A Qualitative Analysis on How Administrators Understand Learning Difficulties

Allington, Frazen and Schick (1997) in their qualitative analysis of â€Å"How administrators understand learning difficulties† tried to determine the different ways in which school administrators define learning difficulties and how they have respond to the needs of students with learning difficulties in their own schools.The researchers interviewed administrators and principals in six different school districts that had a record of increased retention and transitional grade placements as well as having at-risk students in learning disabilities classrooms. Previous literature on learning disabilities has showed that the trend of the identification of students as learning disabled had been increasing over the last 20 years and continues to do so at present. It has been found that the number of students identified as learning disabled have grown to alarming proportions.A number of researchers have proposed that the increase in the number of students identified as learning disab led have been due to the more valid and reliable assessment tools available to schools, the influence of special interest groups and the actual presence of students who do need special education services.Moreover, it has been observed that whenever funding for remedial programs decline, enrollment in special education classes increase indicating that some students identified as learning disabled may actually be placed in special education classes out of necessity. This study therefore attempted to provide evidence that school administrators and principals place at risk students to special classes for students with learning difficulties based on funding and tests scores.MethodThe researchers developed a system which enhanced the validity of the data gathered in this study considering that it is a qualitative design. The researchers conducted their data gathering procedure by prolonged and persistent fieldwork that included interim data analysis and collaboration to maintain the accur acy of research findings and participant reality by utilizing and analyzing a series of data sets generated as part of a larger study (Allington & McGill-Franzen, 1992a, 1992b, 1995; McGill-Franzen 1994; McGill-Franzen & Allington, 1993 found in Allington, Frazen & Schick, 1997).This was in response to the researcher’s observation that the internal validity of their data might be compromised since over the years principals and administrators have remained in their positions and the school system in general have remained unchanged while the social culture and economic status of their students have been transformed through the years.

Key stakeholders in Make A Wish

Make a wish get a lot of supports from companies each year to help make wishes come true some of the companies are:Flight centre limited raise enough money to grant 25 magical wishes to come true. Some of the wishes cost thousands of pounds to make come true especially if they want to go aboard. For example if each flight coast  £2,000and you times that by 25 wishes that make a totally of 50,000 grand.Fairy has been supporting Make-A-Wish since 2004 with its annual Christmas campaign. With specially branded bottles & packs, TV & radio adverts and customer activity, Fairy is helping Make-A-Wish to reach its target of granting magical wishes to every child in the UK living with a life-threatening conditionCadbury is supporting Make-A-Wish in both the UK and Ireland, becoming their largest corporate supporter. They receive a percentage of the profits from Cadbury's bestselling wishes line .As in previous years, 10% of all profits from Cadbury Wishes will be donated to Make-A-Wish.The aims of companies to make sure that Make A wish has enough income coming in to be able to grant the amazing wish but as well to feel that feeling of doing something good to be able to change that one kids life by the money they send in rather than having the money is the bank and sat there doing nothing.by the business showing that they are helping charity people will more likely buy their product. By the company’s supporting charity are showing they are willing to make a change so will hopefully improve the company’s image but also in the long term will buy they product as they are  impressed. Celebrity support/ stakeholdersComedian Kevin James hosted a special charity day of fun for the Make-A-Wish Foundation on Sunday, March 14, and he has enlisted the help of a whole bunch of his celebrity friends. The event happened at Santa Monica Pier for Make-A-Wish children and their families from Los Angeles and surrounding cities. The Santa Monica Pier was closed down for the event as celebrity friends of Kevin and his wife came out to meet the children, and host rides and booths at the Pier. Born with a life-threatening degenerative heart condition,.To keep his tough spirit alive, he asked his wish granters from Make-A-Wish Northern West Virginia if he could meet his powerful idol – The Rock. Make-A-Wish’s partnership with WWE make this a successful arrangement as Spud and his family fly to Toronto for the taping of WWE’s RAW event. Sitting the family on ringside of the stage. Later on announcer informs the fans of a special match. The Rock grapples with Booker T. and â€Å"laid the smack down† just for Spud. The meeting between wish kid and celebrity was truly powerful. When the two friends have to part, they both leave with tears.â€Å"The Great One† says goodbye with a tear in his eye and one running down his cheek, while Spud cries openly from happiness. WWE officials say they’ve never seen The Rock cry before. An 11-year-old who has Leukaemia performed the coin toss at this year’s Wimbledon men’s singles final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Andy Murray. Also Andy Murray made 12 year old Elijah wish come true. Elijah was able to watching him train but also play a few games with him. Later on in the day Elijah and his mate who also have cancer took their seats to watch the centre court actionMake a wish have over 120 celebrities that support the charity. Doing this like meeting the children or even donating money to help more wishes come trueThe aims of the celebrities are to give up some of their free time and make a child wish come true. To be able to just meet up with that famous person will make the child forget all about their medical treatment or what is going on They are living their dream. The celebrities only need to spend a  few hours or even a day with the dying child to know they have made a big difference i n that child life. By them helping out with the children their image improves because people see that they are making dying children and people will like them better but they are using their free time to make the world a better place.Volunteers/ Staff VolunteersThe Volunteers are the mean reason why make a wish is able to run. It thanks to around 7,954 thousand people that work full time to help make wishes come true. There are around 30,000 volunteers around the world that work part time or in their free time. The aim for volunteers is to see a smile on a dying child face and know that they will die happy. They don’t get paid for doing this. By them not getting paid, Make A Wish is able to grant so many more wishes.I believe that the volunteers should get a medal or something because they are amazing. They don’t ask anything in return but just to be able to see that smile on that one child face. They make such a big different in the number of wishes that they are able to grant. Volunteer would like Make A Wish to expanding even more in the next few years and by being able to do that. More wishes will be able to expand around the world. Which willStaffThe staff as also a big reason why Make A Wish is able to work. The aims for the staff are to make sure that everything is running smoothly but also they have to organise the wishes. They make them come true which is a lot of pressure because it’s that child idea, their wish. Also the staffs have to make sure they have enough money to grant the wishes additionally they have to help the volunteers.â€Æ' In conclusion all the stakeholders work so hard to Make A wish happen. Each stakeholder does their own bit which is really important to make the charity happen. The staffs are one can are the main organise of Make A Wish. Without them you are not about to run a functional charity. You need people to help you organise fund raisers but they are in control of money so how much a wish will cost. They have to organise the wish from booking the flights or calling the celebrities up.The Volunteers are also a big part because without them you would have a big charity but also there would not be as many wishes granted as they’re is now. The volunteer bring is so much money in 2012 they brought in (see below). Without their help the cost of staff would be so much bigger which will lead to fewer wishes. Hopefully in the next few years there will be so many more volunteers which will mean more income which leads to more children wishes coming true. The volunteers don’t ask for much in return but just to be able to see that dying child last wish come true and to be able to see that big smile which could light up the whole room.The Celebrity support is so a big thing because they help make wishes come true. Without them giving up some of their time many wishes would not be able to come true. By them just knowing their story and name will just blow them away. With role m odel in the same room as them and living their dream with them. The Companies also help keep Make A Wish running because they bring in a lot of money.For example Cadbury is their largest corporate supporter. 10% of all profits from Cadbury Wishes will be donated to Make-A-Wish. And many more companies help but not by just giving money but making Make A Wish seem and well known. For example Fairy liquid put make on the front of their bottles showing that they are supporting but additionally trying to get them well known. Sometimes a company will sponsor a wish. So will pay for the whole wish to come true.ChairThe role that the Chair of the Board plays is different from all the other roles on the Board. It is Amy job to ensure that the Board operates as a team. She has to think about how to get the best out of each and every member of the Board. Amy’s role can be summed up in the term â€Å"leader†.Vice chairThe role of Gilli is to carry out the chairs duties in her abse nce, but only with the acknowledgement of the board as being capable and appropriate to do so. Gilli will also provide support and assistance to Amy.TreasurerThe job role of Tim is to watch over all the financial  affairs of the Make A Wish and ensure they are legal, constitutional and within accepted accounting practice. Also ensure proper records are kept and that effective financial procedures are in place.SecretaryAre responsible for ensuring that the Make A Wish complies with its governing document, charity law and more. Judy is also responsible for ensuring that board meeting, annual general meetings and extraordinary general meeting run effectively.DirectorEach director is the leading of Make A Wish in their country. Each role is the same but with different people in different countries. The job of the directors is to make sure that Make A Wish is running smoothly but also making sure that the dying children are getting the benefit of Make A Wish.Key stakeholders in Hobbs h ouse bakery Trevor Herbert:Is the Managing Director of Hobbs House Bakery. As the managing director he is responsible of the daily operation of the company. The aim for Trevor Herbert to make sure that the business is working well and being in a profit.Clive WellsIs the Operations Director of Hobbs House Bakery. The main responsibilities Clive wells is handling the logistics of the business, preparing budgets and inventories and overseeing the supervision of employees. The aim for Clive wells is to make sure that the business runs smoothly by budgets things so that they are not wasting money.Sam WellsIs the Retail Director of Hobbs House Bakery. Retail manager ensure the promotions are accurate and merchandised to Hobbs House Bakery. The aims of Sam wells is to maximise profit while minimising costsTom HerbertIs the Sales and Marketing Director of Hobbs House Bakery .Toms job is to accomplish business development activities by doing research and developing market opportunities and p lans; implementing sales plans and managing the staff. The aim is to market Hobbs House Bakery so they have more customer which leads to more profit.George HerbertIs the Sales Director of Hobbs House Baker. George job is to sort out any outstanding sales, more consistent and innovative products and services for all their customers. The aim for George is to make sure that the business sale enough to keep running and sort out any outstanding sales.Bafana NcubeIs the Non-Executive Director of Hobbs House Baker. Bafana job is a non-working director of Hobbs House Bakery she is not an executive director and, therefore, does not take part in the day to day running of the business. The aims for Bafana is to make sure that the business is running smoothly but also help Trevor make decisionsCustomersIs a main part of the why Hobbs House Bakery is running because if it wasn’t for them there would be no income so the business would go bust. The aim of the customers is to buy things that they like but also give feedback on what they like and would improve.Local schoolsAre a stakeholder because school go into the bakery and learns about how it is ran which help student learn better. The aims of the school are for the students to learn about how to make a successful business but also get Hobbs House Bakery well known.SuppliersAs the suppliers they help to make Hobbs House Bakery run. Their aim is to provide them with the best flour, eggs and more. So that Hobbs house bakery will stay with them which in term will make them more profit.People that fix the machinesIf they lose Hobbs House Bakery then they will have less income coming in. The aims are to keep them happy so they will keep on using their service.CompetitorsThey keep Hobbs House Bakery on their toe and always needing to come up with new things so that they can keep the customers. There aims is to have more customers than them but on the other hand they working with them so they get more customers.Local busi nessBecause Hobbs House Bakery is well know because come to the high street to go to their shops. While people are in the high street they may go into different shop which brings in more income into the local businesses. The aim is to make Hobbs House Bakery more successful because they will bring in more customers.Local CouncilHobbs House Bakery have to pay business tax but also get health and safety checks. The aim of the Local Council is to keep Hobbs House Bakery running so they get their money http://hobbshousebakery.co.uk/our-directors/sam-welThe Volunteers are also a big part because without them you would have a big charity but also there would not be as many wishes granted as they’re is now. The volunteer bring is so much money in 2012 they brought in (see below). Without their help the cost of staff would be so much bigger which will lead to fewer wishes. Hopefully in the next few years there will be so many more volunteers which will mean more income which leads to more children wishes coming true.The volunteers don’t ask for much in return but just to be able to see that dying child last wish come true and to be able  to see that big smile which could light up the whole room. The Celebrity support is so a big thing because they help make wishes come true. Without them giving up some of their time many wishes would not be able to come true. By them just knowing their story and name will just blow them away. With role model in the same room as them and living their dream with them.The Companies also help keep Make A Wish running because they bring in a lot of money. For example Cadbury is their largest corporate supporter. 10% of all profits from Cadbury Wishes will be donated to Make-A-Wish. And many more companies help but not by just giving money but making Make A Wish seem and well known. For example Fairy liquid put make on the front of their bottles showing that they are supporting but additionally trying to get them well known. Sometimes a company will sponsor a wish. So will pay for the whole wish to come true.Chain of command Amy Nauiokas United kindom/ USA ChairGilli Sinclair New Zealand Vice ChairTim Kilpin United states TreasurerJudy gifford Canada SecretoryChairThe role that the Chair of the Board plays is different from all the  other roles on the Board. It is Amy job to ensure that the Board operates as a team. She has to think about how to get the best out of each and every member of the Board. Amy’s role can be summed up in the term â€Å"leader†.Vice chairThe role of Gilli is to carry out the chairs duties in her absence, but only with the acknowledgement of the board as being capable and appropriate to do so. Gilli will also provide support and assistance to Amy.TreasurerThe job role of Tim is to watch over all the financial affairs of the Make A Wish and ensure they are legal, constitutional and within accepted accounting practice. Also ensure proper records are kept and that effective financial procedures are in place.SecretaryAre responsible for ensuring that the Make A Wish complies with its governing document, charity law and more. Judy is also responsible for ensuring that board meeting, annual general meetings and extraordinary general meeting run effectively.DirectorEach director is the leading of Make A Wish in their country. Each role is the same but with different people in different countries. The job of the directors is to make sure that Make A Wish is running smoothly but also making sure that the dying children are getting the benefit of Make A Wish.Key stakeholders in Hobbs house bakeryTrevor Herbert:Is the Managing Director of Hobbs House Bakery. As the managing director he is responsible of the daily operation of the company. The aim for Trevor Herbert to make sure that the business is working well and being in a profit.Clive WellsIs the Operations Director of Hobbs House Bakery. The main responsibilities Clive wells is handling the logi stics of the business, preparing budgets and inventories and overseeing the supervision of employees. The aim for Clive wells is to make sure that the business runs smoothly by budgets things so that they are not wasting money.Sam WellsIs the Retail Director of Hobbs House Bakery. Retail manager ensure the promotions are accurate and merchandised to Hobbs House Bakery. The aims of Sam wells is to maximise profit while minimising costsTom HerbertIs the Sales and Marketing Director of Hobbs House Bakery .Toms job is to accomplish business development activities by doing research and developing market opportunities and plans; implementing sales plans and managing the staff. The aim is to market Hobbs House Bakery so they have more customer which leads to more profit.George HerbertIs the Sales Director of Hobbs House Baker. George job is to sort out any outstanding sales, more consistent and innovative products and services for all their customers. The aim for George is to make sure tha t the business sale enough to keep running and sort out any outstanding sales.Bafana NcubeIs the Non-Executive Director of Hobbs House Baker. Bafana job is a non-working director of Hobbs House Bakery she is not an executive director and, therefore, does not take part in the day to day running of the business. The aims for Bafana is to make sure that the business is running smoothly but also help Trevor make decisionsCustomersIs a main part of the why Hobbs House Bakery is running because if it wasn’t for them there would be no income so the business would go bust. The aim of the customers is to buy things that they like but also give feedback on what they like and would improve.Local schoolsAre a stakeholder because school go into the bakery and learns about how it is ran which help student learn better. The aims of the school are for the students to learn about how to make a successful business but also get Hobbs House Bakery well known.SuppliersAs the suppliers they help t o make Hobbs House Bakery run. Their aim is to provide them with the best flour, eggs and more. So that Hobbs house bakery will stay with them which in term will make them more profit.People that fix the machinesIf they lose Hobbs House Bakery then they will have less income coming in. The aims are to keep them happy so they will keep on using their service.CompetitorsThey keep Hobbs House Bakery on their toe and always needing to come up with new things so that they can keep the customers. There aims is to have more customers than them but on the other hand they working with them so they get more customers.Local businessBecause Hobbs House Bakery is well know because come to the high street to go to their shops. While people are in the high street they may go into different shop which brings in more income into the local businesses. The aim is to make Hobbs House Bakery more successful because they will bring in more customers.Local CouncilHobbs House Bakery have to pay business ta x but also get health and safety checks. The aim of the Local Council is to keep Hobbs House Bakery running so they get their money http://hobbshousebakery.co.uk/our-directors/sam-wells

Exceptional Figures In Legend Of Sleepy Hollow English Literature Essay

The attitudes of the people toward the exceeding figures in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow will be discussed in this paper. In The Grave, society considered the grave to be an exceeding figure. Ichabod and the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow were considered outstanding characters by the community. Peoples had assorted emotions about Brom Bones and it was difficult to state what the people were believing. Robert Blair ‘s work, The Grave, shows the attitude the people had refering the glumness of the grave. Ichabod was tall and lanky with immense custodies and narrow shoulders. He besides had long weaponries and legs. He had green eyes and his olfactory organ could state which way the air current was blowing. Ichabod ever put the load on the strong alternatively of the weak and helped out in his vicinity. When Ichabod did n't demo up at school where he was a schoolmaster for yearss, people thought that he was dead. I think possibly he did n't desire to cover with all the play with Hans Van Ripper and the town ‘s people. He helped with the vicinity choir and was considered the â€Å" singing-master † of the group. He was handpicked by the people to take the vocalizing during Sunday church services. Ichabod ‘s personality besides had an evil, anti- hero side. For illustration, while he was taking attention of the weak babes, Ichabod would be looking for the beautiful lady of the house. He wanted them to make things for him, such as do his repasts and possibly other favours. The lone ground he was a instructor was to have free repasts and live the easy life. He would travel to the weak in order to acquire what he wanted. Brom Bones, another character in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is considered to be an outstanding figure and an anti- hero in his community. I feel that he was considered a bad cat when jobs in town occurred. Peoples in town had assorted feelings about him. They did n't cognize what to believe of him. Every clip there was a bash, all of the town ‘s people would ever fault him for the battle. Brom Bones liked to affect the Dutch by demoing his witchery to the married womans and comets and hiting stars. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, another extraordinary character is the shade. There were many people in the town who were afraid to travel out tardily at dark, because they feared the Headless Horseman was doing his unit of ammunitions to the church graveyard. The fable is that it was the â€Å" shade of a Hessian cavalryman † , whose caput had been carried off by a cannon-ball in some unidentified conflict during the Revolutionary War. â€Å" It was of all time and anon seen by the state common people travel rapidlying along in the somberness of dark. † I think the Headless Horseman is merely seeking to acquire back to the conflict to happen his caput. He ever returns to the God's acre before daytime Begins. I do n't believe the Headless Horseman is person to be feared ; he is merely seeking urgently to happen his caput. In Robert Blair ‘s The Grave everyone ‘s grave is considered glooming and awful and an exceeding figure to society. Everyone in this narrative thinks the grave is bad and non a topographic point to travel. For illustration, in the narrative it mentions the grave as â€Å" the keys of snake pit and decease. † Peoples were afraid because life was like Eden and death is like traveling to hell. In the narrative, Blair besides talks about how peaceable and unagitated it is. When he uses the word peace, he is speaking about how the organic structure is when 1 ‘s true psyche eventually finds it. One will eventually turn to dust and be given back to the land which they were given as a gift of life. There is one grave at the graveyard that ever vanishes at dark. It ‘s a freshly opened grave. I feel this means that when a individual is dead, they can come back to life. It reminds me that people are truly merely populating their lives off of borrowed clip and life is non to be taken for granted. Time is cherished, which is something that people tend to bury. I do n't believe it was their whole organic structures, but merely their liquors. Even in today ‘s society, there is a telecasting show called â€Å" The Haunting, † where they find evil liquors inquiring about. I think all liquors that are left on Earth are merely evil liquors desiring to harm all the good people in our society. In The Grave, it discusses people holding life after decease. For illustration, it states that â€Å" Of the good Man is PEACE. † I think this shows that if a individual dies a good individual, they have nil to worry approximately. The people during the Romantic Time period should hold been able to travel to heaven and non be worried about the grave and the result of their life. If a individual lives a good life, so they will travel to heaven. A individual should n't be afraid of deceasing. A individual should be happy and rejoice because they are traveling to a better topographic point. In The Grave, there are non people that think about decease and themselves at the same clip. For illustration, the book states â€Å" as if to larn to decease were no concern of ours. † I think the people back so merely did n't cognize when their clip would be so they did n't brood on it. They knew that it was a portion of life and it happened to everybody. Peoples of those times should hold thought about it some ; it ‘s foolish non to believe about it at all. A individual does n't cognize if tomorrow is traveling to their last twenty-four hours. God can stop this universe whenever he wants ; it ‘s his and he created it. I hope that people of that clip thought about the true significance of life for God every twenty-four hours. All in all, the extraordinary figures did cognize the difference between life and decease. Ichabod and the Headless Horsemen were good known by their communities. They were known as non all bad, but more of a split personality. I think Brom Bones besides had some good qualities about him because he did assist in his community. Peoples did n't merely look at the glumness in the grave, but besides on the bright side of the hereafter.

Evaluation of Beck Depression Inventory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Evaluation of Beck Depression Inventory - Essay Example The reliability and validity of the test was shown to be very strong with reliability coefficients ranging from .77 to .89 in different studies and a strong correlation with scores of other common instrument. The tool was also shown to be valuable across several settings from clinical, through counseling to research purposes and finally, the strength and weakness of the instrument were considered. The Beck Depression Inventory is a psychological test that is widely acknowledge and accepted. The test was first created by Beck and his colleagues in the 1960s; however, since then the reliability and validity of the instrument have been examined in several languages amongst several populations and the general efficiency of the test as an instrument for measuring cognitive values has been widely established. The Beck Depression Inventory comes in questionnaire form that allows for self evaluation based on a point grade system of the questions contained in the questionnaire. Arnault, Saint, Shinji Sakamoto, Aiko Moriwaki (2006) reports that a study has been carried out with a Japanese population that validated the use of the instrument, Chellappa and Arajo 2006 also reported a validation of a Portuguese version of the test among a Brazilian sample, while Carano et al. (2006) also reported a stock taking and evaluation of the Psychometric properties of the test after twenty five years carried out by Beck et al (1988) Obviously, Beck Depression Inventory has undergone serious and several tests of validity, reliability and efficiency, and in most cases, the value of the instrument in measuring depressive symptoms have been credibly established. Purpose, Design and Format of Beck Depression Inventory In the commonest cases, and perhaps, as the name of the instrument suggests; Beck Depression Inventory is an instrument that is used for taking 'inventory' of the depressive tendencies and/or depressive symptoms in a sample population. It is sometimes used in conjunction with other psychological tests to evaluate other forms of cognitive values, for instance, Zywiak et al (2006) made use of BDI as an instrument to predict negative affect relapses in men undergoing formal treatment for alcoholism. However, in most cases, Beck Depression Inventory is aimed at measuring the severity of depression in a population. The questions of the instrument are so designed as to evaluate the patients' self report of activities, moods and behaviors for signs of depression symptoms and the severity of the symptoms, if present. In this regard, the instrument contains twenty one items that focuses majorly on the cognitive symptoms of depression. Each items in the instrument is rated on a four-point Likert-type scale with scores ranging from 0 - 3. The sum of the points of all the items in the instrument indicates the BDI score of the client, which is also an indication of the presence or otherwise, and the severity of depression in the client. The total possible score of the instrument is 84. A BDI score of between 0 and 9 is regarded as lack of, or minimal depression, total BDI scores of 10 - 18 is an indication of mild depression, while a total BDI score of 19 - 29 is an indication of moderate depression, any score above 29 is an indicati

In what ways is organisational culture important to be managed in Essay

In what ways is organisational culture important to be managed in today's organisation - Essay Example All the factors stated above will change with time and consequently affect organisational culture. (Gordon, 1991) One can therefore say that organisational culture is mainly described by group factors such as ideology and concepts; there is a need to include normative behaviour when tackling this issue. Organisational culture is not something that can be seen very easily it is therefore quite hard to replace it. Normally when certain leaders form a company, their values are translated into the actions of the members of that organisation. (Bate 1994) When other leaders take over, it may not be as easy to change those perspectives immediately. Sometimes some of their actions; like rewards may change the ways employees go about their day to day activities but it may be difficult to change their culture. Schein (1985) asserts that it is important to manage organisational culture because he believes the latter term is the key to attainment of excellence within any one organisation. He also believes that leaders are given the task of creating and also managing organisational culture. Managers who are able to identify organisational culture can then build up on the following important aspects; There are certain impediments or strong points that may be created as a result of organisational culture. Structure and methods available for organisations need to be streamlined to suite certain common cultural insights in the organisation. Leaders must identify the elements of organisational culture that will come in the way of achieving organisational goals and eliminate them while at the same time, managers must ensure that they reinforce elements of their organisational culture that facilitate success. (Gordon, 1991) It should be noted that organisational culture makes a company what it is; it gives the organisation a sense of identity. Consequently, members within that organisation will feel connected to that organisation because of its culture. It

Choose a business function (e.g. marketing HR finance) and outline and Essay

Choose a business function (e.g. marketing HR finance) and outline and discuss the changing nature of work and employment in thi - Essay Example Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.8 VIII. Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..10 I. Introduction: â€Å"Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.† 1-- Tom Landry In the present backdrop of globalization as trend-setters and intensive competitive market, the Human Resource department is not confined to the mere recruitment and payroll management instead the HR business function has contributed immensely to the timeline adherence with high-qualitative and more productive deliverables which has become imperative day by day. This in line has prioritized the HR to fulfill the need to educate, train and organize resource-planning a nd imbibe in the common company-culture and creativity to team-up to yield an energetic high performance network. Thus the knowledge-assets of organization nurtured by the HR department – are driven by like-minded individuals who share the passion, vision and mission of the corporation and hence increase the brand-endorsement and market-value manifold compared to any tangible assets. Amongst the top priority lists in the agenda of any successful HR department is effective talent acquisition to employ, deploy, train and retain the best individuals. In this research article the case study of the Human Resources Department has been scrutinized and analyzed with the focus on the changing nature of the work and employment in HR. II. Human Resources: The deployment and retention of suitable acquisition of talents in an organizational workforce is the supremely important and the most challenging tasks of the HR and the Management – which in the long run has proven to be the k ey to organizational success. Planning is the cardinal key to success of any organization and hence job description, task analysis worksheet, KSA (knowledge, skill, or ability) identification, and job specification are the primordial and primary requirements of Human Capital Management, and thus hiring and retaining the best people in the industry. This is achieved through very strong recruiting efforts which stresses on the overall career and economical development of the workforce, re-recruiting and internal branding, rewards and recognition, personal motivation, team events, periodic onsite deputation and rotation policy. Hence the primary focus of the HR department can be tabulated as: Fresh employment necessary for a vacancy generated. Former workforce needs to be revamped to actualize organizational profit. Specify and define the employee responsibilities and roles. To determine promotion and compensation revisions. To establish impartial standards and specifications (essentia lly for women, underprivileged, minorities, and mentally or physically challenged). The HR hence in the process can prioritize and organize the following: Employment Estimation and Evaluation: Performance Appraisal, Systematic Disbursement of remuneration and revenue allocation, Establishing Salary Levels Talent Acquisition: Designing appropriate job descriptions and specifications in order to recruit employ and retain the best talents in the industry Nurturing organized and competitive employment relationships: Constituting reporting hierarchy and Creating crystal clear correspondence communion Establishing motivated fulfillment of absolute talent management: Systematizing, Strategizing,

Safety Culture in Saudi Arabia Research Proposal

Safety Culture in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example Hence safety culture is the establishment of a safe and secure environment on the national, organizational and individual level (Taylor, 2012). This paper aims to deal with the safety culture in Saudi Arabia i.e. how we can teach it to the general public and what is it importance. In order to conduct this research a sample population has been constructed including people from different professions. Cultural safety is defined as the continuous process of creating value within a community. It revolves around the concept of ensuring safe working environment through setting different priorities. Fundamentally it relates to the level each individual is ready to accept the personal responsibilities in order to act safely while leading other also into the secure surroundings. This extensively involves communicating the security measures either through teaching or public awareness. Moreover, learning from past mistakes and making a clear reflection on previous accidents also helps. It includes medical safety, social security, health concerns of employees and the various hazardous impacts of government operations (Roughton, 2002). Teaching the safety culture in Saudi Arabia is particularly important because the country is developing with an astonishing rate. People are becoming more and more aware of their international value while on the other hand it also has a significant rate of to urism. Additionally, the religious beliefs prevailing in the country cannot be neglected while formulating a safety teaching plan. This further relates to different Saudi customs and traditions. Hence the teachers must have to maintain an open mind in this regard so as to establish a safety culture across the country (Cherry, 2013). In order to device a safety teaching plan for Saudi Arabia it is important to first understand the brief history of the country while

Analysis of Criminological Theory Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Analysis of Criminological Theory - Assignment Example For the purpose of researching and understanding victimology, scholars thus developed theories that attempt to explain victimization and its causes, a few of the most common and important ones being victim precipitation theory, lifestyle theory, deviant place theory and routine activities theory (Siegel, p73). Victim precipitation theory suggests that some individuals cause or instigate a particular confrontation, which may ultimately lead to their victimization through injury or death. Such precipitation on the victim’s part can be either active or passive, with the active one existing following the victim’s deliberate provocative actions, use of threats or fighting words or simply attacks first. In rape cases, for instance, courts have presented not-guilty rulings anchored in whether or not the victim’s actions were in any way appearing to consent to sexual relations, for example, how a woman was dressed. Passive precipitation, on the other hand, transpires when the victim possesses features that inadvertently threatens or motivates the attacker. The existence of such crimes can be due to personal conflicts like two persons competing for a job, a promotion, a love interest or any other rare or desirable entity. It may also exist if a victim is involved in a particul ar group that threatens or offends someone's reputation, status or economic well-being. Research reveals that economic power reduces victimization risk since passive precipitation often exists in relation to power (Siegel, p73). Next is the lifestyle theory. Siegel asserts that majority of criminologists hold that individuals whose lifestyle increases their exposure to criminals are more likely to happen to be crime victims. Behaviors like residing in cities, associating with younger men and going out late at night raise the likelihood of falling victim to crime.

Critically Analyse the Interpretation of Umbrella Clause in Investment Essay

Critically Analyse the Interpretation of Umbrella Clause in Investment Treaties - Essay Example investor in a host state.3 One such device is the umbrella clause. 2. Definitions of Umbrella Clause The umbrella clause is also known by other terms, such as the observance of undertakings clause, the observance of commitments clause, the pacta sunt servanda 4 clause, the sanctity of contract clause, and the mirror effect clause.5 There is no fixed wording for the clause, but it’s different manifestations are all to the effect that obligations are imposed upon the parties for those circumstances for which the contract had not specifically provided. The benefit of umbrella clause is that it can encompass all types of commitments whether express or implied, contractual or not contractual.6 The clause’s broadest version may be stated as: â€Å"Each Contracting Party shall observe any obligation it may have assumed with regard to investments.†7 As Dolzer & Stevens describes, the provision of umbrellas clause intends to ensure that contracting parties in an investmen t agreement should honour their commitments towards citizens or investors of other parts.8 Consequently, The effect of umbrella clauses is for arbitral jurisdiction to be extended more broadly to investment disputes that involve alleged default by the host state in meeting any obligation it owes to the foreign investor. Through umbrella clauses, therefore, the investor secures the state’s observance of its commitments. More state acts are thus brought â€Å"under the umbrella of protection of the treaty.†9 There are far-reaching effects of umbrella clauses, the most important of which is to extend violations of a contract relating to an investment to the status of treaty violations.10 The conventional concept of the umbrella clause was best put forward by Noble Ventures v Romania,11 which held that â€Å"the purpose of the parties in adopting an umbrella clause was ‘to equate contractual obligations governed by municipal law to international treaty obligations a s established in the BIT.†12 3. Evolution of Umbrella Clause Long before BITs were the norm and when investor-to-state arbitration was still unheard of, the only recourse of an individual who felt aggrieved by alleged illicit acts of the host state was by diplomatic protection. Traditional international law insulated governments against the direct claims of private persons (corporations and individuals), requiring aggrieved foreign investors to secure the consent of the host country before it may seek redress.13 It was a rule of customary law that a state may exercise its right of diplomatic protection only if a breach of international law has taken place, and its national has suffered some form of injury as a result thereof. The term umbrella clause was first used by an prominet international scholar Elihu Lauterpacht in a claim against Iran due to nationalisation of iranian oil fields when claim was made by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1953-54. Lauterpacht supported that an â€Å"umbrella treaty† would be implemented infringement of which would make the infringement if the

The effects of oral medications on the peridontium Essay

The effects of oral medications on the peridontium - Essay Example The gums firmly enclose the teeth around their exposed portion or the neck. Gingival enlargement or hyperplasia occurs as an undesirable side effect of some drugs such as corticosteroids, tetracycline, phenytoin, ibuprofen, cyclosporine and calcium channel antagonists. This can lead to misalignment of the teeth resulting in cosmetic problems, cause problems with eating, speech and impede effective tooth cleaning. Gingival enlargement thus needs to be treated either locally or with the aid of therapeutic dental strategies. The two major diseases of this region are Gingivitis and Periodontitis which can be triggered by either poor oral hygiene leading to bacterial infection and plaque formation, or as a result of drug induced side effects. Risk factors for the prevalence of drug-induced gingival overgrowth include age, and gender, with young people, and males being more susceptible. 1. Tetracycline’s: This group of drugs is a broad spectrum antibiotic and has a propensity to leave residues in bones, teeth and their associated structures. They are also widely used as adjuncts in the broad spectrum antibiotic coverage in periodontal disease. Systemic use of this class of drugs leads to the inhibition of orthodontically induced root and alveolar bone resorption. This occurs because of the additional effect of Tetracycline’s in exerting an anti inflammatory action which prevents collegenolysis (Golub et al., 1984). The destruction of collagen is an essential step in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. In a study conducted in rats by Mavragani et al, (2005) it was found that Doxycycline exerts a significant inhibitory effect on root resorption and alveolar bone distraction in rats. 2. Phenytoin: This is an extensively used anti epileptic drug and its usage leads to gingival enlargement in almost 50% of the patients which usually requires surgical intervention. The hyperplasia

Ecotourism in Zanzibar and Kenya Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ecotourism in Zanzibar and Kenya - Essay Example Ecotourism has been argued to play vital roles in salvaging some of the world’s endangered ecosystem. Proponents of the concept also believe that it provides a platform through which state or society can develop or adopt sustainable economic strategies so as to safeguard biological resources. It is worrying to point out the fact that most communities that own biological resources have been pursuing environmentally-damaging strategies. Ideally, ecotourism is helpful in finding a compromise between preserving the natural environment and pursuing development. Even though some countries have successful implemented this concept, others still face a great deal of challenges. Zanzibar and Kenya are some of the few African countries that have successfully implemented ecotourism concept. This essay compares and contrasts some of the ecotourism practices that have been implemented in Zanzibar and Kenya (Honey, 1999). Similarities Creation of the Independent Ecotourism Society (TIES) In both Zanzibar and Kenya, The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) was formed purposely to get a tourism that is friendly to the natural environment and culture of a country. In both countries, the body has employed people who travel from one natural area to another to ascertain the nature of tourism that would conserve the environment and improves well-being of the people (Honey, 1999). The body has been working hard to change the perceptions of the tourists, create environmental awareness and explore natural environments. The independent body is constantly working a vast number of collaborators and supporters. In both countries, the body has attracted members from diverse cultural backgrounds. They draw knowledge from these members and utilize them as channels for spreading information about ecotourism. Ecotourism’s conservation efforts and strategies (Visitors’ attitudes and feedback) In Zanzibar and Kenya, visitors’ attitudes and feedback on ecotourism in the country is taken seriously as it is incorporated into ecotourism management tourism. The information provided by visitors helps in predicting the consequences of actions on the ecotourism experience. It is crucial for any country to take into account satisfaction of tourists and ecological-well being (Honey, 1999). The two countries have been monitoring and assessing the conditions and situations of the sites commonly visited by tourists, and this has helped in the creation and protection of recreational resources for visitors. In addition, this has aid the provision of appropriate recreational experiences. Ideally, the two countries have been using visitor perceptions of the potential effects of tourists to ascertain indicators of monitoring environmental conditions. For example, Kenyan government, through the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources, has been utilizing data on visitors experience about the environmental impacts in Maasaai Mara and Amboseli (Honey, 1999). Main streaming sustainable tourism principles in states policies and programs In the 1980s, tourism sector in Kenya and Zanzibar was completely unplanned. Both governments were weak in their tourist planning and regulation. In addition, they were not even able to implement some of its ecotourism projects. However, this situation changed rapidly in towards the end of 20th century. In Zanzibar, the International Workshop on Ecotourism and Environmental Conservation of 1994 was a turning point of the Zanzibar’s tourism industry. Since then, Zanzibar has mainstreamed its tourist policies and programs to integrate the policy makers to ecotourism programs. This is also happening in Kenya. This practice is implemented using ecotourism workshops and study trips (Honey, 1999). Role of NGOS and

Operant Conditioning Essay Example for Free

Operant Conditioning Essay The term operant conditioning is heard all over the psychology world. It is one of the first theories that one is introduced to during their psychology learning years. So, what exactly is this theory? While learning about operant conditioning we must pay attention to two necessities, positive and negative reinforcements. These two play a key role in operant conditioning and behaviors. But which reinforcement method works better? Positive or negative? There are a few aspects to look into when determining which method works the best. Once operant conditioning, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement are learned, then it becomes easy for an individual to take the information and shape a behavior. Along with shaping behaviors, the creation of a reinforcement schedule can also be applied to the selected behavior. The Theory of Operant Conditioning Operant Conditioning was created by behaviorist BF Skinner. Operant conditioning occurs through rewards and punishments for behaviors. This creates a link between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. Skinner had believed that it was not really necessary to look at internal thoughts and motivation in order to explain behavior. Instead we should look only at the external observable causes of human behavior (Cherry, 2005). When we have actions that are followed by reinforcement, they will be strengthened and then more likely to occur again in the future. However, actions that result in punishments or non-desirable consequences will be the opposite. These actions will be weakened and less likely to occur again (Cherry, 2005). An example of operant conditioning would be a young child during potty training. The young boy would receive a cookie along with praise right after he goes potty in the toilet but receives nothing when he goes in his diaper. As a result of this, he learns to go in the toilet and  avoids going in the diaper. Positive and Negative Reinforcement Let us first begin with what a reinforcement is. A reinforcement is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows (Cherry, 2005). Now, there are two types of reinforcements and they are negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement. With positive reinforcement, favorable events or outcomes are presented after the behavior. This is where the behavior is strengthened (Cherry, 2005). This occurs because there is the addition of something new such as praise or an instantaneous reward. An example of this would be little Johnny receiving a dollar right after he cleans his room. On the other hand, with negative reinforcement there is removal of an unfavorable event or outcome after the display of a behavior. This in turn will strengthen the response when something that is looked at as unpleasant is removed (Cherry, 2005). An example for this would be the professor offering to cancel the quiz for week two if everyone turns in their homework for week one. Now as one can see negative reinforcement is different from punishment because in the cases of punishment the behavior decreases. In either one of these cases the behavior of the individual increases. To look at both positive and negative reinforcement, can we decide which one is more favorable or which one will produce a better outcome? It seems as if that would depend on the individual themselves. Not everyone responds or reacts to stimuli in the same way. In an opinion, reaction can be based on personality. For example, a young child could consistently be given the option of money after cleaning their room on their own and still not do it because it is not favorable to them. However, the same child could jump for the opportunity of not having to attend church if all their homework is turned in the week prior. On an individual level, a household can contain one child that responds to positive reinforcement while the other responds to negative reinforcement. The Scenario and Schedule There are two reinforcement schedules, continuous and partial. Continuous reinforcement is reinforcing the behavior every single time it occurs (Cherry, 2005). With partial reinforcement, responses are only reinforced part of the time (Cherry, 2005). There are four schedules with partial  reinforcement, fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, and variable interval. Fixed ration is reinforcing a behavior after a specific number of responses have occurred. With fixed interval, a behavior is reinforced after a specific period of time has elapsed. Variable ratio involves reinforcing the behavior after an unpredictable number of responses and variable interval is reinforcing the behavior after the unpredictable period of time has elapsed. To better understand these schedules, it would be helpful to apply a selected behavior and first learn how operant conditioning can be applied. As a single parent of two daughters, ages 14 and 11, learning how to apply operant conditioning to shape their behavior, has been very helpful. It was set up for the children to bring home weekly progress reports after a few incidents of missing assignments. If the progress reports were positive with no missing assignments the children were praised on site and each given a dollar per class. If there were any missing assignments in any of their classes, then the children would not receive any money or praise. This is a positive reinforcement choice. The completion of assignments and grades from the children in school increased in order for them to receive a reward. Now, it is time to choose the reinforcement schedule for the scenario just talked about. It is understood that positive reinforcement was used by giving praise and a reward once the desired assignments and grades were met every week. This would be an example of a continuous reinforcement schedule. The desired behavior is reinforced every single time that it happens. With the scenario, every week that goes by with good grades and no missing assignments, the children are rewarded with praise and money. This creates a strong association between the behavior and the response (Cherry, 2005). Conclusion Operant conditioning relies on a fairly simple premise; actions that are followed by reinforcement will be strengthened and more likely to occur again in the future (Cherry, 2005). This can be good or bad behavior. Good behavior was reinforced with the above scenario. However, if you give into the child that kicks and screams every time he wants a candy bar in the store, you are strengthening that negative behavior. Learning occurs with positive and negative reinforcements being key parts to operant conditioning. Both of these help to increase or decrease the likelihood of  the desired behavior. Determining which reinforcement is better, depends on the individual at hand and what their personality will respond to better. With the above scenario the children responded better to positive reinforcement and with the reinforcement schedule, the likelihood that no missing assignments and good grades occur, increases. Operant conditioning is used every day and plays a vital role in the world. By learning about the fundamentals of operant conditioning, shaping behaviors can be easier than ever! Well, not really but hey, Rome was not built in a day. REFERENCE Cherry, K. A. (2005). Operant conditioning. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/introopcond.htm Cherry, K. A. (2005). Schedules of reinforcement. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedules.htm

Issues of Equality in Jamaica

Issues of Equality in Jamaica Introduction The following discussion will look around on the subject of equality in Jamaica using the experiences of an interviewee who is a female 63 year old British citizen that was born in Hanover in Jamaica on the 14th of March 1951 to draw out conclusions. She lived with family guardians as her mum died when she was 5 and her dad lived in the UK, but she had many brothers and sisters. She was loosely home schooled in Jamaica until she was 12 when she finally went to a Jamaican senior school called Mount Hannah. She had very a restricted education as her guardians wanted her to carry out manual work at home rather than pursuing an education. This resulted in here not having a structured education regime as even when she started to go to school she was forced into taking days off to look after her younger siblings or carry out manual tasks at home. Her childhood was in the middle of the creation of the Ministry of Education in 1953 (Ennew Et Al , 1982) and Jamaica’s transition to inde pendence that was pushed by Caribbean nationalists from after the Second World War (Mawby, 2012) to come to pass finally in 1962 (Welsh, 2012) . During this period there was educational reform especially in the early 60s with a big push to increase the number of schools since in the 1950s secondary school education in Jamaica was very limited (Miller 1990). There were 25 children in her school year and their average school day was from 9-3. Her class had only one teacher that taught them all English and mathematics. She finished school when she was 15 years old without any major qualifications and then continued to carry out more rigorous labour work full time. Work ranged from doing house work and babysitting to working on their house farm where she done tasks like carrying the water and the food to their home across long distances. The interviewee was 16 in 1967 she came to live in Coventry in England with her step mum, dad and younger sisters and brothers. During this time she dreamed of becoming a nurse as she enjoyed looking after her younger siblings. She eventually got the opportunity to take a test to become a nurse but she unfortunately failed the test due to a lack of knowledge in the key areas that was essential to know. After this she decided to go straight to work to help her family as a machinist as it was one of the few options that she had with her education. After a year she decided to move out and change job, but again the easier job for her to find with her experiences was as a machinist. In 1970 she had a daughter so took time off work for one and a half years to look after her. Afterwards she then went back to work for the same company but as a cable former but she also started to work as a barmaid at a pub during the weekends. As she enjoyed bar work and with it being more flexible for her to look after her daughter she continued her career as a barmaid by moving to work full time at a bar in 1974. She however had an area of unemployment from 1976-1979 but she then began to work as a barmaid again for 4 years and then later worked in a wide range of bars and bingos and casino’s behind the bar. During the late 80s she done various training courses as they became much more available in computing and shorthand writing with the hopes of becoming a receptionist, but in 1991 she became pregnant again had a baby Boy. For the rest of her life she brought up her son as a single parent and done voluntary work at various charity shops and carried out a few cleaning part time jobs. Since 2013 she has become a pensioner and is no longer pursuing work. Gender Gender was an identify factor that effected the interviewee’s education. The interviewee said that apart from the â€Å"major subjects† they had two extracurricular activities that they could do. It was compulsory for girls to do sewing and for boys to do gardening for the school garden. The interviewee said that when telling the teacher that she â€Å"wanted to go and do the gardening with the boys† he said â€Å"no† and when she refused she â€Å"went into the school and hide† because she â€Å"didn’t want to do sewing†. Because of this a teacher found her and said that if she didn’t do the sewing she would be â€Å"expelled† so she went back in and do the sewing. However as a punishment she was hit by the headmaster as she says â€Å"he gave me the cane on my hand and told me to go and do sewing, he hit me twice, and then said sit down and do the sewing† goes on to say that she â€Å"hated him after that† . This would affect girls and boy’s life chances because it would lower the possibility for boys to get the chance to be interested in sewing and the chance for women to be interested in gardening and thus meaning that their future career aspirations would be influenced away from either career paths. This is also a sexist approach as it implies that women should do the sewing which is more of a house wife job, whereas men should do more hands on jobs such as gardening. This could potentially precondition how children think about themselves and then lead them into believing sexist stereotypes. However if the children had the choice of what activity they wanted to do it would have been fairer and would have gave everyone the same equal opportunities. However when asked if she felt like there was less opportunity for girls than boys in the core subjects she replied â€Å"no we all had the same classes and same subjects† meaning that at least for code subjects there wasn’t the same level of gender discrimination. Social class Social class has been a major factor to the participant’s educational background as she found that coming from a very poor background highly influenced her education into making an impact on some of her life chances. If the interviewee had a different social upbringing then her family could have afforded the money for her to go to school from a young age instead of giving her house jobs to do. This was not a unique case in Jamaica during this period though as high adult unemployment contributed into generating households without male breadwinners thus meaning that children were expected to fend for themselves and to contribute in the household from a young age (Ennew Et Al, 1982). This resulted in many children dropping out of school around the age of 10 or 12 years, to earn money by working (Ennew Et Al, 1982). Because of this it directly affected her life chances as with little education it gave her the minimal opportunities to fully fulfil her potential in school. Education was compulsory in Jamaica back in the 50s but it wasn’t enforced, if parents were punished for children not going to school then this would have meant that the interviewee would have been in education from beginning to end. This is partially due to the policies like the Education Act to define the functions, roles, rights, and powers of the Boards, the Minister, principals, teachers, and students to not being fully developed until 1965 (Ennew Et Al, 1982). One positive however was when the interviewee said â€Å"everyone wore uniform† which showed an effort was made to make everyone feel equal. However as The interviewee’s family was poor she didn’t have shoes to wear to school unlike other children. She did however say that people didn’t look down on others for not having much money and that â€Å"I go to school without any shoes, I didn’t have shoes, and they didn’t bully me. They didn’t laugh at me or anything†. This was a positive aspect of her schooling; as they didn’t judge her for it even though it would have identified that she was from a low class background. When asked if children that were richer at school, had better job opportunities when they left school, The interviewee replied â€Å"yes â€Å" as it directly affected her opportunity to get O levels. She said that when she was fourteen the headmaster asked her to â€Å"write to your dad† and â€Å"make him give you five pounds for books† so she could take her O levels but as â€Å"he didn’t send the money† for the books she couldn’t take her O levels. She goes on to say that â€Å"all the others took their O levels because they had the money to buy books†. Her life chances were affected by this as it could have helped her get a wider range of job and educational opportunities, but children with money would have had a better chance in life. Costs for books, uniforms, lunch, and transport deterred some families from sending their children to school altogether (1987, Meditz S) so for allot of parents any extras costs to school would be looked down upon. She goes on to say that she â€Å"needed† O levels to be able to go into college which could have been a place where she could have strongly expanded on her education and increased her chances in getting a job she desired. After the interviewee left school at fifteen she had a year of carrying out manual jobs for her family ,she said if id stayed in Jamaica maybe I would have ended up been a cleaner or something like that, because I didn’t have the qualifications to get a decent job. This shows that by her not being able to carry out her O Levels that social class and wealth affected what the interviewee was able to do as a job after she left school. Disability The interviewee said that in school â€Å"everybody was the same† when asked if there were any students with disabilities meaning that for our participant didn’t get much visibility of any inequality that people with disabilities faced. This shows that everyone was treated equally but this doesn’t mean that there weren’t any issues out there for people with special needs. Before the 1970s Jamaicas had very limited capabilities in being able to identify and manage learning disabilities in children. Because of this Jamaica’s educational system was unable to deal with the special education needs of physically and mentally exceptional children. It took until 1974 for the government to provide special education services, until then it was provided by voluntary organisations. This would have resulted in students with disability’s not getting the appropriate help and support that they would have needed to get the most out of the educational system. Even though this didn’t necessarily directly affect our participant it was clear that extra support wasn’t available to her if it was needed as In Jamaica the late 1960s only about 50 per cent of Grade 6 students reached the functional literacy standard.(Miller, E, 2011). With more additional help and support for those who needed it this could have been vastly improved and could have helped the likes of our interviewee to get more out of education. This would have had an impact on children’s life chances as by not having an education that is adapted to children’s needs Conclusion These topics all affected the interviewee in their own individual way during her life. Gender effected the interviewee because the extra-curricular activities that she could partake in was solely based on her gender and not her personal preference, this meant that for these circumstances her education was different dependant on her gender and not on her personal choices meaning that she was not getting everything out of education that she would have wanted .Social equality effected our participant as it meant that she didn’t have a good quality of education because of it due to not being able to be in school as much as others and not being able to get a qualification due to her dad not being able to afford books for her to take her exams. This resulted in her not being able to have an adequate degree of knowledge to pass her nursing exam that she could have gained through taking her O levels and going to college. Disability inequality affected her to a lesser extent but specia l support wasn’t there for her even though she didn’t go to school until she was 12 year old, and this would have strongly impacted on the potential achievements she could have obtained. These issues relate to each-other because they have all limited the scope of what was possible for the interviewee to achieve. Due to a substandard education with different elements of inequality she was not able to live up to her full potential. She instead for most of her life she carried out minimum wage jobs as she didn’t have many options with potential jobs that she could do with her skillset or even opportunities for her to go into education part time while earning a living. Sadly by being limited to only doing these kinds of jobs it made her not able to gain a diverse enough experience at work to be able to expand skills that could help her in other roles. This created cycles that lead her into carrying out minimum wage jobs for the rest of her life. Bibliography Ennew.J. (1982). Family structures, unemployment, and child labour in Jamaica. Ennew.J. (1989) Milne, Brian, The next generation: lives of their world children. Mawby S (2012) Ordering Independence: The End of Empire in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1947-69.PP 33 Miller, E (1990) Jamaican society and high schooling. Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Social and economic research Miller, E. (July 7, 2011). The State of Jamaican Education and its Greatest Challenge. Available: http://www.jta.org.jm/article/state-jamaican-education-and-its-greatest-challenge. Last accessed 6th Dec 2014. Sandra W. Meditz and Dennis M. Hanratty, editors.Caribbean Islands: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987. State University. (2006). Jamaica Preprimary Primary Education. Available: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/728/Jamaica-PREPRIMARY-PRIMARY-EDUCATION.html. Last accessed 5th Dec 2014. Welsh. R (2012). Overcoming Smallness through Education Development: A Comparative Analysis of Jamaica and Singapore Current Issues in Comparative Education 15(1):114-131. Appendix Transcription Did you enjoy senior school? Yeah I did What kind of classes did you do? Classes? When I was at school I went till I was 14, and then I was in a mixed class with boys and girls. And I just do maths and English. Did you do science? Dint do science, just two subjects. Where about did you grow up in Jamaica, Mantana. Did you go to school here afterwards. No just in Jamaica. Did you feel like your schooling was limited because you only did maths and English? Yeah very. Would you say there was rich and poor people at your schoolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹? was rich and poor, I was one of the poor ones Did people wear different uniform, if they were rich would they wear better clothes? No we all wear uniform. Did you feel like anyone was horrible to the poorer people? No no everybody got on, just there to learn, everybody was interested in learning, no time for any bullying or anything like that. I go to school without any shoes, I didn’t have shoes, and they didn’t bully me. They didn’t laugh at me or anything. Did you feel like race mattered at school? No no no race nobody knew about race until she came to England. Because everybody is black, some was white and some were black, but nobody knew about it, didn’t have things like that. Did anyone at your school have disabilities, extra help? No everybody was the same; all seem to be on same wave length. Did you have more than one teacher? For me was just one, the headmaster, in our class, before we went to the sixth form we had another interviewee teacher. So when I went to school was in normal, then sixth form, and in sixth form he was the teacher, the headmaster So you didn’t feel like anyone looked down on each other where you lived, looked down on people for being poor? No no, Did you feel like children that were richer, they got better jobs when they left school? Yeah because when I was 14 headmaster said to me, write to your dad and let him give you 5 pound for books, so you can take your o levels, and I waited and he didn’t send it you see, so I couldn’t take my O levels, because I didn’t have any books, but all the others took their O levels because they had the money to buy books. What did you do when you left school? I left at 15 for a year helping round house, then came to England at 16. Did you feel like school effected what u did after school? If id stayed there in Jamaica maybe I would have ended up been like a cleaner or something like that, because I didn’t have the qualifications to get a decent job. The people who did the O levels what did they do? They went to a higher school, like a college, you call it college here they went to the higher school, learned short hand typing. If I was there I wouldn’t have been able to go because I wouldn’t have me o levels, needed them to go there. Was lucky to come to England. Did you feel like more men went and got jobs than women did? Well I didn’t know what boys did, but girls went to the higher school. But with boys and girls even though we were in the same class, we didn’t speak for some reason, everybody just quiet only one who spoke to us was headmaster. everyone seemed to ignore each other. was weird really. Did you feel like you had less opportunities than boys did at school did they have extra classes? No all had same class, and same subject. I don’t know if they had extra, if they did I didn’t know about it. When I was in school they had two things to do, girls do sewing and boys do gardening. Cos they had a school garden, so I said to them once a week they used to do that. So the teacher said I should go sewing, but I told him I wanted to go and do the gardening with the boys, and he said no. so I went into the school and hide because I didn’t want to do sewing. And sent someone to come and get me, and they said if I didn’t come and do the sewing I would be expelled. So I had to go back in and do the sewing. So did any one bully people? Well no after school only twice I had name calling because I was flat chested, used to call me pigeon chest. And when I had mumps jaw was really bigmouth called me barrel jaw. But that wasn’t in school that was out of school. When they saw me on the street. Was the same as was in my class at school; it was another school the next town away, another school next town away. So were all the schools quite spaced out really? Yeah. Did you ever get hit by any of the teachers? The head master, that was that day when I didn’t do sewing he give me the cane, and tell me to go and do sewing on my hand, hit me twice with cane in my hand, and said now sit down and do sewing. Horrible man. I hated him after that.

Comparative Analysis of Marketing for Nikon

Comparative Analysis of Marketing for Nikon 1. Introduction 1.1 Background With the remarkable improvement of peoples living standard, cameras have become necessities, and owing to their affordable price, many own cameras. Undoubtedly, cameras provide an easy way to record every occasion. There are multiple kinds of cameras can be found everywhere. However, different cameras are designed for a variety of areas and specific purposes. For instance, single lens reflex cameras are designed for amateurs. Nikon and Canon are both worldwide well-known camera producers, whose products are functional, well-designed, and widely used. (Canon, 2010 e) (Nikon, 2010 f) Nikon with its slogan at the heart of the image, is well-known not only for its advanced technology, but for its trustable quality (Nikon, 2010 a). On the other hand, Canon is a celebrated camera producer and now is a global corporation. Its purpose is to be used all over the world (Canon, 2010 a). 1.2 Theory 1.2.1 Market mix Marketing mix, which is described as the 4Ps as well, is the combination of product, promotion, place and price. Related to segmentation, the marketing strategies are usually used on customers in market, with an aim to satisfy their needs and wants, therefore generating profit (Hall D. et al, 2008:75). 1.2.2 Segmentation Market Segmentation is the division of customers according to their individualities. By market segmenting, companies focus on assured groups of consumers and use particular marketing strategies (Hall D. et al, 2008:66). 1.3 Aims The goals of this report are to analyze how the same grade cameras Nikon D90 and Canon 50D make up their marketing mix (product, promotion, place and price) for the products to obtain good sales in China. In addition, the report will illustrate the targeted segments of Canon 50D and Nikon D90. 2. Findings regarding Nikon D90 and Canon 50D 2.1 Product Gillespie (2007:29) mentions that a product can be identified on three major levels namely, core, tangibility and augmentation. Fundamentally, utility and design are the most notable factor for Single-lens reflex cameras to attract clients. A further important issue is after-sales service which must be considered as well. 2.1.1 Product of Nikon D90 Nikon D90 requires a CMOS with 12.3 million effective pixels and the selling point of D90 is its recording function. Its weight is merely 622g, as its body is made of quality plastic. This design makes it feel tout and appressed, it is therefore easier to hold (Dprview, 2010 a). Furthermore, although most companies provide after-sales service, it always takes a long time for repair. Nikon (2010 b) states that, they understand the importance of the products to customers. Therefore, they have been taking great efforts to accelerate after-sales service. 2.1.2 Product of Canon 50D From the other side, Canon 50D is also a successful Single-lens reflex camera. Its selling point is 15.1 million effective pixels. The weight of 50D is 822g since it is made of iron (Dprview, 2010 b). In order to provide immediate and trustworthy supports, Canon gives out the description of 50D and its instruction in the Chinese market. The company emphasizes that After-sales service that ensures safe use of products over a long term is vital to maintaining customers trust in the Canon brand (Canon, 2010 b). 2.1.3 The Comparison of D90 and 50D products Both Nikon D90 and Canon 50D has their own selling point, as mentioned above, Nikon D90 has its advanced recording function, similarly, Canon improves 50D pixels to be 15.1 million, which is also an enhanced technology. Moreover, both companies realize the increasing importance of after-sales service and have been working to improve it to satisfy their customers. 2.2 Promotions 2.2.1 Promotion of Canon 50D Canon promotes 50D chiefly by exhibitions and fairs. By attending multitude of exhibitions, it shows its environmentally conscious products and environmental endeavors to the public. Taking advantage of the exhibitions, Canon attempts to illustrate detailed actions of Canon Environmental Vision (Canon, 2010 c). 2.2.2 Promotion of Nikon D90 Nikon promotes primarily in two ways. One of them is through clubs. Nikon founds many clubs with a significant number of consumers all over the world. It provides several broadband networks and a terrific computer for professional support. Nikon is trying hard to demonstrate the environment-friendly of its products and build a strong relationship with the public (Nikon, 2010 c). Another promotion is discount. Nikon announced that customers, who bought D90 during the period from March 1 to May 31, could receive 1200 RMB back. This is an effective way to encourage people to purchase their products (Nikon, 2010 d). 2.2.3 The comparison of Nikon D90 and Canon 50D Nikon and Canon have a variety of promotions of their products, whereas, they are different from each other. However, there is no denying that, both of them do very well on promotion. 2.3 Place 2.3.1 Place of Nikon D90 The primary distribution of Nikon D90 is retail stores. Nikon authorizes a significant number of traders, including retailers and wholesalers, providing convenience for people to purchase their products (Nikon, 2010e). Wholesalers assist in directly distributing products to retailers and customers. It is difficult to distribute well without wholesalers help, for Nikon is a gigantic corporation. 2.3.2 Place of Canon 50D Canon 50D is sold mainly in retail stores. It is available in a large number of Canon stores around the world. Another way to purchase a Canon 50D is from a direct online store. Customers can review its details and price on the website and make an order easily (Canon, 2010 d). 2.3.3 The Comparison of Nikon D90 and Canon50D places Due to convenience and efficiency, retail stores become popular and common regularly. Consequently, both companies primarily focus on retail distribution. However, Canon provides online stores as well to provide reliable products. 2.4 Price The price of Canon 50D is set around 5580 RMB in Chinese market (Zhongguangchun, 2010 a). On the other hand, the price of Nikon D90 is 6200 RMB (Zhongguangchun, 2010 b). The chart is drawn according to the questionnaire investigation on public SLR amateurs in Guangzhou 2010. It shows different price ranges that people are willing to pay for a single-lens reflex camera. The chart demonstrates that forty-eight percentages are willing to pay for Single-lens reflex camera less than 5000 Yuan. The prices of D90 and 50D are approximately 6000 RMB that is higher than most people anticipated, merely thirty-two percentages of people are willing to pay for a camera at this price. However, there are still many amateurs accept higher price. 2.4.1 The Comparison of Nikon D90 and Canon50D prices The competition of camera marketing is severe. The price of their products is always approximately the same, for both of them keep an eye on each other. However Nikon 90D is a little more expensive, it is hard to clarify that which one is better since both of them have their different selling points and strengths. Therefore, the choice between them depends on what buyers need. 2.5 Segmentations Fundamentally, both Nikon D90 and Canon 50D target amateurs as their primary customers. The people who love photography but are not professionals are the most potential group. A significant feature of these users is that, they take appearance and accessories as the most considerable factors since these are seen as reflection of their identity Another segmenting is gender. There is a contrast between Nikon D90 and Canon 50D. The goal of Nikon D90 is to satisfy female, for which its body is made of quality plastic to reduce its weight. Conversely, Canon 50D is more likely to meet males needs, for which its weight is not necessary to be considered. 3. Conclusion 3.1 Summary To sum up, marketing mix plays a significant role in business and it associates with the market segmenting closely. To obtain a good market share, a company should have a strong and suitable marketing mix to satisfy consumers wants and needs. It has been demonstrated by the findings above, that both market segmentation and marketing mix are essential to business. From these comparisons we can draw the following conclusion that, there are plenty of commons between Nikon D90 and Canon 50D, such as their target customers, however, they are different in some other aspects, such as their promotion. However, both of them gain satisfying market shares. 3.2 Recommendations 3.2.1 For Nikon Although Nikon D90 is sold well in Chinese marketing, the distribution of the D90 could be improved to make it more perfect. As there are lots of fake products in the market of China, Nikon is strongly recommended to open an online shop to avoid this phenomenon 3.2.2 For canon Although 50D has obtained good sales for Canon, it is still necessary to ameliorate the marketing mix. Because the price of 50D is slightly higher than people expected, if discount is offered, Canon 50D could be sold better in China.

Tokyo Correspondence Etiquette :: essays research papers fc

As an employee of ABC International, a variety of your business contacts are neither from America nor American; therefore, knowing when and how to deliver effective and well written business correspondences, will help you avoid communication blunders and image-damaging errors that often come with cross-cultural exchanges. In addition to the common sense etiquette that comes with using your manners and being a gentleman, use these tips on cultural differences that could impact how you communicate with business contacts in Tokyo, Japan. Addressing Your Business Contact Drop â€Å"Mister† or â€Å"Misses† and simply add â€Å"-sama† to the last name of your business contact in formal situations and correspondences. If you are uncertain about the pronunciation or spelling of your contacts name, ask for assistance. Introducing Yourself Use last names at all times and do not request that clients call or write to you by your first name. When introducing yourself, business cards are an essential part of introductions and you will not be taken seriously without them. Double-sided business cards in Japanese and English are a must because they show potential business contacts that you are serious, and that you understand and respect their culture. Writing Effectively Write in a polite, non-offensive and respectful manner. Do not ask a Japanese business contact a question that has been phrased negatively. Eliminate jargon and excessive information and reread your correspondences before sending them to ensure that your meaning and tone are clear. In Japan, correspondences are different -- longer letters are favored. Solving Issues or Problems Avoid confrontations by not getting too pushy in your correspondences. Instead, try to get a confirmed date when expecting to receive an answer. At times, it may be impossible to get a straight answer from your business contact, but more than likely you will eventually get to a situation where everyone agrees if you simply â€Å"go with the flow†. By being aware of cultural differences between Americans and Japanese, you will be able to demonstrate proper etiquette and respect for your business contacts at all times. Communicating and writing effective correspondences will show your willingness to increase your cultural knowledge and increase your clientele. Tokyo Correspondence Etiquette :: essays research papers fc As an employee of ABC International, a variety of your business contacts are neither from America nor American; therefore, knowing when and how to deliver effective and well written business correspondences, will help you avoid communication blunders and image-damaging errors that often come with cross-cultural exchanges. In addition to the common sense etiquette that comes with using your manners and being a gentleman, use these tips on cultural differences that could impact how you communicate with business contacts in Tokyo, Japan. Addressing Your Business Contact Drop â€Å"Mister† or â€Å"Misses† and simply add â€Å"-sama† to the last name of your business contact in formal situations and correspondences. If you are uncertain about the pronunciation or spelling of your contacts name, ask for assistance. Introducing Yourself Use last names at all times and do not request that clients call or write to you by your first name. When introducing yourself, business cards are an essential part of introductions and you will not be taken seriously without them. Double-sided business cards in Japanese and English are a must because they show potential business contacts that you are serious, and that you understand and respect their culture. Writing Effectively Write in a polite, non-offensive and respectful manner. Do not ask a Japanese business contact a question that has been phrased negatively. Eliminate jargon and excessive information and reread your correspondences before sending them to ensure that your meaning and tone are clear. In Japan, correspondences are different -- longer letters are favored. Solving Issues or Problems Avoid confrontations by not getting too pushy in your correspondences. Instead, try to get a confirmed date when expecting to receive an answer. At times, it may be impossible to get a straight answer from your business contact, but more than likely you will eventually get to a situation where everyone agrees if you simply â€Å"go with the flow†. By being aware of cultural differences between Americans and Japanese, you will be able to demonstrate proper etiquette and respect for your business contacts at all times. Communicating and writing effective correspondences will show your willingness to increase your cultural knowledge and increase your clientele.

Inventions :: Technological Scientific Advancement

Stepping into the 21st century, almost everybody is living on the edge of technological and scientific advancements. Many inventions and discoveries have been made by so many great minds whose purposes were to make our life always better than before. Ever since the beginning of all mankind, humans have always had the ambition to improve their life. From that ancient time to the present, we can’t list all of our discoveries and inventions. Each of them is very important and helped making our life better. Among these, three most important inventions that define our life in the 21st century are automobile, computer, and music.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dated back even to the ancient time, transportation has always been a very important thing. Back then, ships were the only mean of transportation for human to travel from one place to another. It was a great method of transportation and even used until today. In the 1800s, human saw the emergence of train as the primary method of transportation on land. But the greatest thing was yet to come. Automobiles came to life in late 1800s and begin to shape people’s life so differently that it defined the new era from the past. In the 1900s, Ford made automobiles a lot cheaper and this mean transportation for everybody to everywhere. No longer human had to be restricted to single route for the masses. Each family can now own an automobile and can go anywhere the roads permit anytime they want. This is a new sort of freedom for each individual. They don’t have to gather to one place at a specific time, going to the same destination as in the past. This kind o f freedom is the stuff that defines the modern world. Take away the automobile and imagine how our life will be. Will 21st century be 21st century if we don’t have the freedom to traverse from point A to point B?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Automobiles have given people the mean of transportation, but in 1940s a new inventions was made. Computers came to the world and have completely taken the whole world to a new different level. Modern age wouldn’t be modern age if it wasn’t for the computers. Invented in 1945, but came into our life in less then 20 years, computers have changed the way people live. Nobody would refuse the fact that computers have blended themselves into our life. Inventions :: Technological Scientific Advancement Stepping into the 21st century, almost everybody is living on the edge of technological and scientific advancements. Many inventions and discoveries have been made by so many great minds whose purposes were to make our life always better than before. Ever since the beginning of all mankind, humans have always had the ambition to improve their life. From that ancient time to the present, we can’t list all of our discoveries and inventions. Each of them is very important and helped making our life better. Among these, three most important inventions that define our life in the 21st century are automobile, computer, and music.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dated back even to the ancient time, transportation has always been a very important thing. Back then, ships were the only mean of transportation for human to travel from one place to another. It was a great method of transportation and even used until today. In the 1800s, human saw the emergence of train as the primary method of transportation on land. But the greatest thing was yet to come. Automobiles came to life in late 1800s and begin to shape people’s life so differently that it defined the new era from the past. In the 1900s, Ford made automobiles a lot cheaper and this mean transportation for everybody to everywhere. No longer human had to be restricted to single route for the masses. Each family can now own an automobile and can go anywhere the roads permit anytime they want. This is a new sort of freedom for each individual. They don’t have to gather to one place at a specific time, going to the same destination as in the past. This kind o f freedom is the stuff that defines the modern world. Take away the automobile and imagine how our life will be. Will 21st century be 21st century if we don’t have the freedom to traverse from point A to point B?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Automobiles have given people the mean of transportation, but in 1940s a new inventions was made. Computers came to the world and have completely taken the whole world to a new different level. Modern age wouldn’t be modern age if it wasn’t for the computers. Invented in 1945, but came into our life in less then 20 years, computers have changed the way people live. Nobody would refuse the fact that computers have blended themselves into our life.

Platos Dialectical Cut in Socrates Soul in The Being of the Beautiful

Plato's Dialectical Cut in Socrates' Soul in The Being of the Beautiful Within the spectrum of the political realm, one of the most important philosophical questions arises, "What is the best regime?" It is obvious that the best regime is one of complied consent. There still seems to be difficulty in deciding the best means to the desired end. Politics, the ruling force, operates in the realm of opinions. Its counterpart, philosophy, is an attempt to replace opinions about political things. This "political science" is the process of acquiring political knowledge for the guiding of political life. The transformation from opinions to knowledge is through the dialectic method. This "political science" is not without its problems. It is plagued by relativism and nihilism. These problems tend to make politics unreceptive to philosophy. What philosophy is is best seen in a confrontation between the philosopher and the city. It is by no small coincidence that these two conflicting views are seen in different characters in The Being of the Beautiful. The obvious question now becomes "Why does Plato make a dialectical cut in Socrates' soul between Theaetetus and Young Socrates?" In answering this question it becomes central to assume that the being of the beautiful is not contained in one character, and for that matter, may not be a character at all. It is crucial then to take up the characteristics of both Theaetetus and Young Socrates in relation to what the beautiful is. In so doing, it will provide the basis for political knowledge. To begin, Theaetetus is a youth just returned from battle. War, being the harshest of all teachers places one under the duress of necessity. This is a fo... ...nd this. He says that "all has been said in a measured way... but this is hard to take in" (Statesman, 293e). The Stranger explains that the rule of law is for one class and is corrupt, imperfect and seditionary. Through the questioning of the laws, the foundations of the one are seen. Politics and philosophy are not natural enemies. Both Theaetetus and Young Socrates understand the ideas to some extent. The goal now is to make each receptive to the other. Both make distinctions between men and gods. They can each understand the concept that something merely "is". Within each character separately a vice is seen but when combined dialectically, the possibility of a true political philosophy is possible. Perhaps Socrates sees in both of them the idea of the philosopher and he wants to see it generated as proof of a permanent condition of human nature.

Little Women speech

What is the point, Jo, my darling Jo, has just blatantly displayed that she does not, nor does she wish to, love me. She says that she loves me dearly as a friend but how can that be true if she could refuse me in the way that she did. How could she refuse me†¦ me of all people? We have been the best of friends for such a long time. She mustn't be as smart as I once thought. She speaks of how wonderful life would be if she had some money and I am offering that to her, but she has refused. Maybe I was wrong to love her. How could I have fallen in love with a girl who is so incredibly masculine and different? But I have and just knowing that she does not love me back, I know she would if she would just try. There isn't much I can do about it now though, she has made up her mind and if I know Jo as I know I do, once her mind is made up, not even she can change it. Maybe grandfather is right, maybe it is best for me to go away. I do not wish to waste my life here in this room, staring out this window watching the girls all day every day. But I do not wish to leave my Jo behind. She is the reason that I went to college. I graduated with honours for goodness sake, and all for nothing. I suppose I could go and join the family business but I would really rather focus on my music. I don't understand. Last night she seemed so happy to see me – I was sure she would accept me – she called me a hero. What girl in her right mind would not want a hero? But Jo is not a normal girl, she is †¦ well different and that made me love her all the more. She and her sisters are so incredibly wonderful and their mother reminds me of my own. I have always wanted my mother back and Marmee is so much like her it almost pains me to hear her speak. The way that she looks at the girls, the same way my mother used to look at me and Mr March is like Father. Father went away to war and a couple of weeks later we received news that he died in battle. Mr March, although is not like him, reminds me of him. I guess partly it could have been the thought of having a mother and a father again that I really fell in love with. Maybe Jo, my beautiful Jo, was just a way of getting that again. Good morning/ afternoon Dr Mayne and fellow students. The recount that I have just presented was told from Laurie's perspective and takes place after Chapter 35, Heartache. This chapter is the scene when Laurie asks Jo to marry him and she refuses. In this recount, Laurie is sitting at his window looking out at the March's house and contemplating why he asked Jo to marry him and his upcoming trip abroad. Theodore Laurence, or Laurie as he is known, plays a very important role in the book Little Women. He is a member of the wealthy Laurence family and is the heir to the Laurence business. He is a member of the middle-upper class of society. Laurie demonstrates a very different point of view from other men of the time. Being of this class, and asking Jo, a girl who is very much beneath him, to marry him, he challenges the discourse of class very strongly. In the time of the 1860s, it was very much frowned upon to marry beneath you. However, Laurie does not believe that class matters when he asks Jo to marry him. Also he challenges this discourse in that he has always associated with the March family. Laurie challenges both this discourse and the discourse of gender by not wanting to join the family business, as was the custom of the time for men, instead wanting to focus on his music. In addition, he challenges the gender discourse as the males of this time were supposed to be the â€Å"dominant† person in the marriage; however it is clear that he would allow Jo to be dominant. He also challenges this discourse simply by asking Jo to marry him as she is perceived to be very masculine and does not act as a young lady of that era was expected to act. In saying this, however, he also endorses this discourse. As he is wealthier than Jo, Laurie would be the â€Å"breadwinner† for the family, a role traditionally accepted by men at the time. Laurie not only supports Jo and her â€Å"masculine† ways but he often says that the girls are lucky. He does not like the fact that he has to study and he often wishes that he could be like the March girls and not have to study. He also falls in love with Jo even though she does not conform to the ways of the 19th century. In fact, that makes him like her more. Laurie is very kind and respectful towards women, unlike other men of his time, and has a very positive attitude towards them. Although he is expected to, he does not wish to join the family business, however in this recount, he begins to change his mind and feels that the business would actually be good for him. Up until he asks Jo to marry him, Laurie is quite careful with his money. After Jo refuses him though, he begins to spend it all. He wishes he could be freer and be able to do what he likes, like the March girls. This again, challenges the discourse of gender in a way, as he does not wish to act like a male is supposed to act. Laurie is very strong in his belief that women are equal. To coincide with this, he also believes in the equality of class. This is evident throughout the book and most obviously in his interaction with the Marches as a poorer family. A stereotypical male and upper class man of the time would not have associated with a family such as this especially because they are women of a lower class. It is very clear that Laurie is not like these men especially when he asks Jo to marry him. There are many gaps and silences that surround Laurie in this book. One gap that was addressed in the recount was the issue of Laurie's mother and father. It seems that Laurie's mother was a lot like Marmee and his father went to war like Mr March. It could be said that this is the real reason that Laurie wants to marry Jo and be a part of the March family. As he says in the recount, â€Å"he has always wanted his mother back† and being a part of the March family may fulfil that desire. While it is very clear in the recount that Laurie is not the typical male – he does not want to study or work in the business and seems to have a more feminine mind – other traits are only hinted at throughout the book. He could have a bit of a temper which is shown in the recount. It could also be said that he is quite selfish as he could just want to marry Jo to be a part of the March family and â€Å"have† a mother and father again. He also spends a lot of the family's money to make himself feel better after Jo refuses him. The audience is positioned to respond to Laurie in a mixed way. In some cases, the audience is positioned to like Laurie as he does not conform to the â€Å"rules† of the 19th century. He treats women equally and, although they are considered beneath him, treats the Marches as friends. The audience could also sympathise with him when Jo turns him down as he becomes very quiet and is genuinely upset. Theodore Laurence is a very submissive character in the book Little Women. He is very respectful towards women. He is not the stereotypical male due to his belief in the equality of gender and class. Throughout the book he develops a very strong love for Jo March, however, when he asks her to marry him, she refuses. Yes grandfather I will prepare for our trip. I know it will be good for me to travel abroad – I just wish that I wasn't going alone. I wish with all of my heart that Jo would come with me.