The Case For Standardized Tests How Are They Better for the School Systems And Students - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1762 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/06/26 Category Management Essay Level High school Tags: Standardized Testing Essay Did you like this example? Standardized testing costs the United States approximately 1.2 billion in dollars, and inflicts to students, a tremendous degree of anxiety and stress. Standardized testing had been utilized in the United States since the 1920s because teachers and the government believed it was an accurate and reliable way to test students, they were gravely mistaken. Author Gail Gross has argued that standardized testing still holds value and it benefits schools and students, however Gross fails to mention the negative effects it inflicts amid students, as well as the whole school itself. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Case For Standardized Tests: How Are They Better for the School Systems And Students" essay for you Create order Standardized testing should be eradicated from public school systems because it stresses students, comes with unfair advantages, and it pressures teachers to teach to the test. Firstly, standardized tests, like any weighing and imperative academic tests, requires a great deal of studying and preparation. Accompanying this great deal of studying and preparation is the grave amount of anxiety and stress. Because of the stress the students have due to the intensity and the pressure of the test, it causes them much of an emotional ambush within themselves, (a) comparing self-performance to peers, (b) considering the consequences of failure, (c) low levels of confidence in performance, (d) excessive worry over evaluation, (e) causing sorrow for their parents, (f) feeling unprepared for tests, and (g) loss of self-worth (272 Ronald E. Johnson/Jerrell C. Cassady), clearly students having these types of thoughts will have a hard time with the test as well as a difficult time with their overall test performance. Furthermore, due to the all the stress of preparing, studying, pressure from parents as well as teachers students performance decreases significantly and t heir fear of failure causes them to be mentally abused, individuals with high levels of test anxiety will experience severe performance declines only in situations that activate the state test anxiety factor. Common situational factors include low self-confidence for the specific task, perception of the exam as posing a high level of threat, or an awareness of being underprepared for the exam (274 Ronald E. Johnson/Jerrell C. Cassady), these factors cause the students to feel even more so pressured and in real life situations might cause them to have self-esteem and confidence issues. Identically, not everyone is planning on going to college and kids at a young age arent even thinking about it yet they still deal with the stress and anxiety of the test, Its far more worrisome that even students who dont plan to continue their schooling after high school, and even students who are much too young to be thinking about college are subjected to a barrage of standardized tests that dont provide much useful information (4 Alfie Kohn). Likewise, according to a survey taken by the American Psychology Association (APA), students ranging from 13-17 have reported high levels of stress mostly due to tests such as the SAT and the ACT also known as standardized tests. American teens report experiences with stress that follow a similar pattern as adults, according to a new survey released today by the American Psychological Association (APA) (Sophie Bethune).Finally, standardized testing causes students a crucial amount of stress and anxiety that may not only affect their performance on the test in a bad way but their life as well, stripping of their confidence, and skills, as well as time which they could have utilized to do something more imperative than stress over a test that does not even measure what claims to. Secondly, standardized testing has another huge flaw in its grand design, it carries unfair advantages that no given tests should carry and this flaw strips the test of its power. There are companies that construct standardized tests and like any massive company they want profit. They also assemble programs and classes which favors the economically privileged that can afford them giving them the advantage when it comes to taking the test because theyve already learned the test formats bringing their chances of getting a good score higher than those not having that privilege. It also depends on each school, whether or not they have the resources and money and provides students the right type of materials. Everyone is different, in where theyre from, what theyve learned before hand, experiences theyve had, ways they learn, however standardized tests treats everyone equally which in this case is unfair. Standardized testing treats everyone as if theyve had the same amount of education, resources, and just life, but that just isnt true. Everyone learns differently, everyone is from different places in life, and not everyone has received the same education, If one school has certain advanced textbooks, technology and other test guides that other schools cannot afford, then the more fortunate schools have an evident unfair advantage since their quality of education will be higher than others (Brittany Kokoszka). A teacher may do an incredible job explaining material to students, however, if he or she does not have the resources that other schools have, then the students educations are compromised (Brittany Kokoszka), the unequal distributions of resources and funding for has compromised the educational opportunities of many in the states thereby making standardized testing very flawed, inefficient, and unfair. A teacher may do an incredible job explaining material to students, however, if he or she does not have the resources that other schools have, then the studen ts educations are compromised (Brittany Kokoszka), the unequal distributions of resources and funding for has compromised the educational opportunities of many in the states. Moreover, while the ones being able to afford get a higher score, there are those who dont have the same advantage thereby making the test unfair and a friend to the economically higher status people and whether a student gets into college should not be determined by their financial status, By having this opportunity, those kids will most likely receive higher scores and thus possess a significant unfair advantage over others who cannot afford such luxuries (Brittany Kokoszka). To summarize, standardized test carries the unfair advantage that gives the rich more control over school systems and allow their kids a higher chance to get into a good college, while the ones that arent able to afford such advantage makes it difficult for them get the chance to go to that prestige college. Standardized testing is very flawed in the sense that it thinks everyone has the same amount of education, learning and experiences. Thirdly, standardized testing not only affect students and their future but teachers and their paycheck as well. Due to the fact that standardized testing is such a humongous deal in The United States, teachers are feeling the pressure by their bosses to heavily focus their curriculum into teaching to the test. Standardized tests are used by school administrators and the public to evaluate students, schools, and teachers. Teachers having the most power over students and their learning, receive this immense degree of pressure from the administrators and the public that obligates them into teaching to the test. This leads students into learning information they wouldnt use in real life, and memorizing things they dont use in an everyday life. One of the reasons why teachers are so stressed that they end up teaching to the test is because of the No Child Left Behind Act Legislation like NCLB has raised the stakes for testing, potentially tying student performance to teacher salaries and job stability, and dictating what teachers teach (Stephanie Overman). Everyone is motivated by money, and teachers are no exceptions, this act forces teachers to believe that their most important job is to prepare the kids for standardized testing, neglecting to teach basic life skills. Due to teachers being obligated to teach to the test, it makes standardized tests even more so flawed. This type of complex teachings causes not only teachers but students to stress out as well, derive them of their motivation and will. Consequently, students will forcibly memorize how to answer specific questions in certain ways in order to achieve the highest score. However, this defeats the purpose of these exams†the students should not have to take practice standardized tests before the actual examination. These exams are meant to test a students accumulated skills and ability to apply their knowledge†not their ability to robotically approach a problem and repeat a process taught spe cifically for answering questions on standardized tests (Brittany Kokoszka). Teachers having been pressured to teach to the test, almost only teach the things that show up on the tests, neglecting other useful methods that they may benefit to learn about. This time could be better utilized by doing something that can actually stimulate a childs brain in a way that they can learn about the useful things needed for life. This time spent training students to answer questions correctly could be better spent by learning valuable material to succeed in the future, including how to do income taxes (Brittany Kokoszka). Due to the teachers being pressured to teach to the test, they are limited to teach the things that we might need in life and instead they teach us how to better take a test. Students should acquire unique skill sets from their teachers because each teachers teaching style is different; however, teachers are restricted on what they can teach due to standardized testing and a preset curriculum (Brittany Kokoszka). The only skill sets students usually acquire from teachers is how to take the test which is one of many reasons the standardized test is flawed. Overall, standardized testing not only messes with students but threatens and controls teachers as well. Standardized testing causes students to know and retain things they dont have use for, acquire a skill set that is essentially idle and useless when it comes to real life and its problem. Consequently, a proposed solution consists of school boards around the nation should boycott against the use of standardized testing, as well as using the students scores to judge schools, teachers and students which only makes matters worse. The people should all sign petition for a standardized test free nation, Canada has done it, The United States, shouldnt fall behind. A new type of examination should be developed as a better alternative to this flawed design, an examination supported by research to prove effective. In conclusion, standardized testing has been utilized long enough and needs to be eradicated. Standardized testing clearly does more harm to a student than the good it claims to do. Standardized testing causes students to stress, teachers to feel the pressure to teach to the test and carries the unfair advantages that students shouldnt have to deal with.

Descriptive Description Of Parris ( Parris ) Essay

Descriptive - (description of Parris) Every moment, the time yet passes while my hatred does not. Every day, I must struggle to keep the rage that threatens to explode from me bound in a dark corner of my soul. For every second, while the Reverend Parris, that fool, stands in front of my town, he corrupts their very thoughts, toying with Salem for his own pleasure. A knave, a villain, a scoundrel, a thief, a miscreant, a demon, a sneak, a swindler, a brute, a vile sickening, fool-begotten, black-mouthed, pernicious excuse for a man, and whatever else have you. Nothing can describe the end to which the charlatan ought to be thrown out of town. Everyday, he preaches to the good folk of this town about sin and redemption, yet can not even recognize it in himself. A â€Å"Man of God† they call him†¦ Hah! He is nothing but a newborn babe, his fragile frame and delicate motions betray his failings, the pale complexion a yellowish tinge of sickness Firewood, land... should we deliver our life savings to his residence so that he may bash us with never-ending talk of hellfire and bloody damnation? I’m sick of it, I’m sick of what he stands for, and so I shall not stand for it, for not in my lifetime will I stand aside meekly, begging for my problems to be answered like common beggar, as does the man who devotes his life to serve the Lord. If there is one thing that I shall despise in this life, it shall be the character that names himself Reverend Parris. Weak-limbed, simple-minded he mayShow MoreRelated Maintaining Audiences Interest in The Crucible by Arthur Miller2600 Words   |  11 Pagesaudiences interest right throughout the text by using themes, which are still relevant today. He also uses the storyline to maintain the audiences interest. Arthur Miller uses the language in a very attention-grabbing way, as I have found that his description/portrayal of characters and when he directly addresses the audience also helps to maintain the audiences interest. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because he felt that McCarthyism, (the hunting down of communists in his time) was wrongRead MoreA Delusion of Satan: Great Insight Into the Past Essay1301 Words   |  6 Pageslifestyle. Ranging from the social aspects, to the religious aspects, to the political aspects of puritan living, Frances Hill leaves no stone unturned in giving the most accurate and relatable descriptions of the topics at hand before diving into the trials themselves. I particularly enjoy the depth of description that Hill provides when giving you the background information such as the puritan lifestyle; without setting a strong foundation, certain things may not make sense further into the book. Read MoreMarketing Principle Quiz20161 Words   |  81 Pagesbuyers. As a result, Skoda is building production plants in each of the countries. | | | | | Selected Answer: |   d.   niche analysis | Correct Answer: |   a.   market opportunity analysis | Feedback: | A market opportunity analysis is the description and estimation of the size and sales potential of market segments that are of interest to the firm. | | | | |   Ã‚  Question 4 | 1 out of 1 points    | | Skoda is a carmaker in the Czech Republic. The auto manufacturer is launching a marketing

Frontline Camera and Current Affairs Programs Free Essays

How do the creators of â€Å"Frontline† convey the main issues in the text? The truth in the media is a subjective commodity which is often sensationalized, fabricated and manipulated for a number of reasons. Therefore, realistically the media only represents certain facets of the truth to suit their purpose and context. Rob Sitch’s Frontline is a satirical examination of current affairs programs and explores the media’s selective dissemination of information to construct the desired truth. We will write a custom essay sample on Frontline: Camera and Current Affairs Programs or any similar topic only for you Order Now Though being disturbingly accurate in their sarcastic attack on the deceit and hypocrisy of the media, the producers of Frontline use wit and parody to challenge the reliability of the media and such concepts are explored through a number of film techniques in episodes such as ‘The Siege’ and ‘Add sex and stir’ The commercial nature of the media dictates that the content of the broadcast must rate well and be profitable. The episode ‘The Siege’ exemplifies the commercial nature of current affairs programs and re-emphasizes the media’s potential to regard the truth as a subjective commodity to further gain higher ratings. Frontline seeks little more than authenticity to convince their audience that they are a credible resource. In ‘The Siege’ Rob Sitch blurs the boundary between fiction and reality, through illustrating a story based on a real incident which occurred in 1994 making it harder to discern the truth. Frontline pursues a story about a father who has held his children hostage during a custody battle. This episode exposes the true nature of journalism and the unethical practices that the media undertakes to win the ratings war. Marty ironically says ‘you’ve crossed the line mate’, this pretense of ethics is juxtaposed with ‘you beauty’ when he realizes that it was the Frontline team itself that got through to interviewing the gunman. Marty further sensationalizes and exaggerates the truth by wearing a flak jacket and crouching down to make it appear that he is in a dangerous situation, when in reality he is five kilometers away from the danger zone. Through the use of dialogue ‘How about if I crouch down like this? To make it look like I’m in danger’ Marty illustrates his blatant disregard for the truth thus emphasizing the importance of appearance and ratings over the depiction of the truth within the media. Brooke further epitomizes the media’s motives through the use of incongruity in the dialogue ‘Mrs. Forbes do you have any nine volt batteries? ’ Such dialogue accentuates Brooke’s superficiality as she is not at all concern ed about Mrs. Forbes feelings. The camera close up of Brooke’s exceedingly concerned facial expression when she interviews Mrs. Forbes is juxtaposed with Mrs. Forbes misery and Brooke’s deception when she asks – ‘would you be able to cry again Mrs. Forbes? ’ The on and off camera persona evidently shows that the truth is subverted by the media to construct a desired representation, portraying the truth to be a subjective commodity. The media’s relentless pursuit of higher ratings to ensure commercial success plays a significant role in determining the representation of the truth they present to their audience. The episode ‘Add sex and Stir’ epitomizes the media’s selective dissemination of information to construct a desired truth, thus exemplifying truth to be a subjective commodity. Frontline pursues a story about the unfair dismissal of a sportswoman who is supposedly dropped from the team because she is not gay. Although Brooke acknowledges that the sportswoman was dropped from the team because of poor form, she decides to portray the misleading sex angle of the story in the pursuit for higher ratings to ensure Frontline’s commercial success. Frontline’s clean crisp picture quality, still camera and immaculate sets gives a sense of professional respectability and authority to create a sense of credibility. Rob Sitch employs caricature to emphasize the potential for the media to regard the truth as a subjective commodity to gain more ratings. Sitch satirizes the limited value that the media places on the truth through Brooke’s satirical comment ‘Well there’s a lead story, Stu, lead player dropped due to bad form, out breaking. ’ The truth is further manipulated through filming Brooke’s nods separately and out of context which further amplifies their falsity, emphasizing her lack of integrity. Brooke completely distorts the truth through creating a re-enactment, in which the story is further exaggerated through the steamy atmosphere in the girls change rooms, demonstrating that it is sleaze that sells rather than the truth. The dramatic background music in the re-enactment further satirizes the media’s pursuit for higher ratings, portraying that the media’s ‘essential objective is profit, rather than saving the world’ Chris Masters (ABC correspondent). Through this it is clearly evident that the truth to the media is a subjective commodity that can often be manipulated, fabricated and sensationalized for a number of reasons. How to cite Frontline: Camera and Current Affairs Programs, Papers

Business Ethics And Social Responsibility @Starbucks

Question: Write an essay on Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Answer: Starbucks was founded in 1971 by three partners in Seattles renowned open-air Pike Place Market and was named after the first mate in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick. Howard Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982 as director of retail operations and marketing. Returning from a trip to Milan, Italy, with its 1,500 coffee bars, Schultz recognized an opportunity to develop a similar retail coffee-bar culture in Seattle. From the beginning till now, Starbucks has grown to be one of the largest coffee retail stores in the whole world. Slowly and steadily, Starbucks has grown and expanded over different countries of the world. There are several reasons behind the popularity and expansion of the company. The corporate strategies, employee benefits and growth policy have made Starbucks a successful business organization. From the start of the business, Starbucks authority has emphasized on maintaining a social reputation in order to expand their business. Their main policy of business is to gain a soci al status so that more and more customers are encouraged to come and buy their products. Starbucks have always designed their outlets so that people can gather and enjoy the coffee. In addition to these, Starbucks also established community stores where some programs or trainings can be held along with the service of Starbucks coffee. Starbucks have always targeted unemployed youths to work for the company. In this policy, Starbucks have opened up job opportunities for the deserving youths who are yet to be employed. Starbucks is not unique in the sense that it has always provided high level benefits to its employees. There are many business organizations and other sectors that have done that before. However, these business organizations have long working hours and strict guidelines regarding the employee policies (AOL.com 2016). This is where Starbucks is unique. Starbucks do not force the employees for working long hours continuously and within strict guidelines. Starbucks have op ened a number of short and long term programs that will be used to benefit the society as whole. Starbucks opened to Starbucks Foundation for charity purposes and serving the community. The basic goal of Starbucks in this program is to go beyond their business and support the community. Community Service is another dedicated program for management and sharing of resources. Another point to be noted is that, Starbucks has not grown rapidly because of its ethical and socially responsible activities or because it provides products and an environment that customers want; Starbucks has grown due to proper balancing of both the aspects. For all these reasons, Starbucks have become one of the largest selling coffee product companies in the world. Introduction Starbucks is a business organization that deals with the business of coffee and coffee products. It is one of the worlds most popular business organizations with the customer base spreading throughout the world. There are several reasons behind the popularity and expansion of the company (Chua and Banerjee 2013). The corporate strategies, employee benefits and growth policy have made Starbucks a successful business organization. From the start of the business, Starbucks authority has emphasized on maintaining a social reputation in order to expand their business. Their main policy of business is to gain a social status so that more and more customers are encouraged to come and buy their products. Starbucks have always designed their outlets so that people can gather and enjoy the coffee (Stinson 2014). In addition to these, Starbucks also established community stores where some programs or trainings can be held along with the service of Starbucks coffee. Starbucks have always targete d unemployed youths to work for the company. In this policy, Starbucks have opened up job opportunities for the deserving youths who are yet to be employed (Michelli 2013). In addition to these, Starbucks have opened a number of short and long term programs that will be used to benefit the society as whole. Starbucks opened to Starbucks Foundation for charity purposes and serving the community. The basic goal of Starbucks in this program is to go beyond their business and support the community. Community Service is another dedicated program for management and sharing of resources (Wu 2013). There are many business organizations that either try to attract customers with the product quality or the low price of products. However, in these cases, a slight dip in quality or hike in price leads to customer dissatisfaction and drop of the popularity value. On the other hand, Starbucks provide the best quality product at affordable prices and in addition provide a beautiful environment as w ell as community support (Bowen and Sisson 2013). The advantage of this strategy is that, due to the community support and other steps taken by the company, the customers are automatically attracted towards the company. There are many other aspects of Starbucks business that are discussed in the report like, employee benefits, organization growth policy and others. All these factors have been discussed in due course in this report. Starbucks Business Strategy Analysis Social Responsibility in Corporate Strategy Starbucks is concerned with social responsibility in its overall corporate strategy due to the fact that their main business policy is to maintain the sociological aspect within their business. The main reasons are as follows: Business Policy From the beginning of the business, Starbucks authority has emphasized on maintaining a social reputation in order to expand their business. Their main policy of business is to gain a social status so that more and more customers are encouraged to come and buy their products (Aiello and Dickinson 2014). They believe that if they can serve the society well, their business will automatically expand. Social Hub Starbucks design their stores so that a large number of people, mainly in groups can gather together and enjoy the coffee in a free social environment. Starbucks have always designed their outlets so that people can gather and enjoy the coffee (Tu, Wang and Chang 2012). In addition to these, Starbucks also established community stores where some programs or trainings can be held along with the service of Starbucks coffee. Opportunity for Youths Starbucks have always targeted unemployed youths to work for the company. In this policy, Starbucks have opened up job opportunities for the deserving youths who are yet to be employed (Pierce 2015). With this policy, Starbucks have appointed thousands of youths throughout the world. Overall, Starbucks has promoted the growth of the society in their retails locality. In addition to these, Starbucks have opened a number of short and long term programs that will be used to benefit the society as whole. Some of these programs are as follows: Starbucks Foundation Starbucks opened to this program for charity purposes and serving the community. The basic goal of Starbucks in this program is to go beyond their business and support the community (Brown 2014). Through this program, Starbucks support the youth as well as the older generation. Community Service The main objective of Starbucks in this program is to support the community for development and growth (Sebhatu and Enquist 2014). This also involves a dedicated program for management and sharing of resources. Farming Communities Starbucks have always emphasized on the production of best quality of coffee and has offered support to the farmers of the coffee and tea plantations so they are able to provide the best quality coffee buds (Keenan and Evans 2014). Moreover, Starbucks have provided them support for their normal livelihood as well. All these discussed programs managed by Starbucks have had significant impact on the local community where Starbucks opened their stores. In addition to a good atmosphere for gathering together and having the best quality coffee, the community support provided by Starbucks has attracted a large number of customers and leads to the increasing popularity of the company. This is actually the corporate strategy of the company (Gerhardt, Hazen, Lewis and Hall 2015). There are many business organizations that either try to attract customers with the product quality or the low price of products. However, in these cases, a slight dip in quality or hike in price leads to customer dissatisfaction and drop of the popularity value. On the other hand, Starbucks provide the best quality product at affordable prices and in addition provide a beautiful environment as well as community support (Di Giuli and Kostovetsky 2014). The advantage of this strategy is that, due to the community support and ot her steps taken by the company, the customers are automatically attracted towards the company. Further, when the quality of the products are always the best, the customers are attracted to come back over and over and this causes massive rise in popularity of the company. However, this popularity does not drop due to price hike or other similar issues (Busch and Moreno 2014). For this reason, Starbucks have gained massive popularity wherever they opened their store. With the increasing popularity, Starbucks ventured into the international market with branches abroad. With time, Starbucks have spread their business over 40 countries of the world. In every country, Starbucks have provided community support that has led to massive growth of the company (Smith Maguire and Hu 2013). Along with growth, the company has earned huge amount of revenue from every store, which in turn allowed the company to maintain a share of profit as well as provide community and social support. All these fac tors have led to the expansion of business of the company. Starbucks mission statement says that Ourmission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time (Starbucks Coffee Company 2016). They have stuck to their mission statement throughout their business span and used the community and social support as a method for the expansion of business and gaining more revenue. Benefits to Employees Starbucks is not unique in the sense that it has always provided high level benefits to its employees. There are many business organizations and other sectors that have done that before. However, these business organizations have long working hours and strict guidelines regarding the employee policies (AOL.com 2016). This is where Starbucks is unique. Starbucks do not force the employees for working long hours continuously and within strict guidelines. The benefits that the employees of Starbucks receive are as follows (as stated by the Starbucks Company): Free Stuffs - Each week, employees are allowed to choose either a pound of coffee beans (whatever blend they prefer), a box of K-Cup Pods or a box of their favorite flavor of Tazo tea, to take home. Employees are also entitled to a 30 percent discount on all Starbucks food and drink. Share of Restricted Stocks - Employees are entered in to the company's "Bean Stock" program, which offers them shares of the company through Restricted Stock Units (which become actual company shares over time). So long as employees stay employed for one full year (fully, without breaks or prolonged absences), they're eligible to receive the first 50 percent of the stock grant after that first year, followed by the second half after their second year working for Starbucks. Once the employee owns the full share, they are permitted to do whatever they want with them. Employees or Partners? - Partially having to do with the stock ownership and partially in an effort to make everyone in the company feel more united and equally as valued, Starbucks management refers to their employees as "partners". Benefits Package - Starbucks offers extensivebenefits packagesthat are customized for each employee, called "Your Special Blend." Options include things like bonuses, 401 (k) matching plans, health/medical/dental plans, and even adoption assistance. The best part about the packages? Both part-time and full-time employees are eligible. Education Support - Starbucks will pay theiremployees' college tuitions. Yes, you read that correctly. Through 40 different online programs at Arizona State University, employees who are juniors and seniors in college can earn their Bachelor's degree on the company's dime, while freshmen and sophomores are eligible for their tuition to be partially paid for. (Starbucks Coffee Company 2016) There really isn't a catch, as employees are not required to stay with Starbucks after they earn their degree. In addition, employees that are already in pursuit of a degree at another online institution can apply to transfer their credits to Arizona State and be eligible for Starbucks' program. All these benefits are unique to Starbucks only and attract a large amount of youths to join their business as an employee. Unlike other business organizations, Starbucks provide extensive support to their employees in addition to the huge number of benefits they receive. Reason for Growth: Business Strategies and Social Responsibilities Analysis There is a general misconception of people regarding whether Starbucks has grown rapidly because of its ethical and socially responsible activities or because it provides products and an environment that customers want (Homburg, Stierl and Bornemann 2013). The thing is, neither one is solely responsible for the growth of the company. On the other hand, the company has grown because both the factors are used effectively with proper balancing. Starbucks have had significant impact on the local community where they opened their stores. In addition to a good atmosphere for gathering together and having the best quality coffee, the community support provided by Starbucks has attracted a large number of customers and leads to the increasing popularity of the company (Kang 2015). This can be defined as the corporate strategy of the company. The advantage of this strategy is that, due to the community support and other steps taken by the company, the customers are automatically attracted tow ards the company. Further, when the quality of the products are always the best, the customers are attracted to come back over and over and this causes massive rise in popularity of the company (Hopkins 2012). However, this popularity does not drop due to price hike or other similar issues. Along with growth, the company has earned huge amount of revenue from every store, which in turn allowed the company to maintain a share of profit as well as provide community and social support. Again, Starbucks has employee management programs and benefits that attract the youth to join the company. These benefits include free stuffs, share of restricted stock, education supports and other benefits no other business organization provide (McWilliams 2014). This has enabled the company to expand and gain huge amount of profit from the sales. Now, the company has started a number of programs with the help of a share of the profit in order to benefit the company. Starbucks opened Starbucks Foundati on for charity purposes and serving the community (Idowu 2013). The basic goal of Starbucks in this program is to go beyond their business and support the community. Through this program, Starbucks support the youth as well as the older generation. Then they started Community Service. The main objective of Starbucks in this program is to support the community for development and growth. This also involves a dedicated program for management and sharing of resources. Finally, they started Farming Community Support (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim 2014). The company have always emphasized on the production of best quality of coffee and has offered support to the farmers of the coffee and tea plantations so they are able to provide the best quality coffee buds. Moreover, Starbucks have provided them support for their normal livelihood as well. Analyzing all these factors, it can be seen that Starbucks has always maintained a balance between commerce and social service. The basic idea of their policy is to serve the community and people will help them grow their business in return (Walker-Said and Kelly 2015). They have always identified the specific social factors that must be supported that will benefit the company in the long run. Moreover, they supported the social factors as well as used them as a mean to expand their business over global market. However, the benefits provided by Starbucks as so huge that the customers have readily accepted the companys actions and helped in the expansion of the business of company. Conclusion In the report, the business operations of Starbucks have been discussed and analyzed. From the report, it is clear that Starbucks have taken up a unique business strategy for the expansion of their business. Starbucks have designed community support to support the people. Starbucks authority has emphasized on maintaining a social reputation in order to expand their business. Their main policy of business is to gain a social status so that more and more customers are encouraged to come and buy their products and they believe that if they can serve the society well, their business will automatically expand. Starbucks have always targeted unemployed youths to work for the company. With this policy, Starbucks have appointed thousands of youths throughout the world. Overall, Starbucks has promoted the growth of the society in their retails locality. Starbucks opened to Starbucks Foundation for charity purposes and serving the community. The basic goal of Starbucks in this program is to go beyond their business and support the community. Community Service is another dedicated program for management and sharing of resources. Starbucks is not unique in the sense that it has always provided high level benefits to its employees. There are many business organizations and other sectors that have done that before. However, these business organizations have long working hours and strict guidelines regarding the employee policies. This is where Starbucks is unique. Starbucks do not force the employees for working long hours continuously and within strict guidelines. Starbucks employee benefits include free stuffs, share of restricted stock, education supports and other benefits no other business organization provide. All these factors have led to the rapid growth of the company worldwide. Further, the company has achieved massive success wherever they opened their retail stores. Another point to be noted is that, Starbucks has not grown rapidly because of its ethical and soci ally responsible activities or because it provides products and an environment that customers want; Starbucks has grown due to proper balancing of both the aspects. For all these reasons, Starbucks have become one of the largest selling coffee product companies in the world. References Aiello, G. and Dickinson, G., 2014. Beyond authenticity: a visual-material analysis of locality in the global redesign of Starbucks stores.Visual Communication,13(3), pp.303-321. AOL.com. (2016). Company of the week: 5 killer perks of working at Starbucks. [online] Available at: https://www.aol.com/article/2016/03/02/company-of-the-week-5-killer-perks-of-working-at-starbucks/21321716/ [Accessed 4 Jun. 2016]. Bowen, S.A. and Sisson, D.C., 2013, March. Starbucks, Reputation Management, and Authenticity: A Case Study of Starbucks United Kingdom Tax Crisis # SpreadTheCheer Campaign. In16TH INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH CONFERENCE(p. 110). Brown, S., 2014. Starbucks Rolling Out Wireless Charging Mats To All US Stores.Science. Busch, W. and Moreno, J.P., 2014. Banks New Competitors: Starbucks, Google, and Alibaba.Harvard Business Review. Cheng, B., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and access to finance.Strategic Management Journal,35(1), pp.1-23. Chua, A.Y. and Banerjee, S., 2013. Customer knowledge management via social media: the case of Starbucks.Journal of Knowledge Management,17(2), pp.237-249. Di Giuli, A. and Kostovetsky, L., 2014. Are red or blue companies more likely to go green? Politics and corporate social responsibility.Journal of Financial Economics,111(1), pp.158-180. Gerhardt, S., Hazen, S., Lewis, S. and Hall, R., 2015. Entrepreneur Options:" Franchising" vs." Licensing"(Mcdonald's vs. Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A).ASBBS E-Journal,11(1), p.80. Homburg, C., Stierl, M. and Bornemann, T., 2013. Corporate social responsibility in business-to-business markets: how organizational customers account for supplier corporate social responsibility engagement.Journal of Marketing,77(6), pp.54-72. Hopkins, M., 2012.Corporate social responsibility and international development: is business the solution?. Earthscan. Idowu, S.O., 2013.Encyclopedia of corporate social responsibility. Berlin: Springer. Kang, J., 2015. Effectiveness of the KLD Social Ratings as a Measure of Workforce Diversity and Corporate GovernanceReactions to diversity in recruitment advertisingAre differences black and white? Executive compensation as an agency problemThe predictive validity of multiple-item versus single-item measures of the same constructsDoes stakeholder orientation matter? The relationship between stakeholder management models and firm financial performanceWomen corporate directors: Current research and future .... Keenan, J. and Evans, A., 2014. I am a Starbucks worker my life no longer belongs to me: the performance of estrangement as a learning tool.Teaching in Higher Education,19(2), pp.101-112. McWilliams, A., 2014.Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility. Edward Elgar. Michelli, J., 2013.Leading the Starbucks Way: 5 Principles for Connecting with Your Customers, Your Products and Your People. McGraw Hill Professional. Pierce, D., 2015. Spotify Is Turning Starbucks Baristas Into Coffee Shop DJs. Sebhatu, S.P. and Enquist, B., 2014. Are Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility having a role for sustainable Service Business?: An explorative study of IKEA, Starbucks and H M. InThe 17th QMOD conference, September 3-5, Prague Tjeckien. Smith Maguire, J. and Hu, D., 2013. Not a simple coffee shop: local, global and glocal dimensions of the consumption of Starbucks in China.Social Identities,19(5), pp.670-684. Starbucks Coffee Company. (2016). Mission Statement. [online] Available at: https://www.starbucks.in/about-us/company-information/mission-statement [Accessed 4 Jun. 2016]. Stinson, L., 2014. With Stunning New Stores, Starbucks Has a New Design Strategy: Act Local.Wired, January,8. Tu, Y.T., Wang, C.M. and Chang, H.C., 2012. Corporate brand image and customer satisfaction on loyalty: An empirical study of Starbucks Coffee in Taiwan.Journal of Social and Development Sciences,3(1), pp.24-32. Walker-Said, C. and Kelly, J.D. eds., 2015.Corporate Social Responsibility?: Human Rights in the New Global Economy. University of Chicago Press. Wu, C.L., 2013. The Research of Brand Image, Experiential Marketing, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty-Example of Starbucks Coffee.

The Origin Of Humanity We Live On A Planet Believed To Be 4.5 Billion

"The Origin Of Humanity? We live on a planet believed to be 4.5 billion years of age with millions of people covering all parts of it. Where did they come from? Did the whole human population originate from one of people or were we placed here and then improved or changed by an intervention? I believe that humanity on planet earth was created by evolution. Both the creationist and interventionist theories seem to far fetched to be accountable theories for the creation of humanity on planet earth. There are a lot more questions that remain unanswered such as if spacemen put us on earth why didn't they bother to teach humans anything? And if the creationist theory were accurate why can't God control natural disasters on his planet? He is so clever to create everything known to mankind why doesn't he make the perfect world if he had that much control? There seems to be quite a bit more sustantial evidence on earth to support the theory of evolution. The evidence is holds up more becaus e actual samples of fossils have been collected and scientifically tested using a method called carbon dating to determine the age of the fossils. Which can then be examined and placed along a timeline. The time periods show slight differences in bone structure showing what is hypothesized to be the human evolving. Evolving from what though? The theory of evolution states that creatures change overtime to suit their surroundings. This is called environmental adaptation. The more a creature can adapt to it's environment the greater chance it has of living and show an increase in population called survival of the fittest. A theory developed by a scientist nammed Charles Darwin who had conducted extensive research into the environmental adaptions of animals, for example the adaptation of the galapagos turtles from short neck to long neck so they could reach their food. This theory helps to prove the theory that humans evolved from apes so they could increase their chances of survival. The creationist theory is mearly pen and paper whereas the evolutionary theory is actual living proof that humans did evolve from apes and why the environmental adaptations have made humans the dominant creatures on earth. by james phillips The Origin Of Humanity We Live On A Planet Believed To Be 4.5 Billion "The Origin Of Humanity? We live on a planet believed to be 4.5 billion years of age with millions of people covering all parts of it. Where did they come from? Did the whole human population originate from one of people or were we placed here and then improved or changed by an intervention? I believe that humanity on planet earth was created by evolution. Both the creationist and interventionist theories seem to far fetched to be accountable theories for the creation of humanity on planet earth. There are a lot more questions that remain unanswered such as if spacemen put us on earth why didn't they bother to teach humans anything? And if the creationist theory were accurate why can't God control natural disasters on his planet? He is so clever to create everything known to mankind why doesn't he make the perfect world if he had that much control? There seems to be quite a bit more sustantial evidence on earth to support the theory of evolution. The evidence is holds up more becaus e actual samples of fossils have been collected and scientifically tested using a method called carbon dating to determine the age of the fossils. Which can then be examined and placed along a timeline. The time periods show slight differences in bone structure showing what is hypothesized to be the human evolving. Evolving from what though? The theory of evolution states that creatures change overtime to suit their surroundings. This is called environmental adaptation. The more a creature can adapt to it's environment the greater chance it has of living and show an increase in population called survival of the fittest. A theory developed by a scientist nammed Charles Darwin who had conducted extensive research into the environmental adaptions of animals, for example the adaptation of the galapagos turtles from short neck to long neck so they could reach their food. This theory helps to prove the theory that humans evolved from apes so they could increase their chances of survival. The creationist theory is mearly pen and paper whereas the evolutionary theory is actual living proof that humans did evolve from apes and why the environmental adaptations have made humans the dominant creatures on earth. by james phillips

Cave Hyena Facts and Figures

Cave Hyena Facts and Figures Name: Cave Hyena; also known as Crocuta crocuta spelaea Habitat: Plains of Eurasia Historical Period: Pleistocene-Modern (2 million-10,000 years ago) Size and Weight: About five feet long and 200-250 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Long hind legs; strong jaws with sharp teeth About the Cave Hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) Its not quite as well known as the Cave Bear or the Cave Lion, but the Cave Hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) must have been a common sight in Pleistocene Europe and Asia, to judge by this megafauna mammals numerous fossil remains. As you can guess from its name, this hyena liked to drag its kill (or, more often, the kill of other predators) back to its den, for which purpose it was equipped with longer, more muscular hind legs than contemporary hyenas (of which the Cave Hyena is now classified as a subspecies, rather than a separate species as had previously been thought). One network of caves in Europe has yielded tantalizing evidence about the Cave Hyenas favorite prey animals, with Przewalskis Horse and the Woolly Rhino ranking high up on the dinner menu. Like most opportunistic predators of the Pleistocene epoch, Cave Hyenas occasionally preyed on early humans and hominids, and they werent shy about stealing the hard-earned kill of packs of Neanderthals (which might well doom them to starvation). Where Crocuta crocuta spelaea and the ancestors of modern humans really mixed it up was in the competition for habitable space: paleontologists have identified caves that bear evidence of alternating populations of Cave Hyenas and Neanderthals, a pattern that evidently repeated itself over thousands of years. In fact, the Cave Hyena may have been doomed by the encroachment of early humans on its rapidly dwindling caves, which grew even scarcer after the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. Like many other animals with which our ancestors shared their hard-won territory, the Cave Hyena has been immortalized in primitive cave paintings. One cartoon-like representation can be found in the Chauvet Cave in France, dating to about 20,000 years ago, and a small sculpture (carved from the ivory of a Woolly Mammoth!) was created a few thousand years after that. Its likely that both early humans and Neanderthals memorialized the Cave Hyena as a kind of demigod, and also painted it on the walls of their caves in order to capture its essence and facilitate success in the hunt. (Its unlikely that early Homo sapiens targeted the Cave Hyena for its stringy meat, but its pelt would have been valuable in winter, and anyway it was a good idea to eliminate the competition!).

Aircraft Maintenance Planning Procedures Research Paper

Aircraft Maintenance Planning Procedures - Research Paper Example It also contains maintenance control and Flight Crew advisory information that is used during routine operations between schedule maintenance to main base. Purpose of a technical log is for recording malfunctions and defects discovered during operations and for recording details of maintenance and information relevant to flight safety (Phil, 120) The technical log can only be certified by Civil Aviation Authority. b. Data recording Flight data recorder (FDR) maintenance is found fitted in the aircraft. This is for purposes of investigating an accident as a priority amongst other measures. Aircraft operators use the FDR for quantifying maintenance action that is needed. This is by confirming reported operation of the aircraft and its systems. The FDR performs function checks, operation checks, reasonableness, quality, drop out, data download, data conversions, parameters, simulations, analogue and digital data, engineering units, and stimulation. All these are necessary for an airwort hy aircraft. It is highly recommended for all aircraft data to be recorded electronically. They should be recorded on a daily basis to ensure aircraft airworthiness. These records are then kept as part of maintenance records for a particular aircraft. An automatic generation of records has been adopted in aircrafts (Thomas, 7). c. Maintenance schedule This contains details of what is required for maintenance of an aircraft and when it should be done. The maintenance schedule is created by the publisher i.e. the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or the Type Certificate Holder of the Aircraft. The CAA has to approve the product once the Aircraft Engineers have done a thorough checkup of the product airworthiness (Dinesh, 201). The maintenance checks involved here are airframe, engine, propeller and other equipment check. The maintenance manual is kept in the aircraft pertaining each equipment and parts of the aircraft. Under CAP 411, an aircraft should not exceed 2730kg for light aircrafts under the Light Aircraft Maintenance Schedule (LAMS). A maintenance schedule is compiled by first reviewing the manuals prepared by the OEM. Intervals are usually analysed based on the flying hours, flight cycles or the calendar time. A combination of these factors can also be used. The tasks are usually combined depending on the approved intervals. In order to compile work packages, tasks can be done earlier that recommended; this is a general rule which is often used. The CAA can however, allow for a later date, if such an agreement is reached or in exceptional cases. It is important to note that tasks which have more than one frequency should be given preference to govern what occurs first. The frequency is however, affected by the aircraft intended operations. TCH provides maintenance planning documents for tasks to be undertaken in large aircrafts. Aircrafts typical flight profile should be matched with the aircraft type. For example; two flying hours to each flight c ycle, seven flying hours to each flight cycle and so on. We can deduce that maintenance for the first aircraft is maintained more often than the second aircraft in our example. Schedules should thus be developed for the particular type of operation. Also considerations for maintenance frequency are made in regards to area of

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 23

Report - Essay Example Notably, with regard to the understanding gained from the study, it can be said that dementia is a term used to describe the syndrome where there is a progressive decline in the ability of a person to function in everyday activities, behavior, thinking and memory owing to the unstable condition of the brain. These changes affect the social, psychological and physical life of an individual with regard to career, family and society (WHO, 2012). Though dementia is not a result of ageing, it certainly affects older age individual more than others. According to the report of the World Health Organization, around 35.6 million people have been diagnosed with dementia worldwide in the recent time. The second resource that was taken into consideration is the report regarding Alzheimer’s disease in Australia, which is a complication relevant to dementia (IAGG, 2011). There are many different forms of dementia and each has its own causes. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 50% to 70% of dementia cases, which is again followed to as vascular dementia (Fight Alzheimer’s Save Australia, n.d.). Again, Lewy body dementia and Fronto Temporal Lobar Degeneration dementia is other forms or complications relevant to dementia. The resource mainly contains the difference in memory changes amid a person with dementia and an older person. The next resource that has been developed is a brochure regarding Alzheimer’s organization about ‘five simple steps to maximize your bra in health’. The steps include taking care of the heart, physical activity, brain activity, healthy diet and social activity to further stabilize the health of the brain (Australian Indigenous Health, 2013). The fourth resource was published by the National Health Institute, 2010 on the Biological Basis of Behavioral Symptoms in Dementia. It contains both biological and psychological aspects of health. The biological

English 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English 2 - Essay Example The main difference between these two terms is that sympathy calls for people to merely look at a situation from the other’s point of view, while empathy requires a temporary detachment from the self, in order to truly experience what the other side is going through. To truly be empathetic, you will you will have to be an active participant in the other culture, as this will allow you to truly understand the events that have occurred. You do not have to change who you are and completely detach yourself from your own culture in order to achieve this, but must rather have the ability to truly involve yourself in the other culture and see the world from their perspective. Accepting that different cultures lead to people being very different themselves is an important part of this understand, as we have always been taught that all people were created equal. There is a difference, however, between equality and sameness, which must be understood in order for cultures to co-exist. Your anger is completely understood, especially if Fannie Taylor’s story is accurate, but you must look at this situation from the perspective of the people of Rosewood, if you truly want to work through your differences. You must begin by realizing that whites and blacks do have different cultures, although neither culture is superior or inferior. Despite these differences, however, neither culture believes that Fannie Taylor should have been assaulted, as this would have been a particularly heinous activity. Most people on both sides of this conflict would agree that this lone event was not responsible for the racial tension, but rather than this tension had been building for years. Therefore, we must get to the bottom of things of why this tension exists and hopefully prevent these things from happening in the future. You must realize that the black way of doing things is not wrong and put yourself in their situation. Most of these families did not even

Conflict Resolution In African Countries Politics Essay

Conflict Resolution In African Countries Politics Essay Africa as a continent is faced with rampant conflicts in some of its countries with consequent negative effects to the economic, political and social lives of their citizens and neighboring countries. A study by Africa action, an activism website for Africa, states It is important to note that most of Africa is not at warà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ However, where conflicts do exist, they affect not only the stability of the countries involved, but also their neighbors and the entire sub-region. The political class often uses ideologies to stay in office and sometimes resort to conflicts in the form of violence. Conflict resolution, being a basic human activity, is conducted in forms that often vary across cultures. Different methods have been used in the past to try to resolve these conflicts including military deployment; dialogue between conflicting parties; and even negotiations. THESIS: Whenever there is scarcity of resources there is bound to be conflict as people try to share the resources. Conflict is thus as old as humanity. Conflict is defined as the underlying issue in dispute between or among parties and conflict resolution as the elimination of causes of the underlying conflict. Conflict resolution in African countries Africa as a continent is endowed with enough resources to keep the world moving for years. It is indeed the resources from Africa that brought industrialization to life; ranging from raw materials to labor. It is thus absurd that majority of African countries are categorized under third world countries and are faced with frequent deaths due to diseases, civil wars, poverty, and natural calamities. Civil wars and political unrests have been the major setbacks to development in Africa. Where there is peace, corruption comes in the way. Allocation of resources has always been a cause of disagreement in countries frequented by conflicts in Africa. Okoth et al states: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦State power in African countries has been the major arena of privilege -the religious, business, and other arenas provide fewer opportunities and it has been accessible to ambitious men of humble origin. The quest for political power is thus motivated by the desire to control state resources and their authoritative allocation. (46) African political class, thus try so hard to achieve political positions in their respective governments and once they get there, they work even harder to maintain these positions. They then indulge in allocation of state resources to theirs kinsmen and close friends with no regard whatsoever to the common man who labors so much and gets no say in the fruits of his labor. This scenario, more often than not leads to a section of the country feeling left out in the allocation of state resources taking up arms in an attempt to oust the incumbent political class out of government. In an attempt to try to hold on to power and the status quo, the political elite often resort to ideologies to save their skins. Nzunga points out that the current state of most African countries cannot be dissociated from the Berlin Treaty of 1885, which divided the continent into zones of European influence. Before this year, most communities in this continent ran their own affairs in relative independence, within a clearly understood ethnic region. He points out that the greatest injustice the colonial masters committed was, undoubtedly, the imposition of their language and culture on the colonized minority groups. Because of the way the colonial masters divided the African continent without regard to the various cultures of ethnic communities that were in existence before them, these ethnic communities found themselves in the same borders forming countries. The political elite is well aware of this fact and whenever things are not going well for them they go back to their ethnic cocoons making them believe that it is their tribes in threat of extinction by the others. This often leads to ethnic clashes as witnessed in the Rwanda genocide and Kenya. Okoth et al notes that the politically motivated ethnic violence in Kenya in 1991-1992 on the re-introduction of multi-party politics can thus be explained in terms of this misuse of the state to the advantage of a few, and the consequent instigation of parochial identities by political leaders for their own selfish interests (52). Others, in the case of Nigeria, resort to their religious affiliations clashing Christians against Muslims. Political ideology is thus a tool used by the politicians to cause conflict while they desperately cling to power for selfish reasons while the common citizen suffers. Sadiki is quick to point out that an observation of conflict trends in Africa indicates that intrastate armed conflicts, which were on the rise between 1990 and 1998, have significantly decreased in number. Many conflicts on the continent have been settled and others are in the process of being resolved, generally through peaceful means. This is an indication that as far as African states are concerned, military deployment has not been successful in resolving conflicts rather it fuels it. This is evident in southern Sudan where military deployment from the north for over a decade failed to resolve the conflicts until peaceful negotiations were introduced. Despite the military deployment by the AU and UN peacekeepers in Somalia, the state is still in chaos as violent conflicts thrive. In Kenya, for example, the 2007-2008 post election violence only escalated when police tried to intervene. It took the efforts of a third party, Kofi Annan, to lead peaceful negotiations between the two parties in conflict to resolve the conflicts. In the present day, conflicts in Egypt and Tunisia over corruption and equitable allocation of state resources cannot be resolved through military might. In conclusion, with studies showing the similarities in the causes of conflicts in African countries, one thing that stands out is that we should not wait for conflicts to occur and try to resolve them. Instead, African countries should put constitutional measures in place that will ensure corruption and resource allocation issues are dealt with from the roots upwards.

Interview Essay - Murray Meisels -- Interview Essays

Interview Essay - Murray Meisels Murray Meisels was born on April 19, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in New York City and came to California in 1941 to attend college at USC. After graduating from USC, he attended the University of Oregon Dental School and the University of Buffalo Dental School. Murray served in the military during WWII and the Korean War. In 1948, he married Francis and they made their home in Buffalo, New York. They raised two children, and Murray owned a dental practice for over 40 years. While raising a family and practicing dentistry, he completed a Masters degree and taught at the University of Buffalo Dental School. In 1991 Murray retired from private practice, but continued teaching part time at the dental school. During this time he and his wife spent winters in California. In 1996 they decided to make California their permanent home, and are very happy living here. They are proud parents and grandparents. Murray is very active and enjoys the Emeritus program, exercising regularly , stamp collecting, golf and craft works. He creates beautiful ceramic, glass and sculptured pieces. The key elements in Murray's definition of happiness are peace, quiet, a lack of arguing, good health, and security. His definition of happiness has changed through the years, and he finds himself content with allowing people and situations to be the way they are. He is happier when he doesn't let things bother him. He has learned over time not to worry and aggravate himself unnecessarily. Selfish and opinionated people used to bother him terribly and he felt the need to respond, argue, or simply avoid them. But now he can handle these types of situations without feeling stressed. Having too many requests at h... ...w and you'll see the results in your life." He feels that this advice is consistent with his philosophy on life. "I try to be fair and honest with everyone, sometimes to a fault. I like people to be honest and fair with me. I have always loved and done right by my family. I worked hard to do the best job that I could and I didn't take advantage of anyone in my practice." I truly enjoyed my time spent with Murray. Both he and his wife Francis graciously welcomed us into their home, and made us feel like familiar friends. It was wonderful to hear him share stories from his life and I thank him for his openness and honesty. His insights about the trials and tribulations of life were applicable to a person of any age. Many times over the last few weeks, I have found myself thinking about something that he said. Murray is truly full of life and has a lot of spirit! Interview Essay - Murray Meisels -- Interview Essays Interview Essay - Murray Meisels Murray Meisels was born on April 19, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in New York City and came to California in 1941 to attend college at USC. After graduating from USC, he attended the University of Oregon Dental School and the University of Buffalo Dental School. Murray served in the military during WWII and the Korean War. In 1948, he married Francis and they made their home in Buffalo, New York. They raised two children, and Murray owned a dental practice for over 40 years. While raising a family and practicing dentistry, he completed a Masters degree and taught at the University of Buffalo Dental School. In 1991 Murray retired from private practice, but continued teaching part time at the dental school. During this time he and his wife spent winters in California. In 1996 they decided to make California their permanent home, and are very happy living here. They are proud parents and grandparents. Murray is very active and enjoys the Emeritus program, exercising regularly , stamp collecting, golf and craft works. He creates beautiful ceramic, glass and sculptured pieces. The key elements in Murray's definition of happiness are peace, quiet, a lack of arguing, good health, and security. His definition of happiness has changed through the years, and he finds himself content with allowing people and situations to be the way they are. He is happier when he doesn't let things bother him. He has learned over time not to worry and aggravate himself unnecessarily. Selfish and opinionated people used to bother him terribly and he felt the need to respond, argue, or simply avoid them. But now he can handle these types of situations without feeling stressed. Having too many requests at h... ...w and you'll see the results in your life." He feels that this advice is consistent with his philosophy on life. "I try to be fair and honest with everyone, sometimes to a fault. I like people to be honest and fair with me. I have always loved and done right by my family. I worked hard to do the best job that I could and I didn't take advantage of anyone in my practice." I truly enjoyed my time spent with Murray. Both he and his wife Francis graciously welcomed us into their home, and made us feel like familiar friends. It was wonderful to hear him share stories from his life and I thank him for his openness and honesty. His insights about the trials and tribulations of life were applicable to a person of any age. Many times over the last few weeks, I have found myself thinking about something that he said. Murray is truly full of life and has a lot of spirit!

Ebusiness And Bank Of America Essay

In the world where technological aspects are booming, it could be fairly deduced that some of the communications and even transactions could be addressed through the internet. One of such idea is the concept where banking could be made available anytime, anywhere with just a simple click. Ideally, this notion is amendable to the changes bit it could not be avoided that this advancement would not go questioned. In this particular paper then, the concept of e-Business would then be reviewed along with the discussion of the bank of America as one of the establishment who had tried to adopt such change in banking style. In the e-Business system, it could be seen that the main players are the computer, the internet connection, and the website where a person could have a transaction with (â€Å"The Complete Guide About Advanced eBusiness Systems,† 2007). It was said that the provider of the e-business system would make it possible for the business partners and the clients to be able to communicate and transact any business. It would then be possible to have web-based orders or it would then be possible to have a simple way in communicating with customers (â€Å"Comergent eBusiness System,† 2006). It would be seen that these kinds of systems has a way of protecting those who would venture into a progressive step. Given that there are numerous people who are also gifted in the workings of technology, the main concern that a person might have is the protection and security of the things that they are keeping. As could be known, these kinds of systems would have to be protected at the same be able to accommodate the needs of the people who are interested in having these kinds of systems. One of the most talked issues is the ethical issues that e-business might have on the customers as well as the legalities it may entail and the necessary regulations needed. One of the main concern when it comes to the ethical issue is the problem of fraud and scams (Warholic, 2007). This issue then would concern the authenticity of an e-business site especially when there are still untrustworthy people who are still trapping innocent victims. The other issue is on the legalities where a system is copy write and protected would mean that a client could have a certain degree of guarantee that what would be written had been carefully put especially when plenty of people could be able to read what would be posted in the internet (Warholic, 2007). Another is the regulatory problems that might occur. When these things happen, there is always the case of intellectual property theft. It would be known that a person seeking to publish that site or what was written in the site should gain the permission first of the owner of the site (Warholic, 2007). Now the Bank of America had upgraded its transactions by extending it to the internet. It could be seen then that the bank provides different programs that may come from different states of the country. The upgrade then to e-business would then have to mean that the services that they offer could be accessed by anyone. The ethical implication of this is that they have certain reassurances that their website is not part of the people who are scheming to get the innocent. In fact, a client’s profile could not be seen by just anyone but the company itself. Upon visiting the security and policies that the bank has in their website, it could be seen that they have tried to appease the customers or clients with the nagging uncertainty of safety. The security then would come out through the handling of the cookies and also that the profile that would be passed by the client would not be seen by others. This certain confidentiality is highly essential when a person has to submit a password and a profile for the transactions. If a person would just care to read the policies and regulations that are needed to be followed, I would not think that a person could get wrong in trusting the company in some degree. In addressing international issues, Bank of America also has a certain research devoted for some parts of the world where they could reach out to do business with. As a caution then, a person must carefully read the copyright laws and regulations especially when this could protect you, as a customer, and the company or business that you are interested in.

Hills Like White Elephants by E.Hemingway essays

Hills Like White Elephants by E.Hemingway essays Hills like White Elephants, written by Ernest Hemingway is a short story narrated from the objective point of view and is one of the brightest examples of this kind of narration. The author as if disappeared into a kind of a roving sound camera. He goes anywhere but records only what he sees or hears. Hemingway does not comment on the characters but lets the readers do it themselves, lets us infer what the characters are like, what they feel or think about the narrator is not there to explain the actions of the characters. Like it should be in the classical short story, there is an introduction that very quickly introduces us the main characters and gives a brief but quite exact information about the place where the action of the story happens. From the first lines we meet two people a man and a woman who are waiting for the express train from Barcelona, sitting at the bar at one of the junctions. By the dry dialogue between them it becomes clear that there is a certain strain in their relations because of the undesirable pregnancy of the girl. And that is actually the reason why they came to Spain where the girl could make an anonymous illegal abortion. By the words of the man this awfully simple operation, as he calls it, would make them both happy again. The character of the man, by his actions and words makes rather negative impression for his selfishness and his unwillingness to pay for the careless actions. There is no doubt, however that he likes the girl, but his feelings to her consist in the desire to enjoy the nights together and nothing more. His consuming attitude and cowardice do not evoke any respect but dislike and hostility. The statements like but I do not want you to do it if you dont really want to sound so fake he repeats it so many times that the reader understands that underneath lies the opposite mea ...

Discover the Mysterious Shakespeare Lost Years

Discover the Mysterious Shakespeare Lost Years What are the Shakespeare lost years? Well, scholars have managed to piece together Shakespeare’s biography from the scant documentary evidence that has survived from Shakespeare’s time. Baptisms, marriages, and legal dealings provide concrete evidence about Shakespeare’s whereabouts- but there are two big gaps in the story which have become known as the Shakespeare lost years. The Lost Years The two periods of time that make up the Shakespeare lost years are: 1578–1582: We know little about Shakespeare’s life after he left grammar school and his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582.1585-1592: After the baptism of his children, Shakespeare again disappears from the history books for several years until he resurfaces in the early 1590s as a London-based playwright. It is this second â€Å"bout of absence† that intrigues historians the most because it is during this period that Shakespeare would have perfected his craft, established himself as a dramatist and gained experience of the theater. In truth, nobody actually knows what Shakespeare was doing between 1585 and 1592, but there are a number of popular theories and stories, as outlined below. Shakespeare the Poacher In 1616, a clergyman from Gloucester recounted a story in which the young Shakespeare was caught poaching near Stratford-upon-Avon on the land of Sir Thomas Lucy. Although there is no concrete evidence, it is suggested that Shakespeare fled to London to escape Lucy’s punishment. It is also suggested that Shakespeare later based Justice Shallow from The Merry Wives of Windsor on Lucy. Shakespeare the Pilgrim Evidence has recently been presented that Shakespeare may have made a pilgrimage to Rome as part of his Roman Catholic faith. There is certainly lots of evidence to suggest that Shakespeare was Catholic- which was a very dangerous religion to practice in Elizabethan England. A 16th-century guest book signed by pilgrims to Rome reveals three cryptic signatures thought to be Shakespeare’s. This has led some to believe Shakespeare spent his lost years in Italy- perhaps seeking refuge from England’s persecution of Catholics at the time. Indeed, it is true that 14 of Shakespeare’s plays have Italian settings. The parchment was signed by: â€Å"Gulielmus Clerkue Stratfordiensis† in 1589Believed to mean â€Å"William, clerk of Stratford†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Shfordus Cestriensis† in 1587Believed to mean â€Å"Shakespeare of Stratford in the diocese of Chester†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Arthurus Stratfordus Wigomniensis† in 1585Believed to mean: â€Å"(King) Arthurs compatriot from Stratford in the diocese of Worcester†

Peer Response Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Peer Response - Assignment Example Thus, to do this, one full time authorized officer should be governing IT operations and requirements on a continuing basis. The detailed information regarding the recommended IT General Control (ITGC) and application controls were commendable. It was also valid that a CIO or a CISO should be assigned to govern the operations and security of the information systems in the agency. The accountable officer should possess the competencies and qualifications for identifying IT infrastructure requirements and undertake risk assessment management, as required. One strongly believes that investing in these control systems, assigning point persons (officers and staff), and designing policies and procedures that would manage and protect the agency’s database systems would be crucial in safeguarding the agencies assets and resources, as required. Every organization, regardless of the number of personnel, as long as information systems are used, should assign IT personnel and officers who would manage IT in the most effective manner. Management functions include planning, organizing, directing, and controlling all facets of the operations (IT) towards the achievement of organizational

The improvement of the writing style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The improvement of the writing style - Essay Example The improvement of the writing style Language barriers leave this writer without confidence but I do want to learn. There’s been so much information given and through hard work and diligence, I intend on being a good writer. I thank everyone for their insights and critical reviews that are sometimes painful. Hopefully, the end result is a better more clear writing style with apparently less effort. My first paper â€Å"Late Flight† at the end of January is potentially my best paper. I say â€Å"potentially† because I now understand the importance drafting, searching for ideas, outlining, peer review, rewriting is to the writing process. Creating a story or report is similar to building a house. The Designer (writer) must incorporate all known laws, know about all the materials needed, understand the weight of the structure and add supports where necessary. The paint is the title of the paper, and the entry way is the very first line capturing the reader using a â€Å"Wow!† appearance. My first paper lacked many details and the entry way was unlit and not swept. I now know it should have been written this way: â€Å"In Shanghai, down below, the raindrops fell like tears flooding my hopefulness with despair. The next time I am home, I will provide towels to my friends as I say ‘Good Bye’ from a bubble window 30,000 feet above them on my way to America.† Peer review and writing are much clearer to me now reflecting what is inside of me rather than what I see on the surface. I think now Chinese, Americans, Canadians or anyone feels the same types of separations the same. It is the mapmakers, the ones who draw the lines saying â€Å"You are not the same as the other person five feet away on the other side of the line† that turn people against each other. We are mostly the same people without the lines; and our differences are naturally different and wonderful! My second paper on guns might have been too one-sided in opinion. It is true that terrible tragedies did occur from gun-toting assassins but I did not ‘reflect’ deeply enough probably because English is a difficult language for me. On a deeper reflection, if the government did ban guns altogether then people would not stop killing each other. In my own c ountry, The Nanking Massacre in 1937 might have been different if the population had been armed. My use of Obama as a point suggesting it was his fault government didn’t do something about gun control was short sighted. Men and women in Congress are the Law makers in the USA and it is their responsibility to pass laws laid before them. I have read were it was said the main reason Americans should have guns is to protect them from an over-bearing government. I can’t say if I believe this or not because I have not thought about the matter enough; I’ve learned that technique’ in this class, â€Å"Think before you write.† Today, after the learning more about structure, I would probably write the paper with less emphasis on decisive language intended to galvanize and polarize each side of the issue; for and against. I know now this issue is quite important to the American public and if my paper were to make a difference, my paper needed to attract the c ompeting side by using arguments designed to speak to their values of â€Å"Love, honor, dignity and independence.† I would write it like this: Weapons designed for defense of Individual liberties and rights seem to add a loophole to those wanting to rain destruction down on innocent civilians. The balance between the 2nd Amendment and wanton murder again tipped in favor towards those focused on mass killings leaving more questions than answers. There must be a deeper discussion by all interested parties or headlines will continue to incite fear

Cultural Difference between Public and Private Organisations Essay

Cultural Difference between Public and Private Organisations - Essay Example Considerable research in public administration was conducted in the ensuing years, but determination of these differences was largely overlooked by most of the scholars and journalists (Baarspul, 2009, p. 1). Although most of the researchers mutually consent that employee behavior in the public organizations is different from that of employees in the private organizations, yet certain researchers have expressed disagreement as a result of their studies while the compilation of empirical findings is nearly non-existent to date (Baarspul, 2009, p. 1). This paper discusses the differences of organizational cultures between the public and private sector organizations. Study of these differences is important because knowledge of the culture generally prevalent in either of the two types of organizations is a pre-requisite to understand the way these organizations play their role in the society, and to introduce positive changes in them to enhance their productivity and efficiency for the benefit and well-being of the society. Differences in the cultures of the public and the private organizations are caused by differences of the work environment, and dynamics of the workplace that come into play as a result of mutual interaction and integration of a wide array of factors that include but are not limited to the goals, decision making processes, attitudes and behaviors of the organizational personnel, and the patterns of communication. The prime goal of the private sector organizations is to safeguard the interests of the stakeholders that primarily include the owners of the organizations, and the people who have invested in the organization to purchase its shares. On the contrary, â€Å"the most often repeated observations about public organizations are that their goals are particularly vague and intangible compared to those of private business firms and that they more often have multiple conflicting goals† (Rainey, 2009). Decision making processes in the priv ate organizations in general and private for-profit organizations in particular is smoother as compared to those in the public organizations. Chances of occurrence of conflict, turbulence, and interruptions are more in the public organizations owing to the disorganization of the system and issues of decision making. These differences in the processes of decision making can fundamentally be attributed to the difference of roles played by the private and public organizations in the society. The main purpose of the private organizations is to make money for the stakeholders by selling their services and/or products to the consumers. On the other hand, â€Å"The typical general purpose, tax-supported governmental agency, such as a state department of mental health, contracts for services and collects information about the needs of people that call for a public response† (Nutt, 2005, p. 289-290). These differences of roles propose considerably different accountability and expectat ions which impart the conditions for different decision making processes in the private and the public organizations. The attitudes and behaviors of the organizational personnel play a key role in shaping the organizational culture. An organization that operates in the public sector is assumed to

Old Peoples Home or Their Own Homes Essay Example for Free

Old Peoples Home or Their Own Homes Essay Health care service has become popular in our modern society. In some developed countries, the old come to live in old peoples home with nursing services which are partly paid by the government. However, in my opinion, elderly people should live in their own homes. Firstly, elderly people are offered better care when living at home. As a family only looks after one or two elderly people, other members can immediately satisfy their needs. Moreover, their children understand old people’s habits, so they can easily give the most suitable care. In contrast, in old peoples homes, there are many old people while the number of nurses is limited. Therefore, they cannot get good care instantly. Additionally, many nurses only care for the old to earn their livings, so they are probably less enthusiastic than old people’s family. Secondly, the old usually consider family as a good environment motivating them to live happily. They can enjoy the cozy atmosphere when having meals with their family or playing with their grandchildren. Witnessing their children’s success and grandchildren’s maturity always gives them a great sense of self-fulfillment. On the other hand, living in old people homes, they cannot usually meet their family. They probably feel isolated, which affects their health badly. Some people may argue that nurses specialize in giving health care to elderly people. Therefore, they can play the role of caregivers more professionally than old people’s family. However, what old people really need is not only good care but also a happy atmosphere of family with their relatives surrounding them everyday. Therefore, family is definitely a better place for elderly people. In general, family should be responsible for taking care of old people. By doing this, young people do not only help the old enjoy their lives but also express their respect and gratitude to their elderly

Contributions of Feminism to Archaeological Theory

Contributions of Feminism to Archaeological Theory Introduction In its stages of conception, archaeology was considered to be merely a sub-discipline of both history and anthropology, and, in many cases, was restricted as a rich mans hobby. Developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the initial episode in the history of theoretical archaeology is usually referred to as culture history, a means by which early archaeologists established rudimentary predictive models patterning human behaviour within designated temporal and spatial contexts via the interpretation of artefactual evidence. Though universally popular during the first half of the twentieth century, culture history was rebelled against during the 1960s. Perceived as restrictive due to its reliance on categorisation of artefacts the paradigms of culture history were abandoned in favour of the newly developed school of thought known as New Archaeology. In an attempt to incorporate a level of scientific reasoning to anthropological archaeology, these primarily American archaeologists, chiefly Lewis Binford and his associates, moved away from simple descriptions of the past in favour of questioning why cultures developed and adopting hypothesis evaluations (Renfrew and Bahn, 1996). The scientific basis and reliance of New Archaeology instigated the widespread development of processual archaeology. Two decades later, processualisms focus on science and impartiality were increasingly questioned. Led by Ian Hodder, Michael Shanks and Christopher Tilley, a new approach to theoretical archaeology emerged, which emphasised the necessity of relativism in archaeological investigation (Shanks and Tilley, 1992). This methodology, known as post-processualism, however, has been criticised by proponents of processualism and New Archaeology for abandoning scientific competency and rigour, and the debate over the most appropriate theoretical approach to any archaeological analysis is still much in evidence. Theoretical archaeology now relies on a wide range of influences. During the 1970s and 80s, gender-related and feminist archaeology became popular among those archaeologists seeking a post-processual approach to cultural identity. Though phenomenology, post-modernism, and post-processualism are still discussed in the literature and relied upon to evaluate cultural diversity, feminist archaeology is, for the most part, unique in focusing on the collection of evidence of female social roles in past cultures and their influence in developing and sculpting individual societies (Gilchrist, 1998). Archaeological theory It is possible to summarise the history of how archaeology has been conducted in the twentieth century into three expansive concepts; predominantly description, explanation, and interpretation (Trigger, 1989). The chronological sequencing methodologies, encouraged by the culture history approach, allowed the description and ordering of artefacts using stratigraphic excavation and stylistic seriation, particularly with regard to ceramics and lithics. Though much disregarded following the development of processual and post-processual archaeology, the descriptive approach of culture history dominated the majority of the twentieth century, and successfully produced charts and maps of cultures based upon artefacts and stratigraphic sequences which are still relied on as initial datasets for investigation (Hodder and Hutson, 2003). Arguing for a new recognition of the processes behind the evidence obtained from the archaeological record, the development of complex processual archaeology encouraged many advocating theorists to analyse the evidence away from simple classifications and to view the archaeological record from a taphonomical viewpoint. Proponents of behavioural archaeology, such as Michael Schiffer (1983, 1995), argued that the culture history assumption of artefacts existing as in situ fossils restricted the comprehensive analysis of archaeology to categorisation alone. Processualism criticised culture history, and Binfords early statement that artefacts were â€Å"fossils† upon which past reconstructions could easily be made (Renfrew and Bahn, 1996), for epistemological simplicity. The recognition that much of the value of evidence from the archaeological record was being lost through the collection approach of culture history necessitated a review and reassessment of the methodology of arch aeological investigation, which, in turn, illustrated the problematic approaches of processualism with regard to the rigid, ethnocentric tenets of scientific archaeologists. Archaeology, it was criticised, saw what it wanted to see and moulded the evidence to fit ethnically biased hypotheses, predominantly a result of the domination of Caucasian male scientists within the field during the 1980s. For example, feminist archaeologists emphasised the androcentric approaches of theoretical archaeology by denouncing statements, from male archaeologists, that the commonly-cited Venus figurines of Europe represented the palaeolithic equivalent of pornography. During the era of processualism, a new-found movement of feminist archaeology began questioning the cultural presence of females in the archaeological record, debating their very existence at all (Conkey and Spector, 1984; Wylie, 1991). Feminist archaeology The exploration of the social status of genders in the past is the all-encompassing drive behind feminist archaeology. Though it has only recently become a field of study in its own right, the interest in prehistoric matriarchy stems largely from the nineteenth century, particularly with regard to claims made by J. J. Bachofen in 1861 and Frederick Engels in 1884. Engels and Bachofen proposed that matriarchy formed an important, universal phase in human culture after an initial stage of promiscuity and prior to what was termed the world historic defeat of the female sex (Key and MacKinnon, 2000). Engels suggested an early stage in human development was characterised by group marriage, with descent traced through women and matrilocality. Women had supremacy in the household and their high status derived from their central position within the social relations of production (Conkey and Gero, 1997), however, these conclusions were based not on archaeological evidence but on ancient myths and ethnographic cases. Marija Gimbutass interpretation of Early Neolithic farming communities as matrifocal and probably matrilinear, egalitarian and peaceful, worshipping a supreme goddess, is a result of her research into the symbolism of female figurines and statuary from household contexts in south-east Europe and the Near East (Gimbutas, 1974, 1989, 1991). Although unsupported by many archaeologists, her views have become unassailable for certain ecofeminist groups, and at least contrast with the androcentric evaluation of hunt scene cave art. The analyses of Palaeolithic figurines illustrate that differences in ethnological and epistemological approach potentially result in hugely varying disparities in the interpretative conclusions of particular artefacts, sites, and periods in history and prehistory. Overall, applying concepts of gender to all aspects of a specific culture is profoundly more productive than the restricted, narrow approaches of New Archaeology and culture history. It is important to archaeological interpretation that multiple varieties of gender, and their associated arrangements within a given culture, are illustrated and emphasised, in contrast to the previous assumption of a single dichotomy between proactive male and passive female roles. Feminist archaeologists, in general, have aspired to determining the quantity of genders in past societies, with particular regard to the engendering of biological sex. The most reliable sources of this data, as purported by many feminist archaeologists, are from funerary deposits. However, this data is frequently invisible or vague within the archaeological record, and the differentiation between the dichotomy of the biological status of sex and the cultural status of gender remains problematic. Furthermore, feminist archaeologists claim that a false dichotomy between the genders, often referred to as labour division, exists. Within modern indigenous and developed cultures, men and women are often assigned different functions within the community, and it is reasonable to assume that this division existed in the past, however, there is significant dislocation between gender-specific roles in most cultures. Feminist archaeology has contributed greatly to the umbrella field of archaeology by encouraging an avoidance of the polarisation of genders, thereby providing more subtle and comprehensive understanding of societies (Bem, 1993). Feminist archaeology has therefore contributed greatly to the understanding of archaeological interpretation. It has encouraged new questions and new methodological approaches to data sets, and has revolutionised observations and analyses of existing data, particularly with emphasis on removing bias from interpretation. In contrast to the assumptions purported by other schools of theoretical archaeology, feminism has critiqued and argued against presumed concepts, encouraging the application of epistemological analysis to gender roles. By challenging preconceived ideology regarding the interaction between men and women within past societies, feminist archaeology adopts a refreshingly questioning approach in contrast to the previous interpretation of sites based on current modern attitudes, practices and socio-cultural biases. Conclusion Unfortunately, there is no single consensus on the definition of feminism and feminist theory, and, therefore, it is unrealistic to portray feminist archaeology as a homogeneous, ideologically-coherent framework. As a movement of resistance and struggle against male oppression for womens empowerment, theoretical feminist objectives include a critique of female status in past societies and the definition of gender difference for women. Initial rethinking of the new female history, anthropology and archaeology focused on the countering of androcentric narratives, the recognition of powerful individual women in the past, the search for matriarchies in past societies, and the redressing of the balance hitherto ignored by theoretical archaeology. Sà ¸rensen (1992) has outlined three predominant categories of archaeological sources most useful for pursuing archaeologies of gender: burial activities, individual appearance through costume, particularly from funerary contexts, and some types of art. Though this is a short analysis of the benefit of feminism to archaeological theory and practice, details given here illustrate several ways that a feminist stance can improve and contribute to archaeological interpretations. In comparison to the previously biased analysis of singularly male roles within prehistory, feminist archaeology offers the opportunity to consider all aspects of men and women, particularly roles, status, and contemporary perceptions, from a balanced perspective. Many theoretical archaeologists now believe this to be essential to a comprehensive understanding of past societies. Economic relationships between communities, political structures, and ideological status are affected by our often biased interpretation of gender roles, and feminism, above all other schools of archaeological theory, attempts to desegregate the prejudiced views of gender superiority and inferiority, allowing clarity of interpretation, and giving a voice to the hitherto ignored female se ctions of past societies. Bibliography Bem, S. (1993) The Lenses of Gender. New Haven, Yale University Press Conkey, M. W. and Spector, J. D (1984) Archaeology and the study of gender. Advances in Archaeological Methods and Theory 7: 1-38 Conkey, M. W. and Gero, J. M. (1997) Programme to practice: Gender and Feminism in Archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology 26: 411-437 Gilchrist, R. (1998) Womens archaeology?: political feminism, gender theory and historical revision. In Hays-Gilpin, K. and Whitley, D. (eds.) Reader in Gender Archaeology. London, Routledge Gimbutas, M. (1974) The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe: myths and cult images. London, Thames and Hudson Gimbutas, M. (1989) The Language of the Goddess. London, Thames and Hudson Gimbutas, M. (1991) The Civilisation of the Goddess. New York, Harper Collins. Hodder, I. and Hutson, S. (2003) Reading the Past: Current Approaches to Interpretation in Archaeology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Key C.J. and MacKinnon J.J. (2000) A Feminist Critique of Recent A rchaeological Theories and Explanations of the Rise of State-Level Societies. Dialectical Anthropology 25(2): 109-121 Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P. (1996) Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practices. London, Thames and Hudson Schiffer, M. B. (1983) Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory. London, Academic Press Inc. Schiffer, M. B. (1995) Behavioural Archaeology. Utah, University of Utah Press Shanks, M. and Tilley, C. (1992) Reconstructing Archaeology: Theory and Practice. London, Routledge Sà ¸rensen, M. L. S. (1992) Gender archaeology and Scandinavian Bronze Age studies. Norwegian Archaeological Review 25: 31-49 Trigger, B. (1989) A History of Archaeological Thought. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Wylie, A. (1991) Gender theory and the archaeological record: why is there no archaeology of gender? In Gero, J. and Conkey, M. (eds.) Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers