Monday, September 30, 2019

Corporate Social Responsibility: Airplanes and Airline Industry

In 1978, The Airline Deregulation Act was purposed and signed by President Jimmy Carter. This federal law came into existence for two main reasons; stated by Carter (1978), â€Å"to help our fight against inflation, and to ensure American citizens of an opportunity for low-priced air transportation. Today’s motives in the airline industry go way beyond economic decisions for themselves as well as their shareholders. Nowadays, businesses are an essential part of society and the airline industry must exceed their compliance of legislation and obligations of what is expected of them and focus on the interests of society.In doing so, they must perform corporate social responsibility that will help improve the community, society’s youth, charity, education, and also our planet. This corporate social responsibility should not be an option but rather an obligation, as that they play an essential role in creating goodwill, a positive image, and a competitive edge for the indus try. Corporate social responsibility also increases sustainability by assisting the industry in achieving its goals and increasing long-term shareholder value.One company that exhibits this corporate social responsibility is JetBlue. They are dedicated to serving the needs of America’s youth as well as their community. Ian Deason, the director of airport operations, stated that â€Å"Flying is our core business†¦ our core values include caring, integrity and passion. † The company will continue to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility in April 2013 by hosting their third annual â€Å"Wings for Autism† event at their Boston Logan International Airport location.The program is designed to introduce the possibility of flight travel to children with autism and give their families an opportunity to practice the boarding process, become familiar with the plane, and interact with the pilots and crewmembers. Crewmembers will team up with autism experts a t The Charles River Center, where they will be trained to exemplify the expected and unexpected needs of families with children who are autistic. Since the program started in 2010, more than 400 families in the Boston area have been able to participate in the program which the company plans on providing to other cities in the near future (McFadden).JetBlue also partners with many nonprofit organizations. One in particular is KaBOOM, an organization that constructs innovative kid inspired playground areas for communities. This past March, following the occurrence of Hurricane Sandy the partnership hosted a design day in the Sandy impacted city of Long Beach, NY in which children were able to sit down with team members and assist in the design of a playground that will be constructed there in May of 2013.JetBlue plans to expand this program to other affected cites and since their partnership with KaBOOM in 2006 they have helped build a total of 13 playgrounds, engaged 2,636 volunteers and provided a safe place for children to play in cities across the airline’s network (BlueTales). Moreover, JetBlue isn’t the only airline that is signifying their corporate social responsibly to the community. Transaero, an airline company in Russia implements many charitable programs. In 2012, the company’s corporate social responsibility program made the top three in Russia and they were also assigned the top AAA(s) corporate social responsibility rating.Transaero supports children with cancer as well as their families. They offer camps where children can receive medical and psychological rehabilitation and also fund a year round facility in Moscow, where children and their parents can receive legal aid. With cancer treatments and airfare being rather expensive, the company offers free flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg or even abroad so that the children can receive their needed treatment. Also many of the airlines employees are regular blood donors and mak e regular visits to hospitals and cancer centers to visit with sick children.Olga Pleshakova, the company’s CEO stated that â€Å"volunteering is not just about the company’s social responsibility program, but is an integral part of its HR policy that allows employees to show their best sides and develop their potential†¦the social initiatives of employees should be met with understanding and support by management† (Tveritina). Oman Air and AirBus are two other foreign airline companies. Both are committed to inspire and educate today’s youth by providing them with an appreciation for science and technology. The two airlines joined forces back in March of 2013 and created â€Å"The Little Engineer† workshop.The workshops were conducted at Sultan Private School and Azzan Bin Qais International  School in Oman and gave young Omani students a first-hand look into the world of engineering and encouraged them to pursue a future career in aviation . (Awal). Furthermore, as mentioned above the airline industry can safeguard our planet by exercising their corporate social responsibility by â€Å"going green†. Air France-KLM is one company in particular that focuses on this issue. For eight consecutive years the Dow Jones Sustainability Index has ranked Air France-KLM transport leader in terms of sustainable development in the airline sector.This merit is awarded to 19 of the most responsible companies in the world, each in their own area of activity. Air France’s environmental efforts reduce 400 tons of waste each year (Amstelveen). Air France reduces environmental wastes by recycling old uniforms as well as 80% of inflight articles. An environmental and social approach was used in designing their new inflight, reusable headphones. After a flight, the recovered headphones are cleaned and repackaged by a company that now employs 50 additional disabled workers thanks to the efforts of Air France.Also, with pollution being a huge issue in the aviation industry Air France is conducting research with experts to create more sustainable biofuels that will cut down on carbon dioxide emissions and provide a more fruitful planet for society (The Financial). Additionally, the airline industry has been global before anyone even considered globalization. According to the article â€Å"The Airlines Global Dilemma†, international travel has been around since the early 1900s. Chalks Ocean Airways had routine trips to the Bahamas and Pam Am had international routes to countries such as China, Japan, and Philippines in the 1930s.International flights are the airlines best chance to make a profit as well because international flights have the most margins. â€Å"The Airlines Global Dilemma† article also highlights one key aspect to the globalization of this particular industry and is unlike any other industry, for the traditional airlines, globalization is not an opportunity, but the gravest thre at. The reason for this is partially laws, environmental uncertainty and complexity. In the United States, there is a restriction on how much equity can be held by a non-American.The government keeps it at 25% and the United States is not the only country that does this. There are many different laws of that the airlines have to deal with. European laws are the only laws that favor cross border mergers. Mergers for airline companies make a lot of sense business wise if they can be done. If a merger is not possible, many companies do route-by-route joint ventures. The main reason to do a joint venture is to gain access to areas that companies are weak. Joint ventures are service agreements where on specific routes the companies share costs and profits. The joint ventures tend to be harder for he bigger companies to produce but it is a very good way for smaller companies to stay competitive. Through multi-lateral communication, groups of smaller international companies can almost act as a virtual airline itself. The airline market also has many threats. There is the threat of new entrants and threats of substitution that American airlines have to deal with. The air space is getting very crowded for the American airlines so the threat of new entrants is very real. There are many companies that are entering the market with many strategies. Poland’s international airline is an example of company with a differentiation strategy.They are the first airline in Europe to have Boeing’s new 787 according to AirGuide Business. The 787 Dreamliner is supposed to be more fuel efficient and more comfortable for passengers compared to older plane designs. There are also companies from the Middle East with strong growth strategies and a distinct competitive advantage. The new airlines from the Middle East are capitalized with government funds, running virtually tax free, equipped with new fleets operating out of new airports, are non-union, and offer top notch serv ice according to Airlines Global Dilemma.The airlines in the United States also have strong completion from within by low cost strategy companies. The threat of substitution is most prevalent by companies like Delta-Northwest and United-Continental. American Airlines is a great example of a company currently in Chapter 11 which needs to restructure, cut labor costs, and merge with US Airways. According to an article in Time Magazine, American Airlines labor cost was 4. 4 cents, Delta 3. 4 cents, and United 3. 7 cents per available seat mile.That difference results in billions of dollars and probably contributed to American Airlines’ two billion dollars in loss last year. According to Fortune, the merger should eliminate 1. 25 billion in labor costs. Not only do the airline carriers have to deal with globalization but also have deal with airplane makers. Boeing, for instance, has a very different problem than companies like American Airlines and Delta. Boeing has too many orde rs to fill which could possibly give this supplier stronger bargaining power. Boeing owes it buyers 2845 planes and is only building 35 planes per onth. At that rate, it will take Boeing six years to fill those orders and that is only if they do not get any more orders during that time. Management for Boeing needs to stress efficiency. They have made promises to increase production to 60 planes per month. Even at 60 planes per month that still leaves potential buyers waiting for quite a while and that could cause them to seek other international suppliers. Many buyers may go to Europe’s company Airbus or even try to newer companies such as Canada’s Bombardier according to AirGuide.In 2000 the United States Congress passed the Wendel H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st century. The purpose of this bill was to create a competitive plan for new entrants entering the Airline Industry. It gives guidelines and requirements for existing airlines to allow n ew entrants a chance to get started in the business. Another name for the act is AIR-21, and the results for AIR-21 are significantly positive; by allowing one endpoint airports to decrease their price by 10%, and for both endpoints to decrease their price by 20%.Some problems new entrants have when entering the Airline Industry, is operations and marketing. Marketing for a new airline can be difficult because of the loyal customers existing airlines already have. However, there are plenty of ways that airlines can increase their loyal customer base, with things such as frequent flyer miles, corporate incentive agreements, and travel agent commission overrides. For new entrants these would be considered a threat to entering the airline industry. Another threat to entering the airline industry is starting off with limited operating access.These would include limited boarding gates, ticket counters, baggage handling, storage facilities, and take-off and landing slots. Even though it m ay seem like a great time for a new airline to open, with existing airlines cutting routes, and raising prices by seat, this would be a very hard industry to enter and have a success story. For an airline to see any profit right now while oil prices are higher than ever, they must be able to fly full planes at all times. Lately even existing airlines have failed to see a profit. For example, Virgin Airlines did not see a profit for five years after its first flight.Even Warren E. Buffet was stated in a New York Times article that an investment in US Airways, in the early 1990’s, one of his biggest mistakes â€Å"Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down†. There are many risks entering the Airline Industry, but there are also many rewards if a new entrant were to have a succes s story. JetBlue reported profits of $1. 5 billion dollars last year, and its revenue at $192 billion dollars.They opened in 2010, and they are now an international airline. At the end of 2011, JetBlue was reported to have an average of seven hundred flights a day. JetBlue is becoming more of a success story than most other new entrants. For a new airline to start up, they need to understand how their investment breaks down. Landing and associated airport charges makes up 4%, depreciation and amortization 7%, maintenance and overhaul 10%, fuel and oil 12%, flight crew 7%, enroute facility charges 2%, station expense 11%, passenger service 10%, ticketing, sales and promotion 16%, general administrative 12%, and the rest is miscellaneous.The above information was given by The Airline Industry Trends, Challenges, and Strategies authored by Dr. John Wensveen. Dr. Wensveen noted that there have been twenty five airline failures since 2007. This is because of the global economic crisis in 2008; airlines were forced to increase their rates because of the high oil prices and the falling demand of people needing to fly. A SWOT Analysis for an airline would go as followed: Strengths: The AIR-21 act gives new airlines a chance to get started * The reward of having a successful airline is very big * Opening an airline is a Cost-Leadership strategyWeaknesses: * The is a very big risk * Oil prices are high * It cost a lot of money to open a new airline * Loyalty systems other airlines have with their customers Opportunities * Being able to start something new * Opening up in an industry that will always be improving Threats * The US Airways merger with American Airlines * The United States Airlines Industry has the potential to become a monopoly with the merger of airlines * Not being able to move loyal customers to a new airline On February 14, American Airlines and US Airways publically announced their proposal to merge with one another.Higher power executives and preside nts in these 2 substantially large companies ensure that the soon-to-be merger will â€Å"lessen competition in the airline industry,† â€Å"provide the airline’s customers with a broader network, more choices, and better service† (Lawton). However, others do not agree. Many believe that because this newly merging company will be valued at $11 billion and will make-up a whopping 26% of U. S. market share, which would be the world’s largest airline, this will actually lead to an increase in fares (The Wall Street Journal).Although the future of airfares is uncertain, it is safe to say that both companies are doing an excellent job in organizational communication during this transitional phase. US Airways and American Airlines are currently in a bumpy transitional phase in merging to become an airline powerhouse. US Airways and American Airlines must establish strategies to achieve common goals and develop this approach, which will require extensive mutual planning. Doug Parker, the former CEO of US Airways, will be taking the role as head of the new company, which will be taking the name in favor of American Airlines (Jones).In a previous interview, Parker stated that â€Å"they’ve got some advantages in making the marriage go more smoothly. † New management taking the reins of the new American must use a strategic approach to devise a long-term plan. In doing so, this strategic approach will be more beneficial than considering a short-term volatile schedule. There may be a large internal advantage to already having a sufficient amount of employees within the companies, but the public consumer will be more concerned about what disadvantages will affect them through external company decisions.A conflicting potential impact of this merger is combining loyalty programs. Frequent flyers may certainly be an airlines most valued customer. But as their most valued customer, they should not reap harmful effects throughout the p rocess of this combination. According to article American, US Airways Can Take Lessons from Other Airline Mergers the frequent flyer members of the â€Å"Aadvantage† rewards program will receive perks from both the US Airways program and American Airlines program. Although this is rational decision making: trying to smoothly overlay both reward programs to satisfy existing members, this rationality is bounded.Because of this bounded rationality, decision making is limited because it would be impossible to add all reward benefits from both airlines into one blended program. For example, American Airlines members, who carry the Express Platinum Card and Black Card had unlimited access to first class lounges. When this merger is finalized, these card members will lose this privilege. (Jones) There may be some rough patches in aligning these airlines but the potential benefits will greatly outweigh the troubles that may be faced. Darryl Jenkins has said that â€Å"The financial deal is easy; the challenges are always in the integration. The new American must show sustainability for their firm to achieve long-term shareholder value. As of April 9th 2013, American Airlines (AAMRQ) closed with a stock price of $3. 58; US Airways (LLC) closed at a price of $15. 70 but dropped . 14 points throughout the course of the day (YAHOO Finance). Work Cited â€Å"Air France: Committed to Sustainable Development. † FINCHANNEL. com. The FINANCIAL, 4 Mar. 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2013. . Amstelveen. â€Å"Sustainable Development: Air France-KLM World Air Transport Leader in 2012. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. KLM Corporate, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2013. . Awal, Jamadil. â€Å"Oman Air, Airbus Bring ‘little Engineer' Workshops Muscat. † Arab News. SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2013. . Business & Industry News – Aircraft Finance News. (2012). AirGuide Business, 1-16. Hawes, A. (2012, May 25). The Challenge of Starting a n Airline. The New York Times.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Charles by Shirley Jackson Analysis Essay

Laurie creates an alter ego named â€Å"Charles† and uses him to take all the flaws that Laurie has in kindergarten. 2. a) The underlying message, central idea, or moral discussed in a story. b) The story teaches us that something can be going on and we may not even notice it. The mother refuses to look at what is right under her nose, for trepidation of realizing something that she doesn’t want to see- her dear, naà ¯ve little boy causing serious trouble. She adored listening to the stories her son would tell her about â€Å"Charles†. In fact, she couldn’t wait for Laurie to get home from school so she could hear them. All the while Laurie was misbehaving at home. Instead, she would relatively think that it is another little boy named Charles. Another minor theme can be: if you lie then you will in time get caught red-handed. 3. â€Å"The teacher spanked a boy, though †¦ For being fresh† (pg 8) was Laurie’s replay to his mother asking him what happened in school. When I reread this I thought that this was where Laurie decided to put on his act. Another foreshadowing example was the unusual way Laurie kept on taking about â€Å"Charles†. Another observation I made was about Laurie’s behavior. His mother also notes changes in his behavior: he no longer waves goodbye to her, slams the door when he comes home and speaks insolently to his father. Since they adore their son, his parents believe all he has to say, and this belief stops them from seeing that what he says is not the full truth. 4. When the mother discovers at the end of the story that there is no child named Charles in the class and that it is Laurie who has had trouble bending into kindergarten and has done all the bad things he credited to Charles, the reader no less than the mother is surprised. The mother’s reaction would be quite embarrassed since she is the mother of ‘Charles’. Laurie creates a double of him to do â€Å"bad† so that he might stay good in the eyes of his parents. Loving but narrow-minded, the parents do not get involved. I think after realizing that Charles is indeed Laurie, this might affect the way his parents treat him from now on. Not only that, but I think their attitude towards their own unobservant behavior might change as well. 5. This story made me think of when I was younger and the kids who acted this way to get attention from their parents. This story shows the ways children invent shadow figures as a means of confronting problematic feelings while forming their identities. I know that a lot of young children are clever enough to do a lot of things, and some times they go unnoticed, like Laurie’s travesty. In Laurie’s example mentioning Charles so much, the family’s bound to make Charlie a part of daily conversation. Why was Laurie hinting to his parents instead of coming right out and telling them? Was it because he wants his parents to shape it out on their own little heads? I too indeed might’ve lied a couple of times as of way of being included and known. Although my parents were observant and I was quick to learn that it’s not good to lie. 6. Verbal irony – contrast between what is said and what is meant. In other words, sarcasm. Dramatic irony –between what the character thinks to be true and what we (the reader) know to be true. For example: In City Lights the audience knows that Charlie Chaplin’s character is not a millionaire, but the blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) is unaware and believes he’s rich. Situational irony – a certain fact is perhaps highlighted by an event that is in contrast to that fact. For example: An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day. 7. The point at which we the readers realize that Laurie is tricking his parents and from then on we also know— or suspect — more than the narrator about his misbehaving and amused the mothers lack of observance is an example of dramatic irony. Parents, by definition are thought to be mentally advanced than their children (when they are at such a young age such as Laurie) but are outsmarted by the imagination and creativity of a clever little nipper.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Human Services Program and Profession Unit Research Paper

Human Services Program and Profession Unit - Research Paper Example According to the paper the reporter wants to learn how to network clientele with needed society resources and services. Additionally, the degree course should prepare him on how to serve for the worker as a basis to convey a thorough baccalaureate degrees. The human service degree and program should support national agenda approval with the national accrediting body for human service degrees. He expects to take part in students’ election to aim my academic course in the human service, psychological health or gerontology domain. This can be accomplished by following two applied that are aimed particularly in the selected area of concentration.This strudy stresses that the author looks forward to getting a GPA above 2.75 amongst the Human Services candidates. This way, he can get a continuing learning credit for more than half a decade ought to file his familiarity with all units and fields associated with the human services degree course and profession. The course should also e nable him to join groups that create a path to adhering to the guidelines provided by the National Organization for Human Services. The author looks forward to standardizing crucial education anticipations and morals in human services class involved with human services workers. The class should be able to bestow the HS-BCP credentials. The reporter wants to learn how to prim my colleagues to effectually work and knowledgeably operate systems in need of uninterrupted care, assistance and individual support.  

Friday, September 27, 2019

SM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

SM - Essay Example Ryanair is one airline that has concentrated its services in Europe and looking into its history to date and its strategies, it is easy to deduce that it is one of Europe’s leading airlines especially in the low cost category. Statement of purpose This paper will look into the history of Ryanair and use particular critical incidents in the life of this airline to illustrate the strategic debates through some highlight on Mintzberg’s theory. The paper will also look into the key strategic decisions the company will have to make in order to achieve their strategic aspirations. Lastly, the company’s implementation challenges in the global market will be highlighted. Company’s history Ryanair, a low cost and low fares airline, has done tremendously well as compared to many airlines in Europe especially those that were established around the same time i.e. in the mid 1980s. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus and EasyJet have formed the closest rivals to Ryanair for years. It boasts of having yearly customer traffic of over 66.5 million from its humble beginnings of just 5000 passengers back in 1985 (Ryanair 2011). The projected traffic for 2010 was set by the management led by Michael O’Leary at over 70 million. ... ed with the airline’s appreciation of the fact that without sustainable expansion strategies it would be difficult to venture into the European sky and rule. Back in 1985 it had just one route i.e. Waterford to London with a single aircraft to handle it. The management at the time then proposed a purchase of a number of jet aircrafts that were faster and more efficient and therefore could handle more destinations on daily basis. Up until 1990 the company was growing at an impressive rate when all over sudden it started a downward trend (Pearce et al. 2003; Slack et al. 2007; Wheelen and, Hunger 2002). At the time many airlines had emerged in Europe with all sorts of products to offer and this had to some extent escaped the radar of Ryanair’s management. Critical incidents in the life of Ryanair and strategic paradoxes Ryanair’s history was immensely shaped by the losses and underperformance witnessed in the early 1990s. This situation caused the management at the time to change its strategies in dealing with the increasing market competition (Gregory & Marilyn 2004; Belobaba 2009; Hill and Jones 2009). The management first renewed their mission of being the leading low cost airline in Europe by focusing again on the cost of operations and fares charged by their competitors. It also concentrated its operations within secondary airports and plied shorter routes than before. In the turn of the 21st century the company found the need to invest in a newer fleet of aircrafts from Boeing that were to handle bigger capacity in terms of passengers and cargo coupled with longer flying distances. The airline website was another strategic alignment in the mid 1990s that opened a new advertising channel and customer interactive platform (Palmer & Ponsonby 2002; Mayer 2007;

Thursday, September 26, 2019

George Orwell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

George Orwell - Essay Example George was born Brian Arthur Blair, on June 25 1903, in Bengal India, a protectorate of the British government, to a British official Richard Blair and to a governess, Ida. His mother moved back to Britain to raise her two children, as it would have been norm of any British woman. His formative years were spent with his mother and sister and his love for the English language saw her mother enroll him into St. Cyprian. This move in his life can be attributed to so many other things in his life and the reason he did things the way he did them. It molded his perspective on authority and decision-making. When he was fourteen, he was admitted into Eton a prestigious school where he excelled and acquired the bad habit of smoking, an indulgence that would later cost him his life. When time came for him to go to university, which he had qualified, he opted to serve in the British imperial police, a move perceived as his way to â€Å"feel† what authority entailed. He also served as police officer in Burma in a powerful position for such a young and inexperienced officer. He did his duty with grace at first but the inhumane condition and treatment of the locals by the police started to erode his pride and his sense of duty (Hitchens, 143). Four years into the service, Arthur resigned and returned to Britain to pursue his newly discovered passion of writing; a move that did not auger well with his dad. The late 20s found him in a midlife crisis of trying to worm himself into a position of comfort in his life. He did menial jobs here and there while trying to reconnect with his humanity, through interacting with trumps by pretending to be one. He then went to Paris in 1929, and his experiences there inspired his first book, Down And Out in Paris and London. When producing this book, he took the literal name of George Orwell; a name that would survive his true identity. The successes of his first book saw him delve into his

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Alternative Energy Sources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Alternative Energy Sources - Essay Example Additionally, consumption of oil as a source of energy is non-renewable, and results in environmental pollution. As such, leading economies in the world have been seeking to adopt alternative sources of energy and measures to conserve energy, though with minimal success (World Bank, 2010:190). This paper discusses three key barriers that impede the adoption of alternative energy sources and energy conservation. Three key barriers deter the adoption of alternative or renewable sources of energy: cost and pricing, market performance, and legal and regulatory (Martinot and Beck, 2004:13). Majority of these barriers are a form of market distortion that work to discriminate against alternative energy sources, while others result to high costs of developing and adopting alternative sources of energy. These barriers are situation-specific in any country or region. The first and most significant barrier category is pricing and cost. Alternative and renewable sources of energy cost more than the traditional oil, leading to policies and decisions that avoid alternative energy sources based on cost. The price comparison depends on an array of factors. For instance, there may be public subsidies that lower the costs of competing sources of energy. ... Therefore, the difference in subsidy provision may result to competitive disadvantage of an alternative energy source. Despite the fact that renewable energy sources may have significant cost-competitive advantages on the life-cycle basis, the high initial costs often mean that they provide lower installed capacity per initial dollar investment than conventional sources of energy. Thus, capital markets may require lending rates premium in order to provide finances for these alternative energy sources. Moreover, the alternative energy source faces high import duties and taxes. Consequently, this may result to high first-costs compared to other sources (Dell and Rand, 2004:240). Another significant factor is transaction costs. Alternative energy source projects are relatively smaller than those of conventional sources are, primarily because of their unfamiliarity or uncertainty in performance. Consequently, transaction costs for alternative energy sources, including assessment, permitt ing, power-purchase contract negotiations, and financing packages assembly, result to enormous per-kilowatt capacity basis than conventional energy sources. Higher transactional costs are not an economic distortion barrier, but rather another way of making alternative energy sources extremely expensive. The last notable sub-category is environmental externalities. The conventional energy sources have real costs on the society, including infrastructure decay, human health and, probably, climate change costs (Edenhofer, Madruga, ans Sokona, 2011:884). However, environmental externalities dollar costs are hard to evaluate, thus, subject to discretion and interpretation. Though economic comparisons

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Leadership Styles Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Leadership Styles - Dissertation Example The guiding research question for the study asks whether there is a dominant leadership style (i.e. transformational, authoritarian, or laissez-faire) used by classroom teachers that helps students score 2400 or higher (commended status) on annual state-mandated assessments and if there are other factors that explain why scores are high under one teacher and why the same set of students can perform with low scores with another teacher. Statement of the Problem Scholars do not know how and to what extent classroom teachers using transformational, authoritarian, or laissez-faire leadership styles impact fourth- and fifth-grade elementary school students in consistently scoring 2400 or higher on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), currently known as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STARR); the Texas annual state-mandated test. The objective of the proposed study is to investigate the relationship of leadership styles of elementary teachers and fourt h- and fifth-grade students’ state-mandated test scores. ... Three alternatives may be used by classroom teachers, namely, the authoritative style, the laissez-faire style, and the transformational style. Students’ scores on state-mandated tests in fourth- and fifth-grade in an elementary school in Missouri City, Texas, will be utilized. Some students, for example, may have scored above the norm (i.e., 2400 or higher) in fourth grade on state-mandated tests, and the following year, those same students may have scored well below the norm, within the same school setting but with a different classroom teacher. The other variables under consideration are those which facilitate the learning process of students. See Figure 1. Researchers such as Jeanpierre (2004) have examined the topic of leadership styles in the classroom. However, they arrived at limited findings on the direct impact of leadership styles on students’ state-mandated test scores in elementary schools. In addition to elementary schools, community leaders, stakeholders, and business leaders also have public education systems under scrutiny to find evidence of leadership styles that motivate students to score consistently. The results of this study may reveal evidence regarding the correlation of leadership styles and student capabilities and achievements as measured by standardized testing. Logical Procedures In order to determine whether or not leadership style in teaching 4th and 5th grades will have a better impact on the level of learning based on test results of students, initial survey of available authoritative studies on this issue would have to be done. The term â€Å"teacher leadership† should first be defined and distinguished from other types of leadership. If initial research leads to a

Monday, September 23, 2019

Eating disorder in adolescent Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Eating disorder in adolescent - Research Paper Example Eating disorders tend to develop during adolescence and are much more common to girls and women, where the causes of these disorders are related to psychological and medical issues such as low self esteem, depression, anxiety, trouble coping with emotions and substance abuse. Additionally, eating disorders start by eating less or more than the usual, where the behaviour goes out of control and gets taken over by the person’s life. Smolack and Thompson (32) argue that although the symptoms of eating disorders are known to originate primarily in adolescence, most studies have revealed that these disorders emerge due to lack of solid knowledge on how to eat well and live healthy. Obesity in adolescents has now become a very serious matter, leading to health risks such as hypertension, respiratory problems, mellitus and orthopaedic disorders (Cooper and Stein 76). Matsumoto and Herrin (32), discuses the three types of eating disorders Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge eating disorders , where Anorexia is a condition where an adolescent refuses to eat adequate calories out of an intensive and irrational fear of becoming fat and this condition has greatly risen in the past years among these adolescents. Few cases of Anorexia lead to recovery since some experience alternative bouts of weight gain and weight loss and through this conditions tend to emerge as a result of treatment such as depression and low self esteem among the adolescents. Anorexia has been known to increase risks of deaths among these adolescents and they come as a result of starvation, suicide, and severe low levels of potassium, (Matsumoto and Herrin 33). Anorexia is better when discovered and treated in early stages, since it prevents against mortality among the adolescents. Effective treatments for disorders in eating have been availed to, because Anorexic

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Overcoming Obstacles as a Teacher in the Modern Day Essay Example for Free

Overcoming Obstacles as a Teacher in the Modern Day Essay The teaching profession has always been a highly esteemed and revered occupation due to the fact that educators impart knowledge into the minds of every single individual throughout the population, whether the student decides to be a doctor, engineer, mechanic, politician or artist in adulthood, the foundation of their learning has came from a highly dedicated and resourceful educator. However, when examining this occupation in greater detail it can be observed that there are countless obstacles that effective teachers face every day. It is common knowledge that children have a short attention span and their teacher has the role of planning lessons, which engage the learner and guarantee that the lesson is one that interacts with the student and encourages them to be involved. They also must be aware of different methods to implement that will see the child remembering the material and retaining the information that the teacher is presenting for the future lessons. When teaching in the classroom, educators must be prepared when confronted with children showing ill desired and disruptive behaviours. It is the method in which the teacher reacts to these behaviours that will pave the way for the remainder of the year, if the teacher reacts in the correct manner and demonstrates to the child the expectations within the classroom then it can be anticipated that the student will understand what is and isn’t acceptable, a certain challenge. Attention is where learning begins and therefore attracting and upholding student attention is paramount (Curtindale, Laurie-Rose, Bennett Murphy, 2007). Attention capacity and duration is limited for every individual, this needs to be acknowledged in the classroom and strategies need to be formed to prevent students from neglecting important information in class. Learners find it particularly difficult and their attention easily shifts from one stimulus to another, caused by not only distractions from other students but also from outside the classroom. When students find it difficult to concentrate this can negatively impact not only their own learning but also the learning of others. Therefore, teachers must control and provide an environment that engages and holds students attention whilst teaching imperative material. Eggen (2010) states that effective teachers plan their lessons so students attend to what is being taught and ignore irrelevant stimuli. They must ensure that their lesson will be one that learners can actively be involved in and interact with, not just submissively require students to listen to what is needing to be taught, but experience it. Teachers may employ a variety of strategies to do this, from demonstrations to discrepant events and thought provoking questions. Another fundamental approach that creates an environment of achieving ones attention is calling on students by name. This guarantees that learners are aware that the teacher will not only call on the class as a whole but may call on them individually, by name, resulting in a need to be attentive. Chapin, O’Connor and Anderson (2009) make an interesting point however that as teachers we need to be mindful when calling on students to participate and remind them of their right to pass or ask for more time before answering in the classroom. The obligation to participate in a classroom does not equate to an obligation to give answers on demand† (Chapin et al. , 2009). When teachers practice these strategies for holding their learners attention and ensure that they are apart of the teaching not just observing it, the likelihood of the student’s memory retaining the material is also greatly increased. Another obstacle faced by teachers in the classroom is that of their learners retaining the material taught throughout the term, from one lesson to another. If any student in the class is having difficulty remembering the previous lesson, they have a high risk of falling behind in their learning and development, which can then lead to troubling behaviour. There are certain aspects of memory retention that must be understood and practiced in the classroom for students to achieve learning targets and overcome this impediment. These techniques are employed to take knowledge from a child’s working memory and encode it to be stored within their long term memory, ensuring that they are then able to recall this understanding and build upon it in future lessons. Schema activation is one such encoding strategy that involves activating prior knowledge so that new knowledge can be connected to it (Eggen 2010). One of the most effective ways of activating a student’s prior knowledge is through conducting reviews of the previous lesson before embarking on the new learning material. This ensures that the students form conceptual connections between what they have already learnt in the past and the material that they are about to be taught. Another effective method of encoding is material organisation, where related items of content are athered into categories that assist in illustrating the relationships between them. This can take the form of charts, models, outlines and hierarchies, which are all examples of organization systems. With the connections easily observable and the information well organized, the student is then able to retrieve this knowledge more easily, as stated by Ormrod (2006, pg190), Long-term memory retrieval is the process of â€Å"remembering previously stored information and â€Å"finding† it in memory†. If strategies are put in place by the educator in the classroom, the students will experience a greater retention of material and a greater ease at â€Å"finding† stored information from past lessons, also making certain that they are less likely to be disruptive and display adverse behavior, an obstacle that all teachers desire to prevent if possible. Classrooms are busy and often hectic places in which groups of students vary in interests and abilities must be organized and directed, in ways that maximize education and minimize disruptions. It is imperative that the teacher responsible for each class is equipped with knowledge and strategies that can be implemented when faced with undesirable behaviour from students. First and foremost, a teacher must show withitness within the classroom, they must notice the behavior of all students and respond quickly to unexpected events. The students will be much less likely to attempt negative behaviour knowing that the teacher is aware of every action and movement that occurs and the knowledge that there is a consequence, either positive or negative for every action. When faced with ill desired behaviour from a student, the teacher must first establish whether the student is going to take responsibility for their actions and if not, implement behavioral interventions – either reinforcement or punishment to ensure that the student understands that there are consequences for adverse behaviour. One approach that would create a rational response to the student’s behaviour would be to implement a negative reinforcement – for example, by taking away 5 minutes of the students free art time on Friday afternoon, whilst the rest of the class, has their full 30 minutes. Alternatively the teacher may use their judgment and decide to implement an effective form of punishment for the student instead. This may be a simple timeout for the misbehaving child or a more severe detention during their lunch break or after class. Regardless of the tactic that the teacher decides to use with this misbehaving student, once the student understands that there are consequences for poor behaviour, the probability of this behaviour continuing is scarce. Children that act in this manner and misbehave in class often look to their role model for discipline and in many situations their teacher may be their only adult role model in their life and therefore it is imperative that these situations are handled appropriately. In conclusion, it can be observed that there are many challenges that a teacher must overcome in their normal day-to-day occupation, with a majority of them that go unseen to the general public. Initially they must obtain the student’s attention and curiosity and then maintain it throughout the class, whilst having lessons planned around engaging the students and allowing them to experience what is being taught. They then must ensure that the pupil is being taught in a way that will ensure their long term memory to guarantee that they will remember the material and therefore build upon it in future lessons. Teachers must also be equipped with strategies and techniques to overcome ill desired behaviour from students in a way that creates an understanding of the expectations and classroom rules. Fortunately there are many teachers and educators that have gone before and paved the way for the future graduates, they have been willing to share their ideas, examples and methodology in regards to what they have found that has been successful and what has not. Techniques such as calling students by name to gain their attention, organizing new learning material in such a way that makes it easier for the students to retrieve it from their memory and implementing reinforcements in place of harsh punishment for students that are testing the boundaries within the classroom. This knowledge and experience from other mentors in the industry guarantees that the classroom of the future is not only a brighter place to be but also a well informed one.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Theory Of Self And Self Concept Essay Example for Free

Theory Of Self And Self Concept Essay Karen Horney formulated a theory of neurotic needs which is central to the understanding of the development of personality (Paris, 1994). Horney developed her assumptions from experience as a psychotherapist and falls under the psychoanalytic tradition in the sense that she emphasized childhood experiences influenced how adults develop their own personal constructs. She said that basic anxiety as perceived by the child in relation to its feelings of alienation and helplessness with his/her relationship with his/her parents motivates the child to develop various strategies to cope with these feelings of isolation and helplessness (Horney, 1950). When the child has to resort to these strategies in a regular manner, then these strategies may become more or less permanent fixtures of personality. In her early writings Horney identified ten neurotic needs that a person utilizes to find solutions to its problems and anxiety, these were then categorized as falling under moving towards people, moving away from people and moving against from people (Paris, 1994). Furthermore, Horney believed that any of these three orientations can be assumed by the person as a way of life and hence influence his/her relationships with other people. These orientations are the source of inner conflict in the sense that the person develops an unrealistic conception of the self and tries to live up to that idealized self. The normal person could resolve these neurotic needs easily because they have a stronger sense of self. Horney also developed a theory of self wherein the self defined the person’s ability to become well integrated or to become neurotic (Quinn, 1987). For Horney, the self is the core of a persons being, it is seen as the driving force behind the persons ability to transcend its existence in relation to other people. If a person has an accurate concept of the self then he/she does not need to resort to neurotic needs and he/she is more attuned to the realization of personal potentials. On the other hand, the neurotic is handicapped by the conflicting despised self and idealized self. To the neurotic, the self is divided into two opposing forces the despised personal characteristics that we believe we have based on other people’s perception of us and the personal traits that we lack and strive to live up to. The neurotic self is pulled by these two forces at the same time and is referred to as the tyranny of the shoulds and neurotic striving for glory. While the person fluctuates between hating themselves and pretending they are perfect, they become estranged from their true core and thus fail to realize their potentials. Carl Rogers (1959) of the humanistic tradition is well known for his person-centered theory that has become one of the most influential methods of psychotherapy. Rogers emphasized that the key to a person’s development of personality is how he/she forms his/her self-concept. The self-concept refers to the ideas and perceptions that the individual has about his/her self and is manifested through his/her experiences of â€Å"I† and â€Å"me† (Kahn, 1996). Moreover, the self-concept is not only affected by the how the person evaluates his/her self in relation to the real world but it also dictates how that person behaves towards that world. Thus, a person who believes him/her self to be strong and powerful will behave differently from someone who believes that he/she is weak and helpless. It is a normal tendency for man to behave according to their self-concept and evaluates his/her experience as congruent or incongruent to his/her self-concept. Any inconsistencies between the person’s experience and his/her self-concept will cause anxiety and the person then tries to deal with this anxiety by denying the incongruence which would then become a way of life and lead to maladjustment (Ford, 1991). Rogers also identified the ideal self as the kind of person that we wish and strive to become, the more similar the real self is to the ideal self, the better adjusted the person is. On the other hand, if the discrepancy between the ideal self and the real self is wide then the person will become unhappy and dissatisfied. Horney and Rogers both developed a theory of self from two opposing perspectives, while they may share similar views on their theoretical discussions of the self, they also differ considerably in several points. Horney and Rogers both defined the self as the core of a person’s being and personality. The development of the self was seen as the product of the person’s experience and his/her evaluation of that experience in relation to his/her feelings and perceptions of his/her self. This indicates that the self is an important construct that each person subscribes to and is later shaped through external and internal influences. Thus, the self is affected by how other people relate to us and how we define who we are. In spite of this similarity, Horney and Rogers differed in how the self influences the development of maladjustment and neurosis. To Horney, the self is torn between the despised self and the idealized self while Rogers believed that the inconsistencies between the behaviors of the person and how he/she perceives him/her self would lead to maladjustment. Moreover, to Horney the idealized self has a negative connotation in that it is a set of beliefs about the self that a person should live up to but fails to because it is impossible to attain. Rogers has a more positive treatment of the ideal self, to Rogers the ideal self represents the qualities and personal traits that we wish and strive to become, and the person continues to work towards this ideal self and that it is attainable. Despite this difference, both Horney and Rogers believed that the self is capable of realizing its potentials, to Horney if a person is healthy, he/she would be free to seek to develop his/her potentials, and Rogers believed that the self is constantly in the process of self-actualization. Horney and Rogers both developed their theory of the self from their professional practice, however, Horney came to it as a byproduct of her theory on neurotic needs while Rogers observed during psychotherapy that clients always referred to the self and hence he deduced that the self was of prime importance. Horney was one of the first to identify the self as central to the development of personality and neurosis. However, Horney emphasized that without a strong sense of self the person will be consumed by his/her neurotic needs corresponding to the person’s self-image. While Roger’s conception of the self and the self-concept positively impacts how a person behaves towards other people and his/her world. This means that Roger’s felt that the self is very real and that we are constantly in touch with who we are while to Horney, the normal person has a more real self than the neurotic one. Furthermore, the neurotic self can only resolve its anxieties by becoming integrated as a person and by identifying and controlling behaviors that are motivated by neurotic needs. This is quite similar to how Rogers explained that a person who is maladjusted has only to be able to believe in his self and to identify the discrepancy within his/her self-concept and his/her actions. References Ford, J. (1991). Rogerss theory of personality: Review and perspectives. In A. Jones R. Crandall (Eds.), Handbook of self-actualization. [Special Issue]. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6(5), 19-44. Horney, K. (1950). Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-Realization. New York, WW Norton. Kahn, E. (1996). The intersubjective perspective and the client-centered approach: Are they one at their core? Psychotherapy, 33, 30-42. Paris, B. (1994). Karen Horney: A Psychoanalysts Search for Self-understanding. New Haven: Yale University Press.   Quinn, S. (1987).   Mind of Her Own: the Life of Karen Horney. New York: Summit Books.   Rogers, C. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal relationships, as developed in the client-centered framework. In S. Koch (ed.). Psychology: A study of science. (pp. 184-256). New York: McGraw Hill.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Assessing And Improving A Learning Environment

Assessing And Improving A Learning Environment I graduated with Diploma of Nursing seven years ago. After graduated, I work in general surgical ward for five years. Later I went to Middle East to work for a year. Back in Middle East I worked in an oncology ward. Currently I work as a clinical instructor with one of the nursing private college in Kuching. The practical placements for the students are one of the hospitals here. Now, I am attached to the oncology wards, which consists of two wards with thirty beds each. The students that came for their clinical practices are from year one to year three. At the same time, they are other students from other college attach here too. The maximum numbers of students entering the ward are only fifteen per ward. In this assignment I am going to write about how my current workplace is a good learning environment and how to improve it. According to Hood and Leddy, (2003) learning process is a dependant on an interchange between the learner and environments. Since the ward restricts the amount of students, the ward is a conducive place to learn. They do not have to fight for procedures since everyone would have adequate experiences. This is an advantages compare to other wards at the hospital. Learning materials such as pamphlet and drug books are also available at the nursing counters for the staff and students to read. The latest updates or protocols are also displayed in the notice board. To support the learning, it is better if there is a library in the unit or within the hospital compound. With library available, it would provide the staff and the student, books and journals not only from local publisher but also from overseas. Ajuwon, (2003) thinks that computers and internets are important in medical education. In my current ward they are no computers or even internet connection is provided. It is difficult for the students or the ward staff to access information or knowledge during working hours. Through surfing the internet it will enhance their level of knowledge and understanding. Not only for internet access, it would make patients data and records much more accessible. I believe if computers are provided here, the learning process would be more accessible not only for students but also for the staffs. At the same time the students will not assume the role of the instructor as their walking encyclopaedia as student would be more self directed. Ogier, (1986) mentions that the staff nurse is part of the student nurse clinical practice. In my ward the staff nurses are keen to teach the nursing students. They dont mind spending their time to explain and guide the students. Sometimes they will even approach the students if they are keen to do some procedures under their guidance. In my opinion the student have to be more active in their learning. Sweeney, (1986) notes that in nursing clinical practice the better approach for teaching is the student should be more student centred than teacher centred. I always encourage my student to be more initiative and active in their learning. For example when they find some interesting cases, instead of asking me immediately about it, I will ask them to look for the information first and we will discuss again once the information is gathered. I find out by using this method their level of understanding would be more compared to when I would just explaining the subject immediately. Brown, (2009) concluded that interdisciplinary collaboration would enhance learning and prepare the students for their collaborative interactions in their future employment. In my current workplace, the physiotherapist, dietician and social worker would come and review the patient twice a week. I think, if the students could tag them around for a day, the students would benefit a lot. The students would gain new knowledge and would be expose to how other departments worked. Quinn, (1995) argues that learning in clinical placement is much more meaningful and relevant than classrooms. Specialist ward round or grand round are done twice a week. During this time the oncologist, radiologist and pharmacist would do their clinical round together. The students are encouraged to join the round. During these rounds a lot of knowledge would pass around as the three groups including nurses would discuss about patient care and disease. Sometimes the specialist would stay after the ward round just to do bedside teaching with the students. Nursing is all about lifelong learning. Bahn, (2007) mentions that if nurses stops learning, they would not be able to keep up with changes and adapt themselves. There is two way of learning which is informal or formal learning. Spouse, (2000) defines informal learning as learning takes place outside of formal learning but still within the learners learning context. Spouse also mentions that handover reports, report writing and social interactions among colleagues are one way of informal learning. Before the shift starts students are not allowed to touch the patient without listening to the handover. They are encouraged to write down the reports and listen to the handover at the same time. Laird, (1985) mentions that effective learning will be taken place when all sense are stimulated. His study found out that hearing is the second most effective way of learning after seeing. Before the end of the shift I always gather the student for a short discussion. Usually I will pick one stude nt to present her or his patient to the other students. The student will also share their experience among themselves and at the same time if they have any queries it could be clarified there and then. Examples, a first timer student doing dressing would share her experience with the other students and they will do post mortem together under my guidance. Bahn, (2007) agrees that nurse need to continue learning to ensure for safe nursing practice. One of formal learning that available here is continuous nursing education (CNE). CNE is held every first Friday of the month. The talk would be given by nurse educators, ward sisters or by fellow doctors sometimes. From here the staff and students can get their latest updates in nursing care and gain new knowledge. This CNE is important especially for the nursing students since they did not learn in depth about care of patient with chemotherapy and radiotherapy in classrooms. Last month, few of my students manage to attend CNE with the title of Oral care for patient with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Later they shared the knowledge with the rest of their peers. Not only exchange of knowledge and experience happens, but at the same time their level of understanding increase by the act of explaining. Knowles, (1990) agrees that adult should be given proactive approach to learning which involves them in decision making. Most of my students that came here are year one students that had never been into clinical placement. What they had is only theory and minimal practical knowledge. The only practical knowledge they had is hands on the mannequin in skills lab. Humanist believe that people will learn by their own when their need arise. Based on that belief, when students undergo clinical placement, they will be forced to learn skills in order to adapt to their surroundings. Examples are the skills of taking blood pressure. Taking blood pressure is an essential skill for every nurse, without that skill they will not be able to function in their practice area. The students only learn how to take blood pressure in theory and because of that when they came for their practical they have to pick up the skills. Honey and Mumford, (1992) says they are four ways of learning, which are pragmatist, activist, theorist and reflector. I had given the Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ) to a group of six of first year students. From there I found out majority of them are pragmatist. According to Honey and Mumford, a pragmatist is where the student learns by doing. I showed and ask them to play around with the sphygmomanometer to familiarise themselves with the equipment. Later I showed them the correct way to take the blood pressure by using one of the students as the model. After that, I paired them and rotate each other to take their own blood pressure. Once they are confident enough, I will let them to try to the patient. By doing this, the student would grasp the idea of blood pressure taking. Bloom, (1956) had identified three learning domains which is cognitive, affective and psychomotor. The students need to improve their cognitive because they are lack of knowledge. They have the skills and attitude but most of them cant tell me the rationale or why certain things need to be done in that way. Students need to be more self directed in their own education. Darbyshire, (1993) mentions that not all nursing students are motivated to become self directed and autonomous in their learning. I believe the way for teaching my students are a mixture of student centred and teacher centred learning. If the students depend too much on me as their clinical instructors, they will not be able to use their critical thinking and decide their own learning needs. At the same time, the students need to be told of what and how to learn. In my opinion the students need to slowly transform their own learning from spoon feeding method to an independent leaner in order to have established a strong foundation and to build self confidence for a more effective self directed study later. Gopee, (2008) says that nursing students should be slowly guided into adult learning. The role model that I had chosen is one of my colleagues, Clinical Instructor JV. She is one of my colleagues that also attached to the oncology ward here. Previously she had worked for nearly ten years as a staff nurse in oncology clinic in one of the hospital here. Gray and Smith, (2000) mentions a good mentor is a good role model as they are professional, organised, caring and self confident. I admire her way of work and how she handle the students. She is approachable and open to new ideas. Both of us always discuss how to improve our student learning. I also always ask her advice on how to overcome my problems with the students. Previously she used to be so strict with the students till the students are so scared of her. She is also easily irritated with the weaker students. When she realise that her teaching method is not appropriate she changed her method to a different way. JV also has good rapport with the ward sister and the ward staff. Every morning she will have small ta lk with the staff before starting our work. I believe my working place is a good place for learning environment. Although there are some areas to improve, especially in physical environment of the ward, learning still can take place. The attitude of the leaner also need to change. They have to be more initiative and not depending too much on their clinical instructor to feed them.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Terrorism - Don’t Disgrace the American Flag in a War with Iraq :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Don’t Disgrace the American Flag in a War with Iraq Everywhere I go, I see American flags. Taped to people's windows, sewn onto pockets, worn in a band around the arm. People call it the unification of America, the great coming-together of a wounded people, a show of support and of national feeling from every corner of our nation. Patriotism, they call it, and proudly display their red, white, and blue. And yet I wonder if they know what that flag represents. I read the polls, and I find that the majority of Americans want vengeance, even at the cost of war with many countries. I watch the news, and I see our president preparing our troops to invade Iraq-all the while standing in front of the stars-and-stripes, the symbol of our nation. Doesn't he remember what America means? Everyone talks about the war in terms of our best interests. "If we attack Iraq, we incur more anger; we create more enemies willing to die to hurt us." "If we don't, we appear weak, and more will strike at us, knowing that they can do so without fear of retribution." I leave such questions to the pundits. They are important considerations, no doubt. But they are not American considerations. America isn't about our best interests. It's about the sacrifice of practicality to principle, of self-interest to the soul. Long ago, we decided that things like Freedom and Justice were real, and that they were worth preserving, even when it wasn't easy, or pleasant. We believed so much in these principles that we set down laws, so that we might never sacrifice Freedom for Security, or Justice for Revenge. And so we protect the Klan's right to march, to shout out hate-slogans and burn crosses in our streets. We forbid racial-profiling, when, let's face it, more crimes are committed by African-Americans than by Caucasians. And, most painful of all, we protect the rights of criminals. We work hard to give them fair trials, and grant them appeals, and throw out case after case for lack of airtight evidence. We insist that it is better to let a hundred guilty men go free, than to imprison a single innocent one. And we do this at the cost of our own security, at the cost of more criminals on the streets. We accept the hurt that their crimes bring us, because we would rather suffer those blows than have innocent blood on our hands.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Blogs and Identities :: Web Individuality Privacy Internet Essays

Blogs and Identities When I think of an individual, I think of one person, and that person has one distinct identity. When I discovered that people whom blog change their identities, I thought it was strange and wondered why they do this. I first noticed this in the â€Å"Always and Forever† blog I have been observing. The couple in this blog do not use their real names. I understand that you might have to alter your personality a bit depending on where you are or whom you are with. For example, you would not swear if you were trying to impress your soon to be in-laws. When I talk about changing identity I am talking about using a totally different identity and many times they also change their personality. As Judith S. Donath states, â€Å"Identity plays a key role in virtual communities. In communication, which is the primary activity, knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction. Yet in the disembodied world of the virtual community, identity is also ambiguous. Many of the basic cues about personality and social role we are accustomed to in the physical world are absent. (â€Å"Identity and Deception†) Blogs and identity from society’s eyes One of the main reasons that I think people change their identity is because they feel as though they are inadequate in some part of their life. Maybe they do not have their dream job, or maybe they are not married and they think they should be. Anything can make a person feel as though they are not good enough. In today’s society there is the expectation that everyone should live by certain standard, and this could make someone feel very uncomfortable with who they really are. As Mead says, â€Å"This is particularly relevant to an interactionist perspective because the positions into which we fall (and their behavioural expectations, or roles) are reinforced not only by our own conceptions of "who I am," but also by the perceived conceptions of "who I ought to be" or a reflection upon what social positions others put us into ("taking the role of the other").† (Parents) Another thing is that they might be unsure about is their sexuality. They might want to become someone of the opposite sex in their blogs and see how it feels or how people react to them. As Sherry Turkle states, â€Å"even a assumed male persona to experience for herself the Net’s gender bending abilities.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Refusing to Be a Victim Essay

The Virginia Tech Massacre was one of the deadliest shooting incidents by a single gunman (MSNC). With a bright future ahead, Reema Samaha was an 18 year-old freshman on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Physically beautiful, excellent academic performance, proud of her Lebanese culture, future graduate of international studies and a minor in French, talented contemporary dancer, full of life, but a killer decided to end her life on April 16, 2007 (â€Å"We Remember: biographies†). She was murdered among 32 other students and staff. She was trapped in her French class with no gun with which to protect herself. Guns on campus should be allowed based on â€Å"the right to bear arms† authorized in the United States Constitution, the increasing violence on campus, the impossible mission to protect all the students by campus police, and the â€Å"Gun-Free Zone† sticker that attracts the killers. The second amend ment under the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution has protected the right of the people to keep and bear arms since 1791 (Head). It protects an individual’s right to possess and use a firearm for lawful purposes, such as self-defense. It is unlawful to bear arms to participate in a militia or to use for unlawful purposes. If somebody enters my property without invitation, it is my right, under the second amendment, to use a gun against a trespasser. One of the foundations that you acquire when you are a mother is to protect your loved ones at any cost if somebody attacks them. In the face of economic distress and the resulting risk for violence, the ability to protect oneself as allowed under the Constitution is increasingly important and must not be abridged. One example of that violence is sexual assaults on college campuses where nine occur each day. Also, there were 16 sniper victims at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966, 32 at Virginia Tech in 2007, five at Northern Illinois University in 2008, one at Virginia Tech in 2011, and three at San Jose State University in 2011 (â€Å"Infopleaseâ⠂¬ )†¦ What protection did the schools offer? The only option for the victim is to play dead or huddle under a desk hoping that the killer will not shoot them. Unfortunately, there is currently no alternative to simply hiding and praying that the bad guy will give you grace. Protecting all the students is an impossible mission for universities. Campus officials have introduced several responses to the problem of campus crime. Campus police, text  message alerts and cameras are all excellent ideas that improve responsiveness, but responsiveness is not the same as readiness. Text messages are unsuccessful, police are spread out across huge campuses and cameras have proven ineffective. Universities are open environments with indiscernible boundaries and few procedures to prevent or deal with a calamitous event. Colleges cannot guarantee protection or eliminate armed assaults. It is unrealistic to expect colleges to provide airport-like security with perimeter enforcement, metal detectors, armed guards, bag inspections and pat downs. Therefore, any institutions that cannot provide protection for their visitors must not deprive students of the ability to protect themselves. The â€Å"Free-Gun Zone† does not achieve its desired purpose. In fact, â€Å"Gun-Free Zone† sign attracts killers. Congress adopted the Gun-Free School Zones Act in 1990, prohibiting the possession of firearms in posted areas (â€Å"School Law†). Laws have never influenced criminal behavior because criminals, by their characters, do not respect laws. So a sticker on the campus doors stating â€Å"No guns allowed† is merely ironic in the face of tragedy. To the criminal, it means that this campus is a safe zone where victims are unable to protect themselves — a paradise zone for a killer! He is sure to succeed in his mission to kill with little risk to himself! The â€Å"Gun-Free Zone† sticker screams â€Å"Easy Targets Here.† One basis of opposition to guns on campus focuses on the presumed danger of young people, who are less mature, possessing guns. Some fear that during a party, a quarrel with friends could lead to use of a gun to resolve a disagreement. However, a student would be required to apply for a license in order to carry a gun, which requires a comprehensive FBI criminal background check, fingerprinting, classroom instruction and live-fire certification (â€Å"eHow†). The traini ng is designed, in part, to cause the student with a concealed weapon to be careful. Licensing is available to applicants who are 21 years of age or older, thus more mature. Another argument of opposition emphasizes the possibility of violence increasing with concealed weapons on campus, as if the mere presence of a weapon will increase violence. However, the benefit of having concealed weapons allowed on campus is proven by the fact that 26 colleges and universities, in Utah and in Colorado, a total70 campuses, currently allowing concealed carry on campus have not been a single report of shootouts, accidents or heated conflicts. In fact, rather  than causing crime as feared, Colorado State University’s crime rate has declined steadily since allowing concealed carry weapons. Allowing concealed weapons does not increase risk. To the contrary, it presents an advantage; it reduces crime and violence. Statistics and fact repudiate the fallacy that concealed weapons on campus will increase violence. In fact, guns should be permitted on campus due to the constitutional right to bear arms, growing violence on campus, the unmanageable job for the campus police to protect the students and staff, and the attractiveness of the Gun-free zone to malefactors. It should not stop there. High school teachers should be allowed to carry a weapon. As a future French teacher, I don’t want to die as a victim, but as a brave little soldier who will fight for my life and those of my students whom I would have in my charge. No one has the right to end a life of a living being for nothing. But many lives will be terminated before a policy is put in place to stop the rampage. The campus and other public places shouldn’t allow us to revoke our right as citizens to protect ourselves. Reema Ramage’s parents would have loved to see her graduate from Virginia Tech, to be there for her wedding day, to hold her first child. But, a foolish man decided to kill these dreams. Sadly, no one was allowed to stop him. Reema has the right to live. Works Cited .MSNC, â€Å"Worst U.S. shooting ever kills 33 on Va. campus.† (2007): n. page. Print. . .†Virginia Tech.† We Remember: biographies. N.p., 2007. Web. 3 Apr 2012. . .Head, Tom. â€Å"The Second Amendment.† About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr 2012. . .†Time Line of Worldwide School Shootings.† Infoplease. Pearson Education, 2012. Web. 3 Apr 2012. . .†California’s Gun-Free School Zone Act .† School Law. N.p., 2012. Web. 3 Apr 2012. . . â€Å"How to Get a Permit to Carry a Concealed Weapon in Texas.† eHow. N.p., 2012. Web. 3 Apr 2012. .

Monday, September 16, 2019

Functions, Trends and Nature of Ownership and Control in the British Mass Media Essay

In this piece of writing I will attempt to explain the functions, trends and nature of ownership and control in the British Mass Media. At the end I will describe the features of a Mass Media conglomerate. The Mass media is basically any style of text or image that is viewed by a lot of people. For example T.V, radio, newspapers, books, magazines, billboards, etc are all forms of mass media. Some of these can reach millions of people like T.V, where as newspapers usually reach hundreds of thousands and so on. The media gives us things like, news, entertainment, advertising etc. TELEVISION: Television is the biggest form of media in the UK and in most countries in the world. There are two main types of T.V in the UK, public funded and independent. The BBC is publicly funded by T.V licence fees of around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 that cover all BBC related audio & visual broadcasting. The government does not have any direct influence over what is shown on T.V although there are regulators who decide what is acceptable and what is not. The BBC is controlled by their board of governors of which there are twelve who are appointed by the Crown to ensure that the BBC fulfils its obligations. Among them are National Governors for Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland. One Governor has special responsibility for the English Regions. All are part time non-executives. They meet monthly and hold the BBC’s managers to account for their performance against the agreed strategy and objectives. The BBC is led by the director-general, who is both chief executive and editor-in-chief. The Governors appoint the Director-General and (with the Director-General) the most senior management. BBC operations are run by the directors of nine programming and broadcasting divisions and six professional services, and by the Chief executives of the BBC’s two commercial businesses. They report to the director-general and together make up the Executive Committee. A less formal Leadership Group meets to discuss and develop a clear vision for the BBC. The independents are controlled by themselves. However thy may be part of a bigger conglomerate. The ITV is a federation of television companies holding licences from the Independent Television Commission (ITC) to broadcast in 14 regions covering the whole of the United Kingdom. Each licence is awarded for a minimum of ten years. The ITV network has 15 independent regional television licences in 14 regional areas (there are 2 licences for London, a weekday and a weekend licence). All programmes are designed for local audiences in each region. The ITV is controlled by the ITV Council, comprising the Chief Executives of each licensee. Each ITV licensee has rights over the programme schedule, and is responsible for the production and broadcasting of its own local programme and news services. The ITV and its independent companies are regulated and licensed by the ITC. The ITC is independent of the Government and of the broadcasters. They are funded from fees that the licensees have to pay. The ITC makes sure that the independent and commercial licensees provide quality programs and a high standard of competition among other things. They also set certain standards for the time allocated to certain styles of programmes. There are five categories of channel 3 programmes for which the ITC sets minimum requirements. These are, * National and International news Three programmes each day of 20 minutes (lunch), 15 minutes (early evening) and half an hour in peak time. * Current affairs One and a half hours weekly average * Children Ten hours weekly average * Religion Two hours weekly average * Regional Varies from franchise to franchise Although the ITC is involved in licensing and regulating all forms of digital television, the Broadcasting Act 1996 makes it specifically responsible for establishing Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in the UK. DTT is especially important because it carries existing free-to-air services provided by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 (S4C in Wales) and Channel 5. At present, T.V broadcasting is mainly analogue, however within the next five years it will all be digital. Digital T.V will bring a bigger choice of programmes to watch, as it will have on average 200 stations. You can already do shopping and go on the internet with digital T.V, but by the time it takes over analogue completely it will have many more options and facilities. NEWSPAPERS: There are many distinguishing features in the British Press. Some of these are things like the differences between tabloid and broadsheet papers or the differences between national, local and regional papers. There are ten morning daily papers and ten Sunday papers which make up the national press. Fleet Street in London used to be the centre of the newspaper industry, but all the national papers have moved their editorial and printing facilities to other parts of London or away from the capital all together. National papers are often described as ‘quality’,’mid-market’ or ‘popular’papers because of their differences in style and content. Five dailies and four Sundays are usualy described as ‘qualitie’ papers. These papers are directed at people who want full information on a wide range of public maters. Popular newspapers are for the more light hearted reader. Mid-market publications cover the intermediate market. Quality papers are normally broadsheet (large-sheet) in format and mid-market and popular papers are tabloid (small-sheet) in size. Scottish editions of national papers usually only change things like the sports page and the T.V listings. Most places in the UK have their own regional or local newspaper. These can be anything from daily papers to evening ones, Sundays or weeklies. These papers concentrate mainly on local or regional stories although the dailies do print national and international news from a local viewpoint. Newspapers from the Irish Republic and the British national press are widely read in Northern Ireland. Several hundred free distribution papers, mostly weekly and financed by advertising, are published in the UK. They have enjoyed rapid growth in recent years. Ownership of the national, London and many regional daily newspapers lies in the hands of large corporations, most of which are involved in the whole field of publishing and communications (media conglomerates). Local papers however are owned by different companies’ altogether. Newspapers are also controlled by their boards of management. It is possible for two national papers to be owned by the same company and they can even be owned by broadcasting companies as a separate division, however influence between the two types of media is not recommended. There are local weekly papers for every district in Greater London; these are often different local editions of one centrally published paper. This does not just happen in London. A prime example of this in our area would be the Press and Journal. It covers the North of Scotland as well as some southern areas as far down as Perth and Stirling, but it produces different editions for every area of which there are eleven. These editions are classed as local editions. All newspapers are answerable to the press complaints commission, which responds to public complaints about printed items. RADIO: There are basically two types of radio in the UK. There is Commercial Radio and The BBC Radio. The Radio Authority governs commercial radio stations such as Moray Firth radio and XFM. The radio authority is basically the ITC of the radio. Like the ITC it also has no powers over the BBC. The BBC is fully independent. Although there are far more Commercial radio stations than BBC ones, the BBC is still ahead in ratings. The gap between BBC Radio and its commercial rivals has widened recently to show BBC Radio to have a share of 51.4% compared with 46.79% for Commercial Radio. In the neck-and-neck race for reach, the BBC edged ahead with 31.2 million listeners compared with their rivals’ 31.1 million. The figures released by RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited) cover the period from June 26 to September 17 2000. Radio can change on a daily basis because the control of its output is not restricted. The format usually stays the same although major changes in presentation can happen from time to time. Independent radio station change depending on their income and audience. The better the audience the better the sponsorships and advertisers. Things like audience talk shows on radio where members of the audience can phone in and participate are very successful. The BBC and large independent radio companies are controlled in the same way as they are on T.V. Although the majority are part of larger groups, local radio is controlled by local management. These groups use their own style in the local stations but adapt it to suit the area of broadcast. VOLENTARY & IN-VOLENTARY CODES OF PRACTICE: Independent T.V and radio are quite strictly controlled by the ITC and Radio Authority, but magazines and newspapers have more freedom. These, along with the BBC, ITV, Press Complaints Commission and the Broadcasting Standards all enforce their own codes of practice throughout the media. However, the law has the final say in control of the media in the following areas: Defamation: A statement which damages the reputation of an individual or company, i.e. false accusations, libel, innuendos, etc. Obscenity: The publication or broadcasting of material which will tend to deprave or corrupt. Incitement of racial hatred: 1986 public order act forbids material which is likely to incite racial hatred. Blasphemy: To pass the limits of decency and controversy and outrage Christian feelings. Only applies to Christians. Sedation: Forbids the publication of material that incites hatred towards parliament or the monarch. Official secrets act: Forbids the publication of official secrets. Contempt of court: Forbids you from pre judging a court case or to assume someone is guilty. MASS MEDIA CONGLOERATE: Carlton Media Group: The Carlton Media Group runs the following sixteen companies: Carlton London Region The London Region is one of three areas for which Carlton TV is the ITV broadcaster. Visit the site for regional company news. Carlton Central Region The Central Region is one of three areas for which Carlton TV is the ITV broadcaster. Visit the site for regional company news. Carlton International Carlton International is the largest distributor of classic British films and the biggest sales house for British TV outside the BBC. ITN ITN is one of the most respected independent news organisations in the world catering for news, sport, business and entertainments. Carlton West Country Region The West Country Region is one of three areas for which Carlton TV is the ITV broadcaster. Visit the site for regional company news. ITV Carries information about programmes on the ITV network. Action Time Television production company Action Time is a leading distributor of entertainments formats, including an extensive home video clip library. London News Network LNN is a TV and production company working for joint shareholders Carlton and LWT. Carlton Cinema Carlton cinema is a film channel available exclusively on On digital. Visit the website for comprehensive movie listings. Media Sales For information on rates, screen advertising, pitch time, sponsorship and career opportunities at Carlton. Carlton Communications Plc Carlton Communications Plc is the publicly quoted parent company of Carlton Media and other related media companies. Click here for the share price, financial and other investor information. ONdigital ONdigital was the first company in the world to launch a digital terrestrial television service delivering multi-channel TV and interactive services into homes through an ordinary TV aerial. Visit the website for listings. Simply Food SimplyFood.co.uk is the UK’s No.1 food and drink website and home to the Carlton Food Network. It has a searchable UK restaurant guide and a database of thousands of recipes, plus features and reviews. Carlton Video On the Carlton Video website you can buy videos and DVD’s of many of Carlton’s programmes and films, including classics like Inspector Morse, Soldier Soldier, and Britain at War. PeopleBank PeopleBank is the UK’s leading provider of internet recruitment services, bringing together quality candidates and employers. Online since 1995, PeopleBank has extensive experience in providing cost-effective e-recruitment solutions. HTV HTV, the ITV broadcaster for Wales, was recently bought by Carlton TV. Visit the site of the most popular channel in Wales. They also have â€Å"Carlton Books†. This shows that Carlton cover broadcasting, publishing, the internet, advertising, and marketing. This means that if Carlton have a successful income level from one of there companies it can benefit all of them and in turn make them more desirable to the public. Because of this they can use control there revenue a lot better without having to pay other companies to do things like marketing. They sell advertising space to make the initial money to fund projects such as a new drama series. They can then market and publish their own material and because they own all the copyright they can expand by using the internet. Although there is a national guideline concerning who owns what and the amount of fields you can spread into to prevent companies from becoming â€Å"all powerful† and swallowing up smaller companies, Carlton still has it’s eye on â€Å"Direct†. This is a group who run insurance and holiday companies. At present, Carlton are biding for the Scottish Media Group who have two radio stations, a newspaper group, Scottish and Grampian television. If they are successful in their bid, they will be able to grow to new heights and spread into both radio and print forms of media quite successfully in Scotland. Functions of the Mass Media: There are five main functions in the mass media. Entertainment functions: This provides healthy amusement and helps to divert the attention of the audience from serious social issues and inequalities. Information functions: This helps to structure a particular view of the world and to look at it in geographical, political and social terms. Cultural functions: This helps to develop mass culture at the expense of more diverse subcultures. That helps to maintain the status quo in cultural terms, but may also discourage change and growth. Social functions: These socialize us into beliefs and relationships which help us operate successfully in society. This naturalizes one view of society and stops us thinking, obtaining and acting on alternative views. Political functions: This helps us to understand the operation of politics in our society. However, it gives us the illusion of participating in the political process, but actually endorses the authority of those who continue to run our lives unquestioned. The media are also capable of shaping opinions about political events and issues. Current Trends in the Mass Media: When you think of current trends in the media at the moment two things come to mind, digital and conglomerates. A lot of companies are trying to branch out into other fields of the media at the moment. The Scottish media group for one are trying to expand their interests in radio although this could cause problems with it’s T.V. franchises. There are regulations set up to prevent certain big companies from taking over the media by branching ever wider into it. However there are discussions about these regulations which could result in big firms having huge ownership or control over certain areas of the mass media. The main trend of the moment has to be the evolution from analogue to digital. T.V. and radio are all a part of the growing trend and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop there. Already you can tune in to the radio through digital T.V. as well as go on the internet, shop, play games, the opportunities are endless. The future however lies with a fully digital T.V. without the aid of ugly dishes on the side of your house or cumbersome boxes on top of you tele. With this you will be able to access anything you want. There will be no set programs, no times, just you, your T.V. and the whole media world at your fingertips. You will be able to pick anything to watch, read, here, play, buy, or do from your tele. This astonishing development is proving very expensive to produce, run, and buy if it is ever released. If it is released it will be the main media related technological break through in history.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

An outline of the history of linguistics Essay

†¢ Hindu Tradition o Had its origins in the 1st millennium BC o Stimulated by changes in Sanskrit o Panini (c. 500 BC) is the best known grammarian o Panini’s grammar of Sanskrit covered phonetics and morphology †¢ The Greek Origin o The Greek tradition of linguistics developed in response to Homer’s epics. The Greeks founded the European tradition. o IMPORTANT THEMES IN THE GREEK TRADITION INCLUDE: ? The origin of language ? Classification of words (parts of speech) ? The relation between language and thought ? The relation between two aspects of word-signs (whether form and meaning are connected by nature or by  convention. 1 o Plato (c. 429-347 BC) distinguished between Nouns and Verbs. He favored nature over convention. o Aristotle’s (384-322 BC) main contributions to linguistics are as follows: †¢ He divided words into Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives. †¢ He divided the sentence into two parts, SUBJECT and PREDICATE. †¢ He classified GENDER into masculine, feminine, and neutral. †¢ He was the first to distinguish between the different types of TENSE a verb carries. o Thrax (100 BC) produced the first complete grammar of Greek. He concluded that Greek words fell into just eight classes, which we call the parts of speech. Thrax’s description of Greek has become the basis of all grammatical description in Europe until the 20th century. 2 †¢ Roman Tradition o After the Roman conquest of Greece in the mid-2nd century BC, Roman scholars learned of the Greek work, and they began to apply the same analysis to their own language, Latin. o One of the most influential Roman grammarians is Priscian, who wrote in the 6th century AD. Priscian’s description of Latin is still what we find in most school textbooks of Latin today. †¢ Arabic Tradition The oldest Arabic grammarian is Abu-Alaswad al-Du’ali, who established diacritical marks and vowels for Arabic in the mid-600s. o The schools of Basra and Kufa in the late 700s. o From the school of Basra, two representatives laid important foundations for the field: Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi authored the first Arabic dictionary and book of Arabic prosody, and his student Sibawayh authored the first book on theories of Arabic grammar. 3 †¢ The Port-Royal Grammar o The 17th-century French scholars, known as the Port-Royal Circle, put together a remarkably original â€Å"universal† grammar of French that is very different from the Priscianic tradition. o The central argument of the Grammar is that grammar is  simply mental processes, which are universal; therefore grammar is universal. o The Port Royal Grammar had a pedagogical goal as its primary one. However, this goal was not learning a specific language, but rather learning any language. It aims to provide an overview of the grammatical features shared by all languages. o As such, it was part of Port Royal’s overall program of changing language teaching methodology 4 o A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THEIR ANALYSIS IS AS FOLLOWS: The invisible God created the visible world This sentence is analyzed as†¦ God, who is invisible, created the world, which is visible †¦. Which in turn is decomposed into the three propositions†¦ God is invisible God created the world The world is visible †¢ Historical Linguistics o Towards the end of the 18th century, European linguists began to realize that certain languages exhibited systematic resemblances. Linguists believed that these languages derive from one single ancestor. o For example, the English ‘f’ sound often corresponds to a ‘p’ sound in, among others, Latin and Sanskrit, an important ancient language of India. 5 Franz Bopp Jakob Grimm Rasmus Rask. Were able to show that almost all of the languages of Europe and many languages of Asia were all related. As a result, the study of language change and of the prehistories of languages, called HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS, became the most important way of studying languages. †¢ An example of the kind of systematic correspondence that attracted early attention is shown in the following table. English Latin Greek father Pater Pater Foot Ped- Pod- For Pro Para Six Sex Hexa Seven Septem Hepta Salt Sal Hal New Novus neos 6 THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT OF THE 19TH CENTURY LINGUISTIC SCHOLARSHIP WAS (1) to establish the principles and methods used in setting up language families, and (2) to develop a general theory of language change and linguistic relationship. The 19th century is called the â€Å"golden age of philology†. This program of historical linguistics continues today. Linguists have succeeded in grouping the 5,000 or so languages of the world into a number of language families sharing a common ancestor. The Origins of General Linguistics The modern field of linguistics dates from the beginning of the 19th century. Towards the end of the 19th century, the non-historical study of language structure began to reassert itself. Scholars published important observations about word structure and sound structure in languages. This kind of work we now call GENERAL LINGUISTICS: the study of how languages are put together and how they work. 7 Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1013) In the early years of the 20th century, Saussure began lecturing on general linguistics at the University of Geneva. He died without ever publishing his ideas. In 1916, his students collected and edited their lecture notes in a volume with Saussure’s name on it. Saussure defined Language as a ‘system of distinct signs corresponding to distinct ideas’. He insisted that a language system can be separated from the complexities of speech and studied on its own. Before Saussure, most linguists perceived a language as primarily a collection of objects, such as speech sounds, words and grammatical endings. Saussure argued instead that a language is a structured system of elements, in which the place of each element is defined chiefly by how it relates to other elements. This approach is called STRUCTURALISM. †¢ Words are signs, and in linguistics we are studying the science of signs: semiology. And signs took on a value depending on words adjacent in use or meaning. English has sheep and mutton but French has only mouton for both uses. †¢ Langue (French, meaning â€Å"language†) and parole (meaning â€Å"speech†) are linguistic terms distinguished by Saussure. Langue encompasses the abstract, systematic rules and conventions of a signifying system. 8 Langue involves the principles of language, without which no meaningful utterance, â€Å"parole†, would be possible. †¢ Parole refers to the concrete instances of the use of langue. This is the individual, personal phenomenon of language as a series of speech acts made by a linguistic subject. Saussure did not concern himself overly with parole; however, the structure of langue is revealed through the study of parole. †¢ A further aspect of Saussure’s work is an emphasis upon two different approaches to the study of language: a synchronic approach, in which we focus on the structure of a language at a particular moment in time (not necessarily the present), and a diachronic approach, in which we look at the development of a language over time. The Prague Circle After the 1st World War (1926), a number of East European linguists congregated in the Czech city of Prague. They developed structuralist ideas. Their primary interest was phonological theory. They also made contributions to syntax. †¢ Trubetzkoy (1890-1938) introduced the notion of phoneme and opposition. An example of his analysis of phonology is the way the 9 word caught is pronounced. This word is pronounced the same in American and Canadian accents. However, in most American accents, caught is pronounced differently from cot, while in Canadian accents caught and cot are pronounced identically. †¢ Jakobson (1896 – 1982) is a pioneer of the structural analysis of language. He developed techniques for the analysis of sound systems in languages (phonology). He applied these techniques to syntax, morphology, and semantics. He distinguished between phonology and phonetics. Jakobson defined semiotics as ‘the general science of signs, which has as its basic discipline linguistics, the science of verbal signs’. Linguistics provides the model of analyzing language as a structured system that â€Å" produces meanings†. Semiotics attempts to extend this approach to other non-linguistic systems, that is, to every aspect of social experience that can be analyzed as structured systems of signs (e.g. , traffic systems and architecture). 10 The Origins of American Linguistics Franz Boas (1858-1942) is an anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the â€Å"Father of American Anthropology†. Boas worked to demonstrate that differences in human behavior was primarily not determined by innate biological dispositions, but was largely the result of cultural differences acquired through social learning. In this way Boas introduced culture as the primary concept for describing behavioral differences in behavior between human groups, and as the central analytical concept of anthropology. He studied the dying cultures of Native Americans and realized that good investigation of these cultures required knowledge of their languages. Edward Sapir (1884 -1939) is also an anthropologist. He was Boas’s most famous student. He studied the ways in which language and culture influence each other, and he was interested in the relation between linguistic differences, and differences in cultural world views (e. g. , whom and who). 11 The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897 – 1941) is Sapir’s best-known student. He pursued his teacher’s interests and produced a number of studies of native American and Canadian languages. He argues that the structure of our language must, to some extent, determine the way we perceive the world. This idea is called â€Å"the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis† or â€Å" The Linguistic Relativity†. †¢ The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis states that there are certain thoughts of an individual in one language that cannot be understood by those who live in another language. †¢ The hypothesis states that the way people think is strongly affected by their native languages. For example, (1) the number and type of the basic color words of a language determine how a subject sees the rainbow (how we see camels). Example (2): the Navaho language of Arizona is rich in words for talking about lines of various shapes and colors. Among the hundred or so words available for this purpose are: Adziisgai ‘ a group of parallel white lines running off into the distance’. 12 (3). Navaho place names are geometrical in nature. For example, a certain striking rock formation in Arizona is called Navaho Tse Ahe ii aha Tse Ahe ii aha means â€Å"TWO ROCKS STANDING VERTICALLY PARALLEL IN A VERTICAL RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER†. English speakers see objects resembling other objects.. They call these rocks â€Å"elephant’s feet†. A pioneer of American Structuralism Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) is another linguist who turned American linguistics somewhat away from its anthropological and cultural connections toward a more focused concentration on language structure in its own right. 13 He showed that the techniques of historical linguistics (already applied so successfully to European and Asian languages) could be applied with equal success to native (North) American languages. Bloomfield’s primary concern was to establish linguistics as a science. But he became best known for his 1933 textbook in which he presented a carefully articulated approach to the structuralist analysis of languages, far more explicit and detailed that Saussure’s analysis had been ( e. g. , gender in an Algonquian language ‘raspberry and knee= animate, while strawberry and elbow=inanimate). Bloomfield was influenced by behaviorist psychology. He denied the relevance of â€Å"mind†; that is , he opposed the mentalism that had characterized the American linguistics of Boas, Sapir, and their students. Chomsky’s Generative Grammar Noam Chomsky is the world’s most influential linguist. Chomsky introduced his generative ideas in a brief 1957 book, Syntactic Structures. 14 What is generative grammar? A generative grammar of a language attempts to give a set of rules that will correctly predict which combinations of words will form grammatical sentences. Generative grammar is a FORMAL grammar. It is explicit about what is compatible with it. Some rules of forming English sentences (phrase-structure rules): 1. S? NP VP 2. NP? Det N’ 3. N’? N 5. VP? V NP Possible noun phrases: the little girl my cat Possible verb phrases: hugged her dolly claws the sofa These rules are designed to stipulate exactly what can and cannot be a sentence of English. For example, the allow things like The little girl hugged her dolly and my cat claws the sofa But they do not allow things like *Little the girl her dolly hugged. 15 1. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously 2. *Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. Sentence (1) is perfectly grammatical because we know which category to put each word in the sentence (noun, verb, adjective, adverb). adj adj N V adv Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. We understand how to group these into subject and predicate: adj adj N. [Colorless green ideas ] subject V adv [ sleep furiously]. predicate And we know that â€Å"colorless green ideas† are directly related to â€Å"sleep†, connecting the subject and predicate. Because we know how to logically group parts of speech, we know that adv V N adj adj Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. is not a grammatical (ungrammatical/ ill-formed) sentence, simply because we cannot group these same words in a different order at all logically. Chomsky effectively proved that we have a built-in awareness of grammaticality, because we can explain why â€Å"colorless green ideas sleep furiously† is  acceptable and â€Å"furiously sleep ideas green colorless† is unacceptable. 16 Many of the properties of a generative grammar arise from an â€Å"innate† universal grammar. Transformational Grammar (TG) TG is a much more powerful kind of Generative Grammar. Chomsky rejected phrase-structure grammar because it is too simple to capture important facts about language (context-free). For example, to convert The police arrested John into John was arrested by the police A single transformational rule does all of the following: Move the police to the end of the sentence. Insert by before the police. Move John to the beginning of the sentence. Insert be before the verb arrested. Add tense-marking to convert be to was. Change the past tense arrested to the participle arrested. 17 Generative grammar shifted the focus of language study from behavior to state of the mind (behaviorism to cognition). The central concern becomes the knowledge of language: its nature, origins, and use. The three basic questions that arise, then are these: 1. What constitutes knowledge of language? 2. How is knowledge of language acquired? 3. How is knowledge of language put to use?