Why Students Cheat and How to Stop It

Cheating in schools has reached epidemic proportions. The vast majority of young people (and adults for that matter) believe that cheating is wrong. Yet, by nearly every poll, most young people cheat at least once in their high school career. Why students cheat poses a challenging question for educators and parents. Here are some answers to these questions followed by possible solutions to minimize or eliminate cheating. Why Students Cheat Everybody does it: Its disturbing to discover that young people in middle school and high school think that it is acceptable to cheat. But the majority of tests that educators give encourage this behavior. Take multiple-choice tests, for example. They literally invite students to cheat. Unrealistic academic demands: The public education sector is accountable to the government. State legislatures, state boards of education, local boards of education, unions, and countless other organizations demand action to correct the real and imagined failings of the nations public education system. As a result, students must take standardized tests so that officials and parents can compare one school system to another nationally and at the state level. In the classroom, these tests mean that a teacher must achieve the expected results or better, or she will be viewed as ineffective, or worse, incompetent. So instead of teaching students how to think, she teaches them how to pass standardized tests. The temptation to plagiarize: Years ago cheaters lifted whole passages from an encyclopedia and called them their own. That was plagiarism. Plagiarisms current incarnation is even easier: The students simply points and clicks his way to the website with the relevant information, copies and paste it, reformats it somewhat, and passes it off as his own. Possible Solutions Schools need to have zero-tolerance policies concerning cheating. Teachers must be vigilant and alert to all of the newer forms of cheating, particularly electronic cheating. Smartphones and computer tablets  are powerful tools for cheating. Fighting the tools that make it tempting to cheat can be challenging, but if the stakeholders are willing to take the necessary steps, they can help reduce cheating. Teachers:  The best solution is to make learning exciting and absorbing. Teachers should make the learning process student-centric. They should allow students to buy into the process and empower them to guide and direct their learning. Teachers can encourage creativity and critical thinking as opposed to rote learning. There are some specific steps teachers can take: Model integrity, no matter what the cost.Dont assume young people know why cheating is wrong, both from a personal and corporate perspective.Enable students to understand the meaning and relevance of an academic lesson.Foster an academic curriculum that perpetuates real-world applications of knowledge.Dont force cheating underground—let students know that you understand the pressures and, at least initially, be reasonable in responding to violations. Parents:  Parents have a huge role to play in combating cheating. Thats because children mimic almost everything parents do. Parents must set the right sort of example for their children to emulate. Parents must also take a genuine interest in their childrens work. They should ask to see everything and anything and discuss everything and anything. An involved parent is a powerful weapon against cheating. Students:  Students must learn to be true to themselves and their own core values. They should not let peer pressure and other influences steal their dreams. Parents and educators should emphasize that if students are caught cheating, there will be serious consequences. Also, this might seem simplistic, but students need to understand why cheating is wrong. Dr. Thomas Lickona, a developmental psychologist and education professor, defined a few points to emphasize to students about cheating. Lickona says that parents and teachers should explain to students that cheating: Will lower self-respect because you can never be proud of anything you earned by cheating.Is a lie because it deceives other people into thinking you know more than you do.Violates the teachers trust and undermines the whole trust relationship between the teacher and his class.Is unfair to all people who arent cheating.Will lead to more cheating in other situations later in life—perhaps even in personal relationships. Foiling Electronic Cheating When essay topics are generic, there seems to be more opportunity to cheat. By contrast, when the essay topic is specific to class discussions and/or unique to the courses stated goals, it becomes more difficult for students to go to web sources to lift material or download papers. When the teacher expects the papers development to follow a step-by-step process that requires students to document their topic, thesis, outline, sources, rough draft, and final draft, there are fewer opportunities to cheat. If there are regular in-class writing assignments, a teacher can come to know the students writing style, allowing him to recognize plagiarism when it occurs. There are a few steps teachers can take to combat and prevent plagiarism and other electronic cheating: Use a plagiarism detection service like  Turnitin.com  to catch plagiarism.Forbid the use of smart devices in exam rooms.Secure the grade program and database.Look for crib notes anywhere and everywhere. Teachers need to be vigilant. Trust but verify. They must be aware of the possibilities for cheating which are all around them. Sources Lickona, Thomas. â€Å"Character Matters: How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues.†Ã‚  Amazon, Simon Schuster, 2004.Niels, Gary J. â€Å"Academic Practices, School Culture and Cheating Behavior. Winchesterthurston.org.â€Å"NMPLB: Cheating. FlyLady.net.â€Å"One Third of Teens Use Cellphones to Cheat in School.†Ã‚  U.S. News World Report, U.S. News World Report.Sperling, Melanie. â€Å"Cheating: Todays High School Norm?†Ã‚  Wayland Student Press.Wallace, Kelly. â€Å"High-Tech Cheating On The Rise At Schools.†Ã‚  CBS News, CBS Interactive, 17 June 2009. Article edited by  Stacy Jagodowski

Pan s Labyrinth And Heroic Ofelia Essay - 1407 Words

Pan’s Labyrinth and Heroic Ofelia The hero is one of the most commonly seen archetypes throughout literature and film. While there are many different types of heroes, there are particular characteristics that identify a character as a hero. These characteristics are largely not in regards to who the hero is: personality traits, beliefs, or values – rather, these attributes concern the hero’s journey and the actions the hero takes while on that journey. In Guillermo Del Toro’s film, Pan’s Labyrinth, Ofelia is an archetypal hero because she is born into royalty, leaves her family and land, goes on an adventure, receives supernatural help, proves herself many times, and is rewarded spiritually when she dies. The first indication that Ofelia is a heroic character is that she is born into royalty and then leaves her family and land. According to Bryan Davis, two characteristics of an archetypal hero are that their birth occurs under unusual circumstances – such as being born into royalty – and that the hero leaves their family and land, and goes to live with someone else (Davis). At the beginning of Pan’s Labyrinth, the narrator tells a story about a princess who dreamt of the human world. The princess escaped from her family and went to the human world, where she was blinded by the sun and her memory was erased. The story continues to state that the princess eventually died in the human world, but her father (king of the underworld) believed that her soul would one day return

Effects of Free Essays

Marina Less, an 18th century female writer, gets plenty of fan mail, yet she only rarely replies. She feels compelled to answer to one woman in particular, Pierce, an older female dreaming to be a writer. Less’ inspires Pierce by relating to her in many ways. We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of or any similar topic only for you Order Now Being a female writer in (1866), she appeals to her character and credibility by sharing personal experiences and shared values. She also informs Pierce about the qualities that she herself has that helped her to succeed. Time and wisdom is what Less feel is necessary to become a successful writer. By making a personal connection between the two women, Less is able to tell Price what it takes. The most important qualities that Less says are needed are wisdom and experience. With that being said, one gains wisdom through experience- you cannot make your writing believable without it. Using loaded words such as â€Å"genuine, trashy, and unripe†, Less expresses the importance of waiting until you have been more fulfilled in life. Less also appeals to Pierce’s emotions by â€Å"stooping to her level† to con next more strongly with Price. In this way, Price will take Less’ advice more to heart. Because this letter is written in 1866, the reader is lead to imply that women had very little rights. Women were given no respect in general, much less while being a woman author. Still today is the 21st century; women authors are using pen names so that their readers will see them as equals. They feared their male readers would not want to read her books because she is a woman. Considering all of this plus the time period, Price is at a disadvantage. In order to connect to on a more intimate level, Less uses feminism to unite their goals in a world run by men. Less reassures Price that even though she is a woman and although she is monotony she can still do whatever she puts her mind to. Although the reader is unaware of Pierce’s writing abilities, Less feels confident in her and uses her own credibility to relate the two writers together in order to boost Pierce’s confidence as a writer. Informing Pierce of their common ground, Less’ persuades her by tapping into her emotions. Because she feels compelled to respond, she also succeeds in motivating Pierce by using rhetorical schemes such as personal experience and the two women’s shared values. How to cite Effects of, Papers

Critical Challenges Implications and Management Skills

Question: Discuss about the Critical Challenges for Implications and Management Skills. Answer: Introduction: In this article bigger organizations of New Zealand have been surveyed, where their chief executives of 265 large organizations belonging to various sectors have been surveyed (Boxall Purcell, 2011). This article tries to analyse the biggest challenges and risks that are faced by chief executives of these large organisations that belong to private, public and not-for-profit sectors, while examining the implications for their management skills. The article suggests clearly that the income and the productivity gap in comparison to Australia is major concern for New Zealand . The results of the survey indicate that with the rapid changes in technologies and markets the chief executives in New Zealand are also facing several challenges, on one hand they have to face war of talent both nationally as well as internationally and then they have to adjust to constrained funds on which they have very less control (Yukl et al., 2002). Thus in this economic environment where the costs are escal ating and the climate of higher demands prevails some major challenges that they have to face are : management of partners stakeholders; managing renewal and uncertainty as well as managing resources along with people . The article states that the HR specialists of the organizations have a major role to play in the entire development process. This essay will critically analyse the various aspects like strengths and weaknesses, thesis statement/ questions in the article along with my personal viewpoint on the subject. A particular statement that is able to provide the summary of the major idea of entire research paper while expressing it ion clear cut manner , what is the main purpose for conducting research in relation to specific topic of study is called as Thesis statement . Thus it helps in finding out the particular topic that is to be studied and analysed and the aim that the paper will serve (Purdue University, 2016). Thus on the basis of the definition given above the thesis statement or the research question that has guided the above article is: Finding and examining the highest level major challenges that the chief executives of large organizations in New Zealand face in the current business environment, while also discussing their managerial implications for the management skills of New Zealand, while considering the manner in which the human resource practitioners can promote and support such kind of skill development (Hutchison Boxall, 2014). Some of the major strengths and weaknesses that have been found in this article while analysing it in-depth have been discussed below: One major strength of this research article is that the topic chosen for study that is the critical challenges facing New Zealands chief executives : implications for management skills is very much conducted timely because after the global financial crisis ( GFC) that occurred in 2008-09 in New Zealand (Bcker Poutsma, 2010) , the country just like other nations has been experiencing lower economic growth. Then the literature review that has been conducted completely provides an outline of the organizational landscape as well as key features of New Zealand, while reviewing the maximum existing researches conducted on management capabilities. The article has also conducted a clear cut and valid comparison with not juts neighbouring countries like Australia but also the economically stable nations like UK and US. Then the research also considers various sectors that are very successful as well as the sectors in which the nation is lagging behind have also been considered (ResearchGate, 2010). The main focus of the literature review is to fund the research gaps while mentioning the previous research that have focussed on related topic of study , considering the various opinions of chief executives who are capable of understanding these challenges in much better way (Randolf, 2009). Chief executives have been chosen as the population for study because they are the major decision makers in the management and all the three sectors have been covered for study including private, public and not-for-profit organizations. Thus the sample chosen for study is well representative one comprising of wide range of organizational sizes as well as range of industries as well (Salant Dillman, 1994) . The survey used mixed methods for conducting research that is combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods was used. The quantitative section of questionnaire had questions on which respondents need to rate the challenges and risks on Likert scale. A pilot test was also conducted before sending the questionnaire to the respondents on MBA executives. The qualitative section of survey questionnaire has five open-ended questions that helped in getting elaborate responses from the respondents (Bergman, 2008). Thus by using qualitative method the researcher has been able to get different yet quite insightful perspective regarding the topic. It has been found that mixed methods provides an opportunity for exploring both the worlds permitting an in-depth discovery related to various kinds of indigenous practices, traditions as well as patterns that can be discovered (Collins O'Cathain, 2009). Moreover higher level of generalization done during mixed methods survey provides adva ntages through large scale empirical research at the same time. The article has major weakness that although it identifies the need to manage the uncertainty as the major and critical management skill but it has not been able to find out what all managerial behaviours combine to form managing uncertainty and renewal (Hitt et al., 2010). Another weakness of this paper it that the scope of this paper does not discuss the manner in which all the managerial capabilities that have been stated can be best developed. Thus this analysis does have certain limitations that need to be addressed. A better and bigger picture could have been obtained by the researcher if the opinion of more than one respondent from one organization had been sought. Another weak spot of this study is that the data is very much descriptive in nature, so it does not directly measure the assessments of skill deficits or the needs of chief executives. On the other hand there might be few challenges and risks that might be different from the ones faced by chief executives of large organizations so further research can also be conducted on smaller organizations (Lin et al., 2013). Moreover just the top management chief executives have been included in the research; rather some people from middle management should also have been included in the research in order to get better insight into the research topic. As per my viewpoint the use of mixed methods for conducting study is best as it allows in depth analysis of the topic of research as it includes both qualitative as well as qualitative method of study. However I think that the reactions of chief executives regarding analysis of the management skill needs should have also been obtained by the researcher as this would have helped in finding out the presence of any kind of skill groups which this study has completely missed out. In order to further explore the extent up to which the New Zealand managers currently show the capabilities or skills that have been identified, the researcher should have added few more questions in the survey questionnaire. According to my perspective the researcher should have also included executives from middle management of the organization to gain better and in-depth view point on the topic. Moreover these are the people who are in direct contact with the employees so they would be providing much better s tance in relation to the topic of research. I feel that by implementing the right kind of policies and training modules for executives the organizations can handle the challenges and risks in better manner. This will help in making available better opportunities for the employees and this will also help in decreasing the migration of better workforce from country to Australia who move away looking for better jobs , thus making the business climate in New Zealand more innovative , stable as well as flexible for the executives. In order to handle the economic downturn as well as various other critical challenges that the current economic environment is posing for the businesses it is very much important to analyse the their implications on managerial skills so that the HR practitioners can follow the right kind of skills (Kamble, 2011). This will certainly be helpful to the organizations in New Zealand to handle the current situations like war of talent etc. and help in developing the right kind of skills. The main strength that is visible is use of axed methods and a large sample size which is very much representative of the population chosen. Moreover all the sectors of the economy have been considered for the research in order to find out the issues and risks faced by executives and their managerial implications, so that the HR practitioners can develop all these crucial skills amongst the employees with the help of proper training. However few weaknesses have also been found like too much descriptive na ture of data which does not allow direct measurement of needs or skill deficits of the chief executives of the organizations. References Bergman, M.M., 2008. The straw men of the qualitative-quantitative divide and their influence on mixed methods research. London Uk: Sage. Boxall, P. Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Bcker, J. Poutsma, E., 2010. Global management competencies:A theoretical foundation. Journal of Managerial Psychology , 25(2), pp.829-44. Collins, K.M.T. O'Cathain, A., 2009. Ten points about mixed methods research to be considered by the novice researcher. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 3(1), pp.2-7. Hitt, M.A., Haynes, K.T. Serpa, R., 2010. Strategic leadership for the 21st century. Business Horizons , 53(5), pp.437-44. Hutchison, A. Boxall, P., 2014. The critical challenges facing New Zealands chief executives: implications for management skills. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 52, pp.23-41. Kamble, R.R., 2011. Managerial Skills for Organizational Performance :An Analytical Study. Indian Streams Research Journal, 1(1), pp.23-27. Lin, M., Lucas, H.C. Shmueli, G., 2013. Too Big to Fail: Large Samples and the p-Value Problem. Information Systems Research Articles in Advance, pp.1-12. Purdue University, 2016. Writing A Thesis Statement. [Online] Available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_thesis.html [Accessed 16 September 2016]. Randolf, J.J., 2009. A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 13, p.14. ResearchGate, 2010. The Literature Review. [Online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader.html?id.assetKey. [Accessed 22 September 2016]. Salant, P. Dillman, D.A., 1994. How to conduct your own survey. John Wiley Sons, Inc.. Yukl, G., Gordon, A. Taber, T., 2002. A hierarchical taxonomy of leadership behavior. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 9(1), pp.15-32.

The Flashback Scene Essay Example

The Flashback Scene Paper Is it Impossible for a Director of The Flashback Scene in The Restaurant, pages 73-93 of Death of a Salesman to Show Willy as a Tragic Hero? Discuss. In Your Answer You Must Discuss how the Scene Could be Played and Base Your Answer on Textual Analysis of Character, Plot and Stage Direction Commenting on The Context of The Play. The play Death of a Salesman was written in 1949 by Arthur Miller and is one of his most successful plays. At Millers time, America was deemed to be a land of opportunity and all Americans had the right to be successful. However his fathers prosperous living as a clothing manufacturer had been ruined by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The play examines the cost of blind faith in the American Dream, closely related with the theme of manifest destiny. There was much belief in the American Dream, and this would be achieved through hard work, courage and determination by every American. Death of a Salesman is based around the main protagonist, Willy Loman an elderly man. He is an insecure, self deluding travelling salesman. Mr Loman is past sixty years of age and dressed quietly, nonetheless he is a man with massive dreams, a mercurial nature and turbulent longings within him. He never comes to terms with reality for the reason that he is lost in an illusion and false hopes, for example Willy cannot see who he and his sons, Biff and Happy, are and he just believes that they are great men who have what it takes to beat the business world and be successful. However, he is mistaken. In reality, Willy and sons are not, and cannot ever be successful. We will write a custom essay sample on The Flashback Scene specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Flashback Scene specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Flashback Scene specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Mr Loman is unable to see through his own delusions of the American Dream, which he perceives as the ability to become great by obtaining enormous material wealth without any apparent effort, to wander into the jungle and walk out a few years later unspeakably rich. As a result to this, he is trapped in distortion of the American Dream promoted by a capitalist, materialistic modern society. In the play, although Willy does seem to show love and care towards his wife, Linda and two sons, he often becomes confused and angry unnecessarily. He shows trouble distinguishing his past and present, or his ideal life and reality. Due to this, many parts of the play are transcribed to the audience by the insertion of flashbacks, which show us some of the most significant moments in Willys confused life that have happened in his past. These flashbacks, each of which do somehow relate to the present, show an inability for Willy to see his reality. The flashback Willy experiences in the Restaurant scene, which I will be studying, is extremely significant in view of the fact that at this point, the illusions Biff has about Willy and his lies, come to an end. The use of this flashback depicts Willys affair with the Woman and Biff then comes to know about it. By using this scene, this essay will discuss whether Willy is that of a tragic hero or not. In Shakespearean tragedy, tragic heroes will be men of rank, and the calamities that befall them will be unusual and exceptionally disastrous in themselves (taken from http://global. cscc. edu/engl/264/TragedyLex. htm). In other words, Shakespearean tragic heroes should be of noble birth, have a fatal flaw, learn from their mistakes and lastly due to their flaw, this will lead to their downfall. However, the initial idea of the tragic hero had originated in Greek tragedy and it was outlined by Aristotle, who once said a tragic hero must be one of noble character and must fall from power and happiness (taken from http:// www. ccd. rightchoice. org/lit115/poetics. html). In Arthur Millers Tragedy and the Common Man, Miller argues that the common man could also be regarded to that as a very highly placed king and noble man. If this is the case and that the common man could be a tragic hero, I should be able to answer a simple question: Can Willy Loman be considered to be a tragic hero or not? To begin the first part of this essay, it is impossible to represent Willy as a tragic hero in the traditional sense. As I mentioned above, there are patterns into which Shakespearean or Aristotelian tragic heroes should fit into, and clearly Willy does not fit into these principles in one important way- he is not of noble birth or aristocracy. Willy is just a common man. According to the Collins English Dictionary, the word noble has three meanings: 1showing or having high moral qualities, 2impressive and magnificent, and 3member of the nobility (which again, according to the Collins English Dictionary, means either 1quality of being noble or 2a class of people holding titles and high social rank). Oedipus Rex, a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles, and The Oresteia, a trilogy of tragedies written by Aeschylus, both contain protagonists whom are of aristocracy and nobility. This too follows in Shakespearean tragedies. In Romeo and Juliet both protagonists originate from high, aristocratic upper class families, as do the protagonists in Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard II and King Lear. As an audience, from the flashback Willy undergoes in the Restaurant, we learn that he is having an affair with The Woman in the Boston hotel room and therefore he is cheating on his wife, Linda. Come on inside, drummer boy. Its silly to be dressing in the middle of the night. (Act Two. Page 88. The Woman) Then once knocking is heard, Willy orders The Woman to stay in the bathroom as he thinks theres a law in Massachusetts about it (it being adultery) and he finds Biff standing at the door. Biff has come to tell his dad that he flunked math and does not have enough credits to graduate. Just as Willy promises his son that he will speak to Birnbaum, and Biff is about to leave the Hotel room, he discovers The Woman and knows instantly that Willy has been having an affair. Biff becomes increasingly more saddened knowing that Willy has given The Woman Mamas stockings! Wheres my stockings? You promised me stockings, Willy! (Act Two. Page 90. The Woman) It is at this point that Willys mercurial nature becomes evident. He threatens to abuse his son if he does not follow his orders to apologise, before Biff refers to his father as a fake, a phoney little fake! However it is not only just at this moment in the scene where Willy does not coincide to being that of a tragic hero by abusing his son. In reality, when Willy and his sons are in the Restaurant talking about Biffs meeting with Bill Oliver, Willy presumes that Biff spites him, so he then strikes him and carries on downgrading his son by calling him a rotten little louse!

Snowboarding in the United States

Snowboarding in the United States Snowboarding has seemingly become one of the most popular sports in the United States, especially after the launch of the Winter Dew Tour at Colorado’s Breckenridge Ski Resort five years ago. Since then, snowboarding sport has undergone a series of evolution. For instance, new snowboarding tricks have been developed to replace or improve the old ones.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Snowboarding in the United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In addition, advanced sporting equipments have been designed to advance the sport to high levels. On the other hand, some prominent riders have emerged in the last five years, leading to a steep competition among competitors in the sport. However, a number of fatal outcomes have been recorded, owing to the adoption of dangerous snowboarding tricks. Therefore, an aesthetic analysis of snowboarding appears significant for a comprehensive evaluation of the sport. In ge neral, snowboarding is believed to have recorded a remarkable progress over the last five years. Stakeholders in the snowboarding sport reaffirm that, the sport has evolved extensively to reach the highest level of progression, ever since the sport was invented. A recent report indicates â€Å"eight years ago few, if any, adaptive snowboard lessons were offered; today, there are adaptive schools at most resorts and many offer snowboard lessons along with adaptive skiing techniques† (Disabled Sports par. 44). From a practical approach, the observed progression in snowboarding is attributable to the establishment of advanced training courses and adoption of new snowboarding tricks, which have offered riders with new opportunities to endure the strenuous episodes of the sport. Ordinarily, it is believed that, popularity of snowboarding has led to the development of adaptive equipments, which are ability-oriented to suit the needs of the riders. It is claimed â€Å"as snowboardi ng grows in popularity, options in equipment and teaching aids increase† (Disabled Sports par. 36).Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In recent years, snowboarding seems to have attracted more riders than it was the case one decade ago. Consequently, new snowboarders are introducing new snowboarding tricks to achieve fun and victory in the game day-by-day. Some of the new snowboarding tricks which have been developed in the last five years include the double cork and triple cork tricks. These tricks have earned several snowboarders immense prominence, owing to their success in attempting the tricks in risky environments. For instance, the double cork snowboarding trick was first attempted by Shaun White at the 2010 Winter Olympics. This trick had not been practised before, but it gained popularity in the sport after the Olympics. Richards claims â€Å"It has been no time at all since we were wowed by Shaun White throwing down double corks in Whistler’s super-pipe at the 2010 Winter Olympics; it is crazy that such an insanely technical trick was to become out-dated† (par. 1). Shaun White had faced immense competition from Kevin Pearce. Therefore, the tragic elimination of Pearce gave White high chances of achieving victory in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Shortly, after the 2010 Winter Olympics, attempts for triple corks begun in the month of May when Nils Arvidsson attempted the trick successfully although he nearly missed the footage. Torstein Horgmo was the second to attempt triple cork tricks successful in June 2010. Horgmo achieved success in trying the new trick; hence he is known to be the world’s first rider to attempt the triple cork trick in the history of snowboarding. â€Å"It was not long after the Olympics in 2010 that triple corks were being attempted. There was a lot of excitement around an attempt by Nils Ar vidsson in May 2010, the near-miss footage† (Richards par. 4).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Snowboarding in the United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is believed that, double cork and triple cork tricks are the most challenging snowboarding tricks. Since their invention, only a few snowboarders have attempted them successfully without sustaining injuries. They require extensive skills in landing to prevent injuries to the riders. Therefore, those who have attempted the tricks successfully gained auspicious acknowledgement from the snowboard team; that is probably why Dave Richards, the Operations Director of the Nonstop Club remarks that triples are â€Å"massive tricks, and [they earn] full respect to anyone who attempts them† (par. 3). The remarkable successes in double cork and triple cork tricks are regarded to as immense progress in snowboarding in the last half decade. However, thes e tricks have attracted immense criticism from the public and the sporting community across the United States, owing to their health risks. Despite the prominence accorded to the snowboarders who applied the tricks successfully with safe landings, double cork and triple cork tricks are quite dangerous. Dangers of the double cork and triple cork snowboarding tricks can be explained by the two fatal outcomes which have been reported since 2009. In the first outcome, Kevin Pearce sustained traumatic brain injury on Dec. 31, 2009 while preparing for the Vancouver Olympics, leading to a tragic end of his snowboarding career. Pearce fell from the super-pipe and hit his head on the ground while he attempted to rotate; thus, becoming unconscious, owing to the brain injury. During an interview with Rachel George early this year in February, Pearce remarked, â€Å"I was so sick and so dizzy and so gone after that† (par. 3). Pearce’s mental trauma is believed to have been caused by the two successive falls he experienced during his training for the Vancouver Olympics in which he was attempting to qualify for the U.S Olympic team (George par. 2).Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The second fatal outcome in snowboarding sport was the death of Sarah Burke in 2012, owing to injuries she suffered during training on Jan. 10, 2012 which was run in Park City, Utah. She had contributed immensely to the progress of snowboarding by pushing for the acceptance of super-pipe triple cork in the Olympics (DeBruin and Pells par. 2). In a brief conclusion, snowboarding has recorded remarkable progress in recent years, owing to advanced training courses. However, the two fatal outcomes involving Sarah Burke death and Kevin Pearce have aroused immense outcry from the sporting community and the public at large. It is argued that double cork and triple cork tricks expose the riders to health risks as it was the case with Kevin Pearce and Sarah Burke. Snowboarders lament that snowboarding used to be quite safe before the introduction of the double cork and triple cork tricks although minor injuries were recorded. Double cork and triple cork tricks involve a high level of athleti c skills; thus, making it difficult for new riders. Currently, the popular criticism of the risky snowboarding tricks seems to have made progress in snowboarding games, not worth appreciation. Consequently, new policy guidelines have been established to prevent unsafe practices in sports, primarily in snowboarding sport, which had not been given significant priority in the past. Ideally, progress is worth successful healthy outcomes in sporting activities. DeBruin, Lynn and Pells Eddie. Sarah Burke Dead: Skier Dies after Accident during Training at Park City, Utah. 19 Jan. 2012. Web. huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/sarah-burke-died-skier-canada-freestyle-park-city_n_1217001.html Disabled Sports. n.d. Snowboarding. n.d. Web. disabledsportsusa.org/snowboarding/ George, Rachel. Head Injuries a Rising Danger for Snowboarders, Skiers. 26 Feb. 2013. Web. usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/02/25/snowboarders-skiers-kevin-pearce-concern-concussions/1947593/ Richards D. Re: Doubles ar e so Winter Olympics 2010. 25 May, 2012. Web. nonstopsnow.com/blog/stuff-we-like/snowboardings-triple-cork-club/

Love Social Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Love Social Problem - Essay Example It is essential that we, as a society, address childhood obesity. This problem is a social problem for several reasons. Firstly, with the interconnected world we live in, in which resources are so scarce, any over-use of resources by one group of people leads to a shortage or resources for another. In the case of childhood obesity, food is obviously being over-consumed, but this also leads to an over-consumption of many other types of resources such as medical care, that could otherwise be better distributed or lower cost. These are social ills and require a society-wide effort to address them. Childhood obesity is an enormous problem for all of our society that must be addressed by everyone in it. The exact sources of childhood obesity are hard to pinpoint – there is probably a complex interrelation of a variety of factors. But two things are clear – for obesity to occur, children are both eating too much and exercising too little. The origins of both of these problems are societal in nature. Over-consumption is rampant in developed countries; we more, electricity, oil, media, clothing, and nearly everything else than other countries. Everything in the developed world is super-sized, cheap, and made to be consumed in massive amounts. This is especially true of food, where the simplest foods to eat are by far the worst for you – processed foods high in fat and carbohydrates, which encourage children to develop an addiction to both of those things, and parents a love for the simplicity of providing that kind of food to their children. Furthermore, the social activities that children engage in are becoming less and less physical demanding – previously children would have to actually play together, moving around, to entertain themselves, but now entertainment is essentially beamed into their brains in the form of television and video games, which encourage lethargy

Employment interviews as a selction tool Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Employment interviews as a selction tool - Essay Example There are various types of interviews. Some interviews are conducted face to face between the employer and candidate while others may be conducted electronically or on phone. In terms of forms, interviews can be classified into three types, namely structured interviews, semi-structured interviews and unstructured interviews. In the structured interviews, interviewer analyzes the skills of interview through a preformed set of questions. In the semi-structured interview, the interviewer may make the conversation apart from the questions as well. In fact, some questions are developed on the spot from the discussion. In unstructured interviews, there are no preformed questions. Quite often, very simple questions are used to assess the interest and enthusiasm of a candidate for work. For example, one of the interview questions an Assistant Engineer was asked for his assessment by Chunghwa Telecom was, â€Å"Why do you want to join our company?† (â€Å"Engineering Interview Questions†). Interview is one of the best selection tools because it promotes public relations in addition to regular assessment of

Boeing Porter's Five Forces Industry analysis Assignment

Boeing Porter's Five Forces Industry analysis - Assignment Example This is mainly because they are highly entrenched in their airport hubs, making it difficult for new companies to find space in these air ports (Clougherty and Zhang, 2008). Furthermore, smaller airports do not have enough passing traffic that can make these new airlines companies to post some profits. High fuel prices are one of the most dominant barriers for new airline companies (Mouawad, 4). This is because it accounts for approximately 50% of the costs that these airline companies are able to incur (Peoples, 2012). The high number of mergers is also another reason that prevents new companies from entering the market. These companies manage to control a large segment of the market, making it hard for new entities to penetrate. Companies such as Hawaiian airlines, Allegiant Air, and Spirit Airlines managed to survive this competition by creating their own niche market, hence avoiding direct competition with these major airlines (Fojt, 2006). There is also a high level of research and development budget that is required for new entrants into this market. It is virtually impossible to compete in this industry, when the new company does not have information about its competitors, target market, etc (Williams, 2002). Acquiring this type of information requires a great deal of research, which is very expensive. Furthermore, the airline industry has loyal customers, who will only take the national carrier. Based on these facts, threats of new entrants to Boeing are low. The intensity of competition facing Boeing is very high. This is because the industry comprises of large airline companies offering the same services. The airline industry does not have any market leader, and their strategies are not different (Fojt, 2006). This is the reason why most airline companies are forming mergers for purposes of competing efficiently with their competitors (Grundy, 2012).

Quantification of Bioactive Compounds in Mentat Tablet (MT)

Quantification of Bioactive Compounds in Mentat Tablet (MT) An ultra-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of twenty-eight major bioactive compounds in Mentat tablet (MT), a complex Indian herbal medicine used in the treatment of neurological disorder and improvement of mental health. Multiple-reaction monitoring scanning was employed for quantification in positive and negative mode. The analysis was accomplished on Waters AQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column with linear gradient elution of water/formic acid (0.1%) and acetonitrile/formic acid (0.1%) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The proposed method was validated with acceptable linearity (r2, 0.9984-0.9999), precision (RSD, 0.22–2.11%), stability (RSD, 0.16–1.78%) and recovery (RSD ≠¤ 3.74 %), under optimum conditions. The limits of quantitation were low ranging from 0.28 to 3.88 ng/mL for the 28 compounds. The method was successfully applied to the simultaneous deter mination of 28 compounds in twenty batches of MT tablets. Also, hierarchical cluster analysis and principle component analysis was applied to categorize 20 samples based on characteristics of the 28 bioactive compounds. The results have indicated that this advanced method is rapid, sensitive and suitable to show the real quality of the MT composition and also capable of controlling quality of polyherbal formulations having similar markers/raw herbs. Keywords: Multiple Reaction Monitoring / Multi-Marker Quantification / UPLC-ESI-MS/MS / Hierarchical Cluster Analysis / Principle Component Analysis 1. Introduction Herbal medicines (HMs) refer to one herb or complex mixtures, which usually contains hundreds of chemically different components. Their curative effects are principally based on the synergic effect of their multi-targeting and multi-ingredient preparations [1, 2]. Consequently, quality control becomes troublesome for crude drugs. the method that employs pharmacologically active components to evaluate the quality and authenticity of the complex preparations is confronted with severe challenges. Therefore, better analytical strategies to assure their efficacy, safety, and consistency is essential and in great demand [3]. Moreover, the chemical compounds in the poly herbs in HMs products may vary depending on harvest seasons, plant origins, drying processes and other factors. Thus, it seems to be necessary to determine most of the phytochemical constituents of herbal products in order to ensure the reliability and repeatability of pharmacological and clinical research and to enhance pro duct quality control [4, 5]. Currently, selection of a single or a few specific components from a certain herbal medicine as markers for quality assessment is a widely applied strategy. However, it cannot afford sufficient quantitative information for the other medicinal compositions and cannot accurately reflect the quality of HMs products. All the HMs compositions play important roles in the therapeutic effects. Therefore, selecting multiple constituents from different medicinal herbs as evaluation markers has been gradually applied for the quality control of HMs [6, 7]. Mentat tablets (MT, commercial product) is a polyherbal medication with each tablet composed of multiple herbs extracts (listed in Table S1). Major contributed herbs are Bacopa monnieri, Centella asiaticaand Withania somnifera. MT is a unique all-natural multi-ingredient formula that promotes brain health. It improves the mental quotient, memory span, concentration ability, stress threshold and exhibit significant anti-parkinsonian activity. MT also offers protection against convulsions, which is beneficial in insomnia with its sedative and tranquilizing effects [8-10]. Chemically bacosides, saponin mixture in B. monnieri, triterpenoid glycosides in C. asiatica, steroidal lactones in W. somnifera are the major representative ingredients in MT, in comparison to others. [11-14]. Phytochemical investigations show important classes of bioactive constituents in selected plants which are as in combination of MT that are responsible for the bioactivity [15-20]. Literature survey reveals various analytical methods including thin layer chromatography (TLC) [21], high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) [22, 23], liquid chromatography (LC) [6, 24, 25], liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) [26-29], nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) [30] for the quantitative analysis of the bioactive constituents in HMs to assess the quality of the complex preparations. To the best of our knowledge, there is no method reported for the simultaneous estimation of selected 28 multi-markers in herbals by UPLC-ESI-MS/MSand no such approach has been explored on this important drug combination for quality and consistency evaluation of this herbal preparation. Natural alteration in preparation processes and climate affects the safety and batch-to-batch uniformity of HMs products. Highly sensitive analytical methods are thus required to identify ingredients and evaluate batch-to-batch variation. Compared to conventional TLC, HPTLC, HPLC method which are less sensitive and takes longer analysis time, UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode is more powerful approach. Due to its rapid separation power, low detection limit, high sensitivity, selectivity and specificity, UPLC-ESI-MS/MS offers effective detection to quantify multi-ingredients in complex sample matrices. Previous methods reported in literature only contained one or few compounds, without the consideration of other active ingredients. This paper describes for the first time a simple, accurate and reliable UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of 28 multiple bioactive compounds from different polyherbs viz., bacoside A (mixture of bacoside A3, bacopaside II, bacopaside X and bacopasaponin C), withanolide-A, withaferin-A, asiaticoside, madecassoside, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, magnoflorine, curcumin, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, ellagic acid, rosamarinic acid, ursolic acid, catechin, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, corilagin, chrysin and chlorogenic acid with single runtime of 10 min. This method is intended not only for quality control of commercial polyherbal formulated products but also for efficient evaluation of raw materials. The quantitative results were further analyzed by multivariate statistical analysis i.e., hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principle component analysis (PCA) to provide more information about the ch emical differences and batch-to-batch variations. Chemical Structures of all analytes and internal standards were showed in Fig 1. 2. Experimental 2.1 Reagents and materials The reference standards (purity≠¥90%) bacoside A (mixture of bacoside A3, bacopaside II, bacopaside X and bacopasaponin C) was purchased from Natural Remedies Pvt. Ltd. Apigenin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, protocatechuic acid, rosamarinic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, ursolic acid, palmatine, withanolide-A, withaferin-A, asiaticoside, madecassoside, jatrorrhizine, magnoflorine, catechin, chlorogenic acid, curcumin, rutin, corilagin, chrysin, gallic acid and ellagic acid were purchased from Sigma Aldrich Ltd. (St. Louis, MO, USA). Reference standards of quercetin, luteolin and internal standards (IS) andrographolide and piperine were purchased from Extrasyntheses (Genay, France). Twenty different batches of Mentat tablets produced by Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore, India were purchased from local drug stores from different places in India (Table S2). For all solutions and dilutions, methanol, acetonitrile (LC-MS grade) and formic acid (analytical grade) were purchased from Fluka, Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Milli-Q Ultra-pure water was obtained from a Millipore water purification system (Millipore, Milford, MA, USA). 2.2 Preparation of standard solutions and samples A stock solution containing 28 standards i.e., bacoside A (mixture of bacoside A3, bacopaside II, bacopaside X and bacopasaponin C), withanolide-A, withaferin-A, asiaticoside, madecassoside, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, magnoflorine, curcumin, gallic acid, procatechuic acid, ferulic acid, caeffic acid, ellagic acid, rosamaric acid, ursolic acid, catechin, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, corilagin, chrysin and chlorogenic acid were weighed accurately, dissolved in pure methanol.The working standard solutions were prepared by diluting the mixed standard solution with methanol to a series of concentrations within the ranges from 1 to 1000 ng/mL used for plotting the calibration curves. Meanwhile, each standard was also prepared respectively. The coating of each samples were removed completely, and the remains were smashed into powder. Pulverized sample (0.5g) was weighed precisely, and sonicated by ultrasonicator (53 KHz, Bandelin SONOREX, Berlin) using 50 ml 100% methanol at room temperature for 30 min. The extracted solution was centrifuged at 15000 rpm for 10 min, and the supernatant was filtered through a 0.22  µm syringe filter (Millex-GV, PVDF, Merck Millipore, Darmstadt, Germany) to obtained 10,000  µg/ml. The à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ltrates were diluted with methanol to final working solutions and analyzed directly by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. The internal standards andrographolide for negative mode and piperine for positive mode were spiked to each working concentration of mixed standards solution and sample solution at a final concentration of 50 ng/mL (50  µL of internal standards mixture of 1000 ng/mL of each in methanol) were mixed properly. All solutions were stored at -200C until use and sonicated prior to injection. 2.3 Instrumentation and analytical conditions An Acquity ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLCTM) system consisting of an auto sampler and a binary pump (Waters, Milford, MA was used for analysis. The compounds were separated on an Acquity BEH C18 (2.1 mmÃâ€" 50 mm, 1.7 µm; Waters, Milford, MA) analytical column at a column temperature of 25à ¢- ¦C. A gradient elution was achieved using two solvents: 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in water (A) and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in acetonitrile (B) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The gradient program consisted of an initial of 5% with linear increase from 5% to 60% B over 1.85 to 7.5 min and increased from 60% B to 90% B over 8.5 min, which was maintained for 1.5 min, followed by a return to the initial condition over 2.5 min with a sample injection volume of 5 µL. The UPLC system was interfaced with hybrid linear ion trap triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (API 4000 QTRAPâ„ ¢ MS/MS system from AB Sciex, Concord, ON, Canada) equipped with electrospray (Turbo V) ion source. The optimized parameters for positive mode were as follows: the ion spray voltage was set to 5500 V; the turbo spray temperature, 550à ¢- ¦C; nebulizer gas (gas 1), 50 psi; heater gas (gas 2), 50 psi; collision gas, medium; the curtain gas (CUR) was kept at 20 psi. Optimized parameter for negative mode were as follows: the ion spray voltage was set to −4200 V, the turbo spray temperature, 550à ¢- ¦C; nebulizer gas (gas 1), 20 psi; heater gas (gas 2), 20 psi; collision gas, medium; the curtain gas (CUR) was kept at 20 psi. Quantitative analysis was performed using multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and its conditions were optimized for each compound during infusion. For full scan ESI-MS analysis, the spectra covered the range from m/z 100 to 1000. Analyst 1.5.1 software package (AB Sciex) used for instrument control and data acquisition. The results of the precursor ion, product ion, corresponding declustering potential (DP), entrance potential (EP), collision energy (CE), cell exit potential (CXP) were shown in Table S3. 2.4 Multivariate analysis Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) is a tool to identify relatively homogeneous groups of cases based on selected characteristics, using an algorithm that starts with each case in a separate cluster until only one is left. In the experiment, HCA of 20 batches of samples were performed, in which a method called average linkage between groups was employed and 28 markers were selected as the measurement. Similarly, Principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out based on the contents of quantified 28 bioactive compounds in 20 batches of samples. All the experiment was done using software STATISTICA 7.0. When the contents of investigated compounds were below the quantitation limit or not detected in the samples, the values of such elements were considered to be zero.

John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men :: Essays Papers

Of Mice and Men - Critical Evaluation ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a book, which deals with the issues of loneliness, dreams and friendship, the author of this book, is John Steinbeck and it was first published in 1937. The story this book tells is of two friends who travel together looking for work during the recession in America in the 1930’s. The men are George and Lennie. George has to look after Lennie because he is a bit dumb and gets into trouble a lot. They both have a dream of owning their own farm one day. All the characters in the novel show aspects of the main themes, the two main characters, George and Lennie, illustrate these themes throughout the book. They travel together for companionship and for someone to talk to. George and Lennie have nothing in common and therefore the only reason they are friends is to stop each other from becoming lonely. Lennie isn’t all that smart and he worships George utterly, but sometimes George gets annoyed with Lennie’s stupidity and shouts at him, for example, in the first chapter when Lennie was annoying him about ketchup he shouts â€Å"God a’ mighty if I was alone I could live so easy†. Deep down George knows this isn’t true because he doesn’t want to be alone. Also, George cares about Lennie and tries to make sure nothing bad happens to him. Another Character that shows these themes is Crooks. He is isolated from the rest of the workers due to racist prejudice. He lives alone in a shed beside the barn and has very little contact with other people. He is probably the loneliest person on the ranch because know one will speak to him apart form Lennie. He is so lonely he is going insane which is shown when he says â€Å" a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody, don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya†. This really sums up Crooks feelings, all he wants is someone to talk to. On a broader scale the whole structure of the book gives the impression of loneliness. For example, the story is set in a town called Soledad, which is Spanish for loneliness. Also the first chapter starts by giving you a detailed description of the surroundings, the landscape of the Salinas River and â€Å"the strong and stony Gabilan mountains†. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men :: Essays Papers Of Mice and Men - Critical Evaluation ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a book, which deals with the issues of loneliness, dreams and friendship, the author of this book, is John Steinbeck and it was first published in 1937. The story this book tells is of two friends who travel together looking for work during the recession in America in the 1930’s. The men are George and Lennie. George has to look after Lennie because he is a bit dumb and gets into trouble a lot. They both have a dream of owning their own farm one day. All the characters in the novel show aspects of the main themes, the two main characters, George and Lennie, illustrate these themes throughout the book. They travel together for companionship and for someone to talk to. George and Lennie have nothing in common and therefore the only reason they are friends is to stop each other from becoming lonely. Lennie isn’t all that smart and he worships George utterly, but sometimes George gets annoyed with Lennie’s stupidity and shouts at him, for example, in the first chapter when Lennie was annoying him about ketchup he shouts â€Å"God a’ mighty if I was alone I could live so easy†. Deep down George knows this isn’t true because he doesn’t want to be alone. Also, George cares about Lennie and tries to make sure nothing bad happens to him. Another Character that shows these themes is Crooks. He is isolated from the rest of the workers due to racist prejudice. He lives alone in a shed beside the barn and has very little contact with other people. He is probably the loneliest person on the ranch because know one will speak to him apart form Lennie. He is so lonely he is going insane which is shown when he says â€Å" a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody, don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya†. This really sums up Crooks feelings, all he wants is someone to talk to. On a broader scale the whole structure of the book gives the impression of loneliness. For example, the story is set in a town called Soledad, which is Spanish for loneliness. Also the first chapter starts by giving you a detailed description of the surroundings, the landscape of the Salinas River and â€Å"the strong and stony Gabilan mountains†.

Prison Reform Essay

Reform was a major issue in early 19th century America because it was a time when more middle-classed Americans were able to devote time to social causes and issues that they saw that concerned them. One of these important social movements was prison reform, and how men and women in prison were treated. In the early 1800’s the United States was regarded as having the best penal system in the world. This is why during the early 1800’s Alexis de Tocqueville was sent from France to the United States to study the penal system there. What he was coming here to study was how the system of prisons had been reformed already by Americans. Many individuals, in particular religious advocates who took up the cause of prison reform, had established themselves as the voice of prisoners. They felt that while prisoners needed to do time for their crimes and be punished accordingly, they also had the right to have good conditions within the prisons themselves. These people had a goal of creating prisons that were conducive to not only punishing individuals, but reforming them became an important part of their time in prison. These religious reformers felt that prisoners should be reformed to become good citizens and, if they never left jail, then at least they could be religious individuals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The successes of these reformers were that they did create a great amount of interest in reform. Many new prisons began to be built that would be more conducive to reforming prisoners. These successes were shortly lived, however, because sadly the prisons did not go up as quickly as the prisoners were going in and therefore old prisons that were not good conditions were still in use, and many prisoners still languished in them, in even worse conditions than before.

Jacks Multiple Personalities in Fight Club

Jacks Multiple Personalities in Fight Club Free Online Research Papers When we first meet the main character, only identified as Jack, he has a gun to his head battling his split personality, Tyler Durdan. He then takes you back many months so you can know how it is he came to that state. Jack is a 30 year old single white male complaining of insomnia for over 6 months. His job as a liability consultant for an automotive company requires him to take frequent trips to different time zones, usually on a short notice, therefore leaving him jet lagged. This issue has endured for at least six months. He states he is in pain and wants something to just make him sleep. Jack states that on several occasions he has woken up in strange places and does not know how or when he got there. He realized that having blackouts (not due to substance abuse or general medical condition) was disturbing and unusual behavior. The doctor he visited dismisses his claims and suggests he attend a support group for cancer to witness real pain. An image of his alter-ego briefly appears at that moment. Due to his job, Jack does not have any immediate friends or family. He refers to the passengers on the planes as his single serving friend. Jack begins attending a variety of support groups for ailments that he does not have in order to do something during his bouts of insomnia. After the first few meetings, Jacks insomnia seemed to elapse and he uses the meetings as his sleeping pill. His recovery is short lived due to another fake survivor, Marla Singer. Her presence in his groups threatened his sleep because she knows that he is faking. The patient is coherent and can fully comprehend what is going on around him. His dress is appropriate however his clothes are unkempt. His hair is disheveled and dirty. He appears to look anxious with dark circles under his eyes and not shaven in a couple of days. His posture is slumped. PRESENTING PROBLEM: While on a plane returning from a business trip Jack meets Tyler Durdan, his split personality. Tyler is the complete opposite of Jack. He is everything that Jack wishes he could be. With his red tinted sunglasses and leather jacket he resembles more of a rock star as compared to Jacks drab wardrobe of white button up shirts and brown ties. Jack seems intrigued about Tyler and claims he is the most interesting single serving friend that he has ever met. When Jack returns to his condo he finds out that his apartment has exploded. All of his prize possessions, his IKEA furniture, have been destroyed. He feels pathetic of the fact that when they recover his belongings they will only find condiments in his refrigerator, thus exposing that he had no life. Jack called onto his inner self, Tyler to help rescue him from his dismal life. Jack retreats to a vacant house in the middle of no where and that is where the relationship between Jack and Tyler formulate. Initially, Jack is unaware tha t Tyler is not real. This is shown by the fact that he refers to himself as us, engages in conversions, fist fights with Tyler and at one point even sharing a beer with Tyler. SITUATIONS STRESSORS: Jack feels unsatisfied with his life. He feels abandoned by friends and most importantly his family. His father deserted the family when he was a little boy. His career leaves him discontented and unfulfilling. After the explosion of his condo his old personality, Jack, began to digress and Tyler Durdan was brought to surface. The initial meeting with Tyler ends in an altercation attack. Tyler encourages Jack to hit him, which in reality is really him. He has a physical fist fight with himself in the parking lot, leaving him badly bruised externally however emotional healed. The fighting allowed him to release all of his pent up frustrations with his life. From this emerged Fight Club. Fight Club was a place where men could go and fight each other to let it all go. Theyre fighting was a way to relieve stress for their cruel lives. These men felt refreshed and saw it as therapy. MENTAL STATUS EXAM: During the duration of the movie Jacks appearance continued to deteriorate. His clothes became more tousled. He went to work looking as if he didnt take a bath, wash his hair or shave, the circles under his eyes got darker and heavier. His shirts were often stained with blood and his face was always bruised from the fights. His boss noted his appearance and suggested he take time off to get himself together. Although Jack physically looked horrible, his work performance did not suffer. He would turn in his assignments on time and complete. When Tyler was in charge of the body he engaged in a sexual relationship with one time nemesis, Marla Singer. When Jacks personality would reappear after an encounter with her he would be verbally hostile towards her and kick her out of his house. Marla, who was a self destructive person to begin with, continued this relationship despite the verbal abuse she received from Jack. Jack continued to participate in Fight Club for over a year. He no longer needed the support groups to feel good about himself. The clubs grew from a few members, to hundreds, even thousands. As the Fight Clubs expanded, so did the destruction. It went from men fighting in the basement of a bar to vandalizing buildings, cars and other symbols of repression by society. In a sense, Fight Club turned into a mini-army of men who felt repressed by the government. Most of the men were blue collar workers who seemed as if they could never get ahead in life. They idealized Tyler Durdan and looked up to him as if he were God. They terrorized cities in his honor. The exposure from the media only fueled their zeal for destruction. As Fight Club grew so did the persona of Tyler Durdan. When Jack noticed these men were giving credit for their new found happiness only to Tyler, he felt jealous and rejected. SYMPTOMS OF IMPAIRED FUNCTIONING: Jacks bouts with insomnia, violent behavior, and black outs, interrupted his normal day to day living. When Jack had his insomnia, Tylers personality took over and got jobs where he could interject subtle doses of shock to people. For instance, he worked as a waiter where he urinated in the food. He also worked at a movie theater changing the film. Instead of just changing the rolls of film, he cut and pasted snippets of pornographic images into the film. The people viewing the movies only saw a snapshot of a naked person for less than a second. Jacks aggression carried over into his work place. When his boss became annoyed with his unkempt appearance, absenteeism and apathetic attitude he fired him. Instead of responding rational, Jack beat himself up in his bosss office and blackmailed by threatening to expose company corruption or to keep him on as an outside consultant in exchange for his silence. This afforded him and Tyler with more time to devote to Fight Club to participate i n the expansion in different cities and states. Most times when Jack involved himself with Tyler Durdan he was aware of what actions that Tyler was doing. He usually was a silent bystander while Tyler masterminded mayhem. Other times he would have outright conversations with Tyler in front of others, questioning his actions. The only times Jack was not conscious of what was going on around him was when he was with Marla Singer or traveling to recruit new members. PATIENTS STRENGTHS AND ASSETS: Even though Tyler Durdan had no respect for others, experienced no fear or regrets, Jacks caring disposition makes him rational in chaotic situations. He understands the difference between whats right and wrong. When Fight Club escalated to the mayhem that erupted on the city, Jack did not feel comfortable with it. He questioned Tylers intent; however, Tyler did not want Jack to be involved. He stated that Jack determined his own level of involvement with him. His regard for other people is evident when one the Fight Club members, Bob, was killed during a botched vandalism attempt. The other members of the club wanted to bury him in the back yard as if he were just evidence of their devious acts. Jack had to remind the men that he was a human being with feelings not just a disregarded object. Another example of Jacks softer side was obvious when he felt that Marla was in danger. He attempted to rescue her by putting her on a bus away from harms way. Tyler did not want Jack to discuss him or his actions to anyone, especially her. When the lines between Tyler and Jack started to get blurry, he went to Marla to ask her questions about Tyler. Once this door was opened, Tyler Durdan wanted to get rid of Marla to prevent Jack from seeking out more answers about reality. Tyler felt as though, once Jack knew that Tyler was really within him and causing all this havoc that he would retreat back to his old boring self. It is clearly apparent that Jack possess excellent organizational skills and leadership ability. The way he evolved fight club from a bunch of guys just fighting into an a group of soldiers conducting calculated terrorist attacks to the city was more on the lines of a General in the army instead of a Liability Consultant. Even though Tyler Durdans persona was the mastermind behind the coordination, the ability to do so came from deep within Jack. DIAGNOSIS: AXIS I: NONE AXIS IV: NONE AXIS II: DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER AXIS V: GAF SCORE-30 AXIS III: NONE DIAGNOSTIC COMMENTS: Jacks life was unfulfilling and unsatisfying. He had no friends or family. He lived alone and the only contact to the outside world was his job. Jack wanted a change in his life. The personality of Tyler Durdan was created to make Jack become the person he wished he could be. He created the other self to free himself from his bleak world. However, Jack was oblivious to the fact that he indeed was creating an alternate personality. After a car accident that Tyler caused, which Tyler Durdan referred to as a near life experience, he had a revelation and that is when it became apparent to him that he and Tyler were undoubtedly one in the same. Tyler Durdans philosophy on life was live life like you were dying while Jack was cautious and calculated. Since he worked as a Liability Consultant for an automotive company he saw the danger in everything. The split between the conscious happened once Jack was completely frustrated at how his life at 30 years old turned out. He intentionally blew up his condo to start fresh. However, when his alter-ego turned out to be more than he was willing to handle that is when he decided to wipe him out. He did this by attempting to kill himself in order to get rid of Tyler Durdan. Fortunately, he only killed Tyler Durdan not himself. TREATMENT GOALS Learn to disentangle Jack from his alternate personality Boost Self Esteem Teach Jack how to deal with situation stressors rationally Teach Jack how to control impulses Learn about healthy defense mechanisms TREATMENT PLAN Refer to a psychiatrist for long term individual therapy Recommend medication for depression or antic-psychotic behavior Hypnotherapy Research Papers on Jack's Multiple Personalities in Fight ClubThe Fifth HorsemanThe Spring and AutumnPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyWhere Wild and West MeetThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceMind TravelArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Effects of Television Violence on Children19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided Era

The Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP)

The Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP) Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Description of the logic model process The CEIP needs to address unemployment in communities around Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. The need for the CEIP is to develop the local capacity, initiate community-based employment, develop new skills, enhance job placement, and work-related contacts with a long-term goal of improving employment success and reducing unemployment. The CEIP targets community and individuals for a membership of 1,500 participants. Both community and individuals will take action to participate in identifying viable projects at the community level. Participants are mainly volunteers who receive fiscal support and other supports from Human Resource Development Canada and the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services. These activities will lead to ambitious and long-term outcom es, such as building local capacity, enhancing employment prospects, reducing unemployment and long work hours, and improving quality of life. The short-term and mid-term outcomes will ensure that the community and individuals realize immediate benefits and associated outcomes of the program. All stakeholders must work together throughout various stages in order to realize these benefits (McDavid, Huse and Hawthorn, 2013). The program activities included training alongside assessment of aptitudes, experiences, education, and skills. It also included skill development, funding, and capacity building, surrendering EI and IA for community wage, identifying suitable community-based projects, recruiting 1,500 volunteers, and developing work-related networks.Advertising Looking for essay on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The program outputs included all completed activities. These are tangible deliv erables because of activities. The CEIP activities of engaging 1,500 volunteers and community members, funding, and surrendering EI and IA have corresponding outputs on the number of community-based projects identified, participation, ongoing enrolment, comparison sites, and the number of volunteers who surrender EI and IA for community wages. The program inputs or resources included human resources in terms of individuals and community volunteers, CEIP trainers, and program coordinators. There were fiscal resources for the program from the Human Resource Development Canada and the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services and facilities for developing local capacity, skills, and knowledge. The CEIP is an ongoing program that started in 1999. Today, it is in the evaluation stage. The stage would show the realized program outcomes and any factors, which have facilitated or hindered the realization of these outcomes. The program contextual factors are the beliefs that communities a nd individuals know their challenges and can develop the best methods to solve them. At the same time, the focus on reducing employment and long-term employment success are the mainframe contexts that drive CEIP. Reference McDavid, J. C., Huse, I., and Hawthorn, L. R. L. (2013). Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement: An Introduction to Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.

The place of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty in the Assignment

The place of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty in the government of the United Kingdom has changed in recent years and - Assignment Example This concept consists of two cardinal principles. First, Parliament has the power to make or annul any law irrespective of its nature. Second, no other agency, entity, or person has the power or right to override or annul the statutes made by Parliament (Warren, 2008, p. 3). In Britain, the sovereignty of Parliament has been reviewed in domestic and international contexts. As a member of the European Union, Britain had to permit the incursion of the laws of the European Council. This required Britain to review its domestic laws, on a regular basis, so as to ensure that they were compatible with the European Council (EC) law and Britain’s international obligations (Ginsburg, 2003, p. 3). As a result of these developments, the national courts in Britain have to interpret domestic law in the light of EC law. An important constituent of the common law is the fundamental tenet of legislative supremacy. Nevertheless, it would be erroneous to describe it as being inviolable. In fact, there are a number of precedents that inexorably establish that legislative supremacy can be altered by judicial decisions and Acts of Parliament. Consequently, it is imprudent to vehemently assert the supremacy of Parliament (Bradley & Ewing, 2007, p. 78). The inexorable incursions of European integration have significantly diluted the Diceyan principle of legislative supremacy. Thus, the courts, consequent to empowerment by the Human Rights Act 1998, are nearly proximate to a position, whereby they can rescind an Act of Parliament. Moreover, the introduction of the principle of devolution implies that legislation is not the sole preserve of Westminster (Bradley & Ewing, 2007, p. 78). In the UK, an Act of Parliament had precedence over any other international law, under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty. This was the situation in the UK prior to its becoming a member to the European Union. The enactment of the European Communities Act 1972 changed this situation by making the national laws subordinate to EC law (Fabunmi & Araromi, 2009, p. 198). As such, the European Communities Act 1972 obliged the Member States of the European Union to circumscribe their sovereign rights. This was the outcome of their having to transfer power from their domestic legal system to the EC. Thus, EC law takes precedence over domestic law (Fabunmi & Araromi, 2009, p. 198). Furthermore, every Member State has to implement the provisions of the Treaties and give legal effect to them, without any deviation. Consequently, the UK Parliament is constrained by the European Communities Act to enact laws that are compatible with Community Law. Specifically, section 2(1) of the European Communities Act 1972, precludes Parliament from making laws that are incompatible with Community Law. Furthermore, the provisions of this section make it obligatory for Parliament to give effect to the EC Treaties in its legislation. Thus, EC Law has to be recognised and implemented. Membership of the European Union caused the UK to change its system of weights and measures to the metric system. This was greeted with considerable hostility among the public and culminated in the Thoburn v Sunderland City Council or metric martyrs’ case. In its ruling the Court of Appeal opined that the Parliamentary sovereignty was seriously impacted by the European Communities Act 1972. This specific Act had engendered the harmonisation of the domestic legislation of

Leadership Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership Experience - Essay Example The team managed the lowest price and finished the task within the three minutes. This paper seeks to describe the activity, what was learnt, and the solutions provided with a focus on communication, team dynamics, influencing other team members, sharing information, agreeing on tasks and objectives. 1. Leadership, strategy and upward communication Strategic leadership can be defined as the ability to maintain flexibility, anticipate, and empower the other team members to form necessary strategic change. It involves coping with increasing changes, management of an entire team rather than functional subunits, and management of activities through the other team members. As a team leader, I had to affect the behavior of the other team members in environments that were sometimes uncertain via personal example and ability to envision the requirements for the next stage in the task (Yukl, 2010 p34). It is not feasible to formulate strategies which will give returns without strategic leader s. Therefore, it is necessary that as, a team leader, I had the ability to be a strategic leader to avoid over managing and poorly leading the team. Effective, strategic leadership shapes the formation of strategic mission and intent which influence successful strategic actions. These actions result in the formulation and implementation of these strategies which then yield strategic competitiveness and above average returns. For a leader to prepare the team’s minds towards one vision and direction, it is necessary to transform the team’s strategic direction. Directing the team towards the set goals, and having the ability to adapt concurrently ensures that the strategy delivers the aim that the leader wants (Yukl, 2010 p35). It is essential to have a different way of thought on how resources can be marshaled in the formulation and execution of the strategy in order to be successful. This balances strategy making’s human dimension with analytical perspectives tha t are focused. Coupled with time management commitments in engaging the team in dialogue on strategy, this strategy lays the foundation for building a foundation for creation of winning teams that define, adjust, commit, and adapt quickly to strategy. I learnt that in order to shape the strategic direction, I had to know what my primary role was as the chief strategist, my role as a leader during the strategy making process, the team required for the strategy making, and the point at which the making of the strategy can be considered finished. A leader requires to incorporate human and analytical dimensions, in order to create winning outcomes, and for the team to comprehend and commit to the set common agenda, and must also be clear about each member’s strategic capacity. Using feedback from the team members helps to provide a holistic view on the team’s and its individual member’s effectiveness. Ratings by the team members themselves and their peers can be use d to evaluate the efficiency of the team and the individual (Yukl, 2010 p35). The members rate the following personal traits and competencies: Communication which is the ability to objectively, supportively, and openly share opportunities using nonverbal and verbal behaviors while listening actively. Conflict resolution, which involves the

Mind maps Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mind maps - Essay Example Most often the map involves images, words, and lines and elements are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts and they are organized into groupings, branches, or areas. As a twenty first century educator, mind- mapping is an important (if not essential) technique to help oneself in imparting quality education to students. Educators often wish that they could more organized and less occupied with petty problems. Some may feel dejected when forced to think on our feet. No educator can help their student learn better when they are often overwhelmed with tons of information. This results in failure to create meaning in the vast field of knowledge and aid students so they can internalize and understand better. Psychological synchronization of an educator with his student is essential to build up trust and confidence. Incorporating the Hierarchy of Needs helps a teacher to provide moral, emotional and academic help to students who might need them. Similarly the Systems Theory Framework and Myer - Brigg's Theory assist in personality identification, assessment and development respectively. The Holland's Theory of Career Choices aid in student counseling with respect to personality types, aptitudes and personal preferences. The complexities and chaos

IDEA and Special Education Annotated Essay Example for Free

IDEA and Special Education Annotated Essay Bowen, S. and Rude, H. (2006). Assessment and students with disabilities: Issues and challenges with educational reform. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 25 (3), pp. 24-30. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database. Bowen and Rude pointed out that the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA reflected an effort to align IDEA with NCLB. This article focuses specifically on the problem of accountability, eligibility for special education services, summary of performance, and transition services for special education students. Also included are guiding principles for selecting appropriate accommodations for assessments. Ketterlin-Geller, L. (2007). Recommendations for accommodations: Implications of (in)consistency. Remedial and Special Education, 28 (4), pp. 194-206. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premier. The author noted the importance of appropriate accommodations for students who have special needs. Unfortunately, student IEPs are often not aligned with the actual accommodations that are made in the classroom. This disagreement between the classroom teacher and the IEP team results in inconsistent accommodations which, according to Ketterlin-Geller, have a negative effect on student outcomes. The author outlined several possible causes for these inconsistencies. Ketterlin-Geller concluded, Regardless of the root cause for the disagreement between IEPs and teachers, the current system is placing teachers in the awkward position of enacting a set of predetermined, legally binding guidelines with the intention of providing the support needed for their students to succeed. Lynch, S. and Adams, P. (2008). Developing standards-based Individualized Education Program objectives for students with significant needs. Teaching Exceptional Children, 40 (3), pp. 36-39. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premier. Lynch and Adams noted the apparent conflict between the expectations of NCLB and the requirements of IDEA described guidelines that may be used to help districts to develop assessments that are inline with student IEPs. This article focuses on developing assessments that address pre-symbolic levels of learning, early symbolic learning, and expanded symbolic levels of learning. National Education Association (2004). IDEA and NCLB: Intersection of Access and Outcomes. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://www. nea. org/specialed/images/ideanclbintersection. pdf This 47-page booklet describes the implications of NCLB for IDEA. Section One of the booklet addresses standardized assessments for students with disabilities, including acceptable accommodations under NCLB. The booklet also addresses how special education may affect Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) reports. The text includes several links to documents that may be used for policy guidance for districts that are developing policies for special education. Turnbull, H. (2005). Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Reauthorization: Accountability and personal responsibility. Remedial Special Education, 26 (6), pp. 320-326. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database. Turnbull noted that IDEA 2004 reflects the concept that the teacher, the school, and the federal government share in the responsibility of improving student outcomes. Turnbull argued that this scope of responsibility must also include parents and students if learning and student achievement are to take place. U. S. Congress (2002). No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Public Law 107-110. 2002. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://www. ed. gov/legislation/ESEA02/107-110. pdf This is the full text of NCLB. Altogether, the law is 670 pages long. The sheer volume of NCLB makes it difficult for many parents and school administrators to read through understand. References to IDEA and special education are spread throughout the bill; however, the most reference with the most significance for special education is found on page 1448-1449, in which not less than 95 percent of students, including students in special education, are required to take assessments with accommodations, guidelines, and alternative assessments provided in the same manner as those provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). U. S. Congress (2004). Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Public Law 108-446. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://www. copyright. gov/legislation/pl108-446. pdf The full text of the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA. It is interesting to note that although IDEA 2004 was passed 2 years after the enactment of NCLB, there is no reference to NCLB in IDEA 2004. IDEA 2004 does note, however, that all children with disabilities are included in all general State and districtwide assessment programs (p. 40). Provisions are also made for alternative assessments. The philosophy of NCLB is also reflected in the IDEA 2004 requirement that states and school districts shall report the number of students who required an alternative assessment and how those students performed on the assessment (p. 41). Voltz, D. and Fore, C. (2006). Urban special education in the context of standards-based reform. Remedial and Special Education, 27 (6), pp. 329-336. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premier. Critics of NCLB have argued that children from low-income families are more likely to have difficulty passing standardized assessments. Voltz and Fore pointed out that education does not occur in a vacuum. To be effective, education reform must be linked to broader social reform, including reforms that reduce poverty and that address the effect of poverty on student achievement. Wakeman, S. , Browder, D., Meier, I. , and McColl, A. (2007). The implications of No Child Left Behind for students with developmental disabilities. Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 13 (2), pp. 143-150. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database. This review addresses how to develop appropriate alternative assessments for children who have developmental delays and the implications of NCLB for curriculum and instruction for these children. The authors encouraged teachers to work towards meeting challenging academic standards for their students with developmental delays and noted that there is no research indicating that functional skills must be mastered before academic learning can take place. Wakeman, et al. , also pointed out that the requirements of NCLB may make it more difficult to recruit and to retain teachers who are qualified to work with this population. Wasta, M. (2006). No Child Left Behind: The death of special education? Phi Delta Kappan, 88 (4), pp. 298-299. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premier. In this editorial, Wasta argues that NCLB includes unrealistic expectations for the educational outcomes of students with disabilities. Wasta fears that NCLB may lead some schools to eliminate their special education programs altogether. Despite his concerns about NCLB, Wasta contends that special education students should not be exempt from assessments and other provisions of the law. Instead, NCLB should be modified to include realistic expectations for special education students and special education programs.

Lost Art Of Letters English Language Essay

Lost Art Of Letters English Language Essay Writers often say that they do not know what they think until they put pen to paper. Putting pen to paper is a very different experience than typing on a machine. Letter writing is a lost art. Writing a letter is giving a gift of oneself. Its about sharing; it creates a two-way relationship. Addressee and writer connect and through the power of the written word give each other back to one another. For this reason, in a time of narcissistic monologues in which we do not know how to say you, there is little space for letter writing. There was a time when writing letters was our only means of communicating over long distances. In todays world, we can pick up a phone and speak to anyone anywhere in a second or two. Whether personal or business related, people pick up a phone before they pick up a pen. Over time technology and the need for speed has left the letter a thing of the past. With new forms of communication people dont seem to realize the how impersonal and sloppy text messaging , email, cards, and the telephone really are. (Affonso) Yes, all of these things are wonderful in one way or another and benefit today greatly, but nothing is savored, thought out, or meaningful. Interacting is an important component of communication. Is there something meaningful you need to say? Not only can you buy Happy Birthday and Get Well Soon cards, these days you can express any sentiment Hallmark style. Today you can go to the grocery store and buy a card to say just about anything. I Miss You, and Sorry we had a disagreement, Thinking of you, and even something as rude as an over the hill cards complete with headstones. Granted, they are nice gestures, but theyre still somebody elses words. Who really meant what the card has to say, Hallmark or the sender? Am I to be touched by this heartfelt gesture because you passed the aisle with cards on your way to pick up toilet paper? Im sorry to be dismissive. I know that most people truly feel what the card is trying to convey. I myself sometimes buy cards like these, but I write a note or letter to say it in my own words as well. Cards are just another way to shorthand true feelings and human emtion. B4, lol, jk, ROLFL, Luv u. Let us not forget the evermore ubiquitous e-mail and Instant Message. Why take the time to write a heartfelt letter when you can sit down, put your thoughts into a few brief sentences often incomplete and twisted with abbreviated language and send it off into the the atmosphere of the internet? Schools are suffering because of the prevalence of text speak. Schools are finding that because of the placement of technology in the classroom it has replaced communication. This is handicapping students communication skills and leaving them unprepared for the real world, real jobs, and real relationships. Without learning to communicate professionally it will be more difficult if not impossible for a student of this generation to know how to correctly send an email to a colleague or boss. (Minster) A level of professionalism must be conveyed to convince employers of your aptitude of speech and communication to maintain or rise in the professional world. I long to receive a three page, heart-rending, soppy letter, filled with words carefully chosen and eternal. Maybe Im just a hopelessly romantic dreamer, or just downright old-fashioned. Of all letters, the love-letter should be the most carefully prepared.   Among the written missives, they are the most thoroughly read and re-read, and the longest preserved. What I envy most are the grandmothers who can pull out their bundle of letters. Usually tied up with string or kept in a carved wooden box those letters reveal feelings of the past. History gives us knowledge but letters gives feeling and emotion. Some of the most powerful letters written are those of soldiers writing home to their wives and families. Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field. Those words of the heart could never have brought the same emotion over a text message or sent in a hallmark greeting card (Lost Art of Letter Writing).Those final words to his beloved wife are the last he would ever write, and she would keep the carbon copy of his love forever. The danger of losing this form of communication is that we will become the first generation in history to leave no written record of ourselves. If George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Ernest Hemingway had only used e-mail, would we have the same record of them that we possess through their letters and journals today? Probably not. We may have the facts downà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the part of history we all fall asleep throughà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but the story would be lost. The feelings and emotions would not exist. John Adams epic letters to his wife Abigail would most likely be erased from time and the hard drive had they not written some of the most famous love letters of all time. Even if they did, it is still not the same as a letter. A letter is a personal thing, even more now because we receive so few of them. They matter because they are personal in an increasingly disconnected world, and because they take time and effort to produce. Night after night, you log onto your computer and talk with your online date for hours. At first, this is exciting and you wait all day for the time you get to sign onto the Internet. However, after a few months, its not as exciting and you are bored. Having the same type of interactions with someone over time can cause the relationship to end. The best way to keep it alive is to find other ways to make it new and exciting. Try scheduling time to get together or chat on the phone rather than via e-mail or instant messenger. Not everyone can or should fight fires, race cars, paint portraits, or sing karaoke publicly. Its fine; were all different, and as Jane Austen said, One half of the world cannot understand the pleasure of the other. Online dating is no different. Maybe all the cool kids are doing it; maybe your friends are urging you to take cursor in hand and dip into the digital dating pool. Relationships take work but Internet ones take even more work. Internet dating means you have to schedule in time for your computer to sit and chat or your new friend will simply pick out a new profile and try again. Internet dating takes more effort because you have to share so much of yours elf in a very impersonal way. (Caplan). Not only does it take more effort but it takes a lot of bravery. How do you know that you can trust Mike Dexter, the hunky fireman who volunteers at animal shelters on the weekendà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦or so his profile says. For all you know he could be an eighty year old man allergic to dogs. What happened to the organic way of dating? What happened to the boy meets girl and so on and so forth. Now days if we want to impress someone of the opposite gender, its not your hair that needs an updo..its your profile on facebook that needs an update! Internet dating may work for some, but there is nothing personal or romantic about you, your bunny slippers, your PC, and good old Ben and Jerry to keep you company. We have done away with hand written letters and notes in the name of time. Because we live in the fast paced twenty first century, millions of people spend their time figuring out a way to get things done faster and more efficiently. Email and text messaging are wonderful advances. They help businesses and companies overseas stay in touch with each other. It ensures aid to countries in need when disaster strikes. It is wonderful for places like ebay and online shopping. Student teacher relationships are easily communicated via email when there is a problem or misunderstanding. However when it comes to matters of the heart, there is something to be said for the letter. It is intimate, it is personal and it communicates more than just a desire to stay in touch.