Me Against the Media

I stroll into my Critical Media Studies classroom, drinking an icy bottle of Pepsi and wearing a Nike baseball cap. A few of my students glance up from their cell phones and iPods long enough to notice me. â€Å"Um, nice hat,† someone comments. â€Å"Thank you,† I say. â€Å"Today’s class is proudly sponsored by Nike, a strong advocate of education. When it comes to education, Nike says, ‘Just do it! ’. † I take a swig of my Pepsi. â€Å"Can you guess who else is sponsoring our class today? The few students who have actually done the reading chuckle because they know that today’s class is about the pervasiveness of consumerism in popular culture and in the schools. Over the years, I’ve resorted to lots of gimmicks like these in my quest to teach students about consumerism. I try to make my students more aware of how the media naturalize consumerism through advertisements, product placement, and especially through advertiser-frie ndly programming. You might be surprised to hear that I find this to be the single most difficult topic to teach.I teach about many controversial media issues — ownership, violence, race and gender representation — and students contemplate these topics enthusiastically. But when it comes to consumerism, it’s a brick wall. Five minutes into any such discussion, I brace myself for the inevitable chorus of, â€Å"Oh, come on. It’s just a bunch of ads. † Corporations and advertising executives should rejoice, as this reticence of young people to think critically about the role of consumerism is money in their pockets.Advertisers have always coveted the 18-34 year old group—the legions of the so-called â€Å"Age of Acquisition† who have few established brand loyalties and lots of pocket change. Today’s Generation Y youth, born roughly between 1977 and 1997, are especially desirable because they are the children of Baby Boomers, and therefore represent a population explosion. Run the term â€Å"Generation Y† through a search engine, and you’ll find dozens of sites with information about how companies can take advantage of this marketing gold mine.Multinational corporations are deeply invested in the collective consumer choices of my students. When my students fail to show concern, these corporations become all the more powerful. So why is it that Generation Y is so uncritical of consumerism? I offer you this report from the trenches, from my college classroom in Fort Collins, Colorado, with my insight into how students view consumerism and why lack concern. I also discuss how I have addressed these attitudes. My hope is that media activists of all stripes can draw upon my experience.To demonstrate to my students how media content itself naturalizes consumerism, I used to show my students a clip from the movie Father of the Bride. In this clip, the father is horrified that his daughter wants him to spend about $130,000 on her wedding. He would prefer to have a simple wedding reception at the local Steak Pit, but the whole family rejects this idea. Even the adolescent son understands this is â€Å"unacceptable†; he comments, â€Å"I don’t think you want the word ‘pit’ on a wedding invitation. When he complains that his first car cost less than the wedding cake, the wedding coordinators bursts into laughter and says, â€Å"Welcome to the ‘90s. † After the daughter agrees to downsize the wedding, her father discovers her, asleep, reading a magazine article with tips on how to throw a budget wedding. Suddenly ashamed of himself, he agrees to fund the extravagant wedding. Dad learns his lesson, so to speak. Consumerism-fueled expectations may be outrageous, but they are necessary, and failure to adhere to these expectations is silly, miserly, and downright unloving.I quit showing this clip. It didn’t work. Oh, they got the point, tha t media content often promotes the agenda of advertisers. Unfortunately, the clip would inevitably lead to a version of the following discussion. A female student raises her hand shyly and says, â€Å"I understand why this is bad, but I want a big wedding. † A dozen ponytailed heads nod in harmony. â€Å"I mean, not as big as the one in the movie,† someone responds, â€Å"but you know, the flowers, the cake, the dress, the ring, all that stuff. I’ve daydreamed about my wedding since I was a little girl. † Me too,† the first student says, and frowns. â€Å"Does that make me a bad person? † Therein lies the trouble. The dreams, the memories, the rites of passage of Generation Y — all of these are intertwined intricately with consumerism. By placing wedding consumption under scrutiny, this student feels like she is being attacked personally, because her sentimental dream of a wedding is linked so closely to products. To this Generation Y student, the suggestion there is something wrong with consumerism is akin to the suggestion that there is something wrong with her.While all of us in the post-war Western world have grown up with the association between happiness and consumption, this association is all the more powerful with Generation Y. They have grown up with unlimited advertising and limited models of social consciousness or activism. Let’s look at the experiences of my students, a fairly typical U. S. American sample of Generation Y. Their happiest childhood memories are thoroughly linked to consumption. They were born in the 1980s under the Reagan administration, when two important trends in children’s television occurred.Reagan, ever the media deregulator, relaxed requirements for educational programming at the same time as he relaxed restrictions on adverting to children. This helped bring forth a new marketing strategy—which Tom Engelhardt has called the â€Å"Shortcake Strategy† — in which children’s television shows were created for the exclusive purpose of marketing large collections of children’s toys. The prized childhood memories of Generation Y are filled with these shows and toys: Strawberry Shortcake, He-Man, the Care Bears.Discussing the politics of this kind of marketing with students is even harder than discussing wedding excess. A student once wrote in my teacher evaluation, â€Å"Great class, but please don’t go hating on Strawberry Shortcake. † And then there was high school. This is the first generation that came of age in the era of rampant advertising in the schools, as well as Channel One, the news program piped into schools complete with advertisements. As a Generation Xer who graduated from high school in 1988, I recall very few ads in school. A relatively short time later, the hallways, lunchrooms, and sports facilities f cash-strapped schools frequently are sponsored by corporations. When I ask stud ents if this happened in their schools, they supply never-ending examples: stadiums dotted by Nike swooshes, lunchrooms filled with Pizza Hut and Chic Fil-A, a back-to-school party sponsored by Outback Steakhouse, even book covers sponsored by corporations. Then, of course, there’s the prom. Eschewed by some of my Gen X counterparts, the prom is back and bigger than ever, teaching future brides and grooms important lessons about gowns, limos, and flowers.Oh, and ask a Generation Y member which mall he or she grew up in, and you may well get an answer. In addition, many young people don’t take consumerism seriously because they feel that as individuals, it does not affect them. As media activists like Jean Kilbourne have argued, this illusion that advertising affects â€Å"everybody else but me† is nothing new, but I think this is even more the case with Generation Y. I find that young people have a hard time understanding media effects in any way other than thei r own experience.Students claim violence in the media doesn’t matter because they grew up playing Doom and they didn’t turn out violent. Or they claim that unrealistic images of women in the media do matter because they know a lot of girls with eating disorders. Young people don’t seem to have a language for understanding that the media doesn’t just affect us on an individual level — the media impact society politically, economically, and ideologically. A student might dismiss ads in his high school by saying they did not affect him.But nonetheless, the proliferation of ads in high schools have affected U. S. American culture as a whole — and that’s what young people do not seem to understand. Again, this individualistic way of looking at media effects isn’t entirely new, especially in an individualistic culture like the United States, where social scientists for years have been obsessed with trying to draw links between indivi dual behavior and the media. But Generation Y is a particularly individualistic cohort. The Me Generation is back.Just like in the 1970s, young people are frightened and disgusted with current events and have retreated away from politics, with their iPods, Playstations, and all the other isolating technology the consumer market can offer. But the 1970s were different because the 1960s didn’t die overnight. Me Generation or not, the language of activism was still spoken in the 1970s, and in fact many young people were involved in movements such as Women’s Liberation. To what activist language has Generation Y been exposed? It’s three years into their own Vietnam, and Generation Y isn’t exactly flooding the streets with protestors.Often students tell me that they find politics to be boring and irrelevant to their own experiences. In other words, it’s pretty hard to engage a group of young people in a discussion of the political implications of consum erism when they are not engaged in politics much at all. Consumerism is a personal choice, and most of my students cannot see beyond that. They shop at Wal-Mart because it’s cheap, and buy coffee at Starbucks because they like the mochas. Sweatshops? Globalization? It’s not so much that young people don’t care about these things (though many don’t).Rather, they haven’t been taught to think of consumerism as something that extends beyond their own enjoyable trip to the mall, or that their personal consumer decisions are political. To me, perhaps the most frustrating argument students make about consumerism is that it shouldn’t be a societal concern because â€Å"it’s the parents’ responsibility. † Parents are responsible for refusing to buy their kids $200 basketball shoes, for making sure they eat a healthy lunch in the cafeteria, and for instilling values that, according to my students, will somehow make their children immune to the effects of advertisements.This argument disturbs me in part because very few of my students are parents, and in part because they seem to show no compassion for kids who have parents unwilling or unable to be this active in their kids’ development. But most of all, this disturbs me because it places corporations off the hook for the effects they have on society. It doesn’t matter how or to whom a company markets their products; it only matters how parents raise their children. Once again, consumerism becomes the business of individual families, not society. So, what can media activists do?I think the first step is to find ways to appeal to members of this generation on the level of the individual. Young people might not care about plight of a Nike worker in Vietnam or a Wal-Mart worker in Houston. They may, however, be concerned with how credit card companies lure in college students, or how college bookstores jack up prices needlessly, or how car insuran ce companies charge young people exorbitant amounts. When I ask students to give examples of how corporations have screwed them over personally, the room fills up with raised hands.This is a good way to show young people that although consumerism has brought them happiness in their lives, it has also brought them problems. A second activist strategy of reaching Generation Y is to find examples of popular culture that promote consumption. Generation Y is all about popular culture. I’ve found that my students are amenable to discussions about how advertisers and media producers consciously create media content that â€Å"trains† young people to be consumers. Young people need to know that corporations see them as a market to manipulate, and often will respond to this argument, because who wants to be manipulated?The trick is to find popular culture texts they relate to that have a strong pro-consumerism bent. No, don’t show them Father of the Bride, but one thing I have shown with more success to my students is the â€Å"Pottery Barn† episode of Friends. In this episode, Rachel lies to her roommate Phoebe and tells her their new furniture is antique. Actually, it came from Pottery Barn, but Phoebe hates commercial furniture. Rachel is caught in her lie at when the two walk by Pottery Barn and see most of the furniture in the display window.But then Phoebe sees a lamp in the window and decides she must buy it. Phoebe learns her lesson. Commercial furniture is good. Another good source of pro-consumerism media is reality television, a favorite of students and chock filled with product placement. A third strategy is simply to get young people to talk to their parents about their experiences growing up and how people â€Å"back in the day† felt about corporate power and consumerism. These are the children of Baby Boomers, after all, so even if they haven’t been around activism, their parents have.One of my favorite assignmen ts is one in which I have students interview older family members about popular culture and their past experiences. Students love this assignment. So, there’s hope. When I wear my Nike hat to class, some of the students get it, and inevitably, a student stops by my office at the end of the semester and announces she has stopped going to Starbucks. But this is no easy task, and activists would be well advised to work on the issue of Generation Y and consumerism. The advertisers are certainly paying attention to Generation Y, and so should we.

HR PRACTICE ON GRAMEEN BANK Essay

In any comprehensive work, like this, credit must go to the multitude of people. I am still students and just novice. Hence, I have taken help from different people for preparing my report. Now here is a petite effort to show my deep graduate to those helpful people. First, I commit my selves grateful to Allah for his unlimited kindness and maximum helpful hand in continuing my report preparation. I express my sincere gratitude to honorable supervisor, Ms. Monsura Zaman, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Faculty of Business Administration, ASA University Bangladesh, for their guidance and valuable remark about the convention of the report. I have come to believe, deeply and firmly, that we can create a poverty free world if we want to. I came to this conclusion not as a product of a pious dream, but as a concrete result  of experience gained in the work of the Grameen Bank. It is not micro credit alone which will end poverty. Credit is one door through which people can escape from poverty. Many more doors and windows can be created to facilitate an easy exit. It involves conceptualizing about people differently; it involves designing a new institutional frame work consistent with this new conceptualization. Grameen bank has taught me two things first our knowledge base about people and their interactions is still very inadequate: second each individual person is very important. Each person has tremendous potential. She or he alone can influence the lives of others within the communities, nations, within and beyond her or his own time. Background of the Study Successful human resource management makes it possible for the organization to acquire the number and types of people necessary to ensure the continued operation of the organization by the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. So it acts an important role in HR department. As a part of BBA program, my honorable supervisor, Ms. Monsura Zaman, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.., assigned me to prepare a report on related topic on Human Resource Management course. I have selected our report topic as â€Å"HRM practice in microcredit Sector of Bangladesh (Grameen Bank).†. Executive Summary The importance of human resources management (HRM) practices to the success or failure of organizational development system performance has, until recently, been generally overlooked. In recent years it has been increasingly recognized that getting HR policy and management. In this paper, I take my theoretical point of departure in recent work in organizational economics on systems of human resource management (HRM) practices. Though this program good balance between theory and practice is gained. Furthermore this is Thesis assignment is a vital requirement for obtaining Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program. I worked Grameen Bank’, how they practice HRM on their microcredit sector. Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who  typically lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history. It is designed not only to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty, but also in many cases to empower women and uplift entire communities by extension. In many communities, women lack the highly stable employment histories that traditional lenders tend to require. Many are illiterate, and therefore unable to complete paperwork required to get conventional loans. As of 2009 an estimated 74 million men and women held microloans that totaled US$38 billion. Grameen Bank reports that repayment success rates are between 95 and 98 per cent. Report Overview Introduction Background of HRM: Human Resource Management is defined as the people who staff and manage organization. It comprises of the functions and principles that are applied to retaining, training, developing, and compensating the employees in organization. It is also applicable to business organizations, such as acting, news presenters and Models etc. Human Resource Management is defined as the set of activities, programs, and functions that are designed to maximize both organizational as well as employee effectiveness. Scope of HRM without a doubt is vast. All the activities of employee, from the time of his entry into an organization until he leaves, come under the horizon of HRM. The divisions included in HRM are Recruitment, Payroll, Performance Management, Training and Development, Retention, Employee Relation, etc. A human resources management (HRM) professional is responsible for successfully acquiring, developing, motivating, and retaining employees. That is, they are on the â€Å"people† side of business operations, and because people do the work of organizations, a company’s success rests heavily on the quality of its HRM. An HRM professional is a full business partner who adds value to business decisions and aligns HR practices with those decisions. The work calls on you to know about compensation and benefits, labor relations laws, how to forecast working needs, organizational learning, and organizational change. Students’ specialty courses include â€Å"Competitive HRM Practices,† â€Å"Negotiations,† and â€Å"Cultural Aspects of  International Business.† They also select an honors seminar in â€Å"Management of Innovation.† In the classroom and on co-op, students gain the acting base of knowledge and the business expertise that’ s needed as an HRM professional. Human resource management is an effective tool for students interested in helping businesses succeed in a changeable personnel environment. This guide is based on Human Resource Management in a Business Context, and includes links to extra articles, notes, tips and exercises. It introduces you to the essential elements of HRM, its origins and applications. HRM is viewed as an all-embracing term describing a number of distinctive approaches to people management. They help you to understand and evaluate the different and sometimes ambiguous views of human resource management by investigating its origins, explanatory models, technology and practice. Human resource (or personnel) management has in the sense of getting things through people. It’s an essential part of every manager’s responsibilities, but many organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division to provide an expert service dedicated to ensuring that the huma n resource function is performed efficiently. â€Å"People are our most valuable asset† is a clichà © which no member of any senior management team would disagree with. Yet, the reality for many organizations is that their people remain under valued under trained under utilized poorly motivated, and consequently perform well below their true capability The rate of change facing organizations has never been greater and organizations must absorb and manage change at a much faster rate than in the past. In order to implement a successful business strategy to face this challenge, organizations, large or small, must ensure that they have the right people capable of delivering the strategy. The market place for talented, skilled people is competitive and expensive. Taking on new staff can be disruptive to existing employees. Also, it takes time to develop ‘cultural awareness’, product/ process/ organization knowledge and experience for new staff members. As organizations vary in size, aims, functions, complexity, construction, the physical nature of their product,  and appeal as employers, so do the contributions of human resource management. But, in most the ultimate aim of the function is to: â€Å"ensure that at all times the business is correctly staffed by the right number of people with the skills relevant to the bu siness needs†, that is, neither overstaffed nor understaffed in total or in respect of any one discipline or work grade. These issues motivate a well thought out human resource management strategy, with the precision and detail of say a marketing strategy. Failure in not having a carefully crafted human resources management strategy, can and probably will lead to failures in the business process itself. Origin of the Report: This report has been prepared as a requirement of the Thesis program based upon the Grameen Bank where my organization supervisor is Golam Morshed Mohammed (Senior Principal Officer, International Program Dept.), and my institution supervisor is Golam Mahbubul Alam,( Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Stamford University). My institute supervisor duly approved the topic decided for doing the report. Since the MBA program is an integrated, practical and theoretical method of learning, the students of this program are required to have practical exposure in any kind of business organization in last term of this course. Scope and Objectives of the Study A clear objective helps in preparation of well decorated report in which other take the right type of decision. So I identify objective are very much important. Our purpose of preparing the report is: To know the human resource management (HRM) practice of Grameen Bank. To identify the various avenues for improving the HRM policies of Grameen Bank To know about the management ability of Grameen Bank. Suggesting strategies to improve the HRM policies of Grameen Bank. This study covers the HRM policies of Grameen Bank along with some recommendations to improve the HRM policies of Grameen Bank. Methodology A sample survey was conducted to collect primary data using two pre-designed survey instruments from concerned groups following an appropriate sample  design. In view of the complexities involved in generating quantitative data for assessing the real impact, qualitative data were also collected. In the context of the unique features of the area an attempt was made to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the private HRM sector. Data Collection: This study is mainly based on secondary data available from the various divisions and departments of Grameen Bank, in addition to these other necessary information have been collected from the relevant journals, annual reports of the Grameen bank, website and publications of other relevant institutions have also been taken into consideration. Primary sources of data: Face to face conversation with the Grameen Bank administrative dept. and International depts. Officers & staffs. Conversation with the clients. Different’ manuals of Grameen Bank. Secondary sources of data: Procedure manual published by the Grameen Bank. Files and documents of the branch. Annual report of Grameen Bank. Unpublished data. Different text books. Web sites. Unstructured data: This data was compiled using information from Grameen Bank branch and centre visits, informal discussions with branch managers, field staff and various management level officers conducted during field and head office visits. Limitations of the Study As a student of faculty of Business Administration, this is my first initiative for making a report on â€Å"HRM Practice in Microcredit sector of Bangladesh: A case study on Grameen Bank†. By meeting with officers, I was really unable to collect enough information from due to their official restrictions. While carry out the study I had to face a few limitations, which are mentioned below: The main constraint of the study is inadequate access to information. The employees did not disclose much information for the sake of the confidentiality of the organization. Since the bank and other companies personal were very busy, they could provide me very little time. The clients were too busy to provide me much time for interview. The time frame fixed to prepare the study report was hard to be met. As a result, sufficient concentration could be given on it, which was needed for a much better study. Chapter 2 An Overview on Microcredit in Bangladesh What is Microcredit? Much of the current interest in microcredit stems from the Microcredit Summit (2-4 February 1997), and the activities that went into organizing the event. The definition of microcredit that was adopted there was: Microcredit: programmers extend small loans to very poor people for self-employment projects that generate income, allowing them to care for themselves and their families. Definitions defer, of course, from country to country. Some of the defining criteria used include- size – loans are micro, or very small in size target users – microenterpreneurs and low-income households utilization – the use of funds – for income generation, and enterprise development, but also for community use (health/education) etc. terms and conditions – most terms and conditions for microcredit loans are flexible and easy to understand, and suited to the local conditions of the community. Three C’s of Credit Character: means how a person has handled past debt obligations: Form credit history and personal background, honesty and reliability of the borrower to pay credit debts are determined. Capacity: means how much debt a borrower can comfortably handle. Income streams are analyzed and any legal obligations looked into, which could interfere in repayment. Capital: means current available assets of the borrower, such as real estate, savings or investment that could be used to repay debt if income should be unavailable. Microcredit in Bangladesh Microcredit programs in Bangladesh is implemented by NGOs, Grameen Bank, state-owned commercial banks, private commercial banks, and specialized programs of some ministries of Bangladesh government. In the microfinance sector total loan outstanding is around TK 248 billion (including Grameen Bank TK 72 billion) and savings TK168 billion. The total clients of this sector is 35 million (including 8.4 million clients from Grameen Bank) that accelerates overall economic development process of the country. Credit services of this sector can be categorized into six broad groups: i) general microcredit for small-scale self employment based activities, ii) microenterprise loans, iii) loans for ultra poor, iv) agricultural loans, v) seasonal loans, and vi) loans for disaster management. Loan amounts up to BDT 50,000 are generally considered as microcredit; loans above this amount are considered as microenterprise loans. LICENSING STATUS OF THE NGO-MFIS IN BANGLADESH The Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA), established by the government in August 2006, received applications from 4241 private institutions (NGO-MFIs). But, around 1000 applications of them were found to be very small organizations that had fewer than 1000 borrowers or less than the USD 58,000 in outstanding loans that is generally considered as the minimum initial operating portfolio of a single branched MFI to be sustainable. However, till August 2012 the MRA had approved licenses in favor of 651 NGOs. There are another 210 applications are under process for a final decision although they are mostly small organizations but with some potentiality to become viable in course of time. As of August 2012, 3380 applications have been rejected. Recently MRA has invited new applications for obtaining license to conduct microcredit activities. STATE OF MICROCREDIT IN BANGLADESH In the backdrop of global ‘double-dip’ recession and over-indebtedness crisis in microcredit sector in several countries, Bangladesh’s microfinance sector shows strong resilience and continues to contribute towards enhancement of macroeconomic growth. Bangladesh microfinance sector is mature now and its assets constitute around 3 percent of GDP in 2011. Total outstanding loan of  this sector (only licensed MFIs) has increased by 20.0 percent from BDT 145.0 billion in June 2010 to BDT 173.8 billion in June, 2011 disbursed among 20.7 million poor people, helping them to be self-employed and accelerating overall economic development process of the country. The total savings has also increased by 23.25 percent to BDT 63.3 billion in June 2011 compared to previous year from 26.1 million clients, over 93 percent of them are women. Table 2 shows the market scenario of NGO-MFIs in Bangladesh. The top three MFIs contribute 54 percent of total loan outstanding as well as savings of the microfinance sector in Bangladesh. Two of the largest MFIs, viz., BRAC & ASA, are each serving over five million borrowers. There are a few more developing fast. On the other hand the smallest 428 NGO-MFIs have contributed only 4 percent of total loan outstanding and 5 percent of total savings. Institutional concentration ratio is highly skewed in favor of large MFIs: just 22 institutions are in control of 76 percent of the market share while three largest organizations have control of over 50 percent in terms of both clients and total financial portfolios. Table 3 depicts the scenario of micro enterprise loan, i.e., loans above BDT 50,000, of different NGO-MFIs in Bangladesh. It is observed that micro enterprise loan outstanding is BDT 40 billion which is around 24 percent of total loan outstanding in which the top ten NGO-MFIs contributed around 19 percent. It also shows that BDT 40 billion is disbursed to around 6 lakh borrowers which are only 3 percent of total borrowers. The table expresses that only the top NGO-MFIs are capable to run micro enterprise loan. Selected Indicators of NGO-MFIs in Bangladesh It is observed from table 4 that savings per member has been increasing over the years. In 2006 savings per member was Tk. 1,207 which stands at Tk.2495 in 2011 – an increase to more than double within the last five years. The loan outstanding per borrower also increased over the years and average growth rate of loan outstanding per borrower is around 17 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year. The loan outstanding per borrower has increased by more than 100 percent within the last five years. These two indicators, savings per member (average saving size) and outstanding loan per borrower (average loan size) increased over time perhaps due to the increase in the income level of the poor resulting in an increase in their need for higher amount of loans from the MFIs. The ratio between borrowers to clients (members) remained steady for the last few years, which is within 70 to 80 percent and the savings to outstanding loan ratio has also been stable from 2006 to 2011. Since the total number of branches of MFIs has increased at a much higher rate in 2011 compared to the previous year, the number of members and borrowers per branch has decreased. Substantial rate of increase in the sizes of loans per borrower and savings per member has resulted in a rise in the total loan outstanding and savings in the sector. Consequently outstanding loan and saving per branch has also increased. The loan outstanding amount per branch which was TK 8.42 million in 2010 has increased by 14.4 percent in 2011.

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 8

Case Study Example hough in relation to our corporate ethics, I believe in following the chain of command and have to report to my immediate supervisor, which in this case is you. There is no need for urgency in rushing through this contract, and selling a sub-standard product to a client. I was of the opinion that if final touches was done on this wonderful product, it would give us better business, and more clients would be willing to get into contract with us. Another reason for my hesitation is the client we are getting into an agreement with. Eastern Wisconsin University is a regional university. Yet for such a product, that causes so much excitement to our engineers, and of course, the impact it would have on the market, a major institution would not shy from it in whatsoever manner. From the data, I gathered that testing was actually done in the lab under approximated temperatures. The tests talk about temperatures below 10 degrees Fahrenheit of freezing point or slightly below zero, but nothing under 10 degrees below zero is mentioned. In our country, temperatures fall up to 50 degrees below freezing point, although rare, such information would have been helpful in proving the credibility of our product. Being a writer, engineering features and workability of â€Å"Hot Spot† could have been explained to me to shed some more light into what it is all about, to have a vivid picture as I write. The only understanding I have on the product is that it consist of premade plate fitted underneath with low wattage circuitry that run and mate with existing sidewalk. It would be fair enough for us to disclose a few features of regarding our product and its workability to the client. After my lunch break, I received two memos that clarify the status of â€Å"Hot Blocks.† A memo from Mr. Robert to Bob states that after testing â€Å"Hot Blocks† under temperatures between 32 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it gave perfect results of the function of melting snow both in rapid runoff and of

Compare and contrast the ethical theories of Aristotle and Immanuel Essay

Compare and contrast the ethical theories of Aristotle and Immanuel Kant - Essay Example Man should be oriented by entities in his or her environment of the definition of what is morally good or not. However, if one should ask, what makes an ethical person? What are the characteristics that make him a good person? Aristotle and Kant’s ethical theories have laid out arguments claiming man’s ethics. However, there are significant ideas that make one theory triumph over the other. Aristotle and Kant speak of the highest good that man can do to society and his own – one that is not to be done just for the sake of being called ethical, getting material possessions or pleasing comments in exchange for it. It is done because it is â€Å"good in itself† (Johnson). Both also speak of happiness as ends of being virtuous. However, according to Aristotle, a virtuous life leading to happiness is not achieved without the possession of additional goods as well. A life perceived to be perfect by many, a life with wealth, power, acquaintances, and a physique h ighly appreciated by everyone. With this life also comes good upbringing, and good habits. Without these things, man will have the difficulty of reaching a virtuous status. Aristotle insists that it is necessary to have these desirable things to be able to reach happiness. In a negative light, this is unfair for those who are born without much fortune. If a woman has unacceptable physical features and is not wealthy enough, this theory already forecasts her future or to narrow it, her ability to push for a virtuous life. Another weakness of the theory is the limitation of which it is applicable to. Although it does not claim that only fortunate people are developed to be virtuous, it gives them an advantage to such a life. He points out that if a person who has these things, he will be raised to have good habits and with good habits, he is able to learn how to be virtuous. In reality, unfortunate people also achieve a virtuous life. It is within their strategies in life on how to ge t there. It is not dictated on what a person owns but how people perceive how they life supposed to be and how they would be able to reach that kind of life. Also another argument of Aristotle, because of this kind of upbringing, man will not have any reason for being truthful, openhanded, and brave because it is how one is brought up. Well, unfortunate people can also have this kind of upbringing without material and even physically acceptable attributes. They do well without asking anything in return because of their misfortune but they do well because they feel that it is the right thing to do and doing such will lead them to some state of happiness. In all fairness to Aristotle, he provides an ideal state of virtuous life that one ought to pursue. Kant, on the other hand, does not provide a status for which virtue can be obtained. He does not give material possession and physical attributes importance when it comes to being a moral person. He said that virtue does not insure wel l being (Johnson). Kant proposes that man should be rational with his actions based on the standards of rationality. There should be universality in a sense that man’s actions should be widely accepted by others as well. Kant’s theory suggests that in order for man to achieve a morality that is powerful enough to compel one from doing injustice to another or to himself, man will undergo challenges in a sense that one can learn what is good and what is bad. He also proposes that there is an â€Å"

Discussion on the Boundaries of the Firm Case Study

Discussion on the Boundaries of the Firm - Case Study Example Horizontal boundaries keep on changing with the passage of time because they bring with them a lot of incentives for not only the companies under consideration but also the industry as a whole. (Brusoni, 2001) The related terms of economies of scale and economies of scope come into the loop since these bring with them measures of growth and productivity over a certain period of time as well as offer to the organizations under study the much needed uplift in terms of its economic upheaval and stability - a fact signified time and again by the numerous processes and tasks that are employed to carry out the very same. Economic prosperity is one aspect that holds a lot of significance for this phenomenon since it is the lynchpin behind the undertaking of the economies of scale and economies of scope. What we need to understand here is the fact that these related terms are incorporated into the whole mix so that productivity and growth measures could be envisaged on a consistent basis and there is a forecasting regime in charge of the pattern that is actually bringing about the whole change, for the better without a shadow of a doubt. Economies of scale discusses the aspect of production phase which marks with the increase in scale of the firm and on the flip side causes a downfall in the average cost per unit in the longer duration. (Elbaz, 1994) Thus the scale of operation is basically the key when it comes to find out whether the economies of scale could be feasible for it or not. The economies of scale include some types under it: the purchasing, managerial, financial and marketing aspects. Wha t these types of factors as they are generally known as, does is to reduce the average costs in the long term when the talk goes out loud of production. The aspects related with natural monopoly are generally characterized under the regimes of economies of scale but this holds true for reasonably medium range firms. As one knows, natural monopoly has no competition whatsoever and thus it is deemed as a success by all counts under such a scenario. When one speaks of the need of having economies of scale, there is a quintessential need to understand that there are a couple of ways through which the same could be achieved. One is through having the high fixed cost and constant marginal cost while the other is through low or no fixed cost as well as declining marginal cost all this while. One must take note of the fact that economies of scale are all about efficiencies which are linked with the supply side alterations. This is in line with the increase or decrease of the scale of produc tion as concerns to a single product type or unit. The horizontal boundaries are also manifested by the proper incorporation of economies of scope within the related contexts. These are in essence pretty much similar to the economies of scale but little changes and modifications. Economies of scope are comprised with the efficiencies that are associated with the demand side changes which essentially highlight the increase or decrease in the scope of marketing as well as distribution concerning different kinds of products or units. What we must comprehend from

Should We Cry for Argentina Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Should We Cry for Argentina - Case Study Example The peso had initially been pegged to the dollar to increase the popularity of the domestic currency following a hyperinflation that had led to demand of payments in dollars back in the 1990s. Local companies blamed their defaults on new requirements that all money sent abroad had to have the central bank’s authorization, a process that proved to be too slow. Increased taxes on exporters and cash-rich firms, and inability to obtain money to pay foreign suppliers intensified the local companies’ struggles. International companies faced rising debts and losses from their Argentine operations as the peso continued its decline. Aerolineas Argentinas, an Argentine airline company, was forced to cancel all of its international flights due to the economical crisis that saw it barely escape bankruptcy in 2002. The rising inflation resulted in a significant increase in commodity prices thus making lives of ordinary difficult. People opted to spend on much cheaper goods than before. It is however reported that the inflation prompted the Argentines to spend rather than save and see their money depreciate in value (Agren). Rates of unemployment soared and poverty ensued too and by the 2012 purchasing power was at an all time

Letter Concerning Toleration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Letter Concerning Toleration - Essay Example According to John Locke in his Letter Concerning Tolerance, the state and the church are perfectly distinct and infinitely different entities (Locke 24). In his opinion, the magistrate has no role in matters of religion. The main functions of the state are to protect life, people’s liberty, and their properties. Every entity in the society is limited to its functions and protection of souls is not one of the states functions but rather the function of the church. Therefore, by creating laws to criminalize the use the hallucinogenic mushroom, the stipulations describing how the drug is not fit for consumption and what makes it criminal should apply to all individual citizens of the state in the bid to uphold democracy and protection of peoples lives and liberty. Allowing some religions to use the drug while restricting others is a true description of what Locke refers to as intolerance. It is a definite case of a state showing coercion of citizens to convert to certain religion s. This is because conversion to the exempted religion would allow those people with the urge to use the drug a right to the drug. The American flag and patriotism Reciting the pledge of allegiance while facing the American flag as a show of patriotism is not wrong even in Locke’s point of view. This is because Locke is precise and categorical about the extend to which the state can make wrong moves in controlling religious practices and the main factor of consideration is the essence of everything that the state implements as a rule for every citizen. The only wrong move that the state could take in such a case is to connect the reciting of the pledge of allegiance while facing the American flag to matters of religion. In this case, the state has not made connections of religious beliefs to the aspect of reciting the pledge of allegiance while facing the American flag. In addition to this, the state makes itself clean in this case by ensuring that this aspect is practiced by all citizens of America regardless of their religious affiliations as a show of patriotism to the state. It is for the parents to these children to differentiate matters of religion from undertaking universal activities that are meant to show patriotism to the state. The state never intended to connect the action of reciting the pledge of allegiance while facing the American flag with matters of the soul. Nonetheless, subscribing as a citizen of a certain state or nation means that one has made the choice of being patriotic to the particular state. The Christian minister The case of the Christian minister presents a very controversial aspect in consideration of Locke’s views in the letter concerning tolerance. The controversy is presented in the fact that both the state and the Christian minister would agree and disagree with Locke’s ideas at some point. In Locke’s view, there should be religious tolerance among churches as a factor that would foster peace in t he society. The minister was not wrong to criticize another religious sect in the congregation of his religious sect in order to persuade his people to choose his religion but he had no right to threaten to burn the Koran as it would be fostering a totalitarian ideology that Locke is against. He is correct in Locke’

Nigerias Position on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Essay

Nigerias Position on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict - Essay Example The General Assembly reiterated that it is always illegal to acquire a territory by use of force or any threat and found that Israel has been breaching the international law. The conflict between the two countries has been present for a long time, thus there is a need to settle the situation between the two. Without taking the side of the Palestine, the country supports the call for Israel to respect and honour its responsibilities and obligations in the international community. Nigeria encourages that both country will do everything to make peace in good faith. Palestine should also stop any act of dispute and violence and make peace. The two countries should make compromises to arrive at a suitable peace agreement (UNGA 10/10246). Until today, Nigeria has been very supportive of the Middle East peace process however, the country felt a little frustration regarding the progress of the negotiation. According to Kio Solomon Amieyeofori, the success of the negotiation was up to the con cerned parties, Palestine and Israel. The country still supports the Road Map peace plan as the solution to the continuous conflict of the two countries. The country encourages stopping Israel’s settlement-related activities in East Jerusalem and West Bank and calls to freeze the militant attacks in Gaza.

Personal and Professional Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal and Professional Development - Essay Example Secondly, there is increased productivity and one of high quality due to efficiency in performance. Self-management is crucial in enabling an individual to follow set rules. This essay primarily entails information on the personal and professional organization. In addition, the study involves an investigation of the ways people can learn to identify suitable methods for development. Further, there are some suggestions on how concerned individuals can encourage lifelong learning in personal and professional context. Finally, the essay evaluates the benefits of self-managed learning for both the individual as well as the organization. Personal and professional development Personal development refers to the action of a particular individual to advance through various activities necessary for bringing awareness of one’s potential. Personal development is responsible for ensuring that an individual has all the requisites for actual job performance. Professional development refers t o the advancement of individual performance through specialization in a particular field. Professional development is crucial for personal development, as it takes into account advancement in a person’s career and impact on the organization (Bubb & Earley 2007, p. 42). It helps one to acquire high-tech skills useful in overall performance. The outcome of professional development is one exhibiting quality work. ... Secondly, personal and professional development is essential for the performance of the organization, which is through placement of skilled personnel in different departments after a scrutiny of the skills that one has. Additionally, personal and professional development acts as a tool for designing and setting organizational objectives. It also helps leaders learn about their weak side when dealing with workers (Tomlinson 2004, p. 119). Finally, personal and professional development helps individuals develop a better perception concerning the differences between them and others within the organization. These objectives are in line with skillful tactics of focusing on what is best is achievable in the organization within a certain period. Recommendation on how people could learn to identify suitable methods for development Individuals, whether working in organizations or venturing into small business entities need to learn more about essential methods for development. The reason for learning about the methods is that people desire to grow and that they need their businesses to grow on the positive side of the economy. There are various ways helping one to identify the best development methods to apply. For instance, one should have better leadership styles. Leadership is important especially in a large organization where an individual (specifically a manager), has to help set objectives related to performance towards completion of set targets. There is also management of conflict, which is of significance when an individual has to have a good relation with the environment. Conflict management helps individual set objectives that are achievable by the employees within

To what extent were the diggers who staged the Eureka rebellion of Essay

To what extent were the diggers who staged the Eureka rebellion of December 1854 motivated by democratic ideals - Essay Example Although, the miners lost the battle, they succeeded in gaining greater equality for the miners including the abolition of the License and Gold Commission, as well as the vote for all males. The Eureka stockade can be regarded as the birthplace of Australia’s political system as marked the inception of the right to vote, political equality, and freedom of speech.1 The Eureka revolution represented an earnest attempt at democratic government. The paper maintains that the miners who staged the Eureka rebellion were mainly motivated by democratic ideals, by values and principles against injustice and oppression. Background The gold can be regarded to have been a social transformer, a democratic mineral given that whoever who found had cash in their hands. In order to maintain control on the colony’s critical pastoral industry and preserve its conventional values, Governor La Trobe instituted an emergency system where commissioners enjoyed both judicial and executive powers . This set the stage for the confrontation as the military and the police transformed into an arbitrary force, whose decisions almost unchallenged. A heavy tax as imposed on all individuals who went to dig in an effort to deter men from leaving their regular employment, especially within the pastoral industry. Furthermore, the diggers bought the license at a high price, more than what the squatters paid to graze sheep. Unsurprisingly, the license tax was opposed right from its inception and the majority of the colony’s men condemned the tax and the manner in which the police enforce the tax.2 The failure by the conservative legislative council to substitute the detestable tax with an equitable and less confrontational export duty on gold set the stage for future rebellion. The new governor, Hotham ordered twice-weekly searches to weed out unlicensed miners, which further disillusioned the miners. The move heightened hostility to the overworked and undermanned police force. At the same time, larger complaints were emerging, which rendered licenses to be symbolic. The burning of the licenses derived from the fact that they represented the most evidence of government's injustice.3 The seeds of discord, sown into the soil, can be highlighted as a series of miscarriages of justice, latent within the system. The incidences police mistreatment was subsidiary to the deeply entrenched distrust fuelled by serious miscarriage of justice over the murder of James Scobie by Bentley, who was an ex-convict owner of the Eureka Hotel and exonerated of the murder charge.4 The burning of the hotel in protest to the Bentley verdict marked a turning for both sides. The Eureka episode created disaffection between the two camps, which had threatening undertones. What started as a disconnected series of events triggered by the same flawed system of control gained momentum when the populace reacted to the enquiry into the hotel’s destruction while seizing the opportunity to highlight the long-standing litany of grievances against the government.5 Hotham declined to accept the recommendations, which demanded that the licenses be abolished, and the police return to standard work, but used delaying tactic of a royal commission. The Ballarat miners were by then organized, united, and determined to success. The governor and other officials, on the other hand, sought to conquer the defeat the rebel movements even if it meant the use of military force. The retrial and subsequent conviction

A Talk About Oral English Teaching Problems and Solutions Essay Example for Free

A Talk About Oral English Teaching Problems and Solutions Essay As a result, spoken language becomes more and more important. Nowadays, almost everyone knows the importance of learning English, it is taught as a compulsory subject at elementary school, secondary school and university in China. A lot of people consider that vocabulary is the key to learning English, so they prefer to memorize words as many as possible. It is true that one cannot communicate effectively or express his ideas in both oral and written forms without a sufficient vocabulary. However, we all know that the effect of learning language is marked by the students’ communication ability. There is a phenomenon which we called â€Å"Dumb English† in China, which means a large number of students can only read and write instead of speaking. Although vocabulary is an indispensable element in learning foreign language, a more important one is how to speak that language out. However, after several years of learning, students’ spoken English is also poor. They cannot express their thoughts in English in daily life. They are afraid of communicating with native speakers in English. Whats worse. They even cannot figure out what others say in English. Why did these phenomenons happen? Three reasons are introduced. The first one is that there are still many problems existing in spoken English teaching, such as absence of English learning environment, the Grammar-Translation Methods, and teachers paying much attention to vocabulary and grammar. The second one is the subjective reason: students are afraid of speaking English. They are scared of being laughed at by others if they say something wrong. There is a saying: â€Å"Practice makes perfect. † They are lack of practice, so their spoken English is poor. The third one is the objective reason, for example, the non-English environment, the different culture between China and western countries. This paper will only focus on the problems existing in spoken English teaching in High school and suggests some teaching strategies to deal with these problems to help improve students’ spoken English and communicative competence. Theoretical Framework 1 1. 1 The requirements of the New English Curriculum Standard The overall aim of the New English Curriculum Standard is to develop students’ overall language ability. Such abilities are grounded in the development of language skills, language knowledge, affects, cultural awareness and learning strategies. Language skills contain listening, speaking, reading and writing. And the requirements of speaking skills in junior high school advocate what students can do in the speaking process as following listed: the third level requires students can tell some simple and short stories. The fourth level requires students can use simple words to describe his own or others’ experiences with the teacher’s help. And the fifth level requires students can exchange ideas and complete tasks corporately. New English Curriculum Standard,2001). It has six designing principles: Firstly, it aims for educating all students, and emphasizes quality-oriented education. Secondly, it promotes learner-centeredness, and respects individual differences.

Enjo Kosai Girls: Identity Confusion

Enjo Kosai Girls: Identity Confusion INTRODUCTION The term enjo kosai has appeared prevalently at Hong Kong in around October 2007, after a local newspaper reported that girls dating for compensation and branded product. However, the seriousness of the problem was not addressed until a 16-year-old enjo kosai girl was killed and dismembered by a 24-year-old man who was a drug abuser in July 2009. This incident aroused huge social concern towards this emerging trend which is originated from Japan. What is the situation in Hong Kong? This paper aims to review this problem by pointing out that negative family factors is an antecedents of enjo kosai girls in Hong Kong, as well as analyzing that these girls tend to be in the identity diffusion status. Roles of social workers, dilemma they face and future invention strategies are also discussed. LITERATURE REVIEW Background of Enjo Kosai Enjo Kosai, abbreviated as enko, which is translated in English as Compensated Dating or Subsidized Dating, is a term originated in Japan. Enjo means to assist and Kosai means dating. The term was first report in a Japan Newspaper in September, 1994. With the spread of internet and cultural interflow, it was soon being prevalent in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. At first, the definition meant teenage girls dating an older man for money or gifts, so as to assist them from loneliness. Teenage girls regarded it as a part-time job, and for some of the participants, sex became part of the process. With the addition of sex for pay, the meaning of this activity became unclear. Nowadays, enjo kosai has generally turned into teenage sex work. The major difference between with prostitution is that, prostitution is generally performed in a brothel or by arrangement of a third party, while in enjo kosai, the fact is girls can choose men. If a girl does not like a man when she first sees him, she can leave him. As they are not bounded by any contract, they can conduct enjo kosai only when they need extra money. Causes of Enjo Kosai As suggested by Matsumoto (2002), in a survey by Asahi Shimbun in 1998, people where asked what they perceived to be the main contributing factors to this obvious social problem. The most common response was that parents cannot discipline their children and society overemphasizes the desire of goods. Typically girls commit in enjo kosai spend the money on expensive brand-named goods or on activities with friends. Although monetary reward underlies each of enjo kosai girls, apparently there are several explanations for the reasons behind. According to a Japanese study as suggested by Wakabayashi (2003), Maruta (2001) analyzed that there are three reasons why girls engage in enjo kosai: 1) efficiency of making money, 2) sexual desire, and 3) psychological compensation. The ratio among these three categories was 3:1:6. For the reason of psychological compensation, Maruta analyzed that there are two subcategories: 1) Girls are grown up in defective families and struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder or PSTD, which is a multidimensional construct of stress response syndromes. These girls have experienced some sort of trauma in their lives. This trauma might be physical, e.g., being raped or being physically abused by their parents; or it might be emotional, e.g., experiencing their parents divorce. 2) Girls seek to gain sexual experience, affirm their own sexual attractiveness and are possible to set a price for their bodies. Marutas analysis found there might be certain psychological connections between enjo kosai and the compensation for the lack of love, loneliness and past trauma experiences. Not surprisingly, other recent research found the same result. McCoy (2004) suggested that many teenage girls who engage in enjo kosai experience family dysfunction and a lack of communication with their parents, or they feel overprotected or stifled. They tend to be unable to exercise self-restraint, act impulsively and feel lonely. Research on Enjo Kosai in Hong Kong As enjo kosai is an emerging issue in Hong Kong, little formal research is done as it is a new research topic. A few local social service agencies conducted exploratory research. Some significant research include 1) An Exploratory Study of Enjo Kosai Girls in Hong Kong by Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service (2008): This is one of the earliest comprehensive exploratory studies on the emergence of enjo kosai in Hong Kong. Information of enjo kosai websites and other internet sources were extensively analyzed and six enjo kosai girls were being interviewed. Causes, prevalence and impact of enjo kosai were discussed. 2) Adolescents Views on Enjo Kosai by Hong Kong Christian Service (2009) 3) Secondary Students Knowledge and Values of Enjo Kosai by Hong Kong Association of Sexuality Educators, Researchers Therapists (2009): They have done similar research on the causes of enjo kosai in Hong Kong, the value system of adolescents and their perception on this issue. Both studies suggested adolescents perceptions of the main reason that girls engage in enjo kosai is the efficiency of making money to buy branded products. These support the analysis of Kuruta (2001). 4) Uncontrollable Desire of Consumerism? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Rethinking the Problem of Enjo Kosai in Hong Kong by Office of Hon Cheung Kwok Che, Member of Legislative Council (Social Welfare Functional Constituency) Shiu, K. C. (2009): This study interviewed several enjo kosai girls and summarized different perspectives of viewing this problem in Hong Kong, including how society, police and the law treat enjo kosai. Social workers roles, positioning and intervention method were discussed. Negative Family Factors Researchers have found parental and family relationship relates to teenage girls sexual behavior, which applies to enjo kosai in this paper. Parental characteristics, family relationships, and attitudes, values and norms of family members also have been associated with adolescent sexual behaviors (Dorius et al., 1993). Adolescents from single-parent families have been shown to begin sexual intercourse at younger ages than those from two-parent families (Miller Bingham, 1989). Thornton and Camburn (1987) found that both parents and adolescents who have experienced divorce have more permissive attitudes about non-marital sexual intercourse. In addition, other than family factors that affect sexual behaviors, adolescents disclosure on their activities, i.e., communication with family also plays an important role in escalating and fostering enjo kosai activities. Dishion et al. (2004) suggested that monitoring is embedded within the parentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"child relationship. Stoolmiller (1994) made a similar point that some teenagers actively avoid parental supervision, especially are disinclined to share information about their comings and goings and with whom they spend time. Both parents attempt and childrens willingness to disclose affect parents involvement in and influence on children (Dishion et al., 2004). Marcias Identity Statuses à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Identity Diffusion Erikson (1950, 1968) suggested the descriptions of identity formation as a particularly adolescent activity. He grounded that adolescents need to confront the crisis of identity versus role confusion. Marcia (1966) extended Eriksons theory into a structured Identity Statuses by accessing individuals crisis and commitment. This includes 1) Identity achievement crisis leading to commitment; 2) Foreclosure commitment without crisis; 3) Moratorium crisis with no commitment yet; 4) Identity Diffusion no commitment, no crisis. Marcia (1976) revealed that the Identity Diffusion individuals had in common a lack of direction and purpose in their lives and a pervasive air of unconcern about the matter. Some individuals were drifting and some were distressed. They seemed to have jobs rather than occupations. They tended to be controlled largely by immediate environmental influences. Kroger (1993) suggested that parents of identity defused adolescents are more likely laissez-faire in child-rearing attitudes. They are rejecting or not available to children. The adolescents personalities tended to be with low levels of ego development, moral reasoning, cognitive complexity and self-certainly. They tended to have poor cooperative abilities. ANALYSIS DISCUSSION Negative Family Factor as Antecedents of Enjo Kosai Activities in Hong Kong Following Dishion et al (2004) s interaction effect between adolescents developing deviant friendships and parents disengaging from family management, this paper applies the argument to enjo kosai: If a girl is involved in enjo kosai, her behavior will escalate under conditions of low parent monitoring, negative parent communication, and poor relationship quality. This interaction of family management degradation and enjo kosai involvement is also in line with Dishion et al.s premature autonomy hypothesis. Though having a small sample size in Hong Kong, Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service (2008) found that all girls who engaged in enjo kosai they interviewed have a poor relationship with their families. They lacked communication with their parents and siblings, some were being abused and some parents were divorced. It is obvious that parental and family relationship strongly relates to enjo kosai activities in Hong Kong. Some interviewees agreed that their divorced family background might also foster them to involve in enjo kosai for psychological compensation of love and care. Identity Diffusion of Enjo Kosai Girls in Hong Kong From the above literature, it is reviewed that girls who engaged in enjo kosai activities could be applied as in the Identity Diffusion status. Despite McCoy (2004) found that in Southeast Asia, some girls who engage in compensated dating were frequently from middle or upper-middle-class families and were commonly good students and school leaders, while in Hong Kong, the situation is not the same. The few local studies suggested that enjo kosai girls in Hong Kong tend to have no commitment to schooling, education and have no seriously considered options of future career. Some of them treated enjo kosai as a part-time job. Their parents do not tend to discuss the future with these girls. The characteristics of Identity Diffusion adolescents also include high degree of anxiety and fluctuation in feelings about self and their dominant characteristics. Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service (2008)s findings supported these. The girls they interviewed are distressed, anxious, uncertain about themselves when they were alone and psychologically empty. Abortion was also reported from some girls. Roles of Social Workers in Hong Kong The roles of social workers are controversial. Office of Hon. Cheung Shiu (2009) discussed extensively about the roles and ethical dilemma of social workers face when handling with enjo kosai cases. For example, 1) the dilemma between being responsible to the case owner (enjo kosai girl) versus being accountable to the school: whether social workers should confidentially help the enjo kosai girls or they should report to the school principal once they receive a case; and 2) the intervention of institutionalized life is good for all girls: whether putting enjo kosai girls into girls home is advantageous regardless of their long-term identity and personality development as well as social network. Office of Hon. Cheung Shiu (2009) also argued that the role of social worker is more like police. They claimed that nowadays more social workers tend to report and publicize the case rather than focus on confidentially due to social pressure. However, the intervention phase will be affected and might not be aiming at the biggest interest of the case owner. It is suggested a balance should be kept when facing the dilemma of confidentiality versus accountability. More agencies could conduct research on this topic so that social workers will understand more on the reasons behind enjo kosai and to help these girls. More training to social workers could be provided on this topic and outreaching teams that focus on this target group could be formed. CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATIONS This paper concluded that negative family factors are antecedents of enjo kosai girls in Hong Kong. It also discussed that these girls tend to be in the identity diffusion status. This would be useful for social workers, social service agencies, sociologists and the government to understand more about enjo kosai, the role of family factors as well as the girls psychological development. It is recommended that more comprehensive sex education shall be given in early and middle adolescence stage so as to build up and achieve youths positive identity. On the other hand, more aid shall be given to existing enjo kosai girls in Hong Kong by social workers with focused outreaching teams.

Urban Planning Strategies in Cairo

Urban Planning Strategies in Cairo Cairo is the Egyptian capital, the largest city in Africa. It is located in the Nile Delta, 14 kilometers south of the Nile River. The most area of the city is in the east of the river and it is 120 kilometers east of the Suez Canal. The urban area is about 214 square kilometers. Great Cairo included Helwan, Maadi, Nasser, Aslamm, Ramadan City, October 6 and other satellite towns with a total area of 1200 square kilometers. The population of those satellite towns is about fifth of the countrys total. It is standing for both financial centre and transportation hub. The city is the countrys largest business and financial center. Manufacturing output value is nearly half of the country. Textile industry is the most important sector. Raw cotton material is particularly well-developed but also wool, silk, hemp textile industry. And they are followed by the food, sugar, cigarettes, cement and household appliances. There are also included traditional leather tanning, show-making, as well as gold, silver ornaments and other handicrafts. The satellite town, Helena which is 25 kilometers away from south of the city, focus on heavy industry in order to iron and steel industry. It has developed coking, machinery, automobile, motorcycle, oil and chemical sectors. Cairo gathered the national third of the trading companies and nearly a quarter of the banking, commercial and various service industries flourish. Tourism is an important part of the city economy, as directly or indirectly employed about 40 million. It also stands for an important transport hub. The nations major rail ways and roads meet at this intersection, connected Alexandria, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, Aswan and other major cities. The Nile to the west is the major way connected through Upper and Lower Egypt. Canal Ismailia which has access to Canal Suez is just on the west side of Nile. Eastern suburb of Heliopolis has a modern international airport, the provision of Article 30 domestic and international routes. There are 13 elevated railways, highway overpasses, and three large pedestrian bridges in the city. The bridge in the 6th Oct is more than 10 kilometer. From the foregoing, Cairo is a city is the Egyptian center of economic, transportation and politic. The development clear influences the country. Today, many developing countries are faced with problem of urbanization. As the first open country in the Arabian world, Cairo plays a crucial role in urbanization which cannot be ignored. Existing urban planning strategies The general master plan which established in 70s in to create a super agglomeration or poly-nuclear City to accommodate large population growth caused by rural-urban migration. In each individual satellite town, it expected to be self sufficient which included residential, commercial and entertainment development in order to reduce the need for commuting. Ring road, metro and other transportation system should be built in order to serve expanding settlements. In agriculture aspect, it encourages development to spread to the east and west of the city centre, into desert land, to avoid building on valuable nutrient-rich arable land in the Nile Delta. In Figure ii, it shows the original proposal of expansion gesture at west and east direction. Unfortunately, the master plan has failed. The plan doesnt have significant effect on the urban development. Its mostly because of naà ¯ve urbanization which didnt consider some basic social issues well. First, the master plan covered large areas; however, the infrastructural development fell behind. Second, the new satellite town failed to attract population. (Table 1)The target of population cannot be carried out and there are not enough employment opportunities in some of development areas. Feedback from Interview Peoples points of view are always considered as the most powerful evidence. Before starting deep research of the project, an interview has been taken by M. Shaker in Cairo. Therefore, the public opinions have been investigated and analyzed. The interview is focusing on their residence history, the location they aspire to live in and their opinions about the downtown area. The population of downtown is shrinking sharply and the reason why people dont want to live in the downtown area is basically showed in the pie chart. Quality of living and traffic condition seem to be concerned mostly. Also, in the bar chart, it clearly shows that working close to residents is the most important factor for job selection. To sum it up, people intended to move out of the downtown for better housing and living environment. They also want the new settlement to provide job opportunities so that they can work close to their residence. pAs the analysis of interview information, the main problems and contradictions come out in two aspects: one is about the living quality and the housing status with large number of rural population, and another is about traffic problems with the developments of satellite towns. Living Quality The population of Cairo increased sharply from 1970 to 5.9 million, up to 8.7 million to 1980. In 1996, it reaches 14.6 million which is a quarter of this countrys. However, Cairos population is still growing at a rate of 0.35 million per year. The population is too large to enormous pressure on Cairo. (CAPMAS 1997) Firstly, there are the food shortages. Cairo consumed half of the total imports of the country; any city in the world cannot be compared in this point. Import food prices keep rising, although the government spends huge sums of money for food subsidies, the result is not pleasing. Secondly, it caused the residents of Cairo declining standard of living. From 1985 to 1989, the general consumer price almost increased double, and it keeps increasing. Third, the large number of people ran into the city cause a serious shortage of rural labor force and unemployment to the citizens. In 1961, the national unemployment rate was 4.7%, Cairo unemployment rate was 7.5%. In 1970, the national unemployment rate was 2%, Cairo was 7.6%. Meanwhile, the young population is another challenge in Cairo, According to statistics, 1988 the population aged 0 to 14 accounted for 40%. The large number of young people will put a huge pressure on Cairo social and economic development in the future. What is the reason for population expansion in Cairo? It has the heavy urban function. The density of its urban functions is highest in Africa. It loads half of the industry in the country and it has to main international and domestic trade activities. In addition, it has education institute such as Al-Azhar University, Cairo University and American University. As the Governments road construction, housing, water, electricity and other public facilities placed in Cairo, which determines the governments majority of investments are staying in the area. Therefore, it provided substantial employment opportunities in this area, on the other hand, small towns and rural areas infrastructure construction will be lack of funds. It so that expand the gap between urban and rural areas. The contrast cause rural youth do not want to go home after graduation. In the other hand, basically, there are three types of housing in Cairo: A. Legitimate housing. It was divided into three types: 1. Countries to rent and sell or provide housing for the national staff. 2. Cooperative housing (Cooperative). 3. Private housing. B. Illegal construction. Since 1960, annual housing construction accounted for 70% of urban housing about 60000 units of housing annually, is mainly for citizens with low income. C. Slums. They are mainly used by people with lowest income and new immigrants. The legitimate housing is getting old and loses their attraction to citizens, but the slums are keeping growing and cover most of the urban places. The Government cannot stop the poor to build that as the very low incomes they have. The Roof room effect shows a housing shortage in Cairo. Today, in the city, the many buildings left room on the top and those places are nice place for the poor. Therefore, the slum and informal settlements became strong impression of some development site. These dense concentrations of human and economic activity are often located near factories, garbage dumps, or other noxious activities where eviction pressures are relatively low. While slum residents typically plan, finance, and build their own communities, they do not have the financial resources to also construct basic infrastructure like waste disposal and drainage facilities. With little assistance forthcoming from outside the slums, these facilities are often inadequate, resulting in degraded and unhealthy living and poor environmental conditions. Informal housing and slum areas are, in most cases, the source of environment pollution, both above and underground, slum and informal communities in the GCMR are typically found in the developed portions of the GCA. (M. EI Araby 2002) The pollution of Cairo is another big issue and makes people get away from it. Today, the motor vehicle emission is major source of the air pollution. Another source is industrial emission. Because some of the high density of heavy industry located near the city, the air pollution is really dangerous to public health especially children. All the people are trying to escape from those industrial regions. All of those show that the environment of living in downtown area is really bad and even getting worse; therefore, new settlements were built for people especially for those can afford a new house and want to have a better living standard. Some of those settlements included working, education and other living infrastructure; it became more and more self sufficient and part from the city main part. In the future, as satellite towns increasing, the population will be drag out of the city and disperse to the desert. Transportation issues Traffic and transport situation is a measure of urban functions, while the city has promoted the evolution of modern transportation. In 19th Century, as several trams developed, various modern transports are turning up in Cairo. With the development of the city, vehicle grows rapidly. Until early 1995, an official statistics shows a total of 3.6 million various types of motor vehicles. All the auto motor companies take notice of the huge markets in this country, variation types of cars and new cars exhibitions emerge one after another. However, car congestion has been a threat to pedestrians on the sidewalk. The disorderliness gave a bad impression of this city. When people say that a city, or a part of it, is dangerous or is a jungle what they mean primarily is that they do not feel safe on the sidewalks. (Jacobs, J 1961 p. 37) In downtown area, many pedestrian are exposed with motor vehicle on the street. The lack of effective management and the underlying dangerous created an image of chaos. The problem is also charged upon urban distribution. The urban layout is unreasonable in some ways. Some of the government departments located in the central business district, others located in the Nasser City which is one of the satellite cities. Industrial areas occupied the south of Helwan, housing area are around the north. Major education institute, Cairo University, Al-Azhar University and Ain Shams University located in the different sites. As a result, almost half of the citizen in Cairo is far away from their workplace. About 1 million people have to get out of town for work every day. Therefore, public transportation becomes the key issue of the economic development. From 1970 to 1980, passengers are rising about 10% per year, while public transport is almost not increased. However, in 1990, it accommodated 13million passengers. It is not easy to imagine a bus can carry so many passengers and spend more than an hour for about 1mile. Inadequate of public transport is getting worse; however, several solutions have been established by the Government to solve that. In order to relieve the traffic crisis from the 70s, Cairo, built 13 large-scale motorway bridges and more than 3 thousands pedestrian bridges. The new road system has been built; a large road network connects the city with other towns. New ring road is built surround outside of the city and connected with most of the districts. Especially, the motorway bridge located in the heart of 6th Oct. is up to 10 kilometers. Also, because of the high pressure of public transportation, the need of cheep and fast transport revealed. A study was made about the needed capacity in 1990 for the transportation power, which showed the need of 8,400 Million trips a day for public transportation like buses and 2,770 million trips a day for other transportation systems like taxis and cars. The actual available capacity for public transportation is 4,872 million trips a day which is 3.5 million trips less than the needed capacity. The Government reached an agreement with France, in March 1982 1 September 1987. It takes five and a half years, costs 500 million Egyptian Pound to build 43 kilometers Metro. This is the first subway in the Middle East and Africa, which operates daily from 5:30 to 12 midnight, with a passenger capacity of 60000 people per hour. From 1996, they began to build the second line which connects from Shobra El Kheima to El Mounib and it finished construction in 2005. But as the need of the large capacity keep growing; Egyptian Railway Authority has already proposed another two lines: Line 3, Mohandiseen to Cairo Intl Airport; Line 4, October to Oasis Highway to Mubarak Police Academy. It is expected to finish by 2020. The subway construction to solve the traffic problems has made a significant contribution. Meanwhile, the Government started to develop the river transport on the Nile to relieve the traffic congestion, particularly, the peak traffic congestion pressure. International Airport is also a crucial factor in the economic development of a capital. Cairo international airport stands for the gateway of the city and the country. It located in the Heliopolis district, which is about 10miles away from the city central area. However, the air port will be connected with Metro Cairo in couple of years. It also is the second busiest airport in Africa. Cairo Airport handles about 3,400 daily flights, more than 12,100 weekly flights and about 125,000 yearly flights. The airport has three terminals with the third (Terminal 3) opening in April 2009 which houses Egypt Air and its Star Alliance partners. (Wikipedia 2009) Practically speaking, the airport really contributes international communication of Cairo and promotes the development of economic. Future developments Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has commissioned the Ministry of Housing, a representative in the General Authority for Urban Planning, to prepare a comprehensive plan for the development of all Downtown Cairo.'(The Boursa Exchange 18 Oct. 2009) Therefore, several large downtown development competitions have been hold recently. The Urban Planning Authority planed to create open space to the citizens by this redevelopment. For example, the Cairo Expo City designed by Zaha Hadid and the Sorouh City district designed by Callison. From 2009, the Government is planning to develop the Ramses Square in the central Cairo. A comprehensive vision of the area will primarily rely on the transformation of downtowns main streets into pedestrian areas, so that it becomes an area of open-air restaurants and spaces. Said Mustafa al-Madbouli, president of the Urban Planning Authority Among the other proposals is to design the areas principal squares, such as Talaat Harb and Abdel Moneim Riad Squares, in a distinctive way, creating multi-story underground garages, so that most of the traffic remains underground. Conclusion about Cairos urbanization problems Theoretically, the right urban planning strategy is a proof for urban development. It is important to note, Egypt is an agricultural country with a high proportion of the population, a large number of peasants moved to cities, particularly in large cities. As result, the urban intensity of Cairo in different levels is rare in the world. The large expansion, rapid growth of population, housing issue, traffic congestion and environmental problems are coming out under this situation. It shows that the main development strategy today is to build satellite towns which can be self-sufficient and be part from the city. It is good for economic growth in the few years but it might be cause more and more problem in the future. First, many projects which have done or are going to do are not considered with sustainable issues. The architecture which introduced might not fit with the Cairo culture and climate. Many critics are still questioning if those new landmark development project will reall y attract people as the failure of 70s master plan. Second, the large expansion will rely on the infrastructure which cost huge amount of money and will take a long time to complete. Before that, how to solve the traffic problem? Lots of people live in new settlement are still working in downtown; they need to travel a long way to work. So this will put more loads on the transportation again. The expansion will make more contrasts between old Cairo and new towns. The poor and people who could not move will leave there. This has lead to a lower standard of living than in other areas and the standard of living in downtown will keep getting worse. However, the development should never leave the old city behind and make escape for upper-mid class people. Cairos development process must make efforts to their self-awareness, to overcome the excessive dependence on external weaknesses. The Government should prevent the blind copy and follow other foreign capitals, seek for large developmen t to leave away from the reality. Many issues are undergoing right now and those are really what should be improve and solve in the first place. Bibliography Alexander, C. (1977), A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, Oxford University Press. Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) (1987), Population, Housing and Establishment Census 1986, Preliminary Results, CAPMAS Press, Cairo. CAPMAS (1990), The Statistics Annual Book for A.R.E., 1952-1989, CAPMAS Press, Cairo. CAPMAS (1991), Housing Units and Buildings Characteristics,Final Report, Vol. 4, CAPMAS Press, Cairo. CAPMAS (1997), Population, Housing, and Establishment Census 1996, Preliminary Results, CAPMAS Press, Cairo. Jacobs, J. (1961), The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House Inc. Internet Sources World Architecture News.com, http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectviewupload_id=12571 The Boursa Exchange, http://nottooshaabi.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/the-boursafication-of-downtown Wikipedia, Transport in Cairo, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_Cairo (modified on 21.11.09) Wikipedia, Cairo Metro, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Metro (modified on 5.1.10)

The Apaches :: Native American Indians

The Apaches were American Indians who moved from Canada to Arizona, parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and North America between AD850 and 1400. The Apache were a wandering tribe, so they had two homes. One in the mountains and one in the desert. They lived in their houses for only a short period of time. The women built their houses which were called Wickiups. These were straw domed shaped houses. The Wickiup was only five or six feet high. Outside the Wickiup was covered with bundles of grass and branches. The early Apaches wore deer hide. They soaked the hide in water to make it soft. The men wore breechcloths and moccasins. The women wore skirts in the warm weather and simple dresses in the cold weather. The woman sometimes decorated their clothes with dried porcupine quills. The environment was important for them as they lived off the land a great deal. They lived on lots of wild plants and hunted deer, antelope, elk and buffalo. They also ate prairie dogs, squirrel and rabbits. They would not touch fish or any animals that lived in the water. As they moved around, they had to change how they lived. They picked up the ways of other cultures. For example, some of them rode horses that they discovered through the Spanish. They became fierce horse warriors from the 18th Century. They raided farming villages for food and goods. Environment was important to them because wherever they were they had to get food somehow which they hunted for. As they were on the move they had to adapt how they lived. They picked up the ways of different cultures. e.g. they learnt how to ride horses that they discovered through the spanish. The Chippewa tribe were living around Lakes Superior and Huron (now Quebec, Ontario, Michigan and Minnesota) by the 18th Century. They hunted, fished and gathered plants. They made birch-bark canoes and used the lakes and rivers to travel, so they made use of the environment by using the lakes and rivers as a use of transportation and sometimes food as they fished a lot. Did you know? Did you know there were thirty five thousand people in the Chippewa tribe!? They wore buck skin clothes and moccasins. In the winter they made fur lined shawls and wove turkey down robes. The Apaches :: Native American Indians The Apaches were American Indians who moved from Canada to Arizona, parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and North America between AD850 and 1400. The Apache were a wandering tribe, so they had two homes. One in the mountains and one in the desert. They lived in their houses for only a short period of time. The women built their houses which were called Wickiups. These were straw domed shaped houses. The Wickiup was only five or six feet high. Outside the Wickiup was covered with bundles of grass and branches. The early Apaches wore deer hide. They soaked the hide in water to make it soft. The men wore breechcloths and moccasins. The women wore skirts in the warm weather and simple dresses in the cold weather. The woman sometimes decorated their clothes with dried porcupine quills. The environment was important for them as they lived off the land a great deal. They lived on lots of wild plants and hunted deer, antelope, elk and buffalo. They also ate prairie dogs, squirrel and rabbits. They would not touch fish or any animals that lived in the water. As they moved around, they had to change how they lived. They picked up the ways of other cultures. For example, some of them rode horses that they discovered through the Spanish. They became fierce horse warriors from the 18th Century. They raided farming villages for food and goods. Environment was important to them because wherever they were they had to get food somehow which they hunted for. As they were on the move they had to adapt how they lived. They picked up the ways of different cultures. e.g. they learnt how to ride horses that they discovered through the spanish. The Chippewa tribe were living around Lakes Superior and Huron (now Quebec, Ontario, Michigan and Minnesota) by the 18th Century. They hunted, fished and gathered plants. They made birch-bark canoes and used the lakes and rivers to travel, so they made use of the environment by using the lakes and rivers as a use of transportation and sometimes food as they fished a lot. Did you know? Did you know there were thirty five thousand people in the Chippewa tribe!? They wore buck skin clothes and moccasins. In the winter they made fur lined shawls and wove turkey down robes.

Red Convertible Essay -- essays research papers

Perceptions & Deceptions: Life before and after Vietnam for Henry   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Have you ever wanted to take the summer off from work and escape from reality in order to travel around the world without having any worries? Well this is what Henry and Lyman in the â€Å"Red Convertible† by Louise Erdrich decided to do one summer. Henry and Lyman are two brothers who grew up on the Indian reservation. They perceive life on the reservation as an ongoing circle with a harmonious atmosphere. During their trip to Montana and Alaska Henry and Lyman’s idea of a carefree life is only reinforced, but when Henry is sent to Vietnam this perception is surpassed by a new reality and changes Henry’s reactions to the surrounding circumstances.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henry and Lyman grew up on the reservation where life was peaceful and harmonious. The two brothers had a very close relationship growing up together and were able to expand their adolescence and simplicity with the purchase of the red convertible. A red convertible was not the typical car you would expect to see on the reservation but Henry and Lyman saw the car and bought it on a whim. They traveled to many different places with the car. The red convertible only let the two brothers enjoy their summer by taking them to many comfortable and peaceful places other than the reservation. One of the places they traveled to was filled with willows. â€Å"I remember I laid under those trees and it was comfortable. ...

Socrates :: essays research papers

Socrates Socrates, as known by Renault, was a beautiful creature. Not physically beautiful, but internally and fundamentally beautiful. It was he who said: When you assume the show of any virtue, you open a credit account, which one day you will have to meet or go broke (pp. 398). According to Renault, Socrates taught children free of charge. He often walked and talked with children and young men in the market. They discussed, or more accurately argued in a calm manner, various issues ranging from the sciences to religion. Socrates, however, usually avoided the subject of government whenever possible. Socrates believed his role in life was to teach a new understanding of virtues, it was these virtues that revolved around much of the controversies. The citizens thought that Socrates poisoned the minds of children. Causing them to lose respect for parents and elders. It was said that he did not believe in conventional gods either. This is shown by Strymon on pp. 181 and 182, "I imagine the in your own circle of friends, what we have heard is nothing out of the way. Where the teacher (Socrates) does not even worship the immortal gods, but sets the aside for his new divinities, one can hardly expect in the pupil much reverence for age and kinship in mere men." Parents blamed the lack of respect for elders on Socrates. In truth Renault says that he was only giving them guidance so that they may guide themselves and be free of petty problems. This guidance and advice caused these young men to re-think their attitudes. Indeed Alexias, Xenophon, and especially Plato were all changed by Socrates. They loved Socrates like a mother or father: pp. 392, "In a word," said Xenophon, "We love him." This love for Socrates was often misinterpreted as love being lost for family, through argument. Parents were so afraid of losing children to him they made laws. One law stated that Socrates could not speak to anyone under thirty years of age. Socrates defied this law, and was not punished. However after a while all his defiance's and warnings caught up with him. He was given the choice of banishment or death. He chose death. Many of his students wanted to free him, but Socrates made the choice against it. In the end Socrates is holding the glass of Hemlock saying farewell with his students, and friends. According to The Encyclopedia, Socrates was born around 470 BC and died around 399 BC. He greatly impacted Western Philosophy through his influence on Plato. Socrates was born in Athens the son of a sculptor.

Challenges of special needs education Essay

Efforts involved in implementation of Special needs education in Uganda today have got challenges that are facing them. These challenges are Handling the problems of an inclusive classroom. The concept of having classrooms that contain both special needs students and students who are developing typically is becoming a popular one. This type of education poses new challenges for a special education teacher. For example, many students who have no disabilities are unaccustomed to dealing with those who do. Teachers in these classes are charged with eliminating cruelty and insensitivity from among  their students and ensuring that those with special needs are treated with respect. Professional Isolation. The nature of a special education teacher’s work is very different from that of traditional teachers; the result of this is that standard classroom teachers may not view them as colleagues. There may be a professional stigma attached to the work of teaching â€Å"slow† students. Special education teachers often work with smaller groups and may focus on skills rather than content, thereby leading to the perception that their work is easier or less important. Lack of support from parents. Some parents of special needs children are disinterested in the welfare of their children and fail to provide them with adequate care. Alternatively, they may be overly protective. Both can be problematic for the child and for their teacher. Disinterested parents may have no involvement with their child’s education or interaction with their teachers, WHEREAS OVERPROTECTIVE PARENTS MAY HAVE UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS FROM THE CHILD AND THE CHILD’S teachers. Both attitudes can shape children in negative ways. Parental disinterest may make special needs students less motivated and parents who are overprotective often diminish their  child’s confidence and make it harder for them to learn. 2 otydally@gmail. com The difficulty of discipline in a special needs classroom. Disabled children may have behavioral issues including restlessness and moodiness. They may also exhibit problems like a short attention span or an inability to understand what is being taught. Special education teachers have to learn how to deal with these problems as well as how to take appropriate disciplinary measures. Budget problems. Across the nation, special education programs are facing increasing enrollment and decreasing budgets. The result is that there are fewer teacher assistants available, which results in a greater workload for special education teachers. They may also face shortages of essential resources and equipment for delivering effective lessons. Shortage of teachers to handle learners with special needs. Most of the teachers refuse to offer a hand once told to handle a class and later identify that learners in that class are disabled in one way or the other. Many teachers like to teach only learners who are able to do things without any difficulty. They fail to understand that ability is not to everyone. Shortage of teaching materials. Some schools in Uganda today support the learners with special needs but they are faced with a problem of the materials they are to use to teach the learners for example having brails for the blind. This poses a challenge to special needs education in Uganda today. Statistics about the number of the children with special needs. There is no correct statistical approximation of the number of the children with special needs in Uganda today. Supplemented by the enumeration of people taking place after a long period. With miss appropriated number of  children with special needs, there comes a challenge to the state to budget for them in terms of the resources like human resource available. 3 otydally@gmail. com Rigid curriculum. Rigidity of the curriculum is also a challenge as it does not clearly show how to handle people with disabilities. The curriculum provides the content but not the pedagogy. This poses achallenge to the teachers who handle learners with special needs on how to handle and present or deliver the content. There are few schools that offer special needs education in Uganda today. They are faced with  a problem of handling the whole multitude of learners all over the country. The population of learners in those schools is high becoming a challenge to teaching and special needs education in general. There are few training institutions for those who would wish to understand the necessary basics of handling learners with disabilities. Assumptions tend to be taken that it is automatic that an individual cannot fail to handle a person with any form of disability. This is a real misconception as for example a person may just think that he knows but when a disabled person asks him for some help, he directs him to specialists. Despite the fact that Special needs education is faced with a number of challenges. Some of those challenges can be mitigated. I suggest the following ways that can be used to act as solutions t the number of challenges above are:- Comprehensive review of state laws, regulations and policies should be done to in cooperate policies for efficient implementation of special needs education in Uganda today. In addition government policies should be put in place with clearly well-defined measures to the rights of the disabled and what is expected from the community as far as providing special needs education is concerned. This will enable the learners to be helped in whatever form the help may be but not being isolated and thus their presence in society thought of as being useless. 4 otydally@gmail. com Tertiary institutions that train teachers should in cooperate into their curriculum courses that train teachers to handle learners with special needs. This will help increase the human resource that handle learners with special needs eliminating the challenge of the shortage of teachers with skills of handling learners with special needs. Sensitization of stake holders of their roles regarding the support they should render to people  with disabilities. This will make parents not to keep their children at home rather send them to schools where they may be fully partially included in regular classes thus will end up having achieved their right to education. Parents should made aware of the consequences of not rendering a hand in the education of their children. The government should consider the special needs education sector on their budget. This will make them cater for the materials that the students need to learn. With these materials like the brails available, the implementation of education of learners with special needs will not have  much trouble. Review of the curriculum to check where people with various forms of disabilities can be infused into the system needs to be done as this will help teachers have at least some basics of handling the disabled not leaving everything tothose whom they claim to be experts inthat field. With maximum cooperation of teachers in the school, all the students will thus be catered for. REFERENCES Fanning, B. , Veale, A. , & O’Connor, D. (2001). Beyond the pale: Asylum seeking children and social exclusion in Ireland. Dublin: Irish Refugee Council. Farrell, P. (1997). The integration of children with severe learning difficulties: A review of the recent literature. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 50(2), 26-31 Ferguson, D. L. (2008). International trends in inclusive education: The continuing challenge to teach each one and everyone. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 23(2), 109-120 Gutman, L. M. , & Midgley, C. (2000). The role of protective factors in supporting the academic achievement of poor African American students during the middle school transition. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29(2), 223-248.