English Exit Exam Essay

My writing journey this semester has been a roller coaster. Since the beginning of this course I have improved in so many different areas. When I first began in this class, I didn’t have a clue how to start my essays. I wasn’t very good with being descriptive either. On top of that, revising was something I hated to do. My writing process was very messy and organization was never something I considered when writing a paper. Since taking this class my skills in organization, revision, and description have improved tremendously. I wasn’t a big fan of drafting before I started this class. My writing process has always been all over the place. I could be writing paragraph one and then skip to paragraph four for no apparent reason. Sometimes I would just write different paragraphs on different pieces of papers and then put them all together afterwards. In this class I was taught why drafting is so important to my writing process. It helped me be more organized and less stressed. My mind was in one place and on track, rather than all over the place. If drafting and organizational skills weren’t already big enough issues to deal with, then revision definitely was. In the past, I hated having to read over my paper repeatedly until it was near perfect. On top of that, event though my personality is big, it doesn’t mean I’m big on sharing my work. I was scared that if I made a simple mistake the person revising my paper would think I was stupid. After reading over some of my classmates’ papers I learned they made some of the same mistakes as me. Then I came to realize I’m only human and I’m going to make mistakes. It was something I had to get use to and I’m glad I fixed that problem in my life. Even though I did a lot of writing in my English class, there were other things we had to do also. Almost every night we had to read in our textbook. The textbook taught me a lot about the right and wrong things to do while writing. It also explained to me the different styles of writing and gave plenty of examples. Not only did I read the book, but I finished an online writing class. This Writing Class was mainly about grammar and how to correct grammar errors. Before writing class, I really didn’t know how to use commas. I would guess most of the time and hope I was right. I should have known one day it was going to catch up with me and it did. Luckily for me, I had a wonderful professor to teach me and help me with my problem. After studying my professor’s lecture and doing the online activities, I was ready to take the online quiz. When I took it, I passed it with flying colors. I really worked hard in all the subjects in Writing Class and I ended up passing all of the quizzes, even the post test. I was recently instructed to revise two of my previous essays I’ve written in class for my portfolio. I automatically knew which ones I wanted to revise. My first one was about my writing journey throughout life. I needed to be more descriptive and also had some grammatical errors to fix. The essay was based upon how I used to read to my peers in Pre-K, which led to me making my own short stories. It also tells about the time I had my poem published in high school by my teacher. Not being descriptive was the main problem I had with this essay. When I wrote my draft I didn’t paint a picture for my audience to see where I was coming from. Instead of saying â€Å"The big red chair†, I would just write, â€Å"the chair† and the difference in these two quotes are obvious and can automatically tell which one is more descriptive. With many changes made to this essay I would say I worked really hard on this one. Especially since it was a more personal subject, I put a lot of work into it. My second essay assignment was to write about a club or organization on campus. The purpose of the essay was to get new college students to join the club of my choice. I chose ROTC because I was a part of it in high school. I love the feeling I got from my lieutenant and cadets. We were all like a big family and kept up with each other a lot. From speaking to a former cadet that attends GGC, I have confirmed that ROTC is the same at this school in many aspects. When writing my draft, again, I didn’t explain things thoroughly. I needed more evidence to support my claims. In many sentences I didn’t use the right word either. Misspelled words and comma splices were all through my paper. When I took the time to revise it, I was able to fix these problems. Instead of letting Microsoft Word find my mistakes, I carefully read through it and did it myself. I reviewed the comma splice lesson and was able to find where those were in my paper. When I did more research on the club, I was able to add more details to my paper. In no time my final copy looked completely from where I started. As a child I was told hard work will definitely pay off. With all my hard work in the class I am hoping that it will surely pay off in me exiting this class early. I have learned to revise my papers, be more descriptive, correct grammatical errors, and last but not least have an organized writing process. With the skills I’ve learned in this class I will be able to succeed in my other classes. Every class in college has some form of writing so I will never get away from it. In order to succeed in my major, I will need to take my writing seriously. It is amazing how I was able to learn so much in so little time. I am glad I was able to fix my faults and write a great paper. I think you will enjoy my portfolio and be more than happy to pass me.

College Hazing That Changed My Life

R&R â€Å"The College Hazing That Changed My Life† Right from the beginning line, Thomas Rogers, sucks me Into this story. It takes guts to start something off like that and pull It off, but he did. I found It very amusing, hilarious, and dangerous. College hazing are no Joke If they are anywhere near the level he describes this one as. When he states, † College Is a strange time†¦ We're free to make an extraordinary amount of mistakes and end up In situations that may not teach us much†¦ † I began to think about next year when I start my college life and what exactly Is In store for me.I hope Its not a struggle balancing everything and ring to pass my classes. When the author begins to describe his childhood I feel Like I can relate to him. My brother got most of my parents athletic ablest so I have to make due with the amount that I have. We both are tall, also clumsy even though we don't want to be. You don't get to pick how tall you are, what traits y ou have, or If your athletic or not. You have to make due with what you have and find something that suits you. That's one thing that I believe the author was trying to get across. He showcases that by doing something out of the ordinary and joining the rowing team.Also another thing that I believe he tried to get across is to strive for what you want. He went through two weeks of tryouts to Join his universities varsity crew rowing team. Then he finally made it and had to then go through hazing. L believe that if you have to become a sock in order to boost your self esteem that you have issues you need to sort out. No one should have to do that to feel good about themselves. Finally, he tried to get across that you don't have to be normal its okay if you're not. Embrace and find excitement in whatever it is. Be your own person.

Pain Management in Cardiac Surgery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Pain Management in Cardiac Surgery - Essay Example Overview of Pain and its Management Pain is a subjective and relatively complex perception that indicates presence or occurrence of tissue damage in the human body. It is the body’s natural response to infection or injury to signal the person that something is damaged in the system (Definition and Types of Pain, 2012). Nociception is the process involved in pain perception where stimuli from potential tissue damage are transmitted through peripheral and central nervous systems (Portenoy and Brennan, 1994). Stimulus begins in the detection of either mechanical, thermal or chemical changes in the pain receptors, also known as nociceptors, which is activated when the source is above the threshold of the person. The stimulus will then be transmitted along the spinal cord to the brain and in turn will trigger autonomic reaction of a subjective painful sensation (Clement, et al., 2000). Pain is necessary in recognition and diagnosis of health problems that may be acute or chronic. A cute and chronic pain differs in the onset and duration of painful sensation. Acute pain such as after surgery, trauma, and labour usually lasts for hours, days or weeks up to less than six months time. After the underlying cause is treated, the pain subsides along with the healing process of the illness. On the other hand, chronic pain are those experienced by the patients for months or even years where pain management has been less effective overtime (Definition and Types of Pain, 2012). There are three types of pain according to mechanism: nociceptive, neuropathic, and psychogenic. The first type, noriceptive pain, is primarily generated by pain receptors as previously discussed. Neuropathic pain involves potential damage in neurons or any part of the nervous system such as in cases of diabetic neuropathy and post-stroke pain. While psychogenic pain is associated with psychological disturbance occurring in anxious or depressed patients particularly those with chronic or terminal illnesses (Definition and Types of Pain, 2012). In this study, the acute type and noriceptive type of pain will be tackled as surgical pain falls into these categories. Neuropathic pain is further categorized into somatic and visceral where somatic pain is usually caused by integumentary, skeletal, and muscular injuries. Pain can be described as dull or aching in a localized area of the body. In cases that injury occurs in the skin or on tissues beneath, a sharper sensation of pain is usually experienced since nerve endings and pain receptors are rich in the integumentary system. The latter type, visceral pain, is initiated by injury of internal organs and are experienced as dull, stabbing or cramping sensation that is poorly localized (Janig, 1987). Surgical wounds can develop either or both depending on the part affected and the procedure done. Pain following a surgical procedure is expected especially in the invasive procedures where tissues and organs are damaged and repaired. S ince it is primarily subjective, proper assessment must be well utilized. For adult patient or those above eighteen years old, interview and physical assessment are the critical part of assessment. Since they are able to verbalize their feelings, specifications of pain can be fully described. The essential components of the interview are asking the patient of the following: (1) characteristic –

Welfare and Three Axioms of Classical Marxist Theory Essay

Welfare and Three Axioms of Classical Marxist Theory - Essay Example In particular, this essay will magnify, in light of the classical Marxist theory, the influence and necessity of state policy in creating and maintaining a balance between capitalistic success and societal equity among existing class structures. Rethinking Welfare produces an analysis of capitalism and welfare in the twenty-first century by exploring three axioms of traditional Marxist theory: "capitalism as a contradictory totality, Marxism as a philosophy of praxis, and socialism as the self-emancipation of the working class" (Ferguson et al. 2002: 25). The first and third components are relevant to this discussion. Socialism is recognized by those working in the classical Marxist tradition as a "system of prioritizing human need over profit, where production is controlled and planned by the direct producers (that is, workers in their factories and offices) and where both these requirements necessitate a system of open and direct democracy- far more democratic than anything seen under capitalism" (Ferguson et al. 2002: 25). It is interesting to note that the authors conclude, "none of the past or present representatives of "actually existing socialism" come close to meeting these criteria" (25). However, the evil capitalist that Marx predicted would become his own 2 gravedigger, did not, in fact materialize and the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight of oppression, contradicting Marx's prediction of the uprising of the disenfranchised and alienated worker. Capitalism, has for the most part, succeeded in holding its own power, precisely because of Marx's deeper understanding of its evolutionary nature. In his manifesto, Marx (and Engels) predict and support, among other things, the abolition of private property, the replacement of marriage by a "community of women," concentration of political power in the hands of the proletariat and the replacement of the state by "an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." (Lewis 1998: 1) These are radical thoughts and dismissed as such by most academics, but, as Ferguson et al point out, there are three important axioms in Marx's theory that have relevance in today's society. Capitalism and "prioritizing human need over profit" are contradictions in terms and ideology. But Marx would argue that the world is a "differentiated unity" and that by virtue of the capitalistic need to employ workers to become and remain profitable, capitalism, operating in a democracy, must address the needs of the workers. The world, through Marx's eyes, is an entity that is at every point interrelated. In strictly economic terms, that is, to maximize profits and accumulate wealth, it is in the best interest of the capitalist to ensure basic welfare services to its workers. In a democracy, it is the state that allows the worker to fight for his right to a decent life-style, and yet, statistics tell us that within the world's powerful democratic states, 3 class distinction is becoming more pronounced and the richer are getting richer by exploiting the poor. If Marx is correct in predicting the success of the working class in overthrowing the oppressive conditions of capitalism, then we should allow the organic progress of capitalism to fulfill its own destiny. History tells us that the worker will never triumph in his pursuit for a healthy and equitable lifestyle. In countries from the Soviet Union to North Korea, wherever private property was abolished, state ownership rather than collective, public ownership took its place. Far from

User Interfaces for Environmental Decision Support Systems Article

User Interfaces for Environmental Decision Support Systems - Article Example Cleaning products were distinguished using eight environmental and health associated scheme features. These features are as follows. I.  Skin Irritation: availability of chemicals in the cleaning of manufactured goods that creates the basis of swelling of skin or redness. Quality values vary from the most significant to the least preferable ones which entail insignificant, minor, reasonable, or physically powerful implications.II.  Food chain exposure (FCE): the ingredients employed in cleaning manufactured goods that have the possibility of being brought in to the food chain through being eaten up with smaller aquatic vegetation and animals that are eaten by larger animals. Bio concentration factor (BCF) is the measurement factor that is computed to acquire food chain (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 36). III.  Air Pollution Potential (air): manufactured goods that may have volatile organic compounds (VOC) meaning that compounds that have possibility to shape impressive pollutants like smog. These pollutants are extremely disastrous to human life. IV.  Product Contains Fragrances (frag): the fragrances that are included in the cleaning of manufactured goods to improve, or mask, their ‘natural’ odor. V.  Product Contains Dye (dye): is the dye that has been included to the cleaning of manufactured goods to modify the color of the product. VI.  Product uses Recyclable Packaging (rec): it is the cleaning of manufactured goods that are wrapped up using recyclable packages (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 41).... II. Food chain exposure (FCE): the ingredients employed in cleaning manufactured goods that have the possibility of being brought in to the food chain through being eaten up with smaller aquatic vegetation and animals that are eaten by larger animals. Bio concentration factor (BCF) is the measurement factor that is computed to acquire food chain (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 36). III. Air Pollution Potential (air): manufactured goods that may have volatile organic compounds (VOC) meaning that compounds that have possibility to shape impressive pollutants like smog. These pollutants are extremely disastrous to human life. IV. Product Contains Fragrances (frag): the fragrances that are included in the cleaning of manufactured goods to improve, or mask, their ‘natural’ odor. V. Product Contains Dye (dye): is the dye that has been included to the cleaning of manufactured goods to modify the color of the product. VI. Product uses Recyclable Packaging (rec): it is the cleaning of manufactured goods that are wrapped up using recyclable packages (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 41). VII. Product is a Concentrate (con): it is the cleaning of manufactured goods that are wrapped up using minimized packaging, like packing cleaned manufactured goods in a recyclable plastic bag, which operates like a refiller for use in its original wrap up. VIII. Product Reduces Exposure to Concentrate (exp): the refining of products that minimizes exposure to concentrated wrap up. Students from the University of Regina were employed to conduct various tasks, among them being to accomplish the pre-task and post-task questionnaires. In the post task questionnaires, participants had to rank the features of the system using four point scaling (insignificant, somewhat

In what way does the Phaedo represent the completion of the Apology Term Paper

In what way does the Phaedo represent the completion of the Apology and Crito Discuss in relation to the problem of immortality, death, human freedom and knowledge - Term Paper Example Of all the reasons for completion, Socrates’ arguments about the immortality of the soul best condenses Phaedo. If Crito is the dialogue between an elderly Athenian friend named Crito and Socrates, Phaedo abstracts a scene of narration by Socrates’ cherished disciple, Phaedo. He was a spectator during Socrates’ final hour and death together with Simmias, Cebes, Crito, and Apollodorus. Even at his last moment, Socrates managed to provide reasons about conception and immortality of the soul after death, its relation to the body, and evidential existence of soul. Phaedo is the completion of Apology and Crito because it discusses something beyond death. One might argue that one’s life end when he faced death; Socrates argue that there is something more after the death of the physical body. He expounds this idea through arguments and discussion with his disciples. Upon reading Phaedo, one would be estranged why Socrates does not fear death and even exultant about it. This is because of his arguments about life, death, and soul. Socrates gives the strongest argument about full acceptance of death even if it’s due to execution or illness. Knowing that you’ll be facing death soon, one should not be reluctant to accept or deny it. We also do not have the right to commit suicide because we are God’s possessions. It is only God who have the right to His possession and it is only Him who could get the life He has given to us upon certain circumstances. Spending your life in Earth up until your last breath completes Apology and Crito as unleashing the soul is the superior of all. Upon analysis of Socrates’ arguments, the emergence of death signals the separation of the body and soul. It also embraces the reason that life and death cannot co-exist as life has the physical body while death unleashes the soul being trapped in the physical body. The onset of death is the key to separation

Geography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Geography - Assignment Example The first phase in weathering of rocks is fracturing, which entails the formation of joints and cracks. Jointing a means through which rocks yield to both external and internal stresses including tectonic movements, contraction and expansion as a result of chemical or physical changes. Joints in rocks result from cooling or when pressure on their rock surface gets offloaded through erosion. Joints facilitate weathering by creating free space weathering agents, which increasing the surface area of rocks exposed to agents of physical or chemical weathering (Spellman, 2009). â€Å"They play an important part in rock weathering as zones of weakness and water movement† (Spellman, 2009, p.96). A slope failure refers to the collapsing of a slope caused by weakened stability of the earth in the event of an earthquake or heavy downpour. In most cases, slope failure often catches people unaware when it happens near residential areas causing high fatality rates. In order to determine whether a building lot is safe, it is important to assess slope failure factors such as gravity, physical properties of slope materials, and level of saturation of the area. Assessing all these factors would reveal the level of safety of the building

CORPORATE STRATEGY - FITNESS INDUSTRY NEW YORK FITNESS Assignment

CORPORATE STRATEGY - FITNESS INDUSTRY NEW YORK FITNESS - Assignment Example This industry renders the facility of fitness specially gym and health clubs as per membership basis. The benefits provided by this industry include the use of exercise equipments and weights, along with facilitating personal training, group classes and other club amenities. As per the data of IBIS World (2012), the fitness industry especially gym and health clubs have inculcated an estimated figure of around 8.7 million members across the United Kingdom, which is nearly 17% of the adult population. The London Olympics specially provided the extra motivation in this industry; as a result, the revenue increased by around 9.5% over the last five years (IBIS World, 2013). The fitness industry is incredibly successful with innovation and changing technologies which provides the adapting capability of the products for suiting its own requirements. Though there are around 6000 gyms and health clubs in the UK but they cater to the different market segments. These include women only gyms, tr aditional body building gyms, budget model gyms, premium full service health club, and 24-hour gyms among others. In London, there are around 70,200 people employed in the active leisure, learning as well as wellbeing sector among them 5900 are employed in the health and fitness industry. Therefore, the government of the UK also provides help for ensuring sustained growth of this sector. London has a rich mix of active leisure and learning facilities, high profile sporting clubs and also a host of international, national and regional events. Therefore, the industry skills fill the gap of sports specific technical skills and health consciousness (AACS LMI, 2010). Contextually, on the basis of research initiatives on management theory the analysis is done with the help of PESTLE analysis of the external environment. Besides, in this paper, Bowman’s Strategy Clock and application and justification of the Ansoff’s Matrix are also going to be provided as analysing tools for finding out marketing and growth strategy of a new company. Thus, by analysing the external and internal factors a set of recommendations is also drawn on the development options of the business (Jarzabkowski & et. al, 2009). PESTLE Analysis of the Fitness Industry in the UK A PESTLE analysis at times referred to as PEST analysis is one of the imperative and useful tools for analysing and understanding the industry position as a whole and is often used in conjunction with a SWOT analysis to access the situation of an individual business. A PESTLE analysis is one of the most important frameworks regarding to the assessment of macro environmental analysis. Therefore, it is one of the most important frameworks and a key part for designing of strategic management. The term ‘PESTLE’ refers Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. This analysis enables to draw varied pertinent responses regarding various questions such as what are the po litical factors which likely to affect the industry, important economic factors, cultural aspects, technological innovations, present and imminent legislations of the government as well as environmental considerations. However, it is also needed to highlight that these factors definitely depend and

Failure of Canadian Solar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Failure of Canadian Solar - Essay Example This research aims to evaluate and present North Mountain Engagements LLP, a Hedge fund company which invests in different companies to increase their capital however the company invests in only those companies of which it could improve the earnings significantly and increase the value of the firm by twice. This is the reason the company invests and analyses the company thoroughly before it makes any investment decision. The report analyses one of the companies in the Solar PV industry, Canadian Solar which has been suffering from losses from 2006 and this report investigates whether the company would be able to improve its earnings by changing their strategies. North Mountain Engagements has a higher debt to equity ratio which is defined as total debt of the company in comparison to total equity and higher debt to equity ratio reflects higher risk. Thus, with higher risks shareholders demand higher return so; this is the reason why the North Mountain Engagements LLP requires higher profits. Canadian Solar has been known over the years as CSI meaning Canadian Solar International is suffering from losses despite of the overall demand in the industry has been growing and growing revenues of the company. Canadian Solar has reported total growth of 135.7% in five years from 2004 to 2008 with revenues of the company growing from $9.7 million to $705 million. With several opportunities in the industry, North Mountain Engagements feels that the Canadian Solar can live up to the potential and become an important firm to invest.... Canadian Solar has reported total growth of 135.7% in five years from 2004 to 2008 with revenues of the company growing from $9.7 million to $705 million. There are several reasons which have led Canadian Solar to situation where the company is showing negative net income and one of the major reasons for Canadian Solar suffering from losses is the increasing competition and this report discusses different factors that have resulted Canadian Solar to be in loss. Industry Overview The world economy has been going through recession and this recession has made an impact on major economies of the world. However, there are other factors besides recession which have influenced the profitability of Canadian Solar though the demand of solar PV industry has been showing tremendous growth since 1998 globally. In addition to this, steps and measures taken by government have been fruitful for the firms in the industry as it encouraged people to use more solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. The fol lowing graph reflects the demand of solar PV in the international market and it can be seen that the demand slope has increased considerable in the last five years or so. (Source: Mitchell, 2010) Demand has increased at a much rapid pace than previous years since 2004. The demand has been growing in the range of 21% to 27% from 1998 to 2003 however since 2004, the global demand has reported much higher growth rate in the range of 31% to 38% till 2007. Demand in 2008 reported much higher growth as it reached over 60%. The increasing demand of solar PV internationally indicates that the demand would further increase in the years to come and it is the right time for firms in the industry

Database Design and Implementation Coursework Essay Example for Free

Database Design and Implementation Coursework Essay The aim of this database design and implementation coursework is to design and develop a Quorum Party Database system that will be interacted with the system online by the party goers who are enthusiastic to go and attend parties. It means that party goers/end users will become as a member by registering the site of our on-line party service company. We also create a prototype for web front-end form that will allow end users to check and register in Quorum Party database by including some sample required data. After the given scenarios have been read, firstly, we need to make some assumptions that can be determined to be correct or faulty and can be clarified unclear business rules or procedures before building a database system. According to the coursework, the conceptual data model diagram has to be drawn using the Chen notation and the logical relational schema is needed to produce which defines the relationships between different tables. Both conceptual data model and logical relational schema have to be checked with 3NF, third normalization form. The considered tables should be created and inserted in DBMS Microsoft Access with some extra required information. Queries, reports and forms have to be produced with the sample data by writing SQL coding for given A1 to A6 from the Sample Applications of course work scenario. Finally, the snapshots of the resulting output produced should be shown once queries, reports and forms successfully run using the appropriate tools in the chosen DBMS Microsoft Access.

Comparing Social Welfare Systems: UK and Germany

Comparing Social Welfare Systems: UK and Germany This paper will seek to compare the social welfare systems of England and Germany with regard to how they cater for the elderly. The paper will approach the issue by firstly discussing the theoretical underpinnings of the welfare state in both England and Germany. This initial theoretical analysis is important because it sets the foundation to understand the way in which social welfare policy in both countries approach care of the elderly. The paper will then provide a comparative analysis of the welfare issues affecting the elderly such as national insurance, elderly care, pension provisions, health care and other pertinent variables. This comparison will then seek to establish defining characteristics of each model towards elderly care. One of the most prolific scholarly expositions on welfare systems and their ideological frameworks come from Epsing-Anderson[1] who postulated that there are three distinct regimes of welfare systems. These he identified as Liberal, Corporatist and Social Democratic. Within this model, he located Germany as a Corporatist- Conservative regime and the United Kingdom as a Liberal welfare regime. Nevertheless, despite arguing how welfare states have developed and can be characterized under these three trajectories, Epsing-Anderson maintains that â€Å"the welfare state cannot be regarded as the sum total of social policies, it is more than a numerical cumulation of discrete programmes†.[2] With this in mind, the paper will now consider the theoretical underpinnings of Germany as a Corporatist-Conservative regime. Germany maintains a welfare system that is usually classified as the classical Bismarckian welfare state. This intimates that the welfare system in Germany is structured among class and occupational lines and subsequently a high degree of stratification, along the lines of market participation exists. The state, rather than the market, is the most important agency in the delivery of welfare and benefits are provided through a network of public, quasi public, private and voluntary organisations.[3] The German welfare state is characterized by a dominance of mandatory social insurance schemes such as health, unemployment, pensions, disability and long care. These schemes are predominantly contribution based benefits with the state partly contributing to public pension schemes, unemployment insurance and social assistance. Another feature of the German conservative welfare system is that it ascribes the male breadwinner model with significant corrections. It is steeped in the social policy dictates of Catholicism and this is demonstrated by a commitment to ‘the preservation of status differentials’[4] by emphasising self-help and to the preservation of a traditional family model. Women’s benefits are inextricably linked to their spouse, which in modern day society, places women at a disadvantage because they may have spent years caring for elderly relatives, or childrearing and widows pensions are inherently low.[5] However, the German welfare state has had to adapt to the new realties of modern society where more women are remaining single, divorce rates are higher and individuals have to work for much longer. The oft practiced early retirement feature of the German welfare state has also seen adjustments as families, especially women now need to reconcile salaried work commitments along with duties towards their loved ones in order to ensure a good standard of living in today’s market led economy.[6] These changes have had an effect on how elderly care is administered and ordered within the German welfare sate. Before the issue of care for the elderly with the German welfare state model is explored, the paper will now examine the characteristics of the UK welfare state. Converse to the German corporatist-conservative welfare state model, the United Kingdom is largely been historically characterized as an example of a liberal welfare model. However as Epsing-Anderson stated earlier, no one regime is a pure typology, instead they are usually a hybrid form albeit with an overarching ideology. Modern day societies demand that so called welfare regimes undergo pragmatic shifts to adjust to social, political and economic shifts. In light of these changes the UK welfare system is viewed as a liberal socialist welfare system. Firstly, the welfare system in the UK places a distinct emphasis on market-based social insurance and it uses of means-testing for the â€Å"fair† distribution of benefits. It regards as fair the distribution of more benefits to the poor or vulnerable who are viewed as more deserving. In this regard, welfare is oriented towards a class of the poor dependent or what is called the ‘residual welfare state’. The consequence of this is that, there is a low degree of de-commodification, meaning, benefits are limited and stigmatised by the general populace as the model assumes that high levels of benefit will reduce incentives to work. A high degree of stratification exists within the UK welfare state, wherein, the state plays an active role in social relations. One of the factors impacting the classification of the UK as a liberal social democratic welfare state regime is the existence of in-kind services such as free health care which is delivered through the National Health Service (NHS) and the prevalence of subsidised social housing to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, single parents and the homeless. One of the most impacting changes within the liberal social democratic social welfare regime of the UK was pension reform in the 1980’s. These reforms saw the government cutting back on contributions that were earnings liked to retirement incomes and the heightened encouragement of private schemes as a necessary supplement. Many employers took advantage of the new low regulations on pension schemes and did not offer sufficient coverage adequate for a decent retirement standard of living and quality of life.[7] Subsequently, the UK government has not been able to negotiate adequate pension conditions with private employers on behalf of workers. All these changes within the liberal oriented UK welfare state model necessitates the discussion on how the elderly is affected. The aforementioned discussion on the typology of the welfare state in both Germany and the UK was necessary to this paper, as it sets the stage to understand how the elderly are treated within these two ideological frameworks. It also allows for an analysis on how modern day society has altered or shifted these ideological welfare state positions. To this end, the paper will now consider the comparative analysis with a focus on the various modes of care and policies towards the elderly in both Germany and the UK. One of the most important modes of care for the elderly is the provision of good health care. In societies where younger children have had to buy into active participation in a market based economy, the elderly becomes a particularly vulnerable group. Wegner explains this aptly when he states: â€Å"The absence of supportive health and social services contributes to several important problems: (1) the quality of care may fall short of adequate standards, resulting in instances neglect or abuse; (2) the strain of care giving places caregivers themselves at risk for many health problems; and (3) the heavy burden falling on a single caregiver eventually results in a greater reliance on institutional care than may be necessary.†[8] Germany’s historically conservative welfare state ideology, dictated that the family should be the main care-giver and support system for the elderly. However, with the elderly population living alone in Germany is the highest in the OECD and the European Union. Sensing that this tend would have been inevitable, Germany launched a long term care insurance scheme in 1994 which targeted the elderly. This scheme functions on a pay as you go basis and is strictly aimed at those in need of social assistance.[9] It is â€Å"financed through earmarked social insurance contributions and organized as a separate branch of social insurance†.[10] Some features of the scheme are: community based care, payment to caregivers and nursing homes, home modifications, personal assistance and general household assistance. In some instance, the elderly are also covered under the state’s accident and pension insurance schemes. Interestingly, Taylor-Gooby[11] notes that space was still made to retain conservative values with the introduction of the long-term care assistance as legislation such as cash reimbursement without any form of monitoring to encourage family supported care giving practices. In contrast, the elderly in the UK receive completely free health care under the statutory National Health Service which is free to all citizens post World War II. However, as previously discussed, the UK underwent serious cutbacks in pension provisions in the 1980’s and this has placed a significant number of retirement age pensioners at risk of poverty. Furthermore, the government also cut back in the number of public beds available for care in hospitals. This has in some ways encouraged caregiving from family members for the elderly, but like Germany, may younger family members have to reconcile paid employment with their desire to care for their loved ones. This has placed considerable strain on the NHS as the elderly suffer many injuries from largely having to care for themselves. The strain on the NHS reached such a crescendo that some doctors even recommended not treating the very old.[12] The NHS has come under great criticism for its treatment of the elderly,[13] cons equently the government, is trying to achieve the goals of its 10 year plan to reform care of the elderly in the UK which is documented in the National Service Framework for Older People. The inspection report â€Å"Living Well into Later Life†[14] recommended that the NHS needed to do more to encourage wellbeing and active ageing among the elderly. Specifically, while the NHS system is fraught with irregularities, vulnerable persons such as the elderly are increasingly being given more attention within the UK welfare state, with appeals for more state intervention, as opposed to the closed family oriented model of Germany. Housing is another important issue for the elderly. In Germany, the tradition of home care has affected the number of elderly persons who leave the home environment for care. Only 4% of the over 65 year old age group live in a nursing home or other forms of institutional care, despite the high number of elderly Germans living alone.[15] Much of these attitudes towards institutional care are grounded in German legislation as the constitution is based on the principle of â€Å"subsidiarity† whereby responsibility for welfare needs rests squarely with families, then local or federal authorities, that order.[16] The German long term care insurance â€Å"pays for personal care, medical help and social care†[17] in a nursing institution for the elderly only when familial help is no longer possible. It avoids paying for accommodation and subsistence costs and the total payment does not â€Å"exceed 75 percent of the total cost.†. Dallinger maintains that housing for the elderly in Germany is usually determined along social class lines.[18] She makes this assertion because the higher and middle class are usually financially able to employ paid care or help for their elderly family members and therefore institutional care is usually only sought by those who cannot afford such care. Nonetheless, Dallinger points out that the increase of German women entering the labour market has necessitated a greater demand on the need for the elderly to rely on the welfare state for care assistance, since younger women were the traditional caregivers. Housing for the elderly in the UK suffers similar challenges as younger family members do not have the time to care for their elderly relatives because of the gradual individualization of the society. This places the elderly at risk of social exclusion and being marginalized within modern day Britain. Consequently, the government has reduced the cost of housing council tax for the elderly and has provided them additionally benefits such as free transportation to encourage them to remain at home, while fostering active lives. Additionally, the â€Å"Living Well into Later Life† inspection report found a renewed push by the government to encourage older persons to stay in their own homes by providing them with paid personal caregivers. Furthermore an outreach group called â€Å"Supporting People† was actively advocating for the building of more sheltered housing facilities for the elderly.[19] However, it is appropriate to say that the issue of elderly housing in the UK r eceives more state intervention and welfare services than it does in Germany. This paper previously discussed how state cutbacks on pensions in the UK have placed the elderly in a particularly vulnerable retirement position. The UK now sees a pension scenario where those who are better off financially are able to buy into private pension schemes, and those who cannot afford have to rely on what is now a â€Å"diminishing† pension returns at retirement via the state. Furthermore, many individuals who were advised by pension salesmen, bought into private schemes yet saw their entire pension investments diminish in the mid to late 90’s when many private companies went bust because of being unregulated.[20] Taylor-Gooby asserts that in Germany, retirement income which traditionally came from public pensions, has seen a shift since a 2001 pension reform initiative in the state.[21] The German state has moved towards provision of a mixture of public-private pension scheme, along with great encouragement to citizens that public pensions will not suffice pre-retirement standard of living, thus plugging supplementary private schemes. Noting the failure of such schemes in the UK in the 90’s, Germany has sought to have stricter regulations on private pension providers. Furthermore, in line with its conservative ideology, women are given pension credits under the German welfare scheme for time taken off work for childrearing. It is therefore conclusive to say that while the UK and Germany have ideologically different perspectives on how their welfare state is structured, both countries have had to adapt to socio-economic changes within their societies and aim to provide better care for the elderly. The pressures of a rapidly aging population, the individualization of both societies has caused the elderly population to become increasingly isolated and at risk of being severely socially excluded and marginalized. Consequently social policies that inform traditional welfare states have become more pragmatic in their approaches while still trying to retain their ideological perspectives. Bibliography Alber, J. (1996) â€Å"The Debate about Long Term Care Reform in Germany†, in OECD (ed.) Caring for Frail Elderly People: Policies in Evolution. Social Policy Studies, No. 19, pp. 261-278. Dallinger, U. (2002) Elderly Care in the Family in Germany. Paper contributed to: COST 13A Meeting in Copenhagen, Friday 19. April 2002. Accessed on October 20, 2008 at: http://www.socsci.auc.dk/cost/gender/Workingpapers/UrsulaDallinger.pdf Donnelly, L., (September. 26, 2008) Don’t Treat the Old and Unhealthy says Doctors. The Telegraph. London. Accessed on October 21, 2008 at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576704/Dont-treat-the-old-and-unhealthy,-say-doctors.html Esping-Andersen, G. (1994) ‘Welfare States and the Economy’, in N. J. Smelser and R. Swedberg (eds) The Handbook of Economic Sociology, pp. 711–32. New York: Princeton University Press Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Oxford: Polity Press. Goode Committee (1994) Pensions Law Reform. Cm 2342-1, HMSO. Laurance, J. (March 27, 2006) The Great Betrayal: How the NHS Fails the Elderly. The Independent. London. Accessed on October 21, 2008 at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/the-great-betrayal-how-the-nhs-fails-the-elderly-471635.html Living Well into Later Life: A Review of Progress Against the National Service Framework for Older People. Audit Commission. Audit Commission. UK. Accessed on October 21, 2008 at: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/Products/NATIONAL-REPORT/4C4C40BE-6383-40E0-8B26-48D7FAF39A56/HCC_older%20PeopleREP.pdf Solsten, E. ed. (1995) Germany: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress. Accessed on October 19, 2008 at: http://countrystudies.us/germany/111.htm Taylor-Gooby, P. (2004) New Risks, New Welfare: The Transformation of the European Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wegner, E. (2001) Restructuring Care for the Elderly in Germany. Current Sociology. Vol. 49(3) pp. 175-188 1 Footnotes [1] Epsing-Anderson, G. (1990) [2] Epsing-Anderson, G. (1994) pp. 711-32 [3] Solsten, E. (1995) Accessed at: http://countrystudies.us/germany/111.htm [4] Epsing-Anderson, G. (1990) [5] Solsten, E. (1995) Accessed at: http://countrystudies.us/germany/111.htm [6] Taylor-Gooby, P. (2004) p. 31 [7] Goode Committee (1994) [8] Wegner, Eldon. (2001) p.2 [9] Ibid. [10] Taylor-Gooby, P. (2004) p. 42 [11] Ibid., p.40 [12] Donelly, The Telegraph (Sept 26, 2008) Accessed at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576704/Dont-treat-the-old-and-unhealthy,-say-doctors.html [13] Laurance, J. The Independent (March 27, 2006) Accessed at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/the-great-betrayal-how-the-nhs-fails-the-elderly-471635.html [14] Living Well Into Later Life. Accessed at: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/Products/NATIONAL-REPORT/4C4C40BE-6383-40E0-8B26-48D7FAF39A56/HCC_older%20PeopleREP.pdf [15] Dallinger, U. (2002) p.2 [16] Alber. J (1996) p.264 [17] Wegner, E. (2001) p. 180 [18] Dallinger, U. (2002) p. 3 [19] Living Well Into Later Life. Op. cit. p. 68 [20] Taylor-Gooby, P. (2004) p. 61 [21] Ibid. p.35 Social responsibility, maximising profits? Social responsibility, maximising profits? In his article The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits (1970), Milton Friedman, the Nobel laureate in economics, argued for what was summed up in the title of his article: the social responsibility of businesses is simply and solely to maximise profits! In the following, different arguments for and against Milton Friedmans statement will be presented and criticized. The inherent theories and principles will be presented as far as needed in order to discuss the extent to which this statement is true. Milton Freidman starts his famous article by describing the claim for a social responsibility of business by a pure and unadulterated socialism. For him, stating that business has a responsibility is looseness and lacks rigour. A company is only an artificial person and can not have responsibilities like an individual can. In this regard, only people in an organization, which means only the in ­dividual proprietors or the corporate executives, can have any social or moral responsibility. The managers of a company have a legal responsibility to manage the company in the best interests of the stockholders. As those shareholders first interest in investing their money in a business is to increase their wealth, then the managers sole responsibility is to maximize the profits for their shareholders. It is the legal and moral obligation of the managers to concentrate solely on serving their employers best interest, which means increasing profit. If the managers or the shareholders feel the need to fulfil any moral, social or ethical duties, they may very well devote some of their incomes or time to such activities. They are in doing so acting as a principal, not an agent. They are spending their own money and time, not those of the corporation they are working for and those of its shareholders. If an executive or a manager is fulfilling any social responsibility, this means that he will act in a way that is not in the primary interest of his employer, or worse, that is violating his duty of maximizing the profit. Any money or time that is spent by an executive in any kind of social action will not be spent to increase the shareholders wealth, to reduce prices or to increase wages. Therefore, this executive is spending someone elses money, the shareholders, the customers or the employees. Furthermore, in doing so, the manager is actually imposing a tax to the shareholders, the customers and the employees. He is also deciding on how those tax proceeds are to be spent. This is for Freidman a governmental function. In doing so, executives are, as per Freidman, simultaneously legislators, execu ­tives and, jurists. They become what Freidman calls public employees, civil servants even though they are employees of a private corporation. It is therefore the governments responsibility to impose taxes and determine the expenditures to be spent by any and all businesses in social activities. Freidman also recognizes that some businesses might act socially, contribute to chari ­ties or provide amenities. This can be described hyp ­ocritically by social responsibility or social actions. The real and hidden reason for businesses in doing so is to gain a long-term profit from such actions, like attracting desirable employees, reducing wage bill or tax proceeds. To summarize his thoughts and in his tribute to an ideal free-market, Freidman believes that no individual can coerce any other, all coopera ­tion is voluntary, all parties to such coopera ­tion benefit or they need not participate. There are no values, no social responsibilities in any sense other than the shared values and responsibilities of individuals. Society is a collection of individuals and of the various groups they voluntarily form. Some others do believe, all the same way, that the sole responsibility of a company is to compete to maximize profit. Adam Smith (As reported by The Economist, 2005) believes that benevolence is not necessary to advance the public interest. Rather, self-interest and profit-seeking is what brings humans to accomplish things, produce goods and services and thus benefit each others. It is false to think that profit-seeking fails to serve and advance the public interest, and that something else needs to be given back to the society to compensate for this profit-seeking. Keith Davis (1973) advances several arguments against the so called Corporate Social Responsibility. First of all, as per Freidman, the business function is an economic one, and the manager is the agent of the stockholders and has thus to maximize their profits. The second argument given by Davis is the costs of the social involvement. Indeed, many social goals do not have any economic outcome. Any business must spend with great caution its scarce resources, although sometimes very substantial, or it will sooner or later cause financial distress. Indeed, scarce resources will never self-renew, and must thus be spent in a way that guarantees at the minimum their recovery, if not gaining some premium. The author here cites some example metal foundries which could not meet the high costs of new pollution equipment and closed their doors. Another argument advanced by Davis is the lack of social skills of many businessmen. The author questions whether those businessmen, who are experts at generating profit, are well qualified to deal with social and public interests. Keith Davis also presents the argument of the dilution of the business primary purpose. A business involvement in social activities might dilute its primary focus on economic productivity, divide the interests of its leaders, and weaken business in the market place, with the results that it would accomplish poorly both its economic and its social roles. Furthermore, if a business spends resources in social programs, then these resources must be recovered, generally by increasing prices to the final consumer. In the same manner, if spending in social activities reduces the business productivity, this leads to higher production costs. If the business is operating in international markets with other firms that do not have to support such additional costs, the socially responsible ones will have a competitive disadvantage. Another argument is that the businesses that would support social activities will have additional social power. Davis states that business is one of the two or three most powerful institutions in society at the present time, giving extra social responsibilities to the business would result in an excessive concentration of power which will reduce the viability of our free society. In addition, Davis believes that although some people want businesses to be more responsible and socially involved, some dont. This lack of agreement among the public may result in a lack of broad support for the businesses and thus social frictions and disagreements. Finally, one of the most relevant arguments given by Keith Davis is probably the fact that businessmen are not accountable to people, but only to their stockholders. It should therefore be unwise to give them responsibility in areas where they are not accountable! This idea of non-accountability of businessmen and managers is also used by Michael C. Jensen (2002). Jensen criticizes the stakeholder theory as stated by Freeman (1984), Clarkson Principles (1999) and others because it contains no conceptual specification of how to make the tradeoffs among stakeholders that must be made. This makes the theory damaging to firms and to social welfare. According to Freedman, as stated by Jensen (p. 254), The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ definition of stakeholder [is] any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of an organizations purpose. This includes shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, but also the people who might be affected directly or indirectly by the companys business, through for example the damages to the environment, the layoffs, the corruption etc. Adopting the stakeholder theory brings businesses to be socially responsible. Jensen states that the managers who adopt this stakeholder theory will do what they want, spend the business money in social or other activities which are of no interest to the business or to the stakeholders, and will not be accountable for that. He thinks that the stakeholder theory must be inline with the long-term objective of value maximization. Only by keeping in mind that the value needs to be maximized that managers will find the good trade-offs between the different stakeholders. In a less extreme position than Freidman and the other authors cited above, Patrick Primeaux and John Stieber (1994), as well as Josie Fisher (2004) believe that social responsibility and long-term profit are not incompatible, and that being socially responsible could be converted into business opportunities. Orlitzky (2003), Russo and Fouts (1997) and Waddock and Graves (1997) (as cited by Husted and Salazar, 2006, p. 75) even found that corporate social performance has a positive impact on the firms financial performance! However, several different researches employed a variety of theories and methodologies to study the potential relationship between corporate social responsibility activities and other traditional measures of a firms success (Mahoney and Roberts, 2007). The results are confusing. Rim Makni, Claude Francoeur and Franà §ois Bellavance (2009) found in their study that socially responsible firms experience lower profits and reduced shareholder wealth, which in turn limits the socially responsible investments. Bryan W. Husted and Josà © de Jesus Salazar (2006) state on their side, that a business can not make maximum profit while investing in social responsibility activities. Rather, great overall social and financial output can be achieved only when businesses adopt a strategic approach, than an altruistic approach. Kant would have argued that even if the outcomes of such businesses actions might be beneficial to the society, the intention of those businesses is bad in the first place. As far as people are used as a means for those businesses to maximize their own profit, they are not ethical. All of the above are arguments that tend to support Freidmans theory, which in turn states that a business must concentrate on maximizing profit. The less extreme approaches suppose that it is possible to conciliate social activities and profit maximization, but the latter must remain the primary goal of any business. Keith Davis, in his call for a social responsibility of businesses, puts forward the arguments that acting socially would serve the long-run self-interest of the business, enhance the public image and the viability of the business, avoid any government regulation, serve the stockholders interest and prevent any future social problems, thus before all maximizing the long-term profit for the shareholders. The whole issue of ethics and business ethics is a complex one. Companies are made up of people. Multinationals are made up of many different nationalities. Several opponents to Freidmans theory do believe that businesses are part of society and as such they should reflect society norms. Companies, especially multinational ones, do have responsibilities in the world and have to be a positive influence. If a company is not ethical, then it will not survive as a company. Marjorie Kelly believes that maximizing profit and returns to shareholders isnt a legitimate mandate. Indeed, she argues that the shareholders are in effect not financing the public corporations. The money that a shareholder invests in a public company does not go to the company itself but rather to other speculators. Such investments go to the public corporation only when new common stock is sold, which is a rare event. Actually only the founders, entrepreneurs and initial investors are bearing the risk associated with a business. 99% of the money which is invested further on in those companies goes to the original investors and not to the company. So in effect, an established business is not getting any money from the shareholders, who are rather exchanging their stocks and gambling on several fields. They are thus not the legitimate owners or funders of the business which in turn does not have to care about their desires more than those of other stakeholders and the community in g eneral. Freidman, in his argumentation, states that only individuals in a business can have moral responsibility, but every business is made up of the decisions freely taken and approved collectively. The responsibility in such a decision process is thus not reduced to an individual, but rather it is a collective and shared responsibility among all the individuals who drive a business. As soon as the decisions are freely chosen and approved by the collection of individuals who run the business, they are all responsible for the outcomes of those decisions and are subject to moral evaluation. Furthermore, by seeking solely the profit maximization, some managers might allow or induce actions which may be illegal but are for sure immoral, like aggressive selling techniques or untrue publicity. They are, for this, acting in an immoral way and are responsible for that. Social responsibility refers to the obligations businesses have toward society. These are obligations that ought to be fulfilled; which indicates a normative use of the term (Josie Fisher, 2004). The author opposes to the classical economic view of Freidman and Levitt, the socioeconomic view that offers a broader account of social responsibility. Business has obligations that go beyond pursuing profits and include protecting and improving society. Boatright (2000), as cited by Fisher (2004, p.396), goes on to say that by implication businesses must be willing to forgo a certain measure of profit in order to achieve noneconomic ends. Backman, also cited by Fisher (2004, p396), identified some examples of corporate social responsibility: Employment of minority groups, reduction in pollution, greater participation in programs to improve the community, improved medical care, improved industrial health and safety. The social responsibility of a business is then to comply with the behaviours and norms that society expects business to follow. This focus on the socioeconomic view is a normative discourse, as it emphasizes how society believes business ought to behave. Several studies and researches have been conducted in the last decades on the business ethics and on how companies ought to behave. Those studies concentrate on three main subjects inherent to todays business: The globalization, the sustainability and the stakeholder theory presented earlier. Indeed, in recent times, multinational companies have grown rapidly and are yielding an excessive power. Those firms have also invaded multiple countries and cultures and are having an excessive economic and political power especially in smaller and poorer countries. They therefore are now responsible for their actions that might greatly impact such countries. Taking benefit of the poorness of local population to practice low wages or employ children is for sure a socially irresponsible action of those businesses. The second concept that has been studied in the recent ethics researches is sustainability. The sustainability is about the long-term effect of any business (or other) operation on any external factor like environment. As a matter of intergenerational equity, it is the businesses responsibility to consider the effects of their activities on the natural resources and the society and to repair any damages that can affect the future generations rights and equity. It is therefore the businesses responsibility to act sustainably. The third concept is the stakeholder theory, which has been presented earlier. The normative discourse of business ethics states that businesses ought to take into account the interests of all stakeholder groups. The different arguments presented so far range from those supporting Freidmans statement that any business social responsibility is to solely maximize the profits to the shareholders, those who support that a business can and has the duty to be socially responsible and try to advance the public good as far as this will have a beneficial impact on the long-run value and profits of the company, and finally those arguments supporting that any business ought to act socially, sustainably, invest in programmes that benefit the public interest, and be morally responsible for the outcomes of its operations. The supporters of this last view believe that businesses have to adapt their objectives, from solely financial, to a higher level which is all of the stakeholders, the public, the environment and the future generations interest. The latter arguments are therefore normative, and do provide a view about what business ought to be. This is the aim of the business ethics philosophy. From a more practical point of view, and considering how the companies are acting in todays world, it is true that many of them are advocates and practitioners of Corporate Social Responsibility. Many CEOs, especially in Europe, are convinced that basic capitalism fails to serve the public interest, and are promoting moral and socially responsible actions in their companies, like treating employees well, encouraging loyalty among customers and suppliers, avoiding any investment in unethical markets or countries that pay low wages and employ children, saving energy and recycling. However, no one doubts that this is not a standard yet. Social responsibility is not the norm today, and although some practitioners of Corporate Social Responsibility are getting some benefit, like a good public image, many of them are disadvantaged because of such social investments that some competitors do not support. Also, in the name of social responsibility, some multinational companies stopped their investments in poor countries where wages are very low. This is having a negative impact on those countries concerned that would have benefited from those investments. It is the aim of the business ethics discipline to study and propose what businesses ought to do and how they ought to behave. But I do think that it is the role of the governments to impose some basic moral principles and behaviours that must be respected by each and every business. Businessmen ought to behave morally but they will never all do so. A critical morality of moralities or a Metaethics has to be imposed by a higher institution governments- in order to guarantee the basis for equity. Conclusion In this work, different arguments for and against the 40-year old but still so famous statement of Milton Friedman that The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits have been presented and discussed. The normative discourse stating how business ought to behave is for sure morally and ethically against this statement and its arguments will sound both moral and logical for any mind. However, reality is far from the moral ideal. In my opinion, it is the governments responsibility to impose a minimum ethical code to be respected by businesses and individuals to guarantee the equity of rights and advance the public interest.

Mrs. Mallards Character in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Essay

Socrates, a Greek philosopher once said: "Each one must know himself." Unfortunately, most of us are not aware of our true character. Social conventions are the main cause making us repress what we really think and feel. Only when unexpected events happen, we do have an opportunity to take a close look at our hidden "self.""The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin reflects the dramatic development process of Mrs.Mallard's character through the death of her husband; it demonstrates that the true identity cannot be sheltered forever. At the beginning of the story, the author describes Mrs.Mallard as a woman having the distinctive trait of self-assertion which is constrained by her marriage. She seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told o...

Defining Respect :: Definition Respect Respecting Essays

"(What you want Baby, I got What you need Do you know I got it? All I'm askin' Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit) Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home (just a little bit) mister (just a little bit) " Lyrics from the song, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin In three seperate dictionaries, respect is defined as a regard for or appreciation of the worth or value of someone or something. In my opinion, respect goes far beyond this definition. Respect is the cornerstone of the society in which we live. Although many look at respect as simply treating another person or thing with kindness, this word has many different aspects. For instance, I would not give an elder the same type of respect that I would give my peers or myself. Respect is not considered a neccessity in this world but, I can’t imagine a person getting very far in life without this virtue. Self-respect is probably the most important value for a person. It is said that in order to earn the respect of others, a person needs to learn to treat oneself with respect. I think that self-respect has a lot to do with one’s self-esteem. Self-esteem is an opinion of one’s own worth. For example, a girl that sleeps around will probably earn the reputation of a slut or a tramp. In reality, she is coping with the stresses of a low self-esteem.

victorian art :: essays research papers

The Victorian era was a beautiful time. It was full of highly sophisticated people, not including the artists. The artists of the Victorian era were more to the common people that stood out. Most of the artists back then weren’t as big as they are now. They differed in so many ways trying to be individuals. In this, the works would all be outlining subjects but they differed a great deal. Artists in the Victorian era were expressing themselves with extravagant portraits of daily life in ways of romanticism, realism, impressionism, and post-impressionism. Romanticism was a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature. It was a general exaltation of emotion over reason order and instinct. It was full of high passion. Romanticism was â€Å"a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities†, (Pioch). The art expressed passions and inner struggles. The artists of this time were supremely individual creators. To them the creative spirit was the most important thing of their art. They didn’t follow the strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures. They thought of the â€Å"imagination as the gateway to the transcendent experience and spiritual truth†, (Pioch). They had obsessive interests in folk culture, the medieval era, national and ethnic culture origins.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Realism was and still is an accurately reproduction of reality or heroism of modern life. Realism came as a response to Romanticism. Realism struggled against t he ‘over popularity’ of Romanticism. It consisted of many pieces of still life and domestic art. Courbet, Millet, and Zola were some more of the major artists doing Realism art. They aren’t as well known as many other artists because every one was doing this kind of art and it was hard to tell the differences between the artists that painted Realism paintings. Realism â€Å"became just one more style among others†, (Brown). They anticipated many of the concerns of the eighteen hundreds or of the century before. â€Å"Realism is a recurrent theme in art which becomes a coherent movement†, (Cruttenden 50) but only after 1850.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Impressionism was a more sensitive medium for more personal expression. Paintings were touched strongly by the spirit of romanticism. These paintings usually contained women and children to symbolize love, sorrow, or despair. Impressionism began with Monet Renoir and Bazille. They all disliked the academic teaching so it was then they decided to paint with a new cause to be different and stand out.

Classroom Observation

Classroom Observation I. Setting a. Reading class b. 2 staff/approximately 17 students c. Smaller class than usual and one of a few classrooms that have an additional staff (paraprofessional) d. 4th grade (student functions on 2nd grade level for Reading) II. Type of Task a. Independent reading/worksheet Antecedent Student is presented with an independent reading task. Behavior Disruption Consequences Least to most hierarchy of student’s specific behavior plan. Antecedent in detail When presented with an independent reading assignment (following similar group work assignment) student will become frustrated because of the difficulty of the assignment causing the maladaptive behavior described Behavior in detail For this student disruptive behavior is defined as any occurrence of calling out, teasing others, name calling, kicking his desk, and/or screaming/yelling that interferes with his and his peers’ instructional time. Consequences in detail This student’s maladaptive behavior of disruption will result in consequences that range from the least to most hierarchy. This is specifically redirection to task, verbal reprimand of upcoming consequences, in class time out away from the majority of the students (at this time the student is still required to be working on the independent task), out of class time out (monitored by the paraprofessional), sent to the behavior specialist assigned to this student. This last step typically results in a phone call to the parent/guardian explaining the student’s maladaptive behavior. It also may result in the requirement of a meeting of the pertinent parties involved (teacher, paraprofessional, and behavior specialist. Dwayne Williams03/29/2010 AntecedentsBehaviorConsequenceFunction Student is presented with an independent reading task. Disruption Least to most hierarchy of student’s specific behavior plan. For Attention Peers Staff

Tim O’Brien “How to Tell a True War Story”

The words, which describe the character: Rat Kiley; sharp gray eyes; tight little strokes of the wrist; he wanted me to believe; big gentle killer eyes; little crazy; they were kids – they just didn’t know; Rat almost bawls writing it; they were like soul mates. The words, which do not describe the character: crazy in a good way; real daredevil; nineteen years old and it is too much for him. The guy’s real name was Bob Kiley, but everyone was calling him Rat (O’Brien 174).He had lost his friend Curt Lemon in Vietnam, but this loss happened beyond any military actions, when they were playing with grenades (they were real kids); Rat had actually lost his soul mate. Reading the story, Rat’s character created an impression of being flat. However, coming to the story’s end, it is evident that huge sufferings are hidden behind the childish behavior. This childish behavior has indirectly become the cause of tragedy, and suffering through this loss, Rat reveals his round dynamic character.He tries to forget his pain, but the fact that he feels it is the sign of his deep soul, which was changed in the cruelties of the Vietnam War. Curt Lemon is the character around which Rat’s actions and thoughts are concentrated. They spent most of their time together and what they felt towards each other was real kinship. The unexpected loss was so difficult for Rat that he didn’t hesitate to mail a letter to Lemon’s sister. This letter has become the expression of his feelings, his sorrow, and his best memories about that person. Re-writing the story from Rat’s perspectiveThe day didn’t predict anything tragic. We crossed the river – the mountains were in the west, and we had to direct our efforts there. We have already spent three days marching, and it already seemed monotonous†¦so well†¦we were trying to entertain ourselves, and in a second Curt Lemon was dead. He simply stepped on a boob y-trapped 105 round. One second – and the man was gone forever. We were playing, we were laughing, and then, out of sudden, he was dead. I didn’t notice that the whole hour had passed before we cut off the thick grass for the emergency helicopter to land.Surprisingly, the day didn’t change; the weather was the same, and we kept marching. The only thing was that Curt was not with us anymore. Higher in the mountains I’ve noticed a baby VC water buffalo. I had no idea how I could come across it so high in the mountains, and it was probably unexpected for me, that at that moment I could think of anything else besides Curt. I managed to get a rope around the baby buffalo and to lead it with us to the village, where we had to stay for the night. I stroked the baby buffalo’s nose, I tried to offer it come pork or beans, but it didn’t seem interested. I shrugged but I felt, how enraged I was.At that time I didn’t understand, what caused those feelings inside me, but now I know that Curt’s death had made me angry; angry for being incapable to change anything and to return him to life. I shot the buffalo through the front knee. I was shocked at the animal not showing any sign of stress; it didn’t cry. It was silent, though it fell hard onto the ground but then got up again, and at that moment I shot off its ear; I kept shooting and I could see it hurt, but for some reason I could not kill it. I would never make it suffer, but something inside me was preventing me from shooting right.I had no idea what others were thinking, but they were definitely watching each move and each shot I made. I was the only one to know, what it meant to me – Lemon was dead and he had been the best friend in the world. I am not sure whether it was a question of pain, and what pain one may mean here. I didn’t know whether physical pain could be measured or even compared to the moral pain I felt. I could not understand what I was doing, it was all smoke and I hardly remember whether I had shot the buffalo’s tail; it was as if I were dreaming. I shot it into the throat.I didn’t want it to experience those physical tortures anymore. I can still remember its eyes – enormous, shiny, and dumb. I can remember myself crying. I wanted to say how sorry I was for both the buffalo and for Lemon, but tears didn’t let any word come out. I understood I needed some freedom, some silence and some time to think, to try to recover and to ultimately feel better. I left the baby, may be it was still alive, but I didn’t know it. I just knew that it was fighting for its life, the chance which Lemon didn’t have. It will remain my sin forever, but my pain was enormous to hide it inside.I don’t still understand for whom I feel worse – for the baby buffalo I’ve killed or for Lemon who didn’t have a single chance to survive. What I know for sure is that Lemon didn’t go through the pain, which baby buffalo felt before it died. I also understand that this death could become neither physical, nor moral compensation for Lemon’s death. This is what I think now†¦ At that time I was not thinking anything. The baby buffalo’s death remains my biggest weakness – the inability to keep emotions inside. Later that week I wrote a letter to Lemon’s sister to tell her what a great guy her brother had been.I have written several funny stories from our life – I think that the letter turned to be very personal, even touching. I was almost bawling, because I could not accept the fact of his death. He had been the man able to turn the war into fun. He was right for war, and his attitudes towards war were also right. I clearly understood and I really felt that I would never receive any reply from that young girl, but I needed that writing to release my emotions and express what I was feeling about Lemon. Ev en when I pretended being angry at her, and called her â€Å"dumb cooze†, it was nothing but a mask – I didn’t want anyone know that I could feel†¦Justification I decided to focus on Rat Kiley’s character. The author emphasizes his negligent attitude towards life. â€Å"Listen to Rat: â€Å"Jesus Christ, man, I write this beautiful fucking letter, I slave over it, and what happens? The dumb cooze never writes back† (O’Brien 175). What I think is that Rat didn’t even expect to receive any reply from Lemon’s sister; he needed this letter to express what he had inside, and simultaneously he had to support his image of a guy â€Å"nineteenth years old – and it’s too much for him† (O’Brien 175).I was interested in viewing the story through his perspective, because I initially felt Rat could have been depicted differently, less crazy and more humane. As a result, the events in the narrative would loo k different through Rat’s perspective. After Lemon was dead, Rat could not find himself. He did not know how he could neutralize the moral pain he had inside. Again, the author could lead the narration in a different direction. Rat was shooting the baby buffalo – â€Å"it wasn’t to kill; it was just to hurt† (O’Brien 179).Has anyone thought that Rat might have not clearly understood what he was doing? The fact that he was crying was the best proof that his actions had been absolutely uncontrolled. Moreover, his negligence has proved to be only surface – he was deeply suffering through the loss of his friend; at his nineteen years he could consider himself happy for having experienced the kinship he felt towards Lemon. My goal was to portray Rat through different features, not the features which the author used in the narration. I suppose that the author has not looked too deep into Rat’s soul.O’Brien has created an image of Rat ’s cruelty towards the animal, and the readers perceive him as â€Å"a little crazy†. Simultaneously, he has not emphasized many features which make Rat a real human. Even the scene of animal killing could have been depicted differently, through the prism of Rat’s moral sufferings. â€Å"Rat Kiley was crying† (O’Brien 180), and that cry was the difficult acknowledgement of the fact that Lemon would never come back. Works cited O’Brien, Tim. â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story†. Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology. P. Geyh ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992, 174-183.

Fahrenheit 451 Dialect Journal Essay

Predict This sentence has negative and a happy tone at the same time. Bradbury makes the character sound like he’s evil or perhaps has a lot of things to hide, considering that snakes in general slither around and seem to hide themselves. Yet, he has no remorse for what he was doing either with the included phrase, â€Å"and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies. I predict that this person is doing this as it was he’s job. I also wonder why he is burning whatever he was trying to get rid of. This reminds me of a firefighter because of the way the author is describing what this person was doing, but instead of water it is kerosene. Maybe this person’s job was to purify the area in the society by burning it. â€Å"He remembered nothing like it save one afternoon a year ago when he had met an old man in the park and they had talked†¦.† Predict/Clarify This sentence holds a mysterious tone. Who is this man and why is â€Å"they† in italics? Did something peculiar happened a year ago that made him remember  it in a odd way? I think we shall learn more about this other man later in the story. Maybe this man is related to the girl, that’s why Montag suddenly remembers the man after the conversation with the girl. It was said that he saw Clarisse’s face in the walls too. It has been confirmed that the man, Montag, is a firefighter, but with no usage of water what so ever. He’s job is to purify the community by burning book because it is illegal. I wonder why that is and also why other things that should be okay illegal as well. This shows sign of a world that supposedly utopian, but in reality, a dystopian society in itself. â€Å"He felt his smile slide away melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out.â €  Evaluate The author explains that Montag is not only unhappy, but he is now incapable of pretending otherwise. Which he is revealing his true emotions. By comparing his smile to a burnt our candle, it shows how definite his unhappiness is. Then when you read the part where it describes the candle that can never be lit again tells us readers that Montage can never truly be happy with himself again. Predict There is something that is bothering him and he has been unhappy for awhile now. â€Å"He felt that the stars had been pulverized by the sound of the black jets and that in the morning the dart would be covered with their dust like a strange snow.† Evaluate The author is describing how Montag feels like the stars are being ruined by the black jets. The starts represent his perfect world and the black jets are something that is destroying his perfect world. Bradbury is creating a somber situation. Predict The sentence shows hidden darkness within Montag. Maybe the black jets represents Mildred swallowing the pills and how he is aware of the imperfect  world that is around him with the author’s usage of the words, â€Å"pulverized† instead of â€Å"crushed† or â€Å"ruined.† â€Å"You don’t need an M.D., case like this; all you need is two handymen, clean up the problem in half an hour.† Predict The word that are placed in this sentence demonstrates insensitive words towards one another humanity has become. Mildred was dying and society cared enough to send only two â€Å"handymen† to fix the â€Å"problem.† This sentence has surprisingly cold connotation which shows Montag and the readers the heartlessness of the world. I wonder why that is? Also, why they didn’t send professional help instead of people (who we don’t know if they were qualified) with machines to essentially replace almost all the inner liquids of the body with new (from a stranger) liquids. Again, the question of why Mildred was trying to kill herself? I think this is one of the reasons why Montag is unhappy with life. â€Å"He felt his body dive itself in a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other.† Evaluate The author is showing us that Guy was having contradicting feelings about what Clarisse has said. Bradbury has chose to put the contradicting words next to each other to create a pulling effect. As a result, it makes the reader feel the confusing tug-of-war effect as Montag did. Even though he has an uneasy feeling about the girl, Montag is still fascinated by her and is interested enough to stick around to listen to what she says. Predict This is character development and where Montag learns more about her. Then afterwards, they go on an adventure to figure out why their society is the way it is. Eventually, Montag will regain his happiness again by spending more time with Clarisse possibly. I wonder what kind of a relationship they will build as we progress in the plot. â€Å"Montag’s hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his  chest.† Evaluate Guy’s hand represents his subconscious and his true desire. Bradbury illustrated this by describing it like Montag’s hand has a mind of its own. This is change in Guy’s heart and the start of something new. He is beginning to show what he really wants as opposed to what he’s supposed to be doing. Predict Eventually, Montag will have a change of heart of what is right and what he is required to do. It makes me wonder if Clarisse and Guy will find the truth of the world they live in. Why isn’t everyone curious about why they are doing what they are doing? â€Å"He felt her there, he saw her without opening his eyes, her hair burnt by chemicals to a bottle straw, her eyes with a kind of cataract unseen but suspect far behind the pup is, the reddening pouting lips, the body as thin as a praying mantis from dieting, and her flesh like while bacon.† Clarify I never really thought that Clarisse would disappear like that. I thought Clarisse was a character that would come back and continue the story with Montag. Also, it seems to be that Mildred was really scatterbrained. I honestly never really thought that she had that kind of personality. It makes me wonder even more why she wanted to kill herself and if the society is doing it to her. Evaluate Bradbury used imagery to describe the detailed features of Mildred and how she doesn’t seem to be a healthy being. The abnormally white flesh and burnt hair shows that they live in a place where artificial beauty through hair dye and diets are required. They way she is described is almost like a walking corpse and is hopeless. The only Montag remembers her is that he â€Å"saw her without opening his eyes† because she is so distant. â€Å"If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to  worry him; give him one.† Predict This sentence is optimistic and gives a general picture of how the society is looking at things. They’re seeing that if we give people one choice then everyone can be happy or at least content with life. Which I don’t understand why since there are still people upset because they are losing their books and other odd events such as children killing other children. I have a feeling that after reading a book or two, Montag could question the motives of the society and where it is heading like the reader is. I don’t understand how the people agreed to this to let the world involve into this. If this was America and the â€Å"Land of the Free,† shouldn’t the people be allowed their freedom of owning books? It looks as though the â€Å"authors† are more worried about books and pedestrians then the lives of the citizens. â€Å"Again he found himself thinking of the green park a year ago The thought had been with him many times recently but now he r emembered how it was that day in the city park when he had seen that old man in the black suit hide something, quickly, in his coat.† Clarify Again, we hear about this man Montag met at the park. He can’t seen to shake that memory. Although this time he describes it in more detail. Predict What is so significant about this person? Was that man hiding a book in public? Is he connected somehow with Clarisse? Guy mentioned the man after talking about her, so maybe they are connected in some relevant way. At this point he is stuck and doesn’t know what his move is next. I think that he’s going to go out and find this man to learn more about books. Assuming he find the old man, possibly he will fight for the rights for books and for things to go back to the way it used to be, breaking the dystopian society he is facing.

Dependency Theory

What is Dependence Theory? Dependency theory is a theory of how developing and developed nations interact. It can be seen as an opposition theory to the popular free market theory of interaction. Dependency theory was first formulated in the 1950s, drawing on a Marxian analysis of the global economy, and as a direct challenge to the free market economic policies of the post-War era. The free market ideology holds, at its most basic, that open markets and free trade benefit developing nations, helping them eventually to join the global economy as equal players. The belief is that although some of the methods of market liberalization and opening may be painful for a time, in the long run they help to firmly establish the economy and make the nation Dependency theory, in contrast, holds that there are a small number of established nations that are continually fed by developing nations; at the expense of the developing nations’ own health. These developing nations are essentially acting as colonial dependencies, sending their wealth to the developed nations with minimal compensation. In dependency theory, the developed nations actively keep developing nations in a subservient position, often through economic force by instituting sanctions, or by proscribing free trade policies attached to loans granted by the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. The critiques of dependency theory can be leveled within a nation as well as internationally. In fact, dependency theory tends to trace its roots to back before the emergence of modern post-colonialism. On an internal level, dependency theory can be seen applying to regions within a country. In the United States, for example, historically the industrial Northeast can be seen drawing wealth from the agricultural south in a pattern reflected in the modern world by the industrial northern hemisphere and the productive southern hemisphere. Dependency theory also posits that the degree of dependency increases as time goes on. Wealthy countries are able to use their wealth to further influence developing nations into adopting policies that increase the wealth of the wealthy nations, even at their own expense. At the same time, they are able to protect themselves from being turned on by the developing nations, making their system more and more secure as time passes. Capital continues to migrate from the developing nations to the developed nations, causing the developing nations to experience a lack of wealth, which forces them to take out larger loans from the developed nations, further indebting them. The Relevance of Dependency Theory in the Caribbean Dependency Theory is relevant to the Caribbean region because it act as a helping hand, which aid with the Caribbean being developed. It encourages trade, exports and tourism, which is a major form of economic growth. The Caribbean can only produce so much for itself; we have to be dependent on other countries to get resources that are absent from within the Caribbean region. The product varies, as sugar from Cuba and Guyana, bauxite in Jamaica and Guyana, petroleum in Trinidad and Tobago and in the Netherlands Antilles, bananas in St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent, Guadeloupe and Martinique and coffee in Haiti. Dependency Theory in the Caribbean region has prospered by means of export of the resource-based products. The Caribbean regions are at a disadvantage but given this, one can seek maximum advantage. Nevertheless given the bad experience of the colonial period most countries turned to some kind of planning, involving and export substitution and export diversification. Assets were created from as early as the colonial period. Tourism is one of the main foreign exchange earners for most of the regions economies. Some implications on how developing countries can alleviate the effects of the world system are by: OPromotion of domestic industry and manufactured goods. By imposing subsidies to protect domestic industries, poor countries can be enabled to sell their own products rather than simply exporting raw materials. OImport limitations, by limiting the importation of luxury goods and manufactured goods that can be produced within the country, the country can reduce its loss of capital and resources. OForbidding foreign investment, some governments took steps to keep foreign companies and individuals from owing or operating property that draws on the resources of the country. ONationalization, some governments have forcibly taken over foreign-owned companies on behalf of the state, in order to keep profits within the country. Dependency Theory and its place in the Global Economy Dependency Theory sees the global economy as characterized by a structured relationship between the cores states which, using political military and economic power to extract a surplus from the peripheral countries. Any attempt by the dependent nations to resist the influences of dependency often result in economic sanctions. Dependency Theory in its various forms has advanced the proposition that development and underdevelopment are opposite faces of the same coin, â€Å"or reciprocal conditions of a global system of capital accumulation. Economic vulnerability and dependency are other dimensions that are derived from the relatively high degree of financial dependency of most government in the region. The Caribbean countries face several challenges arising out of structural shifts in the world economy. The main disadvantages are represented by certain primary products exports, preferential arrangements and environmental vulnerability. Dependency Theory Bedouins and the Dependency Theory. Theories of globalization fall into three categories; Modernization, dependency and the world systems theory. These theories each sprout out into more categories and they distinguish what or how a country or society has developed into. The modernization theory focuses on the culture and belief systems that are powered by globalization. This theory then takes off into five more stages known as the traditional stage, culture-change stage, take-off stage, self-sustained stage, and high economy stage.These stages mainly focus on a few things such as tradition, culture, economy, advancement of education and technology, and also ones that produce the exported goods for other countries to import. Although some theories are open to change that is done gradually, some refuse to change and just stay the same without and further advancement. Although these theories are what distinguish a country and where it lays on the scale, it still does not mean it cannot further itself into something better throughout the world.Anthropologist Donald Cole researched on the Bedouins who are groups of nomadic pastoralists. Al Murrah is the people Cole focused on, they are a small society that resided in the heart of the desert in the country of Saudi Arabia. They were based on caravan trade with relied on the care of camels and other animals. The Al Murrah society was a society based off itself, and other small societies around the desert. They relied on the commodities with oasis centres for dates, rice and bread. They had a military force and also raided others and committed warfare.The rich and powerful Saudi government then recruited Al Murrah males into the national guards work and then the leader of the Al Murrah, as known as the Emir, was recognized as the commander in chief of the small tribes for the national guards. The Saudis would then pay these commanders salary wages which they then would distribute to other tribes people. This then left the Al Murrah people dependent on the Saudi government. This type of works would be considered under the dependency theory. The modern state of Saudi Arabia has token its time by exploiting the small tribe of the Al Murrah by having them work for the National Guard for wages.Saudi government took control over these people by having them always wanting more money and so they would recruit more and more emirs into the National Guard which thus left the Bedouins to be integrated into the nation states throughout the Arabian Peninsula. The dependency theory applies to the Bedouins because it is a larger group exploiting the smaller group into helping them. Although their lifestyles are different, they still accepted the change and still went on with it and now have discontinued existing in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.