Rejecting Barbie: Beyond a Perfect Size Six

â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy explores the emotional pressure on women caused by society’s ideals of feminine beauty. The poem is given a title after the well-loved doll from Mattel to show the type of features expected of a girl in order that she is considered beautiful. The other strengths of the girl in the poem are ignored in favor of physical attributes. Comparing women to what is considered a physical model of what is beautiful can destroy the individuality and self-worth of different types of beauty, including beauty that transcends the physical. Little girls are expected to play with dolls.The girl in the poem is said to be â€Å"born as usual† (Piercy line 1) and â€Å"presented dolls that did pee-pee† (Piercy line 2). She is either emotionally very feminine that she chooses what other little girls would play with, or she has been brought up in such a way that she is molded into the typical little girl. Everything is fine with the girl; she p lays with what other little girls play with and wears â€Å"wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy† (Piercy line 4). Little children are too innocent to point out differences that only the brainwashed Barbie-loving society can tell.Robert Perrin believes that â€Å"the ceremonial formality of presented, juxtaposed with the euphemistic word pee-pee† (Perrin 83) contribute to the poem’s meaning. It begins the poem’s use of irony, although in some way it is very feminine to be formal with some words and yet to refuse using other words which are considered to be too vulgar for a lady to say, like to urinate. So far, the main character is doing well as the society expects her. Puberty changes the little girl’s place in the society’s favor.She may have healthy appetites and a keen intellect (Piercy lines 7-9), but she often feels the need to apologize for her facial features and weight (Piercy lines 10-11) that do not meet the standards of a beau tiful young woman in the eyes of society. In fact, it is very difficult to attain the standards of a life-sized Barbie equivalent; proportionally she will be about five feet and six inches tall, is 110 pounds, wears sized seven clothes and measures â€Å"a top-heavy 39-18-33† (duCille 9). To add to the young girl’s pressure, she does not possess the beautiful face and thin body of what is considered the average pretty girl.Her other, better, qualities are not even given the appreciation they deserve, even though she is basically a normal girl with something minor lacking, according to society (Frisk). For a young girl who is still seeking her place in the world, this is devastating. While she keeps on apologizing for her â€Å"flaws†, the poem seems to apologize by also occasionally mentioning her good characteristics. Other people try to change the girl into something that she is not. She is being transformed to become someone who is supposedly a better person. â€Å"She was advised to play coy, /exhorted to come on hearty, / exercise, diet, smile and wheedle† (Piercy lines 12-14). The changes are to be made on her physical features and also on her personality. This is to produce the stereotypical female: she not only looks good, she also has to behave in a certain manner, like baking cookies for her children so that they have something to eat when they arrive home (Schimone 79). This is the type of woman that the girl’s so called advisers want her to be: a charming woman with a ready smile but who does not act vulgar; instead, she must â€Å"play coy† or act shy.The poet, Marge Piercy, on the other hand, believes that â€Å"it wasn’t good enough for women to keep making the coffee and running the mimeo machines while the men were off on power trips on theory and leadership† (Altman 6). Women must not be expected to fit into a mold. Instead, each woman’s individuality must be accepted and appreciat ed. Then, we are again introduced to irony, because compared to the impossibly proportioned Barbie doll, the girl is more capable of an intellectual conversation and a warm welcome. She is flesh and blood, while Barbie is an inanimate doll. Yet, the latter seems to garner more approval from society.It is indeed enough pressure to push a young girl to the edge. Other girls who have the same pressure develop illnesses like eating disorders. The unnamed girl in the poem develops depression as a result of hopelessness. This is evident in the line â€Å"Her good nature wore out/ like a fan belt† (Piercy lines 15-16). This is the point at which the poem turns into a darker territory. The particular simile is used because when a fan belt does wear out, there is no way to move forward. This means that the girl has become so hopeless about her situation that she has decided to do something drastic.â€Å"So she cut off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up† (Piercy lines 17 -18). These are lines that are so graphic and shocking that some readers interpret it as plastic surgery to somewhat decrease the shock of someone cutting herself. Some scholars, however, believe that the literal meaning is true because it is a logical precedent to the last stanza, where the poet talks about her funeral. Perrin believes that the girl does the cutting â€Å"ceremonially† (Perrin 84), implying that she has done the cutting herself, and this is no plastic surgery.â€Å"Unable to live up to the standards set by the dolls she is given, the children with whom she plays and the adults who urge her to diet, a girl-child sets out to fix her big nose and fat legs permanently† (duCille 8). Ann duCille focuses on the girl’s depression and ultimately, insanity, which enables her to harm herself for the sake of an ideal image that she is unable to reach. â€Å"So the author, in a bitter, bitter touch of grotesque comedy, has her cut them off† (Frisk). Phillip Frisk also thinks that the cutting is literal, and a technique used by the poet to emphasize the magnitude of the girl’s despair.He thinks it is a form of grotesque comedy because the action is too extreme and disturbing. The act may be desperate but a plastic surgery may be dubbed as desperate as well. Either interpretation will emphasize the depths that the girl’s self-esteem has sunk into. The self-mutilation, however, is more deranged and is an extreme illustration of what breaking a girl’s self-worth can do. â€Å"In the casket displayed on satin she lay/ with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on/ a turned up putty nose† (Piercy lines 19-21). Again, there are different views on the preceding lines.It may still be interpreted that the girl has undergone plastic surgery and has ended up with a â€Å"putty nose† or a nose that has been molded to the shape desired. However, yet again, the death is a logical consequence to violent s elf-mutilation, the literal interpretation of the girl cutting herself. â€Å"The closing stanza presents an artificially serene view of the girl – prepared by the undertaker with makeup, reconstructed nose, and a â€Å"pink-and-white nightie† (Perrin 84). Perrin says that it is the undertaker that prepares the girl’s face for her funeral.The nose must be fixed so that it can at least be presentable when the girl is viewed in her casket by the mourners. Immobile, the girl is subjected to ministrations that are supposed to make her fit to be seen. She has become a Barbie doll dressed and made up to be aesthetically pleasing. â€Å"Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said/ Consummation at last† (Piercy lines 23-24). Finally, the girl achieves the compliments that she has always wanted to hear. It is ironic, and unfortunate, that this has not happened during her lifetime but happens instead during her funeral.According to Perrin, the onlookers’ comment on the dead girl provides a â€Å"more disturbing† scenario (Perrin 84). He proceeds by criticizing the â€Å"insensitivity – and ultimate cruelty – of a society that encourages patterned behaviors, that fails to recognize the innate values people possess, that creates artificial demands, and that perpetuates unhealthy expectations† (Perrin 84). They have learned to appreciate the girl when she is dead and made up by the undertaker. It seems that they too believe that the girl is better off dead and pretty, than plain but healthy and alive.This is a self-absorbed society focused on what they believe a woman should be. The woman itself is not asked if she is still comfortable about the expectations and pressures attached to her very own femininity. She has to wait for other people to affirm her beauty and not make her own mind about what real beauty is all about. â€Å"To every woman, a happy ending† (Piercy line 25). The poem ends in irony. It is difficult to believe that dying through self-mutilation can gather such a comment. The people seem to be unsympathetic.Instead, they think that the girl has gotten what she has always wanted. They do not stop to think that when the girl is still living, she would have wanted to feel more at ease with herself, with who she really is, rather than constantly try to please other people. She does get her peace, at last, but it has to be this tragic. â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy is a reminder of the dangers of comparing women to idealized versions of the perfect woman and the value of appreciating a woman’s worth beyond her physical form.A woman is not just a body, but a complete bundle of the physical, emotional and intellectual. On the other hand, the Barbie doll figure may be attractive to some, but it is after all, only a doll. Women may have to endure dangerous physical alterations in order to follow this ideal. Therefore, it can be concluded that a woman i s not an object for men to enjoy watching, but she is her own person who can choose the path she wants to take. Works Cited Altman, Meryl. â€Å"Lives on the Line. † The Women's Review of Books, Vol. 19, no. 7 (April 2002): 6-7. duCille, Ann.â€Å"Review: Little Big Woman. † The Women’s Review of Books, Vol. 11, No. 3 (November 1993): 7-9. Frisk, Phillip. â€Å"Teaching Notes: Barbie Doll. † Radical Teacher (Winter 1991). Perrin, Robert. â€Å"†Barbie Doll† and â€Å"G. I. Joe†: Exploring Issues of Gender. † The English Journal, Vol. 88, no. 3 (January 1999): 83-85. Piercy, Marge. â€Å"Barbie Doll. † 22 November 2007 . Schimone, Anthony J. â€Å"At Home with Poetry: Constructing Poetry Anthologies in the High School. † The English Journal, Vol. 89, No. 2 (November 1999): 78-82. Ð ¤

Online Inquiry System

Introduction Now a day, in a highly technological society, human productivity is made more efficient through the development of computer. Now, with the advent of such modernization in prison, one way to globalize the process of research is to realized that technology is advancing at an incredibly fast pace. Computers are not confined to being used for entertainment but its role in prison is also vast. Prison from old French â€Å"prisoun† which means an institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment. Prison is a place where people usually deprived of a range of personal freedoms.It is also organized for the safety of the prisoners and the management and to easily identify the prisoner’s information and the visitor who come and visit their relatives inside, that is why we make this system called Visitors Monitoring and Prisoners Information system. This system is for the Imus Municipal Jail. Statement of the problem * The Imus Municipal Jail lack s in an automated system for visitor’s monitoring. This is a problem causing them to a slow process and losing of data. * Time consuming because they can’t do other tasks. Security problems, records maybe lost due to lack of database. Objectives of the Study To make their system automated for fast use and for security purposes, and make it easier for them to monitor the visitors and prisoners and lessen their task. Time and Place of the Study July 23,2012 3:00 PM. The proponents prepared for the study by composing a letter to conduct a interview for the company at lobby of Cavite State University Imus Campus at July 25 around 1:00 PM at the proponents conducted an interview in Bureau of Imus Municipal Jail.After the proponents conducted an interview August 2,2012 9:32 AM they started constructing the 1st chapter. September 3,2012 4:00PM they start constructing the 2nd chapter of the research paper and then September 26,2012 1:00PM the proponents finish the chapter 3 an d finish the documentation. Normalization Visitor visitor_code|cisitor_name|contact_no. |relationship|address|age Prisoner Inmate_code|inmate_name|relationship|address|case|date_imprisonVisitor_code|inmate_code|control_number|datevisited Visitor_code|inmate_code|control_number|datevisited Employee Date visitor_code inmate_code date_visited remarks time visitor_code inmate_code date_visited remarks time A A Username, visitor_code Username, visitor_code Visitor Visitor If login is correct If login is correct A A No Stop Stop Logout Logout Reschedule visit Reschedule visit If prisoner exist If prisoner exist Check prisoner info Check prisoner info Yes Visit Visit No

Hitch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hitch - Essay Example During the time when Hitchens tries to help out Albert he also falls for Sara who was a gossip columnist. Thus the movie moves forwards with the interplay of the four characters in different situations. (Tenant, 2005). As the movie moves forward it is able to capture the attention of the audience because it is a movie to which most of the audience is able to relate easily. The goal of the paper is to explore how closely sociological issues are related to the movie Hitch. The main issues which have been addressed through the movie are primarily social interaction, race and gender. This is because we see in the movie Sara the gossip columnist had a strong dislike for men and she believed that men are worthless. From the feminist perspective it can be said that Sara wanted to protest against all men of the society by showing complete disregard and disgust for them. Moreover we also see in the movie that she thinks Alex Hitchens as a man who teaches other men to use women according to their fancy. This is because one of the clients of Alex had a one night stand with Sara’s best friend. Taking cue from this we can say that the movie Hitch also tries to focus on the objectification of women from the perspective of Sara. Through Sara the message which we get is that objectification of women by men was a very common phenomenon and women were aware of such a system existing and here in the movie Sara’s desire to unmask Hitchens is basically a p rotest which women want to undertake against men. Therefore Sara is determined to unmask Alex in front of the world. Devereux in the book, â€Å"Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates† says that the casting of the movie â€Å"Hitch† has remained an example of the inadequate representation of the minority groups like the Blacks in the mass media. Alex played by William Smith is an example of African representation in the media and the presence of stars like him point to the fact that though Blacks have received

International Courts and Tribunals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Courts and Tribunals - Essay Example Despite the measures left behind by British military tribunal, all international and especially Americans did not practice separate hearings for matters in which guilt has been established. Most tribunals seldom affix an obligatory final clause to their judgments appraising extenuating factors in rare cases. Therefore there is little or no standard to help courts and tribunals now that that international justice has been rejuvenated almost 50 years later with the setting up of international tribunals for the previous Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Firstly what are international tribunals, international criminal tribunals are specialized courts set up to convict individuals accused of violations standardized under international humanitarian law as committed in a particular place and time. (Albert Schweitzer, np, 1960) It is imperative to understand what the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda is. The ICTR has prominent jurisdiction to arraign people accused of genocide, human right violations and war crimes. In Rwanda particularly between January 1st and December 31st, the trial courts situated in Arusha, Tanzania, the appeals court situated inn the Hague, and the Second-in-command Prosecutor was located in Kigali, Rwanda. Till today the tribunal has handed down 22 judgments in which 28 were accused. Eleven trials are in progress, involving a grand total of 27 accused. Surprisingly these include up to eight ministers, one parliamentarian, three prefects, about eight military officers and tree burgomasters. The tribunal holds about fifteen detainees awaiting trial and about fourteen remain at large. All trials are presumed to end by 2008 and closing date set at 2010.as of 2006 about 102 countries were a part of the international criminal court, all NATO members except turkey and two members from the UN Security Council France and the United Kingdom. Although the United States has long been involved in international justice, currently USA is opposed to the ICC, although US has been kind enough not to bar UN security council vote to refer to crimes committed in Dafur to the ICC Prosecutor, officials say that US will assist if asked by the court. An important considerations is the ethical aspects of these trials, the Rome Statute incorporates the very best evolved, most ample understanding of what comprises a fair trial. In addition the Rome Statue contains every chapter process protection in the constitution of the United States of America, the death sentence is excluded. The world is greatly concerned if ICC will conduct any investigations in Iraq; this is highly unlike because of the fact that all potential crimes were committed on Iraqi territory, on which ICC does not have any jurisdiction as Iraq does not belong to the parties to the Rome Statue. All prosecutors ag reed that all allegations concerning killings and maltreatment of civilians were substantial and failed to be admissible under the Rome Statue, which require crime to be of a certain level. Prosecutors believe that such allegations need to be addressed on a national level. (McMorran

Schmid compliance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Schmid compliance - Essay Example This is a dicey issue. On one hand, the school, since it must make budget cuts, is being forced to eliminate the women’s varsity softball team. Also, one of the mens’ teams is being cut as well, so it would appear that the university is not being unfair in any manner. However, since the school is approximately 50% men and 50% women, and since 39% of women compete in sports, it seems as though the school may have a difficult time making their case for why this program should be cut. On one hand, the womens’ softball team does have less athletes, than say, the womens’ swim team. It would therefore seem like a logical choice that, in the face of budget cuts, the womens’ softball team would be the first to go. However, considering the fact that the school is comprised of about almost the same amount of men, it seems that the university would want to comply with Title IX. The female student athletes could probably make a reasonable argument that they wer e not being given reasonable accommodation under Title IX. These are the facts. 3. On which of OCR’s three â€Å"benchmarks† for measuring effective accommodation of student athletes’ interests and abilities might the college base its defense? What arguments could the college raise under each? The first benchmark is one that the college might base its defense on. The college could raise the factors under each benchmark that: a) the college had to make budget cuts; b) the cuts that were made were made both to the mens’ and womens’ teams;

Religion's Impact on Colonial America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Religion's Impact on Colonial America - Essay Example They believed that material success was God's reward for honorable behavior. These early beliefs were transformed into the laws of the land in regards to the economic system of capitalism and morality laws. The Puritan movement in the colonies also had the effect of geographically dispersing those that disagreed with the concept of the church as state. The Quakers were one of the early settlers that moved to escape the Puritan law. They believed that religion was more individualistic and split away to form new colonies, most notably Pennsylvania. These traditions of Puritan morality and Quaker individualism would later form the backbone of our constitution. A high degree of respect for the individual and a belief that America was a destiny, like Winthrop's 'House on the Hill', were woven into the fabric of America. The Great Awakening brought religion to the frontier and religion became a dominant part of American politics. Overall, religion was the catalyst for colonization and also the venue for its experimentation. Religion was a major part of the colonist's lives and it shaped their laws and their philosophies. The Great Awakening further instilled the importance of religion in America. America had become a refuge for those who wanted religious freedom and would became a home to the people that wished to practice their religion in an orderly manner without persecution. Timing and Motivation for the American Revolution The American Revolution was the last step on a long journey from the split away from England. By the middle of the 1700s, the time had presented a realistic opportunity for self-rule. The Seven Years' War had driven Britain deeply in debt and they were set to collect the payment through taxation of the colonies. The war had also eliminated the French influence in the colonies and the British remained as the only obstacle to self-rule. These events would become the tipping point for a call for independence. Many of the colonists during this period came under the influence of theorists such as Thomas Paine and John Locke. Locke professed that all men had a contract to each other, not to any authority. Paine argued that to illegally deprive a man of his property was to deny the man his life. The colonists during this period saw themselves as unrepresented in the British parliament. Though they had representation, it was across the ocean and was merely a token representation. The colonists wanted self-rule as a means to reclaim their property and their life. The colonies, for all practical purposes, were self-governing. They had local law, legislatures, authority to tax, and social infrastructure. England provided little except the regulation of imports and exports. This was in conjunction with what the colonists felt was an unfair and unjust taxation. The enormous debt incurred by England, and their insistence on collecting it from the colonists precipitated the final movement toward independence. The colonies by this time had a de facto government in place and the issue of taxation was the means to move the public into action. Diversity in the Colonies in 1760 By 1760, the population of the colonies had experienced a tenfold increase over the year 1700. The 2.5 million inhabitants were a mixed group of predominantly Europeans from England, Germany, Scotland, and Ireland. They tended to form own communities and many of them migrated into the south and settled into the backcountry of South Carolina and Georgia. These groups were further divided by religion. Many people had no religion, but those who did were the majority Protestants. There were also significant numbers of Catholics and some Jews. In New England, residents were required

Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Globalization - Essay Example We are exposed to technology now a day. For every work we have to use technology of certain kind. Technology is everywhere we see; from television to nuclear weapons we see the use of technology. Technology has made this easier for everyone to communicate with each other from different countries. People can see each other, talk to each other, even they live far away from each other. This has only become possible because of electronics. We have to use technology in every walk of life because we are totally dependent on technology as this present era is said to be an age of technology. No work can be done without technology now. We use pen for writing our stuff and now we use laptops for this purpose. Use of technology is the same for both but because of advancement in technology, means of using them differs. But technology remains there every time to facilitate us. We cannot survive without technology in this modern world. If we face any health issues we have hospitals and surgical in struments are there to tackle with operations and surgery work. If we feel unsafe we use weapons and safety instruments for our safety. Globalization brings different nations of the world closer and help them to join hands in terms of economy , society , education and politics. Globalization minimizes the distances among nations and increases their communication level. Globalization and use of technology enables people to communicate with one another for the sake for nation development and this is the biggest achievement by the use of technology that all nations are together and in touch with each other. Having different culture different language doesn’t matter now. Technology has removed all those differences. One culture of a country can be easily mixed up with another country. Globalization amalgamates integration as well as interaction. Globalization is now linked with technologies in every aspect of human civilization through making countries build new policies that wou ld help them to open economies internationally as well as domestically. Free market economies systems is developed and that provides the path for mounting potential for industries and economies and provides the platform for investments and international trade. In this way, technology has played an important role to serve as an opportunity for marketing, production, foreign markets and trades. Technology has an important role in business marketing. E.g. Advertising is basically is the way of communication and negotiating with people whom you think as your potential consumers for the company.. And this has all become possible because of digital-advertising. That’s technology itself. Advertisements and digital promotions contribute a lot to sales volume of the company and as this world is exposed to technology so this is the need of hour to adopt digital ways for promotions to have boom in their sales. So technology plays an essential role in business sector to flourish and grow . As this world is turning into electronic-world and use of internet and its awareness is increasing day-by-day so organizations should go with the flow. Organizations advertise electronically, non-electronically, and promote their products through internet because technology is the major key to increase sales and target the selected market for generating revenue. Firms and individuals have already realized the importance of electronic gadgets and advancement in technology. Globalization is affecting this world in

Capital Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Capital Punishment - Essay Example Similarly, previous death sentences, under the judicial doctrine of precedents, justify the penalty as usual. The fact that a defendant has committed a crime that is as cruel as the death sentence means that the defendant is not justified to argue for cruelty of the sentence (Mandery 473). Life without parole is a more humane and pragmatic alternative because it achieves justice to victims and preserves humanity. In holding defendants, it eliminates them from the society and therefore reduces risks of crimes associated with the people. It therefore ensures justice and preserves morality. The position that the post assumes omits some information that could change its position on the issues. Incidence of death penalties remained high and this indicated its ineffectiveness as deterrence. Similarly, the eighth amendment is not clear on what is cruel and unusual, based on different crimes. I however agree that life imprisonment without parole is a better alternative because it keeps criminals from the society and because death penalty proved

Starbucks Coffee Company Essay Example for Free

Starbucks Coffee Company Essay Executive Summary 1. Starbucks product isn’t only about the goods it provides, but the services and the experience of going to a starbucks as well. 2. Starbucks has two main end user groups, to which Starbucks product has many different aspects that are beneficial to them. 3. SWOT internal analysis reveals strengths of brand image and high standards and weaknesses in over saturation and lack of diversity. Externally, Starbucks has opportunity to expand and diversify to avoid threatening competition and reliance on individual products. 4. Porter’s Five Forces analysis displays threats from high consumer and supplier bargaining power, a large amount of substitutes and a low chance of new competitors although high competition with current competitors. 5. Historically, Starbucks has employed saturation and awareness strategies. 6. Current strategies reflect environmental analysis as Starbucks aims to expand and diversify, as well as raise social awareness and accountability. 7. Starbucks’ competitive advantage draws from its strategies of differentiation, technological advancement and unique atmosphere. Product Description Benefits. Starbucks is an internationally renowned brand, with 20,891 stores in 64 countries. The Starbucks product is not just a range of beverages and food; it is the service, the culture and atmosphere and the sustainability that can be expected in all of its stores. Starbucks represents this in their mission statement: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one  cup and one neighbourhood at a time. The more obvious part of the product is the coffee as well as other drinks and food, but another significant part of Starbucks product is it’s goals in caring for its community and being an ethical and environmentally friendly corporation. Starbucks’ large market share can be accounted to specifically targeting two main end-user groups and catering the product to their needs. Customers both male and female ages 25-40 make up for a massive 49% of Starbucks total business. Judging by their age we can assume these consumers are most likely working with greater disposable income, and we can assume working people are often busy travelling and on the go. These ages are also typical of people with new families. Another target audience is young adults aged 18-24 who make up 40% of Starbucks total business. Commonly people this age are studying, travelling, and enjoy socialising and hanging out. Generally judging on the age group they will have less income and if they are students they may have no job or only have part time work. The brand image of Starbucks plays a strong part in appealing to consumers. Starbucks’ brand image symbolises wealth and status. Starbucks utilises this by targeting the working adult and creating loyalty to its brand. Starbucks also appeals to young people as they have a strong brand image of being, quite simply, cool. Through many of the benefits of Starbucks we can understand how loyalty is an important role in why it’s customers prefer it to other cafes.There are many Starbucks cafes worldwide, and wherever you are in the world you know what to expect when you walk into a Starbucks cafà ©. Starbucks has a strong sense of consistency throughout its branches, from the menu, to the service and often the appearance of the cafà ©. This makes Starbucks a welcoming and a familiar place wherever you are buying coffee.They also benefit their consumers by being so widely available making it easy to find a Starbucks. Consequently, it is beneficial to travelling and working people who can find a Starbucks in unfamiliar places, providing the coffee and service they know and enjoy. The cafà © itself is part of the service; customers have the option to sit and stay or takeaway as it suits them. The cafà © provides a  great meeting place for young adults to socialize or study and also benefits adults who need to work, meet people or get something to eat or drink during the day. There is free Wi-Fi available which is especially appealing to young people for both study and social networking as well as beneficial to older consumers with work to attend to. Starbucks meets a range of consumer needs by having a very large variety of drinks available, and customisation is a significant part of their appeal to consumers with 87,000 different drink combinations. Because they have such a large variety, they have an option for nearly anybody and this makes Starbucks more appealing over other coffee shops. Young adults have a greater partiality to customisation, as they appreciate having many choices of different flavours and combinations. Older consumers, especially those on the go, often know what they want to order (e.g. trim flat white, long black) but benefit from the consistent menu, which always has their drink available. Loyalty is gained not only from the consistency of high quality products and service to the customers but also from the way in which Starbucks values the community and environment. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee summed up what makes Starbucks successful in saying â€Å"we have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you cant copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company.† Company’s International Strategy Starbucks is clearly a leading coffee branch that has been very successful over the past 30 years, with its constantly growing market share. However, in order to further develop a company, they must first assess their internal and external environment to evaluate the organisation’s current position. Internal and external assessment provides an opportunity for an organisation to plan, implement and evaluate their operations. SWOT analysis helps to assess the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses as well as their external opportunities and threats. Starbucks’ strengths are high quality coffee beans, strong brand image, excellent employee management, power within the industry, and unique strategy. Starbucks is one of the most powerful brands in the world (ranked 54th for the world’s most powerful brands by Forbes) and is the most powerful brand in the coffee industry. This prevents new entrants from gaining market share and has helped the organisation to remain competitive. On the other hand, they have some weaknesses; one of the main weaknesses is the fact that the entire business relies on the coffee industry. If the coffee industry faces a hard time, it will have a bad influence on Starbucks directly. One of the main reasons an organisation becomes a Multinational Enterprise is to diversify themselves against the risks and uncertainties of the domestic business cycle. However, Starbucks has over-saturated the US market with more than 3 quarters of their business located in the home market. If their home market goes through a recession, this will have a huge impact on its business. Also, their relatively high coffee price increases competition with low priced brands. After assessing the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, an organisation then evaluates its external environments. Starbucks may extend their supplier range such as developing new products, not only their coffee but products like health and organic drinks, considering there are emerging groups of people seeking well-being products. They could also expand their business to more countries especially developing countries such as China and India. Regardless of the fact that China has a strong tea culture, Starbucks has been very successful. They currently have more than 600 stores in more than 50 cities in China, yet it is only the beginning. The market share for Starbucks is still growing however, compared to past years; it is not doing so well. The main reason for this is because of the new competitors who entered the market, for example, launch of McCafe from McDonald’s. Increased competition and competitors resulted in a higher bargaining power of buyers that lowers the market price for coffee which made it even harder for a brand who sell expensive, high quality coffees, to compete in the market. Starbucks coffees’ main ingredients are coffee beans and milk. A rise of coffee bean and dairy product prices, as a result of various non-government activities, have a strong influence on the company which may result in a  significant drop in their market share. As mentioned above, Starbucks was successful in China. Though copyright law in China is vulnerable and trademark infringement is a huge problem for all companies who are operating in China. Finally, while the earnings in the US and China remains strong, the profit from the European market has fallen due to a different regional tastes and coffee culture that resulted in a just recognisable increase in total revenue. Overall, these are Starbucks’ internal and external environments assessed using SWOT analysis. Starbucks should work through their weaknesses and threats especially their decreasing customer base due to increased competitors. Also, they should create or develop their competitive advantages through their strengths and opportunities. Furthermore, another method that helps to assess for the external environment is ‘Porter’s Five Forces Analysis’. It is a strategic tool that is used to analyse the level of competition within an industry. There are five stages to assess: bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat from substitutes, and rivalry among existing competitors. The bargaining power of buyers is high due to an increasing number of influential competitors and the fact that there are no or minimal switching costs to other companies. No or minimal switching costs means a customer can switch to its competitors easily and a growing number of competitors means that there are even higher chance of a customer switching to other companies. The degree of threats of new entrants depends much on its location for example, markets such as UK and US are already highly saturated and as such there are limited chances of a company entering the market. Also, due to the substantial amount of financial resources associated with buildings and property being required to enter the market, the threat of new entrants to the industry to compete with Starbucks is low. The bargaining power of suppliers is also very high. The world demand for coffee is fierce and coffee beans are available only in certain geographical areas such as, Africa, Latin America and some parts of Asia. There are a wide range of substitute products for Starbucks or their coffee including tea, soft drinks, water, juice and energy drinks. This, combined with an increasing focus on the negative effects of caffeine from media and among consumers, increases the percentage of consumers switching to its substitute  products. Also, there are locational substitutes such as pubs and bars where groups of people can gather and spend time away from their house and work environments. Overall, due to an increased number and power of its competitors, especially, McDonald’s (McCafe), Caribou Coffee and Dunkin Donuts, as well as many others from small local coffee shops to large global brands, the rivalry among existing competitors is very high. Unlike the early 90’s where Starbucks begun to expand, there are copious numbers of influential competitors in the market all over the world resulting in very high competition within the industry. Starbucks needs to work on how to reduce the growing power of its competitors and to gain its market share in the long-term. Starbucks holds a strong competitive advantage over its rivals mainly due to its large market share and powerful brand image. Through constant innovation and expansion, Starbucks has maintained a loyal customer base and a competitive standing within the market. The company has employed strategies such as diversifying its products, attempting to gain a larger market share internationally, such as in China, developing sustainability, such as the use of reusable cups and adapting to new methods of marketing, including social media. Starbucks has also come under scrutiny for some of its marketing techniques which include saturating the market and intentionally placing pressure on competition. Due to its early entry to the market, Starbucks was able to solidify its position and reputation. Starbucks originally built this reputation using strategies which were designed to make it the ‘third place’ people spend their time, along with work and home. This similar setting of comfort set Starbucks apart from its competitors and began the culture that now represents the company. Starbucks then began saturating areas within the United States, which created an awareness of the company whilst putting pressure on smaller businesses and competitors. As stated, Starbucks came under scrutiny for its practise of buying out other businesses and saturating the market, with some stores operating at a loss, in order to put competitors in an unfavourable position. The saturation of markets, originally in the US and later worldwide, has created a huge awareness and familiarity of the Starbucks brand. The company, therefore, has a very unique strategy; Starbucks spends less than 1% of its annual revenue on advertising, relying largely on word of mouth advertising. Comparing this to the fact that its competitors spend hugely on its advertising on media (Dunkin Donuts spent more than 83% of its budget on TV and McDonald’s spent 97%), this is very surprising. Starbucks also cuts back on it’s advertising costs through its increasing use of social media advertising. Keeping up with trends such as social media has allowed Starbucks to stay relevant at this lower cost. To illustrate their effectiveness in social media marketing: they are the highest downloaded food and drink app. Further technological advantages Starbucks uses are cloud controlled coffee machines and cloud integrated equipment and staff which allow quicker transfers of information and greater data gathering. This point of difference creates a competitive advantage that Starbucks uses to maintain its dominant position. Furthermore, Starbucks has begun to focus on diversifying its products with a heavier focus on substitutes and complementary goods such as tea and food. With tea becoming increasingly popular in the West, this allows Starbucks to have a lesser reliance solely upon coffee and creates another point of difference from its competitors. Similarly, Starbucks acquired La Boulange bakery in 2012 in order to increase the quality of its food offerings and again diversify its products to attract a larger customer base and decrease its reliance upon the coffee trade. The adoption of these emerging markets allow Starbucks to not only create greater offerings and secure its place within them, but also to become more competitive with rivals where they couldn’t before. An area in which Starbucks has proven to be focusing on is ethical and environmental responsibility. This reflects modern consumer interests and is of greater importance to Starbucks due to its international exposure. In 2013, a reusable cup was introduced at $1 each, while offering a discount on purchased coffee. This both increased overall revenue and created an environmentally responsible image. According to a YouGov Omnibus survey,  taken in January 2013, 28% of Americans had already bought, or planned to buy the reusable cup, showing the importance of the move. Starbucks’ focus on environmentalism reflects the companies focus on improving its image and its understanding of the consumer. In order to further this image again, Starbucks is currently switching its coffee sources to fair trade and aims to be 100% ethically sourced by 2015. As a further display of its social awareness, the company offers its employees an extensive range of benefits and a pay rate higher than its competitors, which resulted in a high employee loyalty, hence, less staff turnover and higher productivity. Finally, one of the larger challenges that Starbucks had faced was expanding internationally and catering to different tastes and cultures worldwide. The aim behind Starbucks’ expansion was to bring the Starbucks experience to the world. Currently, Starbucks is largely focused in expanding in China due to its size and relevance as an emerging world power. Here, Starbucks has an advantage of brand awareness which aids in establishing a dominant position in China, as well as other markets. Keeping up with trends in tastes and technology also helps Starbucks expand internationally; with the emergence of the tea drinking market into which Starbucks is investing and the global increase in communication which Starbucks capitalises upon with its social media and cloud based ventures. It is important for Starbucks to continue looking internationally for its business expansions due to having already saturated much of the US and therefore to reduce its dependence on the US market and its tastes. It is clear that Starbucks is able to continue to be competitive offering its premium priced coffee due to its constant innovation and understanding of its consumers. Starbucks consistently stays ahead of the competition in its technological advances, expansion, social awareness and product development which makes it recognisable and desirable and reduces said competition in the market. The environment which Starbucks presents creates a willingness in the consumer to pay premium pricing for the service as a whole rather than just a coffee. This is ultimately what has differentiated Starbucks from its competitors and allows it to maintain a strong and growing loyal customer base where customers will be less inclined to switch between  companies. The Starbucks company itself possesses several times more market share than any of its competitors and therefore have an almost monopolized status as an entity in the huge coffee industry. It is Starbucks’ large competitive advantages which allow them to hold this position. Not only that, the coffee giant has been able to sustain its presence for over forty years. This begs the question: is Starbucks able to sustain their competitive advantages in the future? Firstly, what are these competitive advantages? Starbucks puts a lot of focus, time and energy into differentiating itself from the competition. This can be seen in the design of its coffee shops around the world, the music played there and the types of products it sells, such as jazz CD’s, thermos’, key chains and coffee-brewing equipment. It is clear to see that Starbucks sets itself apart with the vivid attention to excellence. This differentiation is achieved by the fact that no matter which Starbucks coffee shop you visit the atmosphere will be the same, thus giving the company a status of independency and uniqueness; not following any preconceived ideas. This provides customers with a sense of belongingness which in turn results in sustained business success from loyalty of customers, unmatched by competitors. As our contemporary lives are heading towards a faster and more efficient fashion, Starbucks makes sure to keep current on the latest technology, often times pioneering the latest in technological and communication advancements for its business and customers, far ahead of the times for a coffee shop. This dominance in technological communication is a competitive advantage which not only allows for quick and sustained adoption, but also builds relationships with its customer base. For example, Starbucks was one of the first companies to adopt location-based promotions and mobile payments. In general, retail stores will set up shop in locations based on demographics, locations of competitors, locations of own stores, traffic  patterns and so forth. However, instead of following the rest of the sheep, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had a different idea. Schultz decided that his strategy focused on heavily increasing the foot traffic in one specific part of town. By clustering a specific part of town with coffee shops Starbucks quickly achieved market dominance with this competitive advantage. Starbucks boasts the highest frequency of weekly visiting customers out of any American retailer, with over 20 million weekly visitors. Even more so impressive is that the company spends less than 1% of its annual revenues on advertising, against the typical 10% rather, the Starbucks competitive advantage relies on word of mouth. They believe that by creating an intimate and welcoming environment in their stores, as well as providing a great cup of coffee, customers will not only return, but do the advertising for them. Starbuck’s, with its clear points of difference, has created a loyal customer base which is willing to continue paying premium prices for the ‘Starbucks experience’. As Starbucks’ annual revenue increases have been consistent over the past ten years (see table 1), from $3.3 billion to $13.29 in 2012, this experience seems greatly successful and as such it is hard to imagine these competitive advantage formulae and successes being unsustainable for the foreseeable future. References 3 Ways Starbucks Is Innovating and Why You Should Care. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229580 Business Strategies. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://thebusinesstrategy.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/how-has-starbucks-been-so-successful.html Hennessey, R. (2012, August 06). 3 Reasons Why Starbucks Still Shines, Despite Market Shortcomings. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelhennessey/2012/08/06/3-reasons-why-starbucks-still-shines-despite-market-shortcomings/ Many innovations today are associated with companies as opposed to individuals. Why is this, and what does it tell us? (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://research-methodology.net/ Mission Statement. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement Starbucks Competitive Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.slideshare.net/mspinella1016/starbucks-competitive-analysis Starb ucks Company Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/ Starbucks reusable cups are a hit. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://today.yougov.com/news/2013/01/08/starbucks-reusable-cups-are-hit/ Starbucks: A Model of Success | TIME.com. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://business.time.com/2013/08/27/starbucks-a-model-of-success/ Sustained Competitive Advantage of Starbucks. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://unrealist.hubpages.com/hub/Sustained-Competitive-Advantage-of-Starbucks Tice, C. (2013, January 17). How Starbucks Will Make Millions Off Its New, Reusable Cup. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/caroltice/2013/01/17/how-starbucks-will-make-millions-off-its-new-reusable-cup/ The Worlds Most Powerful Brands. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.rankingthebrands.com/The-Brand-Rankings.aspx?rankingID=279nav=category A look at Starbucks’ marketing strateg y. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.insidebusiness360.com/index.php/a-look-at-starbucks-marketing-strategy-1425/

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Essay Example for Free

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Essay The Old Man and the Sea is a story, in my view, about man vs. the elements, individuality, and one mans obsession to dominate his world. For Ernest Hemingway far more than for most men, the specter of age was a terrible specter indeed, and the virtue of action upon which he had based his art in his life was the virtue of the young. This, I believe, pervaded the legendary figure of Ernest Hemingway as the youthful, virile adventurer, tempered with humility. Hemingway has been notably preoccupied with individualism as well as self-endurance and, in my view, no where is this more exemplified than in his novel The Old Man and the Sea. The Old Man and the Sea is basically a story about an old man who sets out in a small boat on what presumes to be a routine fishing expedition. Unexpectedly, he connected with a very large fish which precipitated a struggle which appeared interminable. The fish was a marlin, and the struggle resulted in the death and capture of this enormous fish. At that point, he secured the marlin and headed home. Unfortunately, along the way, he was besieged by sharks which he was unable to fight off. The time span in the novel The Old Man and the Sea is relatively short. The old mans name is Santiago, and he spends all of eighty-four days without catching a fish. After his first nibble from this great marlin, he struggles greatly to hang on to this fish even though every muscle in his body causes him the greatest pain à ¾ and the second night he nibbles on a small fish and sleeps for the first time, whereupon a furious jerk of the line awakens him. Its during the third day that the great marlin begins to circle the boat and, in almost no time, the sharks (beginning with a mako) begin to move in on Santiagos catch. Even after Santiago brings in the bare remains of the flesh-stripped marlin, it creates a big stir among the village fisherman, and tourists observe with detached amusement the skeletal remains of Santiagos three-day battle. They do not understand the nature or significance of Santiagos experiences. Hemingway refers to the fishing rod being part of a life-death cycle. While the rod is alone without a fish on the other end, it is dead. However, when there is a fish on the end of the line, the rod becomes a living rod. This life ends, however, when the fish is removed from the line. The struggle for life is aptly presented in this story by Hemingway through describing the struggle of a fish and a man in which the fish struggles to free himself, while the man struggles to maintain him. It is a huge fish and he puts up a great fight. Two Hearted River: Part II à ¾ Summary and Analysis. Another story regarding life and death and the struggle for life was Ernest Hemingways short story Two Hearted River: Part II. he warmth and life-giving quality of the sun is mentioned early in the story. In the morning, it is as if the grasshoppers are lifeless. It takes the warmth and life-giving quality of the sun to spring these creatures to life. One grasshopper slowly works its way out of the b ottle Nick was holding. It seemed that temporarily this grasshopper had found life. However, as it jumped into the stream, its life was over as a trout ate the small animal and killed it. Another grasshopper was taken from the bottle. It was alive and squirming in Nicks hand. Nick then took a hook and thrust it into the thorax and the abdomen of the creature, killing it. Thus, life occurs one moment and death takes over the next. Another struggle is identified by Hemingway in this story. A living trout is hooked by Nick once more. The trout puts up a desperate struggle to free himself from the hook in his mouth. However, the struggle is lost and Nick hauls in the fish. Although he is allowed to live temporarily in a small sack that is filled with water, the fate of this fish is obvious. Nick holds the fish and whacks him against a log. The life in the fish ceases. The wriggling of the body stops as he turns rigid and lifeless. The death of a tree is also mentioned in this story. A huge, living elm had been uprooted by the force of the river, and it was not dead and lifeless. The aforementioned, Two Hearted River: Part II, is a minor work by E. Hemingway. At the same time, I chose this particular story because I felt it had particular significance for the primary subject of this research paper. Published Criticism At this point, I should like to proffer some criticism of Ernest Hemingway à ¾ and at the same time attempt to relate this to the primary topic of choice, i.e. The Old Man and the Sea. Whether Hemingway every achieved an ultimate solution to the dilemma of his approach to age, virtue and boyishness is not for us to judge, although the circumstances of his death indicated that he could not and would not abide a final weakening of those powers which were so important to the protagonists of his stories. In the last decade or so of his life, however, Hemingway did find a way to cope with the fact of his own age. He would dramatize what he could not avoid. Because of his absolute youthfulness, he regards old age as an utter and complete tragedy, as it is of course the only true tragedy, and he is not going to degrade himself by maturing or anything absurd of that sort. All the same, since he has a sense of costume, he will emphasize his decline in all its hopelessness by sprouting a white beard and generally acting the part of Senex. To a large extent, I believe that this critique has to do with the old man who has to give up on catching this fish. Similarly, in my mind , there is strong metaphysical evidence in terms of the old man and his refusal to give up on a struggle which he personally acknowledges is particularly difficult due to his old age à ¾ but yet he refuses to capitulate to this inevitability. Why is it that Ernest Hemingway pursues such thematic material with such drive and vigor? I believe that the answer may be found within the man himself. It has been acknowledged by critics à ¾ almost unanimously à ¾ that much of his thematic material reflects the man himself as, in my view, do his novels and short stories, as already indicated. To this extent, I should like to offer some biography on Ernest Hemingway which may serve to illuminate this belief. Hemingway was the second of six children of Clarence and Grace Hemingway. Upon graduation from Oak Park High School in 1917, he chose journalism instead of college, and spent seven educational months as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. Hemingway secured a part-time job as a feature writer for the Toronto Star and, in the fall of 1920, he became contributing editor of a trade journal in Chicago wherein he met one, Hadley Richardson, whom he married in September of 1921. Together they sailed for France and, for nineteen months occupied a walk-up flat in the Latin quarter of Paris. Hemingways serious writings began tentatively with the Paris publication in 1923-24 of two slender books of pros and poetry, yet his name was still little known in the U.S. Subsequently, he divorced Hadley and moved to Key West, Florida in 1928. He remained there for twelve years and completed A Farewell to Arms. There is much to be said about this man, and his experiences in Spain represented an entire chapter unto themselves. In Cuba in 1945, Hemingway began a romantic novel of reminiscences, including The Garden of Eden which, to date, to my knowledge, remains unpublished. Considering Hemingways passion for the sea à ¾ where he spent much of his life à ¾ and fishing, the thematic content of The Old Man and the Sea, to me, underscores the thematic content of individualism, struggle against the elements, and the refusal to bend to the challenges of time and old age.

Advantages Of Social Media

Advantages Of Social Media Connections. You are friends with people who have other friends, and so on. By using a social networking site, you can do what you can and get connected with these people to form a web of connections that can give you leverage if you play your cards right. Breadth of Knowledge -connectedness that students can experience through social media use. It is now easier than ever to know (or find out) something about almost anything in the world through connected media. Additionally, students can be connected to a broader base of opinions and world views through instantaneous global connections. Technological Literacy All social media relies on advanced information and communication technologies that seamlessly work to build and support technological literacy.. Worldwide Connectivity, No matter if you are searching for that former college roommate, your first grade teacher, or an international friend, there is no easier or faster way to make a connection than via the social network. Although Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace are probably the most well known social networking communities, there are new websites popping up regularly that are dedicated to allowing people to connect and to interact via the Internet. These connections can help one with a variety of things such as: Finding romance, Seeking a new job, Locating assistance, Getting and giving product and service referrals, Receiving support from like-minded individuals, Making or receiving advice on career or personal issues. In many ways, social communities are the virtual equivalent of meeting at the general store or at church socials to exchange news and get updated on friends and families.. Commonality of Interest, When you opt to participate in a social network community, you can pick and choose those individuals whose likes and dislikes are similar to yours and build your network around those commonalities.You can meet with your friends anytime you have an Internet connection and whenever you find them online. Real-Time Information Sharing, Many social networking sites incorporate an instant messaging feature, which means you can exchange information in real-time via a chat. This is a great feature for teachers to use to facilitate classroom discussions.In addition, the Internet is the ultimate online textbook. Students no longer need to take out six library books at a time. Much of what they need to know they can find online. Free Advertising, Whether you are non-profit organization who needs to get the word out about your upcoming fundraiser or a business owner marketing a new product or service, theres no better way to get your message in front of millions of people 24/7. The best part is it that you can spread the word through social networking profiles for free. Increased News Cycle Speed, Social networking has revolutionized the speed of the news cycle. Many news organizations now partner with social networking sites like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook in order to both collect and share information. One can get a sense of what is going on in the world just by watching trending topics from many of these sites. This has led to the development of a near instantaneous news cycle as millions of social networking updates rapidly spread news and information. Social media has the power to drive traffic to your website, blog, articles, etc. Social media is able to bring people together, especially when promoting global products or cause-related campaigns and ideas since it allows people from the different geographical location to meet at a single point and express their views. Social media could be the spark you are looking for to attract attention to your site, product or service. It could also be used to further build loyalty and long-term relations with your audience. Social media marketing could always be a fun and creative method of doing business. Facilitates open communication, leading to enhanced information discovery and delivery. Allows everyone to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions and share links. Targets a wide audience, making it a useful and effective recruitment tool. Disadvantages of Social Media: Distraction -talking not about the momentary distraction of an isolated text message, but rather the way in which social media involvement provides an acceptable diversion from intellectual pursuits. Essentially, he is arguing that it is socially safer to stay connected to peers through always-on social media, than it is to put oneself out there by having a legitimate opinion about a serious topic and disconnecting from the social networks long enough to put it out there. Pressure to Conform examples of students confiding in him that one of the main reasons behind their 24/7 connection is a fear of not keeping up with peers or appearing like a loser in public, as one of his students confided in a class journal. Risk Aversion unclear about whether students aversion to taking risks is a symptom of social media use or is directly caused by it, but the point is no less important either way. Social media engagement supports a culture of avoidance which operates in direct opposition to the idea that students need to take risks and fail in their academic endeavors in order to become successful innovators. Shallowness . Twitter, text messages, and other social media tools focus on brief, quick, shallow interactions that do not encourage either deep social engagement or intellectual exploration. There is, after all, only so much information that can be obtained in 140 characters. when you make a mistake offline, a few will know but when you make a mistake in front of hundreds or thousands of you online audience, most of them will know Face to Face Connections are Endangered, A huge advantage of these social communities has a reverse side effect that is also a big disadvantage of social networking: they reduce or eliminate face-to-face socialization. Because of the autonomy afforded by the virtual world, individuals are free to create a fantasy persona and can pretend to be someone else.It is hard to say no, be rude, or ignore someone when you are looking them in the eye. Its incredibly easy and quick to unfriend or unfollow someone or simply block their efforts to make a connection. Just one click of the mouse and your problems are over. Tweens and teens are at higher risk because those years are when they are learning to interact with others or build and maintain relationships. A report from the National School Boards Association shows that of the children in these age groups that use a social network, 41 percent spend their time posting messages. They are not spending this time in face-to-face interactions with their peers or others nor are they developing the necessary social skills for future success. Cyberbullying and Crimes Against Children, Use of social networks can expose individuals to harassment or inappropriate contact from others. Unless parents are diligent to filter the Internet content to which their families are exposed, children could be exposed to pornography or other inappropriate content.. Risks of Fraud or Identity Theft, Whether you like it or not, the information you post on the Internet is available to almost anyone who is clever enough to access it. Most thieves need just a few vital pieces of personal information to make your life a nightmare and if they successfully steal your identity, it could cost you dearly. Time Waster, A Nielsen report explains that social networking can be a big waste of time that sucks 17 percent of our Internet time down the non-productivity drain. it is also true that it is easy to become distracted and end up spending valuable time on games, chats or other non-related activities. Corporate Invasion of Privacy, Social networking invites major corporations to invade your privacy and sell your personal information. Facebook projects it will earn $3.8 billion in revenue in 2011. Thats not bad for a free site. If Facebook and other social networking sites dont charge their members, however, how do they make so much money? They do it by selling the ability to specifically target advertisements. On social networking sites, the website isnt the product, its users are. These sites run algorithms that search for keywords, web browsing habits, and other data stored on your computer or social networking profile and provide you with advertisements targeted specifically to you. At the same time, you may be giving the site permission to share your information with outside sources unless you specifically generate settings that disallow them to do so. Participating in applications like Farmville may also be allowing outside vendors access to your private information. In order to get social medias full effect, you need to understand how it works, when and how to use it and which channels to focus on depending on your end goal of using social media. Social media can have a negative influence on students and workers productivity. Employees may waste valuable time using social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. They can also use social media to attack the companys reputation! When social media is used excessively or in the wrong way, it could have serious detrimental outcomes on both mental and even physical health of individuals. Opens up the possibility for hackers to commit fraud and launch spam and virus attacks. Increases the risk of people falling prey to online scams that seem genuine, resulting in data or identity theft. May result in negative comments from others about everything we put in our social media example our video in youtube Potentially results in lost productivity, especially if students are busy updating profiles, etc. Lack of Anonymity,You are putting out information about your name, location, age, gender, and many other types of information that you may not want to let others know. Most people would say be careful. As long as people can know who you exactly are, then some can find ways to do you in. Scams and Harassment, While many sites apply certain measures to keep any of these cases of harassment, cyber-stalking, online scams, and identity theft to an absolute minimum, you still may never know. Time Consuming, that it would just be a waste of time for you. The key to social networking is that it is supposed to be fun, whether you are just doing it for kicks or clicking around for study purposes. That should be reasonable enough for anyone, but there are those people who dont see the point. For them, it can be a disadvantage.

Just War Doctrine And The Gulf Conflict Essay -- essays research paper

Just War Doctrine and the Gulf Conflict   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In evaluating US involvement in the Iraq conflict in terms of the Just War Doctrine - jus ad bellum and jus in bello - it is my opinion that the US adhered to the Doctrine in its entirety. The US acted justly both in its entering into the Gulf conflict (jus ad bellum) and in its conduct while in the conflict (jus in bello). To support this opinion I will individually address the co parts that constitute the Just War Doctrine and show how US participation in the Iraq war abstained from violating the tenets of either co-part. Jus Ad Bellum Jus Ad Bellum, the justness of entering into conflict consists of six primary tenets: legitimate authority, just cause, proportionality, right intention, chance of success, and last resort.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Legitimate Authority - Only those of legitimate authority may justly lead its country into war. This tenet disqualify revolutionaries, radicals and/or subversives who seek to justly initiate war. War is to be the decisions of the head of state and is to be subject to their guidance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. Just Cause - A just conflict may not be initiated void of just cause. This tenet disallows justifying war for the purpose of economic gain, land acquisition, or strategic position. If war is to be justly initiated just cause, usually humanitarian, must first exist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3. Right Intention - This relates to the tenet of just cause. Just cause must be followed by right intention. It would be unjust seek a goal devoid of the just cause.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4. Proportionality - Also in relation to just cause is the tenet of proportionality. Proportionality must exist between the cause and the decision to go to war. For country (a) to initiate a total war with country (b) because of a minor violation that country (b) was responsible for would be unproportional and unjust. There is not cause enough to warrant country (b) being subjected to a total war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5. Chance of Success - War must be initiated with a chance of success. It would be unjust to lead people into a war they have no chance of winning. It would more just to bow to superiority and fight another day than to commit to a policy of suicide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6. Last Resort - This is probab... ... possible. Though the US possessed immense destructive capabilities they employed only that necessary to get the job done. The most effective aspect of the coalition forces was their air assault. The various jet-fueled fighters and bombers the US employed were more than capable of turning Iraq quite literally into a parking lot. They did not. Instead bombing occurred only where enemy forces or enemy armament was suspected to be stored. Civilian areas were not fired upon unless a threat, such as an anti-aircraft gun, was placed in a civilian area, and in these instances pin-point missiles were used to eliminate the threat with as little destruction to the surrounding area as possible. This adheres to the moral means doctrine which finds indiscriminate weapons unjust. Though the US was authorized to use any and all means they employed nothing more than what was necessary to complete the job adequately.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As I stated above UN Resolution 678 left the door wide open to possible violations of International Law. Despite this US went beyond the call of duty to assure that its role in the Gulf conflict was just. Risking their own well being, US pilots often gav

Schizophrenia: A Matter of Perception? :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Schizophrenia: A Matter of Perception? The brain fills the pieces of information transmitted from the sensory environment that are not there or missing. For example, the blind spot in our eyes have no sensory light receptors, hence images focused on that spot are not transmitted to the brain. In fact, a hole should exist in our visual perception from the images projected onto our blind spot. This does not happen as our brain fills in the spaces with ongoing patterns that fit the image of our vision. Also, what we see and what is interpreted from what is seen spreads across a broad spectra from one individual to another. This indicates that there is no real format by which to generalize different individual's perceptions. Every input from the sensory environment is formatted and placed into context by our brain. Our brain organizes each situation into a format that makes sense to our schemata. So what happens when one's train of thought is fragmented and one's brain is unable to organize these fragments into a comprehensib le pattern? Imagine if at times, your experiences become a slide show, fragments of experiences that do not come together. This is, in fact, how many people suffering from schizophrenia describe their experiences (1). Have you ever had an experience or a vision that just does not make sense? Maybe you might not understand the cause and the outcome of a certain experience or situation, but every memory is placed into context. Our brain makes sure of this. So, when seemingly unrelated fragments of information are sent to the brain, it attempts to combine these fragments together into a most logical manner. Is it possible that the reason that schizophrenics have an impaired sense of reality is because their brains logic is askew? Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychopathologies present today. Its causes are still vague, and the symptoms vary across a large spectrum. However, two generalized grouped of symptoms have been identified for schizophrenics: positive symptoms, and negative symptoms. Negative symptoms include lack of activity, anhedonia, and loss of interest. Positive symptoms include disorganized speech, hallucinations, and delusions experiences (1). Individuals with schizophrenia commonly experience a disorder in their perception. Their surroundings are unreal and their external sensory environment seems different from what they previously knew. In fact, their perceptions become derailed; misinterpreting situations and the chronology of events. They are unable to distinguish between reality and imaginary.

The Educational Connoisseurship Model of Elliot W Eisner

The American educator and philosopher of education Elliot W. Eisner is an ideal theorist to examine when determining the best ways, means, and measures to set standards for an elementary math school curriculum. Eisner was unapologetic in his demand for what he called the exercise of standards-based artistry and the development of connoisseurship in education, and for what some of his critics have called elitism in approaching the educational process. However, Eisner†s called for standards, although Eisner is particularly known for his work in arts education, makes his hands-on theories of education both useful and inspiring to elementary school math teachers. Eisner†s examination of process and the artistry of education in The Enlightened Eye proved that he was attempting extension of his thinking to qualitative research into education and to the sciences as well as humanities. To conceive of students as artists who do their art in science, in the arts, or the humanities, is, after all, both a daunting and a profound aspiration,† he wrote later on, but education is not an assembly line, rather â€Å"the field of education has much to learn from the arts about the practice of education. It is time to embrace a new model for improving our schools,† where the school functions as a laboratory of innovation and experimentation. For Eisner, â€Å"knowledge is an intensely variable and personal â€Å"event†, something acquired via a combination of one's senses – visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory – assembled according to a personal schema, and then made public – expressed, typically, by the same sensory modalities utilized in the initial acquisition. â€Å"(Lloyd-Zannini, 1998, cited by Smith, 2005) Again, this is an inspiration in particular for an elementary math school class for it stresses that learning must be experiential, exciting, yet still convey something beyond pure fun or feeling. Cooking to teach fractions followed by a test asking students to shrink or expand the recipe, to show that knowledge had been conveyed would be keeping with this approach. For Eisner, our ability to know is based in our ability to construct valuable and real-life meaning from experiences in a coherent fashion. Despite his advancement of the importance of connoisseurship and criticism, Eisner began his own education as a teacher in an egalitarian setting. While in college Elliot Eisner worked with African American boys in the American Boys Commonwealth in the neighborhood where he grew up. He said later that this confirmed his view that there must be a solid aesthetic behind art education and a better exploration of art†s historical context. Approaches which simply gave children arts materials in the hope that their creativity might flow resulted in programs â€Å"with little or no structure, limited artistic content and few meaningful aims† and were ultimately patronizing in their approach to students ability to gain useful knowledge that would gain them advancement in life. (Smith, 2005) From his bureaucratic experiences, Eisner also began to frown upon the stress on teacher†s â€Å"team meetings,† which he said discouraged effective praxis and only encouraged talk amongst educators. He said such communal sharing of knowledge is useless if the theories that are generated cannot be used to help students. For example, hearing about a colleagues† problems teaching decimals may be instructive, and help all teacher draw on a range of techniques, but a good educator is one who can combine the different techniques and improvise regarding the particular situation and set of student†s needs. Eisner believed that teachers needed to work together, but they also needed to accept criticism from principles and administrators in the classroom, in terms of the results generated by their efforts-just like students should not be so protected from criticism in assessments of their qualitative and quantitative work, either! Eisner stressed that educators must strive discover the truth in real-life situations, experiences and phenomenon. As Eisner himself stated, ‘effective criticism functions as the midwife to perception. It helps it come into being, then later refines it and helps it to become more acute. † (1998, p. 6) Connoisseurship of appreciation of a work of art or a skill, and of our own ability to master a skill may allow us to appreciate a theory, but criticism is also necessary to bring education to the next level. In other words, in the arts, one must make, and learn about previous art, but also accept evaluations of one†s knowledge. In math, students must learn, but also show they can perform and utilize the skills they are taught beyond mere regurgitation. Likewise, teacher education itself must not be purely theoretically based. Good teachers know, says Eisner, that â€Å"even to talk about effectiveness as though it were independent of the kind of intellectual values that schools ought to support, seems ill conceived. Thoughtful educators are not simply interested in achieving known effects; they are interested as much in surprise, in discovery, in the imaginative side of life and its development as in hitting predefined targets achieved through routine procedures. In some sense our aim ought to be to convert the school from an academic institution into an intellectual one. That shift in the culture of schooling would represent a profound shift in emphasis and in direction. † In other words, the elementary school curriculum should invest the same trust in students, and make the same demands of them as higher levels of education, rather than stress rote learning. However, combined with this disdain for rote, Eisner is equally vehement that this experiential learning must always have the fundamentals at its focus. Strain the limits of schooling, test students beyond standardized multiple-choice exams, but do not use these techniques as an excuse for instilling real knowledge in young minds. Idealistic, and perhaps impractical-but an inspiring goal for any teacher, regardless of grade area or subject matter, to reach for.

Personal Development and Lifelong Learning Sector

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The Social Issues in China

The social issues in China are in point of fact varied and wide ranging. There are some problems that have affected the nation for quite long and a permanent solution has never been obtained. However, some have been affecting the nation, yet they do not hinder the citizens from growing economically. Because of the vast number of these social problems, the government has faced considerable difficulties in trying to come up with solution to them. Most of these issues are addressed by the media. In so doing, some that are sensitive to the political issues may be considered. Some professionals hold that the China's fragile social balance when combined with the bubble economy, contributes to instability of the country. On the same plinth, others argue that the societal trends in China have actually created a balance to sustain it. For this reason, the paper will examine some of the social problems affecting the nation. By and large, it will majorly delve on employment and elitism and discrimination majorly affect the country socially. Moreover, it will examine on the causes of the problems, the effort made by the government to help solve the problems, the outcomes from the manner in which the problem is solved. Most importantly, some possible ways that can help reduce or solve the problems so that they do not inflict emotional and psychological pain to the recipients.Causes of UnemploymentBecause there is difficulty in the state enterprise development, there is a reason for the laid off-off workers within most cities in China. Old state owned enterprises are facing serious losses and liquidating sine they do not have the capability to sustain a wide range of masquerading unemployment. On the other hand, the newly owned states leaders in most cases tend to unload themselves from the burden of outmoded workers. They do this so that they can expand their profit margin. Moreover, there are some significant changes that have taken place in the industrial structure, and this has caused a lot of joblessness too many people. On the same regard, a number of large old and huge enterprises of the capital of goods produced are found to be increasingly difficult to bid for more orders because there is massive change for the demands of goods on the customers' side, because of the new facilities. Another major cause of unemployment worth pointing out is continued increasing of the surplus work force. The population growth of the country is increasing at an alarming rate and this makes the level of employment to go down. There are new entrants into the labor market hence makes the job opportunity to go down. As the population increases, the firms to absorb them reduce in number hence making the majority to become idle, because they do not have anything to keep them busy. Another cause of is inadequate skills at workplace and lack of education. This has affected the great percentage of the China's population. In an ideal world, there are quantities of people who cannot get jobs because of their little knowledge. Most of the companies in the country need enhancing, and must therefore get quality employees lest they stop operating. Furthermore, another data shows that educational backgrounds of many people are directly intertwined to unemployment. Most of the unemployed people are those with little knowledge as far as the job they want is concerned. From the analysis it is inherent that the three are some of the major causes, and it is not only in the private sectors, but also a national problem which needs proper solution from both the labors and the government at large.Government Effort to Solve the ProblemDespite the fact that these problems have affected the country both economically and socially, the government has tried at all cost to device methodologies to help curb the problems. First, the government has come up with the enrollment expansion plan. For the past twenty years, China's college enrollment rate has stood to about three percent, which is much lower than most of the developed countries. On the same pedigree, the education department also sensed the need expand the enrolment rate in the college s. Also, the central government tried all ways out to deploy many measures in a bid to expand the rate of enrolment in school. This has been achieved through building of schools, hiring more professors from and outside the nation to help in impacting knowledge to the learners. Above all, offering scholarship to the poor students. By and large, the processes have greatly improved the illiteracy level in most of the people within the country and today, majorities are employed. There has been increase in the demand and supply of the goods produced. In real essence, supplies do not only outweigh demand, but many of the employers have questioned the education that the college students have received. Because many learning institutions have been started, most young people are able to access, education in their line of specialization, and this has helped them a lot in their line of specialization as far as job market is concerned. On the same line, students are made aware of the unemployment issues as early as they get into schools. Through this they are encouraged to work extra hard so that they evade the problem when they come out of school. In point of fact, one who does not have outstanding papers finds it difficult to secure job because of the competition in the job market. The local government has made plans with the enterprises to help those in colleges and universities by enhancing a plan which gives graduates work and training experience. The local government does the contact work and convinces most of the enterprises so that they can provide job opportunities and internship programs for the graduates for a period of one year. During this period, the government supports the interns by providing for them a small allowance on a monthly basis. After the end of the internship, the enterprise can either decide to absorb the interns depending on the effort made during the period of placement. Also, the government suggests that the graduates can stay in colleges and do research as co workers, and they get paid by the research funds. Through this, they ultimately get good pay that sustains their economic wellbeing so that they become responsible people in the society. Most importantly, during the training sessions, the students are made aware that there employment market is flooded and they should try as much as possible to get self employed. Because of this, most of the graduates have started their own businesses to help them generate income for themselves without necessarily depending on the employment from the government.Outcome of UnemploymentGenerally, unemployment crisis is social, economic and political problem that affect every society. When the society is not empowered economically, it fails in all aspects. For example, unemployment creates social disparity between the rich and the poor. The rich, in most cases, does not find it comfortable associating themselves with the low class earners, which should not be the case. Because of the problem, most of the many people who are employed in China do not have time to spend with the unemployed citizens because they actually do not merge at any aspect. The poor has their own shopping centers, lanes, rentals, slums, as opposed to the high class. The economic and social aspect unemployment is that it leads to high dependency ratio. When most of the youth are not employed, they will entirely depend on their parents to provide for them everything including basic needs. On the other hand, the parents may feel overburdened, hence loosing the good social relationship and bond between themselves. On the same line, the families that are well of economically find it difficult to interact with the families that are not stable hence causing discrimination. For example, those from rich families take their children to good schools where they can attain proper education and eventually succeed in life. On the other hand, the poor takes their children to slum school where the children cannot attain good education. This scenario widens the gap between the rich and the poor because there is no point where they meet social, hence widening their social inconsistency. Unemployment leads to unethical stay in the society. When the citizens are not working, they become idle along the streets. They do not think positively in most cases. The fact that they have to eat shelter and socialize and the money factor to support them is a problem, they end up in ethical practices that can make them get money to support themselves. Theft cases have been reported in most cases from young and old people who are not employed. It is not due their likeness, but the fact that they do not have what to generate for them income, they end up in such acts. On the same plinth, the government finds it difficult to manage the poor youths. This comes in the sense that that high number of them engages in malpractices which is against the government law, which eventually subjects them to physical torture. When the government is not in good terms with the youths, it is very difficult for the political stability to be in the nation.Possible ways to Solve the ProblemsIn the real essence, the problem should be addressed amicable so that it does not affect both parties. The government should understand that they need the young people who are jobless for the peaceful movement in the nation. On the other hand, the young unemployed should understand that they require the government to help them in most of the problems they face. Both p arties should be beneficial to one another for peaceful coexistence in the society. First, the government should device various modalities to improve the employment issue. There should improved infrastructure to enhance people to move to every part of the nation to solicit for job opportunities. On the same note, the government should improve the housing system so that it can accommodate all the citizens without barrier. For example, those living in slums should be considered and be constructed for building that accommodates them peacefully. On the same pedigree, the charges of the rent should be accommodating to all so that many do not suffer when it comes shelter coverage. Similarly, the government should encourage e-commercial business and logistics to help in boosting then youths who are economically down. Most importantly, the government should provide funds to the young people who are jobless so that they can start their own business operation. In so doing, they will be dependant to themselves because they will be doing their own businesses and will not seek for employment. On the same dictum, it will be an advantage to the government too because there will revenue generated back to the government and peaceful coexistence will be maintained because the youths will no longer engage in the malpractices activities that can dent their image in the society. On the other hand, it is important for the youths to understand that they are the leaders of tomorrow and whatever thing they do today, affect their life to come. In so doing, they should be focused minded in everything they do. They should work hand in hand with the government so that they realize their goals by the end of the day. People should also live in harmony with one another without discrimination of age, sex, race or social class. When God created us, He was never discriminative and so we should emulate. The rich should embrace the poor and take care of them in most situations. They should be helped to get out of their poverty situations and make them stable. Most importantly, there should be peaceful coexistence between everyone living in the society, because when there is peace, there is love and harmony and it makes people to love and care for each other both socially, economically and even politically.