Discuss Malcolm X's historical relevance on the 1960s Essay

Discuss Malcolm X's historical relevance on the 1960s - Essay Example Dyson underscores that as Malcolm came close to the year of his assassination, he exhibited a growing sense of humanity and moral awareness that both his critics and â€Å"true believers† dismissed. This paper explores the historical relevance of Malcolm X in the 1960s. It portrays the life of Malcolm X, his major accomplishments, the probable reasons for his assassination, and his historical relevance in American history. The Life of Malcolm X On May 19, 1925, Louise Norton Little gave birth to Malcolm in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm’s father, Earl Little, supported Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The UNIA had its headquarters in Harlem and promoted the long-term goal of African Diaspora. While the African Americans have not yet returned to Africa, the UNIA promoted black pride and self-reliance. Earl traveled around the U.S. to teach the Garveyite ideals of self-dignity and self-reliance and to prepare believers for a return to Africa someday. Louise also contributed to the UNIA through writing articles for the UNIA’s Negro World. While Malcolm became a favorite of his father, Louise hated Malcolm because of his light skin color, which reminded her that she had a white father. She whipped Malcolm heavily and frequently. Malcolm’s father died in 1931, leaving his mother to fend for seven children, who were all less than twelve years old. The pressures of being self-r eliant and remaining strong, despite her loneliness, pushed Louise to her psychological limits. On January 9, 1939, the courts sent Louise to a state mental hospital at Kalamazoo. 6 Because of his earlier misdemeanors, Malcolm ended up in a detention home that the Swerleins managed. Malcolm worked hard for them, so they blocked the previous court decision to put him in reform school.7 Malcolm, however, had mixed feelings for the Swerleins, because he knew that they â€Å"liked† him, as if he is a â€Å"canary.†8 In 1939, during his seventh-grade year, Malcolm became elected as the class president. He took an active participation in sports and class activities too.9 As the only black student in Mason Junior High School, however, his teachers and classmates called him â€Å"the nigger† and older boys often â€Å"accidentally elbowed† him.10 One day, Malcolm’s English teacher, Mr. Ostrowsky, asked him if he had thought of a future career. Malcolm impulsively answered that he wanted to be a lawyer. Mr. Ostrowsky asserted that being a lawyer did not constitute as a â€Å"realistic† aim â€Å"for a nigger† and he aske d Malcolm to choose the occupation of carpentry instead.11 After this encounter, Malcolm learned to turn away from the whites who never aimed to give him access to his political and economic rights. Malcolm soon lost his former passionate interest in school. He dropped out and lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where he took numerous odd jobs. Afterwards, he traveled to Harlem, New York, where he became involved in petty crimes, such as drug trafficking and pimping. He turned into a well-known hustler in New York. By 1942, Malcolm acted as a go-between for a variety of narcotics, prostitution and gambling rings. The Malcolm X website narrates that Malcolm and his buddy, Malcolm â€Å"Shorty† Jarvis, went back to Boston, after some gang-related problems.12 In 1946, the police arrested them for burglary charges, and Malcolm received a sentence for ten years in prison. During this time, he became

Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business Practices Essay Example for Free

Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business Practices Essay Businesses, specifically larger corporations, play a major role in what occurs in society therefore, they are responsible to their stakeholders not only to pursue economic goals but the greater social good as well. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment. (Lawrence, 2010). Social responsibility is becoming the norm so much so that some businesses have incorporated it into their business model. There are three components of the bottom line of social responsibility in business: planet, people, and profitability (3P). This is also the formulation of the triple bottom line, or TBL. In this report we look at the Network Data Center (NDC) in Tucson, AZ which provided technical support to the Army installation. The business consists of 120 people supporting over 6,000. Each employee has a minimum of one computer, some have multiple for different classification levels, and two monitors. There are a few classrooms with multiple computers in them as well. The company provides network, server, helpdesk, customer management, information assurance, and various other information technology services to the base. We take a look at the TBL of social responsibility in the view of environmental, ethical leadership, organizational viability, and legal and regulatory considerations and make recommendations for implementation. Environmental Businesses are going beyond regulatory compliance and becoming green. This gives companies a competitive advantage as well as legitimacy and product differentiation, moral commitment to the economy, and cost savings. Environmental analysis is a method managers can use to gather outside information on current issues and trends and turn that information into  actions that minimize threats and take advantages of new opportunities. Many corporations use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to farm out guidelines and use them in their own business. Some considerations to take into account are the materials used and the percentage of those materials that are recycled, direct and indirect energy consumption, water withdrawal, biodiversity, emissions, effluents, and waste, reclaimed products and services, compliance, environmental impacts of transportation of products, and the overall protection expenditures. For the NDC, we consider electronics recycling, energy conservation, and waste m anagement. Considerations. Electronics Recycling. When the company does its annual lifecycle of computers, laptops, monitors, servers, and the like, I recommend research and review of the possibility of upgrades in lieu of new machines. Then when replacing parts, the old unserviceable ones will be sent to a recycling facility. The company can go to http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/donate.htm to find a place to recycle electronics. Best Buy offers in-store, event, and online recycling program options. I recommend the company review and implement a computer/ electronics recycling program. By upgrading versus new purchase, the company will benefit from cost savings and may be able to upgrade to better machines than they would if buying full new systems. This cost savings can be reinvested elsewhere in the business. Energy Conservation. The company currently has a high energy consumption in their electronics. Little is done to conserve. Before budget crisis within the company, the rule was everyone had to leave their computers on all night and updates were run at night to maintain information assurance compliance. Since the budget downfall a few years ago, all updates must be done during the day. Employees still leave their machines on at night, restarting before they leave for the night, because the rule has never changed. Efficiency efforts could be in place here to save energy. Waste Management. Since we already discussed electronics recycling, this  consideration is for the waste management of municipal solid waste (MSW) – or everyday items. MSW is the everyday things we use and throw out in the office. This can include items such as packaging, grass clippings, old furniture, bottles, food scraps, and batteries. According to the EPAs annual report on MSW, Americans throw away about 4.3 pounds of waste per person, every day. Preventing waste should be considered as well as recycling and composting. Recommendations. Electronics Recycling. Electronic recycling is one consideration the company can do better with. Recycling in general lowers greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing items for the first time. Recycling electronics conserves natural resources making cleaner air and water. The valuable resources computers and electronic components carry are metals, plastics, and glass. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling a million laptops would give back enough energy for 3500 American homes’ electricity. A million cell phones would could yield 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium. Instead of throwing out the old computers and blackberry’s, the company could simply upgrade the hardware or software and then recycle the parts necessary. Energy Conservation. To conserve energy, it is my recommendation that the company have employees shut down computers at night in lieu of restarting. Although some equipment such as the servers and UPS will still need to run, 150+ computers shut down at night will save energy resulting in cost savings for the company. Not only will this save money in utility billing, but also extend the life of the machines. When purchasing new pieces, parts, and machines, I also recommend looking for energy star equipment that uses less energy when it is running. Waste Management. I recommend the company implement better plans on waste prevention such as utilizing the electronics we have to manage records instead of printing hard copies. Some of the older generation employees  like to have a backup paper copy of items and are not held accountable to the paper reduction policies in place. Preventing excess printing results in cost savings for the company in paper and ink. A recycling and composting plan should be set in place by the company. The waste company provides free recycle and compost containers. NDC simply needs to implement and plan and educate employees on when and how to recycle and composting when appropriate. Employees should be encouraged to use recyclable paper, glass, and metals for meals, dishes, and utensils instead of Styrofoam plates for example. Recycling and composting is free and will scale down the amount of actual waste is used by the company. This essential results in cost savings to the company as well. In addition to the benefits to the company, the efforts of less disposables diminishes the carbon dioxide equivalent into the air helping preserve the earth. Ethical Leadership All leaders in business have a responsibility to earn a profit but ethical leaders take it one step further by going above and beyond the regulatory guidance. Bad ethical leadership can cause competitive pressure such as with Enron who fired the bottom 20% of performers every year. This caused employees to focus heavily on numbers and became unethical. Poor ethics in the workplace can cause issues because of personal gain and selfish interest or if there are conflicts of interest. Ethical leaders behave ethically, value and live by ethical behavior, set the pave through expectations and examples, establish an environment of continuous improvement, provides opportunities for people to grow personally and professionally, and they care and act with compassion. Ethical workplaces encourage long time employees who continue to work there until retirement. Ethical leaders choose to lead. They are the people want to follow, they are not just obeyed by force. These leaders provide vision and inspiration that makes employees feel important and appreciated. Ethical leaders facilitate a positive culture in business motivating and shaping employees’ attitudes. Ethical leadership covers the â€Å"people† part of the 3P in the TBL. Some considerations we look at in this category are labor practices and decent work, human rights, society, and product responsibility. Consideration. Occupational Health and Safety. This metric falls under labor practices and decent work and covers rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and work related fatalities. For NDC, the rates of injury are the most troublesome. Employees are often sick, office by office as they pass around a virus or bacteria. Ill employees are not asked to utilize their sick leave and stay home. Another thing to consider in this category is employees going home from injuries from lack of ergonomics. There is a climate from management that if a worker asks for an ergonomic accommodation it is because that employee is weak or making excuses. Employees live with wrist or back pain or the like until they are hospitalized or require surgery. Discrimination. Another consideration for the company is in human rights, or in particular discrimination. There are multifaceted ways discrimination can surface. Although the company does well in most cases, there are few areas where discrimination is not as blaringly evident but still needs to be addressed. For NDC, there is a discrimination of single parents. Single fathers are looked upon with sympathy and empathy. Accommodations are made with scheduling and compliance to regulations. Single fathers who are late because they had issues getting their kids to school are given the compassionate â€Å"it’s ok† response. Single mothers are hardly looked at through the same lens. They are viewed as the troublemakers who can’t get their act together. In one such incident a single father divorced because of his own infidelity with multiple women, most coworkers. The company immediately accommodated his schedule and put him on the coveted day shift so he could work around daycare. In his department, they are required to change schedules and work a different shift, every quarter. He has been on the same schedule for two years because management feels for his â€Å"situation†. Another young mother called in one day to let the company know her mother was sick and could not watch the kids. She would be two hours late because she had to wait for her backup daycare to open and take the kids there. When she arrived at work she was given a discipline note  explaining that daycare issues are not the organizations problem and she was put on probation of losing her job. When the female employee inquired about the inconsistencies between women and men, they eloquently reminded her she was on probation. These type of incidents continuously happen in NDC. The company should consider their actions, intentional or not. If daycare issues are personal and not a concern of the company, then they should not be a concern for anyone. Discrimination is unethical behavior that looks poorly on the company and ruins morale. Recommendations. Occupational Health and Safety. It is my recommendation that the company provide hand sanitizer lotion to each employee as well as some in common areas. This will help prevent the spread of germs in the offices. Although union issues limit the supervisor’s ability to make employees use their sick leave to stay home when they are sick, they can educate workers on the importance of not spreading their illness. Masks can be offered to shield sick employees from the healthy ones as well. The local hospital offers free ergonomic evaluations and recommendations for employees regardless if they work in the warehouse lifting heavy equipment, or sitting at a desk all day. I recommend management change their way of thinking on ergonomics and allow employees to receive the care they need. Implementing preventative actions now will save the company money later. Medical bills will remain lower if people are not having carpel tunnel syndrome surgery or surgery to correct a spinal disk out of place. The company will benefit from having the employees at work and not paying employees to be gone on medical leave. This holds true for caring for sick employees as well. Keeping the healthy employees free from contagions, will save the company time and money as well as get more work done. Discrimination. My recommendation for the company is to review the accommodations and special exceptions it gives to employees. Sensing sessions should be conducted with the employees or anonymous surveys to bring these type of issues to light. Any discrimination acts reported by employees should be immediately addressed and taken seriously. Unethical  behavior by management causes employees not to trust them. Unhappy employees can become disgruntled and even unethical themselves. Someone who is being treated inappropriately will not be as productive and retention can become an issue for the company. Ethical leaders foster communication and better working environments, leading to better business. Organizational Viability Long term survival and sustain profits over time. The longer the company is profitable, the better its viability. To be socially responsible, a company must remain viable. Opportunities, threats, stagnant times, times of growth, and initiating innovative ideas are all opportunities to lower costs and stay ahead of competitors. There are many ways to measure sustainability of a company. The company can use sustainability accounting, conduct shareholder value analysis, lifecycle assessment, balanced scorecard, activity based costing, lifecycle costing, full cost accounting, expected value analysis, and sensitivity analysis. The company must look at itself from a financial perspective, but also from a customer, internal business process, and learning and growth perspective as well. Considerations. Market Presence. Being present in the market is core to viability. The company makes purchases from contracts with small businesses throughout the country to level the economic balance. The company also provides services to any local government agency. NDC has a local internal extranet for customers for processes and procedures to request assistance as well as self-help. The hiring process for the company is an online one that is long, difficult, and confusing to someone new to the system. Prospective employees must first create an account and build a resume using the specific template provided. This lengthy process uses a lot of jargon and requires very specific information. Once the account is created, the prospect can search for jobs which can be time consuming if unfamiliar with the jargon. If a job is found, the user can click apply which attaches their resume created in the profile, and then asks multiple questions. These questions  are a combination of checkboxes and written responses. This assessment is typically from four to nine pages in length. After applying, a computer scans resumes for matches of key words, words that were not in the job announcement. Then, the resumes that pass are sent to a human resources department that review for actual qualifications. The remaining qualified resumes are then sent to the hiring branch. The branch has to score each resume based on a preapproved rubric about two pages in length. Once scored, the top people are called for an interview. Once interviews are conducted, the selection is made and sent back to human resources. Human resource department offers the applicant the job and works on the details. The process often takes months. Customer Service and Competitive Advantage. Understanding customers’ needs and wants and implementing service based on those desires through a strategic plan is key to maintaining a competitive advantage. Companies must be able to adapt quickly to customer demands. A company must be either low cost or a value added type business. In the case of NDC, the value added is one of providing differentiated products and services that contain only attributes associated with the base. The scope is specialized. The company must still maintain social responsibility in this area and can do so by providing excellent customer service. Without the customers, there would be no business. The company’s customers take many forms. There are civilians, Soldiers, contractors, and suppliers. All services provided by the company are followed up with the opportunity to conduct a survey. Metrics of the work done versus the surveys is also collected and reported to higher headquarters. Service req uests that come in are documented in a local system however, phone calls are not recorded. Recommendations. Market Presence. NDC can improve its market presence with upgrading its current internal website and creating social media venue presence to address the current issues at hand. The company can research competitor sites and come up with more ideas that appeal to the target market. The hiring process needs some work. A thorough analysis of the process should be conducted  reviewing the most time consuming portions. For example if the scoring of the resumes at the branch is the issue, maybe a team is created that does only that so the process will go faster. Too often when an applicant is offered the job, it has been so long they have been offered a job elsewhere and decline the invitation. Losing the best qualified employees hurts the company and the bottom line. Remaining in the market competitively involves having the best employees available to provide the best service available. Customer Service and Competitive Advantage. Although the surveys are sent to higher management, the metrics are not utilized locally. The only time the feedback is mentioned at all, is if there is a majorly negative survey that comes in and is sent back down to the director. It is recommended that the company have local supervisors review the metrics for their own personnel and address the overall performance of its own employees at the lowest level. This will help improve the customer experience and keep them coming back. Positive customer service should be rewarded and negative ones, addressed. Clear indications of the level of service that is expected should be communicated. Valid and verifiable expectations should be measured and identified. Customer expectations should be priority, customer service strategy should be analytical and communicated to all units on base internal and external. This will give customers an opportunity to recognize when service is not met as promised. The company should also consider recording its phone calls and conducting quality assurance on the calls to catch issues missed by customers skipping the survey. Legal and Regulatory Considerations Social Responsibility within the confines of legal and regulatory considerations and recommendations are similarly important. To remain social responsible, companies must adhere to laws. In addition to conducting business within the confines of the law, companies should proactively anticipate new regulations and act proactively. Since the NDC is a government entity, it must operate within the boundaries of local and federal laws. Considerations. FAR. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), found at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/pdf/FAR.pdf, is the governing regulation used by all federal executive agencies in the acquisition of supplies and services. â€Å"It became effective on April 1, 1984, and is issued within applicable laws under the joint authorities of the Administrator of General Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, under the broad policy guidelines of the Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget.† The NDC uses the FAR for all acquisitions. Specifically in part 39 of the regulation, Information Technology acquisitions are covered. The FAR governs that appropriated funds are not to be used to acquire information technology that is not deemed necessary to the function and operation of the agency. Too often in the government and in NDC specifically, the latest and greatest are highly sought after items. The contracting agency sometimes scrutinizes the justification of products too harshly and in other times, not enough. The regulation states that contracting officers must be cognoscente of the rapidly ever changing information technology world. In NDC, users requesting items for purchase must submit the required documents to include justification into a SharePoint portal which is then processed by the acquisitions team. The team reviews and sends completed packets to the contracting office. The contracting office then makes a determination on the item(s). Exchange of Material and Disposition. Disposition of property in the government is governed by US Code Title 10, chapter 153, Exchange of material and disposal of obsolete, surplus, or unclaimed property. Basically the company is not allowed to see equipment but rather uses it until it does not meet the mission and then the process is to turn in the equipment and recycle most materials. Sometimes older machines, servers, or other information technology pieces of equipment are still in good working order, just not robust enough to accomplish the Army mission or provide proper security. The US Code Title 38 covers veteran’s benefits and part VI chapter 83 covers the acceptance of gifts and bequests. NDC does not donate any items to organizations outside of itself. The company is being social responsible in disposition of equipment the right way however, it could improve by making more donations. Business Processes. Federal laws, regulations, and mandatory IT standards for securing private sector information technology systems and data in critical infrastructure sectors is managed by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). Information Technology is considered a critical infrastructure sector coming more popular after enactments of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. â€Å"GAO has identified a set of essential and complementary management disciplines that provide a sound foundation for information technology (IT) management. These include: IT strategic planning, Enterprise architecture, IT investment management and Information Security.† (GAO, 2014). Part of the IT disciplines identified in the law is that best practice is to require that processes are documented to account for all operations and be integrated with strategic and operational planning processes. In NDC, the company realizes its social responsibility to create processes. The company has created a web page to host the processes for all things IT. This relates to helpdesk issues, do it yourself ideas, budget and acquisitions information, enterprise license agreements, service level agreements, and a number of other processes. This repository can be accessed by anyone with a government common access card (CAC). The issue with the site is that is it disorganized and mostly unknown to the general public on base. Recommendations. FAR. Information Technology acquisitions are justified by the users and the contracting office makes a determination if the justification is valid. The company must be social responsible in spending the governments money because it is the tax payers who fund the government. A contractor who is not an Information Technologist, would not be able to make a fair determination if a piece of equipment is needed for the operation of the business or not. It is recommended that the contracting office have an Information Technologist liaison who can help determine if the purchases are valid, or if they are  just the users â€Å"I saw it so I want it† desires. This would assist the government in getting the items that are needed to perform the job better, and would cut costs on the items that are not necessary to the government. Exchange of Material and Disposition. One year NDC life cycled all 357 computers for new and improved ones that were capable of handling more security issues. Since it was such a large quantity, the business offered to donate some of the machines to other small businesses in need. One of the smaller reserve units nearby had really old computers with I think Windows 3.1. So NDC donated about 11 computers and the Soldiers were able to work more efficiently during drill weekends. This situation was out of the ordinary. Usually the computers are sent in to a central facility and then cycled out from there. Although this is a social responsible action, I recommend the company look into donating more items in the future. The US Code 38 8301 specifically says that â€Å"The Secretary may accept devises, bequests, and gifts, made in any manner, with respect to which the testator or donor shall have indicated the intention that such property shall be for the benefit of groups of persons formerly in the active military, naval, or air service who by virtue of such service alone, or disability suffered therein or therefrom, are or shall be patients or members of any one or more hospitals or homes operated by the United States Government, or has indicated the intention that such property shall be for the benefit of any such hospital or home, or shall be paid or delivered to any official, as such, or any agency in administrative control thereof. The Secretary may also accept, for use in carrying out all laws administered by the Secretary, gifts, devises, and bequests which will enhance the Secretary’s ability to provide services or benefits.† (US Code 38 Veterans Benefits) This means the company can donate their used and useful equipment to assist the Veterans Association (VA) to enhance the ability to provide services or benefits. There would not be lengthy tax paperwork but only a small hand receipt trail of the transfer. This would benefit both agencies as well as the Veterans and Soldiers effected by the quality of care. Business Processes. It is recommended that NDC take the time and consideration to re-do their web pages. A team should be created to specifically handle the project and all shareholders should be involved. This means the company should discuss with the customers as well as the NDC employees on a strategy to build a better more informative site. Once built, the site should be advertised in the base paper, on the installation homepage. These processes should be better organized and updated regularly so NDC remains social responsible to its customers. Social responsibility is essential to the bottom line. By taking the recommended steps above, NDC can work towards becoming a more social responsible company with constant upward mobility. References Lawrence, Anne (2010). Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy. 13th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 2010. VitalBook file. Bookshelf. Federal Acquisitions Regulation (2005). General Services Administration, Department of Defense. Retrieved from http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/pdf/FAR.pdf 21 June 2014. U.S. Code: Title 38 Veterans’ Benefits. 38 U.S. Code Part VI Acquisition and Disposition of Property. Chapter 85—disposition of deceased veterans personal property ( §Ã‚ § 8501–8528). http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text Government Accountability Office (GAO) (2014). Best Practices and Leading Practices in Information Technology Management. http://www.gao.gov/key_issues/leading_practices_information_technology_management/issue_summary

Christianity :: Papers

Christianity As Christians we believe that God has a plan and that the death of Jesus was for the benefit of humankind. Jesus said he had to suffer and die as he had been sent on a mission of self-sacrifice. So he had not come to lord it over people, rather, he had come to serve; and he had come to sacrifice his life - a sort of ransom - to benefit people. Mk 10:41-45 Jesus relieved pain and he removed suffering. He spent more time doing this than anything else. E.g. Jairus' Daughter, Calming the Storm and healing blind Bartimaeus. Jesus forgave sin, which was the main cause for much suffering and all Christians believe that God was incarnated, on Earth, as Jesus himself. Prior to his death Jesus experienced; both emotional and physical pain. For example: when he was tortured and killed. Jesus experienced emotional pain when present in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was devastated by the thought of trial and death; he overcame this emotion by using the power of prayer. As Crucifixion grew on him "Father" he prayed, "my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want." Mk 14:36-37. Such quotes remind us that Jesus was human Unlike some, Jesus did not try to escape death, but accepted it gracefully. It was like he was portraying a message. He died for his beliefs; moreover, he accepted death as a way of life.

War in the Modern World :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  War in the Modern World War has fascinated the minds of the greats throughout history. Its concepts and understandings have been passed on to us through the few surviving works of those, whose lives were touched by war, in an ancient archive. Some saw war as an ordinary, inevitable phenomenon that has a place among natural order of human lives (Jacob Walter), while others interpreted it as devastating and terrible deviation from the natural order of things (W.T. Sherman). Over the course of our archival readings we have learned of war through the records from the Trojans in their leather sandals (Hector), the horsemen of Sherman’s brigades, the WWI soldiers with their new gas shells and machine guns, and eventually through the eyes of the jungle and desert warriors with their booby traps and air strikes. While ways and methods of war have changed with the course of time, people never seemed to have loosened their grip on war as they continued to rise to the call to arms and go to battle to kill and t o die. This is a crucial observation as it allows us to reason that, perhaps, war is an important part of human existence. People eat, sleep, make love, and make war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aside from the consistency of its occurrence throughout history, war also fascinates with its complexity, or, more directly—its irony. It could be mesmerizing and adventurous to some participants, and at the same time evil and hellish to others (O’Brian). It combines death, destruction, fear and atrocities unheard of in the times of peace, with courage, loyalty and passion—undoubtedly qualities we all admire. Based on the records of the archive I have come to believe that to best understand this concept of irony one must look at war as at least two conflicts in one. The first one is that of the nation’s leaders. It glorifies war, it tells tales of heroism and bravery and how it is a man’s duty to defend his motherland. The second one is personal war—the struggle with basic human dignity and morality in the face of the forgiving indifference that most soldiers, as evident from the archive, face at war (attitude of Ratâ€⠄¢s friends when he is blow apart, Dulce et Decorum Est). The fact of the matter is that both are right in their unique ways, they simply live in different realms and have different eyes that see war differently.

Dream Act

Education is a benefit for society. Higher education offers higher economic advantages for both workers and the economy. The United States is the home of about 65,000 undocumented children who graduate high school each year and have lived in the country for more than five years (Dreams Deferred, 2010). These children are intelligent, outstanding class presidents, valedictorians, and honor students who aspire to be successful doctors, engineers, teachers, and lawyers.However, because of legal and financial obstacles confronting them just because they are undocumented students, many are unable to live their American dream and attend a college or university. It is estimated that only about 5 to 10% of undocumented high school graduates go on to college (Dreams Deferred, 2010). According to the Immigration Policy Center, â€Å"Studies of undocumented immigrants who legalized their status through the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 reveal that legal status brings fiscal , economic, and labor-market benefits to individual immigrants, their families, and U.S. society in general† (Dreams Deferred, 2010). The U. S. Department of Labor found that wages of these immigrants who received their legal status under IRCA increased their wages to 15% five years later. If given the opportunity, undocumented students will expand their education, get better jobs, and pay taxes. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a proposed federal legislation in the U. S. that will enact two major changes in current law.The DREAM Act will 1) â€Å"Permit certain immigrant students who have grown up in the U. S. to apply legal status and to eventually obtain permanent status and become eligible for U. S. citizenship if they go to college or serve in the U. S. military; and 2) Eliminate a federal provision that penalizes states that provide in-state tuition without regard to immigration status. † (DREAM Act: Summary, 2, 2010)The passa ge of the DREAM Act is critical to raise the quality of the U.S. workforce through higher education to maintain a strong economy. The DREAM Act will increase the number of undocumented immigrant students who attend college, it will benefit the nation’s economy, and the nation will save the high cost of ignoring these undocumented immigrant students. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bipartisan legislation led by senators Richard Durbin, Chuck Hagel, andRichard Lugar, this bill will restore states’ rights to offer in-state tuition to undocumented immigrant students who live in that state in order to make it easier for students to afford a higher level education. The DREAM Act will also provide citizenship to the hardworking immigrant youth who was brought to the U. S. as children and who pursue a higher education or military service, allowing them to contribute to the American society (Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocum ented Immigrant Students, 2006).The bill has been introduced several times in the House of Representatives and the Senate, but it has never been brought to a floor vote. In the senate it was brought to debate on October 24, 2007, but failed by a 52-44 vote. The DREAM Act was reintroduced on March 26, 2009 by Richard Durbin and Richard Lugar in the senate and in the House of Representatives by Howard Berman, Lincoln Diaz, and Lucille Roybal-Allard (DREAM Act: Summary, 2010). To qualify, a DREAM Act beneficiary would have to meet the following requirements: * Proof of having arrived to the U.S. at the age of 15 or younger. * Proof of residence in the U. S. for at least 5 consecutive years since the date of their arrival. * Must be between the age of 12 and 35 at the time of the enactment of the bill. * Have graduated from an American high school, or obtained a GED. * Display â€Å"Good Moral Character† defined as â€Å"the absence of significant criminal record or any major ch arge of drugs† by the National Council of La Raza (The ‘DREAM Act’ and the ‘American Dream Act, 1, 2007). The student must have accomplished one of the following within six year after the permanent residence was granted: * Earn a degree from a 2 or 4 year institution, or have maintained a â€Å"good standing† for at least two years at a 2 or 4 year institution while working toward a bachelor’s degree or higher (The ‘DREAM Act’ and the ‘American Dream Act, 2007). * Served in the U. S. Armed Forces for at least 2 years. Without the DREAM Act the U. S. faces critical financial and emotional costs.After years of hard work and achieving success in high school every student in America expects a reward. 65,000 undocumented students currently living in America expect these rewards as well. They were raised the American way. According to the National Council of La Raza, the American way is to â€Å"offer equal opportunities to all an d encourage all to make the most of their talents† (The ‘DREAM Act’ and the ‘American Dream Act, 2, 2007). As young children, these students were brought to this nation by their parents; it was beyond their control to stay in their native land.Brenda Garcia states, her family faced monetary problems while living in Mexico, the only solution to their problem was to come to the United States, she had no say so in this decision and was forced to follow her parents and leave her country (2010). These students have shared all the American values and traditions; they see this country as their home. These students grew up pledging allegiance to the United States of America, and now the United States of America can’t give its loyalists the opportunity for citizenship and a more affordable higher level education.Current law punishes these students for a decision they did not make and for their lack of documentation. America has imposed insuperable obstacles fo r these students and crushed their hopes of exceeding in their education, as a result â€Å"only 5 to 10 percent of undocumented young people who graduate from high school go on to college† (Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrant Students, 2, 2006) either because schools deny them admission, they are charged out-of state tuition which is much more than the in-state tuition rate, they are not eligible for financial aid, and cannot work legally in the United States.The discouragement is too much and most of these hard working, and goal oriented undocumented students with high academic standing don’t get to live their American dream. With the passage of the DREAM Act these student’s dreams could be attainable and as a result more students could attend college, exceed in their education, and contribute to the United States economy. The DREAM Act will â€Å"facilitate access to college for immigrant students in the U.S. by restoring statesâ₠¬â„¢ rights to offer in-state tuition to immigrant students residing in their state,† states the National Council of La Raza (The ‘DREAM Act’ and the ‘American Dream Act, 1, 2007). Many states argue that the schools will not have revenue if undocumented students are charged only in-state tuition, but who said in-state tuition meant free tuition? â€Å"In-state tuition is not the same as free tuition.It is a discount,† claims the National Immigration Law Center (Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrant Students, 2, 2006) if the discount is provided, more undocumented students will attend an institution of higher level education and the money paid by these students will increase school revenues by far because it will be money that would otherwise not be there, and even then, after all, education pays for itself, claims the National Immigration Law Center (Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrant Students, 3, 200 6).The United States’ economic future depends on its current students, documented and undocumented. If given the opportunity, through the DREAM Act, undocumented students will expand their education and raise the schools revenues; they will get better jobs in which they will help out the U. S. society by curing the ill, sharing their knowledge with young people, designing new buildings for the community, and opening new businesses, etc.The National Immigration Law Center claims that â€Å"As baby boomers age, the number of retirees in the U. S. swell (Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrant Students, 2, 2006) and that’s why in the future the U. S. will need new proficient people to take over those jobs. These young immigrants can be the future professionals the U. S. will need, they are â€Å"key to our ability to counteract the serious demographic challenges we face† (Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrant Students, 2, 2006).We as a nation must â€Å"raise the caliber of our workforce through higher education to have a chance to maintain a strong economy† (Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrant Students, 2, 2006). Additionally each person who attends college and obtains a professional job means one less expense to the state in terms of social service, as well, an asset in terms of tax payments to the state. The nation cannot burden these motivated and high achieving immigrant youth; after all they will only benefit the nation in the future.Undocumented students who don’t have the opportunity to get the best out of their education are simply wasted talent, a new report from the Immigration Policy Center by Roberto Gonzalez, Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams: The Lost Potential of Undocumented Students, makes it clear that â€Å"without means to legalize their status, these children are seldom able to go on to college, cannot work legally in the United States, and therefore cannot put their educations to good use† (Dreams Deferred, 1, 2010).The United States has invested in the education of these undocumented students since they were in pre-kinder all the way through their high school education. If the United States cuts their education short by not gathering the full potential of these children’s’ education it will face an enormous cost because there will be no benefits for the nation. In the future these tudents will not give back to the nation, and that will be a result of waste talent, wasted money, and lost potential. Why not let these students contribute back to the country that gave them so much? The American way is to be fair and offer equal opportunities to all and encourage everyone to make the best out of their talents, America, now is the time to live up to your American way. Don’t punish these undocumented students for a decision that they did not make.These students are your children, they are Ame ricans, they are friends, classmates, outstanding students, they are family. There is a significant cost in denying these children their college education. Don’t crush their American Dream. â€Å"This wasted talent imposes financial and emotional costs not only on undocumented students themselves, but on the U. S. economy and U. S. society as a whole† (Dreams Deferred, 1, 2010). Dream Act Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 â€Å"Amy's Story. † Immigration and Multiculturalism: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 329-333. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. Definition/Background History: The IRCA (Immigration and Reform Control Act) was introduced in 1986, this act enabled immigrants who came to America illegally residency and citizenship. The widespread amount of illegal immigrants caused border controls for those who are foreigners.Unfortunately Amy, an anonymous illegal immigrant, and her family surpassed the deadline by three and a half weeks. Amy tells her story about her family and financial struggles due to being an undocumented immigrant. She faced out-of-state tuition fees because of college requirements of being resident in the United States. Hiding undercover pretending to be a citizen was becoming tough for Amy so she had to drop out of school. Now she tutors and has low-paid jobs to support her parents and herself. Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011Bennion, David. â€Å"Undocumented Youths Organize to Pass DREAM Act. † Legal Intelligencer. 31 Aug 2009. Print. David Bennion. â€Å"Children of Illegal Aliens Should Go to College and Gain Legal Status. † â€Å"What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have? † Noel Merino, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. Positive Effect: David Bennion, an immigration attorney at Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia, stated: â€Å"Each year, about 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school in the United States.They then face often insurmountable barriers to pursuing further education or employment opportunities. † By passing the DREAM Act the amount of undocumented immigrants that are already living in America could help the economy and prosper in education and em ployment. Negative Effect: Keeping the act repealed is beneficial because the amount of illegal immigrants in America could incline. By permitting the â€Å"Dreamers† to pay in-state-college tuition and become a citizen of U. S. would promote more illegal immigrants into America. Cynthia NguyenMs. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 â€Å"Dream on. † America 19 July 2010: 5. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. Positive Effects: President Obama reignited the idea of allowing illegal immigrants education and ability to attend colleges under certain circumstances written in the DREAM Act. He states â€Å"We should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents by denying them the chance to stay here and earn an education and contribute their talents to build the country where they’ve grown up. With this idea, this allows the children who are documented an opportunity to succeed in the United States not only for themselves , but our economy as well. Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 Ling-Ling, Yeh. â€Å"The Dream for Some, a Nightmare for the Rest. † The Daily Californian. 19 Oct 2007. Print. Yeh Ling-Ling. â€Å"Children of Illegal Aliens Should Not Go to College and Gail Legal Status. † â€Å"What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have? † Noel Merino, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press. 2010. Print. Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. Undesirable Effects:Yeh Ling-Ling an executive director of the Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America, and an immigrant states â€Å"Passing the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, is a bad idea. Allowing illegal immigrant students to pay in-state college tuition and gain residency would only encourage more illegal immigrants in the United States. The act would have a negative economic impact and hurt American citizens. † Passing the Dream Act would economically stress our f unds because in reality most illegal immigrants are low-paid and cannot afford to pay taxes.The amount of children in American public education would rise. â€Å"This cost can exceed $9,500 per child per year if the student receives the so-called bilingual education, not to mention the costs of other social services. † By accepting this act, it would be a reward to illegal immigrants and would cause more to migrate to America. The Dream Act would negatively effect politics as well. For example, Hispanic activists encourage the pressuring of the United States to be identical as Mexico. This factor effects the future of millions of our nation.Not only politics would be effected but, â€Å"The U. S. population has quadrupled since 1900, from 76 million to 303 million. In the last 15 years alone,over 50 million people have been added to the United States mostly due to immigration-derived growth! If our population continues to grow at the rate of last decade, by 2100—withi n the lifetimes of today's children's children—the United States will have India's current population. † Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 â€Å"Illegal Immigrants. Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. Definition/History/Background: â€Å"An immigrant is a person who migrates from one country to another. An â€Å"illegal† immigrant is a person who does so without following the established legal procedures of the destination country and who resides in that country without proper visas or other documents. Illegal immigrants are sometimes referred to as â€Å"illegal aliens† or â€Å"undocumented workers. † Most illegal immigrants of the United States come from Mexico by crossing the 1,955-mile border or the northern border with Canada. Desirable: Economic effects of immigrants can be positive. Illegal immigrants are more open to low-wage jo bs because without paperwork they are not allowed to apply for a job. â€Å"†¦ immigrants take on hard and dangerous jobs that native Americans will not do. These defenders maintain that immigrants’ labor and entrepreneurship helps to revitalize American industries and create more jobs than they take. † Undesirable:For the people who do pay taxes, immigrants are expensive to have. â€Å"The study concluded that taxpayers were paying $4 billion annually in unemployment, medical, educational, and other government programs and services. † Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 Texier, Le Emmanuelle. â€Å"The Debate for In-State Tuition Fees Regardless of Immigration Status: The Right to Educate. † La Prensa San Diego 9 May 2003. Print. Emmanuelle Le Texier. â€Å"Undocumented Immigrants Are Entitled to In-State Tuition. † Lori Newman Ed. At Issues Series. Greenhaven Press, 2006.Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. Positive Eff ects: Enabling illegal immigrants to continue with education formulates a chain reaction to the economy’s rise. Educating a large portion of our country promotes skilled workers, in which help with building a better future for America. Students have not done anything to harm our economy. No matter illegal, or not the children are the future of America and should be rewarded by the ability to fulfill higher education. Allowing this higher education promotes more skilled workers â€Å"building the future of a country. † Dream Act Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 â€Å"Amy's Story. † Immigration and Multiculturalism: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 329-333. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. Definition/Background History: The IRCA (Immigration and Reform Control Act) was introduced in 1986, this act enabled immigrants who came to America illegally residency and citizenship. The widespread amount of illegal immigrants caused border controls for those who are foreigners.Unfortunately Amy, an anonymous illegal immigrant, and her family surpassed the deadline by three and a half weeks. Amy tells her story about her family and financial struggles due to being an undocumented immigrant. She faced out-of-state tuition fees because of college requirements of being resident in the United States. Hiding undercover pretending to be a citizen was becoming tough for Amy so she had to drop out of school. Now she tutors and has low-paid jobs to support her parents and herself. Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011Bennion, David. â€Å"Undocumented Youths Organize to Pass DREAM Act. † Legal Intelligencer. 31 Aug 2009. Print. David Bennion. â€Å"Children of Illegal Aliens Should Go to College and Gain Legal Status. † â€Å"What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have? † Noel Merino, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. Positive Effect: David Bennion, an immigration attorney at Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia, stated: â€Å"Each year, about 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school in the United States.They then face often insurmountable barriers to pursuing further education or employment opportunities. † By passing the DREAM Act the amount of undocumented immigrants that are already living in America could help the economy and prosper in education and em ployment. Negative Effect: Keeping the act repealed is beneficial because the amount of illegal immigrants in America could incline. By permitting the â€Å"Dreamers† to pay in-state-college tuition and become a citizen of U. S. would promote more illegal immigrants into America. Cynthia NguyenMs. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 â€Å"Dream on. † America 19 July 2010: 5. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. Positive Effects: President Obama reignited the idea of allowing illegal immigrants education and ability to attend colleges under certain circumstances written in the DREAM Act. He states â€Å"We should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents by denying them the chance to stay here and earn an education and contribute their talents to build the country where they’ve grown up. With this idea, this allows the children who are documented an opportunity to succeed in the United States not only for themselves , but our economy as well. Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 Ling-Ling, Yeh. â€Å"The Dream for Some, a Nightmare for the Rest. † The Daily Californian. 19 Oct 2007. Print. Yeh Ling-Ling. â€Å"Children of Illegal Aliens Should Not Go to College and Gail Legal Status. † â€Å"What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have? † Noel Merino, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press. 2010. Print. Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. Undesirable Effects:Yeh Ling-Ling an executive director of the Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America, and an immigrant states â€Å"Passing the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, is a bad idea. Allowing illegal immigrant students to pay in-state college tuition and gain residency would only encourage more illegal immigrants in the United States. The act would have a negative economic impact and hurt American citizens. † Passing the Dream Act would economically stress our f unds because in reality most illegal immigrants are low-paid and cannot afford to pay taxes.The amount of children in American public education would rise. â€Å"This cost can exceed $9,500 per child per year if the student receives the so-called bilingual education, not to mention the costs of other social services. † By accepting this act, it would be a reward to illegal immigrants and would cause more to migrate to America. The Dream Act would negatively effect politics as well. For example, Hispanic activists encourage the pressuring of the United States to be identical as Mexico. This factor effects the future of millions of our nation.Not only politics would be effected but, â€Å"The U. S. population has quadrupled since 1900, from 76 million to 303 million. In the last 15 years alone,over 50 million people have been added to the United States mostly due to immigration-derived growth! If our population continues to grow at the rate of last decade, by 2100—withi n the lifetimes of today's children's children—the United States will have India's current population. † Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 â€Å"Illegal Immigrants. Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. Definition/History/Background: â€Å"An immigrant is a person who migrates from one country to another. An â€Å"illegal† immigrant is a person who does so without following the established legal procedures of the destination country and who resides in that country without proper visas or other documents. Illegal immigrants are sometimes referred to as â€Å"illegal aliens† or â€Å"undocumented workers. † Most illegal immigrants of the United States come from Mexico by crossing the 1,955-mile border or the northern border with Canada. Desirable: Economic effects of immigrants can be positive. Illegal immigrants are more open to low-wage jo bs because without paperwork they are not allowed to apply for a job. â€Å"†¦ immigrants take on hard and dangerous jobs that native Americans will not do. These defenders maintain that immigrants’ labor and entrepreneurship helps to revitalize American industries and create more jobs than they take. † Undesirable:For the people who do pay taxes, immigrants are expensive to have. â€Å"The study concluded that taxpayers were paying $4 billion annually in unemployment, medical, educational, and other government programs and services. † Cynthia Nguyen Ms. Thompson ENC 1101 November 28, 2011 Texier, Le Emmanuelle. â€Å"The Debate for In-State Tuition Fees Regardless of Immigration Status: The Right to Educate. † La Prensa San Diego 9 May 2003. Print. Emmanuelle Le Texier. â€Å"Undocumented Immigrants Are Entitled to In-State Tuition. † Lori Newman Ed. At Issues Series. Greenhaven Press, 2006.Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. Positive Eff ects: Enabling illegal immigrants to continue with education formulates a chain reaction to the economy’s rise. Educating a large portion of our country promotes skilled workers, in which help with building a better future for America. Students have not done anything to harm our economy. No matter illegal, or not the children are the future of America and should be rewarded by the ability to fulfill higher education. Allowing this higher education promotes more skilled workers â€Å"building the future of a country. †

Write About What You Know

Write About What You Know Write About What You Know Write About What You Know By Michael For thirty years, the mid-term exam for Dr. McAnellys Biblical Literature class was always the same essay question: Describe the wandering journeys of the Apostle Paul. So a college football fullback and his roommate decided they wouldnt study anything else, thereby leaving them more time for other attractive pursuits. Imagine their surprise when the question instead was, Critique the major themes of Jesus Sermon on the Mount. Now, imagine the fullbacks surprise when his roommate nevertheless began to write furiously for the next hour. The fullback stared at his blank test paper for a long time before giving up and leaving the room, but his curiosity was so strong that he peeked at his roommates essay as he walked past. The first sentence read, Who am I to critique the words of the Lord Jesus? Let me rather describe the wandering journeys of the Apostle Paul. Seasoned authors advise, Write about what you know. In fact, you have to write about what you know. Try to write about what you dont know, about which you havent got a clue, and youll be staring at a blank piece of paper for a long time. Its one of the surest ways to contract writers block. If you succeed in actually getting words onto the page, your readers will be staring at it for a long time, trying to figure out what you just said, if not why you wrote it in the first place. Why would anybody write about what they dont know? Why would people do something like that? Because someone important told them to. Essay tests in school are a good example. Your instructor asks you to write about one of the (several) chapters in the textbook that you never got around to studying. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to employ your literary skills to make your instructor believe that you read and understood the chapter. Changing the question rarely works. Because what they dont know seems more interesting than what they do know. Young writers frequently make that mistake. When you move into the cloud of unknowing to write your piece, youre increasing your competition. In the mid-60s, without having any personal experience with them, lots of American teenagers were probably writing about monsters and spaceships, though these markets were already fully stocked with experienced grown-up writers. None of them wrote about being a real American teenager except S.E. Hinton. So her book The Outsiders got published and their books didnt. Because they value style over communication. Poets sometimes make this mistake. They write about the universal life force, instead of about a tree. Down-to-earth, brass-tacks writing doesnt seem stylish enough. But uninformed writing is less interesting than informed writing. The details which make writing vivid and readable are missing, like a price tag in a store, or somehow off, like a carton of old milk. Writing about what you know is a cure for writers block. Thats one reason why journaling or blogging is so popular among writers. Something must have happened to you today, unless you were dead. Write about it. It didnt happen to anyone else, unless youre a clone. Nobody has the same brain or biography as you, so nobody has the same perspective as you. If they do, I suggest you get your own perspective. You need your own. Dont try to share with your neighbor. Thats cheating. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:When to Capitalize Animal and Plant NamesComma Before ButAppropriate vs. Apropos vs. Apt

social darwinsim history essays

social darwinsim history essays Social Darwinism and its use to Justify Business Practices of the 19th and Thesis: The need for a justification of enormous wealth of a few and an unimaginable poverty of millions was, as many tend to believe, fulfilled by the emergence of a theory called Social Darwinism, which on one hand was regarded as a primary defense of business activities, and on the other, was I. Definition and origin of Social Darwinism III. Overemphasis on Social Darwinism B. Relied on Christian and other arguments During the late 19th, and early 20th century, the United States experienced a growth of industry like it has never seen before. New patents and inventions flourished. New products flooded the market. While thousands of poor, hungry, and unemployed crowded the streets, the rich were busy displaying their enormous wealth. Even though the need for reform was overwhelming, for the majority of Americans, nothing was being done. The big bosses were able to buy off the politicians and persuade them to vote in their favor. While the rich were getting richer, and the poor getting poorer, the politicians watched. The need for a justification of the enormous wealth of a few and an unimaginable poverty of millions was, as many tended to believe, fulfilled by the emergence of a theory called Social Darwinism, which on one hand was regarded as a primary defense of business activities, and on the other, was nothing more than a myth. Social Darwinism, the experts say, "was a short-lived theory of social evolution, vigorously discussed in America, which rationalized and justified the harsh facts of social stratification in an attempt to reconcile them with the prevalent ideology of equalitarianism. The emergence of Social Darwinism was perhaps the most visible effect on the social sciences of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species" (Tax and Krucoff 402). In simple terms, Social Darwinism was an application (ma...

Foods and Food Components to Reduce Essays

Foods and Food Components to Reduce Essays Foods and Food Components to Reduce Paper Foods and Food Components to Reduce Paper My body mass index or BMI is 18. 8 which is in the normal weight category. I have always been on the smaller side for my entire life and I have never had a doctor tell me my weight is an issue or I am malnourished. I use to play baseball but I quit a few years ago but I have started to play racquetball on occasion. I then started doing a work out program for a project in school I followed it for about a month. I normally do about 60 to 90 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. I do not do any vigorous-intensity workouts. I also do not do any muscle strengthening activities. According to my iprofile my DRI or daily recommended intake was 2462 kilocalories a day. Over the course of the project I was eating on average about 1107 kilocalories a day which is about 45 percent of my DRI. Which means I was normally under my DRI for calories. As far as I know I have only had one grandparent who has had diabetes and that grandparent is not related to me by blood so I do not believe that I am at risk. High blood pressure does run in my family but I have had several blood pressure test and they have all been within the normal limit. And my family does not have any significant history with heart disease and breast cancer. : Foods and Food Components to Reduce Sodium On day one I had a sodium intake of 4733mg of sodium. The foods that caused me to go over my limit were an In-N-Out double double with onions which was 1440mg and Panda Express firecracker chicken had 1062mg. On day two I had a sodium intake of 3884mg of sodium. The food items that led to this high sodium intake were the two bean and cheese burritos I had which had a combined total of 2431mg of sodium . On day three I had a sodium intake of 3822mg of sodium which is 166. 2 percent more than my recommended intake. The foods that led to such high sodium levels are the Taco Bell bean burrito which had 1216mg of sodium, a burrito supreme from Taco Bell which had 1340mg of sodium, and a Subway roast beef sandwich which had about 660mg of sodium. Saturated Fat My daily recommended intake for saturated fats was 27. 4g a day. For day one I had an intake of 48. 2g, day two I had consumed 20. 1g, and on the third day I had taken in 28. 9g of saturated fat. Added Sugars The foods I ate that were high in added sugars were two snickers bars on day one, no added sugars on day two but on day three I had a snickers bar and a hershey bar. I am not to worried about my added sugars because I dont eat them that often and I never really drink beverages with added sugars Refined Grains On day one I had eaten one In-N-Out double double and the bun was refined grain. Day two I had eaten two bean burritos from Taco Bell and the tortilla was a source of refined grains. Day three I had eaten a a Taco Bell bean burrito and a burrito supreme both had tortillas with refined grains. I dont think I did to bad in the refined grain section I was having at least one or two servings a day. Alcohol I did not consume any alcohol during this diet project. Foods and Nutrients to Increase Vegetables Variety and Fruits The only dark green vegetable I ate over the course of my diet study was lettuce. I only had tomatoes as my red vegetable and another vegetable I ate were onions. My normal meal does not meet the goal of half the plate. I do enjoy most fruits but I am not very fond of vegetables I have always been picky when it came to my vegetables. Whole Grains I did not have any whole grains during this diet study therefore I did not meet my goal of three servings a day. To add more whole grain to my diet I could start making sandwiches at home with whole gain bread. I could also start eating a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast everyday. Seafood I did not eat any seafood I typically do not eat a lot of it. My source of omega 3 fatty acids come from beans. On day one I had zero percent omega 3s, on day two I had 51. 8 percent, and on the third day I had 25 percent of my daily intake. Dietary Fiber My recommended DRI for fiber is 38g a day and on day one I consumed 20g of fiber, day two I had consumed 22g, and on day three I had taken in 22g again. I had fallen short on my daily fiber intake over the three days of my diet study. To increase my fiber I could eat some carrots for a snack in the afternoon or have an apple or orange with my breakfast in the mornings. I could also have some pinto beans with dinner to increase my fiber or I could eat oatmeal for breakfast and increase my fiber intake even more by putting chopped fruit in the oatmeal. Vitamins and Minerals On my first day I was low in just about all of my vitamins and minerals but on day two I had the correct levels of thiamin and I had eaten more iron, niacin, and vitamin B6 than my recommended DRI. On day three I was low in all vitamins and minerals except for iron which I had reached my DRI for iron. To increase my levels of folate I could have a cup of strawberries or a cup of raw cantaloupe melon. I could also have an ounce of peanuts and two raw spears of broccoli. I was low in potassium levels so some foods I could have a half cup of cooked mushrooms, a small banana, about a one third cup of raisins and a cup of iceberg lettuce. One vitamin I was low in was vitamin C and three food I could eat to increase my levels of vitamin C would be oranges, red peppers, or strawberries. Self Evaluation Based on what I have written it seems that I do not really have any strengths when it comes to my dietary needs. I have realized that my major weakness is that I pretty much just eat what I want and how much I want with no regard to my DRI. My exercise habits are currently pretty poor I could start lifting weights when I go play racquetball or even start running in the mornings or at night after dinner or work. Another habit I could change is trying to eat more home cooked meals rather than eating fast food all the time or I could start keeping track of the amount of calories and nutrients I take in on a daily basis.

Ch.12 - Book - America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System by Essay

Ch.12 - Book - America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System by David W. Neubauer, Henry F. Fradella - Essay Example This effect of the criminal rules of justice is apparent since the rules limit the nature or kind of evidence that courts may accept and the purpose for which the evidence may be used. Criminal rules of evidence also have the effect of broadly defining relevance of facts while relaxing the common-law prohibitions on witness competency. There are rules that require courts to exclude relevant facts merely because of their propensity to prejudice, confusion, delays and to mislead (Neubauer & Fradella 454). For instance, evidences of other crimes committed cannot be used to show conformity to the crime behavior under review while such evidences can prove motive. Despite their perceived power-reduction effects, there are criminal rules of evidence that actually empower the courts. For instance, there are rules of evidence, which empowers judges and courts to eliminate evidences that are prejudiced, repetitive, and inflammatory or that are highly likely to waste the courts resources and

Anthropology Questions essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Anthropology Questions - Essay Example In contrast, social authority is the capacity to command individuals. However, the two basic features of cultural authority, legitimacy, and competency must be attained collectively as one group (Joralemon 18) Whilst people may acquire confined reputation, a profession’s aggregate conveys significant trust warrant and authority. Legitimacy is attained by competent advance of national health. For example, health professionals can provide credible data, recommend and validate medical claims, and should be leaders and be honest always. Social authority is the most suitable in western Biomedicine since most of the communities are driven by superiority complex and a command can work well for them. Question 2 Cultural competence is referred to as a set of harmonious behaviors, policies, and attitudes that merge in an agency, among professionals, or system and enable that system, professions, or that agency to work efficiently in cross-cultural circumstances. Culture in this context is used with a reason that it applies the incorporated pattern of human behavior inclusive of communications, customs, values, thoughts, actions, and institutions of an ethnic, racial, social, or religious group. Competence is a word used here as it implies having the ability to function effectively (Bae 47). In terms of operations, Joralemon defines cultural competence as the combination and transformation of knowledge concerning groups of people and individuals into specific policies, standards, attitudes, and practices used in suitable cultural settings to improve on the quality of services, thus producing better results. Medical anthropologists apply the concept of cultural competence by incorporating dialogue at individual levels, since individuals are the ones who create and endorse culture, who encounter diseases and illness, and who can clarify the variation within what we comprehend as cultures. Dialogue recognizes that culture is not necessarily language, ethnicity, and co mmon tradition as existing discourse suggest, rather that these elements join with political and socioeconomic stratifications to affect individual experiences. Medical anthropologists assume that culture labels the entirety of an individual’s experience of illnesses and continues to show patients how important cultural competency is in giving the most effective and comprehensive medical care for all patients. However, the greatest challenge in their work is that, cultural competence is considered as a technical skill, which can be merely acquired or a matter that can be simply handled by a translator. This challenge is rooted from how medicine defines culture, which contrasts with its present use in anthropology. Culture is regularly made identical with nationality, language, and ethnicity. For example, cultural competence has do’s ad don’ts, which define how to take care of a patient from a specific ethnic background. In a medical setting, cultural competence is an important concept as it equalizes power dynamics in health care that lead to those with limited power, for example those in cultural, linguistic, ethnic, or economic minority to receive a lower quality care. It also helps health providers not to believe that they have a superior and correct value system. For example, some cultures believe that when death is talked about, it accelerates life loss, yet most western health care providers view this as a wrong belief

Borough Warlords Exacerbating British Housing Crisis Case Study

Borough Warlords Exacerbating British Housing Crisis - Case Study Example These councillors and planning officers are not royal patrons free to dispense with public goods at their discretion or whim to favored constituents; quite the contrary, they are public servants bound to comply with the rule of law, Sadly, they do not feel bound to comply with their statutory and ethical obligations. Patrons and warlords they are, the borough their private fiefdom, and public goods their currency in trade. This is a story of the dangers of decentralization, how decentralization is functioning as an incentive for local councilors to treat planning decisions as a sort of patronage-oriented gift, and how Britain's housing crisis is being exacerbated in the process. Such allegations are not new, they have been around for ages, but the negligent councilors seems to wait until the latest scandal is distant to the public's ear before they begin plying their nefarious trade in public trust and public approvals again; indeed, just barely six years ago, the Telegraph reported: The seam of corruption running through Doncaster council was laid bare with the convictions of five people including Peter Birks, the council's head of planning, and the former mayor and council deputy leader, Raymond Stockhill, who took lavish bribes to process a planning application. Others, including John Dainty, the leader of the Tory group, who was cleared of corruption in this case, face further allegations. What began more than four years ago with a "whisper of wrongdoing", said a police source, had grown into a vast investigation; 74 arrests were made, 23 Labour councillors have so far been convicted for expenses fraud and more than 2,000 people have been questioned. But the case of Birks and Stockhill exposed the worst incidence of corruption within the Labour-dominated council. In the instant case, the councillors are acting alone to deny otherwise valid planning applications; all the while they are using deceptive practices, they are flaunting and violating applicable rules and regulations, and they honestly believe that they are both above the law and beyond the reach of the law. When will this type of behaviour stop This case is much more important than a single person or a couple of property developers; to be sure, this type of story has implications for borough councils throughout the kingdom, for individuals and businesses struggling with the worsening housing crisis, and for public policy officials wondering why there well-considered decentralization programmes are not working to expedite planning approvals or to alleviate housing shortages. Many of the answers can be found right here in this story. The audience ought to be vast: people unable to afford or find affordable flats for their families; insiders working for local borough offices whom have been told to remain silent despite breaches of relevant laws and constitutional procedures; members of the local business community whom have been

Raising and countering objections regarding the decision to get an MBA Essay

Raising and countering objections regarding the decision to get an MBA - Essay Example It is also a fact that earning an MBA degree will not automatically grant you a management or executive position-you must have essential skills and experience as well. WHY ONLY THE MBA: For nearly all individuals, advanced education college, technical school, graduate studies, and company training increase employability and average income. Many jobs require minimum education levels to even be considered. For example, I believe every country requires new teachers to have a bachelor’s degree in education. To be a layer you must have a graduate degree in law and the same for medicine and engineering. Individuals planning on college should look at the lifelong income they can expect from a degree. For example very bright student who go into teaching should expect must lower lifetime income than a business major. It’s also important to know that getting masters in education will keep you out of teaching. The schools will not pay for a MA degree in a new hire, they can hire a BA for much less. Only when you have time, you should consider getting the MA. In the case of PHD any jobs do not reward workers for having a PHD, so there is less motivation to get a PHD (expect among college professors). Many careers such as business accounting and law do not demand PHD so there are few people with these degrees. Coming back at my point generally for business the MBA is considered the terminal or highest degree. However mixing a specialty with an MBA can increase income such as Engineer w/ MBA or MD with MBA who can run a company or organization. Simply the MBA can work as evergreen degree. People object that MBA has lost his worth now: People object that MBA has lost his worth in current economic condition where the employment level is increasing with stunning speed. But according to my research MBA still have certain advantages those can beat all the objections. Better hiring opportunities: As general rule it is considered that more education means more earning . But according to me this rule is especially true for MBA. Many of the Companies have decided to increase their hiring of MBA. According to Corporate Recruiters Survey 2011 Unemployment rates in both the United States and the European Union reached 10-year highs throughout 2009 and 2010. But the 2011 MBA class can breathe easier, however, when it comes to finding a job, as hiring for new MBA graduates trends in a positive direction. In addition simply the MBA is the key door to enter in the world of reputed organizations. Better earning opportunities: Because of MBA you will earn higher salary because of your skills. . According to Corporate Recruiters Survey 2011 84% of employers are offering the MBA’s a benefit package in addition to their salaries. According to United Stated department for labors the management occupations have the higher pay scales in relation with other occupations. This simply shows the worth of MBA degree as a lifesaver. Better relationships: MBA is t he other name of relationships. Being a MBA you are able to deal with every kind of person. For example a manager with a MBA degree with the specialization in Marketing is able to tackle and deal a lot of people at a time in efficient manner. Better skills: Being an MBA you can polish your skills in efficient manner. MBA program is designed especially for business skills. With the help of MBA, you will have much of the knowledge,

The effect of advertisement on consumer behaviour Research Paper

The effect of advertisement on consumer behaviour - Research Paper Example Literature Review The review of literature of the effects of consumer behavior on advertisements have been done with the review of the several factors that guides the consumer behavior and the influence of advertisements in catalyzing those factor that stimulate consumer behavior and decision making for purchase of products and services. The aspect of consumer behavior encompasses the response of the customers from the point of viewing the product to the point of making decision for purchasing it and then going beyond to value the experience after purchase to decide on the acceptability of the product in the long term. The decision making aspect is the most important part of consumer behavior which is influenced by the advertisers through their attempt for promotion of the product and service in the market (Hutt and  Speh 67). The first step that the consumers go through after seeing the product and the service is the recognition of need of the product for use in future. Once the c onsumer has recognized the need of the product, it is considered by them for the purpose of evaluation. In this stage the consumer studies the various options available and the substitutes of the product in the market. In order to judge the aspect of the value for money, the consumer behavior takes into account the relative cost and benefits of the purchase. By comparing the competitor products and the substitutes, the consumers decide to purchase the product based on the several characteristic features which are unique to different age groups of the consumers. These features of the products that influence the consumer behavior and the decision making for purchase are the quality, price, durability, guarantee, discounts, post-sale service... This "The effect of advertisement on consumer behavior" essay outlines how advertisements have influenced the consumer behavior of the young population of Qatar. The consumer behavior of the age group of 18-26 years in Qatar and the effects of advertisements on the consumer behavior of the said age group has been analyzed as follows. Qatar has attracted international investments in the various sectors of the economy and the top retail chains in Qatar have identified this opportunity to set up establishments and expand their business in Qatar. The big names that have tapped the potential consumer demands in Qatar are Carrefour, Marks and Spencer, etc. In this highly competitive market, advertisements by these companies have played a crucial role in influencing the consumer behavior in Qatar. The analysis of the consumers of Qatar in the age group of 18-26 years reveal that this target customer segment is young and energetic which follows the latest changes in the technological advance ments and is aware of the value for money spent for purchase of products. The analysis of the sample questionnaires reveal that the consumers of the age group of 18-26 years in Qatar closely follow the advertisements of the products that they use. These consumers in the Qatari market prefer to socialize with the products by identifying as the best possible option that would satisfy their needs. These consumers are updated with the happenings of the market and even follow the advertisements of the products that they do not use (Kozami 94).

Raising and countering objections regarding the decision to get an MBA Essay

Raising and countering objections regarding the decision to get an MBA - Essay Example It is also a fact that earning an MBA degree will not automatically grant you a management or executive position-you must have essential skills and experience as well. WHY ONLY THE MBA: For nearly all individuals, advanced education college, technical school, graduate studies, and company training increase employability and average income. Many jobs require minimum education levels to even be considered. For example, I believe every country requires new teachers to have a bachelor’s degree in education. To be a layer you must have a graduate degree in law and the same for medicine and engineering. Individuals planning on college should look at the lifelong income they can expect from a degree. For example very bright student who go into teaching should expect must lower lifetime income than a business major. It’s also important to know that getting masters in education will keep you out of teaching. The schools will not pay for a MA degree in a new hire, they can hire a BA for much less. Only when you have time, you should consider getting the MA. In the case of PHD any jobs do not reward workers for having a PHD, so there is less motivation to get a PHD (expect among college professors). Many careers such as business accounting and law do not demand PHD so there are few people with these degrees. Coming back at my point generally for business the MBA is considered the terminal or highest degree. However mixing a specialty with an MBA can increase income such as Engineer w/ MBA or MD with MBA who can run a company or organization. Simply the MBA can work as evergreen degree. People object that MBA has lost his worth now: People object that MBA has lost his worth in current economic condition where the employment level is increasing with stunning speed. But according to my research MBA still have certain advantages those can beat all the objections. Better hiring opportunities: As general rule it is considered that more education means more earning . But according to me this rule is especially true for MBA. Many of the Companies have decided to increase their hiring of MBA. According to Corporate Recruiters Survey 2011 Unemployment rates in both the United States and the European Union reached 10-year highs throughout 2009 and 2010. But the 2011 MBA class can breathe easier, however, when it comes to finding a job, as hiring for new MBA graduates trends in a positive direction. In addition simply the MBA is the key door to enter in the world of reputed organizations. Better earning opportunities: Because of MBA you will earn higher salary because of your skills. . According to Corporate Recruiters Survey 2011 84% of employers are offering the MBA’s a benefit package in addition to their salaries. According to United Stated department for labors the management occupations have the higher pay scales in relation with other occupations. This simply shows the worth of MBA degree as a lifesaver. Better relationships: MBA is t he other name of relationships. Being a MBA you are able to deal with every kind of person. For example a manager with a MBA degree with the specialization in Marketing is able to tackle and deal a lot of people at a time in efficient manner. Better skills: Being an MBA you can polish your skills in efficient manner. MBA program is designed especially for business skills. With the help of MBA, you will have much of the knowledge,

Professional Resume and Cover Letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Professional Resume and Cover Letter - Essay Example CH2M HLL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management where success of turnkey projects is critical part of organizational success. My skills and professional expertise in office management can be judiciously exploited to accelerate the progress of ongoing projects. I strongly believe that role of leaders, managers and the administrators of the organizations have increasingly become more challenging especially when new strategy and policy decisions are introduced in the organizations. As such, I have often undertaken leadership role to ensure effective feedback through participatory approach and helped solve the problems and workplace conflicts. My professional competencies, experience and my desire to acquire more knowledge would help me to become top performer in your company also. My work experience has involved extensive interaction with major clients and public, thereby equipping me with necessary traits of effective verbal communication techniques. I have attaches resume for your kind perusal. My key strength have been my ability to function under limited direction and worked independently using initiative and good judgment. I can assure you that my personal and professional competencies would add value to your organization. I would appreciate an opportunity to discuss the same with you in person and look forward to meeting you. Strong leadership initiatives in performing liaison work for CEO and proven record for excellent office management. Talent for organizing meetings and ensuring effective coordination with different stakeholders for resolving conflicts and promote communication. Highly efficient in managing confidential information and drafting agendas for important meeting and ensuring smooth conduct of the same. Exceptional organizational skills; Leadership initiative in prioritizing

Historical Perspective of Management Essay Example for Free

Historical Perspective of Management Essay Max Weber was a German sociologist that pioneered the term bureaucracy. Weber founded six major principles of bureaucracy Formal hierarchical structure, Management by rules, Organization by functional specialty, An up-focused or in-focused mission, Purposely impersonal and Employment based on technical qualifications. (Busting Bureaucracy. com) A formal hierarchical structure is the management pyramid that is designed to control the level below with organized planning and decision making. For example (chain of command). Then he developed management by rules such as policies and handbooks that are used by lower levels. Next is organization by functionality specialty this means that each individual will be placed in a position according to their specialty. These three steps of bureaucracy are still used today in every business known. Max Weber designed this pyramid because in the 1930’s the industrialism of our country was expanding and it was no order of command business was ran without consistency. And a change was needed to make things run smoothly. My advice to managing people today is to organize your business according to functional specialization. Your employees and managers according to their skills and expertise so that each job will be done to the best of that person or persons knowledge and capabilities. Use clear lines of hierarchical authority in doing so you will need to put together a clear set of policy and rules that underline the chain of demand in detail. Your managers will need to be trained accordingly with consist seminars and meeting so that they can be well trained and fully informed about their duties and the duties of their staff. Decision making should be based on the rules and guidelines developed to guarantee consistent and effective reflection of organization goals.

Orphaned And Vulnerable Children In Africa Education Essay

Orphaned And Vulnerable Children In Africa Education Essay Introduction During the course Education Development in Diverse Societies we learned about the main educational theories and other (inter)disciplinary approaches to study educational issues in developing countries. We analysed educational reforms and innovations from an interdisciplinary and multilevel perspective, and examined their theoretical basis, the practical implications, the strengths and weaknesses, and how they respond to the learning needs of children with a diverse background.  [1]  In this paper I will apply the knowledge and understanding that I gained by writing about the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on basic education for children at risk.  [2]   The AIDS epidemic has become a global crisis currently threatening the lives of millions of people and devastating entire societies. Education systems have an essential role to play in fighting this epidemic, because of their capacity to reach very large numbers of young people with life-saving information and skills. A completed primary education can reduce the risk of HIV infection for young people; and in fact, basic education has such a powerful preventative effect, that it has been described as the social vaccine (Boler Carroll 2003). As the epidemic gathers pace, however, it poses increasing risks to education itself, threatening to stop children from enrolling, teachers from teaching and schools from functioning. This threatens the Right to Education, and the objective of Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to achieve primary universal education. Particularly, orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs), face a lot of challenges in the provision of q uality education.  [3]   In this paper, I therefore focus on the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on basic education for orphans and vulnerable children in Sub Saharan Africa in order to improve and increase their access to quality education, skills development and other social services. Since I am going to conduct research in Zambia on a related topic, I focus particularly on the impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic on basic education in Zambia. The research questions of this paper therefore state: What is the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on basic education for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in Zambia? What can be done to increase their access, progression and educational outcomes? Part one of this paper deals with the more general literature about HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa. This includes the impact of HIV/AIDS, leading to many different educational consequences. In part two I focus on Zambia as a case study, whereby I explain the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia, the impact it has on OVCs and the educational system. Part three discusses the possibilities of redressing the harmful consequences within the educational system, whereby I focus on community schools. In conclusion, I answer the research question and I will give recommendations for further research. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sub Saharan Africa Two-thirds of all people infected with HIV/AIDS live in Sub Saharan Africa, although this region includes little more than 10% of the worlds population (UNAIDS 2008; Foster Williamson 2000: 275; Barnett Whiteside 2006: 210-19). HIV/AIDS has caused immense human suffering in the continent. The most obvious effect of this crisis has been illness and death, but the impact of the epidemic has certainly not been confined to the health sector. Households, schools, workplaces and economies have also been badly affected. Since the beginning of the epidemic more than 15 million Africans have died from AIDS (UNAIDS 2008). In the previous year 2008, an estimated 1.4 million adults and children died as a result of AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa (UNAIDS 2008). Besides, a growing number of children in Sub Saharan Africa have been orphaned by AIDS (Robson Sylvester 2007: 260). However, detailed information on the numbers of children directly affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic is very limited in most countries in Sub Saharan Africa (Bennell 2005: 468). A major part of the problem is that it is often difficult to establish whether a child, parent or carer is ill or has died as a result of an AIDS-related disease. Another complicating factor is that there is no standard definition of an orphan. Definitions of orphans vary across different cultures and studies. In general, an orphan due to AIDS is defined as a child who has lost at least one parent dead from AIDS or AIDS related diseases. However, UNICEF and UNAIDS have a more specific definition. They define an orphan as a child under 15 years of age: a single orphan has lost one parent, while a double orphan has lost both parents (Foster Williamson 2000; Brennell 2005; Barnett Whiteside 2006: 213). For the purpose of this paper, and in line with working definitions in Zambia, an orphan is defined as a child below the age of 18 who has lost one or both parents (Robson Sylvester 2007: 262). The toll of HIV/AIDS on households can be very severe. Although the whole population is affected by HIV/AIDS, it are often the poorest areas of society that are most exposed to the epidemic and for whom the consequences are most severe. In many cases, the presence of AIDS causes the household to break up, as parents die and children are sent to relatives for care and upbringing. Although the HIV/AIDS epidemic has affected many aspects of social and economic development, this paper focuses on the affect on educational development. The relationship between AIDS and the education sector is circular as the epidemic worsens, the education sector is damaged, which in turn is likely to increase the incidence of HIV transmission. There are numerous ways in which AIDS can affect education, but equally there are many ways in which education can help the fight against AIDS and generates hope (Kelly 1999: 6-7).  [4]  The extent to which schools and other educational institutions are able to continue functioning will influence how well societies eventually recover from the epidemic. Or as the director of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, explained it: Without education, AIDS will continue its rampant spread. With AIDS out of control, education will be out of reach (World Bank et al. 2002). OVCs are less likely to have proper schooling. The death of a prime-age adult in a household will reduce a childs attendance at school (World Bank 1997: 225 in Barnett Whiteside 2006: 220).  [5]  The household may be less able to pay for schooling. An orphaned child may have to take on household or income-earning work. Sick adults may have reduced expectations of the returns of investing in childrens education as they do not expect to live long enough to recoup the investment. When a child goes to another household after his or his parents death, the obstacles become greater as the child is not their own (Barnett Whiteside 2006: 220). Finally, a reason why it is important to focus on children is that the impact of HIV/AIDS will linger for decades after the epidemic begins to wane (Foster Williamson 2000: 275). However, for a diversity of reasons, little attention has been paid to the situation and experience of individual children affected by HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, greater understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS on childrens education is essential in the design and evaluation of programmes to support children living under difficult conditions. HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia Zambia, in southern Africa, has been severely affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and can be seen as the mirror of Sub Saharan Africa. Statistics emphasize that one in five adults is infected with HIV (Kayanta 2004 in Robson Sylvester 2007: 259-60). Additionally, more than 70% of the population lives in poverty (CSO 2003 in Robson Sylvester 2007: 260). However, the country is active to implement the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), to achieve the EFA and the MDGs, by eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, to promote gender equality and empower women and to achieve universal primary education.  [6]  Besides, the country adopted a number of poverty reduction objectives (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 19). Almost 50% of Zambias population is under 15 years old, 71% of children live in poverty, and one in four children are orphaned. In other words, the HIV epidemic has devastated the country and it is estimated that by 2010 there will be 1,328,000 AIDS orphans (UNAIDS 2008). These children are vulnerable to neglect, sexual abuse and early marriages, forced child labour and can have serious health and nutrition problems. As a result OVCs are less likely to have access to school and to complete quality basic education. Social protection measures put in place by the government are hampered by inadequate resources, and OVCs lack of awareness of their rights. The impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the Zambian education system The AIDS epidemic affects the supply of and demands for education in a variety of ways, especially in a high HIV prevalence country like Zambia (Bennell 2005: 467). HIV/AIDS has multiple effects on education through ten different mechanisms: reduction in demand, reduction in supply, reduction in availability of resources, adjustments in response to the special needs of an increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children, adaptation to new interactions both within schools and between schools and communities, curriculum modification, altered roles that have to be adopted by teachers and the education system, the ways in which schools and the education system are organised, the planning and management of the system, and donor support for education (Kelly 1999: 1). More and more research is carried out on the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia. However, little research has been undertaken in basic schools themselves, to examine the experiences of poverty and AIDS-affected children. Therefore, Robson and Sylvester emphasize that  ´it is timely to explore the perceptions of education personnel and students regarding the adequacy of responses within the educational sector and to identify the unmet needs ´ (Robson Sylvester 2007: 262). Impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on education for pupils There are three groups of schoolchildren whose lives are most directly affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and whose education is, therefore, potentially at maximum risk: children who are HIV positive, children living in households with sick family members, and children whose parents or caretakers have died of HIV/AIDS. The scope to which the education of these children is negatively affected depends deeply on the level of physical and emotional support they get from the extended family, the school, the community and the local government (Bennell 2005: 468). However, like I explained in the introduction, it is difficult to indicate the number of directly affected children by the epidemic. Besides, schools rarely keep accurate and up-to-date records on the number of affected children and their parents. Nonetheless, we do know that the number of children that is HIV positive because the mother passed the virus on to her child is relatively small, since over 90 per cent of these children die before they are old enough to attend school. It is therefore estimated that a small number of schoolchildren is infected or has AIDS related sicknesses (Brennell 2005: 469). This is also the reason why mortality rates at primary schools are low. It is commonly believed that the education of children who are most directly affected by the epidemic is adversely affected in a number of ways. The main argument is that given very difficult home situations, both orphans and children in AIDS-affected households are often forced to drop out of school altogether with little likelihood of ever returning to school (Brennell 2005: 473). The growth in the number of orphans [and other directly affected children] is taxing the coping strategies of families and society at large. In many cases, the extended family find it extremely difficult to cope economically and psychologically with the numbers it is required to absorb. Few orphans [and other children in AIDS-affected households] are able to pay their school or training fees. Many others have to care for others in the homes where they live. Many have to work to support themselves or younger siblings dependent on them (Kelly 2000: 57 in Brennell 2005: 473). Pupils whose parents die or are ill often drop out of school due to different factors such as, economic stresses on households, changes in the family structure, responsibilities to look after the sick, the elderly or siblings and loss of parental supervision (Foster Williamson 2000: 278,81). The way school attendance, performance and school completion are effected generally depends on levels of risks and vulnerability due to social, economic and cultural circumstances (Robson Sylvester 2007: 265). It is important to mention that the financial burden on families, for example when parents die, prevents many children from attending school despite the provision of free basic education because of the extra school costs, like textbooks, contribution to school funds and examination costs (Brennell 2005: 475; Barnett Whiteside 2006: 220). Other reasons for children to drop out of school or to perform badly are that poor children are frequently ill because of poor living conditions, which seriously affects their education. Besides, AIDS-related stigmas and discrimination increase the chance that children are not going to school (Foster Williamson 2000: 281-82; Bennell 2005: 473). Children, especially whose parents are known or suspected to have died of HIV/AIDS face the risk of being stigmatised or discriminated. This can also result in bullying of these children. Stigma and discrimination in schools violates the principles of inclusive education and education for all (Robson Sylvester 2007: 266). Research in Zambia showed that the number of children attending primary school is decreasing. The decline in school participation rates was thought to result from poverty, inability to pay the rising costs of schooling, and increasing parental disillusion with the low quality of education. This is linked to HIV/AIDS and its affects on poverty, levels of employment, and the quality of school provision (Kelly 2000: 12 in Barnett Whiteside 2006: 220). Noteworthy is that proportionately more orphans than non-orphans were not attending school according to this research. Although it is important to focus on enrolment rates and participation, it is also important to pay attention to the quality of learning as well. Children, for example, might be hungry, or are unable to concentrate due to tensions or anxiety at home. Vulnerable children tend to be more malnourished or to have received insufficient health care. This negatively affects school enrolment, attendance and performance (Robson Sylvester 2007: 266; Barnett Whiteside 2006: 221). Orphans and other vulnerable children often have to do a lot of household tasks before and after school. This indicates that obstacles to school achievement are strongly connected with poverty and its related tensions. Besides, the curriculum of the school often not adapts to the vocational, emotional and life skills needs of HIV/AIDS affected-pupils. Whats more, HIV/AIDS has resulted in increasing teacher absenteeism and a significant decline in the number of teachers. This affects the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and diverted resources away from schools. The remaining teachers face problems because the burden on their shoulders increases since they have to manage progressively larger class sizes with poor resources (Kelly 1999: 3; Carr-Hill 2002 in Robson Sylvester 2007: 261, 265; Barnett Whiteside 2006: 220). Sometimes pupils are also sent home because of a lack of teachers. All together, this affects the quality of teaching and learning for the pupils. Overall, we can say that poor pupils attending and performance is the result of a myriad of factors including irregular attendance and generally poor quality of schooling (Brennell 2005: 475). Studies also show that HIV/AIDS should not be excessively blamed for problems achieving Universal Primary Education. Problems with school enrolment, attendance and completion are also related to poverty or problems inherent to the school system, such as the quality of education (Barnett Whiteside 2006: 222). Redressing the harmful consequences within the educational system In Zambia most of the initiatives within the education sector in relation to tackling HIV/AIDS and poverty are situated within educational reform programmes, such as the Basic Education Sub-Sector Investment Programme (BESSIP). The aim of this programme is to increase and improve the access, quality of basic education by the year 2015 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 19). Besides, the Ministry of Education made the goal of equitable access to relevant education a right for all Zambians and it removed the school fees in 2003 (Robson Sylvester 2007: 260). HIV/AIDS prevention strategies tend to focus mainly on preventive community-based initiatives to improve access to health education. However, there are various barriers to learning and participation. This is linked to the fact that many teachers lack the knowledge or the skills to implement effective HIV/AIDS and life skills programmes (Obura Sinclear 2005 in Robson Sylvester 2007: 260). Therefore, the challenge for the Zambian Ministry of Education (MoE) and the international community is not only to provide the right to basic education, but also strengthen schools as inclusive and supportive communities. For the pupils, this might focus on provision of alternative and more opportunities for participation and learning, access to health, life skills, suitable counselling and support in order to cope with the harmful consequences of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For teachers, it is important to concentrate on professional development opportunities in order to support the management of large scale and curriculum development e.g. in the areas of life skills and vocational skills (Robson Sylvester 2007: 259-60). In Zambia, community schools have a significant position in redressing the harmful consequences of HIV/AIDS within the education system. Community schools try to differentiate the learning needs of OVCs by designing and delivering a relevant and meaningful curriculum that assist these children to develop income-generating skills, personal, health, emotional and social skills, and critical learning skills (Kelly 1999: 4). Most community school use the four-year curriculum: Skills, Participation, Access and Relevant Knowledge (SPRAK). This curriculum offers pupils a fast track to official grade 7 examinations (Chondoka 2004; Robson Sylvester 2007: 267). In the following part of this paper I will first explain the main features of community schools in Zambia. Secondly, I will discuss why community schools and especially the SPARK curriculum could be a solution for the educational development of OVCs affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Community Schools One of the main characteristics of the Zambian education system is the central role played by community schools. Community schools emerged as a response to the unmet demand for school places among the poor and other marginalised groups in Zambia who are not in formal schools (USAID 2006 in Robson Sylvester 2007: 262; Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 52). In many instances, these schools are run by parents and volunteer teachers, though increasingly they receive support from the government, non-governmental organisations, faith based organizations or private initiatives. In other words, there is an enormous variation between community schools, more than between government schools or private schools, in how they are supported and managed (Destefano 2006). Besides, the school buildings and provisions vary greatly. A large number of these schools have wattle-and-daub constructions and temporary provisions (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 52, 56).  [7]  Classrooms and water and sa nitation facilities are often of poor quality. Teaching and learning materials are generally inadequate. Pupils often sit on the floor. Uniforms are often not a school requirement. Finally, the vast majority of teachers are unqualified (Chondoka 2006: 7). Adversely, reasons why these community schools increase in popularity are that community schools are less expensive, close to home, less demanding in entry requirements and are managed by local communities. Most community schools serve children aged between 9-16 years who are either drop-outs or who have never been to school. The concept of a community school was not entirely new to Zambia. The European missionaries had already established similar schools and called them village schools or bush schools (Chondoka 2006). Around 1995, more community schools began to appear in areas without government schools, where parents could not meet the expense of the high school fees that were charged, where the distance to the nearest government school was to far or where the government schools were considered overcrowded. Since 1998, the Zambian government officially recognises community schools. The Zambian government acknowledges the positive effect of community schools in redressing the harmful consequences of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since 1998, the number of community schools has enlarged exponentially, although the school fees for government schools were banned in 2002 with the introduction of free basic education. However, it is important to mention that in general, community schools are relatively small. In 200 0, they accounted for 17% of the basic schools and 8% of the pupils in basic schools; in 2006 these figures had increased to 34% and 16%, respectively (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 54-55). In 2005 the MoE distributed 30% of their budget to community schools (Robson Sylvester 2007: 262). This made it possible for community schools to receive school grants, textbooks, professional guidance and sometimes a government funded teacher. However, most community schools started without prior information of the MoE and are severely underfunded. While the majority of the community schools receive an inadequate amount of MoE support, many other schools not even receive a school grant. Despite the fact that the MoE supports community schools, its practical interest seems to be somewhat limited. Actual support depends on the specific policy of the particular district boards (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 54, 56). Community schools can be found in both rural an urban areas. A recent study shows that the main reason determining the location of rural community schools is distance to the nearest government school (Chondoka 2006: 7). In urban areas, these schools are set up in locations with large concentrations of children who are unable to get access to a public school due to costs or other factors (Destefano 2006). Pupils in community schools usually belong to the poorest and most vulnerable social strata (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 54). Less than one third of community school families live in stable structures, compared to 46% of public schools families (Destefano 2006). Most community schools are attended by a relatively large number of orphans. In 2005, about one in three pupils in community schools had lost his or her mother. In government schools this ratio is one in five. Most of the orphans lack sufficient parental support. According to a study in Central Province, many orphans not succeed to come to school regularly, while many of them are to hungry to concentrate in class when they do come (Chondoka 2006: 9). Due to their restricted size, many of the community schools make use of multi-grade teaching, especially in rural areas. Instead of using the normal curriculum, they most of the times use the SPARK curriculum, which provides primary education in four years. The SPARK curriculum has been designed to meet the particular needs of community school children, who are usually older (between 9 and 16 years) and who are often directly hit by the HIV/AIDS epidmic. It follows the government curriculum and focuses on the relevant topics within English, Mathematics, Environmental Science, Social Studies, Physical Education and Zambian languages, with a life skills component integrated through all the subject areas. The SPARK curriculum places health education, with a strong focus on AIDS/HIV prevention, at the heart of the primary circle. It prioritizes literacy, numeracy and life skills which are recognized as having to serve a nation in crisis due to the young people who will have to survive an d assume early responsibility of heading a family due to HIV/AIDS (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008: 56). As this part of the paper tried to make clear, community schools are able to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized groups within Zambia, such as orphans. By using the SPRARK curriculum, that assist these children to develop knowledge and skills, it is possible to adapt to the needs of OVCs who face a lot of challenges because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, it also clear that there is an enormous variation between community schools. It is therefore important that the MoE not only recognises the community school, but also that the MoE support is more fairly distributed between the different (types) of community schools. After all, it is important to work together with the different types of school to achieve EFA goals and the MDGs and to guarantee that all children have the right to education. Conclusion One of the most dramatic impacts of HIV/AIDS epidemic is the threat they constitute to the well-being of children and young people. The already high prevalence of poverty, coupled with the possible impacts of the AIDS epidemic can have long-term educational, emotional and social consequences (Khin-Sand Lwin et al 2001; Kanyata 2004; UNICEF-Zambia 2004 in Robson Sylvester 2007: 268). It is estimated that the majority of children having lost one or both parents due to AIDS is living in Sub Saharan Africa. Children affected by HIV, as well as children living with HIV, often suffer from stigma and discrimination. The opportunity of these children to continue their education successfully may be reduced if their impoverished family or caretakers cannot pay the fees or the extra school costs. By giving a case study of the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on basic education for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Zambia, this paper showed that relationship between the epidemic and the education sector is circular. There are various ways in which the epidemic effects the education for OVCs, but there are also several ways in which education can generate hope for these children. Schools, teachers and the Zambian government therefore need to be made more responsive to the needs of OVCs. Providing education to these children is not only a human rights imperative, it is also vital to break the vicious cycle of poverty and to promote security and public health. Basic education should, therefore, be free and target support to meet essential schooling costs (provision of lunches, books and pencils, examination fees). Besides, basic education should be provided for needy children as part of a wide-ranging package of support and it could help prevent absence or dropout (Brennell 2005: 487). To my opinion the Skills, Participation, Access and Relevant Knowledge (SPARK) curriculum, which is used at most community schools, is a step forward to overcome most obstacles to achievement of education. SPARK is a special curriculum that was written for community schools. This four-year curriculum follows the government curriculum with a life skills component integrated through all subject areas and offers pupils a fast track to official grade 7 examinations. However, more drastic curriculum and pedagogical review and teacher professional development are necessary to improve the quality and relevance of the educational experience. This also requires further research of what pupils are learning, and differentiated responses to their particular needs (Robson Sylvester 2007: 269). Literature Barnett, T. and Whiteside, A. 2006 AIDS in the Twenty-First Century. Disease and Globalisation. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. Bennell, P. 2005 The impact of the AIDS epidemic on the schooling of orphans and other directly affected children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Development Studies 41 (3): 467-488. Boler, T. and Carroll, K. 2003 Addressing the educational needs of orphans and vulnerable children. UK Working group on HIV/AIDS and Education. Policy Research: issue 2. Chondoka, Y. A. and Subulwa, C. 2004 Evaluation of the SPARK curriculum in community schools in Zambia 2002-2004, Lusaka: University of Zambia Chondoka, Y. A. 2006 Situation analysis of Community Schools in Central Province of Zambia. Lusaka, University of Zambia. Destefano, J. 2006 Meeting EFA: Zambia Community Schools. Lusaka: USAID. Foster, G. and Williamson, J. 2000 A review of current literature of the impact of HIV/AIDS on children in sub-Saharan Africa AIDS 14 (3):275-284. Kelly, M. J. 1999 What HIV/AIDS Can Do to Education, and What Education Can Do to HIV/AIDS? School of Education, University of Zambia Lusaka. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the Netherlands), 2008 Primary Education Zambia. IOB Impact Evaluation. No. 312 April 2008. Robson, S. and Sylvester, K. B. Orphaned and vulnerable children in Zambia: the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on basic education for children at risk. Educational Research 49 (3): 259-272. Skinner, D. et al. Defining orphaned and vulnerable children. Cape Town: HRSC Publishers. UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/GlobalReport/2008/ (last viewed on 2 January 2010) World Bank/ UNESCO/ UNAIDS 2002 In turning the tide against HIV/AIDS, education is key. Press release (October 18). http://portal.unesco.org/es/ev.php-URL_ID=7195URL_DO=DO_TOPICURL_SECTION=201.html (last viewed on 2 January 2010)