Monday, September 30, 2019

Online Grading System Essay

Today, many pre-school, elementary and high school students in their school are not use an automated system in daily life. But there are so many schools are still using manual system. Grading System is the most commonly used in computing and analyzing the performance, talents and skills of the students and for achievement and assist in identifying problems of the student? It is the important record to keep even for the longest time for the referral and credentials of the student to enter their next level of attaining their goals. Grading System for Data Accuracy will help a lot in the part of teachers, school, administration and as well as the security of data of students and tract record that recognizes of one student, this maybe use for analyzing of your attitude and values. Based on our research, the school of San Guillermo Academy in Talisay , Batangas is using a manual computation of grades of each student, which the teachers are using Microsoft excel to compute the grades of each students and they have no registrar, just the adviser of their section releasing their grades. Manual computation is very prompt to risk for any circumstances. It is time consuming in terms of recording grades, computation using of calculator. If some records are lost, they never retrieve it in case of unexpected calamity. Accuracy and security is not been so defined. The proposed system in San Guillermo Academy is an Automated Online Grading System where it will provide in the internet and made by using database and web development. This Online Grading System is unique because grade in each subject that just need to be able to compute the particular average grades of the each student. It consist of an office of the registrar where all the grades of each student in San Guillermo Academy took place and the office of the registrar will take charge to release all  grades of the student. Having an Automated and Online Grading System for the said school will give an unique formula that will be use in getting or computing the grades of the students and system where personnel can encode the student’s grade. Using the different formula in computing of student’s grades of the said school is not accurate and/or different result in other student’s grades using another different formula. Thus, having an Automated Grading System for the said school will become easy, accurate and time saving for the Teachers, Personnel as well as the students. Background of the Study The San Guillermo Academy Grading System today is processed manually, it causes the teachers doing heavy task of computing grades every grading period. The manual Grading System in San Guillermo Academy slows down the processing and delaying submission of grades as well as the security of data of the students has not been defined in manual system. The computerized grading system will benefit the school and help the students to view their grades every examination period. The rapid advancement of computers in our society has made our daily workloads easier and more accurate. With its vast development, we need to set ourselves in its change and go with its flow. Statement of the problem 1. Is automated grading system can retrieve any student records than manual grading system? 2. Is Manual grading system gives more accurate, efficiency and easy to use than the automated grading system? 3. Is manual grading system makes the task easier and less consuming of time than the automated grading system? 4. Is there any significance between the manual grading systems to the automated grading system?

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Using “Too much punch for judy” as a stimulus

In the second lesson we had to act out ‘A night on the town’ in the form of still images, we did this in a group of four (myself, Luke, Reece and lee). Our stimulus for this task was our own visualisation from reading the script. In the first two scenes we had a split stage, showing two men and two women getting ready for their night out, in doing so we wanted to create juxtaposition; so the audience can clearly differentiate between the two groups of people in the still image. In the third scene we had to show a still image of the two men watching the two women in the bar we (me and Reece) had to enhance our facial expressions and body language to seem attracted to the women (Luke and Lee). What we did to show that we was interested in the two girls was have our line of sight directly on them, and our bodies had to be very ‘masculine’ and facial expressions were inquisitive, we made this possible by raising our eyebrows and having wide eyes, and our heads were leaned back at an angle, to show that we are ‘checking them out’. Lee and Luke had to close themselves from the audience, and have them facing the floor, to show shyness. We did this to show a typical night out in a bar, it was a convention. Towards the end of the lesson we had to develop the still images into a role play, using chat up lines and other explorative strategies. In the first scene we had both groups getting ready for their night out, at the same time, but this time we added movement, and speech. Myself and Reece playing the two men, was from east London, so we had a typical cockney accent , and slow and heavy movement, to create a sense of presence. To make the two women to start acting, we marked the moment by using the line ‘come on mate, it’s not like we’re ’gonna’ crash. After that line was said that was the cue for Luke and Lee to start their performance, they were two typical women from Essex; with their role play they enhanced the women by having feminine movements and doing typical gestures for example putting on make-up and asking ‘if this outfit looks nice? The next scene involved us in the bar, we stared with the men entering the bar before the women, and they’ve already settled with a drink. With our characterisation we had created two typical men looking for women to chat up to in a bar, we had a calm and smooth tone to our voices to signify this. Once the two women entered the bar, we froze with a still image that we used in the first exercise, to continue the performance I pretended to whisper in to Reece’s ear ‘I’m having the one on the left. We had a spilt stage where the two groups spoke between each other, while the other group mimed in the background. This was done so the audiences could understand what the men and women’s intentions were. Each group talked about their feelings for the person they want to ‘chat-up with, we did this engage the audience as we are revealing our purposes in this performance. To end our performance Reece walked up to Lee and used a ‘cheesy chat-up line’ so we can finish off with a bit of comedy; the line was ‘Hey babe, I’ve got the pencil; and you’ve got the sharpener! Just after that line we went straight into a still image, to show the shock on all our faces as if to say, that was the worst chat-up line used. In another lesson we had to watch a short advertisement about drink driving, and the effects on alcohol on people. We had to create a short awareness advert that shows the effects of drunk driving, and a way to stop driving while intoxicated with alcohol. Our group consisted of, me (driver), Brandon (passenger), Binte (passenger) and Tyrell (passenger). We came up with a basic outline for a performance. The story was the four of us went on a typical ‘night out’ and got drunk and decided to drive home, as soon as I put the key in the ignition we froze, symbolising that I was having a vision, but was unaware of it. We then used realism to imitate us driving along in a key, by doing standard protocols, or missing them and then realising what happened, we did to show the audience that drinking can slower your reaction and thinking process . Then suddenly Brandon announces that he has another drink in his pocket, this causes a brawl in the car as we fight for the drink, then Tyrell, who is the front seat passenger , reaches around and kicks the steering wheel, causing the car to go astray and collide into a tree, to portray the crash we threw our bodies in different directions as if we got thrown out, we did this as it was naturalism, as it’s natural to get throw about in car crash and go in a completely different direction . Then we re-wound the whole journey, including the crash, this was us using physical theatre and cross-cutting, we did this to enhance and engage the audience as it would be much more interesting to watch instead of simply just cutting back to the firs scene. When we got back to the first scene when I put the key in the ignition we stopped, and then we cut out all sound and I had a quick thought track, while the others were miming in the background, I talked about my vision and what is about to happen, we returned to the performance by Tyrell hitting me and saying ‘hurry up lets go’ like he did the first time, to show that this was the real world now. I suddenly said ‘No! We’re not driving’ then suddenly we pictured another car hitting a tree, which would have been us, this was the repellent from driving.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Planning & Property Development- Development Appraisal Essay

Planning & Property Development- Development Appraisal - Essay Example Projects are also underway to develop high speed train links between London and Europe to the midland and northern cities of England. There is a rich and diverse presence of flora and fauna around but there are currently no tree preservation orders at the site. The site has also been used for cement works (currently), tourism (currently), agricultural purposes (1800s), canal warehouses (1935s), and canals and railways (1840s). There site also the boasts the presence of historical sites (museums and galleries), entertainment and leisure facilities, a shopping complex and hotels. All these amenities are within close proximity to one another and also in the city centre where the main attractions are located. The site is in a flood warning area and therefore due caution must be taken when putting up structures on the site. It is however, very accessible through the excellent public transport links which include bus, train and even cycling routes. The highest traffic volume is recorded by commercial vans and lorries. There is also a short supply of off-street parking as evidenced by fully parked spots at both sides in the surrounding roads. The site also enjoys legal access to the nearby warehouse, Fazeley street properties and also into the cement works. The site also enjoys the public right of way on the canal towpath. The objective is to use the site as a yardstick for the development options it provides. After this, those options will also be appraised financially by using appropriate financial methods. The financial appraisal method selected for this exercise is the traditional residue site value (RSV) budget (Guy 2002, pg. 43). Although financial data has not been provided, this wil l not be a hindrance to a recommendation on which development option is the best for Mr. Brown’s estate. Financial appraisal will be based on factors like finance charges, design period, rental fees, yield, plot ratio, letting

Friday, September 27, 2019

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Personal Statement Example Later my mother told me that she had a disease called dyslexia. That little incident of my childhood had a far reaching impact on my life. After that I knew what I was going to do in life. I wanted to help mentally retarded people and specially the children with dyslexia. In school, I had a clear mind about what I was going to be. So I excelled in my education step by step until I was in high school. There I got practically involved in pursuing my aim. While in High school, I won a social service organizing contest and then I was given a chance to join an exchange trip in Wuhan. In there, we visited governmental welfare organizations. That was a very useful experience as we learnt how a welfare organization runs, focusing on children and mentally handicapped services. Thus for the first time I practically saw how I could help special children. This experience of volunteering in high school to work with mentally handicapped people was very close to my heart and that was what I had alw ays dreamt of doing, but that was also the most difficult thing that I had ever done until that time. It literally made me test my limits because I always wanted to do that and was planning to do that work in future too, but that was the first time when I also saw its challenges. That was the time when I had to practically decide whether to take up that job for good or to just sympathize with the people who were suffering and move on. After a few initial days, I settled down and I knew that was the only thing that I had ever wanted to do. The mentally handicapped people, who seemed difficult to handle in the first few days, became so dear to me that I could not possibly think of a better thing than to keep them happy and to help them live a better life. So I decided to be an occupational therapist. I also did a lot of volunteer work other than that while being in the high school, for instance I worked as an all time project constructor and the biggest project we did was the one in w hich we helped new immigrants from south Asia or Mainland China to fit in Hong Kong’s environment and to help them fight against discrimination that unfortunately prevails all around Hong Kong. I mainly focused on the students and children by providing tutorial classes of English, Maths and Chinese to them and holding events for them to fit in easily in Hong Kong. But even during that I kept my goal in mind and I focused more on the special children and tried helping their families and tied to help them. So I was honored with awards by The Social welfare Department of Hong Kong for winning the social service contest and for 3 years of volunteer service because I had served more than 100 hours in a year. These awards were nothing to me in comparison with those bright smiling eyes of special children that I had worked with. So I decided to stick with my goal. Keeping that goal in mind, I decided to pursue higher education in the USA. During that volunteer work, I aw many people working with the mentally retarded children. There were the teachers that helped those children to learn new things and I was impressed with their hard work and dedication and the patience with which they efficiently dealt with the children. I saw their attendants who helped those children with everything they ever did day in and day out. But the ones who impressed me the most were the therapists who actually worked to change the lives of those children. They helped them in getting better day by day. So I decided to

Thursday, September 26, 2019

COMPARATIVE POLITICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

COMPARATIVE POLITICS - Essay Example Thus, for example participation and activities in sports or female organizations should be also considered as political participation. This idea can be supported by the fact that all kinds of political and social organizations function in a political context of the country (Clark and Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot, 1998); they have administrative regulation and active social activities performed by their participants. Therefore political culture is a wide concept. In order to consider it with regard to political participation, we’ll focus our attention on political processes in three case study countries: USA, Russia and France. The main claim which will be developed in this research paper is that political events, socio-economic changes in these countries determine a context of political culture. A diverse political culture of the chosen countries, historical background and peculiarities of countries’ development is considered as influential factors of both political cultur e and political participation in America, Russia and France. America America is generally considered to be the most democratic country. Two hundred years were devoted to the development of democratic process in this country. America is well-known for overall obliged democratic principles and in spite of numerous arguments, this country will hardly loose heights of its democratic principles. ... Consequently, the most important values for Americans are: Declaration of Independence which propagates liberty and overall happiness, equality, self-government (i.e. â€Å"of the people, by the people, and for the people†) (Dye, 1994); propagation of individualistic success and respect to diversity. American nation is being developed in compliance with democratic principles, constitutionalism and capitalism. Consequently, there is direct delimitation between political, economic and social issues in America. This country propagates equal participation on different levels of country’s life. It can be supported by the fact that Americans actively participate in the voting process, they are active participants of social organizations and there is a high spirit of voluntarism in America. All these facts prove that political participation of American citizens coincides with propagated principles of liberty, independence, democracy, and respect to diversity. All this happens because of rich historical background of America: an intermixture of different cultures made Americans comply with different traditions, customs and respect different nations. Democratic principles are another ideal which America has been developing from the day of its foundation. Therefore, American nation respects and follows national politics, being an active participant in all spheres of country’s life. Therefore political culture of this country creates a favorable atmosphere for individual’s perfection and development (Kaid, Gerstlae and Sanders, 1991). A voluntary striving of the nation to the welfare of America proves the fact that citizens of the country respect America and work for the favor of their native country (Kernen, Beat, 2004). Russia Russia has been developed under

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Tort law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tort law - Essay Example Basically, a tort law can be described as a civil wrong not arising from a contract and in the case of negligence, one should owe due consideration to one’s neighbour (Capiro Industries vs. Dickman 1990). It generally refers to the duty of care owed by somebody to his or her neighbour. Cooke (2010) suggests that in the event that it can be proved beyond any reasonable doubt by the court that the plaintiff has suffered a civil injustice, a claim can be raised and a remedy in the form of compensation can be instituted. On the other hand, negligence can be described as a civil wrong arising from the act of negligence by doing something a reasonable man would not do and a plaintiff must prove that the defendant owes a duty of care (Donoghue V. Stevenson 1932). It is of paramount importance for the plaintiff to be able to prove that the defendant had duty to take care of and that duty of care has been breached in order to win the claim. In order to prove the existence of day care d uty, some conditions should prevail where a defendant can be taken to task if this duty is breached. Under the case of Capiro Industries vs. ... In the above case of Ultramares Corporation v Touche (1931) 255 NY 170), the facts are: Justice Cardozo created a special rule with regards to accountants and auditors. He suggested that mass liability should not exist but that only the client and the intended third party could hold an accountant liable for the accountant's negligence (Wegman 2007). Thus the court must be careful especially when it comes to establish negligence in the case involving an unmarked amount of money for an unfixed time with regards to an indefinite third part. An accountant can facilitate a loan transaction between a financial institution and a third party and in this case, only the financial institution and the third party can hold the accountant liable in the event of losses as a result of negligence. In this case, negligence is a common form of tort law which can be punishable if carelessness is proved and the victim will be entitled to get compensation. Failure to protect others from harm as a result o f somebody’s conduct is known as negligence whereby a duty care will have been ignored. From the above explanation of tort, it is clear that the accountant in this particular case has a duty care to make sure that their actions do result in financial losses to the client or the other third party which can be the plaintiff. With regards to this normal test, it does not always follow that duty care is owed by the third party which may result in loss of something which requires the plaintiff to prove that the resultant loss has been a result of the action of the accountant. In the case of Paris v Stepney Borough Council (1951) the editor of Salmond on the Law

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Fame and Celebrity - Snoop Dogg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fame and Celebrity - Snoop Dogg - Essay Example The process of producing a celebrity undergoes a different kind of ‘commodification’. Celebrityhood, as it is specifically called, is a process in which people are transformed into ‘commodities’, that is, to be manufactured and consumed. The production of celebrities is facilitated by various forms of media, such as television, film, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and others (Couldry 2003). The objective of this study is to analyze the mechanism of celebrityhood through an inclusive examination of one contemporary celebrity; for this case, the gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg. The study will attempt to discuss how Snoop Dogg was ‘celebritized’ across a range of media by applying the fundamental theories and concepts covered in the discussion on the sociology of celebrity. Primarily, the paper will examine the systems of celebrity production relevant to Snoop Dogg’s rise to fame. Then, the concepts of cultural industries and cultural intermediaries will be taken into account so as to thoroughly analyze the various components that facilitated the production and consumption of Snoop Dogg as a celebrity. The next section will discuss the production of fame mechanism, involving the rise of celebrity journalism, tabloidization, and celebrity scandal. Finally, the paper will wrap up the discussion by providing sociological analyses of the ‘celebritization’ of Snoop Dogg, using the relevant theories of sociological imagination by C. Wright Mills and the ‘powerless elite’ by Alberoni. The production of Snoop Dogg as a celebrity was facilitated by a variety of medium, namely, stardom and the movies, magazines, newspapers and tabloids, reality television and most importantly, the popular music’s star system. Snoop was introduced to stardom through the assistance of other famous rappers, such as Dr. Dre, who gave Snoop’s biggest musical break (Haggins 2007). However, stardom presented Snoop differently as a rising celebrity to the public.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Diplomacy in politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Diplomacy in politics - Essay Example No less a person than Mr Gladstone, it is recorded, was of the opinion that the University Common Room was as bad as the Bank of England Parlour in narrowing the point of view. It seemed to me, therefore, that I might best, perhaps, speak on a subject which throws some light on the complexity of human nature and which I have had some opportunity to observe at close quarters. I am sure you will acquit me of any undue estimate of the importance of the role which I myself played in a subordinate position during the two great wars, if I illustrate my theme occasionally from my own experience. For it is by action that a man is made most vividly aware of the limitations which human nature imposes on the conduct of policy. It is no accident that the two most scolding pens amongst British historians today are wielded by two who have had no practical experience of political or military affairs. The subject of diplomacy has of course been expounded by a long array of writers. They have, however, often considered it in the wider aspect of policy rather than in that of the method by which policy is implemented. But today I intend to speak of the tactics of diplomacy, not of its strategy. There is, it is true, as in war, a vital connexion between the two. The most magnificent conceptions of policy are useless unless there is a means of putting them into effect. In the last war immense devotion, skill and energy and a wealth of economic and statistical information and analysis were devoted to the elaboration of plans by which the war against Germany could be quickly won by a bombing offensive. Their only weakness was that it was impossible to carry them out. Similar situations often arise in the formation of foreign policy. For this reason even in this field a subordinate may be able at times to make a contribution to great events and no Foreign Minister has ever touched greatn ess unless he was

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Criticize the article Francis Fukuyama "The end of History" Essay

Criticize the article Francis Fukuyama "The end of History" - Essay Example Prior to the release of his article, Francis Fukuyama was an unknown state department official but after the posting of his journal titled â€Å"The End of History?† he was regularly mentioned and attracted various responses. His interpretations were heavily borrowed and adapted from G.M.F. Hegel, a German philosopher. Hegel was of the idea that history had reached its end in the year 1806 after Napoleon defeated the Prussian Monarchy. It is along these lines that Fukuyama identifies the main hurdles to liberal democracy, and they are Fascism and communism. Fukuyama states that these two ideologies have ended with fascism facing its end after the defeat of Italy, Germany and Japan in the Second World War. On the other hand, communism met its end after the recent economic and political concessions in China and the Soviet Union (Herwitz, 2005). After all the ideologies, Fukuyama affirms that Western liberal democracy is the outright winner. The only remaining adversaries are religious fundamentalism and some aspects of nationalism. Fukuyama stated that history was full of struggles meant to realize the freedom idea that is etched on our consciousness. His thoughts must have been heavily influenced by the end of the Cold War, and this led him to assert that it marked the end of history. The end of the Cold War was an apparent triumph of capitalist and liberal ideologies of western nations. The events of the Cold War had shown a clear win by the United States and her allies. He used this to conclude that it was the universalization of Western liberal ideologies and also marked the end of humankind’s ideological evolution (Herwitz, 2005). By the time when this article appeared in the National Interest, people could not disagree with Fukuyama. The Soviet Union was about to disintegrate, and so was the Berlin Wall. Everything that was happening at that time suggested that it was only liberal capitalist democracies that

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The microeconomics of the Video game industry Essay Example for Free

The microeconomics of the Video game industry Essay The Microeconomics of the Video Game Industry Video games have been around for years with many different types of consoles and games. The video game industry has grown into a $20 billion dollar industry over the past ten years, and it only shows signs of growing larger in the years to come. In the United States alone, the market has grown considerably where 60% of all Americans play video games, 40% are women, and 60% of all gamers are between the ages of 25 through 44 years old (games-advertising. com). According to an article on Gamespot. com, analysts estimate that the video game category will have about 50 to 55 more square feet of shelve space in Best Buy by the year 2007. The video game market is an oligopoly with only a few companies competing within the market. The Big Three companies in the video game industrys oligopoly are Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. Microsofts Xbox 360, Nintendos Wii, and Sonys Playstation 3 all sell similar products and contend for consumers dollars. Each firm closely watches the moves of the other companies when considering pricing, technology, and marketing of the games. They also compete with each other to gain exclusive licenses to game software so they can offer console exclusive games. Price wars are common in the video game industry. In the United States, Microsofts Xbox 360 premium edition was released at $399. 99 in November 2005. Sony recently launched their Playstation 3 at a price of $599. 99. Nintendo released their system, Wii, at the low price of $249. 99. In addition, Microsoft and Sony are selling their video games for $60 while Nintendo is selling their video games for $50. Nintendo definitely has the advantage in the video game industrys price wars. In the video game industry, the demand is usually high, but the supply is low, which creates a shortage. This happens during the launch of new consoles. For example, when Microsofts Xbox 360 was to be released on November 22, 2005, they only had a limited number per store. The total number of consoles released in North America that day was 400,000 units. Stores immediately sold out the day the Xbox 360 came out. According to Wikipedia. org, Microsoft was not able to supply enough systems to meet initial consumer demand in Europe or North America. Many potential customers were not able to purchase a console at launch and the lack of availability led to Xbox 360 bundles selling on eBay at grossly inflated prices, with some auctions exceeding $6,000. It was reported that 40,000 units appeared on eBay during the initial month of release, which would mean that 10% of the total supply was resold. By years end, Microsoft had sold 1. 5 million units; including 900,000 in North America, 500,000 in Europe, and 100,000 in Japan. Another example of this tactic being used is with the release of Nintendos Wii. A total of four million Wii consoles were to be released worldwide with the majority of that number going to North America alone. On November 19 of this year, the consoles sold out immediately. Some stores passed out cards for the console to people who were in line the night before. Circuit City had people camping out early in the day, but gave out tickets to people later in the evening. They even had a sign that stated they only had thirty Nintendo Wiis, yet people were still hopeful and stubbornly stood in line. Sonys Playstation 3 was released on November 17, 2006 with an even shorter supply than the Nintendo Wii; some consumers camped outside of the stores for days to get a console. The demands for these consoles were at a high. Sony also only had 400,000 consoles at launch (telegraph. co. uk). The consoles sold out only minutes after its launch (statesman. com). It is important to mention that the video game industry is an example of a razor and blades business model. This means that the companies take a loss on their consoles and make up for the loss with a profit on their video games and game accessories (Wikipedia. org). For example, Microsoft invested 4 billion dollars into their first console, the Xbox in 2000. Microsoft knew that they were not going to be profitable until at least three years, but they did not make a profit until after 5 years. They did not make this profit until the release of their exclusive game, Halo2, released in December of 2005 (Wikipedia. org). The video game industry can also be sited for having a direct relationship with other industries. As stated at ESA. com, about $73 million in high definition television sales (HDTV) can be directly attributed to sales of the Xbox 360 game console. Microsoft does not own any HDTV manufacturing companies, but they do spur the sales of these companies. On the other hand, Sony is using Blu-ray technology in their Playstation 3 because they are one of the nine founders of the Blu-ray Disk Association and are trying to promote Blu-ray technology (Wikipedia.org). Video game software is also being utilized in the medical and defense fields to simulate the conditions for training purposes (ESA. com). The Video game industry has had a major impact on the economy of the United States. The industry is constantly growing and shows signs of major growth in the future. The industry is always changing and is very dynamic. Nevertheless, the competition in this industry is always interesting to watch. Works Cited Blu-ray Disc Association 23 Nov. 2006 Gaming Demographics: Gaming is An Adult Thing. Games-Advertising Feldman, Curt. Game Drives Growth, New Retail Strategy. GameSpot News 16 Jun. 2005 Razor and blades business model 17 Nov. 2006 The economics of a video game craze 17 Nov. 2006 Xbox 19 Nov. 2006 Xbox 360 21 Nov. 2006 Xbox 360 launch down to 400,000 units? 8 Nov. 2005 http://www. joystiq. com/2005/11/08/xbox-360-launch-down-to-400-000-units/ Violence erupts as video game war is declared with US release of PS3 18 Nov. 2006 Video Games: Serious Business for Americas Economy.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Entrepreneurs of Small Enterprises in the UK

Entrepreneurs of Small Enterprises in the UK Liquidity problem is an important strategic issue to run business enterprises. Small enterprises are realising the importance of such problems to reduce losses arises from this. Liquidity problems arise from shortage of working capital that require to maintain daily operations of the enterprise. If this problem persists for long-time, entrepreneurs are bound to stop their business. But it is difficult for small enterprises to get right support at the right time from banks and insurance companies due to certain terms and conditions imposed by them. So a study in this field will be helpful for both entrepreneurs and financial institutions to know current scenario of enterprise level management of liquidity problems and the role of financial institutions to solve this problem. Intelligent forecasting of the future trend in market conditions is a preventive measure to solve liquidity problem whereas, bank support through different financial products is a curative measure in management of liquidity problem. This study has been initiated to identify and analyse entrepreneurs view towards liquidity problems of small enterprises and role of bank to solve this problem. Categorically the major objectives of the present study are: To identify various reasons of liquidity problems of small enterprises; To uncover the views of entrepreneurs regarding the research topic in light of their age, education, invested amount of capital, enterprise life, location and nature of business; To assess the risks identified by the entrepreneurs arises from liquidity problems of their enterprises; To identify and analyze the role of bank in terms of available financial products to manage liquidity problems; To suggest probable solutions to solve liquidity problems of small enterprises. Hypothesis: H 1: There is no impact of small enterprises length of life on the size of liquidity problems. H 2: Amount of investment has no influence on liquidity problems. H 3: Nature of business has no impact on liquidity problems. H 4: Banks facilities are enough to solve liquidity problems of small enterprises. 7. Sources: Broad Subject Area: Business Finance Books and Journals: Alsbury, A. (2001), Quick Answers to Small Business Questions, Series Editor Jay, Prentice Hall, London. Allen, F. and Gale, D. (2007) Understanding Financial Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bygrave, W. D. (1994), The entrepreneurship paradigm 1: a philosophical look at its research methodologies, Entrepreneurship theory and practice, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp 1- 26. Bhaduri, R., G. Meissner and J. Youn (2007). Hedging Liquidity Risk. Journal of Alternative Investments, Winter 2007. Cecchetti, S. (2008), Monetary Policy and the Financial Crisis of 2007 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2008. Available at: http://fmwww.bc.edu/ec-j/sems2008/Cecchetti.pdf [Accessed: 11 November 2008]. Cohen, W. (2005), The entrepreneur and small business problem solver, 3rd edition, Published by John Wiley and Sons. Dawson, J., Findlay, A. and Sparks, L. (2006) The Retailing Reader. London: Routledge. John L. Knight, Stephen Satchell (2003). Forecasting Volatility in the Financial Markets. Butterworth-Heinemann. Dorfman, Mark S. (2007). Introduction to Risk Management and Insurance (9th Edition). Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall. Douglas Hubbard (2009) The Failure of Risk Management: Why Its Broken and How to Fix It John Wiley Sons. Hisrich D. R. Peters P. M., (2002) Entrepreneurship, 5th edition, Pub., Tata McGraw-Hill. Hawkins, M. (2008) How to Benefit From Consumer Behaviour During a Financial Crisis. EzineArticles. Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/How-to-Benefit-From. Hannon, P.D. and Atherton, A. (1998), Small firm success and the art of orienteering: the value of plans, planning and strategic awareness in the competitive small firm, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 102-19. Islam N. Mamun Z. M., (2002) Entrepreneurship Development, An Operational Approach, Pub., The University Press Limited,. Leaf, W. and Sykes, E. (2009), Banking, 3rd edition, T butterworth Ltd. McConnell I. (2009), Economic output posts biggest quarterly decline since 1980, The Herald (Glasgow), January 24th Issue, Final Edition, p. 26. Simpson, M et al. (2006), marketing in small and medium size enterprises, International Journal of entrepreneurial behaviour and research, Vol. 12, Issue-6, pp 361-387. Available at:www.emeraldinsight.com [Accessed: 15 November 2009] Stoltz A, Viljoen M (2007) Financial Management: Fresh Perspectives, Published by Pearson South Africa. Websites: Small business banking, (2009) available at http://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/banking/banking-guides/business-banking-the-basics.shtml, [Accessed: 15 th November 2009] Office for National Statistics (2008), Unemployment rates rises to 5,7%.. Available at: www.statistics.gov.uk [Accessed 14th November 2009]. Number of enterprises, employment and turnover by number of employees and industry division, UK, start 2004, Available at www.statistics.gov.uk [Accessed: 14th November 2009] HSBC and Barclays news, , 10th November 2009, Available at: www.news.bbc.co.uk, [Accessed 12th November 2009] SME Academy London [online] Available at: http://www.smeacademy.co.uk/, [Accessed 13 November 2009] Banks Websites: www.barclays.co.uk www.hsbc.co.uk www.natwest.com www.lloydstsbbusiness.com 8. Literature Review: The economic recession that hit the UK in the second half of 2008 caused the retail industry to experience certain difficulties (McConnell, 2009; Kollewe, 2009). The credit crunch and growing unemployment reduced consumer income and spending levels and causes uncertain flow of cash for business enterprises. In such conditions, small enterprises are experiencing irregular cash flows, look at the cost cutting strategy, excessive burden of debt, reduction of buyers and uncertain profit margins or losses. As a result shortage of short term capital creates liquidity problems to small enterprises. In business, liquidity refers to the financial ability of an enterprise to meet its short term obligations to bear day to day expenditures. The liquidity of retail sector specially small enterprises are greatly affected by macroeconomic factors. These factors are divided into two: direct and indirect factors. The direct factors can be recognised as the decreasing disposable income, job insecurity and credit financing hurdles (Office for National Statistics, 2008). The indirect factors are challenges of credit financing and investment capability which commercial organisations face and which make these organisations unable to continue with producing high quality products and customer service (The Economist, 2008). Other macroeconomic factors that are related with small enterprises financial crisis are house price, house rent, and employment rate, and inflation rate, availability of bank loan, interest rates and changes of consumers behaviour. Storey [1994] notes that small firms, however they are defined, constitute the bulk of enterprises in all economies in the world. In the latter half of the last century the increasing important roles of small firms and entrepreneurship cannot be in any way understated [Bygrave 1994; Timmons 1994;]. Small firms are now a complex subject matter of research because of its huge number of limitations. These features of small enterprises are supported by Robinson and Pearce [1984] who focused on the issue of resource limitations of small firms. These limitations are best summarised by Carson and Cromie [1989] who suggest that small firm is actually characterised by three types of limitations, those of: their impact on markets; finance; physical resources; It is obvious that among these three limitations, finance is one of the most important one what is equally important for promoting products and services of small enterprises in the markets and acquiring physical resources. But undoubtedly these three limitations are in a cycle and interdependent. Liquidity problem is not only the result of shortage of fund, this problem is the consequences of other two limitations too. Definition of small enterprises of European Commission Enterprise and Industry [europa.eu] refers to maximum number of employees are 49 and maximum annual turnover is 7million Euro for small enterprises. As per EU definition, there are 4,267,555 small enterprises in UK where 11,441,000 employments exist [UK Bureau of Statistics: Start 2004]. It is undoubtedly important to find out immediately the problems of such a large sector and solutions of the problems. As noted by Hill and McGowan (1999), there is no agreed definition or clear understanding, in view of the large literature that exists, of who the entrepreneur is or what it is they do. Entrepreneurship is probably best understood as a process, the constituents of which are the entrepreneur, their persistent search of opportunities, usually grounded in the market place, and efforts to marshal the resources needed to exploit these opportunities; hence the concept of the entrepreneurial SME (Hill and Wright, 2001). How entrepreneurship is vital and important for small enterprises? Hill and McGowan (1999) answer this question by adding that, without entrepreneurial commitment, determination, vision, energy, tolerance of risk, and ambition, the entrepreneurial process in small and medium enterprises would not happen. Entrepreneurs making decision in various circumstances must be sure to learn as much as possible about the situation, and approach the decision from a logical and rational p erspectives (Ricky W. Griffin, 2002). The financial crisis, which transmitted internationally and caused disturbances in a wide range of powerful economies, many countries are seen to be on the brink of recession if not already plunged into it (Deutche Welle, 2008). Todays financial crisis what causes liquidity problems of business enterprises could be recognised as a major challenge for the survival of millions of small enterprises. The wide scope of the crisis caused a downturn in many industries, the bankruptcy of leading organisations and overall economic recession to countries like the UK, Germany and France (Deutche Welle, 2008; Hopkins, 2008; Office for National Statistics, 2008). Many EU countries including UK experienced the shock in their banking sectors as the provision of credit financing became a great challenge. Banks were suffering from lack of liquidity, which caused both business and non-business consumers financial hardships (The Economist, 2008). Though few banks like HSBC and Barclays [BBC, November 2 009] claimed that they are now in profit with enough liquidity to lend, most of the banks are in problem. Bank has short term and long term loan facilities, mortgage facilities, interest free bank overdraft facilities for small business enterprises [Small business banking, 2009]. There is a well-known idea that such facilities for small enterprises are very limited and process is very complex. Though various researchers carried out so many research to find out various factors that have direct and indirect impact on operations of small enterprises, relationship between entrepreneurship and small enterprises, buyers behaviour, marketing strategies, family and non-family business trends in this sector, there is still gap in research regarding liquidity problems and role of bank to solve this problem in terms of entrepreneurs perspective. Specially at the time of current economic down town there is a necessity of new research in the mentioned field. 9. Intended Methods of Data Collection: Assumptions of the study: Small enterprise: This study considers EU [maximum employee: 49] definition to select small enterprises. Scope and limitations of the Study: The study will focus on randomly selected 40 small enterprises of different sectors like hospitality, grocery, fashion and stationary from UK (London Area: Zone 1-4). Since the study will cover only the mentioned area, it will not reflect the exact UK scenario as a whole about the research. Data Collection Procedures: The proposed study is an empirical one. Both primary and secondary data will be used during the study. For collection of primary data self completed questionnaire will be used to collect information from entrepreneurs and executives of business enterprises. Observations and interview will be conducted in several cases to confirm more authentic information from the entrepreneurs. Secondary data will be collected from available literatures in form of books, journal, magazines, published materials, research articles, and online materials. To identify available financial products of banks to solve liquidity problems of small enterprises, banks websites will be used as a source of data and information. The researcher will also call the respondent to ensure timely feedback about questionnaire. In case of necessity, personal contacts will be used to support the research process. Methods of Data Analysis: Some parametric and non-parametric tools and techniques of statistics (like average, percentage, test of hypothesis, sampling distribution, etc); will be used to analyze data and information related with the study.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Physics of Electric Guitars :: physics music guitar

Electric guitars play a very important role in today's music. Without it, we would be stuck with the acoustic guitar, which has limited volume, and a narrow range of sounds it can produce. Understanding just exactly how the electric guitar works isn't as intuitive as with the acoustic. With this website, I attempt to brighten the knowledge people have on the physics behind the electric guitar, since one cannot appreciate something, truly, until he knows how it works. The Acoustic guitar, originating from Spain, has been around since the 1500s. It wasn't till the 1920's with the advent of swing and big band music that musicians needed louder instruments. The acoustic guitar, even with steel strings, was simply too quiet. At this time, Los Angeles musicians, George Beauchamp and John Dopyera started working on figuring out how to make the acoustic guitar louder. After a few failures, Dopyera came up with the idea to put aluminum disks onto the body of the acoustic guitar. These disks would then resonate and increase the volume about 3 to 5 times. In 1927, the two founded the National String Instrument Co., which patented this resonator design. Due to internal problems, Dopyera fired Beauchamp in 1930 and then eventually even sold the company, patenting the resonator with his brother under a new company named "Dobro". Beauchamp, a bit unhappy about being fired, set out to figure out a different way to increase the volume of the guitar. Even before, as early as 1925, he had been experimenting with phonograph needles and produced a single string electric guitar that would "pick up" the vibration in the string and turn it into sound. He then started experimenting with ways to pick-up the vibration of all 6 strings, each string seperately. After months of experimentation he and Paul Barth developed a working pick-up made of 2 horse-shoe magnets and 6 coils of wire with electric current running through them. With this new pick-up, Beauchamp had Harry Watson carve a body for his first electric guitar. They called this the "Frying Pan" due to its similar shape. This was the first guitar fitted with an electric pick-up. Around the same time, Llyod Loar, acoustical engineer for Gibson, had started marketing a new Spanish style acoustic electric guitar. Loar, famous for the mandolin, headed the subdivision of Gibson responsible for producing these guitars, named Vivi-Tone. This guitar actually failed, but had left the idea that acoustic guitars with electric pickups were the way to go for Gibson.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Comparison John Updikes AP and Timothy OBreins How to Tell a True War S

Comparison John Updikes AP and Timothy OBreins How to Tell a True War Story Although the short stories, â€Å"A&P,† by John Updike, and â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story,† by Timothy O’Brien, are both written in the technique of first person narrative, the two stories are conveyed to the reader in very different styles. John Updike, who was 29 at the time when he wrote â€Å"A & P,† narrates his story from the point of view of a 19 year old boy. The narration of the story of â€Å"A & P† illustrates the scene of the grocery store in which the teenage boy, Sammy, is a cashier who witnesses everything that goes on during the day. The store is a theater, having numerous skits taking place throughout the day with no script. Sammy is in the audience where he came only observe the acts to make up his own story and narrate the scene to others. Every important detail is observed through Sammy’s eyes and is expressed in the narration of his story of the A & P grocery store. Sammy sets the scene of a sunny, summer beach day in which three young girls dressed in nothing but bathing suits enter the store to buy some snacks for their day in the sand. Sammy is deeply intrigued by the girls and watches every move they make while ringing in other customers at the store. The girls parade through the isles as if they are putting on a show, just for Sammy. This is Sammy’s first live â€Å"girlie show† and he doesn't want to miss one single detail. Sammy expresses his excitement and fondness of one particular girl as he conveys the details of the one scene: She has on a kind of dirty-pink -- beige maybe, I don’t know -- bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down. They were a little off her shoulders... ... voices in the story, one for the part telling the actual war story to the other soldier, and one telling the whole story to the reader; war story and it’s reasons. The paragraph following the descriptive tale of his two buddies fooling around with the smoke grenades suggests this theory. In any war story, but especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes it’s own happening and has to be told that way...The story as a whole was written to share with the soldiers who were there with the added tips guidelines to help them tell their own â€Å"true war stories,† and have them be remembered, as well as believed. The graphical depiction of the story is for the fortunate who were not present at the time of the war, who should always be reminded through out time how horrible and unnecessary war is.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Genocide :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the article, â€Å"Columbus’s Legacy: Genocide in the America’s,† by David E. Stannard, the theme can be identified as contrary to popular belief that the millions of native peoples of the Americas that perished in the sixteenth century died not only from disease brought over by the Europeans, but also as a result of mass murder, as well as death due to working them to death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stannard starts out the article by citing contemporary examples of U.S. press’s thought of â€Å"worthy and unworthy† victims. He gives examples of â€Å"worthy† victims in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Croatia and â€Å"unworthy† victims in East Timor. The author states that the native peoples of the Americas never have been labeled â€Å"worthy.† And recently, American and European denials of guilt for the most absolute genocide in the history of the world have assumed a new guise. The author quotes anthropologist Marvin Harris, describing the devastation through the West Indies and throughout the Americas as accidental, an â€Å"unintended consequence† of European exploration.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Epidemic disease undeniably contributed to the carnage, but in many volumes of testimony the European explorers detail their murderous intentions and actions. The slave drivers of the day calculated that it was cheaper to work people to death by the tens of thousands and then replace them than it was to maintain and feed a permanent captive labor force. The Europeans saw the Indians as block in the pathway to unlimited access to North America’s untouched bountiful lands. After the mass deaths due to epidemic, new settlers and explorers purged Indian villages, burn entire towns, and poisoned whole communities. They also engaged a farsighted genocidal tactic of preventing the population from recovering, by abducting the women and children and selling them into slavery in markets in the Indies. After about fifty years of this, the numbers in Indian nation had diminished significantly.

Monday, September 16, 2019

The Vampire Diaries: The Fury Chapter Six

â€Å"She's already made her choice. You saw it yourself when you ‘interrupted' us. You've already chosen, haven't you, Elena?† Stefan said it not smugly, or as a demand, but with a kind of desperate bravado. â€Å"I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Elena looked up. â€Å"Stefan, I love you. But don't you understand, if I have a choice right now I have to choose for all of us to stay together. Just for now. Do you understand?† Seeing only stoniness in Stefan's face, she turned to Damon. â€Å"Do you?† â€Å"I think so.† He gave her a secret, possessive smile. â€Å"I told Stefan from the beginning that he was selfish not to share you. Brothers should share things, you know.† â€Å"That's not what I meant.† â€Å"Isn't it?† Damon smiled again. â€Å"No,† Stefan said. â€Å"I don't understand, and I don't see how you can ask me to work with him. He's evil, Elena. He kills for pleasure; he has no conscience at all. He doesn't care about Fell's Church; he said that himself. He's a monster-â€Å" â€Å"Right now he's being more cooperative than you are,† Elena said. She reached for Stefan's hand, searching for some way to get through to him. â€Å"Stefan, I need you. And we both need him. Can't you try to accept that?† When he didn't answer she added, â€Å"Stefan, do you really want to be mortal enemies with your brother forever?† â€Å"Do you really think he wants anything else?† Elena stared down at their joined hands, looking at the planes and curves and shadows. She didn't answer for a minute, and when she did it was very quietly. â€Å"He stopped me from killing you,† she said. She felt the flare of Stefan's defensive anger, then felt it slowly fade. Something like defeat crept through him, and he bowed his head. â€Å"That's true,† he said. â€Å"And, anyway, who am I to call him evil? What's he done that I haven't done myself?† We need to talk, Elena thought, hating this self-hatred of his. But this wasn't the time or place. â€Å"Then you do agree?† she said hesitantly. â€Å"Stefan, tell me what you're thinking.† â€Å"Right now I'm thinking that you always get your way. Because you always do, don't you, Elena?† Elena looked into his eyes, noticing how the pupils were dilated, so that only a ring of green iris showed around the edge. There was no longer anger there, but the tiredness and the bitterness remained. But I'm not just doing it for myself, she thought, thrusting out of her mind the sudden surge of self-doubt. I'll prove that to you, Stefan; you'll see. For once I'm not doing something for my own convenience. But I'm not just doing it for myself, she thought, thrusting out of her mind the sudden surge of self-doubt. I'll prove that to you, Stefan; you'll see. For once I'm not doing something for my own convenience. â€Å"Yes. I†¦ agree.† â€Å"And I agree,† said Damon, extending his own hand with exaggerated courtesy. He captured Elena's before she could say anything. â€Å"In fact, we all seem to be in a frenzy of pure agreement.† Don't, Elena thought, but at that moment, standing in the cool twilight of the choir loft, she felt that it was true, that they were all three connected, and in accord, and strong. Then Stefan pulled his hand away. In the silence that followed, Elena could hear the sounds outside and in the church below. There was still crying and the occasional shout, but the overall urgency was gone. Looking out the window, she saw people picking their way across the wet parking lot between the little groups that huddled over wounded victims. Dr. Feinberg was moving from island to island, apparently dispensing medical advice. The victims looked like survivors of a hurricane or earthquake. â€Å"No one is what they seem,† Elena said. â€Å"What?† â€Å"That's what Bonnie said during the memorial service. She had another one of her fits. I think it might be important.† She tried to put her thoughts in order. â€Å"I think there are people in town that we ought to look out for. Like Alaric Saltzman.† She told them, briefly, what she had overheard earlier that day in Alaric's house. â€Å"He's not what he seems, but I don't know exactly what he is. I think we should watch him. And since I obviously can't appear in public, you two are going to have to do it. But you can't let him suspect you know-† Elena broke off as Damon held up a hand swiftly. Down at the base of the stairs, a voice was calling. â€Å"Stefan? Are you up there?† And then, to someone else, â€Å"I thought I saw him go up here.† It sounded like Mr. Carson. â€Å"Go,† Elena hissed almost inaudibly to Stefan, â€Å"You have to be as normal as possible so you can stay here in Fell's Church. I'll be all right.† â€Å"But where will you go?† â€Å"To Meredith's. I'll explain later. Go on.† Stefan hesitated, and then started down the stairs, calling, â€Å"I'm coming.† Then he pulled back. â€Å"I'm not leaving you with him,† he said flatly. Elena threw her hands up in exasperation. â€Å"Then both of you go. You just agreed to work together; are you going to go back on your word now?† she added to Damon, who was looking unyielding himself. He gave another of his little shrugs. â€Å"All right. Just one thing-are you hungry?† â€Å"That's good. But later on, you will be. Remember that.† He crowded Stefan down the stairs, earning himself a searing look. But Elena heard Stefan's voice in her mind as they both disappeared. I'll come for you later. Wait for me. She wished she could answer with her own thoughts. She also noticed something. Stefan's mental voice was much weaker than it had been four days ago when he had been fighting his brother. Come to think of it, he hadn't been able to speak with his mind at all before the Founders' Day celebration. She'd been so confused when she woke up by the river that it hadn't occurred to her, but now she wondered. What had happened to make him so strong? And why was his strength fading now? Elena had time to think about it as she sat there in the deserted choir loft, while below the people left the church and outside the overcast skies slowly grew darker. She thought about Stefan, and about Damon, and she wondered if she had made the right choice. She'd vowed never to let them fight over her, but that vow was broken already. Was she crazy to try and make them live under a truce, even a temporary one? When the sky outside was uniformly black, she ventured down the stairs. The church was empty and echoing. She hadn't thought about how she would get out, but fortunately the side door was bolted only from the inside. She slipped out into the night gratefully. She hadn't realized how good it was to be outside and in the dark. Being inside buildings made her feel trapped, and daylight hurt her eyes. This was best, free and unfettered-and unseen. Her own senses rejoiced at the lush world around her. With the air so still, scents hung in the air for a long time, and she could smell a whole plethora of nocturnal creatures. A fox was scavenging in somebody's trash. Brown rats were chewing something in the bushes. Night moths were calling to one another with scent. She found it wasn't hard to get to Meredith's house undetected; people seemed to be staying inside. But once she got there, she stood looking up at the graceful farmhouse with the screened porch in dismay. She couldn't just walk up to the front door and knock. Was Meredith really expecting her? Wouldn't she be waiting outside if she were? Meredith was about to get a terrible shock if she weren't, Elena reflected, eyeing the distance to the roof of the porch. Meredith's bedroom window was above it and just around the corner. It would be a bit of a reach, but Elena thought she could make it. Getting onto the roof was easy; her fingers and bare toes found holds between the bricks and sent her sailing up. But leaning around the corner to look into Meredith's window was a strain. She blinked against the light that flooded out. Meredith was sitting on the edge of her bed, elbows on knees, staring at nothing. Every so often she ran a hand through her dark hair. A clock on the nightstand said Meredith was sitting on the edge of her bed, elbows on knees, staring at nothing. Every so often she ran a hand through her dark hair. A clock on the nightstand said Elena tapped on the window glass with her fingernails. Meredith jumped and looked the wrong way, toward the door. She stood up in a defensive crouch, clutching a throw pillow in one hand. When the door didn't open, she sidled a pace or two toward it, still in a defensive posture. â€Å"Who is it?† she said. Elena tapped on the glass again. Meredith spun to face the window, her breath coming fast. â€Å"Let me in,† said Elena. She didn't know if Meredith could hear her, so she mouthed it clearly. â€Å"Open the window.† Meredith, panting, looked around the room as if she expected someone to appear and help her. When no one did, she approached the window as if it were a dangerous animal. But she didn't open it. â€Å"Let me in,† Elena said again. Then she added impatiently, â€Å"If you didn't want me to come, why did you make an appointment with me?† She saw the change as Meredith's shoulders relaxed slightly. Slowly, with fingers that were unusually clumsy, Meredith opened the window and stood back. â€Å"Now ask me to come inside. Otherwise I can't. â€Å"Come†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Meredith's voice failed and she had to try again. â€Å"Come in,† she said. When Elena, wincing, had boosted herself over the sill and was flexing her cramped fingers, Meredith added almost dazedly, â€Å"It's got to be you. Nobody else gives orders like that.† â€Å"It's me,† Elena said. She stopped wringing out the cramps and looked into the eyes of her friend. â€Å"It really is me, Meredith,† she said. Meredith nodded and swallowed visibly. Right then what Elena would have liked most in the world would have been for the other girl to give her a hug. But Meredith wasn't much of the hugging type, and right now she was backing slowly away to sit on the bed again. â€Å"Sit down,† she said in an artificially calm voice. Elena pulled out the desk chair and unthinkingly took up the same position Meredith had been in before, elbows on knees, head down. Then she looked up. â€Å"How did you know?† â€Å"I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Meredith just stared at her for a moment, then shook herself. â€Å"Well. You- your body was never found, of course. That was strange. And then those attacks on the old man and Vickie and Tanner-and Stefan and little things I'd put together about him-but I didn't know. Not for sure. Not until now.† She ended almost in a whisper. â€Å"Well, it was a good guess,† Elena said. She was trying to behave normally, but what was normal in this situation? Meredith was acting as if she could scarcely bear to look at her. It made Elena feel more lonely, more alone, than she could ever remember being in her life. â€Å"I asked Bonnie to come over at seven o'clock, if her mother would let her. It's probably her. I'll go see.† Meredith seemed almost indecently eager to get away. â€Å"Wait. Does she know?† â€Å"No†¦ Oh, you mean I should break it to her gently.† Meredith looked around the room again uncertainly, and Elena snapped on the little reading light by the bed. â€Å"Turn the room light off. It hurts my eyes anyway,† she said quietly. When Meredith did, the bedroom was dim enough that she could conceal herself in the shadows. Waiting for Meredith to return with Bonnie, she stood in a corner, hugging her elbows with her hands. Maybe it was a bad idea trying to get Meredith and Bonnie involved. If imperturbable Meredith couldn't handle the situation, what would Bonnie do? Meredith heralded their arrival by muttering over and over, â€Å"Don't scream now; don't scream,† as she bundled Bonnie across the threshold. â€Å"What's wrong with you? What are you doing?† Bonnie was gasping in return. â€Å"Let go of me. Do you know what I had to do to get my mother to let me out of the house tonight? She wants to take me to the hospital at Roanoke.† Meredith kicked the door shut. â€Å"Okay,† she said to Bonnie. â€Å"Now, you're going to see something that will†¦ well, it's going to be a shock. But you can't scream, do you understand me? I'll let go of you if you promise.† â€Å"It's too dark to see anything, and you're scaring me. What's wrong with you, Meredith? Oh, all right, I promise, but what are you talking-â€Å" â€Å"Elena,† said Meredith. Elena took it as an invitation and stepped forward. Bonnie's reaction wasn't what she expected. She frowned and leaned forward, peering in the dim light. When she saw Elena's form, she gasped. But then, as she stared at Elena's face, she clapped her hands together with a shriek of joy. â€Å"I knew it! I knew they were wrong! So there, Meredith-and you and Stefan thought you knew so much about drowning and all that. But I knew you were wrong! Oh, Elena, I missed you! Everyone's going to be so-â€Å" â€Å"Be quiet, Bonnie! Be quiet!† Meredith said urgently. â€Å"I told you not to scream. Listen, you idiot, do you think if Elena were really all right she'd be here in the middle of the night without anybody knowing about it?† â€Å"But she is all right; look at her. She's standing there. It is you, isn't it, Elena?† Bonnie started toward her, but Meredith grabbed her again. â€Å"Yes, it's me.† Elena had the strange feeling she'd wandered into a surreal comedy, maybe one written by Kafka, only she didn't know her lines. She didn't know what to say to Bonnie, who was looking rapturous. â€Å"What are you two being so mysterious for? She's here, but she's not all right. What's that supposed to mean?† Elena didn't know whether to laugh or cry. â€Å"Look, Bonnie†¦ oh, I don't know how to say this. Bonnie, did your psychic grandmother ever talk to you about vampires?† Silence fell, heavy as an ax. The minutes ticked by. Impossibly, Bonnie's eyes widened still further; then, they slid toward Meredith. There were several more minutes of silence, and then Bonnie shifted her weight toward the door. â€Å"Uh, look, you guys,† she said softly, â€Å"this is getting really weird. I mean, really, really, really†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Elena cast about in her mind. â€Å"You can look at my teeth,† she said. She pulled her upper lip back, poking at a canine with her finger. She felt the reflexive lengthening and sharpening, like a cat's claw lazily extending. Meredith came forward and looked and then looked away quickly. â€Å"I get the point,† she said, but in her voice there was none of the old wry pleasure in her own wit. â€Å"Bonnie, look,† she said. All the elation, all the excitement had drained out of Bonnie. She looked as if she were going to be sick. â€Å"No. I don't want to.† â€Å"You have to. You have to believe it, or we'll never get anywhere.† Meredith grappled a stiff and resisting Bonnie forward. â€Å"Open your eyes, you little twit. You're the one who loves all this supernatural stuff.† â€Å"I've changed my mind,† Bonnie said, almost sobbing. There was genuine hysteria in her tone. â€Å"Leave me alone, Meredith; I don't want to look.† She wrenched herself away. â€Å"You don't have to,† Elena whispered, stunned. Dismay pooled inside her, and tears flooded her eyes. â€Å"This was a bad idea, Meredith. I'll go away.† â€Å"No. Oh, don't.† Bonnie turned back as quickly as she'd whirled away and precipitated herself into Elena's arms. â€Å"I'm sorry, Elena; I'm sorry. I don't care what you are; I'm just glad you're back. It's been terrible without you.† She was sobbing now in earnest. The tears that wouldn't come when Elena had been with Stefan came now. She cried, holding on to Bonnie, feeling Meredith's arms go around both of them. They were all crying-Meredith silently, Bonnie noisily, and Elena herself with passionate intensity. She felt as if she were crying for everything that had happened to her, for everything she had lost, for all the loneliness and the fear and the pain. Eventually, they all ended up sitting on the floor, knee to knee, the way they had when they were kids at a sleepover making secret plans. â€Å"You're so brave,† Bonnie said to Elena, sniffling. â€Å"I don't see how you can be so brave about it.† â€Å"Your hands aren't cold.† Meredith squeezed Elena's fingers. â€Å"Just sort of cool. I thought they'd be colder.† â€Å"Stefan's hands aren't cold either,† Elena said, and she was about to go on, but Bonnie squeaked: â€Å"Stefan?† Meredith and Elena looked at her. â€Å"Be sensible, Bonnie. You don't get to be a vampire by yourself. Somebody has to make you one.† â€Å"But you mean Stefan . . . ? You mean he's a†¦ ?† Bonnie's voice choked off. â€Å"I think,† said Meredith, â€Å"that maybe this is the time to tell us the whole story, Elena. Like all those minor details you left out the last time we asked you for the whole story.† Elena nodded. â€Å"You're right. It's hard to explain, but I'll try.† She took a deep breath. â€Å"Bonnie, do you remember the first day of school? It was the first time I ever heard you make a prophecy. You looked into my palm and said I'd meet a boy, a dark boy, a stranger. And that he wasn't tall but that he had been once. Well†-she looked at Bonnie and then at Meredith-â€Å"Stefan's not really tall now. But he was once†¦ compared to other people in the fifteenth century.† Meredith nodded, but Bonnie made a faint sound and swayed backward, looking shell-shocked. â€Å"You mean-â€Å" â€Å"I mean he lived in Renaissance Italy, and the average person was shorter then. So Stefan looked taller by comparison. And, wait, before you pass out, here's something else you should know. Damon's his brother.† Meredith nodded again. â€Å"I figured something like that. But then why has Damon been saying he's a college student?† â€Å"They don't get along very well. For a long time, Stefan didn't even know Damon was in Fell's Church.† Elena faltered. She was verging on Stefan's private history, which she'd always felt was his secret to tell. But Meredith had been right; it was time to come out with the whole story. â€Å"Listen, it was like this,† she said. â€Å"Stefan and Damon were both in love with the same girl back in Renaissance Italy. She was from Germany, and her name was Katherine. The reason Stefan was avoiding me at the beginning of school was that I reminded him of her; she had blond hair and blue eyes, too. Oh, and this was her ring.† Elena let go of Meredith's hand and showed them the intricately carved golden circlet set with a single stone of lapis lazuli. â€Å"And the thing was that Katherine was a vampire. A guy named Klaus had made her one back in her village in Germany to save her from dying of her last illness. Stefan and Damon both knew this, but they didn't care. They asked her to choose between them the one she wanted to marry.† Elena stopped and gave a lopsided smile, thinking that Mr. Tanner had been right; history did repeat itself. She only hoped her story didn't end like Katherine's. â€Å"But she chose both of them. She exchanged blood with both of them, and she said they could all three be companions through eternity.† between them the one she wanted to marry.† Elena stopped and gave a lopsided smile, thinking that Mr. Tanner had been right; history did repeat itself. She only hoped her story didn't end like Katherine's. â€Å"But she chose both of them. She exchanged blood with both of them, and she said they could all three be companions through eternity.† â€Å"Sounds dumb,† said Meredith. â€Å"You got it,† Elena told her. â€Å"Katherine was sweet but not very bright. Stefan and Damon already didn't like each other. They told her she had to choose, that they wouldn't even think of sharing her. And she ran off crying. The next day-well, they found her body, or what was left of it. See, a vampire needs a talisman like this ring to go out in the sun without being killed. And Katherine went out in the sun and took hers off. She thought if she were out of the way, Damon and Stefan would be reconciled.† â€Å"Oh, my God, how ro-â€Å" â€Å"No, it isn't,† Elena cut Bonnie off savagely. â€Å"It's not romantic at all. Stefan's been living with the guilt ever since, and I think Damon has, too, although you'd never get him to admit it. And the immediate result was that they got a couple of swords and killed each other. Yes, killed. That's why they're vampires now, and that's why they hate each other so much. And that's why I'm probably crazy trying to get them to cooperate now.†

Performance Management in a Human Resources Framework Essay

Performance Management in a Human Resources Framework Introduction The purpose of this assignment to is to consider Performance Management in a Human Resources Framework. Firstly, the assignment will look at the concept of ‘Human Resources Management’ as a holistic strategic approach to managing the relationship between employer and employee that goes beyond the bounds of mere ‘Personnel Management’. Secondly, in light of the statement from Cooke and Armstrong (1990, cited in Rudman, 2002) that â€Å"Human resources strategies exist to ensure that the culture, values and structure of the organisation and the quality, motivation and commitment of its members contribute fully to the achievement of its objectives† (p. 7), I will examine the extent to which my school’s performance appraisal and professional development policy and practice fit into a human resources framework. Lastly, these examples will be used to identify some of the potential and pitfalls of performance appraisal and professional development for an educational organisation. Human Resources Management – a holistic approach Human resource management (HRM) can be viewed as a holistic approach to managing the relationships in an organisation between the employer and employee. Rudman’s (2002) definition of HRM implies this holistic approach, in that HRM â€Å"covers all the concepts, strategies, policies and practices which organisations use to manage and develop the people who work for them† (p. 3). Several authors (Macky & Johnson 2000; McGraw, 1997; Rudman, 2002; Smith, 1998) acknowledge that HRM is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation’s most valued assets – the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the organisation. The terms ‘human resource management’ (HRM), ‘human resources’ (HR) and even ‘strategic human resource management’ (SHRM) have largely replaced the term â€Å"personnel management† as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organisations during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s (McGraw, 1997; Rudman, 2002). â€Å"People have been making personnel decisions since the earliest of times† (Rudman, 2002, p. 2), however, from a historical perspective, the modern form of personnel management was founded from the time of the industrial revolution on two main beliefs: 1) the employer’s concern for the welfare of its workers, and 2) the organisation’s need for control (Rudman, 2002). Over the last century personnel management evolved through the changing responses between these two beliefs and altered because of influences through scientific management, the industrial welfare and human relations movements , the development of trade unions and collective bargaining, and the growth of employment-related legislation (Rudman, 2002). Today, personnel management is associated with the functional aspects of people in organisations, whereas HRM is associated with the strategic aspects of people in organisations (Rudman, 2002). In practice the distinction between Personnel and Human Resource Management is often blurred because organisations need both function and strategic direction for managing and developing people (McGraw, 1997). Personnel management (PM) is therefore often used to describe the work related with administering policies and procedures for staff appointments, salaries, training and other employer/employee interactions.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Character analysis of Myrtle and Daisy in “The Great Gatsby”

Two of the main characters in â€Å"The Great Gatsby† are Myrtle and Daisy. There are definition connections between Daisy and Myrtle. For instance both of them are unhappy with the person that they are married to. This is because they are both in love, in different ways, with Tom. Myrtle attempts to appear as a high class citizen but the reader notices that there are many holes in this disguise. Myrtle wishes to emulate the appearance of a high-class citizen but the reader see a clear disparity between her ideal vision of herself and reality. Myrtle does not have the figure of a high-class woman. She is neither skinny nor beautiful. † †¦her face contained no facet or gleam of beauty†. Unlike Daisy Myrtle is not a physically attractive person. The book makes reapeated references to her being â€Å"stout† or â€Å"thick figured† All of the high-class people that live on East egg come across as physically attractive. This quality comes though very clearly in Daisy. Myrtle clothing is one of the ways that she tries to project this upper class image. At one point in the book she changes her clothes three time in one chapter. This repeated changing of costume is her attempt to be seen as though she os wealthy and can afford to have many different dresses. The material that her dresses are made out of is also very expensive and this is one of the ways that the author makes it look like she is attempting to emulate a wealthy status. This contrasts with Daisy. She displays all of the qualities a high-class person that would inhabit East Egg. She is attractive and wears expensive clothes as if they are an everyday item. â€Å"I like your dress remarked Mrs McKee†¦Its just some old crazy thing. she said I just slip it on when I don't care what I look like† Myrtle attempts imitate this my wearing expensive clothes and saying that she doesn't think much of them. They also dress in different ways Daisy wear mainly white while Myrtle dresses with more colour. Myrtle says this in order to keep up her image of being rich. The reader can observe a noticeable disparity in the myrtle's environment when compared to Daisy's. This is principally due to the difference in wealth that they have. Myrtle live in an old dusty house that doubles as a garage that here husband runs. This is located in the valley of ashes with is described as â€Å"†¦a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hill and grotesque gardens.† From this description, it is lucid to the reader that the valley of ashes in an undesirable and unsightly place to live. There is a reason that they the author has chosen for Myrtle to live in such unpleasant surroundings. It could possible be because it her soundings reflect the way in with she uses people in order to climb the social ladder. This is in sharp contrast with Daisy who has a â€Å"cheerful red-and-white Georgian mansion, overlooking the bay.† They also live on East Egg, which is the one of the most fashionable parts of the island. She also has numer ous luxurious items at her disposal. For instance, they have â€Å"a snub nosed motor boat† and expensive cars as well as lots of horses. Another way that they differ is in the enjoyment that they get form life. Daisy is very bored with her life doesn't seem to have much fun even though she has lots of money. † I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.† This helps the reader form an image of her a person that has very few tasks to carry out. Throughout the course of the book it surfaces that although she has a comparatively meaningless existence. Myrtle on the other hand takes great pleasure in attempting to climb the social ladder. Although she makes attempts to appear bored the reader can see though these. It is apparent that she is delighted by the attention and complements that she gets while in the company of Tom. Daisy and Myrtle are discontented with the person that they are married to. However they are so for different reasons. Daisy discontent stems from Toms love for another woman Myrtle, while Myrtle is dissatisfaction is there because he has married a man that she sees as a loser. â€Å"He (her husband) is not fit to lick my shoe†, this sums up that way that she fells about her husband. Daisy takes the opposite view of the way the Tom is treating her. â€Å"It couldn't be helped† is her response when she finds out that Tom has another woman. She sees it as if it where fait that he would in the end love someone other than her. Overall the reader can see that there is a sizeable difference between Daisy and Myrtle. These two characters are not entirely dissimilar because they both share some dissatisfaction with their husbands but have different ways of handle there discontent.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Bilingual Education

Bilingual education is unquestionably a controversial issue. There are several people and organizations in this country, who, for various reasons are opposed to bilingual education. In today’s society regarding education there has been a big issue about whether bilingual education should be taught in classrooms for immigrant students who do not speak English. Bilingual education began about 1967 as an effort to help immigrants, (mostly Spanish speakers) to learn English (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates).Bilingual Education involves teaching two languages to the students. Many persons believe that bilingual education means Spanish and English only, but bilingual could be any two languages. There is a common problem where many parents are against bilingual education because many students are forced into Spanish bilingual classes because they have Spanish surnames, even though they understand and speak English well and they do not speak or read Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Ed ucation Advocates).I have found throughout my studies in bilingual education that a lot of students are placed in bilingual classes because the parents fill out a home language survey stating that the home language is Spanish. Little do the parents know that this is what determines what type of class their child will be in. This is causing many problems for children that are being forced into bilingual classes even when they are not immigrants. The promoter of bilingual education was the German language, because in 1837 students were required to take German in school at least one year (Eva Giles).But one of the most common bilingual programs here in South Texas is Spanish and English. A research states that â€Å"Nearly one in every six school age children in the United States come from a home where a language other than English is regularly spoken† (Eva Giles). â€Å"By some estimates, English is spoken today by one million people and two thirds learned it as a second langu age† (James Crawford). Secretary of Education T. H. Bell remarked that the support of the government for bilingual education grew from $7. 5 million in 1969 to $134 million in 1982 and it provides help for between 1. million to 3. 5 million children (Hoover, The case for and against Bilingual Education). There are many reasons why bilingual education is not effective for many people. First of all, the schools that have bilingual education do not have certified teachers. The problem that I have seen most too often is that many people are going through an alternative program to become a teacher, where they have no schooling in bilingual education and they don’t understand the concept of how it works, nor do they understand the laws.A person that has a degree in criminal justice, per se, goes through a 5 month program, takes a test, and is then considered to be a bilingual teacher. It is very common, here in south Texas where I live, that people that have gone through the ACP certification are being chosen over traditional college path teachers. Bilingual education is controversial for the simplest reason that it disrupts established patterns in school. For many schools, it can cause many headaches because they need to recruit more qualified teachers, redesign curricula, and reorganize class schedules, so many administrators want to avoid that.The monolingual teachers fear the reassignment, loss of status, or other career setbacks (Crawford). Because many schools do not have qualified teachers, the students get behind in their studies because they do not learn either English or Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). Moreover, many parents complain that their children on a regular school day are exposed mostly to Spanish and only few minutes to English (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). This is because the immigrants are mixed with the non-immigrants and the teachers focus more on the immigrant students so they can learn English.Furthe rmore, the students get confused in their writing in Spanish and English. For example, a child was enrolled in bilingual education only because he/she has a Spanish surname even though he spoke only Spanish, and by the seventh grade the child could not read or write either English or Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). On the other hand, many states reported on an average annual increase of 9. 2 percent in the enrollment of limited English proficient students (Crawford).If we do not have more certified teachers in our schools most of the students would have a high rate of falling behind, failing and dropping out of school. Language minority youths are 1. 5 times more likely than the English language counterparts to have discontinued school before completing twelve years, according to the Intercultural Development Research Association. In 1988 the Hispanic youths were more than twice likely to have dropped out. Therefore if we do not have certified teachers to teach the children we are going to have more uneducated children (Crawford).The solution to this problem about not having many certified teachers in our schools is that we need to train the teachers that we already have with some programs that they need to be a certified teacher. â€Å"Bilingual programs, in order to be effective, must be able to attract and retain a teaching staff sufficient in numbers and qualify to meet the needs of the children enrolled in the program. † (Del Valle, Franco, Garcia). A teacher in the bilingual program must master a subject, possess the skills to teach the subject well, and also have mastered two languages as well to be familiar with the children’s culture.Moreover, a bilingual teacher must meet five criteria, and all are very important for them to be an efficient teacher. The five criteria are: †¢The teacher must be fluent in English †¢The teacher must be fluent in Spanish †¢Mastery of the content area to be taught; e. g. scien ce, history etc. †¢Mastery of the teaching skills necessary to teach content area †¢Well information and complete understanding of the child’s culture, custom, and history (Del Valle, Franco, Garcia).Many schools might have to go to another country to recruit bilingual teachers; they go to Puerto Rico or even to Latin American because the United States has a diversity of cultures and it is much easier for a teacher from other countries to come to the United States and teach because they already know the culture of the student, and the students feel more comfortable and learn more. Furthermore, the second reason why bilingual education is not efficient for many people is because they do not have enough research on it.Many people do not know about all of the help that there is in schools for all immigrant students that came from other parts of the world. Parents do not get involved in their child’s studies or know what classes they are taking especially when th ey are in middle school or high school. â€Å"Many advocates of bilingual education fear that any government recognition of minority languages ‘sends a wrong message’ to immigrants encouraging them to believe they can live in the United States without learning English or conforming toAmericans’ ways† (Bilingual Education). Many parents believe that enrolling their children in only English classes will help them to improve in their language. For example, there is a case in California where the government is going to enforce a new program called Ballot Initiative, which would mandate English only instruction for children until they become fully proficient in English (Bilingual Education). But parents do not see all those programs that they have in schools to help their children improve in English without getting frustrated because they do.Parents should think about all the frustration that their children are dealing with because they are enrolling them in En glish classes even if they do not know the language. This is why they need to be made aware of all the programs that the schools have to offer to assist the students that do not speak English. The solution to this kind of problem in the schools is a program called late and early transition that helps the students who receive instructions in their native language during the early years of schooling eventually â€Å"transition† into mainstreaming English. William M. Saunders, Claude Goldenberg. ) Transition programs can occur anywhere from the early elementary grades to middle school or later in high school; it all depends on the school program when the student starts. Transition programs are three year program constants that approach the Spanish to English development in grades 3-5 and transition programs compromise 12 specific components falling in to three categories: 1. Literature studies (literature units, instructional conversations, writing projects) 2.Skill building (re ading comprehension, reading, dictation, and oral English) 3. Supporting Components (reading, reading aloud, and writing journals) A transition program is divided into three parts; Pre-Transition, Transition I, and Transition II. A Pre-Transition program is considered for the students in the third grade. Its purpose is to emphasize the fundamental role of Spanish reading and writing and oral English development that precedes transition and the goal is that by the end of the year the student should read and write Spanish, and a certain level of oral English.The second part of the transition program is called Transition I and it is used in the fourth grade. It is designed to make clear the need of an actual program for a certain time. By the end of fourth grade or Transition I, students should show at least initial reading and writing fluency in English. Moreover, the student should be able to participate in discussions in English and the student should also continue to demonstrate a good level in writing and reading in Spanish used in language arts throughout the entire year. The last part of the program called Transition II is used in the fifth grade.This last part of the program is where the students should be decoding and comprehends grade level materials in English, which mean in literature and content areas (Saunders). According to many teachers in California, bilingual transition programs work very well in schools where they have positive teachers that want to help the student and where the first language is used in the first year (Stephanie Krasren). One of my solutions for bilingual education is to implement more programs for older students as high school students.Right now we do not have enough programs that help those students and that is why we have a lot of college students that do not know how to write or read English or Spanish. In our high schools there is not enough emphasis in programs for high school students because many teachers believe that the students already know English because they attended elementary and middle school. Sometimes it doesn’t cross teachers minds that many students came to the United States when they were 16 and older and they had finished elementary or middle school in Mexico or other places.When they come to high schools here in the United States they do not know English. The program that I would implement for high school immigrant students that do not know any English would be called Older Transition. It would be separated in two parts, the first one being Older Transition I. It would be for ninth grade. The student would have a special teacher in separate classrooms, a teacher that helps them learn the basic English language and as the year goes by to improve their English in all subjects, so the student can be familiarized with the language.The second part would be called Older Transition II and would be for tenth grade immigrant students. The students would be placed in regular classes so they can be familiarized with how the classes work and begin taking the TAKS test that they need in order to graduate. Also the student would be required to participate in school activities so they can be involved with the language and improve their skills. If we would have more programs like this, many students would be beneficiated and wouldn’t feel left out and they would have a better future with more opportunities.These days, many jobs require applicants to be bilingual. â€Å"Businesses, especially telephone companies here in Texas and California are seeking for bilingual employees† (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). Moreover, Texas and California have a high percentage of immigrants and Hispanics, which is why many companies ask the employee if they can speak Spanish and English. According to Hoover, English is the widely used language in history also; English in the language of Science technology, and business (Bilingual Education Advocates).Furthermo re, right now in this society we have a high call for merchants, bankers, and diplomats able to speak two languages. Therefore, if programs like this would be enforced in many high schools many students would have a better future and they would not have problems in college. The opposite view about my solution of implementing more transition programs for high school students is that many high schools do not have enough funds to be spending in transition programs.Moreover, many principals say that high schools do not receive money to have special teacher or train the teachers that the schools already have to teach the immigrant students that do not speak English. I believe that schools have enough money to spend to train teachers and programs because they have enough money to spend in athletics and other elective courses. Many high schools put more interest in athletics or any other activities than in the improvement of the student’s studies.To reiterate, whether bilingual educ ation is effective or not for immigrant students who do not speak English is up to the schools and how they approach the effectiveness of the bilingual programs. After reading much information about bilingual education, I have come to a conclusion; if we have more certified teachers who care and help the students with the English skills and if the schools implement more programs to help immigrant students, we are going to have a nation with many bilingual people who would help others. Moreover, we are going to have a better future for the kids of tomorrow.I encourage many teachers to support more bilingual programs and talk with their principals about them and put them into practice in the classrooms. A lot of this implementation starts with the district, of course, but sometimes certain districts don’t want to implement the bilingual programs and are just receiving the money for it. This is where the schools need to step up and implement the programs and possibly make a call to the TEA and make sure that the district starts following the rules. It all begins with one person making the difference and then it goes from there. Bilingual Education Bilingual education is unquestionably a controversial issue. There are several people and organizations in this country, who, for various reasons are opposed to bilingual education. In today’s society regarding education there has been a big issue about whether bilingual education should be taught in classrooms for immigrant students who do not speak English. Bilingual education began about 1967 as an effort to help immigrants, (mostly Spanish speakers) to learn English (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates).Bilingual Education involves teaching two languages to the students. Many persons believe that bilingual education means Spanish and English only, but bilingual could be any two languages. There is a common problem where many parents are against bilingual education because many students are forced into Spanish bilingual classes because they have Spanish surnames, even though they understand and speak English well and they do not speak or read Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Ed ucation Advocates).I have found throughout my studies in bilingual education that a lot of students are placed in bilingual classes because the parents fill out a home language survey stating that the home language is Spanish. Little do the parents know that this is what determines what type of class their child will be in. This is causing many problems for children that are being forced into bilingual classes even when they are not immigrants. The promoter of bilingual education was the German language, because in 1837 students were required to take German in school at least one year (Eva Giles).But one of the most common bilingual programs here in South Texas is Spanish and English. A research states that â€Å"Nearly one in every six school age children in the United States come from a home where a language other than English is regularly spoken† (Eva Giles). â€Å"By some estimates, English is spoken today by one million people and two thirds learned it as a second langu age† (James Crawford). Secretary of Education T. H. Bell remarked that the support of the government for bilingual education grew from $7. 5 million in 1969 to $134 million in 1982 and it provides help for between 1. million to 3. 5 million children (Hoover, The case for and against Bilingual Education). There are many reasons why bilingual education is not effective for many people. First of all, the schools that have bilingual education do not have certified teachers. The problem that I have seen most too often is that many people are going through an alternative program to become a teacher, where they have no schooling in bilingual education and they don’t understand the concept of how it works, nor do they understand the laws.A person that has a degree in criminal justice, per se, goes through a 5 month program, takes a test, and is then considered to be a bilingual teacher. It is very common, here in south Texas where I live, that people that have gone through the ACP certification are being chosen over traditional college path teachers. Bilingual education is controversial for the simplest reason that it disrupts established patterns in school. For many schools, it can cause many headaches because they need to recruit more qualified teachers, redesign curricula, and reorganize class schedules, so many administrators want to avoid that.The monolingual teachers fear the reassignment, loss of status, or other career setbacks (Crawford). Because many schools do not have qualified teachers, the students get behind in their studies because they do not learn either English or Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). Moreover, many parents complain that their children on a regular school day are exposed mostly to Spanish and only few minutes to English (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). This is because the immigrants are mixed with the non-immigrants and the teachers focus more on the immigrant students so they can learn English.Furthe rmore, the students get confused in their writing in Spanish and English. For example, a child was enrolled in bilingual education only because he/she has a Spanish surname even though he spoke only Spanish, and by the seventh grade the child could not read or write either English or Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). On the other hand, many states reported on an average annual increase of 9. 2 percent in the enrollment of limited English proficient students (Crawford).If we do not have more certified teachers in our schools most of the students would have a high rate of falling behind, failing and dropping out of school. Language minority youths are 1. 5 times more likely than the English language counterparts to have discontinued school before completing twelve years, according to the Intercultural Development Research Association. In 1988 the Hispanic youths were more than twice likely to have dropped out. Therefore if we do not have certified teachers to teach the children we are going to have more uneducated children (Crawford).The solution to this problem about not having many certified teachers in our schools is that we need to train the teachers that we already have with some programs that they need to be a certified teacher. â€Å"Bilingual programs, in order to be effective, must be able to attract and retain a teaching staff sufficient in numbers and qualify to meet the needs of the children enrolled in the program. † (Del Valle, Franco, Garcia). A teacher in the bilingual program must master a subject, possess the skills to teach the subject well, and also have mastered two languages as well to be familiar with the children’s culture.Moreover, a bilingual teacher must meet five criteria, and all are very important for them to be an efficient teacher. The five criteria are: †¢The teacher must be fluent in English †¢The teacher must be fluent in Spanish †¢Mastery of the content area to be taught; e. g. scien ce, history etc. †¢Mastery of the teaching skills necessary to teach content area †¢Well information and complete understanding of the child’s culture, custom, and history (Del Valle, Franco, Garcia).Many schools might have to go to another country to recruit bilingual teachers; they go to Puerto Rico or even to Latin American because the United States has a diversity of cultures and it is much easier for a teacher from other countries to come to the United States and teach because they already know the culture of the student, and the students feel more comfortable and learn more. Furthermore, the second reason why bilingual education is not efficient for many people is because they do not have enough research on it.Many people do not know about all of the help that there is in schools for all immigrant students that came from other parts of the world. Parents do not get involved in their child’s studies or know what classes they are taking especially when th ey are in middle school or high school. â€Å"Many advocates of bilingual education fear that any government recognition of minority languages ‘sends a wrong message’ to immigrants encouraging them to believe they can live in the United States without learning English or conforming toAmericans’ ways† (Bilingual Education). Many parents believe that enrolling their children in only English classes will help them to improve in their language. For example, there is a case in California where the government is going to enforce a new program called Ballot Initiative, which would mandate English only instruction for children until they become fully proficient in English (Bilingual Education). But parents do not see all those programs that they have in schools to help their children improve in English without getting frustrated because they do.Parents should think about all the frustration that their children are dealing with because they are enrolling them in En glish classes even if they do not know the language. This is why they need to be made aware of all the programs that the schools have to offer to assist the students that do not speak English. The solution to this kind of problem in the schools is a program called late and early transition that helps the students who receive instructions in their native language during the early years of schooling eventually â€Å"transition† into mainstreaming English. William M. Saunders, Claude Goldenberg. ) Transition programs can occur anywhere from the early elementary grades to middle school or later in high school; it all depends on the school program when the student starts. Transition programs are three year program constants that approach the Spanish to English development in grades 3-5 and transition programs compromise 12 specific components falling in to three categories: 1. Literature studies (literature units, instructional conversations, writing projects) 2.Skill building (re ading comprehension, reading, dictation, and oral English) 3. Supporting Components (reading, reading aloud, and writing journals) A transition program is divided into three parts; Pre-Transition, Transition I, and Transition II. A Pre-Transition program is considered for the students in the third grade. Its purpose is to emphasize the fundamental role of Spanish reading and writing and oral English development that precedes transition and the goal is that by the end of the year the student should read and write Spanish, and a certain level of oral English.The second part of the transition program is called Transition I and it is used in the fourth grade. It is designed to make clear the need of an actual program for a certain time. By the end of fourth grade or Transition I, students should show at least initial reading and writing fluency in English. Moreover, the student should be able to participate in discussions in English and the student should also continue to demonstrate a good level in writing and reading in Spanish used in language arts throughout the entire year. The last part of the program called Transition II is used in the fifth grade.This last part of the program is where the students should be decoding and comprehends grade level materials in English, which mean in literature and content areas (Saunders). According to many teachers in California, bilingual transition programs work very well in schools where they have positive teachers that want to help the student and where the first language is used in the first year (Stephanie Krasren). One of my solutions for bilingual education is to implement more programs for older students as high school students.Right now we do not have enough programs that help those students and that is why we have a lot of college students that do not know how to write or read English or Spanish. In our high schools there is not enough emphasis in programs for high school students because many teachers believe that the students already know English because they attended elementary and middle school. Sometimes it doesn’t cross teachers minds that many students came to the United States when they were 16 and older and they had finished elementary or middle school in Mexico or other places.When they come to high schools here in the United States they do not know English. The program that I would implement for high school immigrant students that do not know any English would be called Older Transition. It would be separated in two parts, the first one being Older Transition I. It would be for ninth grade. The student would have a special teacher in separate classrooms, a teacher that helps them learn the basic English language and as the year goes by to improve their English in all subjects, so the student can be familiarized with the language.The second part would be called Older Transition II and would be for tenth grade immigrant students. The students would be placed in regular classes so they can be familiarized with how the classes work and begin taking the TAKS test that they need in order to graduate. Also the student would be required to participate in school activities so they can be involved with the language and improve their skills. If we would have more programs like this, many students would be beneficiated and wouldn’t feel left out and they would have a better future with more opportunities.These days, many jobs require applicants to be bilingual. â€Å"Businesses, especially telephone companies here in Texas and California are seeking for bilingual employees† (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). Moreover, Texas and California have a high percentage of immigrants and Hispanics, which is why many companies ask the employee if they can speak Spanish and English. According to Hoover, English is the widely used language in history also; English in the language of Science technology, and business (Bilingual Education Advocates).Furthermo re, right now in this society we have a high call for merchants, bankers, and diplomats able to speak two languages. Therefore, if programs like this would be enforced in many high schools many students would have a better future and they would not have problems in college. The opposite view about my solution of implementing more transition programs for high school students is that many high schools do not have enough funds to be spending in transition programs.Moreover, many principals say that high schools do not receive money to have special teacher or train the teachers that the schools already have to teach the immigrant students that do not speak English. I believe that schools have enough money to spend to train teachers and programs because they have enough money to spend in athletics and other elective courses. Many high schools put more interest in athletics or any other activities than in the improvement of the student’s studies.To reiterate, whether bilingual educ ation is effective or not for immigrant students who do not speak English is up to the schools and how they approach the effectiveness of the bilingual programs. After reading much information about bilingual education, I have come to a conclusion; if we have more certified teachers who care and help the students with the English skills and if the schools implement more programs to help immigrant students, we are going to have a nation with many bilingual people who would help others. Moreover, we are going to have a better future for the kids of tomorrow.I encourage many teachers to support more bilingual programs and talk with their principals about them and put them into practice in the classrooms. A lot of this implementation starts with the district, of course, but sometimes certain districts don’t want to implement the bilingual programs and are just receiving the money for it. This is where the schools need to step up and implement the programs and possibly make a call to the TEA and make sure that the district starts following the rules. It all begins with one person making the difference and then it goes from there. Bilingual Education Bilingual education is unquestionably a controversial issue. There are several people and organizations in this country, who, for various reasons are opposed to bilingual education. In today’s society regarding education there has been a big issue about whether bilingual education should be taught in classrooms for immigrant students who do not speak English. Bilingual education began about 1967 as an effort to help immigrants, (mostly Spanish speakers) to learn English (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates).Bilingual Education involves teaching two languages to the students. Many persons believe that bilingual education means Spanish and English only, but bilingual could be any two languages. There is a common problem where many parents are against bilingual education because many students are forced into Spanish bilingual classes because they have Spanish surnames, even though they understand and speak English well and they do not speak or read Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Ed ucation Advocates).I have found throughout my studies in bilingual education that a lot of students are placed in bilingual classes because the parents fill out a home language survey stating that the home language is Spanish. Little do the parents know that this is what determines what type of class their child will be in. This is causing many problems for children that are being forced into bilingual classes even when they are not immigrants. The promoter of bilingual education was the German language, because in 1837 students were required to take German in school at least one year (Eva Giles).But one of the most common bilingual programs here in South Texas is Spanish and English. A research states that â€Å"Nearly one in every six school age children in the United States come from a home where a language other than English is regularly spoken† (Eva Giles). â€Å"By some estimates, English is spoken today by one million people and two thirds learned it as a second langu age† (James Crawford). Secretary of Education T. H. Bell remarked that the support of the government for bilingual education grew from $7. 5 million in 1969 to $134 million in 1982 and it provides help for between 1. million to 3. 5 million children (Hoover, The case for and against Bilingual Education). There are many reasons why bilingual education is not effective for many people. First of all, the schools that have bilingual education do not have certified teachers. The problem that I have seen most too often is that many people are going through an alternative program to become a teacher, where they have no schooling in bilingual education and they don’t understand the concept of how it works, nor do they understand the laws.A person that has a degree in criminal justice, per se, goes through a 5 month program, takes a test, and is then considered to be a bilingual teacher. It is very common, here in south Texas where I live, that people that have gone through the ACP certification are being chosen over traditional college path teachers. Bilingual education is controversial for the simplest reason that it disrupts established patterns in school. For many schools, it can cause many headaches because they need to recruit more qualified teachers, redesign curricula, and reorganize class schedules, so many administrators want to avoid that.The monolingual teachers fear the reassignment, loss of status, or other career setbacks (Crawford). Because many schools do not have qualified teachers, the students get behind in their studies because they do not learn either English or Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). Moreover, many parents complain that their children on a regular school day are exposed mostly to Spanish and only few minutes to English (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). This is because the immigrants are mixed with the non-immigrants and the teachers focus more on the immigrant students so they can learn English.Furthe rmore, the students get confused in their writing in Spanish and English. For example, a child was enrolled in bilingual education only because he/she has a Spanish surname even though he spoke only Spanish, and by the seventh grade the child could not read or write either English or Spanish (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). On the other hand, many states reported on an average annual increase of 9. 2 percent in the enrollment of limited English proficient students (Crawford).If we do not have more certified teachers in our schools most of the students would have a high rate of falling behind, failing and dropping out of school. Language minority youths are 1. 5 times more likely than the English language counterparts to have discontinued school before completing twelve years, according to the Intercultural Development Research Association. In 1988 the Hispanic youths were more than twice likely to have dropped out. Therefore if we do not have certified teachers to teach the children we are going to have more uneducated children (Crawford).The solution to this problem about not having many certified teachers in our schools is that we need to train the teachers that we already have with some programs that they need to be a certified teacher. â€Å"Bilingual programs, in order to be effective, must be able to attract and retain a teaching staff sufficient in numbers and qualify to meet the needs of the children enrolled in the program. † (Del Valle, Franco, Garcia). A teacher in the bilingual program must master a subject, possess the skills to teach the subject well, and also have mastered two languages as well to be familiar with the children’s culture.Moreover, a bilingual teacher must meet five criteria, and all are very important for them to be an efficient teacher. The five criteria are: †¢The teacher must be fluent in English †¢The teacher must be fluent in Spanish †¢Mastery of the content area to be taught; e. g. scien ce, history etc. †¢Mastery of the teaching skills necessary to teach content area †¢Well information and complete understanding of the child’s culture, custom, and history (Del Valle, Franco, Garcia).Many schools might have to go to another country to recruit bilingual teachers; they go to Puerto Rico or even to Latin American because the United States has a diversity of cultures and it is much easier for a teacher from other countries to come to the United States and teach because they already know the culture of the student, and the students feel more comfortable and learn more. Furthermore, the second reason why bilingual education is not efficient for many people is because they do not have enough research on it.Many people do not know about all of the help that there is in schools for all immigrant students that came from other parts of the world. Parents do not get involved in their child’s studies or know what classes they are taking especially when th ey are in middle school or high school. â€Å"Many advocates of bilingual education fear that any government recognition of minority languages ‘sends a wrong message’ to immigrants encouraging them to believe they can live in the United States without learning English or conforming toAmericans’ ways† (Bilingual Education). Many parents believe that enrolling their children in only English classes will help them to improve in their language. For example, there is a case in California where the government is going to enforce a new program called Ballot Initiative, which would mandate English only instruction for children until they become fully proficient in English (Bilingual Education). But parents do not see all those programs that they have in schools to help their children improve in English without getting frustrated because they do.Parents should think about all the frustration that their children are dealing with because they are enrolling them in En glish classes even if they do not know the language. This is why they need to be made aware of all the programs that the schools have to offer to assist the students that do not speak English. The solution to this kind of problem in the schools is a program called late and early transition that helps the students who receive instructions in their native language during the early years of schooling eventually â€Å"transition† into mainstreaming English. William M. Saunders, Claude Goldenberg. ) Transition programs can occur anywhere from the early elementary grades to middle school or later in high school; it all depends on the school program when the student starts. Transition programs are three year program constants that approach the Spanish to English development in grades 3-5 and transition programs compromise 12 specific components falling in to three categories: 1. Literature studies (literature units, instructional conversations, writing projects) 2.Skill building (re ading comprehension, reading, dictation, and oral English) 3. Supporting Components (reading, reading aloud, and writing journals) A transition program is divided into three parts; Pre-Transition, Transition I, and Transition II. A Pre-Transition program is considered for the students in the third grade. Its purpose is to emphasize the fundamental role of Spanish reading and writing and oral English development that precedes transition and the goal is that by the end of the year the student should read and write Spanish, and a certain level of oral English.The second part of the transition program is called Transition I and it is used in the fourth grade. It is designed to make clear the need of an actual program for a certain time. By the end of fourth grade or Transition I, students should show at least initial reading and writing fluency in English. Moreover, the student should be able to participate in discussions in English and the student should also continue to demonstrate a good level in writing and reading in Spanish used in language arts throughout the entire year. The last part of the program called Transition II is used in the fifth grade.This last part of the program is where the students should be decoding and comprehends grade level materials in English, which mean in literature and content areas (Saunders). According to many teachers in California, bilingual transition programs work very well in schools where they have positive teachers that want to help the student and where the first language is used in the first year (Stephanie Krasren). One of my solutions for bilingual education is to implement more programs for older students as high school students.Right now we do not have enough programs that help those students and that is why we have a lot of college students that do not know how to write or read English or Spanish. In our high schools there is not enough emphasis in programs for high school students because many teachers believe that the students already know English because they attended elementary and middle school. Sometimes it doesn’t cross teachers minds that many students came to the United States when they were 16 and older and they had finished elementary or middle school in Mexico or other places.When they come to high schools here in the United States they do not know English. The program that I would implement for high school immigrant students that do not know any English would be called Older Transition. It would be separated in two parts, the first one being Older Transition I. It would be for ninth grade. The student would have a special teacher in separate classrooms, a teacher that helps them learn the basic English language and as the year goes by to improve their English in all subjects, so the student can be familiarized with the language.The second part would be called Older Transition II and would be for tenth grade immigrant students. The students would be placed in regular classes so they can be familiarized with how the classes work and begin taking the TAKS test that they need in order to graduate. Also the student would be required to participate in school activities so they can be involved with the language and improve their skills. If we would have more programs like this, many students would be beneficiated and wouldn’t feel left out and they would have a better future with more opportunities.These days, many jobs require applicants to be bilingual. â€Å"Businesses, especially telephone companies here in Texas and California are seeking for bilingual employees† (Hoover, Bilingual Education Advocates). Moreover, Texas and California have a high percentage of immigrants and Hispanics, which is why many companies ask the employee if they can speak Spanish and English. According to Hoover, English is the widely used language in history also; English in the language of Science technology, and business (Bilingual Education Advocates).Furthermo re, right now in this society we have a high call for merchants, bankers, and diplomats able to speak two languages. Therefore, if programs like this would be enforced in many high schools many students would have a better future and they would not have problems in college. The opposite view about my solution of implementing more transition programs for high school students is that many high schools do not have enough funds to be spending in transition programs.Moreover, many principals say that high schools do not receive money to have special teacher or train the teachers that the schools already have to teach the immigrant students that do not speak English. I believe that schools have enough money to spend to train teachers and programs because they have enough money to spend in athletics and other elective courses. Many high schools put more interest in athletics or any other activities than in the improvement of the student’s studies.To reiterate, whether bilingual educ ation is effective or not for immigrant students who do not speak English is up to the schools and how they approach the effectiveness of the bilingual programs. After reading much information about bilingual education, I have come to a conclusion; if we have more certified teachers who care and help the students with the English skills and if the schools implement more programs to help immigrant students, we are going to have a nation with many bilingual people who would help others. Moreover, we are going to have a better future for the kids of tomorrow.I encourage many teachers to support more bilingual programs and talk with their principals about them and put them into practice in the classrooms. A lot of this implementation starts with the district, of course, but sometimes certain districts don’t want to implement the bilingual programs and are just receiving the money for it. This is where the schools need to step up and implement the programs and possibly make a call to the TEA and make sure that the district starts following the rules. It all begins with one person making the difference and then it goes from there.