Team Leading

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS – M2. 04 DEVELOPING THE WORK TEAM Learner name Learner registration number UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF TEAMS AND THE FEATURES OF TEAM ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDING THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES 1. How does a team differ from a group? Give 3 examples of the differences. (3 marks) hell 2. Leading the team is an important team role. Briefly describe 2 other roles that members of a team might fill using a recognised model (2 marks) . Describe the 4 stages in team development (4 marks) R6434c v2 13. 01. 11 4. Briefly describe 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages for an organisation of using teams to organise people to produce goods and services. (4 marks) KNOW HOW TO IDENTIFY TRAINING NEEDS OF A GROUP OR TEAM AND HOW THOSE NEEDS MAY BE MET 5. Explain briefly why an organisation might want to carry out a ‘Training Needs Analysis’ of its employees (4 marks) R6434c v2 13. 01. 11 6.State 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage of each of the following ways of training your team: a. Going on a 1 day training course away from the workplace b. Having a trainer come in and train them in the workplace c. You coaching them individually in the workplace (6 marks) Total marks available for unit M2. 04 (23) Marks required to pass 12 + VLA decision Total Marks Total 50%+ overall Outcome (mark as applicable) PASS FAIL Section fail if applicable: Name of VLA: Assessment date: R6434c v2 13. 01. 11

Organizational Behavior-No Fair Pay In This Place Essay

The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivational effects of pay level on worker performance. It is discusses some of the elements that contributed to the employees in Western Satellite office to express feelings of inequality. Some of these elements include academic qualifications, educational background, just to mention but a few. The paper also tackles some of the reasons why the New York worker is considered a ‘comparison other’ as opposed to the worker in Seattle. Moreover, the paper explores how the issue of inequality in the case- no fair pay in this place was either resolved or not. For instance, we find in this case that this issue was not resolved. Last but not least, the paper also examines some of the other factors that may have contributed to the dissatisfaction that was experience by the two workers. Some of these factors include; lack of communication, culture, lack of adaptability, lack of empathy, just to mention but a few. Introduction  The purpose of this paper is to examine the case study that revolves around no fair pay in the workplace and the fact that employees working from different cities receive different numerations irrespective of how much responsibility one has within the organization, their academic qualifications and the years of experience within the industry in which they are operating. (Armstrong, 2006, p. 62) Question One What are some of the elements which contributed to the employees feelings of inequality? These include educational background, years of experience, responsibilities that one has and last but not least academic qualifications. The employees were stressed with the kind of work they had to perform such as having heavy load of unhappy clients and their urgent demands, complaining customers, just to mention but a few. (Meredith, 2004, p. 2) Susan was hired based on her degree in Business Administration. She was responsible in planning, problem solving and supervising a number of employees and this included Dan Donaldson, a public relations spokesperson of the company. However, despite all these responsibilities, she received a remuneration of $30,000 per annum. This was very disappointing since she had 20 years of customer relations and supervisory know-how, not to mention the current degree that she had received in business. (Meredith, 2004, p. 3) On the contrary, Helen who was based at the headquarters in New York received $40,000 in only ten months as opposed to 12. This made Susan furious since she had no customer contact, no university education, no one to supervise and no seniority. In a nutshell, Helen had an annual salary of $48,000. (Meredith, 2004, p. 3) Pay determination may possibly have one or more objectives, which may frequently be in conflict with each other. The primary is equity, and this may take numerous forms. They comprise income distribution through reduction of inequalities, defending real earnings (purchasing power), and the notion of equal pay for work of equivalent value. Moreover, pay differentials based on differences in skills are all associated to the idea of fairness. (Deckop, 2006, p. 65) Performance pay systems in organizations are based on assessment of the personality worker, often by their line administrator who may or may not be experienced in process. Performance pay is extensively renowned as contributing to pay inequalities, predominantly in this case (New York and Seattle). (Culbert, 1996, p. 68) Question Two Why the New York worker was considered a ‘comparison other’ but not the worker in Seattle? The New York worker was considered a ‘comparison other’ because the front lines of the job were in Seattle where the client based was centered and the services were rendered. Moreover, employees at Seattle received heavy load of unhappy clients and their urgent demands while she contentedly remained in her comfort zone that was stress free. Research has recommended that some individuals are more flourishing in their careers than others even when they have had equivalent learning and experimental opportunities. One clarification for these disparities may possibly relate to differences between intellectual intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ). IQ measures academic competencies or one’s aptitude to use acquaintance in making decisions and adapting to innovative situations. This can best be illustrated with Helen who works in at the headquarters in New York. However, as much as she is based in New York, all the tasks are carried out in Seattle, and this means that she is not using the little experience and experimental opportunities that she acquired to perform her duties. (Lamal, 1991, p. 72) On the other hand, EQ is a measure of expressive and societal competencies or one’s aptitude to recognize expressive expressions in someone and others. Even though both can be enhanced through training and altered over time, EQ is separate from IQ in that it is one’s aptitude to standardize emotions in reaction to ecological stimulus. EQ has been popularized as an educated skill that is a superior interpreter of life success than intellectual achievement or technological aptitude. This can best be illustrated with Susan and Dan Donaldson who had superior performance, academic achievements, work experience and interpersonal skills. They had to deal with resolving customers issues on a daily basis while Helen and her fellow workers who were based in New York sat and waited for the final produce that came from Seattle. (Harris, 2001, p. 78) The workplace surroundings idea also sees entity firm level performance such as efficiency, productivity, efficiency and competitiveness; as a result of not only the sufficiency supply of human resources with suitable skills, but also a workplace surroundings that incessantly optimizes the use of these skills throughout the way work is intended and prearranged, the suitability, access and association of supports and tools to do the work, the association of decision making, rewards and appreciation for performance. The New York worker is considered a ‘comparison worker’ as opposed to the worker in Seattle since she lacks interpersonal skills, academic achievements, superior performance, just to mention but a few. Despite all these, she is considered the best just because she is based at the head office located in New York. (Bate, 1994, p. 81) On the other hand, the Seattle worker who has all the necessary qualities such as work experience, interpersonal skills and academic qualifications; is looked down upon just because she is operating in Seattle. (Meredith, 2004, p. 2) Question Three  How was the inequality resolved? The inequality was not resolved at all. As a matter of fact, once Mr. James commented that nobody said that it was fair and rather, that was how the staff in New York are remunerated, that was the end of the discussion. Mr. James did not validate his statement, neither did he explain why that was the case. Instead, he was interested in how Susan found out about Helen’s salary. (Meredith, 2004, p. 3) Participation in the labor force is usually regarded as an important measurement of equality. Having a job is significant to individuals. Jobs are a numerically important starting point for livelihoods. They are also significant proportions of social respect, acknowledgment, individuality and self esteem. Even though the sources and solutions for increasing inequality are multifaceted and open to dispute, the corporeal and psychosomatic penalties are real and straightforward. (Mathis, 2006, p. 99) It is understandable that we require more than legislation, bylaw and exacting programs to generate a diverse workforce usual in association. We also need customs of understanding the challenges. This mean examination of ‘what goes wrong’. Both the need for continuous coercive dealings and the phenomena of the turning door or equity tell us regarding the pervasive and systemic character of the status quo in workforce composition and in the organization and conduct of business and government. (Max, 204, p. 104) When individuals talk concerning inequality, they tend to center completely on the proceeds part of the equation. According to the case- no fair pay in this place, there is the gap between the employees in New York and Seattle and this is based on remuneration amongst the employees. (Armstrong, 2006, p. 8) The verification of increasing disparity in the United States and around the globe is both obvious and disturbing. As power, capital, and probability are increasingly concerted in the hands of the extremely few, this age of â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have not† is connected with a wide range of unenthusiastic outcomes for faraway too countless. A good illustration is seen in the case-no fair pay in this place, where Western Satellite Office workers are experiencing inequality problems based on remuneration since they are not based in New York where the head office is situated. They are the ones who experience customer service problems since each and every customer wants to be served and at the end of the day, they feel so stressed and worn out, yet when it comes to remuneration they receive less than what the worker in New York receive. This is not fair since the worker in New York doesn’t experience the pressure that the Seattle worker receives. (Lamal, 1991, p. 106 Question Four What are the other factors which may have contributed to the dissatisfaction experienced by these two workers? Culture A managerial culture affects how the company performs. Culture is the behavior of a group of individuals. This consists of; the beliefs, civilization, acquaintance and practices. Individuals depend on it for security, evenness and the ability to act in response in a given circumstance. (Harris, 2001, p. 92) According to this case, the reason why Helen and Susan received different remuneration was because Helen was situated at the head office in New York. This was the culture of that organization that was based on the location of the city. Therefore, Susan having been situated at Seattle was bound on her $30,000 per annum, and this was regardless of her qualifications. (Meredith, 2004, p. 3) Lack of Communication Generally, lack of communication on the part of the boss contributes to the displeasure among the workers in the association. Communication problems are a purpose of message and organizational procedure, and managerial factors. Effectual communication of performance requirements to all workers will reduce the number of complaints and grievances. Nonattendance of this communication domino effect in workers not performing. For instance in our case, when Susan was about to present her case, Mr. James had already predicted and he simply brushed the matter off by making a comment concerning the issue. He didn’t give room for discussion concerning that matter; neither did he give an explanation nor a satisfactory solution. This resulted to laxity among the workers in the western satellite office. (Bate, 1994, p. 98) By not communicating well enough, Mr.  James avoided to get into dialogue concerning important issues such as, the reason why employees in New York receiving a higher pay as opposed to employees in Seattle. This made him appear unavailable and uncaring to Susan and the employees of Western Satellite Office; this resulted in hurting teamwork spirit and cooperation within the organization. (Deckop, 2006, p. 110) Lack of Self awareness and accurate self-assessment Without self awareness and self-assessment, Mr. James was too quick to brush off the matter that Susan had presented to him. He was unable to accept useful feedback, and he didn’t have a realistic awareness of his strengths or limitations. As a result, it created problems in their work relationships and in their personal relationships. (Culbert, 1996, p. 115) Lack of Empathy When leaders fail to demonstrate sufficient empathy in times of hesitation or crisis, they will probable be seen as unresponsive, hardhearted and in-authentic- all of which will make workers be less supportive and less communicative. The boss may be left feeling misunderstood, and will have complexity â€Å"reading† their workers. This is exactly what Mr. James did and as a result, Susan’s ability to work drastically diminished and she became less concerned with her duties and responsibilities in the workplace. (Mathis, 2006, p. 120) Lack of Adaptability Without elasticity and adaptableness, Mr. James responded negatively to the core issue that was troubling his employee Susan. This revealed emotional strain to Susan since she had to shift priorities; expressed frustration with change; had difficulties adapting Mr.  James responses and tactics to fit the emerging circumstance; and ultimately she was hesitant in taking on new challenges. (Max, 2004, p. 126) Lack of self-management Without good self management, Mr. James reacted precipitately when he predicted that there was bound to be conflict at work. This made him respond to problems in a non-constructive manner that resulted to unwanted consequences such as laxity amongst the employees (Susan). (Harris, 2001, p. 118) Conclusion  In a civilized workplace, individuals who work well ought to be rewarded through decent pay, endorsement and new opportunities, the possibility to build up new skills, admiration from coworker and management, and the individual gratification and satisfaction that comes from doing a job well. Culture determines the type of management, communication, and cluster dynamics within the association. The employees usually recognize this as the excellence of work life which directs their measure of motivation. The concluding outcome is generally performance, human being satisfaction, individual growth and expansion. All these rudiments unite to build the model or structure that the association operates from. However, all these elements are not revealed in our case since Mr. James chose not to allow room for discussion. He lacked communication skills and empathy and as a result, there was poor turnover in Susan’s output. Generally, in an organization, employers should be open with their employees and allow a forum for discussion and participation. For instance in this case, Mr.  James would have allowed Susan to present her queries and later on try to explain to her why the workers in New York had to receive a better pay than workers in Seattle. Moreover, there should be restructuring of some of the rules in Western Satellite Office and promote job enrichment. This will facilitate enlargement of the individuals within the association, better worker performance for the association, there will be maximum use of human resources for the general public at large (both in New York and Seattle), enlargement of the individual, and self-actualization of the individual.

Why should fracking be banned?

Because liberals are an autoimmune disease that want this country to fail at any possible costs. It shouldn't be, fracking doesn't do anything with the water, studies have proven that, plus â€Å"Green cars† actually leave a bigger biological footprint. It shouldn't. Low information people are scared because they are being lied to. Because coal miners don't like it. Power plant companies are making a transition from coal to natural gas due to fracking, and we're putting less pollution in the air these days. Guarantee you coal miners will be behind funding any â€Å"ban fracking† campaigns.It shouldn't. People believe that it pollutes our water reserves underground. However, they do not understand that we have been fracking for years without much pollution being done to the water and we've only improved upon our methods of fracking, causing less pollution than before. Fracking is cost effective. Banning fracking would only increase costs. The only people who want it bann ed are the Saudis and people who believe their lies. Perhaps they're lying because they don't have any interests if we start more oil production in the U.  S.Anyone who thinks that you can contain high pressure fluid that is DESIGNED to fracture rock†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ with a concrete well casing†¦.. has never taken a physics class in their entire life. Because places like North Dakota and Oklahoma typically don't get 4. 5 magnitude earthquakes! I am NOT a tree hugging liberal, but I've read enough about â€Å"fracking† to know that it makes the ground VERY unstable. Removing anything from the ground in mass quantities, whether it's rock, minerals, or gas, leaves cavities and weakness.This explains the loud â€Å"booms† many experienced in the northern midwest. No major fault lines in Oklahoma, so how else can you explain it. Because it poisons everything around it. If you are truly interested look up LINK TV and watch their programs on fracking. It is absolutely the worst thing that can happen to an area. Under Bush/CHENEY, they passed laws exempting the oil and gas companies doing this from all of the environmental protection laws such as Clean Water and Air laws. Why would they need that if they didn't violate those laws.This is another thing that is being steamrolled through by the extremely wealthy who make money off of fossil fuels. This one though is way scary and dangerous and they are promoting its growth at a rapid rate. They tell us it will produce jobs but how helpful is that if we are too sick to go to work. Look it up on LINK TV. Nationally it should be permitted but subject to local legislation and banned where the local people don't want it. Actually most people would accept it because of the money to be made and they don't mind chemicals and methane in their tap water.

A Comparison of Student Achievement in Literacy for Students of Low Research Paper

A Comparison of Student Achievement in Literacy for Students of Low Socio-Economic Status and their Participation in a Pre-Kindergarten Program - Research Paper Example Regardless of this, it remains an undeniable fact that there are key factors that are triggered by the socio-economic background of students that hinder them from having successful pre-kindergarten education. Some of these factors include the ability of such students to afford or own supplementary learning materials that are supplied by the school. This research work is therefore committed to comparing the achievement of students in literacy for students of low socio-economic status and their participation in pre-kindergarten programs. Research Problem Though the low socio-economic status of parents of children greatly affect the children’s educational achievement, there still remain a sample of these children from low socio-economic background whose cases have not been given critical attention and these are children from low socio-economic background who do not receive pre-kindergarten education at all. This means that there are generally two groups of children from low socio -economic background, who are those who attend pre-kindergarten and those who do not attend. Among these two, there is a great gap in terms of academic achievement especially when they begin mainstream education. This is because those who attend no pre-kindergarten tend to lack a whole year’s curriculum provisions. ... First, there is the research on the spiral nature of the educational curriculum (Seefeldt, 1993). This particular research sought to examine the relation between lessons studied at the pre-kindergarten stage and the lessons studies in mainstream education starting from the kindergarten stage. The research proved that the pre-kindergarten education is actually a direct continuation of the pre-kindergarten education. The only changes are that as a spiral keeps acquiring a larger bottom as it goes up, so do the lessons taught at the kindergarten level become complicated to those studied at the pre-kindergarten stage. What this means is that studies from low socio-economic backgrounds that stay out of pre-kindergarten education would have great difficulty coping with the advanced learning done in mainstream education. Another research is the one on the natural maturity of the human brain. According to this research, factors that affect the natural maturity of the brain include factors th at allows for personal well-being and satisfaction (Webb, 2003). What this means is that as children continue to be deprived of basic social provisions because of their socio-economic background, their natural rate of mental development becomes affected and this hinders successful learning in mainstream education. Deficiencies in the evidence One area of major deficiency in the evidence presented in the literature or research above has to do with the absence of a study that sought to examine whether at the early stages of their lives, children had any psychological effects of their socio-economic backgrounds. This awareness would have made the literature more complete in the sense that it would

Discuss the differences between Hamilton's and Jefferson's views on Essay

Discuss the differences between Hamilton's and Jefferson's views on politics, society and economics. Were there any areas of agreement between the two Which view(s) do you find most compelling Explain - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to underscore the differences between Hamilton and Jefferson’s views on politics, society and economics. Both luminaries contributed immensely towards these subjects. Finseth lays bare the political wrangles that existed between Hamilton and Alexander. The Constitutional Convention of June 18, 1787 expressed Hamilton’s radicalism. Hamilton differed vehemently with the Republicans who did not agree with his ideas of establishing social and political strata. His view is that the noble and rich fellows of society belong to a class of the intelligent. They have both foresight and far-sight and are therefore more qualified to execute the measures put in place to rule the public. The others, Hamilton purports, are petty self-seekers who cannot be entrusted with the running of the state affairs. He proposed to have a president for life, one who could not be subject to the erratic and indecisive electorate. This political philosophy was very distinctive. Hamiltons other success sprung from his plan that the central government clear all the debts that states had sustained during the war. He argued that this war was for the whole union and it was incumbent upon the union to take up responsibility to settle it for its good. This assumption invited a series of criticism threatening to overcome the entire plan. The whole idea was deemed to fail and lead to the disintegration of the union, thanks to an informal dinner arranged by Jefferson. In an alleged and economic conspiracy, Hamilton’s assumption was passed with an agreement to have the Federalists consent to set the national capital on the Potomac. The bill was passed and Hamilton’s plans carried the day. He went in full favor of the plan for he believed that it was the best thing that ever happened to the United States, the best hope for an efficient union. He was not alone in believing that the potential consequences of rejecting the Constitution would breed less

Ideologies in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and Thomas Malthus' Essay Term Paper

Ideologies in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and Thomas Malthus' Essay on Population - Term Paper Example Although the ideologies presented by both the authors tend to focus on the implications of the classical theory, there are certain differences that can be observed in terms of the ideologies presented through these publications related with human nature as well as freedom and morality. Focusing on these aspects, the objective of the discussion henceforth is intended to compare and contrast the views presented by Adam Smith and by Thomas Malthus through their publications respectively. Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and Thomas Malthus’s ‘Essay on Population’ It can be observed that the early classical economists, such as Adam Smith as well as Thomas Malthus stated the fact that business cycles function because of alterations in population in reaction to the availability of the resources, capability of the capitalists to exploit the labor, socio-psychological mass associations, unanticipated business inventories as well as public confidence (Ma lthus, 1798). Ideology for human nature Adam Smith was of the opinion that the number of the labors within an economy is directly proportional to the wealth of the nation. Moving in-depth towards human contribution for economic wealth creation, he further assumed the fact that human beings can be motivated emphasizing on their self-interest treating it to be the most powerful motive in human behavior’ (Coase, 2010). While, on the other hand, it was opined by Malthus that increase in labor would restrain the resources within an economy acclaiming a diverse relation with the aspect of economic wealth creation (Malthus, 1798). However, with regards to the explanation of Malthus, a contradictory view can be obtained with reference to the statement of Adam Smith, where he narrates that capital can be stimulated by frugality and every frugal man is a public benefactor (Smith, 1776). In his words, â€Å"This frugality and good conduct, however, is, upon most occasions, it appears f rom experience, sufficient to compensate, not only the private prodigality and misconduct of individuals but the public extravagance of government† (pp. 280). As per the views of Malthus (1798), the economic condition of the person is likely to worsen with the pace of time majorly because of innovations making difficult to maintain a pace with the needs of the human population. Furthermore, it was observed by the author that the rate of population growth generally can be observed at a geometric rate unlike the growth of food production which can be examined at an arithmetic rate. Thomas Malthus was also of the opinion that capitalism generally leads to a disparity in the distribution of income apparently contradicting that frugality can be of great significance to overall economic growth (University of California Museum of Palaeontology, 2012). However, it needs to be mentioned in this regards that Adam Smith also did not render much significance to the aspect of frugality in human nature explaining a moderate inclusion of the aspect in the economic growth process (Smith, 1776).  

The Work-Family Interface Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Work-Family Interface - Assignment Example My family bill of rights considers the need for flexible working hours and right for pro-rated benefits for reduced working hours in order to ensure equity in compensation after reduction of the working hours (Major & Burke, 2013). Furthermore, I believe my family bill of rights is more comprehensive and better since it grants transport benefits and on-site clinical, counseling and physical exercise facilities in order to reduce job-related stresses. Accordingly, my bill of rights has provided for paid vacations and holiday visits. The rights that I have identified in my Workers’ bill of rights are not universally accessible. Some of the rights that are universally accessible include the right to equal opportunities and safeguards from discrimination due to the various laws such as the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964, the American with disabilities Act and various regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The workers have access to fair disciplinary and dismissal procedures. However, the workers lack access to fair salaries and wages due to the low minimum wage requirement, the high influx of immigrant workers and high unemployment rate in the economy. The workers have no access to adequate health insurance cover and retirement benefit plans since there are stringent regulations of enforcing such rights (Major & Burke, 2013). Private companies cannot provide share-ownership plans due to the nature of their business organization while some companies have instituted measure s of discouraging their employees from joining labor unions. The desire by employees to maximize production has led to excessive working hours especially for the casual workers and such employers have failed to provide overtime pay for work in excess of 40 hours per week due to lack of clear legislation to guide the number of official working hours per week. One of the work-family policies that promotes work-life balance among employees is the

Banned Books Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Banned Books - Essay Example There are also racial slurs throughout the novel. Moreover, the book does not also contain traditional values of friendship and love. There is also foul language and violence in the conversations of the characters (â€Å"Of Mice and Men,† Marshall University). The ban of the book was actually banned as per the request of a parent in Kansas in 2008, but it was banned in Illinois earlier in 1997. The problem with the book is that it has derogatory statements against women, as well as derogatory description of African Americans (Redwin). Nevertheless, another source stated that Of Mice and Men was banned since the 1950s to the 2000s. Other reasons for the banning of the book was because of the promotion of euthanasia, lack of mercy for the retarded and the mentally ill, the anti-business attitude, and the idea that the Great Depression would somehow make mice out of men (â€Å"Of Mice and Men: Steinbeck’s Controversial†). â€Å"Of Mice and Men: Steinbeck’s controversial banned book for 50 years."  Books.  Examiner.com, 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

Organizational theory Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Organizational theory - Coursework Example 45) For the best implementation of change towards this model, first, there should be personal and team education, this would help in the proper understanding of the challenges presented and the possible methods to deal with these challenges, for this to go as required the process must start with a self-assessment test. They should then highlight the concepts and the approaches, and then conduct the training sessions (Moretz, 2012, p. 107) The second step towards moving to this model is educating others, in that those who understand the concepts of this model and have enough knowledge regarding strategies and programs can share this information with other staff members and their colleagues. As the information spreads, even the families come to join the process. This may be through professional and personal stories, organizational leadership staff and even peer mentors The third step for the implementation of the model is the development of infrastructure, this helps in sustaining and creating improvements in many institutions. Infrastructure development may be through staff liaison, integration of patient and family advisors and development of action plans (Moretz, 2012, p.

Government Spending and Price Levels Term Paper

Government Spending and Price Levels - Term Paper Example A part of the consumer’s income is taxed. Let the fixed rate of tax be t. Then the savings can be written as S = (1-t)Y-C+ tY-G. Consumption can be written as C=c(1-t)Y, c is the marginal propensity to consume. Therefore, S=(1-c)(1-t)Y-tY-G. Let us concentrate on the monetary side. The assumption here is that the supply of money (M) is determined by the central bank. The consumer’s decision on their holdings is the sole driving force behind the demand for money. The consumers allocate a part of their wealth as currency and the remaining part in the form of bonds. It is expected that an increase in the interest rate will induce consumers to keep a smaller proportion of their income as currency which, in turn, reduces the demand for money. An expansionary monetary policy will reduce the interest rate and increase output in the short run while an expansionary fiscal policy will do just the opposite (Weins, n.d.). A reduction in marginal propensity to save will increase the rate of interest along with the output. A shock of drop in consumer’s confidence will have its effects on savings, investment, money supply and demand assuming rate of interest and output remains constant. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009, p. 1) The original point A is still equilibrium of the money market. Therefore, the LM curve must include point A. But investment is same as before but savings has increased. So the point A which originally was in the IS curve is now a point where S>I. If there is movement to the right from A, then interest rates and investments are same and savings increases due increase in output. This will make the savings even bigger and so the actual movement should have been to the left of A. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009, p. 1) An increase in money supply will have no effect on savings and investment or demand for money. Therefore, savings and investment will remain the same and so IS curve must include point A. Keynesian model of cross planned expenditure The cross planned expenditure is given by Ep. Ep= C+I+G. Investment Demand Schedule (Cooke, 2010, p. 10) Ip is planned investment. Ep=E(Y,r,G,T)=C(Y-T)+Ip(r)+G Keynesian Cross (Cooke, 2010, p. 12) Government Spending (Cooke, 2010, p. 13) Phillips Curve The relationship between inflation and unemployment is represented through Phillip’s curve. There is a relation between the prices charged by the company and the wages. (Hoover, n.d.) Suppose the government plans for an expansionary fiscal and monetary policy in order to bring the unemployment below the natural rate. This results in increase in demand conditions. The firms are encouraged to raise the prices. The rate of increase in prices is faster than that anticipated by the workers. Workers in this situation are likely to suffer from money illusion. They witness a rise in the wage rate and thereby supplies more labor. This results in fall unemployment rate (Liaudes, 2005, p. 31). Imperfect Information The real economy is significantly affected by monetary policy in the short run. The non-neutral effects of monetary policy rise because of temporary nominal price rigidities. The short term interest rate is taken as the instrument of monetary policy. The Central Bank should adjust the nominal rate so that it cannot offset the movement in expected inflation. The nature of the disturbances has a role to play in this part. The Central Bank may not

Oedipus Rex Essay Example for Free

Oedipus Rex Essay â€Å"Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can.† (lines 1068-1072) The themes of fate and light and darkness are prominent in Oedipus Rex, a play written in ancient Greece by the famous poet Sophocles. Oedipus was a powerful Greek king and was notable for his compassion, sense of justice and his swiftness of thought and action. Unfortunately for him, his life fell ill when the prophecy of his birth came true. Throughout the play, the audience experiences a series of emotions. They experience pity, fear, and anger. At the end of the play, the audience may or may not experience a katharsis, a cleansing or purgation of emotions. The dispute between whether Oedipus should be viewed as a victim or merely a part of the gods manifesting their power and thereby teaching man a lesson is a common argument still in literature today. As many members of an audience believe, Oedipus can appear as having been victimized by the prophecy stricken upon him at birth. Oedipus, being born into such a horrible predicament, had no choice but to live his life as he did always afraid of the horrible outcome of his fate. His parents Laius and Jocasta chose to selfishly bind there son’s feet together and abandon him as a way of making sure they would never see him again and never be vulnerable to the day that Oedipus’ prophecy would come true. Therefore, the emotion of pity arises in the audience and Oedipus is viewed as a victim of a very tragic fate. However, it is important to consider whether he inflicted more agony into his life by trying to fight against his fate. Were the gods punishing Oedipus and ultimately all of mankind because of his retaliation? If so, not only was Oedipus punished, but also his parents were for interfering with the gods’ plans. Oedipus suffered the consequence of losing his sight and his mother committed suicide because of her shame and embarrassment. Today, some view the idea of fate as something planned by a greater being and for human beings, out of our control. For Oedipus and his parents, they thought that they could change their fate but as an outcome and consequence for disrespecting the gods, there was no way to escape it. As Oedipus eagerly attempted to uncover the truth about his fate, acting decisively and deliberately refusing to shield himself from the truth. Although we see Oedipus as a playing-piece of fate, the irony becomes so magnified that it seems as if Oedipus was willingly bringing catastrophe upon himself. In one of Oedipus’ speeches, he declares that when he discovers the truth he will excommunicate the murderer from Thebes and punish him severely. Ironically, Oedipus is the murderer himself that he spoke so viciously about and he leaves Thebes and blinds himself after he finds that Jocasta has hanged herself. Despite the many character flaws that Oedipus withholds, such as quickness to anger, stubbornness, ignorance and arrogance, rather than viewing his fate as a natural result of the virtues and vices of his character, Oedipus teaches mankind a lesson in humility. Like many tragedies, Oedipus Rex teaches a lesson of morality to the audience. It teaches the audience that it is better to be humble and that even if you are a good leader, it does not necessarily mean that you are a good person. Oedipus Rex also teaches that no matter your past or what you do to change your fate, it will always catch up to you somehow. â€Å"People of Thebes, my countrymen, look on Oedipus. He solved the famous riddle with his brilliance, he rose to power, a man beyond all power. Who could behold his greatness without envy? Now what a black sea of terror has overwhelmed him. Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.† (lines 1678-1684) These words, spoken by the chorus, form the ending of Oedipus Rex. The chorus announces that even though Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx, he was never happy with his life and his fate and he caused his own fall. Rather than a victim to his fate, he was the antagonist to his fate.

Employment and Delegation Essay Example for Free

Employment and Delegation Essay In the scenario given there were five behaviors of delegation used. They were: clarifying the assignment, specifying the employees range of discretion, allow the employees to participate, inform others that delegation has occurred, and establish proper feedback channels. In this paper, each behavior will be discussed as used in the scenario, and will give specific detail of how we as managers would have handled the delegation. Clarity of the assignment, is providing clear expectations of an assignment with details, deadlines, an audience, and the importance of the assignment being done on time. This is the first step in the delegation process of the project. If we ask someone to complete one of our assignments, we would want to be sure that the assignment is done the way we would have completed it. Theres a reason why we asked that particular person. If it was something anyone could do you can ask for volunteers. Informing others that delegation has occurred is essential behavior in the delegation process. Obviously Ricky has other employees that he manages. So it is important to inform those employees about the delegation as well. He chose Bill because of his three year experience in the contracts group. However, there isnt any mention of addressing Rickys other employees. Since he assigned Bill to this project what about Bills daily duties? Is Ricky going to provide Bill with help in regards to his daily work, or will he be required to complete both the project and his work? Thats what we do not know, but they were having a meeting in the morning to discuss the assignment. These are issues Ricky has to figure out now, along with informing his staff, because if Ricky did not inform his other employees, they may perceive it as favoritism and think he is trying to hide it from everyone. Ricky should also inform Bill of the reasons he chose him at their meeting in the morning, and also let him know he will be communicating the project to the rest of the team so they are aware Bill will be working on the assignment for the given time frame. Normally in those situations you look to the person who may be capable of doing the job based on previous experience. It is important to share the wealth when it comes to delegating task to the staff. I would assume that Bill is one of the go-to guys that can and is able to complete task with assigned deadlines. However, the behavior skills that stick out to me the most are clarify the assignment, inform others that the delegation has occurred, and establish feedback channel. It is important that Ricky clarifies with Anne what the guidelines for the new manual are so that he can clearly communicate them Bill. Setting up one-on-one sessions or a team meeting will be useful to inform all team members of the decision. Lastly, Ricky should set up periodic reviews with Bill to check on his progress and also see if any assistance is needed. agree that some of the delegation skills where used in this scenario, but not all were used fully. I like the point made earlier in the discussion that Ricky probably manages more then one employee, In the scenario I think Anne did a poor job for a few reasons. 1) Ricky already was working on a major project, and as his boss she should have been aware of that before she asked him to do it. She may have been, but this is what we dont know. 2) Anne asked Ricky to do the assignment. Obviously there was a reason why she asked him, so when he requested Bill to replace him why did she allow it? If I delegate an assignment to my employee I want the person to do what I asked. I feel that clarifying the assignment, specifying the employees range of discretion, allow the employee to participate were the delegation skills used the most in the scenario, while establishing feedback channels and inform others that delegation has occured wasnt as much if any. I remember an old saying form a manager I had who would say, inspect what you expect! We are tasked to ensure what we empower our workforce to accomplish is completed the way we expect it to be done. However, if we do not adequately communicate our expectations to the employee, than how will we be able to hold them reliable for the job. Now, am I saying we should micro-manage? Never! And im sure no body wants to spend time micro-managing. What we do want to ensure though is task completion and work from a decentralized form of management so the employee doesnt get frustrated in their job. Bottom line, we empower people everyday, the question is how much do we trust them? Allow the employee to participate. We have that found the employees participation is the best means to empower them not only in their job, but it gives them personal satisfaction. Now, this can be somewhat dangerous because you never want to give them an unchecked decision machine. As the section mention, you allow the employee to participate in that decision and then a set limit of authority is transferred to them for the project. We know, from experience that you must maintain that channel of communication with the employee so to keep them on the right direction. This will be training opportunities for managers with the employee in how to better make decisions without being biased. I know it can be challenging at times and personal matters may strive to cloud our decision process, but over time the employee will learn how to set aside personal reasoning.

Negative Effects Of Modern Day Testing | Education

Negative Effects Of Modern Day Testing | Education Using standardized tests to evaluate students and teachers has been an extreme mistake of the educational system. The seemingly flawless idea that high test scores show effective teaching and competent students has failed to be accurate. According to Alfie Kohn in The Case Against Standardized Testing standardized tests cant measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. Students memorize more than they learn and retain and do not learn the same and even teachers have been caught cheating to keep their jobs. Many benefactors even use standardized tests to take advantage of the education system. Standardized tests have undermined education and the success of many students. While the majority of modern peoples and teachers have accepted standardized tests to be the best method for evaluating students mental ability, the reali ty is that they fail to exemplify the true ability of individual students and teachers while also impacting them negatively. Standardized tests distributed by the state are known as high stakes tests. They are called so because schools with high outcomes can get praise and financial rewards while schools with low outcomes are declared unsatisfactory and may receive sanctions. Furthermore, students with low scores may be held back in a certain grade. These are a few of the many stakes on the line with standardized tests. It has only been recently that schools have replaced use of standardized tests for academic placement and for determining student needs, with judging students intelligence and holding them back from diplomas (Kohn). Effects Against Students To most, this idea seems fine, but there are many problems with it. Gregory J. Merchant states that the National Association of School Psychologists believes holding students back is bad policy with devastating effects (3). Many cities have failed students for underachieving in standardized tests. In Baltimore, 20,000 students were held back. For the student, being picked out as the dumb one could damage them psychologically. Individual students could get left behind by the peers and friends they value most in their own grade level. Not only will this effect individuals, but large masses of students get held back leading to anxiety about standardized tests. Students in same level grades might be at different levels of their cognitive development, but due to grade levels use of age instead of intelligence level, many of those students are stuck taking tests created for the upper hand of the class and leaving them the consequences of biological factors. . While it is good to have stude nts be at their own intelligence level with peers, it would be better to change age level based grades. An increase of failure and retention from grade level to grade level could also lead to an increase of dropout rates due to pressure. In Boston, the dropout rate was increased by 300 percent which was directly attributed to standardized tests (Merchant 3). It has also been examined that tests created for educational purposes were biased on minority comprehension (Myers 334). In other words minorities generally do worse on these tests than many of the dominant white majority. This also causes many of those minorities, to feel unsatisfactory and overall dumber. Being Hispanic in high school and observing many of my friends, siblings, and relatives who have dropped out, there have been many occasions in which Hispanics believe they could not further their education. My peers also had the mindset that they were to dropout or just enter the workforce immediately after high school. These stakes not only make students further fear tests but make them wonder, as they drift through school, I this going to be on the test? Anxiety, fear, and anger towards standardized tests are overflowing students minds. Attitudes towards test not only manifest themselves in students through cheating and loafing but also inhibit success on tests by plummeting students with anxiety. (Merchant 4). Ten million students in elementary and secondary schools performed below ability on tests because of anxiety (Merchant 4). Merchant explains a possible increase due to the increased emphasis and importance of testing (4). Tests have shown to cause a lot of physical and psychological problems for students. Truancy and stress all make the education system negatively impact students, especially the young ones. The extent that modern schools make students strive for excellence beyond the busy work of the classroom is pitiful. The most any student needs to know is an equation and numbers to plug in, but there is no actual knowledge of the actual equation used. Now, all that matter is what is going to be on the test. What does mx + b mean when all you do is plug in numbers accordingly. In my experience with school I have never truly needed to know and understand material fully to achieve a good grade even though I have strived to do so. Furthermore I have only had to think critically in a handful of situations. There has been A statistical association between high scores on standardized tests and relatively shallow thinking (Kohn). Although many creative thinkers also score well on tests and many shallow thinkers sometimes score high, the bases that someone can do well on a test by merely copying down answers, guessing a lot, and skipping the hard parts creates an extreme gap in accurate meas urements of students knowledge (Kohn). Many students understand little of the subject or methods being used. While individually effective teachers do help, it is still incredibly difficult to achieve proper measurements in a contemporary day classroom focusing on state tests and other agendas. Tests are now used as a measuring stick for students and teachers achievement but the scores do not properly reflect the quality of academia. To begin with, tests are a comparison of one person relative to the rest of the population of students. This in turn makes it incredibly difficult to set up a test according to the knowledge that should be established at each level. One reason for that being that not everyone at the same age is at the same level. Potential is not measured by where someone is but where they can go. Another negative effect of this idea is that if a state with 140,000 students rose the standard cutoff score for a certain grade to be five more percentiles, 7,000 students would not pass to the next level or be considered average (Merchant 2). For these reasons, students also do not learn what they should learn or gain actual intelligence. Gregory states that basic items that students should master do not show up on tests, and due to limits of time, any certain questions striving to measure knowledge may be too few to have reliable measurements of specific skill (Merchant 3). Gregory even goes on to say that a few good guesses or skipped answers may determine the skill level of students. Standardized tests then show their limitations in assessing real student growth (3). Effects on Teachers For the eighteen years I have been in school striving toward academic achievement and scoring big numbers on standardized tests, the focus has been cognitive development, understanding through thought. Although this is not bad, the ways schools have gone about it is terribly wrong. School, through my experience, has consisted of countless hours of sitting in a room looking up at what teachers were saying. This method, while working for some students, has failed to truly challenge students mentally as well as not significantly teach others. One of the main reasons for these, frankly, boring classes is standardized tests. These functions will ultimately hurt the students. Do teachers try to teach a well-rounded student or a good test taker? Effects of standardized tests are easily found in the classroom. It is also thought that good scores reflect the teachers effectiveness. Waiting time on preparing for tests rather than learning other material is a serious factor. Teachers worried about bad tests scores spend an incredible amount of time teaching students how to take tests instead of teaching learning skills and knowledge (Merchant 4). Teachers begin to focus on materials students need on the tests. The curriculum then starts to be narrowed down. Gregory states that teachers even stop focusing on creative learning, such as projects, to reinstate lecture methods (4). The bad part of this is bad teachers focused on tests could get passed off as good teachers when in fact they are not. Schools cut out music, art, and social studies to focus on reading and math for tests and teach them accordingly to do well on tests, which in turn cuts a major opportun ity of learning for students. Even the ACT science test focusses on students ability to read rather than knowledge of science. These methods do not just hurt students by neglecting countless areas of study but also by subjecting them as equal learners. The theory of Multiple Intelligence tells us that different people think and understand differently. Howard Gardner a well-known psychologist expresses intelligence in eight different packages, one being bodily-kinesthetic which requires movement unlike that of a classroom. Another psychologist, Robert Sternberg, proposed three intelligences. Sternberg called one of these intelligences analytical intelligence which expresses what would be known as intelligence geared for modern school classroom (Myers 330 333). One of the possibly worst outcomes of this new found method is the cheating by teachers throughout the states. Because many states now use tests to measure teachers too, teachers begin to cheat to keep their jobs as well as get better funding. While this idea is not very prevalent there have been a few cases amongst cheating teachers. After asking teachers in two school districts how prevalent they felt cheating on standardized tests was, they responded with multiple cases of belief of cheating as well as witnessing cheating. (Brian 2-3). Jacob Brian in Rotten Apples also goes on to reveal cheating cases in four separate states (2) It is also seen that teachers and many people have found methods for taking tests. In effect, teachers begin to teach these methods in place of critical thinking and real knowledge. Pointing to the conclusion that students, again, do not learn important subjects but methods they might not even understand. Another problem with the teacher side of standardized testing is the parallels needed to be held with state curriculums. One teacher using the methods for student success on tests might look more successful than the ones who teach effectively but not geared for tests. A Possible Politics Angle Politics has also affected the use of standardized tests in the class room. Not for the good cause of not leaving a child behind, but to manipulate schools accordingly. Recently, tests have been overthrowing the education seen but only in the United States. Few countries today give these formal examinations to students before the age of sixteen or so, (Kohn). For the most part the intent of standardized enthusiasts is to raise school standards. There might be some other unseen agenda too though. Some ideas as proposed by Alfie Kohn state that some people intend to use standardized tests to form negative perceptions of public schools in hopes of privatizing education. While schools are still dominated by standardized tests the outcome is looking bright. Hundreds of schools have begun to drop tests like the ACT and SAT from their admissions forms (Kohn). It is seen that standardized tests bring forth more negative effects than they do good. Albeit proponents of standardized tests express concern for incentives to learn, and inhibiting unqualified students from bringing down their peers, using standardized tests produce false measurements and negative effects. .

Essay examples --

The establishments of institutional banking in Saudi Arabia date back to the First World War in 1885 when Gellatly Hankey merchants in Jeddah. Then in the late 1920’s some central bank functions were exercised by an official General Finance Agency such as the issuing of coins, the collecting and channeling of public revenue, and the management of the public debt. After that in 1932 a finance ministry was founded which exercised the roles of the General Finance Agency. Lastly The Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) was founded in August 1952 by two royal decrees. SAMA is the central bank of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that was established in 23/5/1377H. The objective of this establishment was to be the central bank for the government, control banks and money changer, and to support the Saudi Riyal. SAMA set the regulations of banks in Saudi Arabia. In 6/7/1379H, 31-12-1959 the Saudi Riyal was established as the official currency of Saudi Arabia. In 22/2/1386H by a Royal Decree the Banking Control Law has issued SAMA to issue â€Å"Pre-payment Services Rules in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia†. The...

Searching For Meaning in Apocalypse Now Essay examples -- Movie Film c

Searching For Meaning in Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now takes the audience into a tense and mystical journey through the Vietnam War. This long and agonizing journey is seen through the eyes of Captain Willard played by Martin Sheen. Sheen. Captain Willard is assigned to a mission that relies on him to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, who is played by Marlon Brando. Although Apocalypse Now is an examination of the many terrors of society that are connected to the Vietnam War, Coppola plays much of his film off Joseph Conrad's novel The Heart of Darkness. Conrad's story focuses on Captain Marlow who is parallel to Willard and the Colonel Kurtz possesses many of the same characteristics in both works. In both works, the Captain is to find the Colonel, but Coppola makes a very significant change in his film. This significant change is the transition of Captain Marlow assigned to find Colonel Kurtz in the Congo, to Captain Willard assigned to assassinate Colonel Kurtz in Cambodia. The fact that Willard has now become an assassin of Kurtz is very important in Coppola's over all point. It especially is important for the last ten minutes of the movie when Willard actually kills Kurtz. The final scenes of the film consist of Kurtz' reading of the poem "The Hollow Men" and the interplay of Willard killing Kurtz while the Cambodian Natives kill a water buffalo in a ritualistic setting. These changes and departures of the ending of Heart of Darkness are made so Coppola can make his point about the Vietnam War and society. The point being that the Vietnam War was completely meaningless and a lost cause among several others. However, as will be shown, these points come in conflict with eachother and are difficult to ... ... of the movie is. Apocalypse Now is definitely a movie fit for an audience who wishes to be stimulated with thought overload. The movie is filled with all kinds of metaphors to the Vietnam War and parallels to Heart of Darkness. Coppola makes alterations to Heart of Darkness to achieve his own personal point that is very different from Conrad's, but his point is still not completely clear. Coppola's opposition to the war is obvious but he throws in a lot of other elements to try to add even more onto that. Coppola uses Kurtz to examine the importance of not judging, "The Hollowness of Men", and the Christlike figure of Kurtz himself. All of these are great ideas, but the ideas are just scattered throughout the movie and show no cohesiveness. However, one can still appreciate Coppola's thought-provoking ideas without completely understanding what they all mean.

A Comparison of Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman and and Torvald Helmer of A Dolls House :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Characters of Willy Loman from Death of A Salesman and Torvald Helmer of A Doll's House In the stories "Death of A Salesman," and "A Doll's House," there are many similarities. I went on to pick one character from each story whom's similarity interested me the most. The characters I picked were Willy Loman from "Death of A Salesman," and Torvald Helmer of "A Doll's House." I picked these characters because of their motivation to make it to become successful. Willy Loman, a sixty-year-old traveling salesman, is having trouble lately because he can't seem to keep his mind on the present. He keeps drifting back and forth between reality and memory, looking for exactly where his life went wrong. Having been demoted to a strictly commissions salesman, as he was in the beginning of his career, Willy begins to wonder what missed opportunity or wrong turn led his life to this dismal existence. Torvald Helmer is businessman who has recently been promoted to the position of Manager of the Savings Bank. A scrupulous man, Torvald lives his life according to society's norms both professionally and personally who feels reputation plays a big part in his success. Both stories are about a climb for success that leads to betrayal. The story "Death of A Salesman," comes with the symbolic meaning of the death of an "American Dream," or the ridding of illusion as it applies to the American Dream. The story "A Doll's House" the title reflects the main character's life and how she was treated like treasure such as a doll. Both Willy and Torvald lives are similar to the fact that they are both trying to provide for their families, but in the end they discover a great loss. Willy Loman a salesman and a firm believer in the "American Dream," had the notion that any man can rise from humble beginnings to greatness. Willy Loman motivation to become successful was he felt that he believes success comes from being well liked not worrying about qualifications and being popular you well always come out on top. Willy is a Multifaceted character who portrayed a deep problem with sociological and psychological causes and done so with disturbing reality.

Maxine Hong Kingston: `No Name Woman`

In the story ‘No Name Woman’, Maxine Hong Kingston describes unique experience of women in China and social relations existing in the Chinese society. The continued existence of the â€Å"traditional† Chinese family pattern or some reasonable compromise thereof is often explained as necessary to the Chinese way of life, when, in fact, the way of life referred to has ceased to exist. This sometimes leads an author to ignore the fact that the family referred to may be a survival of an institution past its time as a functional prerequisite of the system in which it occurs rather than a prerequisite of the general system currently extant. The story vividly portrays social life of Chinese village people, oppression and male dominance affecting family relations and destinies of women. The main questions are: What is the role of a family unit and an individual in Chinese society? What is the impact of social status and position of women on family structure and sexual relations?, What is the role of economic relations in Chinese village and their impact on a family unit? The story can be interpreted as a historical discourse which unveils family structure and family relations excising in the society. From the story, readers know that in each kinship structure there are certain generalized structural requirements which must be satisfied if the structure is to continue its existence. Maxine Hong Kingston depicts that it is essential that some distinctions on a sexual basis be brought out in every kinship structure, but the same is also true for the society as a whole. Kingston describes: All the village were kinsmen, and the titles shouted in loud country voices never let kinship be forgotten. Any man within visiting distance would have been neutralized as a lover-â€Å"brother †¦ .. younger brother,† â€Å"older brother†Ã¢â‚¬â€œone hundred and fifteen relationship titles (Kingston n.d.). The role differentiation of women relative to men in the kinship structure can never vary independently of that for women in the society at large. The question of education in terms of family structure is an extremely broad and complex subject addressed by Kingston. Three factors are always of great importance in such educational structures. In general, these are: (1) the content of the education, (2) the methods by which it is taught, and (3) the person or persons who carry out the teaching. There is a tendency to devote a larger proportion of one's concern to what is taught than to the other two categories (Stockman 27). Kingston describes that the methods used, the systems of rewards and punishments by which the learning process is bolstered, and the roles of the primary teachers are of equal importance. The above remarks apply to family education in general and that of children raised from birth within the family in particular. Some special mention must also be made of the education of members brought into the family from outside at a more mature age. There are two major types of such individuals–those brought in by adoption and those brought in by marriage. The former may be brought in while quite young, and the earlier the age at which the adoption is made the more closely do the educational features of the case resemble those of the raising of other children (Shu 199). To the degree that the adopted person is mature, and always in the case of marriage, there is the problem of introducing the new member to the specific family personalities and the particular family situation in which the new member will in future act. Kingston tells readers that: When the family found a young man in the next village to be her husband, she had stood tractably beside the best rooster, his proxy, and promised before they met that she would be his forever. She was lucky that he was her age and she would be the first wife, an advantage secure now (Kingston, n.d.). There is in all family systems a specifically institutionalized method of integration of new members, though the rigidity of the system and the sphere of action covered by it may vary enormously. In these respects, the introduction of new members via marriage is far more important than any other mode of their introduction. â€Å"Maxine’s aunt, face blame for exposing their communities to the threat of death or actual death in relation to outside forces† (Griffiths 353). The other major mode, adoption, never occupies so strategic a role numerically, since in every family there must be at least one such introduction by marriage, whereas adoption is not necessarily so ubiquitous in family systems. Role differentiation in family structure is depicted as the distribution of persons among the various positions and activities distinguished in the kinship structure and hence the differential arrangement of the members of the structure. This immediately raises the question of the terms on which differential arrangement is made. â€Å"Brothers and sisters, newly men and women, had to efface their sexual color and present plain miens. Disturbing hair and eyes, a smile like no other, threatened the ideal of five generations living under one roof† (Kingston, n.d.). Kingston depicts that the members of society must always recognize some structure of role differentiation and orient their action to it. Therefore, although the primary basis of a given role differentiation might be, for example, political, the phenomena involved cannot be understood solely in terms of the political variable. Whatever the basis of the differential arrangement of members in a society or group, the action of members of the group and of outsiders in their relations with this group must in part be specifically oriented to this inescapable arrangement. Thus differentiation may be to a marked degree interdependent with one or more of the other four structures to be discussed here, but it is never a dependent variable of one or of any combination of them. Before going further into this aspect of role differentiation, however, a word or so more needs be said on the functional background of the phenomenon (Lee 17). First, there is the distribution of individuals among the total number of positions of whatever sort in the structure under consideration. This must be done regardless of how numerous or varied either the positions or the individuals may be (Shapiro 5). The number and variety of both categories will, of course, have substantial effect upon the concrete result, but the status of the requirement as a requirement is not affected by these considerations. The line drawn between the sexes in these respects is sharp and is one of the main factors in the consideration of the family problems. There are, of course, other possibilities of variation along these lines. One other interesting aspect of role differentiation on a basis of sex distinction is that it is so frequently a focus for stress in changing social systems. This usually puts considerable pressure on those patterns which institutionalize a sex differential regardless of objective criteria. â€Å"My aunt could not have been the lone romantic who gave up everything for sex. Women in the old China did not choose† (Kingston, n.d.). This is apt to be peculiarly true when the changes being made are in the direction of industrialization. The institutional basis of industrialized societies must lay peculiar stress on the differentiation of individuals on a universalistic basis. Economic allocation in kinship structure has been defined above as the distribution of the goods and services making up the income of the units of the structure and of the goods and efforts making up the output of the units of the structure among the various members of the units. Economic activities and interrelations, insofar as their sphere is confined to kinship orientations, are best studied for present purposes as they operate within the family. There are, of course, all sorts of economic relations defined in the relational approach to kinship, but, changing as this does with every change of ego, description of the relations is confined to descriptions of ego's relations with other specific relatives, and any systematic operations of kinship groups fall from the picture (Stockman 67). To survive physically, the members of these groups must obtain and distribute these requirements. â€Å"In the village structure, spirits shimmered among the live creatures, balanced and held in equilibrium by time and land† (Kingston, n.d.). The story portrays that the members of the familial and family groups must have food, shelter, clothing, and similar necessities if they are to survive physically. â€Å"In patriarchal culture, these stories function within what Sandra Lee Bartky has called a â€Å"pedagogy of shame† that instructs young girls to learn about the inherent danger and corruption of their bodies† (Griffiths 353). These requirements are not in the nature of free goods as that concept is defined by the economists, and even if they were, the problem of distribution would still arise in the social context to offset the effect of jealousies which might well arise no matter how homogeneous the articles concerned might be intrinsically, and so forth. The link between the family groups and the larger economic aspects of the society as a whole has an additional importance since the status of the entire family in industrialized societies tends to be largely dependent upon the occupational role of the member or members upon whom the group depends for the bulk of its support. The second question of the directness of the contribution to the family needs has as its limiting case the self-sufficient agricultural family. Here the family might produce all it consumed without reference to exchange for any purpose with individuals or groups outside the family. The situation of the modern industrial worker's family is at great variance with this since the overwhelming bulk of the income in this case is in the form of money power–earned for work having no necessary connection with the goods and services for which they are spent (Stockman 76). Critics admit that: â€Å"Kingstone’s style of appropriation reveals the boundaries that define the older narrative as fortresses, and the ways these intellectual fortresses mirror other, fortress-like ideological formations† (Shapiro 5). Kingston describes that this residual core of family duties which are performed directly is important because the duties are so often integrally connected with the substructure of role differentiation in general and that of sex roles in particular. The story shows that villagers depend upon the voluntary submission of the family members due to the inculcation of the value system of the society of which they are a part. â€Å"The villagers punished her for acting as if she could have a private life, secret and apart from them† (Kingstone n.d.). There have been cases of sons who have even stood unrestrained and permitted themselves to be beaten nearly to death by their fathers for faults committed. Such extremes are unusual, but they indicate the lengths to which these matters carry. Other factors in the implementation of power and responsibility are the interrelations with other family substructures which bolster their exercise. â€Å"But Maxine has increasing trouble applying this framework to the complexities of her family's story and to the complexities of American and Chinese societies† (Lee 17). It has already been pointed out above that the patterns of economic allocation, role differentiation, and solidarity are intensely important in these respects. This must not be taken to indicate any particular general causal priority of one of these elements over the others. In sum, family structure depends upon and determines economic and social relations dominated in the society. The story â€Å"No Name Women† is a good historical source which helps to understand the role of family in economic relations and social values. Responsibility here means the accountability to other individuals or groups of an individual or individuals for his or their own acts or the acts of others. Social values and strong family relations portray that social action within certain limits is always an extreme, and in a sense it is the symbol of social frustration. Nevertheless, if the family is to function as a unit, it must be possible to see to it that certain requirements are met, by force if necessary, and it must be possible to take a definite person or persons to account if they fail to meet the family values. Works Cited Griffiths, J. Uncanny Spaces: Trauma, Cultural Memory, and the Female Body in Gayl Jones's Corregidora and Maxine Hong Kingston's the Woman Warrior. Studies in the Novel 38 (2006): 353. Kingston, Maxine Hong. No Name Woman. N.d.   2007. Lee, K.H. The Poetics of Liminality and Misidentification: Winnifred Eaton's Me and Maxine Hong Kingston's the Woman Warrior. Studies in the Literary Imagination 37 (2004): 17. Shapiro, E.H. Authentic Watermelon: Maxine Hong Kingston's American Novel. MELUS 26 (2001): 5. Shu, Y. Cultural Politics and Chinese-American Female Subjectivity: Rethinking Kingston's Woman Warrior. MELUS 26 (2001): 199. Stockman, N. Understanding Chinese Society. Polity Press, 2000.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company Essay

Fun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo was a family amusement park located in Angola, Indiana, USA. Although it was small in comparison to parks in neighboring states, such as Cedar Point and Michigan’s Adventure, it remained one of the most popular parks in the region. It also once boasted the only operating roller coaster (Afterburner) with an inversion in the state of Indiana Fun Spot boasts that it is one of only a few amusement centers in the nation that offers multi-level cement go-cart tracks – four separate tracks. In addition to go-carts, there are bumper cars, bumper boats, a number of other thrill rides and the children’s section known as Kid Spot. The Kid Spot section includes a small carrousel; the Frog Hopper, a ride that drops its riders in small increments and then bounces back up; a kiddie’s swing; a kiddies train and other rides. Fun-Spot Fun Park began as a small amusement park in 1985, with nothing more than a merry-go-round, a slide, pony rides, and an ice cream stand, Fun-Spot grew into a popular family attraction with 20 rides, a restaurant, and an outdoor performing arts theater. â€Å"My wife, Gail, and I didn’t know what we were getting into,† commented Ron Hart, the owner. â€Å"We just knew that weekenders coming to the lakes in our rural area represented an untapped market. † Today, thousands of visitors flock to Fun-Spot—families, children of all ages, even senior citizens who enjoy strolling through the gardens and arbor At Fun Spot, elementary school age children, teenagers and parents, will find plenty of fun and thrills at this mini-amusement park that packs a lot of excitement into a very small area.. â€Å"There’s something here for everyone,† Gail Hart says. â€Å"Dozens of companies hold annual company picnics here. We have welcomed class field trips. And we even had one wedding here at the park! † â€Å"Here’s the funny thing,† Ron chime in. â€Å"We really don’t know why we’ve been so successful! There is nothing else like Fun-Spot Fun Park in the area. We were just lucky. † â€Å"I think it’s the ambience of the park,† Gail added, â€Å"that has brought so many visitors. We provide a ‘total package’ of entertainment. Plus, we try to change our rides and various attractions from time to time. † Ron and Gail Hart admitted that making every visitor happy is a priority. â€Å"That has always been our philosophy,† they said. â€Å"And we’ve always been able to deliver on that because we’ve never allowed ourselves to grow too big too quickly. †

Evolution of Health Care Policy Essay

This chapter discusses the political and economic aspects that have taken both Canada and the US in different paths which is ultimately shaped by the organization and delivery of care with its recent restructuring efforts. The US health care system is a system of private health insurance where most of the population gets benefits through employment or other benefit plans such as those for veterans. There is public health insurance for those on social security called Medicare and those that require social assistance called Medicaid. But, 45 million people are still uninsured and millions are underinsured. Unlike the US, Canada has a universal system of public health insurance where contracts with private non-profit health care institutions such as hospitals and health practitioners deliver care. The national health insurance represents a sense of clarity between â€Å"free market† liberalism and the â€Å"planned economy† socialism. Public financing is considered the optimal form of health care financing due to the fact that insurance is affordable to all citizens no matter how ill, effective cost control over health care services, and there’s universal coverage. With such a system, those that are healthy that do not need many treatments support those that require health care service which ultimately offer good cost control and good equity. Canada and the US have different perspectives in access to their pharmaceuticals. Canada has a public health insurance where people over the age of 65 and those on social assistance are covered. Unlike Quebec that has a drug benefit program for everyone, Ontario has created programs to those that have a large amount of drug costs and the rest of the population has access through private insurance through employment. This causes issues with those that are in low paying or have part-time jobs. Pharmaceuticals here in Canada are regulated by the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board unlike in the US. However, access to medicines for the treatment of cancer is getting more and more expensive and only few that are covered. This material is consistent with what I believed prior to this course with some new knowledge attained. It’s great to look at our health care in depth. As of right now since I just started back at York University this summer, I did not have any health benefits for quite some times so I avoid going to the doctor’s and getting medication because as a student I cannot afford it. If people like myself have better access to coverage, a number of health issues could be avoided. I appreciate what Obama administration is implementing so that the uninsured have access to health care as well.

Fast Food Nation Paper Essay

Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation is about the fast food industry and all its negative aspects and influences. Schlosser introduces Fast Food Nation with a description of the California orange groves of the past and the fast food influenced urbanization that has replaced the groves. Schlosser concludes through a bold statement, â€Å"The low price of a fast food hamburger does not reflect its real cost ? and should. The profits of the fast food chains have been made possible by losses imposed on the rest of society. † Eric Schlosser is incorrect in his assumption that the price of a hamburger does not reflect its true cost. Its price represents America’s gain from the blessing of fast food. The fast food revolution has aided in the creation of many new technologies. Research sparked by pressure placed on the cattle industry has resulted in new methods of cattle raising. It has been found that grain fed cattle grow at a faster rate than free range cattle. A method of grain feeding has been engineered and perfect, and it has resulted in a larger number of cattle to be raised and an increase in beef consumption. Increased consumption benefits both the fast food chains and the beef suppliers. Fast food has also influenced advertising technology. McDonald’s invented Ronald McDonald in order to attract children; who would bring their parents and grandparents. Many industries have realized the potential in advertisements aimed at children, such as Camel Cigarettes and Marlboro Cigarettes, and beer companies that use slapstick humor to entertain children. The fast food industry employs a large portion of the teenage workforce. Teenagers are often willing to work for minimum wage since they are dependent on their parents. Teenagers do not need benefits; therefore, they are perfect workers to work less than forty hours per week. According to Eric Schlosser the employment of teenagers results in their exploitation and abuse. Abuse and exploitation are prevalent inside industry and outside industry and if anyone searched for abuse in the workplace, he or she would find it in every business and industry. Schlosser writes about the effects of the big business fast food industry on the cattle and poultry industries. He states that the fast food industries’ control over the restaurant market has resulted in the ability to control the prices of meat. By driving down prices, the fast food industry eliminates the farmer rancher and forces poverty on the small farmer. I have had a personal experience that negates Schlosser’s entire argument. Over the course of the last year, my parents and I traveled to Maryland looking for a new home. All throughout the Maryland rural areas, people have small-scale poultry farms. The small scale poultry raising is the result of one of the largest meat packing plants on the east coast being built in Maryland. The only effect fast food has on the small-scale farmer is positive. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is a one sided argument against fast food restaurants. When the benefits of the fast food industry, such as urbanization, which further aids in industrialization; teenage employment; and a large agricultural industry, are ignored, it is easy to see why Schlosser believes the price of a fast food hamburger doesn’t reflect its cost. The low cost, in reality, represents the many benefits fast food has given America.

How to Write the UPenn Application Essays 2018-2019

Located just across the river from downtown Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania is one of the world’s premier institutions of higher learning. UPenn is known not only for its academic prowess but also for its thriving student life scene. This encompasses not only the myriad of on campus extracurricular pursuits but also the bustling metropolis just minutes away from campus. As an Ivy League institution, UPenn is one of the most elite institutions in the world. Its acceptance rate for the class of 2022 was a mere 8.39%. The middle 50 percent of ACT scores ranged from 32-35, and the middle 50 percent of SAT Math and Reading scores ranged from 690-770 and 680-750 respectively. In terms of structure, UPenn has four undergraduate divisions: the School of Arts & Sciences, Wharton School of Business, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the School of Nursing. They also offer a myriad of interdisciplinary specialized programs that range from cognitive science to network analysis. Many of these programs combine the business of practices of UPenn’s legendary Wharton School with other disciplines, such as the Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business. This guide will provide invaluable advice for each of the essay prompts. Whether you’re majoring in chemistry or applying for the 7-year pre-dental program, we’ll provide you with plenty of tips for how to present your best self to the UPenn admissions office. Penn has one 400-650 word essay that all of its applicants must write, but those who want to apply to specialized programs, such as the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business or the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology , will have to write one or two additional essays. The first question you may have about your application is: what is the relation between your general application essay and your specialized program application essay? The first thing to know is that these specialized programs are very selective. They are not just looking for the â€Å"smartest† students, but rather the students whose particular experiences and goals best fit with what that specialized program has to offer . If you are not selected for a specialized program, it does not mean that you are intellectually inferior — it just means that other students were a better â€Å"fit.† For example, the Huntsman program is incredibly selective , admitting only 45 students per year out of an incoming class of almost 2,500. What this means is that applying for, and not being admitted to, a specialized program will not hurt your application to Penn. In your first essay (which everyone who applies to Penn must write), you will talk about how you will pursue your intellectual interests at Penn through one of its four large undergraduate schools: the Wharton School of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the School of Nursing. Then, if you are applying to a specialized program, you will make a specialized case for why you should go to that school. When you write, you’ll want to make sure that you are not repeating information between these two essays and that each essay can stand on its own . This can be a little bit of a challenge, but if you have what it takes to get into Penn it probably means that you have a wealth of different ways to talk about your interests. * Students applying to Digital Media Design and Computer & Cognitive Science should address both the specialized program and single-degree choice in their response. For students applying to the other coordinated dual-degree and specialized programs, please answer this question in regards to your single-degree school choice; your interest in the coordinated dual-degree or specialized program may be addressed through the program-specific essay. This essay is asking a very straightforward question: what do you want to study and why do you want to study that at Penn in particular. With this question, the admissions officers are trying to do three things. First, they are trying to weed out those candidates that are just applying to Penn because it is a â€Å"fancy school.† Second, they want to learn something about your intellectual passions and interests. Third, they want to see if you have done your research and started to figure out how you will use Penn to pursue those intellectual passions and interests. When they ask you to talk about your major within one of the four schools — Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Nursing, and Wharton — you should realize that you are not necessarily talking about these schools in general. Each of these schools contains a multitude of different majors, areas of focus, research opportunities, and Penn wants to know that you have taken the time to research their offerings. For example, if you are applying to the College of Arts and Sciences, you should not be talking about â€Å"Arts and Sciences† as a whole (everything from biology to French literature!). Focus on the major and classes within the school of Arts and Sciences that you want to pursue. Maybe you want to study at Penn because of its remarkably high number of professors (10!) working on differential geometry — a subject of particular interest to you. You might begin your essay by talking about how you have been interested in differential geometry ever since you asked your high school math teacher, â€Å"Okay, we’ve gone over how to find the surface area of a cube, but how would you even begin to find the surface area of something like a plastic bag floating in the air?† You can then go on to talk about the work you’ve done studying new topics in geometry over the summer, the thrill of thinking about how billiard balls bounce around differently shaped boards , and the overlap between your interests and the unique research profile of Penn’s mathematics faculty. An important thing to remember here is that you need to talk about both your passion for a particular subject area and what Penn has to offer you — both aspects are equally important! If you are interested in one of Penn’s specialized programs, you still need to write an essay about how you intend to pursue your intellectual interests at Penn, regardless of whether you are admitted to a specialized program or not. The trick here is to write an essay that communicates the full force of enthusiasm and excitement for a plan of study at Penn that does not hinge exclusively on admission to a specialized program, such as Huntsman (discussed in more detail below). Maybe you have been fascinated with international relations and diplomacy ever since you started learning French and playing Massive Online Multi-player strategy games that required weaving complex treaties with people from many different parties. You can write a great essay about how you hope to use Penn’s resources to pursue a major in international relations, and how you especially look forward to studying abroad — maybe to meet some of the people who you have been collaborating with from all over the world. Then, if you are interested in the intersection of business and international relations, you might use your Huntsman essay to talk about your abiding interest in logistics (perhaps related to your work in gaming) has drawn you to the problem of how conflicts in international law might affect the efficiency of global shipping supply chains. The College of Engineering’s special programs in Digital Media Design and Computer & Cognitive Science are something of a special case. For these two programs, your statement of why you fit into them belongs in this general admissions essay, not in a separate prompt. As such, you need to treat this essay like an application for a specialized program that also addresses the major you will pursuing outside these specialized programs. This means you will need to cram a lot into this essay. The trick in these cases is to use your essay to show how the distinctive intellectual interest that you are pursuing in the College of Arts and Sciences or the College of Engineering will be augmented by the addition of these specialized programs. For example, if you are applying to Computer & Cognitive Science, you might also be applying to the College of Arts & Sciences to study Linguistics. You can start the essay by talking about how language has always fascinated you: you always wanted to dig deeper than the rules listed in your grammar books. Why — you ask — do we say â€Å"the big red house† and not â€Å"the red big house?† Maybe part of what drove you to start learning Spanish and Russian was to see if rules of syntax in English also applied to other languages. Then, you’ll pivot in a new paragraph to talk about how your interest in syntax also makes you interested in Penn’s program in Computer & Cognitive science. Your interest in word-order might go beyond human-made languages and extend to the languages machine intelligences are starting to create . In order to show the admissions committee that your passion for computing is no less than your passion for learning new languages, you might talk about the work you did programming a chatbot or creating a little video game to help you study your Latin declensions. If you are applying to any of these interdisciplinary programs, you want to show the admissions committee that you have already started to think across disciplinary boundaries. What if you are not particularly interested in any of Penn’s specialized programs? That’s perfectly fine! Not applying to those programs will not hurt your application or make you seem like an â€Å"unambitious† student. After all, most of the specialized programs are focused on the intersection between the business school and other areas of study. Returning to our math example above, maybe you are just fascinated with geometry and not particularly concerned with its applications on Wall Street? That’s perfectly fine! But for those with a sincere interest, Penn’s specialized programs offer unique interdisciplinary possibilities. The rest of this article will tackle those prompts. Finally, though this essay asks you to discuss the â€Å"specific undergraduate school† you are applying to, that does not mean you cannot mention (in a short paragraph, maybe at the end of the essay) some of the social and cultural reasons that attracted you to the city of Philadelphia and its surrounding social and cultural possibilities. Maybe you are a history buff fascinated with Benjamin Franklin or maybe there is an exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of art that you have been dying to see. You won’t spend all your time in class at Penn, and it can’t hurt to offer a glimpse of your extracurricular interests in this essay. As Penn says, â€Å"Your essays tell us what sort of person you are — and provide a glimpse into the intangibles you might bring to our community.† The first thing to do if you are considering applying to any of Penn’s specialized programs is research . Go to their websites and read those â€Å"mission statements† and â€Å"about us† sections! More than that: go deeper and see what kinds of classes are offered and what the faculty who teach these classes research. If you can, talk to an alumnus of one of these programs. Or stroll through YouTube and see if there is a video posted from events and conferences sponsored by these different programs. The more details you have about these programs, the better you will be able to talk about how your specific interests line up with what these programs have to offer. If you want to apply to the program in Life Sciences and Management, it will not be enough to say that you are interested in â€Å"life sciences† because you really enjoyed your AP Biology class, and that you are interested in â€Å"management† because you’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur who finds â€Å"practical solutions to real world problems.† You’ll need to get specific and show that you’ve really done your homework and that your interest in these interdisciplinary fusions is more than just a passing phase. The Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business is a unique, four-year interdisciplinary undergraduate course of study that integrates business education, advanced language training and a liberal arts education. Huntsman students earn two degrees — a B.A. in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School. Huntsman students specialize in the area of the world in which their target language is spoken and graduate with a nuanced understanding of the political, economic and cultural complexities in a changing world. One key aspect of the Huntsman curriculum is choosing a country/culture, and then engaging in focused study for the next four years. Though this question may seem to be asking about all international issues, and though it may be tempting to try to synthesize global commerce in 500 words, what this essay really wants you to do is talk about a specific international issue from the perspective of a particular cultural or regional focus. The key is to analyze that issue from both the perspective of politics and from the perspective of business. Even if you are focusing on a very specific issue, this is a lot of ground to cover in just 500 words. Another way to give your essay focus is to talk about an issue that you have some kind of connection to or interest in because of your own history or experience. Maybe you come from or have relatives in the region that you are discussing? Maybe you have traveled to or worked in that region? Maybe you live in a neighborhood that has a lot of immigrants from a particular region? It is, of course, possible to write a thoughtful essay about a topic and region that you only know through a collection of diverse and carefully studied sources. But it can help your readers better understand your own personal interests if you can offer some kind of narrative as to why you are writing your essay on one particular issue when there is a whole world of problems to consider. For example, maybe you have family ties in Venezuela and are worried about the political and economic turmoil that country is currently experiencing. A compelling essay might discuss the challenges that come from threatening sanctions in order to get the Venezuelan government to open up its borders to foreign aid. Might sanctioning oil only cause further economic hardship for the citizens of Venezuela? Are sanctions an effective means of responding to repressive regimes? When and how can governments intervene in trade policy for humanitarian ends? The meaning of your analysis lies not only in the larger trends you are observing but also in the hospitals without medicine and the collapse of currency . An especially compelling version of this essay does not just engage in a cold analysis of international governmental and business relations, but also discusses how those problems impact the lives of real people. For another less politically charged but no less complex example, you could have a deep interest in how Chinese business has traditionally been conducted without enforced contracts . Maybe you do not have any family ties in China, but you read about this strange aspect of Chinese trade in the Wall Street Journal and wondered whether that editorial writer was just dealing in cultural stereotyping (â€Å"they are irrational!†) or whether there was something about the structure and practice of Chinese contract law that made it different from (if not necessarily better than) United States contract law. Perhaps your work in the Huntsman program will prepare you to help multinational corporations understand the nuances of informal contract law in China, perhaps even understanding how those informal structures might grant them greater flexibility. Of course, if you do write about a region that you do not have any personal connection to, you will also want to demonstrate more than a passing interest in that region. As you write this essay, you should also find space to mention how you have been studying the Chinese language for the last three years and expect to continue studying it at Penn. One last word on how the Huntsman curriculum might help you â€Å"resolve† the issue: if you are talking about a complex problem, you are not going to propose a â€Å"solution† in the space of a 500-word essay. Instead, you want to talk about how that curriculum will help you acquire the skills necessary to collaborate and further study the problem. In the Venezuelan example, you might point to the limitations of sanctions given that country’s history of seeing the United States as an â€Å" imperialist interloper .† In the Chinese example, you are exploring the nuances of communication and how promises are formed and sustained, not suddenly convincing China to take up a whole new legal framework. A mature essay avoids simple and grandiose solutions and shows that you are intellectually curious and open to the sustained inquiry and collaboration needed to tackle tough problems. LSM is an  undergraduate dual-degree program  administered jointly between Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences and the Wharton School. Each year, the program enrolls approximately 25 exceptional students and offers them the opportunity to pursue an interdisciplinary curriculum combining bioscience and business, leading to the completion of two degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in a life science major, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Economics. To ensure that every student learns how to apply their knowledge, the program provides the means for him or her to find two required, paid internships, one centered in scientific research, the other in business or public policy. Completion of the LSM program is an ideal starting point for students intent on careers in the life sciences sector by preparing them for the  advanced training we anticipate they will then go on to pursue through MD, PhD, MBA, JD, and/or  other graduate programs. LSM is suited to students with interests in h ealthcare; biomedical, agricultural, and environmental research and development; public policy; and the financial and strategic management of  life science organizations. This question is similar to the Huntsman question, as it requires to you to synthesize your interests and explain why LSM is the program for you. This program attempts to bridge the constant gap between scientific innovation and marketable solutions. An effective way to answer this is to point to a problem within a lab setting and explain how management overhauls can address it. For example, you could focus on the problem of managing the profitability of important drugs in low-margin markets. An example would be a cure to dengue fever that targets extremely low-income individuals in developing natures. As such, research efforts are dampened by a perceived lack of profitability amid large R&D expenses. An LSM education could provide the insight into the management side of life sciences to effectively raise the margins of a new drug that would motivate investment and seed funding to ultimately bring about a cure for millions of individuals. But if you go this route, you should also be wary of talking in a vague way about how â€Å"management† magically improves efficiencies. You will want to try to be specific about the organizational changes that you think might be helpful. In the dengue fever example, maybe you are interested in studying how leaders in marginalized countries might be incorporated into the drug’s distribution channels — perhaps both decreasing the need to build expensive new distribution infrastructure and hopefully securing the trust of community users. As you compose this essay, you should be aware that it asks you to be both as specific and as original as possible . You may be really excited about how gene therapies might allow HIV patients to forgo the onerous task of taking antivirals every day. On the business side, this new treatment could potentially reduce costs and lessen the number of trips patients have to take to the doctor — an especially relevant consideration for people in rural areas and people with limited mobility. But instead of just saying what we’ve said in the previous two sentences, there might be a more inventive way of approaching your prompt. What if you started your essay by presenting the script for a fictional advertisement for your new therapy? After you’ve talked up its benefits of gene therapy in your fictional TV spot, you might add a paragraph reflecting the particular challenges of getting patients to accept new treatments. The challenges facing gene therapy are not just technical challenges to be solved in the lab; there are also public relations challenges in a world where people are skittish about genetic engineering that need to be solved by an effective business communications strategy. Maybe the reason you are applying for the LSM is that you are interested in all the challenges that come with bringing a new treatment to the market from advancing through clinical trials to selling the treatment to doctors and patients. The benefit of this particular â€Å"creative† option for the essay is that it is not simply â€Å"off-the-wall,† attention grabbing for the sake of nothing more than surprise value. If you are writing about communication strategies and your essay presents itself as part of that communication strategy, then the form and content of your writing synergize. If you use a creative gimmick in your essay, it needs to amplify, rather than obscure, your central claim. The Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, affectionately called the M&T Program, is the oldest coordinated dual degree program at the University of Pennsylvania. The Program combines academics from two phenomenal Penn assets, Penn Engineering and the Wharton School, into one unique educational experience. Students enrolled in the M&T Program pursue degrees from both schools concurrently, creating a truly interdisciplinary learning experience. This combination enables our students not only to understand engineering and business concepts, but also to understand the integration of the two and how this intersection distinctively shapes our world. This prompt is unique in the sense that it provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your analytical reasoning and argumentation beyond discussing personal characteristics or facts about the school. Your best bet here will be taking a solutions-driven approach. Luckily, the structure of this essay is relatively clear-cut. The true difficulty comes in devising a response that is creative but also intelligibly grounded in reality. You should begin your essay by identifying one such disruptive technology and what the popular opinion is regarding its predicted significance. When selecting your form of technology, it’s important to be specific. For instance, don’t just write about machine learning, but instead write about something more detailed like machine learning software that encrypts secret government information. Also, it might be helpful to choose a technology that isn’t too ‘mainstream’ but that also does have seemingly serious implications for society. This will demonstrate your familiarity with the field. Once you’ve constructed a short introduction that establishes both your chosen technology and the common perception about its imminent success, your next step is to knock that argument down. Carefully research all possible implications of your chosen technology, and try to evaluate possible alternative nuances to each one. Brainstorm other extenuating factors that seem relatively unspoken of and could diminish the success of this technology. In essence, UPenn wants to see your ability to make a strong argumentative case against some technology. This will demonstrate both your familiarity with the effects of technology and your ability to think critically about its implications in society. Finally, you should focus on addressing the concerns arisen in the previous section. These solutions could come in many forms: possible tweaks to the initial technology, alternative uses of other, related technologies, etc. UPenn wants to see not only your foresight for potential technological issues, but also your creative problem solving capabilities that address these issues in turn. Here, admissions officers want to see that your problem-solving style demonstrates leadership/creativity. This is important because Jerome Fisher heavily emphasizes leadership and collaboration with others. Make sure your response reflects both leadership and creativity. Furthermore, you should emphasize genuine leadership through actions—not just a title you’ve held. For instance, if you were the treasurer of Key Club, talk about the initiatives you helped direct rather than solely the position itself. For example, maybe you helped start a can drive competition at your high school and then transported the cans to a local food kitchen. Furthermore, leadership in this sense doesn’t necessarily have to relate to a title. People demonstrate leadership all the time in their daily lives. For instance, maybe you were doing group work in your economics class, and you helped guide your team through a challenging problem. Just make sure you’re showing rather than telling . In terms of structure, you should first write a short introduction wherein you present the main problem. This problem can be literally anything. The important part is how you solve it. The bulk of your response should address your problem-solving method. Make sure the resolution of your problem involves both creative problem solving and effective group communication on your part. The purpose of this prompt is for UPenn to find people that have both ingenuity and strong leadership skills. For instance, maybe your robot breaks down at a robotics competition. You then respond by assembling it in a slightly flawed manner and collaborating with your team to reconstruct several lines of code. Only through your calm coordination is the team able to rebound and then place first in the competition. Likewise, only through your creative adaptability is the team able to suitably fix the robot’s code. Whatever scenario you present, make sure to address both your creativity and leadership in equal part. In the NHCM  program, you’ll study simultaneously in both schools and graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Your work will include science and clinical courses, along with general education courses in the Arts and Sciences. We designed the   curriculum   to boost expertise in patient care and deepen your knowledge of how to manage the way that care is delivered. Nursing is a caring profession . Nurses handle patients when they come in the door, dressing wounds and calming anxieties long before the doctor appears. Nursing programs are justly proud of the way that they train their students in both the art of medicine and the art of empathy. The interesting challenge of this essay lies in speaking to the intersection between this deeply personal field that focuses on one-on-one interactions and the often depersonalized technocratic work of â€Å"management,† which looks to maximize systematic efficiencies. How to write an essay that situates your interests at the intersection of these apparently opposite fields For most nursing programs, the traditional essay dives into two aspects: (1) your training in science that prepares you to understand the technical aspects of working with individual bodies, and (2) your capacity for empathy and the humanistic training that allows you to treat each body as a full person. You will certainly need to address both of these topics in this essay. To do so, you might talk about a particular harrowing experience you had while shadowing a nurse at your local ER. When a patient came in after falling down the stairs, you saw how the nurse’s knowledge of applied physiology helped them maneuver the patient’s body without aggravating his head injury. But in order to learn that the patient’s head was injured, the nurses also needed to communicate with a panicked sister-in-law who was also the nurse’s best source of information. The good nurse must be both scientist and humanist in order to care for the individual. But in order to apply for the NHCM, you will need to add one more aspect to your essay: the management aspect. This includes the problems of budgeting, classification, scheduling, billing, and medical device supply chains that create an environment where healthcare professionals can do their best work. The trick is to show how these managerial concerns are actually intimately tied to the individualized caring that nurses do. For example, you might write about how you know that long shifts for nurses have been shown to result in high levels of burnout and more patient dissatisfaction . In order to make sure that the nurses are always at the top of their game (as they were when you shadowed the nurses who dealt with the head trauma), maybe you have an interest in developing new scheduling software that breaks up shifts into smaller segments and tracks the fatigue that nurses accumulate over the long term. After all, maybe it was something more than personal brilliance that allowed the nurse you were following to do their job particularly well; maybe they were also at the beginning of their shift, still fresh from a day’s rest and physically capable of navigating a complex situation. Submit your essay and we’ll get back to you with helpful edits. The VIPER program engages students in energy research early on, enabling them to perform graduate level work as undergraduates. Upon successful completion of the program, students receive two degrees: a BSE and a BA. The ultimate goal is to raise innovators in high-caliber research careers who develop sustainable ways to harness, convert, and use energy. The VIPER program has faculty and staff dedicated to advising the VIPER students and meet one-on-one with each cohort member. Cohorts bond, study, work, and get involved in research starting their first year at Penn. If you have conducted research in some sort of energy-related field, then this is a very straightforward essay. You should outline the goals of your project, your hypotheses, your approach, your results, and your conclusions. This seems like a very straightforward outline, but this essay is not just asking for a description of a research project. It is also asking you to discuss what makes you passionate about energy research and the larger social and political contexts that make your research important. The middle three terms — â€Å"hypotheses, approach, and results† — are the more straightforward terms where you say what you did in your research. Maybe you participated in a summer program where you studied how spent nuclear fuel rods behave when stored in different geological formations. You can describe the initial theory you tested, how you went about testing it, and what you found. As you do so, don’t feel the need to cram in the maximum amount of jargon in order to communicate your technical mastery. Wherever possible, use layman’s terms or define the specialized language you are offering. One of the things that these science programs are looking for when they read your essays is not just your capacity to do research, but also your capacity to communicate the importance of your research to a wider audience of non-specialists. After all, even though your VIPER application will be read by people with backgrounds in energy science, they might no t know anything about the particular subfield you were working in. The first and last terms — your â€Å"goals† and your â€Å"conclusions† — should be thought about in slightly more expansive terms. Don’t just talk what about you studied; talk about why you studied it. What is the larger social, economic, and political purpose behind the research that you were doing? For the example about researching spent nuclear fuel rods you might begin by saying that this is an especially important issue because we know that these rods need to be stored for 300 years in order to ensure safety. You might conclude your essay by taking offering a more philosophical approach, talking about how the future of sustainable energy research is not just a matter of coming up with new technologies, but also a matter of looking back and continuing to reckon with the challenges posed by the energy technologies developed in the 20th century. Alternatively, since this still a personal essay and not just a research statement, you might wan t to talk about why this research is particularly important to you . Maybe you live in Nevada’s Nye county, near Yucca Mountain , the first United States’ first nuclear waste storage repository? What if the research you have done is not directly related to energy? If so, that is perfectly fine: the skills you learned in one area of scientific inquiry can easily be transferred to another field. You should still follow the advice above about being a good communicator: avoid excessive jargon, don’t get lost in the weeds. More than a truncated research paper, the admissions committee is looking to see what you learned about the process of research from your experience. When talking about your methods you might talk about how you collaborated with your teammates to solve a particularly difficult problem. Maybe the chemical compound you were using as a catalyst was not congealing properly, and you were stuck until you figured out that the temperature reading for your refrigerator was off by one degree. More than any specific technical know-how, the applications committee is looking for teamwork and problem solving skills. You’ll be studying a lot of textbooks when you get into college, cramming your brain with more technical know-how than you can even imagine. An eager and collaborative spirit is something that you need to bring to the table. If the research experience you are talking about is not related to energy, you will also want to spend some time talking about why you want to get into the field of energy research in particular. Maybe you hope to take the teamwork skills you’ve learned doing fieldwork on sea urchin populations in Monterey Bay to the study of how salt-water algae might be farmed and used as biofuels ? You can also talk about other work that you have done which might not be directly related to scientific research, but is concerned with the political aspects of building a sustainable energy future. Maybe you worked on a campaign to convince local business to become carbon neutral? Whatever you end up writing, you need to convince the admissions committee that you are not just interested in â€Å"science† but rather that you are dedicated to building a sustainable energy future. If you have not done any directed research in the sciences, your essay will be focused on your interest in sustainable energy. You can still demonstrate that you have the skills to be a good researcher even if you have not already worked in a lab. Where have you demonstrated your problem solving skills and your capacity to work with a team? Maybe you worked for a political campaign and collaborated with a team to sort and analyze donor data? Which of your extracurricular activities demonstrates your scrupulous attention to detail and your boundless curiosity in learning how things work? Maybe you built a radio or spend your free time woodworking? Networks permeate and influence virtually every aspect of our lives-everything from how millions of Parisians travel on the Metro to how individuals make friends. Networks lift entire economies and elect presidents. They start revolutions. Move commerce. Make scientific discoveries. Cure diseases. Secure peace. Save lives. To understand and predict behavior, and to design new capabilities and services, we must understand people, systems, and incentives, and how the structure and properties of networks affects interactions. To that end, we’ve created an entirely unprecedented, multidisciplinary program that connects the study of networks with the study of human behavior. Networked & Social Systems mixes courses in engineering, mathematics and science with courses in sociology, game theory, economics and policy. More than just gaining the fundamental knowledge that navigates the various strategies and decisions that make up human interaction, you will build the digital solutions that anticipate the way people — and systems — will act. This essay is very open ended, and it is trying to gauge your capacity to think creatively about how different disciplines relate to each other, and how the concept of the â€Å"network† might hold them all together. But what is a network? A network is an abstract formal pattern. A set of nodes and edges (or lines and dots) that synthesizes the ways people, places, and things are connected. The strength of the network as an analytic tool lies precisely in its abstraction, the fact that it can be used to model and study many different phenomena, from the â€Å" transportation network † of New York’s subway system, to the â€Å" business network † of Donald Trump’s real estate empire. The questions that you might bring to any network are manifold. What is the quickest way to get from one point to another? Which actors are located in central or â€Å"influential† positions? What would happen if one node were knocked out? In statistics and mathematics, big data network analysis is a rapidly expanding research field. In ecology , scientists are using networks to analyze the ways that organisms are related to each other, and modern sociology is consumed with the anal ysis of â€Å"social networks† — not just online, but also in businesses and families and cities. The list of applications for network analysis goes on and on and on. To focus your response and avoid getting lost in the tangle, you will want to write about one specific network that fascinates you. Let’s take the example of the New York City subway system. True, this is not the â€Å"high tech† network like the â€Å"Internet,† but because a network is a kind of formal analysis, the questions raised in the study of one network can be applied to many other different networks. Moreover, NETS’ website mentions that they are interested in both â€Å" digital and real world networks .† Even a creaky old subway system is fair game. So, if you were writing about the New York City subway you might start off by saying that you first became interested in the study of networks as a child zooming along the â€Å"6,† out of Manhattan and into the Bronx. You can springboard from an account of your personal experience as a young rider to your more mature analysis as a student of urban design. Maybe Hurricane Sandy made you ask questions about how the networks that hold cities together might be made more resilient in the face of rapidly changing climate? After zooming out to think about network systems as a whole, you might end your essay by zooming back in on the unique aesthetic experiences that a modern networked world offers as a unique arts and performance space that lets new people and new artists move fluidly across the whole city. Another thing to keep in mind as you write this essay is that NETS is not just interested in the technical details that make a network work : they are also interested in the questions of power. You could call the Internet a jungle of machines-computers, cell phones, and millions of servers in data center warehouses-communing through copper, optical, and satellite links. The universal communications layer of these machines offers services and capabilities that are extensible in ways we never imagined just a few years ago, from online education and sharing jokes with millions in a matter of minutes to transforming entire media industries. But the Internet is not the sum of its machines. Who owns them? Who uses them? And who invents, negotiates and delivers the services in between? While the prompt above talks about the â€Å"creation of beneficial content for society† you might also write about the very real challenges that come with a modern networked society. The internet can be used to spread harmless content, like memes with otters snuggling goats , but it can also be used to spread more disturbing ideas . While it may seem like the Internet offers anyone and everyone a chance to speak, what does it mean if the infrastructure and management of those networks is under the control of a small number of incredibly wealthy companies ? This program is not just looking for talented engineers, it is also looking for interdisciplinary thinkers who are curious about how technologies shape societies and how societies shape technologies. Bio-Dental submatriculation is a seven-year joint program of the College and Penn’s School of Dental Medicine for students who will major in Biology and who wish to enroll in the Dental School during their senior year in the College. Application to the program must be made at the time of application to Penn. Applicants will be notified of their conditional acceptance into the program when they are notified of their admission to Penn. Full acceptance into the program is made after the student’s junior year and is based on academic performance during those three years and meeting the admissions standards of the Dental School. For details, see the   Biology Department   website. The Bio-Dental submatriculation program is highly structured and may not allow students to pursue dual undergraduate degrees. As with most of the essays for the highly structured Bio-Dental program, this essay is looking for information first, and narrative second. This does not mean that there is no room for creativity, but the most important thing is to clearly and effectively communicate what you have done and what you have learned. The first prompt lays out two different ways of answering its question depending on your level of experience. 1) The first option is more straightforward of the two: if you have medical or dental experience, you need to â€Å"list† that experience. And by â€Å"list,† they mean offer some type of resume that is specifically targeted to your interest in medicine and dentistry (no need to discuss your volunteer experience as an elementary school chorus director). The more specific you can be with numbers and dates, the better. But whatever you do, do not feel the need to inflate your accomplishments or the number of hours spent. This is very tempting, but in the end the Bio-Dental program is less interested in the exact number of hours you’ve volunteered than in the demonstration of a consistent and long-standing interest in medicine. Admissions officers know that for financial or family reasons not everyone can afford to volunteer for 15 hours a week. 2) The second option is much more difficult. If you have not had any specific medical or dental experience, then you will need to take a slightly different approach to this essay. You will need to write a very compelling 250-word statement about how your background has prepared you to enter a highly specialized and incredibly competitive seven-year dental program right out of high school. But before writing your essay, if you have absolutely no background in medicine or research, you should first question if you actually want to commit to a 7-year program in the first place (especially one as difficult to get into as Penn’s). If you are set on the decision, however, this essay is of crucial importance to legitimize your application amongst an applicant pool of relatively outstanding students with actual medicine backgrounds. Maybe you have not done any structured research, but you have had a lot of experience going to the dentist because you suffered from a rare gum ailment, and you have done a lot of independent research on your own case and hope to build on that work to help others? Maybe you are deeply interested in medicine, but instead of being able to do resume-building volunteer work you have had to spend a lot of time at home caring for your father who was suffering from Parkinson’s? This essay is attempting to gauge your physical capabilities as a doctor. Talking about your experiences in Woodshop, Robotics, etc., can be a good way of demonstrating your ability to work with your hands. If you were relatively hands-off in high school with respect to your activities, pulling an example from outside of school can help you answer this essay. Perhaps you are the one in your family that eagerly assembles Ikea furniture, or are an avid fan of Lego. Keep in mind that you don’t need to appear capable of brain surgery at this point in your life; you simply need to illustrate to Penn that you are comfortable connecting your brain and your digits. This question is a lot more open-ended. You can speak about anything from a leadership position to a community service role to even your experiences at home with siblings. If you still feel the need to highlight your interest in medicine, you can try to answer this from a medical perspective. Perhaps you had a relatively hectic administrative position in a hospital ER — your ability to calmly and collectively perform tasks with others in this stressful environment can highlight your teamwork abilities as well as emphasize, once again, your passion for medicine. This essay is more specific than a simple â€Å"Why Medicine?† essay. You need to explain why dentistry as a field appeals to you among all other medical fields. You can focus on a modern problem in the field and explain how you hope to pursue it at Penn. Alternatively, you can have a more human answer and explain why patient care in the industry is important to you, and how you hope to take your education and make some impact in that area. Be careful, however, that this essay does not too strongly overlap with your essay about pre-dental experience. If you had no experience to begin with, you likely wrote about how you developed an interest in the field. Make sure you don’t use the same topic for this essay.    There is also a little bit of a trick here: the â€Å"what interests you least† part of the prompt may seem a little bit unusual. In an essay where you are supposed to be communicating your passion about dentistry, wouldn’t it come off as strange to spend precious words talking about what you don’t want to do? The thing to recognize is that this part of the question plays an important role weeding out the applicants who have no business committing to a 7-year dental program as an 17 or 18 year old. People with experience in their intended careers will understand what they do and do not like and where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Being able to speak to your lack of interest in a particular problem is part of how this prompt wants you to demonstrate your depth of experience and what you have learned from that experience. As you talk about â€Å"what interests you least† be careful not to be too negative; even if a certain aspect of modern dentistry does not interest you, you should still make it clear that you respect those who focus their energies on that topic. (Indeed, the people reading your admissions essay might very well be specialists in the topic that â€Å"does not interest† you). While working as a clerk in Dr. Lee’s dental office, I really admired her detailed knowledge of the latest advanced surgery routines, and we would often talk about the research she was doing on enamel erosion. But one thing that Dr. Lee and I also discussed was the difficulty of communicating complicated physiological concepts to patients who did not have her specialized medical training. What those conversations led me to think about was that I was ultimately less interested in the detailed lab research that Dr. Lee focused on, and more committed to developing new methods of clearly communicating the work in the lab to patients. What I like about this response is that it shows a deep involvement with the problems of modern dentistry, and that it pays proper respect to the detailed research that other dentists do, while also showing that you have started to learn about your own strengths. Another version of this essay might talk about how your involvement with one research project on the effectiveness of different kinds of mouthwash led you away from research on consumer products and into a deeper interest into gum tissue. You might say that are now looking into a future career that is less focused on testing consumer products and more focused on in-depth anatomy research. This is also straightforward. If you have relatives, mention them. If you do not, don’t stress too much. You won’t be disqualified for a lack of legacy. Want help on your University of Pennsylvania application or essays? Learn about our College Apps Program and Essay Editing Program . For personalized mentorship and one-on-one guidance through the application process, check out ’s mentorship program and application guidance services .