My Father: No Ordinary Man Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about my

My father was a great fan of Mark Twain. He had a couple of Twain quotes he loved to recite, and one in particular he liked to recite around me: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." I could never really think of dad as ignorant, even when I was fourteen. He was a walking encyclopedia, an encyclopedia I consulted daily. But he was an easy man to underestimate. In part this was because he was a great listener, and like all great listeners would rather hear than be heard. That was another one of his favorite Twain quotes: "Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." But he was also easy to underestimate because he tended to underestimate himself. He would have been astonished, genuinely astonished, at the outpouring of love and admiration that has washed over our family in the last week. And there is enough of my father in me that I have been astonished as well. Friends of mine, some of whom I thought barely knew dad, have called or sent word from as far away as Vienna and Taipei to say that my father changed their life for the better. My oldest friend, who is now a mountain climber and a nature photographer, astonished me by saying he might never have becom... ...e Bailey couldn't see in the movie It's A Wonderful Life. George Bailey saw himself as a very ordinary man. And because he was a man of great intellect and potential, he sometimes saw his ordinary life as a kind of failure. It was not until the angel took him out of his own life and showed him the profound connections between his life and every other life in his community, that he was finally able to see himself for the hero that he was. My father was a George Bailey. And just as George's friends came together and emptied their pockets for him when he was in trouble, all of his friends joined together in a celebration of his life. I only wish he could have seen it, because he never would have believed it. My Father: No Ordinary Man Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about my My father was a great fan of Mark Twain. He had a couple of Twain quotes he loved to recite, and one in particular he liked to recite around me: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." I could never really think of dad as ignorant, even when I was fourteen. He was a walking encyclopedia, an encyclopedia I consulted daily. But he was an easy man to underestimate. In part this was because he was a great listener, and like all great listeners would rather hear than be heard. That was another one of his favorite Twain quotes: "Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." But he was also easy to underestimate because he tended to underestimate himself. He would have been astonished, genuinely astonished, at the outpouring of love and admiration that has washed over our family in the last week. And there is enough of my father in me that I have been astonished as well. Friends of mine, some of whom I thought barely knew dad, have called or sent word from as far away as Vienna and Taipei to say that my father changed their life for the better. My oldest friend, who is now a mountain climber and a nature photographer, astonished me by saying he might never have becom... ...e Bailey couldn't see in the movie It's A Wonderful Life. George Bailey saw himself as a very ordinary man. And because he was a man of great intellect and potential, he sometimes saw his ordinary life as a kind of failure. It was not until the angel took him out of his own life and showed him the profound connections between his life and every other life in his community, that he was finally able to see himself for the hero that he was. My father was a George Bailey. And just as George's friends came together and emptied their pockets for him when he was in trouble, all of his friends joined together in a celebration of his life. I only wish he could have seen it, because he never would have believed it.

Stone Finch Inc. Case Study Analysis

Stone Finch Inc. is a business in trouble. The organizations top producing division is losing talent and market share because of an innovative company revision that inspires and supports innovative subsidiary groups to sprout up within Stone Finch and then be decoupled from the organization in their infancy but remain tethered by a contract to merge the subsidiary after a period of time. The idea to innovate and grow is an effective one but in this case, does not consider the large differences in corporate team management style, team building characteristics or esprit d' corps. This case report will discuss background, pertinent issues, recommendations and conclusions. Falcons and Buzzards Understanding how to build and lead teams successfully is an ever-changing and full time job. Matching people to different types of employment is very challenging when the reasons for employment are varied. Many organizations use a Myers-Briggs personality analysis or similar tool as a consideration in hiring and making job assignments that consider the strengths of an individual. Finding a job for more money, or location, or to live a certain lifestyle are three possible reasons why a person might pick a specific job. The missing reason should be the most obvious: Job! Many times people sign on to an organization specifically because of the job. Of course other factors might be considered but if the primary reason for employment is job-related, some personal factors need consideration by the employer and the employee. The premise of this case is that Jim Billings has a mandate by the Board of Directors through his selection as CEO to grow and develop Stone Finch Incorporated (SFI). He, after one night of number-crunching, developed this idea of innovative subsidiaries. The concept is sound in theory but in application, requires a deft managerial touch to ensure the right people are in the right places. Objective Relevant Facts Falcons is the term used in the case to describe those entrepreneurial-spirited employees that would be branching out to develop innovative ideas and structures and bring them to the market. One of the falcons, Beth Suarez was made Vice President of the Solutions division, the division where the merged subsidiaries were to be reassigned (Hamermesh 2010). Stone Water Products, the original company, was renamed Water Products (WP) Division under the new parent company, Stone Finch Inc. Water Products was headed by Eli Saunders, a long-time employee who had been with Stone Water for 25 years. A buzzard. Eli provides a great deal of tacit knowledge (Keitner 2010) and now try to convey his concerns to Billings. Water Products is the division that originally produced the financial wherewithal that enabled the solutions division to fund the innovative offshoots (Hamermesh 2010). Financial reports indicate the solutions division is growing and surpassing the income generated by the WP division (Hamermesh 2010). From the open communications exercise, there is a disconnect between personnel of the older WP division and the newer entrepreneur-like structure. The indicators are that three top WP salespeople are leaving and a perceived gap between the â€Å"have's† and the â€Å"have-not's† thus creating an in-group-out-group mentality (Krietner 2010). Subjective Relative Comments The plan to innovate and grow is put in place by the former President/CEO and Founder, Mr. Stone. The idea to hire Billings was specifically to take the risks that he (Stone) was incapable of engineering. The financials indicate growth and improvement with the present system and while that is encouraging, the unintended consequence might actually be the demise of the WP division. WP's ability to produce should not be overlooked and especially now, that expressions of a growing divide appears to exist. Billings is doing the right thing by thinking strategically and seeking to understand what is happening in the corporate culture. In Kenneth Shaw's Intentional Leader, Shaw discusses how a leaders ability to connect with diverse groups is critical in the group-lead process and how effective communications methods are key elements in corporate success (Shaw 2005). Billings reinforces those concepts through his thought process. These are diverse groups. WP personnel are successfully entrenched in their way of doing things. Their mode involved building and maintaining those relationships critical to their divisions success. At one time, they were the only division and their culture was the company's culture. The integration of the newer divisions and their corporate persona were not considered which contributes to the alleged divide that appears to exist. Losing eight personnel in the solutions division should be a planned for and intended consequence of having that many â€Å"birds of prey†. My analogy for what I read in the Stone Finch case is that once the kill is made, the carcass is not nearly as interesting and a new chase must be mounted. These people learned how to design, develop and plan a new business from conception to implementation. It should be obvious that many will look to develop their own niche after already successfully having done it. Beth Suarez was making things happen as the entrepreneur and not as a corporate administrator. There are many other subjective snippets in the case that by themselves are insignificant but as part of a big puzzle, indicate to me that the corporation changed from a team-oriented and focused business to a multi-faceted organization without the appropriate organizational preparation. The time for damage control is now. Recommendations These recommendations are a mix of what I would do along with Jim Billings' way forward. This is a pretty sizeable problem. Trying to combine water and oil does not work no matter how much stirring is done. The ingredients simply reconstitute when the stirring stops. In this case, there needs to be an additional ingredient where the two opposites can bond. It might be a new corporate mission and vision statements along with guiding principles that are jointly developed by the differing corporate philosophies. In the case, there are differing philosophies; one is a traditional corporate design and the other is a progressive, free-wheeling bastion of innovation. Everyone needs to understand the risks that the others are taking and how the end result is a benefit to all concerned and not just a select few. I'm curious to know if there are any falcons in WP's structure that are just dying to help WP make the leap into innovation? Jim Billings has done a good job at this point in realizing there are issues of concern. Mainly, these issues are connected to people and not to numbers. In fact, the numbers presented in the appendices of the case are reasonable and indicate current and projected growth as it pertains to development of the strategic subsidies idea. Billings' task list should include: ? Communicate immediately to the entire corporation the success of the open jam and the number of submissions and thank them for the number of great comments and suggestions. Also communicate a timeline for future communications about issues and suggested improvements and stick to it! ? Conduct follow on interviews and additional data analysis before developing new action plans. Pay specific attention to WP and Strategic Solutions. Also make personal contact with cancelled WP accounts and try to win back their business or at least gain data points on why the business is lost. ? Communicate globally. ? Place special emphasis on the perception of corporate division and determine the if one perception takes precedence over another as an end state or if the corporate culture can be successfully mended and combined. Then determine how to communicate that as policy going forward. ? Interview Suarez and see if she is happy as an administrator. It is apparent from past performance that she is highly competent and successful. If she desires to excel in her current position, she will if given the proper tools. If she is unhappy not soaring like a falcon, set her onto a new project or set her free to soar again elsewhere. At least after the discussion, it might be a relief for all concerned. ? Look into the IT capabilities of WP. If lacking, bring them up to speed with current technologies and knowledge sharing software (Krietner 2010). If they are unwilling because â€Å"this is the way we've always done it†, make them willing through providing a compelling rationale. If the WP culture is unable to adapt and retraining is unsuccessful; that is an indication that WP has outlived its usefulness and as unromantic as it may seem, Billings might have to consider selling off the asset. Personally, I don't think that is the case here. I think WP feels used and abused and could probably use an infusion of capital resources to show they are still important to the organization. Perhaps an IT upgrade and training will show them a more efficient way to work and improve the morale of the group. Or looking for any WP personnel to work in the up and coming subsidiaries if they are so inclined. This could help ease the differences or at least help with understanding. Billings is on the right track because he recognizes there is an issue. Albeit a strongly worded email from SVP Eli Saunders seems to have helped strike a nerve with Billings; the fact is, that it did make an impact. Conclusions The describe Billings to have crunched the numbers in one night and developed his strategic solutions concept. It might be that I misunderstand the context of the case but coming up with a plan like this in a short period of time does not consider the unintended consequences of corporate division as it appears in this case. I conclude that with appropriate planning and communication, many of these problems could be have been avoided. In the recommendations section of this paper, bringing together the affected parties to jointly develop mission and vision would have helped both sides (WP and Solutions) understand the perspectives of their corporate brothers and sisters. As Billings himself is a falcon, he may not have seen that type of collaboration as necessary but at least he has the foresight now to correct the current situation.

How does Miller initially present Rodolpho? Essay

Miller initially presents Rodolpho through the use of description, dialogue, stage directions, structure and punctuation. Miller uses these techniques to present Rodolpho as a transgressive, ‘unsicilian’ feminine character. Miller initially presents Rodolpho as a transgressive character through the use of dialogue. Miller attempts to draw the audience’s attention towards Rodolpho’s appearance when the character Catherine states; â€Å"How come he’s so dark and you’re so light†. Miller contrasts Rodolpho’s appearance with a traditional Sicilian man, Marco, suggesting that Rodolpho is ‘an outsider’ in Sicilian culture. Miller’s notion is emphasised when Catherine, again, childishly states; â€Å"He’s practically blond!†, the repetitive physical description suggests Miller’s desire for to audience to be drawn to Rodolpho’s ‘Unsicilian’ characteristic, furthered even more by Catherine’s dramatic reaction to Rodolpho’s appearance, possibly indicating Rodolpho is the first blonde man she has seen, despite living in the overpopulated town of Red Hooke. Miller presents Rodolpho through the use of stage directions. Miller possibly compares Rodolpho’s feminine characteristic to Catherine’s when â€Å"He [Rodolpho] helps B set out the coffee]†, compared to â€Å"[Catherine] continues ladling out the plates†. In a patriarchal society, this behaviour was frowned upon, much to Eddie’s dismay. Miller could be using this comparison as prolepsis to when Eddie shouts â€Å"He’s not right† later on in the play, with the quote symbolising Rodolpho’s feminine character. Another stage direction associated with Rodolpho; â€Å"(Smiling)† suggests Miller is content with presenting Rodolpho as a feminine character, as Miller appears to present emotion with connotations of feminine behaviour, much like Rodolpho is consistently presented. Miller here utilises the technique of dramatic irony, the audience understands that Rodolpho’s feminine behaviour is frowned upon by Eddie, whilst Rodolpho himself is unaware, because of this tension builds up and one can argue that Rodolpho’s role in this play is to build tension. Whilst Rodolpho’s appearance differs from a traditional Sicilian man, Miller presents the initial impression that Rodolpho’s behaviour is indecorous; through the use of structure and stage directions. Rodolpho’s utterance length is consistently longer than Marco’s, and even the patriarch Eddie. In contrast, Marco, an example of a true Sicilian man speaks short Mono-syllabic sentences. Not only does the logorrheic Rodolpho have a long utterance length, Miller often punctuates Rodolpho’s sentences with exclamation marks .This subtle use of punctuation highlights Rodolpho’s ‘emotion’ and ‘passion’, arguably a stereotypical Italian quality but when contrasted to the emotionless â€Å"suspicious, quite-voiced† Marco, an example of transgressive behaviour. Miller confirms Rodolpho’s behaviour is indecorous in Sicilian culture when Eddies is â€Å"coming to address Marco more and more†, the patriarch of the house does not approve of Rodolpho’s behaviour but in comparison accepts the directly contrasting character, Marco. To conclude, Rodolpho is initially presented as a transgressive character through the use of dialogue, description, structure, punctuation and finally stage directions. Miller possibly choses to contrast Rodolpho with Marco to highlight the differences between American and Sicilian culture, Rodolpho’s behaviours maybe perceived as wrong in Sicilian culture but acceptable in an American society. On the other hand, Miller maybe equally trying to educate the, mainly American, audience about Sicilian culture. I think that the use of description was especially effective at indicating to the audience that Rodolpho was ‘the outsider’ and possibly the centre of any drama. I do not think that Miller’s use of punctuation and stage directions are effective for a modern day audience because in an ‘Americanised’ society, Rodolpho’s behaviour is acceptable whereas when the play was shown to its original audience, Miller’s use of stage directions would have been more effective. Overall, though, I think Miller has presented Miller initially as a transgressive character, and has done so very effectively.

Analysis on Learning and Societal Pattern of Mennonites

The current study tends to delved into the case study presented upon the project conducted upon the Mennonites women. Moreover, discussion on how through exposing them   to different sets of learning aspects their views regarding life as a whole has been evolved has been elaborated. The project comprised of introductory and intermediate course focused towards facilitating adult learning programs followed by awareness as regards to health issues and maintenance of healthier lifestyle. The control and regulations imposed upon the education system to be followed by Mennonites comprises of limited quantum of school education followed by services to the community.   Despite emphasis upon education and learning for protection of the community, the Mennonites have restricted themselves of being influenced by outer societal values. Further, the approaches towards upbringing of children are orthodox and oppressive in nature owing to the fact that the interactions between children and thei r parents are restrictive and devoid of environment that is conducive to learning. The project aimed towards inculcating learning amongst the Mennonites women in order to facilitate awareness regarding parental skills. The participation of women in the project resulted in showcasing the insights as regards to Mennonites lifestyle and norms. The community is on the verge of widespread economic downturn due to the orthodox lifestyle maintained by its people. However, the issues regarding orthodoxy can be amended gradually through enhancing exposure towards societal norms and transmittal learning. Education for the Mennonites women was limited to sixth standards thereby constraining the degree of exposure to learning. The dissemination of their way of living displays the fact that the Mennonites believed in influencing others through presenting an exemplary way of living rather than being dependent upon the external cultures for learning and educational processes. The rigidity in terms of living and lifestyle as has been laid down by the church and which are to be followed by the Mennonites impacted their education in an significant manner. The restriction upon   education beyond a certain threshold- grade 6 for girls and grade 7 for boys meant   that the benefits to be derived through relevant degree of exposure to education was missing for both the men and women Mennonites. The repercussions of the rigidity in showcasing affection towards children by their parents within the Mennonites were displayed aptly in the responses made by Mennonite women to some of the question s posed in the project. In terms of evaluation of meaningful existence in the context of Mennonites, there was a sense of isolation from other cultures prevalent.   This can be observed from the fact that education was meant to be a tool for Old Mennonites Community in order to inculcate a culture of isolation from other communities. Moreover, in terms of selection of language for education and learning the Mennonites were exposed to High German in schools. The influences drawn out by High German were from biblical scriptures. This in turn resulted in an upbringing for the Mennonites students whereby the skills as regards to dissemination of certain facts and rationality in terms of judgments were absent.   Through the description made by Candy, the different sets of Adult Learning p rocesses are considered voluntary. In case of transformative learning, the experiences are analyzed and different sets of perspectives are developed based upon such experiences (Boud, Keogh & Walker, 2013). Even though the sharing of experiences can enhance the overall sense of learning, the Mennonite women would have been able to amend their understanding for it. In terms of directed learning, the identification of objectives, necessity towards achieving those objectives as well as methods of inculcating such learning was embedded (Cranton, 2013). It can be observed that the Mennonites women were brought up in their society in such a manner that affection towards their children were hindered owing to different sets of customs prevalent in their society (Keeney, 2015). For instance, a woman respondent participating in the project commented that she was shown affection as a child only on minimal occasions. She was hugged for less than four times in all her life. However, as deduced by Candy,   heightened degree of exposure towards education and self learning coupled with application of those learning onto deriving rational decision making is   beneficial towards an Adult’s self development (Derlaga & Berg, Eds. 2013). Communicative Knowledge is based upon shared interpretation and development of   a particular set of perspectives derived through achieving consensus. The responses received from the Mennonite women reflect similar sense of consensus owing to the fact that majority of the participant’s perspectives have been dramatically changed when exposed to the learning project.  Ã‚   The developmental stages pertaining to assimilation of knowledge by women as developed by Belenky comprised of several levels evolving from being silenced to received knower and subsequently evolving to connected and constructivist knower (Boud, Keogh & Walker, 2013). The observations made in terms of Mennonite women clearly showcases a gender based hierarchy in the sense that men were allowed to study a grade higher than that of women. Moreover, the restrictions on women as regards displaying sense of acknowledgement towards their children highlight a restrictive approach. The responses received from the women after initiation of learning processes shows that they have evolved from being received knower onto connected knower. Action learning can be observed in the scenario of current project whereby the Mennonite women are influenced through impacts upon their perspective and behaviors as regards to educating and inculcating a sense of learning.   Learning theories tends to emphas ize the fact that women tends to learn through interaction with others. Many of the Mennonites women were interacting for the first time with other women regarding family issues and the parenting challenges. Thereby, it can be construed that through the different sets of interactions the isolation faced by women were alleviated. The imposition of restrictions upon the Mennonite women was facilitated through limiting the interactions beyond family members. Moreover, emphasis should be towards learning outside the classroom or the application of what has been learned inside the classroom onto external issues. This can be showcased by the usage of metaphors by the class instructors to the Mennonites women seeking education in the project. The usage of metaphors in order to inculcate empathy among the women was highly effective as can be observed by some of their responses. It can be observed that the evolution of their learning in the project has been critical and in most cases can turn out to be lifestyle altering. This is in the sense that many of the women were barred from their Mennonite culture from displaying affection towards their children as the display of affection were restricted between couples seeking courtships (Hutchison, 2015). The assumptions are highly justified that adults are not self directed and that the inclusion of practicality and applicability of learning can be beneficial towards internalizing the lessons taught to such adults.   The inclusion of public health issues in the project curriculum facilitated the awareness as regards to the different sets of relevant processes to be followed in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle for the Mennonite women. John Dewey’s treatises based upon education and particularly experience enriched education that utilizes different sets of experiences (Kolb, 2014). This is done in order to facilitate enhanced sets of learning can be applied in the context of current case.   The requirements of liberal sets of education in order to inculcate as sense of equality amongst the different Mennonite members and those belonging to other communities can provide a pathway for social integration and intercommunity transactions. The testing of different sets of lea rning onto practical scenarios as deduced by John Dewey and there from deriving newer sets of insights can in turn result towards heightened degree of awareness by Mennonites women.   The initiative of the project is to focus upon capacity development of the Mennonites Women. Thereby, increasing their awareness as regards to the different sets of culturally sensitive issues were in turn facilitated heightened degree of empathy and better understanding regarding their upbringing and the Mennonites culture as a whole. The dissemination of health literacy programs conducted in Low German for creating awareness as regards to the different sets of health issues that can arise in Mennonites communities is highly beneficial (Haque, 2014). It can turn out to be highly effective for the community in the sense being in charge of their families the women participants are in a better position to communicate different sets of health and safety measures to their children and families. As all the participants in the learning project are mothers with one woman having 10 children, thereby the dissemination of relevant healthcare insights onto their offspring is enabled.   Other families belonging to the Mennonite community can be similarly approached through the project in order to improve their standards of living. Reflective learning are derived by the Mennonites women through introducing them to metaphors.   Through these metaphors, their perspective as regards to children, family and nature as a whole has been attempted at being evolved. Prior to the commencement of the program, the participant Mennonite women in the program were unaware of the fact that children require affection and encouragement in their endeavors. Transformative learning entails liberalization and empowerment, the Mennonites women were oppressed by the different sets of stringent rules and customs. The customs as regards to social conduct can be construed as highly conservative and restrictive coupled with the lack of awareness as regards to formal education. The lack of empathy towards children is a reminder of the sense of upbringing that Mennonites children are subjected to which encompasses lack of affection showcased by parents and limited exposure to schooling. As stated in the development approach to learning, t he evolving of education and   transitional improvements results towards   heightened degree of societal integration (Kroth & Cranton, 2014). The economically strained setting presented   in the Mennonites communities restricted their commitments towards family life. Moreover, the lack of empathetic behavior towards their children and the absence of providing necessary encouragement can be attributed to economical constraints. The appreciation pertaining to a child’s gift can be considered as rare in case of Mennonite society.   Moreover, following a particular set of norms is essential for the upbringing of a child in Mennonite community and any form of deviation from norm resulted in punishment. Society in general evolves out of contradiction displayed in interpretation of learning and diversity. The diversity as regards to interpreting experiences in a certain manners was missing in the case of Mennonites. The observations made upon the upbringing of women participating in the learning project showcases the fact that majority of the women were brought up in large families under inadequate degree of parenting skills. Thereby, the knowledge in the course of their childhood such as lack of empathy and admiration from parents and lack of appreciation in case a child showcases a particular skill set has been derived by them. The derived knowledge as regards to lack of empathy and understanding were   implemented   onto their children when they themselves became parents. The project facilitated the development of parenting skills through assimilation of knowledge through a progressive learning process. The women were made aware of their role as parents through model behavior, resulting in them becoming aware of the implications of their languages and actions. The project entails communicative learning in the sense that the educators and instructors are providing assistance towards the learning process of individual Mennonite women thorough use of metaphors.   Moreover, through referring children as gems and communicating the fact their development relies upon nurturing akin to that of other components of nature the educators provided a broader perspective. The probability of communicative learning transforming onto Emancipatory learning is high owing to the fact that communicative learning entails observation made on self and that of society as a whole. Taylor & Cranton (2012) stated that in case of emancipatory learning the role of educator should be that of an facilitator enabling the students to improvise upon   the experiences derived through facilitating an environment conducive to learning. However, in the context of current case study, it can be observed that the teachers and instructors involved in   the project have focused upon collective development. This is opposed to individual development as can be observed from uniform learning curriculum in the project. In the context of Emancipatory Learning, the educator is seen as an reformist. The reformer’s role entails facilitating personal and societal changes. The observation made upon the learning project upon the Mennonite community has shown the changes with regards to softening of stance by women within the community. The softening of language with regards to Mennonite children were seldom practiced and most of the discussion and conversations were on topics that were relevant. The behavior pertaining to those children were shaped with hardening of stance. The absence of verbal affection among those Mennonite children fostered an atmosphere   that is not conducive to learning. As stated by many women bel onging to the community, majority of the parents had limited interactions with their children and most would either remain silent in front of their   children or walk away. This is opposed to initiating a discussion of providing a word of encouragement to the children who may have displayed any form of skills or achievement.   The above discussion on the case study upon Mennonite community showcases the prevalent sets of learning procedures inherent to the community. The influence of Biblical scriptures as opposed to scientific learning upon their education of Mennonites was derived due to the usage of High German language. The conservatism in case of formal educational policies can be observed   through limitations imposed upon learning. Further, the case of   fostering encouragement to children through better sets of interactions between parents and the child is largely avoided   by the community. There remains a hierarchy with regards to gender in the sense that women are allowed to study until 6 th grade as compared to men of the community whose education is restricted up to 7 th grade. The Mennonite community is adversely affected by economic strain, which resulted in limiting the interactions between parents and children, limiting the degree of prosperity experienced by the community. The role of educators conducting the learning project can be construed as that of an reformist facilitating reforms within the Mennonite community. The usage of metaphors in order to inculcate relation between children, family, society and nature has resulted in creation of awareness as regards to the parenting skills and developing of perspectives. Learning facilitated these women with empowerment and their emancipation can be observed by their reflective responses. The Mennonites women were more conscious of the repercussions of the lack of adequate communication to their children. 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Infectious diseases among inmate populations Essay

Infectious diseases among inmate populations - Essay Example As this problem escalates, the monetary costs to society continues to rise and are much greater than if the diseases were discovered and treated at an earlier time, in the prison system prior to release. Prisons are in a unique position to treat inmates while the infectious condition is still in its earliest stages thus ultimately less costly to taxpayers. Though considerable economic, logistical and political barriers must be overcome to genuinely improve health care in the prison system, there are methods by which to begin solving this worsening health crisis in the prisons and wider community. The U.S. prison system has undergone a transformation over the past quarter century as a result of and a response to extensive studies that have been conducted to determine the consequences of the rising inmate population. In just 20 years, the number of persons held in U.S. prisons jumped substantially. The nation’s ‘war on drugs’ included mandatory sentencing guidelines which were principally responsible for the increase of 216,000 total prisoners in 1974 to 2004’s figure of 1.4 million. During this period, in just a 10-year span, the percentage of prisoners convicted of drug offenses nearly tripled. â€Å"In 1985, only 38,900, 8.6 percent, of State prison inmates were serving time for drug offenses as their most serious crime committed. By 1995, that number had increased almost six-fold to 224,900, 22.7 percent of all inmates† (Skolnik, 1994). Today, the U.S. houses nearly two million inmates. In 1978, the number of persons in the entire penal sy stem, those in prisons, jails and on probation or parole totaled 1.5 million. In 2004 this number stood at almost seven million. The overall correctional population, including persons in prison, jail, and on parole and probation, has jumped from 1.5 million in 1978 to nearly 7 million in 2004 (â€Å"Ethical†, 2006). Approximately

Technology and education.What if we didn't depend on technology in the Essay

Technology and education.What if we didn't depend on technology in the classroom as much as we do - Essay Example Education reform continues to be a question of grave concern for educators and policy makers. Braithwaite’s (2002) novel To Sir With Love which was set in the 1960s informs that education reform is nothing new. Students are particularly vulnerable to failure both at school and after school. Braithwaite’s (2002) novel cautions that students are resistant to traditional teaching methods and require training which goes beyond mere academic learning. In today’s world, President Barak Obama cautions a student body that regardless of what career choices they make, they will require some level of computer literacy (Obama 2011). Essentially, we are learning that education reform places a greater degree of pressure on teachers as they attempt to improve teaching techniques and outcomes. As it is, educators and policy-makers are concerned about the high drop-out rate among high school students across the US (Obama 2011). In other words, keeping students engaged becomes mor e challenging when teachers are required to integrate technology into the curriculum. On the other hand, integrating technology into the curriculum can be one method of responding to the drop-out rate. Research studies reveal that academic performance and being held back are not the only contributing factors to the school drop-out rate. In fact, these studies also reveal that a student’s attitude toward school student’s experience at also contributes to the school drop-out rate (Lamb 2011, p. 370).... As Lamb (2011) informs, research studies indicate that students are at a greater risk of dropping out of school when their academic performance is poor. It therefore follows that non-conventional teaching can improve engagement and as such can improve retention. Arguably, engagement is tied to academic performance. This explains why there is so much emphasis on education reform and the significance of quality teaching. Braithwaite’s (2002) teacher did not have the science and technology at his disposal to introduce innovative and non-conventional methods of teaching. He was forced to be creative and by doing so engaged his East London students who were by no stretch of the imagination, conventional students. The result was, these children’s attitudes toward school changed and the students were for the most part successful. Bennett (2011) reveals the extent to which teaching occupies the minds of policy-makers. This is a result of the poor academic outcomes. According to Bennett (2011), the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that 40 percent of American high school seniors scored 36 percent below average in math and 26 percent below average in reading. The results for American history are even more disappointing with high school seniors scoring over 50 percent below average (Bennett 2011). Bennett (2011) explains that while these poor outcomes can be accounted for by a number of issues, one thing is certain: quality teaching can turn this around. This brings us to the question of technology in the classroom. Technology has the potential to improve teaching by bringing into the classroom a significant part of the student’s daily life and future job prospects. Therefore technology in

The Amazon Smartphone Launches Tech's Costliest War Essay

The Amazon Smartphone Launches Tech's Costliest War - Essay Example Allen and was published on July 03, 2012 in Forbes. The above mentioned article is about a leadership based issue. The article refers to another article published in Vanity Fair and written by Kurt Eichenwald regarding Microsoft’s inability to keep a sustained pace of growth since 2000. It alludes to the fact that inept and destructive management techniques adapted by Microsoft are the core reason behind the company facing downfall in various areas it has attempted to enter, such as music, books and social networking among others. After witnessing the considerable fall of Microsoft, Kurt Eichenwald, the author himself interviewed employees of Microsoft to recognize the core reason behind such a scenario in the company. From the feedback, he has identified the problem of Microsoft. The primary problem is the functioning process where the employees had to vote forcefully in order to measure the certain mass of employees’ performance as top, good, average, and poor perform ers. Furthermore, the team of Microsoft that introduced a new idea of screen touch e-reader model was told by the Microsoft officials not to come up again with this kind of ideas but rather to work on the software development dimension which will bring more profit for the company. This has been a bane for the company in terms of behavior and practice of Microsoft officials, which discourage employees to introduce new innovative ideas further in future (Allen). After reviewing the article, it is assumed that Microsoft has been incorporating poor management practices as well as unfavorable organizational structure, for which the functionality and the performance of...The above mentioned article is about a leadership based issue. The article refers to another article published in Vanity Fair and written by Kurt Eichenwald regarding Microsoft’s inability to keep a sustained pace of growth since 2000. It alludes to the fact that inept and destructive management techniques adapted by Microsoft are the core reason behind the company facing downfall in various areas it has attempted to enter, such as music, books and social networking among others. After witnessing the considerable fall of Microsoft, Kurt Eichenwald, the author himself interviewed employees of Microsoft to recognize the core reason behind such a scenario in the company. From the feedback, he has identified the problem of Microsoft. The primary problem is the functioning process where the employees had to vote forcefully in order to measure the certain mass of employees’ performance as top, good, average, and poor performers. Furthermore, the team of Microsoft that introduced a new idea of screen touch e-reader model was told by the Microsoft officials not to come up again with this kind of ideas but rather to work on the software development dimension which will bring more profit for the company. This has been a bane for the company in terms of behavior and practice of Microsoft official s, which discourage employees to introduce new innovative ideas further in future. The organizational structure can be defined as the schedule made by the top management for running the operational processes smoothly and systematically in order to achieve the fundamental objectives.