The Organic Foods Segment Of The Retail Grocery Industry

Every system is made up of millions of loops and the challenge is often determining which loops influence system behavior (Morecroft, 2007). The organic foods segment of the retail grocery industry conforms to this idea in a significant way. The factors that influence production, sales, and profitability in this segment are closely interlinked. Consequently, changes in just one of the critical factors can trigger changes in other factors, affecting the systems overall performance. This paper will identify and analyze one balancing loop, and one reinforcing loop for Whole Foods Market (WFM) systems that are critical to the company’s performance and success. Additionally, WFM’s organizational learning systems will be identified, and a recommendation for improving performance will be made. Reinforcing Loop A reinforcing loop, sometimes referred to as positive feedback loop, occurs when a change is duplicated, or reinvested, to promote that change in the future (Morecroft, 2007). An identified reinforcing loop for WFM is one that continually repeats itself and gains momentum, which ultimately translates into profits. This system can be described in five categories: production standards, quality assurance and marketing, consumer base growth and retention, increased sales revenue. Just like any other business, WFM’s core mission is to maintain profitability in order to continue business for stakeholders. The position of each of these critical factors in WFM reinforcingShow MoreRelatedThe Alignment Of Whole Foods Market1412 Words   |  6 PagesAn inputs analysis of the alignment of Whole Foods Market (WFM) with its overall strategy is crucial in evaluating the overall effectiveness of the company. In general, the inputs of any organization can be categorized into three broad categories. These categories are: environmental inputs, historical inputs, and resource inputs (Nadler Tushman, 1980). This paper will present a comprehensive analysis of WFM’s strategy in order to determine the alignment of the company’s inputs with strategy basedRead MoreCase Study : Porters 5 Forces1740 Words   |  7 PagesForces When examining the retail grocery industry, there are clear indicators that Kroger’s has a mature market segment. The retail grocery industry has a moderate threat of new entrants. This is because there are very few barriers to enter. However, the investment and market share needed to have a successful startup is difficult to obtain. New companies face high startup costs, government regulation policies, and distribution in regards to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Kroger’sRead MoreStrategic Management-Whole Food Market Essay1505 Words   |  7 PagesStrategic Management-Whole Food Market Whole Foods Market competes in the industry of grocery products. As it come to light from the study his industry is highly competitive. This market’s traites are the low prices and convenience are the dominant factors driving consumers to the supermarkets today. The emergence of the supermarkets in the 1930s was result of a three major changes in society: 1.,The shift in population from rural to urban areas.; 2., An increase in disponsable income.; 3., IncreaseRead MoreAn Analysis of the Business Strategy of Whole Foods874 Words   |  4 PagesWhole Foods utilizes a differentiated strategy, focused on organic and natural foods. This distinguishes them from mainstream grocery competitors, and puts them into competition with other specialized grocery outlets (Urani, 2008). This differentiation, combined with more traditional grocery industry size and operations, gives the company an advantage over most of its competitors. The grocery industry is highly fragmented, with a multitude of strong regional players (Safeway, Publix, KroegerRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Tesco s Multi Channel Approach Essay1698 Words   |  7 Pageswas the first retailer to create grocery home shopping in 1997. Its in-store picking model is accompany by a small number of specialized dotcom-only stores that allow Tesco to respond to high customer demand. Click Collect service of Tesco is a key part of its multi-channel offering and enables customers to pick up their shopping according to their suitability. The company has over 1,750 Click Collect collection points for general merchandise and over 260 grocery drive-thrus in the UK(marketlineRead MoreThe Grocery Market And Natural Food Retail Chain Essay1518 Words   |  7 PagesConclusion The grocery market and natural-food retail chain that is being represented can be explained though the Porter’s 5 Forces Model because it has categories that are important when describing any industry. Porter’s 5 Forces include supplier power, buyer power, established rivals, new entrants, and substitutes and these can all be used to describe how profitable a firm will be in the industry. Supplier power in this market is high because of the uniqueness of goods. Buyer power in the marketRead MoreAnalysis of Kudlers Marketing Strategy and Position1021 Words   |  4 PagesKudler Fine Foods An Analysis of Kudlers Marketing Strategy and Position Introduction Kudler Fine Foods is a remarkable small business that has a solid business model. In just a few years time, the company has been able to expand their operations to new retail locations as well as expanding the model to offer catering services as well. Despite the initial success Kudler has achieved, the expansion of the business will dictate that the company reevaluates their market position. There are manyRead MoreSegmentation and Target1262 Words   |  6 PagesOctober 28, 2013 Segmentation and Target Market Trader Joe’s is an organic grocery food store that is one of the best known organic food chains. By listening to the consumer and adjusting to the changing consumer market, Trader Joe’s had built a brand equity that is continuously growing. Trader Joe’s faces stiff competition from other large organic food chains therefore must stand out and adapt to the consumers’ needs. Marketing strategies are important toRead MoreWhole Foods Market Inc.905 Words   |  4 PagesOverview: Whole Foods Market is a retailer company that has one operating segment of natural and organic foods supermarkets. It seeks out the finest natural and organic foods available to maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, as well as obtain an immovable commitment to unending agriculture. Whole Foods Market has been operating 362 stores within the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom since 2013. Whole Foods Market offers a wide collection of natural and organic productsRead MoreThe Value Of A Healthy Diet Essay1540 Words   |  7 Pagesdistinctive segment we have identified is composed of the people considered price a determinant factor in making their vegetables and fruits purchasing decisions. From the data gathered from our interviews, we realized that most of our participants are considering price an important factor in purchasing our produce. From external data, we determined that 80% of the consumers are price-conscious in their purchasing across all industry. Therefore, we determined that our price conscious segment is 80% potential

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Free Essays

John McPherson, which resulted in his wife getting out of bed and unfortunately causing her death. The next day at school, Mr. John McPherson shows up under the influence of alcohol, completely drunk and starts to insult the Jews and making extremely racist comments. We will write a custom essay sample on The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is Just a small example of Anti-Semitism during Duddys childhood. Another idea I found important in the text was selfishness as well as ambition and greed. Even though Duddy was making more money than a 17 year old should, he always wanted more. Nothing was more important to him than making money. When he heard that the last piece of land in Lac St. Pierre was up for sale, he took all the money he had, but still came up short. Duddy decides to forge a cheque from Virgil’s chequebook. Virgil was a man who Duddy met in New York and helped him make money illegally by smuggling pinball machines. After Virgil and Yvette found out about what Duddy had done to them, they never spoke to him again. Discuss the author’s style. Describe 2 iterary elements the author uses successfully and give a clear example of each. The author used a few techniques to deepen our understanding of the story. One of the techniques was using a teenager as the main character of the novel. I think this showed us the ambition of the young man because all teenagers want to make money and dream about becoming rich one day, but it’s not all 17 year olds that want it as bad as Duddy Kravitz. Another technique used by the author was making the main character a Jew. As we all know, Jews have a reputation for wanting money so ad and I think that the fact that Duddy is Jewish makes the whole story about a young man chasing money more meaningful. Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not? I enjoyed this novel a lot and recommend it to everyone living in Montreal and who likes a story that may have many things in common with their own personal lives. I think it is an important part of Montreal history in our generation. I also think it’s good for Jewish people to read this novel because we also see how racism has stronger racism against Jews was in the 1940s How to cite The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Papers

Implementing a Strategic Human Resource Plan

Question: Describe about steps involved in implementing a Strategic Human resource plan, Developing HR strategies to support the strategies of the organization and Methods to review and monitor the implementation of HR strategic plans? Answer: Steps involved in implementing a Strategic Human resource plan: Important steps involved in the implementation of strategic human resource plan are Determining the present Human Resource capacity. Forecasting the requirement of human resources. GAP analysis Developing human resource strategies that would sustain the organizational policies and strategies. Evaluating the present human resource capacity: In the first step of strategic HR the present skills, knowledge and abilities of the staff is analysed. Forecasting the HR requirements: The next step is to forecast the need of human resource in the organization. This is the assessment of the number of employees needed at particular point of time. It also determines the present external challenges that the company is facing right now. For e.g. the impact of economy, technological and cultural swings, Changes in the labour market, changes expected in the near future. Gap analysis: A gap analysis is done to determine the gap between the present status of the company and the anticipated status of the company. Developing HR strategies to support the strategies of the organization: Recruitment strategies Restructuring strategies Outsourcing strategies Collaboration strategies Communication with employees for enhancing the strategic plans of the company: Communicating the strategic plans to the employees is very necessary. In the absence of proper communication, a very efficient Human resource plan will also fail to work (Armstrong and Armstrong, 2011). The employees will need to understand the objectives of the Strategic plans for their appropriate functioning. The employees can be communicated by the following ways: 1. Objectives: Employees need to learn the objectives of the strategic plans in order to deliver the best output. The objectives must be very clearly stated by the management and understood by the employees.2. Procedure: The procedures are the method by which the employees can attain the goals and make a successful strategic planning. The employees will have to made to understand the proper way to perform in order to attain this goals. If certain changes are made the organization should try to train the employees in certain fields if required (Dessler, 2013).3. Results: The employees will need to know the results of such strategic plans. If there lies any confusion regarding the success of the strategies implemented, then all the confusion will be vanished. Communication happens to be a very important part of an organization. Without proper communication and coordination, nothing is possible in an organization (Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2013). Human resources plan to be adopted to accommodate in changed circumstances: Environment has a great impact in business. A business environment is ever changing and needs to be handled carefully. Various types of environmental changes that can take place in a business environment. These are globalization, technological change, work force diversity, Legislation, rapid changes, evolving family roles. These changes affect the functions of a business greatly. The human resource management team has to implement its strategic human resource plans to make the organization sustain in the market. The two types of strategies that would probably help an organization during changes in the business environment are Recruiting strategies and collaboration strategy (Ivancevich and Konopaske, 2013). Recruitment Strategies: This process includes identifying the recruitment needs of an organization and fulfilling those needs. The organization policies will work better when the organization has right number of people at the right place and at the right time. Collaboration strategies in human resource management: In collaboration strategies, the strategic human resource planning looks beyond the organization and makes alliances with organization and deal with certain shortcomings of certain skills. This includes working together with other organizations to avail courses offered by them. Collaboration with other organizations, to train the employees and bring great insights and skills to the organization (Mello, 2011). Methods to review and monitor the implementation of HR strategic plans: Constantly monitoring the Human resource strategic planning is very essential. If it is not done properly and carried out continuously, then the organization may suffer a lot monetarily and a lot of time will be lost. The human resource strategic plans can be done by using reports against its annual operational plans to review the progress and meet the expected objectives of the company. Monitoring and reviewing the human resource strategic plans indicates the performance of the company and is very useful to the company. The processes by which the organization can review the strategic plans are as follows: 1. By ensuring that the activities are conducted within the norms of the strategic objectives of the organization.2. By ensuring that the activities are consistently complying with the organizational objectives, aims and plans, visions, mission.3. The review must be kept under internal, external changes and may also require to slightly change the organization`s goals to attain the strategic objectives of the plans.4. Checking the budget of the total strategic plan after some point of time will also help to understand the monetary expenses in carrying out the plans (Mello and Mello, n.d.) Types of environmental trends that impacts human resource management: Environmental trends have a great impact on the employees and their management. These types of regulations affect all the process of human resource department like recruitment, training, compensation etc. The four types of environmental trends that may affect the HRM in an organization are: 1. Government regulations: The HRM is always under a constant pressure to comply with the laws of the land and carryout all its process within the law and protecting the needs of human resources at any cost (Mondy and Mondy, 2012).2. Technological advancements: Technological advancement is a matter of daily affair. Every now and then there are technological up gradation and the HRM has the responsibility to train the employees at all point of time.3. Workforce Demographics: Workforce demographics refer to the levels of employee in an organization. Workforce impacts the functions of the organization as the various levels have their own demands. These demands have to be fulfilled by the HRM.4. Economic Conditions: The shape and the status of the current economic condition of a country is a huge factor affecting the HRM. Even if the company is well in the market its potential would slow down if the economic conditions are not good. Information needed to predict the future labour needs of an organization: Human resource is the main component of a strategic HR planning process and the future goals of an organization. The human resource management team will have to keep on estimating the present and future human resource needs of an organisation. The human resource management will have to conduct a gap analysis to understand the gap between the present and the anticipated human resource needs. The information of the various skills needed and the type of employees needed in an organization should be known. The information of the transition of the employees within the organization has to be checked all the time. The day-to-day functions of the organization may not leave much time for the planning and anticipation but this an important function to have all the information before predicting the future human needs of the organization. The annual planning for the forthcoming year is a quint essential part of strategic human resource planning. The importance of maintain a proper budget has to be kept in mind. Sourcing of Labour Supply: There are various sources of labour supply; the organization just needs to look around to find them out. These supply of labour can be divided into external and internal sources. External sources are those sources that are from outside the organization and internal sources are those sources which are found inside the organisation. Internal sources of labours: Through internal sources, the companies can get employees through promotions, transfers, confirming the temporary employees etc. This are very reliable sources and the HR executives do not have to do much hard work to find them. This sources are reliable because the employees are from within the organization. External sources: It is not always mandatory and necessary for the organizations to get employees within the organization. A long search is needed to find out the best human resource in the market. External sources include the recruitment of labours from outside like from educational institutes, training institutes, placements portals, human resource consultancies, private agencies, employment exchanges, unsolicited application, advertising, intermediaries etc. In external sources, the company incurs expenses and a lot of time is lost to find the employees, if the search is conducted by the organization itself. Legislation that an HR manager should be familiar with are: The role of an HR manager is very tough; he has to look after the whole human resource around which revolves all the laws of a nation. Various laws are there which an HR manager should be aware of in order to carry out the process of human resource management calmly. Few of them are as follows: 1. Minimum wages: In every country, there is a law of minimum and fair wages that protects the interest of the employees working in an organization. It ensures that all the employees are getting the right amount of remuneration as per mandated by the law. The organization have to follow this and provide the employees the wages that are required to carry out their lives peacefully and maintain a good quality of life. The law mandates this; hence, on deprivation on any law the employee can go to the court and file a lawsuit against the organization.2. Workplace safety: The maintenance of safety of the workplace is the foremost preference of the law. Protecting the employees from any sort of accident and occupational hazard is the duty of an HR manager and mandated by the law (York, 2009).9. The evolving role of a HR practitioner has tended to place more emphasis on strategic activities and less on operational service industry. In light of this shift, complete the following sentences th at describe the shift towards more strategic focused HR function.a) Strategic HR is characterized by being goal oriented. They are driven by the mission and the vision of the company, the success of the company as well as to meet the needs of the needs of the employees rather than input focusedb) Strategic HR is focused on the alignment of HR systems and performance criteria with business activities and performance and strategies.c) Production HR performance indicators and key result areas are shifting from the old concept of making production in the company with the utilization of resources and the output to be generated within the specific period of time and productivity being measured in terms of the labour hours worked, to the newer concept of competence, where the employees are sought to be competent thus making the company more competing in the market scenario and it leads to the productivity of the organization10. Fill in the blanks to complete the names of 4 strategic object ives for human resource services.a) Human resources information systemsb) Recruitment and selectionc) Staff retention and succession planningd) Job analysis and design 11. If an organization decided that in order to be effective it must develop high performing self managed teams. Name 2 human resource strategies that could be adopted to support this decision It must be noted that an effective high performing team is very necessary for the growth and the development of the organization. It is very necessary that the HR managers that they retain the talented employees of the organization and to motivate them so that high performing teams can be made and managed (Inc.com, 2015). The staff retention and the succession planning is for the development of the employees and for supporting the employees in developing the careers. The succession planning also helps the organization to retain the valuable and the talented employees and ultimately in the formation of a well performed team (Job Analysis Methods, 2015). If the teams in the organization are satisfied with the way the HR treats them, looks after their benefits, then the teams will automatically perform well in the organization and they will respond to the changes in the organization (Basic Philosophy of Human Resources, and Hiring and Employment Situation, 2015). Moreover the job analysis includes the process of reporting and determining the important information of the organization which are related to the nature of the job that the employees and the teams will perform. The process by which the works are structured in the organization, and are given to the employees and the work groups and teams, are important to the achievement of the organization. The HR manager must specify the various needs of the job that the team members must perform in order to manage the teams and to extract the best performance from the teams. Describe the benefits and disadvantages of using one of the following options for the provision of human resource services. b) Outsourcing the work to an external service provider Outsourcing is the process by which the certain business processes of the company are allocated to a specialist who is a service provider external to the company. Most of the time, the organization is not able to handle the various aspects of the business processes, which are internal to the company. When the task is outsourced to an external service provider, then that party has the responsibility to carry out the task as well as maintain the assets of the organizations. There are various advantages and disadvantages with the process of outsourcing that the company must keep in mind. The advantages are: Expertise and swiftness- the tasks are given to those people who are specialized in their fields. It is outsourced to those people or the third party since they have the capability and specialized techniques to perform the jobs. They are more efficient than the outsourcing organization and can complete the task faster than them. Risk sharing- the outsourcing of specific tasks to another company external to the company shifts the risk of the company. Since the company to which the job is outsourced are more specialized than the outsourcing company, the risk involving the time and the quality of the result shifts to them. If the recruitment of the company is outsourced to an external company then the all the works are borne by the company along with the risks (Outsourcing, 2015). Reduced recruitment and operational cost- the outsourcing of the specific jobs to a third party includes the reduced cost otherwise needed for the recruitment of specialized people needed for the job. Moreover the cost needed to perform the job and the time needed will not bother the company as it has been done by the outsourced company. The disadvantages are- Risk that the confidential data will be leaked- when the organization outsources the payroll, recruitment and the HRB services to another company the associates itself with the risk of exposing the data which are confidential to the company. Hidden costs- the outsourcing of the business processes are cost effective, though it must be kept in mind that there are sometimes hidden costs which are associated with the contract which the outsourcing company are sometime unaware of (Flatworldsolutions.com, 2015). Lack of focus for the customers- the company to which the jobs are outsourced, may simultaneously handle the tasks of several clients. Thus it may so happen that the company is not able to pay full attention to the task of a particular company. This may result in the detoriation of the work quality of the company which has outsourced. 13. Describe 2 strategies that could be used to agree on the human resource philosophies, values and policies with relevant managers. The human resource philosophies enable the managers to engage the employees of the organization energetically in rewarding work culture (Human Resources Philosophy, 2015). The employee needs to give their best to the organization and a diversified work culture must prevail in the organization. The company as well as the managers of the organization must hire the individuals on the basis of the performance of the employees and not on their age, gender, disability, nationality, or other factors of discrimination. It must be kept in the mind that the right kind of person must be hired for the company for the right kind of job, so that the most possible outcomes can be extracted from the employees. The HR managers must compensate the employees rightly so that the employees give their best to the work (Basic Philosophy of Human Resources, and Hiring and Employment Situation, 2015). The compensation and the benefits need to be according to the work performed by the employee in order to motivate the employees. The performance of the employees is greatly enhanced if the employees are appraised and they are given compensation by the employees. List 4 groups of stakeholders The 4 groups of stakeholders are: The users- the users are the people who will ultimately use the products and the services of the company. For example in case of a manufacturing company the users will be the business who will purchase the products from the company (Gormley, 2015). Governance- they are the people who have a particular interest in the processes of the business. The management board is an example of the governance. The board of directors has a keen interest on the processes by which the business is carried out in the organization. Moreover the health and safety executives, regulators, auditors, are also included in the governance stakeholders. Influencer-The influencers are those people who have the capability of changing the direction of the business. It includes the various media, the trade unions in case of big industries. They help the way the work is being carried out in the organization Providers- the suppliers and vendors of the company are called the providers. Providers can be a broader term than that, they may include the temporary contractors, business partners, catering staff, and others who provide useful resources to the company to enhance a programme or project. How could the technology be used to support the human resource plan? HRM and Technology have a wide range of influences on each other, and the HR managers should be capable to take on the technologies which will allow the re-engineering of the HR task. It enables them to be ready to bear work-design and organizational changes which are caused by changes in the technology, and be able to sustain a correct managerial atmosphere for knowledge-based and innovative organizations. The technological advancements are being driven mainly by large demands from human resource managers for the improvement in effectiveness, speed, and cost control (Marshall and Alexander, 2015). When the benefits of the operational activities are considered like the processing of the payroll, the cycle time is reduced from four days to four hours. Thus, time-effective, accurate, information needs to be delivered by the managers so as there is improvement in the quality and speed of decision making and supports the cost control. Furthermore, in keeping with changing requirement patterns, most ERP vendors have introduced second generation Web-based HRISs that are easier to incorporate with the other applications. Give 3 examples of risk that may need to be managed in relation to a strategic human resource plan Hiring- hiring of the unsuitable and inappropriate candidates (Hrcouncil.ca, 2015) Occupational Health and Safety- the injury of the employees as well as the death of the employees. Employee supervision- ill treatment of the employee with the management and the colleagues. References Armstrong, M. and Armstrong, M. (2011).Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management. London: Kogan Page. Basic Philosophy of Human Resources, and Hiring and Employment Situation. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.suntory.com/csr/report/pdf/2012/04_01.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Budhwar, P., Schuler, R. and Sparrow, P. (2009).International human resource management. London: SAGE. Budhwar, P., Schuler, R. and Sparrow, P. (2009).International human resource management. London: SAGE. Dessler, G. (n.d.).Human resource management. Flatworldsolutions.com, (2015).The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing, pros and cons of outsourcing | Flatworld Solutions. [online] Available at: https://www.flatworldsolutions.com/articles/advantages-disadvantages-outsourcing.php [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Gilley, A. (2009).The Praeger handbook of human resource management. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. Gilmore, S. and Williams, S. (2009).Human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gormley, W. (2015).Guidelines for Forming and Sustaining Human Resources for Health Stakeholder Leadership Groups. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.capacityplus.org/files/resources/Guidelines_HRH_SLG.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Hrcouncil.ca, (2015).Risk Management in HR | HR Planning | HR Toolkit | hrcouncil.ca. [online] Available at: https://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/planning-risk-assessment.cfm [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Human Resource Strategy. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.shrm.org/india/hr-topics-and-strategy/strategic-hrm/Documents/HR%20Strategy%20EPG-%20Final%20Online.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Human Resources Philosophy. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://inside.mines.edu/UserFiles/File/hr/HR%20Philosophy.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Inc.com, (2015).Building and Leading High Performance Teams. [online] Available at: https://www.inc.com/resources/leadership/articles/20070101/musselwhite.html [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Job Analysis Methods. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://tsnghia.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/byars-10e-ch04.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Marshall, M. and Alexander, C. (2015).Planning for the Unexpected: Human Resource Risk and Contingency Planning. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/EC/EC-736-W.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Martin, J. (2009).Human resource management. Los Angeles: SAGE. Mello, J. (2011).Strategic human resource management. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western. Outsourcing. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.cips.org/documents/PG_Outsourcing.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Stakeholders Key Concepts. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.icra-edu.org/objects/anglolearn/Stakeholders-Key_Concepts.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Subba Rao, P. (2009).Human resource management. Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. House. Truss, C., Mankin, D. and Kelliher, C. (2012).Strategic human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Poems Explore The Theme Of Death English Literature Essay Essay Example

Poems Explore The Theme Of Death English Literature Essay Essay How make the Writers of Remember , Crabbit Old Woman and Refugee Mother and Child use their verse forms to research the subject of decease? Christina Rossetti s Remember , Phyllis McCormack s Crabbit Old Woman and Chinua Achebe s Refugee Mother and Child all explore the effects of decease and the agony it causes for everyone straight involved. In Rossetti s Remember the poet shows us the hurting and desperation associated with decease. McCormack s Crabbit Old Woman is a supplication for people to see past the typical stereotype of old people as being hopeless and non deserving caring for, when they are approaching decease. Chinua Achebe s Refugee Mother and Child conveys to us the arrant devotedness a female parent feels for her kid whilst cognizing that her clip is limited, and is based on refugees in the Nigerian civil war in the 1960 s. We will write a custom essay sample on Poems Explore The Theme Of Death English Literature Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Poems Explore The Theme Of Death English Literature Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Poems Explore The Theme Of Death English Literature Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In Christina Rossetti s Remember a adult female is first inquiring her spouse to neer bury her even though she is close to decease, but so changes her head and realizes that it is rational for him to bury her and populate his ain life. The first stanza starts with her stating Remember me when I am gone off, in this the adult female addresses her loved one, and even though she uses the imperative it does non experience commanding at all. In making this Rossetti has efficaciously established a sense of understanding towards the adult female. The following line Gone far off into the soundless land ; uses Gone far awayaˆÂ ¦ as a euphemism of decease and with the usage of the word far the euphemism becopmes more powerful due to the fact that distance is added. The other half of the sentence soundless land nowadayss us with a placid image of the hereafter whilst still giving the reader a sense of isolation through the usage of the word soundless . Rossetti uses initial rh yme in keep me by the manus, to clearly demo us what their relationship used to be and to show us with a physical connexion that has been lost because of her decease. The 2nd stanza is similar to the first in the sense that she is seeking to convert her spouse neer to bury her. The concluding stanza gives us a dramatic alteration to the remainder of the verse form. She now tells her spouse that it would be all right to bury me for a piece . This shows us that she is really a caring individual and merely wants what is best for her spouse, and instead have him travel on than linger in hurting for the remainder of his life. As we are now given an image of her lovingness love the verse form ends optimistically. As this is a sonnet it should follow either the Petrachan construction or the Shakespearian construction, Remember does neither, although it is rather similar to the Petrarchan construction. A Petrarchan construction would typically follow the rhyming form of A-B-B-A/A-B-B-A/C-D-E-C-D-E ( the cuts stand foring the alteration in stanza ) , whereas Rossetti s sonnet follows the rhyming construction of A-B-B-A/A-B-B-A/C-D-D-E-C-E. I found that Rossetti normally changes the rhyming form in her sonnets[ 1 ]. This is done deliberately as the significance signifier the eight has now been changed in the six. At first it was a supplication for her spouse non to bury her, and so it changed to her desiring her spouse to bury. This makes the poem really fluid because non merely does the context of the lines alteration, the rhyming form has besides adapted to this alteration in context. The iambic pentameter adds a really smooth beat to the verse form, doing it look as though the adult female is unagitated and non angered, even in decease. Crabbit Old Woman and Remember are likewise in the sense that they both have a voice showing an statement which pleads for recollection. In Crabbit Old Woman we are presented with an old lady whose end is to seek and convert the nurses to see past the typical stereotype of old people as hopeless and non deserving caring for, as she is approaching decease and does non desire to be remembered as such. The rubric of this verse form instantly evokes a sense of decease as old age is frequently associated with it. The first 22 lines are a series of inquiries which are directed towards the nurses, and are seeking to uncover the typical beliefs that the nurses have when caring for the old adult female. The turning point of this verse form occurs at line 23-24 Then open your eyes/ you re non looking at me. This line is the old lady demanding to be acknowledged by the nurses. The original negative onslaught upon the nurses has now changed to positive, happy memories as we are led through her life. In this life narrative the linguistic communication has wholly changed from a colloquial manner to a more poetic manner. This alteration is shown by line 34 with wings on her pess, which is a metaphor for the freedom she one time had, whereas now her freedom is restricted as she can non go forth the infirmary. The remembrances of her life are highly accurate and since we are traveling through her life as she ages it feels as if we are turning the pages of a book At 40 , At 50 . One interesting thing that McCormack has done is that she has kept this portion all in present tense. Making this is a manner of demoing the reader that these memories are kept fresh in her head, and it shows us that she can retrieve it with easiness. The following turning point of the verse form once more induces a temper alteration except this clip it is from positive to negative. The really first line ( line 57 ) of this temper alter entirely sets the tone for the remainder of the verse form. Dark yearss are upon me, this line shows us merely what her life is like now, fearful and cold. The personification of nature in line 67/68 Tis her joke to make/ old age expression like a sap. shows us her ideas and feelings ; that she feels like an imbecile and is at that place to be laughed at. This last portion contains imagery associated with death- crumbles , old carcase and beat-up bosom . This imagination makes the reader recognize what is go oning to the adult female in her old age, and that her decease is inevitable. The concluding thing worth adverting about this verse form is that although the adult female does non desire to decease she accepts that her decease is a blunt fact and asks the nurses one more clip to see past her physical organic structure and look inside and see who she truly is. Similarly, Refugee Mother and Child besides presents a series of blunt fact [ s ] to show the horrors of decease for the refugees in Nigeria. In Chinua Achebe s Refugee Mother and Child we are shown what day-to-day life is like for refugees in the Nigerian civil war ; they are filled with decease and sorrow. This verse form is based on the refugees who were in the civil war in Nigeria in the 1960 s[ 2 ], and although he bases this verse form on merely one of the refugee households, in kernel this was what was go oning to all the refugees. This civil war created 1000000s of refugees which had to fly to the south-east of Nigeria to avoid being killed2. One of the first things Achebe does in this verse form is arousing a sense of spiritual images of fear by mentioning to Madonna and Child . These images suggest the sheer devotedness the refugee female parent feels for her deceasing kid, and it besides attaches non merely a physical love but a religious love every bit good. This fi rst stanza is in complete contrast the 2nd 1 in which we are presented with negative and coarse linguistic communication, which portrays the state of affairs of the refugees. Achebe has efficaciously appealed to three of our senses: touch, odor and sight with combed the rust-colored hair , smell of diarrhea and blown unfastened abdomens respectfully. Achebe uses these vulgar images to seek and do us understand the cruel world of the universe, which is, many guiltless people enduring due to the effects of war. Physical descriptions of the refugees such as exhausted ribs and dried-up undersides are used to once more seek and do us understand the horrors that these people face every twenty-four hours. Stanza 2 starts off with a reasonably long gap sentence which has few verbs. This is deserving adverting because since there are less verbs it implies the deficiency of energy these people have. The female parent is associated with a shade twice in this verse form. This pick of enunciation gives us the feeling that she is close to decease and that even her ain decease is inevitable, non merely her kid s. Last Achebe reminds us of the female parent and kid s old lives, which were normal ( this would hold been before the civil war in Nigeria ) . In making this we are brought closer to them. The concluding simile of the verse form now she did it like seting bantam flowers on a grave brings us back to world and makes us recognize that the kid will decease. All three verse forms deal with the subject of decease frequently in direct and clear ways. Although each of the poet s talk about different facets of decease, they all still complement each other in footings of the concluding results for the characters portrayed in the verse form. Achebe s verse form shows the results of wars and political battles whereas Rossetti s and McCormack s verse forms both trade with decease in a more controlled environment where the cause of decease is non due to the states struggles. The chief difference between all three verse forms is the manner decease is presented. In Remember , although decease is a critical portion of the verse form it besides revolves around emotions of the characters alternatively of merely the coarseness of decease. This is a contrast to Refugee Mother and Child where the coarseness of decease is the chief facet of the verse form. Crabbit Old Woman besides differs to the other verse form as age is an of import feature of the p iece. Refugee Mother and Child and Crabbit Old Woman likewise use physical imagination which Remember does non. This usage of physical imagination makes understanding the poet s message finally easier. In decision these verse forms have given me a greater grasp for the complexness of decease and how it can differ so abundantly from individual to individual.

Ethnicity and the Immigrant Experience Essay Example

Ethnicity and the Immigrant Experience Essay Example Ethnicity and the Immigrant Experience Essay Ethnicity and the Immigrant Experience Essay Ethnicity and the Immigrant Experience When thinking about immigration, most individuals imagine all different types of ethnic groups traveling to a separate land away from their own. Most imagine America. Immigration, throughout history, has occurred within all types of ethnicities. When taking a closer look at the individuals living in America, it is apparent that everyone is not exactly like one another. Assimilation becomes a popular word used when discussing migration, and both positives and negatives come along with it. Two theorists that discuss the meaning of assimilation in their writings are Stephen Steinberg in his book, Ethnic Myth, and Milton Gordon in his book Assimilation in American Life. They discuss issues regarding assimilation and how they affect the nation as a whole. A novel written by Chang-Rae Lee titled, Native Speaker, gives specific examples as to how the assimilation process affects others and the migrants themselves, as also described in both Steinberg and Gordon’s books. In Steinberg’s book, Ethnic Myth, he discusses with his readers the issues regarding ethnic identity and assimilation. This is presented and explained in the chapter titled, The Atrophy of Ethnic Cultures. He first talks about the idea of the â€Å"melting pot† and how it should not be analyzed lightly. He gives a quote from John Higham that says, â€Å"Loud assertions of pluralism almost invariably betray fears of assimilation† (Steinberg, 59). This means that minority groups that try to maintain their cultural traditions may, in fact, risk assimilation by doing so. Another point he brings to the surface is that when looking back at second or third generations of a specific minority group, these people still can relate back to their original traditions and culture identity. He then says, â€Å"But can the same be said of the new generation which has known only the Americanized version of the original culture? † (Steinberg, 60). This is an obvious prevailing issue when it comes to preserving ones culture. An example within the novel, Native Speaker, would be when Henry, the main character described as a Korean immigrant, explains the history with his father. His father, living in America, would gather with friends and participate in ggeh’s, or â€Å"money clubs. † Here they would win money and eventually, that is all that mattered to the Korean group. The shift from typical Korean traditions to owning all this land and money in American became a vast transformation. Henry says about his father, â€Å"In America, he said, it’s even hard to stay Korean. These alterations from one ethnic experience and tradition to another can be lost very quickly and potentially never be replenished. Throughout both Steinberg and Gordon’s writing, they both have similarities and differences when regarding assimilation. Gordon talks about these â€Å"ethnic meetings† which refer to assimilation. Throughout Gordon’s chapter titled, The Nature of Assimilation, he gives a numerous amount of definitions from theorists and writers that differ in various ways. In an essay that Gordon leaves the author anonymous in this chapter defines assimilation as â€Å"the process by which different cultures, or individuals or groups representing different cultures, are merged into a homogenous unit. Here Gordon talks about assimilation as positive, whereas Steinberg takes a different approach. Steinberg suggests that assimilation is not always a positive aspect simply because it can result in the loss of a cultural identity. This is present in Native Speaker because Henry continuously tries indulging himself into American culture. He cannot fully accomplish this, which essentially results in his wife, Lelia, leaving him in the beginning of the novel. As there are differences within Steinberg and Gordon’s readings, they do agree upon their understanding of the nature within assimilation. Gordon says that cultural behavior changes â€Å"may take place in the cultures of either one of the two groups, or there may be a reciprocal influence whereby the cultures of both groups are modified† (Gordon, 62). Steinberg agrees with this statement because he suggests that the changing of one’s culture is at high risk when incorporated into a different culture. He says, â€Å"The ethnic crisis only begins with the fact that the core elements of traditional culture have been modified, diluted, compromised, and finally relinquished† (Steinberg, 62). Both writers describe this lack of identity in one way or another. Assimilation is apparent in any society, especially America. People of different backgrounds continuously trying to come together to create one nation is a crucial aspect in society today. Steinberg, Gordon, and Lee all discuss how assimilation has issues when it comes to preserving ones ethnic traditions and identity. What they all convey to readers however, is the fact that the merging of cultures will forever be essential and inevitable. Steinberg, Steven. The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. Boston: Beacon Press, 1978. Print. Lee, Chang-Rae. Native Speaker. New York: Riverhead Books, 1995. Print. Gordon, Milton. The Nature of Assimilation. Oxford University Press, 1964. eBook.

Excellent paper writing is real with us!

Excellent paper writing is real with us! Writing an Excellent Paper – You Need a Blueprint Constructing a bridge without a blueprint would constitute stupidity, because it would result in a faulty structure that would probably fail. And making an attempt at writing a paper without a blueprint that outlines the steps is just as ridiculous. Just as a blueprint guides a construction crew through a step-by-step process, so does one for construction of a scholarly research paper. You can’t skip any of the steps and still expect an excellent result. Step One: Pick your topic. While this may seem like an easy step, you may actually end up feeling like Goldilocks in the home of the three bears. One will be too broad and another will be too narrow. You will have to find one that is â€Å"just fight† for the length parameters your instructor has given. One way to do this is to take a look at sample papers on the internet, in your broader content area, that meet the breadth and depth of what you need and that interests you. And do pick a topic you like – the entire production process will be drudgery if you don’t. Step Two: The research. Your search for appropriate resources can begin on the Internet, using specific keywords related to our topic.  Now here is the thing about resources. Your instructor or professor will want a variety – one or two books, two-three journal articles, and the perhaps one or two sources solely available on the Internet. You will not have a problem finding resource titles, but you do have to sort the â€Å"junk† from the respected sources. Check out the authors of any source you are considering, so that you know they have credentials to be considered authorities on the topic. Since most campus libraries are online, a lot of current resources are accessible from your home or dorm room, but you may have to actually enter the structure and check out a book or two! Be careful as you take notes, so that you have your resource information included for citation later on. And, if you have a good app for doing so, you can organize your notes by sub-topic, and the combining of different resources on one sub-topic is done for you. If you are unsure about sub-topics to include again, look at a sample paper or two online, and see what sub-topics others have used. Step Three: Get a thesis. What is the purpose for you writing this paper? If your writing paper assignment is to persuade, then you probably already have a thesis – your opinion. But, once the research is done, what do you see as important for a reader to learn about this topic? If you are writing about artificial intelligence, for example, what are the great benefits and what are the potential dangers? If you are writing about the Vietnam War, was it worth the cost in lives and money? You need to make a point with your paper, and your thesis statement comes from your response and your reaction to what you have researched. Step Four: Paper writing cannot begin until you have the most important part of your blueprint in place – your outline. Now, this does not have to be a formal one. In fact, remember how your organized those subtopics? They really are the basis for your organizational structure, so look at them and determine the sequence in which they should be presented. Now, take each sub-topic and read through the information and/or data from your research. Combine pieces of information that are related, and these â€Å"sub-sub topics† will be your paragraphs for that section of your paper. Step Five: The writing. You’re now ready to write the rough draft of the body of your paper. Be considerate of your reader, and use headings for each sub-topic – it keeps his/her thoughts organized (and your professor will be impressed). If you have not yet bought a style-check app, you should do so. It does much more than just a simple Word grammar check, and it will help you â€Å"clean-up† all those poorly structured sentences as you write. Here’s a few other tips for your writing: Don’t use a vocabulary that is â€Å"beyond your years,† and don’t try to impress with lengthy and highly complex sentences. Pretend that you are writing this paper for a fellow student. So, if there are terms that are not commonly known, define them. Don’t use slang and jargon unless it is in a quote. Don’t use contractions as I am using here! They are not appropriate in formal writing. Limit the direct quotes you use to those that are really impactful. Step Six: The Final Draft. Editing and proofreading is a task best accomplished in two ways. If you are doing your own proofreading, put the paper aside for at least 12 hours and do something else (like sleep). This will allow you to be more objective when you do review it. The other and better option is to have someone else review it – you can trade-off with another student and edit each other’s papers, if you are both pretty good writers. The paper has to flow logically, and someone else will pick up issues with coherence that you will not. Step Seven: The Style Format. Your in-text and end-of-text citations must be according to the required style, so do not get sloppy with this. And be certain that your title page, pagination, font, margins, etc. are in compliance. It’s those little things that keep a professor happy! A paper that is worthy of a good grade can only be produced by using all of these steps. You really cannot â€Å"cut corners,† and that is why paper writing consumes so much time. If you don’t have the time or if you really dislike your topic, you will not prepare a scholarly piece of writing. In these instances, you are probably better served contacting a custom paper writing service and getting some help.

Critique of a Qualitative Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Critique of a Qualitative Research Paper - Essay Example In addition, the researchers have particularly concentrated upon the social marketing, which looks for striving for the betterment of society at large. Social marketing, Andreasen (1995:31) submits, is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society. In other words, the main objective of the social marketing is working voluntarily for the benefit and uplift of the individuals at large. Moreover, it is also a reality that the young people are the future builders of a society, proper education and training of which is one of the most formidable responsibilities of all members of asocial set up. If the youth is not discouraged and prohibited from participating into the social evils including drinking, smoking and gambling etc, the future prospects of the society would be in grave jeopar dy for the future years of come. In addition, it has aptly been observed that gambling leads the young people towards other nefarious activities including drinking and sex etc, which may challenge their health condition. Hence the social problem, selected by the researchers, is very important in its scope and exposure, and carries wide scope and depth in its nature. The researchers are quite justified in choosing the research problem related to social marketing, which looks to strive for the wellbeing and safety of the young people on the basis of the findings of the study, as well as the suggestions made on the foundations of the findings of the present research. Whether positively or negatively the gambling prevention campaigns, being launched by the government and non-governmental organizations at various media platforms, influence the minds of the young

Mother Tongue by Amy Tan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mother Tongue by Amy Tan - Essay Example   Lastly, the essay tells of how she got into many problems as a result of the way her mother spoke English.Lastly, the essay tells of how she got into many problems as a result of the way her mother spoke English. In my opinion, it is easy to use many different languages with different people without even realizing it (Tan 2). For example, it is easy to speak proper English with people who speak proper and correct English. The author has done a great a job at showing the readers this fact. This is through showing us that when she spoke with her mother, English language was usually broken and simpler. She could not even understand the difference herself until her friends told her how her mother spoke. This article is very useful in helping readers to correct the mistakes that they make when speaking English. This is because it can help readers to understand the differences of correct English and broken English as they use it over time, thus bettering themselves (Tan 4). This can he lp many people to overcome various hurdles they face in using the English language. Lastly, it is evident that having a background where people use broken and incorrect English can seriously affect the way one communicates in English. This is because one gets used to using broken, simple and incorrect English and may find it difficult to distinguish it from correct and proper English. It takes determination and mixing with people who use proper English to be able to succeed in using the English language the right way (Tan 5).

Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House Essay Example for Free

Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House Essay The role, treatment, disadvantages, and sacrifices of women in their societies are vital themes in both Federico LOrcas The House Of Bernarda Alba and Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House. In Federico LOrcas The House Of Bernarda Alba, to start with, all characters that appear on stage are females, and men are merely talked about. In Ibsens A Dolls House the protagonist is Nora, a woman who gets treated by her husband as though she were a little girl. At the time when Federico LOrca and Henrik Ibsen wrote their plays, it was normal for women to get treated as anything but equal to men. Women were expected by men and by their society to do nothing more than stay at home, cook for their family, get children, and then take care of their children as well. Although Ibsen and LOrca wrote these plays several decades apart, since Ibsen wrote his play at the turn of the century in Norway and LOrca wrote his in 1930s Spain, the expectations of women were pretty much the same. It was not normal for women to receive an education, let alone a good one, and women were not allowed to vote. In A Dolls House there are three female characters: Nora, Mrs. Linde, and the maid working for Nora. All of these women have to sacrifice something and have disadvantages, simply because they are women. Every character in The House Of Bernarda Alba has to suffer because they are women. Spanish tradition in the 1930s forces them all to isolate themselves from the outer world for eight years of their lives. In The House Of Bernarda Alba, Bernarda Alba and all of her daughters have to mourn the death of their father. This is Spanish tradition, and so they all have to live in their house for eight years, completely isolated from the rest of society. They may only wear black, even in the scorching heat of southern Spain. This already shows how harshly women were treated. Bernarda Alba and her daughters are forced to isolate themselves from the outside world completely, whether they want to or not, because of tradition. The eight women are forced to give up eight years of their lives in which they may do nothing but mourn. Also, the fact that a woman has to kill her own child when she gets pregnant, and is then hunted down by the whole town and killed herself, shows how women were viewed and treated. Also, a woman could often not decide who she wanted to marry, and when a women got married it was often just nothing more than a business deal, and the feelings of the woman were completely ignored.

Christianity, Reform and Freedom in Method Essay -- Religion History E

I feel like I need to begin my methodological introduction with graffiti. Graffiti that says: "Bercovitch Bites," or "Foster Rules," or even "Stop Elitist Historicists." Nothing particularly original -- just a few key phrases that capture the frustration I have felt while researching New Historicism and more particularly, its application to texts. Somehow, graffiti -- the unscholarly domain of angry teenagers armed with cans of spray paint -- echoes my reaction to the scholars in this field who seem to be writing only for other scholars, thus excluding those of us who, fascinated with the ideas expressed, would like to learn about the method and topic by simply picking up a book or article. As I understand it, the whole idea of New Historicist criticism is to enlighten the readers of a text further about that text. Enlighten, educate, teach or inform -- however you put it -- this kind of criticism should be inclusive, not exclusive. The heavy use of jargon and obscure references by t hese critics serves as a "locked gate" that only allows those with the proper credentials a "key" to get in. Within the context of the text I have chosen (A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince, by Nancy Prince) this elitist approach seems incongruous simply because of the facts surrounding its author and publication. This is a text written by a primarily self-educated woman who felt very strongly about using her knowledge and abilities in a "hands-on" manner to help and "enlighten" others. Ultimately, she wrote about her experiences to put food on her table, not to impress her colleagues. In any case, for the purposes of this paper, I will attempt to explain what I think New Historicism is and how I intend to use the theories beh... ...iticism. Online. 5 April, 1998. Available: http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/hopkins_guide_to_literary_theory/entries/new_historicism.html Cogan, Frances. All-American Girl: The Ideal of Real Womanhood in Mid-Nineteenth Century America. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1989. Epstein, Leslie. The Politics of Domesticity: Women, Evangelism and Temperance in Nineteenth Century America. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 1981. Howe, Daniel. "The Evangelical Movement and Political Culture in the North during the Second Party System." The Journal of American History 77 (March 1991): 1216-1239. Newton, Judith. "History as Usual? Feminism and the 'New Historicism.'" The New Historicism. Ed. H. Aram Veeser. New York: Routledge, 1989. 152. Prince, Nancy. A Black Woman's Odyssey through Russia and Jamaica: The Narrative of Nancy Prince. New York: Markus Wiener Publishing, 1990.

Affirmative Action: Preferential Treatment Essay

During the college process, students are advised in multiple ways on how to properly present themselves to draw the appeal of colleges. Whether it is by highlighting their awards, accomplishments or talents, students are constantly working on improving their resume. They were told that with good grades, extracurricular activities, and heart-warming essays that they would find success in being admitted into a prestigious university. However, there are various other factors that determine whether one is accepted or denied. An important and often scrutinized factor is the use of affirmative action in admissions. While affirmative action should not hold the weight it does in admissions currently, it seems that people are unaware of the other preferential treatments given to certain students. Afï ¬ rmative action in favor of underrepresented minorities has been a controversial topic debated and scrutinized by scholars, the media, and the public for many years. Two other preferential admissions programs have been less controversial but in widespread use; one involving giving an admissions boost to applicants with athletic skills and the other one to children of alumni, commonly known as â€Å"legacies†. As these various categories suggest, entry into selective institutions of higher education has never been decided purely on academic criteria—before or after minority afï ¬ rmative action came into effect. As the term â€Å"affirmative action† encompasses the ideal that institutions promote diversity and growth by including historically excluded groups in their admissions, legacy admissions and athletic admissions are considered â€Å"affirmative†. (Massey and Mooney 99-117) They do originate from very different motivations, but they bring non-academic criteria that impact the admissions process. Therefore, by attaching the label â€Å"afï ¬ rmative action† to legacy and athletic admissions, it is deliberately underscoring the fact that minorities are not the only social group to benefit from such a policy. Supporters of affirmative action claim that minority students, generally speaking, start out at a disadvantage in their college or job application process. They usually come from lower income families and, in turn, have fewer opportunities than those who go to private school. Some inner city youths had grown up in environments filled with crime, violence, and discouragement. Genuine, hard-working minority students are every bit as capable as white students, but because of these disadvantages, they may not have the same paper qualifications. Affirmative action evens the playing field a bit. (Massey and Mooney 99-117) Nonetheless, it was designed to end discrimination and unfair treatment of employees/students based on color, but it in effect does the opposite. Whites who work harder and/or are more qualified can be passed over strictly because they are white. Contrary to many stereotypes, many minorities fall into the middle or upper class, and many whites live in poverty. (Fletcher) Unfortunately, the way things are set up now, a poverty-stricken white student who uses discipline and hard work to become the best he can be can be passed over by a rich minority student who doesn’t put in much effort at all. Supporters also claim that some stereotypes may never be broken without affirmative action. For decades blacks were considered less capable than whites. It took affirmative action to give blacks the opportunity to show they are every bit as capable. However, if you were to ask Colin Powell, Barack Obama, or Oprah Winfrey how they got to where they today, I doubt they would respond with affirmative action. (Fletcher) It sets the idea that a minority cannot achieve full potential without the help of affirmative action and undermines their own abilities. Another claim supporters of affirmative use is that it draws people to places they would never have gone elsewise, bringing under-privileged students to Ivy League institution. But if a student is admitted on a lower basis, he will have less incentive to do well or have the inability to keep up with the work. Why work for that 4.0 GPA when he got in with sub-par grades? In this way, affirmative action is likened to students who are given a boost for being â€Å"legacies†, having a parent(s) attend the school previously. A survey conducted by H. M. Breland found that afï ¬ rmative action for children of alumni is practiced widely at both public and private institutions (Howell and Turner 325-351). A later survey conducted by Daniel Golden (2003) revealed that 23 percent of freshmen enrolled at Notre Dame were the children of alumni, with corresponding ï ¬ gures of 14 percent at Penn, 13 percent at Harvard, 11 percent at Princeton, and 11 percent at the University of Virgini a (Howell and Turner 325-351). These numbers seem to be relatively modest; however, they belie the relatively small amount of applicants legacies hold. When documenting the number of applicants, it is easily seen that children of alumni benefit from greater admissions rates. According to studies by William G. Bowen and Derek Bok (1998), legacies had a two to one admissions advantage over non-legacies. Likewise, Cameron Howell and Sarah E. Turner (2004) document a similar advantage at the University of Virginia, where only 32 percent of regular applicants were admitted compared with 57 percent of alumni children. As a result, the freshman class of 2002 was 7 percent legacy, compared with 3 percent African American, even though the state is 20 percent black. (Massey and Mooney 99-117) The unfairness that follows legacy admissions is what many feel towards affirmative action as well. By giving blacks/Hispanics an obvious advantage in the admissions process, it breeds resentment and underestimation of them. In the same way legacies are generalized as â€Å"dumb rich kids†, recipients of affirmative action are seen as undeserving. (Massey and Mooney 99-117) It seems to say that they wouldn’t have been able to be admitted into the school elsewise, thus increasing the pressure put onto these students. The consequences translate to students being unable to handle the workload. By turning away highly qualified Asian/white students in favor of less qualified black/Hispanic students, it is not fair for either race. According to Dr. Richard Sander, Professor of Law at UCLA, blacks are two and a half times more likely than whites not to graduate and are four times more likely to fail the bar exam on the first try. (Fletcher) To fulfill their thirst for diversity, colleges often recruit students from below the median. As a result, they are ill equipped to handle the pressures of such a rigorous school and have a smaller chance of graduating. It is not to say that affirmative action is not needed. A homogenous population would make for an unproductive and unmoving student body. Diversity is needed for growth and experiences that differ. In this way, you can see the clear advantage of affirmative action over legacy admissions. Despite affirmative action being flawed, the advantage is at least given to, who is supposed to be, the disadvantaged party. Legacy admissions should have no place in the college admissions world. It is giving an advantage to students who are probably are not in great need of it if their parents attended a prestigious university Supporters of legacy admissions claim that donations from alumni contribute to building renovations and technological upgrades, as well as supporting financial aid programs for many financially disadvantaged students. (Golden) Legacy students are also thought to better understand the sense of tradition of the university and embody the values that the university has traditiona lly supported. That sounds good, but how true is it? Three elite schools that are big on legacy preferences – Harvard, Princeton, and Yale – rank near the bottom when it comes to the percentage of students from poorer families they have, according to Professor Jerome Karabel in his book The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. (Steinberg) Good students from poor families are often deprived of admission because of the legacy tradition — they are less frequently helped by the additional funds that the legacy tradition brings to the school. Contrary to what legacy defenders argue, it is doubtful that dropping legacy preferences has any significant impact on donations to a university. Texas A&M and the University of Georgia are among the large universities that have abandoned legacy preferences and neither has suffered a detectable decline in support. (Howell and Turner 325-351) In addition, Massey and Mooney found that, â€Å"In schools with a stronger commitment to legacy admissions, the children of alumni were more likely to drop out. Ironically, the only evidence we find of a skills mismatch is for the children of alumni. The greater the gap between a legacy student’s SAT and the institutional average SAT, the lower the grades he or she earned, though the effect size was modest. (99-117) They compared the number of hours studied per week, the â€Å"psychological performance burden† reported by students, grades earned by students through the end of their sophomore year, and the likelihood of students dropping out of school by spring of their junior year. The study concluded that legacies who were given a greater admissions bonus earned lower grades once admitted, a fact which surprised many, including some admissions officials. (99-117) However, although affirmative action and legacy treatment are both found to be large non-academic factors in the college admissions process, athletic skill is one often overlooked and not discussed. It is common knowledge that the number of students who excel in both academics and athletics is too small for schools to fill spots with only student athletes who meet usual admissions standards. Athletes were shown to have had a 48% better chance of admission than regular students with similar academic achievements in high school and similar standardized test score in studies done during 1999. In comparison, â€Å"legacies,† bore only a 25% better chance of admission and minorities stood only an 18% better chance of admission. (Ferris, Finster, and McDonald 555-575) The simplest method to view the different standards used for recruited athletes is to acknowledge the statistics of Division I athletes in â€Å"high profile† sports, such as football and basketball at public universities. These students have SAT scores that average almost 250 points than their non-athletic counterparts. While not as extreme, athletes participating in other sports such as golf, tennis, and swimming average about 100 points less than regular students on standardized test scores. (Dolinsky) The way that a majority of these student athletes gain admissions is through â€Å"special admit† programs designed by the school to accept a group of applicants who do not meet the standard criteria. From 2003 to 2006, more than half of the â€Å"special admits† scholarship athletes at San Diego State University had lower standardized test scores and high school GPAs than other admitted students. In the San Diego State admissions process, students with insufficient credentials may be accepted based on other factors such as socioeconomic background, local residency, and other special talents. However, between fall 2003 and spring 2006, of the 248 â€Å"special admit† students admitted by San Diego State, only 105 were given admission intentionally. The rest of the students granted admission had been the result of various processing errors and of those 105 that were given intentional admission, they were all athletes. (Ferris, Finster, and McDonald 555-575) If there is one thing that is clear, it is that the preferential treatment given to athletes in the admissions process does have its consequences. One potential consequence of admitting student athletes with academic credentials below their peers is the risk of academic underperformance by these athletes. (Dolinsky) Similar to those shown with students of affirmative action, statistics are clear in showcasing that athletes are underperforming once they arrive on college campuses. Recently, as more athletes got into schools through advantages in the admissions process, their collegiate GPAs began to suffer, with a majority of athletes placing in the bottom quarter of their classes. In contrast, only 9% of athletes finish in the top third of their class. (Espenshade, Chung, and Walling 1422–1446) To further exhibit the correlation between preferential treatment in the admissions process and academic underperformance, a study shows that student athletes generally choose so-called â€Å"easy† majors—such as social sciences—rather than the â€Å"harder† majors such as math, science, and engineering. One argument for explaining academic underperformance, other than the fact that athletes arrive at college with noticeably lower academic credentials, is that student athletes face the rigors and responsibilities of playing a sport, practicing, and trying to divide time between athletics and academics. However, this argument may have little merit as statistics show that an analogous group to student athletes—students who participate in several extracurricular activities—do not underperform at the level of student athletes. (Dolinsky) Although this analogy may not account for different types of students who are athletes as compared to those students who are heavily involved on campus, the comparison tends to show that the time that athletes spend with their respective sports does not prove, in itself, to be a clear reason for academic underperformance. Additionally student athletes already receive a multitude of benefits not given to normal students. Often times, they are given priority registration, extra tutoring, and even separate housing. With the benefit of these extra luxuries, athletes should be able to properly their manage their time to balance academics and their sport. It is not difficult to see the correlation between underperformance at the high school level and underperformance at the college level. Nor is it difficult to see the correlation between the admission of athletes having below-average test scores and high school GPAs and underperformance at the college level. Perhaps this is an unfair stereotype, but there is a reason that this stereotype exists and there is evidence to back it up. What is the price that is paid? One example is Dexter Manley, former professional football player for the Washington Redskins. Manley testified in front of the United States Senate that he could not read, despite being admitted and staying at Oklahoma State University for four years. (Espenshade, Chung, and Walling 1422–1446) By admitting students who are not qualified to handle the workload of an undergraduate institution, the ones that are hurt the most are some of the ones who â€Å"benefit.† Through each of these policies, certain students are given a â€Å"pull† in the college admissions office over other students. In comparison, these three programs are very similar in how they offer students an advantage in the system. Each program requires that you fulfill a certain requirement, which is the basis for their policy. They are all affirmative action policies that factor in something non-academic into your rejection or acceptance. With racial affirmative action being the most controversial and widely discussed, it has seemed that the other two have slipped underneath the radar. All three contribute to a discrepancy in the student body that will continue to grow unless awareness is created. Although in a perfect world, students wouldn’t have to worry about such factors, we live in a society where the slightest differences can make or break you. Whatever the effects of afï ¬ rmative action in raising or lowering the odds of academic success, the students should be aware and know exactly what they are going to get themselves into. Works Cited Dolinsky, Anna. â€Å"Affirmative Action for Athletes? Jan 12, 2001.† The Yale Herald. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. . Espenshade, Thomas J., Chung, Chang Y. and Walling, Joan L., Admission Preferences for Minority Students, Athletes, and Legacies at Elite Universities. Social Science Quarterly, No. 85 (2004): 1422–1446. Ferris, Eric, Finster, Mark and McDonald, David. â€Å"Academic Fit of Student-Athletes: An Analysis of Ncaa Division I-A Graduation Rates.† Research in Higher Education Vol. 45. No. 6 (Sep., 2004): pp. 555-575. Fletcher, Michael A. â€Å"Washingtonpost.com: Affirmative Action Special Report.† Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis. The Washington Post, 18 June 1998. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. . Golden, Daniel. â€Å"The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition.† CLassroomEdition.com. The Wall Street Journal, Apr. 2003. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. . Howell, Cameron. and Turner, Sarah E. â€Å"Legacies in Black and White: The Racial Composition of the Legacy Pool.† Research in Higher Education Vol. 45. No. 4 (Jun., 2004): pp. 325-351 Massey, Douglas S., and Mooney, Margarita. â€Å"The Effects of America’s Three Affirmative Action Programs on Academic Performance.† Social Problems Vol. 54. No. 1 (February 2007): pp. 99-117 Steinberg, Jacques. â€Å"‘Affirmative Action for the Rich’ – NYTimes.com.† College Admissions Advice – The Choice Blog – NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. .

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Thesis: Technology, such as texting, while driving is unsafe and can be a hazard to teen drivers and others. In the Knox News opinion column, there was an article found titled â€Å"Twits texting, tweeting behind the wheel.† The author of this article, Ina Hughs, is arguing that texting, MP3 players, and other electronic devices are unsafe to use when behind the wheel. She is writing to inform teenagers and other drivers about the dangers of driving while texting. Even though Hughes makes some excellent points in her column, she may not be the most qualified person to be writing about the dangers of texting and how tempting it may be. Hughes indeed has a cell phone, but she had the texting enabled on her phone so she does not text with it. The only information that she gets that makes her qualified to write this article would be the fact that her eleven-year-old grandson just got a cell phone. Even with this information, it still does not qualify her since her grandson cannot drive. She did though get facts from reliable magazines and researchers to back her up. Hughs’ format of her article shows a lot about whom she is and her qualifications. Just about every paragraph she either has some sort of statistical evidence or an example of why texting and driving is bad. She does not have any real connection to the audience she is trying to address. The author uses logos a lot in this text to support her many claims as to driving while texting. One thing she mentions is, â€Å"according to the New York Times, one in five drivers admits to texting while driving on a somewhat regular basis, and they say they won’t stop because they are ‘literally addicted.’† This claim reinforces her purpose of texting while driving by giving statistical evidence of why it is so dangerous. So many people do it. â€Å"According to research, every time you get a text, tweet, instant message, or call, ‘your brain squirts out a little dopamine- the pleasure chemical- and left to our own devices, we spin out of control.

Unique Quotes for Birthday Cake Messages

Unique Quotes for Birthday Cake Messages So you’re in charge of the birthday cake, and you need a short, sweet sentiment that befits the occasion and personality of your guest of honor. But before you get frustrated trying to come up with something unique, here’s a quick slice of history to go with a helpful sampling of birthday messages to follow. According to historians, the very first mention of a birthday celebration is in reference to the day of the coronation of a new Egyptian pharaoh, who was believed to be reborn that day as a god. That tradition made its way to the Greeks who baked special moon-shaped cakes and adorned them with candles that would glow like the moon in honor of the lunar goddess Artemis. And the smoke from the candle would act as the vehicle carrying their (make a wish) and prayers to their gods in the sky. Most likely inspired by the Greeks, the ancient Romans were baking birthday cakes to celebrate famous public figures and to honor the 50th birthdays of friends and family. By the 1400s, German bakeries were offering birthday cakes, and by the 1700s, they were celebrating Kinderfesten, annual birthdays for children with a candle added for each year of life. Birthday cakes were too expensive for most people until the early 1800s. Then, new leavening agents became available, such as baking soda and bak ing powder, which made baking affordable and easier than ever before. So whether you are baking a cake from scratch or a box, or you’re getting one from a bakery, here are some quotes for the icing on the top. They’re from a general (George Patton); statesman (Benjamin Disraeli); businessmen (Bernard M. Baruch, Henry Ford), media executive (Oprah Winfrey); philosopher (Richard Cumberland); painter (Pablo Picasso), singers/musicians (Cora Harvey Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, John Lennon); actors (Clint Eastwood, Frances McDormand); filmmaker (Lula Buà ±uel), cartoonist (Charles Schulz), humorist/comedians (Art Buchwald, Groucho Marx); poets (Emily Dickinson, Alexander Pope, William Shakespeare); and many writers (Betty Friedan, Franz Kafka, George Meredith, W.B. Pitkin, Jean-Paul Richter, Anthony Robbins, George Sand, Dr. Seuss, Gertrude Stein, Jonathan Swift, Booth Tarkington). Copy these quotes with attribution, or use them as a starting point to help inspire a genius â€Å"happy birthday† message of your own. Anonymous Turning 30 is a piece of cake. Cora Harvey Armstrong Inside every older person is a younger person - wondering what the hell happened.​ Bernard M. Baruch Old age is 15 years older than I am. Art Buchwald The best things in life arent things. Luis Buà ±uel Age is something that doesnt matter, unless you are a cheese. Richard Cumberland It is better to wear out than to rust out. Emily Dickinson We turn not older with years, but newer every day. Benjamin Disraeli Life is too short to be small. Clint Eastwood Aging can be fun if you lay back and enjoy it. Henry Ford Anyone who keeps learning stays young. Aretha Franklin Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift. Betty Friedan Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength. Franz Kafka Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. Irish Proverb The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune. John Lennon Count your age by friends, not years. Groucho Marx Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough. Frances McDormand With aging, you earn the right to be loyal to yourself. George Meredith Dont just count your years, make your years count. George Patton Live for something rather than die for nothing. Pablo Picasso Youth has no age. W.B. Pitkin Life begins at 40. Alexander Pope Count each birthday with a grateful mind. Jean Paul Richter Birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. Anthony Robbins Live with passion. George Sand Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age. Charles Schulz Once youre over the hill, you begin to pick up speed. Dr. Seuss aka Theodor Seuss Geisel There is no one alive who is you-er than you! William Shakespeare With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. Gertrude Stein We are always the same age inside. Jonathan Swift May you live all the days of your life. Booth Tarkington Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age. Oprah Winfrey The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

Books About African American Women and Feminist Theory

Books About African American Women and Feminist Theory Feminism in the 1960s and 1970s made a difference in the life of women in the United States, but the womens movement is often remembered as being too white. Many black feminists responded to the womens liberation movement and the cries of sisterhood with writings that critically analyzed the second wave of feminism or provided missing pieces of the puzzle. Here is a list of five important books about African-American feminism: Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks (1981)The important feminist writer bell hooks responds to racism in the second-wave feminist movement and sexism in the Civil Rights movement. All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave edited by Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott and Barbara Smith   (1982)Racism, the feminist â€Å"sisterhood,† myths about women, Black consciousness, history, literature and theory combine in this interdisciplinary anthology. In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose by Alice Walker (1983)A collection of nearly 20 years of Alice Walkers writing about the civil rights and peace movements, feminist theory, families, white society, black writers and the â€Å"womanist† tradition. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde (1984)An eye-opening collection about feminism, transformation, anger, sexism and identity from the marvelous poet Audre Lorde. Words of Fire: An Ant hology of African-American Feminist Thought edited by Beverly Guy-Sheftall   (1995)This collection includes the philosophies of black women from the 1830s through the turn of the 21st century. Sojourner Truth, Ida Wells-Barnett, Angela Davis, Pauli Murray and Alice Walker are just a few of the writers included.

Internet Companies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Internet Companies - Case Study Example It has accorded both parties with increased cost-efficiency and has allowed greater expansion of business scope (PC Week, 1999). By means of more dovetailed customer centric approaches, competitive advantage has been redefined. For instance, data from consumers are being garnered by online vendors to be able to more effectively cater to their needs. The substantial information permits these entities to design high impact promotional strategies. E-trading has been effectual in leveraging on price (Munk, 1999). The notable availability and the ease of e-trading have been the features that lead to its acceptance and increasing popularity. Moreover, this suggests being very cost-efficient, obviating the need for overhead attributed to rent and labor. Cutthroat competition in brick and mortar businesses and the big fixed expenses have welcomed online trading (PC Week, 1999). The wide range of offerings in both products and service are welcomed and has won the loyalty of customers. The information that they have garnered from consumers online have also allowed sellers to optimize on cost. Another benefit has been the fact that it permits them to save much time (Mellahi & Johnson, 2000). It is for these reasons that sellers have seriously considered setting up online stores, resulting in the establishment of cybershops and many more of this kind (Mellahi & Johnson, 2000). ... These entities are involved with software, printed news, magazines, music, and film. Varied industries have also gone into the online retailing bandwagon in lieu of these benefits (Leong, 1999). The current study aims to describe the promotion and marketing differentiators of online companies that are utilized by online vendors which the consumers patronize. The following sub problems shall be addressed in the research: 1) What are the drivers of carrying out an online purchase' 2) How do consumers assess online sellers with which they have dealt with in terms of the following strategies: a) Ease of clicking a button rather than dialing a website number b) Varied products c) Wide market networks and synergistic partnerships d) Selling more digital instead of physical offerings e) Projecting oneself to be a well-renowned global brand f) Maintaining a good, long-term relationship with its on-line clients g) Having attractive promotional offers 3) Among these promotion strategies, which will garner significant correlations with consumer satisfaction in general' Review of Related Literature Online Strategies and Competitive Advantage Strategic frameworks have been integrated of late, especially those focusing on crises or situations with markedly high uncertainty. The ultimate goal was to avoid impending failure in such difficult circumstances (Urban, Carter, Gaskin, & Mucha, 1986). Conventionally, those who have become successful early on allow their long-term survival; in contrast, those who have failed in the beginning are likely to close shop early on. Such victory causes organization to uphold strategic HR practices (of

What best explains people's willingness to work hard Essay

What best explains people's willingness to work hard - Essay Example anging workplace; motivated employees do not leave when the company is trying to survive in the market, and motivated employees are more productive (ONeil 1994). If the managers want to be effective, they need to understand what drives people work better. It is the complex task and requires the individual approach to every single employee. For example, the research shows that as employees earn more, money becomes less motivating and as they get older the interesting job is of higher value to them. Understanding what motivates people has been analyzed by many theorists. Adam states that employees want to find the balance between themselves and other employees – equity is when employee’s outcomes is equal to inputs and is equal to outcomes of the other employees. Maslow believed that employees have five levels of needs: basic, safety, social, ego and self-actualizing. At first the lower level needs should be satisfied in order for employees to be motivated. Herzberg divid ed motivation into two sections: motivators (achievement, recognition) and hygienes (pay, security). Schein has analyzed motivation from the standpoint of employees and has based his judgment on expectation theory – if the expectations are met, the individual is satisfied and remains in the company while if the expectations are not met, the individual either leaves or deems his expectations as unrealistic or unimportant and stays. McGregor has developed two theories: X and Y describing two different attitudes to workforce motivation and has left it up to managers to decide which one is more appropriate for the given company. Each of these theories has its advantages and disadvantages. Interestingly, Maslow has developed his motivation theory when he observed the behavior of monkey – he noticed that some on the needs take precedence over others. For example, thirst is stronger need than hunger. He continued this idea and created the hierarchy of needs with broader layers: The

Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Question - Essay Example The tasks of Joachim were to make sure that the world was still persuaded that Germany wanted candidly an arms limitation agreement while making sure that this agreement was not developed at all. He later became a great friend of the Fuhrer, to the hatred of members who had serve for a long period of time, who though that Joachim had no talent and was insincere. Despite the hatred from the other members, Joachim was made the Foreign Minister and Ambassador to Britain (Keylor, 2010). In the run up to World War II, Joachim played a crucial role in brokering the pact of Steel with the non-aggression pact of Soviet German and fascist Italy. This was referred to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The influence of Ribbentrop pact deteriorated after 1941. After he was detained in June 1945, Joachim was tried at the Nuremberg Trials and found guilty of war crimes for the role he had in pioneering World War II and facilitating the Holocaust (Keylor, 2010). Joachim von Ribbentrop then became the fir st individuals who were hanged as their death sentences in 1946. Ford was an American industrialist and the forefather of the Ford Motor Company. On the other hand, he sponsored the growth of the mass production assembly line method. Ford manufactured and developed the first automobile that a lot of Americans in the middle class could manage to pay for. In addition, he was well recognized for his passivity in the beginning of World War I (Keylor, 2010). He opposed heavily the entry of America in World War II and went on to believe that international businesses could cause the affluence of heading off wars. He went on to state that the war was the product of financiers who are greedy and looking for profit in destruction of humans. In 1939, Henry Ford claimed that the torpedoing of United States merchant ships by submarines owned by the Germans was the result of conspiratorial happenings that financier war makers undertook. The

Interventions to Reduce Risk of Sexual Abuse

Interventions to Reduce Risk of Sexual Abuse Introduction Various intervention strategies have been implemented to try and reduce the risk of sexual abuse in those persons with a learning disability. There is a general consensus that education programmes directed towards the perpetrator are least effective and that techniques aimed at fostering assertiveness and communication in the learning disabled adult are the best preventative measures. In this review I found there to be a significant lack of research that measured the effectiveness of these interventions and further support and investigation is needed into researching these intervention strategies, advocacy and community awareness studies. Methods of obtaining research In recent years the number of articles on ‘sexual abuse in people with a disability’ found in databases such as Medline and Proquest have increased although there is still a considerable lack of quality statistically significant research. Political and media exposure has unsurfaced the need for this group to be protected. For example, the European ‘Valuing People’ agenda unsurfaced serious inequities.3 Some of the most in-depth studies come from research in which women with learning disabilities have been interviewed directly about their experiences including the ground breaking work of Michelle McArthy.3   A number of factors can limit the disclosure of abuse and lead to an underestimation of the extent of this problem. For example, an individual that has had limited exposure to prevention programs and sexuality education may not recognise the abusive nature of sexual contact they have experienced.4 Disclosure may also be inhibited by feelings of confusion, guilt or denial especially if the abuse occurred from a care-giver or a person that was trusted by the victim.4 This paper aims to criticize interventions and assess the most appropriate methods used to help educate those with learning disabilities about sexual abuse and foster prevention rather than looking at ways to support post-abuse. I haven’t addressed the issue on whether sterilization is appropriate in this review as it steers away from the autonomy of the mentally disabled adult and it is more appropriate to concentrate on education as a tool of prevention and looking at the efficacy of training methods. Method of obtaining papers for literature review All papers in ‘British Journal of Social Work’, Medline via PubMed and Medline via ProQest from 1995 – 2005. Keywords used were ‘learning disability’, ‘sexual abuse’, ‘mental handicap’, ‘prevention’, ‘intellectual disability’, ‘consent sexual relationships’, ‘learning disabilities’, ‘sexual act’, ‘sexual malpractice’. Search terms were grouped as follows:- ‘education, sexual abuse, disabled’, ‘education, sexual abuse, handicap’, ‘education, sexual, disabled’, ‘assertiveness training, sexuality, disabled’ and ‘sexuality, training, mentally disabled.’ Papers found that concentrated on adults only were used and those articles found on sexual abuse pertaining to children were omitted apart from one paper that examines the use of a Computer-Based Safety Programme that could be useful in edu cating mentally disabled adults. Papers that addressed interventions used to prevent abuse from occurring were included in the review. Definitions A ‘learning disability’ is defined as â€Å"a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the reduced ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.†2 Disorders not included are â€Å"learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities or mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.†2 It is not necessarily the person’s learning disability that makes them more vulnerable to the sexual abuse as to the situation they are placed in so that if we took a person of normal mental capacity and placed them in the same environment the risk of sexual abuse for that person would be greate r as well. Sexual Abuse refers to any form of sexual contact to a vulnerable party and violates the victim’s rights as they are not fully aware of the situation. Sexual exploitation is evident when done by anyone in a position of trust or authority towards a person or where the victim has a relationship of dependency with the perpetrator. There are various definitions of sexual abuse used in the literature and widely diverging definitions tend to be used in studies of adults with intellectual disabilities.5 Brown and Turk (1992) also distinguished between non-contact and contact abuse. Another definition of sexual abuse was â€Å"any sexual contact which is unwanted and/or unenjoyed by one partner and is for the sexual gratification of the other†.6 This is still ambiguous as sometimes sexual contact is misunderstood and it could still be enjoyed it is just that the victim is unaware of what the full extent of the act means. I believe that a better definition of sexual abuse is any sexual act performed on a victim in a position of vulnerability. That is one party is not fully aware of the act being performed and there is an imbalance in power. Could this then exclude those persons with an intellectual disability from having a relationship with a person of normal mental capacity? Perhaps, if there is balance in t he relationship and the learning disabled adult can make decisions in other aspects of the relationship this would be a more equally distributed balance of power and this person may be able to fully make decisions on relationships at their own accord. There are varying degrees of mental handicap and this makes research difficult as ethical dilemmas on whether there is full consent and understanding of sexual contact can be ambiguous. However, there are also clear cut cases such as when a disabled person is institutionalized or the primary care-giver is the perpetrator. For the purpose of this review it is important to move more onto preventing the abuse in those that are vulnerable and critiquing methods used to empower those with disabilities rather than focus on the definition of abuse. Protection of those that are in a more vulnerable position and empowerment of individuals already victims of abuse should be fore-front in the social literature. Prevalence of Sexual Abuse There is an increase in the prevalence of sexual abuse in children with learning disabilities. A study conducted by the US National Center on Child Abuse and neglect (1993) found that caregivers abused children with disabilities 1.7 times more than children without disabilities.11 The violation of children can foster the development of low self-esteem and lead onto abuse into their adult lives. A research study by Sobsey found that the risk estimate of abuse of people with disabilities may be as high as an increase of five times greater than the risk for those that aren’t disabled.8 A study by Zemp (2002) found that 64% of female and 50% of male participants were sexually exploited and that disabled room mates were the predominant group of perpetrators for the male and third important for the female participants in the study.9 The statistics in the current literature does vary and â€Å"the wide variation in the figures is due to differences of abuse, the differences in the populations sampled and differences in research methods.†7 Vulnerability For children with disabilities the risk factors for sexual child abuse are increased. A child with a learning disorder has more difficulty in understanding and communicating and has an increased level of vulnerability. As they are unable to understand tasks as well as other normal children of the same age they are often brought up with low self-esteem as their care givers perform more of the tasks for them than they would for other children. This also leads onto a greater vulnerability and increased risk of sexual abuse than what is seen in children of the same age and normal development.1 This low self-esteem can continue into adulthood resulting in the learning disabled adult also possessing low-self esteem and greater risk factors of vulnerability in comparison to other adults. For those adults with intellectual disabilities there is a difficult balance to be met between empowering the individual to make their own sexual choices and to be leading more of a normal life and to claim their sexual rights and protect them from sexual abuse.4 Murphy et al (2004) suggests that services should be guided as to whether a person has the capacity to make their own sexual choices, however, the ability to assess this capacity to consent hasn’t been clearly defined. It is obvious that a caregiver would be taking advantage of their position of trust and it would be defined as sexual abuse. However, relationships outside this sphere are much more difficult to assess. Sexual acts between two adults of diminished mental capacity for instance and with adults outside the care-giving role. A more appropriate definition in this case may be â€Å"where a person is used by another in order to satisfy certain needs without being informed or giving consent†. This focus is more on the perpetrator as satisfying their sexual needs while the victim does not gain anything by the relationship so the victim is in a position of vulnerability and may not be able to represent themselves. Review of Intervention Techniques as a method of preventing Sexual Abuse in the learning disabled adult Lobbying the Government and changes to policy The manner in which sexual abuse is dealt with in a community reflects the way disabled people are regarded by in society. A report was released in 2004 that spoke about the changes the government is try to initiate as part of the ‘Valuing people: Moving Forward Together’ project.12 According to the Health and Social Care Act 2001, an annual report must be given to Parliament on learning disability. The Leaning Disability Task Force report for 2004 was called ‘Rights, Independence and inclusion’ and addressed the Sexual Offences Bill. Part of the Bill that talks about capacity and consent was changed to reflect the rights of people with learning disabilities to a full sexual life. The British Home Office is now working on helping others understand the Sexual Offences Act fully. Change has taken place and inclusion in helping to form government policy can be considered ‘morally and ethically the most appropriate form of education’. The acceptance of the disabled person as an individual is important not only at school level but right through to parliament. Behavior modification in the learning disabled adult; empowering the victim It has been suggested that programs aimed at re-educating the perpetrator have had little success and interventions aimed at modifying the behavior of the victim have a much greater success at reducing the risk of sexual abuse in adults with learning disabilities (Bruder et al, 2005). To be able to protect themselves against perpetrators, the adult with learning disabilities needs to learn how to assess whether a situation is inappropriate, must have the assertiveness to say no and seek help and to report the event. The eleven papers chosen for review are listed in Table 1 in the Appendix. Burke et al, 1998, suggested that one way a care provider can lower the risk of sexual abuse in a learning disabled adult is to help provide functional communication skills. The adult may use their own form of communication whether this be symbols or words and their form of communication should be encouraged so that they are able to express their needs. Communication is empowering to the individual and enables them to be able to get a message to their Caregiver. Often those with intellectual disabilities are hard to understand and the carer should ask themselves if they have tried to read non-verbal behavior or begun to establish an alternative form of communication. Burke et al, 1998, also suggested that it was the Carer’s role to provide sexual education to limit the risk of abuse. This education then becomes a way of communicating the common language of sexual health. It is important that the individual understands what appropriate sexual behavior is and understands how to trust their feelings by ‘validating, rather than dismissing or minimizing, them’. The person also needs to be made aware of the appropriate forms of touch so that they can maintain and understand personal boundaries. Burke has suggested that these adults need to have a plan for when somebody doesn’t obey their personal boundary rules so that they are able to get themselves out of the situation and avoid sexual abuse altogether. It doesn’t mean being afraid of strangers but learning how to remain safe. Burke has suggested ways of empowering the learning disabled adult and reducing the risk of sexual abuse. These methods may not be useful when the caregiver is the perpetrator and it could be suggested that a teacher outside the carer role provide this type of education so that the individual is then able to recognise when a person in close association with them has crossed personal boundaries. It does not give ways to avoid abuse altogether and aims to reduc e the risk when the person knows what types of behavior is inappropriate and requires reporting. The main downfall of Burke’s research was that she didn’t quantitatively measure the reduction in risk of introducing a communication skills program so further research is needed to assess whether the implementing education on sexuality and encouraging communication strategies actually lower the incidence of sexual abuse. Earle, (2001), agreed that those with learning disabilities are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse due to the disabled person’s dependent environment, difficulty in articulating their abuse and understanding when abuse has taken place. She suggested that ‘whilst disabled people have the right to be protected from sexual abuse and exploitation, it could be argued that a concern with this risk should not be used as a smokescreen to deny disabled people their sexual identity.’ Earle also postulated that by not discussing sexuality and creating an atmosphere where ‘sexuality is taboo’, this may in fact increase the incidence or worsen the experience of the sexual abuse. Earle also found that nurses tended to think of their disabled patients as asexual and in denial did not address the sexual needs of the patient at all. She also found that disabled individuals have been unable to access information and services on sexuality. Earle admits in this paper that ‘the purpose of this paper has not been to provide answers’,’ nor has it been possible to explore all of these issues in depth’ but to show that the issue of sexuality should be given greater emphasis in a holistic health care framework. The missing link is whether empowering the disabled individual to make their own sexual choices and discover their own sexual identity actually reduces the incidence of sexual abuse. Teaching refusal skills to sexually active adolescents was introduced in a study by Warzak et al (1990). The training was given to sexually active handicapped female adolescents who lacked an effective refusal strategy. Role-plays were used to help teach effective strategies using ‘the who, what, when and where of situations which resulted in unwanted sexual intercourse.’ The skillfulness and effectiveness of the subjects’ refusal skills were judged to be improved as a result of the training. This study did not have a control group. The research did have a long-term follow up after 12 months and this showed a decrease in sexual activity for each girl. Singer (1996) introduced a programme to seven intellectually disabled adults that lived in a residential group home. The programme consisted of weekly sessions of assertiveness training, group exercises, role-plays and information giving. The participants had previously been subjected to verbal, physical and emotional abuse by previous members of staff and Singer aimed to teach them how to respond appropriately and assertively in situations of abuse. The trainers assessed each client individually to evaluate how they would initially act in a situation of abuse and also measured their social behavior, assertiveness skills, use of verbal and non-verbal behavior and reading and writing skills. They were given ratings on assertiveness in each role play and it was found that after the training was implemented, the participants did not show improvements in scores where authority figures were the perpetrators but that an overall general improvement in assertiveness scores was established. T he staff did comment that the residents showed an increase in confidence, communication and positive attitude post-intervention. This type of study would be great implemented on a larger scale. The difficulty in establishing whether this research has been effective is due to the small numbers. The long-term effects of the trainings are also unknown as there has not been any follow up study. The research study is lacking statistical analysis and a control group so it is difficult to assess whether the trainings actually reduced the risk of further sexual abuse. Mazzucchelli (2001) introduced a ‘Feel Safe pilot study of protective behaviors programme for people with intellectual disability.’ The programme was designed to increase personal safety skills by teaching ways of recognizing unsafe situations and developing a range of coping and problem-solving skills. This research study implemented the use of a control group. There were ten participants in each group. This intervention program was originally developed in the 1970s for children and was then used in this research study with learning disabled adults. Another main focus of the training was â€Å"Nothing is so awful that we can’t talk to someone about it.† The training programme involved the research group participating in role-plays and then evaluating how they behaved to promote self-regulation of behavior as well as using the role-plays in real, everyday situations. Questionnaires were used to evaluate quality of life and protective behavior skills and con ducted by assessors that weren’t involved in delivery of the programme. The experimental group did show a statistically significant increase in performance on the Behavioral Skills Evaluation in comparison to the control group from pre-test to follow-up suggesting that the programme did improve favorable behavioral skills but did not improve the participant’s quality of life. The six-week follow up may have been too soon to appropriately evaluate any change in quality of life. Mazzucchelli also had a small number of participants which led to difficulties in showing statistical significance for the research. The themes which showed the greatest increase from pre-test to post-test were â€Å"we all have the right to feel safe†, â€Å"it is acceptable to be non-compliant or ‘break rules’ during an emergency and self-assertion skills. The researchers Lee et al (2001), examined the effectiveness of a computer-based safety programme for children with severe learning difficulties that could be implemented into an adult training programme. Three groups were established. One group was offered the safety programme, one was a control and the third group was given the intervention programme much later in the study. All of the participants were tested for cognitive ability and knowledge of personal safety concepts pre-training. Two post-tests were conducted 1 week and 2 weeks after the safety programme. There were 18 candidates in the control group and 31 children in the experimental group. None of the schools had previously implemented formal personal safety training programmes although some of the teachers had started to discuss personal safety with their students. The computer programme went through role-plays illustrating types of behavior and the experimental group was divided into ‘less able’ and ‘ more able’ depending on cognitive ability. The researchers used two interviews to establish the student’s perception of authority figures and their knowledge of personal safety. MANOVA analysis found authority to have an independent effect on the respondent’s safety scores and this authority awareness was independent of the participant’s cognitive ability. These researchers found that those involved in the safety programme have significantly improved their knowledge of safety concepts and maintained this increase in knowledge for 15 weeks. There was also a statistically significant result in those going through the programme for the skill of ‘being able to tell someone’ and the study illustrated that they would repeatedly tell someone even after being dismissed the first time and they could also provide a reason for this disclosure. The research showed that there was no significant increase in knowledge attained by the control group leaving t hese untrained students as potential targets by perpetrators. Lee et al (2001) also found that the increase in knowledge post-training was greater in the ‘more able’ group so that training may need to be repeated for those with lower cognitive ability. By the end of the programme all the students were able to produce a list of people that they would tell if they experienced an incident. The researchers also explored the importance of acknowledging authority issues when designing a personal safety programme. This research illustrates that learning disabled students can benefit from training programmes on personal safety. The implementation of these programmes with adults may prove beneficial. Education of teachers, health care providers and caregivers Howard-Barr et al (2005) explored the beliefs in teachers regarding sexuality training of mentally disabled students. The researchers also investigated the range of sexuality topics they would teach and their professional preparation. The participants in the study believed that sexual education should be taught, they rated their current delivery as inadequate and expressed that they needed much more preparation. The number of participants was moderate (n=494) although only 206 candidates actually returned the questionnaire resulting in a response rate of 42%. There were 36 sexuality topics presented and out of the top 6 most important skills, the concept of personal skills was rated the highest. Teachers of mentally disabled students rated personal skills topics such as finding help, assertiveness, communication and friendship more important than human development topics such as reproduction, anatomy and body image. Subjects such as masturbation, human sexual response and shared sexu al behavior were the most neglected topics. The limitations of this study included the inability to assess the quality of teaching and whether the teacher was actually addressing any specific areas of the 36 topics. This research topic did not address the effectiveness of education as a risk reduction method for sexual abuse however it did examine the beliefs of the teachers in the type of topics covered in sexuality education of mentally disabled students. It also revealed a general feeling of professional inadequacy in this area. Fronek et al (2005), conducted a research study that examined the effectiveness of a Sexuality Training Program for patients post-spinal cord injury. They found that there was evidence to support consideration of the client sexuality and a lack of training given to caregivers in this area. This study evaluated the attitudes of staff before and post-sexuality training. The researchers based the training on the Specific Suggestions and Intensive Therapy (PLISSIT) model. The sample group (n=89) was divided into a control group and experimental group randomly. A series of one-day workshops were conducted to the experimental group. Topics covered included identification of professional boundaries, limit setting, maintaining boundaries, development of sexual identity and case studies. This training programme was not focusing on the prevention of sexual abuse, rather the education of staff to being able to be open and teach their patients about sexuality. The staff assigned to the treatment group showed a significant improvement on all subscales of the KCAASS (Knowledge, Comfort, Approach and Attitudes towards Sexuality Scale) post-training and these changes were still significant three months later. In comparison, the control group did not show any significant changes on the KCAASS. Those patients suffering from spinal cord injury are not necessarily affected cognitively and may be only physically affected so this study is limited in assessing how sexuality training of staff could benefit the needs of people with a learning disability. The training was conducted over a one day period and a longer programme may be more beneficial to staff. There was a reporting bias shown by the control group as they were not assigned to receive training initially and the researchers believe that feelings of resentment and a tendency to over-estimate knowledge resulted from being assigned into the control group. Whether improvements can be maintained for longer periods of time (>3 mon ths) is uncertain and refresher courses may be necessary. The research did not examine the effect this education has on the patient in improving their own sexual identity and further studies would be useful in examining whether this limits the risk of sexual abuse. The PLISSIT model has been widely used to implement staff training and sexuality rehabilitation interventions within various clinical disciplines and could be an effective model to use to train carers of mentally disabled people. This model also allows for staff involvement according to level of comfort, previous knowledge and counseling skills. Community awareness Rogow (1998) discusses the impact of different forms of abuse in two case studies and expresses the need for comprehensive preventative or pro-active intervention strategies. The author discusses the release of an education campaign that consists of a video, handbook, workshop series and public service announcements for broadcast media that is aimed as a preventative to educate people involved with disabled youth. These publications are not specifically addressing prevention of sexual abuse in mentally disabled persons although, these forms of media could be used to help foster community awareness of this subject. The effectiveness of these media releases has not yet been evaluated and requires research. The video and handbook is being supported by government and private agencies and made in co-operation with parents and organizations advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. Advocacy Leicester Cooke (2002) expressed a need for further advocacy to those individuals to whom the giving of informed consent is difficult (individuals who are most likely to be among those labeled as having ‘severe learning disabilities’). These researchers also suggest that advocates, in representing other people, must attempt to work out what the learning disabled person would choose and not necessarily what they would choose. Advocates needs to have high levels of empathy and the ability to know when and how to set their own beliefs and values aside. Assessing the ability to use advocacy to reduce the risk of sexual abuse in learning disabled persons is yet to be researched. Recommendations for social work practice at local level There are several great projects currently in place that foster the empowerment of the learning disabled adult to help them protect themselves and also to be able to make their own choices about sexual relationships. For example, The Disability Pride Project explores avenues that promote safety and support by promoting awareness within the community and developing healthy sexuality workshops for people with disabilities.10 This group teaches community specific advocacy and self-advocacy skills, organizes workshops for personal attendants and institutions about sexuality in the lives of people with disabilities and creates opportunities for young women with disabilities to be mentored by older women with disabilities.10 These educational sessions could be implemented by Social Workers, carers and other educators internationally to foster empowerment in the learning disabled adult to help prevent abuse and instill confidence and responsibility in both the disabled adult and the caregivers. In this review I have critiqued papers that have researched the effectiveness of education of both the carer / teacher and the learning disabled adult and it is evident that there is an extreme lack of research in this area and there is a need for more statistically significant, large numbered studies that investigate the effectiveness of intervention strategies. Conclusion The studies on interventions used to prevent sexual abuse in those with a learning disability are limited. There is some suggestion from the research that advocacy and changes to policy will help to encourage greater understanding of learning disabled people in the community. Greater awareness can foster independence and boost self-esteem which may then lower the risk of sexual abuse in this minority group. Some of the research papers presented in this review have shown that intervention strategies such as improving communication skills in the learning disabled and education of both staff and carer may be beneficial. The implementation of behavioral strategies including role-plays may help the intellectually disabled person gain an increase in confidence, assertiveness and develop a strategic plan if placed in danger of a sexual predator. These training programmes could be introduced by the social worker or some other authority figure apart from the actual care-giver as there have be en cases where the carer is actually the perpetrator of the abuse. More studies of greater numbers using both an experimental and control group are necessary to determine whether these intervention strategies will be successful at significantly reducing the risk of sexual abuse in the learning disabled adult. Although, an increase in confidence and assertiveness in these people would also be a great benefit so even if the studies are unable to show significant risk reduction of sexual abuse the training could positively influence other aspects of their lives. References Abuse of Children with Disabilities. NCFV. Public Health Agency of Canada. www.phac-aspc.gc.ca http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/sped/projects/ose/categories/ld.html#defin Brown, H. 2004. A Rights-based Approach to Abuse of Women with Learning Disabilities. Tigard Learning Disability Review. Volt 9, Is 4, pp41-44. Murphy, GH and O’Callaghan, A.2004. Capacity of adults with intellectual disabilities to consent to sexual relationships. Psychological Medicine, Volt 34, Is 7, pp 1347 Brown, H and Turk, V. 1992. Defining sexual abuse as it affects adults with learning disabilities. Mental Handicap Volt 20, pp 33-55. McCarthy, M. 1993. Sexual experiences of women with learning disabilities in long stay hospitals. Sexuality and disability Volt 11, pp 277-286. McCarthy, M and Thompson, D.1996. Sexual abuse by design: an examination of the issues in learning disabilities services. Disability and Society. Volt 2, pp 205-224. Subset, D. 1994. Violence