Discussion Responses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Discussion Responses - Essay Example Doing nothing in such circumstances is often the best solution to the problem. 3. People who are unaware of the systematic methods of decision making, have not developed their critical thinking skills and thus prone to making wrong decisions. People who usually make decisions based on critical analysis have cultivated their critical decision making skills and have more chance of making a correct snap decision if needed. No effective and efficient leader who has honed their decision making skills will rely on repeated snap decisions however because the risks are too high. 4. In order to extract the root cause of any problem I ask myself why it has arisen; the answer to this question will usually lead to another, and then another. I realize that in most instances problems may be attributable to a number of causal links and that the first or most obvious cause is generally not the right one. Sometimes when working in this way to realize the negative cause and effect configurations I find there is more than one root cause to a particular problem. 5. Effective decision makers and problem solvers are people who impart their knowledge with humility - the two go hand-in-hand. A leader who respects the needs, feeling and opinions of others gain respect and commitment from others, and the leader who seeks, acknowledges and considers the input of others in their decision making and problem solving tasks are more likely to acquire the whole picture rather than a one-eyed self opinionated

Christianity and mathematics Essay Example for Free

Christianity and mathematics Essay This paper deals with interrelation between Christianity and mathematics. It has been observed that God is the creator of this universe and He is also the creator of our various mathematical formulae and deductions. Like Universe and God, they are also eternal and cannot be ever destroyed. The paper has also described how Christianity has described the relation between God and our numeric system, which is the basic foundation of Mathematics. Christianity and mathematics 3 Link between Christianity and mathematics – philosophical aspect Let us consider the formulae for earths mass distribution, orbital path of celestial bodies and population fluctuation. They are simple mathematical formulae that describe the creation of this universe and humanity. According to Christianity, who is the creator of this Earth? It is none than the God himself. Jonathan Zderad (2003) has stated in the article written in the website http://www. acmsonline. org/Zderad-creationism. pdf that universe, that is the creation of God is hardwired by the laws of mathematics. If one have a look at the theorems of mathematics, it seemed that they were true before time began and will continue to be true after time lapses. Jonathan has mentioned this in his article in the above mentioned website. Mathematics exists beyond human thought and logic. Christianity believes that only God can create such things which are eternal and divine. Jonathan (2003) has mentioned in his article that mathematics existed beyond time and space. According to Christianity, only God, the supreme power behind this human existence can exist beyond time and space. It is very much clear from the Biblical records that god gives value to numbers. To quote from the above mentioned website, â€Å"For Christians, God’s counting is what gives the believer a place in heaven. Jesus compared himself to a shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to rescue one sheep that is lost. He values each and every one of us. † (p. 6). Jonathan Zderad (2003). The Holy Bible has drawn many references from the numeric system of mathematics. How Christianity is linked to basic numeric system of mathematics Jonathan (2003) has also described in the above mentioned article how Christianity is Christianity and mathematics 4 related to our numeric system. The author has described that while the Number represents unity, number 2 is the symbol of fellowship and number 3 representing the community. The author states that these numbers represent spiritual qualities. The author has stated in the article that Bible has enough indications that it is God who has created the series of integers, rational and irrational numbers and real numbers. Jonathan has argued in the article that Bible has strong reference to the concept of counting. Numbers were generally used to describe dimension while building a place of worship. How Creation of God is linked with creation of mathematics The author has also suggested in the above article that there is a clear view of Christian view of Mathematics, which is described as creationism. Creationism has got four aspects. The first one is continuity. God makes his own creation in such a way that it is continuous. The second aspect is activity. The author has stated that he has created all these mathematical entities out of his own mental divine activities. The third one has been described as the abstract object inclusive. To quote, â€Å"As a general rule, theists would include mental objects and spiritual objects in the list of God’s invisible creation. Creationism also includes abstract objects like propositions, relations, and universals in this list of God’s invisible creation†. (p7). Jonathan Zderad (2003). The fourth one is that it is mathematically inclusive. It believes that Mathematical objects are created by God and they have an eternal quality, which can only proceed from the mind of God. Christianity and mathematics 5 Reference Zderad, Jonathan. (2003) Creationism – A Viable Philosophy of Mathematics. www. acms. org. Retrieved on 15th December, 2008, from http://www. acmsonline. org/Zderad-creationism. pdf

What Are The Concepts Of State And Sovereignty Politics Essay

What Are The Concepts Of State And Sovereignty Politics Essay State refers to the rule tool of economically dominant class. Class nature is the fundamental properties. State includes three elements, namely political power, territory and the unity of people. State power is the embodiment of the country. It is a society institution with power governance and has external and internal sovereignty in a certain territory (Christopher Tomlins, 2008). In international relations theory, as long as the independence of a country recognized by other countries, the country can go into the international field, which is also key factor to prove its own sovereignty. Sovereignty refers the internal supreme power and external independence that one state has. It also refers to the highest authority of one country to handle their own affairs independently inside and outside and manage their own country. Sovereignty is one countrys inherent right that different from other social groups and special properties. Sovereignty mainly includes three aspects just like the followings. One is the maximum internal power. State has the power to manage its entire people and things within or outside the territory (Eric A. Heinze, 2010). And it also has the right to determine its own political system and socio-economic system according to its situation. Second is foreign independence, namely the state completely and independent exercise power and rule out any external interference. Another is the power of self-defense. It refers to the power that the country defenses the threat and aggression of foreign countries to maintain political independence and territorial i ntegrity. Mutual respect for national sovereignty is a basic principle in modern international relationship. Sovereignty is one power above the law, nation, indivisible, sovereign, unified and lasting. Peace of Westphalia recognized the sovereign rights of country in treaty form first time in 1648. It provided the sovereign equality of states regardless of the size of the countries. State sovereignty is considered as one most important features. In some traditional theory of international law, sovereignty becomes a supreme power. Sovereign country is not necessarily bound by international law. People of state may even resort to war to achieve their will. Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States of 1974 provides that each country has the inalienable sovereign rights to choose economic systems, political, social and cultural systems accordance with its will (Jonathan K. Ocko, David Gilmartin, 2009). Each state enjoys the full permanent sovereignty on its all wealth, natural resources and economic activities and so on. The above expresses a common core concept: state sovereignty is abso lute and inviolable. Sovereignty has many unique features. It is the inherent property of state, and is non-transferable, indivisible, inviolable sanctity and exclusive. Sovereignty is the highest authority to handle internal and external affairs independently. State has the highest sovereignty in the domestic and independent external sovereignty in the international. Moreover, sovereignty state is the only actor in international relations. State sovereignty is the fundamental interests that relates to the rise and fall of country. Sovereignty and territorial has close link. With the development of society, modern international law makes a more specific identification and maintenance to national sovereignty. Week 5: The central ideas and claims of liberalism and realism Liberalism is a bourgeois political thought in nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It advocates the complete freedom of personal activities and development and against the political, social and religious constraints. Liberalism is an ideology or philosophy. The basic view of liberalism international relations theory is the state is embedded in society. The interaction between state and society creates the state preferences and also affects the acts in the international community. The core assumptions of liberalism that support this basic view include the following aspects (John Burton, 1996). One is the assumption on the primacy of social actors. Liberal theory suggests that the most basic actors are the various groups and individuals in international political. They are rational and avoiding disadvantages. They are subjected to certain concepts of influence and domination under the constraints of certain material conditions. They may organize collective action to defend and fi ght for their different interests. Second is hypothesis on the state representation and national preference. State or other political organizations represent the number of domestic social groups. The interest of these social groups is defined as national preferences, and they will take purposeful action to achieve these benefits in international politics. The other is the assumption on interdependence and the international system (John Burton, 1996). Liberalism views that the pattern of interdependent state preferences determines the behavior of country. In fact, liberalism has three major variants, namely the concept liberalism, commercial liberalism, and republicanism liberalism. Liberalism stresses the social identity and values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹are the fundamental determinants of national preferences, and are main reasons for the cooperation and conflict between countries. Commercial liberalism considers that individual and collective acts of state are based o n the market incentives of national and transnational economic actors. Republican liberalism focuses on the social recognition and economic benefits of these requirements into national policy, domestic political system. Realism considers that the state preference is power. Their pursuit for security, sovereignty and wealth is same. The central ideas and claims of realism include the followings. Realism assumes the human nature is self-centered and competitive. International system is anarchy. There is not sufficient authoritarian to bind the interaction of states on the country. In the international system, there are still a large number of non-state actors. They play a role in international politics, but in the view of realism, the status of non-state actors is always secondary, state is dominant actors. Realism also believes the essence of international politics is conflict from the view of pessimistic human nature, that is, the struggle for power is under anarchy (Robert Jackson, Georg Sorensen, 1999). Therefore, the international politics is first described as a realist power politics. It is the confrontation between countries, conflict and war stage. The core normative theory of realism is nati onal survival and security. Therefore, in the order of international issues, national security is usually in the highest position. Realists recognize the difficulty of view a country as rational actor. In any case, the result of rational choice is a satisfactory or second best choice at least. Week 6: Different visions of realist and liberal about peace and security Realists believe that the primary means of protecting national security and peace in the international community are balance of power and deterrence. The peace and security concept of realism is built on the basis of the following assumptions. First of all, sovereign states are the main actors of the international community and centered on national interests. Second, the basic structure of the international system is anarchy, that is, there is no legal power of centralized control (John Horton, 2010). International political anarchy determines that there is no law, code of ethics and public authority between the nations. This will inevitably lead to mutual suspicion and the worst intentions among countries. Third, the relations between countries can only be a competitive relationship in the anarchy international system. Countries participates in international struggle for power or existence, mainly rely on their own resources and ability. Self-help is the only way to achieve national security. Realists also believe that the central feature of international relations is the competition for power and the show of strength. Security has always been the primary objective of national policy. Under the situation of anarchy in international community, states improve national security through military expansion, alliances or acquire buffer which leads to security dilemma and causes insecurity in other countries. The means to protect national security are balance of power and deterrence. The balance of power maintains state independence and the stability of international system (R.O. Keohane, 1986). Nuclear deterrence contributes to the over forty years of cold peace between the two superpowers in Cold War to some extent. Although balance of power strategic can not overcome the internal contradictions and the implement of nuclear deterrence needs rational and mechanisms conditions, these two ways are still reasonable means in safeguarding national security and curbing hegemonic. The liberal also recognizes international community is in anarchy, but against the realists fragments the political relations between international and domestic. They are more tend to emphasize the common interests, values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹and norms in international relations to ensure international community is harmony. To sum up, the views of liberals on peace and safety are as following. First is the theory of world government. The national strategy, interests, power and policy choices are all the response to lack of national security in the international anarchy. In essence, war plays the functions of governmental in anarchy. World government and international law can be used as a substitute for war. Treaty powers namely a global government or loose management system formed through negotiations and consultations between the major powers. It is one of the ways to establish world government (Wotipka, Christine Min; Tsutsui, Kiyoteru2008). Second is theory of coll ective security. In view of real life does not have prerequisites for establishing a world government, liberal hopes to establish a collective security system to overcome the security dilemma. The other is economic interdependence and peace. Liberal views that economic interdependence may help to reduce and mitigate the conflicts between countries and promote international peace. In short, the liberal considers that economic and trade relations will make more interdependent among countries, thus reducing the war to increase safety.

A Short Night Means Long Consequences Essay -- Health, Sleep Deprivati

Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt. The clock reads six o’clock in the morning, and blaring buzzes of the alarm clock awakens sleeping teenagers from their slumber. As they drag their still lethargic bodies through the door on their way to the car or the bus, they tell themselves every single day that they need more sleep. This is more true than they can fathom, as the effects of sleep deprivation in teenagers prove to be quite damaging in both the short and long term. Teenagers stay up late to get to all sports practices, music practices, and possibly even their job, and then they come home to multiple hours of homework which they stay up until midnight, and many days even later than that, to finish it all. Then the cycle begins again with the groggy adolescent going to school, and complaining about such a short night’s rest. If high schools started later, teens would have extra time to sleep in before shoving off again, and would be extremely beneficial to their physical and menta l health in the long run. There are many causes for sleep deprivation in today’s teenagers. A big reason is the hectic schedules that dictate their lives and the lives of those around them. Many teenagers have multiple after school activities including athletic practices, music practices, and sometimes even jobs after school. So, to make time for all their activities, they take from their sleep time. The main reason kids cut out sleep for other activities is because they do not think sleep is that important to their schedules. Even administrators think this, with some thinking that older kids needed less sleep than the younger kids (Bettelheim 557). Science and countless hours of research have proved this myth false, but even still little is being done to c... ...n the busy teen thinks that â€Å"Sleep is the pocket change with which we buy extra time† (Clemmit 125), but this notion is false. Such a vital part of a person’s life should be made as enjoyable as possible, and the quality of physical and mental health will be substantially improved. As for teenagers, in order to correspond with their natural rhythms, maximize their learning and achievement potential, and greatly increase their overall health, the start times of high schools should be moved back. Break the cycle of the groggy adolescent, driving fatigued to school only to fall asleep in class and miss out on the opportunities school can offer. The teens of today take care of this country soon enough, the least that can be done is give them a chance at a sufficient night’s rest so they have time to dream of all the big things they will do with their lives tomorrow.

The Effect on the Cargo Molecules

The paper generally talks about the effect that the mutations have on the cargo molecules. The molecules are specifically those that contain proteins and are therefore referred to as the cargo proteins. The paper therefore looks into the nature of the effect on each of the cargo proteins and gives an analysis of the effect on the proteins which are apparently of the same class. .The paper also delves into the question of cargo selection which essentially involves an ER-derived vesicle and this culminated into the picking of Sec24p which has been found to be able to recognize the v-SNARE Bet1p. The research question that is being tested in the paper is the determination of the protein carriers that are well compatible and binds well with the Sec24p subunit. The hypothesis in this case is the fact that the compatible protein carriers were less affected by the mutations. The essential and the most vital experiment is that which involves the characterization mechanisms of the molecules of cargo recruitment through the Sec24p which is a subunit of the COPII coat. This usually involves the alanine scanning which is basically a mutagenesis approach towards the identification of the mutation characteristics of the Sec24p. This was regarded as pivotal since the data collected gave the suggestion gave multiple independent sites of recognition of cargo. The weakness of the experiment is on the fact that the control experiment consisted of the Sec24p that were sensitive to temperature. This is due to the fact that many of the Sec24p are responsive towards changes in temperature and therefore this isn't a foolproof method of determination of the needed types of the Sec24 which can be compatible to the cargo protein. If I was the one conducting the research then variables like temperature and the fact that some aspects which were compatible with the cargo proteins responded well to the changes in temperature would be done away with. These types of control experiments usually in most cases give the wrong picture and result altogether. The true experiment would therefore be more than that. This might involve the aspects as the solubility of the Sec 24 which was compatible with the protein cargo. This would be more sensible as this would be entirely truth with only a very slight margin for error as opposed to the initial case in which almost all the test subjects would react in an almost similar manner to the experiment and therefore leave a large gap for mistakes.

Animal Farm vs the Russian Revolution

As people are burdened with their social and economic situations, they tend to think that the government has no interest in responding to their legitimate complaints. Sooner or later, the only way to rectify their complaints is to revolt. The allegory Animal Farm, by George Owell is a great example of the rebellion between the animals and humans. The events in Animal Farm symbolize the Russian Revolution of the1900s to 1950s. Although many people were involved in the Russian Revolution, there were five instrumental men including Joseph Stalin, who was illustrated as Napoleon in Animal Farm. The Russian Revolution was one of the most important revolutions; it was a revolution against economic oppression. The Russian Revolution was all began by the idea of the historian and revolutionary, Karl Marx. He was the most influential political philosopher of the 19th century (â€Å"The History Guide†, par. 1). Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto, it was published in 1848 (â€Å"The History Guide†, par. 6). His idea of communism explained that each individual person would work to endorse the country and not just for self gain. Marx was the one that inspired Russian radicals who opposed tsarist rule (Strickler 61). Through out his life, people did not acknowledge his social, economic and political ideas  until his death in 1884(â€Å"The History Guide†, par. 1). The Russian history started badly after the death of Czar Alexander III in 1894. Nicholas II was then became the new czar. He was not prepared to rule; he was afraid of what’s going to happen to him and Russia (Strickler 70). Nicholas II was not attentive in sharing his power, but people were calling this to occur when he came in throne. Furthermore, he was physically weak, senseless, and he was a horrendous judge of people (â€Å"Background of†, par 5). During his first ten years of Nicholas II’s ruling; peasants protested their poverty, factory workers struck against the brutal working conditions, and people demanded a better government (Strickler 70). At the same time, Russia was in a war with Japan, for control over Korea and Manchuria in northern China. In February 1904, the Japanese defeated the Russians. By the end of 1904 people realized without a doubt, they were going to lose the war. After the defeats by Japan, things changed. â€Å"People could no long tolerate their desperate living conditions† (Strickler 71). In January 1905,  thousands of Russians marched in St. Petersburg to deliver a petition. â€Å"They called for an eight-hour workday and for an increase in wages† (Strickler 71). As the broad crowd assembled, the government startled. They sent thousands of troops around the city. On Sunday, January 22, 1905, the troops and the protesters met; their meeting soon became destructive. As result, thousands of people died in what became known as â€Å"Bloody Sunday†. Strikes continued to take place; it was all over the country. Workers were on strikes, railways were paralyzed, and universities were taken down (Strickler 71). In response to the protests; Nicholas agreed and published the â€Å"October Manifesto†. It granted freedom of conscience, speech, association, and promise people would not be imprison without trial (â€Å"Tsar Nicholas II†, par. 16). Nicholas II and his government avoided a revolution by creating a Duma. Even though the revolution was avoided, but people still drive for radical changes (â€Å"Russo-Japanese†, par. 4). In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe. The Russians was unprepared; they were lacked of leadership, food supplies, and weapons (Strickler 77). As more and more Russians got killed, supports for the war vanished. Things were getting worse; transportation system was tied up and there was not enough food for the population. As result price went high up (Strickler 78). By March 15, 1917 Czar Nicholas II faced widespread oppositions, revolts, and lacking military supports (Strickler 79). Therefore, Nicholas II was abdicated. After Nicholas II abdicated, Russia was ruled by a temporary government led by Aleksandr Kerensky (Strickler 80). Unfortunately, he was overthrown on November 7, 1917 by a political group called Bolsheviks (Strickler 79). The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin. He followed Marx’s ideas of communism. Lenin quickly solved the problems facing Russia. Within only a year, the new government ended the World War I. Lands were returned to peasants and workers had the power to run their factories (Strickler 80). Later, the Bolsheviks became known as the Reds. Their rivals were the Whites, a variety of groups by their opposition to the Bolsheviks (Strickler 80). France, United States, and Great Britain were afraid of the spread of communism, so they supported the Whites. To help overthrow the Bolsheviks, Japan and United States sent troops to invade Russia from the east. In spite of these foreign troops, the Reds won the war (Strickler, 81). In 1922, Russia and their neighbors formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Soviet Union (Strickler, 81). After Lenin’s death in 1924, there was a power struggle between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Stalin wanted to continue establishing the power of the Communist Party through out the country for the next twenty years. On the other hand, Trotsky wanted to build weapons to resist the West because they were trying to destroy Communism (â€Å"The Death of Lenin†, par. ). In august 1917, Trotsky was the member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik, which had Lenin as a quixotic leader. Trotsky became second in command after Lenin (â€Å"Trotsky†, par1). He was assigned People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs in 1918(â€Å"Trotsky†, par2). Trotsky also managed the founding of the Red Army (â€Å"Trotsky†, par1). Unfortunately, after the dea th of Lenin, Joseph Stalin prevailed and Trotsky was exiled to Mexico (Trueman, par5-6). Under the power of Stalin, â€Å"Workers had little real power to control their workplaces. The government did not allow for civil rights† (Strickler 81). Stalin continued his ruling until his death in 1953 (Strickler 82). Through out the Russian revolutions, Marx’s idea influenced many revolutionists to use his ideas of communism to lead a revolution that changed the history of Russia. The idea of communism did not work because the society is not perfect. Everybody has his or her own way of living; they are different individuals. Joseph Stalin was one of the important roles in the Russian Revolution after the death of Lenin in 1924 (Strickler 81). Stalin was the second leader of the Soviet Union (â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par1). His real name was Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili. When he was young he was already interested in politics (Gibson, 15). From that moment, he was associated with the political underground in the Caucasus. He soon followed Vladimir Lenin. Stalin’s experience made him useful in the Bolshevik party (â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par3). After Lenin’s death, Stalin had a great opportunity to take his claim to become the leader of Communist Party. Stalin’s effort to bend the country to his conviction caused gargantuan suffering. Six million people die during the famine in the 1920s and 1930s. Many also died from hard labor. He also executed everyone that opposed him (Strickler 82). The ruling body of the Communist Party; Zinoviev and Kamenev joined force with Stalin against Trotsky (Gibson 26). In 1926, Trotsky was expelled from the Politburo, the ruling body of the communist Party. With Trotsky gone, he no longer need of Kamenev and Zinoviev. In order to get rid of them, he allied himself with Bukharin, Rykov, and Tomsky (Gibson, 26). Little by little, all of his opponents were dead and Stalin had the power over Russia. By 1930s eight million political opponents were arrested and eight hundred was executed (Strickler 82). In total, Stalin was responsible for the death of forty million people within the borders of the Soviet Union (â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par. 7). In 1928, Stalin launched the first Five Year Plan; it was created to manufacture the USSR in the shortest time and, in the process, to precipitate the collectivization of farms (Gibson, 28). The plan was put in action brutally; it was aimed to make USSR self-sufficient. Stalin’s first Five Year Plan was completed by 1933. His second five year Plan (1933-1938) continued and expanded the first (Gibson 36). Stalin’s third Five year Plan was interrupted by the World War II. It was known as the bloodiest war in human history. Great Britain, France, and the United States joined Stalin to fight against Germany, Italy, and Japan. Through out the war, forty million people died. Of these, half were Soviet citizens (Strickler 82). Following World War II, Stalin continued his ruthless control over the Soviet Union until his death on March 5, 1953(â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par. 7). Although he was a heartless ruler, he did bring consequential economic progress to Russia during the 1920s and1930s. During those years, the Soviet Union was becoming a powerful, industrialize country. The education, health, and equality for women were much better (Strickler 82). Stalin did a lot to help Russia but murdered millions and millions in pursuit of his dictatorship. â€Å"To his calloused heart, a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic† (Nosoro 10). The pig – Napoleon in Animal Farm is a reflection of Joseph Stalin. In the book, Owell described Napoleon as a tyrant. Napoleon enjoyed his luxury life with the other pigs by abusing the power that he’s given to hypnotize the animals; he made them do all the works. The animals worked relentlessly  on his windmill plan and they hardly get any food. While Napoleon stayed in his farm house and enjoying all the apples and milk alone (Owell 73, 85). Just like Napoleon, Stalin had all the power to himself and living in a blissful live while the peasants suffered. Many people endured the bad working conditions and famine during Stalin’s Five Year Plan (Gibson 53). Both Napoleon and Stalin got their way often. After Lenin’s death, Stalin successfully exiled Trotsky to Mexico and had the power of Russia in his hand. Similarly, Napoleon managed to get Snowball out of farm and he became the leader of Animal Farm (Orwell 68). Even after when Snowball was off the farm; Napoleon continued to blame on him when things on the farm went wrong. He blamed on Snowball when the wind knocked down the windmill that they built (Orwell 82). In Stalin’s situation, he evoked Trotsky as a threat after he murdered him (Gibson, 30). Although Napoleon and Stalin were clever, both were lousy speakers. Since Napoleon was not a good speaker, he used Squealer as his mouthpiece. Squealer is a good mouth pig. He knows how to twist and change things around and makes it sound good. â€Å"â€Å"I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labor upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility†, said Squealer† (Orwell 69). The purpose of it was to make Napoleon look good. Indeed, like Napoleon, Stalin also has his own resource. His resource was the propagandas; it’s documentaries and films that made him look like a hero and a father to the country. Although Owell described Napoleon based on Stalin, but there are a few differences between them. Before Stalin becomes the dictator of Russia, he took many steps to get there. He allied with the Politburo (the ruling body Communist) to get rid of one and another (Gibson 23, 26). Unlike Napoleon; whose became the leader of the Animal Farm right after he ran Snowball off the farm. In the Russian Revolution History, Stalin exiled Trotsky and murdered him because he was afraid that he might come back and overthrown him (Gibson 23). It was never mentioned in the allegory that Stalin killed Snowball. Throughout the Russian Revolution and Animal Farm, both Napoleon and Stalin weren’t able to achieve the goal of communism or equality. George Orwell created Napoleon under Stalin’s image, despite that fact that everyone is not exactly the same. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, simply to explain the connection between the live of the animals on the farm and the Russian Revolution. The allegory mainly target Joseph Stalin. Through out the Russian revolution, Stalin tried to make Russia a better country, but failed. He abolished the idea of communism and ruled his country as a tyrant. If Stalin didn’t kill Trotsky, Trotsky might’ve been the leader of Russia. With Trotsky’s warm heart and intelligent Russia would’ve been better. Stalin may look good on the outside, but he truly is hypocrite. Works Cited â€Å"Background of the Russian Revolution. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 11 March 2011 Gibson, Micheal. Russia Under Stalin. England: Wayland, 1972 â€Å"Joseph Stalin. † Jewishvirtuallibrary. org. 11 March 2011 â€Å"Karl Marx and the Theory of Communism. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 12 March 2011 Nosotro, Rit. â€Å"Brutal ruler of communist Russia. † Hyperhistory. net 9 October 2010. 12 March 2011 Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Penguin Group, 1946 â€Å"Russo-Japanese War and the Revolution of 1905. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 12 March 2011 Strickler, James. Russia of the Tsars. California: Luccent Books, 1998 â€Å"The Death of Lenin and the Problem of a Replacement. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 12 March 2011 Nguyen 8 ; http://www. saskschools. ca/curr_content/history20/unit1/sec6_11. html; â€Å"The History Guide: Karl Marx. † Historyguide. org 30 January 2008. 12 March 2011 â€Å"Trotsky. † Trotsky. net. 11 March 2011 Trueman, Chris. â€Å"Leon Trotsky. † Historylearningsite. co. uk. 12 March 2011 â€Å"Tsar Nicholas II: Biography. † Spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk. 11 March 2011

Evaluation of Amy hecklings movie Clueless essays

Evaluation of Amy hecklings movie Clueless essays Evaluation of movie Clueless by Amy Heckling I believe that In any transformation, it is always the more recently composed text that will have a greater appeal. I have followed admirably Jane Austen's example by making a film that, on the surface, seems like another mindless teen flick but is actually a multi-layered social commentary. I took Austen's novel Emma, the story of a spoiled child of the 19th century English leisure class who thinks she knows everything, and turned it into the film Clueless, the story of a spoiled child of the 20th century American leisure class who thinks she knows everything. Not only did my experiment display the universal nature of Jane Austen's work, it also resulted in a charming and what I feel very funny film which will hopefully become a box office success. In my hands, Austen's novel proves itself to be surprisingly adaptable to the contemporary period. Some updating is only minor, photography substitutes for portraiture, convertibles for carriages, parties in the Valley for fancy dress balls. Others are less obvious, Mr. Woodhouse's preoccupation with his digestion and Emma's concerns about his health undergo a contemporary twist in Cher's imposition of a low-cholesterol diet on her father. Even Emma's mother's death receives my own 1990s treatment. Cher's mother died undergoing liposuction a 20th century procedure never contemplated in those times. More significant changes challenge the severity of time boundaries, class differences in the novel are complicated as the film adds racial and sexual diversity to the mix. (The orphaned Harriet Smith becomes a Hispanic transfer student, Frank Churchill is revealed to be gay, and Emma's best friend becomes a rich African American). To gain insight into my main characters thinking, I employ the alternative technique of voice-over for Cher. While written in the third person, the novel is told from Emma's...

Connotation (of Words) - Definition and Examples

Connotation (of Words) s Connotation refers to the emotional implications and associations that a word may carry, in contrast to its denotative (or literal) meanings. Verb: connote. Adjective: connotative. Also called intension or sense. The connotation of a word can be positive, negative, or neutral. It can also be either cultural or personal. Heres an example: To most people the word cruise connotessuggestsa delightful holiday; thus its cultural connotation is positive. If you get seasick, however, the word may connote only discomfort to you; your personal connotation is negative.(Vocabulary by Doing, 2001) In his book Patterns and Meanings (1998), Alan Partington observes that connotation is a problem area for learners of a language: [Because] it is an important mechanism for the expression of attitude, it is of paramount importance that learners be aware of it in order to grasp the illocutionary intent of messages. Etymology:  From the Latin, mark along with Examples and Observations In the East the wilderness has no evil connotation; it is thought of as an expression of the unity and harmony of the universe.(William O. Douglas)Exercise addiction.It sounds like an oxymoronexercise has a healthy connotation, while addiction sounds negative.But experts are seeing some people abuse a healthy lifestyleand for one Los Angeles woman, the addiction lasted nearly 20 years.(Jessica Ryen Doyle, Woman Battles Exercise Addiction for Nearly 20 Years. Fox News.com, October 17, 2012)In the real world, procrastination has a negative connotation.People who leave things to the last minute are often characterized as lazy, unprepared and inefficient.In professional sports, though, procrastination isn’t a label to be ashamed about. In fact, putting things off until the last possible moment might be the sign of a true champion.(Ian Mendes, Procrastinate Like a Champion. Ottawa Citizen, October 15, 2012)Debt is a four letter word. For many people it has the same connotation as m any other four letter words. However, not all debt is bad. . . . In general terms good debt is defined as debt that allows someone to invest in the future such as business loans, student loans, mortgages and real estate loans.(How to Know When Debt Is a Four Letter Word. MarketWatch, October 17, 2012) Stimulus is Washington talk, said Rahm Emanuel, the coming White House chief of staff with a sandpapered-fingertip sensitivity to the familiar connotation of words. Economic recovery is how the American people think of it.(William Safire, Recovery. The New York Times, Dec. 12, 2008)Synonyms and ConnotationsA group of synonyms cannot by definition be distinguished in terms of their denotation, but they usually display noticeable differences of connotation, as in the case of car, automobile, runabout, buggy, banger, bus, hot rod, jalopy, old crock, racer, and so on.(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003)A Rose by Any Other Name- Mr. Powers: Jones. I dont like that name. Its going to handicap you, young man. Now wait a minute. Ive got some sort of a name here. Yes. Haverstock. Huntley Haverstock. Sounds a little more important, dont you think, Mr. Fisher?Mr. Fisher: Oh, yes, yes. Very dashing.Mr. Powers: . . . Well, speak up young man. You dont mind being Huntley Haverstock, do you?Johnny Jones: A rose by any name, sir.(Harry Davenport, George Sanders, and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent, 1940)- What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,Nor arm, nor face, nor any other partBelonging to a man. O! be some other name:What’s in a name? that which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet.(Juliet in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)- Lisa: A rose by any other name smells as sweet.Bart: Not if you call them Stench Blossoms.(The Simpsons) Light CigarettesAltria said it had used terms like light as well as packaging colors to connote different tastes, not safety. But study after studyincluding ones by the industry disclosed in tobacco lawsuitshas shown consumers believe the terms and colors connote a safer product.(Duff Wilson, Coded to Obey Law, Lights Become Marlboro Gold. The New York Times, Feb. 18, 2010)Pork Butt or Boston Roast?In an effort to boost sales going into the grilling season and make shopping at the meat counter a bit easier, the pork and beef industries are retooling more than 350 names of meat cuts to give them more sizzle and consumer appeal. . . .[By summer,] the pork chop will be gone. Instead, grocery retailers could be stocking stacks of porterhouse chops, ribeye chops and New York chops. The pork butt which actually comes from shoulder meatwill be called a Boston roast.(New Meat Names Mean Bye Bye, Pork Chop; Hello, Ribeye. Chicago Tribune, April 10, 2013)ReservationThe name reservation has a negative connotation among Native Americansan intern camp of sorts.(John Russell) TribeSince tribe has assumed a connotation of primitiveness or backwardness, it is suggested that the use of nation or people replace the term whenever possible in referring to Native American peoples.(R. B. Moore, Racism in the English Language, in The Production of Reality, ed. J. OBrien, 2005)Socialism and Capitalism[For many], socialism implies egalitarianism and that people are living for society, while capitalism has been given the connotation of materialism, greedy, selfish, self-serving, and so on.(Milton Friedman)Denotation and Connotation in a Poem by E.A. RobinsonIn the following poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, distinguish between the denotative and connotative meanings of the words in italics.Richard Cory (1897)Whenever Richard Cory went down town,We people on the pavement looked at him:He was a gentleman from sole to crown,Clean favored, and imperially slim.And he was always quietly arrayed,And he was always human when he talked;But still he fluttered pulses when he sa id,Good-morning, and he glittered when he walked.And he was richyes, richer than a king,And admirably schooled in every grace:In fine, we thought that he was everythingTo make us wish that we were in his place.So on we worked, and waited for the light,And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,Went home and put a bullet through his head. Denotation and Connotation in a Poem by Henry David ThoreauIn the following poem we have italicized a number of key words whose connotative meaning directs our response to the images. Although the poem is mostly imagesthe overt commentary is confined to the first two linesthe poets attitude is anything but neutral.Pray to What Earth Does This Sweet Cold Belongby Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)Pray to what earth does this sweet cold belong,Which asks no duties and no conscience?The moon goes up by leaps, her cheerful pathIn some far summer stratum of the sky,While stars with their cold shine bedot her way.The fields gleam mildly back upon the sky,And far and near upon the leafless shrubsThe snow dust still emits a silver light.Under the hedge, where drift banks are their screen,The titmice now pursue their downy dreams,As often in the sweltering summer nightsThe bee doth drop asleep in the flower cup,When evening overtakes him with his load.By the brooksides, in the still, genial ni ght,The more adventurous wanderer may hearThe crystals shoot and form, and winter slowIncrease his rule by gentlest summer means.(David Bergman and Daniel Mark Epstein, The Heath Guide to Literature. D.C. Heath, 1984) The Lighter Side of Connotations: Purses and HandbagsWhy is it a handbag instead of a purse?The General simultaneously rolled her eyes and released a tired sigh. A purse is a cheap, plastic discount store thing. A handbag is what contemporary, fashion-conscious women carry. And thats what we sell. Expensive designer handbags. An assortment of the latest trends and must-have famous names. They are handbags and you need to refer to them that way. You can say bag for short, but never, ever, ever say the word purse Its an insult to the exclusive designers we carry. Got it?Got it.But I didnt really get it. The whole thing sounded kind of snooty and stupid.(Freeman Hall, Retail Hell: How I Sold My Soul to the Store. Adams Media, 2009)The Lighter Side of Connotations: PantiesTheres a certain light connotation attached to the word panties. Can we find another name for them?(Joseph N. Welch as Judge Weaver in Anatomy of a Murder, 1959) Pronunciation: kon-no-TAY-shun Also known as: affective meaning, intensional meaning Also see: Choosing the Best Words: Denotations and ConnotationsAssociative MeaningBertrand Russell on the Connotative Power of WordsConceptual MeaningCommonly Confused Words:  Connotation  and  DenotationCommonly Confused Words:  Connote  and  DenoteDysphemism  and  EuphemismGlittering GeneralitiesLoaded WordsOrthophemismParadiastolePejorative LanguagePhonaestheticsReflected MeaningSemanticsSemioticsSnarl Words Purr WordsSubtextSynonym  and  SynonymyUsage NoteWord ChoiceWriters on Writing: Ten Tips for Finding the Right Words

Managing Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Organisations - Essay Example ld help an organisation handle stress and health and safety at workplace; and economics would provide theories applicable in labour market dynamics and productivity. Managers, even the highly educated would always be seeking for universal, simple management solutions which do not exist because the contingency theory defines each situation need with its unique approach (Pettus, Kor & Mahoney 2009). According to Searle (2003), organisational psychology employs scientifically-based principles in psychology and research methods in the identification and solving of problems at work places. It aims at giving managers the insights into understanding and measuring human behaviour so as to improve employee satisfaction, increase the ability of managers to identify and promote best performers and make the working conditions better. These would be achieved through creation of tests and understanding the evaluation of human factors. According to the expectancy theory, one of the motivation psychological theories, the first step towards the attainment of superior performance from an employee would be through expectancy which describes the level to which an employee perceives that application of sufficient effort would yield successful achievement in a task (Searle 2003). In the second step, referred to as instrumentality, the employee’s concern would be whether successful achievement in a task would yield rewards. Finally, the employees’ value of the reward would also be considered. As a matter of fact, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD (2005) points out at the equity theory which suggests that an employee would always compare oneself to other employees according to the contributions made and the reward received. Maslow also contributed to this discussion by defining the work environment and motivational effects where the scholar argued that several critical needs would be fulfilled through work, giving the hierarchy of these needs (Luthans et al.

Research Proposal on the Influence of Gender and Age on Cyber Bulling

On the Influence of Gender and Age on Cyber Bulling - Research Proposal Example However, with the advancements in information technology have arisen insecurity issues. Insecurity issues have in turn sparked far reaching implications to the users. In particularly, insecurity issues in information technology have been closely associated with internet usability. This comes when the usefulness of internet cannot be presently overemphasized. It is for this reason that information technology and security issues become critical. Important, though, have been the concerns on how to address these forms of insecurity. Background of the Problem The aspect on information technology that is paramount to this discussion is cyber bullying and how whether or not it is affected by age or gender. According to Hopeline (2011), cyber bullying has emerged to be the newest platform on which the youths are increasingly abusing each other. The more concerning issue is that there are currently no appropriate techniques that intervene for cyber bullying despite large numbers of kids who a ccess the information technologies. Internet and cell phone communications have been cited as tools for Cyber bullying. According to Hopline, what appalls even more is that Cyber bullying occurs during kids’ class time. Hopline cites that cyber bullying has far reaching implications on kids, so that the victims (kids) of cyber bullying only feel safe when in their bedrooms. This clearly shows that it does not under all circumstances hold that cyber bullying causes physical harm. However, cyber bullying is mostly associated with causation of harmful emotional fallout which may cumulate to other far reaching consequences. It is factual that kids are major victims of cyber bullying. It is also true that cyber... This essay says that the researcher has set out research questions in an attempt to identifying specific considerations to make in order to achieve the purposes outlined above. The research questions are said to have very close relation with the purpose of the study in the sense that the research questions are going to be tackled during research work. Successful completion of this research work will come with a lot of significance to a lot of people, especially primary and secondary students. This report shall be conventional to the guidelines of the Ethics of a University. Before starting the process of handling the questionnaires to the children, letters shall be sent to parents and to head-teachers, describing the nature of the study. These letters will serve the purpose of informing them about the content of the questionnaire. The main aim additionally, shall be to confirm about the confidentiality of the study. In this respect, parents shall sign the parental consent forms as an approval for their children to participate in the study. In this regard, they shall have one week deadline to send them back to the researcher. It shall also be required that teachers and head-teachers approve the study. This, therefore, necessitated that this researcher inform them about the study, the collection of data, and the process to be followed and about the privacy of the questionnaires. It is also worth noting that teachers will be informed that they will be present during the proc ess of the survey and if they have any objection that need be discussed with the researcher.

Cultural communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural communication - Essay Example He broke up the code of honor that is one of the codes of communication by throwing away her wife in the public. It was considered a shame for Dakota men to reveal their emotions and feelings concerning anything publically. By throwing his wife publically, he made a mistake of breaking up the code of honor of Dakota tradition. He showed his cultural dominance by throwing away blue Bird. Men are considered to have an upper hand in Dakota tradition. The story Waterlily is based on the lifestyle and cultural norms exercised in Dakota Tradition by the people of that society. The story circulates around the main character, Waterlily, whose birth in a forest and her association to Waterlily enables her to get the name, Waterlily. Her mother, Blue Bird regards her very beautiful. Blue Bird marries to a Dakota man named Star Elk. After her marriage with the man, she comes to know that her husband is a lethargic and covetous individual and has no regard for Dakota tradition. At a victory dance, he in his overly emotional state shows his disregard for the Dakota tradition by throwing away his wife in front of all the people. This incident appears as a sort of humiliation for Blue Bird and her daughter Waterlily. Due to the publically upheaval displayed by Blue Bird’s husband, she runs away with her daughter and grandmother to her relatives called tiyospaye. Tiyospaye are the people who live in western plains. Waterlily is brought up in a cultural set up where she learns about cultural norms and how can she become a part of culture. The story, Waterlily not only talks about the protagonist, Waterlily but also informs about various cultures and conventions adopted by the Dakota people. Waterlily learns the rules of kinship. She learns the code of honor and all the aspects that come under this code of communication. She learns aboput how can a person be part of

Business communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Business communication - Essay Example While writing, keep the key purpose in mind and by no means one should drift from it. Nonetheless, if during the way of writing, one notices that centre of attention has altered, it is imperative to correct writing as considered necessary to reveal the point with the intention of keeping an understandable, as well as logical document (Guffey, pp.27, 2007). The readers should be inform in the beginning how they will get advantage by reading the document; what they can achieve, which facts and figures can be found, or how they can be benefited from reading that document. Identifying the audience for which one is writing will assist in deciding the manner as well as substance of the document. If one is not certain regarding the readers then the writer should inquire from himself for whom he is writing the document as well as who is almost certainly get the advantage from his writing. If one is writing with the plan of advertising an artifact or service to a target market or supporting a cause, he might have to know the age of anticipated readers, the background of anticipated readers, the place where they live, their phase of life, their interests as well as activities, and what factors are important for them. These sorts of questions will assist the writer to aim his audience and then write for them (Locker & Kaczmarek, p.91, 2008). While one writes, he should take care of practical as well as other terminologies, short forms of words, in addition to abbreviations. Except that one is writing for a specially focused area, it is better to stay away from slang and to spell acronyms and abbreviations completely, at least when they are used first. Regardless of the readers, one usually does not have to be excessively conventional or reserved. A standard, relaxed tone will generally be helpful in getting the point across (Guffey, pp.13, 2007). As the reader has recognized, an effort should be made to foresee the facts that the reader would like or require,

Marketing Planning and Strategy (M7_1) Assignment

Marketing Planning and Strategy (M7_1) - Assignment Example This has the effect of cost reduction and improved productivity through learning and experience curve and overall increased market command from brand consistency. Most customers in all products in the world opt for a user friendly products and the car manufacturing industry is not an exceptional. In the car firms, comfort, safety, reliability and convenience rules the market. In that respect, Sync technology is a superb feature that is incorporating all the above stated factors plus many others that no any car firm in the globe can rival. It should therefore be noted that this is has given Ford a competitive edge above the others (Pride & Ferrell, 2012).Due to the increasing social economics adjustments in the society, women are rapidly joining the work force and they wield a lot of influence with their particular influence in the market for small car. The rising cost of fuel is also pushing people to go for the small cars as a cost cutting strategy and all these has made Ford invest in small cars hence greater market

Merit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Merit - Essay Example uous are rewarded and the vicious punished in proportion to their relative deserts† is- those who do good deeds are always rewarded while those who perform evil or bad actions are always punished. These actions are towards the attributes with which every individual is born. It also signifies the extent of goodness or evilness of the action that was performed and this is going to decide the merit or desert of the act (Pojman, 1999). In terms of merits the statement given by Pojman holds true in the sense that it promotes people to perform good or rather their best to secure rewards. This act is going to culminate the entire world a place where people are going to procure their merits according to their actions. These actions are in terms of promoting good deeds to make a healthy and congenial atmosphere. In the judicial system, it is not always true that those who have performed virtues are going to be rewarded! At times judgments have gone in favor of the evil task performer. Such cases create a sense of insecurity in the minds of people and tremble their trust and faith from the judiciary system of the country. The statement given by Pojman does not imply that this is how it is; instead it says that is how it should be. The theory in circumstance pronounce that it is not possible to change the minds of people and change the attitude but we all can strive hard to make this world a better place to live where people will receive their merits in proportion to their acts. There are various examples where people receive merits not because they have achieved something but they have deceived others to achieve their targets. Some examples are discussed here: one of the biggest politicians Saddam Husain was very popular amongst the people of Iraq; people rewarded him and offered him their wealth and everything what so ever they could and crowned him as the strongest person in the country. But as there is a saying that power corrupts so he started taking all the

Business communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Business communication - Essay Example While writing, keep the key purpose in mind and by no means one should drift from it. Nonetheless, if during the way of writing, one notices that centre of attention has altered, it is imperative to correct writing as considered necessary to reveal the point with the intention of keeping an understandable, as well as logical document (Guffey, pp.27, 2007). The readers should be inform in the beginning how they will get advantage by reading the document; what they can achieve, which facts and figures can be found, or how they can be benefited from reading that document. Identifying the audience for which one is writing will assist in deciding the manner as well as substance of the document. If one is not certain regarding the readers then the writer should inquire from himself for whom he is writing the document as well as who is almost certainly get the advantage from his writing. If one is writing with the plan of advertising an artifact or service to a target market or supporting a cause, he might have to know the age of anticipated readers, the background of anticipated readers, the place where they live, their phase of life, their interests as well as activities, and what factors are important for them. These sorts of questions will assist the writer to aim his audience and then write for them (Locker & Kaczmarek, p.91, 2008). While one writes, he should take care of practical as well as other terminologies, short forms of words, in addition to abbreviations. Except that one is writing for a specially focused area, it is better to stay away from slang and to spell acronyms and abbreviations completely, at least when they are used first. Regardless of the readers, one usually does not have to be excessively conventional or reserved. A standard, relaxed tone will generally be helpful in getting the point across (Guffey, pp.13, 2007). As the reader has recognized, an effort should be made to foresee the facts that the reader would like or require,

Merit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Merit - Essay Example uous are rewarded and the vicious punished in proportion to their relative deserts† is- those who do good deeds are always rewarded while those who perform evil or bad actions are always punished. These actions are towards the attributes with which every individual is born. It also signifies the extent of goodness or evilness of the action that was performed and this is going to decide the merit or desert of the act (Pojman, 1999). In terms of merits the statement given by Pojman holds true in the sense that it promotes people to perform good or rather their best to secure rewards. This act is going to culminate the entire world a place where people are going to procure their merits according to their actions. These actions are in terms of promoting good deeds to make a healthy and congenial atmosphere. In the judicial system, it is not always true that those who have performed virtues are going to be rewarded! At times judgments have gone in favor of the evil task performer. Such cases create a sense of insecurity in the minds of people and tremble their trust and faith from the judiciary system of the country. The statement given by Pojman does not imply that this is how it is; instead it says that is how it should be. The theory in circumstance pronounce that it is not possible to change the minds of people and change the attitude but we all can strive hard to make this world a better place to live where people will receive their merits in proportion to their acts. There are various examples where people receive merits not because they have achieved something but they have deceived others to achieve their targets. Some examples are discussed here: one of the biggest politicians Saddam Husain was very popular amongst the people of Iraq; people rewarded him and offered him their wealth and everything what so ever they could and crowned him as the strongest person in the country. But as there is a saying that power corrupts so he started taking all the

Reading Philosophies Essay Example for Free

Reading Philosophies Essay Is the student| |Constructivist |and cultural belief can influence the |along with the teacher a book. |responding or actively participating in class | | |learning along with interactions of other |Teacher will give the student a project on a topic|discussions | | |students in the classroom. and then will present it in front of the class |Mind mapping will have the students list and | | |In a classroom that utilizes the theory of |Have the students watch a clip or a movie and then|categorize new concepts | | |constructivism, there would be: |the teacher will conduct a discussion afterwards |Pre-assessments allows the teacher to know what | | |Vigorous participation |Teacher can take the students on a field trip to |the students know and what topics they will need | | | Small group interactions |relate real world experiences to the concepts |to be taught | | |New concepts shown within context |learned in class |Hands on activities assess how the students can | | |Previous knowledge used to create new | |utilize a particular learning tool | | |knowledge | | | |Questions or activities to lead to new | | | | |concepts | | | | |This theory is based on the teacher defines |Teacher can have the students underline a portion |Assessments though individual work. Is the | |Explicit or Direct |and model the concept, guides the students |of the text on an overhead or on the board to |student completing and doing individual | |Instruction |through application, and creates guided |depict whatever topic is being discussed, like |assignments? | | |practice until there is mastery of the |naming the nouns, proper nouns, prepositions, etc. |Assessment through a test or quiz with an essay | | |concept. Ask the students to check the text on the overhead|writing or project report | | |In this model, the classroom will consists |because you need to prove whatever topic is being |An informal assessment through having the | | |of: |discussed |children do â€Å"thumbs up or thumbs down† | | |Direct instruction of phonemic awareness |Ask the students to read a passage to see if it | | | |Decoding skills |sounds right and makes sense, then ask if there | | | |Rules of language |should be any revisions | | | | |Skill based worksheets, flash cards, or ga me | | | | |relating to the new concept | | Reading Philosophies It is important to know what type of effective teaching strategies you want to have when you step inside the classroom doors. Although there are many different teaching styles, the two most common philosophies are direct/explicit instruction and constructivist. Choosing either method is a matter of preference and what will work best for the teacher and the students. No matter what, the information that is given to the students must be informative and related to their needs as well as their particular grade level. This essay will discuss both approaches and what method I would like to utilize when I become a teacher. â€Å"Teachers can give students ladders that lead to higher understanding, yet the students themselves must climb these ladders† (Slavin, 2009, p. 231) emphasizes the view of a constructivist in which the students are vital roles in their own learning and development. A traditional idea about teaching is comparable to the constructivist method of teaching. This method commonly has the teacher identifying learning objectives, planning learning activities, and creating assessments. However this theory relies on the student’s knowledge and more hands on activities. The teacher’s role is to facilitate personal learning by establishing a community of learners, and by making it clear to the student that he or she is part of the community (Baines Stanley, 2000). Jean Piaget is well known for generally attributing to the formalization of constructivism. Piaget felt that accommodation and assimilation will help students construct new knowledge from their past experiences. When students assimilate, they will digest their new experience into a pre-existing context without altering the new context. It is also important to know that constructivism is not a specific pedagogy. In short, this theory describes how learning happens, despite of whether students are using their past experiences to comprehend the lesson. In a constructivist classroom, there would be (1) vigorous participation (2) small group discussions (3) concepts introduced within context, and (4) authentic literature, (GCU, 2013). Truthfully, many aspects of constructivism are commendable (Baines Stanley, 2000). One component of this theory is small group discussions. The next theory is direct or explicit instruction. This model (1) sets the stage for learning (2) teacher provides clear explanation of what to do (3) modeling the process (4) guided practice, and (4) independent practice. Throughout explicit instruction, teachers are responsible for monitoring the students’ needs and providing them a kind of scaffolding that is appropriate throughout their learning process. Modeling is a key component of scaffolded instruction (Truscott Truscott, 2004). When this strategy is used there will be gradual withdrawal of supportive learning structures to eventually become the sole responsibility of the student (Truscott Truscott, 2004). This concept has been known to improve learning however it may take a long time for the student to master. However once it is mastered, the student feels a sense of accomplishment and self-sufficient. Explicit instructions make the student responsible as well in a different way that constructivism is administered. Students will know and understand what they are expected to perform by themselves and what goals that they will work towards. In the content of reading, studies have shown that direct teaching of word meanings in a reading passage is more effective than an uninstructed vocabulary learning approach (Sanbul Schmitt (2010). There is an allowance for student engagement as well. Learning is an active process. Teachers of this model will maintain the classroom with proper behavior; however students should stay actively involved in the lesson in order to have the greatest impact on their learning. While they are being taught, students will be focused on the lesson as well as try to make sense of the new material. I feel that either theory is the not better than the other. I feel that both theories can work together in a classroom if they are balanced out. A study was conducted at the University of Kansas of 83 students who were targeted in the winter of kindergarten as being high risk for reading failure. Interventions were conducted in small groups of one to six students for thirty minute sessions, three times per week, for a two year period (Kamps, Abbot, Greenwood, Wills, Verrkamp, Kaufman, 2008). Reading comprehension is a very complex skill to teach. In this study, the students worked on comprehension strategies including decoding words, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge and rapid letter naming. As a result, the findings from this study proved that small group instruction improved in critical early literacy skills. Some students even advanced to grade level performance (Kamps, Abbot, Greenwood, Wills, Verrkamp, Kaufman, 2008). I feel this is a great example of both theories placed into one. The teacher was incorporated by working directly with the students; however the students were placed in smaller groups like in the constructivism theory. In my classroom, I would use constructivism to create a print-rich environment with student’s work posted and a time that students are free and able to discuss classroom topics. I would also relate the content that is being taught to a life experience so the students can understand that specific content area. I would also create high levels of interaction with lots of group work. However there will be a time for explicit instruction. I will monitor the students for understanding to make sure that they are deriving meaning from the instruction. I also think it is important that I model the assignment before I give it, especially for kindergarten because their understanding for directions is still very new. All teaching strategies or theories require some form of assessment to make sure the student understands the given concept. Although both theories are quite different, the assessments are the same. The assessments are either formative or summative. Teachers will use formative assessments through class observations of participation, questioning strategies, and peer or self assessment. Through summative strategies, it is usually benchmark exams or state mandated standardized testing. In conclusion, both theories have been proven to be very successful. Researchers agree that teachers need to be adaptive to meet students’ diverse and individual needs (Parsons, Davis, Scales, Williams, Kear, 2010). No one can clearly state which theory works better. I have observed both theories inside classrooms of today and the students were successful in their learning. I feel that whatever works best for you and your students, then just go for it. Bottom line, we need the students to become successful and proper citizens once they graduate so I hope to do my best when I am teaching and use both theories to make it happen. References Baines, L. A. , Stanley, G. (2000). We Want to See the Teacher. . Phi Delta Kappan, 82(4), 327. Kamps, D. , Abbott, M. , Greenwood, C. , Wills, H. , Veerkamp, M. , Kaufman, J. (2008). Effects of Small-Group Reading Instruction and Curriculum Differences for Students Most at Risk in Kindergarten. Journal Of Learning Disabilities, 41(2), 101-114. Parsons, S. A. , Davis, S. G. , Scales, R. Q. Williams, B. , Kear, K. A. (2010). How AND WHY TEACHERS ADAPT THEIR LITERACY INSTRUCTION. College Reading Association Yearbook, (31), 221-236. Slavin, R. E. (2009). Educational Psychology. In R. E. Slavin, Educational Psychology (pp. 30-44). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc. Sonbul, S. , Schmitt, N. (2010). Direct teachi ng of vocabulary after reading: is it worth the effort?. ELT Journal: English Language Teachers Journal, 64(3), 253-260. doi:10. 1093/elt/ccp059 Truscott, D. M. , Truscott, S. D. (2004). A professional development model for the positive practice of school-based reading consultation. Psychology In The Schools, 41(1), 51-65.

What Is New Public Management?

What Is New Public Management? New Public Management, what is it? We have heard the term throughout the first semester and have endeavoured to understand its historical and present relevance as well as its various facets that are supposedly favourable in reforming inefficient public sector enterprises, making them leaner and more efficient. But is New Public Management, all that it is made up to be, is it up-to the tasks it is set, is it the new paradigm for public sector reform in developing countries? These are the questions well be tackling in this paper. The Wikipedia defines New public management (NPM) as a management philosophy used by governments since the 1980s to modernise the public sector. It is a broad and very complex term used to describe the wave of public sector reforms throughout the world since the 1980s. The main hypothesis in the NPM-reform wave is that more market orientation in the public sector will lead to greater cost-efficiency for governments, without having negative side effects on other objectives and considerations.  [i]   The World Bank group thinks that NPM is used to describe a management culture that emphasizes the centrality of the citizen or customer, as well as accountability for results. It also suggests structural or organizational choices that promote decentralized control through a wide variety of alternative service delivery mechanisms, including quasi-markets with public and private service providers competing for resources from policymakers and donors. NPM does not claim that government should stop performing certain tasks. Although the New Public Management often is associated with this policy perspective, NPM is not about whether tasks should be undertaken or not. It is about getting things done better.  [ii]   It is supposed to have evolved as a consequence of the emergence of globalisation and as a response to policies of structural adjustment. NPM was conceived as a means to improve efficiency and responsiveness to political principals. Its origins were in Parliamentary democracies with curiously strong executive powers, centralized governments, and little administrative law. In this archetypal setting, NPM seems to embody the idea of a cascading chain of contracts leading to a single (usually Ministerial) principal who is interested in getting better results within a sector portfolio over which he or she has significant and relatively unchallenged authority.  [iii]   NPM, is a much more outcome oriented and efficient theory than earlier public management theories because it entails a more judicious disbursement of the public budget. It is supposed to be achieved by applying some attributes of the private sector into the public sector, such as competition etc. it can be said to be a policy to run the public sector as though it was the private sector but keeping public sector considerations in mind at the same time. The basis of NPM lay in reversing the two cardinal doctrines of progressive public administration (PPA); that is, lessening or removing differences between the public and the private sector and shifting the emphasis from process account-ability towards a greater element of account-ability in terms of results.  [iv]   It endeavours to better the public sector by restructuring, using tactics such as deregulation, decentralisation, promotion of autonomous agencies, output based evaluation, contracting, introduction of competition between agencies and enterprises etc. From the end of the 1970s to the 1990s governments around the world were engaged in widespread and sustained reforms of their public administration. These reforms started in the USA and the United Kingdom, where the Republican and Conservative governments that came to power championed the New Right campaigns for reforms. In New Zealand, however, where the most acclaimed reforms took place, the political force behind them was a Labour government, i.e. a leftist power. The reforms immediately aroused academic interest and research was carried out and theories developed. Perhaps to facilitate academic discourse, the reforms collectively came to be called the new public management (NPM).  [v]   The major driving force behind the reforms was economic stagnation in many countries. The New Right blamed this economic stagnation seen in huge national debts, balance of payment Sowaribi Tolofari problems, high rates of unemployment, underperforming industries, etc. on the excessive scope of governments engagement in business, mediocrity in administrative performance and the lack of accountability, among other things. In addition, there was also new intellectual thinking developing on how public services should be organised and delivered. This was probably because the populace in various countries were now better educated and more sophisticated in their thinking, tastes and demands.  [vi]   New Public Management has been a worldwide phenomenon in some form or other. Democratic regimes in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom have all implemented some range of reforms consistent with NPM. Malta and Austria have also implemented NPM elements. Each of these initiatives has had some combination of elements including cost cutting, creating of separate agencies or business enterprises to eliminate traditional bureaucracies, separating the purchaser of goods from the provider of those goods, introducing market mechanisms, decentralizing management authority, introducing performance-management systems, moving away from tenure-like civil service systems to contractual and pay-for-performance personnel systems, and increasing use of customer-focused quality improvement systems. Credit for the impetus of these reforms is given to American ideas, particularly the ideas of American public choice economists  [vii]   The philosophy seems to be based in the greatness of private management over public management and therefore suggests that the only logical thing to do is to transfer control to the private sector. Since all government activities cannot be transferred into private hands the theory suggests the next best thing, the application of business management into government. However, public management is different from public administration: the former is derived from commercial operations and is meant to bring about a new mind-set, a new vocabulary and a proliferation of management techniques. It is also meant to debureaucratize government operations and to reduce red tape substantially.  [viii]   If only one element is to be pointed out as characterising the reforms, it would be marketisation. The administration of public services was now benchmarked against private business power should be exercised by those who give the service; the consumer should have choice; the reason to exist should be determined by how well the organisation performs; there should be measures of performance and public accountability. These characteristics were based on certain theories: mainly public choice, transaction cost economics and principal-agent theory.  [ix]   The reforms have majorly been driven by a combination of socio-economic, political and technological factors. One of the similarities between countries going down the NPM route has been the experience of some sort of economic or fiscal crisis, which speeded up these countrys will to streamline their enterprises and cut back costs wherever possible, basically to stabilize their economy any-which way possible. With crisis looming overhead the tenacity of the welfare state came under fire and with it the institutionalised form of state run enterprises. One can say that these reforms are not purely the work of political will, other more sinister external factors were in play. In the case of most developing countries, reforms in public administration and management have been driven more by external pressures and have taken place in the context of structural adjustment programmes. Other drivers of NPM-type reforms include the ascendancy of neoliberal ideas from the late 1970s, the developm ent of information technology, and the growth and use of international management consultants as advisors on reforms. Additional factors, in the case of developing countries, include lending conditionalitys and the increasing emphasis on good governance.  [x]   The literature provides evidence that in many, if not the majority of, developing countries, economic crisis has been by far the most important factor driving the introduction of ambitious reforms in the public sector since the early 1980s. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) economic and fiscal crises preceded economic reforms, which also triggered public sector management reforms. Many African and Latin American countries suffered from unsustainable external and domestic debts, deteriorating real terms of trade, increasing real interest rates on international financial markets, high inflation, low levels of savings and investment, and shortages of basic consumer goods. More recently, the economic and fiscal crises in the Asian tiger economies have promoted major reforms in the public sectors of countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. Most countries, especially in Africa, had debilitating underlying problems à ³ severe institutional weaknesses, fiscal indiscipline and weak e xternal competitiveness.  [xi]   Larbi describes the economic and fiscal situation that was the harbinger of NPM reforms in Africa and Latin America. He records that many African and Latin American countries suffered unsustainable rates on international financial markets, high inflation, low levels of savings and investments, and shortages of basic consumer goods. It should be noted, however, that in these cases external pressures from so-called donors and lenders initiated the reforms. Kiiza accounts for the effect of this difference by saying that available comparative evidence shows both a handsome and an ugly face of the reforms: The handsome face of managerialism appears in the developed countries where the review of Weberian public administration has been done deliberately in search of excellence. The ugly face appears in the developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where Managerialism has been religiously spread by the IMF/World Bank fraternity.  [xii]   Internally, in these countries, policy deficiencies, bad and excessive management of the economy, large-scale institutionalized corruption, weak and demoralized public services, low productivity and political instability, all contributed to a worsening of the crises. Loss-making SOEs contributed significantly to budget deficits and thus to the fiscal crisis.  [xiii]   Going first to the IMF and then to the World Bank meant accepting stabilization and structural adjustment packages with their accompanying conditionalitys in order to obtain credits and debt rescheduling from creditor banks and multilateral lending institutions. Policy-based lending by multilateral institutions was used as an instrument to encourage crisis states to embark on reforms that were pro-market and pro-private sector.  [xiv]   Thus it can be said that in a way NPM was stuffed down these nations throats. But the most primary mistake committed was that the policies and the structures utilized in implementing the NPM in these countries were the same that were proven successful in their more developed counterparts. What was not realized or was ignored was that the manner of functioning of the countrys beuracricies their market, the level of development of their private sectors was markedly different from the developed countries and the same ideas were not liable to work here. Despite all its advantages, one of the premier drawbacks of NPM most of the time was its very little contribution to actual policymaking. Instead, seeing as its main emphasis is private sector managerial techniques, it emphasizes the need for fewer thinkers and more doers. However, if one defines success as substantive involvement of citizens in shaping the direction of policy that affects their lives, there is little indication of such involvement beyond what existed before NPM implementation began. As Pollitt (1993) notes, citizenship is an awkward concept for those promoting managerialism, where the term customer is more common. He argues that the collectivist view of citizenship is alien to an individualist model where the market is the chief focus of transactions and values (125-6). Armstrong (1998) notes in his assessment of Australian implementation of NPM that the concept of meeting customer needs ignores the ability of customers to articulate their needs or make choices, either because they are uninformed or do not have the resources to do so . Rhodes further argues that in Australia, there is no evidence to show that (NPM) has provided customers with any means whatever of holding the government to account (1996, 106-10). Those claiming success for NPM have focused on short-term effects and on issues of efficiency. While it may be too early to assess the long-term impact of NPM in countries such as New Zealand and Australia, the evidence supporting democratic accountability and citizen engagement is not encouraging. This concept of management has little to do with democracy and democratic values, shedding the reality or the facade of democracy found in earlier public-sector reforms. What is left is a core of market orientation to economic efficiency in the public sector. As Borgmann (1992) argues, when citizens are recast as consumers, they operate within an attenuated form of democracy: But to extol the consumer is to deny the citizen. When consumers begin to act, the fundamental decisions have already been made. Consumers are in a politically and morally weak position. They are politically weak because the signals that they can send to the authorities about the common order are for the most part ambiguous. Does the purchase of an article signal approval, thoughtlessness, or lack of a better alternative?  [xv]   Dunleavy and Hood (1994) note concerns among traditional bureaucrats or hierarchists about the potential destabilizing effects of NPM if the processes of change should get out of control, become unmanageable and do irreversible damage to the provision of public services. For developing countries, but not for the World Bank and donor agencies, the price to be paid for such policy mistakes may be great in terms of threats to political stability and loss of economic wellbeing. In the United Kingdom, one of the leading exemplars in NPM applications the internal market in the NHS has been criticized as concentrating too many The New Public Management Approach and Crisis States resources on management and paperwork rather than on front-line service provision. This is illustrated by the almost fourfold increase in the number of managers in the NHS between 1991 and 1994, with administration absorbing 10.5 per cent of all NHS costs in 1994, compared to 6 per cent before the reforms. Overall, public sector managers are seen as a gaining group in the managerial emphasis in reforms.  [xvi]   But at the same time NPM will also be causing problems of morale in the public services because of the basic premise of NPM being the superiority of private sector over the public sector. Moreover, because it also suggests that whenever possible its activities should be transferred to the private sector, the implication is that public service has no intrinsic value. It also belittles the noble side of the public-service profession: public servants became public servants because they wanted to serve their country. If they had wanted to become entrepreneurs, they would have joined the private sector or started their own businesses.  [xvii]   Critics of the NPM, lamenting the collapse of the welfare state, have referred to the increasing inequality that market-type mechanisms produce market niche-seeking behaviour by public service providers. Whereby, conditions of social exclusion may be created given the organizational and cultural changes in social provision, expressed in the concepts of markets and individualism. Thus, those who need state provision and welfare safety-nets most viz a viz the poor and the vulnerable will be harmed by such reforms. Accountability and monitoring becomes tougher with fragmentation. Furthermore, since governments and other purchasers struggle to monitor contracts in various provider organisations, there is a risk of incurring huge transaction costs. According to Le Grand and Barlett (1993) quality in service provision may decline since minimalist, economizing standards are replacing aspirational professional standards. The pursuit of efficiency in flawed policies with short-term gains will be encouraged by NPM, undermining states capability to take a continuing standpoint on education, technology, health and the environment, given the heavy emphasis on cost reduction. One needs to consider these issues before seeking to transfer NPM to crisis states.  [xviii]   When assessing NPM critically, it is noted that there might be a promotion of corruption and self-interest by the senior bureaucrats and policy makers, who will opt for contracting out and for privatization in lieu of opportunities for rent-seeking and other forms of misdemeanour. Furthermore, greed, favouritism and conflicting interests in NPM has also piloted in a decline in ethical standards of public life. In case of developing countries, adopting the NPM will lead to more arbitrary use of judgment since the accountability mechanisms are weak and patronage systems more prevalent. The NPM method may work better in some frameworks than others. Like the public service which covers various activities, some of which are person-centred like, education, while some are not. Some are competitive, others are hard to mould into the competitive format, some high technological content (telecommunications), and others low. Thus, these factors should be kept in mind, as they affect the chances of NPM being a good fit in crisis states. Clarke and Newman have also argued that NPM à ¬is often portrayed as a global phenomenon à ³ a core element in the process of convergence between states, overriding distinct political and cultural characteristicsà ®. Given the different and difficult circumstances of reforms in adjusting economies and the potential risks mentioned above, it is doubtful whether a universalistic and à ¬evangelicalà ® approach to NPM is a tenable option. Even in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, experience suggests that change toward NPM à ¬has not been smooth and linear, but uneven and contestedà ® and that social actors are not shaped unambiguously by large-scale trends or forces for change.  [xix]   NPM-related reforms generally might undermine political control, meaning that administrative leaders in the central departments and agencies, such as leaders in public commercial enterprises, are gaining influence, but also private commercial actors and consumers more generally. The reforms have created more skepticism towards collective solutions, a depolitization of the public sector and increasing conflicts over what is public.  [xx]   While there is relatively little NPM to be found in developing countries when compared to the early predictions, there is even less evaluation of NPMs impact. The most comprehensive overview of NPM type reforms is offered by Batley (1999). Summarizing the conclusions from a 5-year review of the changing role of government in adjusting economies in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and South America, Batley finds that the effect of NPM reforms has been mixed, at best, with some improvements in efficiency and mixed effects on equity. On the downside, he notes that the transaction costs of radical reforms to autonomize service delivery agencies tend to outweigh the efficiency gains of unbundling, and that reforms that seek to separate purchasers from providers sometimes reduce accountability.  [xxi]   Refocusing on the effective state is given prominence in the 1997 World Development Report, The State in a Changing World, which marks a significant shift in thinking about the state and its role in development: the need to factor the state back into development. There is now some recognition by the Bank that reforming the public sector the NPM way does not lend itself to clear, unambiguous solutions. NPM is not a panacea for all problems in the developing economies. conclusion The above-mentioned criticisms of NPM and concerns about social solidity, parity and steadiness have rejuvenated interest in the dynamic role of the state again. The debate has changed. It is how do we re-empower the state so that it is able to do its job effectively. While the new public management method may not be a answer for the problems of public sector management in developing states, a cautious and selective variation of some features to selected areas may be advantageous and their employment needs to be subtle to operative reality. The enthusiasm for neoliberal policies and NPM practices that characterized most of the 1980s and early 1990s is now tempered with caution and, in some cases, rejection of the more extreme forms of the NPM approach. There is recognition that imposing one template of reform on all, irrespective of context, is unwise and unimplementable, and may even breed conflict and undermine stability. The way forward is to make the state work better, not to dismantle it. The Bank suggests two strategies. The first is to match the states role to its capability; the earlier mistake was that the state tried to do too much with few resources and limited capacity. The second approach is to strengthen the capability of the state by reinvigorating public administration institutions to enable them to perform their enabling, regulating, monitoring and co-ordinating roles. This will entail creating effective rules and restraints, encouraging greater competition in service provision, applying measures to monitor performance gains, and achieving a more responsive mix of central and local governance by steering policies in the direction of greater decentralization.  [xxii]   NPM-type reforms in developing states seem to be based on a common framework with those in developed countries and seem to follow a blueprint rather than a process or contingent approach. Yet these countries differ widely in terms of their institutional conditions and their capacity to implement public sector management reforms based on NPM principles and practices.  [xxiii]   There is a need to give consideration to problems of how to implement rather than just what to implement. For some time now, too much attention has focused on the plan content of reforms without suitable attention to suitable preparations for application, partly due to the domination of outside organizations in the design of reform bundles and the resultant dearth of resident ownership and promise to reform.

No Child Left Behind Essay example -- Education Teaching Learning Essa

No Child Left Behind As students in a Structure & Philosophy class, one of the main components has been to introduce and familiarize us with the No Child Left Behind Act. President Bush passed this legislation on January 8, 2002. The NCLB Act was designed to ensure each and every student the right to a fair education, to give parents more options in their child’s education, and to guarantee all teachers are highly qualified. By highly qualified, the act means teachers must have at least a bachelor’s degree, have full state certification or licensure, and have demonstrated competence in their subject areas (US Dept. of Education). â€Å"Making the Grade,† which was published in the Salt Lake Tribune in September of this year, is an article arguing the negative sides of the No Child Left Behind Act. Through this article, a majority of the discussion regarded the budgeting involved with NCLB. This article calls No Child Left Behind a â€Å"one-size-fits-all formula for improving education in America† (Making the Grade). According to President Bush, the NCLB Act is â€Å"’the cornerstone’ of his administration† (Salt Lake Tribune). Like with any legislation, however, come both positive and negative sides. As argued in â€Å"Making the Grade,† the No Child Left Behind Act seeks to reduce gaps in testing areas that have allowed kids to advance without having high-quality skills in subjects such as math and reading. By discovering what kids are slipping through the gaps in testing, it will be easier for schools to aid these students and make sure they are not left behind. Other main goals of this act include to find teachers who are not well educated in the subjects they are currently teaching, and to locate those schools who fail t... ... Act highly overweigh the few negative sides of the act, such as the supposed lack of funding as pointed out in â€Å"Making the Grade.† With time and patience, I feel everyone will see the benefits of this act and will be supportive of a brighter future of education in the US. Works Cited: â€Å"Making the Grade.† Salt Lake Tribune. 14 Sept. 2003. 30 Oct. 2003. http://web.lexisnexis.com/universe/document?_m=e639f774e6d2737990eb1dcaeec86e34&_docnum=92&wchp=dGLbVlbzSkVA&_md5=66c0907fb6980f1de15959b46cf292a4 US Department of Education. Choices for Parents. 8 November 2003. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/index.html?src=ov US Department of Education. No Child Left Behind. 8 November 2003. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml US Department of Education. No Child Left Behind. 8 November 2003. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/ayp/testing.html