OSHA Citations & Penalties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

OSHA Citations & Penalties - Essay Example Other Than Serious Violation is issued in occurrence of a directly related violation to work safety and health that cannot lead to death or severe injuries to an employee. In the case of Willful violation, it is issued to employers found having intentionally defiled the Act or knowingly assumed an existing hazardous conditions and no whatsoever efforts of abating them (Goetsh, 2012). A Repeat violation citation, on the other hand, is issued if after re-inspecting a firm the violations found were observed during the previous inspection and a citation issued. Lastly, Failure to Correct Previous Violation is a defiance that may lead to civil penalties with increment upon delays past the abatement date. In each case, penalties are proposed and in some cases subject to reduction depending on the level of compliance demonstrated by the employer (Goetsh, 2012). However, this is not case with the Repeat Violation citation and Failure to Correct Previous Violation, unless the original citation is under

Specific Applications of PR & PA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Specific Applications of PR & PA - Essay Example The essay takes a descriptive approach where societal factors as well as economic factors affecting the role of public affairs and public administration are discussed. Public Relation has been recognized as one of the vital managerial functions of an organization. It is because of the fact that with effective Public Relations an organization benefits a lot like to say it helps to create a better image in the organization in times of severe crisis through removing the misunderstanding among the organization and their public, enables to provide sufficient information about the launching of their new product or services, helps to overcome resistance, removes contradictory conditions between the organization and its public and lastly it helps to announce any unfavorable conditions is going to happen in the future (Theaker, 2001). The subject matter of the study is how a Public Relations plays an important role in the context of social and economic. Before passing to the role, it is necessary to understand the concept of Public Relation. Public Relation is essentially a management function which involves monitoring and evaluating the attitudes of the p ublic which include shareholders, government, consumers, employees and the media, through continuous communication with them so as to establish and maintain a mutual relationship and understanding between an them and the organization. In other words it can be told as a managerial function which assists in establishing and maintaining the mutual flow of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics through keeping in touching with the public, by calling a conference, working with press or through communicating with the employees. Public Relation plays an important role in the organization in terms of social and economic context. In the context of social, the organization should be very careful in choosing the Public Relation applications. Because every organization stands in the society and has a responsibility to protect the interest of the society in general, so there arises the duty of organization to choose an effective Public Relation. The society comprising of people near to the company must be aware of the policies or the product that is going to launch. If any decision is taken which may influence the society negatively ultimately it may affect the smooth running of the organization. So before going to execute any programs for communicating with the society it must evaluate or analyze opinion of the society (Sriramesh, 2003). For this Public Relation should be an effective one. An effective Public Relation can establish and maintain a mutual relationship between the organization and its public. Such P ublic Relations helps the organization to know about the likely comment about the product and the organization. On other hand in the context of economic, there is no doubt that the adoption of Public Relation in the organization will not be a waste to the organization. Instead of that it will provide so many economic benefits to the organization in terms of economic. That is with the effective Public Relation an organization can achieve the objectives at very low cost as compared to other promotional

Changes to the Global Economy

Changes to the Global Economy As an introduction, it is important to remember that the historical background meaning the first and the second World War and the cold war created deep economic problems. The economic global system crossed a lot of significant events, from the great depression to the stagflation. One of the major development in the world economy from 1980 is the massive neo-liberalism wave. We will consider the Washington Consensus as the roots of our analysis. Formulated by John Williamson in 1990, it is a set of economic policies within the international communities working at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is a redirection of public expenditure priorities toward fields offering both economic returns and the potential to improve income distribution to help failing economies in front of their massive debts. Then, the term was linked with neo-liberalism process or even globalization process. The neo-liberalism that the world is handling was spreaded out from the anglo-saxon world to the Occidental world and then to the whole world and based on the privatization, cross-border trade, reduction of the deficit spending But these system has some limits and in 2008, speculation exploded in USA. The 15th of September, a big investment bank called Lehman Broth ers defaulted, spreading a global financial crisis. US, UK and European governments were involved into rescue plan within institutions avoiding a world paralysis of the system. A second major development in the world economy from 1980 is a switch of the balance of powers between countries. The developed countries run over the developing countries. The economic system permits to enrich the richer and impoverish the poorer but not only between countries but as well within countries. The gap became bigger not only between developed and developing countries but also between poor and rich people within developed and developing countries. It is kind of a vicious circle because the economy part it closely linked to the poverty problem. According to Fisher, â€Å"as far as economics is concerned, the big challenge is poverty[1]†. As an evidence of poverty and global inequalities, there are two main available indicators. The first one, given by the World Bank, is the ratio of absolute poverty. It is â€Å" the percentage of the population living on less than $1.25 a day at 2005 international prices[2]†. At the time the text was written, the ratio consi dered people leaving on less $1 a day at 1993 international prices. Even if from 1987 to 1999, the world ratio of absolute poverty decreased from 28,3 % to 23,2 %, the same ratio without China and in term of absolute number increased from 880 millions to 945 millions. Indeed, Chinas population accounted for 38 %[3] of the world population at that time (19 % today) so nuances between countries need to be specified to have a good understanding of the overall world situation. The second one, given by the United Nation Development program, is the Human Indicator Index. It ranks countries according to their level of development. It measures three dimensions, long and healthy life, acquire knowledge and decent standard of leaving, and integrate into one index[4]. Again, if from 1980 to 2000, the global HDI increased, that does not mean that â€Å"everyone in the developing countries is doing better[5]†. So as a conclusion, indicators have to be manipulated really carefully as well as the weight of every countries and their individual situation. The economic situation is more and more complex because there is an increasing number of emerging countries which are redefining the concept of power. Within the developing countries, there is huge development and wealth inequalities. The BRICs appear to be a consensus within this definition. So who are they? It is in 2001 that the notion appears, permitting to describe a temporary and spontaneous world balance. In 2014, the four BRIC countries became the BRICS corresponding to five countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. They represent 25 % of the earths land surface, 42 % of the world population and 15% of the world GDP. Each of these five countries offer comparative advantages. Agricultural products for Brazil, energetic resources for Russia and Africa, manufactured goods for China and tertiary services for India. The last ten years, they underwent an important average annual growth whereas the European union one was only 1,5 and became major actors of the world economy. Despite of disparities, they have a lot of assets to weight against the giants of this world. They are nuclear giant, energetic giant, demographic giant and permanent member of the security council. Their economic development can be explained by different reasons. First of all, there were an opening from these countries where before the economy was controlled like Russia, India or China. Then, they increased the work force available at a global level. Finally, they decreased the cost of manufacturing goods and indeed, favoring the growth of other part of the world. These growth increased the demand of goods, consumption and mineral, involving the growth of some other parts of the world. Commercial trade increased by 4 since 1990. They are also fighting for a more fair position within the international organization like united nation security council, and for rebalanced the voting right within the World Bank and the the International Monetary Fund[6]. In spite of their global influence, they are getting out of breath since couple of months. That is why, some economists, like Laurence Daziano[7], predict the coming of a new group of countries, the BENIVMs: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Vietnam and Mexico These time, Daziano created more clear, coherent, fix and long run criteria. She considers five criteria: economic growth, population of at least 100 millions inhabitants, urbanization (need of infrastructures) and political stability. But it is a realist critic against the BRICS? During the last decades the world has witnessed a worldwide trend away from rather closed economic systems (Import-Substitution Industrialization, Socialist Planned Economies) towards more open and more market-based systems. Why this has happened and what did it bring? To explain this phenomenon, I will support the modernization theory who explains the development notion through an historical origin. Different criteria can explain this evolution: the rise of the US as a superpower after the Second World War and as a model to follow; the birth to many new nation-states in the Third World which were in search of development model, the US identified the threat of communism in post-war Europe and in the Third World believing that economic recovery and modernization and moved them along the path of the US, and thus they would move away from communism; the economic recovery of Western Europe strengthened the ideology. Development is a universal, spontaneous, irreversible process inherent in every single society rather than a concrete historical process taking place in specific societies during specific periods. Development is regarded as an evolutionary perspective. Modernization policies are not only seen as elements of a development strategy, but as un iversal historical forces. It bears a strong resemblance to the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Western economic history. Development implies structural differentiation and functional specialization. The process of development can be divided into distinct stages showing the level of development achieved by each society. There were five stages through which all developing societies had to pass: the traditional society (limited production, absence of modern science and technology, agricultural based, clan-based polity, and fatalistic mentality); the pre-take-off society (many traditional characteristics removed, agricultural productivity increased, effective infrastructure created, new mentality and new class appeared); take-off (most crucial, economic development obstacles removed, national income raised, certain sectors developed faster); the road to maturity (modern technology disseminated from the leading sector, the whole economy moves to mass consumption) and the mass consumption society (today in the West) According to Kornai, this switch from socialism to capitalism brought two obvious positive changes. The first one is that capitalism means democracy. It is historically proved than a democratic model is not possible in an another system than capitalism. Ones of the mains features of a capitalist society is the individual property and market forces. Kornai assesses that â€Å"there has been no country with a democratic political sphere, past or present, whose economy has not been dominated by private ownership and market coordination[8]†. But as a critic, he admits that this condition is not enough by itself in the long run. The second positive contribution of a capitalist system is the mechanic improvement. The dynamic of a capitalist system leads to a wish of increasing the profit and by doing so an improvement of innovation which is bringing  improvement of telecommunitions: facilitate trades, mobile phone, way sheaper and accessible in all aprt of the world. There is a raise of internet, all over and all aprts became possible and more easily accessible. References Janos Kornai. â€Å"What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean†, Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 12, no 1 (2000): 36 [1]  Stanley Fisher. â€Å"Globalization and its challenges†. AEA Papers and Proceedings Volume 93, no 2 (2003):2 [2]  The World Bank Group. â€Å"Poverty† in Data by Topic, (2014) http://data.worldbank.org/topic/poverty> [10 April 2014] [3]  Fisher, Ibid., 6-10 [4]  United Nations Development Programme. â€Å"Human Development Index† in Human Devlopment Reports (2014) http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi> [10 April 2014] [5]  Fisher. Ibid. 9 [6]  Les dessous des cartes. â€Å"Le basculement de la richesse† (2011) http://ddc.arte.tv/nos-cartes/le-basculement-de-la-richesse> [10 April 2014] [7]  Laurence Daziano. â€Å"Emergents : aprà ¨s les BRICS, les BENIVMs ?† (2014) http://www.franceculture.fr/player/reecouter?play=4813724> [10 April 2014] [8]  Janos Kornai. â€Å"What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean†, Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 12, no 1 (2000): 36

Car Troubles :: Autobiography Essay, Personal Narrative

Ever since I set eyes on my car, I have had nothing but a headache. Not only is it the loudest car, but it also drifts right into the trees, and it shakes at thirty and sixty m.p.h. Even with all of my car’s faults, nothing prepared me for its final act of cruelty. My lemon died thirty minutes before warm-ups for our big game, and I had the starting line up with me. Laura, Allison, Kristen, Kierra, and I had all packed into my two-door death trap to get a snack at Dunkin Donoughts. Being the responsible upper classman, I made sure we left with ample time to get ready for the game. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time in the world to help us with our disaster. We were stopped at a red light howling along to a Lenny Kravitz song, which I now hate, when Kristen nervously uttered,† Meg I think your car stopped running.† I confidently replied, â€Å"Nah!† Well, to my surprise, when I stepped on the gas, we didn’t go anywhere. All of a sudden, I began laughing hysterically and the rest of them chimed in, until, â€Å"BEEP† the light had turned green! â€Å"AAHH!† we shrieked. We finally realized that we were stuck in a useless hunk of metal at Toms River’s busiest intersection. â€Å"What are we gonna do?† I thought. At the time, shrieking and laughing were our best solutions. Finally, as people were going around us, giving us the finger and cursing at us, my four skinny mini passengers got out to push my 2000 lb. pile of tin. As they set out on their mission to rescue us from being stranded in a sea of road rage, all I could do was laugh. The time was twenty minutes until warm-ups and my mighty mouse teammates had managed to push my lemon into Amoco’s parking lot. We had to hurry and this scrap heap running again. Laura yelled,† Maybe it needs anti-freeze!† So, she galloped away to the store and in two minutes she was back with a container of anti-freeze. After we poured the fluid into my car, we tried to start my car, â€Å"Vroom Vroom!† â€Å"Nothing! Shit!† I panicked. So, we decided to stare at the car a little longer hoping the car would tell us what it needed. There were only five minutes of stretching time left, and we were still stranded ten minutes away from school. â€Å"We are so dead,† I thought to myself.

Personality development Essay

Personality development can be described as the collection of a person’s behaviours, for example their thoughts, emotions and interactions with others. As such, researchers have often stressed the importance of social interactions and the environment on the development of personality. Bandura’s social-cognitive theory would describe the attainment of personality in terms of modelling, reinforcement and direct tuition. Particular emphasis is placed on modelling, whereby a person identifies with a ‘model’ and imitates their behaviour (and hence their personality traits). This may explain why siblings may have similar personalities, as they will have shared a common environment for a large part of their early lives. Support for modelling as an influence on behaviour comes from Bandura’s ‘Bobo doll’ studies, which found that children imitated the behaviour of an adult acting aggressively towards a doll. This demonstrates that reinforcement is not a necessary condition for personality development to take place, and is therefore an improvement on traditional learning theory. The process of modelling requires a number of cognitive factors to take place, but particularly important, according to Bandura, is motivation. This can take place by means of reinforcement or self-motivation, the latter having particular significance in personality development. Self-motivation covers a variety of self-evaluative cognitive processes, such as self-response (rewarding or punishing oneself for carrying out a behaviour) and self-efficacy (the perception of capability to carry out a behaviour). This holds particular imnportance in personality development as personality is, according to social learning theory, learnt as is any other behaviour, and traits such as social skills may be obtained by, for example, watching one’s parents socialise. If self-efficacy is low, the child may not imitate the behaviour, and as a result will have poor social skills as an adult. Feltz provides support for the importance of self-efficacy, finding that Russian athletes’ performance was improved when they saw videotapes of themselves that had been edited to make them seem better than they were. Further support is provided by Schunk, who found that American primary school children who were told that their peers had done well on a maths test proceeded to do better on it that those who were not told anything about their peers.

Decline of Education and the Rise of Mediocrity

According to â€Å"A Nation at Risk†, the American education system has declined due to a â€Å"rising tide of mediocrity† in our schools. States such as New York have responded to the findings and recommendations of the report by implementing such strategies as the â€Å"Regents Action Plan† and the â€Å"New Compact for Learning†. In the early 1980†³s, President Regan ordered a national commission to study our education system. The findings of this commission were that, compared with other industrialized nations, our education system is grossly inadequate in meeting the standards of education that many other countries have developed. At one time, America was the world leader in technology, service, and industry, but overconfidence based on a historical belief in our superiority has caused our nation to fall behind the rapidly growing competitive market in the world with regard to education. The report in some respects is an unfair comparison of our education system, which does not have a national standard for goals, curriculum, or regulations, with other countries that do, but the findings nevertheless reflect the need for change. Our education system at this time is regulated by states which implement their own curriculum, set their own goals nd have their own requirements for teacher preparation. Combined with this is the fact that we have lowered our expectations in these areas, thus we are not providing an equal or quality education to all students across the country. The commission findings generated recommendations to improve the content of education and raise the standards of student achievement, particularly in testing, increase the time spent on education and provide incentives to encourage more individuals to enter the field of education as well as improving N. Y. State responded to these recommendations by first mplementing the Regents Action Plan; an eight year plan designed to raise the standards of education. This plan changed the requirements for graduation by raising the number of credits needed for graduation, raising the number of required core curriculum classes such as social studies, and introduced technology and computer science. The plan also introduced the Regents Minimum Competency Tests, which requires a student to pass tests in five major categories; math, science, reading, writing, and two areas of social studies. Although the plan achieved many of its goals in raising standards of education in N. Y. State, the general consensus is that we need to continue to improve our education system rather than being satisfied with the achievements Therefore, N. Y. adopted â€Å"The New Compact for Learning†. This plan is based on the principles that all children can learn. The focus of education should be on results and teachers should aim for mastery, not minimum competency. Education should be provided for all children and authority with accountability should be given to educators and success should be rewarded with necessary changes being made to reduce failures. This plan calls for curriculum to be devised n order to meet the needs of students so that they will be fully functional in society upon graduation, rather than just being able to graduate. Districts within the state have been given the authority to devise their own curriculum, but are held accountable by the state so that each district meets the states goals that have been established. Teachers are encouraged to challenge students to reach their full potential, rather than minimum competency. In this regard, tracking of students is being eliminated so that all students will be challenged, rather than just those who are gifted. Similarly, success hould be rewarded with recognition and incentives to further encourage progress for districts, teachers and students while others who are not as accomplished are provided remedial training or resources in order to help them achieve success. It is difficult to determine whether our country on the whole has responded to the concerns that â€Å"A Nation at Risk† presented. Clearly though, N. Y. State has taken measures over the last ten years to improve its own education system. In many respects the state has accomplished much of what it set out to do, but the need to continue to improve is still present. Certainly, if America is determined to regain its superiority in the world, education, the foundation of our future, needs to be priority number one. Teachers often develop academic expectations of students based on characteristics that are unrelated to academic progress. These expectations can affect the way educators present themselves toward the student, causing an alteration in the way our students learn, and thus causing an overall degeneration in the potential Expectations affect students in many ways, not just academically, but in the form of mental and social deprivation which causes a lack of self-esteem. When educators receive information about students, mostly even before the student walks into their classroom, from past test scores, IEP†s, and past teachers, it tends to alter the way we look at the students potential for growth. This foundation of expectation is then transformed on to our method of One basic fallout from these expectations is the amount of time educators spend in communicating with students. We tend to speak more directly to students who excel, talking in more matures tone of voice, treating them more like a grown-up than we do to the students who are already labeled underachievers. This can give the student an added incentive to either progress or regress due to the amount of As educators we tend to take the exceptional students â€Å"under our wing†. We tend to offer knowledge in situations to help push the good students, in comparison to moving on to the next task for the others. We also tend to critique the work of our god students more positively than the others, offering challenges to the answers they The most obvious characteristic that educators present to the students is in the area of body language and facial expression. We tend to present ourselves in a more professional manner to our good tudents, speaking more clearly and with a stronger tone of voice. We tend to stand more upright, in a more powerful stance, than to the slouching effect we give to the underachievers. The head shakes, glancing with our eyes, hand gestures, and posture all contribute to the way we look at certain students based on our first impressions which came before we even knew the student. One major way we can avoid these pitfalls and eliminate unfair expectations that help produce failure in our students is to restrict the past information on the students to a need to know basis. Instead f telling the teacher how the student did on past examinations, just present them with the curricula that the student must learn during the time they spend in that class. This enables the educator to formulate their own opinions of that student. Also, instead of doing the IEP meetings during the middle of the year, we should wait till the end of the semester to inform the educators of certain aspects of the student instead of giving them all the information earlier in the year. Finally, it is up to the educator himself to evaluate their own teaching methods to be able to recognize, and change, the way they resent themselves to the entire class. To be able to know what we are doing, and how we are doing it, at different times in the day is crucial to the aura we present to the students. Schools are often blamed for the ills of society, yet society has a major impact on our education system. The problems that schools are facing today are certainly connected to the problems that are society faces, including drugs, violence, and the changing of our family structure. There are many methods that schools have begun to use in order to deal with the problems they are faced with and still offer the best possible education to our youth. The use of drugs in the general population has become a very serious problem in society and within the school system. There are two aspects to drug use that teachers are having to deal with now. The first is in trying to teach the new generation of crack babies that are now entering the schools. These students have extremely low attention spans and can be very disruptive in class. Early intervention programs designed to target these children and focus on behavior management within the school setting have been effective in preparing these students for school. Educators have also identified rug use among students as one of the most significant problems that our schools face today. According to the text, the rate of drug use among students has declined in last few years, but recently there has been an increase in alcohol abuse among teenagers. Intervention programs such as APPLE, (a school based rehabilitation facility) have been implemented in many schools with the cooperation of school counselors and community agencies to treat drug using teenagers. Other programs, such as D. A. R. E have been implemented in many elementary schools to provide education about drugs to young students. Violence, both in society and in the school system has also been identified as a serious problem. The influx of weapons in schools creates a dangerous situation for teachers, administrators and other students. One remedy for this problem has been introduced in many public city schools; the use of metal detectors. While this method is not foolproof it does send the message that violence will not be tolerated in schools and that severe measures will be implemented in order to curb it. Educators are also being trained to identify those students who may be violent and to provide non-violent risis intervention. It is an undeniable fact that our society has a serious problem concerning violence and that the violence on the streets is certainly connected to the violence in the schools. It seems questionable that even these measures will significantly reduce the problem in schools, but certainly the process of teaching can continue in a less stressful atmosphere by having these measures in Unfortunately, there are other problems such as the changing family structure that do not have such clear cut solutions. Some of the problems that teachers are faced with concerning the family nclude poverty, single parent homes, abuse and/or neglect and Statistics state that 41% of single, female headed households live below the poverty level and that students who live in single parent homes score lower on achievement tests, particularly boys whose mothers are the head of the household. Obviously, single parent families are a fact in our society today, given the rising rate of divorce and single women having children, and it is true that this change is having a severe effect on students today, but this should not effect the quality of education that is provided, but rather, ncourage educators to be more aware of the difficulties these students face in order to adapt their teaching style, as well as the Similarly, child abuse and/or neglect has become a major issue in society and schools. It is not clear whether there is a rise in the occurrences of abuse or whether better awareness has increased the statistics, but it cannot be argued that this a significant problem and one that effects those educators who have to help students who are either abused or neglected. Strict regulations concerning the accountability of teachers regarding the reporting of child abuse or eglect are in effect. Teachers are required to be trained on the ability to identify abuse. Community agencies, shelters and child welfare agencies have begun working in conjunction with schools in order to deal with the problem with as little disruption in the Homelessness is another major problem in our society. The rate of homeless people has grown significantly since the early 1980†³s deinstitutionalization movement and more recently due to the rising unemployment rate have led to more families and children being homeless than ever before. This social problem has become a significant problem for educators. Low achievement, which may be in part due to low attendance as a result of a transient lifestyle, physical problems associated with living on the streets and child abuse are all issues that educators are confronted with when working with students who are homeless. Unfortunately, because of the lack of government funds, this problem continues to grow in America. On the other hand, schools have begun to deal with this problem by hiring additional counselors, some who work specifically to coordinate service with shelters in order provide assistance to these families and more precisely to the children. This effort clearly demonstrates that educators are genuinely concerned about providing education to Clearly our schools and society face the same problems. It has become necessary for all people, not just educators, to be more aware of the problems. Although some intervention programs have been implemented and in some cases are very successful, it is becoming more apparent that these problems are going to continue and will have a direct consequence on our future in this country. Unfortunately, we as a society tend to look for the â€Å"quick fix† to our problems without realizing the consequences for the future. Decline of Education and the Rise of Mediocrity According to â€Å"A Nation at Risk†, the American education system has declined due to a â€Å"rising tide of mediocrity† in our schools. States such as New York have responded to the findings and recommendations of the report by implementing such strategies as the â€Å"Regents Action Plan† and the â€Å"New Compact for Learning†. In the early 1980†³s, President Regan ordered a national commission to study our education system. The findings of this commission were that, compared with other industrialized nations, our education system is grossly inadequate in meeting the standards of education that many other countries have developed. At one time, America was the world leader in technology, service, and industry, but overconfidence based on a historical belief in our superiority has caused our nation to fall behind the rapidly growing competitive market in the world with regard to education. The report in some respects is an unfair comparison of our education system, which does not have a national standard for goals, curriculum, or regulations, with other countries that do, but the findings nevertheless reflect the need for change. Our education system at this time is regulated by states which implement their own curriculum, set their own goals nd have their own requirements for teacher preparation. Combined with this is the fact that we have lowered our expectations in these areas, thus we are not providing an equal or quality education to all students across the country. The commission findings generated recommendations to improve the content of education and raise the standards of student achievement, particularly in testing, increase the time spent on education and provide incentives to encourage more individuals to enter the field of education as well as improving N. Y. State responded to these recommendations by first mplementing the Regents Action Plan; an eight year plan designed to raise the standards of education. This plan changed the requirements for graduation by raising the number of credits needed for graduation, raising the number of required core curriculum classes such as social studies, and introduced technology and computer science. The plan also introduced the Regents Minimum Competency Tests, which requires a student to pass tests in five major categories; math, science, reading, writing, and two areas of social studies. Although the plan achieved many of its goals in raising standards of education in N. Y. State, the general consensus is that we need to continue to improve our education system rather than being satisfied with the achievements Therefore, N. Y. adopted â€Å"The New Compact for Learning†. This plan is based on the principles that all children can learn. The focus of education should be on results and teachers should aim for mastery, not minimum competency. Education should be provided for all children and authority with accountability should be given to educators and success should be rewarded with necessary changes being made to reduce failures. This plan calls for curriculum to be devised n order to meet the needs of students so that they will be fully functional in society upon graduation, rather than just being able to graduate. Districts within the state have been given the authority to devise their own curriculum, but are held accountable by the state so that each district meets the states goals that have been established. Teachers are encouraged to challenge students to reach their full potential, rather than minimum competency. In this regard, tracking of students is being eliminated so that all students will be challenged, rather than just those who are gifted. Similarly, success hould be rewarded with recognition and incentives to further encourage progress for districts, teachers and students while others who are not as accomplished are provided remedial training or resources in order to help them achieve success. It is difficult to determine whether our country on the whole has responded to the concerns that â€Å"A Nation at Risk† presented. Clearly though, N. Y. State has taken measures over the last ten years to improve its own education system. In many respects the state has accomplished much of what it set out to do, but the need to continue to improve is still present. Certainly, if America is determined to regain its superiority in the world, education, the foundation of our future, needs to be priority number one. Teachers often develop academic expectations of students based on characteristics that are unrelated to academic progress. These expectations can affect the way educators present themselves toward the student, causing an alteration in the way our students learn, and thus causing an overall degeneration in the potential Expectations affect students in many ways, not just academically, but in the form of mental and social deprivation which causes a lack of self-esteem. When educators receive information about students, mostly even before the student walks into their classroom, from past test scores, IEP†s, and past teachers, it tends to alter the way we look at the students potential for growth. This foundation of expectation is then transformed on to our method of One basic fallout from these expectations is the amount of time educators spend in communicating with students. We tend to speak more directly to students who excel, talking in more matures tone of voice, treating them more like a grown-up than we do to the students who are already labeled underachievers. This can give the student an added incentive to either progress or regress due to the amount of As educators we tend to take the exceptional students â€Å"under our wing†. We tend to offer knowledge in situations to help push the good students, in comparison to moving on to the next task for the others. We also tend to critique the work of our god students more positively than the others, offering challenges to the answers they The most obvious characteristic that educators present to the students is in the area of body language and facial expression. We tend to present ourselves in a more professional manner to our good tudents, speaking more clearly and with a stronger tone of voice. We tend to stand more upright, in a more powerful stance, than to the slouching effect we give to the underachievers. The head shakes, glancing with our eyes, hand gestures, and posture all contribute to the way we look at certain students based on our first impressions which came before we even knew the student. One major way we can avoid these pitfalls and eliminate unfair expectations that help produce failure in our students is to restrict the past information on the students to a need to know basis. Instead f telling the teacher how the student did on past examinations, just present them with the curricula that the student must learn during the time they spend in that class. This enables the educator to formulate their own opinions of that student. Also, instead of doing the IEP meetings during the middle of the year, we should wait till the end of the semester to inform the educators of certain aspects of the student instead of giving them all the information earlier in the year. Finally, it is up to the educator himself to evaluate their own teaching methods to be able to recognize, and change, the way they resent themselves to the entire class. To be able to know what we are doing, and how we are doing it, at different times in the day is crucial to the aura we present to the students. Schools are often blamed for the ills of society, yet society has a major impact on our education system. The problems that schools are facing today are certainly connected to the problems that are society faces, including drugs, violence, and the changing of our family structure. There are many methods that schools have begun to use in order to deal with the problems they are faced with and still offer the best possible education to our youth. The use of drugs in the general population has become a very serious problem in society and within the school system. There are two aspects to drug use that teachers are having to deal with now. The first is in trying to teach the new generation of crack babies that are now entering the schools. These students have extremely low attention spans and can be very disruptive in class. Early intervention programs designed to target these children and focus on behavior management within the school setting have been effective in preparing these students for school. Educators have also identified rug use among students as one of the most significant problems that our schools face today. According to the text, the rate of drug use among students has declined in last few years, but recently there has been an increase in alcohol abuse among teenagers. Intervention programs such as APPLE, (a school based rehabilitation facility) have been implemented in many schools with the cooperation of school counselors and community agencies to treat drug using teenagers. Other programs, such as D. A. R. E have been implemented in many elementary schools to provide education about drugs to young students. Violence, both in society and in the school system has also been identified as a serious problem. The influx of weapons in schools creates a dangerous situation for teachers, administrators and other students. One remedy for this problem has been introduced in many public city schools; the use of metal detectors. While this method is not foolproof it does send the message that violence will not be tolerated in schools and that severe measures will be implemented in order to curb it. Educators are also being trained to identify those students who may be violent and to provide non-violent risis intervention. It is an undeniable fact that our society has a serious problem concerning violence and that the violence on the streets is certainly connected to the violence in the schools. It seems questionable that even these measures will significantly reduce the problem in schools, but certainly the process of teaching can continue in a less stressful atmosphere by having these measures in Unfortunately, there are other problems such as the changing family structure that do not have such clear cut solutions. Some of the problems that teachers are faced with concerning the family nclude poverty, single parent homes, abuse and/or neglect and Statistics state that 41% of single, female headed households live below the poverty level and that students who live in single parent homes score lower on achievement tests, particularly boys whose mothers are the head of the household. Obviously, single parent families are a fact in our society today, given the rising rate of divorce and single women having children, and it is true that this change is having a severe effect on students today, but this should not effect the quality of education that is provided, but rather, ncourage educators to be more aware of the difficulties these students face in order to adapt their teaching style, as well as the Similarly, child abuse and/or neglect has become a major issue in society and schools. It is not clear whether there is a rise in the occurrences of abuse or whether better awareness has increased the statistics, but it cannot be argued that this a significant problem and one that effects those educators who have to help students who are either abused or neglected. Strict regulations concerning the accountability of teachers regarding the reporting of child abuse or eglect are in effect. Teachers are required to be trained on the ability to identify abuse. Community agencies, shelters and child welfare agencies have begun working in conjunction with schools in order to deal with the problem with as little disruption in the Homelessness is another major problem in our society. The rate of homeless people has grown significantly since the early 1980†³s deinstitutionalization movement and more recently due to the rising unemployment rate have led to more families and children being homeless than ever before. This social problem has become a significant problem for educators. Low achievement, which may be in part due to low attendance as a result of a transient lifestyle, physical problems associated with living on the streets and child abuse are all issues that educators are confronted with when working with students who are homeless. Unfortunately, because of the lack of government funds, this problem continues to grow in America. On the other hand, schools have begun to deal with this problem by hiring additional counselors, some who work specifically to coordinate service with shelters in order provide assistance to these families and more precisely to the children. This effort clearly demonstrates that educators are genuinely concerned about providing education to Clearly our schools and society face the same problems. It has become necessary for all people, not just educators, to be more aware of the problems. Although some intervention programs have been implemented and in some cases are very successful, it is becoming more apparent that these problems are going to continue and will have a direct consequence on our future in this country. Unfortunately, we as a society tend to look for the â€Å"quick fix† to our problems without realizing the consequences for the future.

5 Arabic Words in the News

5 Arabic Words in the News 5 Arabic Words in the News 5 Arabic Words in the News By Daniel Scocco An article in this morning’s newspaper contained the following Arabic words: bidoon djellabah Salafists Shiite Sunni â€Å"He was identified as a member of the country’s large stateless population known as bidoon.† 1. bidoon The word does not appear in either the OED or M-W. I found this definition in an article at PBS: Bidoon refers to a diverse group of people [in Kuwait] who at the time of independence were not given Kuwaiti nationality. The term comes from the Arabic phrase  bidoon jinsiya, â€Å"without nationality.† A Wikipedia article spells the word Bedoon and defines it as â€Å"an ethnic group in Gulf Arab states and Iraq.† â€Å"[He] was wearing jeans, a knee-length djellabah robe [sic] and a loose towel over his head† 2. djellabah I didn’t find this word in either the OED or M-W, but I did find it at Dictionary.com: djellabah: a loose hooded cloak, typically woolen, of a kind traditionally worn by men in North Africa. â€Å"French authorities say Salhi had links to radical Salafists- who preach an ultraconservative form of Islam† 3. Salafists A Salafist is an adherent of Salafism. I found this definition of Salafism in an article at PBS: Salafism  is an ideology that posits that Islam has strayed from its origins. The word salaf is Arabic for â€Å"ancient one† and refers to the companions of the Prophet Mohammed. Arguing that the faith has become decadent over the centuries, Salafists call for the restoration of authentic Islam as expressed by an adherence to its original teachings and texts. â€Å"The Sunni extremists of Islamic State consider Shiites to be heretics† 4. Sunni The OED defines Sunni this way: The orthodox Muslims who accept the Sunna as of equal authority with the Quran, considered collectively. Note: The OED defines Sunna as â€Å"the body of traditional sayings and customs attributed to Muhammad and supplementing the Quran.† â€Å"Authorities said he flew into Kuwait’s international airport at dawn on the day of the noontime attack at one of the emirate’s oldest Shiite mosques.† 5. Shiite In this sentence, Shiite is the adjective form of Shia, a Muslim sect whose name derives from Shiat Ali, â€Å"the party of Ali.† When Muhammad died in 632 CE without naming a political successor, some of his followers thought his son-in-law Ali should be their leader; others declared for his father-in-law, Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr served as the first caliph (632-634); Ali served as the fourth caliph (656- 661). Today, the majority of Muslims are Sunnis- somewhere between 85% and 90%. Shiites represent only about 10% of Muslims, but in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan, they are in the majority.   Note: Caliph is from an Arabic word meaning successor. After the death of Muhammad, it became the title given in Muslim countries to the chief civil and religious ruler. The last caliph in Istanbul was killed by Mongol conquerors in 1258. The Ottoman caliphate was abolished by Kemal Ataturk in 1924. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:List of 50 Great Word Games for Kids and Adults50 Musical Terms Used in Nonmusical Senses