarding assessment in Design Technology and what I think should happen. The term ‘assessment’ â€Å"is how pupils recognise achievement and make progress, and how teachers shape and personalise their teaching.† (QCA, 2009) In the past assessment was â€Å"seen as something distinct from learning;† (Chater, 1984, p4) contrasting this view in a recent review on assessment Daugherty (2002) found it to be: One of the most powerful educational tools for promoting effective learning†¦ the focus needs to be on helping teachers use assessment, as part of teaching and learning, in ways that will raise pupils’ achievement. (Daugherty, 2002) Daugherty, a member of the Assessment Reform Group, is raising a well-founded point, as he is well researched into ‘assessment,’ making government policy but also works closely with teachers and local education authority staff to advance understanding of the roles, purposes and impacts of assessment. Teachers planning should include strategies to ensure that learners understand the goals they are pursuing and the criteria that will be applied in assessing their work. OFSTED reports can often be seen as biased and its independence questioned, being dubbed the â€Å"Governments ‘poodle’ during a Commons committee hearing† (Stewart, 2009) and inspections seen as an â€Å"instrument of state control† forcing teachers to follow politicians’ agendas.† (Shaw, 2009) Nevertheless, this report raises good points to be considered by teachers who strive to use assessment in their teaching, hence the citation. This type of on-going assessment described in the report is known as formative assessment. It is common for assessment to be divided into either formative or summative categories for the purpose of considering different objectives for assessment practices, although they can overlap. Summative assessment is generally carried out at the end of a course or project. In Design Technology, summative assessments are typically used to assign students an end of topic grade. Formative assessment is generally carried out throughout a course or project and is used to aid learning. Summative assessment is the assessment of learning and in Design Technology it provides evidence of student achievement for reporting and accountability purposes.   Its main purpose is to make judgements about performance. An example of this is the norm-referenced tests (NRT), which classifies students. NRTs draw attention to the achievement differences between and among students to produce a dependable rank order of students across a continuum of achievement from high achievers to low achievers (Stiggins, 1994). Schools use this system to place pupils in ability groups, including Gifted and Talented. However, it is argued that â€Å"Assessment should be a powerful tool for learning, not merely a political solution to perceived problems over standards and accountability.† (ATL, 1996) This is reinforcing Daugherty’s idea, as it perceives assessment as a tool, a working progress- formative assessment, not an end product- summative assessment. Formative assessment is Assessment for learning and in Design Technology it helps to inform the teaching and learning process by identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses.   Its main purpose is to gather information. Diagnostic assessment, which helps to identify specific learning strengths and needs, can fall into both categories. It determines learning targets and appropriate teaching and learning strategies to achieve them. This is important because: Many learners have higher-level skills in some areas than in others. Diagnostic assessment happens initially at the beginning of a learning programme and subsequently when the need arises. (QIA, 2008) Therefore; it can be summative, as it results in a grade and the student is placed in an ability group on what they already know. However, this â€Å"information is used to make links to progression routes and prepare for the next steps;† (QIA, 2008) thus becomes formative, as they discover the gaps in their knowledge and learn how to fill these gaps. A type of formative assessment is a criterion-referenced test which determines, â€Å"what test takers can do and what they know, not how they compare to others.† (Anastasi, 1988, p102) Assessment for Learning ensures that pupils understand what they can do, but are also informed how to improve on what they find difficult, and what type of learning process they must take to achieve this. This formative assessment: Forms the direction of future learning and so the requirement of formative assessment is that the feedback given back to the learner helps the learner improve, but more importantly that the learner actually uses that information to improve. (Marshall, 2002, p48) Feedback for learning in Design Technology is vital. The teacher will take pleasure in rewarding students with praises; however, there is more valuable feedback that they should receive, as Black Wiliam found: Pupils look for the ways to obtain the best marks rather than at the needs of their learning which these marks ought to reflect†¦ They spend time and energy looking for clues to the ‘right answer’. (Black Wiliam, 1998) In Design Technology, a subject in which there is seldom a ‘right answer,’ it is essential that â€Å"we focus on promoting learning instead of encouraging students to seek the easiest way to get the best results.† (Branson, 2005, p76) This indicates that the summative assessment is preventing the student reaching their full potential through learning, as they want to be the best in the class; therefore, will rote learn and be ‘taught-to-the-test’ to achieve this top grade. This could mean that student is not learning, but remembering facts for the test, and once the test is over they will not retain much of the knowledge. Nevertheless, the summative results could be used as part of a formative assessment (Black Wiliam, 1998) if the correct feedback was given to them instead of just a grade. This feedback will only be effective if the quality of teacher-pupil interaction is high and provides, â€Å"the stimulus and help for pupils to take active responsibility for their own learning.†(Black Wiliam, 1998) To create effective feedback we must â€Å"teach less and talk about learning more.† (Branson, 2005, p77) This is known as meta-learning which draws upon goals, strategies, effects, feelings and context of learning, each of which has significant personal and social dimensions: Those who are advanced in meta-learning realise that what is learned (the outcome or the result) and how it is learned (the act or the process) are two inseparable aspects of learning. (Watkins, 2001) If students practise these skills they will be able evaluate work successfully, apply their assessment criteria to their work and their peers’ work. Through this greater understanding of their own learning, the students will have the â€Å"ability of the performance† (Marshall, 2002, p57) and be able to apply the knowledge and strategies they have acquired to various contexts, transferring their skills to suit the situation. Good day-to-day indications of students’ progress are tasks and questions that prompt learners to show their knowledge, skills and understanding. What learners say and do is then observed and interpreted, by teacher and peers, and judgements are made about how learning can be improved. These assessment processes are an important part of everyday classroom practice and involve both teachers and learners in reflection when talking about new targets. The questions posed should be open-ended, allowing the student to fully express themselves and ensuring that they will not ‘lose face,’ as there is not a right or wrong answer. If a student finds answering a question difficult, a peer can step in and help, which can have a positive effect on the class as there are â€Å"things that students will take from each other that they won’t take from a teacher.† (Marshall, 2002, p48) In turn, peer assessment helps develop self-assessment which promotes independent l earning, helping children to take increasing responsibility for their own progress. An example of good practice I have seen in an Design Technology classroom is ‘PEN marking’ Positive, Error, Next Time, in which students would pen mark their own work and assess each others work looking for two good aspects about the piece, and an improvement. This way the students are praising each other; therefore, they are not scared to suggest an improvement. Through assessing their peers work, they also find ways to improve their own. This is subjective as it is my own opinion, but does relate to what Marshall’s theory- that they will take from each other that they would not from a teacher, as several ‘wishes’ from the students sounded harsh but I found that in their next piece of work they had tried harder at it. However, the work may also have improved if the teacher had said it, so this theory is not infallible. The OFSTED report states that: Many pupils were still not clear about what their strengths and weaknesses were or how they might improve. (OFSTED, 2009, p14) Assessment for learning states that for effective learning to take place students need to understand what it is they are trying to achieve, and want to achieve it. Understanding and commitment follows when they have a part in deciding goals and identifying criteria for assessing progress. Communicating assessment criteria involves discussing them with the students using terms that they can understand, providing examples of how the criteria can be met in practice and engaging learners in peer and self-assessment.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I think the problem of pupils not being cle ar about their strengths and weaknesses can be solved with the introduction of Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) into schools. The school where I am doing my placement is using the APP process for the first time this year, and so far are finding it successful.   APP is a ‘systematic approach to periodic assessment that provides diagnostic information about individual pupils’ progress and management information about the attainment and progress of groups’. (DfCSF, 2008) A key purpose of APP is to inform and strengthen planning, teaching and learning. This aspect of APP can have a direct and positive impact on raising standards, and can assist in the personalisation of learning. Based on the assessment focuses (AFs) that underpin National Curriculum assessment, the APP approach improves the quality and reliability of teacher assessment. My school have simplified the APP focuses and levels into student speak so they can fully understand the concept and purpose. All students in KS3 are now fully aware that they will have an APP assessment in Design Technology at the end of every half term. The assessment will be based upon the scheme of work studied over the half term. For example the last assessment was to write a character description: the scheme studied being fiction. The Design Technology teacher has an expectation that every individual child should attain two sub-levels a year; the student is also aware of this. Before the student completed the final assessment they assessed a Character Description supplied by the teacher, using the same AF’s that they were going to be assessed on. This allowed the students to see exactly what they had to do to ach ieve a Level 5, as one pupil pointed out that, â€Å"Even though they’ve put their ideas together in order Miss, they haven’t used paragraphs so they can’t get a Level 5 for AF3†. This process of evaluation helps the student progress in their work, as they can see clearly what they have to do to improve. Ultimately, I think that the contribution of assessment has a huge impact on pupils’ learning; with well focused feedback, including thorough marking that identifies clear targets, students can progress and become independent learners, a foundation preparing for their independent life.   I think that APP alongside Assessment for Learning is a good way for the student and the teacher to gauge progress, as the objectives are clear, and the ways to achieve them are made obvious through ‘pupil speak’. This does not mean that I think summative is an incorrect way of assessment, as I echo the thoughts of Black Wiliam (1998) in that if a summative assessment is used to inform the student for progression then it can have a positive effect. When I start NQT year, I hope to be employed in a school that uses APP, and if not I will try and implement it, as I think it benefits students as much as it does the teacher. Bibliography] Anastasi, A. (1988). Psychological Testing. New York, New York: MacMillan Publishing Company Association of Teachers and Lecturers. (1996). Doing our Level Best. Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998) Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment, Kings College London. [Online] Available from: www.kcl.ac.uk/education/publications/Black%20Box.pdf [Accessed 20th October 2009] Branson, J. (2005) ‘Assessment, recording and reporting’. In: Goodwyn, A Branson, J. (eds). Teaching English: A Handbook for Primary and Secondary School Teachers. London: Routledge. Chater, P. (1984) Marking Assessment in English. London: Methuen Co Ltd. Daugherty R. (2002) Assessing for learning insides. [Online] 2002. Available from: assessment-reform-group.org/AssessInsides.pdf [Accessed 21st October 2009] DfCSF. (2008) Assessing Pupils Progress (APP) In English. [Online] Aug 2008. Available from: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/16051?uc=force_deep [Accessed 21st October 2009] Marshall, B. (2002) ‘Thinking through Assessment: An Interview with Dylan Wiliam’. English in Education, 36 (3) p47-60. OFSTED. (2009) English at the crossroads. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. QCA. (2005) A national conversation on the future of English. [Online]. 2005. Available from: qcda.gov.uk/libraryAssets/media/qca-05-1835-playback-web.pdf [Accessed 21st October 2009] QCA. (2009) Assessment key principles- National Curriculum. [Online]. June 2009. Available from: http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/assessment/Assessment-key-principles/index.aspx?return=/key-stages-3-and-4/assessment/index.aspx   [Accessed: 20th October 2009] QIA. (2008) Initial and diagnostic assessment: a learner- centred process. [Online] 2008. Available from sfl-sw.org.uk/userfiles/files/Initial%2520and%2520Diagnostic%2520assessment%2520a%2520learner-centred%2520process.pdf [Accessed 21st October 2009] Scriven, M. (1991). Evaluation thesaurus. 4th ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Shaw, M. 2009. ‘Ofsted inspections are means of state control’. Times Educational Supplement, 15 March. p.7 Stiggins, R.J. (1994). Student-Centered Classroom Assessment. New York: Merrill. Watkins, C. (2001) ‘Learning about Learning Enhances Performance’ in National School Improvement Network Research Matters 13, London: Institute of Education. William, S. (2009) ‘Ofsted accused of being ministerial poodle over school report cards’. Times Educational Supplement, 10 July. p.33

Assess the View That Traditional Class Identities

These groups are the working class, middle class and upper class. However now some believe there isn’t this social class division within society and that everyone is equal. People that would agree traditional class identities are no longer important are postmodernists. These have the view that class no longer really matters in modern Britain and that now people no longer identify themselves according to their class background. Clarke and Saunders (1991) would agree with the view of postmodernists. They suggest that classes have become fragmented into many different groups and now they have been replaced with other influences such as gender and lifestyles. Although they is some evidence which suggests these ideas are exaggerated. Marshall’s survey into how people view themselves showed people still see social class as a source of identity. The traditional working class was a group of people that was developed after the industrialisation when they were need for large amounts of manual workers. This group formed a strong sense on culture and identity. These were strong moral values, having men as the breadwinner and women as housewives and believing getting a job is more important than having an education. The traditional working class also saw the labour party as the party for the working class as it represented their interests, as pointed out in item B. Although now many people in the working class vote for different parties as they don’t all agree on what is important now in society, supporting the idea that traditional class identities are no longer important. Now also the manufacturing business as changed a lot, this means now they aren’t the same jobs available as they would have been before as they have been replaced with things such as machines that can do a faster and cheaper job. Therefore the working class has had to change the sort of jobs they do over time which may be a reason for the change in characteristics, and therefore making the traditional class identities now no longer important. Diamond and Giddens agree with this as they argue that the working class is no longer important because of the change in the economy that as lead to the decline of manual labour jobs, and that the working class isn’t now the only class which experiences economic and social eprivation. The new working class is now seen to have little loyalty to others within the same class, more emphasis on customer goods, high levels of home ownership, and women likely to be employed. There is also now a larger section of the working class, this may be down to some working class jobs now becoming more skilful therefore getting higher pay, which others become less skilful and get lower pay, meaning people in the same class may identify themselves every differently. However there are sociologists that believe traditional class identities are still very important, for example Marxists. They believe social class is still hugely influential in shaping our identities. They also believe social class is identified by your income, and that leisure wouldn’t define your identity as you would need the disposable income to afford it. The British Attitudes Survey supported this idea, because in 2007 it found still 94% of people still identified themselves with a social class, whereas only 6% didn’t. Overall the importance of traditional class identities are seen every differently by different people. Views which agree and disagree to the importance of traditional class identities still being important have both positives and negatives so it’s hard to just believe one view point is the truth and the other doesn’t matter. Therefore I believe both viewpoints have sufficient evidence and that traditional class identities are still important to an extent, however now there is also other factors that can make up our identity other than just our social class. Assess the View That Traditional Class Identities These groups are the working class, middle class and upper class. However now some believe there isn’t this social class division within society and that everyone is equal. People that would agree traditional class identities are no longer important are postmodernists. These have the view that class no longer really matters in modern Britain and that now people no longer identify themselves according to their class background. Clarke and Saunders (1991) would agree with the view of postmodernists. They suggest that classes have become fragmented into many different groups and now they have been replaced with other influences such as gender and lifestyles. Although they is some evidence which suggests these ideas are exaggerated. Marshall’s survey into how people view themselves showed people still see social class as a source of identity. The traditional working class was a group of people that was developed after the industrialisation when they were need for large amounts of manual workers. This group formed a strong sense on culture and identity. These were strong moral values, having men as the breadwinner and women as housewives and believing getting a job is more important than having an education. The traditional working class also saw the labour party as the party for the working class as it represented their interests, as pointed out in item B. Although now many people in the working class vote for different parties as they don’t all agree on what is important now in society, supporting the idea that traditional class identities are no longer important. Now also the manufacturing business as changed a lot, this means now they aren’t the same jobs available as they would have been before as they have been replaced with things such as machines that can do a faster and cheaper job. Therefore the working class has had to change the sort of jobs they do over time which may be a reason for the change in characteristics, and therefore making the traditional class identities now no longer important. Diamond and Giddens agree with this as they argue that the working class is no longer important because of the change in the economy that as lead to the decline of manual labour jobs, and that the working class isn’t now the only class which experiences economic and social eprivation. The new working class is now seen to have little loyalty to others within the same class, more emphasis on customer goods, high levels of home ownership, and women likely to be employed. There is also now a larger section of the working class, this may be down to some working class jobs now becoming more skilful therefore getting higher pay, which others become less skilful and get lower pay, meaning people in the same class may identify themselves every differently. However there are sociologists that believe traditional class identities are still very important, for example Marxists. They believe social class is still hugely influential in shaping our identities. They also believe social class is identified by your income, and that leisure wouldn’t define your identity as you would need the disposable income to afford it. The British Attitudes Survey supported this idea, because in 2007 it found still 94% of people still identified themselves with a social class, whereas only 6% didn’t. Overall the importance of traditional class identities are seen every differently by different people. Views which agree and disagree to the importance of traditional class identities still being important have both positives and negatives so it’s hard to just believe one view point is the truth and the other doesn’t matter. Therefore I believe both viewpoints have sufficient evidence and that traditional class identities are still important to an extent, however now there is also other factors that can make up our identity other than just our social class.

Researching A Hindu Saint Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Researching A Hindu Saint - Essay Example Referring to the Bhagavad Gita, he has made use of the Yogas and Vedantas in order to help people understand the importance and implementation of the major themes namely Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. (Vivekananda Kendra) Vivekananda was born in Calcutta on 12th January, 1863 to a Bengali Kayastha family and his birth name was Narendra Nath Datta. He was influenced greatly by both his parents; his father helped him to inculcate within him a sense of logical thinking equipped with rationality whereas his mother assisted him on thinking along the lines of religious spirituality. His guru Ramakrishna also played a major role in his life by teaching him about the faith and service that a man devotes to God and how this service is the same in all religions to all Gods. Swami Vivekananda also was heavily influenced by the teachings in the Bhagavad Gita and remarked on an allegory of the war taking place on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. He stated that the war was a metaphor of th e war that is constantly raging within the mind of a human being with respect to good and evil and what he should give in to. In 1881, Vivekananda experienced a turning point in his life as he met Ramakrishna; it is surprising to note that at first he revolted against all of the ideas of the guru and did not accept him as his senior; he had his own views regarding spirituality and did not believe in Ramakrishna’s vision. However, during the course of studying for five years under him, he began to accept his views and became a man ready to renounce the world in order to understand the realization a man achieves by being close to God. When Ramakrishna began suffering from throat cancer, Vivekananda formed a monastic group of which he was a part of and was given the duty to look after all the other disciples and take forward his teachings. From 1888 to 1893 Vivekananda wandered all over India as a monk with nothing but a pot of water and the robes on his back. He carried with hi m a copy of the Imitation of the Christ and the Bhagavad Gita and during the course of this journey he was able to understand people from different walks of life as he stayed with, and interacted with all kinds of people from all over the country. (Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda) After 1893, Vivekananda began travelling abroad with his first visit to Japan. He was very impressed by the cleanliness in the Japanese lifestyle; both in their way of living as well as their attitude. From there on, he visited Chicago where he was taken to the Parliament of World Religions by Prof. John Henry Wright of Harvard University. Vivekananda has hosted several lectures on his tours across England and America and after coming back to India, founded the Ramakrishna Mission all over the country where young learners are taught about the Gita as well as other world religions with emphasis on Hinduism. He has tried to keep Ramakrishna’s message and vision alive by spreading the word about God and self-realization. The essence of his teachings has best been described through a Vedanta philosophy of the soul as potentially divine. He is also considered to be a social reformer as he worked to help the poor and made provisions of providing them with food, shelter as well as knowledge through the Ramakrishna Missions set up throughout the country. The Bhagavad Gita is a 700 verse discourse in Sanskrit, a part of the Sanskrit epic titled the Mahabharata written by Valmiki. Also

Accounting Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Accounting Theory - Essay Example Laan (2009) argues that the two theories namely Stakeholder and Legitimacy, derived from the broader political economy perspective, broadly explain motivations for social disclosures. The paper aims at exploring whether the main motivation to corporations for social and environmental reporting is to enhance their corporate image and credibility with stakeholders. While a few decades back, corporations sole aim remained enhancing shareholder value in financial terms and report them as per the statutory norms, organisations have now moved beyond traditional financial reporting of their performance to its stakeholders. Currently, stakeholders group not merely constitute shareholders, employees, suppliers, creditors, customers but they also include society, community and all those who are affected by the operations of the organization. Corporate social reporting thus, has occupied a wider perspective. Stakeholder theory prescribes that all stakeholders including primary and secondary have the right to expect fair treatment from an organisation. That is to say management needs to manage the corporation such that interests of all stakeholders are secured. Community or Society at large may not be directly engaged in transactions with the corporation yet they are influenced and affected by the activities of corporations such as emission levels, waste water creation and its treatment, impact on ecology or surroundings and so on. Ethical branch of stakeholder theory also necessitates that community and society not only have a right to know how they are affected or impacted in the long run from the activities of corporations but also they expect that they must be treated fairly by corporation. At the same time, managerial branch of stakeholder theory explains that organisations prefer to provide social and environmental reporting when they believe that it is in their

Business and society. Critically analyze Joel Bakans argument in the Essay

Business and society. Critically analyze Joel Bakans argument in the book The Corporation - Essay Example by corporations include polluting and poisoning the environment, making people work like slaves by extending minimal wages, colluding with non-democratic and corrupt state governments to manipulate things in their way, using mafia to silence the voices of opposition. Bakan goes on to propose a range of reforms that could restore the real power back to the people. In The Corporation, Bakan introduces corporations as the instruments of evil and corruption, which could be tamed and restrained by pursuing a range of reforms. In the Chapter One, Bakan goes on to elaborate on the origins of the corporation in a historical perspective. The essence of Bakan’s argument is that in the hope of developing public infrastructure, the nations like the US and the UK allowed the corporations to own minimum liability while carrying on their work. This power of minimum liability extended to the corporations was further protected by bringing in the laws that supported and protected corporations. At a local level, the state governments and the courts of law supported and created legal instruments that protected corporations, to attract corporate investment. With the passage of time, these corporations evolved into organic concepts that exerted immense and uncontrollable power over the shareholders and the masses. Besides, the separation of ownership and control by extending shares to the shareholders allowed the corporations to carry on their business with much less control and restraint. The limited liability gr anted to the corporation was not only protected by the law, but also flowed out of the immense wealth owned by the corporations. Gradually, corporations evolved into self sustaining entities, which had the power to influence the society, but were independent of the society in their working. In Chapter Two to Five, Bakan unravels the harm caused to the society by the corporations in the form of environmental pollution, exploitation of the labor and manipulation of the laws