Hamlet’s relationship with his mother Gertrude Essay

When Gertrude in ‘the Closet Scene’ faces Hamlet, we get a greater understanding of Hamlet’s emotional state. His mindset and emotional state vary throughout the scene from bitter hostility towards his mother and step father, to timid fear of the Ghost in the light of his inaction, and finally to intimate resolve and benevolence as he advises his mother on how to aid his situation and her own. Hamlet, depicted as â€Å"The glass of Fashion and mould of form†, is expected of polite forms of chivalry and temperate speech. But, on the contrary, he is strikingly coarse, even brutal in his talk with his mother, and goes on with unnecessary details of her sin. Indeed, he makes more of this than his father’s murder. So disgusted is he, by the picture of her sexual relations with the â€Å"bloat king† and his â€Å"reechy kisses† pressed on her in the â€Å"rank of sweat of an enseam’d bed†. As Mr. Ivory Brown states, â€Å"it is surely plain that Hamlet (Shakespeare) has some special woman in mind, a wanton, with special tricks of speech and habit of using mocking names, and with a tendency to some kind of fidgety or skipping gait. † Even while Gertrude is probably hysterical or saddened Hamlet continues to chide her whilst she is at her lowest and most vulnerable point, â€Å"Honeying and making love, Over the nasty sty,† Hamlet sees his mother as a disgustingly sensual creature, driven by carnal needs. He seems to forget that she is his mother, who has given birth to him, raised him, and showered him with love. And she deserves a certain degree of respect from her son. However, despite everything, Hamlet’s emotional struggles with Human Nature and his shattered illusions, he has not lost love for either of his parents, as reflected in the goals of this scene. When the ghost reappears, Hamlet treats it with respect and humble submission. But, even though he loves his mother, in his heart, he has no respect for her. As he states, â€Å"I must be cruel only to be kind†. His strong words help express his own feelings of rage, and in addition, help Gertrude realize her sin and lead her towards repentance. After his periods of bitterness, anger and fear he realizes that she finally understands his message about her actions, Claudius, and his own assumed madness. His tone then changes from one of bitterness and rage to one of almost priestly counsel as he explains to her how to remedy the situation. Gertrude is described as a frail character, which lacks feeling. She is of an insensitive nature, not likely to be troubled by guilt. A placid nature, even stolid, she cannot rise high. Like Hamlet, despite her sin, Gertrude reveals that she still loves Hamlet, even if she makes no indication as to whether she still loves the Late King or Claudius. Even though she offers no defense of Claudius, for Hamlet’s accusations of regicide. And nowhere dos she affirm Hamlet’s admiration and love for his father. But she does love Hamlet and shows her love though her actions. As Claudius states, † The queen, his mother, lives by his looks†. She addresses him in affectionate terms, even in moments in the scene, which bring her pain, shame and confusion. These include calling him â€Å"Sweet Hamlet† and â€Å"gentle son†. She echoes these terms in the last scene of the play, when, rather than any addresses to either husband, in her dying words, she cries â€Å"Oh my dear Hamlet! † This implies that Hamlet is more important to her than either of her husbands, or anyone else in the court. Hamlet is probably the only person she truly loves. The actions of Claudius and Gertrude showed Hamlet a darker, more lustful animalistic side of nature, particularly in his mother, who longs for Claudius, â€Å"as if increase of appetite had grown by what it fed on†. This shatters his illusion of inherent goodness and virtue of mankind. If his own mother is corrupted by sin and lust, the how can anything or anyone in the world be truly virtuous? This disillusionment, anger and disappointment continue through most of the play, and appear in this portion in Hamlet’s scathing tirades against Queen. In one, he speaks to hell itself, yelling, â€Å"If thou canst mutine in a matrons bones, To a flaming youth let virtue be as wax, and melt in her own fire. † If sin can corrupt an older, wiser, calmer person such as the Queen, the virtue has no value in the world, and society can plunge into chaos. Hamlet exclaims, â€Å"Frailty thy name is woman! † Hamlet’s problem is supposed to be his feelings of disgust towards his mother. Thus the actions of his mother have lead him to believe that all women are capable of acting in this wicked way. Women, the frail members, provoke lust and feed it and Shakespeare looks for these indications, and denounces them. His inability to have a successful relationship with Ophelia is a result of this belief. He treats Ophelia with little respect, and subjects her to loathsome verbal abuse, bursting with sexual innuendo, as even in the mousetrap scene he twists everything Ophelia says, to make it sound vulgar, as he states, â€Å"That’s a fair thought to lie between a maids legs†. Hamlet’s mind is crowded with feelings of betrayal, disappointment and distrust. He ruins his relationship with the beautiful, sweet natured Ophelia due to his suspicion and distrust in the fairer sex. And Hamlet probably only realizes Ophelia’s virtue and good nature after her death, when he realizes that Ophelia had been faithful to him, and had truly loved him, so much so that she couldn’t bear his negative attitude towards her and grieved to the point, where she became mad, and then died. Uncertainty and conflict are two of the major themes of Hamlet, and both play an important role in this scene. The themes of uncertainty and appearance versus reality also appear in several inter-character relationships. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is a good example. Their entire relationship is highly controversial, and there is not one explanation that proves their relationship natural or simple. Hamlet’s madness is also a good example of this. Hamlet pretends to be mad, but is not quite so, but still towards the end, even we are confused whether Hamlet’s feigned madness is actually settling in. Shakespeare fills the play with imagery of sight and blindness. Shakespeare uses this motif to see how clearly the characters can see the truth about themselves and others. Blindness to one’s heart, motives and sins leads one to excuse sins and continue in them, as Gertrude does. Her lust has blinded her to the sinful nature of her incestuous marriage to Claudius. Also we see that everyone else in the kingdom is blind to the incestuous nature of Gertrude’s marriage. This leads Hamlet to believe that he is alone in a nasty, immoral world. Where people are blind to sins as immoral as incest. Thus the Theme of Morality is major concern of Hamlet himself, as he wants those around him to feel just as strongly about the issue. His morality is largely responsible for the lack of action regarding the change of revenge on Claudius. His conscience does not permit him to kill Claudius without being sure that Claudius is responsible for King Hamlet’s regicide. So he waits to kill Claudius only after he is sure Claudius is guilty, after the play-within-the-play. Shakespeare also employs several motifs to enrich the theme of morality. One of these is sickness and disease. He compares Gertrude’s sin to a disease or ulcer, which will subtly rot her soul if she ignores it. As he says â€Å"will but skin and film the ulcerous place, While ranks corruption, mining all within, infects unseen†. A similar motif is the image of the â€Å"unweeded garden† in his first soliloquy. Hamlet sees the world, filled with sinful people as an unweeded garden. The connections with Denmark being corrupted and diseased are metaphorical for Gertrude’s relationship with Claudius, incestuous and corrupted. Hamlet is the most realistic character Shakespeare ever created. His relationship with his mother was extremely natural, in the fact that it experienced certain abnormalities, as in the case of all relationships. Their love for each other is painful, but ultimately helps them grow as people and fulfill their obligations- Hamlet’s duty to avenge his father’s death and Gertrude’s duty to repent and try to protect her son from himself and those around him. Hamlet was merely a man, with motives unknown to him, with secret agendas and internal conflicts that remain unresolved.

Why Fear National ID Cards?

Featured in 2001 in the New York Times Alan Dershowitz’s article â€Å"Why Fear National ID Cards? † presents the idea of a National ID Card system being put to use in the United States. The reasoning behind such an idea is this, with the sacrifice of some of the individual’s privacy a greater level of security, equality, and productivity can be achieved while discarding some of the insensitive and inefficient methods of identification we use today.A National ID Card consisting of a name, address, photo and fingerprint print would be the first national uniform ID that would replace the high number variations of identification that are issued state by state. This would drastically decrease the chances of forgery by the use of a unified system and strict means of distribution. A more comprehensive ID will allow for accelerated wait times at high security locations such as airports, and for those who decline to show such an ID would be subjected to further security measures.The criteria in which people are required obtain or present identification would remain the same this allows for remnants of the old policy to remain in effect and further safe guards the citizens from a potential over stepping government. A more radical policy or criteria change could lead to an abuse of power or jumpstart similar non-popular policies to be acted on. It would also enable the rate of deportation of illegal immigrants to increase along with providing a better means to legal immigrants to display their status to authorities.â€Å"Rights are a function of experience, and our recent experiences teach that it is far too easy to be anonymous — even to create a false identity — in this large and decentralized country† (Barnet and Bedau). This point taken directly from the article puts into perspective the very real threat of the terrorism. Terrorist hide amidst the general public, this is a concerning reality. No system can prevent all acts of terror but a National ID card with an embedded corresponding fingerprint can reduce the likely hood of the creation of false identities and catch those who are using the weaknesses of the current system to slip by unnoticed.Alan Dershowitz’s stresses the importance of the elimination of the current trend of racial and ethnic stereotyping that acts as a countermeasure for possible threats to security. Improving civil liberties for these targeted groups is achieved by eliminating the need to target these groups in general. By utilizing security measures such as criminal-history retrieval systems and a corresponding fingerprint on the card itself we can remove the reason for profiling individuals due to their appearance alone.

Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado Essay

Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado - Essay Example Salgado and Smith’s photographs seemed to always appear a little bit more obvious, like portraits. The photos are more scripted and it appears that they manipulate their subjects so that they could enhance their photographs to better tell the story. However, in the sense of journalism, it is questionable whether or not it is ethical to tell a story through photographs in methods that are ‘staged’ to be a little bit different than real life. All four photographers were able to capture a story and display a type of emotion with their subject. After evaluating the techniques, if these photographers were photojournalists, it is more ethical to capture a moment as it happens when true emotion is elicited and showing how something really is as it happens. Cartier-Bresson and Kertesz were better at this method because Salgado and Smith’s photography seemed to be too fake or staged rather than capturing a moment truly as it

Southwest Airlines Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Southwest Airlines - Case Study Example In 1992, 10% of stocks of the company were owned by employees. It encourages union membership with management having good relationship with the labor union, thereby avoiding any loss of mandays through strike or lockups. The organizational culture of company thrives on excellent teamwork that promotes collective decision making and shared learning. Being part of profit sharing encourages concept of ‘big family’ significantly forges personal bond with the company that reflects in their committed work and improved productive outcome. Continuous improvement and innovation in customer service is the hallmark of the airlines. The employees and staff are empowered to make decisions regarding the welfare of the customer on and off the flight. The company’s strategy was to increase the number of customer service agents so that the passengers could get improved personal service and emotional support and security at the time of crisis. Grant (2007) says that analysis and identification of the changing preferences of the customer are important ingredients to gain leverage against their rivals (Grant, 2007). Southwest has been focused in its customer service and makes continuous efforts to update its products line with that of the changing public requirements. Company’s stock ticker symbol is fittingly chosen as ‘LUV’! Indeed, the company has been innovative in its new plans and features to meet the challenges of time. While the management follows stringent regulations and strict time schedules, it has, at the same time, empowered its workforce to make decisions based on informed choices. Southwest prefers destination to destination flights which is preferred by customers and therefore is more popular. Its low cost strategy has been successful because of its exemplary customer service, security features and specialized short haul flights. The high

Concept of Equality and Social Equity Assignment

Concept of Equality and Social Equity - Assignment Example These are important issues which are backed by the international government, NGOs and international agencies across the world. Â  Fleurbaey (2008) asserts that political philosophy and normative economics highlight egalitarian justice that defines social justice in terms of distributive compensation based on responsibility and talent. This is inherently linked to inequity across society but promotes social equity based on a hierarchy of roles within the work environment. This is an important perspective that is visible in the compensation package of the employees. The roles and responsibilities of the public administrators become pertinent issues which require stringent mechanisms of promoting social equity across gender, race, culture, and class. The concepts of equity and equitable distribution of resources based on social equity within and outside public administration, therefore, have emerged as key issues in the current environment of rapid globalization and multicultural societies across the globe. Â  Public policies are essential ingredients of administrative processes that address the issues of public concern and civil liberties. The key objective of the public policy is to enhance social equity that impacts the quality of life and promotes equality across people. In recent times, public administration in American political system has raised critical issue of public liberty. McKelvey (2011) says the civil liberty of people is compromised as the due processes for targeted killing are obscure with unclear law and protocols. Indeed, while the threat of terrorism is real, unsubstantiated accusations of target killing of Americans is not only unwarranted but is also indicative of power play of administration that endangers the freedom of citizens.

Company Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Company Law - Essay Example On the footing of equitable principles and on some common rules, these general duties have been imposed on a director, and director has to act in accordance with the same without showing any negligence while performing his duty as a director of a company. The general duties will be construed and extended in the same way as under equity principles and under common law rules and due weight will be given to the appropriate equitable rules and common law rules in construing and applying the general duties. As per section 172(1) , a director of a company must function in the style he regards , in good trust , which is most probably to enhance the growth of the company for the advantages of its shareholders in its entirety, and in exercising so, should give due consideration to the following: The probable outcome of any business decision in the long run. The requirement to function fairly as between the shareholders of the company. Further, under CA 2006, statutory statements on directorsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ duties have been included, which covers the following provinces concerning the director’s duties. ... In other words, it is the duty of the director not to act negligently. However, casual failures or sincere commercial misjudgments will not tantamount to the claims of negligence. It is to be remembered that the directors owe their duty to the company and not to any individual. However, in Dorchester Finance Co Ltd v Stebbing,1 a director was found to be negligent in his duty as he left signed blank cheques with another director. In Cohen v Selby, 2 a director was held liable for assigning a task to a specific employee who is not fit for that duty assigned3. In case of business judgment, the courts have been ever unenthusiastic to interfere. Further, the CA 2006 is not precise about how board of directors of a company should report their adherence under section 172 in board minutes. It is advised that companies may find it secure to add a reference to the fact that the directors have adhered to the decision making provisions as demanded in section 172 in their board minutes to escape any charges of negligence later. 172 of CA 2006 demands that a director should function bona fide in a manner that would kindle the success of the company for the advantage of its member in their entirety. In Rgentcrest Plc (in liq) v Cohen , it was held that the directors should act in what they think and should not act in what the court may think, and it should be for advantage of the whole of its members4. The section 173 requires the director of a company to use his independent judgment while making business decisions. This section facilitates the director to take an opinion from experts or in certain case, if a director fails to take proper advice from an expert will be regarded as an infringement of their fiduciary duty. However,

Inbound Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Inbound Logistics - Essay Example The reason for this is fairly intuitive; if a manufacturer is to produce goods and material for distribution, it must receive the raw materials and other products necessary for production and distribution. Accordingly, the management of inbound products is central to the organizational goals in two obvious ways: First, the procurement of the materials and, second, the potential cost savings afforded by an efficient inbound supply chain system. As the next section of this paper specifically focuses on the ramifications of failing to procure materials for the manufacturing or distribution process, a word about costs is appropriate here. As cited in the case study, "the ultimate aim to achieve total control over inbound shipments would allow the retailer to eke out cost advantages from the supply chain" (Chatur 5). Several aspects of increasing efficiency within the inbound logistics side of SCM are discussed, one of which is the use of a third party logistics company, or 3PL, to manage that part of the supply chain. In fact, the idea of a collaborative environment within a large supply chain is a very popular notion. "Logistics alliances - formal or informal relationships between companies and logistics providers - are rapidly emerging...[where companies focus on their core competencies and outsource other activities" to companies that are more cost effective (Laarhoven, et al. 188). Thus, managing inbound logistics is important enough to companies that they are willing to outsource the entire process in order to save money. Q2: What is the relationship between operations and purchasing, and how does it ideally affect the management of inbound logistics Operations is the process whereby a manufacturer makes its product, but purchasing and procurement are what allow operations to do its job. Accordingly, the relationship is a dependent one where, if purchasing doesn't do its job well, operations can be shut down. Naturally, if procurement is not efficient and unnecessarily cost intensive, the entire company is threatened. The cost efficiencies related to inbound logistics, however, are not as potentially devastating as the failure of purchasing to ensure an adequate supply of material for the process. Consider the fact that if procurement doesn't perform, some manufacturers would have to stop operations until the supplies were received. This can be far more expensive than carrying a little too much inventory. As the case study points out, "...the shutdown of large petrochemical plants may cost as much as $500K to $1M daily - far more than the cost of extra hopper cars used to store product" (Chatur 4). Herein lies the dilemma for inbound logistics; balancing the need to have enough material without having too much material and the need to always have material. In terms of its effects on managing inbound logistics, the impact is clear. Many organizations use just-in-time (JIT) inventory techniques to avoid overstock and the cost of carrying too much inventory. This technique is more expensive than traditional methods due to a higher shipping cost structure, but

Business Strategy of Google Company Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 4

Business Strategy of Google Company - Term Paper Example Corporate vision statement largely displays the direction of a company that it seeks to intent for achieving its set of objectives. The vision statement largely defines the possible future strategies of the organization. A good vision statement not only helps shareholders and customers but also seeks to induce a motivating effect on the employees of the organization (Fitzroy & Herbert, 2009, p.157). Google’s vision statement is reflected as a ten point strategic framework named as ten things. The ten point vision framework largely includes ensuring simplicity, innovation, and ethics (Google-a, n.d.). The core competency of Google is based on the aspect of the simplistic yet innovative nature of the product offering of the organization. Google core competencies lie in its ability to produce a diverse product with large-scale innovations that delight the users by the simple yet effective performance. The core competence of Google also comes from its unique search engine algorithm that has made it the most popular search engine of the web (Sugano, Goncalves & Figueira, 2009, p.57). The mission statement is a single and short statement that describes the purpose of existence of an organization (Kaplan, Norton & Barrows, 2008, p.3-4). The mission statement of Google is stated as follows: Google is a public company which has its shares listed on the bourses of the NASDAQ stock exchange. The stakeholders of Google include suppliers, government, trade associations, employees as well as the employee unions. The company aims to ensure the continued welfare of the shareholders and ensures a good return on their investments (Morrow, 2008).   PESTEL is a tool that can be used to analyze the external environment of an organization.

Community Service Is a Personal Commitment Essay Example for Free

Community Service Is a Personal Commitment Essay Community Service is a personal commitment, not a corporate responsibility. Community Service, in another word, means doing something that is meaningful for the welfare of the people who are in needs. To involve or not to involve in a social work depends on our own decision, not a corporate’s decree. Social Services is defined as the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities in enhancing and restoring their capacity for social functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to the goal (The National Association of Social Workers Board of Directors, 2011). Personal commitment is an act or quality of voluntarily taking on or fulfilling obligations (Wikipedia, 2012). What makes the personal commitment ‘personal’ is the voluntary aspect. Anyone can become a part of the community services regardless of their race, language or citizenship status. People participate in community and social work because of their desire in serving the society who are in need and their interest in involving themselves in community project. It is our own choice of whether or not to get involved in community service. Once we have decided, a personal commitment in servicing the community is made. Getting the intention right signifies how deep one’s commitment is towards servicing the society. Ask ourselves these questions: Why am I doing the community work? What is the motive of participating in social work? Do I really have the desire to help them, or am I ‘performing’ just to gain compliments from my supervisors? Being in a community work and a real community work is different. A real community work occurs when a group of true and honest people come together and work with the common goal of assisting people who are in need by providing them resources they need. Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in (Moore, 2004). Every single person has their own lawful human rights to ‘vote’ in this society. Whether or not one wants to spend their time and money to the community is a matter of choice. We can expect every single one of us to participate in social work, but we cannot force someone to perform social work because that violates human rights. Since the year of 1986, the Atlanta’s 100 Black Men Inc. ith their community service program, ‘Project Success’, has become one of the city’s most effective community organization. They are successful because of the love and care they have towards the children who are in need. One of the members in the company, Ed Frances said, ‘Personal commitment often produces some touching moments. ’ (Atlantas 100 Black Men Inc. , 1990) Each and every member in the community organization has had the desire and strong will of shining for the others. Without the commitment from each member, the organization would not be successful. We may not be shining as brightly as we need to shine, but we are definitely shining, and we are doing something,’ said the President of the organization, Dr. Joseph I. Hoffman Jr. The persistence they show, together with the commitment they have has made a difference to the world. Community Service is an individual personal commitment because it is often performed outside of our working hours. It is the time where you can be yourself, the time where you enjoy the moment of assisting people who needs love. It is the time where we enjoy being in our ‘sacred place’ a place where we recognize ourselves and our commitments. Turkle, 2011) There is a person whom I respect commits her time in doing voluntary work after her retirement as a teacher. She was my primary school Chinese Language teacher. I remember when I first asked her, why do you travel around the world as a voluntary worker after your retirement? Why don’t you just stay at home and be a lady of leisure? ’ She smiled to me and said, ‘There are many people in this world who are less fortunate than we are. I have been blessed for 60 years, it is more than enough. It’s my time now to be a blessing to the others. It gives me a break in everything that I do while helping others. Being a voluntary worker is the most awesome moment I have ever had in my life. I have no regrets now. ’ Community service is a personal commitment because it only works well when we have desire and interest in it. Community service should not be a corporate responsibility, but a personal commitment because of the passion in each of us. Every one of us has different passion in things, don’t we? Only people who have the passion and joy in serving the community can make a personal commitment to the community. Personal commitment tends to produce a more effective and fruitful result compared to an organizational commitment. (Curtis Eby, 2010) Not everybody has the similar pursuit and hobby. Some people love swimming, diving, and some even have assisting people as their hobby. We only decide in doing something when we feel that we can do it, and we want to do it. Once decision is made, we will put in our extra attention and effort into it. The result will be promising because not only we put in our strength, but we place our heart in serving the community too. Conversely, if we are forced to perform something that we are not fond of, the result will never be impressive. For instance, XYZ Company organize a Chinese Festival and make it compulsory for all regular officers to work as voluntary workers outside their working hours. Some will love it, some will grumble, some will nag and some will protest. Complaints from the workers will not produce a satisfying result. This is because company forces them to do so, but in their heart, they are not committed in performing community service. They ‘appear’ to be committed, but actually they are not. In conclusion, who is a real volunteer? A real volunteer is a person who gives their personal commitment into serving others, who remembers to do things to make other people happy, who takes the loneliness out of the alone by talking to them, who is concerned when others are unconcerned, who has the courage to be a prophet and to say the things that have to be said for the good of all. (Moore, 2004) Being able to participate in serving the community is a great privilege we have. Mother Teresa once said: â€Å"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. (Teresa, 1990) Money is not everything in the social service network. Patience, love and strength are the important criteria we need to have in serving the community as well. Volunteering in a service to the community is a personal choice and responsibility. Only those who have the desire to love, to care and are willing to devote fully into helping others unconditionally are able to make a commitment to the community. A real, hidden and personal commitment we make to ourselves and to the society. Therefore, I strongly believe that servicing in the community is a personal commitment and not a corporate responsibility.

Environmental issues and policies in Madagascar Essay Example for Free

Environmental issues and policies in Madagascar Essay With the world’s population growing constantly and with human needs and desires growing pretty fast, we feel like every year there is less and less room for us to live on and it takes more and more effort for us to calmly and amicably share room and resources with our neighbors. In fact, it is too early to speak about global overpopulation, since there are still vast expanses of yet uninhabited land, to say nothing of the ability of humans, with the help of innovative technological facilities, to promptly acclimatize under extreme conditions. However, in many countries (particularly in third-world countries) some emigrational tendencies that are mostly dictated by economic and social factors, are creating quite a plausible picture of our future world, revealing the most likely and formidable phenomena we may face in future. Some large cities are experiencing serious problems related to rapidly increasing inflow of countrymen who, for various reasons, are forced to leave countryside and look for a better life in cities. Over the past few decades, most economies have been developing in such a way as to provide propitious conditions for rapid urbanization. Industrial development plus numerous revolutionary technological breakthroughs that took place in the twentieth century have resulted in the appearance of large factories. The growing demand for paid workforce has attracted country dwellers, leading to massed withdrawal of human resources from rural areas. In terms of personal affluence, the concentration of social and economic activity in the city has made urban environment more attractive and promising. Although governments of some countries have realized the danger of such economic tilts, most rural lands are still experiencing severe shortage of financial support resulting in persistent skepticism of many people about life in the countryside. It is to say, that it takes a lot of innovative thinking and political will on the part of a government to balance out the local economy, as well as the realization of the fact that harsh mandatory or administrative measures imposed on people to make them stay in rural areas alone will not suffice. It will be not before we manage to create economically healthy and prosperous environment in the village that we shall be able to speak about things in the countryside taking a turn for the better. We have considered the negative of withdrawal of human, financial, industrial and technological resources from the village from the standpoint of rural life. This long-lasting tendency seems to be making it hot for cities too. In many cities, especially in world capitals, unending inflow of immigrants seeking wealthy and prospect, has contributed to rapid and uncontrolled population growth, resulting in tough and fierce competition in the sphere of management and acute contradictions between management and hired staff, entailing collisions of interests, progressive social stratification and environmental deterioration. All this has led to a number of doubtful achievements and hazards, which appear to be making city life far less comfortable than it used to be a short while ago. Today, Mexico city is the world’s largest capital, counting about 22 million people. Mexico is a large industrial city, and it appears to be sharing the fate of most industrial centers of the world, barely coping with the influx of countrymen. The acceptance by the Mexican government of certain trading rules in line with international agreements, a paramount condition of the country’s participation in the WTO, has impacted rural economy, causing a dramatic economic collapse in the agricultural sector, resulting from the imbalance between local prices and those imposed by WTO regulations. This has triggered a new spate of internal migration from the countryside to the city. Unfortunately, problems that the city of Mexico has accumulated by now are not limited to overpopulation. It is not the overpopulation itself that poses most serious difficulties, but also ineffectual measures taken by the city government. To say the least, with the inflow so intensive and so evident, the city’s townplanning committee does not seem to be fully taking into account the migration problem, or they simply fail to keep pace with the time. The city infrastructure fails to keep up with the population increase, so people arriving in Mexico take up residence in shabby makeshift homes on the city’s outskirts or in slum districts. These districts lack water and gas supply, sewage, electricity, services, etc. , and there are no advanced waste disposal systems whatsoever. This has resulted in absolutely unfavorable environmental and epidemiologic conditions. Most of garbage and human wastes remain on or close to the surface of the earth, and large parts of it are carried by winds for miles away and into the city. Unsanctioned dumping may spoil water and cause massed poisonings or outbreaks of infection. This in turn directly affects the quality of the food, increasing the risk of its contamination with harmful substances and bacteria. There is another menacing phenomenon resulting from uncontrolled population growth and topped off by the city’s geographic position. Permanent release of carbodyoxide by factories, coupled with the release of automobile waste gases is putting the city on the brink of suffocation. Statistically, automobile emissions make up about 60% of all emissions, and, considering the increasing vehicle ownership, there seems to be no way to reduce automobile emissions. The realization that internal combustion is the greatest contributor to the accumulation of emission gases in the atmosphere has prompted automobile designers to equip vehicles with catalytic converters, but today there are too few such cars to make the effect palpable. The city is placed on a plateau fenced off with high mountain ranges. The cold air arriving from behind the mountains forms a cap over the whole valley preventing the warm and stuffed city air from getting away. This lack of natural convection contributes to the accumulation of harmful emissions in the area and may turn the whole place into a gigantic gas van. The continuing economic growth, extensive factory development and ever-growing population in Mexico City are aggravating the pollution problem. The accumulation of heavy metals in the air can undermine peoples’ health and result in serious progressive hereditary diseases, increasing the occurrence of cancer, chronic poisoning, high infant mortality, cardiovascular diseases, allergic reactions, innate orthopedic malformations, poor cognition and many other physical and mental abnormalities. Progressive intake of harmful substances directly affects the nation’s genetic makeup, and it is hardly possible now to precisely foresee all consequences of these destructive influences. Active use of depths of the earth, resulting from ever-bulging demand for minerals and oil has triggered rapid and unpredictable underground processes, resulting in unstable aquifers and causing much water to go deeper into the ground, making it less reachable. As long as the city is situated in a seismologically unstable region with an active volcano in its direct proximity, further deterioration of the bed may result in disastrous earthquakes, which, in turn, are likely to wake up the volcano and plunge the whole area into an apocalyptic calamity. Apart from the destruction of the bedrock, destruction of aquifers is fraught with the disappearance of water in some places and appearance of excessive amounts of it in others. This may cause lack of water supply and actual drying out of some areas and lead to unexpected floods elsewhere. The formation of empty spaces in the bed has caused some areas to sink significantly over the past few decades, which increases the possibility of flooding. At the same time, the emptying of the aquifers due to extraneous consumption of water by the growing city has led to a dramatic reduction of natural water resources, threatening to leave the whole city without water in the foreseeable future. According to last estimates, every second the city of Mexico takes 7,250 gallons of water, which amounts to an Olympic-size swimming pool per minute. With the consumption of water so intensive, there is a grave possibility that the amount of water remaining in the aquifers will be insufficient. Needless to say, this is much more serious a threat that inability to afford a car or a TV. In some areas, shortage of water is already tangible, and it has resulted in social upheavals. Changes in bedrock structure and the progressive subsidence of the ground can also result in the destruction of sewer and drainage systems, increasing the risk of contaminating fresh water and thus threatening to impair its quality. As we can see, all the aforementioned threats arise from one major phenomenon – overpopulation. Needless to say, increasingly intensive use of water and resources is attributable to population growth and human thirst for relative prosperity and every individual’s desire to occupy his or her niche in the booming economy. However, this brief outline of most significant problems and dilemmas shows that if we continue to use natural resources in the current fashion, the place we live in will soon become absolutely unlivable. In this respect, the city of Mexico can be presented as a small replica of our entire planet, which, with the same tendencies and phenomena persisting, will soon be confronted with similar problems. There is less and less room for industrial and vehicle emission gases and, like it is with the aquifers under Mexico city, the increasing encroachment upon minerals and oil resources is affecting the earth’s bedrock, creating pre-conditions for unpredictable and destructive earthquakes and massive destruction. With the situation so serious and menacing tendencies so evident, many governmental authorities of Mexico City, as well as state authorities express their concern about the country’s future and come up with lots of ideas, which are likely to prove helpful and effective in overcoming these negative tendencies. Whichever idea is the best, just one thing is evident today, and this is the necessity to create positive incentives and favorable conditions for people to live and work in the countryside in order to stem the growth of city population. As air quality issue appears to be the most evident one, the city government has developed a number of solutions aimed at reduction of industrial and vehicle releases into the atmosphere. By incorporating advanced technological systems and usage of higher quality fuel, it is possible to significantly improve air quality. Recently, a state-of-the-art air quality monitoring system has been implemented, so government officials and specialists have obtained control over air quality. Now every vehicle is required to feature advanced converting devices that are capable to cut down the release of toxic substances. In November 1989, the city Government introduced the so called No Driving Day (NDD), when car owners are supposed not to use their vehicles on certain days. The results of this innovation were a considerable reduction of traffic congestion and gasoline use. The use of refined types of fuel and the installation of waste gas purification and vapor recovery equipment are innovative measures regulated by the Clear Air Act Amendments of 1990. Hypothetically, these measures can be instrumental in reducing the amount of vehicle-related chemicals in the air and thus improve air quality. However, these ideas, though effective theoretically, have proven less feasible in reality. As a rule, advanced technological solutions are something than few people can afford, and most people find it less expensive to bribe authorized inspection employees and use old vehicles than purchasing new automobiles or applying expensive technologies. Not infrequently, the cost of implementing new equipment exceeds the size of fines by far, so people prefer to pay fines rather than spend money on equipment. For this reason, the results of the latest innovations have turned out to be less tangible than expected. The NDD policy has also revealed a number of unexpected actions on people’s side. Instead of increased usage of public transportation, Mexico City dwellers found a way around it by purchasing more vehicles in order to have a reserve automobile to be used on No Driving Days. Actually, this nullified the immediate positive tendencies that showed during initial stages of the NDD policy. Other attempts to limit air pollution include increased vehicle ownership taxation and boosting the price of fuels. The advocates of these measures believed that this would discourage people from using cars and thus reduce the impact on the environment. All these measures have proven less effective than expected, since most Mexico residents simply cannot afford new vehicles, to which the new regulations actually spread, and prefer to use old vehicles without having to purchase new equipment. Now, having discussed a few measures that have been taken over the last several years in an attempt to solve the ecological problem, we can see that they are not always applicable or effective. As there is just one major problem that all these issues stem from – the overpopulation – all efforts to change things for the better must be concentrated on solving overpopulation problem. Although mandatory measures, such as inspections, bans, taxation and can have a temporary effect, there is no way to achieve significant improvement in air and water quality but by using wise economical and political instruments. Once again, in order to encourage city dwellers to move to rural areas, healthy economic environment must be created in agricultural regions. This is only feasible through establishing price standards acceptable for country dwellers and creating an ample ground for agricultural business. In other words, in order to stop the growth of city population, we have to make the village no less livable than the city. Unfortunately, very little is being done to improve life in the country, since it would take a decision by the Mexican government to unilaterally withdraw from the WTO, which can entail a conflict with the USA, the founder of the WTO. Today, the Mexican government still prefers to use doubtful methods of forcing the poor to leave the city – by raiding their encampments, as it did in the late 1990s. 1. Phil Hearse. â€Å"MEXICO CITY Environmental Crisis, Socialist Solutions. Environment and Urbanization, Vil. 11, No 1, 53-78 (1999) 2. Ramiro Tovar Landa, 1995. â€Å"Mobile Source Pollution in Mexico City and Market-Based Alternatives† Published by the Cato Institute. Editorial and business offices are located at 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. , Washington, D. C. , 20001

Video games

Video games As the end of the 19th decade approached, video games were introduced. They were an expected hit. The video games industry is now a multi-billion dollar industry. They established and maintained a high rank in childhood leisure activities due to their abilityto attract children infront of a screen for very high number of hours. The idea of video games was flabbergasting since it developed certain positive characteristics which enhanced youngsters and developed them. However, Children addiction to video games increased overtime which concerned adults. They were worried that violent video games develop the sense of violence in their children. Doctors began their research which linked video games to increase in childrens violence. At first, the research was open to doubt but further research linked violence video games with development of violent characters. Recent research suggests that playing video games may affect some childrens physical functioning. Effects range from causing heart rate to blood pressure changes. However, serious physical effects are limited to a small number of players. Indeed, video games are a double edged sword which has its advantages and disadvantages. Recent studies showed that games are valuable considering health care. They were proven to be mentally and physically helpful to children as well as adults. Mental health professionals stress on the idea that some children may develop certain positive characteristics when playing video games. These characteristics are said to be very hard and long lasting to attain elsewhere. Some adults prefer their children to play video games since they feature some benefits instead of sitting without any form of interaction in front of the television. These benefits include the development of creativity. Better vision is some of the reported benefits to doctors who perform vision tests. Logical thinking and skills concerning problem solving will increase since children are always engaged with such issues in video games. Phsygological researchers report that youngsters playing video games show higher self confidence than children who dont/ this self confidence is achieved from they get when they succeed in the game. Furthermore, video games are linked with treating specific diseases. Research studies show that video games are somehow enhanced to treat people suffering from certain phobias. Treatment of fear of the dark and fear of heights has been reported to be the most effective. Doctors expose their patients to their fears through a controlled computerized game to treat them. Moreover, some video games help children develop their learning skills. These games are rather attractive due to their setting. They feature reading and writing tasks to help improve the Childs academic level. The biggest advantage of video games is its ability to entertain a child. When a child is not feeling good or is stressed video games will undoubtedly improve his phsycological state and drive him out of boredom. Children can socialize due to the fact that video games can be played in pairs. It is a great opportunity for kids to make friend by actually playing the game together of discussing t he game plot. Although video games show positive effects on children, video games have various disadvantages. Recent studies link children playing violent video games and behaving rather aggressively. According to NCTV research, 9 of every 12 studies considering violent games feature the idea that children are getting harmed by them. The scene of getting attached to violent video games stresses children and affects their brains. DR. Mathews a doctor in the Indiana University of School and Medicine reports that video games show an increase in emotional arousal and a decrease in the activities of areas which involve self controls, inhibition and attention. Dr. Mathews and his colleagues prove this fact through a simple test. They got 44 players and randomly assigned them to play a game. There were two games. The first one is the adrenaline pumping Need For Speed, the second is the violence included point of view shooter game Medal Of Honor. The players played the game for the 30 minutes. They were then immediately assigned to take MRIs of their brains. Negative effects were seen in youngsters playing the violent Medal Of Honor. The same effects were not seen in players who played Need For Speed. Video games have not been directly linked with mental illness. However, excess violent acts might cause this mental illness. Video games disadvantages are very similar to that of television since children are exposed to the same type of violence. However, researchers say that video games are supposedly more crucial since children are actually involved in violence performed in video games rather than just sitting inactively watching it on television. As technology develops, violence will develop as well since violence is much better portrayed now than 20 years ago through video games due to technology .In some games when a player is bombed, blood and bones are scattered illustrating his death and the effect of being bombed in real life. Children spending many numbers of hours playing v ideo games without getting in contact with no one else suffer from being shy and rather introvert as they see no one but the screen theyre playing on. Certified studies prove that as children encounter these violent acts on television or on video games, they are more likely to perform these acts. In conclusion, recommendations concerning video games must be conservative. According to researcher Jeanne Funk, a ban on video games is probably not in the childs best interests. Limiting playing time of video games and monitoring game selection according to developmental level and game content may be as vital as similar parental management of television privileges. Doctors and parents should also seek out inventive ways to increase the acceptance, popularity, and availability of games that are relatively sociable, educational, and fun. Every aspect has its pros and cons so is the law of nature. What we can do is try to uphold a balance and get the finest of what it has to offer, be it nature or technology

Race and Intercultural Relations in the United States Essay -- Racism

We don't have problems understanding ourselves. We have problems understanding our interactions with others. See yourself as another sees you and you will begin to understand their viewpoint Preface The development of a culture in the United States has been a winding road of interactions between differing, oftentimes opposing cultures and races from the first footfalls of Europeans upon the American continent’s shores. Each group of settlers and immigrants have brought their own unique perspectives and underlying values to the table. Many of these perspectives have been incorporated into the mainstream way of life, many others however, have been dismissed and discarded as either foreign or outright dangerous. The patterns that have emerged from this interaction of cultures and peoples define who we are today as Americans, not a homogenous amalgam of those who came before us, but an inter-connected group of varied cultures living within the same system of democracy. Whether for good or bad, our collective interaction has defined our reference set of values and norms in our interpersonal and cultural development. The patterns that define the macroculture of the United States are deeply rooted in the intercontinental strife and politics of Europe, Africa, and Asia prior to the colonization of North America. The developing European empires and their social, cultural, commercial and religious differences set the stage for intercultural interaction and development for the next 400 years in North America. These groups religious bigotry’s (Protestant vs. Catholic vs. Islamic†¦), social inequalities (noble vs. peasant), and outright greed all combined to contribute to and define our unique American experience... ...ities and privileges to all members of society, regardless of class, race or religious belief. It is the hope that all people can live the American dream of equality and prosperity. References 1) Deconde, Rappaport & Steckel. (1973). Patterns in American History, (3rd edition), Volumes I & II. Wadsworth Publishing Co., Belmont, CA. 2) E.D. Hirsch, Jr. (1987). Cultural Literacy. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA. 3) Margaret Connell Szasz. (1988). Indian Education in the American Colonies, 1607-1783. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM. 4) J. R. Pole. (1993). The Pursuit of Equality in American History, revised edition. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA. 5) Gorton Carruth. (1993). The Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates, (ninth edition). Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY.

United States Involvement in Haiti :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We begin our story on December 29th in the year 2000. United States President Bill Clinton sends a letter to Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, urging him to restore democracy in his country as he had promised before. Clinton has written statements from Aristide assuring that Haiti will take part in a democratic reform in the interest of human rights. In the letter that Bill Clinton sends, he reminds Aristide of the United States’ role in his being brought back into power in 1994. Many republicans thought that President Clinton’s letter was far too polite for the situation at hand.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aristide had a lot of promises left to be fulfilled. Domestic and foreign policy reforms were yet to be seen. No members of the opposition could be found in his government. His police force and judiciary remained unprofessional. He failed to cooperate with the United States in a campaign against drug trafficking, as he was to allow the Coast Guard to patrol Haitian waters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Back in Washington, Senator Jesse Helms and Representative Porter J. Goss issued a joint statement: â€Å"Narco traffickers, criminals, and other anti-democratic elements who surround Aristide should feel the full weight of United States law enforcement.† It was of the opinion of the Republicans in America that we end all direct support for the Haitian government. With President Clinton out the door soon in the last few weeks of his term, the Republican Party members were anxious to see the differences the Bush administration would make in this situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fast-forwarding to November of 2003, President George W. Bush gave Aristide a warning. He needed to keep his word and begin some move on reforms. His country was crumbling. Not just in the sense that there was a strong division between Aristide’s government and the opposition leading to violent terrorism throughout Haiti, but more and more of Haiti’s eight million citizens were becoming impoverished, going hungry. Not only that, but the land was physically crumbling – roads were unusable and there was terrible telephone service. There is an indirect relationship between Haitian relations and demonstrations against its government. With less support, there are more attacks, and the Bush administration was not about to step in and help Haiti unless Aristide showed us some results. United States ambassador to Haiti James Foley said, â€Å"If Haiti falls into its historical path of authoritarian government, misrule, and abuse of human rights, its future will be as somber as its past.

Micro: Learning and Lesson Plan Essay

1.0 Introduction On 6 November 2012, corresponding to the last Tuesday, I have been conducting microteaching trials on the topic of learning â€Å"Needs and Wants† under chapter one, the Commerce Syllabus Form 4, on 30 prospective teachers who act as students in Form 4. My final microteaching was held on 3rd January 2013 with the same topic and objectives. This microteaching was carried out for 15 minutes under the supervision of my lecturers, Mr. Suthagar a / l Narasuman. Microteaching trial is compulsory for all prospective teachers who took this course. In determining the rotation and chapter that should be taught in microteaching sessions was determined by voting under the supervision of our chief, Nor Hafriza. We just called her as Fiza. She was the head that is very responsible and dedicated in solving our problems related to this course. After the voting, I found that I’m very fortunate to have had a first turn and first subtopic in syllabus Perdagangan Form 4 for trial and final session. After a few weeks, Fiza has received approval from our lecturer, Mr. Suthagar to choose our own sub-topics that will be taught during microteaching. This is very nice but I decided to keep the title was elected during the voting session. 2.0 Initial Feelings / Reaction I would be lying if I said that the microteaching was easy. To be honest, I was extremely nervous when it was assigned, not because of the work that would be required to get it done, but because of the actual teaching the class. I was more afraid to teach my own friends than the actual high school class that I have and will be assigned to. The reasoning behind this is that it is always said that standing up in front of one’s peers is quite possibly the hardest thing to do. They are the people that are around you the most and know you I bit more personally than say, a class. Yes, a class does get to know you as well, but it is not on the same level as in this microteaching. There is some sort of connection a class has because we all know exactly what to expect from one another and we judge, we cannot help it, it just happens. We may not necessarily be trying to judge, but it is in our nature and it should be when it comes to something like microteaching because we are all trying to learn a little something from one another. For trial, I have prepared a lesson plan that teacher-centred, where as I give a clear explanation of human needs and desires as well as the differences between them. After that, the students are asked to answer an exercise provided. After a few minutes, I choose students at random to give the right answer orally. I was the first students to run this trial and after hearing the comments from Mr. Suthagar, it clearly shows that my lack was regarding involvement of students in the process of teaching and learning. When beginning this trial microteaching journey, the first hurdle that I had to jump over was the dreaded lesson plans. Before this class, I had an experience to write a lesson plan during me as a backup teacher. However, during that time I’m just write the lesson plan based on my understanding and without the trustworthy knowledge. When talking about the lesson, I had practiced it in front of my roommates and some friends and I knew it just was not going to be the same as in the class. One of the biggest things that I had to worry about besides the discipline issue was my time management. I did not want to get into a situation where I would have so much time left over and then have nothing to talk about. So, my lesson did end up going as planned and I actually had more stuff that I could have said if the buzzer had not gone off. Other friends who are implemented their trial on the first day which is together with me also facing a lack and problem more or less the same. However, there is also a classmate who is able to provide activities that engage students and it is a very good example and can be an example for me in the future. Friends who implement micro teaching trial in the next weeks started to change and show the improvement to teach using students centred approach. However there is still a lack of attentive in a few friends and they are still continuing their micro teaching trial based on teacher-centred approach. 3.0 Process of Designing and Delivering Lesson Based on my experience, the process in designing to delivering my lesson is not too complicated. For me, the most important things were the lesson plan and activities that I will conduct during the microteaching. I realize that there is a strategy to planning a lesson. There were certain aspects of the lesson plan, such as the goals and objectives that helped me focus on my lesson, as well as making sure that each activity I had planned was relevant and effective. Writing a lesson plan gave me a chance to think through each aspect and make sure that there were no holes. Even though I felt prepared going into the classroom, there is only so much planning and preparation that is possible. There will always be things that will come up, such as random student responses or questions that I will not have prepared for. Learning how to deal with situations such as those will come with time and experience. Generally, there is many benefit of having a lesson plan. It allows you to manage your time, effort and resources efficiently. It also provides the teacher many ways to keep the teaching process not monotonous and redundant. We need to keep in mind that the attention of our students and pupils is just equivalent to half of their age and a lesson is the best way to keep the interests of students and pupils interests all throughout. Since it is like a script in movies, lesson plans makes teaching mundane and easy and it makes you organized whilst teaching. We can able to determine when to insert icebreakers and interesting facts and lessons to keep our student and pupils glued to their lessons. Other than that, the variations in the activities are easily whipped out which will benefit our students. Bear in mind that we are dealing with a class that has multiple intelligent and different activities will cater to all types of students and pupils. Lesson plans will easily help you to achieve your goals and objectives, and same can be said on the part of your students or pupils. It also gives us a reality check of our everyday performance and we can improve the habit and attitude of our students and our teachi ng skills. Lesson plans is vital in teaching, it gives us the guide we need to pull through. Bear in mind that teaching is a difficult since we are dealing with children or teenagers with raw skills, knowledge, and wisdom. It clearly shows that with lesson plans we will be able to impart the things they need to do the best of our abilities. When we are new to teaching, a detailed lesson plan is essential because it gives us confidence. By thinking of all the steps, all the procedures, all the materials needed, all the types of interactions that might take place along with predicting the time each activity will last, we get the feeling of being ready for the lesson. By thoroughly planning a lesson, we reduce the chances of being caught off-guard, something that can be very frustrating to any teacher, but that can be especially difficult to those new to the job. No matter how long we’ve been teaching, it’s always important to ask ourselves questions like these as we plan, reflect an d work to plan a lesson. What will my students have learned after this lesson is over? What will they be able to do by the end of it that they weren’t able to do before? How will this lesson help them progress in their learning? Most important, how will I help them to get there? When planning lessons, besides considering what I will talk about, how I will talk about it and what materials I will use as I talk about it, I try to predict possible difficulties and questions the students might have so I can be ready to address those. This helps me fit the lesson within the bigger picture of the term and the content I am supposed to cover. I reflect on the balance between types of activities and types of learners. That will makes me calmer before teaching. More than planned, I am prepared. In completing the lesson plan, I’m choosing to use a backward mapping design. Backward design is a method of designing educational curriculum by setting goals before choosing instructional methods and forms of asse ssment. Backward design of curriculum typically involves three stages which are identify the results desired, determine acceptable levels of evidence that support that the desired results have occurred and design activities that will make desired results happen. Backward design challenges â€Å"traditional† methods of curriculum planning. In traditional curriculum planning, a list of content that will be taught is created and/or selected. In backward design, I’m as a future educator starts with goals, creates or plans out assessments and finally makes lesson. My goals subtopic of needs and wants were express meaning of needs and wants, distinguish between needs and wants and sketch the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Supporters of backward design liken the process to using a â€Å"road map†. In this case, the destination is chosen first and then the road map is used to plan the trip to the desired destination. In contrast, in traditional curriculum planning there is no formal destination identified before the journey begins. The idea in backward design is to teach toward the â€Å"end point† or learning goals, which typically ensures that content taught remains focused and organized. This, in turn, aims at promoting better understanding of the content or processes to be learned for students. I’m able to focus on addressing what the students need to learn, what data can be collected to show that the students have learned the desired outcomes and how to ensure the students will learn. 4.0 Personal Reflection In my opinion, the skills I used during my session were regarding voice projection, communication and classroom management. I’m asked a few friends about my voice projection and I get a positive answer that my voice is very clear. I know that teacher’s voice needs to be effective in a variety of circumstances. As a teacher, I need to be audible. Students at the back of the class must be able to hear my voice as well as those at the front. I need a voice which projects well and appropriately in all these circumstances and which is also pleasant to listen to. I think that teachers do not have to shout to be heard or to make students understood. Good voice projection is more important than volume. Speaking too softly or unpleasantly loudly is both irritating and unhelpful for students. Expressive voices, used in an imaginative way, draw students in and make them want to pay attention and listen. If such a voice has quality and liveliness, they will be motivated to attend, participate and learn. Regarding communication skills, I’m sure that I’m good in that during my microteaching session because I’m able to explain the content of lesson using methods that my students can understand. Communication can help me better interact with students. A teacher’s ability to communicate on all levels will help students who progress at different paces. Actually, I think that I’m cannot fully utilize my teaching skills because the time provided only 15 minutes. However, I’m already trying my best to complete my microteaching. As an attention grabber or induction set, I’m using my bridal cloth and a medicine to show interconnection between needs and wants. During the microteaching session, I have seen that i can attract my students’ attention to the lesson. I’m prepared two activities to be completed in 15 minutes includes my intro and summaries. The activities were presentation that I’m already gives a week before and a game that I called as ‘spontan’. During the time provided, I’m able to complete all activities as planned and give a written exercise regarding the topic lesson. In completing this session, I’m choosing cooperative learning. Cooperative learning, which will be the primary focus of the class, is a specific kind of collaborative learning. In cooperative learning, students work together in small groups on a structured activity. They are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed. Cooperative groups work face-to-face and learn to work as a team. In small groups, students can share strengths and also develop their weaker skills. They develop their interpersonal skills. They learn to deal with conflict. When cooperative groups are guided by clear objectives, students engage in numerous activities that improve their understanding of subjects explored. In order to create an environment in which cooperative learning can take place, three things are necessary. First, students need to feel safe, but also challenged. Second, groups need to be small enough that everyone can contribute. Third, the task students’ work together on must be clearly defined. The cooperative and collaborative learning techniques presented here should help make this possible for teachers. The most important things that influence my teaching design and delivery were about instructional strategies and the induction set in order to attract students’ attention. I’m realizing that in this century, I need to focus more on students. So, I must prepare a lesson plan or activities that used students centred instructional strategies. Student-centred teaching methods shift the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners. Student-centred methods have repeatedly been shown to be superior to the traditional teacher-centred approach to instruction, a conclusion that applies whether the assessed outcome is short-term mastery, long-term retention, or depth of understanding of course material, acquisition of critical thinking or creative problem-solving skills, formation of posit ive attitudes toward the subject being taught or level of confidence in knowledge or skills. Induction set also importance in teaching. I know that set induction is the important part those teachers always do at the beginning of teaching and learning process. The objective of set induction is to encourage the students to attract and make them concentrate their attention towards teacher’s presentation. The most effective ways to present set induction by using teaching aids, related situation with the lesson, motivation, questioning technique, revision of related topic and much more. Then, we can relate with the topic that we will teach them at that day. In determine good set induction we must know it is suitable with their ability and also experience. Also the activity ought to relate closely to the lesson content that follows. 5.0 Conclusion From this microteaching experience, I have learned more than I could imagine. It gave me the practice I needed in constructing lesson plans and finally getting up in front of the class and teaching not just reading off a project. I am more aware of watching out for discipline issues because they are constantly in the back of my mind and I am constantly looking out for them. I feel that I am much more confident going my practicum now that I have completed the microteaching and it has allowed me to start thinking about what to expect in the class. I have come to find out that when in a classroom, anything is possible, so I have to be ready. References Burden, P. R., & Byrd, D. M. (2013). Methods for Effective Teaching (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall. Cruickshank, D.R.; Bainer, D.L. and Metcalf, K.K. (1999). The Act of Teaching, 2nd Edition. Boston: McGraw Hill College

Persian Gulf War

The war was fought very fiercely for Just one year between 1990 and 1991. Its effects can soul be felt In today's society. The war had quite a large impact on history, particularly modern history. The outcome of the war arguably poisoned the minds of many people, crippling relationships between many groups; particularly between the West and the Middle East. Its whole entirety has left a major impact on the lives of many people and will continue to be looked at as a dark time for Middle Easterners and quite the opposite for Westerners.It is often argued that the war was ultimately a fight for oil. Several sources do present their arguments in favor of this statement, and are successful in establishing a case where this statement is true. His real motive was probably to take control of the wealth possessed by Kuwait (Lowe 2005, up. 253). Referring to Sad Hussein, the author has stated that Sad Hussein's primary motive for the war was to take control of Kuwaiti wealth. Their wealth was their OLL Industry; an Industry that the world relied on heavily, particularly for countries In the Middle East and beyond.Most people take the view that Hussein was short on finances following the Iran-Iraq neighboring countries; this had mostly gone to waste and Hussein would not pay it all back. Additionally, he believed that Kuwait was historically a part of Iraq. Had this been true, he would have already possessed Kuwait for a long time. Several reasons can be produced to support the claim. As Iraq was short on finances, they needed only to claim a nation that had a booming industry. They didn't need to take over a country that had larger powers, and both the superpowers at the time were neutral awards Iraq.These facts, along with the small size of Kuwait, were in due course the main characteristics for Hussein's motives. Moreover, it was the West who was also in strife when they realized what was at stake from the invasion of Kuwait. Lowe (2005, p. 253) argues that Iraq and th e USA were previously on neutral terms, as USA had helped Iraq in their war with Iran. In contrast to this, USA was threatened by the invasion, as it left Saudi Arabia incredibly vulnerable. Saudi Arabia at the time (and still to this day) have possessed the largest oil industry and production for a long mime.This fact left several Western nations vulnerable as well, as Iraq were very close to invading Saudi Arabia next and this threat was made very clear to the West. If Saudi Arabia were to be invaded, their oil industry would have been controlled by Iraq, and the supply to the West would have been cut. The overwhelming evidence suggests that the war was a fight for oil, and a fight to protect the wealth produced by the oil industry. A variety of viewpoints emerge from political conflict in Iraq, and other Middle Eastern nations.Most people take the view that the poor decisions by politics within Iraq, particularly on the part of Hussein, led to the downfall of the overall position and reputation of the Middle East post-war. ‘International politics of Middle East have long been volatile and unstable' (Cellophanes 1992, up. 10). Indeed, the politics within the Middle East have been volatile and unstable, and this has led to their national identity becoming weaker. There is evidence to support that there was conflict in national interests, religions and ethnic rivalries post World War Two.These inflicts have led the people to take sides within their own country, and to oppose neighboring countries who they should call their ‘brothers' or ‘sisters'. The balances of interests have been made harder and harder to achieve and maintain, stemming from the poor decisions made by the leaders of each nation. Therefore, Iraq's downfall arose from Hussein's overconfidence and greed for power, ambition, wealth and reputation. There are many reasons in favor for both sides of the issue about economic impacts for Iraq, as well as the U. S.The majority viewpo int is that Iraq was already suffering financially, and the war left them in an even worse position. The financial crisis in Iraq had reached breaking point by early 1990 and Sad Hussein was in a desperate position (Finland 2003, up. 14). It is established that his motive for the war was to gain money, but the war was decisively won by the opposing side, proceeding to the economic suffering of Iraq. Conversely, the U. S. Did not suffer nearly as much. Hancock (2006) argues ‘The Gulf War being the least expensive of all American wars resulted in a cost of only $26. 92 per American citizen'.Comparatively, citizens of U. S. Had suffered a low economic loss and this was loosely opposite to that of Iraqis and other Arab nations. It is unarguable that the Middle East suffered a lot more economically compared to U. S. A. According to many sources, the aftermath of the war has left its mark on many around the world, particularly Iraqis. Common far more in number, but left negativity w ith Iraq. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (2012) argues that Kuwait and Iraq suffered enormous property damage. This fact presents an argument to support that the huge property damage offered to Iraq applied to quite the rest of the Middle East.They had suffered huge casualties and property damage from the war, but this only created more anger for Iraq. Continued uneasiness and conflict between Iraq and coalition forces; primarily U. S. , led to Second Persian Gulf War (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012). The second war was based off of Hussein's anger towards the West and ongoing conflict was inevitable from the outcome of the first war. For these reasons, it is established that the aftermath of the war had a major effect on Iraq and the Middle East.Even the most superficial investigation of the war produces the major effects of the war on the Middle East. The weight of public opinion is relied on the fact that most Middle Easterners suffered from the outcome of the w ar. Kettle (n. D. ) argues ‘Both Kuwait and Iraq†¦ Would have to face a period of turbulence and instability†¦ Both have had their political integrity and independence, as well as their economy and civilian structures, seriously undermined†¦ ‘. The quote conveniently provides the long term effects of the two nations, but has also affected the whole of the MiddleEast. It is argued that the Middle East has been seen by the West as a permanent battleground. The effects had on the Middle East have even been solely blamed on themselves. Authors Beverly Milton Edwards and Peter Handkerchief (2007, up. 97) collectively argue ‘one recurring theme in academic discourses is that contemporary observers, especially governmental ones, should have anticipated the invasion'. The outcome and aftermath have proved the adversity that the Middle Easterners have had to face, and the way they have responded in the past.As the same time, it is argued that this war has add ed to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Persian Gulf War led to overall instability within the Middle East, and it is because of this that there have been effects on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Conclusively, the war had a more of an impact on societies within the Middle East. In conclusion, the First Gulf War has led to ongoing conflict between the Middle East and the West in modern history. The war caused political, social and economic conflict between the nations involved in the war.

Within this assignment the writer will outline the main roles and responsibilities of a social worker

Within this assignment the writer will outline the main roles and responsibilities of a social worker within this family. Legal and policy principles will be discussed, practical and appropriate theories and research studies will be included and finally, the discussion of oppression and how it may be affecting this family will also be included. The writer will begin by giving a definition of social work, quoted from the British Association Of Social Workers (BASW). The Association has adopted the following definition of social work issued by the International Federation of Social Workers and the International Association of Schools of Social Work. It applies to social work practitioners and educators in every region and country in the world. â€Å"The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (2001)†. Stephanie is a single mother of two young children. At this present time in her life she is finding things difficult. Stephanie left school at the age of sixteen and shortly after leaving school she became pregnant with her first child, Naomi, who is now six years old. When Naomi was two years old, Stephanie left home and moved into a council flat of her own close by to her mother and two elder sisters. Stephanie's relationship with these members of her family is not particularly good. Stephanie's mother and sisters believe that Stephanie's partner Paul is a burden on her. Paul, who works unsociable hours as a taxi driver, claims to be living at home with his parents. However, this is not the case, as he spends most of his time at Stephanie's flat. Paul may spend time at Stephanie's flat but he does not spend any quality time with Stephanie or their children. Stephanie has become depressed over the last six months. She resents having to look after the children on her own and she also feels isolated. Stephanie has asked the Area Office for help as her income support book has been taken off her because the D.S.S. beliefs that she is cohabiting. Stephanie's second child, Christopher, is 18 months old and he has regular visits from a health visitor. The health visitor is worried about Christopher's development and weight gain. As regards Naomi, her school teacher has noticed a deterioration in her behaviour and is worried about Naomi appearing upset, tired and subdued. Naomi has come to school feeling hungry and dressed inappropriately. The social worker's role in planning an assessment is to plan for the assessment and, in order to account for the complexity of the task should gather and record information in a systematic and precise way, checking information with the children and parents. Where there are differences over information these should be recorded and strengths and difficulties should be acknowledged. The assessment should be child-centred and therefore the impact of the situation on the child must be clearly identified. (Parker, J. & Bradley, G. 2005 Page 20) The roles and responsibilities of social work are mostly decided by a legal policy framework. These policies may change to accommodate new issues in society. Principles should be acknowledged on what actions to take (See Appendix 1). If Naomi and Christopher will benefit from enrolment in a day care centre and certain needs will be met by this action, then the paramountcy principle will steer the social worker towards encouraging Stephanie to enrol them. To ignore the children's needs would be legally and ethically negligent (Dickson. D, page 10). The assessment will involve the social worker having an open mind and communicating with Stephanie on a level in which she understands, not using jargon that may confuse her. Any information gathered from Stephanie should be relevant to the case. All information gathered will always be monitored and recorded, everything that is being done will be explained to Stephanie as clients have the right to know what is happening at all times throughout the process (see Appendix 2). In any assessment as a social worker your own personal beliefs, values and biases must always be acknowledged, and also the impact your approach will have on the way the assessment is carried out (Parker, J. & Bradley, G. 2005 Page 7). Stephanie will be encouraged to make decisions and the social worker will promote her independence and assist her in understanding and exercising her rights as this will affect her and her families' future. Stephanie's personal views, values and beliefs should always be respected as she is an individual and has to be treated as one at all times. It is important to be open, honest and explicit with Stephanie throughout the procedure. If Stephanie knows that she can relay and depend on you, this will help in building confidence in your relationship with her. Stephanie should always be told if you are not going to be available and tell her why for example if you have other commitments for that particular time. As a Social worker, you must attempt to create and maintain the trust and confidence of Stephanie. It will be made clear to Stephanie that any information relating to the children that will cause harm or danger to them will be reported to an appropriate authority. Any complaints from Stephanie will be taken seriously and passed on to an appropriate person. The social worker will follow a risk assessment policy and procedure to assess whether Stephanie presents a risk to her children (Dickson D. pages 91-94). In making an assessment on behalf of Stephanie, the ‘assessment triangle' (see Appendix 3) and the ‘helping cycle' will both be used (see Appendix 4). In working with Stephanie on this case the social worker must take full responsibility for any actions carried out on behalf of Stephanie whether they are right or wrong (see appendix 5). It is important as a trainee social worker to know the importance of planning and tuning in for an assessment. Each case dealt with will be different to other cases. A key element of tuning in is â€Å"preparatory empathy†. This will involve putting yourself into Stephanie's shoes, feeling what she is feeling, looking at the situation from her point of view. For example, Stephanie may be feeling depressed and helpless as a result of isolation. Financial worries may cause her to feel resentful towards Paul as he is no help to her and the children. Does she feel unable to cope as a single parent and feel that she is a bad mother (Dickson D. p17)? As the social worker has a certain power they may be able to intervene. The D.S.S. can be contacted and Stephanie can apply for an emergency payment from them until the situation is resolved. If Stephanie's money is cut this could lead to more situations arising such as rent and electricity bills not getting paid as Stephanie will not be able to afford these. This will then cause further problems for Stephanie and the children. Stephanie may become more depressed and her parenting may be affected, and the children's needs could suffer. In planning an initial assessment it will be necessary to visit Stephanie and the children. Then it will be necessary to have a discussion with Stephanie and Paul and observe their living situation focusing on the three aspects of the assessment triangle; child's developmental needs, parenting capacity, family and environmental factors. Then it is necessary to explain the Departments policy of supporting children and families to stay together (Parker. J, and Bradley. G, 2005 page 21). In the assessment of Naomi and Christopher, both of the children's development of progress will be examined, in relation to each child's age and stage of development. There must be an understanding of what the children need to achieve successfully at each stage of their development, in order to ensure that they will both have the opportunity to achieve their full potential(DOH Frame Work Assessment 1999 page 18). Providing a range of services from a multi-disciplinary team requires a high degree of co-operation and co-ordination from the professionals involved. It is to be noted that central to the whole process should be the needs and wishes of the service user. The team will include not only the professionals but also Stephanie and her family. Therefore, Stephanie's involvement and participation in her social and health care provision is taken to be fundamental. The legal definition of need is set out in article 17 of the Children's (NI) Order (1995). The Children's Order states that a child is in need if, he or she is unlikely to achieve or maintain or to have an opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services (www.opsi.gov.uk). The Children's (NI) Order article 17 (1995) is based on a clean and consistent set of principles designed with the common aim of promoting the welfare of children, the rights of parents exercising their responsibilities towards their children and the duty of the state to intervene to promote and protect the welfare of children in need or at risk. The principles of the Children Order NI 1995 can be seen at www.opsi.gov.uk. As a student social worker it is necessary to adhere to the legislation put in place. Assessment is an ongoing process, in which the client participates, the purpose of which is to understand people in relation to their environment; it is the basis for planning what needs to be done to maintain, improve or bring about change in the person, the environment or both (Coulshed V, p.21). The Assessment framework will be used to assess Stephanie's case. Good assessment is crucial for the well-being of the children and the family. It has to be noted that the welfare of the children is paramount at all times. The assessment triangle will be looked at for both of the children. The first dimension of the triangle is The Child's Developmental Needs. There are seven areas in this dimension. The first area to be examined is health. Both Naomi and Christopher's health is an issue as this relates to their development as well as their physical and mental well-being. Genetic factors can be taken into consideration on health issues. As Stephanie is suffering with depression, she may not realise that the children are not receiving an adequate diet and as a result of this their health can suffer. Then there is education. This covers the children's cognitive development, which begins at birth. It includes playing and interacting with other children, access to books, to acquire a range of skills and interests, to experience success and achievement. An adult should be involved in the education of Naomi and Christopher. Stephanie should encourage her children to learn in different ways. Emotional needs and development are the concerns by appropriate responses demonstrated in the children's feelings and actions. As Naomi's teacher has noticed a change in behaviour, this will be looked at. Christopher's development will also be looked at because the health visitor has noticed that he is not developing as well as he should be. The identity of the children may affected if Stephanie's depression continues. The identity is related to how the children view themselves and their feelings of acceptance by the family and society will have an impact on this. Family and Social Relationships includes having a good relationship with parents and siblings. The children are at a young age but this may be taken into consideration as it may have an affect on them in developing relationships in later life. Their Social Presentation will be looked at, as Naomi's behaviour has deteriorated and she is also dressed inappropriately. The final area to be examined is Self Care Skills. If Naomi sees that there is something wrong with her mother, she might begin to take over some parental roles. She may be very young but she would be capable of doing things such as dressing herself and her little brother (Frame Work Assessment page 19). The next dimension of the triangle is the Parenting Capacity. Is Stephanie providing Basic Care, which includes providing for the children's physical and appropriate medical needs? Are the children receiving food, warmth, shelter, clean and appropriate clothing and adequate personal hygiene? (See Appendix 6) Is Stephanie Ensuring Safety for the children? This can mean in the home and elsewhere, for instance, crossing roads. Are the children receiving Emotional Warmth? Stephanie may not be capable of this because she is suffering with depression. She may not realise it, but at times she may not respond to the children's needs. Physical contact such as giving the children a hug can demonstrate emotional warmth. Are the children receiving Stimulation from their parents? If Paul is not spending any time with the children and Stephanie is feeling low, this will have an effect on their stimulation. The children should be in a routine and be encouraged with different tasks such as schoolwork; this will facilitate them both to meet challenges, which they will face in life. Guidance and Boundaries enable children to regulate their own emotions and behaviour. Are Stephanie and Paul preparing their children for the development of later life when they will need to know what's right and what's wrong? Self-values' and conscience are learnt through this process. If the children have no emotional support there is a danger that normal rules and boundaries within the family could break down. There is a risk of children's schoolwork and behaviour suffering as a result of the situation not being resolved quickly (Frame Work Assessment page 21). The final stage of the assessment triangle that has to be looked at is the Family and Environmental Factors. The writer will begin by examining Family History and Functioning. The children's inheritance includes both genetic and psycho-social factors. Family functioning is influenced by who is living in the house. At this stage we have to look at the fact of Paul being there. Is it doing more harm than good? Wider family members such as Stephanie's mother and sisters may be helpful in getting Stephanie back on track. It could be beneficial for all of them to come together and have a discussion about the current situation. Is the Housing adequate for the family? If Stephanie's money has been cut, will she be able to keep the home warm for the children? Is the house clean? Employment is another issue. Is Paul's pattern of work suitable? Would it be possible for Stephanie to get employment? Both these questions have an impact on the children. Income, is there enough income to provide basic needs for the children? Stephanie's benefits have been cut, this will have a major impact on the family? Will Paul help out? What are the financial difficulties that will affect the children? Families Social Integration. Stephanie feels isolated. This is not good for any of the family as she is the main carer. Stephanie should be encouraged to take up a hobby or night class. This will develop her confidence and it will have an impact on the children. The social worker should give Stephanie information on Community Resources i.e what is available for the family in the community such as play groups, mother and toddler groups, summer schemes, education learning centres, family centres. Local groups such as STEER and Gingerbread may be able to help and advise the family. From this assessment it is clear that Stephanie is at secondary level 2 of the Table For Guidance On Thresholds For Intervention For Services For Children In Need (See Appendix 7). We have to work with Stephanie now and prevent her from reaching level 3 (Frame Work Assessment page 24). We can work with a multidisciplinary team to resolve any issues that have developed. To oppress a person is to treat them in a very harsh and unfair way and cause them to feel anxious or distressed, (a definition from the Oxford Dictionary). As a result of this family living in poverty they will be oppressed. This will have a high impact on all of the family and also cause different problems. The family may be stigmatised. Teachers in Naomi's school may have labeled Stephanie as being an unfit parent without knowing any of the facts about her situation. Where is the poverty coming from and what is the reason that this family is living in poverty? There are many reasons for poverty to occur within families. Because Stephanie is female she may be discriminated against when trying to gain employment. She may have little or no education. The question has to be asked if she was employed would she be provided with childcare? All aspects have to be looked at and must be taken into consideration when Stephanie is looking at herself as a person and parent (Thompson, N. 2001). As Stephanie is not working, Paul is the main earner for the family but he is not providing for them in such a way that they can live without money worries. Paul is also claiming to be living at his parents house, so he is not taking any responsibility for the income of the family. Stephanie is the one that does everything in the household and paying the bills is a major role. Stephanie's strengths and weaknesses could be looked at and developed. Stephanie may have the capability of returning to education and getting some qualifications, which would enable her to gain employment. With the help of her mother and sisters she could develop her confidence and this will also play a major part on reducing her depression. Stephanie may be taking medication for her depression but the social worker can look at other methods of treatment such as cognitive therapy. Stephanie has to look at her relationship with Paul and ask herself if she is doing the right thing for her children by letting him stay in their home. Stephanies' mother would like to see Paul out of her daughters life which is not possible as he has a right to see his children, but she can encourage Stephanie and support her if this is what it takes.