Children Charged as Adults

Children Charged as Adults†¦How Young is too Young? Ralonda Ross Post University 1. In the article â€Å"Adult Time for Adult Crime? † Nathaniel Abraham is a perfect example of how young is too young. He is an adolescent who committed a crime at a considerably young age and got charged as an adult. Nathaniel has not been sentenced yet because it is unclear as to whether he has the intellect to understand the nature of his crime of not. 2. Punishing Juvenile Offenders as Adults: An Analysis of the Social and Political Determinants of Juvenile Prison Admissions across the United States† is an article that focus on how there is a difference between the states. The number of juveniles that get sentenced to adult prison differs because of the minority committing the crimes. In addition, is explains how the juveniles who go to juvenile have a less chance to be assaulted than the ones in prison with adults. . The website with the article â€Å"Adult Time for Adult Crimesà ¢â‚¬  is a good reference because it gives me in site on different ways to view whether it is fair to charge children as adults. It also helps me to understand the mindset of the juveniles at different ages. Overall it is a good website to assist me with my paper. References Adult time for adult crime?. (2000). Current Events, 99(16), 2a.Carmichael, J. T. (2011). Punishing Juvenile Offenders as Adults: An Analysis of the Social and Political Determinants of Juvenile Prison Admissions across the United States. Sociological Focus, 44(2), 102-123. Hudson, D. L. , Jr. (2009) ABA Journal. How to retrieve internet information. Retrieve from http://www. abajournal. com/magazine/article/adult_time_for_adult_crimes/

Lesson Plan for P.E. Essay

This is a great activity that my kids loved after a solid review of what is in a First Aid Kit. Once your students have been introduced to these contents and understand their uses, have them apply their knowledge to real life situations with this activity. 1. Have students break into groups of 3-5. 2. I assigned students roles in their groups. (Time Keeper, Writer, Speaker, etc.) They all need to help discuss however. 2. Each group will receive an index card with a scenario on it. 3. Based on the scenario, students must decide which item(s) from their First Aid Kit they would use. They should write down the items they could use on the back of the note card. I have a spelling list on the board for younger grades. If supplies allow it, give each group a first aid kit so that they may simply grab the item for their scenario. Example of a Scenario: One of your friends cuts their leg and it begins to bleed. You need to help them clean the wound. What do you need to use from the First Aid Kit? Answer: Rubber Gloves, Cleansing Pads, Gauze, Antibacterial Ointment, etc. 4. Have each group go through their list and discuss with the class why it’s important to have each certain item. How does it help both the helper and whoever is injured? Make sure that you stress the importance to always find an adult first before performing first aid. Assessment Ideas: Perform assessment and evaluation throughout the entire lesson by having the students interact with thoughtful discussion based lecture and apply what they have learned by putting the index cards into the correct spots and answering why it’s important to know first aid safety. Tuesday Name of Activity: Counting on Groceries | Purpose of Activity: The purpose of the activity is for the students to comprehend concepts related to health promotion by moving in the gymnasium and learning about healthy food choices as well as doing a little basic math. Prerequisites: Counting to 6. Have some basic ideas of what good foods look like. Student will demonstrate healthy practice and behaviors to maintain or improve personal health. Suggested Grade Level: 2 Materials Needed: Enough foam dice so that each child has one Lots of plastic foods Two reusable shopping bags 4 green baskets (depending on how much â€Å"go food† you have) 2 red baskets (depending on how much â€Å"whoa food† you have) Description of Idea Place on shopping bag with lots of food choices in it toward one end of the play space. Place the other shopping bag also with lots of food choices in it toward the other end of the play space. This allows for more movement and less traffic jams. Place the color baskets in the center of the play space. The green baskets represent the â€Å"Go Foods – healthy food choices† and the red baskets represent â€Å"Whoa Foods – foods we can only eat every once in a while†. Each child will get 1 die. They will take the die to a self-space and roll the die one time. After rolling the die they need to count the spots. Each spot represents a piece of food they can get at the grocery store (shopping bags). Once they collect the correct amount of food from the bag to match the roll of the die they bring the food back to the baskets. Once at the baskets they sort the food into the green basket for go foods and red basket for whoa foods. After sorting the foods they go ba ck to their die and roll again. They continue to do this until the shopping bags are empty and the food is all sorted. After all food is sorted bring the children back to the center of the play area. Have them sit in a circle so they can all see the baskets. As the children to identify the foods in the basket and evaluate to see if they placed the foods in the correct baskets. Assessment Ideas: I was able to assess if the students could count to six by watching their die roll and seeing how many pieces of food they took when going to the shopping bag. I was able to watch the children sort the food and see if they were sorting correctly for the food choices they had. As a group I was able to assess the overall outcome by how successful they were overall with the sorting activity. Adaptations for Students with Disabilities: Kids with mobility problems could have an adult bring a basket to them so they could sort easier. Kids with visual difficulties could have the food identified for them and then have them tell another child or adult what basket to place to the food in. Kids could work in pairs if a child has trouble counting the spots on the die. Wednesday Name of Activity: Learning the food guide pyramid | Purpose of Activity: The learner will apply knowledge and behavior self-management skills to areas of nutrition and physical activity for healthy growth, development, and maintenance. Prerequisites: The student will choose habits that prevent hearth disease. : Students should have knowledge of the five food groups, how much of each food group they should be getting every day, and what makes up a â€Å"serving† of food. 115.2 Health Edu. (b)(1) (A) Suggested Grade Level: 2 Materials needed: -white board, -white board markers. -Class set of food calendar worksheets, -multiple sets of pyramid go fish game, -deck of cards Description of Idea Focus: What is everyone’s favorite food? (Make a chart on the white board, placing student’s favorite foods under the category of the food pyramid in which it belongs) Explain which category the student’s favorite foods fall under, which category we should have the most of (grains) and which the least of (fats and oils)? Statement of Objectives: To learn about the food guide pyramid and what foods are best for our bodies! Teacher Input: Can anyone name all the categories of the food guide pyramid? (Grains, vegetables, fruits, milk/dairy, meats & beans, and fats/sugars) Tell your neighbor what your favorite food is and which category it fell under? Now how much of all the other categories, as well as the one your favorite food falls under, do you think you should be eating each day? Grains- 6 ounces Vegetables- 2  ½ ounces Fruits- 1 ½ cups Milk/dairy- 3 cups Meats & beans- 5 ounces Fats/sugars- know your limits Oils (although not a good group, they are needed in small amounts for good health) We eat these foods because they provide our bodies with the nutrients we need to do things. To run, walk, talk, think, smile, and GROW big and strong! All the categories of the food guide pyramid are like a puzzle, and if our body doesn’t have all the pieces, it isn’t complete! Guided Practice: Can we discuss as a class, what are some healthy choices that we could eat from each of these categories. Examples: Grains (pasta, bread, rice), Vegetables (lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cucumbers, peppers), Fruits (bananas, strawberries, oranges, apples), Milk/dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese) Meats & beans (chicken, fish, lean beef, soybeans, dried beans). One important thing to know when deciding what you are going to eat for your each food guide pyramid portion size. We need six ounces of grains per day, and five ounces of meat/bean. What does this mean? Well three ounces can be described as the same width and size of a deck of cards (show example of a deck of cards). So remember that when eating. Now, let’s fill in this chart all together (the same food calendar worksheet passed out to class already) to help us think about what kinds of foods we would all eat throughout our meals to ensure we are eating all of the correct foods and serving amounts that the food guide pyramid tells us to. Who would like to raise their hand first, to tell me, what is a food we could eat with breakfast, which would help us reach our goal of meeting the food guide pyramid daily servings? Independent Practice: With three of your neighbors, take a few minutes to play â€Å"Pyramid Go Fish!† The dealer of your group shuffles the cards, then gives each player four cards, and puts the remaining cards in a stack in middle of everyone. Each player takes a turn asking another player if he/she has the pair to one of the four cards that they currently have in their hands. If two of the same cards are obtained, then the pair is laid down and counted as one point. When asking another player if he/she has a card and is answered â€Å"no, go fish† then the player who was denied must draw another card from the deck in the middle. If answered â€Å"Yes†, then the player is given the card, lays down his/her pair, and gets to ask again if a fellow player has a card he/she needs. Whoever ends up with the most pairs wins? Closure: Raise your hand to tell me a food that may not be your favorite, but you like a lot, that falls into the food guide pyramids’ categories. How much of this food do you usually eat when you have it? What are some fats/sugars that would be better to choose, rather than candy, ice cream and items like that? Make sure to go home tonight and talk to your family about what should be on your plate in order to have a well-balanced, healthy dinner tonight! Assessment Ideas: Psychomotor: The student will be able to play games related to the food guide pyramid. Cognitive: The student will be able to remember what the food guide pyramid categories are, what types of foods belong to each, how many servings pertain to each category, and why we should eat these foods. Affective: The student will be able to discuss good choices to eat from the food guide pyramid, determine how much of each pyramid category they should eat daily, and also be able to teach others about what they learned from the food guide pyramid. Thursday Name of Activity: Creating a First Aid Kit | Purpose of Activity: The student should know how to work in groups while making the first aid kit. They should also be able to list five items that should in a first aid kit and explain how they are used, as well as, go home and make a first aid kit. Prerequisites: Student should have had prior practice. The students should know the name of the items in the box and how to use all content in the box, also where it should be kept. And be skilled in common first aid procedures. 115.2 Health Edu (b) (1) (A) Suggested Grade Level: 2 Materials Needed: first-aid manual, sterile gauze, adhesive tape, adhesive bandages in several sizes, elastic bandage, antiseptic wipes, soap, antibiotic cream (triple-antibiotic ointment), antiseptic solution (like hydrogen peroxide), hydrocortisone cream (1%), acetaminophen and ibuprofen, extra prescription medications (if the family is going on vacation), tweezers, sharp scissors, safety pins, disposable instant cold packs, calamine lotion, alcohol wipes or ethyl alcohol, thermometer, plastic gloves (at least 2 pairs), flashlight and extra batteries, mouthpiece for administering CPR (can be obtained from your local Red Cross), your list of emergency phone numbers blanket (stored nearby), Plastic box, construction paper cut to 3Ãâ€"5 in., markers, sandwich bags, take home handouts with the list of items for kit and how to make a kit, First aid assessment sheet, the in class worksheet for with blank spaces for students to fill in descriptions Description of Idea Statement of Objectives: Once we have finished creating our classroom first aid kit you will be able to go home and make your own first aid kit with your parents and identify all the parts that are found in the kit. Teacher Input: Ask students, â€Å"Have you ever seen a first aid kit?† ask them to raise their hand. â€Å"Where do you usually see first aid kits?† call on a few, give positive feedback. Tell the students that a first aid kit is a good thing to have anywhere. Give examples: in the car, at home, at the playground. Tell the children how you never know when you may have a emergency that will require immediate action. Put up a slide showing the standard list of items, with their descriptions, found in a kit. Point to each item say the name and have the class repeat the name. Guided Practice: After going through the list once give each student the handout that matches the slide telling them to follow along and take notes of the descriptions of use as you move down the list. Tell the classroom that this information was provided to them by the White Lake Fire Department. This time instead of pointing only to the slide use the items you have already sat on the desk that will go in your kit to show the students a visual of the item as you describe it while they take notes. After going over an item start passing it through the class giving each student an opportunity to look closely at each item. Once you reach the end have them fill in the last three spaces with things they think would be nice to have in a first aid kit. This can be something serious like glow sticks, matches or fun such as a coloring book or small stuffed animal. Independent Practice: Assign children into groups of no more than five. Give each group a sandwich bag and the construction paper squares. Tell the students to make their own first aid kit by writing the name of each item on the paper provided. Tell the groups to switch bags and empty the contents checking to make sure each piece is there. Before they check the new bags explain to the students the importance of going through the first aid kit every few months to make sure all the items are still there and that none of the items are out of date or damaged. Closure: Give positive feedback on what a wonderful job they have done so far. Go back to the table with all the items for the first aid kit and have each child come up and pick and item to go in the class box. Ask the student, â€Å"Can you tell everyone what this item is and what we would use this item for?† Let each child have a turn if possible. Pass out the First Aid Lesson assessment and have the children complete and hand in. After the box is complete encourage the children to go home and talk to their parents about making their own kit Friday Name of Activity: Nutrition Scooter Relay | Purpose of Activity: The students will be able to demonstrate safe scooter travel and will be able to correctly identify foods from the six food pyramid groups. Prerequisites: Students should have knowledge of the five food groups, how much of each food group they should be getting every day, and what makes up a â€Å"serving† of food. Suggested Grade Level: 2 Materials Needed: 1. four wheeled scooters (enough for half your class) 2. Pictures of foods from the six food groups (around 100-150 pictures) Description of Idea I like to use this relay as a culminating activity for learning about the six food groups. Divide the students into pairs and have them spread out along one side of the gym with one scooter per pair. Spread out pictures of food from the six food groups along the opposite side of the gym. I like to use food group pictures that I ordered from a Dairy Council catalog that allots free monies to teachers every year, but any assortment of pictures will work. It is also nice to tack up a picture of the food pyramid on the same side of the gym that you spread out the pictures for struggling students to use as a resource. Once the gym is set up, give the signal to begin. One student from each group must travel on the scooter down to the opposite end of the gym while the other student runs/skips/gallops/etc. beside his/her partner on the scooter. The partner on the scooter must travel on his/her bottom or knees. Once they have made it to the opposite side each group must pick six different foods pictures of food that fit into the six food group categories before returning. Partners can check with each other and the food pyramid poster to make sure they have all six before returning. They must go back the same way they came, with the same partner on the scooter and the same partner moving alongside the scooter. Once the first group has returned, begin counting down from 30 seconds, signaling to the other groups that they need to get back to the other side of the gym before time runs out with whatever pictures they have. Once everyone is back, they can take 30 seconds to show their items to another group to double check their choices. Once the 30 seconds are up, collect all the food from the students, have them switch places and go again! While they race down, replace the food you have collected so that they can use those pictures again for the following round. The kids LOVE this game, and it gives the students multiple opportunities to check their knowledge with other students while giving me many opportunities to walk around and assess student learning levels. Assessment Ideas: I have assessed student learning and comprehension levels in different ways for this game. Sometimes I use a check-sheet to mark that can correctly identify and place foods within the correct food groups, and sometimes (with the second graders) I use self-assessment charts where students can mark their own levels of understanding. Since this activity takes place at the end of my nutrition unit I usually already have a pretty good idea of who can and can’t identify foods and correctly place them within the six food groups, so this just gives me one more opportunity to check for understanding.

Animal Assisted Therapy in Nursing Homes and Elderly patients

Animal Assisted Therapy in Nursing Homes and Elderly patients Video ratings are another metric that demonstrate direct viewer feedback. They are displayed at the bottom right hand corner of videos along with video views. Here, we can see the number of likes or dislikes the video has received over time. For an in-depth view of these ratings, one needs to click on the bar graph. This helps compare likes, dislikes, comments and favourites of the video from its publication. Along with the total number of views of ones’ video, ratings can help to determine what video content is liked or disliked by one’s audience. Ratings feedback is often a better indication of engagement as compared to just views, as ratings require more action from one’s audience than simply watching one’s content. Feedback in the form of likes or dislikes can help our search rankings, as YouTube takes these factors into account when deciding our videos’ rank in the search results.

Centered Play Therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Centered Play Therapy - Essay Example By playing out feelings, it brings them to the surface. The child must face them and learn to recognize and control them. The goal is to help the child realize their own power within in him/her self. They then realize they have the right to be their own person and they have the power to make a decision about how they will behave. In making such decision the child becomes psychologically more mature and capable of selfhood and self control. The realization of selfhood, via ones own map, is the primary goal of child-centered play therapy. When this is established, more directive play allows the child to discover his/her power to make appropriate choices, use self control and problem solve. The Key concept of child-centered play therapy is that the therapist must accept is that the child is a unique person and worthy of respect, children are resilient. They have an inherent tendency toward growth and maturity and they are capable of positive self-direction. The therapist must develop a warn and comfortable relationship with the child. It is important to establish this rapport as early as possible in the therapeutic process. Part of this rapport is that the therapist accepts the child exactly as he/she is. The therapist must establish a feeling of permissiveness in the relationship to allow the child to express his/her own feelings. It is also important that the therapist stay alert to recognizing the feeling the child is expressing in the plan and they the therapist reflects those feelings back to the child to enable the child to grain insight into their own behavior. The therapist must not attempt to direct the child’s play or conversation in anyway. The child is the leader and the therapist follows. There should be not attempt on the therapist’s part to hurry the therapy along. This is a gradual process and the therapist must respect that. The only

Questionnaire Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Questionnaire - Assignment Example Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Department of Health Sciences Instructions: Choose the best answer to each of the questions. Only one answer is correct 1. The muscle tissue that shows no striations is ________ muscle. A.skeletal B. cardiac C.smooth D.voluntary E. multinucleated 2. Intercalated discs and striations are characteristic of A.smooth muscle tissue. B. cardiac muscle tissue. C.skeletal muscle tissue. D. all of the above E. none of the above 3. A tissue that transmit information in the form of action potentials, stores information, integrates and evaluates it * A. epithelial tissue B. connective tissue C. nervous tissue D. muscle tissue 4. The site of hair formation A. cortex B. medulla C. hair bulb D. hair follicle 5. Apocrine sweat glands could be found in A. palms B. soles of the feet C. axilla D. lips E. chest 6. When the epiphyseal plate is replaced by bone, A. puberty begins. B .interstitial bone growth begins.

Discussion thre Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion thre - Assignment Example has a moral duty to care for those suffering from Ebola and the decision about whether or not to administer the drug touches on this duty (Jackson, 2006). The ethical principles that are relevant to this event are respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance, and justice. Respect for autonomy requires that healthcare providers regard patients’ right to decide what happens to their bodies. Beneficence focuses on doing the best thing to a patient in all situations, while under non-malfeasance, healthcare providers endeavor not to do any harm to patients. Upholding justice makes healthcare providers to deal fairly with all patients in giving treatment or distributing scarce resources. Respect for autonomy, beneficence, and non-malfeasance are in conflict in this case. Respect for autonomy is more compelling in this case because it will allow the testing of the experimental drug with a patient’s consent. This principle would suggest and offer support for a resolution by allowing the experimenter to test the drug without breaking the law and the patient might benefit if the drug works (Sugarman & Sulmasy, 2010). The distinction between consent and informed consent has implications for professional healthcare providers. Informed consent protects professional healthcare providers from legal action and consent does not. Finally, in education related to informed consent, APRN should emphasize the need for healthcare providers to provide patients with sufficient information regarding any procedure for which they might intend to carry out on patients (Maclean,

Short essay philosophy Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Short philosophy - Essay Example He believed in the ability of man to do good. His philosophy entailed the inability of man to be evil. Socrates held that all the evil that occurred in the world did so because of the ignorance of man. The exact dates of the birth of the Buddha have been a subject of debate among historians; however, he lived in India during the fifth century B.C. his philosophy is similar to that of Hinduism. He emphasized on the importance of gaining freedom from desire. This he believed, would grant man freedom from the cycle of life and death to which one was confined otherwise. Man’s salvation lay in a detachment from worldly affairs. seventeenth century. He believed in the rational nature of being and attempted to arrive at something that he would be able to label as the truth. He believed that thought was the one feature that was unique to man and defined him. The thoughts of a man were what made him what he was. Elizabeth of Bohemia was a contemporary and regular correspondent of Descartes. Her work in philosophy concerns the relationship between the mind and the body. This is related to the work that was produced by Descartes, who worked on the relationship between man and the thoughts that originate in his mind. She however, is critical of the divorce that Descartes effects between the body and the mind and places great emphasis on the effect that both have on each other. The philosophers that have been discussed here belong to different ages and nationalities. Their contributions to the field of philosophy, however, are great. Contemporary researchers and philosophers have been able to see the connections between these different ideologies and in them, man’s eternal quest to understand his own nature and position within the

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Topic on the assignment sheet - Essay Example For instance, Governments at different levels are beginning to create adjustment arrangements and approaches and to coordinate environmental change contemplations into more extensive improvement plans (McKibben 29). Ways of adaptation crosswise over locales incorporate the accompanying. Most national governments are starting influence frameworks for adjustment. Calamity hazard administration, conformities in innovations and foundation, biological community based methodologies, fundamental open wellbeing measures, and business expansion are lessening powerlessness, despite the fact that endeavors to date have a tendency to be detached. Iterative danger administration is an advantageous schema for choice making in intricate circumstances described by expansive potential outcomes, diligent lacks of determination, long timelines, potential for taking in, and numerous climatic and non-climatic impacts changing about weather or climate (Maslin 44). Evaluation of the most stretched out conceivable reach of potential effects, including low-likelihood results with vast outcomes, is key to comprehension the profits and tradeoffs of elective danger administration movements. The many-sided quality of adjustment activities crosswise over scales and settings implies that checking and taking in are imperative parts of successful adjustment or adaptation. The profits of adjustment and relief happen over diverse yet covering time allotments. Anticipated worldwide temperature expand throughout the following few decades is comparative crosswise over emanation situations. During this close term period, dangers will advance as socioeconomic patterns connect with the evolving atmosphere. Societal reactions, especially adjustments, will impact close term conclusions. In the second a large portion of the 21st century and past, worldwide temperature

Assignment about ethics 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

About ethics 2 - Assignment Example Julie arrived late in an ice storm but managed to get to the offices of Wal-Mart headquarters where Wright started grilling her regarding the agency review process. He asked her how she had picked DraftFCB as the agency which would take Wal-Mart on the amount of 1 billion dollars per year account. Julie had interviewed about 30 agencies before settling on the Draft. The questions that the president of the company asked her were based on whether she had allowed any of the agencies to pay for her dinner while she was talking to them. he also asked her of whether she had agreed to be carried in one of the cars that belonged to those agencies (Salmon, 2012). Four days after the interview had taken place, Juulie Roehm was fired because she had violated the strict ethcs policy that had been set for all Wal-Mart’s employees. As Wal-Mart expert stated, â€Å"Wal-Mart had a kind of unbending almost obsessive adherence to even the trivialist elements of an ethical code. They are a brut al competitor and everybody acknowledged that. However, Wal-Mart was also the company that wouldn’t take a dinner from you, that wouldn’t let you provide a soda if you went to meet them to talk about business, where they wouldn’t join trade associations for many, many years because they didn’t want to pay dues and have a conflict of interest† (Salmon, 2012). It is well known that Castro-Wright, who was the president, was responsible for the corruption scandal that happened in Walmex. This brought up an important question. Did the corruption that occurred in one of Wal-Mart’s chains occur irrespective of Wal-Marts strict ethics code? The point of contention here is that Wal-Mart left essentially nothing to the discretion of its employees showing that is did not trust any employee to do the right thing or make the right decision. Wal-Mart had codified everything in the form of rules and instructed that all employees follow these rules to the la tter. This issue resulted in a detrimental effect that can be seen in Roehm’s situation just for the fact that she agreed to take a soda (Salmon, 2012). On top of that, the senior executives of Wal-Mart were expected to have high levels of discretion when it came to ensuring that those rules were strictly implemented. Therefore, for a person like Roehm who failed to reach that level of discretion was easily fired. On the other hand, when it came to investigations of the conduct of the company’s president it was easy to give the roles of the investigation to one of his loyal subordinates who did what the president expected him to do and burry the case. Accepting dinner is not in any way illegal. However, engaging in sham investigations is illegal. In Wal-Mart, the allegations of the corrupt deals that happened at the Mexican chain, Walmex, ought to have been taken more seriously than what Roehm did. However, the executives at Wal-Mart saw the world in black and white an d failed to differentiate between unethical behavior and an illegal conduct. As a result, Wal-Mart executives were liable for criminal charges. This issue presents a conflict of int

Character Analysis of Anne of The Thousand Days Essay Example for Free

Character Analysis of Anne of The Thousand Days Essay Thousand Days is a 1969 drama made by Hal Wallis Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. Directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. In Anne of the Thousand Days, King Richard VIII plays the central role in the plot and progress of the play. As the king of England, Richard is the most prominent authority figure. It turns out that he is the main character and therefore the most important person in the play.Being the central character makes it easy for this character to progress the play. The main contribution to progress the play is King Richards urgent desire to have a son to take heir to his throne. This is what the entire play revolves around. There are several other contributions that he makes to move the play forward. Some of these include his infatuation with Anne Boleyn, manipulating his government to allow different women into his life, and Annes trial that leads to her eventual death. The playwright employed this character as the central story that the entire play is based upon. Being based on history, it seems to be a very interesting story about King Richard VIII and the playwright realized this. It only makes sense to make him the main character because the story is about him. This play absolutely could not have been made without the king.If I were cast into playing King Richard VIII, I would not change the central objectives of my role. Being that this play is mostly non-fiction, it does not make sense to try and alter history in a major way. In my opinion, retaining the true story as well as possible is the best way to tell a story that is heavily based on history. Bibliography Anne of the Thousand Days Tea at Trianon. 2008. 11 November 2008. http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2008/10/anne-of-thousand-days-1969.htmlAnne of the Thousand Days Wikipedia Encylopedia. 2008. 11 November 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_the_Thousand_Days

Trends: The Labour Market In Oman

Trends: The Labour Market In Oman Introduction This paper presents an analysis of the following within the working context of the author who is working as External Relations Manager for Bank Muscat, in the Banks Head Office in Muscat. Main issues and trends in the labour market in Oman that impact the key competences of the organisation Bank Muscat, Oman An Evaluation of the Strategic approaches to HRM that can improve organisational performance Organisations approaches to HRM toward Talent Management After the analysis and evaluation of the above HRM issues and approaches, this report concludes with some recommendations for improving the performance in Bank Muscat, where the author is working as its External Relations Manager. Issues and Trends in the Labour Market in Oman Labour market issues and trends are driven by labour market structure and labour diversity (Schuler Jackson, 2007). The labour market in Oman is composed of indigenous Omani workers and expatriate workers (Al-Lamki, 2005) who have different national cultures (with different ethnicities) which give rise to labour diversity (Triandis et al, 1994) as well. Like its member countries of the GCC-Gulf Cooperation Council, Omans labour market is tight which always poses recruitment difficulties (Metcalfe, 2007). The GCC Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar) do not have sufficient indigenous skilled work force  [1]  as a result of which the GCC countries had been relying very heavily on imported work force for their economic development. According to the World Tribune report  [2]  , Omans expatriate work force constitutes a majority of 54% of the total work force in the country. As per the recent statistics published by the Ministry of National Economy (2009), Oman, the expatriate population stood at 900,248 against the Omani population of 1,967,180 at mid year 2008. In other words, these statistics indicate that from only a third of the nations population the expatriates occupy a high 54% of the labour market in Oman. In consequence of the above, the Government of Oman has been implementing its Omanisation Policy vigorously since the start of year 2009 (although the Governments Omanisation Policy has been active in the country since 1988 when it was introduced by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said through the Ministry of Civil Services to replace the expatriate work force with local Omani work force) in the private sector. This is due to the fact that the Governments implementation of its Omanisation Policy has been successful so far only in the Omani public sector and not in the private sector as the sector still relies heavily on the expatriate work force (Table 1). Nonetheless the banking sector in Oman is an exception to the poor Omanisation in the private sector (Al-Lamki, 2005). Table 1: Employment of Omanis in the Private Sector  [3]   Currently there are 17 commercial banks, including Bank Muscat, in Oman. Bank Muscat is the largest and leading commercial bank in Oman  [4]  . Bank Muscat has been continuously striving to improve its human resources to enhance its operations as well as to contribute to the further development of national human resources. Currently, Bank Muscat has a very high 92% Omanisation rate which has earned the Bank the prestigious GCC-Level Achievement in Nationalisation of Human Resources in November 2009  [5]  . The Bank also continues to be a heavy investor in information technology to keep itself on top of the competition. Bank Muscat has won for the ninth consecutive year in 2009 the Best Consumer Internet Bank award from the prestigious Global Finance. Service sector organisations are labour intensive and in consequence the human resources represent a substantial portion of the overall operating cost of the service organisation (Massey, 1994). Also human resources cost continues to be one of the most difficult expenses to control in organisations yet it is the critical most factor that affects organisational performance (Pfeffer, 1998). These views apply very well to Bank Muscat also. Being an operator in the services sector where in the customers and the employees engage in direct contact (Schneider et al, 1980), and driven to be more cautious in conducting its daily business due to the current global economic crisis, Bank Muscats major focus of its HRM practice is directed at enhancing customer services through effective customisation of banking products and efficient delivery of quality banking services in a cost-effective way. It would be pertinent here to mention Bank Muscats Mission and its Quality Policy. Bank Muscats Mission Statement Quality Policy Bank Muscats Mission Statement is effectively combined with its Vision Statement which states that, Over one million satisfied customers by 2010 through continuous enhancement of stakeholder value  [6]  . And Bank Muscats Quality Policy Statement states, Our Quality Policy is to achieve and sustain a reputation for quality in the national and international markets by offering products and services that exceed the requirements of our customers. We strive to remain the bank of first choice in all our product and services  [7]  . Accordingly, Bank Muscats strategic emphasis is on building further its sources of competitive advantage which are strong community of satisfied customers and quality offerings of banking products and services. Further the financial services market in Oman (Bank Muscat competes directly with HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Oman International Bank, National Bank of Oman, Bank Dhofar, Bank Saderat Iran, and Bank Sohar) is becoming relatively more competitive than the financials services market in the neigbouring Qatar. Currently Bank Muscat runs 125 branches, operates 362 ATMs and 112 CDMs, and 4,200 PoS terminals throughout Oman. And another 3 more branches are going to be opened soon in the other cities of Oman, namely, Sohar, Salalah, and Sur. Human Resource Investment Bank Muscat considers its investment in its human resources as the most valuable asset which forms the basis for the Banks operations. In as much as the Banks human resources contain highly-skilled and experienced people, it also has newly recruited staffs that are relatively low-skilled as they are fresh University Graduates. Human resource movements are caused by recruitments and exits. Since bulk of Bank Muscats operations occur in the Banks retail branches, from time to time Bank Muscat recruits new Omani staffs in order to meet its human resource requirements, based on its formal recruitment and selection policies, at its new branches. There are no effects on the movements in the Banks human resources due to employee leaving. For instance, the employee turnover rate at the end of 2009 was 0% for the third consecutive time, as there were no exits due to resignation, retirement, or termination. For senior positions at the branches staffs are appointed through internal recruitment job promotions (e.g. Assistant Manager to Branch Manager) and the resultant vacancies are filled through the recruitment of new Omani staffs. Competence and Training and Development In view of the above Bank Muscat requires its new staffs with low-skills (who are currently filling in the first-line staffs mostly in the clerical cadre) to upgrade their skills. Acquisitions of higher level skills by these staffs would help the Bank to provide its quality-integrated services to its customers much more vigorously in the pursuit of its strategic mission and vision through a high quality services strategy and at the same time complying with the Governments Omanisation targets. Accordingly, the present HR competence needs of Bank Muscat are derived from the necessity to up skilling its young Omani staffs within the Banks need to maintain competitive advantage against the ongoing rapid changes in the business environment in Oman. To this end the Bank Muscats HR goals are currently focussed in training and development: To reduce skills shortages in the area of complex tasks To Encourage learning to acquire Bank specific-business knowledge for obtaining higher efficiency as well as to cope with changes To provide opportunities for personal and professional development and career growth To forge long term employment tenure on the basis of competence and skills-advancement (through higher/professional education) for entry-level staffs. Strategic Approaches to HRM for Improving Organisational Performance In todays rapidly changing competitive business environment, human resource management is being increasingly considered as a critical part of the strategic management (Sheehan, 2005; Schuler Jackson, 2007) and in consequence Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) as a field in itself has been increasingly applied since the 80s as part of management practice (Becker Huselid, 2006). According to Tichy et al (1982) the strategic approach to HRM is known as Strategic Human Resource Management. The strategic alignment of HRM with the organisations business strategies would contribute to enhanced organisational performance (ibid). Strategic Human Resource Management is defined by Ulrich (1997, p.89) as, the process of linking HR practices to business strategy. The outcome of the application of strategic human resource management is HR Strategy: the mission, vision, and priorities of the HR function (ibid, p.190). Managers can contribute more in the form of value-addition to the firm through the strategic use of their human resource competencies (Mullins, 2007). A strategic approach to HRM for improving organisational performance would demand the matching of the needs and talents of people with that of the organisations objectives (ibid). In other words, a competency-based HRM system can provide an organisation to sustain as well as develop its peoples competencies for the organisations future success. Four-task Model of HRM Schuler et al (2001, p.115), through their Four-task Model of HRM, assert that a strategic approach to HRM would contribute to the development of an effective HR plan which would help improve organisation performance by carrying out effectively the following four core HR activities: The organisation maintains the right number of people Employees are equipped with the right work knowledge and job skills for rendering efficient and effective performance (competence) Employee relationships and behaviour are consistent with the culture and values of the organisation. Employees are motivated adequately to meet the organisations needs. When these core activities are effectively carried out the resulting changes in the human resources in the form of employee attitudes and behaviours within a right organisational climate should lead the organisations successful performance (Bowen Ostroff, 2004). For instance these four core activities can help an organisation to create cultures that maintain its unique competencies, promote social relationships built on mutual trust, knowledge sharing, and teamwork (Schuler Jackson, 2007). Together these imply that an organisation which develops employees to acquire better work skills, become more knowledgeable, and achieve higher competencies would be able to effectively promote improved organisational performance. High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) A key approach to SHRM is high performance work practices (Huselid, 1995). HPWPs are considered by researchers to produce positive effects on an organisations financial and business performance (Appelbaum et al, 2000; Schuler Jackson, 2007). When individuals are provided with the right environment and collaborative team work with adequate job discretion it is highly likely that they would produce high individual performances which collectively would lead to accomplishing a successful organisational performance (Becker Huselid, 2006). In order to do this the management of the organisation should use high performance work practices (Huselid, 1995). In other words use of high performance work practices would impact positively on both individual performance and organisational performance. HPWPs include employee empowerment, employee training, and teamwork (ibid) and talent management and staff retention (Huselid et al, 2005). Likewise high performance HR practices that includes a rigorous selection of staffs and robust training and development systems to increase employee ability levels and skills, supported by comprehensive incentive schemes to motivate employees, and empowering employees, have positive impact on employee productivity and organisational performance (Appelbaum et al, 2000). These HPWPs can lead an organisation to the development of skilled employees who actively engage in producing successful behaviours for the organisation which thus form a key source of competitive advantage to generate mutually beneficial outcomes to obtain higher organisational operating performances (Schuler Jackson, 2007). HPWPs lead to the achievement of these favourable organisational operating performances through the improved social structure within the organisation that greatly assist in better communication and higher cooperation among the work force (Appelbaum et al, 2000). Employee empowerment today is considered as part of talent management (Bux Tay, 2010). Hence, these two key HR practices that are in use at Bank Muscat have been discussed: in the next section 2.2.1, namely, employee empowerment; and talent management, including employee empowerment in Bank Muscat have been discussed in section 3 later. Employee Empowerment Only when individuals are empowered and made to get involved they can become an organisations most valued employees as a consequence of which they would become the right people who can offer value creation both for the organisation and its customers (Sarkar, 2009). Mullins (2007, p.702) defines employee empowerment as, allowing employees greater freedom, autonomy and self-control over their work, and responsibility for decision-making. According to Spreitzer (1995), employee empowerment is a motivational factor that embeds: employee competences and consistent behaviour and ability to initiate and regulate actions, which collectively influences operating performances in the organisation. The concept of employee empowerment is about leaders giving up their control in order to get the desired results for the organisation (Gretton, 1995 in Mullins, 2007). This is supported by Spreitzer (1995) who states that leaders can become more effective if only they can give up their power, but retain responsibility, to their staffs and teams. An effective management of employee empowerment is capable of producing a large number of benefits to an organisation from the top level to the bottom level (Mullins, 2007). By empowering its employees an organisation can improve both the individual ability and the organisational ability to perform successfully (ibid). Further, employee empowerment can be used as a successful organisational tool to raise employee productivity and profits (ibid). Likewise, empowerment facilitates employees to become innovative and render good performance since conflicts can be greatly avoided and more cooperation can be obtained (Spreitzer, 1995). Appelbaum et al (2000) suggest that empowerment enables greater utilisation of employee knowledge, abilities, and skills which in turn makes them cooperate more in the form of teamwork (Spreitzer, 1995). In many organisations HR role is restricted to routine tasks like hiring and firing, implementing the decisions made by others on pay and benefits (Frost et al, 2002). However, if the HR managers are empowered, then they would be engaged in much deeper aspects of recruitment, selection, and retention, employee training and development and focus strongly on workplace diversity which can contribute to increasing their competence and encourage them to empower their staffs in order to enhance the business and financial performance (ibid). Approaches to Talent Management It would be useful to understand the meaning behind two key words: Talent and Talent Management. CIPD of the UK provides two critical definitions on Talent and Talent Management as follows  [8]  : Talent Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance, either through their immediate contribution or in the longer-term by demonstrating the highest levels of potential. Talent Management Talent management is the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement/ retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their high potential for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles. As discussed earlier, Bank Muscat operates in the services sector and by nature is a labour intensive Company whose main objective of running its banking operations is to provide high-quality customer services in banking and finance. And in this pursuit the role of the Banks people is critical in adding value not only to the customer services they render but also add value to Bank Muscat, thus eventually adding value to the Banks stakeholders. In view of the above and given the diversity of the work force of Bank Muscat, talent management at the Bank would have implications for recruitment and selection of competent staffs and staff retention. Further in terms of succession planning the Bank also has a need to mentor/coach future leaders/managers for Bank Muscat. Figure 1 illustrates the Talent Management framework at Bank Muscat which has been reproduced from the talent management framework supported by the Government of Australia for managing skill shortages  [9]  . Accordingly the following HR activities will be discussed here: Staff Recruitment and Selection Strategic Human Resource Development Mentoring Staff Retention. In addition to the above employee empowerment in Bank Muscat has been discussed as part of the Companys talent management practice under the heading Strategic Human Resource Development. Figure 1: Talent Management Framework The major recruitment and selection objective of Bank Muscat is to attract and retain and thus have the right people with core competencies to enable the Bank to continue to maintain its competitive advantage as a the countrys leading bank in terms of profits, net assets, and up to date IT infrastructure. According to Pollitt (2004, p.24) the following are the core competencies expected from the workers by organisations world wide. These are: Well developed leadership skills, The ability to shift attitudes and behaviors, The capacity to exert effective influence and work through others, The talent for successful partnership working and, most importantly, having the potential to adapt quickly to internal and external change, and To get that change owned and embedded in an organization. Given the low level availability of talent with the above core competencies recruiting right people now is much harder for organisations (ibid). This is particularly true in the case of Bank Muscat which requires people with the above skills and consequential difficulties in finding and recruiting such talent within the tight labour market in Oman. Main (2008) asserts that retaining highly skilled staff is a better option than recruiting new talent as recruiting would not only be an expensive option but also would be time-consuming in the present economic conditions, which applies to Bank Muscat as well though staff recruitment and selection process cannot be ignored. Staff Recruitment and Selection As mentioned earlier the labour market in Oman is differentiated in terms of the composition of the workforce (indigenous workers and expatriate workers). Further Oman has a tight labour market (like its other GCC member nations) which makes recruitment and staffing of employees extremely difficult due to the domestic shortage of skilled people on the one hand and the available young work force lack work experience and the required job skills. In the current economic downturn more and more employers are driven by the need to attract and retain workers with high skills and competencies to improve their organisational performances (Lunau, 2009). Many firms in Oman are experiencing low business and Bank Muscat is no exception which is indicated by a 21% drop in its annual profits for 2010 at OR73.7 million (about USD191.4 million)  [10]  . Nonetheless, aided by its human resource planning the Bank is on the look out for new workers to meet its staffing requirements for succession planning as well as its ongoing retail branch expansions. Without clear job descriptions any recruitment and selection process would be a failure (Frost et al, 2005). For example, the recruitment and selection process in some of the Omani public sector undertakings were criticised by the State Audit institution of Oman. The key to Bank Muscats recruitment and selection process is the use of clear job descriptions for recruiting the right people. Further since competence is considered as the critical element of Bank Muscats HR practices, priority is given to internal recruitment through promotions which actually helps the team members to work with maximum initiatives, increased expectations, and higher motivation. Strategic Human Resource Development (SHRD) Incorporating the core competencies of human resources and relating them for improving organisational performance is the purpose of strategic human resource development (Bratton Gold, 2007). When strategic human resource development is aligned the corporate strategies of the organisation it can lead to the creation of organisation-specific knowledge and skills (Garavan et al, 2007) which will also help build the core competencies of human resources. An effective recruitment and selection process should complement and support the training and development process (Boxall Purcell, 2003 in Bratton Gold, 2007). Accordingly, Bank Muscats recruitment and selection process is complemented by its training and development process which primarily focuses on building strong customer relationships. Training for Skill and Competence Development at Bank Muscat For this purpose, the Bank has been operating successfully its own Management Development Centre since year 2005 as part of its SHRD. Each training programme at the Centre is driven by the HR Departments training needs assessment exercise. This internal training and development Centre handles the training of the low-skilled employees on one end and high-skill positions on the other end. Training is imparted by training consultants from Dubai, London, and Australia who are supported by 3 full-time professional trainers of the Centre. The Centres training emphasis is based on self learning and Job-integrated learning. And the taught instructions along with the workshop learning programmes are delivered by the trainers who interact freely on a dialogue-basis rather than on a monologue-basis, encourage the trainees to participate more actively in the training and development process. The newly recruited low-skilled employees undergo a short and vigorous training to skill them for their current jobs. Likewise, mid-level skilled employees are trained on a regular basis to develop their current skills to high skills. In other words, both these skill groups receive training for advancing their careers within Bank Muscat. As for junior executive positions customised training programmes are provided at the Banks cost through the College of Banking and Financial Studies (CBFS), Muscat. These training programmes are revised from time to time to keep them up to date in terms of relevance to meet Bank Muscats HR needs. To ensure this the Banks HR Director and the College engage in the course revisions. Additionally, for senior executive positions Bank Muscat provides fully funded educational support for the MBA programmes from the UK. However, it is left to the choice of the individual staffs to pursue the MBA programmes. Nonetheless, employees from all the three skill-level categories receive full career guidance from the Management Development Centres Career Counsellor. Performance Appraisals in Bank Muscat Staff progress and promotion are based on formal performance appraisals in Bank Muscat. Performance appraisals are carried out mainly by the branch managers and within the Banks Head Office they are carried out by the departmental managers (e.g. Manager SME Department). Informational inputs to the branch and the departmental managers for these performance appraisals come through the 360 degree feedback process (including customer complaints). Employees of Bank Muscat are expected to have knowledge and understanding of the banking products. Therefore, performance of employees in the Bank is measured on the basis of their sales performances in the branches i.e. sale of the banking products (housing and auto loans, special savings accounts, fixed deposit schemes, Bank Muscat Credit Cards, etc). Once the performance appraisal process is completed the concerned managers and their staffs meet to discuss poor performance issues and commendations. This dialogue is facilitated by the open communication (which is continuously kept alive due to the employee empowerment practice in Bank Muscat). To the knowledge of this author the follow-up to poor performances resulted in the issues being solved rather than the same employee being found fault with, in terms of poor performance, again. Accordingly, none of the Banks employees has ever been reprimanded or were subject to any disciplinary actions by the Banks superiors. Employee Empowerment in Bank Muscat As discussed under section 2.2.1 earlier, employee empowerment is part of the talent management practice in Bank Muscat. Employee empowerment in Bank Muscat is carried out through: A simple 15 minutes briefing before the opening hours of the Bank on each first day of the week (which in Oman is Sunday for the Banks only) by the heads of the divisions/Branch Managers with their respective staffs. Direct communications in the form of intra-mail to the staffs from their bosses. Introduction of team-based work groups across SME Banking, Housing Loan, and Auto Loans that are linked with group bonus schemes for the team members. Active encouragement by departmental managers to engage their team members in planning and decision making relating to customer service issues and issues relating to operations. Above all the HR Executives directly report to the Banks CEO. By empowering its employees through delegation their productivity (faster processing of customer services) Bank Muscat has been able to keep its profitability up even in the current recessionary time. Mentoring A key strategy in the talent management is to put together the employees and their mentors to transfer the mentors skills, experience, and work behaviours to up-skill employee competencies in order obtain higher-levels of organisational performance (Murray, 2001). The purpose of mentoring process is to transfer professional, technical, and generic skills to people who will continue working in the organisation (ibid). In other words the mentoring process would help employees to stay with the organisation and thus ensure not only in retaining their talent but also help the organisation in its succession planning (ibid; Main, 2008). For example, banking companies stand to benefit from the mentoring process in the form of decreasing time needed to master customer service skills (Murray, 2001, p.36). Bank Muscats major objective is to capture key organisational knowledge from its senior leaders who are approaching their retirement and ensure knowledge-sharing among all its staffs. Based on the outline provided by Murray (2001, p.36) the other objectives of Bank Muscats mentoring process are: To improve retention by making our experienced and skilled people feel more valued To improve results-profit or other-with people who are more competent, confident, experienced, and motivated To ensure representation of diverse groups at all levels of the organization To enable our people to learn to work with others with different education, ages, cultures, physical abilities, etc. To improve communication across functional and divisional lines. Bank Muscat applies this to its staffs at all levels i.e. from new workers to newly promoted Managers. In particular the following details the formal mentoring process at Bank Muscat: Each newly promoted Manager will be paired with a mentor. New young recruits and those who are in their early career stages are paired with senior staff members for ensuring their training and retention. Senior members of the staff are to identify leadership and managerial talent and coach them to excel in their present and future work. Special rewards are given to managers whose mentoring leads to staff retention (over a 5-year minimum period). During the last 3 years the top management carried out 4 promotions among assistant branch managers and 3 promotions among branch supervisors among the branches in the Muscat area. Staff Retention The noted management consultancy company, McKinsey Company recommends the creation of Employee Value Proposition (EVP) as a strong means to retain talent in organisations (Brannick, 2001). Four elements make up the EVP (ibid, p.30): Great Company Company and its people care mutually for each other. Employees have pride in working for the company. Great Job Employees feel that their work is highly valued and their talents and achievements are duly recognised by their company. Great Leaders People who provide

Analyzing Ibsens Character, Hedda Gabler Essay -- Character Analysis,

Henrik Ibsen's character, Hedda Gabler, is a woman who is torn between her desires and the expectations required of someone of her social standing. At the onset of the play, Hedda has been married for six months, but she still clings to her maiden name, as evident in the title of the play, â€Å"Hedda Gabler.† Her reluctance at accepting her new name is symbolic of her dissatisfaction of being married; she misses the freedom of being single, while at the same time longs to be married to an aristocrat, to someone who is more important in society than her husband is. Hedda was raised under the rule of her military father, General Gabler, and was probably subjected to strict rules and discipline. Growing up she learned nothing of the domestic skills and expectations required of the women of her social standing; she also learned nothing about motherhood, which left her feeling terrified and lost once she learned she was pregnant. Instead, she learned how to shoot pistols and ride horses. Her high social standing never left her in want of any possessions; Hedda was â€Å"used to having things in the General's time† (168). She was constantly engaged in social situations with suitors who, though she was beautiful, did not want to marry her. Her lack of prospects within the aristocratic class led her to accept a marriage proposal from Jà ¶rgen Tesman, a scholar of lower social standing. Her husband's potential failure at being able to obtain a respectable position at a university leaves Hedda fearing her security and the possibility of not being able to afford new and expensive possessions. Upon her first appearance on stage, one can garner some very important clues as to Hedda's personality. She is â€Å"aristocratic and elegant† (175) and ... ...p† (203) between herself, her husband, and Brack. The inevitability of an impending affair, coupled with her unwanted pregnancy and loveless marriage, convinced Hedda that she was losing all control of her life. Suicide was Hedda's final attempt at regaining her control. She destroyed her and Tesman's child, just as she had done with Mrs. Elvsted and Là ¶vborg's â€Å"child;† if she did not love the unborn child, no one else was going to be able to. But foremost, she wanted to be able to escape male dominion, most notably that of Brack's. She did not relish the idea of having to cater to his needs and abhorred the idea of having an affair because, if someone found out, it would cause a scandal. In Hedda's eyes, the only way out of this dire situation was to commit suicide. But her death was not going to be hideous like Là ¶vborg's was; hers was going to be beautiful.

Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy :: My Philosophy of Education

Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy Henry Ford, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. What do these four men have in common? First they are considered geniuses. Second they were all considered poor learners in school. This is why I want to teach. I want to help the kids who have obvious potential, but may be struggling in the classroom. By ignoring kids who are falling behind, we may be losing the next revolutionary thinker of our time. To achieve this goal, I will have to undergo a series of training steps. The first step I have already completed. I have been a mentor for the Americorps Energy Express program for two years. This has helped me to choose the career of education, and has also influenced the area in which I want to teach, special education. This past year I had a child in my class with a slight physical handicap, he was partially deaf. He had fallen behind in all of his classes at school, and was going to have to repeat the third grade. His teachers had never noticed his handicap, but for some reason he decided to tell me. By employing some different techniques, his reading improved greatly over the summer to the point were he was one of the best readers in my class. The look of pride when he read aloud was priceless, as was the look on my face because I knew I had made a difference in his life. In addition, I am in the process of earning my undergraduate degree from Concord College. My area of emphasis is library science. The reason I chose this major instead of Special Education is that in case I can not find a job, I will be able to help children with, in my opinion, the most important aspect of learning- reading. After I receive my undergraduate degree from Concord College, I plan on attending graduate school and earning my Master’s Degree in Special Education. This way I will be able to help children in two ways. Since I plan to teach children with learning problems, I will need special techniques which none of the major philosophical viewpoints can offer by itself.

Why do females migrate to work as maids? Essay -- Immigration, Domesti

Why do females migrate to work as maids? In general woman will migrate to work as domestic workers for one of three reason. (i) limited or no jobs in their country of origin (ii) the income in there country of origin is not enough to sustain there family; and (iii) to get away from a volatile family situation. Women see working as a maid in another country as way to solve these problems and ways to support there families back home. However the question has arisen once these women from lesser developed nations arrive in the rich developed nations does working as a ‘maid’ offer greater independence or does it just lead to more oppression and exploitation? This essay will demonstrate using the United Sates of America and the United Arab Emirates as a case study,that there is no conclusive answer to the question posed; rather it depends on the country and the individual circumstances of each person. Does the employment offer them greater independence in the US? Domestic workers experience in the United Sates varies dramatically depending on the visa-status of women and the work arrangements in place for the domestic worker. In general Live in maids in the US are the most devoid of independence and control of their lives, and often work long hours without a day off. On the other hand live out domestic workers to some extent has more independence and freedom of their lives, but this is dependent on the worker being legally allowed to work and remain in the US. The common conception of a ‘live-out’ maid is that they are empowered and have control of lives, however in the US some women working as ‘maids’ are objectified and treated as commodity to be sold at auction. May women are exploited through labor agencies in the ... ...hem to help their families back home and improve their own financial situation. Another benefit from working in the UAE is that generosity is a social value within the UAE. Employers give tips to their employees, give them money to buy gifts and electronic once their contract ends for their families back home, and the domestic workers get to travel over summer with their employer (ilo report p.34). It could be argued that domestic workers in the UAE do have some sense of agency like the workers in the US, but no where near the same extent. Arguable the domestic workers have agency due to the fact that they had a choice whether or not to go work in UAE and they independently earning money for there family. Nevertheless they lack agency in terms of their freedom of movement thought and sexuality since they are ‘enslaved’ to their employer to the end of their contract.

Literature Review on Insurance Management System Essay

ABSTRACT Insurance system automates the management of insurance activities, which involves Defining Policies, Schemes, Policy Specifications, Policy Terms and Conditions, Policies registrations by the customers, Facilitates the Premiums Flexi-Pay modes, Policy Bonus in Flexible periods. The Agents are involved in the process of the Customer Policy registration and the Commissions are based on the targets achieved by the Agents. Insurance System also maintains the database of the Branch Managers who deals with the Agents which in turn deals with the Customers. Before developing this application all activities done manually, then all the activities take more time and also take more manpower. Commission, interests, dues calculate manually, based on this manual problem sometimes calculate the wrong All related information passed one branch to another branch through courier. Sometimes miss the important documents. So these problems overcome when we will develop the system. This system is very helpful to automation of entire Insurance system and also reduces the time and manpower. 1. CHAPTER ONE 1.1 INTRODUCTION Insurance is the most commonly mechanism of managing risk. The term risk is defined as the possibility that positive expectations of a goal oriented system will not be fulfilled. Risk is generally classified into two broad categories: -Speculative Risks which may bring in speculative losses or sometimes speculative profits as well. -Pure risks which are fortuitous in nature and will potentially bring in only losses. Insurance covers only pure risk with an element of uncertainty about their occurring, effective insurance management system aims at optimisation of cover for economical cost and also ensuring availability of protection when it is most needed. An insurance transaction has always been viewed purely in financial terms i.e. the company paying a consideration called premium and in return receiving a promise to be compensated monetarily, for the losses suffered due to operation of insured perils. However, the concept of insurance management system is much wider in scope than th e mere financial implications of costs and benefits of an insurance transaction. Background of the study Insurance Market consists of the buyers of insurance and the sellers together with the intermediaries (agents) who bring the two together. In addition there are also the regulators, representative bodies or organizations, consultants and technical advisers which are part and parcel of the market. The Buyers Anyone who has valid insurable interest i.e., legally recognized relationship with property or pecuniary interest, can insurer their interest. The relationship may arise through ownership, part-ownership or responsibility for goods, or liability to pay damages or certain benefits. In Nigeria the buyers of insurance can be segmented as follows: †¢Individuals and families †¢Governments (federal, state, local) and their agencies †¢Parastatals †¢Multinationals †¢Conglomerates †¢Manufacturing industrial concerns †¢Small and medium scale industries †¢Banking industry †¢Health institutions †¢Tourist and hospitality industries, hotels †¢Transport industry †¢Other corporate bodies †¢Educational institutions †¢Oil and energy industry For marketing purposes the buyers can further be segmented to suit the strategy of the insurer, or the insurance agent. The Sellers The sellers or suppliers of insurance are the insurance companies and the reinsurance companies. At present there are about 118 registered insurance companies and 5 registered reinsurance companies. Most of the insurance companies are incorporated pursuant to Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990. About 106 of them are private limited liability companies while the rest are public companies. About sixty companies underwrite life assurance business with five operating as specialist life offices. The reinsurers provide technical security and capacity for the insurance companies and do not supply insurance directly to the consumers. The Intermediaries (Agents) The intermediaries are mainly insurance brokers and insurance agents. There are 350 registered insurance brokers and about 15,000 insurance agents. The different types of agents have been described earlier in chapter eleven. Nigerian insurance market has been described as brokers market because presently brokers control over 90 per cent of the premium income, leaving less than 10 per cent for insurance agents, and even direct marketing channel by insurers. However, insurance agents dominate the individual life insurance market. The banking industry has become a formidable channel for distributing insurance services not necessarily as intermediaries, but by facilitating a form of direct marketing by insurers. Participation by banks has also thus made mass merchandizing of those insurance products possible. To enrich some of the financial products banks offer certain insurance protection as additional benefits. For example an investor is promised three  or four times the capital amount invested in case of death, payment of benefits in the event of accident, payment of children’s school fees, and insurance cover for goods bought on credit. To meet such obligations, they apply part of the interest due to the investors to purchase insurance on their behalf from insurance companies. This is however different from universal banking which implied direct involvement in insurance broking and underwriting. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Since risk as formed an integral part of our world today, the need arise for insurance in other to combat such risk in our society. 4 major problems arises when trying to create a system to manage such risk, they are risk identification, evaluation, control and financing. The multi disciplinary nature of risk management requires input from all the arrears of the organization. Therefore, the task of identifying and evaluating risks is a problem. Risk control including avoidance and reduction clearly falls within the ambit of corporate safety policy. Protection of property and personnel through effective risk control measures, assumes great significance, particularly in the light of the opportunity costs due to occurrence of a risk (i.e. accident). Risk financing has developed into an important technique of effective risk management, where by costs and benefits of various alternatives are analyzed before arriving at the final decision on what type of insurance to be used. The existing system is the manual system. The manual system is prone to error. It is time consuming. It is very difficult for a person to produce the report. There are chances for changing the scheme report and do malpractice. This system involves a lot of manual entries with the applications to perform the desired task. Usage of papers in the payment process leads to less efficiency, less accuracy and less productivity. †¢Increasing expenditure for papers shuffling and storage. †¢Increasing labours and hence errors. †¢Less control of Amounts. †¢Time delay between the payment and its receipt. †¢Persons who are present in different part of the world cannot transact efficiently. 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SYSTEM This system is an online micro insurance Analysis and information management system that provides easy access of information regarding the people and resources of insurance. This site is not a static site but with wonderful dynamic facilities like search tools for insurance awareness articles, guidelines, illustrations through images for visitors. This site also provides several dynamic features. The developed system should allow admin users to register insured persons with their name, date of birth, residence address, medical history and also policy details. After registering all the insured persons, website should provide management facilities like delete unwanted persons’ data. And also should provide awareness to the visitors about micro insurance through articles. Objectives of the system The system would be able to perform two main objectives which are:Functional and qualitative objectives. The functional objectives of the system are; 1.Enable users to select what kind of risks is to be insured 2.Cost of such insurance 3.Registration of customers 4.Show the benefits of using such type of cover 5.Explain what insurance policy in general is available. The qualitative objective of the system is mainly to define the corporate insurance philosophy, firsthand knowledge of the risk involved 2. CHAPTER TWO 2.1 2.2PROPOSED SOLUTION PROPOSED SYSTEM The proposed system is designed to eliminate the drawbacks of the existing system. It is designed by keeping to eliminate the drawbacks of the present system in order to provide a permanent solution to the problems. The primary aim of the new system is to speedup transactions. The report is prepared for the schemes and implemented by the concerned officials. Since the advent of Online Insurance services in the Middle Ages Policy Agents and  policy Holder have used paper-based instrument to move money between Insurance transactions. It comes as no surprise to one that when everything is being converted to computerize. Already the business has to global with the coming of Internet. Now, no more the individual aims at the local market is also just a click of button away. Dozens of companies are in the race to convince auction and bidding that a pot of Policy’s awaits those who conduct their business on the Internet. In this fast race of business and moneymaking, no country, no company and no individual want to fall back. Everyone wants to lead the group. Hence, everyone is trying to make the best use of Internet. The insurance company provides Group Polices to employees of various small and medium sized companies that registered with it. A group policy is one, which an employer provides to its employees. An agent is responsible for getting the client companies establishing a relation with the insurance company. According to hisher need, the policyholder can choose from various products available. The insurance company needs to keep track of details of its target companies, agents, policyholders, their premium payments and the various products that are available with it. Hence it is under tremendous pressure maintaining their day-to-day activities, which is currently being done manually. Entire records have to be updated timely; even a slight mistake could complicate things. It is very difficult to handle bulk data since human memory is weaker than electronic counter part. It is time consuming to summarize these details to produce the reports. Hence there is need for an automated system, which can efficiently manage the company’s records, provides instant access and one that improves the productivity. As a result of this automated system, the activities of the company are performed with in the stipulated time and the reliable and efficient service is ensured to its users. The part of the proposed system contain the following 1)Agent Registration form: New Agent gives their information like, Name, password, Ac no, bank, working details, age, sex, address, e-mail id. 2)Policy Holder Registration form: New Policy Holder gives their information like, Name, password, Ac no, bank, Organization, Occupation, age, sex, address, e-mail id. 3)Admin form: Admin have provision to view all Agent, Policy, and Policy Holder information. First Admin enter their name and Id then only they can access. And also admin have the provision to view, Modify, Delete and insert the Policy, Policy Holder, and Agent. 4)Agent Form: This module is used for agent to view all details about their policy holder/clients and also view their own personal details. 5)Policy Holder Form: This module is used to Policy Holders. They can view their own personal details when login into the Policy Holder module. Fig 2.2.3 dataflow in the system 2.3 ADVANTAGES OF USING THE SYSTEM †¢Mortgage Redemption- The system act as an effective tool to cover mortgages and loans taken by the policy holders so that in case of any unforeseen event, the burden of repayment does not fall on the bereaved family. †¢Risk cover -life is full of uncertainties; in this scenario the use of the system ensures that one enjoys a good quality of life against any unforeseen event. †¢Planning for life stage needs-life insurance provides financial support in the event of untimely death but also acts as a long term investment. You can meet your goals, be it your children’s education, their marriage, building your dream home or planning a relaxed retired life, according to your life stage and risk appetite. Traditional insurance policies i.e. traditional endowment plans, offer in-built guarantees and defined maturity benefits through variety of product options such as money back, guaranteed cash values. †¢Protection against rising health expenses-with the system available, customers can choose from a wide range of plans that would offer the benefits of protection against critical diseases and hospitalization expenses. This benefits has assumed critical importance given the increasing incidence of lifestyle diseases and escalating medical costs. †¢For safe and profitable long-term investment-it builds a long-term savings instrument, also ensures that the customers have a good savings habit. Insurance is a highly regulated sector, the regulatory body,through various rules and regulations ensures that the safety of the policyholder’s money is the primary responsibility of all stakeholders. †¢Peace of Mind: When consumers buy an insurance policy, they can achieve peace of mind. There is a comfort in knowing there is a certain measure of protection from unforeseen tragedies and losses. †¢Asset Protection: Certain  types of insurance policies are designed to protect assets such as homes, cars, boats and other valuable tangible items. The policies will repair or replace these things if they are lost or destroyed. †¢Physical Protection -Some insurance policies are structured to protect the body. In the event that a person is injured, disabled or otherwise physically harmed, these products will compensate for those damages. †¢Income Protection-There is insurance policies available that will protect the ability to earn a living. If, for some reason, a worker is no longer able to continue with gainful employment, these policies can be structured to replace a majority of lost income. †¢Lifestyle Protection-A certain type of insurance is designed to ensure that the lifestyle to which a family has become accustomed will continue for a certain pe riod if a tragedy occurs and the major wage earner in the household is no longer able to produce an income. 2.4 DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE SYSTEM The system has the following drawbacks. †¢Every member organization has its own data structure †¢Due to lack of centralized data structure, it is very difficult to merge the data to analyze the statistics †¢Difficult to search for a data †¢Possibility of duplicates, etc 2.5 CASE STUDY; NIGERIAN INSURANCE MARKET Insurance Market consists of the buyers of insurance and the sellers together with the intermediaries (agents) who bring the two together. In addition there are also the regulators, representative bodies or organizations, consultants and technical advisers which are part and parcel of the market. In Nigeria the buyers of insurance can be segmented as follows: †¢Individuals and families †¢Governments (federal, state, local) and their agencies †¢Multinationals †¢Conglomerates †¢Manufacturing industrial concerns †¢Small and medium scale industries †¢Banking industry †¢Health institutions †¢Tourist and hospitality industries, hotels †¢Transport industry †¢Other corporate bodies †¢Educational institutions †¢Oil and energy industry The sellers or suppliers of insurance are the insurance companies and the reinsurance companies. At present there are about 118 registered insurance companies and 5 registered reinsurance companies. Most of the insurance companies are incorporated pursuant to Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990. About 106 of them are private limited liability companies while the rest are public companies. About sixty companies underwrite life assurance business with five operating as specialist life offices. The reinsurers provide technical security and capacity for the insurance companies and do not supply insurance directly to the consumers. The banking industry has become a formidable channel for distributing insurance services not necessarily as intermediaries, but by facilitating a form of direct marketing by insurers. Participation by banks has also thus made mass merchandizing of those insurance products possible. To enrich some of the financial products banks offer certain insurance protection as additional benefits. For example an investor is promised three or four times the capital amount invested in case of death, payment of benefits in the event of accident, payment of children’s school fees, and insurance cover for goods bought on credit. To meet such obligations, they apply part of the interest due to the investors to purchase insurance on their behalf from insurance companies. This is however different from universal banking which implied direct involvement in insurance broking and underwriting. And most of the activities of insurance between the individuals and such companies are done manually but with the creation of a web based system this could save time in transaction. 3. CHAPTER THREE 3.1 CONCLUSION Effective insurance management lies in balancing the costs and benefits of insurance, through optimizing the coverage at economical cost and further through conscious and careful retention of risks within the world, This is  precisely where the Online Insurance supports and improves many of the core functionality of the insurance organization i.e. insurance project helps in quick easy monitoring of the reports that have been automatically generated as and when the admin and policy agent performs transactions in the system. Using such a system helps the organization in minimizing the time consumed in fulfilling the day-to-day functionality’s and cutting down the expenses incurred on the same. It must also be remembered that insurance is a method of transferring the financial impact of risk and the risk itself. Hence the basic responsibility of the system is to act as a guild in risk management. 3.2 RECOMMENDATION With the internet already in vogue, the government should allow reduce tariffs on web usage in other for easy communication with people who would need such systems. With increased technologies around the world there is need for accessibility to such web based technologies and system. Since the system involves risk management there is need for individuals to have reasons to have their businesses and life insured as this will enable them use such insurance management system. REFERENCES 1.WIKIHOW.COM 2.WIKIPEDIA.COM 3.Seal, R. A. â€Å"Insurance for Libraries: Part I.† Conservation Administration News no. 19 (1984): 8-9. 4.Seal, R. A. â€Å"Insurance for Libraries: Part II.† Conservation Administration News no. 20 (1985): 10-11, 26. 5.EHOW.COM

Wage Determination in Perfect and Imperfect Markets

Wage determination in perfect and imperfect markets Perfect competition In perfect labor markets, everyone is wage taker – both the employee and the employer. On the one hand, the employer and his firm cannot control the market as there are too numerous firms and the firm is price taker on the product market and labor market. On the other hand, the workers cannot control their wage as they have no economic power to do so or they are of a clearly definite type. In perfect competition there is a free movement of labor. Everyone can enter the labor market or to switch jobs. Moreover, both workers and employers have enough information on the labor market state – wages, demand, productive level of workers etc. The most common thinking in labor markets is that all workers in the same position are equally There are two driving forces concerning the supply of hours by an individual worker – while working, the worker sacrifices its leisure time and the work may be unpleasant. The worker experiences marginal disutility of work, which tends to increase as work hours increase. To deal with the marginal disutility of work, a wage could be raised. This would lead to people willing to work more hours in order to have a greater income and they are ready to sacrifice their leisure time or in other words the substitution effect appears. Still, with higher wages people tend to work less in order to have more leisure, which is the income effect and as a result we meet the backward-bending supply curve of labor. What determines wage rates in perfect competition is the number of qualified people, the wages and non-wage benefits in alternative jobs and the non-wage benefits or costs of the jobs. The wage of a worker is measured by the interaction of demand and supply in the labor market. A very useful tool for calculating the wage rate is the marginal productivity theory. As long as firms are concerned, they will try to maximize profit by employing workers until the marginal cost of employing a worker is equal to the marginal revenue the worker’s output earns for the firm. In other words, the wage should be equal to the marginal cost the firm has occurred by employing the last worker. According to time some differentiations might be made. In the short run expanding industries will be able to pay higher than contracting industries. In the long run there are wage differentials because workers have different abilities and they are not perfectly mobile. In conclusion, the low paid will be those whose labor is in low demand or high supply, they possess few skills or are unfit, work in contracting industries, do not want to move from the area etc. Highly paid are workers whose labor is in high demand or low supply, they have certain skills or talents or work in expanding industries. Wage determination in imperfect markets In the real world, firms or workers, or both, usually have the power to influence wage rates. This is the case with monopsony – this is a market with a single buyer or employer. Another option to determine prices is when the workers are part of a labor union, which can be a monopolist or part of an oligopoly. Monopsonist are wage setters or wage makers as they are represent all the workplaces. What is interesting about monopsonist is that if a firm wants to hire more workers, it has to pay a higher wage rate to attract workers away from other industries. The wage it pays is the average cost to the firm of employing labor and the marginal cost of hiring one more worker will be above the wage rate. To maximize profit, a monopson equalizes marginal cost of employing labor with marginal revenue product. Union monopoly or oligopoly has market power and can influence wages. The scope of this power depends on the market concerned. However, the higher the wages, the less the workplaces. Moreover, unemployed might undercut the union wage by forcing the firm to employ non-unionised labor. The only way to increase wages and not reduce the level of employment is by increasing the productivity of labor. Another form of imperfect labor market Is bilateral monopoly. It means that a union monopoly faces a monopsony employer. In this case the wage rate and the level of employment depend on the relative bargaining strengths and skills of unions and managers. As a matter of fact, my facing a single powerful employer it might be easier for the union to increase wage rates. In bilateral monopoly the union can threaten the industry with strikes and consequently economic losses which gives unions more power. It often happens both sides – union and management, to gain from the carried negotiations. This is called collective bargaining. In this form of agreement there are various threats or promises made by both sides. Examples of union threats are – picketing, working to rule and such of employers can be lock-outs, plant closures etc. The government can also influence the collective bargaining. It can try to set an example, or set up arbitration or conciliation machinery. Another possibility is to use leglislation, e. g. set a minimum wage rate or prevent discrimination. To change the perspective, a higher wage might also be profitable for the firms. The reason behind this lies in the fact that productivity rises with wage rates. Moreover, by investing in training of the personnel, a firm will meet significant loss in the absence of the better-trained workers. High wage rates motivate workers as well. Other imperfections of labor markets can be the inadequate information workers or employers receive. In addition, wages may respond very slowly to change in demand and supply, causing disequilibrium in labor markets. The last factor in determining wages we are going to examine is discrimination. It might take many forms – race, sex, age, class etc. In economics, discrimination means that workers of identical ability are paid different because of the aforementioned characteristics.

Characteristics of Good Test Questions Essay

Here is the list of characteristics that you should follow when either writing or selecting interpretive exercise questions for use in Stage 2 of any curriculum planning. Examples of these characteristics and why they are important will be discussed in class. Interpretive exercise questions consist of a series of selective response items based on a common set of introductory material. The introductory material may be in the form of written materials, tables, charts, graphs, maps or pictures. These questions are the hardest to write, because you have to find novel introductory material related to your unit of instruction that works and is important. The reason for including this type of question in a unit test is that it gives students practice answering this type of question which is often used on standardized tests in science. Advantages: 1. Measure the ability to interpret the introductory material encountered in everyday situations. 2. Measure more complex learning outcomes than is possible with other forms of selected response items. 3. Minimizes the influence of a students’ lack of needed factual information on measurement of complex learning outcomes. 4. Greater structure than essay test. 5. A question type used in standardized tests. Students need to be familiar with this question type. Limitations: 1. Hard to construct: find materials that are new (novel) but relevant. Usually needs some editing. 2. Heavier demand on students’ reading skill. Keep reading level low, passage brief. In primary grades use more pictorial materials. 3. Cannot measure students’ overall approach to problem solving (doesn’t show work steps). 4. Only test problem-solving ability at the recognition level. Interpretive Exercise Guidelines: 1. Select introductory material that is in harmony with course outcomes. 2. Select introductory material that is appropriate to the curricular experience and reading level of the student. 3. Select introductory material that is new (novel) to the student. 4. Use introductory material that is brief, but meaningful. 5. Revise introductory material for clarity and conciseness for greater value. 6. Construct test items that require analysis and interpretation of the introductory material. 7. Make the number of test items roughly proportional to the length of the introductory material. 8. When constructing the test items use the guidelines given in the writing of selective response items.

Symbolism in the Road Not Taken, “A Worn Path”, and I Used to Live Here Once

2Symbolism in Literature Published by susansteppe, February 27, 2011 Symbolism in â€Å"The Road Not Taken†, â€Å"A Worn Path†, and â€Å"Used to Live Here Once†. When looking at the short story and poem it is impossible to see it all in a literal form. There is always some sort of symbolism that occurs within the body of the text, but what is symbolism. It can be defined differently by many people. Even when looking at a dictionary it does not typically give a thorough answer. It is because symbolism is created by the author. However, it can be contradicted or have a completely obscure meaning to the reader. This is the exact reason why symbolism cannot be defined. However, it can be interpreted. Understanding the journey that characters take and their symbolic nature is definitely worth decoding. In fact, the symbolism of the journey is usually the basis behind the literary work itself. One of the well-known literary works with a symbolic journey is Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken. † In the poem there is a man who has come to a crossroad in his life. One path is traveled on frequently while the other path is not. He has to make a decision as to what path he should take. No matter what, he knows that he cannot turn back once he has made the choice, but it is implied. He chooses the path less traveled and, in turn, it happens to be the best choice he had ever made. Many have analyzed this poem and many have come up with different ideas of what it actually means. Some say it is about suicide, some say it is about life changes, while others insist it is about life changes. When is the interpretation wrong? The reader gets what they must out of the poem as they read it. It depends on what life situation they are going through at that time. The author, Robert Frost, knew what he was writing about. Therefore, the interpretation of the poem actually merges itself with the reader. Regardless, there is a journey that occurs throughout this poem. To analyze the literary work there needs to be a beginning. Read more in Poetry  « Does a Sonnet Always Have 14 Lines? Poetry Comparison Essay – â€Å"The Evacuee† and â€Å"Death of a Naturalist†  »In the first two lines of Robert Frost’s poem he says: â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010; section 2. 2). There is a certain symbolism in the yellow wood. It is not that the forest was filled with yellow trees. It was obviously at the beginning of fall. Fall is the season that everyone slows down from the summer. The anticipation of winter is coming and can cause a sort of depression in some people. It would explain why he wanted to travel both. The following line says: â€Å"And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010; sec 2. 2). Here the reader comes to understand that the man took his time looking down the path. This could symbolize patience or a lack of movement, which would again go along with the idea that the man was depressed. Another aspect of the idea of depression, one path had leaves on it while the other was grassy. When someone is depressed they do not want to go down a dreary path. Instead, they would want to go down the grassy path that looked less traveled. Perhaps then something would change in their life. The actual symbolism of the paths themselves goes right along with that idea. However, the man was obviously optimistic because he did think about saving the one path for another day. He does contradict himself when he doubts that he will come back. The symbolism occurs with his doubts. He knows that once he goes down one path that he will not be able to come back at all. When the reader thinks about it there is an ordinary situation with this scenario because the entire poem is about a man who stops when he comes to a fork in the road. Nevertheless, the road actually is a symbol for life. That is where the imaginative language is used, and it is used in order to create emotion. Should the man go down the path with the leaves covering it? What are the leaves representing? The leaves were not scattered everywhere, so the road was less traveled upon. In fact, the leaves represent the difficult trials that were to follow. Basically, it is easier to walk a path that has nothing in the way then one that does not. Therefore, the images that are particularly effective are the two paths and the leaves. These symbols change the tone of the poem to confusion, but it actually provokes deep thought when the traveler states that he took the one less traveled by. In the short story â€Å"A Worn Path† symbolism of the journey also occurs. Yet, it is much different from Frost’s â€Å"A Path Not Taken. In Frost’s poem he has the choice of two different paths, but in â€Å"A Worn Path† the old woman, Phoenix Jackson, takes the same path over and over again. The path that Phoenix takes is a path that she has taken many times before in order to get medicine for her grandson. The symbol of the path is life’s long journey. After all, she is an old woman who has dealt with many things in her life. The symbolism of the pendulum in a grandfather clock also pertains to her age. She is an old woman, a poor one at that, who walks with a cane made from an old umbrella. She was very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her steps, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grand-father clock† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010 sec 6. 3). When Phoenix hears the noises in the thicket she is determined to make sure they stay away. This represents her strength of mind. Her willpower is a large part of the symbolism within the story because of the long journey she has to take. She is not on a mission to help herself. Instead, she is on a mission to help a part of her family. Therefore, it is a purpose driven trip, so when the animals make noise in the distance she does everything possible to make sure she scares them off. It is a life-saving task in which she cannot fail. It is then that Phoenix has to climb a hill that is almost too difficult for her. The hill actually symbolizes the struggle of life. When everyone is a child it is easy to do anything. Hills are no big deal to climb, bicycles are easy to ride, and running everywhere is as simple as eating. However, as a person ages it is more difficult to do things. That is where the hill comes in to play. She needs to climb the hill in order to conquer aging. There was no way that she could give up easily because of the journey she was taking. Also on the hill is a bush that catches her dress. The bush signifies the obstacles in her life. She obviously lived a hard life. She had many wrinkles, her clothes spoke for themselves, and she had not been able to clean herself every day. The fact that she was poor epitomizes the fact that she had lived a hard life up until this point. Once she freed herself from the bush it characterized her willpower again. Nothing was going to stop her from completing her task. Another important factor about the bush was that she yelled at it. She called in a pretty green bush. That symbolizes the fact that she did not recognize the many of the obstacles in her life until they actually came to pass. After she struggles with the bush she sees the sun. The sun signifies the importance of dealing with the struggles in her life. Basically, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. She was freed from that turmoil that happened in her life and she could go on. There was a new beginning, or she could start things anew. Unfortunately, that was not the end of her struggle through life because there was the large log in the way. The log embodies the act of accomplishment. No one could stand in for her. She, Phoenix, had to overcome her own tussle. Once again, a fight for security is symbolized with the barbed wire fence. On her journey she sees a buzzard, which is a symbol of death. When thinking about a buzzard many imagine them circling around a carcass. It is their way of claiming their meal for the day. Nevertheless, this one was just sitting there. The fact that he was not moving could symbolize death waiting for her. Yet, Phoenix was not ready for death. She may be getting old, but there was no room for death in her excursion. Shortly after she sees the buzzard she comes upon a scarecrow. Buzzards, crows, and other birds usually sit on the arms of a scarecrow. That exemplifies death as well, but instead of avoiding the scarecrow she dances in front of it. She was mocking death, or telling death in her own way that she would have no part of it. After all, she was on a mission to help her grandson. He had a throat condition, probably asthma, which prevented him from doing many things. There was no way she was going to give up her exertion. When Phoenix finally reached her destination it was a symbol of accomplishment. When thinking about the entire path it indicates the journey throughout life. As a baby everything is taken care of. There are no worries within life because there is someone to lean on. That is the first part of the path. The second part of the path, the hill, is the beginning of hardships. Each tribulation got bigger and bigger the older Phoenix became until she came to a point in her life when her burdens were easier to overcome. Yet, when she does get the medicine for her grandson she has to go through the entire trip over again. Again, it symbolizes more difficulties in life and the many obstacles that she had to deal with in her life. â€Å"A Worn Path† is the perfect depiction of how many people’s lives turn out. No one gets a free ride in life, which means everyone has to deal with their own miseries, troubles, and sufferings in order to become better people. Phoenix is a strong-natured, strong-willed, and head-strong woman because she dealt with her ordeals in life. It may have been difficult at times, but she became an accomplished woman in her own right. Another short story that symbolizes life’s journey is â€Å"Used to Live Here Once. † The first trek of her journey was the rocks in the stream. Each rock represents a significant part of the trials everyone has to deal with in life. For instance, the round unsteady rock symbolizes the rocky road people must endure throughout life. No one truly gets the easy way out of life because there is always something that makes the journey unstable. The safe stone represents childhood. When someone is a child they do not need to be dependent on themselves in order to get through their distresses in life. A mother carries her newborn, feeds them, and cares for them. Basically, the newborn has no worries. Even as a child growing up there are really no burdens to deal with. There might be anxieties, but the child’s mother, or father, is there to catch them when they fall. They can look around as long as they want at their life and perhaps where they might be in the future. The rock, itself, is the parents. The next rock was no so safe because it was slippery and when the water rose it would be covered. This rock indicates the time of life when there are trials and tribulations to endure. The first is, of course, becoming a teenager. There are worries, distresses, pains, and hardships to deal with. The rising of the water actually designates the rush of life after becoming an adult. A person is on their own with no one to catch them, but themselves. They need to have a watchful eye whenever difficulties arise, and sometimes those ordeals can be overbearing. There are even times when that person falls, but they always get up again. Reaching the other side of the stream designates or symbolizes the triumph over the tribulations in life. It is safe, so there is nothing to fear. The ground is secure and it is easy sailing from there. The road that the woman travels on is much wider than it used to be. It says in the story, â€Å"The road was much wider than it used to be but the work had been done carelessly† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010, sec 7. 5). This can be interpreted a couple different ways. One way is that life is unpredictable. In other words, there is no telling what could happen next because no one knows their future. The second way of understanding the wider road is to signify change. When people become older and go through their struggles, or heir rocks, they become different people. Everything that a person endures allows them to grow into the person that they are. For instance, a child that has had a mellow life growing up suddenly decides to join the military when they become of age. They go to boot camp one person, but come back someone completely different. It is because they dealt with obstacles throughout boot camp and had to grow up int o an adult. That is a forced measure of growing up, but the concept is the same. Each trouble or ordeal they go through makes them into a better person. When the woman gets near the house she sees more changes. A house gone and one built a car, and items that were no longer there. Yet, she is so excited about coming back to place she grew up she does not really care. This, again, symbolizes the changes in life that occur. Once life has changed and the hardships are endured nothing is the same. Trials in life either become more difficult or easier to deal with. There is no telling but, nonetheless, the changes stay. Then the woman comes upon the two children playing in the yard. She attempts to say hello, but the children ignore her. She thinks it is because she is colored. The woman gets closer to the children and she attempts to say hello again. However, they do not answer still. When she gets very close to the children one of them say it is cold, so they leave. This is when she realizes that she is no longer among the living. Therefore, the entire trip she took symbolizes the entire cycle of being born to the moment of death. In conclusion, the symbolisms between â€Å"The Path Not Taken,† â€Å"A Worn Path,† and â€Å"Used to Live Here Once† are quite similar. All three are about life’s challenges and the struggles throughout life. There are always decisions that need to be made through life and there are always going to be obstacles that get in the way. It is getting through those tribulations that are the trick. Not only that, but it is crucial not to give up. The stories portray that indefinitely. In â€Å"The Path Not Taken† the man takes the road less traveled. Yes. He had to go through many troubles throughout his life, but in the end he chose the right path. In â€Å"A Worn Path† the old woman pretty much has to go through the same difficulties throughout her life, but her endurance presides over her. Therefore, she has made the right choice. Last, but not least, in â€Å"Used to Live Here Once† the woman path symbolizes the entire trek through life from birth to death. These three literary works are definitely worth reading, but they are also there to teach about life itself. References Clugston, R. W. (2010) Journey into Literature. San Diego, CA. Bridge point Education. (http://content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 1/sec2. 2) (http://content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 1/sec6. 3) (http://content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 1/sec7. 5) Phillips, R. T. (March 1986) Diverging and Converging Paths: Horizontal and Vertical Movement in Robert Frost’s Mountain Interval. Vol 58, Issue 1, pg. , 17 p. American Literature. Moberly, K. (Winter 2005/Spring 2006) Toward the North Star: Eudora Welty’s â€Å"A Worn Path† and the Slave Narrative Tradition. Vol. 59, Issue ? , p. 107-127, 21p. Mississippi Quarterly. Piwinski, D. J. (Winter 2008) Mistletoe in Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path. ’ 16 (1): 40-42. 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