The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz--Words Or Whip Essays

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz--Words or Whip? The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz--Words or Whip? The whip that a lion-tamer uses is the single most important tool that will assists him in successfully taming the lions. To demonstrate his point clearly to the beasts, he must thrash the lions with his blood-sucking whip whenever they perform an incorrect act. This is the only way that he can communicate with these low-intelligence animals, because lions cannot even understand the most indecent word in the English language. But as for humans, most of us are able to understand the language that the people around us speak. Therefore whipping, caning, strapping, or any kind of corporal punishments are not necessary -- they are reserved for animals only. Not too long ago, teachers at school and parents at home use various forms of corporal punishment on their students and children -- there are also several techniques associated with each of them. But as our society becomes more civilized, these savage acts are now looked upon with disdain and contempt. What used to be considered as corporal punishment is now considered as physical abuse. It should be thought of that way long ago. Physical abuse as penalty surely works. It arouses resentments and bitterness, but it works. If a student does something wrong and gets a whipping for it, he or she will cease doing the same erroneous act again. Though it will not change the way he or she thinks, but it WILL work. The student will not understand why he or she should not behave in that particular manner, and will continue to think that he or she is right, but physical abuse can stop them from doing it again -- it definitely works. But in long-term, some people are inclined to rebel against the authority who impose corporal punishments on them. Once they can overpower the authority, they will challenge their masters. Others, like Duddy Kravitz, they get used to their punishments and cannot care less for them. Duddy gets strapped so often that he virtually asks Mr. MacPherson for it. "So when he led Duddy Kravitz into the Medical Room that afternoon, breaking with a practice of twenty years, the actual blows were feeble, and it was Duddy who emerged triumphant, racing outside to greet his classmates." Duddy also excitedly announced to his peers: "Hey, look! Look, jerkos! Ten on each. Mac strapped me. Mac, of all people." Obviously, Duddy is no longer intimidated by strapping. Strapping or any kind of corporal punishment is not an effective way to change human behaviour because it simply cannot change people's minds. Humans, unlike animals, should be taught with words. If a student has done something wrong, instead of giving him or her a good strapping, a nice little chat would be more appropriate. The teacher must make the student understand what he or she has done and why it should not have been done. The teacher must make the student feel that he or she is wrong. That way, the awful act is unlikely to recur. Mr. MacPherson shou ld be praised for his virtue of not strapping any boy. It is very good of him to understand the futility of corporal punishments. It is quite unfortunate that he gives up this virtue when finally can not stand the pressure of his wife's death and Duddy's agitation. The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz--Words Or Whip Essays The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz--Words or Whip? The whip that a lion-tamer uses is the single most important tool that will assists him in successfully taming the lions. To demonstrate his point clearly to the beasts, he must thrash the lions with his blood-sucking whip whenever they perform an incorrect act. This is the only way that he can communicate with these low-intelligence animals, because lions cannot even understand the most indecent word in the English language. But as for humans, most of us are able to understand the language that the people around us speak. Therefore whipping, caning, strapping, or any kind of corporal punishments are not necessary -- they are reserved for animals only. Not too long ago, teachers at school and parents at home use various forms of corporal punishment on their students and children -- there are also several techniques associated with each of them. But as our society becomes more civilized, these savage acts are now looked upon with disdain and contempt. What used to be considered as corporal punishment is now considered as physical abuse. It should be thought of that way long ago. Physical abuse as penalty surely works. It arouses resentments and bitterness, but it works. If a student does something wrong and gets a whipping for it, he or she will cease doing the same erroneous act again. Though it will not change the way he or she thinks, but it WILL work. The student will not understand why he or she should not behave in that particular manner, and will continue to think that he or she is right, but physical abuse can stop them from doing it again -- it definitely works. But in long-term, some people are inclined to rebel against the authority who impose corporal punishments on them. Once they can overpower the authority, they will challenge their masters. Others, like Duddy Kravitz, they get used to their punishments and cannot care less for them. Duddy gets strapped so often that he virtually asks Mr. MacPherson for it. "So when he led Duddy Kravitz into the Medical Room that afternoon, breaking with a practice of twenty years, the actual blows were feeble, and it was Duddy who emerged triumphant, racing outside to greet his classmates." Duddy also excitedly announced to his peers: "Hey, look! Look, jerkos! Ten on each. Mac strapped me. Mac, of all people." Obviously, Duddy is no longer intimidated by strapping. Strapping or any kind of corporal punishment is not an effective way to change human behaviour because it simply cannot change people's minds. Humans, unlike animals, should be taught with words. If a student has done something wrong, instead of giving him or her a good strapping, a nice little chat would be more appropriate. The teacher must make the student understand what he or she has done and why it should not have been done. The teacher must make the student feel that he or she is wrong. That way, the awful act is unlikely to recur. Mr. MacPherson should be praised for his virtue of not strapping any boy. It is very good of him to understand the futility of corporal punishments. It is quite unfortunate that he gives up this virtue when finally can not stand the pressure of his wife's death and Duddy's agitation.

Destruction of the Environment essays

Destruction of the Environment essays Imagine a world in which people would not see trees and a blue sky when they go outside. Imagine stepping out of a house and not being able to walk a few feet without getting winded because of the amount of polution in the air. This might become a reality if our society as a whole does not start to think about the reprocutions of our actions. The irrevocable desicions that we make today will ultimately be the arbiter of what the world will be like in the future. The environment is a very fragile thing and if we do not take care of it, future generations will not be able to enjoy it. There are many ways in which we can begin to better our environment. One of which is to recycle. One does not have to be an erudite peron to know the numerous advantages of recycling. By recycling daily material in our lives, we will perpetuate a lifetime of useful material without using Earth's transient resources. If our waste is not recycled, then it is sent to landfills, where the harmful substances are left to permeate into the soil. The simple task of recycling is a very powerful way for renewing our supply of natural resources and helping the environment. Another way in which we can improve the environment is to conserve energy. The energy that is used to power our lights and televisions is provided by large power plants that can sometimes inadvertantly harm our environment. If we retrench the amount of energy that we use at home, than we are able to reduce the chance of harming our fragile ecosystem. With the flick of the switch when the light is not needed, there will be a salutary effect on the environment, even if it is just a nominal amount. Our gossamer world is not something that society should take for granted. If we choose to take care of our environment now, the world might become a much better place. If we choose to not take the important precautions, our world might become a desolate ...

Biography of Emmanuel Kant Essay Example for Free

Biography of Emmanuel Kant Essay Known by many in the field as the father of modern philosophy, Immanuel Kant questioned many of the assumptions held in his day. He focused much of his work on the realm of human thought, understanding, and potential. His ideas about observation, learning, and experientialism set the precedent for all philosophers who followed him. Born in the early 1720s, Kant lived in what was known as East Prussia (now a part of Kaliningrad, Russia). There, he was able to secure a teaching position for nearly ten years when he began working at Konigsberg University. He would remain a part of their staff for nearly five decades contributing to the rise and popularity of philosophy of the day. Not much more is known about Kant’s earlier life. He did go on to having several of his pieces published, although none were an exact autobiography. In his Critique of Pure Reason, he discussed and raised interesting points about human knowledge. Instrumental on Kant’s own ideas was the work of philosopher David Hume, who agreed that human experience could be used for understanding, but that it should not be used to explain every phenomena we encounter in nature or in the real world. Kant built upon this idea. He stated that new experiences could be formulated based on past experiences because it our past that helps us learn about our future. He believed that the human mind organized events and ideas into categories that could be accessed later to determine how we might react in a certain experience. He came up with the word to describe the paradox of understanding: noumena. Kant’s own arguments about the existence of God were also not well accepted at his time. He believed that man could not rationalize God because it was not something that we had experienced before. In other words, we might be able to attribute certain characteristics to Him, but it is ultimately limited by our own human understanding of the universe. In essence, we could never come close to truly understanding who God is and predict what He is going to do. |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |. Biography of Emmanuel Kant. (2016, Nov 16).

Primary Document Analysis Paper #2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Primary Document Analysis Paper #2 - Essay Example Best symbolizing this was the Red Summer riots of Chicago – often referring to ‘the Awakening of Black America.’ This event was to change the face of American socialization, bringing to the fore, the contentious issue of racism and racial discrimination. This paper will analyze the primary documents on the race riots that occurred in the summer & fall of 1919 and factors led to the Red Summer. It will also address issues of race, politics, ideology, socioeconomics, and foreign affairs present in the urban violence that occurred and the role that the American media played in the Red Summer Riots. The Red Summer Riots portrayed a ‘boiling point’ in the nation’s long history of racial strife, through violent demonstrating against the African Americans’ long discrimination and oppression. In the summer and fall seasons of 1919, Chicago amongst a host of other populous cities became battlegrounds that witnessed continuous rioting. Not only was this mayhem experienced in the urban-city setting, but more so, in the rural areas of the South specifically those in the former confederacy, such as Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and Georgia amongst others. As a result, millions of American lives were disrupted with hundreds (if not thousands) of people dying most of whom were African Americans. In the aftermath of the riots, thousands of individuals were injured, with many more being forced to flee from their neighborhoods and homes. In the overall context, not only was the social fabric affected in terms of civil unrest, but also in the form of economic depreci ation. Various businesses did loss millions of American dollars to looting and general destruction of their premises (Gardiner, 1919). Different aspects present in the society during the Red Summer Riots such as the media (print and television) played a vital role in fueling the prevailing social contexts for

CSR and Recruitment methods used by Four Seasons Essay

CSR and Recruitment methods used by Four Seasons - Essay Example Prezi facilitates this process by providing a virtual whiteboard from which presentations can be made into conversations. Traditionally, presentations have always taken the form of monologues where the presenter simply talks and passes information with very minimal engagement from the audience. Prezi offers a shift from such a monotonous process. Prezi offers consumers very critical information regarding presentations and how to improve communication in such situations. It is recognized that information is better passed through visual enhancements. Prezi therefore designs various images, videos which are used in enhancing presentations. Prezi offers cloud-based platforms hence the users can always present from their desktops, tablets of phones. One of the greatest strengths of Prezi is its reliance on communication as a tool for business. The company recognizes that people will always have to communicate and this translates into the continual need for the services. In addition, the company has developed a tradition of listening and paying attention to criticism and this provides a better way of learning and improving services. Prezi focuses on special metaphor in ensuring that the audience remembers the content better. Considering the fact that a presentation is only as effective as the information the audience captures and remembers the company invests a lot in developing techniques which ensure that the audience’s memory is always engaged. Strength arises from Prezi’s traditional focus on elegance and style. For a long time, the company has been known to create very beautiful products which captivate the users. On this, the joy is always on making the users smile. More importantly, it is always about simplicity and this ensures that the users get products they can easily use and love. On the other hand, it is realized that while the communication solutions provided by Prezi are simple and stylish, challenges often arise as new products

Politics and Education Essay Example for Free

Politics and Education Essay Education can develop the personality of a person not physically but mentally as well. An educated person can look at a certain issue from various perspectives. A politician has to control over a large community therefore, he needs some extra ordinary skills and the first thing which can make him distinguished, is his qualification. Education can increase his communication and speaking skills. A politician is a social member and his interactions with people are frequent, therefore, he needs maturity and sensibility in his talk and behavior. This is certainly possible with proper education. A politician is the representative of a nation and he should be the perfect person by all means and education plays an important role in making anyone perfect to a great extent. But then, I dont necessarily think that they need to have degrees in a particular field but broader understanding would certainly help. They must have minimum qualification†¦they need to be knowledgeable and must understand the laws. Politicians like Abraham Lincoln set an example of people who had no real formal education and look at the jobs they did and the leadership they offered†¦It is true that there have been great leaders who were uneducated, Kamaraj in India, for example. But, such gems are a rarity. In life, compromises must be made. Until an intelligent and foolproof plan exists for electing such gems from the public, we must resort to what is best for the common man. An educated person is more likely to do a good job as a politician than an illiterate person. Education is a process that makes people more humane and teaches them a lot about the country, how to express themselves through effective communication and so on I think the only key thing they need to be educated in is the Constitution and process of government. A lot of the early leaders of the country were not well educated even for the time. Some foundation of knowledge is beneficial and they definitely need to be able to reason and learn. They need leadership quality, power in speech, integrity, sincerity, honesty and purity in whatever actions they take for development of country.

Investigation Techniques Of A Homicide Essay -- essays research papers

Investigation Techniques of A Homicide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The O. J. Simpson double murder trial is perhaps the most publicized case this decade. However, before the police can arrest Simpson and prosecute him, they must investigate. The investigation techniques LAPD used are used all over the world. CRIME SCENE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Patrol officers received a disturbance call at Nicole Simpson's residence. They arrived on scene and discovered two bodies. They looked around to see if the suspect is anywhere around then they checked to determine the two subjects were dead. The officers immediately contacted the detectives on duty and supervisors and then secured the area to ensure no contamination to the scene. The officers' duties included making sure that no unauthorized people may enter the scene. They also have to protect all possible evidences left by the suspect.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the Simpson case, the officers did not do a very good job at securing the scene. They had allowed unauthorized officers the go through the scene, thus causing some contamination to the crime scene. This error had allowed the defense to attack the creditability of the police department. CAUSE AND TIME OF DEATH When the officers first arrived the scene, they saw two people lying in a pool of blood. The officers did not know if they were dead and if they were, how and when. After the medical examiner looked at the bodies and the wounds on the victims, he concluded that they were stabbed to death. The time of death was a bit harder to determine. Death caused some changes to the bodies. The investigator looked at the changes and was able to estimate a time of death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of the changes the examiners look for are: lost of body temperature, rigor mortis, and postmortem lividity. The body temperature will start to decrease after death. The body will also start to stiffen after death, this is call rigor mortis. Rigor mortis usually starts to set in two to four hours after death. Time of death can be estimated by the stiffness of the body. Another way to estimate the time of death is postmortem lividity. When the body ceased to function, gravity pulls the blood down and settled at the lowest points of the body. Postmortem lividity may appear on the body between half hour to four hours after death. The determination of t... ...ered more evidences to link Simpson to the murders. All the testimonies showed that Simpson had actually planned the crime. He even had an alibi which was shaky. Simpson also had a history of spousal abuse. All the evidences pointed unfavorably toward O. J. Simpson. The elements of the crime the police needed were established and Simpson was formally Charged. DNA There were no fingerprints at the crime scene. However, there were some blood which belonged to neither victims'. Thanks to modern technology, scientists can detect differences in people's DNA. DNA is the genetic fingerprint of a person. The principal of DNA identification is the same as fingerprints, no two persons can have the same composition. During the Simpson trial, the admissibility of DNA evidence was highly debated. The O. J. Simpson trial had ended for a year now. O. J. was cleared of murdering his former wife and her friend. The police is still investigating this case. The LAPD made some mistakes which allowed the defense to attack the creditability of the police. This showed the importance of protecting the crime scene. Other than these mistakes, the LAPD conducted a almost text book perfect investigation. t

Effectiveness Of Anti-Smoking Advertisement Essay

Out of the total business of Tobacco in the world (i.e. $ 27 billion a year), 50% amount of the total turnover is being spent on marketing of the products (U.S. FTC _Cigarette Report_ 2007). The total deaths due to smoking were 100 million in the 20th Century. If precautions are not taken, it may go up-to one billion in the 21st Century against the present count of 5.4 million deaths as per WHO report, Feb.8 (Xinhua). The WHO report also says that governments earn as revenue more than 500 times than what these spend on non-smoking campaigns. The turnover targets of the tobacco industry also calls for anti smoking charitable organizations to prevent smoking for the freshers and take into confidence the regular smokers to quit. Different Messages should be used to impress people and these should be very much effective through a research. All these messages should reach the people through an outdoor campaigning or through radio, television or distribution of printed pamphlets. Public Relation shall also help you to contact the affected persons. Besides these, Internet contacts and meetings on the public places shall also help you to achieve the targets. 1. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM DEFINITION Smoking is highly detrimental to health. Regular smoking can lead to serious diseases like lung cancer and chronic heart diseases. It reduces productivity of smokers and hence of organizations in which they are working which in turn hampers the economic growth of the country. The same effects are applicable on second-hand or passive smoker also. A lot of resources of any economy are diverted curing different diseases of active and passive smokers. Such resources could have been diverted towards other productive activities. The possible ways of reducing smoking and hence reducing its negative impact may be: (a) increasing the prices of cigarettes substantially by imposing huge taxes on cigarettes; (b) banning cigarettes  in public places. However, cigarette smoking is an addiction and its demand is relatively price inelastic and thus option (a) has limited scope to reduce smoking. Banning smoking in public places has also limited scope because individuals have the liberty to smoke in private without any major decrease in smoking. To compel individuals to reduce or quit smoking, an effective approach is through advertisement campaigns highlighting the ill-effects of smoking. However, advertisement campaigns will be successful in their objectives only when they are effectively designed and communicated. Since advertisement campaigns involve huge expenditure, it should give the maximum benefit in terms of large reduction in number of smokers. That is, advertisement campaigns should be cost-effective. Thus, designing an effective advertisement campaign is of prime importance for the benefit of any society or economy. This project is an attempt in this direction. This project aims to suggest what a successful anti-smoking advertisement campaign should contain? When the smoking statistics is analyzed for UK, it is observed that it is the highest amongst the persons who aged 20-34 years. Around 35% of persons (both men and women) in the age group of 20-34 years smoke. The lowest smoking rate is amongst the persons who aged 60 and above. Around 16% of the persons in the age group of 60 and above smoke. When the smoking rate amongst the adults is analyzed, it is found out that 29% of men and 25% of women amongst adults smoke. The figure does not look to an alarming when we compare the same with 1974 figures when 51% of men and 41% of women (that is nearly 50% of the adult population in UK) smoked cigarettes (UK SMOKING STATISTICS, www.nonsmokingday.org.uk). Thus, in the recent years the decline in smoking has been mostly concentrated amongst older population. More matured smokers are quitting smoking where as many youths are joining the smoking group. Smoking statistics further show that lower socio-economic group people smoke more than the people in the professional group. 39% of men and 34% of women in lower socio-economic group smoke as compared with 15% of men and 13% of women in professional group (UK SMOKING STATISTICS, www.nonsmokingday.org.uk). The smoking statistics in the age group of 11-15 years show that 6% of UK population in this age group smokes regularly in 2007. However, the regular smoking rate was 16% in 1977 in the age group of 11-15 year. Amongst the 15-year-old population, the smoking rate declined from 25% in 1982 to 20% in 2006 and further to 15% in 2007 (www.ash.org.uk). Thus to persuade the individuals further to quit smoking to increase their productivity and to apprise them about harmful effects of smoking, an effective advertisement campaign should be designed. Different advertisement campaigns should be designed to target different section of society. The segmentation should be done on the basis of age, sex and socio-economic status. Since in UK the maximum smoking rate is amongst the youth and lower socio-economic group, the maximum amount of UK anti-smoking advertisement budget should be kept for these two groups. Since the maximum smoking rate in UK is amongst the persons who aged 16 to 50 years, this project aims at describing the process for designing the effective anti smoking advertisement campaigns for the smokers who are in this age group. The variables which are very important for any advertisement campaign are: (a) content; (b) consistency; (c) clarity; and (d) reach (Sissors JT, Bumba L. _Advertising Media Planning_, 1989). Primarily the advertisement campaign should contain the harmful effects of smoking which should be targeted at different sections of the society in terms of their demographic profile. The content regarding highlighting negative impacts of smoking can be classified as below: The advertisements that highlight the adverse long-term effects of smoking in the health of smokers such as smoking causing diseases like lung cancer and other chronic heart problems. Advertisements that discuss the adverse effects in the short-run such as foul  breath and rejection while the smoker is involved in the romance. Advertisements that describe the false tactics employed by the cigarette companies to sell cigarettes which is a destructive and addictive product. The advertisement should emphasize that cigarette companies are illegally targeting minors and making false claims that cigarettes are non-addictive. Advertisements that involve role models who describe ill-effects of smoking. Advertisements that highlight the adverse effects of second hand smoke or passive smoking on children, friends and other family members. Advertisements that show smokers as the persons who have preferred unattractive and unhealthy life style. Advertisements that involve celebrities and showing that these celebrities are refusing to smoke. This project describes the approach that should be adopted while designing effective concepts of advertising to quit smoking. The approach is designed to help organizations which are involved in choosing the concepts of advertising for a campaign, the main objective of which is to motivate smokers to quit or to make an attempt to quit smoking. The approach is very appropriate for market research. The main objective of the approach is to conduct the market test for finding out the most appropriate advertisement for a particular market or target group. This may be achieved by analyzing the different advertisements which have already been developed in the past. The approach is based on the assumption that the persons who are watching these advertisements could be youth or adults, men or women, smokers or non-smokers. Different advertising campaigns should be designed for targeting different  sections of the society. The campaign which may be effective for adults, the same campaign may not be effective for youths. The project is further divided into four sections. Section 2 discusses the research objectives of the study. Section 3 explains the research methodology of the study. Section 4 provides the data analysis and empirical results while section 5 gives the recommendations 2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The main objective of this research is to assess different advertisement in terms of their ability to fulfill certain objectives of advertisement campaign. This objective can be achieved only if the research analyses reactions to different advertisements. The reactions to each of the advertisements can be analyzed on the following parameters: Whether the advertisement will be noticed by the smokers (Attention) Whether the smokers will find the advertisement as relevant to them (Identification) The kind of message that will be conveyed to smokers through the advertisement (Communication) The impact that the advertisement will have on smoking (Effect). The objectives of the advertisement will determine the objectives of research on communication and effect parameters. That is, If the main objective of the campaign is to provide awareness about the harmful effects of smoking – the objective is to find the advertisements which have the maximum potential to provide awareness about the effects of smoking on health. If the objective of the campaign is to encourage smokers to stop smoking –  the objective is to find the advertisements which have the maximum potential to encourage smokers towards quitting of cigarettes. If the objective of the campaign is to enhance awareness of harmful effects of passive smoking – the objective is to determine the advertisements which have the maximum potential to increase awareness of the ill-effects of second hand smoke. If the objective of the campaign is to develop or support smoke-free policies – the objective is to find out which advertisements have the maximum capacity to enhance support these smoke-free policies. The unintended effects of advertisements amongst smokers and persons outside the target audience group should also be identified by the research. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A focus group discussion approach has been used to conduct the research. In focus group discussion method, there is an involvement of several groups of persons from the target audience. Groups are segmented in terms of their demographic profiles. Persons of the group are encouraged to fruitfully discuss different possible advertisements. Experiences, attitudes and opinions are discussed in the focus groups. Various views are exchanged and explored during the discussion. The main advantage of the context of the group is the ability of group dynamics to bring new ideas and to encourage the debate on the issue. To successfully address the research objectives, minimum four group discussions should be conducted. The complexities involved in the target audience of campaign and the segmentation of the participants determine the number of groups that should be involved while conducting the research. _SEGMENTATION:_ The first task in designing the research is to determine the target audience.  This is followed by finding out the most suitable approach that will be used to segment the target audience into different groups. The segmentation is done on the basis of demographic profile such as age and sex. The following segmentation may be used if the objective of the campaign is to motivate smokers who aged 16 to 50 years to quit smoking. To design the research project and the inclusion of the participants in different groups, the following procedure should be adopted: Different groups should include only smokers (that is those who smoke at least five cigarettes in a day). Occasional smokers should not be included. Only those smokers should be included who are thinking to quit smoking in the next one year or some other time in the future. Smokers who are resistant to change should not be included. Only those smokers who represent suitable socio-demographic profiles should be included to reflect the smoking population. That is, all smokers should be from lower socio-economic group if the target group represents lower socio-economic status. People who are involved in promotion of healthy programmes, market research or having employment in cigarette companies should not be included. To design the project and the inclusion of participants, in addition to the above, some additional criteria are also worth considering. Consideration of these additional criteria will depend upon the characteristics of the smoker population, objectives of communication of the advertisements and the specific campaign’s aims. These additional criteria might contain the followings: Whether the conduct of the research should be in different locations, such as rural or urban or semi-urban. Whether the parents who are smokers should be included. Whether non-smokers and ex-smokers should be included in the research. In each focus group discussion, normally there is a recruitment of eight to  ten smokers. Many times it is better to recruit ten persons as all the people who are recruited will not attend at the given time and one should expect that seven or eight persons will attend. The constructive discussion on the issues and fruitful interaction may be held with this number. _GROUP DISCUSSION APPROACH:_ A room or a hall should be used for conducting group discussion. The group discussion needs to be arranged in a TV room where participants can see TV each other and the faculty. The discussions should be recorded for further review and analysis; if this is not possible proper notes should be drawn after each group. The research assistant shall fill-up a form after completion of each group which will contain the group number, advertisement name and member. Participants shall introduce themselves to each other and further explanation shall be given by the in charge of the group. The participants shall be distributed a set of forms for each Ad and final page after rating of all the advertisements. Each member shall view each of the advertisements and rate the same to have an individual decision without any pressure of the group. This shall result in healthier discussions in the group for exploration in detail. The tape of the advertisement for all the ads shall be run twice and stopped and the participants make ratings thereafter. Thereafter, the in charge of the group shall ask all the participants to complete the final page of rating and collect the same. The order of displaying the ads should be charged to overcome the similarly of preferential order in which these are present. It is necessary for the organizer to record the different number and name of the ad on the top before handing over. Afterwards, he will keep the ads in the order these are shown for each group. The ads should bear a short title in the requisite space before handing over the forms. Conversation between the participants and the moderator shall be held through open discussions where participants shall have freedom to speak openly. Participants may face different questions from the moderator. Research Assistant shall keep record notes of the discussions and observations, which shall based on attention, identification and communication of the smokers and lastly the effect of the ad or the smokers. The Research staff should take notes, include quotations from participants and make concluding observations from the groups as per the themes give below: Whether the advertisement will be noticed by the smokers. Whether the smokers will find the advertisement as relevant to them. What kinds of messages will be conveyed to the smokers. Whether there will be effect of the advertisement on smoking. Whether there will be any unintended consequences of the advertisement. 4. DATA NALYSIS AND EMPIRICAL RESULTS: _RATING SHEETS:_ After the completion of all the groups, all the rating sheets should be collated and the analysis of results should begin. The percentage of persons who rightly identify the core message of the advertisement in either of the first two questions should also be calculated for each advertisement. Calculation should also be made for the percentage of persons who made definitely incorrect interpretation of the core message. This will provide the numerical scores for the themes of communication and unintended consequences. The scorer should decide in advance what is the core message of each advertisement and what will be taken as a correct core message to determine how to score responses of the people. The percentage of persons  who agree or disagree with each advertisement should be computed for each advertisement. A summary of the preferences of the people should be made by comparing these percentages for each advertisement. The percentage of persons who declared each advertisement as the most effective to quit or making an attempt to quit smoking should be computed on the final advertisement rating page. The same kind of rigorous analysis can be conducted by computing the percentage of each demographic group in terms of males and females, adults and youths etc. _GROUP DISCUSSION_ : After the completion of all the groups, the note taking form prepared by the Research Staff should be collated. The core themes and research objectives should be taken into account while analyzing results for each advertisement. The results should be analyzed in terms of the following parameters: Attention Relevance Message Effect Unintended consequences It should be ensured that from each group, all the issues and opinions have been taken into consideration. This can be achieved by taking additional notes (if required) after listening or watching the recordings of each group. One should consider only the opinions which are the most common. It is very important to judge whether an advertisement will be effective or not if only a mall number of participants express their opinions. It should be ensured by the researcher that all ranges of responses have been taken into account and not just the responses that confirm already  established findings and conclusions. When advertisements are compared and preferences are considered, it should be taken into account that the most liked advertisement of the group may not necessarily the best advertisement or anti smoking campaign. The advertisement should be effective and not necessarily liked by the participants. The advertisement which achieves the most objectives of the campaign is considered as the best advertisement. For this, advertisement needs to be noticed, to be relevant, to be able communicate the desired message and to prompt smokers to quit smoking. _COMBINED RESEARCH INFORMATION:_ To select the advertisement, which is most likely to fulfill the campaign objectives, the results obtained from the rating sheets and the discussion analysis should be combined and compared. The analysis of rating sheets will tell about comparison of the different advertisements on different important dimensions. The analysis of focus group discussion will explain about these differences. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS: While designing the effective advertisement campaign, one should take into account the target group for which the advertisement campaign has been designed. The campaign which is more effective for adults, may not necessarily effective for youths. While designing the advertisement campaign for youths, it should contain the following message themes – romantic rejection, smokers as negative role models, ill-effect of passive smoking, celebrities refusing to smoke, involvement of role models describing the ill-effects of smoking. When targeting adults, the ‘Emotional Consequences’ campaign will be more effective as it will make them think about the impact of their smoking on children, friends and other family members. In last, it is recommended that one should conduct the effects of advertisement campaign on outcome. Thus, pre and post test of any advertisement campaign should be conducted. REFERENCES: Teenage Smoking attitudes in 1996. Office for National Statistics, 1997 Goddard, E. General Household Survey 2006: Smoking and drinking among adults 2006. Office for National Statistics, 2008. Drug use, smoking and drinking among young people in England in 2007. The Information Centre for Health and Social Care, 2007 View report Bewley B.R, Day I, Ide L. Smoking by children in Great Britain. MRC Social Science Research Council, 1972. Dobbs J, Marsh A. Smoking among secondary schoolchildren. HMSO, 1982. Hamilton JL. The demand for cigarettes: advertising, thehealth scare, and the cigarette advertising ban. _Review of Economics and Statistics_ 1974;54:401-11. Lewit EM, Coate D, Grossman M. The effects of government regulation on teenage smoking. _Journal of Law and Economics_ 1981;24:545-69. Schneider L, Klein B, Murphy KM. Governmental regulation of cigarette health information. _Journal of Law and Economics_ 1981;24:575-611. Schuster CP, Powell CP. Comparison of cigarette and alcohol advertising controversies. _Journal of Advertising_ 1987; 16:26-33. Warner KE. The effects of the anti-smoking campaign on cigarette consumption. _Am J Public Health_ 1977;67:645-50. Perry CL, Kelder SH, Murray DM, _et al._ Communitywide smoking prevention: long-term outcomes of the Minnesota heart health program and the class of 1989. _Am J Public Health_ 1992;82:1210-6. Flynn B,Worden JK, Secker-Walker RH, _et al._ Prevention of cigarette smoking through mass media intervention and school programs. _Am J Public Health_ 1992;82:827-34. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7791012.stm http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/9/3/273 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_advertising http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/87/20/1538 http://www.keynote.co.uk http://old.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact19.html http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/tobacco/messages.htm http://www.stop-smoking-updates.com/quitsmoking/smoking-and-children/causes-effects/why-youngsters-smoke.htm

Critiquing Current Educational Issues Essay

Matters of education, like any other sociological issues, can cause a lot of controversy if they are handled in a manner that does not represent or take into account the views of all the stakeholders (ABC, 2010). This has been the case with the My school website in this country. Long before the My school website came into operation, support as well as opposition could be clearly witnessed from different stakeholders including teachers, the Australian Education Union (AEU), and the government through the independent Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) which is charged with the responsibility of making available to the public data about schools that is nationally comparable. However, the most controversy has arisen after the website became operational. The issues of contention vary depending on the particular sides embroiled in the debate. However, regardless of the views that are being raised, the effects that the controversy about the My school website has generated have been dire not only to students and their schools but also to teachers in the Australian education curriculum, the parents, as well as investors who need to finance education programs in the country. This paper critically discusses the sociological issues that have surrounded the My school website prior to and after its inception. This is with a view to establishing the extent to which the controversy has affected the various stakeholders in the education sector in the country. The My School Website My school is a website which profiles close to a thousand Australian schools. All these schools may be searched by any interested person or organization using filters such as the location of the school, its sector, or even the name. Perhaps the most important information to be found on the website is that of statistical and contextual nature; but also included is information about the results by the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). These results allows for comparisons to be done for schools; particularly those that are statistically similar. Therefore, the My school website allows for the searching for schools across the nation; finding local schools in one’s own area; comparing schools that are statistically similar; viewing school-level results by NAPLAN; and identification of schools’ performances so that there is an allowance for sharing successful strategies (Peatling, 2010). Contentious Issues Proponents of My school, who mainly comprise of the government, NAPLAN, and a section of parents, argue that the website has allowed parents and other people an opportunity to assess schools on the basis of key indicators, particularly on literacy and numeracy, so that they can make informed decisions about where to enroll their children. They also argue that through the site parents can monitor the performance of their children and so be better placed to advise them accordingly. The site has also been lauded for bringing together all schools across the nation so that finding information about school performances and other records is no longer difficult (Peatling, 2010). This site, they argue, has enabled the results of schools on national tests to be better understood in a manner that is both meaningful and fair. The site has also enabled schools seeking to enhance their performance to learn from others which have similar populations. By providing extensive information on Australian schools, the My School website introduces a new level of transparency and accountability to the Australian school system. However, the opponents have forwarded a number of critical issues which they believe are actually making the education sector to suffer. The first contention and one which has generated the most opposition is the use of particular indices to rank schools (Peatling, 2010). These indices have apparently failed to present to the public what the actual facts about schools are because it has been proved that some schools that are known widely to be underperformers have been ranked or placed in the same category as other elite schools whose national record has been known by the people to be very high. A notable example that has been widely quoted is the grouping together of Bulli High School, Wollongong, and Trinity Grammar, Summer Hill; as well as ranking of Scotch College which is among the most prestigious schools in the country alongside Epping North Public School. This issue has particularly caused a lot of concern among teachers, led by the Australian Education Union, who have used it to reiterate their allegation that the My school website is deeply flawed and cannot be relied upon for its inaccuracy, invalidity, and incompleteness (Peatling, 2010). Another key issue has been the margin of error that has been identified in the ranking of the schools in the test results by KAPLAN. In some cases, it has been found that the margin of error has been as wide as 34 – pointing out that there was no way the website could be relied on to convey the correct information to the public. From the AEU’s perspective, the site is only a source of conflict and serves to create tension and unnecessary competition among teachers and schools. The union reiterates the need for the education sector to be made rather autonomous so as to avoid events that can compromise the quality of education (Peatling, 2010). AEU holds that tests ought not to be used to rate the student’s ability but only as a means to ascertain where a child or learner is up to. Sociologically, tests results ought to be the secret of the learner because the test was done that one learner alone. Exposing such results to other people, especially when the results are poor, serves to embarrass the learner and cause one to be less confident in school. The overall outcome is a tendency to continue failing in successive tests. Another issue that has raised a storm about the My school website is that it is being used to discriminate against certain ethnic communities, particularly the Aboriginal students (ABC, 2010). This lament, mainly from parents, has stemmed from the system used where schools have been listing the number of Aboriginal students enrolled there as part of the statistics posted on the My school website. This, the parents contend, is discriminatory as it tends to bring to the fore the notion that the Aboriginal students are responsible for the poor performance of schools so that the more of them a school has the lower it is likely to perform on the KAPLAN index. This can never be farther from the truth (ABC, 2010). The Clash Between Government Policy and Public Opinion Even on the international scene, there have been constant clashes between the policy of governments and what the public feels is the best. In matters of education in particular, there has been a series of policy frameworks that governments have put in place without considering their effects on the other stakeholders. For instance, issues regarding the performance of educators in learning institutions like schools and colleges have been hotly contested because while the policy might require teachers and other educators to be appraised based on their performance, the indices used in certain cases never really depict the actual input by these educators. For instance, teachers can be assigned to students who are hard of learning for a reason or more and so such teachers, if rated on the basis of the performance of their students alone, never really get justice done. Similarly, it is not appropriate for the government to continue using indices to rank schools and publishing such information on the My school website without considering other factors. The effect this has on teachers is that they are likely to become demoralized and put less effort in their work for they know the evaluation of their work is not at all fair. For parents, the use of the My school website has had different effects (Peatling, 2010). First, it may help them to ascertain the best performers among schools and so enroll their children in such ones. However, there is another more critical issue about what parents whose children are in poor-performing schools can do. The natural inclination of such parents is to withdraw their children from these poor performing schools and have then enrolled in other schools with better performance indices. This, if allowed, would cause a mass exodus of students from some schools into others, eventually causing another problem of overcrowding and subsequent declining in the quality of education in those schools initially ranked highly. But since the government is not prepared to allow such migrations, continuing to use the My school website might only cause parents a lot of anxiety from knowing that their children might never be able to make it in life because they are in lowly-ranked schools. For the students, they will get discouraged if they learn that their school does not perform well in comparison to others. As AEU has claimed, education is not all about literacy and numeracy but more about individual students’ ability to learn to do many other things in life. Students in lowly-ranked schools might be led into the false belief that their teachers are not competent enough and so give up trying to improve their performance. However, the My school website has had the positive effect of creating a competitive environment in schools so that low performers are compelled to work harder to improve while the best performers try their level best to maintain or improve their performance record (Peatling, 2010). Conclusion The My school website is bound to continue eliciting a lot of debate in the days to come with varying effects on the society, the students, teachers, and the government. What is clear in this debate is that there has been no attempt to have the feuding parties to work together to sort out their differences. Instead, every side has been unilateral in its decisions and has not cared about the implications of its actions on the students, teachers, and parents. While the government is downplaying the opposition to the My school website by AEU and citing it as any other opposition that happens whenever there is change, the fact is that the union has key sociological issues that ought to be addressed if the education standards in this country are to be kept high. Sociologically, therefore, the feuding parties ought to work together to find ways of ironing out their differences before the matter gets out of hand.

Free Essays on How Television Affects Children

Many television programs involve substantial amounts of violence in one form or another that causes people to think that television is the cause of violence in today’s youth. Many question whether television disturbs the minds of adolescent children who cannot yet comprehend the truth of fiction and reality. Studies show that violent television viewing affects younger children more since their perception of what is real or unreal is not as acute as in older adults - meaning that aggressive adults learn their behavior as children. By watching portrayals of violence, children learn to accept aggressive behavior by becoming desensitized to the effects of violence and imitate it by modeling aggressive behaviors. According to the Institute for the Social Research, an aggressive behavior is learned behavior which is being taught to our children by the media violence that they are exposed to daily (Chen, 1994 p.23). In Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis, written by Albert Bandura in 1973, indicates that sometimes watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. However, the impact of viewing violence on television may become immediately evident in the child’s behavior, or it may not surface till later (Canton and Wilson, 1984). While violence portrayed on television is not the cause of aggressive behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. Children â€Å"are predisposed to seek out and pay attention to violence† (Canton and Wilson, 1984). It is not the violence itself that makes programs attractive to children, but the vivid images accompanying them. Children are unlikely to put the violence in context since they are likely to misunderstand the violent images being portrayed – children cannot comprehend fiction from reality. They don’t realize TV programs are people acting out a script and the scenes are not real. They become less sensitive to pain and suffering of others, and children are more likely ... Free Essays on How Television Affects Children Free Essays on How Television Affects Children Many television programs involve substantial amounts of violence in one form or another that causes people to think that television is the cause of violence in today’s youth. Many question whether television disturbs the minds of adolescent children who cannot yet comprehend the truth of fiction and reality. Studies show that violent television viewing affects younger children more since their perception of what is real or unreal is not as acute as in older adults - meaning that aggressive adults learn their behavior as children. By watching portrayals of violence, children learn to accept aggressive behavior by becoming desensitized to the effects of violence and imitate it by modeling aggressive behaviors. According to the Institute for the Social Research, an aggressive behavior is learned behavior which is being taught to our children by the media violence that they are exposed to daily (Chen, 1994 p.23). In Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis, written by Albert Bandura in 1973, indicates that sometimes watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. However, the impact of viewing violence on television may become immediately evident in the child’s behavior, or it may not surface till later (Canton and Wilson, 1984). While violence portrayed on television is not the cause of aggressive behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. Children â€Å"are predisposed to seek out and pay attention to violence† (Canton and Wilson, 1984). It is not the violence itself that makes programs attractive to children, but the vivid images accompanying them. Children are unlikely to put the violence in context since they are likely to misunderstand the violent images being portrayed – children cannot comprehend fiction from reality. They don’t realize TV programs are people acting out a script and the scenes are not real. They become less sensitive to pain and suffering of others, and children are more likely ...

Advertisement-Rhetorical Analysis draft Coursework

Advertisement-Rhetorical Analysis draft - Coursework Example according to the time and demand needs; in that continuum, advertisement in 40’s has its own dimensions as one can find number of examples in this link .To be precise, the selected advertisement for analysis is â€Å"ham on rye scotch tape 3m†. This ad is the clear depiction of 1940’s trends in the domain of advertisement. This ad is the portrayal, includes the picture or graphical representation with the detailed text that was the norm of that era. The interesting aspect is that the text portion is dedicated to the blonde and her burgers that are filled with comparatively bright colors. However, the critical issue is that the text portion is not interpreting the graphical segment properly that is confusing because in the picture there is no any such thing that belongs to the war and its discussed related dimensions. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem any correlation with the thumbnails pictures in the text portion and the blonde portion that is standing insi de the rail with other people. Therefore, this piece of advertisement cannot be categorized in the domain of ideal and properly organized ad because it is the perception, general people heed to the pictures and graphical representations than to waste the time in reading the long, unnecessary and loosely connected texts. One can analyze the current trends in advertisement that significantly altered because of that

What is the relationship between the services provided by HR managers Essay

What is the relationship between the services provided by HR managers and other leaders with regards to the levels of staff commitment - Essay Example Basically, the purpose of this quantitative, descriptive nature of research is to explore the relationship between critical dimensions between HR services provided and employee retention by surveying 1000 members from different branches in a financial institution based in Doha in the State of Qatar. The study also aims at assessing the available information about human resource practices, especially the focus is on how effectively the leaders can retain the employees through devising effective techniques that can be utilized, the role of HR personnel in improving employee commitment as an important objective of this study. The study also identifies the limitations of the leaders in their approach of suggesting improvement. The independent variable will be the job satisfaction and thus the retention of the employees, while this will be tested against several dependent variables such as (a) wages and bonuses (b) recognition on the job (c) teamwork and (d) availability of training, givi ng responsibility to the employees, flexibility of the leaders while dealing with his subordinates and similar variables. Chapter two specifically deals with reviewing of published literature that is relevant to the study which influenced the careful selection of the method of data collection to be implemented in the study.