Individual Project

I was the youngest of my two brothers and one sister, growing up in a small city on the Eastern shore of Maryland. Salisbury is the city name of my hometown. Our father died when I was at the young age of four. My mother who was very strong willed and independent raised all of us on her own after daddy died. She raised us and taught us to do well in school and to make good grades. She instilled in all of us to be very loving and presentable children that respect our elders. We were brought up in the church and taught to say our daily prayers before going to bed at night. Hygiene was a must and cleanliness was a daily routine. My grandson is nine years of age and he also lost his father(my son) at a early age, as we did. He use to come visit me during the summer and on holidays. He is a lovable child that had no will to do his best in anything. His mother is a deaf mute and very uncaring to her children. My grandson and his siblings have been removed from their homes by the State Dept. of Social Services over seven times since he has been born. They were taken away because the mother wouldn’t send them to school, would not keep appointments for their dental work or health checkups and leaving them unattended for more than 24 hours. Because of her neglect my grandson lost all hope of being anybody in his world. He has been placed in foster homes, unknowingly to me over the past three years of his life. The mother is in and out of jail. During her absence from their home has caused so many terrible events. The kids were attacked by a dog that they brought in the house off the streets of Baltimore. His two sisters were raped by friends of their mother. They have gone to bed without anything to eat or drink. I went to Baltimore and rescued my grandson from his mother and that terrible city of Baltimore. My daughter and I have taught him so much since he’s been living with me for the past two years. He now knows how to bathe daily, brush his teeth, match his clothes and shoes and most of all has been on the honor roll for the past two years in school. I’ve filed for custody of him. I’m still waiting for the custody courts to grant me a decision. I’m strongly leaning toward being granted sole custody of him. My children are grown and one of them is deceased. I raised them in the footsteps of my mom raising me. This venture has been very stressful for me at times, but I’m not going to give up on him. I’m at the age of 55 and starting all over again raising a child. I’m overjoyed because my grandson is safe and well taken care of and very much loved. Neglect is one of the main reasons for early age deaths of many children who are raised in the inner cities. Evidence and witnesses are needed to win a custody case. Even though the decision that the courts and custody hearings, I feel that I should be awarded sole custody of my grandson.

Reasons for Returning to School

Reasons for Returning to School Dolores Hutt ENG 121 Instructor Vanessa Martin January 15, 2012 Reasons for Returning to School After careful thought and consideration, I made the desire to return to school into a realistic goal. I had finally come to the conclusion, that it was time to take control of my circumstances, rather than continue to let my circumstances control me. For the first time in twenty years, I have a window of opportunity to fit a degree program into my daily schedule. Returning to school had always been a desire of mine, but in the past, I did not think I had the time or the money to pursue a degree. I was a single mother, I was working all of the time, my children were very young, and half of my wages went to daycare expenses. Seven years ago I made a decision to pursue a career in Massage Therapy. When the opportunity presented itself to enroll in an accelerated Diploma and State licensing program for Massage Therapy, that was only going to take one year, I jumped on it. Looking back, I realized how fast a year can go by and how easy it was for me to turn a desire into a concrete accomplishment. Having a career in Massage Therapy for the past six years has been a rewarding experience; it has given me that sense of contribution to society and to my community. I have taken much pride in accomplishing my career goals so far, however, through my experiences with working for corporations, businesses, and having my own business, I realize that I am still missing that important element: a business degree. Having gone through that year in school to get my career going, the experience gave me the confidence to overcome the thinking, that I did not have the time or money to pursue a degree, I now believe that the benefits of a degree will far outweigh any outcome of not having it. The benefits of having a business degree to enhance my career are; that a degree will add credibility to my desire to take my career to the next level, and it will open more doors and options concerning high level job positions. I can talk about experience all I want, but at the end of the day, when it comes to running a business, or getting an executive to listen o my ideas, that will help the industry flow more efficiently, I believe that having a degree will help me to be taken more serious. It will also help me take a break from the labor to pursue the creative and business end of things. I am hoping that this degree program will help me to develop the skills I need to keep a successful business running, an d give me the credibility I seek. My first step after obtaining my business degree will be to get a management position in a corporate setting, so I can get the experience I need to have my own company and employees. I believe that a Degree in Organizational Management will help me to accomplish that goal. Experience, though valuable and relevant, is no substitute for a short cut. I have realized that regardless of experience, if I want to be taken serious, having a degree will open doors and add more opportunity and credibility to any experience. So pursuing a degree at this point in my life has become a priority. Returning to school had always been a desire of mine, but in the past, I did not think I had the time or the money to pursue a degree. Any obstacles I had in the past are no longer there. I have an excellent support system at home, a loving and supportive fiancee of six years, a two income household, my career allows me to work part time and make the same amount of money as I did working full time in the past, so I get to spend more time at home, and my children are much older now so daycare expenses are a thing of the past. This online university program offers so much flexibility and affordability, that I really have no excuse to not execute this with full force. For me, the timing is perfect; the time it will take to complete this degree program is short when I compare it to time wasted by not having a degree. I have done this before and I know I can do it again. I keep my goals and plans right in front of me. I know that with perseverance, planning ahead, and just staying positive, that pursuing my degree will be another accomplishment that I can be proud of, and then I can keep moving forward in my life with confidence and ease. I am no longer at the mercy of my circumstances, I have taken control back, and returning to school is exactly where I need to be right now.

Country and Rap Music Essay

The types of music that people listen to are very diverse. Country and rap music are just two of these types of music and the composition of audience that listen to these types greatly vary. The primary reason is that country music is commonly identified with white people who live in the countryside while rap music is commonly associated with black people living in urban cities. For the most part, rap music is relatively a new type of music as compared to country music which, as a result, makes it more appealing to the younger generation. The older generation, on the other hand, are more inclined to listen to the type of music that grew up with, especially country music. One of the unique features of rap music is the way in which the lyrics are vocalized. The sound of rap music usually involves the rhythmic speaking of rhyming lyrics dubbed with the so-called â€Å"beats†. The beats are usually created separately through the use of percussions and other synthesizers. On the other hand, country music usually involves distinct guitar picking patterns with a slightly â€Å"blues† feel. More often than not, country songs involve the use of acoustic guitars although there are instances when the electric guitars are also used in certain parts of the song. The way in which the lyrics are sung is melodic, aptly cohering with the chord pattern of the song. Most country songs are easy to listen to since country music is less of the aggressive type, so to speak. These songs usually tell the story of the country life where the days are reminiscent of the outdoor life close to nature. There are also times when country songs express the love affairs of individuals. But unlike other forms of music, country music is â€Å"a more gentle approach to putting emotions† into music, in a manner of speaking (Lewis, p. 44). Rap music, on the other hand, usually expresses the experiences of an individual in the suburban or urban areas. Most of rap songs commonly involve the narration of how a young black American has to survive and rise to meet the challenges of surviving in a cruel society. These songs also have become stereotyped as the music of young people with a rebellious attitude who are part of violent gangsters in local neighborhoods. Thus, it is not hard to identify rap music as an aggressive type of music. Because of the wide generation gap between the time when either one of the two gain much prominence, there is likewise a great deal of difference between rap and country music in terms of its audience or followers. Rap music, being a relatively new type of music emerging and gaining prominence only in the later part of the 80s—with the exception of the theory that the origins of rap being traced as far back as the time when African-American slaves were chanting rhymes while doing work—the composition of its audience can also be said as younger (Sullivan, p. 613). On the other hand, country music has been around long before the birth of rap music. That being said, a large part of the those who listen to country music belong to the older generation although, of course, it can also be said that there are also young people who listen to country music. Not surprisingly, a portion of those who listen to country music may likewise be composed of those who live in the countryside since they can easily relate to the messages behind each country song. The same can also be said about rap music; those who live in more urban areas have the tendency to lend their ears to rap songs as they can easily relate to the message of most rap songs. For example, the rap songs of the artist â€Å"50 cent† may appeal more to younger people who reside in cities and other urban areas whereas the country songs of Johnny Cash may appeal more to older people who live in the countryside. However, these comparisons do not necessarily mean that there are no countryside people who listen to the rap songs of 50 cent or that there are no urban people who listen to the country songs of Johnny Cash. The point is that it is more likely for urban people to easily associate themselves with the songs of rap artists whereas it is more likely for countryside people to easily relate themselves to the songs of country artists. Rapping can also be done without the accompaniment of any musical instrument. It can even be done in simple impromptu gatherings in common places such as in local streets in the neighborhood. As for country music singing, it is difficult to say if a song is sung in a country music style without the accompaniment of musical instruments such as guitars. At the least, a singer would have to need a guitar in order to sing a country song or to make the song sound â€Å"country† in a recognizable way. In more recent times, rap music has been gaining a steady stream of following from the public with the increasing prominence of several rap artists. Country music, on the other hand, has been kept alive by several younger artists although the likes of Johnny Cash and his generation of country musicians have kept a steady support from the public listeners through the years. If there is one similarity between the two distinct musical genres, it has to be the fact that both country and rap have become cultures on their own. Rap music has become a culture tat has been embraced by individuals which, as a matter of fact, has even resulted to certain divisions among its musicians—the so-called East and West sides. Likewise, country music has created its own sense of culture manifested in the rural areas. Works Cited Lewis, George H. â€Å"The Creation of Popular Music: A Comparison of the ‘Art Worlds’ Of American Country Music and British Punk. † International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 19. 1 (1988): 35-51. Sullivan, Rachel E. â€Å"Rap and Race: It’s Got a Nice Beat, but What about the Message? † Journal of Black Studies 33. 5 (2003): 605-22.

Analyse and research a complete full length documentary film (from the Essay

Analyse and research a complete full length documentary film (from the list); be sure to cite specific examples from within the film - at least two major scenes should be analysed in detail - Essay Example In this film, Morris deviates from the usual features of a documentary and uses a non-narrator approach and a dramatic technique, so that he can depict the thin blue line between appearance and truth, a line that can either result to justice or injustice. Morris diverges from the usual norms of documentary films and follows an expressionistic rendering of the testimonies. First, in this film, a clear narrator does not exist, and instead, Morris relies on his viewers to digest the testimonies fed to them, so that they can ascertain the truth. He prefers to call his film a â€Å"non-fiction feature† than a documentary (Hunter 1995, p.65). The viewers become the narrator, because they have to sift through the material of testimonies provided to them (Hunter 1995, p.65). Chapman (2009) believes that this self-reflective nature of the film helps viewers to find the truth (p.p.24). Second, the film is constructed using dramatic techniques. Williams (1998) asserts that Morris abandoned â€Å"cinema verità © realism† for â€Å"studied, often slow-motion, and highly expressionistic re-enactments of different witnesses’ versions of the murder† (p.383). These re-enactments define the difference between the truth and biases. The editing and sequencing, using cuts and diverse symbolic items, such as newspaper clippings, the Dallas map, â€Å"Voluntary Statement† and the TV schedule, depict meaning through what these objects mean and how people use them to attain their purposes. When Adams signs the â€Å"Voluntary Statement,† he believes he offered the truth. For the homicide detectives, this statement, however, becomes a confession for his crime. Ponech (2005) believes that the map stands for the inability of Adams to understand the corruption of the justice system (p.85). The map stands for the irony of being lost in a society, where deception and scapegoating undercut

Activity with Viual Aid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Activity with Viual Aid - Essay Example I, too, waÃ'• impreÃ'•Ã'•ed when I previewed BaÃ'•ecamp'Ã'• featureÃ'• in Ð…oftware Development'Ã'• People and ProjectÃ'• NewÃ'•letter in May 2004. However, aÃ'• I've grown more familiar with BaÃ'•ecamp, I've found it hard to overlook one important detail: The application haÃ'• no way to produce a Gantt chart. Gantt chartÃ'•â€”thoÃ'•e horizontal bar chartÃ'• that Ã'•how dependencieÃ'• between taÃ'•kÃ'• and the eÃ'•timated time in which they might be completed—have been the mainÃ'•tay of project managerÃ'• ever Ã'•ince mechanical engineer Henry Gantt demonÃ'•trated in the early 1900Ã'• how one can be uÃ'•ed to track taÃ'•kÃ'•, workflow and Ã'•cheduling all at once. The Ã'•yÃ'•tem became Ã'•o popular that it'Ã'• Ã'•aid that managerÃ'• working on the Hoover Dam and the U.Ð…. interÃ'•tate highway Ã'•yÃ'•tem uÃ'•ed Gantt chartÃ'• to keep track of their projectÃ'•. Unfortunately, Gantt chart Ã'• haven't retained their popularity. Ð…ome criticÃ'• now argue that they pull a project manager'Ã'• focuÃ'• away from the project and onto perfecting pretty graphÃ'• that don't match reality. OtherÃ'• claim that the chartÃ'• are created only to pleaÃ'•e higher-upÃ'• and are therefore a diÃ'•traction to the actual project team. (ParadiÃ'•, 21-88) 37Ã'•ignalÃ'• haÃ'• contributed to the baÃ'•hing with itÃ'• BaÃ'•ecamp ManifeÃ'•to, in which it Ã'•tateÃ'• from the Ã'•tart that "ProjectÃ'• don't fail from of a lack of chartÃ'•, graphÃ'•, reportÃ'• or Ã'•tatiÃ'•ticÃ'•, they fail from a lack of communication."... Good project manager ue it to help themelve and other on the team undertand how all the given tak on a project relate to one another. And if that reult in a developer finally eeing how hi work fit into the bigger picture, or if it get a buine ponor to undertand why you can't poibly compre the chedule anymore, the chart ha done it job. (Paradi, 21-88) I upect that part of the backlah againt Gantt chart come from the fact that many project manager have trouble getting Microoft Project (the mot popular tool for creating uch chart) to do what they want it to do. The problem here i the tool, not the chart. And thi repreent a big opportunity for 37ignal. If "the interface i the product," a the company ay in it manifeto, why not build an innovative but eay-to-ue interface for creating and diplaying Gantt chart In all but the mot baic cae, Baecamp uer are already having to cope, pec and chedule tak for every project, o why not let them do it all one place-perhap even collaboratively (Paradi, 21-88) Unfortunately, 37ignal eem determined to ignore cutomer who need a charting feature. In a recent thread in a 37ignal dicuion forum, CEO Jaon Fried reponded to one cutomer requet with a tere, "We will not be adding Gantt chart, orry. It' jut not going to happen." In another thread, Fried announced that the company ha no plan to add "chart, graph, tatitic or number-laden report" to Baecamp. It' too bad, really. Thi oftware houe ha done ome amazing thing with interface and collaboration. For intance, 37ignal' Writeboard document collaboration product i o intuitive and handy that you have to wonder why no one ele built it that way to begin with. Baecamp, however-with it lack of any way to viualize the project information

Foundations of qualitative and quantitative methods Essay

Foundations of qualitative and quantitative methods - Essay Example The outcome is sufficient actionable conclusions. Qualitative method provides a greater insight into the behavior of people that contributes towards healthy or unhealthy population. The method often uses case studies and observation of a population. For example, a study on HIV on a particular community may use the qualitative method to identify behaviors that increase the prevalence of the disease in the population under study. A qualitative method would supplement the qualitative method by availing the statistical part. The method gives a better presentation of conclusions in numerical form, shows trends and demographics of a population. In the above example of a study on HIV, quantitative method is important in showing aspects such as number of vulnerable persons, high-risk ages, and the economic cost of the disease. In conclusion, the above illustration shows that a nursing research provides better and actionable conclusions when both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. Whereas qualitative methods provide a theoretical perspective of a phenomenon, the quantitative method avails data evidence to enhance the viability and reliability of the results. However, using both methods is complex, time-consuming and requires expertise in theory and

MID TERM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MID TERM - Essay Example Pick 5. Fill in spaces i to v, using short answers. Name the source; then, identify the problem(s) and the recommended (or inferred) solution. i ii iii iv v In a According to a study done by New Jersey by Dr. John Lamberth of Temple University in 1994, while African American drivers and Caucasian drivers committed roughly the same percentage of traffic violations, a startling statistic of 73.25 of the drivers stopped were African American drivers, while only 13.5% were of a different race. In 1993 a Maryland lawsuit named the police department as a defendant against Robert Wilkins, a Harvard Law student who felt that when the police stopped he and his family, searched them, and brought in drug sniffing dogs that it had been done due to his race. His point was proven â€Å"When a State Police memo surfaced during discovery instructing troopers to look for drug couriers who were described as "predominantly black males and black females,". (Harris) The use of racial profiling has created an atmosphere of hostility towards law enforcement within the African American community. Security becomes less stable when it has been made clear that o ne can do nothing other than wear a color skin in order to be subject to interruption of daily responsibilities. The issue extends to the statistics regarding length of sentences, incarcerations, leaving â€Å"In 1995, about one in three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 were under the control of the criminal justice system--either in prison or jail, on probation, or on parole.† (Harris) Gathering statistics on traffic stops is one way bring about awareness to law enforcement officials. Traffic stops can serve as a microcosm of the legal system. As well, a more uniform system of incarceration would help to lead the way in reducing the inequality of sentencing. Social reformation is needed to undermine the criminal stereotyping of African

Real rapes and Real victims Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Real rapes and Real victims - Essay Example As this is not always the case, the police has made a differentiation between â€Å"real rape† and where the woman herself did not initially think of it as rape but was convinced by other people that it was. Based from the research done (Stewart, Dobbin & Gatowski, 1996), a woman is finally convinced by other people to report the rape by two reasons: Sadly, myths and pre-conceived notions of women have dominated the police’s perception of women claiming rape. Because of these ideas, the police have acted nonchalantly towards these women and have come up with their own criterion to judge who the â€Å"real victim† is. This person, police say, is a woman who did not bring upon the rape to herself. In other words, the â€Å"real victim† acted decently but still found herself a victim of rape. This is when the justice system deems it proper to â€Å"rescue† her. This reasoning may be attributed to a belief in the â€Å"Pedestal Myth†. The pedestal myth puts woman at the top level of the respect and virtue ladder. Under this notion, women are expected to be prim and proper. They are expected to be more honorable than men. They should not drink. They should not hang out and/or drink in bars, wear tempting clothes and the like. Women are expected to be more ladylike. This notion has caused the police to focus more on the credibility of the woman rather than the facts of the case in deciding whether to pursue a rape claim or not. They have created their own standard seemingly based on this pedestal myth and will only investigate a claim if they think the judge will deem the victim believable. This is a very vital point in finding justice for the rape victim. Inasmuch as they are the first group of people who will officially decide whether a crime of rape has been committed or not, the police’s impression of a rape victim is of utmost importance. Similarly, the character and credibility of the victim aid in fig uring out what

The contribution of black women to the African American freedom Essay

The contribution of black women to the African American freedom struggle between 1865 and 1940 - Essay Example Gates et al. (2012; p.492) state that â€Å"political participation has been a fundamental constant in the lives of African American people† and this statement is verifiable by the great testaments of the struggle for freedom and justice that black men and women have portrayed and displayed with relentless and enduring determination in the past. Sheriff et al. (2011; p.432) observe that the beginnings of the African American struggle are outlined in the people’s quest for independence from dominance, supremacy of the other and slavery. Certainly, the role of black women in carrying this vision, guiding it towards its realization and ensuring that the struggle for independence evolves into the achievement of equality has been critical and of immense importance. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contributions of black women to the African American freedom struggle by directing specific focus towards the analysis of the period lasting between 1865 and 1940. The discussion in the succeeding sections of the paper aims to establish a critical view of the role that black women played in achieving the aims that were advanced by early writers, journalists, historians, leaders and freedom fighters between 1865 and 1940. ... The adoption of this framework throughout the progress of the analysis essentially enhances the comprehensiveness and depth of the research by suggesting that the actions of a human being cannot be understood in their entirety unless the fundamental role that various systems, entities and organizations play in dictating those behaviors and decisions is fully acknowledged and realized (Gates 2012; p.493). Therefore, in comprehending the actions of black women that were fundamentally motivated by their desire for freedom, equality and independence their intersectional positioning within the wider context of society is of the utmost importance. Consequently, by implementing the foundations of this approach the one-dimensionality and generality of exclusively assessing a single individual is removed such that the individual does not essentially depict the true story of the black women’s role in the African American struggle for freedom and the hardships they had to suffer during t he course of their journey. In accordance with the observations of this framework of analysis the foundations of black women’s historical role in the political advancement of African American agenda is said to be an amalgamation of racism and sexism (Gates 2012; p.494). Collier-Thomas and Franklin (2001; p.2) suggest that even though, stories which reflect the selfless participation of African American women in the civil rights movement have only come to light by writers and researchers in recent decades these assessments have provided a comprehensive view of the state of black women in various epochs which is indicative of their tremendous progress to the present day. The foremost aspect in the critical evaluation of the contributions of black women in the African American freedom struggle

The Impact of social networking Essay Example for Free

The Impact of social networking Essay INTRODUCTION Online social media have gained astounding worldwide growth and popularity which has led to attracting attention from variety of researchers globally. Although with time all generations have come to embrace the changes social network has brought about, teenagers and young adults are the most fanatic users of these sites. According to various research studies in the field of online social networks, it has been revealed that these sites are impacting the lives of the youth greatly. When using these sites such as Twitter, Facebook or MySpace, there are both positive and negative effects on the youth. POSITIVE IMPACTS It is inevitable to ignore the fact that nowadays social network plays an essential role in teenagers’ lives. Most youths are spending at least an hour in these popular social media sites. Generally, 1 out of 7 minutes which are spent online by most of those who can access internet is spent on Facebook according to Shea Bennett. One may ask how spending all that time on the social media sites may have a positive impact on them. Well, social media helps the youth and any other user updated with what is happening around the world, help the teenagers stay connected and interact with each other even if they are many miles apart. This strengthens their relationship even if they finished school and moved to different locations they stay connected and update one another. In addition, social media sites have provided a platform whereby the youth can create groups and pages based on their common discipline and end up building connections and opportunities for their respective careers by updating various topics to discuss. Youth who have been interviewed they say that social media has become their lifestyle and it makes their lives easier and efficient. NEGATIVE IMPACTS While on one hand social network sites seems to bring people together and connected on the other hand it creates social isolation in regard to BBC News report. As the youth tend to spend many hours on these sites, they rarely have face-to-face interaction.

Plan for Closing the Achievement Gap for Latino Students

Plan for Closing the Achievement Gap for Latino Students Chapter 1 Definition of the Problem The American education experienced long and sustained period of school reforms filled with significant challenges. The policymakers as well as the governors made the school reform movement their top project priority since the 1980s (Sindelar, Shearer, Yendol-Hoppey Liebert, 2006). The school reform movement undergone profound achievements in the past and continues to tackle significant challenges although it has achieved its goal in creating changes to school conditions, student performance, and institutional policy. The National Governors Association for Best Practices is looking into the achievement gap challenge facing the schools today (Grant, 2009). This requires creating new policies and developing old policies to close in the achievement gap problems happening in several states. The policy primer discloses the nature of the achievement gap problem, its history, and the different states efforts to solve the existing problem. The primer also discusses alternative solutions and strategies at state level including important issues and factors to avoid in implementing solutions. Understanding the achievement gap context The achievement gap context is all about the differences one sees between people coming from different race and class (Chubb Loveless, 2002). There is an increasing difference concerning the performance of students coming from the disadvantaged minority as compared to the performance demonstrated by white students of the same grade level (Chubb Loveless, 2002). This achievement gap is a clear issue of racism and the effects of the power of the privilege. Educational institutions, educators, and policymakers face genuine lack of understanding creating and developing schools that can cope up with the context of a diversified society. The challenge goes on with the creation of correct policy that could help close the achievement gap. Federal response to the urgent persisting achievement gap problem The No Child Left Behind Act or NCLB is an attempt by the Federal government to close the achievement gap (Chamberlain, 2004). The policy set forth a new accountability practice for American schools to set the same standards with detailed plan for testing performance to ensure students meet preset standards of the schools. The framework of the NCLB allows a student to transfer to other schools located at the same district if he fails to pass the test performance set by the school. It is the responsibility of the school district to provide persistently failing students supplemental services as well as choices to study at other schools operating within the same district (Chamberlain, 2004). The school needs to demonstrate adequate progress about the problems of persistently failing students. Failure to show progress makes them open for state law corrective action (Chamberlain, 2004). The schools focus their performance targets based on the conditions of the students with disabilities a nd coming from disadvantaged family background. This includes students coming from ethnic or minority group that possess limited English language skills and proficiency. However, well performing schools are still required to alter school practices, policies, and governance to accelerate and enhance the educational experience of the disadvantaged group of students. The state considers a school as well performing only when they become successful in bridging the achievement gap. The intervention of the new Federal law on the educational scene has created quite a stir among schools struggling to meet the new set of policies and criteria. How do you measure the achievement gap? NCLB Act is clearly a Federal strategy to challenge the achievement gap brought by the effects and challenges of inequality among students in the US. Schools measure achievement gap by comparing African-American test scores and academic performance with the Hispanic group and white Americans using standard assessment tests (Chamberlain, 2004). Survey statistics gathered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reflected a narrow gap between Hispanic and African-American 17 year old students reading scores for the period 1975 to 1988 (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). The gap becomes wider or somehow constant in the areas of mathematics and reading during 1990 to 1999. The NAEP charts on achievement gap raised concern over the intelligence and skills of the disadvantaged minority students. The Education Trust analysis on the NAEP data bothered policymakers. It concluded that the grade 12 level disadvantaged minority students performed similar to the level of the students studying four years behind them (Ferguson Mehta, 2004). The skills of the Latino and African-American 17 year old students are comparable to the skills possessed by the 13-year-old White students in the subjects of English, science, and mathematics (Ferguson Mehta, 2004). The educational attainment is another way to measure the achievement gap between races. The different ethnicities showed wider gap as to the highest educational level of attainment they had achieved in the past. The groups showed gaps in all discipline. Dropouts among African-American and Hispanic groups in high school are heavier even though the tuition fee rates are lower than those rates given to the Whites (Ferguson Mehta, 2004). The Whites show more effort in trying to get a college degree than the Blacks and Hispanic young adults. Policymakers and schools do not overstate the importance of achievement gaps but actually noted the big difference between Whites and other ethnic groups educational achievement specifically Hispanic and African-American groups (Chubb Loveless, 2002). The achievement gap is the outcome of local and national standard test measures between diversified groups of students mostly categorized by ethnicity and socioeconomic status (Chubb Loveless, 2002). The other forms of category applicable to the groups are their gender and ability. There are many ways that a school can measure the achievement gap between the groups such as test scores resulting from standardized test and average grades obtained by each group. The dropout rates, highest level of educational attainment, and population of college enrollees are other ways to measure the achievement gap between ethnicities (Strictland Alvermann, 2004). Although the results of this statistic survey came from different American states, the same thing is also happening with other countries. These achievement gaps noted across countries showed the possible effects brought by discrimination and social injustice. The government made a good move eradicating social discrimination. The move to bridge the achievement gap between ethnicities also responds to their effort to solve existing social discrimination at the same time. Eradicating the gap as a public policy would help eliminate the other problem of social discrimination. However, some people disagree that the core causes of the achievement gap come from a persons class, culture, or even biology. These people believe that policymakers can directly influence economics and education using progressive education based on multiculturalism. This idea is more effective in helping them achieve equality among ethnic groups. Identified factors causing the widening achievement gap Researchers do not have any clear idea about the real reason for the increasing achievement gap between ethnic groups. Structural as well as cultural factors played a major role to the widening discrepancy. Students lacking the cultural capital portrayed by the middle class are likely to show low academic scores and achievements especially if they experience little parental involvement concerning their education and home coursework (Strictland Alvermann, 2004). Annete Lareau stated that better resource students demonstrate more accomplishments in academics and life (Lareau, 2000). Other researchers believed that a persons ability to achieve more in life and academics largely depends on its socioeconomic condition and the classification of race from which he belongs. It is evident that students belonging to the disadvantaged minority suffer the adverse result of the achievement gap because they find themselves at a disadvantage position than the White students. Understanding the effects of the environment and culture to students performance The culture, traditions, beliefs, social roles, and environment of the student influence the students performance and are factors that need extra consideration and study when dealing with the core causes of achievement gap (Lareau, 2000). It would be for the researchers advantage that he should look into the lives, environment, economic condition, and practices of the disadvantaged minority to ascertain and identify specific cultural differences that can help explain the differences of the child-parent relationships between ethnic group families (Lareau, 2000). Cultural differences shaped the childs behavior and motivation to become achievers. The authors Jencks and Phillips argue that a child belonging to the Black family do not have much motivation and encouragement from their parents because of the lack of understanding about the benefits of education and obtaining academic skills (Jencks Phillips, 1998). The lack of awareness resulted to Black children going to school with little vocabularies than their White counterparts. Studies claimed that students with parental involvement such as homework assistance show more progress in school (De Carvalho, 2001). In comparison, the disadvantaged minority consists of single parents have to spend more of their time looking for money to cope up with their household economics and other needs rather than staying and getting involve with their childs homework (De Carvalho, 2001). The minority group also consists of parents that do not understand nor speak English well. The study points two major causes of the childs difficulty namely unavailable English speaker at home and lack of parental involvement for homework. Researchers highly believed that children from the minority group do not attend school because they are not willing to find themselves in comparison with the Whites and accused as behaving like the White children by their peers (De Carvalho, 2001). The children of the minority group simply lack the motivation and the understanding to pursue higher education because they do not see and believe the benefits and role of education in their future. They possess little understanding about the benefits that knowledge and higher education bring to their lives and how it could improve years of hard work (De Carvalho, 2001). The common minority behavior from lack of motivation to do better in school is plain rejection of the idea to achieve something more in their future. It is like giving up their potential and the ability to do more by not studying and working hard to make any progress in their social status as well as to receive higher wages. Furthermore, researchers found that schools often set up their performance measures based from the students knowledge as well as familiarity about the White group that belongs to the middle class cultural capital. It is obvious that the disadvantaged minority is not familiar about the middle class cultural capital background of the White group. Schools need to change their test for students performance and base it on their understanding of the subject matter. The test should be solely base on how they understand and perceive the subject they are taking. How structures of the institutions influence the students? Students coming from the disadvantaged minority group definitely go to schools categorized by the district as poorly funded schools (Danielson, 2002). Children belonging to low-income household attend poorly funded schools because it is the only affordable form of education. Schools belonging to the poorly funded school category have limited resources and employ teachers with less qualification (Danielson, 2002). Schools tried to solve the achievement gap between ethnicities by placing students in tracking education groups. The framework of the tracking education group assigns students within the same school into several groups base on their skills and academic abilities (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). The schools then tailored the teachers lesson plans to meet the varying requirements of the different sets of learners abilities (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). The strategy made dramatic progress to some learners. However, some schools based their grouping from the students cultural capital and socioeconomic status that results to the disadvantaged minority overly representing the lower educational group (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). This made schools placed the African-Americans and the Hispanic students into the lower educational group. Their perception about the minority group wrongly placed the African-Americans and the Hispanic students, which reflects practice of institutional racism (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). This confirms some researchers beliefs that the initiation of the tracking education groups implies the existence of racial segregation within the school system itself. Several studies performed on tracking education groups provided negative results. The implementation of the tracking education groups harmed the potential of the minority students to learn more skills because the teachers assigned to their groups are less qualified (Molnar, 2003). The curriculum design for the minority group is also less challenging and provides less opportunity for advancement in their academic fields. The peers as well as the teachers of the students belonging to the lower tracking educational group labeled them as slow learners. This greatly affected their self-confidence and motivation to continue their studies, which resulted to increasing minority school dropouts. Concerned psychologist claimed that the schools tracking groups outcomes might not be beneficial to all groups (Molnar, 2003). They cannot identify any lasting benefit to the grouping. Chapter 2 Rational The schools explanation over the creation of the tracking education widely varies. The goal to find applicable institutional and policy solutions to narrow the achievement gap gave birth to drafting education reforms. The categorization leads schools to provide remedial classes as well as tutoring sessions for identified less performing students. Strategies applied to narrow the ethnicities achievement gap The school provided tutoring sessions to the less advantaged and low performing students after school. They also offer remedial classes to help underperformers. The main problem noted with the categorization program is the pressure it gave to minority students. The program pushes minority students or underperformers to learn at a fast pace in an attempt to catch up with the performing groups usually comprise of their White counterparts. The catch up required more efforts from the teachers and gave much pressure to the students. The schools changed their categorization by race to grouping the students according to their ability. This new grouping criteria enabled schools to provide fair quality education for the students without considering ethnicity. The detracking scheme made schools and teachers perceive students equally (Burris Welner, 2005). This also made schools provide more teachers that are qualified to the different groups, design their curriculum appropriately, and provide more resources to the learners. Understanding the condition of the minority The Blacks and the Latinos usually describe the low-income minority of the United States (Aragon, 2000). These students usually come from poor families and comprise the less performing group in school. The schools can easily identify minority students based on their SAT scores. Minority students often obtain lower scores than their White peers (Aragon, 2000). The schools broke down their SAT scores according to their socioeconomic status. The results showed that the Blacks and the Latino students usually achieve lower SAT scores than the Whites. However, Asians still achieve higher SAT scores than their White peers who belong to the same family income level. The analysis of the authors Steven G. Rivkin and Eric A. Hanushek fully explained the core causes of the increasing achievement gap. In their book published last 2006, the authors discussed the effects of the schools effort to group the students according to their socioeconomics and ethnicity (Hanushek Rivkin, 2006). The racial concentration in certain groups created the unequal distribution of experienced teachers and the inexperienced teachers (Hanushek Rivkin, 2006). The study noted the increasing achievement gap in the grades 3 and grades 8 levels. Looking into the structure of the high performers that belongs to the minority group There are minority students who managed to excel in their grade levels. One great example of minority high performers is the students attending at Davidson Magnet School of Augusta, Georgia. The other school with minority high performers is the Amistad Academy located in New Haven, Connecticut. The schools strategically employ traditional and rigorous training instructions that include providing direct instruction to students. Researchers found direct instruction effective and efficient in developing the skill levels of the learners coming from the inner city of the research title Project Follow Through (Harris Graham, 2007). Black schools sometimes perform higher than their White counterparts do. The results of the annual test during the later part of the 19th century at Washington, DC can prove this claim. The Blacks performing higher than the Whites do continued until the middle of the 20th century. The M Street School gave quite a performance during this period by exceeding on the national standardized test. The author Carl L. Bankston III and his partner researcher Stephen J. Caldas claimed that the achievement gap causes the segregation of the schools in US (Caldas Bankston, 2005). The book titled â€Å"A troubled dream: The promise and failure of school desegregation in Louisiana† published in 2002 and the other book titled â€Å"Forced to fail: The paradox of school desegregation† published in 2005, clearly pointed that students benefit more when placed in the same school with high achieving students (Caldas Bankston, 2005). Their research also showed that students experienced academic disadvantage when they interact more with low achieving schoolmates. This proves their perception about the achievement gap as the core cause of school segregation. This means that parents played a major role and are greatly involve in the creation of school segregation for the fact that many parents even avoid sending their children to schools with larger minority student population (Caldas Bankston, 2005). Understanding the standards based form of education reform The standard based education reform based its classification by the education characteristics and income level of the student regardless of performance (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). Most schools in US decide to adopt the education reform. The policymakers believed that students regardless of race and gender have the potential to become achievers and receive higher pay levels. There is a need to study the content and context as well as the effects of the states education policy and compare them with the education policies of other nations. Improved performance is attainable using the standard based assessments with clear set of incentives such as examination for high school graduation (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). The student reforms of whole language, multiculturalism, affirmative action, block scheduling, desegregation, inquiry-based science, and reform mathematics were not successful in improving the achievements of the students. The recent NCLB legislation requires students to take annual testing and demonstrate progress at an acceptable rate every school year. The federal government imposed sanctions to schools with larger population of under performing students. Obviously, the schools having the greatest attendance of minority and poor students face the problems of coping up with the legislation and working on the skills of the students. Those who favored the traditional education claimed that the schools are not designing the education reforms in a constructive way because the reforms are not curriculum and student based. The IQ tests and the SAT are widely accepted as norm-referenced tests. Some people claimed the ACT as limiting chances for the minorities. Many people favored the standards based assessment because they have a clear definition and design of the criteria for the reference test (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). The criteria are acceptable and regarded as free from any cultural bias. The students can easily pass the reference test criteria. In 2006, states like the Washington questioned the effectiveness of the approach. The assessment became a mandatory requirement for graduation. Terry Bergeson, a Superintendent, believes that students coming from the disadvantaged minority can compete and are capable of achieving higher scores (Thomas, 2005). However, these minority students need additional help to perform more. MCAS in Massachusetts showed higher percentage of graduating students for all races. In the Fairtest point, there are still many minority students dropping out and performing less than the Whites and Asians. Although the Washington state has narrowed the achievement gap, researchers cannot find any conclusive evidence that the standard based reforms are effective in closing the achievement gap. The author of the book titled â€Å"The Bell Curve†, Charles Murray, looked into the point gaps and its relative improvement (Locke, 1995). His analysis implied that the test is theoretically easy to pass but actually difficult to answer. The test consists of open-response questions that are mostly problem solving, reading, writing, and mathematics. Minorities who fail the test are about twice or even four times than the population of the students that achieve high scores of the testing history. In 2006, only one sophomore student belonging to the minority group passed the standard test. One needs to pass WASL to obtain a diploma. The tasks of keeping American public schools from educational failure depends on how fast policymakers and educators provide efficient policies and effective structure of framework for teaching that can respond to the students individual differences and capabilities. There is a rising need for educational institutions to meet projected challenges posed by changing demographic trends and requirements. The most crucial part is the transmission of societal values from diversified students of differing religion, philosophy, history, and political context. The lack of understanding of each ethnic group values and culture endangers the opportunity of any education reform to work for the learners. Chapter 3 Significance of the problem The American Indian group always ranked below the Latino and the African American students in terms of graduation rates and standardized test scores. The three groups always showed significant numbers concerning dropout rates. The achievement gap persists in the US history. The study published in the Education week revealed that American Indian or Alaska Native students graduation rate is about 47.4 percent. The foundation of the couple Bill and Melinda Gates funded the study. The statistics showed that American Indians were 30 points below their White peers, which means that about half of the graduating students belonging to the minority failed. The Council of Chief State School Officers report in 2006 declared that the low attendance of American Indian students across the country is a significant problem among the states specifically West Mississippi (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2006). The persisting problem about the achievement gap of the African Americans, Hispanic, Asian Americans, and Caucasian students present a challenge to the present structure of public education (Zajda, 2005). The gap narrowed a little during the 1970s and the 1980s and then started to widen again in 1990. The gap persists to widen until today (Vanneman, Hamilton, Anderson Rahman, 2009). There were about 22% grades 4 White students who scored below the basic NAEP test for reading in 2007. The report also showed about 50% Hispanic and 54% Black students who obtained scores below the basic NAEP. There were about 16% White students at grades 8 who scored below the basic mark required to pass the reading test. There were about 42% Hispanic and 45% Black students performing below the basic mark required to pass the reading test. The wide achievement gap reflected in their math scores also. Some people argued that district resegregation across the states reinforced the rising disparity problems. This is especially true in the northern and southern districts (Kozol, 2005). The White parents enroll their children in high quality suburban schools while the African-American as well as the Hispanic families enroll their children in racially isolated schools. These racially isolated institutions normally provide school instruction of very low quality and normally face other types of problems (Zajda, 2005). The California state is the most affected state in the US. Jack OConnell, State Superintendent, considers the task of helping the minority as moral, economic, and ethical imperative (Gerston Christensen, 2009). The California Department of Education (2009) revealed the state needs to prepare and train the students especially the African-American and the Latino to compete in the global economy. This would make California gain a competitive edge over world economic leaders. The success of the task largely depends on how well the students respond to the NCLB standardized test. Taylor (2006) is the main advocate of the Critical Race Theory. He tried to bring awareness about the racial minority and institutionalized oppression hidden under the Federal as well as state policies. Although the Federal government created the NCLB in an attempt to bridge the achievement gap, Taylor claimed that the Federal regulation puts too much pressure over the educators and students in trying to improve academic performance. Taylor claimed that the movement did not correctly address the issues stated in The Colors of Poverty by Lin and Harris. Taylor claimed that putting pressure to perform better does not respond to the racial segregation practices and policies. People and policymakers do not even understand the occurrence and the consequence of the practices nor do they have the ability to reverse its occurrence (Taylor, 2006). Understanding the context of differentiated instruction Differentiated instruction makes students the center of learning and teaching based from the theory that students come to school bearing different skills implying unique differences on their learning needs (Tomlinson, 1999). The varying degrees of differences may refer to their personal and educational context, community or environment background, and academic skills. The educators under the differentiated instruction design and employ several methods of instruction that can facilitate the learning experiences of the diversified students in the classroom effectively. The goal is to match students skills to the resource materials in a qualitative manner. The program includes blending the needs of the whole class with the design of their individual instruction using effective approaches and methods to expedite the processing of knowledge, input and output, of the learners. This requires constant assessment of the students progress by their respective classroom teachers. Policymakers considered the differentiated instruction movement as a proactive approach to educational issues facing practitioners today (Tomlinson, 1999). The proactive approach makes the students become more comfortable in pursuing their education. Educators refine and tailor their instructions according to the needs of the students. This also entails adjusting the curriculum to fit the students academic needs. Teachers committed to this approach understand that the students they teach shape their teaching style and practically believe that students create awareness on teachers how to shape them. The students personality and learning style necessarily influence the instructors teaching philosophy and methods (Tomlinson, 1999). This is the only way to get through them and seems the only possible way that they get to learn things. Creating a model for differentiated instruction requires student centered approach that supports the key elements of interest, readiness, and learning profile (Allan Tomlinson, 2000). The Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, declared that people receive and learn more things when they are ready to learn these things (Daniels, 2001), which is the theory behind the differentiated instruction movement. The differentiated instruction approach matches the individuals interest and methods of learning. This approach supports the student interest, which is one of the key elements of differentiated instruction. Jerome Bruner claimed that the moment a teacher gains the interest of the student is the specific moment that a student starts to learn and the learning experience becomes more rewarding (Tomlinson Allan, 2000). The American psychologist who wrote about the multiple intelligence theory, Howard Gardner, claimed that a human being is a unique individual that possesses different levels of intelligence and perceives learning in different ways. This led him to suggest that schools need to look into the possibility of providing individual-centered approach. The framework tailors the curriculum to the intelligence and preferences of the child (Tomlinson Allan, 2000). This suggestion fits to the different student learning profile key element of differentiated instruction. The context of differentiated instruction supports and integrates the learning styles of the students to the conditions of their brain development. This constructivist learning theory details and analyzes the various factors that influence the readiness, intelligence preferences, and the interest of the students that motivate and engage them to learn at school (Anderson, 2007). Kathie Nunley, an educational psychologist, stated that the movement for differentiated instruction is crucial to the classroom makeover from the 1970s homogeneous groupings to the present heterogeneous learners (Nunley, 2006). Educators using the differentiated instruction approach are able to ascertain and meet the differing needs of the students, help each student in their learning process, and exceed expectations from established standards (Levy, 2008). Tomlinson believed that the need to implement differentiated instruction came from the fact that learners are unique individuals that vary in different ways. The student population is also fast becoming academically diverse, which presents higher probability that diversity will continue for a long time. Pre-assessment criteria for differentiated instruction The most crucial part of the differentiated instruction program is the assessment, identification, and determination of the students skills and knowledge. Educators need to understand the level of their skills for identification and design of the instruction methods and approach. The students skill levels and knowledge base are crucial

How Teenagers Consume Media

How Teenagers Consume Media Digital media is profoundly transforming consumer behaviour and traditional media business models. While creating new opportunities, its disruptive influence is being accelerated by the global recession. At the vanguard of this digital revolution are teenagers. While their habits will obviously change (especially when they start employment), understanding their mindset seems an excellent way of assessing how the media landscape will evolve. To this end, we asked a 15 year old summer work intern, Matthew Robson, to describe how he and his friends consume media. Without claiming representation or statistical accuracy, his piece provides one of the clearest and most thought provoking insights we have seen. So we published it. There are several issues that immediately jump out from the piece. Teenagers are consuming more media, but in entirely different ways and are almost certainly not prepared to pay for it. They resent intrusive advertising on billboards, TV and the Internet. They are happy to chase content and music across platforms and devices (iPods, mobiles, streaming sites). Print media (newspapers, directories) are viewed as irrelevant but events (cinema, concerts etc.) remain popular and one of the few beneficiaries of payment. The convergence of gaming, TV, mobile and Internet is accelerating with huge implications for pay-TV. For mobiles, price is key both in terms of handset prices  £100-200 as well as taking pay as you go as opposed to contracts. Mid-range feature phones still dominate, meaning that Sony Ericsson does well as thats their sweet spot. High-end smartphones are desirable but too expensive. Most prefer to own separate devices for music, and messaging. Texting is still key and use of new data services limited due to cost. Wi-Fi is more popular than 3G. While these trends will not necessarily surprise, their influence on TMT stocks cannot be underestimated. How Teenagers ConsumeMedia Radio Most teenagers nowadays are not regular listeners to radio. They may occasionally tune in, but they do not try to listen to a program specifically. The main reason teenagers listen to the radio is for music, but now with online sites streaming music for free they do not bother, as services such as last.fm do this advert free, and users can choose the songs they want instead of listening to what the radio presenter/DJ chooses. Television Most teenagers watch television, but usually there are points in the year where they watch more than average. This is due to programs coming on in seasons, so they will watch a particular show at a certain time for a number of weeks (as long as it lasts) but then they may watch no television for weeks after the program has ended. allows them to watch shows when they want. Whilst watching TV, adverts come on quite regularly (18 minutes of every hour) and teenagers do not want to watch these, so they switch to another channel, or do something else whilst the adverts run. The majority of teenagers I speak to have Virgin Media as their provider, citing lower costs but similar content of Sky. A fraction of teenagers have Freeview but these people are light users of TV (they watch about 1  ½ hours per week) so they do not require the hundreds of channels that other providers offer. Newspapers No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper, as most do not have the time and cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV. The only newspapers that are read are tabloids and freesheets (Metro, London Lite) mainly because of cost; teenagers are very reluctant to pay for a newspaper (hence the popularity of freesheets such as the Metro). Over the last few weeks, the sun has decreased in cost to 20p, so I have seen more and more copies read by teenagers. Another reason why mainly tabloids are read is that their compact size allows them to be read easily, on a bus or train. This is especially true for The Metro, as it is distributed on buses and trains. Gaming users, which has had an impact on phone usage; one can speak for free over the console and so a teenager would be unwilling to pay to use a phone. PC gaming has little or no place in the teenage market. This may be because usually games are released across all platforms, and whilst one can be sure a game will play on a console PC games require expensive set ups to ensure a game will play smoothly. In addition, PC games are relatively easy to pirate and download for free, so many teenagers would do this rather than buy a game. In contrast, it is near impossible to obtain a console game for free. Internet Every teenager has some access to the internet, be it at school or home. Home use is mainly used for fun (such as social networking) whilst school (or library) use is for work. Most teenagers are heavily active on a combination of social networking sites. Facebook is the most common, with nearly everyone with an internet connection registered and visiting >4 times a week. Facebook is popular as one can interact with friends on a wide scale. On the other hand, teenagers do not use twitter. Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they release that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit). In addition, they realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless. Outside of social networking, the internet is used primarily as a source of information for a variety of topics. For searching the web, Google is the dominant figure, simply because it is well kn own and easy to use. Some teenagers make purchases on the internet (on sites like eBay) but this is only used by a small will) so that they can transfer it to portable music players and share it with friends. How teenagers play their music while on the go varies, and usually dependent on wealth -with teenagers from higher income families using iPods and those from lower income families using mobile phones. Some teenagers use both to listen to music, and there are always exceptions to the rule. A number of people use the music service iTunes (usually in conjunction with iPods) to acquire their music (legally) but again this is unpopular with many teenagers because of the high price (79p per song). Some teenagers use a combination of sources to obtain music, because sometimes the sound quality is better on streaming sites but they cannot use these sites whilst offline, so they would download a song then listen to it on music streaming sites (separate from the file). Cinema Teenagers visit the cinema quite often, regardless of what is on. Usually they will target a film first, and set out to see that, but sometimes they will just go and choose when they get there. This is because going to the cinema is not usually about the film, but the experience -and getting together with friends. Teenagers visit the cinema more often when they are in the lower end of teendom (13 and 14) but as they approach 15 they go to the cinema a lot less. This is due to the pricing; at 15 they have to pay the adult price, which is often double the child price. Also, it is possible to buy a pirated DVD of the film at the time of release, and these cost much less than a cinema ticket so teenagers often choose this instead of going to the cinema. Some teenagers choose to download the films off the internet, but this is not favourable as the films are usually bad quality, have to be watched on a small computer screen and there is a chance that they will be malicious files and insta ll a virus. Devices Mobile Phones 99% of teenagers have a mobile phone and most are quite capable phones. The general view is that Sony Ericsson phones are superior, due to their long list of features, built in walkman capability and value ( £100 will buy a mid-high range model). Teenagers due to the risk of it getting lost do not own mobile phones over the  £200 mark. As a rule, teenagers have phones on pay as you go. This is because they cannot afford the monthly payments, and cannot commit to an 18-month contract. Usually, teenagers only use their phone for texting, calling. Features such as video messaging or video calling are not used -because they are expensive, (you can get four regular texts for the price of one video message). Services such as instant messaging are used, but not by everyone. It usually depends whether the phone is Wi-Fi compatible, because otherwise it is very expensive to get internet off the phone network. As most teenagers phones have Bluetooth support, and Bluetooth is free, they utilise this feature often. It is used to send songs and videos (even though it is illegal) and is another way teenagers gain songs for free. Teenagers never use the ringtone and picture selling services, which gained popularity in the early 00s. This is because of the negative press that these services have attracted (where the charge  £20 a week with no easy way to cancel the service) and the fact that they can get pictures and music on a computer -then transfer it to their phones at no cost. Mobile email is not used as teenagers have no need; they do not need to be connected to their inbox all the time as they dont receive important emails. Teenagers do not use the internet features on their mobiles as it costs too much, and generally, if they waited an hour they could use their home internet and they are willing to wait as they dont usually have anything urgent to do. Teenagers do not upgrade their phone very often, with most upgrading every two years. They usually upgrade on their birthday when their parents will buy them a new phone, as they do not normally have enough money to do it themselves. Televisions: Most teenagers own a TV, with more and more upgrading to HD ready flat screens. However, many are not utilising this HD functionality, as HD channels are expensive extras which many families cannot justify the added expenditure. Many of them dont want to sign up to HD broadcasting services, as adverts are shown on standard definition broadcasts, so they cant see the difference. Most people have Virgin Media as a TV provider. Some have sky and some have Freeview but very few only have the first five channels (BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel Four and Channel Five). Computers: Every teenager has access to a basic computer with internet, but most teenagers computers are systems capable of only everyday tasks. Nearly all teenagers computers have Microsoft office installed, as it allows them to do school work at home. Most (9/10) computers owned by teenagers are PCs, because they are much cheaper than Macs and school computers run Windows, so if a Mac is used at home compatibility issues arise. Games Consoles: Close to 1/3 of teenagers have a new ( What is Hot? Anything with a touch screen is desirable. Mobile phones with large capacities for music. Portable devices that can connect to the internet (iPhones) Really big tellies What Is Not? Anything with wires Phones with black and white screens Clunky brick phones Devices with less than ten-hour battery life Disclosure Section Morgan Stanley Co. International plc, authorized and regulated by Financial Services Authority, disseminates in the UK research that it has prepared, and approves solely for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, research which has been prepared by any of its affiliates. As used in this disclosure section, Morgan Stanley includes RMB Morgan Stanley (Proprietary) Limited, Morgan Stanley Co International plc and its affiliates. 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The Black Death :: Disease, Plague

The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemic that hit Europe in history. The Black Death first emerged in the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 (Gottfried,1). The plague came from several Italian merchant ships which were returning to Messina. Several sailors on board were dying of an unknown disease and a few days after arriving in Messina, several residents within and outside of Messina were dying as well (Poland 1). The Black Death was as deadly as it was because it was not limited by gender, age, or species. The Black Death was also very deadly because it could attack in three different forms: the bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague. Even though the bubonic plague can not be transmitted among humans, it was the most common of the three plagues. The bubonic plague occurs when fleas feed on the blood of infected rodents, which are usually rats (Poland 1). The bacterium that causes the infection is known as Yersenia Pestis. The fleas then pass the bacteria when they bite a human or when materials infected with Yersenia pestis directly enters the body through a wound. The names of this plague come from the swellings, also known as buboes, that appeared on a victim’s neck, armpits, or groin (Gottfried,1).The lymph nodes suddenly become painful and swollen with pus especially in the groin. Later, the skin splits and oozes pus and blood. Blood also comes out of the victim’s urine which, like the rest of the symptoms, smells horribly. These swellings (also known as tumors) could be as small as an egg or as big as an apple. Even though some people survived this disease, others would have a life expectancy of a week. The septicemic plague was transmitted in the same way as the bubonic plague. The septicemic plague was transmitted with direct contact with a flea bite. The only three hosts in which the disease could live in were in humans, rats, and fleas (Inspecta 1). Inside the rat flea, the bacteria Yersenia pestis multiply inside the flea which in turn, blocks the flea’s stomach causing it to be very hungry. As a result, the flea starts biting the host vigorously which in turn would spread the plague to the host. Since the bacterium is still blocking the flea’s stomach, the flea would still be hungry and therefore it would continue to bite other humans until it starves to death.

Terrorism - Lets Terrorize the Terrorists :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Let's Terrorize the Terrorists The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon-anything of this magnitude forces all thinking people to reflect of the state of the world. Questions like, "how could anyone do this", gradually transform into, "how can we prevent similar events in the future." Security measures will be revised, perhaps immigration laws will be tightened and certainly aircraft procedures will be overhauled. But none of these things address the true cause of the attack. When we look at terrorism we assume motives like religious fundamentalism or revenge for perceived injustices. It's true that these factors are present in most terrorist groups but let's delve a little deeper into the mechanism necessary for long term or widespread campaigns against civilian targets. There are several resources that must be possessed if you want to manage a terrorist group... ? Money - Nothing in this world is free least of all weapons. ? Recruits - In this sort of enterprise casualties are high and for each suicidal attack squad there must be at least three times their number of support staff and backup members. ? A base of operations - To store materials, train troops and administer the organization. So, if I were interested in preventing terrorism and if I had the power, what could be done to undermine these three necessary ingredients? Money Even terrorist have bank managers. When you are dealing with millions of dollars in funding, or billions in the case of Osama bin Laden, you can't just hide it in the mattress. Money leaves traces, both in its acquisition and in its expenditure. But government agencies are prevented from exploring these transactions too closely because of the security measures enforced by the worldwide banking industry. Issues of privacy, liberty and sovereignty all serve to bolster the banks' resolution. I personally believe the banks have a responsibility to protect us from the effects of terrorist funds. If the UN identifies international terrorists, then the banks should freeze any and all funds that can be attributed to each group. National intelligence agencies should have limited rights to investigate financial links through the banks in an effort to track these funds down. It's a question of priority. Is perfect privacy more important than the death and suffering of thousands? Recruits Osama bin Laden is said to have thousands of supporters.

Packaging and the Environment

Packaging and the Environment The growing of the packaging industry is one of the phenomena of the 20 first century. Most people would non oppugn the necessity of packaging in our civilization both domestically and globally. It is perfectly indispensable for the distribution of trade goods and peculiarly for the retail of nutrient and other perishable points. There has been an increasing consciousness and concern about packaging in that the theoretical account of â€Å"use one time and throw away† puts a big load on the environment. Plastic has been the focal point of the attending. Paper merchandises really rapidly go wet and contract and quickly biodegrade to go portion of the natural environment. Tin home base rusts quickly and glass bottles are broken. Plastics do none of these things. They retain their form, composing and visual aspect for a really long clip, and when it is considered that a one pint polythene bottle weighs less than one ten percent of the weight of a glass bottle, the ground for the hapless image of plastics boxing as a constituent of litter is evident. ( Scott, pg. 189 ) In the first topographic point, the cost of plastics has been increasing at a slower rate than that of paper, tin-plate and glass in recent old ages. Second, plastics have certain built-in proficient advantages over the traditional options. They are really much lighter than glass and metals. Unlike paper, they do non absorb H2O, and since wet opposition is indispensable in nutrient packaging both to incorporate the nutrient and to defy bacterial taint from outside the bundle they have an overpowering advantage over paper. This advantage, coupled with the escalating monetary value of wood mush for paper, has led to a steady replacing of paper. ( 190 ) The packaging industry is an recognized facet of modern society and reflects the manner in which personal goods and belongings are looked upon as progressively disposable. This sentiment is a common subject which runs through all facets of the environment. A civilization born and raised in metropolitan countries, is non linked to nature or the environment. Their nutrient comes in a can, bag, bottle, or plastic wrap. The waste goes into bins that are emptied on a hebdomadal footing. Out of sight out of head, and the one manner disposal theoretical account continues. Many communities are mandating recycling as a manner to coerce decreases in solid waste. As the recycling industry grows, boxing interior decorators will necessitate to take recycling concerns into history. Harmonizing to Dr. Susan Selke, a packaging professor at Michigan State University, planing reclaimable bundles will cut down the solid waste disposal burden â€Å" provided a recycling system is in topographic point and the bundles enter the system. † With the important growing in recycling across the United States, guaranting that bundles can be recycled expeditiously and economically is paramount. ( Stana pg.18 ) Industry is faced with doing bundles that fit modern American life styles bundles that offer convenience and easiness of usage for all people every bit good as protect the merchandises. Packagers are committed to equilibrating these economic and societal considerations with environmental issues to bring forth bundles that meet the usage and disposal demands of s ociety. ( pg.19 ) And therein lies the job. Boxing fills trash containers and landfills, enduring far longer than the merchandises it was made to incorporate. It consumes natural resources. And it can besides reassign chemicals into our nutrient, with unknown wellness consequence. ( Claudio, pg. A233 ) If environmental harm is inordinate from the waste of packaging, the best solution is to beef up environmental ordinances regulating the extraction and production of the natural stuffs needed to do the packaging. ( Dewees, pg. 458 ) There is besides what is called User-Pay policies. User-pay policies require families to pay for each bag or can of waste collected, typically one dollar per bag. Paying per unit provides inducements to minimise packaging purchased, to divide recyclables for aggregation, and to minimise waste volumes in general. User-pay policies have by and large been implemented in communities that already have a curbside reclaimable aggregation plan. Empirical surveies of the experience with such plans finds that waste aggregation is reduced by between 14 per centum and 47 per centum. ( pg. 462 ) The costs of curbside recycling plans vary well among legal powers and over clip. This suggests that policy should non oblige curbside recycling in all topographic points and at all times. Again, flexible policies that encourage recycling when its benefits are high and its costs are low would be efficient. ( pg. 467 ) Since packaging is on a planetary graduated table, it would be prudent to look at policy outside of the United States. The German Waste Disposal Law is non merely really luxuriant, but besides instead complicated. A huge sum of statute law has been enacted at national, regional and local degrees, and an huge volume of proficient regulations and ordinances have been introduced, all of which purpose to guarantee that waste disposal and the recycling of used objects are non damaging to the general public assistance. ( Weidemann, pg. 1135 ) Trade and industry are now called upon to â€Å" change by reversal the concatenation of idea † . Packaging should be re-usable, every bit lasting as possible and the stuffs used should be suited for recycling. The decisive instrument for the enforcement of this doctrine is the duty to take back packaging, which the Regulation imposes throughout trades and industries. Taking the Regulation as a theoretical account, the German Minister for the E nvironment plans to publish similar ordinances for farther merchandises. The undermentioned ordinances are in readying: Regulation for the Avoidance and Recycling of Waste from Printed Materials, Regulation for the Avoidance and Recycling of Waste from the Disposal of Vehicles ; Regulation to Guarantee the Introduction and Extension of Returnable Beverage Container Systems ; Regulation for the Avoidance, Reduction and Recycling of Waste from Used Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Regulation for the Disposal of Construction Materials ; Regulation for the Disposal of Boxing incorporating Residues of Noxious Filling Substances ; Regulation for the Disposal of Used Batteries. ( pg. 1137 ) The United States could afford to take a expression at such rigorous policies. There are besides biodegradable options to conventional plastics. Presently the costs of bioplastic polymers are still much higher than that of mainstream plastic opposite number nevertheless, the impacts of biodegradable bioplastics, when come ining the waste watercourse and handled by landfill, recycling, and incineration, enable a possible option for waste intervention through composting as a manner to retrieve the stuffs and to bring forth compost as a utile merchandise. ( Davies, pg. 2129 ) Unlike conventional petrochemical-based polymers, biodegradable and compostable bioplastic polymers can be composted. Making or naming a merchandise biodegradable has no built-in value if the merchandise, after usage by the client, does non stop up in a waste direction system that uses the biodegradability characteristic. ( pg. 2131 ) It is clear from research done that several biodegradable packaging stuffs can be processed in place composting systems and output compost stuffs suited for wor ks growing. This capableness will enable such stuffs to be disposed of in well-run place composting systems and consequence in waste recreation from municipal waste watercourse. ( pg. 2137 ) Bioplastic polymers have great possible to lend to material recovery, cut down the usage of landfills and usage of renewable resources. Widespread public consciousness of these stuffs and effectual substructure for rigorous control of enfranchisement, aggregation, separation and composting will be important to obtaining these benefits in full. ( pg. 2138 ) In sum-up, recycling is one scheme for end-of-life waste direction of plastic merchandises. It makes increasing sense economically every bit good as environmentally and recent tendencies demonstrate a significant addition in the rate of recovery and recycling of plastic wastes. These tendencies are likely to go on, but some important challenges still exist from both technological factors and from economic or societal behaviour issues associati ng to the aggregation of reclaimable wastes, and permutation for virgin stuff. Though developments at an international and national degree are driving a civilization alteration towards more sustainable direction of waste in concern, it is the enterprises being implemented at a local degree which are ensuing in the most direct impact. ( Hopewell, pg. 2124 ) It is the concern advantage to be gained from effectual waste direction which is possibly the strongest driving force of all. ( Cain, pg. 1430 ) With the coming of â€Å"green† consumerism, concern behaviour forms look set to alter, as over-packaged goods are boycotted and composting enjoys a resurgence. ( pg. 1435 ) Though developments at an international and national degree are driving a civilization alteration towards more sustainable direction of waste in concern, it is the enterprises being implemented at a local degree which are ensuing in the most direct impact. ( Hopewell, pg. 2124 ) Communities are progressively turning to local environmental establishments ( LEIs ) to turn to unmet environmental challenges. This impulse toward place-based solutions and the creative activity of LEIs is fueled by the desire to do environmental policy more antiphonal to local values and involvements and to travel off from â€Å" one-size-fits-all † environmental plans crafted by distant authorities bureaus. ( Konsiky, pg. 3 ) When it comes to packaging, local communities can instantly make up one's mind what is best for their localised environment. Normally this far exceeds the capacity of a authorities which has no cognition of the local environment or resources. In the 1960’s Sweden had tur ning environmental concern. At the clip different bureaus handled different facets of the environmental issue with really limited powers, since the power to make up one's mind on those affairs rested with the Cabinet or with the County Administration. Their resources were besides really limited. The Governmental Principal Proposal on the Environment of 1965 marked the beginning of a new, integrative stage in Swedish environmental policy. It was the beginning of an incorporate policy. What followed is considered the nidation stage. In 1967, an incorporate administrative organic structure was established. It covered the Fieldss of nature conservancy, H2O and air protection, out-of-door diversion and the protection of wildlife. ( Lundqvist, pg. 95 ) The tendency now is toward the establishing of an increasing figure of demands that make it necessary for fouling industries to take appropriate steps for the protection of the environment. The bureaucratism and the deficiency of communicat ing between bureaus has been cut to a bare minimal ensuing in more immediate action towards environmental concerns. The displacement of focal point demands to be less on packaging and more on policy. Policy is what will do alterations in packaging waste. Presently, political urgency of environmental reform may be weakening. Public support for environmental ordinance remains high, but environmental policy suffers from the ups and downs of the issue attending rhythm. This may merely be a job in a media-controlled society like the United States. But, at least at that place, it undermines the demand for consistent and uninterrupted attending to public policy issues that is indispensable for serious determination devising. ( Mandelker, pg. 108 ) Mandelker continues, the general populace supports environmental reform because it believes it will get away the load of conformity but participate in the distribution of benefits. In short, the public expects a free drive. This does non ever go on, and public support for environmental steps disappears when the true allotment of benefits and loads becomes evide nt. For illustration, in 1970 public resistance Clean Air Act arose when other costs which the Act imposed became evident. Congress was cognizant that effectual control of car pollution would necessitate alterations in transit wonts every bit good as bounds on car pollution. The public doesn’t want to be inconvenienced. They are excessively disconnected from the environment. We all want a clean environment because that is the right thing to make. When it comes down to taking an easy life style, or a clean environment, the populace will take the easy path. One ground is that they have non been educated about the environment and another, the reverberations from mismanaged resources have non affected their day-to-day lives. Any alteration must be extremist. Intervening at the borders is non plenty. What is needed most is to set an terminal to the destructive utilizations of symbolism in environmental political relations. This will non be easy. Political symbols provide a cutoff for mobilising support in a complex society where issue argument is hard, and public attending in the issue attending rhythm is brief. ( pg. 116 ) Public environmental instruction must get down in the schools. It should ramify to every country of life. Movies, media, and the amusement industry, must force environmental consciousness. It is non a short program, nevertheless in one coevals, it could alter the United States if non the universe. A coevals could be formed for zero acceptance of politicians that make determinations based on money alternatively of the good of the common people. There are excessively many illustrations of the calamity of the parks that have been the consequence of the corrupt or greedy few. John Ehrenfeld captures the current sentiment ; losing about wholly from the problem-oriented activities of today is a vision of a universe that is sustainable, even a definition of sustainability is losing. No admiration that we move frontward merely on occasion, alternatively floating largely sideways or backward. ( pg. 48 ) In our coevals, we exhibit a religion in instruction which is firm. In malice of grounds to the contrary, we believe that cognition leads to virtue and that truth will so bring forth goodness. ( Hurst, pg. 35 ) It is with this cognition that we can alter the destructive class we are heading. Get downing with kids, instruction of the environment and linking each one of them to it on a personal degree will guarantee regard for the environment subsequently. Ehrenfeld closes with a statement that wraps everything up ; as this happens, encoded elements of a sustainability paradigm will get down to replace the old cultural pillars. And as the structuration procedure works its evolutionary manner, the whole system should go more and more unfastened to sustainability, supplying fertile dirt for the visions of the interior decorators to take root. ( pg. 196 ) Plants Cited Scott, Gerald. â€Å"PACKAGING AND THE ‘THROW-AWAY ‘ SOCIETY† . Journal of the Royal Society of ArtsVol. 122, No. 5212 ( MARCH 1974 ) ( pp. 188-202 ) Stana, Edward J. Packaging and the Environment. Natural Resources & A ; Environment, Vol. 9, No. 2 ( Fall 1994 ) , pp. 16-19. Published by American Bar Association Luz Claudio. OUR Food: Packaging & A ; PUBLIC HEALTH. Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 120, No. 6 ( JUNE 2012 ) , pp. A232-A237. Published by: Brogan & A ; Spouses Donald N. Dewees and Michael J. Hare. Economic Analysis of Packaging Waste Reduction. Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques, Vol. 24, No. 4 ( Dec. , 1998 ) , pp. 453-470. Published by: University of Toronto Press Clemens Weidemann. GERMANY: Regulation ON THE AVOIDANCE OF PACKAGING WASTE. International Legal Materials, Vol. 31, No. 5 ( SEPTEMBER 1992 ) , pp. 1135-1144. Published by: American Society of International Law J. H. Song, R. J. Murphy, R. Narayan and G. B. H. Davies. Biodegradable and Compostable Alternatives to Conventional Plastics. Philosophic Minutess: Biological Sciences, Vol. 364, No. 1526, Plastics, the Environment and Human Health ( Jul. 27, 2009 ) , pp. 2127-2139Published by: The Royal Society R. Aspinwall and J. Cain. The Changing Mindset in the Management of Waste. Philosophic Minutess: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 355, No. 1728, Clean Technology: The Idea and the Practice ( Jul. 15, 1997 ) , pp. 1425-1437 Published by: The Royal Society Jefferson Hopewell, Robert Dvorak and Edward Kosior. Plastics Recycling: Challenges and Opportunities. Philosophic Minutess: Biological Sciences, Vol. 364, No. 1526, Plastics, the Environment and Human Health ( Jul. 27, 2009 ) , pp. 2115-2126. Published by: The Royal Society Stephen M. Meyer and David M. Konisky. Adopting Local Environmental Institutions: Environmental Need and Economic Constraints. Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 1 ( Mar. , 2007 ) , pp. 3-16. Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Lennart Lundqvist. Sweden ‘s Environmental Policy. Ambio, Vol. 1, No. 3 ( Jun. , 1972 ) , pp. 90-101. Published by: Springer Daniel R. Mandelker. Environmental Policy: The Following Generation. The Town Planning Review, Vol. 64, No. 2 ( Apr. , 1993 ) , pp. 107-117. Published by: Liverpool University Press Sam T. Hurst. Environment and Education: Past, Present, Future. Journal of Architectural Education ( 1947-1974 ) , Vol. 19, No. 3 ( Dec. , 1964 ) , pp. 35-37. Published by: Taylor & A ; Francis, Ltd. John R. Ehrenfeld. Sustainability by Design. A Insurgent Strategy for Transforming Our Consumer Culture. September 2008 Published by: Yale University Press