Friday, November 29, 2019

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another Essays

"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" Proverbs 27:17 (ESV) This verse speaks so much to my life because of experiences I have been through with friendships. What I have learned about friendships is that they can either build or break you. You need good friends, and you need to be a good friend. Iron can sharpen iron, and a good friend can sharpen a friend. The iron of a file can make a blade sharper, and a good friend can make his friend better. A knife is not sharpened by cloth, bread, wood, plastic, or even gold. A knife may cut and shape these things for them to be more useful, but these things will only dull the knife. Sharpening a knife requires iron or a substitute for iron at least as hard as the knife. Once sharpened, a knife is much more productive with less effort on such things. This proverb is about good friends - they will make you better. A good friend will make you brighter, sharper, and more useful. But not any friend will do, only wise friends make you wiser. Foolish and bad friends will darken and corrupt your life. I believe this verse is very important for us as college students because we are building our future and if we surround ourselves with bad influences we will also be influenced by bad habits. My pastor back at home use to say "show me who you hang around with and I will tell you who you are."

Monday, November 25, 2019

esl essays

esl essays I chose to do my observation on a small (12 students) elementary ESL class. The students in this class ranged from second grade up to fifth grade and all are fairly fluent in English, but come from homes that use Spanish as the primary language. The day began with a rehearsal of a play this class will be performing for the first graders. This play calls for the children to read, understand, and memorize the parts of such characters as the narrator, a donkey, cat, rooster, robbers, police, dog, and pigs. By doing this they have been exposed to many animals and have done an enormous amount of authentic learning just through their own personal experiences. Each of the twelve children was given the script and they went through the play working on the memorization of the lines and pronunciation of the words. I was impressed with the number of students who had their entire part memorized and who could easily read and recite the English words in perfect sentences. After going throug h the play three times the class moved onto a singing activity that they did together. This included reading the words to the songs Loud Blows the Wind, My True Blue Buddy, and Lots and Lots of Stars via a large book in front of the class. Mrs. Campbell then called on a few to read the song individually as another used the pointer to follow along. Once confident with the words and meaning of the song they would put it to music and the whole class would sing the song together at the top of their lungs. Through the singing of these songs the students were using a variety of everyday words along with different descriptive words, and most animals/foods imaginable. They were gaining experience in reading, widening their vocabulary, practicing their sounds and having a great time all in one exercise. The student to student interaction was amazing and the teacher did a great job of facilitating the class as they discovered and used different English w ...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 11

Marketing - Essay Example 2003, 504). Marketing structures that play roles in the strategic planning process include formalization, specialization and centralization (Kellar, A. 2009, 389). These structures are, particularly, important in shaping the performance of an organization (Laforet, S. 2012, 163). Formalization is the degree to which working relationships and decisions are governed by standard policies, procedures and formal rules. Centralization is the locus of the authority and control of a decision within an organizational entity. In organizations that are highly centralized, only one or a few top managers hold most decision-making authorities. In decentralized firms, middle or lower level managers possess autonomy and participate in a wide range of decisions. Specialization is division of tasks and activities across positions within the system. High levels of centralization and formalization, together with low specialization levels, are likely to be associated with relatively efficient performance within marketing departments. In such departments, the top marketing managers use centralized decision-making authorities in setting a common direction for other departments while keeping overt conflicts minimal. The formal rules and procedures play a role in reutilizing activities and hold down risks and administrative costs. Therefore, higher formalization and centralization levels in the market department should positively relate to the ROI performance of low cost defender business units. Centralization, non-specialized and formalized organizations tend to be more efficient but less innovative and adaptive compared to those with the opposite structural characteristics. Despite business strategy being a general statement about how the unit chooses to compete in an industry, that unit encompasses a large number of different products, each facing a different competitive situation in different markets. There is the likelihood of existence of a considerable variation in marketing pro grams across products within similar business units (Freeman, B & Shaw L. 2009, 118). Since a business strategy fails to set a general direction of how the unit will compete, it should have an impact on the broad marketing policies cutting across products and product lines. The likelihood of a strategy being effective relies on the consistency of the marketing policies with the overall strategy, and how successful the unit is in adhering to the policies. One set of marketing policies broadly defines the nature of the products that the business offers to the market (Suder, G. 2007, 118). The policies cover a diversity of the product line, the general level of technical sophistication of the products and the target level of product quality in relation to the competitors. The prospector businesses heavily depend on the continuing development of new and unique products and the penetration of new markets as a primary competitive strategy. Hence, the adherence and policies of the prospect ive businesses which encourage the broad and technically advanced trade lines should relate

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Argumentative research paper arguing how negativly the meadia

Argumentative arguing how negativly the meadia influences the masses during times of war - Research Paper Example Yet, both politics and journalism make claims to a standard of objectivity that often hides the political bias in the construction of â€Å"social fact†. It is through shared communication methods such as literature, newspapers, the internet, tv news, etc. that people in modern societies form their views on complex political issues that may affect the lives of millions. Nowhere is this more exemplified than in issues of international relations or foreign policies, and the conduct of war – which has led nations across the world into millions of deaths and untold destruction primarily through the dissemination of political views and ideologies throughout large populations that permitted organized military violence by the State. In general, the television news and newspapers frame the discourse by publishing a type of collective debate between opposing viewpoints as they relate to current events and pertinent issues of social governance in a democracy. As Noam Chomsky writ es in â€Å"The Culture of Terrorism,† "The leveling of discourse within the ideological system is an extremely important matter. Part of the genius of American democracy has been to ensure that isolated individuals face concentrated state and private power alone, without the support of an organizational structure that can assist them in thinking for themselves or entering into meaningful political action, and with few avenues for public expression of fact or analysis that might challenge approved doctrine...adherence to doctrinal truth confers substantial reward: not only acceptance within the system of power and a ready path to privilege, but also the inestimable advantage of freedom from the onerous demands of thought, inquiry and argument. Conformity frees one from the burden of evidence, and rational argument is superfluous while one is marching in an approved parade.† (Chomsky, 1988) The media act as a â€Å"fourth branch† of government, essential to the he althy functioning of a democracy systematically. Minority political groups may be forced to resort to other means to organize their viewpoints and distribute them popularly if they cannot gain mass-media access, but there is little practical guarantee that minority communication channels can compete with mass-media communication networks that dominate the public construction of issues debated in modern societies politically. This is one way that political hegemony may operate in repressing views unfavorable to the status quo of hierarchical power distributions. The media never covers a war neutrally with just the facts. They report stories or fabricate ones that they believe will gain ratings or sell papers. This is the definition of â€Å"Yellow Journalism,† and it can be seen historically as the way that the public was rallied to war, from the early days of Theodore Roosevelt’s â€Å"Rough Rider† raids on Cuba to the modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. F rom the establishment of the news empire by William Randolph Hearst, mass-media news sources increasingly pursued a centralized, corporate model of operations that mirror in many ways the development of the superpowers themselves. The Hearst papers had the budget required to â€Å"

Monday, November 18, 2019

Management Process Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management Process Analysis - Essay Example Change management is best defined as the process of continuous reviewing and renewing of the direction, structure and capabilities of the organization in order to meet the ever-changing needs and demands of internal and external customers (Todnem, 2005). Organizational change is a very important element of the organizational strategy. It is very important for an organization to have the ability to identify where it needs to be in the future and then manage the change management process in order to get there. The business environment is constantly changing with increased globalization, technological innovation, deregulation, dynamic workforce, shift in demographic and social trends, etc (Todnem, 2005). This makes the change management process even more important. For any organization, to sustain growth and remain successful it is very important that it effectively manages its change management process. One of the best examples of effective change management in modern day businesses is Apple. Apple Inc. Founded in 1976, Apple has become the most valuable company on the planet today. Started as a computer company, Apple has revolutionised the personal computer industry. Apple started with a personal computer, but today its products range from music (iPod) to phones (iPhones). Chief Architect of Apple’s success story is Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple (Royston, 2009). Apple’s journey to the top has not been a smooth one. It has had failures along the way and at one stage was on the verge of being shut down. Apple has adapted to changing environment and the industry needs and demands to become the most successful and valuable company on the planet. Apple’s products include iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and iTunes (Apple, 2011). Apple is also developing cloud computing products and services which are not commercially available at. Apple – Change Management Apple is one of the best examples for effective organizational change management. It can be said that Apple has mastered the art of change management. Apple has been successful in understanding the changing needs and demands, and at same time adapt to those changes and needs. It has been able to build a loyal customer base, build new technologies, products and services. Leadership The most important element of Apple’s change management is Steve Jobs, i.e. his leadership. Apple’s nightmarish run started with the exit of Steve Jobs in 1985 and ended with his return in 1996. With the return of Steve Jobs in 1996, there was a major change in the organization’s leadership. The bureaucratic management style that had replaced the creative and entrepreneurial culture (organizational culture that Steve Jobs had infused into Apple in the beginning) had to undergo a major change. Steve Jobs along with him brought back the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants entrepreneurial culture back to Apple (Anderson & Anderson, 2010). He redefined the organization’s DNA and ensured its effective implementation. The original culture and the mindset were welcomed by the workforce and they responded with creativity and innovation. With the change in leadership, the management structure was now redefined with only very few management layers. This was vital in order to accommodate the change in the leadership and organizational cul

Saturday, November 16, 2019

A Significance Of Rehabilitation Criminology Essay

A Significance Of Rehabilitation Criminology Essay This report attempts to explore the development of Rehabilitation System in United Kingdom since its first appearance into Parliamentary Acts until nowadays. It will be presented the history of rehabilitation based on Prison reforms and its significance and relation to society. The report aims to address objectively great changes that were made according to Parliamentary Acts, Reviews and Reports of Ministry of Justice along with writings of professionals who aimed to review its concept and analyse the usefulness and impact of the Offenders Rehabilitation Programmes. Furthermore, it will be provided the cogent of offering treatment to offenders in order to reduce recidivism, which will be followed by an evaluation and recommendations upon Rehabilitation System. In the past, for many years it was believed that the proper punish for an offender had strictly to do with the violent attitude against him and torturing of his body, deportation or even death penalty. Nowadays, and after several prison reforms Justice comes across the term of Rehabilitation. To begin with, Michel Foucault stated in 1975 that Rehabilitation procedure has more to do with discipline of the soul than the torturing of the body. (Foucault and Sheridan, 1979) The word rehabilitation is defined as re-enabling and it has Latin roots as it comes from the term rehabilitare. The assumption of all these is that Justice System is not only obliged to keep the community safer by holding the offenders in prison but also preparing them, for several reasons, to re-join society, by practicing their mind, developing their skills and expanding their knowledge. 1.2 Significance of Rehabilitation It is necessary to be mentioned the importance of Rehabilitation from either points of view, that of Justice and society and that of the prisoners. Later on, it will also be discussed the significant thesis of rehabilitation to the reduction of re-offending. Rehabilitations vital role is as it was mentioned above discipline of the mind. Through discipline, the offender will be able to be useful to society without being tempted to commit another crime. In addition to that, there are also going to be mentioned the programmes and techniques provided to the offenders, depending on the type of their offence and their needs. These needs can be categorized, as it has not always have to do with criminogenic factors as mental illness or any kind of addiction, but also survival into society matters as where to live or work or permanent health issues. Following the previous statement, this dissertation is going to include an exploration upon behavioural programmes, depending on the individualit y of every offender. 1.3 Aims of Dissertation Through a study upon Rehabilitations background from its roots since today, this dissertation aims to provide a wide briefing about rehabilitation system in United Kingdom. The sensitive correlation between society and prisoners can cause several problems to their in-between balance, and this is another issue that will be stated, by analysing the rehabilitation systems impacts to both of them. A review upon behavioural programmes will be mentioned later on along with their significance to the offenders. They are also going to be examined the advantages and disadvantages of the current system and its development throughout years. In addition to that this dissertation aims to explore the type of the rehabilitation programme which has to be followed by any offender depending on the type of his offense, the time of his penalty, any drug or alcohol addiction who may has, his age and gender, if he or she belongs to a minority group and last but not least if he or she suffers from any menta l disorder. 1.4 Overview of Content As it was mentioned above, this dissertation tends to give a brief review of Rehabilitation System for prisoners in United Kingdom since its first appearance. A flashback to rehabilitations first concept and its idea of discipline will be made in order to be evaluated its importance to the Justice System. They are also going to be discussed historical figures that published their first thoughts upon Justice System, as it had to do with punishing and imprisonment. Their appearance was significant to social reforming and inclusion of Parliamentary Acts into Justice, in order to change the detention conditions of that time, along with the relation of rehabilitation to reducing crime. In addition to that it is going to be discussed the context of Rehabilitation in general and its aims, as it plays major role as well to the whole Justice System and several aspects of society. From the content of this dissertation they cannot be excluded the Parliamentary Acts that involved rehabilitation and their relation to the present one. As it was stated above this dissertation will include a review of the services provided depending on the needs of the prisoners, along with the types and categories of the current rehabilitation programmes, their affects and their prospects of development. A major part of the information given is provided through literature review upon reports, statistics and Acts of the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, House of Commons and the Government. Chapter 2 History of Rehabilitation 2. History of Rehabilitation This chapter is going to explore Rehabilitations System Background and History since the first appearance. It will be also examined the first Parliamentary Act which includes rehabilitation and the purposes of its concept. Finally it will be discussed the Nothing Works debate. 2.1 Background The state before the current concept of Rehabilitation, which has to do more with discipline of the mind, had different ways to deal with the offenders. Depending on the type of crime the prisoners were coming across tough punishment through which they could be tortured, deported or even face death penalty. It seems as if during the 17th Century the idea of discipline started to establish. It has to be mentioned that the concept of rehabilitation back then was received in order to be given to the offender a chance of fitting back to society. The purpose was to be offered a safer society as an offender could re-join it and be a useful member of it. As it was mentioned above it was only in 1764 when Cesare Beccaria (b. 1738) expanded in his work the idea of Rehabilitation. When his book On Crimes and Punishment was published it was exposed a new chapter to Justice System as it had to do with the theme of imprisonment. By the time, his thoughts were mainly influenced by the new, by then, era of Enlightenment. Beccaria had several positions inside society, as he was a well-known philosopher, criminologist and jurist. It can be assumed that Cesare Beccaria was the first who gave in public the idea of rehabilitation with main purpose the discipline of mind and soul and expect as an outcome the reducing of re-offending, and offending is general, as the ex-offender could have the ability to expand his knowledge to others as well. To be more specific, the criminologist stated that It is evident from the simple considerations already set out that the purpose of punishment is not that of tormenting or afflicting any sentient creature, no r of undoing a crime already committed. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The purpose, therefore, is nothing other than to prevent the offender from doing fresh harm to his fellows and to deter others from doing likewise. (Beccaria, 2010) In addition to that, a philosopher and social reformer of that time who wrote about the importance of punishment giving to the offender in accordance to the type of the crime committed was Jeremy Bentham (b. 1748). Bentham, who is also one of the founders of the theory of utilitarianism, published in 1811 his work The rationale of punishment through which he expressed his thoughts upon punishment. To be more specific, the philosopher stated that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦A punishment may be analogous to an offence, it is necessary that the crime should be attended with some striking characteristic circumstances, capable of being transferred upon the punishment. These characteristic circumstances will be different in different crimes. (Beccaria, 2010) 2.2 Penitentiary Act The philanthropist and prison reformer John Howard (b. 1726) published in 1774 his reports about the detention conditions of the offenders as he spend a year working as a sheriff and evidenced the situation himself. He also managed to visit other prisons as well in order to be sure of his findings, before the export of his reports. His findings led the justice system to include two more Acts which were dealing with the circumstances under which the offenders were held, and suggested the thesis of the State in order to provide prisons which could offer humane conditions of detention. Howard also mentioned that they had do be done changes as it had to do with the fees paid to the jailers, as in many occasions offenders were still held in prison even if they had complete their penalty because they were not able to pay them. It was only in 1779 when the passage of Parliamentary Acts had been made and it was given the permission to begin the building of the first State Prisons, which would offer healthier living conditions to the prisoners. The above can be assumed as the first evidence of an attempt of a proper rehabilitation system in United Kingdom. Even though several actions took place after the Act, the construction of a prison was not be done until 1785, when the magistrate Sir George Onesiphorus Paul completed the first prison at Gloucester which was stated as a first prison model at that time as it was approaching every aspect of the prisoners needs. It was coming across the previous statements about a healthier environment, as it was consisted by separated cells, classification of prisoners depending on the type of their offence and it was also provided medical support. Although the Penitentiary Act of 1779 has made a major point during the development of Justice System and Rehabilitation, as it brought massive changes to the System as they knew it by then, it is believed that it had affected it in many ways. According to the Cambridges Historical Journal, it was strongly believed that the basic reason of these Acts pass was the reducing of deportation. In other words, prisons had to be held, in order to keep the offenders there, without the state having the need to deport them. That statement could be valid, as after the construction of the prisons in England, several other countries followed the same path, for the same reasons. 2.3 Purposes of Rehabilitation After the engagement of the Penitentiary Act, Justice System started to develop the concept of imprisonment as a path to rehabilitation. As it was mentioned above, imprisonment reduced deportation of offenders and that created several problems at that time to jailers, as the population of the prison started to increasing. However, the key concept of Rehabilitation was the reducing of re-offending as it was believed that by educating the offenders, they would re-join society with different habits. The main theme of Rehabilitation was at that point that it would be created a safer community, as ex-offenders would not make the same mistakes, be useful to society and stop other people as well from committing a crime. At this point it is more important to Justice to protect society rather than being easier to an offender to resettle in terms of fitting smoothly back to community. However, as the years passing by the Justice System and Rehabilitation Services are keep developing in order to be updated to the needs of community. It has been already stated that the prison population started to increase. It seems as if that the same problem remained since today. At this point rehabilitation for prisoners in United Kingdom plays vital role, along with several changes that were made to the penalties of every offense, the system has to come up with new ways of avoiding prison overcrowding. Overpopulated prisons can be harmful to both bodies, to offenders and guards as well. In addition to the above, the support to offenders who have complete their penalty towards community is important as in most of the cases the reason why they are committing the same crime again is strongly connected to the social exclusion they are facing. It can be difficult to some offenders to re-join society, and at this point it is a matter of great significance the rehabilitation services during imprisonment along with some time after release. Rehabilitation Services are aiming to offer to the prisoners the appropriate support for every case individually. Apart from the Rehabilitation programmes which are being used and they will be discussed later on, they are provided to the offenders several other services in order to being able to re-join society. According to the report of The House of Commons for the Parliament, offenders are coming across many themes during Rehabilitation. Rehabilitation programmes are being included into the context of Rehabilitation services, as they are being part of the Purposeful Activity along with physical education and training, which aims to educate and train prisoners. One of the reasons why this System also targets to reduce reconviction rates is as mentioned above there is in exist the problem of overcrowding. This has a result the continuous transfer of the offenders to other prisons and that has a major affect to programmes, as the prisoners cannot receive a stable rehabilitation progr amme. 2.4 Nothing Works What Works? Debate From the background review of Rehabilitation cannot be excluded the Nothing Works What works? debate which began in 1974 towards a Robert Martinsons research. Even though this debate was made based upon the American Justice system its impact affected United Kingdom as well in terms of re-thinking its approach on that specific topic. After a long study Martinson stated that Rehabilitation System does not help in reducing re-offending. According to Martinson, they existed few programmes that were useful for the prisoners, but the overall outcome it was not the expected. The writer, who tried to give an explanation for the success in reducing recidivism stated, Having entered this very serious caveat, I am bound to say that these data, involving over two hundred studies and hundreds of thousands of individuals as they do, are the best available and give us very little reason to hope that we have in fact found a sure way of reducing recidivism through rehabilitation. This is not to say that we found no instances of success or partial success; it is only to say that these instances have been isolated, producing no clear pattern to indicate the efficacy of any particular method or treatment. (Lipton et al., 1975) During the 1980s there was a significant turn of political views towards the Right and as the change of view towards the current -at the time- rehabilitation system was differentiated, there were some opinions that the system of justice should change the penalty severity according to the offence that was caused by each offender and this specific group of opinions was made renown as the Just Desert terminology. The application of penalties would be carried out in a way that as an example a murderer would receive the same harm as he had caused to the victim which would be death. That initiated the usage of boot camps and prison regimes in order to strike a short, sharp shock effect to the offenders. Martinsons views were dictating that the majority of the funding should be focused towards the policing of communities with the use of CCTV, electronic tagging and alarms and invest less in the rehabilitation of offenders. The findings of Martinson were opposed by a number of academic staff with an example of Ross Gendreau in 1979. Finally, Martinson pointed another important variable to the negative findings which was the poor research methodologies. As every finding that is exhibited by a research, the findings of Martinson had a number of critics (Hollin, 1999). As the 1980s and 1990s were merged, a number of meta-analytic studies were published and started to show what actually worked in the process of reducing re-offending. These statistical techniques were utilized in order to review the results of a great number of primary studies and allowed the emergence of overall trends in the accumulated data. Such trends were analysed by A. Andrews and J. Bonta (Andrews and Bonta, 2010) who claimed that the findings of Martinson and his colleagues were inconclusive as they were rushed into publicity without thorough research. Due to this significant claim, Martinson and his colleagues were deemed unreliable. In the beginning, Andrews and Bonta claimed that negative results in the studies were accepted instantly and almost with no question. Moreover, they supported the idea that the way the research was carried out was to mainly stress any supporting researches to treatment by using pseudoscientific techniques such as stressing the criterion problem, discounting the underlying theory and contaminating the treatment. This group of techniques were described under the general term Treatment Destruction (Gottfredson, 1979  ) . Furthermore, Andrews and Banta claimed that Martinson and his colleagues modified the measurements to their advantage and as a result they published findings that were unreliable. According to Andrews and Bonta, there were also errors in the conceptualization of the research as a whole which meant that measurements were unreliable and is a possibility that it caused the absence of positive results. To sum up, everything that was mentioned in the course of this chapter is a review upon the development of rehabilitation until the end of the 1990s. Martinson and his colleagues presented the results of their research which specified that the effects of rehabilitation are absent and dictated that the justice system should introduce a model of penalising that would treat the offenders with severity that would vary depending on their offence. On the other hand, there were a number of opposed critics that accused them for being unreliable during the process of conducting their research and modifying the variables to their advantage. Chapter 3 Current Rehabilitation System In the UK 3. Current rehabilitation system in the UK In this chapter are going to be provided the modifications and additions that were made to the rehabilitation system since the beginning of the 2000s and the way they formed the system as we know it nowadays. 3.1 Prison Rules The Prison Rules of 1999 essentially were a replacement of the rules of 1964 and conducted changes to the way of managing prisons which include the treatment of prisoners, the powers and duties of boards of visitors and the conduct of prison officers. This chapter will mainly focus on the prison rules that affect the prisoners and not the visitors or any other mentions. The new rules of 1999 are a set of changes to previous rules in order to bring them to modern standards. The prison rule 32 is an addition to the rule 29 of the 1964 rules which was made in order to provide the distance learning ability to the prisoners as the 1964 rule was only mentioning in-prison learning programmes. Additionally, under the rule 41 every inmate search should not be placed under the sight of a person of the opposite search. Moreover, the newly specified rule 51, dictated that any irregularities during a visit such as the providing of drugs and articles to the prisoners, should be punished and the te rm in any way offends against good order and discipline has been revoked. Finally, the rule 55 commanded that additional punishment shall not be added to a caution and 14 days of cellular confinement is the maximum days of a total award. Additionally, the Secretary of State has been given the power to order a specific set of guidelines for the punishment of a prisoner. To conclude, according to Iain Crow the rule 2 of the prison rules states that At all times the treatment of prisoners shall be such as to encourage their self-respect and a sense of personal responsibility (Crow, 2001). 3.2 Social Exclusion Unit Report of 2002 As it was mentioned above, the target of rehabilitation is to reduce re-offending. Another report that played an important role to the modification of the justice system was the Social Exclusion Unit Report which was introduced in order to reduce the increasing rates of re-offending by ex-convicts and was commissioned by the Government in order to investigate what steps should be followed as to halt offending repetition. It also dictated that efforts for the rehabilitation of prisoners should be doubled in order to introduce them back to society effectively and it would be done by prison sentences not being made only to punish but also provide the convicts with the opportunity to reduce the chance of re-offending. Moreover, the Unit Report of 2002 stated that offenders are repeating offences because the prison sentences were not as effective as they should be. A number of reasons for the increment of reconviction rates during the 1990s included the erosion to the system of support for short-term prisoners post-release, the changes to the prisoners benefit rules and the steep growth in areas that are defined by social exclusion such as inequality, child poverty and drug use. The report also introduced a series of key factors that affect the re-offending rates which are the mental and physical welfare, the education and employment of prisoners, the misuse of addictive substances (i.e. alcohol, drugs), the family networks and the life skills and financial support of prisoners. The Social Exclusion Unit Report of 2002 not only stated the factors that cause the rise in re-offending rates but also made a number of recommendations which are the following: A long-term National Rehabilitation Strategy should be introduced in order to approach rehabilitation and ultimately reduce re-offending. Imprisonment should be applied only where necessary. Improvements to diversion schemes have to be made in-court in order to identify if an offender is mentally ill and specific actions should then be carried out such as mental health care. Additionally, there should be doubt over the overall value of short-term prison sentences as they might have negative effects recrudesce due to the lack of supervision after custody. Housing and financial needs of newly released prisoners should be taken into account a national level. Furthermore, in order to further improve the accessibility to healthcare, housing, employment and education, a system for effective resettlement should be designed. An increase in the variety of programmes that are available in the community is needed, as it will help with a number of aspects of the ex-prisoners such as mental health programmes, drug and alcohol treatment and education. Each ex-prisoner should be treated in accordance to their circumstances and as a result if would offer a much improved effect to the rehabilitation of the ex-prisoners as each programme will be focused on their needs. These programmes will include a series of activities and support that will be devised by a case manager who will cover the entire sentence of the prisoner, during and after his or her imprisonment. In conclusion, the Social Exclusion Unit Report of 2002 stated a lot of problems in the rehabilitation progress that was used until that time but also recommended key objectives that had to be fulfilled in order to improve the rehabilitation system and significantly reduce the re-offending rates for ex-prisoners and is best defined by the best way of reducing re-offending is to ensure that prisoners on their release have the ability to get into work and a home to go to. In the remainder of this report, we investigate the current levels of provision of training, education and employment opportunities within prison, and of resettlement arrangements after release. (Office, 2002) 3.3 The Carter Report of 2003 In March 2003 the Government authorized the businessman Patrick Carter in order to create an extensive review of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. The objective was to establish an effective system that would not only focus on reducing crime but also maintain the public confidence alongside being affordable. The Carter Report was released to public in December 2003 that concluded that the increased usage of imprisonment and probation during the past decade reflected the increased severity of the sentences for specific offences rather than an increase in the overall seriousness of crimes that were brought to justice or the growth of the number of offenders being caught and sentenced -both remaining widely constant. Moreover, the Carter Report stated that while imprisonment is vital in order to protect the public, by incapacitating dangerous and persistent offenders, the increased use of imprisonment and probation has only a limited effect on offences and the evidence -which prove that the severity of sentences is a major factor for preventing crimes- are also severely limited. Another problem in the process of convicting offenders was pointed out by the report which described the process too focused on offenders with no previous sentences and failed to get to grips with highly persistent offenders. Additionally, the report stated that there were a lot systemic failures in the use of interventions in order to reduce re-offending because they were ineffectively targeted. These failures that were highlighted were the fact that short-term offenders are not staying in the same place and as a result cant receive effective interventions which would reduce the chance of re-offending, the quality of the interventions that an offender is receiving varies greatly depending the prison establishment who is held and as the court often is not able to address the needs of the offender is being assigned with interventions that are not suited for his or her needs. The Carter Report alongside the problems -which stated that existed in the criminal justice system- it introduced a number of new approaches that should be followed in order to deal properly with offenders with the core points being: A National Offender Management Service (NOMS) should be established that would combine the functions of the present Prison and Probation Services and it should have two main core goals with the first being the punishment of offenders and the reduction of re-offending. It should be headed by a lone Chief Executive and based on evidence on what works in reducing re-offending and taking no account of whether the offender is sentenced with imprisonment or community service, it should be responsible for the successful management of the offenders sentence. A range of targeted and effective sentences should be created which will be enforced in robust way. Depending on the risk assessment of each offender, community punishments should become more intense and three levels of severity should be made available (Community Punishment, Intensive Supervision and Monitoring and Community Rehabilitation). Last but not least, community sentences for low-risk cases should be replaced with fines. Based on sentencing guidelines, which are informed by evidence of what works in reducing re-offending and makes effective use of the existing capacity, the judiciary should take up a new role in managing probation demand and prisons and as a result ensure a better consistency of punishment practice. As the findings of the Carter Report were very significant, the Government drew heavily on its recommendation that were focused on the improvement of the criminal justice system and the particular correctional services. As a result the Government started the implementation of the core proposals from the Carter Report into the Criminal Justice Act of 2003. Chapter 4 Offending Behaviour Programmes (OBPs) 4. Offending Behaviour Programmes (OBPs) A major part of Rehabilitation procedure is the establishing of Offending Behaviour Programmes that were designed in order to treat or improve the cognitive skills of the offenders and expect as an outcome the reducing of re-offending. These programmes were designed and offered to prisoners by the Prison Service during the early 90s. This chapter will include several models of these programmes, as they are being categorized according to the type of the offence, the condition of the offender along with his psychological condition, his age or any addictions. 4.1 Psychological and Behaviour Issues Grendons model is one of the most knows rehabilitation programmes in United Kingdom, as it was first established 40 years ago at the HMP of Grendon in Buckinghamshire. This programme aims to offer a treatment to offenders who suffer from psychopathy. At this point it has to be mentioned that the offenders volunteer to participate and they cannot be over 40. When the offenders are getting involved with Grendons system, are being divided into five groups, which are also known as therapeutic communities. Grendons model is still offers treatment to the offenders despite the lack of funding. Another behaviour programme that aims to provide treatment to offenders with psychological issues is Democratic TC, which has several similarities to that of Grendons. This programme is designed to support offenders who suffer from either personality disorder or emotional needs. In order to address any psychological and emotional agitation, Democratic TCs offer round-the-clock living-learning interventions for offenders whose primary criminogenic contingency factors should be targeted. In addition to the previous, it has to be stated that in several models, which are based on cognitive skills, some mentors of the interventions are offenders who have already completed the programme successfully. Such is Kainos Rehabilitation programme, which is also known as Challenge to change. Kainos is also a full time based model and aims to reduce criminogenic causes of offenders who have been judged as medium to high risked. Behavioural programmes are also targeting to reduce re-offending through teaching the criminals to control themselves by improving their self-management skills. Such model is Priestley One to One (Priestley OTO), which also aims to provide the offenders with the skill self-critic. In this case they are able to be responsible and understand the already committed crime and accept its consequences. It has to be mentioned that this programme is bounded only in community. Additionally, a widely known model is TSP, which stands for Thinking Skills Programme and works upon teach the offenders to achieve their goals without committing offences. In other words, it is based on self-management and personal coaching. Same target also has RESPOND, which is designed for prisoners who cannot work in groups, and offers the treatment individually. 4.2 Drug and Alcohol Misuse Eighty per cent of people that are being imprisoned have significant issues that are related to either drug or alcohol. In a number of prisons, drug tests were carried out during reception and eight out of ten prisoners were found having class A drugs in their system. Drug misusers are committing a major proportion of the acquisitive crimes as, in drug tests that were carried out during reception, a good per cent of the offenders that were prosecuted for offences such as burglary and shoplifting had heroin, cocaine or other opiates in their system. The underlying problem is that most of these people have never received any help about their drug problem. The statistics stated that there is a need for programmes that will hel

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Conclusion of Midterm :: essays research papers

Error Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In such a big lab, so many errors can occur and even one little one can ruin everything. One could have missed a procedure or done a procedure incorrectly. Another could have been using the incorrect amount of liquid or sludge. Someone could have lost a test-tube or labeled it wrong causing the results to be mixed. Using too much water in the solubility tests or not getting all measurements almost exactly accurate could be two sources of error. One big mistake could be creating a vacuum in the fractional Distillation part of the lab. One careless mistake could have been doing the calculations incorrectly. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The sludge lab is a long and complicated lab. So much can go wrong so easily. So we had to be very careful when doing this lab. It was basically a recap of all our previous labs done this year. First we used the Fractional Distillation. Then we used the Solubility lab and the density labs. Only new part was identifying the metal, but that wasn't very hard. So it was good that we reviewed our lab reports. This way we knew what procedures to take and what mistakes not to make. So it seems like we did everything right because the results make sense.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To get and identify Fraction I, we had to do a lot. First we filtered the sludge. Then we took 25cm3 of the sludge and separated it into three parts. So we took the first fraction and experimented on it. We purified it and determined its boiling point, density and solubility. We also had to see if it had an odor and whether it was flammable or not. After doing all this we realized that this Fraction was Isopropanol Alcohol. We came to this conclusion by looking at our data for the solubility, density, odor, boiling point, and flammability.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To get and identify Fraction III, we had to continue from Fraction I. After getting the first fraction we had to change tubes and et 2 more fractions. We threw away the 2nd because it was just a leftover mix. We took the third fraction and experimented on it. We purified it and determined its boiling point, density and solubility. We also had to see if it had an odor and whether it was flammable or not. After doing all this we realized that this Fraction was Water. We came to this conclusion by looking at our data for the solubility, density, odor, boiling point, and flammability.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Determining the soluble solid was hard and a rigorous procedure.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Marine Barracks Attack

On May 30, 2003, CNN law center made a report, that the attack on the U. S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 241 American servicemen was an example of a state-sponsored terrorist attack. The report goes on to say that U. S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered that the plaintiffs in this case – the servicemen wounded in the bombing and families of those killed, â€Å"†¦have a right to obtain judicial relief†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (see CNN. com, 2003). This piece of news is referring to an event that happened two decades ago and yet carried so much significance that even after twenty years a U. S.District Court deems it worthy of its precious time and resources. The event in question transformed the way the world view terrorism. More importantly the said event transformed the way the United States perceive the capabilities and commitment of a new breed of enemy that does not believe in or rely on conventional warfare. This paper will take a closer look into the bom bing. And to understand its context a part of the study will be devoted to into looking at other acts of terrorism that used the same modus operandi. Beirut, Lebanon In the year 1982, Lebanon was at war with Israel.It is an understatement to say that the country was war-torn. The situation was bad enough that it required the presence of Western soldiers to achieve peace and if this is not possible then at least creating a sense of order in the midst of chaos. In August of 1982 American soldiers came to Lebanon as part of the multi-national peacekeeping force, which included French, Italian, and British personnel. Yet according to Kushner, the peacekeepers had one other thing in mind and it was to negotiate a cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel (2003, p. 386). It was one of the costliest mistakes the U. S. government and its armed forces ever made.They were not welcome in Lebanon and their desire to end the war was seen as a ploy to help their ally the Israelis. So on the 23rd of O ctober 1983, on a beautiful morning, at about 6:20 AM, a yellow five-ton truck was carrying hundreds of kilos of explosives. The unsuspecting Lebanese guards who worked at a nearby checkpoint, â€Å"†¦did not notice that the bed of the Mercedes-Benz truck was pushed lower than it should have been. The truck was carrying a heavy load† (Olson, 2003, p. 4). For days the enemy has been pounding the airport with artillery fire but on this and the day before that all was peace and quiet.This prompted many marines to take a well deserved rest. While the truck was easing its way past the checkpoint most of the marines were asleep in the Battalion Landing Team (BLT) headquarters at the Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) compound (Olson, 2003, p. 6). The Mercedes truck was waved through and â€Å"†¦it proceeded southward at a steady pace along the airport road. To the driver’s right beyond the airport runway, lay the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. To his left ran iron fence t hat separated the road from the marine’s compound† (Olson, 2003, p. 6).Then without warning the suicide bomber driving the vehicle accelerated and made a mad dash to its intended target. The vehicle went crashing into the front door of the BLT buildings were hundreds of marines were sleeping. And then, â€Å"Twelve thousand pounds of dynamite detonated among the sleeping marines. The four-story building collapsed to eye level, and many who were not lucky enough to die instantly were buried under tons of rubble† (2003, p. 7). As a result of the attack Shai remarked, â€Å"Two hundred and forty-one people were killed and eighty were injured, most of which were U. S.Marines †¦ This terror attack took the heaviest toll on the United States prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001† and quoting the then commander of the U. S. Marines Corp General Kelly who twenty years ago said, â€Å"It was the largest terrorist act in the United States history †¦ the day became the Corps’ bloodiest since February 1945, when Marines fought to secure Iwo Jima† (Shai, 2005, p. 91). It is indeed difficult to grasp the significance of this event post-911. But before the September 11, 2001 attacks there was no precedence to the use of guerilla and suicidal tactics to achieve this kind of destruction.A member of the U. S. Marine Corp is considered to be creme de la creme of the U. S. Armed Forces and taking a few out without firing a single shot is considered very unfortunate. But in the car bombing there were not only a handful of marines that were eliminated, there were hundreds of them and it dealt a severe blow to the collective psyche of the American people and perhaps the peacekeeping team sent to Lebanon. It was later found out that the true perpetrators were coming from the Hizballah (Party of God) which according to a fact finding committee of the U. S. government is a:Radical Shia group formed in Lebanon; dedicated to creatio n of Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon and removal of all non-Islamic influences from area. Strongly anti-West and anti-Israel. Closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran, but may have conducted rogue operations that were not approved by Tehran (see United States Department of State, 1993, p. 46). Car Bombs The modus operandi used here is of course a car bomb which can be a sedan, van or in this case a truck. It is a favorite method of inflicting severe damage. Shaul Shai asserts that the use of a car bomb has several advantages:†¢ A relatively large amount of explosives can be hidden inside a car and transported to the target. †¢ A car can prevent early detection because it blends in the background; cars, vans and trucks are a normal occurrence especially in a very busy area. †¢ The vehicle offers the attackers mobility and flexibility in choosing the target and reaching it. †¢ The vehicle enhances the lethal effect of the attack. †¢ The vehic le enables the arrival at the target under an innocent guise (2003, p. 15). When it comes to a terrorist attack there is nothing more frightening than the prospect of a car bomb being used against a target.Shai (2003) was correct in saying that a vehicle provides a disguise and place to hide the explosives while at the same time allowing the device to be moved from one place to the next. Detection is almost impossible unless the bomb maker or its accomplice would specifically point out the location of the vehicle. Imagine for a moment a car bomb parked outside a shop, outside a school, outside an office and no one would think twice that there is something wrong with that. Another advantage of a car bomb is the fact that it can be delivered to the target by surprise and moving the device very quickly from point A to point B.In the case of the Beirut bombing the truck was able to cover the relatively long distance from the airport gate – an area designated for the general publi c – to the restricted zone where the temporary barracks was situated. There is no other weapon for a suicide bomber that would have fit his requirements for this specific job. A truck was used not only to provide concealment of the explosive device but it also provides for ample space to store significant amounts of explosives. Also, a truck is one of the most common things that one can see in an airport.And finally a truck has an engine powerful enough to ram through reinforced gates and checkpoints and able to crash through doors. At the same time the bomber can get added protection from the more sturdier frame of a truck than a sedan. Moreover, a car bomb has one final advantage, â€Å"The preparation of a car bomb does not require any special infrastructure; any repair shop or garage can be used for these preparations† (2003, p. 15). With a car bomb a terrorist has a very flexible yet very powerful weapon and if they continue to use it and be successful with it the n they would be able to achieve their main goal which is to instill fear.Serious Intent The bombing of the U. S. Marines barracks was not an isolated case where a group suddenly decided to bomb an enemy outpost. It was a premeditated, calculated, and highly coordinated attack. In fact six months before the military barracks’ bombing a similar signature attack was successfully carried out in the U. S. Embassy in Beirut. On April 18, 1983 a Chevrolet pickup truck loaded with about 2,000 pounds of explosives sped through the gate of the Embassy in West Beirut and then rammed itself into the building (Kushner, 2003, p. 386). According to Kushner, the explosion killed 63 people, â€Å"†¦in a blast so powerful it shook the U.S. S. Guadalcanal, anchored five miles away† (2003, p. 386). After the U. S. Marine barracks bombing there was another attack using the same method of bombing the target. In less than a year from the said bombing – on September 20, 1984 †“ another car bomb was successfully detonated in the U. S. Embassy Ideology of Terrorism In all three attacks one can be see a pattern developing. The method used can be broken down into two major aspects. The first one is the use of car bombs and the second part is the use of suicide bombers. Together these two formed a new kind of enemy which is currently being labeled as terrorists.Terrorism is not a very easy thing to comprehend and at the same time a difficult concept that one can put a handle on. As they say, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter is profoundly true in many respects. But there are still a few valid arguments that would separate the fanatics from a true soldier that is merely defending their homeland from a zealot who will even take pride in taking out non-combatants. In the case of the terrorists like members of the Hizbollah they attack those that are not even remotely interested in taking away their lands or their freedom.It is at this point when trying to decipher their actions is a mind boggling experience. This is perhaps the reason why the American soldiers stationed in Beirut at that time did not anticipate such savagery and suicidal intent because to their minds they were not their as oppressors but brokers of peace. And is it not that peace and goodwill are part of a universal language understood by all peoples of the world? Apparently the answer is no and it will take more than the scope of this paper to fully understand the enemy’s point of view.It is sufficient for the sake of this study to argue that the Americans made a very costly mistake. They approached the situation from a purely political standpoint. Lebanon was at war with Israel. So, they came in, putting lives and reputation on the line, being so sure that this would have been understood by the enemy as something worthy of respect, even admiration. But what they did not realize is the fact that there are heavy undercurrents opera ting just below the surface and it can be said that the American government was naive enough – at that point in time – not to understand all these.At that time the idea of fanaticism and radicalism was not fully understood. It has to be put in perspective that the nation of Israeli was still in its infancy. And this is a major issue that is driving the fanatics crazy; they do not want the existence of Israel in the Middle East. Now, here come the Americans with an offer to mediate between the two warring groups. Yet it was clear to all non-Israelis living in the Arab world that the Americans are partial to Israel. The American soldiers had no inkling that in these parts, no one saw them as peacekeepers but on the contrary they are enemy troops defiling a sacred land.It will be found out later that the attack was driven by ideology rather than a kind of nationalistic or ethnic motive driving the perpetrators. This is because the attack was state-sponsored not by Lebanon but by Iran (see CNN. com). According to Shai, the Marine barracks bombings was claimed to be the handiwork of the Islamic Jihad organization which was nothing more than a cover name for Pro-Iranian radical Shiite entities (2005, p. 91). Describing the attackers as a product of a movement or an ideology is not an accurate description.If one uses the argument of ideology then one should use Communism or Marxism as an example which is the struggle for an idea. Communists and Marxists would go to war for this idea and this is similar to what has transpired in the said attacks but there is something more to the suicide bombers than meets the eye. This is because they are not simply fighting for an idea but they are advancing a different kind of spirituality mixed with their own brand of politics. In fact it is difficult to see where politics end and where religion begins in the bombings that occurred in the 1980s and all those that followed subsequently.It is therefore more helpful to see the bombing from the perspective of some theorists like Tore Bjorgo who suggests that the perpetrators of the car bombings were terrorists and that they use methods or strategies of combat that, â€Å"†¦involves premeditated use of violence against (at least primarily) non-combatants in order to achieve a psychological effect of fear on others than the immediate targets† (2005, p. 2). These acts of terrorism are guided by a spiritual and political framework which makes it so difficult to anticipate and so hard to neutralize. Human nature is predictable, it is the preservation of ones own life.People will kill others for self-defense and they would even kill their friends for self-preservation but they will not offer their lives for others. In many instance a person will perhaps die trying to save someone but it is rare to see someone die to make a statement or to force others to do something. It is no wonder why the U. S. personnel were ill-equipped to neutralize a n ew type of enemy soldier that emerged in the battle grounds of the Middle East. The Aftermath From the definition above of terrorism one can say that the attack on the U. S. Marine barracks was unique because in a normal terrorist attack the targets are non-combatants.But in this case the terrorists were able to strike hard and fast against the intended target which are the soldiers. According to Shaul Shai, â€Å"One of the guidelines pertaining to the issue of suicide attacks require that the attack achieve exceptional results which can be applied as leverage for political or military changes, and inflict significant losses upon the enemy. In addition, the suicide terrorist must carry out his deed out of a sense of complete understanding and recognition regarding the value of his deed and his personal martyrdom† (2005, p. 91)Considering the above statement it can be argued that the terrorists responsible for the attack were indeed successful and that they achieved what they set out to do. With regards to the goal of creating leverage for political or military changes, Kushner – referring to the Embassy and Marine barracks attacks – alluded to how the terrorist group indirectly influenced the outcome of the political and military scenario. And Kushner wrote, â€Å"The double horror of these disasters led to a drop in public support of the U. S. military presence in Lebanon and hastened the withdrawal of U.S. and Western European troops from the country† (2003, p. 386). The attacks also achieved one of its primary goals which is to wage an effective psychological warfare over their enemies situated thousands of miles away. In a report to the former President Reagan, Vice-President George Bush made the following remarks, â€Å"Terrorism deeply troubles the American people. A Roper poll †¦ showed that 78 percent of all Americans consider terrorism to be one of the most serious problems facing the U. S. Government today †¦Ã¢ €  (Bush, 1987, p. 22).Conclusion The attack on the temporary U. S. Marines barracks on October 23, 1983 at Beirut, Lebanon was one of the deadliest ever. What makes it sadder is the fact that those who died were one of the best and brightest that the U. S. military forces could offer. They died not from combat but from the hands of a fanatical terrorist group that did not consider the fact that they came for peace. The Americans were given strict instructions on maintaining extreme tolerance. They were there to initiate a cease fire between Lebanon and Israel.For their noble efforts they were rewarded with a deadly car bomb that took 241 lives – most of them died in their beds without given a chance to defend themselves. The motivation is a crazy mix of politics, ideology, and religion. Conventional warfare is out of the question and the enemy is content in eliminating even non-combatants. In the case of the barracks bombing they felt double pleasure in knowing that they were not only able to take out American lives but also that they dealt a major blow to their primary targets which were the elite U. S. Marines.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Teaching in Urban Districts

The main form of interaction that goes on in schools is between the teachers and the students. Some of the students are difficult or unruly and they present many difficulties for the teachers as the teachers cannot then organize the class and provide the level of quality education that they are capable of. Disruptive students require more attention from teachers and this stops teachers from giving adequate attention to the rest of the class. There are many behavioral problems with students, but there is no method of dealing with such students in United States. Even the solution that can be achieved through disciplinary action has to be determined by the local school board, and then those decisions will have to be implemented by the teachers and the principal. One of the methods through which this can be done is the student parent handbook which is distributed to the students for giving to parents. This may give details of actions that would be taken by the teachers and the principal of the school, if the student does not live up to the expectations of the school and in the class. Other schools even give full details of the punishment that the student may be given when there is any infraction by the student of the rules of the school. (Teachers' Relationships) At the same time, all punishments that are given are felt to be the responsibility of the teacher, by the student and the families of the students. This brings us to the next level as we have to determine the type of punishment that can be given to the students. The limits of this range from verbal warnings to in-school suspensions, and when the student crosses limits of behavior, then the general recommendation is an out of school suspension. At the same time, some students are repeat offenders, and their punishment increases with the number of times they have caused an offense. The system of punishing students and still retaining them in the same school has now been questioned by some educationists, who have suggested that alternative schools be set up for them. This will permit the ordinary schools on teaching of students who have a lot of desire to learn. Another group has suggested that punishments start earlier, from primary school, and the punishments should be clarified with a clear system. The problem is that the parents are not aware of all these systems of the school, as they only go through the written material that they receive from schools and even that in a cursory manner. These do not make them respond and thus the parents' point of view remains unknown. The parents meet and talk to the school authorities only during formal occasions like school open houses and teacher conferences, and at these occasions, most participants are reserved. It is possible for both teachers and parents to set up other meetings, but that action is taken only when the concerned student has problems regarding progress. Even during the process of their training, teachers do not receive much training regarding interaction with parents. As is well known, training for becoming teachers takes place in colleges of education based in universities. The individuals who want to become teachers join up courses for both academic learning as also for courses in education. The combination is expected to teach them both the methods of teaching as also the contents that they desire to teach the students. On joining up for the first time, the students are expected to undergo a period of teaching students. There are some individuals who feel that a teacher who is still in the learning process should be left alone with students, others take the view that it may be better if they are supported by an experienced teacher during the first few weeks of teaching that they undertake. (Teachers' Relationships) (1) The teacher also faces different challenges and those depend on the environment where they start teaching. Schools in urban areas are not individual schools, but are part of a large bureaucracy that is not able to act fast in response to the needs of the schools. These schools generally do not have many resources, and even the buildings are in poor condition in many cases. From outside the school, the environment within the school may be affected by gang activity, drug availability and usage on a large scale and there being a lack of community structure. Students who are coming to the school are burdened not only with educational requirements, but also carry the burden of poverty, hunger and poor housing. There is a feeling among the parents, teachers, principals and students that the school they are concerned with is something special and separate. This can be said to be the tone, climate or ethos of the school, and those seem to be related to all activities that are connected with the school. (NCREL Monograph: Building Collaborative Cultures) This is a unique quality, a special school culture. This has an effect on the way they act, on how they dress, or even what they are continuously talking about or what they will never talk of. It also determines whether they seek help from others or they do not seek help. This culture of the school is built up of different norms, values, beliefs and assumptions and rituals. These are built up over time as teachers, students, parents and administrators have worked together, or dealt with crises and developed their own unstated expectations for interactions and methods of working together. On the other side there are some schools which remain as isolated places for working and there the teachers are left alone. They work alone in their rooms, and have little interaction with their colleagues. They keep the problems that they face to themselves. When one sees these schools, the teachers are islands – they feel a gulf of separation from each other, seldom talk to other teachers, or share their points of view in terms of the profession or even solving their problems. (NCREL Monograph: Building Collaborative Cultures) The urban districts have schools which have had a much longer period of development than new schools which have come up in the suburban areas. This makes their cultural situation much more rigid, and any teacher has to adapt to them. After their graduation from college and getting the necessary qualifications required to become a teacher, most of the teachers still end up working in isolation. The teachers do not get enough time to work along with other teachers, and this is happening even now when there are a lot of efforts being made to get greater involvement of the teachers. There are new efforts to improve the general quality of individuals who join as teachers. The effort is through a compulsory renewal of certificates needed for teaching, creating programs where the teachers will all have mentors and general improvement of their salaries and working conditions. The process of improvement and this is through decisions taken at the school itself. It becomes the responsibility of the teachers in the schools to have a plan for improvement of the school. That will set up objectives for the school and give the teachers a greater say in the methods of running the school. It is possible to have new methods of instruction like teaching in teams, cooperative learning and individualized instruction through the use of computers. There are also other ways through which the performance of teachers can be evaluated. The implementation of these methods encourages the teachers to help their students achieve new state level standards that have been set up. (Teachers' Relationships) It is clear that schools where there is not enough satisfaction for the teachers will ultimately result in their leaving the school. It is not correct to say that low incentives are the main reason for their departure. In the city schools the teachers end up getting a salary less than they get in the schools of the suburbs, but that is not the main reason why they leave the school. There are many teachers who leave the school as they feel that they have not been getting enough support from the school administration. Within the school there are many intrusions during the time given for teaching in the class, there are a lot of problems of discipline of the students, and the teachers do not get a say as to how the school will be run. (Why Do High-Poverty Schools Have Difficulty Staffing Their Classrooms with Qualified Teachers? ) The degree of autonomy that is available to teachers in schools varies to a large extent. There are schools where the teachers have had the greatest role in development of the curricula and also helped the new teachers understand the curricula. On the other side, there are many schools where the teachers had to work with books that had been purchased and teach from them. There are a lot of differences within the teachers themselves which make the entire process even more difficult. A team of teachers from one district selected new mathematics and science curricula, but other teachers found that this curriculum of science was too difficult for the students. Teachers in another school were given a time of half a day for setting out the grade level objectives, but the teachers found the time to be too short and this was done only once. The teachers were not able to make plans that satisfied their desires. The involvement and satisfaction is different from school to school. The only matter that teachers seem to agree on is regarding their opinion of conditions which are suitable for teaching. The teachers are in favor of more flexible schedules, increase in resources for teaching and more assistance for teachers. There was also a difference in accountability and teachers in low income areas are generally ones to face the greatest demand for accountability and the greatest challenges. Certainly the level demanded from them was higher than was demanded from teachers in middle and high income areas. (2) We are facing a failure to ensure that classrooms in the country are filled with quality teachers, and this is more acute as the situation is the worst in disadvantaged schools. In general people say that the lack of teachers is the reason for this shortage. Why Do High-Poverty Schools Have Difficulty Staffing Their Classrooms with Qualified Teachers? ) The reasons for this shortage are ascribed to recent retirements of a large number of teachers and also due to a large increase in enrolment of students. This makes it even more difficult for schools in poor districts to get an adequate number of trained teachers. These school districts are in the urban areas and as a result of this shortage, these schools end up with a large number of under-qualified teachers. This lack of sufficient teachers is felt to be the main reason for the lack of proper education and building of careers of the students from these schools, and these students are in general from poor communities. All these factors are known to the authorities and they have tried to respond by the supply of an increase in the number of teachers to these schools. This has resulted in a lot of efforts to recruit new teachers in these schools, during the recent years. The greatest stress is on schools which are in disadvantaged settings. On further analysis of the data, it is seen that the staffing problems in these schools is not due to a lack of teachers, and what one is trying to say is that they are not suffering from a lack of adequately qualified teachers. The data clearly shows that the problems in staffing of the schools come from a ‘revolving door' that exists in these schools. This means that teachers join and then leave these schools within a short period, and the reason for their leaving the school is not retirement. The data shows that public schools in high poverty area, in urban communities leave about a fifth of their teachers every year! Why Do High-Poverty Schools Have Difficulty Staffing Their Classrooms with Qualified Teachers? ) These results show that the entire staff of the school could be lost within a very short period. The reason for the departure of these teachers is also in part due to the lack of involvement of the parents in the teaching process. Most of the residents in these areas are African American and Latino. The parents from these groups feel that the faculty in the local elementary school is biased against them. This is the reason that the parents state as being the cause for their non-participation in the school activities. Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education) The parents clearly mention that they would work only with teachers who respect and value their children. This causes great difficulty for experienced teachers as they are aware of the value of the participation by parents. Help from the parents was thought to be essential for good education, and this was taken for granted by teachers. Teachers felt parents supported their efforts and expectations for education of children. Today the situation in the cities has changed due to different family arrangement and socio-cultural differences between the teachers and the students with their families. The differences between them arise as the students and their families suffer from poverty, racism, language and cultural differences. The parents feel that the system has been prepared for the education of children from middle class and white families. This is bound to happen as the family has to feel that they have an important role in the education of their children. When the parents are from the middle class, then the parents feel that they have a duty in assisting the school for education of their children. On the other hand when the family is from the low income group, then the parents feel that it is the responsibility of the school to educate children. The thoughts of the parents regarding their own responsibility also make the parents visit the school and participate in all activities of the school. Of course to an extent, it also depends on the attitude of the school and some schools make the parents feel comfortable and at home in the school. Teachers in the urban centers often are not aware of the ethnicities and culture of the students they teach, and they have to learn this to be able to reverse the resistance of the family to involvement with school education. In many cities there have been changes over the years. Many of the cities were dominated by industry earlier, but due to development, the industries are no longer functioning from those cities. With the close of the factories, there were closure of supporting activities like restaurants and department stores. The population of the cities also declined from 100,000 earlier to about 60,000 now. Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education) While the population has dropped, there was a growth in different races in the city – African American and Latinos. The main school is located where the downtown area used to be. Within a range of one block are high rise public housing buildings which are home to four hundred families. Ninety-five percent of the children living there are from the two communities mentioned earlier. This means that the school will have to interact with these communities. The change in situation had led the city school district to have total integration of its elementary schools. Thus the elementary school serving the public housing building has now got all low-income and colored children. As a solution, the district had to send the children on a bus to the affluent elementary school situated on the hill which has a middle class neighborhood. (Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education) The school may have better facilities, but will the parents like it? The number of teachers from the minorities is falling. In 1974, 12. 5% of all full time teachers were African American, and today the number is down to 11 percent. This makes it possible that some students complete school without coming in touch with a minority community teacher. The minorities certainly have better career choices now, but even in teaching they feel that get low salaries and occupational prestige. (Increasing Minority Participation in the Teaching Profession) Thus teaching as a profession is not being liked. (3) It is clear that teaching in urban areas is not liked as it considered difficult to teach there. The schools have wide racial diversity among the students, little supply of materials required to teach, high demands from the bureaucrats that have to be met, low involvement of the parents in the school, and finally, low salaries. These are the reasons why suburban schools find it easier to get teachers as they are able to provide more resources, greater flexibility in the areas of teaching, and finally, better pay. (Teachers' Relationships) The solution to the problem is not that city schools recruit more teachers, which they have to do as they do not have enough teachers now. They have to find ways and means to stop the teachers from leaving the profession. It is very important that the teacher's ability to employ positive behavior intervention and support in the classroom is taken up. When the teacher has defects in terms of skills, the results will appear in the poor results from students who are concerned with the teacher. (Strengthening Emotional Support Services) The schools have to make sure that all students are taught by qualified teachers and this is what makes them worry about retaining the teachers on their roles.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Examine Critically The Dramatic Structure And Rele Essays - Trojans

Examine Critically The Dramatic Structure And Rele Essays - Trojans Examine Critically The Dramatic Structure And Relevance Of The Cassandra Scene In The Agamemnon Examine critically the dramatic structure and relevance of the Cassandra scene in the Agamemnon. BY SARAH SIKKES. Cassandra, was a daughter of Hecuba and King Priam, the rulers of Troy during the Trojan War according to Homer's Iliad. Cassandra was a beautiful young woman, blessed with the gift of prophecy by Apollo, who was infatuated with her. Unfortunately, she shunned Apollo at the last minute and he added a twist to her gift; Cassandra was doomed to tell the truth, but never to be believed. I promised consent to Apollo but broke my word... and ever since that fault I could persuade no one. [Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1208ff.] Have I missed the mark, or, like true archer, do I strike my quarry? Or am I prophet of lies, a babbler from door to door? [Cassandra. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1194] For this reason Cassandra was not believed when, near the end of the Trojan War, she said that there was an armed force hidden in the wooden horse that the Achaeans had abandoned. King Priam did not know what to do with her, so he tried to keep Cassandra locked up and out of the way of the warriors of Troy. When Troy finally fell to the Greek invaders, Cassandra was attacked and supposedly raped by the Greek warrior Ajax of Locris, but eventually avenged by Athena. When Cassandra accompanied the Greek hero Agamemnon as his mistress to his homeland, she was killed by his vengeful wife, Clytaemnestra. Aeschylus's Agamemnon tells the story of the Greek hero Agamemnon's fateful return home to Myceneae, where his wife Clytaemnestra waits to kill him. Cassandra is a powerful figure in this play, foretelling the doom of the hero and herself through visions of a curse upon his household. On his arrival Agamemnon fell victim of a conspiracy conceived by his own wife Clytaemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, who murdered both Agamemnon and Cassandra. This too Cassandra predicted: ... for me waits destruction by the two-edged sword. [Cassandra. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1149] The tragedy begins with Clytaemnestra awaiting Agamemnon's return from Troy, her secret lover and accomplice Aegisthus waiting for her instructions in the palace. Clytaemnestra has perfectly legitimate reasons for despising Agamemnon; he killed her former husband, Tantalus, and her baby, he married her by force, he ordered the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigeneia in order to calm the winds when the Greeks prepared to set sail for Troy, and he left her alone, sailing away to a war which lasted ten years. (Euripides Iphigeneia in Aulis 1148, Sophocles Electra 531) Plus, Clytaemnestra hears that Agamemnon is bringing back with him a concubine who was said to be a prophetess. Agamemnon and Cassandra enter the stage in a great parade. The parade is important to visualise the transformation in Agamemnons fortune. Three visual images represent three stages in his downfall: the parade, the purple cloths, and the tableau exhibiting the dead bodies. The intensity of these images is built up progressively. The more impressive the procession and the treading upon the purple cloths, the steeper the fall. The procession leads both characters and audience into the web, impelling Agamemnon towards his death and the city into chaos. The procession is a starting point as well as an end: Agamemnons and Cassandras entrance from Troy in the beginning finds its closure in the tableau of the exposure of the bodies. A movement that started with a victorious parade ends in death and defeat. The reversal of mans destiny is clearly manifested on the stage: the victorious procession becomes a slaughterhouse. When Agamemnon and Cassandra arrive, Clytaemnestra greets them warmly and tries to comfort her in her misery of slavery. But Cassandra ignores Clytaemnestra, ready to face her fate. During the dialogue between Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Cassandra is present and silent. Her silence reinforces the power of her role as witness to the double meanings and irony in the encounter. Her presence augments the already heightened tension on stage and moves the meeting between the two into a multiplicity of triangles: the royal king, queen, and war prisoner; the husband, wife, lover; the religious king, queen, and the virgin priestess. Cassandras silent presence throughout the arrival scene of Agamemnon fills the scenic

Monday, November 4, 2019

Machinery Planning Exercise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Machinery Planning Exercise - Essay Example It is because of this that, in the planning, imperative decisions should be made to provide the owner with the lowest possible start up cost and offer him the real value for his money. Selection of Machinery Owing to the nature of farming activities that will take place at the farm, a number of different machinery will be necessary. As a professional in the agricultural field, I would recommend the following for the farm or land owner. The soil in the farm is loamy hence soft. Because of this, the purchase of a sub-soiler and the plough will put into consideration the purchase of a machine with higher speed value. The farm is an extensive farm where manual labour cannot be exclusively employed. For this reason, the machinery becomes necessary in the provision of service as a form of mechanization certain machinery will be needed for planting, soil cultivation, harvesting, sorting, irrigating and fertilizing among other farm activities. For instance, chaser bins will be required to tr ansport the produce to the trucks that are headed for the road for them to be transported to the silos. Tractors, which are composed of the caterpillar tractor, the common farm tractor (four wheel drive) and the two wheel tractor as well as the farm truck will be required. They will be mostly applied during cultivation of the soil. Other necessary machines include the cultivator, chisel plough, sub-soiler and the mulch tiller. ... The other necessary equipment for harvesting will be the bean harvester. However, for purposes of harvesting soya bean and the winter oil seed rape it will need to be adjusted while a distinct header will be required while harvesting the sunflower. In order to save on the operation cost and increase production costs in the future, the soil cultivation tools should be modern, spraying machines should save materials, fertilizer spreading machines should be easy to regulate, and the power machines should be of small volume. Additionally, the appropriate farm implements will be matched with the right tractor to minimize on time and labour requirements. Finally, machines that are related to the centre pivot method of irrigation will be of essence (Kulkami & Sharma 2004, p. 270). It is because of such factors that the machinery to be purchased will be required in specific sizes and types as follows; the tractor should be a 200 horsepower machine, A John Deere 8111 farm tractor that effecti vely combines with a plough. Additionally, the Lexion combine harvesters will be appropriately model 770TT and 780 due to their ability to harvest numerous tonnes of grain within a short time For the three tractors and the farm truck, the purchase of entirely new machinery will be justifiable and appropriate as a result of issues related to their efficiency and ability to serve for a longer period. In addition, it will decrease the chances of shouldering repair costs due to the availability of warranty. As such, significant profit would have been made from the produce before parts of the machine begin to wear out and hence increase its cost of maintenance. With regards to the fuel and

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Critical Perspectives on Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Critical Perspectives on Management - Essay Example Taking its roots from poststructuralism, which posits that there is "no central meaning in texts," deconstruction has been used as a new method to understand and interpret human resource changes and behavior in organisations today. Its usefulness stems from the fact that it generates multiple perspectives, or ways, in which the manager can best assess the nature of the organisation's human resources. The ability of deconstruction to look into a subject or object in different ways is useful not only in decision-making processes, but also in the implementation of these decisions within the organisation. This paper discusses the role that deconstruction plays in the contemporary organisation, influencing its very nature and processes. Drawing from both theoretical and practical applications of deconstruction as applied in the business perspective, specifically in business organisations, I discuss and analyze the presence of the "Other" in organisations when applied under the deconstructionist perspective. Moreover, in addition to identifying the presence of the Other, the development of the behavior of openness and uncertainty when the manager encounters a posstructuralist interpretation is also analyzed. Finally, the relevance and significance of deconstruction per se, and the application of deconstruction in the business organisation are integrated in the final part of the analysis, integrating both theory and application to understand the nature and dynamics of the contemporary organisation. II. The theoretical foundation of deconstruction To better understand the practical use of deconstruction in business organisations, its theoretical foundations must first be investigated. Deconstruction takes its root from poststructuralism. As a sociological thought, poststructuralism "deny that there is any central meaning in texts," a thesis that also adopts the assumption that there is no universal truth or way of interpreting objects or subjects that people experience in their everyday lives. Theoretically, deconstruction "shows that whatever meaning is derived is wrong. Since there is an unending set of possible meanings in any text, there can be no central or true meaning at all" (Littlejohn, 1999:223). These claims are developed from the increasing need of academicians and social scientists to know the limit at which knowledge-building and development have reached since the advent of modernism. Deconstruction as a new perspective in the schools of thought extant provides humanity with the opportunity to further improve and develop the knowledge that we have. The pursuit of "truth" is no longer achieved by gaining an in-depth knowledge of the phenomena that trigger humanity's curiosity, but rather, truth is now discovered by knowing the wide range of knowledge available to us humans, whether this knowledge is only at the most basic level. That is, knowledge production is no longer intensive, but rather extensive and diverse, as posited by deconstruction. Other theoretical explanations on deconstruction are, at best, descriptive in nature. Take as an example Bennington's elucidation of deconstru