The Logical, Emotional, And Credible Evaluation Of ``...

Matthew Feathers Professor Kelly Alba ENGL 1312 07 February 2016 The Logical, Emotional, and Credible Evaluation of â€Å"Still Separate, Still Unequal.† Jonathan Kozol is an American writer from Boston, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard University. He began his career as a teacher in the Boston school system and also became involved in the study of social psychology. Later he became an activist for low income and poverty destined children who are not provided the means for a proper education. The essay â€Å"Still Separate, Still Unequal†, by Jonathan Kozol, discusses the harsh truth of public school systems, and how they have become an isolation and segregation of inequality that students are subjected to; as a result, to receive an education. Throughout the essay, Kozol proves evidence of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face in the current school systems across the country. Kozol supports his testimony by providing the reader with factual statistics and percentages, of how segregated the public school systems have become within many major cities. He exposes the details and statistic of how wealthier schools received better funding and opportunity than the low-income and poverty struck school systems throughout the major cities across the country. With the use of actual statistics, Kozol provides analytical support and demonstrates how racial segregation and inequality is very evident within many poverties and the afflicted inner-city schoolShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesupdated: April 26, 2016 Logical Reasoning Bradley H. Dowden Philosophy Department California State University Sacramento Sacramento, CA 95819 USA ii iii Preface Copyright  © 2011-14 by Bradley H. Dowden This book Logical Reasoning by Bradley H. Dowden is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. That is, you are free to share, copy, distribute, store, and transmit all or any part of the work under the following conditions:Read MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesSelf-Awareness 46 Self-Awareness Assessment 46 Emotional Intelligence Assessment 47 The Defining Issues Test 48 v Cognitive Style Indicator 52 Locus of Control Scale 52 Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale 54 Core Self-Evaluation Scale (CSES) 56 SKILL LEARNING 57 Key Dimensions of Self-Awareness 57 The Enigma of Self-Awareness 58 The Sensitive Line 58 Understanding and Appreciating Individual Differences Important Areas of Self-Awareness 61 Emotional Intelligence 62 Values 65 Ethical Decision MakingRead MoreStrategic Human Resource Management72324 Words   |  290 Pages abilities, knowledge and experience to fill jobs in the work organisation. This role encompasses human resource planning, job analysis, recruitment and selection. Rewards: The design and administration of reward systems. 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Childhood Abuse In Eveline - 1128 Words

James Joyces short story Eveline is set in Dublin, Ireland during the turn of the 20th century. The suffering was of the Irish was immense during this time in history, due to the struggle of against the English occupation of Ireland. An observation made about Dublin during the early 1900s was that â€Å"the Irish capital is paralysed by Catholicism, by the English imperialism, by grave poverty and social injustice† (Boyson). Ireland was still reeling from the famine the occurred fifty years earlier. The great potato famine as it’s called, led to mass migration, starvation, and disease. Joyce incorporates this heavy darkness, weariness, and resignation into his story about Eveline. In his short story Joyce describes a young woman,†¦show more content†¦Eveline remembers her father â€Å"was not so bad then† (Joyce). Though during those years, she was not the target of her fathers abuse, her brothers Harry and Ernest were. But she had to watch the terror of her father abusing her beloved brothers. Eveline remembers He [Mr. Hill] had never gone for her like he used to go for Harry and Ernest, because she was a girl† (Joyce) One by one Eveline’s protectors leave either one by death, one by choice, until Eveline was all that was left. That is when Eveline became the target of her father’s abuse. The narrator comments her father begun to threaten her and say what he would do to her† (Joyce). At only 19 years old, Eveline was alone to deal with her fathers frequent tirades and violence. Evelines life has revolved around the fear of her fathers violence. The narrator describes Eveline as someone who felt herself in danger of her fathers violence† (Joyce). An insightful observation of Eveline heartbreaking existence was made by Florence Walzl, who called Evelines subservience to her father, â€Å"slavery for a drunken father(224). Evelines fear of her father has manifested into anxiety attacks. She unders tands that â€Å"her father that has caused her palpitations† (Joyce). Despite her timid nature, Eveline has weekly confrontations with her father over money for household expenses. During these confrontations her father berates her, bellowing that â€Å"he wasn’tShow MoreRelatedMary Joyce s Eveline : The Classical Signs Of A Victim852 Words   |  4 Pageskids. Abuse does not see race, gender, or stature, yet it happens every day in a close - knit relationship. Abuse can be so subtle that it slowly chips away a person’s identity, and the person does not even realize that they are in an abusive relationship. In James Joyce’s, â€Å"Eveline,† Eveline exhibits the classical signs of a victim to abuse. She lacks self-confidence due to her father’s verbal, emotional, and financial abuse. Eveline lacks confidence due her father s verbal abuse. Eveline is nineteenRead MoreEssay on Feminism in Dubliners1321 Words   |  6 Pagesforefront of his stories and using them to show major roles and flaws in Irish society, specifically in â€Å"Eveline† and â€Å"The Boarding House†. James Joyce portrays women as victims who are forced to assume a leading and somewhat patriarchal role in their families. He uses them to show the paralysis of his native land Ireland, and the disruption in social order that is caused by the constant cycle of abuse that he finds commonplace in Ireland. Joyce is trying to end the Victorian and archaic view of womenRead MoreAnalysis Of The Story Eveline By James Joyce954 Words   |  4 PagesEveline The story begins with a silver lining in a memory that deepens into a pit of depression The narrator helps to describe her memories as Eveline, staring blankly out a window, wallows in her conflicting feelings of adoration and isolation. Today in many places, what takes place in Dublin during 1914 as common place family dynamics, can be recognized as a cyclical pattern of abuse between a controlling and manipulative father, his demure and defenseless wife, and their helpless and hopefulRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Eveline1123 Words   |  5 PagesJames Joyce’s Eveline is a story of a woman dealing with the decision to stay at home with her father and the children she cares for while enduring abuse, or going out across the sea with her boyfriend Frank, who wishes to make Eveline his wife. Although Eveline s father had caused her strife through his abusiveness, she reflects on a time when she was younger and her mother was still alive and he was not that way. Eveline wonders what what they would say about her in the stores if she were to goRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, And My Last Duchess1345 Words   |  6 PagesAbout Nothing, â€Å"Porphyria’s Lover,† â€Å"Eveline,† and â€Å"My Last Duchess.† In drama Othello, by Shakespeare, the title character suspects his wife Desdemona has been unfaithful with no proof and just the assumption of a friend. He publicly confronts Desdemona by hitting her and calling her a whore. Othello is in possession of power here because he publicly shows what he is capable of; he is not afraid to hit a woman. In short story â€Å"Eveline,† by James Joyce, Eveline and her younger brothers grow up inRead MoreEssay about Character Analysis of James Joyce Eveline1432 Words   |  6 PagesEnglish 122 Ms. Purvis An Analysis of a Promise The short story written by James Joyce â€Å"Eveline† is about a young lady who lives her life in a promise. The promise is to her mother, who had passed away, that no matter how bad the family became, she would always keep it together. At a significant point in Eveline’s life, she was given the opportunity to leave the family and start a family of her own. Although Eveline is miserable with her life, she runs from Frank with no love in her eyes and remembersRead MoreSummary Of Araby And Araby1134 Words   |  5 Pagesoccasionally need to have our heads in the clouds and be lost in them. Everyone, at some point in their lives, has the desire to escape from the dull routines of everyday lives. James Joyce conveys this desire effectively in his short stories called â€Å"Eveline† and â€Å"Araby†. Even though the plots are completely different, both the stories have protagonists who are lonely, desperate and long for the means to escape. The two stories also have unhappy endings due to the cruelties and responsibilities of lifeRead MoreEveline3513 Words   |  15 Pagesbetter life elsewhere. The Irish were second-class citizens within their own nation; Ireland was a British colony and the Northern Protestants controlled the economy of the country. Catholic families often faced hardship. Alcoholism and abuse, as portrayed in â€Å"Eveline† were rampant. As a result, many of the Irish sought to escape James Joyce represents everyday life of Dublin in the early twentieth century in his collection of short stories, Dubliners. Dubliners consists of 15 stories and each of themRead MoreGrowing Up in Dublin in The Dubliners Essay3039 Words   |  13 Pagesbeginning of Dubliners are about youth and as the story progresses they concern older people and the last book is called The Dead. To answer this question I am going to use three of the short stories from Dubliners; An Encounter, Araby and Eveline. I have chosen these three stories as they are near the start of the book and thus detail young peoples lives in Dublin, a feature of the book I can, as a teenager, identify with. ARABY This is the first of these stories andRead MoreLecture on Short Story5432 Words   |  22 Pagesthat are relevant to the systematic theme or purpose underlying the narrative. Although the short story has moved from the symbols and strict allegory of the myth and folk tale in favour of more â€Å"realistic† situations and characters (like poor Eveline and her predicament in Joyce’s story), the compression of its form along with its presentation of a character’s consciousness in a realistic setting has pushed meaning underneath. So that, often, when reading a short story, although we feel that there

Child Shift Free Essays

The article entitled â€Å"Children Caught in the Crossfire† explores the effects of proper and dysfunctional parenting on Caribbean children. This article identifies dysfunctional homes that foster improper parenting and the impact of psychological and physical absence of parents on their children. It also assesses the consequences of â€Å"child shifting† on affected children. We will write a custom essay sample on Child Shift or any similar topic only for you Order Now The social impairments of children suffering from â€Å"child shifting† were cross-examined with the various parenting styles they would receive through continuous domestic relocation. Children Caught in the Crossfire† is an interesting article that exploits numerous factors involving parental negligence which causes child shifting. This has become a cliched situation in the Jamaican society as a vast percentage of Jamaican parents have become surprisingly negligent. Whether by improper parenting or defaulted situations, children have suffered from these mal-outcomes and this has become evident through child development assessments explored within the article. This matter of unnecessary mobility\child shifting is of personal and public interest which has become the drive upon which the research will be carried out. As a tertiary level student that lives and has been cultured within the assessed environment (Jamaican society), my interest has been stimulated to assess the factors surrounding the nature of this negative lifestyle pattern. This article has highlighted my sensitivity to this situation due to personal reflections (to some extent); analytical efforts will be made to completely understand this critical matter that decreases national productivity and development. Conclusively, after assessment of the article putting concepts into proper perspective, the research topic and question is as follows respectively: The impacts of child shifting on the psycho-social development of Jamaican children and what are the effects of child shifting on the psycho-social development of Jamaican children in changing family structures? The subsidiary questions are: what is child shifting and how does it affect child development, what are the causes of child shifting and will victimized children transit consequent behavior into adulthood, what are the social and psychological factors that affect child development and what are the long term implications of child shifting on the social and psychological development of Jamaican children? Tentative Thesis Child shifting strongly impairs the psycho-social development of Jamaican children which causes their inability to function normally during daily social and psychological situations. Relocation of children after divorce and children’s best interests: New evidence and legal considerations. 17 (2), 206-219. Arizona State University University of California. The article assesses the effects of child relocation after divorces through a persisting legal issue. The article incorporates statistical date with the views of Wallerstein and other theorists that assess the best interests of a relocated child. This legal issue assesses which caregiver would have the least negative effects on child development. This article is a follow-up on another article explored during the research. This article supports the research through the additional clarity gained from a second assessment of Wallerstein’s theory. The article highlights positive and negative aspects of child relocation. This adds to the research’s objectivity bringing about views that support and oppose the researcher’s stance. Jackson, T. (1957). The differential impact of family disorganization. In Johnston, N. , Savitz, L. , Wolfgang, M. E. (Eds. ). (1962), The sociology of crime and delinquency (pp. 331-338). New York London: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. This chapter assesses the occurrences of delinquency in children from broken homes. These broken homes were not stated as causes of juvenile delinquents though aspects of disorganized families contribute to the development of delinquency and personality problems. The article states that more critical factors affect delinquency as family disorganization complicates the issue. This article directly contrasts the researcher’s views as disorganized families is directly associated with delinquency. Family disorganization via broken homes is the most common cause of child shifting. This broken home fosters child shifting and the negative psycho-social development of the child which commonly causes juvenile delinquency in the Jamaican society. Pasahow, R. (2005). A critical analysis of the first empirical research study on child relocation, Journal of Critical Analysis of Relocation Study, 19, 321-328. This journal assesses Wallerstein’s study of the best interests of children and the effects of child relocation. However, Wallerstein is opposed by several theorists with supportive research findings. Wallerstein posits that child relocation with their custodial parents is in their best interest while opposing views disprove Wallerstein. The scholarly article explores opposing views of several theorists which gives the researcher an understanding of contrasting arguments on child relocation. The source outlines the effects of child relocation in child development depending on custody. This aids the research in finding out the effects of custodial and non-custodial parents on child development. Samms-Vaughn, M. (2005). Children caught in the crossfire. In Ramsay, P. (2009). Blooming with the pouis. Ian Randle Publishers. This article outlines functional and dysfunctional parenting of children in Caribbean homes. It further assesses the effects of child shifting in various domestic settings. These varying domestic settings included dysfunctional homes which are known to be a cause of impaired psycho-social development. This article supports the research as it sets the basis on which the research is done. The article connects child shifting to the dysfunctional homes that typically cause child shifting. This article also states the effects and what would typically happen in later years. How to cite Child Shift, Essay examples

Note on Conflict Management free essay sample

President Franklin D. Roosevelt . . . attempted to generate information by recruiting strong personalities and structuring their work so that clashes would be certain. His favorite technique was to keep grants of authority incomplete, jurisdictions uncertain, and charters overlapping. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. 1 It is a well-known fact of organizational life that sales people think differently from manufac- turing people. Similarly, doctors think differently from nurses, RD engineers think differently from product line managers, professors think differently from deans, and basic researchers think differently from applied researchers. In part, these differences are personality driven, but in those instances where organizational (as distinct from interpersonal) conflict emerges, the participants usually are from different occupational groups. These groups have differing time horizons for measuring their performance, differing degrees of tolerance for ambiguity in their jobs, and, more generally, highly contrasting demands put upon them by their work environments. As a result, they approach organizational decision-making from vastly different perspectives. For example, a sales manager’s work environment may be driven by factors such as quarterly revenue quotas, shifting customer preferences, established customers who want preferential treat- ment, and potential new customers who may be testing the organization’s capabilities by, say, ask- ing for a small order on a tight time schedule. Sales people also may deal with customers who are moving toward or have established just-in-time manufacturing or product availability strategies, and who therefore demand rapid delivery schedules. In short, sales managers and their staffs face an uncertain and frequently turbulent environment. By contrast, the typical plant manager’s environment is one of tight production schedules, ma- chine performance concerns, externally imposed work standards, and a wide variety of cost and quality considerations. Plant managers tend to dislike turbulence, preferring instead predictability and order. When these worlds collide, as they do when, say, sales has a small rush order for a potentially valuable customer that will disrupt the plant’s schedule, there is certain to be friction. There also is friction when a physician wants time to do a thorough diagnostic workup on a patient while the nurse must respond to the family’s request for information on the patient’s condition. And there is friction when marketing wants to get a product to market quickly while RD wants more time to perfect its features. The Microsoft mantra, â€Å"Can we ship it yet? † in reference to a new software product, is reflective of this tension. 2 This is not interpersonal conflict, although it can become so at times. The sales and manufac- turing managers may socialize after work and get together with their families on weekends. They may be great friends. Inside the organization, their head-butting, and similar conflict among many other managers and professionals, is rooted in their occupational positions in the organization, their work environments, and the ensuing cognitive and emotional orientations that they bring to the decision-making table. Organizational, as opposed to interpersonal, conflict is the inevitable result. This kind of conflict also is desirable, as it can bring out the best in everyone. Managed prop- erly, it can be a source of enormous strength. It can assist an organization to achieve previously un- imagined levels of performance, whether that be in the form of a blockbuster movie, such as The Little Mermaid, at Disney Corporation, higher passenger loads at Virgin Air resulting from the idea of in-flight massages, or collaboration between two highly disparate entities, such as the aircraft en- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. , The Age of Roosevelt, Volume II: The Coming of the New Deal, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1959.? David Thielen, The 12 Simple Secrets of Microsoft Management: How to Think and Act Like a Microsoft Man- ager and Take Your Company to the Top, New York, McGraw-Hill Companies, 1999 This background note was prepared by Professor David W. Young. It is intended to assist with case analyses, and not to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of administrative situations.? Copyright  © 2013 by The Crimson Group, Inc. To order copies or request permission to reproduce this document, contact Harvard Business Publications (http://hbsp.harvard. edu/). Under provisions of United States and interna- tional copyright laws, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from The Crimson Group (www. thecrimsongroup. org) gine and home appliance divisions at General Electric (which resulted from regular meetings to explore, discuss, and decide upon what GE called â€Å"cross-business synergies†). Left u nmanaged, or poorly managed, however, conflict can create organizational havoc. CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND In 1967, Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch, both professors at the Harvard Business School, published a landmark book on conflict and conflict management, entitled Organization and Environment. 3 The book made the then-novel point that organizational conflict arises because different functional specialists face different technical, economic, and geographic â€Å"environments. † As a result, these individuals have different â€Å"cognitive and emotional† orientations, which Lawrence and Lorsch (LL) called â€Å"differentiation. † LL argued that differentiation can vary both in kind and degree, and can differ across and within industries. A key role of senior management is to assess it, and then design appropriate conflict management—or â€Å"integrating†Ã¢â‚¬â€mechanisms to deal with it. How an organization manages conflict—the kind of integration it engages in—depends on how much differentiation it has. They concluded that the ideal organizational form was contingent on the nature of the organization’s differentiation. This contingency theory of organization, as it now is called, was revolutionary in an era when organizational design research sought the single best way to organize. The Ubiquity of ConflictLL’s study was conducted in three industries, each of which displayed slight variations on the theme. In the container industry, they found that managers in the sales and manufacturing departments had quite contrasting perspectives. The sales environment was one where a salesperson wanted to get the product to the customer as quickly as possible, perhaps in relatively smal l quantities, whereas the manufacturing environment was characterized by the need for considerable lead time and lengthy production runs, so as to keep production costs low. In the food industry, by contrast, the sales staff wanted the products available in the marketplace before other companies were able to develop a competing product. However, researchers functioning in a scientific environment, wanted to focus on the development of new knowledge or on technological improvements— all of which take time. In the plastics industry, there was differentiation between fundamental and applied research; the former was concerned with â€Å"good science† and the development of new and improved materials. The latterwanted to be able to use the new or improved materials in the design of new products. Part of this difference was due to the contrasting â€Å"scientific environments† of the two groups, but part was due to the pressure on the people in applied research to have new products ready for the market as soon as possible. More generally, as the following example illustrates, differentiation is an ongoing fact of organizational life, and n o doubt will continue to be so into the foreseeable future: In the beginning of the 1990s, MCI (the telecommunications company) was in fierce competition for market share. The company’s research indicated that the top 5 percent of its customers accounted for 40 percent of its revenues. Further analysis revealed three distinct groups among this 5 percent: frequent travelers, overseas callers, and work-at-home people. Based on this research and analysis, MCI’s Sales and Services (SS) Department launched a program called Customer First, which was targeted toward those top 5 percent of customers. It provided them with services such as personal 800 numbers and in-language operators. The Customer First program led to conflicts between the SS and Marketing departments. Marketing, which handled promotions of new products, wanted to introduce these products to as many potential customers as possible, not just to those who were candidates for the top 5 percent group. However, as part of the new initiative, Marketing was required to obtain permission from Customer First before introducing a product. Because the Customer First staff was not concerned with new business, they frequently turned down Marketing’s proposals for potential new products, even though one of these new products might have attracted a customer who subsequently would have joined the ranks of the 5-percent group. As a result, while MCI’s customer retention rate increased, the acquisition rate of new customers fell, causing the company to lose some potentially valuable business. 4 Paul R. Lawrence and Jay W. Lorsch, Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration, Boston, Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1967.? See Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Enterprise One to One: Tools for Competing in the Interactive Age, New York, Currency/Doubleday, a Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1997. In part, MCI’s difficulties arose because of the highly differentiated points of view of Sales and Services, on the one hand, and Marketing on the other. SS faced an environment of existing customers who were being presented with a variety of tempting offers from competitors. Marketing, by contrast, faced an environment of potential new customers, and needed to design attractive offers to lure them away from competitors. This challenge is similar to those that LL discovered in their research. The overall conclusion is that when two or more managers with contrasting views are required to collaborate in decision- making, their differentiation must be matched by appropriate integration. Otherwise, the unresolved conflict likely will fester, impede timely decision-making, and hinder the organization’ s effectiveness. More generally, while differentiation can vary in kind and degree from one organization to the next, no organization except perhaps the very smallest can avoid some form if it. As Professor Martin Charns of Boston University, an expert on the subject of conflict, has stated: The existence of conflict [i. e., differentiation] in organizations is inevitable. Even when disagreements are not overtly expressed, latent conflict is an inherent characteristic of complex organizations. Some conflict can never be resolved, so it is more helpful to think in terms of â€Å"managing† conflict than of â€Å"resolving† it. In short, as Charns and others hav e suggested, conflict can be either beneficial or detrimental to an organization, depending on how it is managed. The tension that exists between line managers and the controllers staff during budget formulation is an example of potentially beneficial conflict that exists in almost all organizations. Each party brings an important, (but usually conflicting) perspective to the table, the resolution of which can lead to improved organizational performance. For a good decision to emerge, however, the conflict must be well managed. In this case, well- managed conflict might lead to a tight but attainable budget that directly supports an organization’s strategy, helps to assure that customers receive high quality products, and motivates line managers to stretch themselves to attain the agreed-upon goals. Similarly, LL’s findings in the container, food, and plastics industries have applicability to many other industries. At Microsoft, for example, new product development requires collaboration between the software engineers, who want a lengthy design and testing period, and the marketing personnel, who want an early launch. 5 Moreover, in Microsoft, as well as in companies such as Chrysler, Intel, Merrill Lynch, and others where there are â€Å"co-leaders,†6 one of the fundamental goals is to take advantage of the creative tension that exists between two people with contrasting cognitive and emotional orientations. The Role of Interpersonal Conflict Clearly, interpersonal (as opposed to organizational) conflict is important or cannot be ignored. Indeed, interpersonal conflict exists in all organizations and can adversely affect managers’ (and the organization’s) ability to be effective. But it is based largely on personalities, power relationships, and a variety of other similar factors. Interpersonal conflict should not be confused with organizational conflict, however. Otherwise, senior managers are likely to take quite different actions than they would if they had seen the roots of the conflict in the organization’s structure and environment. As L. David Brown, another authority on conflict and conflict management, has said: Conflict in organizations takes many forms. A disagreement between two individuals may be related to their personal differences, their job definitions, their group memberships, or all three. One of the most common ways that managers misunderstand organizational conflict . . . is to attribute difficulties to â€Å"personality† factors, when they are, in fact, rooted in group memberships and organizational structures. Attributing conflict between production and maintenance workers to their personalities, for example, implies that the conflict can be reduced by replacing the individuals. But if the conflict is, in fact, related to the differing goals of the two groups, any individual will be under pressure to fight with members of the other group, regardless of their personal differences. David Thielen, The 12 Simple Secrets of Microsoft Management, op. cit.? David A. Heenan and Warren Bennis, Co-Leaders: The Power of Great Partnerships, New York, John Wiley Sons, 1999. THE CONFLICT MANAGEMENT PROCESS One of LL’s principal conclusions was that the kinds of differentiation a firm faces dictate, in large measure, how it must approach the task of integration. Companies with a high degree of differentiation, for example, require a correspondingly high level of integration. Otherwise, some of the resulting conflict is likely to remain unresolved, meaning that the organization will be unable to achieve maximum effectiveness. By contrast, low levels of differentiation require minimal integration efforts. These conclusions lead to a conflict management (or integration) process with two related aspects: the type of conflict management, must corresponds to the level of conflict, and the mode of conflict management, which must fit with the organizations authority and influence process. Moreover, senior management’s choice of the mode of conflict management also influences the organization’s culture. Types of Conflict Management Five different types of conflict-management are shown in Exhibit 1, along with an example of where each and an appropriate conflict management mechanism. As this exhibit indicates, the conflict management mechanism can range from information flows (such as the exchange of interoffice memos or e-mails) to permanent committees. A manager might use the former to schedule a meeting (where there usually is a relatively low level of one-time conflict), and the latter to make capital investment decisions (where there tends to be a relatively high level of continuing conflict). Type of Conflict Low level, one-time? with multiple perspectives Moderate, one-time, with two perspectives Moderate, one-time,? with multiple perspectives High,continuing, with two perspectives High, continuing,? with multiple perspectives Example Scheduling a meeting Determining who will attend a conference Designing and launching a new product Conflict Management Mechanism Information flows (paper, e-mail, telephone) Hierarchy Ad hoc cross-disciplinary teams Exhibit 1. Types of Conflict Management Resolvingdifferencesbetween Integratororintegratingdepartment engineering and manufacturing Capital investment decisions; Permanent cross-disciplinary teams production scheduling for?several product managers As Exhibit 1 suggests, the conflict management mechanisms must fit with the type of conflict. For example, using E-mail to make capital investment decisions would be just as inappropriate and ineffective as would the formation of a permanent committee to schedule a one-time meeting. In each instance senior management must consider the level of conflict that exists, whether it is one- time or ongoing, what pers pectives are involved, who holds those perspectives, and what approach might be most effective to address the differences and reach an acceptable resolution. The Role of an Integrator. In making a decision about an appropriate conflict management mechanism, senior management occasionally will rely on an individual or department outside the official line-management hierarchy. Sometimes called an â€Å"integrator,† this person’ s (or department’s) job is to thoroughly understand the perspectives that create the conflict, and to work with the involved parties to resolve their differences. Integrators are needed in many organizations because of the complexity of the decision-making process. Changing markets and distribution channels, new production techniques, various forms of process improvements, emerging scientific knowledge, and so on combine to create a wide variety of perspectives on the best way to proceed. Moreover, most line managers (as well as senior man- agement) cannot fully understand this barrage of information, and yet the company regularly must make decisions that incorporate all of it. In addition, while the managers involved in the conflict frequently are on the leading edges of technological change in their fields, they often do not understand or appreciate each other’s perspectives. In an article based on their book, LL discussed an integrator’s (or an integrating department’s) role, observing that five of the six plastic companies they studied, including the one with the best integration record, had what they termed â€Å"full-scale integrating departments† (although they often were not formally labeled as such). Similarly, in the consumer foods industry, which had both a medium rate of technical change and a medium degree of difference between basic departments, one of the two companies studied used a full-scale integrating department. 7 In LL’s view, integrators need to have four basic skills: (1)an ability to exert influence based on competence and knowledge rather than positional authority, (2) an unbiased orientation and behavior pattern, (3) a feeling that they are being rewarded on the basis of total product responsibil- ity not solely individual performance, and (4) a capacity for resolving interdepartmental conflicts and dis putes. In effect, integrators have skills that span departments, are extremely persuasive, see themselves as problem solvers, and seek to understand all sides before expressing an opinion. Modes of Conflict Management Conflict can be managed in a wide variety of ways. Martin Charns has classified these various conflict management modes into the six categories shown in Exhibit 2. His argument is that the choice of a mode, like the selection of a mechanism, depends, in part, on the issue at hand. As Exhibit 2 indicates, there is no one best mode for all circumstances. Although avoiding and smoothing tend to be somewhat dysfunctional in most organizations, the others tend to be used effectively at different times and under different circumstances. Sometimes the situation calls for a unilateral approach, for example, or for bargaining. And sometimes it calls for a confronting mode. In general, a successful mode of conflict management must fit with an organization’s authority and influence process as well as with the type of conflict being addressed. To attempt a unilateral or forcing mode in an organization with a collegial culture would be difficult and perhaps counterproductive, as would a confronting mode in an organization where the decision ultimately would be made by the supervisor of the conflicting parties. In this latter instance, the mode not only would be a poor fit with the authority and influence process but would be a questionable use of time for the involved parties. To understand this idea, one need only note that a university has a very different authority and influence process than the military! A confronting mode tends to be most appropriate in situations where two professionals or managers of equal status need to make a decision or reach an agreement. Examples include researchers from chemistry and physics laboratories seeking an appropriate study design, engineering and marketing departments agreeing on a product development schedule, primary care physicians and specialists finding a suitable test or procedure for a patient, manufacturing and salesdepartments developing a policy for rush orders, and so on. Conflict Management and Cross-Disciplinary Teams A confronting mode also can be appropriate in a setting with cross-disciplinary teams. Indeed, the work of these teams can be helped or hindered by the way the conflict management process is designed and managed, as well as by how it fits with other managerial activities. For example, in a hospital, the potential for successful conflict management with a team is greatly enhanced if the organization’s culture accords credibility to the team’s non-physician members. Moreover, if the motivation process provides the appropriate rewards and recognition for good conflict management, individuals will be more inclined to provide input to the team effort, and their input is likely to be given greater weight in the discussions. Otherwise, a team may be cross-disciplinary in name only. Additionally, when cross-disciplinary teams are used, the mode of conflict management must be appropriate to the kind of conflict that will be generated. If teams are not given sufficient time to discuss and resolve their differences by the confronting mode, for example, decision-making is likely to be dominated by one or more individuals who make their influence felt by either a unilateral or forcing mode. Paul R. Lawrence and Jay W. Lorsch, â€Å"New Management Job: The Integrator,† Harvard Business Review, November-December, 1967. Mode Avoiding Smoothing Unilateral Forcing Confronting Bargaining Characteristics Substantive issues are not brought out into the open The issues are raised, but are? not discussed to the point of making a decision. Differences among the participants frequently are ascribed to personalities A manager makes a decision independently depending on how he/she sees fit. Sometimes the manager seeks to fully understand the issue, and sometimes not. Issues are raised and discussed, but one party uses power to attain the approach that he/she feels is best. Issues are raised, the parties mutually explore them and seek the most favorable solution, using all relevant information. Similar to confronting, but the parties each give up something in an attempt to reach a com- promise that is acceptable to all. Uses Useful if interpersonal friction is so severe that improved understanding of the issue will not lead to resolution; however, may lead to many decisions left open and worsening organizational performance. Similar to avoiding, both of which are indications that there are differences that are not being discussed Usually better than avoiding or smoothing in that a decision gets made, and it usually gets made quickly. However, the decision may have adverse effects on those organizational units that were not consulted. If decision maker has the most relevant perspective, this mode might result in the best decision with the least amount of effort. However, the mode may mean that some decisions get made without all rele- vant information in hand or with bias to- ward the interests of the decision-maker. Has a high potential for reaching a quality decision, especially if organiza- tional goals are used to frame the discussion. Can be time consuming and emotionally draining, however May be useful for resource allocation decisions where a zero-sum game is at work, but tends to limit information sharing and openness in a discussion. Source: Martin Charns8 GENERATING CONFLICT Exhibit 2. Modes of Conflict Management There are many forms of conflict other than organizational, including grievances, disputes, and â€Å"tense situations,† as well as plain old interpersonal conflict. In addition, conflict management is a tricky concept because some of the terminology associated with it can be subjected to different interpretations. â€Å"Confronting,† for example, is seen by many as quite pejorative when, in fact, it simply refers to two or more people airing their views openly and together in a problem-solving mode. The topic of conflict management also is slippery because it involves people, who cannot be directed and controlled easily. As a result, theories of conflict management are constantly evolving. Indeed, some years ago, Harvard Business School Professor Charles Christenson challenged LL’s thinking, arguing that their normative advice was backwards. 9 He suggested that designing integrating mechanisms to deal with the conflict being generated by the differentiated views of managers facing contrasting environments was a static approach that minimized the potential for organizational learning. He argued that senior management should begin by designing the most powerful integrating mechanisms it could (or that resources allowed), and then should seek to create as much differentiation as possible within the capabilities of these integrating mechanisms. In this way, Christenson argued, senior management would get as close as possible to understanding the organization’s real strengths and weaknesses, and its real environmental opportunities and threats. Although this idea may sound somewhat far-fetched or academic, it in fact describes exactly what some senior managers have done. In an interview published in the Harvard Business Review, Michael Eisner, former Chairman and CEO of the Disney Corporation, was asked â€Å"How do you create the environment for supportive conflict? † His response included the following: â€Å"We’re entertaining people, so we should have an energized culture. . . . that kind of culture doesn’t just happen—you have to make it happen. That’s one of the reasons we started doing our own internal â€Å"gong show† back in the 1970s. It started as a concept where, once a week, we’d invite everybody to come to a conference room, and anyone could offer up an idea or two and, right on the spot, people would react. We loved the idea of big, unruly, disruptive meetings . . . The Little Mermaid came out of a gong show, and so did Pocahontas. Lots of ideas came out of those meetings. Another way we get creative juices going and ideas flowing is with â€Å"charettes. † These are meetings with our architects and theme park designers. I love them because they are so brutally honest. Because everybody has a different opinion about color and style and size and look and landscaping and all the rest, these meetings take on an event stature. Eventually resolution arrives, but not before every possible idea is put on the table. . . . There is no pecking order. All of a sudden it gets really creative. You may have a ten-hour meeting, but it’s during the last half hour that the best ideas come out. Everybody starts driving each other crazy with ideas, and then somebody says something and it all comes together. 1 0 Clearly, Eisner was not waiting for conflict to happen and then designing an integrating mechanism to deal with it. Rather, he was investing considerable company resources (such as a ten- hour meeting for many high level people) in an integrating mechanism that was designed to generate conflict and then deal with it. There is no question that Eisner truly understood the valuable role that conflict can play in moving an organization ahead strategically. Eisner was not alone. In his book, Wide Angle Vision,11 Wayne Burkan made the point that companies that fail to generate conflict often miss strategic opportunities. His â€Å"ideal team† is one that helps a company question its own rules and assumptions. He cites examples of companies such as Smith Corona (battling Brother Industries, its biggest rival in typewriters, but the wrong competitor for where the market was heading) and Schwinn Bicycle Company (a dominant player in its industry that failed to see the trend toward mountain bikes) and Hewlett-Packard (that rejected a â€Å"lowly† technician’s idea of a personal computer; that technician, Steve Wozniak, then went on to co-found Apple Computer). Similarly, in their book Reengineering the Corporation,12 Michael Hammer and James Champy suggest that reengineering teams should include employees who are unhappy with the current processes. Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman discuss a slightly different, but consistent, slant in Organizing Genius. 13 They describe a process at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), in which the senior manager, Robert Taylor, set up a series of weekly meetings run like academic conferences in which the scientists were expected to challenge the work of their peers. In addition to improving communication and helping to create Taylor’s desired culture, the meetings also helped with the generation—and resolution—of considerable conflict. Charles J. Christenson, The ‘Contingency Theory’ of Organization: A Methodological Analysis,† Boston, Harvard Business School Working Paper 73-36, 1973.? Suzy Wetlaufer, â€Å"Common Sense and Conflict: An Interview with Disney’s Michael Eisner,† Harvard Busi- ness Review, January-February 2000. Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat Your Competition by Focusing on Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers, and Rogue Employees, New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. , 1996.? Michael Hammer and James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation, New York, Harper Collins, 1993. Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley, 1997 In these and other similar efforts, the approach mirrors that advocated by Christenson: to create a powerful integrating mechanism (usually a team, but sometimes, as in the case of PARC, a regular meeting) and then to generate as much differentiation as possible—that is, as many iconoclastic points of view as the process can handle. Only in this way will senior management and others begin to gain knowledge about the organization’s true strengths and weaknesses, and the environment’s true opportunities and threats. LINK TO OTHER MANAGERIAL ACTIVITIES Link to Culture There are several conflict management activities that senior management can use, each of which will affect its culture. For example, senior management’s response to a situation of ongoing conflict can be to (a) become involved in resolving it, (b) appoint an ad hoc or permanent committee to deal with it, or (c) assign an integrator. All three approaches can be effective, but each is likely to lead to a different culture in terms of the basic assumptions about how decisions are made. Indeed, the approaches taken to deal with the several kinds of organizational conflict (shown in Exhibit 1), and the modes of conflict management that are used (shown in Exhibit 2) constitute highly visible intra- organizational signals of the kind of culture senior management desires. From a somewhat broader perspective, in The Executive Way,14 Calvin Morrill used the results of interviews with over 200 executives and their support personnel to describe how high-level corporate executives manage conflict. He found that the corporate culture was an important influence, which suggests that the organization’s culture is directly linked to the conflict manage- ment process. Link to Authority and Influence Similarly, a committee’s or task force’s membership sends important signals about authority and influence. If senior management combines, say, an equal number of middle managers and assembly line workers on a reengineering task force, it sends a signal to the organization about both the importance of line workers’ opini

How Do You Assess An Ideology Essay Example

How Do You Assess An Ideology Essay How do you assess an ideology? An ideology is the study of ideas, or a science of ideas. It forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy or can be a set of beliefs of a social group or individual (Press n. D. ) In order to assess an ideology it is essential to know how to asses, this is when you evaluate the nature, ability or quality of something. However it is difficult to assess an ideology as it is a contested concept, it is impossible to define as it is fundamentally hard for everyone to agree on. In this essay will be making a judgment about the ways in which he concept ideology should be approached. Michael Freedmen sees ideology as thought behavior which is how people actually use ideas. Whereas ideology in Marxism is seen as a dominant set of ideas which reflects and legitimates existing arrangements Of power it also makes unequal social relations seem natural and inevitable. These notions are on the opposite spectrum from one another as one embraces the Enlightenment period and the other rejects key Enlightenment values. Breeders view on ideology seems to be more relevant to our society today unlike Marx and Engels interpretations of ideology as it is very one sided. Firstly, the rise of ideology has shown that reason replaces divine proficiency and religious views on understanding how the world works. The rise in science, along with key enlightenment values played a major role in replacing religion as it helped answer many questions that religion was incapable of answering. We will write a custom essay sample on How Do You Assess An Ideology specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on How Do You Assess An Ideology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on How Do You Assess An Ideology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Enlightenment thinkers believed that the truth existed in the world we live in and not in religious scriptures or the word of God as these are outages for todays world. The enlightenment period embraced equality, freedom and individualism. This brought about change for the people who were treated unfairly, the French Revolution was one of the biggest revolts which started from the concept of rationality and reason as the divine King was overthrown. As a result the revolution brought about ideologies where individuals were able to create their own ideas about humanity, politics and the economy. Furthermore it seems as though Michael Breeders approach to understanding ideologies can be applied to how ideologies are viewed in todays society. Freedmen provides his definition of ideology in his book A Very Short Introduction as a political ideology being which is a set of ideas, beliefs, opinions and values that exhibit a recurring pattern. A political ideology is held by significant groups who compete over providing and controlling plans for public policy they do this by justifying, contesting or changing the social and political arrangements and processes of a political community (Freedmen 2003). He provides an analysis of his definition by breaking down the definition using the Four AS. The first P that Freedmen mentions is proximity which shows that political concepts cannot make sense on their own, unless its applied to an ideology for instance when looking at two of the dominant ideologies for the political system which are conservatism and liberalism. The concept of same sex marriage doesnt have any substance by itself but when looked at from a conservative view the Republican Party will deem it deviant and against the law. On the other hand when looking at same sex marriage from a liberalism viewpoint it would be made legal and normal. This is just one of the many cases showing how a certain concept has no backbone without an ideology. The second P is priority, where ideologies are organized based on rank of importance as the importance of ideologies can change in society. The third P permeability, this is where ideologies interlink with one another such as Liberal Feminism, it contains Feminist concepts and liberal concepts which are intertwined. The final P is proportionality which is how an ideology wishes to present its arguments, there is a different representation for each individual. In contrast to Freedmen, Marxist have a very radical critic of ideology, they strongly reject the enlightenment values such as rationality and scientific objectivity. They see reason as being shaped and constrained by social norms and dominant systems Of power unlike enlightenment thinkers who believe otherwise. Capitalism oppresses, alienates and exploits citizens whilst leading them to believe that this is unavoidable. On the other hand Marxist agree with enlightenment thinkers on how religion is not rational, Marx mentioned that religion is just an opium of the people. It provides people with an illusion of happiness, if they sin they will be punished and if they do not they will be rewarded so Marx states that religion is another lie that helps people accept the position they are in. Marxist consider ideology to have a similar purpose to religion, it justifies the position people are in due to the hierarchical, capitalist system. Ideology to Marxist assist the bourgeoisie to continue exploiting the working class by concealing their struggle by making it appear as though the working class are working towards a way out of the position hey are in, when really everything the working class do are in favor of the ruling class. Ideology plays against the working class in a number of ways by blinding them, for example the Health and Safety Act was created to protect workers from injuring themselves which will cause them to be out of work but Marxist look at it from a different perspective. They say that really the act protects the ruling class, if an employee was to injure themselves due to no health and safety being available the company would be at a loss. They will eave to find a replacement and in most cases have to pay sick pay or they can even be sued, so this can be seen as blinding the working class into thinking the ruling class care about them when truly they care about themselves. Other ideologies such as Feminism see Marxist views as influential as they also believe that people are misled and oppressed except they see as men as the oppressors and not the ruling class. Many people see ideologies in a positive light which provide a foundation to political identity where people can understand and participate in politics. Conversely others see ideology as he basis of oppression and control which prevents positive change. Unlike Freedmen is becoming difficult to apply the Marxist ideology to todays society, whilst there is still a struggle between classes which causes oppression there are more and more opportunities which are allowing many people from lower class background to be socially mobile and climb up the social ladder. Overall Freedmen provides a better definition of an ideology, he was able to break down the concept of an ideology and gives different viewpoints which are not one sided. Whereas the Marxist view is very restricted to the idea that al ideology does is oppress, hence it is very difficult to relate our current society to the Marxist ideology. Freedmen notes that ideologies provides a basis where a political identity is developed which helps individuals compare and apply it to their own beliefs.

What Should High School Students Do Over the Summer

What Should High School Students Do Over the Summer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you a high school student or the parent of one and are wondering how high school students should spend their summers?Summer is a great time to relax and recharge, but it’s also an excellent chance for students to get work experience, do an activity they enjoy, and boost their chances of getting into a top college. Read on for everything you need to know about summeractivities for high school students and how to choose the best option. Why Is It Important for High School Students to Keep Busy Over the Summer? While you may want to spend your entire summer sleeping in and hanging out with friends, it’s important also to spend part of the time being productive and preparing for your future. Participating in an activity over the summer can help you get a great job or get accepted to a top college in the future, and being productive over the summer doesn’t have to take up all your time or be boring! Colleges and employers love seeing applicants who are motivated and interested in learning more. By keeping busy over the summer, you'll show them that you have what it takes to be a great addition to their school or workplace. There are a lot of ways high school students can spend their summer; read on to learn what your options are and how you can choose an activity that you will find useful as well as enjoyable. How Can You Decide What to Do Over the Summer? You probably have a lot of options for how you can spend your summer: you could lifeguard at your local pool, take some summer classes, attend a summer camp near you or in a foreign country, and more. How can you decide whatyou should do? Read through the list below and ask yourself these three questions: #1: What Are Your Goals for the Future? Do you want to get a good job? Get into a dream college? Think about ways you can spend your time over the summer to make yourself a strong candidate. Will getting work experience help? You may want to consider a job or internship. Are there classes you can take to strengthen your transcript? Summer schoolmay be a good idea. #2: What Do You Enjoy Doing? You shouldn’t spend your summer doing something that makes you miserable. Are there certain extracurriculars, such as a club or sport, that you enjoy and want to continue over the summer? Is there a summer job that sounds interesting or fun? Try to find activities that will be both useful and enjoyable for you. #3: How Busy Do You Want to Be? It’s absolutely possible to do more than one of these activities during the summer. If there are multiple activities you’d like to do, feel free to do them. However, make sure you don’t become too busy or overwhelm yourself. Remember, summer is still about taking a break from school, and you don’t want to return to classes in the fall feeling burnt out and exhausted. Whileit may be great for your tan, youdon't want to spend allsummer lounging at the pool. 6 Great Summer Activities for High School Students Below are six of the best activities high school students can participate in over the summer. For each one, potential benefits and drawbacks are given, as well as examples and ways to get more information. Under the â€Å"How to Stand Out† heading, I’ve also included ways to make this activity particularly impressive to colleges and employers. Job Description: It’s common for high school students to work over the summer. Having a job is a great way to get work experience that you can include on your resume and college applications, and it will earn you money that you can use to help pay for college or just for fun. Many summer jobs for high school students are part-time, but full-time jobs are also available, especially if you’ve already worked at that place before. Common summer jobs that high school students have include being a lifeguard, cashier, or camp counselor. Pros:Make money, gain work experience for your resume and college applications. Cons: Some high school jobs can be tedious and not very interesting, your job may not relate to the career you want. Learn More: To learn more about jobs high school studentscan get, read our guide on the eight best jobs for teenagers,as well as this guide that will help you decide if getting a job is a good decision for you. How to Stand Out: Like any other activity, your job will impress colleges more if you stick with it and increase your responsibilities. If you can work at the same job over multiple summers and get promoted or have your responsibilities increased, that will make the job look stronger on your college applications. If you are able to find a summer job that relates to a subjectyou want to study in college or get a future job in, that will also help show colleges what your interests are and that you can commit to them. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Internship Description: Like a job, an internship involves working for a company or organization. However, internships are often more closely related to your career interests, and you may not always get paid to be an intern, especially as a high school student. If there’s a place you’d be interested in working at or learning more about, you can contact them directly and ask if they hire interns. Your high school’s career center will also likely have more information about internships you can apply for. Pros:Gain work experience,learn more about careers you may be interested in. Cons:You may not make money,some internships involve mostly grunt work that doesn’t teach you a lot about the specific career field. Learn More: For everything you need to know about getting and doing well at an internship, check out our guide. How to Stand Out: If you can get an internship that relates to a future career you’d like to have or subject you’d like to study, that will show colleges that you have a realinterest in that field. Schools like students who are passionate about something, and showing your passion in your internship will help boost your application. For example, if you are planning on majoring in English, getting an internship at a publishing company or newspaper, along with strong English classes and related extracurriculars, can show schools that you’re serious aboutthat fieldand motivated to learnmore about it. Schools will see that as an indicator that you’ll be similarly dedicated to your college classes and activities. Classes Description: Taking classes may not be the most fun way to spend your summer, but they can help you stay on track in high school and prepare you for college. Some students take summer classes to improve their grades in a class they didn’t do well in the first time, some do it to take a class they wouldn’t have time for during the school year, and some use summer classes as a way to take college courses or advanced high school classes. Summer classes can be taken in a variety of ways, either through your high school, at a community college, through an academic program at universities, or even online. Pros: Strengthen your transcript, take classes you’re interested in, can help prepare you for college. Cons: Might be harder to motivate yourself to study during the summer, not the most enjoyable way to spend the summer. Learn More:For more information, check out our guide to summer classes for high school students.We also have guides for severaluniversityacademic programs, including Stanford EPGY, the Boston University Summer Challenge, and the National Youth Leadership Forum. How to Stand Out: If you’re able to, taking college classes over the summer can be a great way to become a stronger applicant. Having college classes on your transcript, even if they are only introductory classes at a community college, can boost your application by showing schools that you’re able to handle the rigor and workload of college. This is an especially good option if your high school doesn’t offer a lot of advanced classes and you want to strengthen your transcript. Hobbies or Talents Description: This is a broad category that can includesports, clubs, or other activities that you do either through school, with a local group, or on your own. Some examples include sports teams, clubs, or a hobby you do in your free time, such as painting, working on computers, or creating a small business. Colleges and employers like to see applicants who have outside interests and can commit themselves to a particular activity. Continuing your hobbyduring the summer is a great way to show that. Because you don’t have classes to attend, summer is an excellenttime to spend more time participating in an activityyou enjoy.Use this time to think about how you can become better at the activity or increaseits impact. For example, if you love baking, is there a way you can expand that hobby? Perhaps you could take a pastry course, have community bake sales, see if local bakeries are interested in working with you, or something similar.If you do your hobby with a group, such as a school club or sports team, and they don't meet over the summer, you can still become better at it by practicing on your own or joining a community group, if one exists. Pros:Can do an activity you enjoy, possibly move into a leadership position, show colleges that you can commit to an activity and have interests outside the classroom. Cons:This may not be the best way to strengthen your resume or college application if you don’t plan on continuing the activity throughout high school or aren’t spending a lot of time on it. Learn More: If you need help deciding which activityto pursue, check out this guide tohundreds of extracurricular examples.We also have a guide to starting a new club if your school doesn't offer an activity that you're interested in. How to Stand Out: Your hobby or talentwill be most impressive to colleges if you have participated in it for an extended time period, have achieved a leadership position or more responsibility, and arepassionate about it. For more information on how to do this, check out this guide with four examples of amazing extracurriculars. Summer can be a great time to get better at a sport or other activity you enjoy doing. Summer Camp Description: Summer camps aren’t just for making s'mores and going on nature hikes anymore. More and more summer camps for high school students are being created that have unique focuses such as cultural immersion, performing arts, wilderness skills, and more. For this article, summer camps differ from regular extracurriculars because, even if they focus on the same area such as a sport, camps offer a more intensive, structured experience over a set period of time. Many students attend these programs to learn new skills or improve skills they already have. For example, if you want to get better at a certain sport or start to learn a new language, a summer camp can help you immerse yourself in that subject and really focus on learning it since there are fewer distractions, and you’ll be surrounded by people with similar goals. Participants may receive academic credit if they attend a program that includes coursework. Most of these programs are in the US, but there is a growing number of international summer camps for high school students. Pros: Can give you a unique experience, you may get the chance to travel, can focus on a skill or topic that’s important to you, chance of getting college credit. Cons: Can be expensive, the number of academic credits you receive is usually not very much, you may get homesick if it’s a sleep-awaycamp, some programs are poorly put together and may not be very beneficial or enjoyable. Learn More: Check out our guides for sports camps, medical programs, and study abroad programs to learn more about someof these opportunities. How to Stand Out: Summer camps can vary widely in terms of quality and the activities that participants do, so it’s important to research a program before you enroll in it. Look for programs that reflect your interests, whether academic or otherwise. For example, if you want to be a doctor,try to find a science-based summer camp or a program that lets you learn more about what it’s like to study and practice medicine. This will help show colleges that you take your career path seriously and are genuinely interested in learning more about it. Volunteering Description: Volunteering is when you do work that benefits others without receiving payment. There are many places where you can volunteer including schools, animal shelters, retirement homes, museums, and more. Most volunteer work is done near where you live, but there are also opportunities to do volunteer work abroad during the summer. This can be donethrough your school, place of worship, or an organization that offers these programs. In addition to the benefit of helping others, it’s often possible to choose volunteer work that relates to your interests. If you enjoy working with children, love spending time with animals, or want to work outside, you can often find a volunteer opportunity that allows you to do just that. Pros:Knowledge that you’re helping others,can include it on resumes and college applications,may be able to volunteer at a place where you’d like to work in the future,can fulfill a volunteer requirement if your high school has one. Cons:You won’t get paid,some volunteer work can be repetitive and tedious. Learn More: Learn about the nine best places to do community service as well as the best volunteer abroad programs. We also have a guide specifically for students trying to decide if they should attend a volunteer abroad program. How to Stand Out: Just completing a few hours of volunteer work won’t impress colleges very much. In order to make your volunteer work stand out, you’ll have to work at the same place over a long period of time, obtain a leadership position, and make your passion and interests clear. Check out this guide for a more in-depth look at how to make your volunteer work impressive. Summary It’s important that high school students spend part of their summer actively working or learning in order to bewell prepared for the future. Fortunately, there are many activities to participate in over the summer that will fit your interests and circumstances. Think about what you enjoy, what you could improve in, and what your goals for the future are in order to decide what to do over the summer. Regardless of the activity you choose to participate in, you can make it more impressive to colleges by connecting it to your interests, gaining new responsibilities, and sticking with it for the long term. What's Next? Want to know how to make your extracurricular stand out even more? Check out this guide to four amazing extracurricular activities and learn why they're so impressive to colleges. Wondering when to start applying to colleges? We have a guide that will give you a complete college application timeline to follow to make sure you're on track! Thinking about summer school?Our guide explains what summer school is, what you'll be doing, and who should be enrolling in it. Summer school has more uses than you may think! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

The term science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The term science - Essay Example (Murzi M., 2006) Everyone knows that science rests on the broad shoulders of facts, without facts there would be no science. But the accumulation of facts only does not make science, just like piling up of bricks does not make a house. To make a house one first needs to have chalk-out a plan of the house and then lay the bricks in a definite pattern according to the plan. It's the same thing with the facts and science, only facts does not make science. The accumulation of facts, the systematic analyzation of these facts, experimentation on these facts, forming a hypothesis and then arriving to a fixed conclusion through these facts is what actually science is. The green leaves is a simple fact, but the knowledge that green leaves produce food for the plant and releases oxygen into the atmosphere is science. This conclusion was derived after scientifically analyzing the fact that the leaves are green and by experimenting on this fact. This is how facts work together and creates science. (Carter Stein J, 2006) The world is fu The world is full of facts, we eat, that is a fact, we sleep, that is a fact, we laugh, and that is a fact; so if we look at the world this way through facts that then everything in this world and every moment of our lives adds up to science. Right from our waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night totals up and makes way for science. Even our dreams and thoughts is a part of science as they are also facts and with logical and systematic approach people have made science out of them. No branch of knowledge is devoid of science, anything that requires reason, logic, thinking and systematic approach is science, so even the branch of knowledge like history, though a humanitarian subject can be said to be a form of science. As history is also the collection of facts though one may have to dig it up, and laying them in a systematic manner like laying the bricks for building a house. Science and Knowledge The term science comes from the Latin word 'scienta' which means knowledge, but knowledge as one knows is the fact or the whole truth that can be shared with no questions asked, whereas if a chemist or a physicist is doing some research in a lab on their own individual fields one may call it science, but not knowledge. The simple reason why it cannot be called knowledge is that no one knows about the science that is being done in the lab. So now the question arises that when does science which itself means knowledge actually becomes knowledge The answer for this is that the science in the lab becomes knowledge only when the researcher gets to the truth of the matter on which he was carrying out the science in the lab. Then he can go out and cry Eureka! And hence make a contribution to knowledge. Through this observation one may also conclude that science is not knowledge but nothing but the truth and knowing it is the real knowledge. So Why Science A simple and a prompt answer to this question would be to satisfy the undying curiosity of human beings. Human beings are never satisfied with what they have and what they

Midterm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Midterm - Essay Example Brahe also considered the nature of comets as objects of the translunar space and not a phenomenon of the atmosphere as postulated by Aristotle. He established this nature of comets by severally measuring the lower limit of the lunar distance for a given comet. He observed a supernova and proved stellar skies are not impossible to change as was previously depicted (Goddu, 2010). Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer used the Mars observations made by Brahe to establish the movement of planets around the sun on elliptical orbits. Kepler derived his three laws relating to motions of the planets. The first law was that each planet’s orbit is an ellipse with the sun in a single focus. The second law concerned the radius vector from the planet to sun that sweeps equal areas every time. This means that the movement of the planet is faster when it is close to the sun. The third law affirms that the average distance from the sun in relation to all the planets is proportional to the squ ares of the periods of revolution (Goddu, 2010). Galileo Galilei, an Italian astronomer discovered Jupiter’s four bright satellites. These include the mountains on the moon, the spots on the sun and Saturn’s rings. Additionally, he found the nebula as a cluster of stars. Galileo’s discoveries followed the invention of telescopes that enabled him make these observations of the sky. Based on Kepler’s laws, it was evident that the sun generates some force that acts on planets. Isaac Newton provided the understanding of this force through the law of gravity. This formed ground of the development of celestial mechanisms to sophisticated science. The gravitational force accounts for the failure of planets to fall into the moon and the crashing of the moon into the earth (Goddu, 2010). The geocentric view was popular for long because it explained many observations made by the early Greeks. The geocentric model explained the reason behind things falling towards t he earth and the reason for Venus maintaining the same distance from the earth based on the unchanging brightness. The geometric view is due to inadequate technology to facilitate effectiveness of research in astronomy. This implies that science relies heavily on technological advances (Goddu, 2010). Question 2 The relationship of geography and science lies in the nature of the environment, diversity and social decision-making. Geography provides a theoretical basis for understanding nature and development. Geography is the study of the earth with its related features, general research and effects of human activities. It includes study of the climate, soil, topography and vegetation. Geosciences comprise of all the sciences that study the evolution, structure and dynamics of earth and resources. The strength of geography comes from its functional interrelationship to other disciplines. However, geography promotes a holistic understanding that is simple and does not provide vital det ails of cause and effect to a phenomenon (McEntire, 2007). Question 3 Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere at a given geographical location and time. It varies greatly over hours, days, weeks and distance. Climate is the average weather conditions prevailing in a region over a long period (Ahrens & Samson, 2010). Climate change relates to both greenhouse effect and global warming. Global warming is the global average temperature of the surface. Greenhouse effect is a natural system that regulates the

How Social Media is Changing the Role of Journalists and Journalism Essay

How Social Media is Changing the Role of Journalists and Journalism - Essay Example The journalists were also required to interview expert sources in order to gather more information on the issues to report about. From the views of the expert sources, the public could be able to make informed decisions on the issues raised by the experts before they compile a report to the public. This is usually called the agenda setting. The journalists in the discharge of their duty to enlighten the public are guided by certain codes of conduct. They have to avoid issues that can wreck havoc or raise them in a rational manner. The journalists also have to censor provocative content to the public before their news story could be broadcasted in the mass media. They also have to ensure that their sources are credible and free from speculations and rumors. They moderate the news contents as they receive them before letting them out to the public domain. However, following the current trend of the social media, there has been an increasing tendency of the social media to act as the jo urnalists. One would expect to receive news through the mass media reported by journalists, but instead, most of the world news is now spreading through the social media that how the mass media would do its work. The news spread by mass media covers longer distances within very short time spans and reach more people than if it could have been dispersed by the mass media. This research therefore, is aimed at discussing and finding out the extent to which the social media is changing journalism and the work of the journalists at large. Journalism could be losing relevance and may become obsolete with time. This could be so as the social media are taking a faster step in assuming all the duties and responsibilities of journalism of receiving and dispersing news to the whole world. They are able to share the news globally making the social media the new mass media reaching billions of people all over the world. For many years, before the advent of the social media, there used to be a lo t of trust in the reputable sources of news and journalism as a career was highly regarded in all societies. It came to pass that human beings, born with lots of ability to invent and innovate, came up with easier ways to allow people to socialize and communicate with the whole world just through an interface. Thus, social media, has been rebranded to give it different purposes where people find it very easy to get there and disperse or receive news about the latest happenings all over the globe. Something, for instance, could take place this instance in America, but before the journalists could get access to the news in order to report it officially, someone in Africa who is connected to a friend in America through the social media shall have received the news through the media. Other instances include advertisements through the social media. Several companies have found a large audience base through the social media platform. This is where many young stars and some of the old peop le take much of their time to socialize with their friends all over the world. Therefore, this opportunity has been taken up by companies to at least promote their companies to their audiences through making advertisements on the social media page. Social media and public opinion The journalists through the mass media such as the radio and television have always had to control and moderate public discussions. The social media has enabled everyone with an account to act as their own moderators. Habermas notes that â€Å"

The Theory Of Physicalism

The Theory Of Physicalism Abstract: Physicalism is the theory that the universe and its phenomenon can all be explained through physical laws because physicalists believe the universe is completely physical. A philosophical theory opposing physicalism is proposed by the knowledge argument. Proponents of the knowledge argument say that complete knowledge of the physical world does not explain the subjective experiences of perception and interpretation of outside stimuli. If this is the case; then physicalism cannot be true. Physicalism is a philosophical theory that states everything is physical, and that everything can be explained purely by the laws of physics. These physicalists argue that even the processes occurring in the mind can be understood through physics. This belief raises a disagreement with the understanding conscious experiences, which philosophers label as qualia. Qualia refer to the varying levels of quality that our conscious mind experiences from the outside world. Our brains translate electrical stimuli that we receive from the outside world into qualia. An example of this is the human vision. The conscious experience of looking at a blue sky is a result of a set of translation processes that happen inside the human brain. The brain receives electrical stimuli and translates them into a quality. The electrical stimuli will be the light waves and the quality that our minds understand is the color blue. If one single property in the universe can be argued as a non-physical entity, the n theory of physicalism would be false. Quale, which is sometimes referred to the knowledge argument, is a famous theory that goes against the idea of physicalism, and this paper will focus on how the knowledge argument disproves physicalism. A famous example of the knowledge argument was proposed by Frank Jackson (1982). He argues that even if a person has all the physical knowledge about the world it is inevitable that this person will still learn something when s/he is exposed to real experience of the world. In this example, Mary, a brilliant scientist, learned all the physical information and facts, including the distinctive wavelength of each color, in a black and white room. Mary is then released from this room and there she learns the information of color vision that she did not learn in the black and white room (Jackson, 1982, p.291). This new piece of information that Mary learns after her release proves that not everything in this universe is physical. Before Marys release from the room, all the knowledge she had about colors was the physical properties of colors. Mary had no idea what red, blue, yellow, or green actually looked like because all she had experienced was black and white. Another famous example, what is it like to be a bat? proposed by Thomas Nagel (1974), also argues against physicalism. Nagel proposes that even if a human being has all the knowledge about bats perceptual system, including details of how bats sonar system functions, there is still no way a human being can understand what it is like to be a bat. This is because the human sensory system is too distinctive from the bats sensory system. A human being has the ability to explore and research on what it is like to be a bat based completely on scientific information. With the aid of our advance technology, human beings can map out the details how a bat perceives its sonar information easily. However, a human being will not be able to comprehend the qualitative experience that a bat receives because; ultimately a human being is, simply, not a bat. The only way to know what it is like to be a bat is to be a bat. Both examples above try to convey something in common, the fact that a subject X can never understand the quality of experience of another subject. This is because every subject has their own subjective views and physical laws cannot explain this phenomenon. Other than the learning behaviors, physicalists also cannot explain phenomena like memory, mental illness, belief, desires and the feeling of fear. Much of the information human beings have about the world is not in the form of physical information and cannot be explained by physical laws. Every human being is emotional and has a distinctive way of interpreting outside information. The differences between human beings result in different subjective experiences. Human beings not only learn about the world through sensory inputs and stimuli within the environment, but also through subjective opinions or point of views. This corresponds to the knowledge arguments presented above. A physicalist may argue that the way the human brain interprets information can be explained by physical laws. In the example of Mary learning new information after her release, a physicalist may argue that Mary had not acquired any new information about colors. Instead, Mary applied her knowledge of colors after her experience of colors. The knowledge that Mary acquired before her release enables Mary to interpret the new information that she receives from the outside world. The result of Mary being able to interpret a color is based on her previous knowledge about colors. Indeed, science has always been a powerful tool that helps us to understand the world. However, the physicalist argument does not deny the fact that Mary has learned new knowledge after her release from the black and white room. New information was introduced to Mary such as the ability to picture the color in her mind and the ability to distinguish each color without the aid of wavelength frequency devices. Also, normal human beings do not learn their world inside a black and white room. They are exposed to all the colors without the knowledge of every light wave property within each color. Physicalism fails to explain every phenomenon in this world with physical laws. The fact is that knowing all the physical information of how an experience is like does not explain what it is like to experience it. Physical laws cannot explain a subjective experience such as learning behaviors nor can it explain feelings. Since physicalism argues everything in the universe is physical, as long as any property in this universe is a non-physical entity, physicalism cannot be true.

The Birth Of A Nation And Greed :: essays research papers

The progress of the film industry was remarkably fast in the first quarter of this century. I have chosen two films namely The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Greed (1924) for comparison and contrast to show how much the industry had evolved within the short span of nine years. These two films are chosen for the short time span between them. This short time span will enable us to evaluate the development of the film industry in terms of the psychological build-up of the plot and the characters, cinematic qualities and the gradual acceptance of ironies in the films on the part of the American audience.D.W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and Erich Von Stroheim's Greed are both films adapted from novels written by Thomas Dixon and Frank Norris respectively. However one of the differences between these two films lies in the human characters portrayed. In The Birth of a Nation, the characters are portrayed as either wholly good or evil. One could easily distinguish between the heroes and villains in the film. For example, the hero in the film, Ben Stoneman is portrayed as courageous, loving and righteous as opposed to the villains Lynch (the false reformer) and Gus (the black soldier), who are portrayed as scheming and lustful. This lopsided depiction of human nature is not realistic, as humans cannot be either wholly good or wholly evil. This is an example of idealism with clear influences from Pollyanna stories, which was well accepted by the audience then. Thus a realistic depiction of humans should be that of portraying their strengths and weaknesses. The characters in Von Stroheim's Greed, on the other hand, possess this practical depiction of humans. In this film the characters are a real portrayal of real human beings with imperfections and weaknesses. McTeague for instance, is portrayed as kind and gentle towards animals yet violent by nature. Marcus, McTeague's friend and later his foe, is portrayed as a humorous, witty but at the same time scheming and harbors grudges against McTeague. Comparing these characters to the ones in The Birth of a Nation, clearly the characters in Greed are much more realistic, painting a true picture of the complexity of human nature. It is also a break from the then prevailing norm in Hollywood's films of showing only one-sided nature of the characters, which is either wholly good or wholly bad.In addition to that, Von Stroheim also showed the psychological development of his characters.

Modern Gadgets Implications to Teenagers Essay

Whether we like it or not, electric appliances and gadgets have occupied a major position in our day to day lives. Though they were invented to make life better for us in the first place, it is an undeniable fact that many of the gadgets have a negative influence upon the quality of our lives in some ways. As we cannot live without them in this modern world and they are a necessary evil, we have to find ways to reduce the negative impact of those modern appliances. Let us see some of the gadgets that we commonly use, the problems arising out of their use, and the ways of minimizing the negative effects arising from their use. Television: see more:importance of old age homes Though it might be considered as a good source of family entertainment and a good way to wind-down after a hectic day, too much television viewing can be very bad for us. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children below the age of 2 years should not see any TV and those above 2 years should be restricted to 2 hours of viewing per day. However researches indicate that if Video games/ DVD watching is also included there are some teens who average about 35 hours per week (more than double the recommended maximum view time!) in front of the tube. This definitely eats into the time that can be spent on more productive activities. The scenes witnessed in TV programs even in so-called family programs or soaps are often not recommended for teen-viewership when they are highly impressionable. For instance, there are studies to prove that children exposed to repeated scenes of violence (fight sequences) did not appreciate the physical harm that such acts can cause to others and were found to be insensitive to the trauma of victims of violent incidents. This is explained by a phenomenon called â€Å"Psychological overload† where the mind learns to accept scenarios to which it is repeatedly exposed and thus prevents the person thus exposed from experiencing â€Å"strong feelings like sympathy† in situations similar to that. Similarly, unrealistic portrayal of characters or stereotyping that is common in most programs can blunt a young adult’s ability to evaluate persons/ situations from realistic perspectives. Even discounting the psychological effects of such a viewing pattern, on a very gross level we find that family members have very little time to talk and understand each other better due to the amount of time they spend in front of the screen. The warmth of relationship is something that the distant tube cannot provide; but we have a generation of children which has grown up not knowing how much they are missing in terms of a joyous family interaction by merely sitting glued to television programs for hours together. The solution to this lies in reducing TV viewing time to a great extent, and in spending the time in family chatter instead. We have much to learn from each other as persons and no artificial media can substitute human warmth and interaction when it comes to improving emotional intelligence. So, we should put our foot firmly down and reduce the TV viewing time of the family in the best interests of everyone. Computers: Though computers have become almost indispensable today, too much time in front of the screen can be damaging to the eyes. Dryness of eyes, weakening of optical nerves, blank stares developed as a result of staring at the screen for hours together, idiopathic head-aches, and mood swings are some of the negative effects that arise due to spending too much time in front of the computer continuously. Lap tops have the added â€Å"honour† of even reducing fertility of men (due to the high temperature arising out of constant usage). The solution lies in taking a break from the screen at least for at least 3 mins for every one hour of computer usage. We can simply close our eyes or walk out of the work-station and train our eyes on distant greeneries so that the â€Å"blank stare† syndrome is avoided. Laptops are best used keeping an insulating medium like a wooden plank or a file folder between our laps and the laptop to avoid exposing our body to the â€Å"heat† of the gadget. Children should never be allowed to immerse themselves in computer games that  have too vivid graphics because it curtails their ability to visualize things for themselves. The mental imagery that is developed when reading novels or stories or while listening to good story-tellers is much more vivid than even the best designed graphics. But repeated to exposure to good quality graphic games makes the child blind to such joys of the mind where the young mind imagines things, and recreates wonderful scenarios merely from vivid descriptions depicted in stories. Cultivation of active reading habits is better than passive viewing of graphic models/ games. In fact, there are parents who feel proud that their tiny tot will not trouble anyone and will sit silently for hours if its favourite computer game is loaded on to the system. This is not correct. Children should be allowed to make a â€Å"nuisance† of themselves – to run around the house, to break things, to ask uncomfortable questions to adults, to shout, and in short – they should be allowed to be children – wild and active. By restricting them to the screen at young age, we are encouraging sedentary and passive life-style which will be manifest as myriad problems when they grow up. Psychological dependence on computers and how it impacts personal lives: I recently came to know of a young man who was so addicted to â€Å"Face Book† on the internet that he lost out on his MS fellowship – Face Book seemed more important than his course! Unfortunately, this is just not a stray incident of a misguided youth who behaved like a juvenile; there are many intelligent persons around the globe who perform below their true potential as their quality time is spent online in various activities including chats, unhealthy online debates (or gossip!), or addictive searches (there are many who indulge in ego-searches – searching for one’s name, one’s school name in websites, etc. just to â€Å"feel good†). In another instance, a young woman divorced her husband after just 3 months of marriage because she found it more enjoyable to play computer games and the husband was considered as an â€Å"intruder† in the happy relationship between herself and the fantasy world in her computer! Believe me, it is only the tip of the ice-berg†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦the two bizarre instances I have quoted are just symbolic of a wider raging psycho-pathology that is sweeping the world populace in various ways. The virtual world seems more real to many young adults than the real world! This is definitely not a healthy sign. I will go as far as to say that almost everyone today is addicted to the computer in one way or the other that impacts our life in various ways – it can be the chronic obsession to check emails at the death of night thus spoiling sleep rhythm, the chronic obsession to â€Å"search† matter on google or other search engines even if you are armed with all the relevant facts, the chronic obsession to log on to chat rooms while your dear and near ones are longing for your company in just the next room, and so on. We need to understand that computers were invented to make our life easier and they should serve us. It should never be that we venerate our systems to an extent that they Lord over us! We should discipline ourselves to spending only â€Å"productive† time before our systems – i.e. we should avoid the tendency to sit before the system just for the heck of it, but simply log off once our tasks are over. Well, there are cases when the person has to be really online due to professional compulsions. In such cases, keeping an amethyst crystal can heal the person and prevent health disorders arising out of over-exposure to electrical waves. Similarly, keeping fresh cucumber slices over the eyes can prevent eye strain and dark circles beneath the eyes. Cars, bikes, elevators, etc. A person can be healthy only if he/ she takes minimum amount of physical exercise every day and the day is also generally interspersed with optimum physical activity. Taking a walk of at least 3 km. per day can prevent most heart-ailments and blood-pressure complaints. But with the improving â€Å"standards of life† manifest in the form of every mode of transport, we take very little walk. There are persons who need to take out their bikes or worse even their car for even the street-corner mall – a distance of hardly 150m! These persons, apart from harming their bodies by depriving it of  necessary exercise, also contribute to environmental pollution by unnecessary use of vehicles that emit poisonous carbon-monoxide fumes to the atmosphere. The use of vehicles for transport cannot be avoided, but at least we should limit the usage to a healthy minimum and should switch to more eco-friendly fuels (for instance, restrict use of diesel vehicles; use car parks – people going along the same route from the same neighbourhood can share cars to reduce the number of vehicles plying on the road, etc.). Similarly, one should prefer to take a flight of stairs rather than use the elevator as far as possible. Taking short walks now and then is the greatest good that you can do to your body. Optimal use of refrigerators While refrigerators have become almost indispensable for storage of food items, it is not necessary for a single family to have 2 or 3 fridges! Though there are environment mandates that restrict the usage of CFCs in refrigerators in most developed countries (CFCs are the major culprits in depleting ozone layer), there are many developing countries where such CFC models still rule the roost! Even in nations where CFCs are restricted, HCFC or HFCs that are used instead still contribute to global warming – even these chemicals are not completely ozone safe – the only consolation being that they deplete lesser ozone! But, they use 10% more energy and contribute in a greater way to global warming. So, the only solution lies in at least limiting the use of refrigerators as complete avoidance of a refrigerator is not feasible due to various reasons, and these are indispensable for pharmacies to store medicines. A big family living in various apartments of a building society can just share one fridge; each branch/ division of an office need not have a refrigerator – they can just share one fridge for their usage. Small adjustments like these by different groups can reduce the overall impact on our environment. Microwave ovens/ heating appliances Researches indicate that microwave cooking can distort the molecular structure of foods – this can range from decrease in bioavailability of nutrients (thereby reducing the body’s ability to assimilate the nutrients) to the more dangerous formation of carcinogens (cancer causing molecules)  from basically harmless amino-acid chains of protein substances (this is markedly observed while heating milk and other cereals rich in proteins using microwave ovens). Studies of Dr. Hans Ulrich Hentel (Switzerland), Dr. Lita Lee of Hawaii, and other short-term studies have documented the effects of microwave cooking on food substances and the adverse impact on health. The studies indicate such effects ranging from increase of leucocytes, decrease in haemoglobin levels, and decrease in level of lymphocytes. In Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven, published by Raum & Zelt in 1992, at 3(2): 43, it states â€Å"A basic hypothesis of natural medicine states that the introduction into the human body of molecules and energies, to which it is not accustomed, is much more likely to cause harm than good. Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based. Artificially produced microwaves, including those in ovens, are produced from alternating current and force a billion or more polarity reversals per second in every food molecule they hit. Production of unnatural molecules is inevitable. Naturally occurring amino acids have been observed to undergo isomeric changes (changes in shape morphing) as well as transformation into toxic forms, under the impact of microwaves produced in ovens. Dr. Lita Lee says that microwaving baby foods can convert certain trans-amino acids into their synthetic ciz-isomers. Further one of the amino-acids, L-Proline was converted into its d-isomer which is known to be neurotoxic (poisonous to nerves), and nephrotoxic ( poisonous to kidneys). – Ref. Lancet, issue of Dec 9, 1989. So, ideally we should use conventional cooking methods over microwave ovens or at least limit the usage of the ovens. In no instance should you use microwaves to heat baby formulae. If you do use microwave ovens for cooking, consume the foods at least half an hour later to avoid impact of the residual waves on your body tissues. IntroductionReading is an essential tool for lifelong learning. It is important for everyone to develop the rudiments of reading and the culture of reading always so as to survive in life. Reading according to Holte (1998) adds quality to life and provides access to culture and cultural heritage. He pointed out that reading empowers and emancipates citizens and bring people together. Okeke (2000) reaffirms that the art of reading is a priceless instrument for everyone. It is one of the most important activities of life through which we enter into the life and experiences of others and extend our knowledge, scope of experience and enjoyment. It has critical role to play in the overall development of an individual and the nation at large. Reading experience can be obtained in the library. The school library is a gateway to knowledge and will serve as a starting point or road map to reading and the promotion to reading culture. The library provides books and other resources which will h elp shape thoughts and influence the actions of students throughout life with active supervision by an experienced librarian. Due to technological development, reading habits are changing. In our society today, while technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin air (The Hindu, 2004). Students now lack the skill of reading. Instead they spend more hours on electronic media. Browsing the net, playing with funky handsets and passing non-stop SMSs seem to be the order of the day, there by making reading a book or any other piece of written material in a quiet or peaceful corner of a library or home become an archaic idea for most school children and adults (The Hindu, 2004). Obama (2008) in his speech pinpointed that children cannot achieve unless they raise their expectations and turn off television sets. Shabi and Udofia (2009) noted that active learning from books is better than passive learning such as watching televisions and playing games.Students are rarely interested in reading for pleasure and enjoyment instead they read only to pass examination. The declining interest in reading culture among our children (especially those in primary and secondary schools) is a cause for alarm and a challenge to all and something need to be done to alleviate this yawning problem. Unfortunately, reading is not taught or included in school curriculum. Reading is not a subject and cannot be taught separately as most other subjects in the curriculum rather it is subsumed in every other  subject and is regarded as a tool facilitating many other types of learning. Nowadays, due to the rat race syndrome, parents pay little or no attention to their children’s reading ability, parents themselves lack the skill and the culture of reading such that some do not read to their kids.Mefor (2010) urged all Nigerians schools to launch a readership promotion campaign which will help to inculcate the culture of reading in children. It is also important to start early to inculcate the culture of reading early enough in a child. Also Olukemi (2010) advised Nigerian youths to imbibe the reading culture in all their endeavours. She lamented that lack of reading culture among youths nowadays has greatly affected quality of graduates being produced by the nation’s higher institutions. It is against this background that this study tries to investigate on the influence of electronic media on the reading habits of pupils in homes and schools. Improving access to relevant information and promoting a reading culture are prerequisites for strengthening literacy skills, widening education and learning opportunities, and helping people to address the causes of poverty (Makotsi, 2005).| How often to teenagers Preview – Focus Questions – Case Study – Discussion – Links – References Case One The Young & the Wired Background Information The Net Generation or children who have been born since 1986 are the focus of a study done by a husband and wife team, the Oblingers, how teens learn. Technology has always been a part of the Net Generations life. The fascination with technology is missing it simply represents a tool. They use this tool daily and comfortably to stay connected especially with each other. Because of the presence of digital media in their homes and schools today’s students maybe more visually than verbally literate (Johnson, 2005). Studies done by the Oblingers indicate that students prefer learning by doing and working in groups (Johnson, 2005). The student in today’s classroom needs the interaction with their teachers and computers do not replace people. Adolescent Internet Use: What we expect, what teens report are not the same. The last decade has shown teen Internet use to have grown  exponentially. Our expectations of teens Internet use predicted: (1) boys use the Internet more than girls and they use it play violent games, (2) girls use the Internet less and mostly to shop or chat, and (3) the use of the Internet by teens will result in social isolation (Gross, 2004). The groups of 10th graders surveyed from a suburban California public school in 2001 have responded with very different conclusions. The findings say boys and girls online activities are very similar, they both use e-mail and instant messages, and spending time with friends offline is also a part of their daily life (Gross, 2004). A telephone survey was conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in October and November 2004. The responses to their survey were compared to data collected in 2000 of how teens in America use technology. This extensive report covers 50 typed pages of information. Short Summary of their findings; * 87% of teens use the Internet (Lenhart, 2005) * 13% of teenagers who do not use the Internet are almost always from low income homes with limited access to technology and disproportionately African Americans (Lenhart, 2005) * 32% of all teems IM every day, teens prefer instant messaging over e-mail * 45% of teens own a cell phone * 72% of teens who connect from home use a computer that is located in a family room (Lenhart, 2005) Teens are also busy with friends and extracurricular activities. The average teen keeps in touch with 20 friends per week. They are averaging 10 hours per week in social activities outside of school (Lenhart, 2005). Today’s teens 83% are also involved in other offline activities including school sports programs, clubs, band, and recreational programs not associated with school. Transition Points for the Gender Gap in Computer Enjoyment compares girls and boys from elementary school to high school. The purpose of this study was to determine the gender differences in using computers at school. The study covered 10,000 students in Texas public schools covering the years 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2005. In summary the findings show no differences in the early elementary years, by the 4 and 5th grades girls enjoy computers more than boys (Christensen, 2005). In the 6th grade boys have a more positive feeling towards using computers at school than girls and by the 8th grade boys are significantly  more interested in using computers than girls (Christensen, 2005). The good news is that by the end of secondary school the attitudes are similar with little differences. Nerds and Geeks: Society’s Evolving Stereotypes of our Students with Gifts and Talents are finding a much more respected place in today’s classrooms among their peers. As our society has moved from the Industrial Age to the Information Age the importance of being technologically competent has provided positive changes for our students labeled talented and gifted (Cross, 2005). In the past the negative terms nerds and geeks were often associated with students achieving academic excellence. The new term â€Å"tech geek† has positive associations as being someone who is technologically savvy and this expert is seen as a helper to others (Cross, 2005). With our current students striving to use technology in their personal lives they have discovered knowledge is power and it is cool to be knowledgeable. Preview Today’s high school and middle school age students have grown up with personal computers in their homes as well as their schools. Many of today’s youth were not even born when the first pc’s hit the stores. The personal computer has been around more than 20 years. The Apple IIc was introduced in 1984. Teens use all kinds of technology driven gadgets with little or no hesitation. The Pew survey tells us that almost all teens have cell phones, they use the Internet daily, enjoy and prefer instant messaging over e-mail, and online games draw both teenage girls and boys. The research also tells us that teens prefer to use the Internet at home to communicate with their friends. Many teens spend their evenings talking on their cell phones or â€Å"IM-ing† with their friends. They still prefer face- to- face interaction with their friends and the average time spent with friends is about 10 hours per week for both girls and boys. Parents and educators face the challenge of how to provide the training for teens to be good citizens while using today’s technology to interact with each other which is for the most part not supervised. Youth have always enjoyed pulling pranks and today’s teens are armed with some powerful tools to pull some high tech foolishness that can be very damaging to each other. Focus Questions As you study the following case, keep these questions in mind: (1) Should Internet activity that occurs at home be the concern of schools? (2) What should schools be teaching teenagers concerning being good â€Å"cyber-citizens†? (3) Do students understand the potential problems associated with giving or sharing personal login information? The Case Hijacked* The second period Computer Applications Class at Highland Park High School is filled with mostly ninth graders. This class is an equal mix of boys and girls all trying to fulfill their high school computer requirement. The instructor, Ms. Leigh Ellen Powell, has given the class an Internet research assignment. Each student has been assigned a U. S. President to research and design a web page with links to more information about the life and career of their President. The atmosphere in this classroom is relaxed with the students chatting casually and quietly to each other. While Ms. Powell is walking around assisting each student, she overhears some girls talking about the upcoming Sadie Hawkins Dance. This traditional February event is where the girls ask the boys. Claire, Katie, and Megan are discussing who their dream date would be for the dance. Each girl wants the attention of a new student, Will, but is too shy to talk to him. Katie mentions that she will ask her potential date to the Sadie Hawkins dance via instant messaging or IM. It is much easier than face-to-face and compares it to passing a note. Claire and Megan agree that they will also ask their date at home on their computer via instant messaging. Claire, Katie, and Megan like so many of today’s teens, are using the Internet from home to communicate with their friends from the time they get home until bedtime. The teens today are fabulous at multitasking. The girls can be working on their homework on the family pc, â€Å"talking† to several friends at a time on IM, listening to their mp3 player, taking a digital picture, and composing a text message on their cell phone all in the comforts of their family room. The research tells us that today’s teens use a variety of gadgets proficiently. For example, Megan took a digital photo of her outfit for the dance, downloaded the image to her computer, and attached it to an e-mail to Claire and Katie for their  opinion of her clothes. This activity is common for most teens but the divide where teens are not using technology as much comes in the form of economics. Our low income families are struggling to provide broadband Internet connections and without high speed connection teens are not as interested in using the web. At school the next day, the girls confess they had not asked anyone to the dance and all were feeling a little shy. Claire, Katie, and Megan decided to spend the night at Megan’s house and ask the boys while together on Megan’s computer. Megan logged on to IM and walked into the kitchen for snacks. Claire decided to pretend to be Megan and ask Will to the dance. The â€Å"conversation† took on a very mature tone and was nothing like what Megan would say. Will was shocked and declined her invitation to the dance. Claire logged off before Megan returned and decided not to tell her. In computer class Ms. Powell overheard Claire and Katie discussing what they had done. The girls thought it was very funny and decided to do it again and maybe post an unflattering picture of Megan. Ms. Powell felt very uneasy knowing what the girls had done and were going to do. She wondered, as a teacher, what is her responsibility in this situation? Questions for Discussion 1. What is the teacher’s role concerning student Internet activities at home? 2. She wondered how to incorporate being a good citizen even in cyberspace? 3. How important is keeping your login information secure? 4. Why should students get into the habit of logging off when they are away from your computer? *Hijacked is the term used when someone poses as someone else and is using someone else’s password or personal log in information. What are the disadvantages and advantages of the modern gadgets like cellphone, computer, etc. to STUDENTS? PLEASE answer this as many as you know†¦ I really need your cooperation.. This is a research in english subj. If i can’t submit the research I will FAIL the subject†¦ ‘:-( Best Answer – Chosen by Voters Advantages of modern gadgets to students: 1. A faster way to search for information (via the Internet) 2. Sometimes a more effective way of learning. (via educational computer programs) 3.  Prepares students for the globalized world where computer-literacy is a must. 4. Easier way of communication. 5. Helps students if they have difficulties (homework helpers, etc. ) 6. More accessible. 7. Gives students recreation.8. A larger information source. Disadvantages: 1. Students tend to be lazy. 2. Computer games such as online games divert the students’ attention from school. 3. Can be used for procrastination. 4. Distracts students from schoolwork. 5. Students lose interest in their schoolwork. cellphones are great for keeping in contact with people, entertainment, now music, & everything else its coming up with†¦ disadvantage: a fuss to get signals, dead battery, dependant, addicting, and old tehcnology. not to mention costs. computer: basically everything it has to offer, games,business, shopping, information, world wide web lets not forget that†¦yahoo answer!!! disadvantage:too addicting, old technology, pop-up, spam, scam online, viruses. can delelte your work, makes people lazy. ipods:music,video,photos its cool†¦period. dis:cds lowering How often  cell phones have not only become a method for communication, they have evolved into an entertainment gadget. Because these small, hand-held computers seem to do it all, young kids beg and plead for a cell phone. The average age for teens to receive their own cell phone is between 12 and 13. But that doesn’t mean you won’t see even younger children with phones. About  3 percent of children receive their cell phone under age 10, and 6 percent get them at age 10. Even though many parents may feel middle school is still too young for students to have their own cell phone, others may feel there are several advantages to having these gadgets at such a young age. They like to be able to stay in touch with their children so they can take a more active role in ensuring their safety. Parents can even use software such as cell phone parental control software to keep a closer eye on their child’s daily activities. It’s an important decision, and it is up to the parent how old the child is when they receive their first phone. Many parents say they wait until the child is involved in school activities and others wait until their teenagers are driving. Some parents may not even let their child have a cell phone until they can afford it on their own. While it’s quite common for teenagers to have their own phone, statistics show that 25 percent of teenagers don’t have cell phones. According to Pew Research Center, 84 percent of Americans ages 12 and up own a cell phone, and 31 percent own a smartphone. Cell phones have become such an integral part of daily life for teenagers that 15-18 year olds are reported to spend an average of 1 hour and 51 minutes each day sending text messages. Kids between 11 and 14 spend an average of 1 hour and 13 minutes texting. A few additional statistics we found regarding teens and texting include: * Texting is the second most common use of cell phones, following checking the time * 65 percent of high school students use their cell phone in school * One-fourth of text messages sent by teens are during class hours * 42 percent of teens say they can text with their eyes closed * One study shows that teens under 18 years old send and receive 2,779 texts a month * Teens send and receive five times more text messages per day than adults * Those who send and receive more than 50 texts a day also tend to be heavy users of voice calling * 54 percent of teens use text messaging as daily communication, and only 38 percent will call on a cell phone Cell phones are a way that teenagers feel they can communicate with other individuals. According to one study, 84 percent of teens say they like that cell phones make it easy to talk to people. Additionally, the study states that 69 percent of teens say their cell phone is used as a form of entertainment and 47 percent say their social life would end without their cell phone. The same study shows that 57 percent say their life has improved by using their  cell phone. Role of teens in modern gadgets A teen wants to make a significant change in a world where grown-ups are expected to do this or that. A modern teen wants to break away from the usual norms of the society by making an active role in improving the world. He or she wants to make a fundamental contribution to attain peace, economic growth and of course, their own dreams. It may be too forceful to act too mature by pretending to be a grownup, but there’s actually an easy way for a teen to make a noteworthy contribution to the society and that it through modern technology. It is of course a known fact that before modern technological gadgets like a computer came into the market, the teens usually have to suffer spending time in using their parent’s typewriters. One can only imagine the frustration of a teen when he or she mistypes a letter and had to halt the work in order to get a liquid eraser just to get rid of a single letter. It is also safe to assume that after the work has been done, a lot of trash c an be seen on the floor. Crumpled papers, torn carbon papers and wrinkled typewriter ribbons can be seen casually strewn on the floor. After hours of typing just a couple of papers, and they’re all set. Now, this is something an active teen wants to do on a Saturday night! The nightmare is over, thanks to the emergence of the ever reliable personal computers! With just a click of a mouse and a push of a button, a single mistake is solved. No more frustrated tears and bloodied hands from too much force in typing. The new age of technology is here! If that’s not enough, the teens have the privilege of using the Internet. If one can remember, it used to be a communication strategy for the military where they can send information even if they are from a far off place in secret. Now that this technology is passed to the younger generation, then a plethora of opportunities have emerged. The internet, in fact, has entirely changed the perception of a teen. It is because the teen has a new role to accomplish, to improve the quality of education in their respective schools. The use of internet to check updated information on current issues makes the teen more updated with the latest in the world. No more rushing to the library to get outdated information from old books, the internet is the modern library for teens! Another technological device that was passed on to the teens was the  ever reliable device, the mobile phone! The device comes from different shapes and sizes, each boasting its own spectacular features. This gadget makes it easier for teens to communicate with each other, with their loved ones and their respective local authorities in case something bad happens. An urgent call to 911 just to save someone’s life is a big role for a teen. Remember, way back, teens are forbidden to go out at night because there’s no way to contact them. Here’s the answer, the mobile phone. For most teens, the emergence of modern technology is like the best gift for their generation. In fact, these modern devices inspire them to make a significant contribution to the society. However, just like anything else, there’s a bad side of it if it’s not used for the better good. These gadgets can be addicting to the point that one doesn’t have the desire to go to school anymore because the latest video games are now available in computers or that the mobile phones are used to communicate with friends who just want to skip school and will try to encourage the teen to skip school too. It is at this point that teens should be aware of what their true roles are in the society. It is not to be a headache to the grownups but rather to be the implementers of meaningful change. The gadget is a device that is able to perform one or several functions. Gadgets often have funky designs but have useful functions as well. It is also being referred as gizmos. The history of gadgets can be traced back to the early 1800s. There is a wide variety of gadget including GPS system, USB toys, smartphone and etc. The first appearance of the term â€Å"gadget† occurs in 1985. Amiga OS uses the term to describe the GUI widget in a graphical user interface. 1. Benefits of Modern Gadgets Gadgets offer many benefits to the users. It usually has a small size so you can bring it with you to any place. Spy gadgets incorporate a recording player and video camera. For example, a spy pen gadget can have a camera. It functions just like a pen and can be used to write words. No one will know if the camera is recording scane because it is hidden within the pen. There are also gadgets that design to aid people with physical impairment. For example, the electronic eyes gadget allows the blind person to cross the road.