Suicide Essays (537 words) - Suicide, Assisted Suicide,

Suicide I'm about to take up a position which is going to be deamed by some, if not all, as a terrible stand to take. As a matter of fact, if anyone were to agree with me on ths subject, I'd be surprsed. For you see, rather than arguing from the postion of suicide being an unjustified and inane way to die, I shall argue the other point. That being suicide does have its merits. Before you people start screaming, hear my case out. Most people argue that nothing justifies the taking of someone's life. Yet what makes life so valuable? Why do people cling to it so? All we consist of is a bunch of carbon atoms, bound together to form an exoskeleton, organs, and tissue. In this light, there really is not much to life. Out of the 5 billion who inhabit the planet, very few of them shall emerge to be true world leaders. The rest will just lead a mediocre life of work and little play. The taking of ones life can be argued from a populistic view as well. It makes little sense to preserve life in an over populated world. True, one less person here on there will not make a large dent. Yet if everyone who attempts or had attempted suicide were not stopped, the impact would be noticed. Another popular argument for stoppers, people who want to prevent suicide, is that nothing can be bad enough. Yet how do they know this? They do not have to put up with the same stuff the suicide victim does everyday. How could they possibly know what the potential suicide victim feels. Just as a severely burned victim may wish to be allowed to die in peace, the suicide victim wishes the same. To die in peace with no argument from others. The argument of "look at the people you will hurt" also does not hold. Imidiate family members will be the only ones to suffer any great pain. Friends will go on with thier lives and in time forget about the death. Imidiate family too will forget the lo ss in time. Although it will take most considerably longer for them than it will for friends. Finaly, the argument of suicide being selfish is hard to grasp. Selfish in whose eyes? Certainly not the eyes of the victim. To them, they consider it selfish of others to try and preserve their life. Again, the argument of the stoppers don't know what the victim has to go through. They are not the ones enduring the pain. Religious people also crop up into the debate. Catholics claim that for someone to committ suicide sneds their soul straight to Hell. In many religions, suicide is considered taboo. However why is this so? Why should it be looked upon as disgracefull, when some religions claim death the be the reward for people after their time on earth is done. Suicide is an issue which should be examined at by all angles. Not just from the angle that it is "wrong". End of debate. Rather it should be looked at from the point of view that "yes" for some people, they should be allowed to die in peace.

Free Essays on Ethics in Business

Ethics in Business From a business perspective, working under government contracts can be a very lucrative proposition. In general, streams of orders keep coming in, revenue increases and the company grows in the aggregate. The obvious downfalls to working in this manner is both higher quality expected as well as the extensive research and documentation required for government contracts. If a part fails to perform correctly it can cause minor glitches as well as problems that can carry serious repercussions, such as in the National Semiconductor case. When both the culpable component and company are found, the question arises of how extensive these repercussions should be. Is the company as an entity liable or do you look into individual employees within that company? From an ethical perspective one would have to look at the mitigating factors of both the employees and their superiors along with the role of others in the failure of these components. Next you would have to analyze the final ruling fro m a corporate perspective and then we must examine the macro issue of corporate responsibility in order to attempt to find a resolution for cases like these. The first mitigating factor involved in the National Semiconductor case is the uncertainty, on the part of the employees, on the duties that they were assigned. It is plausible that during the testing procedure, an employee couldn’t distinguish which parts they were to test under government standards and commercial standards. In some cases they might have even been misinformed on the final consumers of the products that they tested. In fact, ignorance on the part of the employees would fully excuse them from any moral responsibility for any damage that may result from their work. Whether it is decided that an employee is fully excused, or is given some moral responsibility, would have to be looked at on an individual basis. The second mitigating factor is the duress o... Free Essays on Ethics in Business Free Essays on Ethics in Business Ethics in Business From a business perspective, working under government contracts can be a very lucrative proposition. In general, streams of orders keep coming in, revenue increases and the company grows in the aggregate. The obvious downfalls to working in this manner is both higher quality expected as well as the extensive research and documentation required for government contracts. If a part fails to perform correctly it can cause minor glitches as well as problems that can carry serious repercussions, such as in the National Semiconductor case. When both the culpable component and company are found, the question arises of how extensive these repercussions should be. Is the company as an entity liable or do you look into individual employees within that company? From an ethical perspective one would have to look at the mitigating factors of both the employees and their superiors along with the role of others in the failure of these components. Next you would have to analyze the final ruling fro m a corporate perspective and then we must examine the macro issue of corporate responsibility in order to attempt to find a resolution for cases like these. The first mitigating factor involved in the National Semiconductor case is the uncertainty, on the part of the employees, on the duties that they were assigned. It is plausible that during the testing procedure, an employee couldn’t distinguish which parts they were to test under government standards and commercial standards. In some cases they might have even been misinformed on the final consumers of the products that they tested. In fact, ignorance on the part of the employees would fully excuse them from any moral responsibility for any damage that may result from their work. Whether it is decided that an employee is fully excused, or is given some moral responsibility, would have to be looked at on an individual basis. The second mitigating factor is the duress o...

Black Market Activities And Corruption In Pakistan Politics Essay

Black Market Activities And Corruption In Pakistan Politics Essay The relationship of corruption and Governance is integrated from a long time back. In case of Pakistan, the root of the relationship runs back since the Independence Day. Corruption as an attribute in the system in the sub-continent, has affected the level of Governance to the extent of creating extremities of positive and negative. Governance which measures the effectiveness of institutions in a society has only been a theoretical concept in case of Pakistan. Several factors that lead to the level of corruption to reach where it is now are ignored conveniently and the direct effect is on the masses. A number of activities are performed below the radar in Pakistan and are reported to as the â€Å"black market activities†. They are referred so as because of their capability to deceive the purposeful boundaries of the system present, which holds them liable to the tax structure of the country. The case is not a new one for the world, let alone for Pakistan, and this is a common practice in the country. All these activities are concealed from the authorities with regard to the tax structure in Pakistan, and are thus reported as the under-ground economy in macro terms. This is a consequence of a complex tax system, frequent cash transactions in terms of construction, smuggling etc. and that of a negative public perception. Pakistan has experienced a relatively below par appreciation when it comes to the structure of the taxing system present, and the flexibility in it. Unemployment and recessionary trend also contribute towards a most common phenomenon as part of black activities known as â€Å"tax evasion†. This concept has given birth to corruption on a wide scale. Tax evasion is when one skips the underlying rules of the system and is not officially recorded in the tax net. Some sectors of the economy in Pakistan have been exempted from taxes right from the independence till date, and hence they are also recorded as the underground economy. The ot hers, who happen to be the industrialists in some cases, have taken refuge under the same exemption by reporting their income either as under the exempted sectors or by understatement altogether. This has given rise to corruption not only by these means, but also by persistently supporting and influencing the policy making process so that loop holes remain to be exploited. The theoretical side of this aspect has confirmed that the persistent non-compliance towards tax laws have allowed a major portion of the economy to remain below the radar so that they can skip the measurement as per the economy’s activities. The graph relates to the overall black economy as a percentage of GDP and then tax evasion as part of the GDP Source: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad (PIDE Research series) The increasing trend in the black market activities from as early as year 1974 till the start of the 21st century is in line with the theory and also points out towards the fa ct that in Pakistan, the complex and flawed policies to account for a major chunk of the economy have decreased on standards year by year. The tax evasion figures also shed light upon the loop holes of the tax policy

Analysis of Employee Involvement on American Water Company Essay

Analysis of Employee Involvement on American Water Company - Essay Example The following advantages had been cited for having employee involvement in an organization. It is argued that when employees are allowed to get involved in the organization’s decision making, employees are more likely to apply decisions they have made themselves (Porter, et al., 1975). Staw & Ross stated that employees know better what is expected of them, and they commit better to the organization’s decision (1978). [Employee]Participation may lower the disutility of effort, by providing intrinsic motivation (Staw, 1980). Also, participation may suit non-financial needs such as achievement, creativity and the longing for respect. This may also develop cooperation and communication; employees discuss with each other instead of allowing all discussions only to the management, saving management time. When employees are participative, they tend to supervise themselves, therefore reducing the need for a lot of managerial positions and lessening costs of labor. Involvement t eaches employees new skills and helps identify and train leaders. Strauss emphasized that â€Å"participation increases loyalty and identification with the organization†. He also argued that â€Å"If participation and rewards take place in a group setting, the group may pressure individuals to conform to decisions† (1977).When management leaders and union participate cooperatively to resolve problems on a nonadversarial basis; it improves the union-management relationship. Involvement often results in the setting of goals and according to Latham, Gary â€Å"goal setting is often an effective motivational technique, particularly when workers set their own goals (1988). However, employee involvement had been evaluated as disadvantageous in some ways. Among the disadvantages cited are: Employees may be less knowledgeable than managers, and the understanding of the decisions they made may be different.  

Grameen Bank Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Grameen Bank - Assignment Example It works like a cooperative wherein borrowers and depositors are owners, and are paid regular dividends. It is different because of the conventional methodology it uses. The bank offers loans without collateral to the poorest of the poor like beggars. Grameen bank stopped getting donations and loans because they deemed that they had enough resources for operation. Prof. Yumus was prompted to resign from his position because of the Supreme Court ruling that he must retire since he had reach the retirement age already. Yumus is already 70 years old, while retirement age is 60. Yumus wanted to contest this ruling because prior to the SC ruling he was already willing to resign but under different terms but was not allowed by members. He wanted to leave the bank in a prestigious way. Many believe that the conflict is political because of the â€Å"blood bath† between Yunus and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the reason that Yunus planned to start a political party in 2007. Yunus later on, did not continue with the idea, but the hatred had started and because of this, he had gathered powerful enemies.(Epatko, Larisa, March 2011). Still another conflict that lingered with the bank was after a documentary was aired investigating a Norwegian Aid Funds being transferred from one entity to another in order to preserve bank’s tax exempt status. Eventually, investigation proved that there was no anomaly or fraud in the transaction.(Epatko, Larisa) The situation illustrates potential tension between the stakeholders of Grameen bank, the civil society and the government because of the government’s attacks that Yumus is trying to evade taxes following the release of the Norwegian documentary (Dhaka, Jan. 6, 20ll). Further to this, is the seeming insistence of the government to find faults in the Grameen bank’s operations. The government has just announced that it will conduct an

Julius Caesar Essay Example for Free

Julius Caesar Essay Cause and Effect Prompt based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar Search the cause and effect of the assassination of Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar by examining Julius Caesar being a Tragic Hero with a Tragic flaw(s), and how this led to his downfall. Your paper must provide description of his tragic hero traits. Cite your literature textbook with at least two examples using quotations from the play that demonstrate this cause and effect. Then compare and contrast this dilemma with another world figure (either from the past or the present) that has been untimely assassinated. Find parallels between your selected figure and Julius Caesar. Analyze their likenesses and differences of the impact of these two deaths on their respective societies. Include another quotation as text evidence for your discussion. * Remember that your examples from the text must be within quotation marks. * Remember that you are demonstrating the tragic flaw that Julius Caesar had through the use of the quotations you find and how this cause his downfall, then you are comparing and contrasting this same situation with another world figure leader who also was lost due to an assassination. * Remember to write a clear thesis for your paper which will give direction for your remarks. Tragic Hero TraitsTherefore * Born into nobility* He/she falls from great heights * Responsible for his/her own fate* Realizes they have made an irreversible mistake * Endowed with a tragic flaw* Faces and accepts death with honor and humility * Doomed to make a serious error in judgment * May meet a tragic death Themes of Julius Caesar Fate versus Free will Public versus Private Self Misinterpretations and misleadings Inflexibility versus compromise Political rhetoric versus Power Essay Requirements: 1. At least 5/6 well-constructed paragraphs 2. A clear thesis within your introduction 3. Two quotations: these must express his tragic flaw in a cause and effect manner (if this- then that). 4. You must compare and contrast the situation and downfall of Caesar to a current or past public figure that has been lost through an assassination. One quotation is required. 5. This is a timed writing piece. Please apply your knowledge of time management through use of prewriting, drafting and revising skills. You must  proof read your own paper before submission. 6. MLA requirements: Neatly written document with proper documentation of your quotations followed by a Works Cited entry of all documented sources at the end of your paper. Do not write on the back of your paper.

Louis XIV and Peter The Great Essay example -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Research Essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Absolute rulers like Louis xiv and Peter the Great strengthened there countries butweakened them economically. They made great improvements to the armies and social aspects of the kingdom. But when they were improving all of these things it ended up costing them a great deal of money. Was it good to have a great army and government if everyone had no money? Absolutism is a political theory holding that all power should bevested in one ruler or other authority. Both Louis xiv and Peter the Great considered themselves to be absolute rulers and they had divine right.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Louis xiv changed France in many ways. He helped and hurt the growing nation. In order to become a true absolute ruler Louis xiv needed to make sure that ll the power was contained in himself. So he did a very clever thing, he took the nobles power out of the government. And to make sure they didnt realize that their power was being taken away slowly he gave them positions in the army (doc.7). This now made france a true absolute monarchy. All the power was now in louis xiv. He made all the decisions and no one could stop or disagree with him. Unlike the middle ages where the system of government was the feudal system and the nobles contained a great deal of power t...

Natural Disasters Essay

Rommel’s quote about making a †sound business decision† reveals overconfidence decision-making biases. His decision also discloses an anchoring bias as it looks like that Nationwide did not take into consideration some information that others did. Insurance was not the only affected industry with natural disasters; also Airlines were very affected with this whole hurricane and weather situations. Jet Blue was one of these affected airlines due to the weather. They held the passengers on its planes for about 10 hours with closed bathrooms. They refunded to the passengers their money but in a very rude way. Unfortunately JetBlue’s Founder ;amp; CEO, David Neeleman couldn’t handle the situation, and responded to the media in an improper way. Justification for Problem Definition The most relevant error and bias for companies like Nationwide Insurance, American Airlines, and JetBlue company is the overconfidence bias, they thought they are always making the right decisions and they believed too much in their own ability to make good decisions, just as Rommel’s quote about making a â€Å"Sound business decision. ‘ Alternatives 1. Rommel, Burgin, and Neeleman should have thought of the welfare of policy owners and passengers before taking their decisions. In these situations we have to look for cause and effect relationships. 2. They should have listened to different options instead of taking the first option they had. In the three cases, the managers shaped their own decisions to reflect the orga nization’s performance evaluation and other systems to comply with the organization’s formal regulations and to meet organizationally imposed time constraints. They should have also thought about their clients 3. The improper response to the media had very bad influences and was very unprofessional. They should have treated the situation with more winsomely and more professionally. Evaluate Alternatives All the alternatives said above depend on personalities and their abilities of problem solving and decision-making. These elements are important skills for business, management and leadership. Some people have these skills by nature and others have to go through processes and techniques to improve their level and quality of their decisions. Recommendation Anything can affect the clients’ safety, the decisions and the choices have to be taken very carefully in favor of both clients and companies. Managers have to understand that there are events in life, like natural disasters that are outside human control, and these events require a convenient plan for both owners and clients. Also, sometimes previous organizational decisions act as precedents to constrain current decision so organizations have to try to avoid this to happen.

Critical Analysis of ‘Prelude’ by Katherine Mansfield Essay

Catherine Mansfield revolutionized the 20th Century English short story. In her works, she breaks away from the tradition of plots and endings. Her works are open-ended. She is the earlier writer who used the technique of stream-of-consciousness in her writings. Where, Plot is secondary to characters. Her prose gives a vivid and strong picture of ordinary lives. Her literary creations are masterpieces in the sense that they raise discomforting questions about identity, belonging and desire. She is a writer from New Zealand who retains the memories of her childhood spend in her country. ‘Prelude’ is a modern short story by New Zealander Mansfield. There are noteworthy autobiographical elements in ‘Prelude’. The theme and the characters are composed on the persons, she has known in her own life. The readers get a glimpse in to the minds of the characters. She uses extensive imagery from nature to hint at hidden layers of meaning of human life. As a literary work of art, ‘Prelude’ is a written narrative fiction, where there is a third-person narrator who is not in the story but an outsider observing from a distance. Character dominates over the plot. The story actually is a vivid picture of psychological state of mind of the characters. From the definition of narration by Ismail S Talib, we find that it is dualistic in nature. It consists of two elements: story and discourse. The story is the content and the discourse is the arrangement, emphasis or magnification of any of the elements of the content. In Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Prelude’, there is a story and the discourse is the journey from one consciousness to another. Finally emphasis is on analysing human mind. Regarding the end of narrative, in this regard, Chatman has said: ‘No end, in reality, is ever final in the way â€Å"The End† of a novel or film is’ (1978). There is another form of narrative where the end is not clear or explicit. It is ‘open end’ fiction. From the late nineteenth century onwards, this form has been extensively used by writers. According to the narrative theory, there is internal as well as external setting. External is the location where the action takes place and internal is the psychological state of the person. ‘Prelude’ deals with the psychological state of mind of Burrell family. According to this theory, there are different types of narrator. One of the types is third person-omniscient ‘who can move from place to place and backwards and forwards in time, and does not merely concentrate on the consciousness of one character’. In ‘Prelude’, it is the third person narrator who gilds from one consciousness to another in the course of the story. There is another concept in this theory; schema which ‘is a collection of the generic proper ¬ties of a meaningful category which is stored in a person’s memor ¬y for future retrieval’. In’ Prelude’, the author relies on her memories of life spend in her native country for her composition. The theory states that some characters are driving force behind some plots. Similarly, in ‘Prelude’, the plot will collapse without the characters in it. The characters bind the story together. The story is all about the expectations, inner turmoil, happiness and unhappiness of the adult characters. Modernism is a continuous project that incorporates within itself all serious change and progress. Modernism became a distinct cultural movement in the fist of twentieth century. The philosophic foundations of modernism are traced to the period between Marx Einstein. Darwin in his book â€Å"The Origin of Species† (1859) propounded the theory of evolution which is seen as an important step towards the development of modern mindset. The theory attacked the traditional beliefs regarding God. Next on the line was Freud’s theory of dreams. He considered dream as a â€Å"product of repressed desires† which created a stir in the realm of ideas. The concept of a definable unified normative self gave way to discontinuous, divided self. Self was then considered as the hidden designs of the unconscious. Psychoanalysis paved the path towards quest for self-knowledge. Short story evolved as an autonomous genre and became an important medium of expressing the petty and small truths and lies of human existence. The story developed from depicting the realism of life to more being allusive, ambivalent and self-reflexive. According to the book ‘Modernism’ by Peter Child, the meaning of the term ‘Modernism ‘is variously defined: as a genre, style, period or combination of all three. It stems from the term ‘modern’, taken from Latin word ‘modo’ which means anything ‘current’. The modernism in prose represents consciousness, perception, emotion, meaning and individuals’ relation to society in the form of internal monologue, stream-of-consciousness, irresolution and other techniques. In the phrase of Ezra Pound, ‘make it new’. By expressing the sensibilities of the time: of the city, of war, mass production and communication, New Women and aestheticism. It is expressed in compressed and complex form of literature. In literature, the focus shifts from broader moral concerns of society to deeper psychological problems of the individual, from external details of the events to their finer internal dynamics, and from a telescopic perspective of reality to a microscopic view of it. Another aspect of modern literature (form of art) as we find from the book ‘Modernism’ by Peter Child is that it is extremely compressed in the sense that it should be read with attention which is normally reserved for philosophy and poetry. Short story as a genre falls under written narrative fiction. Fictional narrative may refer to real people, actual places and events but it cannot be used as evidence of what happened in the real world. This story is a fictional narrative based on real life experience of the author. Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) is one of the few authors to attain prominence exclusively for short stories, and her works remain among the most widely read in world literature. .Her works are noted for their themes relating to women’s lives and social hierarchies as well as her sense of wit and characterizations. As a writer, she placed great emphasis to individual than to society. Her works are open-ended in the sense that it does not have a formalized ending to it. In her work ‘Prelude’, she applied the technique of ‘stream-of-consciousness’. She created her story on revealing the mental conflict of characters rather than the development of plot. The core idea raised by the story is that the narration delves in to the minds of the individuals. The tale does not have a conventional plot where the story unfolds through a sequence of events but focuses on a crisis or a mental conflict. We enter an individual consciousness to another. We get a glimpse of the mental state of the personas. In the course of the narration, very little ‘happens’ but the story gives us a vivid picture of personal crises that crucially affect each character’s internal well being while leaving the atmosphere of amiable, conventional family life intact. Kezia is a very imaginative child who find Parrot prints on the wallpaper as real parrots who ‘persisted in flying past Kezia with her lamp’. She also witnesses the killing of a chicken. Kezia’s unmarried and desperately timid Aunt Beryl is unsatisfied with her life and never shows her real self to others. Linda, Kezia’s mother pregnant with yet another child at times wishes to abandon the whole family and not even say goodbye. She visualizes her feelings for her husband in small packages, where she loves and respects her husband in one time to hate his later. His husband is a business tycoon who wants his roots in the country, which is the reason for their move from their town to their country home. He wishes for a son of his own. Modernism as Peter Child writes in his book is break away from convention. Katherine Mansfield’s brief life was also a lesson in casting off convention. Famously, Mansfield remarked ‘risk, risk everything’. She was rebellious in nature. She could not accept that all women have definite future of waiting for a husband as she wrote in one of her letter to her school friend when she was sixteen. In ‘Prelude’, Katherine explores the possibilities and discovery of the wide canvas of human life in the small domestic world of the Burrells. In the story, she questions the traditional believes of society, where a woman has the duty of getting married and bearing children for the family as Linda Murrell. Or the vacant side of a woman’s life where she stays at home and does the household chores. She has no profession of her own and no freedom of movement as in the case of the character of Aunt Beryl. Mansfield is a New Zealand writer. In her short life she has travelled to England and France but she had her roots firmly grounded in her native land. She uses her memories of childhood in her writing. He molds her characters on real people, places and even inscribes the colloquial speech of the country. ‘Prelude’ is a recount of one of the move her family made from their city home, from Tinakori Road in Wellington to Karori, five miles away to town. She reveals the insecurity and instability of her childhood connected with this repeated shift from one home to another. The portrayal of Linda Burrell is a depiction of her mother Annie Dyer, who has been described as ‘delicate and aloof’. Mrs. Linda Murrell is a character who keeps herself detached from the running of the household. It is her mother who runs the house. She has a neglecting attitude towards her daughters. She remains with her own dreams and expectations holed in her bedroom. She remains secluded from her family even when she is in midst of them: we find her on the easy chair rocking in the same room, where her husband and her sister are playing a game of crib. As she watches them, she thinks ‘how remote they look’. The character of Mr. Burrell is based on her father, Harold Beauchamp, who was a successful merchant. Mr. Murrell is a successful business man. He is a pompous man who prided himself of having a bargain regarding the new land which he now own. Rather than direct detail, her images stress on suggestion and implication. In Prelude she uses the images of plant aloe and birds to reveal the working of the mind of human beings.. The image of a rich young man under Linda’s window may imply that she wants to escape from her family and the rich household of her husband. The image of a child with bald head and bird may hint that she is overwhelmed with the burden of bearing one child after another. She likes the aloe so much because it has sharp thorns which restrict a person from coming near it. Also because it flowers every hundred years, Katherine Mansfield is the centre figure in the development of modern short story. She was born in New Zealand but spend much of her adult life in Europe. In the course of her adult life, she tried to extricate herself from the dominance of her family. She also removed herself from the expectation of society regarding women of her class. Her attitude towards life casts its shadow on her literary works. She writes without a conventional plot. Rather she concentrates on a particular point or crisis. She uses themes which are universal like isolation of man, the traditional role of men and women in society or the conflict between love and dissolution. The images in her works, elaborate farther the death of human psychology. References: Katherine Mansfield: Significance as a Writer [Internet], Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society. Available from: < http://www. katherinemansfield. com/mansfield/signif. asp> [Accessed 31 August 2007] Akshaya Kumar. (2001) The icons of modernism with Euroamerican bias [Internet], available from: < http://www. tribuneindia. com/2001/20011216/spectrum/book1. htm> [Accessed 31 August 2007] Eric Eldred. â€Å"Prelude. † by Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) [Internet], available from: [Accessed 31 August 2007] Peter Child. Modernism [Internet], available from: [Accessed 31 August 2007] Katherine Mansfield: Short Story Moderniser [Internet], available from: [Accessed 31 August 2007] Manfred Jahn. (2005) Narratology: A Guide to the Theory of Narrative [Internet], available from: [Accessed 31 August 2007] Ismail S Talib. Narrative Theory [Internet], available from: [Accessed 31 August 2007]

The Effects of School Culture and Climate

The Effects of School Culture and Climate Free Online Research Papers The school is a place where many people with different beliefs, attitudes come together to achieve certain goals. In order to be an effective leader in such an environment one must meet the needs of their employees but still allow them to successfully achieve their goals as individuals or as a group. The problems school districts face today is not all individuals or groups are willing to commit themselves to work to achieve the mission statement set for their school. However, factors that influence this type of behavior are ones beliefs and values. Such groups can be studied by leaders through theories to help gain knowledge on how to address certain issues. An effective leader is one who can control school culture and climate in today’s fast growing school system. The article researched was An Audit of the Culture Starts with Two Handy Tools, written by Christopher Wagner and Penelope Masden-Copas. The article can be found on The Center for Improving School Culture out of Bowling Green, Kentucky. The authors believe that a school without a healthy culture will hinder the faculty in a way that will not allow them to be open or receptive to professional learning opportunities. It is often thought that school improvement starts with the receptiveness of the individual teacher. A theory stated by Wagner and Masden-Copas (2002) â€Å"If people don’t improve, programs never will† (p.42). One way to achieve one’s improvement is through professional development meetings, which allow for the staff to collaborate on new ideas. Ultimately, Wagner and Masden-Copas (2002) state how a school culture will â€Å"only occur in a healthy school culture designed to promote higher levels of professional collaboration, collegiality, and self- determination† (p.43). In the article Wagner (2000) describes school culture as: Shared experiences both in school and out of school (traditions and celebrations) that create a sense of community, family, and team membership. People in any healthy organization must have agreement on how to do things and what is worth doing. Staff stability and common goals permeate the school. Time is set aside for school wide recognition of all school stakeholders. Common agreement on curricular and instructional components, as well as order and discipline, are established through consensus. Open and honest communication is encouraged and there is an abundance of humor and trust. Tangible support from leaders at the school and district levels is also present. (p. 43) In the article it’s clear on the issues that will cause for a school culture to be toxic. One issue that will clearly interfere with the development of a school culture is when teachers blame students for the lack of progress. As adults one must realize that attitude reflects leadership. If the students can see a lack of communication, and collaboration between the administration and faculty a toxic culture is all that will be created. A negative school culture and climate have also been linked to the increase dropout rate of students. An increase in school drop out means a decrease in state funding. It is important that the school district come together to identify the weak areas to decrease the number of students leaving school, due to feeling negative about the school environment. The main points of this research are to describe how school cultures and environments affect the behavior of teachers and students. School culture is the shared belief and attitude that characterizes the organization and establishes boundaries. The culture of a school integrates and implements its mission and vision. It is often thought that leadership guides behavior and respect. A school with a positive culture has relationships among everyone that gives a sense of caring to all learners and the community. Successful schools recruit and retain strong leaders, but sustainable culture survives beyond individual leaders because it exists in the heart and soul of the organization (Collins 2001; Fullan 2001; Hargreaves and Fink 2006). Gaining a deep understanding of what a strong, positive culture looks like and how it works can help educators become more thoughtful about developing one. Russell Hobby (2004) of Britain’s Hay Group suggests, â€Å"Viewed more positively, culture can also be the ultimate form of ‘capacity’ –a reservoir of energy and wisdom to sustain motivation and co-operation, shape relationships and aspirations, and guide effective choices at every level of the school†. At successful schools participants are empowered. In almost all successful schools the school leader encourages participation by parents, students, and teachers. The teachers and parents in many cases serve on advisory boards for the school and they are part of the decision- making process which also empowers them. They are then committed to the philosophy of learning and encouraged to always do their best. When teachers are actively involved in making change, the end result is improved morale and will to participate and follow the leader of the school. Building a strong culture does not happen in a short period of time, it could take months even a couple of years to get the positive culture into the school. According to Bryk and Schneider (2002), â€Å"relational trust is not something that can be achieved simply through some workshop, retreat, or form of sensitivity training, although all of these can be helpful. Rather, relational trust is forged in daily social exchanges. Trust grows over time through exchanges where the expectations held for others are validated in action† (p.136-137). â€Å"For relational trust to develop and be sustained,† say Byrk and Schneider (2002), both staff and students â€Å"must be able to make sense of their work together in terms of what they understand as the primary purpose of the school: Why are we really here† ( p.137)? Changes must begin with the superintendent of the district and the central administration, backed by the school board. Within each building, the principal plays a primary role, providing leadership, articulating goals and behavioral expectations of teachers, and supporting staff in developing an effective school (Gonder Hymes, 1994). The school leader must push for a positive culture within the school to create an environment in which learning can flourish among the staff and students. One of the scenarios presented in this week’s reading dealt with an assistant principal going against the school leader and convincing others to go along with her. The new leader failed to look at the culture already established within that school and therefore didn’t accomplish the project. He didn’t realize that the assistant had a negative attitude and able to influence others at any expense. Another scenario consisted of a veteran teacher questioning the competency of a first year teacher being able to perform a duty. The leader must have a positive culture instilled in the staff and allow them to voice their opinions and value their suggestions and not hurt anyone’s feelings. The leader must achieve better and equitable outcomes for everyone to work together and must create organizational culture. Of course, this will not be simple, easy, or quick. As Michael Fullan (2001) puts it, â€Å"Reculturing is a contact sport that involves hard, labor-intensive work. But it is a sport that must be played more aggressively if our schools are to achieve the kinds of results we now expect of them.† In conclusion, we as the leaders for tomorrow must remember that public schools should be an establishment built on caring for the needs of their staff as well as their students alike. Therefore school culture and climate includes everything that is done within the school. The key to creating a positive school culture is in the hands of the school leaders. Most importantly the way people treat and value one another, share ideas for teaching all come down to support and that is what is important in today’s schools. Trust between parents, students, community, and especially the members of the school district is the foundation for a healthy school culture that will strive to maximize students learning ability. References Bryk, A.S. Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. (p.136-137) Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great. New York: Harper Collins. Frieberg, H.J. (1998). Measuring school climate: Let me count the ways. Educational Leadership,56(1), 22-26. Fullan, W. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Gonder, P. O., Hymes, D. (1994). Improving school climate and culture (AASA Critical Issues Report No. 27). Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators. Hargreaves, A., and D. Fink (2006). Sustainable Leadership. San Francisco: John Wiley Sons. Hobby, R. (2004, March). A culture for learning: An investigation into the values and beliefs associated with effective schools. London: Hay Group Management. (p.6). Phillips, G., Wagner, C. (2003). School culture assessment. Vancouver, BC: Mitchell Press, Agent 5 Design. Wagner, C. (2000). School culture analysis. Manitoba Association of Resources Teachers (MART), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Wagner, C., Masden-Copas, P. (2002). An audit of the culture starts with two handy tools. The Center for Improving School Culture, Bowling Green, Kentucky. 42-47 Research Papers on The Effects of School Culture and ClimateStandardized TestingTrailblazing by Eric AndersonHip-Hop is ArtEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeGenetic EngineeringBringing Democracy to AfricaDefinition of Export Quotas

How does the devil solve life's most serious problems Essay

How does the devil solve life's most serious problems - Essay Example He deals with serious matters by destroying the good things in life such as happiness, love, and joy replacing them with emptiness. Sins and evil consist of a certain level of selfishness that, at most times, consists of things that people do for personal gratification and pleasure (Gellner 21). The devil deals with serious things by allowing people to do their will for personal satisfaction. Goodness has delayed gratification compared to evil. If an individual takes care of his family, helps the needy, and shares what he has with others, then he will be rewarded in heaven. For Muslims, such a woman would come back as a prettier version of herself to serve her husband better while a man would receive 12 virgins to be his wives as soon as he got to heaven. Evil has instant gratification. For example, if a man wants justice for his brother’s killer, then it is likely that he would prefer to kill the individual in vengeance as opposed to waiting for a court trial or for him to wait for God to judge him. An evil person or the evil in any person delights in doing as it pleases. The devil does not require a man to practice good traits like patience, gentleness, kindness, or sharing. If a poor man begs a person for money, that person will probably prefer to keep the money and spend it on himself, instead of helping a needy person. Similarly, in the case of rape, the rapist enjoys personal gratification while the victim suffers an immense amount of pain and emotional torture. According to many cultures and religions, the devil thrives in darkness, suffering, and chaos (Gellner 13). Subsequently, he deals with things by ridding the world of light, joy, and happiness. For instance, when a marriage results in divorce, the children suffer and some are hurt emotionally and mentally for life. He constantly causes misfortune to people attempting to pursue love, peace, and happiness. He does not want people to enjoy life

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