Henry V as War Poet

There are many different attitudes to war: pacifists find it morally outrageous and unnecessary, others a necessity to protect and defend their own country and that of others. During the life of Shakespeare the security of the King on his throne was unstable. Defending the throne and social stability through war was imperative. This is reflected thematically in ‘Henry V', with Shakespeare promoting the King as a divinely appointed ruler and encouraging acceptance of this. Throughout ‘Henry V' there are very strong references to God, sin and salvation. War is viewed as a moral and spiritual means of upholding the status quo. With this in mind, ‘Henry V' opens with the mature king, ‘The mirror of all Christian kings', seeking justification for declaring war on France, with Henry asking the Archbishop if God is happy with his claim to the French throne. ‘May I with right and conscience make this claim? ‘ Henry, asking the Archbishop for support as King of England, demonstrates his desire to fight in the name of God, confirming that God's appointed monarch is bound by spiritual laws. Later on in the play we learn of Henry's other justification for war: honour. He says he is not interested in gold – he only wants honour and glory for his country. ‘But if it be a sin to covet honour, then I am the most offending soul alive. ‘ Henry will not proceed with war unless his decision to fight is justified by the Church. No longer will he be reckless in conflict, as he was in his younger days. Before battle Henry prays; following success he offers thanks. War is viewed as both necessary, justifiable and sanctioned by God. Despite this spiritual view, war is also promoted as a ‘game' and a noble adventure, a means to bond with ‘dear friends'. Having been given tennis balls as a provocative insult, war is seen as the inevitable consequence and Henry declares war, by saying ‘the game's afoot'. This metaphor of war being a game continues through the whole play, despite the fact that it is a wicked and bloody ‘game' which results in horrific suffering and bloodshed. Interestingly, Jessie Pope,a jingoistic war poet, also represented war as a great adventure game that all boys should embark on, as seen in her poem ‘Who's For The Game? . She specifically addresses the younger generation in her chatty tone with lines such as ‘Come on, lads. ‘ and personifies the country as a female, with the attitude that the men should be protecting and serving her. She appeals to the protective instinct and the patriotic desires of the individual by doing this, by saying ‘Your country is up to her neck in a fight, and she's looking and calling for you'. The poem is structured with rhetorical questions which aim to persuade and encourage men to join force and fight. As a propaganda poem, the horrors of war are evaded and the idea of a fun game promoted with vivid description and verbs. ‘The red crashing game of a fight? ‘ Before Harfleur, Henry is also at his rhetorical best to unite and inspire his ‘team'. War is regarded as an inherited duty. ‘On, on, you noblest English. Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof! ‘. Repetition is used as a means of encouragement, with Henry stressing the words ‘On, on' to urge his soldiers forward, and alliterating the ‘f' sound stresses that fighting and carrying on from their fathers preserves family honour and security. It is better to die fighting for England, to ‘close the wall up with our English dead', then be cowardly, as Rupert Brooke reinforces when he says ‘There shall be in that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust which England bore, shaped, made aware'. In these quotations it is clear that the products of England have the duty to fight and defend their motherland, or at least die honourably trying. Similarly, Brooke justifies war by stressing people were duty bound to fight for their country. He too believed that England made him who he was and it was his duty to protect it. ‘A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware. In this sense, Brooke also believed that he was a possession belonging to England and that he owed a debt to his country. ‘Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given'. Henry's persuasive speech stresses this same idea. ‘Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture'. ‘The Soldier' promotes patriotism by focussing on the beauty of the country rather than the actual fighting – rather ironic for a war poem. As in ‘Henry V', there is the idea present that England is superior and worth more than other countries, as shown by the use of the word ‘rich'. and in that rich dust a richer dust concealed', the dust being Brooke's remains. The poem is Brooke's personal narrative; about him giving his body back to England. ‘gives back the thoughts by England given' Patriotism would encourage a man to fight, courage is an essential quality to survive! War is promoted as an act of courage. Most of Henry's key speeches in the play, such as the charge of Harfleur and the one delivered on St Crispians day, were designed to raise spirits and work up courage. One prominent idea, especially in the St Crispians day speech, is that the fewer men there are, the ‘greater share of honour'. Henry also tells his soldiers not to fear death, saying that it would be honourable to die for their country. ‘If we are mark'd to die, we are enow to do our country loss'. At times Henry dissolves his powers of status and leadership to become one of the ‘brother's'. He labels him and his soldiers a ‘happy few', a ‘band of brothers', rather than calling them an army and presenting them as a unit that's not only hostile and foreign to the attackers but also to each other. He uses pronouns such as ‘we' and ‘us' rather than ‘I' and ‘you'. This demonstrates equality and unites the army to encourage the bonds of ‘brotherhood' between them – a clever rhetorical tactic to persuade and encourage soldiers to rise above their individual circumstances and differences and become a more robotic mass. In contrast, poets such as Owen and Graves deliberately focus on the individual, whereas Henry encourages his soldiers to lose their individuality for the sake of England. This is seen as a clever leadership tactic: leading under the guise of not purely following a leader, but of everyone being of equal status. War is instinctively a natural act of defence, and is Henry's first thought when he is insulted. When provoked, animals attack, as shown in the imagery of Act 3, Scene 2. Henry tells his soldiers that when they hear ‘the blast of war', their first actions should be those of the tiger, acknowledging an aggressive and instinctive side to these men. ‘Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood'. According to Henry, these animalistic tendencies should dominate them in this fight. ‘Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage'. War is a glorious and natural defending action to these men, and they have to be prepared to follow and encourage this instinct. Like Pope and Brooke, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves were patriotic, but when they saw firsthand the horrors of war their attitude changed. Graves' poem ‘A Dead Boche' details his change in attitude. ‘Today I found in Mametz Wood, a certain cure for a lust for blood'. War may be an expression of courage, patriotism, honour, but to Graves â€Å"War's Hell! â€Å", as declared in â€Å"A Dead Boche'. Grave's focuses on the torment of an individual soldier, meaning that the ravages of war cannot be sidestepped. No one can view the â€Å"Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired, Dribbling† wounded man as honourably and happily dying and returning to the soil of his home country. We are forced to see the horror of war, a horror which Henry cleverly acknowledges but as the fate of the enemy and the consequence of arousing his anger: When the siege of Harfleur fails, Henry attempts to bluff his way into the city by painting a vivid picture of what will happen if the French do not surrender. Defile the locks of your shrill shrieking daughters; Your father's†¦ reverend heads dash'd to the walls'. The use of onomatopoeia and alliteration in ‘shrill shrieking' emphasises the outrageously violent consequences of war. Nature imagery is also used in the line ‘mowing like grass your fresh-fair virgins'. The image of mowing grass usually creates nice images of the springtim e and getting the earth ready for blooming, however here the simile creates a dark image, as we are not mowing grass – we are ‘mowing' through and cutting down ‘flowering infants', indeed the innocent in war. Henry is presenting war as a punishment, not just to the French soldiers, but even to the non-participants in the fighting as well as the Shakespearean audience. In his speech he emphasises the attacks on the most helpless and innocent people in the community, such as the ‘fresh-fair virgins', describing graphic deaths involving rape and mindless violence. Henry has an attitude towards this war that lets him believe that God will not see them as sinning – ‘with conscience wide as Hell' – because this invasion has been sanctioned by Him, and as a result he is prepared to do anything to fulfil his claim. However, the reader and the audience of this play must wonder if God is used as an excuse by Henry because what kind of God would sanction such Hell on earth? ‘Who's For The Game' and ‘The Soldier' give justifications for war – defending your country and owing a debt to it respectively. However, Wilfred Owen, another war poet, failed to give any justification in his poems, purely because he didn't see the reasons behind war! He aimed to show the reality and horrors of war in his poems for all participants, the most notable being ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est'. Owen questions how such pain and degradation be justified. In his poem ‘Anthem For Doomed Youth', Owen presents a world devoid of divine order and intervention; a hell on earth. This was the reality of the ‘war hero' stories about those heroically dying to protect their country. ‘no prayers nor bells' There are no bells ringing worshippers to Church to glorify God, and the only choir is that of ‘wailing shells'. Religious imagery is used to highlight the horrific, hellish reality. All the weapons in this poem are personified – ‘wailing shells' ‘monstrous anger of the guns' – implying the attitude that war is not a natural phenomenon – it is completely man-made destruction here. This attitude starkly contrasts with Henry's viewpoint in his prayers and speeches, as he believes that war is a natural part of all men and therefore life. ‘The mirror of all Christian Kings' also sees God as his motivation, inspiration and his protector, and God is listed first in his battle cry as they charge toward glory. ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George! ‘ Henry cleverly presents war as only being hell for the French with the English glorious in battle or death. Henry deliberately focusses on collective disgusting images, such as ‘I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur till in her ashes she lie buried. ‘, which is a threat not just to individuals such as the Governor but to the whole city itself. Using such images takes the emphasise off the true foulness of war that poets such as Owen and Graves aimed to put into the light. Henry uses collective images to take the focus off his individual weakened soldiers, plagued with casualties and illness. During his bluff the focus is not on the actual torment that the ‘knock kneed†¦ hags' that had been ‘cursing through sludge' (as soldiers were described by Wilfred Owen) were going through. The focus in on the potential horror in the images of rape and mindless violence evoked by Henry that stop people such as the Governor from looking at the army that may not even be able to carry out such an attack too closely. On the whole, ‘Henry V' glorifies war. It is represented as an opportunity to display courage, heroism and brotherhood. The consequences of war are addressed in some poignant speeches, yet still the audience marvels at Henry and his army. Patriotic poets such as Jessie Pope are similarly sparing with their images, intent to encourage conscription and bravery, whereas the horrific truth about war is starkly presented by Wilfred Owen in his poems such as ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est' and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth'. Overall, war is war, but there are many different attitudes to the event, and some – when presented in the right way – ultimately prevail, much like Henry and the English did over the French with simply a few words.

Investment and Cost Savings Essay

Introduction The purpose of this report is to address the key strategic issues facing Coast4Life with the expected downturn ahead. Included is a financial analysis, identification of major issues, analysis of alternatives and a recommendation. Financial Analysis for the Year Ended 2012 (Appendix 1) * Current ratio of 1.6 indicates that the company can meet its short term obligations. There is a 46% improvement versus last year’s current ratio of 1.1. Quick ratio of 1.8 shows a 50% improvement. * Total debt- to-equity of 1.5 shows a 12% improvement over prior year’s ratio of 1.7 indicating that the firm is relying less on debt. Times interest earned ratio of 6.4 improved by 30%. * Profitability ratios indicate overall earnings growth. Net margin of 15.2% grew by 18% compared to 12.9% in 2011 while Return-on-Equity (ROE) of 27.4% grew by 16%. Return on Investments (ROI) of 11.2% shows a significant 28% growth from 8.7% and posted a 14% favourable variance compared to target. * Revenue and net income grew by 13.4% and 33.3%, respectively. Major Strategic Issues With the expected estimated 30%-35% decline in the overall booking, the expected impact is a decline in income by $7M (Appendix 2). The proposed alternatives to generate additional revenues and or/ cost savings are evaluated using a required after tax rate of return of 16%. Alternative 1 – Change Customer Mix Objectives: Maximize Repeat Customers from 20% to 40% Maximize Age Group 40-60 years old from 30% to 38% Pros: * Incremental Income of $721K in 2013; $2.1M for the 3 years ahead combined (Appendix 3) * Opportunity to expand extra-services * Maximizes capacity/resources Cons: * Marketing constraints to target customer mix * May require additional costs to achieve target This option addresses the incremental income requirement. It maximizes profitability and provides opportunities to expand business ( in line with the company’s mission). Alternative 2 – Implement a web-based booking system Pros: * Incremental savings of $24K in 2013; $226K for the 3-yrs ahead combined (Appendix 4) * Opportunity for additional costs reduction (i.e. advertising, promotion) * Provides information about passengers * Opportunity to target more customers * Meets demand for Internet-booking * Accounting module improves financial reporting Cons: * Loss of customer service * Technology must be up to date and well maintained * Security (i.e. financial data, customers) This option meets the cost savings requirement. It also addresses the immediate need of the company for market/customer information and addresses constraints in alternative 1 (customer mix). This is in line with the company’s mission to provide unique services. Alternative 3 – Hire Crew and Hospitality Workers from Underdeveloped Countries Pros: * Incremental cost savings of $883K; $2.1M for the 3 years ahead combined (Appendix 5) * Cheaper wages Cons: * May damage reputation (poor service quality) * May dampen employees’ morale This alternative meets the requirement for cost savings. To ensure quality service, the company must invest in training. The company should also keep key employees (pros: assists in training, promotion could keep morale high). Long-term cost savings is attractive. Alternative 4 – Divest the Fraser dry dock Pros: * Incremental Income of $3.1M in 2013; $2.5M for the 3-years ahead combined (Appendix 6) * Focus on core business Cons: * Incremental costs of $438K per year (maintenance and lost income from the dry dock operations (Appendix 6) * Decline in company-wide morale * Damage to reputation and local ties * Quality of third-party maintenance This alternative meets the incremental income required. This allows the company to focus on its core business. However, long-term, the negative impact on income, reputation and ties with the community are not desirable. It is recommended to change customer mix and implement a web-based booking system. Both alternatives achieve the income requirement (total $745K in 2013; $2.4M for the 3 years ahead). Both alternative have low risk and provide more opportunities to maximize the use of its resources and capacity and expand business. Hiring crew and staff from underdeveloped countries is recommended if the high risk is mitigated i.e. by retaining key employees. Divesting the drydock is not recommended due to the incremental expenses associated in future years. Conclusion The recommended alternatives meet the requirement to generate revenue and/or cost savings to counter the expected downturn in 2013.

Plato’s Concept of Justice

Aside from â€Å"reason,† the concept of justice is a common topic in every dialogue of Plato like in â€Å"Parmenides† and â€Å"Timaeus†. However, it is in â€Å"The Republic† that the concept of justice is intensively argued, scrutinized, and differentiated. Specifically, the dialogue on the essence of justice in â€Å"The Republic† is largely brought up by the challenging inquiries of Glaucon and Adeimantus. Glaucon, spoken as devil’s advocate, classified justice similarly to the goods chosen, not for the goods themselves, but for the other things that they may bring. Glaucon argued that people do not want anyone to obstruct their unceasing desire for everything and only act in such a way that they avoid unjust treatment. As an analogy, he used the story of Gyges' ring, the ring that gives magical invisibility to its bearer. Anyone who becomes a possessor of that ring can hardly resist the temptation of becoming like a god among others. He or she, unrestrained by justice, will use the ring to satisfy his desires for everything. On the contrary, Socrates pointed out that justice, both in itself and what it brings is good while injustice, even unnoticed, is injurious. Thus, to confute the impressive challenge of Glaucon, Socrates it is imperative to understand the essence of justice before one can really know whether justice is good in itself or it is good due to the things which come from it. However, to expound the Plato's concept of justice, the different gaps in his arguments are needed to be filled with the missing premises. Historical Background In the ancient time, Greeks conceive justice through the poets' ideas like those of Hesiod. Hesiod described justice by conforming to certain set of acts; to avoid Zeus' punishment and achieve his rewards, man must act in accordance with Zeus' will. However, this concept of reward and punishment has lost its credibility during the late period of the fifth century. As people came to observe that most unjust men flourish as good citizens continue to suffer hardships and trials, they denounced the pre-conceived notion that rewards are given to the good doer while punishments are inflicted to the unjust. Consequently, as democracy in the Athenian society evolves, few Athens can hardly see to give importance on the afterlife and the questions on the essence of justice became a great controversy. This controversy was exacerbated by the Sophists who act as hired tutors for wealthy students. Sophists denied the existence of the standards or objective truth concerning right and wrong. They rather treated morality and law as the bases of truth. For instance, Antiphon publicly declared that one must choose to be unjust for it is an advantage. Hence, Plato decided to defend justice against the Sophistic challenge. The Argumentation Thrasymachus claimed that justice is merely an advantage of the stronger citizens. In Book I, he argued that the societal norms and mores are merely conventions which serve as constraints for those who abide with them while others who ignore them are benefited. Whereas the unjust people gain power, become strong and rulers in the society, the weak conform to the justice which places them in a disadvantaged position. Thrasymachus then believed that the justice's norms and mores are merely conventions promulgated by the strong, powerful people and the rulers to protect their own interest and keep the weak into the state of oppression. On the other hand, the second book presented Thrasymachus' challenges not only to the standards of right and wrong but also on the Socrates' method of searching for the truth, the method of elenchus. The Socrates' method of finding the truth commences by building up ideas from the people's beliefs. Thus, if Thrasymachus is impeccable with his notions, truth about justice is merely imposed by rulers. This gave a great task to Socrates to assert that justice is both good and desirable and it is more than conventions; rather, it is connected to the standards of morality and it is our advantage to adhere with it. In the progression of the argumentation in Plato's â€Å"The Republic,† justice was discussed and described in different ways. Some of these ideas were rejected for they inaccurately described justice. Hence, in the end, the argumentation does not only lead to what justice is but also defined what it is not. By analogy, the conception of justice was compared to the political structure of the city and the components of an individual. â€Å"Justice emerges from the relation of these parts in both the city and the individual. † Although justice, in form, is not identical to the structure of the city or the form of the soul, the manner of the various parts of the soul or city must function imply the harmony that the justice could bring. Justice in the city and the individual’s soul is the relating and functioning of parts in a systemic way to produce a graceful harmonious result. † In its comparison with the city, â€Å"justice is everyone doing one's part into the best of what he or she can and not meddling in others business†. On the other hand, justice results when the three compone nts of the soul function in a graceful manner. Thus, as the individual parts of the soul and the city work properly, the resulting harmony is excellence in their function. This resulting excellence then is justice. In the case that one of their integral parts does not function well, the entity or individual suffers resulting to the lack of justice. Justice then for the individual is internal as he or she tries to align it from the soul with his or her body's external actions which in turn directly affected by the external world; hence, a just person will not commit unjust actions. In such way, the internal justice of the person is directly affected by the external world. Moreover, Book I presented the conception of justice as an internal virtue and external quality with more complexities and implications. The discussions of such can be directly seen from the propositions of Thrasymacus, Cephalus and Polemarcus which scrutinized by Socrates. Cephalus perceived justice as telling the truth and paying one's debts while Polemarchus proposed that â€Å"justice is giving each what is owed to them. † Socrates told is not always true as perceived by Cephalus for it could create disastrous results like in returning weapon to a mentally-defective person who could harm others and even herself or himself. Even the conception of Polemarchus is defective for it signifies the intention to help friends and to do harm to enemy. Socrates argued that a just person must not do anything harm to anyone for he or she must do good things and doing harm to anyone is not good. Nevertheless, Thrasymachus conceived justice as â€Å"the advantage of the stronger and obeying the rulers,† which was contradicted by Socrates due to its insufficiency. Thrasymachus' notion can also be stated as â€Å"advantage of the stronger,† which requires a deeper interpretation. In this way, Thrasymachus suggested that justice can only be fully understood by a person in power. So as to become powerful and ruler, that person must possess knowledge in producing justice and ruling for his or her favor. If the ruler has knowledge and knowledge is good, this goodness will lead everyone to happiness while happiness is ultimately justice. Looking gain at the proposition of Thrasymachus, he pointed out two essential things between the ruler and the ruled. First, the ruling group or person who will create laws is stronger and advantageous. Then, these laws inflict punishments to the ruled group which place them in a disadvantageous position. Thus, justice is compliance with the laws made by the rulers. As such, in the ideal world of Thrasymachus, the rulers pass laws for their favor and entirely for their own benefits. On the other hand, the ruled group is mandated to obey the laws in order to avoid punishments and to achieve the collective good. By implementing this, the ruler helps the ruled group to attain internal personal justice as well as to help the city in pursuing justice for â€Å"the individual justice echoes out to effect the city as a whole. † Therefore, compliance with the laws is also justice. The â€Å"good† for Thracymachus is doing what perceived to be good. Eve though there is no standard good, one must do things which bring profits and benefits to self. On the other hand, the powerful can act the way they want for the laws are made for their own favor. Meanwhile, the soul's function is living. Everything that functions has excellence and justice is the excellence of the soul. As well, the achievement of justice will eventually lead to the well-living and the happiness of a person. As justice leads to happiness and â€Å"just† person is also a happy one, the person has happiness if he or she has the sense on justice and the person is only â€Å"just† when he or she has happiness. Therefore, Thrasymachus believed that happiness is the end goal. Furthermore, Thrasymachus added that justice is only advantageous for the stronger and it is better to be unjust than just. Since getting more things bring happiness, it is better to get more in life. He suggested that if it is possible to act without the consequences of one's actions, anybody would transgress the set obligations and legal standards. Since laws are merely created to benefit the stronger, anybody may probably choose to act in a way which benefits him or her. In this manner, the person acts unjustly if in this way he or she will be benefited. By living then in unjust manner the person will be benefited and eventually will attain happiness. These propositions of Tharsymachus were largely shaped by his position as a sophist with no morality standards or objective truth belief. Man is capable of pretending just externally but internally unjust. For Thrasymachus, this ability is an advantage because the person can obtain the external reward of pretending as just while simultaneously avoiding the consequences of being unjust internally. In addition, the unjust man can take the advantage of the â€Å"just† man in a similar fashion. Thrasymachus set the example of a man who is a good tax payer and a law-abiding citizen as compared to the unjust tax evader who violated the law due to the belief that laws are not beneficial to him or her. For Thrasymachus, this situation necessitates a special skill or craft which can be perfected through practice. That is, an individual can possibly perfect the skills of being unjust while simultaneously pretending as a just person. Originally, it was Polemarchus who assumed that justice is a craft or skill which was debunked by Socrates but in the same argument Thrasymachus has fallen. Hence, by using the same analogy as with Polemarchus, Socrates was able to refute the proposition of Thrasymachus. Finally, at the end of Book I, Thrasymachus agreed with Socrates that a just man attains happiness while the unjust man falls into the trap of misery. As Thrasymachus retracted his previous propositions, Socrates further explained that the unjust man is unwise and ignorant. A wise man seeks the trail of other wise men that existed and made a path of wisdom; knowledge and wisdom must be achieved by a man to become just. Furthermore, Thrasymachus ideas of justice contradicted the Socrates’ a band of thieves’ analogy. As injustice brings hatred, each member of the band of thieves will come to a moot point where they could hardly trust one another which eventually lead to misunderstanding and separation. If injustice results to such worst ending, we may say then that only justice can preserve love and unity among individuals. Thus, justice is again associated with the â€Å"good† while the injustice is to unbeneficial which denounced the notion of Thrasymachus that injustice is beneficial than justice. Therefore, Thrasymachus ultimately believed that the soul directs the person’s life. This means that an individual with a good soul lives a good and beneficial life while an individual with a bad soul has a miserable life. In connection to this, Socrates firmly stated that a just man has a better life than the unjust for â€Å"justice is the peculiar excellence or virtue of the soul. † Plato’s â€Å"The Republic† presented a systematic analogy of the soul and the city. Plato proved that the human soul has various parts that work harmoniously. On the other hand, the city has different structures that work for the common good in order to attain peace and order and to avoid civil war. Whereas the social structures of the city must collectively work for the common good, the components of the soul must maintain harmonious relationships for the achievement of a collective functional excellence. As the soul functions justly, it is working with excellence which is the utmost functional goal of the soul itself. The Nature of Actions As discussed above, man’s action is a basis of justice. Man acts in way to attain happiness and to avoid pain. As such, Plato believed that the supreme good is the ultimate goal of every human endeavor. What then is the â€Å"good† for a man that can be possibly attained through his endeavors? It is happiness but relatively defined; vulgar men associated it with pleasure while people with refined character ascribed it to honor. While these things are pursued to achieve happiness in one’s self, but â€Å"good† should be pursued not only for happiness but for the â€Å"good† itself—as an end. The â€Å"good† brings happiness and is associated with function or activity. For instance, if you are a behest pianist then, you are good in playing piano for you are functioning well. The well-performance of your function creates happiness not only for yourself but also for the others, thus, giving you a unique identity. In the same line of reasoning, soul is an aspect of humans that differentiated them from the rest of the animals. Thus, man’s function concerns the soul. The rational component of the soul controls man’s impulses, thus, makes him virtuous. Therefore, â€Å"human good turns out to be an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete. † Meanwhile, the nature of man’s actions was classified as voluntary, nonvoluntary and involuntary. Involuntary actions are done against one’s disposition; voluntary actions are in accordance with the disposition; and nonvoluntary actions are accidentally done due to ignorance. Since virtue governs one’s disposition to act in accordance with the â€Å"good,† the primary basis then of a virtuous action is the goodness of choice. For an action is always a product of premeditated choice of an individual for the attainment of one’s purpose, it is therefore voluntary. This also satisfies the conditions that Plato believed are necessary for virtue: knowledge, volition, and doing. On the other hand, if an individual was forced for a certain action, although seem involuntary, he is still responsible for that action for he has a choice for not doing. Meanwhile doing things because of ignorance is involuntary if at the end, one recognizes ignorance while failure to do so, makes it nonvoluntary. For instance, if a drunkard is addicted to liquor due to inability to discern virtuous things, the person then is guilty of ignorance and the action is nonvoluntary. If at some point of time, the person realized his ignorance, the action then becomes involuntary. With these, only ignorance can excuse an action to be called a vice but has limitation. If after realizing virtuous things, the person has continued to be a drunkard, then the action is voluntary and he is therefore vicious. It is common sense to us, for example, that insufficient food and water taken into the body results to poor nutrition while a balanced diet ensures good health. â€Å"So too is it, then, in the case of temperance and courage and other virtues. † Avoidance of fears leads to timidity while extreme braveness endangers one’s life; absolute abstinence creates insensibility while hedonism shapes one’s indulgence. Since wrong doings are committed due to pleasure and noble character is avoided due to pain, pleasures and pain then are subjects of every virtue. Just and temperate actions are done by a man who has the sense of justice and temperance. â€Å"But if the acts that are in accordance with the virtues have themselves a certain character it does not follow that they are done justly or temperately. † Several conditions are necessary for the conduct of every virtuous action: knowledge of virtues; disposition for virtuous actions; and power to do virtuous actions. Hence, knowledge on virtues is not enough to become virtuous; rather, the disposition to put virtues into actions is a must. Limitations of Human Judgment Through the hierarchy of things here in the world, we perceive that several creatures are much better, thus, higher than the others: creatures that are alive are better than inanimate objects; living organisms that have senses are much better than plants; and humans that are alive have senses, and have the gift of reason are much perfect to the rest of the creations. However, even if we are the highest form of living organisms, we are not capable of an absolute understanding of reality. For we judge reality based the way we perceive things, beauty, truth or evil. In order to perceive, we make use of definite criteria that if are correct, entails the veracity of our judgment. Can we absolutely perceive the truth? In judging, we are guided by the truth but we do not judge the truth. The truth therefore is higher than us. Nonetheless, in perceiving the truth, we must grasp with something that does not change (solid basis). For if our basis changes, the left over is just a part of the truth. This is also true in perceiving the real essence of justice. In trying to explain free choices through other things may limit the rationale for the true justice. For different things may require different explanations. Hence, in trying to conceive for the real sense of justice, this may lead us to a perilous situation that is substituting vagueness to its real essence.

Discussion 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Discussion 4 - Assignment Example Ms. Murphy, a young African American woman, visits Westcoast Medical Center complaining of persistent headache and after tests the clinician ascertains she has hypertension. She takes the patient through the pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options for hypertension highlighting the evidence supporting the effectiveness of each until they identify the one that works best for Ms. Murphy (Speros, 2005). Ms. Murphy walks into a nearby hospital with a complaint of an unceasing headache. The clinician quickly prescribes strong painkillers to Ms. Murphy which she takes and goes home (Kienle & Kiene, 2011). Ms. Murphy visits a hospital far from her home and a clinician listens to her complaint and inspects her for different signs. The clinician engages the data she collects and is able to identify that Ms. Murphy has hypertension. She considers different treatment options each of which is supported by three controlled studies of its effectiveness and picks one that she thinks would work for Ms. Murphy (Ratanasiripong & Chai, 2013). A clinician at Blueline Medical center notes Ms. Murphy’s health complaints and checks her for extra symptoms and she concludes that it is a hypertension case. The clinician aptly searches for relevant information on different treatment options, shares it with Ms. Murphy and leaves her to choose one (Speros, 2005). As an African American woman, Ms. Murphy might be from a cultural setting where females seldom do physical exercise due to a preservative culture. She might not agree to invasive surgical procedures due to her religious values (Kienle & Kiene, 2011). Clinical judgment in evidence-based practice would help prescribe the intervention that she would afford and one that would not clash with her

Filling out application form for SOCIAL WORK COURSE Essay

Filling out application form for SOCIAL WORK COURSE - Essay Example often asked and which are required to be answered in application forms are designed to help the institution that is admitting these students assess the candidates and also to provide an opportunity for the students to determine if they are indeed interested in the course or vocation that they will like to develop themselves. In this essay, some questions that are required to be answered for admission to a social work degree are considered and possible answers provided, with due regard to the background of the candidate filing out the form. This brief essay presents some appropriate responses to questions related to a social work case which may be required to be discussed as a part of the entrance requirements to a degree course in Social Work at a British university. Whereas those who may respond to the questions related to the social work case that is being discussed may have a GCE ‘A’ – level education and varied work experience, the social work case that is required to be discussed is considered from the perspective of a candidate for admission who is from a minority Asian background and hence the candidate is better able to appreciate the peculiarities of the culture of the Indian Sub-Continent, along with the peculiarities of the British culture. The candidate is a second generation migrant to the United Kingdom who was born and bred in the United Kingdom, but was raised in her home environment which is a reflection of the culture of the Indian Sub-Continent. Such individuals, who have an inte rest in social work, can prove to be invaluable for conducting social work in the United Kingdom, because they have the capacity of being able to understand both the British and the Indian cultural traditions. These individuals can serve as a bridge between communities and not only assist in the assimilation of migrants from different background into the multicultural British community, but also help those migrants who have now grown old and are in need of

Ajax Minerals and Perrier Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ajax Minerals and Perrier - Essay Example Communications is highly necessary in regard to change management because it helps in creating mutual trust. The first way that communication to employees and the middle level management will help is in creating trust by the employees. This can be seen in the history of Ajax. In the past, Ajax failed to communicate to employees, and this led to the employees being suspicious any time the firm is about to make any changes. Communication is seen as a way to create trust because through good communication, it helps in making sure that the employees understand the need for change rather than leave the employees to speculate. The same kind of speculation has been the cause of resistance to change because the employees are extremely suspicious that any change process will affect the negatively. Involvement Involving the employee and the middle level managers is essential in helping to smooth out the process of change. When communication and involvement is used in concert, the best result will be achieved. Ajax is trying to involve the employees in the development of the solution and this will be necessary due to a number of reasons. The first reason is the fact that the involving the employees and the middle level managers will result in a change solution that will be accepted by the employees. Involvement will create minimal resistance from the employees. It will also be good in creating a solution that is most holistic in the way the firm deals with future problems. Will it succeed? Although Ajax has chosen to use this particularly valuable strategy to change management, there cannot be a guarantee that the strategy will succeed. This is because Ajax failed to use this strategy right from the beginning and there is a lot of suspicion in among the employees. Perrier case Perrier has a t least two sources of resistance. The first source of resistance is from the worker union CGT, which believes that Nestle does not have the right to cut off the number of workers in Perrier. The second source of resistance is definitely from the employees who feel that they need to protect their jobs. Nestle has tried to cut down employees in order to salvage the Perrier brand. When the employees could not allow the firm to cut the employees, the management placed the product of another brand in their cafeterias as a way to have the employees see the sense in trying to change. This method of trying to deal with the issue of change resistance did not help the firm to do away with resistance. If anything, this method of dealing with the issue made things between the management and the employees worse. Comparison There are a number of differences in the way the managers in both of these cases handled the case. Although the Perrier case was more complicated by the issue of the worker u nion that was

Solar enrgy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Solar enrgy - Research Paper Example This paper looks at the alternative sources of energy in general, and focuses on the Solar Energy as one of the most effective, affordable, and cheap alternative source of energy. The paper also looks at the use and development of solar energy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), especially, by the company called MASDAR, based in the UAE. As we have just seen, alternative source of energy is any energy source that does not use fossil fuel in generating energy (Alternative Energy, Web). There are a number of advantages of using alternative source of energy in comparison to using the fossil fuel source of energy. One of the advantages of using the alternative source of energy is that the alternative source of energy reduces the usage of fossil fuel source of energy and therefore preserves and prevents the fossil fuels from being depleted. With the emergence of many and powerful industries in the modern world, coupled with the increase of the number and usage of vehicles, aeroplanes, and ships, which all depend on fossil based fuels, the fossil fuel source of energy is indeed at the danger of being depleted. ... many alternative sources of energy do not release toxic chemicals to our environment. Fossil based sources of energy are well known for releasing greenhouse gases, Carbon Dioxide gas, in the environment, thus leading to the global warming (Alternative Energy, Web). Global warming threatens to make our world inhabitable and so there is an urgent need to develop alternative sources of energy that do not cause any threat to our very own existence. Many alternative sources of energy therefore help us to get the energy that we need in our various activities without causing any harm to our environment. The third major advantage of using alternative source of energy is that, the alternative source of energy is quite cheap and affordable in comparison to the fossil fuel based sources of energy (Alternative Energy, Web). The cost of the fossil based fuels is increasing each year in many countries around the world that do not produce the fossil fuels. Different governments are using a lot of m oney on fossil fuels as source of energy. Also, many poor people are not able to afford the fossil fuels because of the astronomical costs associated with them. On the other hand, alternative sources of energy like the solar energy and the biogas are quite cheap and affordable to almost everybody. The alternative sources of energy, therefore, are quite cheap and affordable; alternative sources of energy ensure that almost everybody has access to power. The alternative sources of energy therefore spurs economic growth of a country through making cheap power available to all people, including the poor people. Having looked at the main advantages of alternative sources of energy, let us now look at some of the common alternative sources of

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY Essay - 1

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY - Essay Example The role of PSI was to demarcate the areas that required improvement or modifications. The issues identified by PSI were not specific to CVS; rather, it included the complaints from customers regarding cancellation of orders, and wastage of time at the pick-up spot. Analyzing the situation and its complication, the first question that comes in the mind is what could be the solution, or what steps must be taken in order to make the difference? Since the problems are common with other pharmacy stores, it demands something innovative, and in this regard, one has to answer the question, could disruptive innovation and quality management help in overcoming the difficulties of this company? Companies can innovate three ways. Firstly, New and Improved products should be introduced to target the high-margin customers to whom old products are not satisfying enough. Secondly, to the customers who can’t afford much, cheap alternatives should be launched of the existing expensive products which can fulfil their requirements without being a burden to their pockets, and lastly, new products should be introduced in order to create new markets and bring fresh consumers. (Christensen et al., 2004) Disruptive innovation refers to mode of expanding and establishing new customer base, by adding services or introducing newer products and technology that may disrupt the existing market linkages. In contrast to disruptive innovation there is sustainable innovation that does not affect the existing market linkages; rather it aims at adding value to the products or services. However, defeating incumbents with sustainable innovation is very hard. The problems with CVS are common in almost all the companies that deal in pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, the margin for innovation remains very narrow, because the stakes are too high, and the safety of the customer is top priority. The problems

Term Definition Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Term Definition Paper - Essay Example This paper stresses that the current economic situation affects my organization in the form of lower demands for output because of the financial crunch. While the effect is on the national scale, if not on the global scale, local organizations can feel the effect through decrease in sales due to curbing down on consumption. At times like these when there is recession, organizations face a challenge of coming up with ways in order to boost demand, despite the developing mentality of curbing down on consumption. The inflation rate is determined by the interaction of the aggregate demand—the overall level of demand in the economy, and the aggregate supply—the overall level of output producers are willing to supply in order to meet these demands. An increase or upward shift in the aggregate demand at the same level of aggregate supply causes an increase in inflation rate—also known as demand-pull inflation. This article makes a conclusion that the most important economic indicator which affects my organization is the growing inflation, which is of the cost-push variety that a lot of other countries in the whole world also experience. The cost-push inflation makes the prices of inputs higher, therefore squeezes the profit of the organization. With the challenge of lower demands, the profitability is further worsened. Therefore, my organization faces a challenge to come up with ways in order to improve profitability, either by finding ways to cut down on cost and lessen the higher prices of inputs, or boosting demand and repeat purchase among the customers.

Black Art Movement and the Harlem Renaissance Essay

Black Art Movement and the Harlem Renaissance - Essay Example At this period, there was also an interest being formed for jazz music with many white Americans that enjoyed the new sounds of lyrical black expression. One notable writer from this Harlem Renaissance period was Henry Dumas, who wrote a collection of short stories that described the efforts of different civil rights activists to describing the â€Å"lethal strength of a sax solo†, in order to celebrate the African-American spirit and movement toward liberation as a culture. Another novelist, Amiri Baraka, helped to build Black Dialogue, a publication facility that supported black arts. In his poetry, which was considered very risquà © during the Harlem Renaissance, he spoke of â€Å"fists beating niggers out of jocks or setting fire and death to whities ass† as a means to show African-American defiance against racial intolerance. It is poetry like this that often caused social uprising in different black social groups and reminded them that they were still an oppresse d people, therefore inspiring the next generation of blacks to explore artistry as a means to help in the cause for civil rights. The black arts movement involved many different African-American artists that often used their creative expression and poetry to influence others to reconsider their role in broader, White society. It is likely that without these historical figures, prominent leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X would not have been inspired to use peaceful protest that marks the current state of liberation.

Instructor Baby Massage Lesson Essay Example for Free

Instructor Baby Massage Lesson Essay Welcome to your first baby massage session, my name is ., and I will be with you during the next five weeks teaching you this amazing technique which help both of you, baby and mum or dad to improve in the ways that I will to explain to you in a few minutes. But first of all I would like to tell you that don’t worry if the baby cries, don’t feel uncomfortable, get up if you need, hug and cuddle her, feel free to be dedicated to the baby as if you were in your home. For all of us today and the next few weeks that we will share time together, the most important will be the baby and her comfort. Now it is your turn and I would like you introduce yourself and your babies please. Thank you so much†¦.. Benefits of baby massage: Interaction: bonding and secure attachment, demonstrating love†¦ Stimulation: the internal circulatory, digestive, hormonal, immune, lymphatic, nervous, respiratory and vestibular systems are both stimulated and aided. Relief: Gas and colic, constipation and elimination, gastrointestinal cramps, growing pains, muscular tension, Teething discomfort, Excess mucus and nasal congestion, sensitivity to touch, Physical and psychological tension. Relaxation: Improve sleep patterns, Regulation of behavioural states, being calm, Reduce stress, Increased levels of relaxing, less hypersensitivity, Less hyperactivity. But we as parents will also get benefits such as improving our ability to read our baby’s cues, bonding, confidence and on the physical side it helps to reduce blood pressure, stress, improves overall health†¦. The ideal place it is a warm room 24 is the ideal temperature, in a dim light or if we have natural light it would be perfect. You can use non-scented oils such as mineral oils or vegetables oils, but if your baby has sensitive skin then it is better to use Vegetable oils that usually contain high proportions of oleic acid such as the olive oil or the high oleic sunflower seed oil. And always Mineral oils may have a use-by date, whereas vegetable oils may have a best-before date. So please check this. The best time is the quiet alert state and we can identify it in Newborns when they make small, infrequent movements, if any at all. The eyes remain open wide in watchful awareness. Quiet alert babies are relaxed, calm, and happy. Babies in this state are ready to learn and socialize with everyone around them. Stare contently at your face, follow your voice, and work hard to interact and play with you. Infant cues: So that the baby recognise that it is time for massage we should begin all our massage sessions with a visual cues: Add a bit of oil massage in our hands and rub them in front of her eyes and if the baby’s response is positive then we will undress the baby and begin if he is not happy with being naked he can be massaged partially or fully clothed. Positioning of the baby. Tips for parents: * Use a comfortable surface, towel and massage oil. * Remove any rings or bracelets you wear * Ensure that nails are sooth and hands clean * Tie your long hair * Be careful with very loose clothes you wear * Relax before starting with some breathings * Respect the V zone. Don’t massage this area * Interact with your baby while the massage ALWAYS START AND FINISH YOUR MASSAGE SESSION WITH THE COVER OF LOVE. Stroke from the top of the head down baby’s sides to the feet. Today’s session is about Face and Head, the massage in this part of the body stimulates and can help cold symptoms and it is very relaxing. But this section usually likes least to babies and please here we will use minimal oil as the face is quite oily already. Strokes names: 1. Hilltop Thumb at the top of the nose and stroke upwards and out to the sides in an arch, start tracing the eyebrow line and go higher the other two strokes. Repeat 3 times 2. Sleep sweep place your forefinger in the centre of the forehead at the hairline and gently sweep over the forehead to the end of the nose. Repeat 3 times. 3. Say cheese Place pads of your thumbs just above the top lip in the centre, sweep our thumbs outward and upwards in the shape of a smile, repeat this just under the mouth. Repeat 3 times. Rhyme: Smiling is infectious/ you can catch it like the flu/ when someone smiled at me today/ I started smiling too. 4. Cheek Sweep: Place the thumb pads together at the top of the nose in between the eyebrows. Sweep thumbs down the sides of the nose and out over the cheeks to the ears following the line of cheekbones. Repeat 3 times. 5. Love Heart: Place your pads of your fingers at the front of the ear, in one sweep stroke both hands over and behind ears then down the jaw to meet at the chin, creating the shape of a heart. Repeat 3 times. Rhyme: Oh my darling, oh my darling/ oh my darling valentine/ you are perfect and I love you/ and I ‘m glad that you are mine. 6. Spider Slider: Place hands cupping baby’s shoulders, walk fingers up shoulders towards the head and continue underneath up to the top of the back of the neck. Stroke both hands down from behind neck to shoulders in one fluid motion. Repeat the stroke in the opposite direction sweeping from shoulders to behind neck and finish walking fingers from underneath neck down towards shoulders.

Professional Growth Plan Essay Example for Free

Professional Growth Plan Essay Goals: 1. Linking with the school, community while serving as a mediator of culture (TPE 14) 2. Developing as a professional educator (TPE 13). Growth goals and objectives: Â · I will continue to link my classroom with issues affecting the community and promote equality. Â · I will improve my teaching techniques by evaluating, and reflecting on my teaching practices. Â · I will ensure that my class is interesting and that informative. Â · I will develop an effective teacher-student communication in my class. Â · I will ensure that the class is as participatory as possible and that the students are actively involved in the learning process. Procedures and Activities: 1. During Cesar Chavez birth day, I invited a special speaker to my classroom. She has had the opportunity of working with Cesar Chavez for many years. Her name is Micaela Saucedo and as I found out, the experience she has gotten from working with Cesar Chavez was incredible! For one, the students were really interested in her and intrigued by Cesar Chavez personal life. Because of the success of the speech she gave, I have decided that I will continue inviting Michaela to my classroom to deliver more talks. Furthermore, as we know that more than ten-million people live in the U. S without legal documents. Their reasons for migrating to America are complex are they are also different. However, most of us would agree that immigrants risk their lives crossing the border in order to come to the U.S. Generally, they migrate with the hope of creating a better future for themselves and their loved ones back home. Nonetheless, these undocumented people live in constant fear of being arrested, jailed and deported. The question to ask here is why is it this way? The answer maybe obvious for others, but for Micaela Saucedo the answer is a just the nature of the immigration policy. Personally, she is involved in helping migrant workers and recently became the director of Casa Refugio Elvira where they provide shelter to deported children and women. The idea of bringing her to my classroom is to let the students learn how to view the issue from two different points and not just one. Micaela can be contacted at: In addition, Friday May 16, Dolores Huerta will be in ___. I will be attending this special event since she will be talking about a lot of issues affecting our society today. Finally, for my teaching next semester, I will contact ex director of Human Trafficking and Equality to come to our school to give a talk in my classroom about the differences in Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling and the effects it has on our society. As wells as a talk about the issue of discrimination in our school system. By inviting important people to my classroom, I intend to create a social consciousness in my students. I believe that it will also allow them to think critically and understand situations that surround them. 2. Apart from this, I will also improve my teaching methods by video recording my teaching at least twice a semester and later on evaluate and critically reflect on it. I was thinking of video recording my teaching style during the second week of the semester and during the middle of the semester and compare the changes that I have made. The questions I will ask myself include; what was changed? What did not change? Why? After this, I will continue striving at improving it instead of not paying attention to it. I believe teachers should constantly change teaching methods so that students do not get bored with the same teaching style. However, as I figured, video recording myself and reflecting on it may not be sufficient. Consequently, I have ordered The New Teacher Book which is published by Rethinking Schools. From what I understand, this book offers guidance of how to connect well with the students and the community. Also, I will subscribe to Rethinking School magazine so that I am will be informed about ways of improving my teaching techniques and also to be aware of what is happening in the nation with regards to education.

Threats to public health

Threats to public health The purpose of this essay is to critically discuss the threats to public health and analyse the contribution of social sciences in this respect. I will illustrate the answer by underlying the causation of new public health and comment on how to promote new public health. The essay will aim at the importance of understanding public health professionally, supported by research and evidence. The essay will also outline the affects of globalisation. Baum (2001) believes that definition for public health have changed and developed since the nineteenth century. On the other hand, Costello and Haggort (2003) defines that public health has multiple concept which consist on a wide range of social, political and economic perspective. Public health has been described as both new and old (Costello and Haggort, 2003). Armstrong (1988 cited in Baum, 2001) noted that public health in the nineteenth century was more viewed with physical interaction between body and environment (Baum, 2001). However, he believes that new public health is more concerned to achieve healthy individuals, societies and environment. These activities will organised by societies and government to protect public from disease and to promote healthy lifestyle. It is believed that the new public health will work to ensure practices of government and private sector to promote equity and health between different groups of people within our society. (Baum, 2001) As a new public health professional, my role will be to identify the impact of new public health threats and causation to treat and promote health in our society, The author further argues that it is important to change global economic system. He emphasised on promoting public health and environment in order to achieve the vision of new public health (Baum, 2001). Although Benson, et al, (2008) food policy report highlights that food crisis is one of the major global health issue, which needs to be analysed. They believe that high rising of food prices are one of the causes of famine in some developing countries. However, Baum (2001) argues that growth of multinational companies can also be seen as the major threat to environment and publics health in poor countries. He also underline that ill health has increased massively among the poor countries even when their national economy system has grown. For instance it has been mentioned by UNCTAD (2008) that food price index has increased 84 percent in China and India, although their economy rates were growing at record rates. Furthermore, in many developing countries the crisis has caused a long-term effect in the sector of agriculture productivity. All these factors are contributing towards food crisis. UNCTAD (2008) describes that there are three types of solution in response to sustain economical growth in developing, short-term, medium tern and long-term policy. These policies aim to reduce food prices for consumers. The short-term policy can be effective if government assist to boost production for poor smallholder farmers. The medium-term policy solution is to support farmers by giving a decent return on food production. This could motivate farmers in developing countries to boost production. Although the long term-policy solution is for developing countries to promote agricultural production by providing better knowledge and training to farmers and investing in the international market to tackle global food crisis(UNCTD, 2008) Costello and Haggort (2003) however pointed out that in past health inequalities amongst social class have had great influence on individuals health. They argued that people who experiences ill health in their childhood continues to develop problems related to their health in later life. This can mean that people from poor background will experience poor health and the affluent societies will always benefits good health throughout their life. However, Baum (2001) argued that health inequality is very common in developing country. This has been caused by expense in healthcare sector for public and poor distribution of wealth in their country. Baum (2001) stated that globalization has potential implication both negative and positive on public health. Moreover, Lee (2000) defines globalization as a natural changing process of human interaction in terms of economic, political, social, cultural and environmental. However, BMJ (2002) article highlights factors which can influence socioeconomic status, education, gender and age which could happen both positively and negatively for an individual. The article however, argues that faeachems statement about globalization is mostly good for you health is not based on reality ground. The article continues to debate the challenges of globalization. On the other hand, Lee (2000) highlighted that large numbers of death has been resulted in adults due to non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular, cancer and respiratory diseases. This is believed to have an immense effect of globalization in the United Kingdom. Other non-communicable disease has been affected by the global change in our environment and lifestyle. It is believed that television viewing is also linked with sedentary lifestyle, particularly children who have been mostly affected to an increase in globalised lifestyle. On the contrary, Lohr et al (cited in Lee, 2000) describes the positive changes of globalization such as evidence based medicine and clinical practice guidelines has spread from United Kingdom and America to Europe and other parts of the world. He believes that the knowledge of medicine practice has been shared worldwide to benefit public health. Labonte and Torgerson (2005) stated that the impact of globalization is not un-known in western countries. They stated that international organisations needs to critically recongnise the consequence of globalization in poor countries. Although, BMJ (2002) believes it is significant to provide evidence based approach to globalization and health to analayse the impact of some policies. For instance, World Trade organization needs to open propasals for all sectors of the economy such as NHS which was introduce in Britian through private finance initiative. The article further highlights priority issues which need to be debated such as health services in the United Kingdom. On the contrary, Lee (2000) stated in his article that World Health Organisation has been playing a major role to address global health challenges such as control on tobacco use and minimizing factors that cause malaria. On the other hand Labonte and Torgerson (2005) argued that the World Health Organisation has identified several serious health-related issues such as negative effects of cost recovery for healthcare service, free health programs for poor people, limited recourses for health and education. On the contrary Daar et al ( 2002 cited in Labonte and Torgerson, 2005) stated that government has paid very little attention to public health system in poor countries. Labonte and Togerson, (2005) identified that the impacts on health is a consequences of globalization, which interacts with domestic political and economic. They further argued that their concern is equity in health between nations. However, the health impact of globalization has caused immense mortality, morbidity and disability rates. According to Labonte and Togerson (2005) researchers believes that critical steps need to be taken to tackle health disease faced in poor countries. Lee (2000) suggested that policy makers and health professional needs to be involve in global public health issues. On the contrary, Baum (2001) believes that it will be hard to tackle the socio and economic aspects of health as it could bring argument with views of those, who believes in benefiting poor people in the society. He also described that public health will need to be global to be effect. The global health inequalities and inequities within countries are increasing and new diseases and environmental issues will emerge as a result of neglecting global health issues (Baum, 2001). Although Lee (2000) suggested that another possible solution to tackle global health issues is to draw attention of the public to inform them about the importance of globalization to public health, for instance through media and press. He believes that it is vital that the government provides financial support for research project on global health issues. On the other hand BMJ (2002) stated that global trade can minimize economical inequality for developing countries. Furthermore, the article suggests that world leaders such as G8 submits needs to review the issue of globalization and provide financial aid to developing countries, who have been massively suffered from globalization. The article also suggested that health professionals need to carry basic research to improve health in poor enviroments. Baum (2001) stated that new public health threats in the twenty-first century will have a great impact on economic, health and environment. Consequently, public health professionals needs to address these new threats to public, plan strategies and make policies to tackle public health issues. He further argued that new threats to environment and health will rapidly increase in numbers Armstrong (1988 cited in Baum, 2001) suggested that the new public health will also need to include participation of communities to promote health and equity. In conclusive, as a public health professional, I will need to tackle and find ways to treat new public health threats. In my viewpoint, socioeconomic factor can have a great influence on public health. Consequently, I will need to take sociological approach to treat health and illness. I will also need to promote health to inform the public of the new threats to improve health status. To reduce health inequality between socioeconomic will be priority for public health professional. REFERENCE Baum. F. (2002) The New Public Health 2nd ed. Oxford University Press Benson, T.et al (2008) Global food crises: IFPRI food policy report. [Internet] Available from: http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ib55_0.pdf. [Accessed on 7th of December 2009] Brithish Medical Journal (2002) Globalisation and Health. Vol 324, Pp: 44-52 Costello, J, and Haggort, M. (2003) Public health and society Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Labonete. R. and Torgerson, R. (2005) Interrogating globalisation, health and development: Towards a comphrensive framework for research, p;icy and political action. Cricitical public health;15(2):157-179 Lee, K. (2000) The impact of globalisation on public health: implication for the UK faculty of public health medicine; 22(3): 253-262 UNCTAD (2008) Policy briefs no;2 [Internet] Available from: http://unctad.org/en/docs/presspb20081_en.pdf [Accessed on 7th of December 2009]

Nissim Ezekiel and A.K. Ramanujan Essay -- essays research papers

Nissim Ezekiel (December 24 1924 - January 9, 2004 ) was a poet, playwright and art critic. He was considered the foremost Indian writer in English English-language> of his time. Contents 1 Early life > 2 Career > 3 Books by Nissim Ezekiel > 4 Some of his well-known poems > Early life Ezekiel was born in Bombay (now Mumbai Mumbai). Ezekiel’s father was a botany professor and his mother, principal of her own school. He belonged to Mumbai's small 'Bene Israel' Jewish community. In 1947, Ezekiel did his Masters in literature from Wilson College, University of Mumbai. In 1947-48, he taught English literature at Khalsa College, Mumbai and published literary articles. After dabbling in radical politics for a while, he sailed to London in November 1948. He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College. After a three and half years stay, Ezekiel worked his way home as a deck-scrubber aboard a cargo ship carrying arms to Indochina. He married Daisy Jacob in 1952. In the same year, Fortune press (London) published his first collection of poetry, A Time to Change. He joined The Illustrated Weekly of India as an assistant editor in 1953 and stayed there for two years. Soon after his return from London, he published his second book of verse Sixty Poems. For the next 10 years, he also worked as a broadcaster on arts and literature for All India Radio. Career He published his book The Unfinished Man in 1960. After working as an advertising copywriter and general manager of a picture frame company (1954-59), he co-founded the literary monthly Imprint, in 1961. He became art critic of The Times of India The-Times-of-India> (1964-66) and edited Poetry India (1966-67). From 1961 to 1972, he headed the English department of Mithibai College, Mumbai. The Exact Name, his fifth book of poetry was puublished in 1965. During this period he had short tenures as visiting professor at University of Leeds (1964) and University of Chicago (1967). In 1967 while in America, he experimented with hallucenogenic drugs, probably as a means to expand his writing skills. He finally stopped using them in 1972. In 1969, Writers Workshop, Calcutta published his The Three Plays. A year later, he presented an art series of ten programs for Mumbai television. On the invitation of the US government, he went on a month long tour to the US in November, 1974. In 1976, he translated poetry ... ...Sight may strike you blind in unexpected places. The traffic light turns orange on 57th and Dorchester, and you stumble, you fall into a vision of forest fires, enter a frothing Himalayan river, rapid, silent. On the 14th floor, Lake Michigan crawls and crawls in the window. Your thumbnail cracks a lobster louse on the windowpane from your daughter's hair and you drown, eyes open, towards the Indies, the antipodes. And you, always so perfectly sane. iii Now you know what you always knew: the country cannot be reached by jet. Nor by boat on jungle river, hashish behind the Monkey-temple, nor moonshot to the cratered Sea of Tranquillity, slim circus girls on a tightrope between tree and tree with white parasols, or the one and only blue guitar. Nor by any other means of transport, migrating with a clean valid passport, no, not even by transmigrating without any passport at all, but only by answering ordinary black telephones, questions walls and small children ask, and answering al l calls of nature. iv Watch your step, watch it, I say, especially at the first high threshold, and the sudden low one near the end of the flight of stairs, and watch for the last step that's never there.

Prions : The Infectious Protein Agent :: Biology Mad Cow Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease

missing graphs What causes Mad Cow Disease? Prions. Prions are also behind other neurodegenerative diseases such as the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Kuru, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease and some forms of fatal insomnia. These are all prions diseases that have been found to exist in humans. The prion disease for cattle is what we know as the Mad Cow Disease. Prions also exist in other animals such as sheep, mink, mule deer, elk, cats, and some others. So what's so special about prions? Unlike other neurodegenerative diseases that are caused by the misfolding of proteins, altered proteins, abnormal gene splicing, improper expression, or ineffective clearing of proteins which slowly leads to disease by accumulation, prions cause disease by acting as an infectious agent. One abnormal prion protein is enough to turn all the normal prion proteins present into itself. How do prions do that? Scientists are still unsure of how exactly one protein is capable of turning another protein into itself. Many experiments are conducted to help shed light on its mysterious capabilities. In this website, we hope to explain one of these experiments that involved the effect of pH on the structure of prion proteins. Wait...Prions? Prion Protein? Which is which? Prions is the name assigned to infectious protein agents. Prion protein (PrPC) is the normal cellular protein that can become an infectious agent. The Official Mad Cow Disease Home Page The prion is a newly discovered pathogen that is vastly different from the known pathogens of today; namely viruses and bacteria. Unlike the bacteria, no antibiotics can cure prions. They are not typical of a prokaryotic organism or a eukaryotic organism, all that is present in this pathogen is the protein PrPSc. This is the mutated form of the protein PrPC, which is encoded by a chromosomal gene. These two proteins differ in their spatial protein structures and their susceptibility to enzyme digestion. PrPC is completely destroyed in enzyme digestion, whereas PrPSc is resistant to any form of digestion.Viruses usually have nucleic acid, protein, and other constituents that aid in the creation of more progeny viruses. As far as prions are concerned, they multiply by infecting the PrPC protein and turning it into a complex such as itself, the PrPSc protein. Prions exist in multiple molecular forms whereas viruses exist in a single form with disti nct ultrastructural morphology.Another difference between the virus and the prion is that viruses almost always provoke an immune response in the host that it is infecting.

Atomic Bomb Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was and is still one of the most secretive projects ever created in United States history. The purpose of the Manhattan Project was simple: to build; test; and unleash its power if necessary. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves were the two men put in charge of this mission. These two men along with the top scientists from around the country were brought together to construct the most deadliest thing known to man. The project originated in the Pentagon in 1942 when General Groves was told, by the White House, he was to lead the Manhattan Project. World War II had already been raged for three years when the Nazis, after being victorious in Europe, declared war on the United States. This was nine months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In September of that year, Groves, met with Leo Szilard and asked him if making the atomic bomb was possible. Leo told him how an atomic bomb would work, but also that it is impossible to build. General Groves only wanted to hear that an atomic bomb was conceivable in theory and then he knew to start the project. In October of 1942 Groves went to California to meet with Robert Oppenheimer, one of the most brilliant scientists in the country. Groves informed Oppenheimer that he had been selected to lead the expedition on trying to invent the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer immediately started preparing by telling Groves that they needed an isolated area with one ringmaster(Oppenheimer). General Groves was in charge of the military or security part of the project, while Oppenheimer was in charge of the organization of the scientists and ideas. At times, Oppenhiemer and Grooves had some nasty arguments over policies. Even though Groves was the one who reported to Washington, Oppenheimer had more power and Groves was aware of this. If they had a disagreement, Oppenheimer would threaten to leave the project and take his scientists with him. Groves knew if this occurred then the project would never be finished. So, Grooves most always ended up agreeing or letting Oppenheimer do what ever he wanted to do. In April of 1943, this isolated area was being build in Las Alamos, New Mexico. The borders consisted of barbed wire fence accompanied ... ...plete success. The Americans had finally complete building the first atomic bomb. The scientists held a parade in happiness, not only for successfully completing the project, but being able to go home and see their families and lead a normal life. Twenty one days later on August 6, 1945 Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days after that, Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. Over 200,000 lives were taken because of the bombings. On September 2, 1945 Japan surrendered , unconditionally. Robert Oppenheimer was recognized as a national hero in the United States. In 1949, the White House asked him to lead a project in making the H+ Super Bomb. For recognizable reasons, he declined this offer. In 1954, his security clearances were revokedand he was slowly pushed out of public services. Robert Oppenheimer died of cancer in 1967. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bondi, Victor. American Decades. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1995 Lapp, Ralph E. "Manhattan Project," The World Book Encyclopedia, 1988, Volume 13, p.141 Mark, Carson. "Atomic Bomb," Encyclopedia Americana, 1989, Volume 2, p. 641-642

Leadership Theories

Abstract Throughout the history of education, leaders have used many different styles to lead faculty and staff. Leadership within the educational system has evolved over the years to become a more participative rather than a domineering style. The purpose of the paper is to explore in detail educational leadership theories. Educational Leadership Theories Leaders are not born; however, they do have natural traits that affect their abilities. In recent years, Educational accountability has been the focus of state and local governments.Federal and state achievement standards are being created for students as well as educational leaders. Now more than ever school districts are under pressure to increase student achievement. Leaders are being asked to provide specific documentation that student performance is part of the goal and mission of the schools. Educational leaders are being held accountable for the processes they establish as well as the success of their faculty and students. T hey are being required to implement strategies for measuring and reporting student outcomes and connecting those outcomes to the performance of teachers and schools.How a leader successfully runs a school directly impacts how successful students can be, this is second only to classroom instruction. Leadership entwines leaders’ faculty and staff and their influence, organizational objectives, change and people. Everyone is leading someone somewhere, but the question is where and how. In order to be a good leader one must be a good employee. Many scholars define leadership as one who plans, directs, or guides people toward a mutual goal. Leadership has been described as an influence relationship among leaders and staff who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes.The basis for good leadership is a respectable personality and unselfish service to employees and the organization. The best leaders are those who are deeply interested in others and can brin g out the best in them. Great leadership begins by modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging hearts. In order for one to favor a leadership style, one must understand where the leadership styles originated. However, one may wonder if certain characteristics or traits are inherent in leaders.According to research, the 1940’s found that leaders maintain certain traits. These traits were based on physical and personality characteristics as well as intelligence and interpersonal skills (Sahin, 2004). The limitations of trait theory are that leaders cannot be developed through their skills and education (Sahin, 2004). Directive Leadership This style of leadership is considered job-centered. The job-centered (task-initiating structure) behavior focuses on the leader taking control in order to get the job done quickly.It relies heavily on faculty and staff taking orders from the leader instead of the leader offering much clarification or dialogue faculty and staff are inspired through threat of correction and reprimand. The directive leadership style offers several advantages: swiftness of task completion keeps group members from producing alternatives that influence the minority negatively, guarantees the leader is heard and informs staff when their conduct is undesirable. The disadvantages of the directive leadership style are: dissociates staff, non-development of employees and convenience.One might use this style of leadership when the faculty or staff is in danger of not accomplishing a task in a timely manner or in a crisis situation. Laissez-Faire Leadership The Laissezz-Faire leadership style places an emphasis on the staff centered attribute. Leaders who use this style fail their staff because they offer no positive or negative direction nor do they interfere at any time. Laissezz-Faire leaders renounce their leadership, giving staff a wide spectrum of decision-making which could lead to amplifying their power and influence.Leaders assume the staff will make decisions in a timely manner and handle whatever problems that arise. There are some advantages and disadvantages of using this style of leadership. It allows the staff members to develop a working relationship in an informal setting and generates an opportunity to be successful by making their own decisions. On the other hand, a staff member can dominate and take control which could lead the staff to make incorrect decisions and possibly have the staff reprimanded which would lead to negativity within the group; affecting the process and their motivation.Participative (Democratic) Leadership Participative leadership requires and encourages participation from everyone and shares decision-making for the betterment of the organization. Staff motivation is derived through obtaining self-image awards. Leaders reward staff through positive evaluations which in turn increases motivation and morale. There are some a dvantages and disadvantages to using this style of leadership. Leaders who allow employees to participate in decision-making showed improvement in relations and encouraged employee commitment. Coaching LeadershipCoaching theories of leadership assert that people will follow leaders who are inspirational. The leader will develop a working relationship such as teacher/mentor. The overall success of the organization depends on whether the mentor has the knowledge to strengthen the work relationship and create an environment where the mentee feels as though they are respected and valued. Coaching leaders are known to establish performance specifications and make sure they are accomplished by a given deadline, limit the contentment of employees and create a low amount of employee commitment.Collaborative Leadership The affilitative leader has the ability to motivate staff to surpass their own individual aspirations for the greater good of the district. The affilitative leader is a morall y responsible person who focuses on developing the moral maturity, values, and standards of his or her staff and strengthening their devotion to serve the well-being of others, their school, the district and the community. This leader is one who conveys a vision to inspire others sets long-term goals and emphasizes social and interpersonal skills.These leaders must possess high self-esteem, self-regard and self-awareness to effectively transform organizations and employees. Leaders with these attributes are highly admired, respected, trusted, and have a high level of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self- determination. They are usually regarded as role models and demonstrate high standards of ethical and moral conduct. There are pros and cons in using the affilitative leadership style. These leaders place an emphasis on team building, and empowering and developing potential in order to reach long-term goals.An Affilitative leader create and encourage a collaborative learning envir onment, improve morale, embraces accountability and conflict resolution, proactive towards change management, ignites communication and supports empowerment. These leaders also facilitate staff toward motivation and being involved in the vision they produce. Collaborative leadership is leadership shown by acting together to solve issues. It uses supportive and inclusive methods to ensure that all people affected by a decision are part of the change process. It requires a new notion of power†¦ he more power we share, the more power we have to use. The district that I am proud to be a part of has a variety of leadership styles. The leaders in the district are a compilation of Participative (Democratic), Coaching and Collaborative Leadership styles. However, this has proven to be effective at all 11 buildings within the district. My elementary building has seen drastic changed to the administration within the last 6 years. Finally, with a new superintendent as well as a new princi pal, the morale of the faculty and students far exceeds our expectations.References Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008). Educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. Washington, DC. Retrieved October 30, 2010, from www. npbea. org/pdf/ISLLC/PRessRelease. pdf Mitchell, Douglas E. , and Sharon Tucker. â€Å"Leadership as a Way of Thinking. † EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 49, 5 (February 1992): 30-35. EJ 439 281. Retrieved November 1, 2010. From www. vtaide. com/png/ERIC/Transformational-Leadership. htm O’Leary R. , Bingham L. , Choi Y. Teaching Collaborative Leadership: Ideas and Lessons for the Field. Journal of Public Affairs Education. 16(4), 565-592. Retrieved November 1, 2010 from www. naspaa. org/jpaemessenger/Article/vol16-/05_16n04_OLearyBinghamChoi. pdf Sahin, S. (2004). The Relationship between Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles of School Principals and School Culture (The case of Izmir, Tu rkey). Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 4(2), 387-395. Retrieved October 30, 2010. from www. fedu. uaeu. ac. ae/Journal/PDF23/issue23-artical9. pdf Leadership Theories Abstract Throughout the history of education, leaders have used many different styles to lead faculty and staff. Leadership within the educational system has evolved over the years to become a more participative rather than a domineering style. The purpose of the paper is to explore in detail educational leadership theories. Educational Leadership Theories Leaders are not born; however, they do have natural traits that affect their abilities. In recent years, Educational accountability has been the focus of state and local governments.Federal and state achievement standards are being created for students as well as educational leaders. Now more than ever school districts are under pressure to increase student achievement. Leaders are being asked to provide specific documentation that student performance is part of the goal and mission of the schools. Educational leaders are being held accountable for the processes they establish as well as the success of their faculty and students. T hey are being required to implement strategies for measuring and reporting student outcomes and connecting those outcomes to the performance of teachers and schools.How a leader successfully runs a school directly impacts how successful students can be, this is second only to classroom instruction. Leadership entwines leaders’ faculty and staff and their influence, organizational objectives, change and people. Everyone is leading someone somewhere, but the question is where and how. In order to be a good leader one must be a good employee. Many scholars define leadership as one who plans, directs, or guides people toward a mutual goal. Leadership has been described as an influence relationship among leaders and staff who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes.The basis for good leadership is a respectable personality and unselfish service to employees and the organization. The best leaders are those who are deeply interested in others and can brin g out the best in them. Great leadership begins by modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging hearts. In order for one to favor a leadership style, one must understand where the leadership styles originated. However, one may wonder if certain characteristics or traits are inherent in leaders.According to research, the 1940’s found that leaders maintain certain traits. These traits were based on physical and personality characteristics as well as intelligence and interpersonal skills (Sahin, 2004). The limitations of trait theory are that leaders cannot be developed through their skills and education (Sahin, 2004). Directive Leadership This style of leadership is considered job-centered. The job-centered (task-initiating structure) behavior focuses on the leader taking control in order to get the job done quickly.It relies heavily on faculty and staff taking orders from the leader instead of the leader offering much clarification or dialogue faculty and staff are inspired through threat of correction and reprimand. The directive leadership style offers several advantages: swiftness of task completion keeps group members from producing alternatives that influence the minority negatively, guarantees the leader is heard and informs staff when their conduct is undesirable. The disadvantages of the directive leadership style are: dissociates staff, non-development of employees and convenience.One might use this style of leadership when the faculty or staff is in danger of not accomplishing a task in a timely manner or in a crisis situation. Laissez-Faire Leadership The Laissezz-Faire leadership style places an emphasis on the staff centered attribute. Leaders who use this style fail their staff because they offer no positive or negative direction nor do they interfere at any time. Laissezz-Faire leaders renounce their leadership, giving staff a wide spectrum of decision-making which could lead to amplifying their power and influence.Leaders assume the staff will make decisions in a timely manner and handle whatever problems that arise. There are some advantages and disadvantages of using this style of leadership. It allows the staff members to develop a working relationship in an informal setting and generates an opportunity to be successful by making their own decisions. On the other hand, a staff member can dominate and take control which could lead the staff to make incorrect decisions and possibly have the staff reprimanded which would lead to negativity within the group; affecting the process and their motivation.Participative (Democratic) Leadership Participative leadership requires and encourages participation from everyone and shares decision-making for the betterment of the organization. Staff motivation is derived through obtaining self-image awards. Leaders reward staff through positive evaluations which in turn increases motivation and morale. There are some a dvantages and disadvantages to using this style of leadership. Leaders who allow employees to participate in decision-making showed improvement in relations and encouraged employee commitment. Coaching LeadershipCoaching theories of leadership assert that people will follow leaders who are inspirational. The leader will develop a working relationship such as teacher/mentor. The overall success of the organization depends on whether the mentor has the knowledge to strengthen the work relationship and create an environment where the mentee feels as though they are respected and valued. Coaching leaders are known to establish performance specifications and make sure they are accomplished by a given deadline, limit the contentment of employees and create a low amount of employee commitment.Collaborative Leadership The affilitative leader has the ability to motivate staff to surpass their own individual aspirations for the greater good of the district. The affilitative leader is a morall y responsible person who focuses on developing the moral maturity, values, and standards of his or her staff and strengthening their devotion to serve the well-being of others, their school, the district and the community. This leader is one who conveys a vision to inspire others sets long-term goals and emphasizes social and interpersonal skills.These leaders must possess high self-esteem, self-regard and self-awareness to effectively transform organizations and employees. Leaders with these attributes are highly admired, respected, trusted, and have a high level of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self- determination. They are usually regarded as role models and demonstrate high standards of ethical and moral conduct. There are pros and cons in using the affilitative leadership style. These leaders place an emphasis on team building, and empowering and developing potential in order to reach long-term goals.An Affilitative leader create and encourage a collaborative learning envir onment, improve morale, embraces accountability and conflict resolution, proactive towards change management, ignites communication and supports empowerment. These leaders also facilitate staff toward motivation and being involved in the vision they produce. Collaborative leadership is leadership shown by acting together to solve issues. It uses supportive and inclusive methods to ensure that all people affected by a decision are part of the change process. It requires a new notion of power†¦ he more power we share, the more power we have to use. The district that I am proud to be a part of has a variety of leadership styles. The leaders in the district are a compilation of Participative (Democratic), Coaching and Collaborative Leadership styles. However, this has proven to be effective at all 11 buildings within the district. My elementary building has seen drastic changed to the administration within the last 6 years. Finally, with a new superintendent as well as a new princi pal, the morale of the faculty and students far exceeds our expectations.References Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008). Educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. Washington, DC. Retrieved October 30, 2010, from www. npbea. org/pdf/ISLLC/PRessRelease. pdf Mitchell, Douglas E. , and Sharon Tucker. â€Å"Leadership as a Way of Thinking. † EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 49, 5 (February 1992): 30-35. EJ 439 281. Retrieved November 1, 2010. From www. vtaide. com/png/ERIC/Transformational-Leadership. htm O’Leary R. , Bingham L. , Choi Y. Teaching Collaborative Leadership: Ideas and Lessons for the Field. Journal of Public Affairs Education. 16(4), 565-592. Retrieved November 1, 2010 from www. naspaa. org/jpaemessenger/Article/vol16-/05_16n04_OLearyBinghamChoi. pdf Sahin, S. (2004). The Relationship between Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles of School Principals and School Culture (The case of Izmir, Tu rkey). Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 4(2), 387-395. Retrieved October 30, 2010. from www. fedu. uaeu. ac. ae/Journal/PDF23/issue23-artical9. pdf Leadership Theories Abstract Throughout the history of education, leaders have used many different styles to lead faculty and staff. Leadership within the educational system has evolved over the years to become a more participative rather than a domineering style. The purpose of the paper is to explore in detail educational leadership theories. Educational Leadership Theories Leaders are not born; however, they do have natural traits that affect their abilities. In recent years, Educational accountability has been the focus of state and local governments.Federal and state achievement standards are being created for students as well as educational leaders. Now more than ever school districts are under pressure to increase student achievement. Leaders are being asked to provide specific documentation that student performance is part of the goal and mission of the schools. Educational leaders are being held accountable for the processes they establish as well as the success of their faculty and students. T hey are being required to implement strategies for measuring and reporting student outcomes and connecting those outcomes to the performance of teachers and schools.How a leader successfully runs a school directly impacts how successful students can be, this is second only to classroom instruction. Leadership entwines leaders’ faculty and staff and their influence, organizational objectives, change and people. Everyone is leading someone somewhere, but the question is where and how. In order to be a good leader one must be a good employee. Many scholars define leadership as one who plans, directs, or guides people toward a mutual goal. Leadership has been described as an influence relationship among leaders and staff who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes.The basis for good leadership is a respectable personality and unselfish service to employees and the organization. The best leaders are those who are deeply interested in others and can brin g out the best in them. Great leadership begins by modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging hearts. In order for one to favor a leadership style, one must understand where the leadership styles originated. However, one may wonder if certain characteristics or traits are inherent in leaders.According to research, the 1940’s found that leaders maintain certain traits. These traits were based on physical and personality characteristics as well as intelligence and interpersonal skills (Sahin, 2004). The limitations of trait theory are that leaders cannot be developed through their skills and education (Sahin, 2004). Directive Leadership This style of leadership is considered job-centered. The job-centered (task-initiating structure) behavior focuses on the leader taking control in order to get the job done quickly.It relies heavily on faculty and staff taking orders from the leader instead of the leader offering much clarification or dialogue faculty and staff are inspired through threat of correction and reprimand. The directive leadership style offers several advantages: swiftness of task completion keeps group members from producing alternatives that influence the minority negatively, guarantees the leader is heard and informs staff when their conduct is undesirable. The disadvantages of the directive leadership style are: dissociates staff, non-development of employees and convenience.One might use this style of leadership when the faculty or staff is in danger of not accomplishing a task in a timely manner or in a crisis situation. Laissez-Faire Leadership The Laissezz-Faire leadership style places an emphasis on the staff centered attribute. Leaders who use this style fail their staff because they offer no positive or negative direction nor do they interfere at any time. Laissezz-Faire leaders renounce their leadership, giving staff a wide spectrum of decision-making which could lead to amplifying their power and influence.Leaders assume the staff will make decisions in a timely manner and handle whatever problems that arise. There are some advantages and disadvantages of using this style of leadership. It allows the staff members to develop a working relationship in an informal setting and generates an opportunity to be successful by making their own decisions. On the other hand, a staff member can dominate and take control which could lead the staff to make incorrect decisions and possibly have the staff reprimanded which would lead to negativity within the group; affecting the process and their motivation.Participative (Democratic) Leadership Participative leadership requires and encourages participation from everyone and shares decision-making for the betterment of the organization. Staff motivation is derived through obtaining self-image awards. Leaders reward staff through positive evaluations which in turn increases motivation and morale. There are some a dvantages and disadvantages to using this style of leadership. Leaders who allow employees to participate in decision-making showed improvement in relations and encouraged employee commitment. Coaching LeadershipCoaching theories of leadership assert that people will follow leaders who are inspirational. The leader will develop a working relationship such as teacher/mentor. The overall success of the organization depends on whether the mentor has the knowledge to strengthen the work relationship and create an environment where the mentee feels as though they are respected and valued. Coaching leaders are known to establish performance specifications and make sure they are accomplished by a given deadline, limit the contentment of employees and create a low amount of employee commitment.Collaborative Leadership The affilitative leader has the ability to motivate staff to surpass their own individual aspirations for the greater good of the district. The affilitative leader is a morall y responsible person who focuses on developing the moral maturity, values, and standards of his or her staff and strengthening their devotion to serve the well-being of others, their school, the district and the community. This leader is one who conveys a vision to inspire others sets long-term goals and emphasizes social and interpersonal skills.These leaders must possess high self-esteem, self-regard and self-awareness to effectively transform organizations and employees. Leaders with these attributes are highly admired, respected, trusted, and have a high level of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self- determination. They are usually regarded as role models and demonstrate high standards of ethical and moral conduct. There are pros and cons in using the affilitative leadership style. These leaders place an emphasis on team building, and empowering and developing potential in order to reach long-term goals.An Affilitative leader create and encourage a collaborative learning envir onment, improve morale, embraces accountability and conflict resolution, proactive towards change management, ignites communication and supports empowerment. These leaders also facilitate staff toward motivation and being involved in the vision they produce. Collaborative leadership is leadership shown by acting together to solve issues. It uses supportive and inclusive methods to ensure that all people affected by a decision are part of the change process. It requires a new notion of power†¦ he more power we share, the more power we have to use. The district that I am proud to be a part of has a variety of leadership styles. The leaders in the district are a compilation of Participative (Democratic), Coaching and Collaborative Leadership styles. However, this has proven to be effective at all 11 buildings within the district. My elementary building has seen drastic changed to the administration within the last 6 years. Finally, with a new superintendent as well as a new princi pal, the morale of the faculty and students far exceeds our expectations.References Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008). Educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. Washington, DC. Retrieved October 30, 2010, from www. npbea. org/pdf/ISLLC/PRessRelease. pdf Mitchell, Douglas E. , and Sharon Tucker. â€Å"Leadership as a Way of Thinking. † EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 49, 5 (February 1992): 30-35. EJ 439 281. Retrieved November 1, 2010. From www. vtaide. com/png/ERIC/Transformational-Leadership. htm O’Leary R. , Bingham L. , Choi Y. Teaching Collaborative Leadership: Ideas and Lessons for the Field. Journal of Public Affairs Education. 16(4), 565-592. Retrieved November 1, 2010 from www. naspaa. org/jpaemessenger/Article/vol16-/05_16n04_OLearyBinghamChoi. pdf Sahin, S. (2004). The Relationship between Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles of School Principals and School Culture (The case of Izmir, Tu rkey). Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 4(2), 387-395. Retrieved October 30, 2010. from www. fedu. uaeu. ac. ae/Journal/PDF23/issue23-artical9. pdf