Executive Remuneration Analysis of Vodafone

Executive Remuneration Analysis of Vodafone 1. Introduction Executive remuneration is the compensation which company rewards for the executive directors. Since the early 1980s, executive payment increase rapidly. The unjustified increasing of executive remuneration pushes the reform of remuneration policy. The Cadbury code mentioned this problem in the Code of Practice in 1995. Cadbury gives some suggestions to companies about the executive remuneration policy.According to his suggestions, companies should dividend total payment into the basic salary and performance-based bonus, and the remuneration report should publish in the annual reporting every year [1]. In additional, UK government provides the vote right for shareholders to supervise the company’s executive remuneration, it also can force executive directors taking investors’ interest into account when they design the company strategy [2]. The analysis of big companies’ remuneration policy is more emphasi ze by investors and government, especially after the 2008 financial crisis.Investors are paying more attention to whether the executives deserve the high reward. Therefore, the analysis of executive remuneration is more necessary and valuable. Companies in FTSE 100 have the highest market capitalization in UK, and it means the analysis of FTSE 100 companies is most valuable. Vodafone Group, as one of the biggest company in the FTSE 100 companies, has business in almost 70 countries. And the market capitalization is nearly ? 90bn [3]. Last year, Vittorio Calao, the CEO? of Vodafone received around ? 0m for remuneration in fiscal year 2012, which is one of the highest remuneration in the FTSE 100 [4]. Although the executive rewards are higher than others in the FTSE 100, there still are 96. 12% shareholders voting in favour with the Vodafone’s remuneration policy [5]. This raises the question that why there are a huge amount of shareholders convincingly supports their highest r emuneration. This essay analyses the executive remuneration for Vodafone Group. Firstly, it will talk about the remuneration principle. Then the Remuneration Committee will be discussed.This part aims to measure whether the Remuneration Committee according to the UK Corporate Governance Code. The third part will explain the remuneration package of Vodafone Group, both base salary and various bonuses are included. At last, the essay will discuss the rationality of Vodafone’s executive remuneration from the perspectives of remuneration policy itself and the comparison with other companies. 2. Remuneration principle The aim of Vodafone’s executive remuneration is driving executives to achieve the company’s long-term strategic goals by offering an attractive and competitive reward [6].Vodafone wishes to make sure that their executive directors keeping in the highest level in work by providing an attractive payment. For example, a part of rewards are measured by the performance for this year. Therefore, executive directors were given an opportunity to achieve the truly exceptional performance. The remuneration package is determined by Remuneration Committee after Comprehensive consideration. The Remuneration Committee will choose some relevant group of comparators when setting total reward. It makes sure that the executive remuneration policies are considered on a total compensation basis.The comparators are choosing from some basic considerations, which are as follows: 1) top European companies, 2) top UK companies, 3) particularly for scarce skills, and 4) the relevant market in question [6]. These comparators mean that Europe is the major region for business for Vodafone, and the company is original from UK. According to above three principles, the external comparators are consisting by similar size companies, and the European top 25 companies and a few other select companies relevant to the sector.Additionally, the external comparator group do not including the financial companies, such as bank and insurance company. Another important Remuneration principle is that the rewards will related to the performance both long-term and short-term. According to the Annual Report of 2012, performance-based reward account for 70% in the whole remuneration package [6]. Vodafone build a link between executive directors and shareholders by this way, in order to force executive directors think about shareholders’ interest. 3. Remuneration CommitteeAccording to the UK Corporate Governance Code, the Remuneration Committee must include at least three independent non-executive directors [7]. The Remuneration Committee of Vodafone is consisting by independent non-executive directors and running independently in the company. The chairman of Remuneration Committee is Luc Vandevelde, and there are another five members in the Remuneration Committee. All of them are the non-executive directors in company. There also are two external adv isors: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (‘pwc’) and Towers Watson.Pwc is responsible for performance analysis and giving suggestions about company strategy and measuring the performance. It also supports the international business of Vodafone, such as tax, finance, compliance and operations. Another external advisor Towers Watson provides the market data of executive payment to Remuneration Committee. They also manage the pensions and benefit for Vodafone [6]. There are a lot of factors need to be considered by Remuneration Committee when deciding the payment package. Firstly, Remuneration Committee consults the CEO and HR directors’ opinion of the appropriate reward package for executives.Secondly, the external advisors give the Committee another perspective form the external information analysis. They can provide the benchmark of directors’ reward about other similar company on the market. Additionally, Committee also take the company’s strategy into ac count, both long-term and short-term are important. In fiscal year 2012, Remuneration Committee had five meetings to discuss the Short-Term Incentive bonus, Long-Term Incentive plan and basic salary in order to determine the total remuneration packages of the executive directors appropriately [6].Remuneration Committee particularly report four chief executive directors in the Directors’ Remuneration Report, including Chief Executive Vittotio Colao, Chief Financial Officer Andy Halford, Chief Technology Officer Stephen Pusey and Regional CEO Europe Michel Combes, and the reporting also include the reward of non-executive directors. 4. Remuneration package The Vodafone remuneration package is divided into five parts: base salary, Global Short-Term Incentive Plan (‘GSTIP’), Global Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘GLTI’) base awards, Global Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘GLTI’) co-investment matching awards and benefit [6].These parts reflect the remu neration policy of Vodafone which make the executives holing a lot of company shares to align the interest of executive directors and investors. It also obeys the UK Corporate Governance Code that keeping the reward in a level which is attractive and motivate to the directors, and designing the performance- related income based on long-term strategy. Base salary aims to attract and retain the best talents. It reflects the directors’ level of skill, experience and the responsibility in Vodafone. In fiscal year 2012, Committee decided the base salary stay at the same level with 2011[6].Global (‘GSTIP’) measure the performance in this financial year with the short- term financial and non- financial target, and the GSTIP is paid in cash in June 2013. The related performance is service revenue (25%), EBITDA (25%), adjusted free cash flow (20%) and competitive performance assessment (30%). This bonus can flow from 0-200% of base salary, and it reward 93. 4% of target f or financial year 2012[6]. Global Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘GLTI’) is consist of performance shares which award every year and vest three years later to force directors on the Vodafone’s long-term strategy.The vesting of performance shares is determined by the adjusted free cash flow and relative TSR performance. Both operational performance and external performance are included in the two measures in GLTI. The target GLTI face value of CEO is 137. 5% for basic salary, and 110% for other directors. In this year, executive directors was rewarded the vesting the shares of 2008 fiscal year at 30. 6% of maximum [6]. Global Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘GLTI’) co-investment matching awards means that executive directors can purchase Vodafone normal shares and turning them to performance shares after holding three years.Benefit is the pension scheme for the executive director and other benefit such as company car and private medical insurance. 5. Analysis of the director remuneration Figure 1 Total remuneration for 2012 (based on Vodafone 2012 Annual Report) The Figure 1 shows the detail of the total remuneration for fiscal year 2012 including a value for GLTI payment. Without the GLTI vesting during this year, Vodafone actually paid 30. 35m pounds to CEO Colao, 19. 27m pounds to CFO Halford, 21m pounds to Europe region CEO Combes, and 14. 08m pounds for CTO Pusey [6].The Figure 1 illustrates that all the four chief executive directors’ incomes are increasing except the CTO Pusey. Although the total rewards were general increased, GSTIP for fiscal year 2012 was decreasing. In the meanwhile, salary and cash in lieu of pension were keeping in the similar level with last year. Therefore, the increasing of total remuneration was due to the significant increasing of the item cash in lieu of GLTI dividends. During the fiscal year 2012, the Global Short-Term Incentive was deduct from last year. The total actual short term incentive pay ment was 93. %, while the target payment is 100% and the maximum payment is 200% for the basic salary [6]. According to the remuneration policy of Vodafone, GSTIP is influenced by the performance for this year. There are four indicates to measure the GSTIP: service revenue, EBITDA, adjusted free cash flow and competitive performance assessment. According to the 2012 annual report, the service revenue slightly increased to 46. 4bn pounds, which was just arrival the target performance [6]. However, the EBITAD and adjust free cash flow were cut down, especially the adjust free cash flow.Because of the loss of China Mobile Limited and the dividends of SFR, the actual pay-out percentage for adjust free cash flow is 8. 5, while the target performance is 20% in the whole GSTIP [6]. The policy of GSTIP is related to both the financial and non-financial performance in this year in order to measure the executive short-term performance in a rational way. The target performance is not only base d on the Vodafone’s strategy and past operation, but also taking the long-term strategy into account. Figure 2 Adjust free cash flow target and range for awards Based on Vodafone 2012 Annual Report) Figure 3 GLTI award for 2008 & 2009 (based on Vodafone 2012 Annual Report) Opposite the reducing of DSTIP, cash for Global Long-Term Incentive Plan is significant increase. The GLTI is determined by adjust free cash flow and the TSR outperformance of a peer group median. These two indicators consist a matrix in order to measure the internal operational performance and external performance. The long-term operation cycle is three years which means the target performance of financial year 2012 was settled in 2010.According to Figure 2, the target for 2012 is 18bn pounds, while the actual adjusted free cash flow for 2012 was 20. 9bn pounds [6]. Another important measure is the TSR performance. The figure 3 shows that Vodafone’s TSR was outperformance than the peer group which c onstitute by the similar size companies. The TSR performance increasing by 18. 5% in 2012, and exceed the target number. Therefore, the TSR performance for 2012 was paid by 100% of maximum to executive directors, while there is only 30% in 2011.Figure 4 Five year historical TSR performance (based on Vodafone 2012 Annual Report) Table 1 Comparison of Vodafone & BT Group (Base on [6] [8] [9] [10]) 201220112010 CEO Reward ?000Total Revenue ?bnCEO Reward ?000Total Revenue ?bnCEO Reward ?000Total Revenue ?bn Vodafone303546. 46282645. 88266844. 47 BT Group250518. 90235920. 1210520. 1 To compare with other similar size companies in UK, figure 4 reflects the Vodafone TSR performance compare with the average level of FSTE 100. From this figure, it indicates that Vodafone’s TSR performance is higher than the average level of FSTE 100.It means that the Vodafone Group is in a better operation situation among FSTE 100 companies. Therefore, it is reasonable that Vodafone’s executive remuneration is higher than the similar size companies. Additionally, the comparison in Table 1 is shown in similar result. BT Group is another strong competitor of Vodafone in UK telecommunication industry. The numbers in table 1 are published in the annual report for the two companies from 2010 to 2012. The total revenue of Vodafone is basically twice as much as BT Group, while the difference between the CEO remuneration is just around ? m in the three years. Through above analysis, Vodafone remuneration is in a rational level, and it is corresponding to its operation performance. 6. Conclusion All in all, Vodafone executive remuneration is acceptable and in a rational level. It not only reflects the operation performance but also obey the rules of UK Corporate Governance Code. The executive remuneration is setting by an independent remuneration committee which consist by five non-executive directors and two external advisors.The remuneration report is published by Remuneration C ommittee in Vodafone’s Annual Report. The remuneration package divide into base salary, Global Short-Term Incentive Plan (‘GSTIP’), Global Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘GLTI’) base awards, Global Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘GLTI’) co-investment matching awards and benefit. Through these five parts, executive reward is related to performance and the investor interest, and can help executives focusing on company’s strategy. Therefore, Vodafone executive remuneration can be seen as a good example in executive remuneration policy.

Real Madrid Brand Management Essay

Corporate sponsors: a beneficial relationship for both parties, the increasing awareness coming from the efficient marketing programme from Real Madrid allows a greater financial return and also the possibility to reach the consumers of its sponsors as well. The main sponsors are both in the sports arena, which allows the club to expand its image without over-stretching; eg. Bwin sport betting platform; and Adidas, an experienced brand in the sports scene. Othersports brands People Things Places Adidas & Bwin Galacticos Cristiano Ronaldo Figure 3. Secondary leveraging through associations with people and other brands Externally the team also benefited from strong rivalry with Barcelona and in a smaller scale it also uses the association with football in Spain as a mean to build its brand reputation. 3) Brand performance Real Madrid since its foundation built its reputation over its successful story. Like other European clubs, until last decade it adopted a focus on the sport events only, which enable the team to be known nationally and throughout Europe. In middle of 2000’s, the club identified the opportunity to increase knowledge worldwide and was also able to increase its brand stature, attracting more fans by selecting star players for the squad. According to Young and Rubincam Brand Asset Valuator (Value Based Management, 2011), the club has been for a long time in the position of unrealised/emerging potential. In the last decade it has reached leadership, competing with teams such as Manchester United and Barcelona. Real Madrid has always had good brand strength, but only in the last 10 years it has been able to fully exploit the brand stature. Figure 4. Building brand stature through time 1902 -mid 2000’s Mid 2000’s – now Figure 5. From unrealised potential to leadership (Merlo, 2011) 4) Brand equity sustainability In order to successfully manage the brand through time, it is necessary to analyse the external and internal factors that could affect its equity. Analysing the threats through the external perspective, the most recent proof of the successful strategy of going global was showed when Real Madrid went through the last world economy downturn without suffering any major financial impact: â€Å"We continue to assert that top clubs are well placed o meet the challenges of the economic environment. Large and loyal supporter bases, the ability to drive broadcast audiences and continuing attraction to corporate partners provide a strong base to underpin revenues†, says Paul Rawnsley, director in Deloitte’s sports business group. (licensemag. com, 2011) Real Madrid has made a good use of merchandising and did not over-stretch the brand by launching products that are not related to sports. It has been able to feed fans’ variety seeking without confusing them or diluting the brand meaning. 5) Conclusion Real Madrid’s tactics based on a mix of two strategies (reputation and affinity) is a good balance to protect the club from vulnerability. By constantly having good results the team builds a good reputation while at the same time crystallizing the emotions of the fans and creating affinity. One of the risks faced by the brand lies in over-relating to the image of individual players as eventual personal incidents might damage the brand equity. Real Madrid’s brand uses associations with people and other brands. It could explore further associations with the country Spain.

History of Fashion Essay

Fashion has always been a reflection of the collective consciousness and unconsciousness of society. In politically conservative times, fashion reflects the staidness of the majority, but also the subversive elements of the minority. No less a controversial figure than King Louis XIV of France was rumored to have said that fashion was a mirror. Music, films, and television, all potent pop culture mirrors in their own right of the anxieties, hopes, and dreams of any society, all collectively form a synergistic relationship with fashion, each informing, influencing, and cross-pollinating the others in various turns. Fashion is also a pop culture manifestation of the intellectual and cultural trend of postmodernism. Fashion depends on newness; summer, fall, winter, spring are seasons that occur inexorably each year, and with them, the demand for new fashion lines. The inexhaustible hunger for new ideas and inspirations in fashion and other pop culture arenas leads inevitably to cannibalization, plagiarism, re-contextualization, and re-imagination of ideas past and present – the essence of postmodernism. If we survey the landscape of where pop culture and fashion have been, we can to some degree predict the elements which may define where it will go, though in the postmodern universe of the 21st century, it is next to impossible to predict what incarnations will come to pass. Fashion is the byproduct of a leisure society that has transcended many of the basic human struggles on the lower level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Most people in prosperous Western nations are fortunate enough to lead lives in which the acquisition and/or maintenance of food, shelter, and clothing is not a struggle that consumes their existence, as is sadly true in many African nations, for example. Free to ponder the meaning of their lives and the many ways in which it is possible for humans to express their inner thoughts and feelings, citizens of the leisure society began to use fashion as a mode of self-expression and reflection of any number of zeitgeists of their time. As far back as the 1700s, French women consulted fashion magazines to learn the latest fashion trends. Sketch artists were present in royal courts to make note of the fashion choices made by the ruling classes, and communicated these ideas to dressmakers across the nation, who in turn crafted facsimiles for those who were able to afford such fashion mimicry. The French have historically held a special place in the fashion universe since this time. As the 1800s and 1900s saw Western societies evolve from agrarian societies to industrial societies, with the concurrent increase in wealth and disposal income, the focus on and indulgence in fashion increased. With the advent of pop music, most notably rock-and-roll in the 1950s, and television, teenagers all around the world saw the likes of Elvis Presley and his gyrating hips, causing a global fashion sensation. Boys everywhere began to sport white t-shirts (in whose sleeves the more raucous ones rolled packs of cigarettes), blue jeans, and grease their hair. Celebrities from the arenas of music, film, and then television became the new royalty, the new elites, for Western cultures, and the fashion trends they embodies became inspirations for millions in each successive generation. The messages of rock-and-roll became more complex, subversive, and powerful in the 1960s, corresponding with the United States’ controversial entry into the Vietnam War and a wholesale rejection on both sides of the Atlantic of many of the traditional values of the Cold War era. The Beatles’s turn from fresh-scrubbed, feel-good bubblegum pop to psychedelic and metaphysical subject matter influences a new set of fashion trends which shocked the Establishment to the core. Men and women everywhere began wearing colorful (both literally and figuratively), outrageously expressive, and even outlandish fashions, and allowing their hair to grow long. The exhaustion from the myriad political and socio-cultural revolutions of the 1960s, and the stagnant Western economies of the 1970s gave way to a culture preoccupied with escapism and simply having a good time. Sit-ins and political protests gave way to champagne-filled boogie nights. The flower-power psychedelia fashion trends of the late 1960s and early 1970s gave way to the groovy leisure suit styles inspired by the music trend of disco that consumed the world from roughly 1976 to 1980 and cemented by the global box office phenomenology of the film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta and featuring a soundtrack packed with disco hits written by the Bee Gees. The tight-fitting and well-cut suits worn by Travolta, and the sexy, stylish dresses and pantsuits of the women in the film inspired millions to change their wardrobes accordingly. On the tail end of the disco era came a brief but potent preoccupation with cowboy fashion, inspired by the peculiar utilitarian clothing from the American Old West – cowboy boots, rugged blue jeans, ten-gallon cowboy hats, etc. , again propelled into the collective fashion consciousness of the world by another hugely successful film, 1982’s Urban Cowboy. At the same time the fashion trends inspired by disco and cowboy culture were dying out, the realm of the political again profoundly affected the universe of fashion. The elections of conservative political figureheads Margaret Thatcher in England and Ronald Reagan in the U.  S. sparked a schizophrenic revolution in clothing and music: as economic recoveries were engineered on the backs of the working poor, the culture that proclaimed â€Å"greed is good† took to reveling in the wearing conservative, yet expensive or even shocking clothing – furs, for example — which reflected the mindset of conspicuous consumption. Simultaneously, those cultural elements who were not benefiting from the economic boom were rebelling against the conservative establishment trends and adopting controversial styles embodied, for example, in the slut-chic clothing popularized by the music and videos of Madonna. Music videos, a new invention in pop culture and institutionalized by the power of MTV, became a new showcase for outrageous fashion statements in the 1980s and beyond. The greed and spiritual bankruptcy of the 1980s gave way to the hippie nouveaux culture of the Earth-and-cause-friendly early-to-mid 1990s, and then to the greed nouveaux culture of the late 1990s, spawned by the phenomenal economic growth of the Internet boom. By this time, pop culture had begun to liberally cannibalize itself for new ideas, having exhausted much of its potential for true originality. As technology and civilization continue their exponential evolution of consumption, genuinely original ideas become more and more difficult to generate, leading fashion designers to borrow from past ideas, to combine hitherto uncombined or un-combinable ideas, as evidenced by the infamous phrase â€Å"What’s old is new; what’s new is old. The early 21st Century is a time of profound uncertainty in fashion, with a myriad of recycled influences competing for the crown of the next hot fashion trend. The inherent self-referentiality and cannibalism of post-modernism, however, makes it virtually impossible to predict which trends will take hold and when. The next decade will make for a fascinating time in the universe of fashion.

Chauser's Wife of Bath is a Female Misgoynist Term Paper

Chauser's Wife of Bath is a Female Misgoynist - Term Paper Example But Chaucer portrays the Wife of Bath as a female misogynist that shows how a woman could react to those male expectations. Thesis-Supporting Passages The Wife of Bath is the most unusual female character who has been interpreted differently by different critics from different points of views. While some critics claim that the Wife of Bath is a typical and also stereotypical embodiment of womanly impiety, sinfulness, immorality and transgression, others claim that Chaucer’s portrayal of the Wife of Bath is asexual and convincingly feministic. Indeed the Wife of Bath’s notoriety and debauchery can be perceived as her individual tendency to follow her own pursuits and her practice of using sexual attributes for personal is essentially her only plausible alternative to economic empowerment in the strictly patriarchic Chaucerian society. Also the reasoning capability of the Wife of Bath to support her cause presents her as a female misogynist’s challenge to the patri archal notion about a woman. ... is no biblical proof against remarriage of woman, As she says, Eke well I wot he said that my husband Should let father and mother, and take to me; But of no number mention made he, Of bigamy or of octogamy; Why should men then speak of it villainy? She throws a challenge to everyone to prove her wrong on the fact that the Holy Scripture has not set a limit to the number of successive marriages that a woman can have throughout her life. Again she argues against the traditional notion of patriarchy that a man’s polygamy is acceptable because men are capable of performing sexual intercourse vigorously with many women. She says that though a man who is capable of performing intercourse with many women is rare, King Solomon had many wives. She believes in King Solomon’s virility since it is in the Scripture. Yet she wonders, Which gift of God had he for all his wives, No man hath such that in this world alive is (40-41). Conclusion In the beginning, the readers become appal led to view a sexually degraded woman who can carefully argue for her sexual role that is perceptibly problematic in the eye of Chaucerian society. But the way in which the Wife of Bath argues against the beliefs of medieval patriarchy about woman seems to be irrefutable. Nonetheless an judicious reader will perceive that Chaucer upholds the Wife of Bath as a female misogynist who is overtly feminine and very independent in nature. Works Cited Chaucer, Jeffrey, The Canterbury Tales, New York: Hacket Publishers,

Steelband Music in Trinidad and Tobago Research Paper - 1

Steelband Music in Trinidad and Tobago - Research Paper Example Music of a particular region and era contains vital information about the thoughts and beliefs of its people. Drumming is considered an integral part of culture of Trinidad and Tobago. Located off the south eastern coast of North America close to the Bahamas in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago’s musical history dates back to the years of its rule by the British and Spaniards. Music was used as a channel of self expression and a means of social and intellectual liberation. The history of Trinidad and Tobago has seen colonisation by the British and the Europeans. This is quite evident in the demographic mix of races, religions and communities of people. Music is deeply associated with caste, colour and race as at some point or the other people from different backgrounds have alternate ways of thinking and applying music. The country’s population consists of Christians (50%), Hindus (25%) and mixed races (Europeans, Whites etc.). Half of the population are Trinidadians, the rest are Afro-Trinidadians (African in origin) and the remaining are of mixed origin (Aho 20). The music world has seen extensive use of percussive elements in compositions from around the world. Amongst the genres of music that rely on heavy usage of percussion are Reggae, Hip Hop, Rap, Native Caribbean Folk Music and Latin American Music. The emphasis on rhythm and percussive elements in musical compositions and performances is a trademark of music from the Latin American, Caribbean and European regions. Trinidad and Tobago’s music history also has the roots of percussion dominance in music embedded in the culture and tradition. The steel drum has its origin in the economically backward areas of the capital city: Port of Spain. The steel drums that we know today had its origins in the capital city and were made by young men with basic education, hailing from underprivileged families. The

Comparison between US and UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparison between US and UK - Essay Example Similarities lie in the way decisions are made economically, in the United States of America, decisions related to economic policies are made by the central bank, by the Federal Reserve Committee, headed by the Federal Reserve chairman. These decisions heavily rely on macro-level economic data, factors such as real estate trends, rates of inflation, patterns of economic growth and home values are indicators that are commonly used. The federal funds' rate is set by the central bank, consequently influencing the rates for consumer and business accounts for savings and loan. Monetary policies are majorly concerned with balancing healthy growth and reduced inflation, or increased prices. This is one of the ways the government tries to control the economy. The fast growth rate of inflation is as a consequence of increased money supply, and when inflation is down this means money supply is down. Generally, the US inflation target is set to maintain the steadiness of the inflation, which sh ould be between 2-3% (GÃ ¤rtner 46). The UK monetary policy is set in almost a similar fashion. It is set by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the bank of England. Though they are independent in setting the interest rates that will consequently influence the interest rates for savings and loans for individuals and businesses, they must put to consideration governments inflation target. The policy is key in influencing the spending of consumer and Aggregate Demand (AD).

Natures deadliest animals in brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Natures deadliest animals in brazil - Essay Example ul research shows, however, that nature’s deadliest animals in Brazil are much more dangerous to other animals in their habitat, than to human beings. One of the creatures that is the most deadly in Brazil is a relatively common fish called the piranha. It is usually quite small, between 15 cm and 26 cm in length and it is very plentiful in the Amazon region. (St Louis and Chandler, p. 111) Its normal behavior is to scavenge for food from dead fish, plants and insects in the river and so it plays a useful role in cleaning up the environment. People very rarely are attacked by piranha but when a large mammal is attacked, it can be extremely shocking, since the piranha come in great numbers and nibble at the body. The reputation of this fish is actually much worse than its real nature, because it usually avoids human beings and concentrates on smaller prey. Only one particular situation can be very dangerous for humans, and that occurs when the river is low. Piranhas can get trapped in tributaries or lakes that get cut off from the main river. This means that their food supply disappears and in that case they will attack almost anyt hing because they are desperate for food. It is noted that â€Å"confirmed accounts of human fatalities caused by piranhas are extremely few, but plenty of Amazonian river folks have scars or missing fingers to testify just how sharp and vicious those little triangular teeth can be.† (St Louis and Chandler, p. 104) Many people are afraid of another small creature, which is technically an insect rather than an animal, namely the spider. In Brazil there are several species of the biggest spiders of all: tarantulas. These include the Brazilian yellowbanded, the Brazilian salmon, the Brazilian black and the Brazilian graysmoke, as well as many others which are common across the South American continent (Tarantula facts website). The way that tarantulas capture and kill their prey is quite disgusting from a human point of view, but

Term paper 1 for an Academic writing class (Advantages Of Using Robots

1 for an Academic writing class (Advantages Of Using Robots In Future) - Term Paper Example There is however various factors that are considered while assigning activities to robots. First, it’s important to identify the activities that the elderly experience difficulty in handling. The robots are also developed considering their tasks so as to determine their physical abilities for example some robots are developed with ambulation ability to support in physical movement while others are developed with social communication ability to support in house hold tasks that require communication. Robots are used to assist in human activities due to several reasons such as improving the job quality, to avoid long repetitive jobs that tend to be boring or to perform tasks that could be dangerous to human beings (Richardson, 2007). Robots are also advantageous as they can work for many hours without complaining and they are not affected by factors like sickness as in human beings (Saeed, 2010). The robots are therefore used in the home environment to assist the elderly in diffi cult tasks that they may not manage to handle by themselves such as health, self maintenance and maintaining their independence. Some of the maintenance activities the robots could assist the elderly with include feeding, grooming, dressing bathing, preparing food, laundry, medication and transportation among others. They also have played a major role in enhancing medical administration on the adults by reminding them to take their medications and ensuring they take the right quantities at the right time. Additionally, robots are used in the medical field where they are able to perform operations as well as surgeries in cases where precision and delicacy are required. Robots are most commonly used in heart surgeries without having to open the patient’s chest. They are also useful in performing diagnosis and restoring the good health of the patient through close monitoring. Research has proved that robots are capable of performing safer and secure surgeries as compared to huma n beings because they can easily make small cuts in the organ tissues (Bond, 2009). This, therefore, ensures that the patients are more comfortable and at eas. The robots also enhance more accurate and safer diagnosis as compared to human beings. Human beings can easily make errors while performing the diagnosis and issuing medication due to various problems (Michler, 2003). The robots that perform diagnosis on patients perform the tests just the same way as the doctors or nurses. The activities the robots undertake in diagnosis include sample collection and scan performance among others. The use of robots also helps reduce errors and malpractices likely to occur as a result of diagnosis report delivery. Robots also play a vital role in rehabilitating accident victims by restoring the functioning of organs such as their hands and legs through therapy (Saeed, 2010). As part of therapy, the robots also help the patients keep fit by monitoring their weights through physical exercise su ch as walking and ensuring they take healthy meals. They also help in closely monitoring the progress of the patients as they recover from the injuries as well as enhancing effective administration of the hospitals. The robots therefore play a very role in the medical field and should as a result be widely implemented in other medical activities. Robots are also used as tools of education in both secondary and university levels where they perform the same

Book Report Six Pages Total Double Spaced and The Name Of The Book Is Term Paper

Book Report Six Pages Total Double Spaced and The Name Of The Book Is (So Much Reform) and the aurthor is Charles M. Payne - Term Paper Example The book focuses on the disconnection existent between educational policy and the said realities of urban schools. Payne seeks to define failure and looks into the causes; he refers to them as hardly surprising. In reference to this, the book proves just how much information Payne has accumulated on the said failures about which he writes (Payne, 2008). As regards the causes of failure, Payne indicates that it is due to reformers, policy-makers and school communities that urban schools fail to meet their goals. This is because they focus more on reforms but not what the reforms can do to aid their performance and achievements of the schools they represent. What he considers surprising is the fact that reformers, school communities and policy-makers never seem to learn from the mistakes they make. This is in relation to the knowledge that they accumulate in the process of improving the public school system and lack of implementation of the experiences they acquire. The failure of adults to learn lies in the basis of social issues ranging from racism and poverty to privatization of public interests. Payne shows the relationship between social failures and those that affect public school systems. The dysfunctional social systems result in overall failure of implementation of relevant social and educational understandings (Payne, 2008) . As a result, the thesis of the book revolves around failures of various stakeholders in the education sector and the entire book keeps referring to the point of failure. In addition, according to the thesis, this situation remains repetitive based on mutual demoralization of schools as organizations and manifestation of the irrationality of actions taken by schools. In addition to the thesis statement, Payne intertwines various other concepts of failure in the book to demonstrate his point and air his view openly for open interpretation by members

Universities in Middle Ages Essay Example for Free

Universities in Middle Ages Essay 1. 1 Origin of the University The main reason for the establishment of the universities in Europe was a spontaneous and enthusiastic desire for knowledge. Centres of learning had grown up from the monastic and cathedral schools formed what might be called the secondary school system of the early Middle Ages and were mostly concerned with the study of the liturgy and prayer. Towards the end of the twelfth century a few of the greatest old cathedral, monastic or some other form of schools claimed, from the excellence of their teaching, to be more than merely local importance. These schools were generally recognized places of study, where lectures were open to student of all countries and of all conditions. However, for these places of study, it took a long period of time to become universities (Cubberley, 1920). The more ancient and customary term for an academic institution was studium generale. Let us explain the way studium was created in those days. It began when the teacher of some ability and reputation attracted more and more students to study. In period of time more teachers and more students came. The addition of generale meant that the studium was attended by students from other countries and it was contrasted with a studium particulare, which taught students only from the neighbourhood. In the thirteenth century, according to famous historian, Hastings Rashdall, three characteristics were connoted by the term Studium Generale; a school which aspired to the name must not be restricted to natives of a particular town or country, it must have a number of masters, and it must teach not only the Seven Liberal Arts, but also one or more of the higher studies of Theology, Law and Medicine (1969, p9). It was used in much the same sense in which we speak of a University to-day (Graves, 1914) The term universitas itself was a general Roman legal term and originally meant any legally defined guild or corporation unless qualified by other expression. The complete name of the medieval university was – Universitas Magistrorum et Scholarium – the body of masters and scholars. Graves suggests that â€Å"it signified a company of persons that had assembled for study and, like any other gild, had organized for the sake of protection; since they were in a town there they were regarded as strangers. Thus it did not refer to a place or school at all, but to the teachers and scholars† (1914, p87). Lyte affirms that â€Å"in the earliest and broadest sense of the term, a university had no necessary connexion with schools or literature, being merely a community of individuals bound together by some more or less acknowledged tie. The term was, however, specially applied to the whole body of persons frequenting the schools of a large stadium† (1886, p5). According to Mullinger there are at least â€Å"three new factors in the intellectual activity of the older universities which clearly distinguish that activity from anything that had gone before. Firstly, there is the introduction of new subjects of study, as embodied in a new or revived literature. Secondly it is the adaption of new methods of teaching, which these subjects rendered necessary. And finally there is the growing tendency to organisation which accompanied the development and consolidation of the nationalities† (1888, p4). Rashdall also concluded that the university had embodied three important educational values: â€Å"a commitment to providing not only useful professional training but also the highest intellectual cultivation possible; a desire not only to conserve and transmit knowledge but also to advance it by research and writing; and the most important of all, the idea of joining together teachers of diverse subjects into a single harmonious institution, the ideal of making the teaching body representative of the whole cycle of human knowledge† (1969a, p12). Practically in the second half of the twelfth century there were only few great centres where the highest education was attainable. The two great archetypal universities were those of Bologna and Paris. There was a great difference between them. The University of Bologna was considered to be the University of Students. It means that the students had entire charge of the government of the university. They hired and paid for the teachers. The University of Paris was regarded as the University of Masters, where the government was in the hands of the teachers and was paid by the church. These two types served as a pattern for nearly all the universities in Europe. The majority of the universities of northern Europe followed the system of Paris. On the other side the system of Bologna was the prototype of the southern universities. The other universities we focus on are the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. For their formation the University of Paris served as an example. However, they were not supported by the church but by the crown and the state (Rait, 1912). 1. 2 Privileges granted to universities From the time of the early universities popes, emperors and kings bestowed a large variety of exemptions, immunities and other special privileges on the masters and students of the universities. Basis for many special privileges granted to the professors and students in the early universities was formed by the grant of privileges to physicians and teachers made by the Emperor Constantine, in 333 A. D. and the privileges and immunities granted to the clergy by the early Christian Roman Emperors. In 1158, Frederic I. Barbarossa began the granting a privilege to the Studia Generalia in the document known as the Habita (the first word in the charter) in which he placed the students under his direct protection and declared them subject to the jurisdiction of their masters or of the bishop of Bologna. This grant was for the benefit of students of Bologna who were not natives of the city and were exposed to many dangers and disadvantages. It occurred that in case of any dispute between the students and a citizen of the town, the citizen had the advantage in the local court. Also the students were often robbed while travelling. So this emperor issued the following edict: â€Å"to all scholars who travelled for the sake of study and especially to the professors of divine and sacred laws They may go in safety,† he said, â€Å"to the places in which the studies are carried on, both they themselves and their messengers and may dwell there in security In the future no one shall be so rash as to venture to inflict any injury on scholars of to occasion any loss to them on account of a debt owed by an inhabitant of their province. If anyone shall presume to bring a suit against them on account of any business, the choice in this matter shall be given to the scholars, who may summon the accusers to appear before their professors or the bishop of the city, to whom we have given jurisdiction in this matter† (Graves, 1914, p82). During the period of time this privilege was also given for other universities by monarchs. A similar edict gave Philip Augustus to the students of Paris in 1200. A reason for conceding this privilege was a fight between the students and the king? s troops. The students were defeated and some of them even killed. Philip Augustus was afraid that the students would leave the school and it would be closed. He blamed his own official for the fight and gave the students full protection and immunity. It contained the obligation of every citizen of Paris to seize any one seen striking a student and deliver him to the judge. He also relieved students from trial by the city authorities unless the serious crime had been committed; in that case all judges were commanded to hand over the cases of the student criminals to the ecclesiastical judge (Munro, 1888). In 1231 Pope Gregory IX published a statute that was looked upon as the Magna Charta of the University of Paris. The members of the university were granted the right of making â€Å"constitutions and ordinances regulating the manner and time of lectures and disputations, the costume to be worn, the burial of the dead; and also concerning the bachelors, who are to lecture and at what hours, and on what they are to lecture; and concerning the prices of the lodgings or the interdiction of the same; and concerning a fit punishment for those who violate your constitutions or ordinances, by exclusion from your society† (Munro, 1921, p367). The universities had also certain recognized privileges that were specially granted by the civil or ecclesiastical authorities. Such was the jus ubique docendi, which meant that a master in one Studium Generale had the right of teaching in any other without further examination (Graves, 1914). Moreover the masters and the students had the right of cessation, the privilege of suspending lectures and go on a strike when university rights were violated. This right was frequently used to defend the university from the infringement of its freedom to teach, study, and discipline. This was closely connected with the right of migration. In the case that the members of the university were not satisfied they could leave the city and go to another town. Since the universities had no buildings and the lectures were held in the hired rooms, it was easy for them to move almost overnight. This grant caused the rise of many new universities. Sometimes it happened that a special invitation was issued to a university exercising the cessation to come to another city or even country. It was the case of the University of Oxford in 1229. King Henry III. promised the striking masters and scholars of Paris that â€Å"if it shall be your pleasure to transfer yourselves to our kingdom of England and to remain there to study, we will for this purpose assign to you cities, boroughs, towns, whatsoever you may wish to select, and in every fitting way will cause you to rejoice in a state of liberty and in tranquillity† (Graves, 1914, p85). Later Oxford, in turn, was to suffer from a similar migration. These privileges were generally held by all the universities through which the universities obtained a great power. They were free of the threat of royal or civic interference. An advantage of being self-governing corporations was that the universities were responsible for their own disciplinary arrangements and rarely had to deal with outside authorities. The liberty allowed to students resulted in recklessness, immorality, license, quarrels, dishonesty and care freeness. The students seemed to have become dissipated and quarrelsome. There were many conflicts with townspeople and even among themselves. 1. 3 Organization of universities. The students for a long time naturally grouped themselves according to the part of world and to the nation from which they came. These societies or confederations were generally known as â€Å"nations†. They came together for better protection and society. Every year each nation elected a chief, who was called the consiliarius (â€Å"councillor†). He represented the nation, looked after its interests and the rights and controlled the conduct of its members. There were constant quarrels between the different nations. A contemporary writer Jacobus de Vitriaco, has left us an account of student life at Paris, in which he says: â€Å"The students at Paris wrangled and disputed not merely about the various sects or about some discussions; but the differences between the countries also caused dissensions, hatreds and virulent animosities among them, and they impudently uttered all kinds of affronts and insults against one another†(Cubberley, 1920, p73). In each studium generale there were a larger or smaller number of â€Å"nations†. At Paris were four nations:†the honourable nation of the Gauls, the venerable nation of the Normans, the very faithful nation of the Picards, the very constant nation of the English†. Each was subdivided into provinces, and in a â€Å"province† might be included men from many lands. (Munro, 1921) According to F. P. Graves, â€Å"by the early part of the thirteenth century the students of Bologna had merged their organizations into two bodies – the universitas citramontanorum (â€Å"Cisalpine corporation†), composed of seventeen nations, and the universitas ultramontanorum (â€Å"Transalpine corporation†), made up of eighteen; but not for some three centuries were these two united† (1914, p87). In turn, the teachers themselves were combined together into â€Å"faculties†, that is to say, as associates in one and the same branch of learning and instruction. As H. C. M. Lyte states in his work that â€Å"the term faculty, which originally signified the capacity to teach a particular subject, came to be applied technically to the subject itself, or to the authorised teachers of it viewed collectively. Thus there might be separate Faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine, and the liberal Arts, coexistent within one university, although every university did not necessarily comprise all these Faculties† (1886, p7). Teachers and students were members of these faculties, and consequently also of the university. The importance of the faculties was different in various universities. A good example is the University of Bologna. Its Faculty of Law was the most prominent, the Faculty of the Medicine was established in 1316 and the Faculty of Theology was added in the year 1362. So it was with many of the early universities. All of four traditional faculties were found by the fourteenth century. Each faculty came to elect a decanus (â€Å"dean†) as its representative in the university organization. The deans, together with the councillors of the nations elected a rector, who was the head or president of the university. In a university of masters, he was generally chosen from the masters and in a university of students, he was usually a student (Graves, 1914). A long struggle aroused between the rector and the chancellor who was usually appointed by the Pope and represented the Church, to be the chief authority in the university. Ultimately the rector became the chief authority and the position of chancellor had no real importance. 1. 3. 1 The Faculty of Arts At Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge the arts faculties were the most dominant and were preparatory to the other three faculties. There is no evidence of any formal requirement for entry into an arts faculty, but it was necessary to have elementary proficiency in Latin, however the lectures were given in this language. The prescribed length of the course was six years with a minimum age of fourteen or fifteen for admission. According to Robert of Courson? s statutes of 1215 the minimum age for graduation as a master was fixed at twenty years. The basis of the medieval curriculum in Arts is to be found in the Seven Liberal Arts of the Dark Ages. The term liberal, derived from the Latin liberalis, has its roots in the word meaning â€Å"free†. It can implicate that a liberal arts education â€Å"frees† individuals from the chaos of irrationality. In the medieval period, the liberal arts were divided into the Trivium, which was consisted of Grammar, Rhetoric and Dialectic, and the Quadrivium, which included Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry and Music. These â€Å"Seven Liberal Arts† were thought suitable for the development of intellectual and moral excellence (North, 1992). Grammar always had a central place in the curriculum, but it did not mean how sentences are constructed or the analyses of parts of speech. It was the foundation and source of all the Liberal Arts. In the introduction to an improved Latin grammar, published about 1119, grammar is defined as â€Å"The doorkeeper of all the other sciences, the apt expurgatrix of the stammering tongue, the servant of logic, the mistress of rhetoric, the interpreter of theology, the relief of medicine, and the praiseworthy foundation of the whole quadrivium. † Grammar also included the study of poetry and poetic structure. It was also used for the analysis of secular writings, scriptures and biblical commentaries (Leff, 1992). By the definition, Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Defined by Maurus, it was â€Å"the art of using secular discourse effectively in the circumstances of daily life. † Students learned about the techniques of oral expression and strategies of debate. It also enables the preacher or missionary to put the divine message in eloquent and impressive language. Dialectics, or logic, was the study of the use of logic in debates. By means of its aid a student was enabled to formulate argument, expose error, unmask falsehood, and draw conclusions accurately. It also includes the theory that argument and debate are part of the learning process. Its popularity was greatly enhanced by the acquisition of writings of Aristotle (Leff, 1992). The Quadrivium had relatively little importance and received small attention during the medieval period. The chief purpose of the astronomy was to explain the seasons and the motions of the planets. The study of this field enables the priests â€Å"to fix the time of Easter and all other festivals and holy days, and to announce to the congregation the proper celebration of them† For telling the time and for surveying purposes were used instruments which included a map of stars, the astrolabe and the quadrant. Other field of Quadrivium was also used for determining church days and calculating the date of Easter – Arithmetic. Moreover it involved the study of theories underlying the study of numbers and interpreting passages in the Scriptures involving measurements. It has to be remarked that the Roman system of notation was used and the Arabic notation was not known until the beginning of the thirteenth century (North, 1992). Geometry, the science of measurements, was used primarily as a means of calculating and measuring. Its focus was on the relational values between objects and determining ratios. It involved the geography of Europe, Asia and Africa, too. Music was based on the same principle as Arithmetic. While Arithmetic concerned the numerical manifestation of universal ratios, music was considered to be the expression of numerical relationships using sounds. According to Michael Masi, harmony in Music was â€Å"the ratio and proportion expressed in musical terms. † The primary focus of scholars was to become familiar with the mathematical nature of music. John North cited Brunetto Latini who said that â€Å"music was the second mathematical science, which serves for our delight and for the service of the Lord† (North, 1992, p343). The study of music was also important in religious practises The education of Seven Liberal Arts prepared students for careers in the church, education, business and law. It came to be the standard for a university education for next centuries. 1. 3. 2 The Faculty of Theology This faculty was the most important of the four and it prepared students for the service of the Church. The book which received far greater attention than the Scriptures and the students put most of their time upon was Peter Lombard? s Book of Sentences. The neglect of the Scriptures for the scholastic theology was characteristic for this period of time. Graves in his work A History of education during the Middle Ages and the transition to modern times quotes Roger Bacon: â€Å"Although the principal study of the theologian ought to be in the text of Scriptures, in the last fifty-years theologians have been principally occupied with questions in tractates and Summ? , horse-loads composed by many, and not at all with the most holy text of God. And accordingly, theologians give a readier reception to a treatise of scholastic questions than they do to one about the text of Scripture† (1914, p90). The course usually lasted for eight years and some centuries later it was extended to fourteen years. According to C. Munro, â€Å"while theology is commonly spoken of as the â€Å"queen of the sciences† and the seven liberal arts are termed its handmaidens, the faculties of the theology did not enrol a very large number of students in the thirteenth century† (1921, p372). 1. 3. 3 The Faculty of Law The course generally contained civil and canon law. The authorized text for civil law was Justinian? s Corpus Iuris Civilis which included compilation of imperial edicts, the Digest of opinions of Roman jurists, and an introductory text for students. For the study of canon law it was Gratian? s Decretum which included ecclesiastical offices, the administration of canon law, and the ritual and sacraments. As Munro says, â€Å"many students in the law faculty, however, did not aspire to proficiency in the laws themselves, but were content with the more humble but lucrative study of the ars dictaminis, or ars notaria. and the ars dictaminis may be styled the complete art of letter writing. Hence knowledge of this art was especially useful in law matters and came to be known as the ars notaria† (1921, p373). Bologna was the acknowledged centre of instruction in both the civil and canon law. 1. 3. 4 The Faculty of Medicine The Medical Faculty taught the knowledge of the medical arts which included the Greek and Arabic text-books, especially the treatises by Hippocrates and Galen. There was no dissection of the human body practised till the thirteenth century; therefore the only way to study human anatomy was from text-books or from the study of the anatomy of animals. â€Å"The year 1300 is almost exactly the date for which we have the first definite evidence of the making of Human dissections, and the gradual development of anatomical investigation by this means in connection with the Italian universities† (Munro, 1921, p374). 1. 4 Degrees The system of degrees was common to all universities during the thirteenth century. There were three grades of degrees – Bachelor, Master and Doctor. After the three year? s course of trivium at the Faculty of Arts had been completed, the student entered upon quadrivium, and became a â€Å"commencing† bachelor or a â€Å"determiner†. According to Mullinger the â€Å"determiner was called upon to preside at certain disputations in the schools, and to sum up, or determine, the logical value of the arguments adduced by respondent or opponent. † (1888, p25). This meant nothing more than the student? s apprenticeship to a master but it was his admission to a degree of Bachelor of Arts (Verger, 1992). Performing the act of determining – to be tested in public disputations – made him a bachelor of arts. To be tested in public disputations meant that â€Å"a student was permitted to present himself for a test as to his ability to define words, determine the meaning of phrases, and read the ordinary Latin texts in Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic (the Trivium), to the satisfaction of other masters than his own† (Rashdall, 1969a, p28). According to D. R. Leader a bachelor of arts was â€Å"in effect a journeyman master who partially shared in the masters? privileges of lecturing and presiding at disputations† (1994, p22). This term as H. C. M. Lyte states, â€Å"was used in a technical sense at all the medieval universities, to denote a student who had ceased to be a pupil, but had not yet become a teacher† (1886, p7). The Bachelor was a student-teacher who was seeking to obtain a license to teach in his own right. At the end of quadrivium the bachelor was formally discharged from the state of apprenticeship and he could entreat the chancellor for the degree of master. If the masters of his faculty decided that he was a suitable candidate for the magisterium both by his learning and character, he was received into the brotherhood of teachers and became an â€Å"inceptor†, the candidate. After he passed the actual, â€Å"rigorous† examination which consisted of a disputation upheld by the candidate over a particular question, he was regarded as â€Å"graduated† but was not qualified to teach in the university. The â€Å"graduated† had to also pass the public examination. It was a ceremony during which he performed his first magistral act, usually a disputation with students, on a theme of his choice. There was no possibility of failing. After all these statutory requirements the â€Å"inceptor† received the degree of master and he was authorised to lecture. However, he was obliged by oath to act for two years as a regent or teacher. This period was known as his â€Å"regency†. This rule guaranteed the supply of teachers for the university (Green, 1969). J. Verger says that â€Å"the general attitude at the end of the Middle Ages was that the title gave its bearer genuine social dignity, giving him access to the world of the privileged, indeed, to that of the nobility† (1992, p145). If the Master of Arts wished to enter upon a further course of study, he had to pass through similar steps of bachelorhood and magisterium in one of the superior faculties as well. The terms â€Å"Master† and â€Å"Doctor† were at first synonymous, but during the fourteenth century the title â€Å"Doctor† began to be used instead of â€Å"Master† for the chief degree in the Faculties of Law and Medicine (Verger, 1992). As F. P. Graves expressed â€Å"the degrees â€Å"master† and â€Å"doctor† seem to have been originally about on a par with each other. .. As soon as a candidate was successful in the one, he immediately proceeded to the other, upon which occasion he received both the license to teach and the doctor? s degree† (1914, p92).

Examining Crime And Gender Crimes Committed Criminology Essay

Examining Crime And Gender Crimes Committed Criminology Essay Criminology has treated womens role in crime with a large measure of indifference. The intellectual tradition from which criminology derives its conception of these sexes maintains esteem for mens autonomy, intelligence and force of character while disdaining women for their weaknesses of compliance and passivity. Women who conform as pure, obedient daughters, wives and mothers benefit men and society (Feinman, 1994: 16). Those women who dont, that is are non-conforming, may simply be one who questions established beliefs or practices, or one who engages in activities associated with men, or one who commits a crime. These women are doubly damned and doubly deviant (Bottoms, 1996: 1). They are seen as mad not bad (Lloyd, 1995: 36). These behaviors frequently lead to interpretations of being mentally abnormal and unstable. Those doing the defining, by the very act, are never defined as other, but are the norm. As men are the norm, women are deviant. Women are defined in reference to me n (Lloyd, 1995: xvii). In the words of Young (1990), sexual difference is one of the ways in which normal is marked out from deviant (Young, 1990: ix). So why do these differences exist within the criminal justice system and society as a whole? In order to understand why offending and punishment differs between genders it is important to acknowledge and analyses past perceptions, theories and perspectives from predominant sociologists and criminologists of that time towards women in society. Up until the turn of the century, women were primarily perceived as sexual objects and expected to remain within male dominated ideologies such as homemaker, carer and nurturer taking second place after men (Oakley, 1985: 56). Women who strayed from the norm were severely punished, void of any opportunities to explain their actions. Perhaps interventions from Elizabeth Fry in the early nineteenth century campaigning for women to be housed in separate prisons from men and offered rehabilitation could be marked as the starting point for intense studies being conducted into relationships between women and crime. The conception at that time was that women must be protected from, rather than held responsible for their criminal actions. Unfortunately, such intervention only caused coaxing rather than coercion, that is, women became segregated even more as individual members of their community (Bardsley, 1987: 37). Later in the late nineteenth century, Lombroso and Ferrero (1895) wrote a book called, The Female Offender. Their theories were based on atavism. Atavism refers to the belief that all individuals displaying anti-social behaviour were biological throwbacks (Smart, 1978: 32). The born female criminal was perceived to have the criminal qualities of the male plus the worst characteristics of women. According to Lombroso and Ferrero (1895), these included deceitfulness, cunning and spite among others and were not apparent among males. This appeared to indicate that criminal women were genetically more male than female, therefore biologically abnormal. Criminality in men was a common feature of their natural characteristics, whereby women, their biologically-determined nature was antithetical to crime. Female social deviants or criminals who did not act according to pre-defined standards were diagnosed as pathological and requiring treatment, they were to be cured or removed (Lombroso and Ferrero, 1895: 43). Other predominant theorists such as Thomas (1907) and later, Pollack (1961), believed that criminality was a pathology and socially induced rather than biologically inherited. As Thomas (1967) says, the girl as a child does not know she has any particular value until she learns it from others (Thomas, 1967: 68). Pollack (1961) believed, it is the learned behaviour from a very young age that leads girls into a masked character of female criminality, that is, how it was and still is concealed through under-reporting and low detection rates of female offenders. He further states, in our male-dominated culture, women have always been considered strange, secretive and sometimes dangerous (Pollack, 1961: 149). A greater leniency towards women by police and the justice system needs to be addressed especially if a true equality of genders is to be achieved in such a complicated world . Although it may be true that society has changed since the days of Lombroso and Ferrero, past theories appear to remain within much of todays criminal justice system. Women have so many choices of which they didnt before. It would appear naive to assume that women and crime may be explained by any one theory. Any crime for that matter, whether male or female, may not be explained by any one theory. It is an established and non-arguable fact that males and females differ biologically and sociological influences, such as gender-specific role-playing appears to continue within most families. Its a matter of proportion not difference. According to Edwards (1984), the enemy is within every woman, but is not her reproductive biology, rather it is the habit regarding it into which she has been led by centuries of male domination (Edwards, 1984: 91). Many argue, the main culprit for aggression as seen in many men is testosterone. This hormone appears responsible for much of the male crime, even in todays society of increased knowledge on the subject. In contrast, extensive research over the past twenty-five years done on the testosterone/aggression link focusing on prenatal testosterone predisposing boys to be rougher than girls, concluded it was very difficult to show any connection between testosterone and aggressive behaviour (Lloyd, 1995: 26). Cross-cultural studies of ninety-five societies revealed fourty -seven percent of them were free of rape while at least thirty-three societies were free of war and interpersonal violence was extremely rare (Meidzian, 1992: 74). Based on these studies, it may be evident to suggest that sociological factors and environmental influences appear to have greater credibility in explaining criminal behaviour, whether male or female. As most women commit crimes of a lesser violent nature such as shop-lifting, leniency is given to them from law enforcement officers and judges. It is true that many women use their femininity to their advantage which makes it very difficult to argue equal rights for both sexes (Lloyd, 1995: 56). This unequal position of women in society due to social oppression and economic dependency on men and the state, needs to be addressed. Offences by women remain sexualised and pathologised. In most ways, crimes women commit are considered to be final outward manifestations of an inner medical imbalance or social instability. Their punishment appears to be aimed principally at treatment and resocialisation (Edwards, 1984: 216). The victimisation of women in medicine seems to be for her own good or in her best interests. Changing social and economic conditions, environmental influences, cultural traditions and physiological factors must be taken into account when dealing with crime. It has only been over the last thirty to fourty years that women have empowered themselves and fought for equality within all areas of society. After so many centuries of oppression and inequality, these changes can not be expected to happen over night. It is essential that society be well informed in the quest for justice. Creating a framework that is truly equitable requires a proper understanding of life beyond the courtroom door. The world is infused with gender bias and no single explanation exists for human behaviour or passivity or aggression. A complex interplay of cultural and biological factors makes people as individuals. Behaviour may be changed. All have the potential for aggression and compliance. The view that women are other, inferior and unstable because of their hormones and emotions makes it all too eas y to see them, by their very nature, as unstable, irrational, neurotic and MAD. Bardsley, B. (1987) Flowers in Hell: an investigation into women and crime, Pandora Press, London. Bottoms, A. (1996) Sexism and the Female Offender, Gower Publishing, Sydney. Carrington, K. (1993) Offending Girls, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. Edwards, S. (1984) Women on Trial, Manchester University Press, New Hampshire. Feinman, C. (1994) Women ion the Criminal Justice System, Praeger Publishers, Westport. Lloyd, A. (1995) Doubly Deviant, Doubly Damned, Penguin, Sydney. Lombroso, C. and Ferrero, W. (1895) The Female Offender, Fisher Unwin, London. Miedzian, M. (1992) Boys will be boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence, Virago Press, London. Oakley, A. (1985) Gender and Society, Adlershot Gower, London. Pollak, O. (1961( The Criminality of Women, A.S. Barnes, New York. Smart, C. (1978) Women, Crime and Criminology, Routledge London. Thomas, W. (1967) The Unadjusted Girl, Harper and Row, New York. Young, A. (1990) Femininity in Dessent, Routledge, London.

Foreshadowing in Anna Karenina :: Tolstoy Anna Karenina Essays

Foreshadowing in Anna Karenina      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout life there are situations which arise that seem to have been hinted earlier. You might not have noticed the hint when it first appeared, but suddenly at one point it finally dawns on you. The same goes for the literary aspect of foreshadowing. The novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy has many instances where the situations are similar to the one described above. The following paragraphs will present the foreshadowing that is included in this novel.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When Anna Karenina is met by her brother Oblonsky at the train station, a scene arises that clues into a valuable part of the story. She had just met Vronsky and as Anna and Oblonsky   were leaving, a train personnel was hit by the train. Anna burst into tears and exclaims that it is a bad omen. Her brother calms her down but it is clearly evident that this part of the story gives an inclination to the mess Anna ends up being entangled in.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Late one evening, the doorbell rings and Oblonsky goes and greets the visitor. As Anna is walking to her bedroom, she glances over to see who had called at such a late hour. She immediately recognizes it to be Vronsky and she feels 'a strange feeling of pleasure mixed with a feeling of vague apprehension suddenly stirred in her heart.'( page 90)This tells of what may be the conflict in the plot.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The day after the great ball Anna announces that she must leave. Dolly expresses her gratitude toward everything Anna has done to help her in her time of crisis. She tells Anna that she does not know of a person with a greater heart. Anna tells her that Kitty was depressed because Vronsky spent the evening with her. She exclaims that it wasn't her fault. Dolly remarks that Anna sounds exactly like Stiva. Anna appears to be offended and says that she is nothing like Stiva. In the end she ends acting similar to Stiva.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kitty was quite depressed and Dolly knew what was troubling her. She went to visit Kitty and told her that she was going through what all women go through at one point in their life.

Experiences In A Society From Cat On A Hot Tin Roof Essay -- essays re

Love, Greed, and the Truth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams is a play about the experiences in society. Among these experiences is death, communication, and honesty amongst men. Big Daddy has everything he needs. Brick got everything he wanted as a child. Yet Big Daddy learns later from Brick that there wasn’t one worldly possession that could satisfy Brick’s yearning for love from his father. Brick understands that the world is so focused on money and physical possessions that he isolates himself from this world. He wanted one thing from the world and his father, love. That is why he doesn’t want the money, land, and blue chip stocks. He just wanted Big Daddy to love him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fear of Death is one of the experiences in a society. Big Daddy talks a little bit about what he thought when it was suggested that he might have cancer. â€Å"A man can’t buy back his life when his life is finished. That’s a sobering thought, a very sobering thought, and that’s a thought that I was turning over in my head, over and over and overuntil today.†(Williams 65) He also moves on to talk about the burden of cancer being lifted. â€Å"I let many chances slip by because of scruples about it, scruples, convention crap†¦All that stuff is bull, bull, bull!It took the shadow of death to make me see it. Now that shadow’s lifted, I’m going to cut loose and have, what is it they call it, have me a b...

Violence On Television And The V-chip :: essays research papers

Violence on Television and the V-chip Television programs that generate a great deal of concern among parent and educators are those that contain violence. The questionable violence, sex and language on television have caused the nation to find methods of censoring these problems. Due to television violence, censorship should reduce the ability for children to view violent content.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Children have an easy access to violence on television from violent programs through movie channels. The public’s concern has been reflected in congressional hearings and massive studies on the effect of TV violence, especially on children. Dr. James C. Dobson from the Focus on the Family Newsletter says: If you have any doubt about the influence MTV wishes to exert on today’s adolescents, watch their popular program Beavis and Butthead†¦They use crude words, fondle themselves, do horribly cruel things to animals, and sit around watching heavy-metal videos as bright green stuff runs from their noses†¦Beavis and Butthead took a trip to a rifle range where they accidentally shot down a plane. They had difficulty opening the door of the wrecked plane, so they left women and children to die inside. This is the fare served up to preteens and adolescents by the company that seek to shape an entire generation (Hendershot 13) In 1994 a small child burned down his trailer house, killing his baby sister. His mother responded to the accident by saying that he learned to do so by watching Beavis and Butthead. Instead of legal issues, MTV responded by moving the program to a later time. (Hendershot 14)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many reasons to be concerned about violence. Television violence is more frequent then real violence. Television violence spares the views the suffering of the victim and the disorder of the killer. By the time a child is the age of 18, they will see 115,000 violent acts on television. (Hefzallah 88) An eleven-year-old child reported, â€Å"I was scared when I saw Friday the 13th. Whenever the girl went into the water and Jason stuck a knife in her and all this blood was in the water-I got real scared.† (Abelman 28) Robert Singer voiced: Working-class children, minority children, unpopular children and children doing poorly in school seem to be the ones more susceptible to imitating the aggression that they see on television. This may be partly because they watch more hours and are exposed to more television violence†¦Television may or may not contribute to their aggressive behavior, but their aggressive nature does play a major role in what they choose to watch.

Philippine Literature Essay

Multilingualism became one of the key factors why unity cannot be thoroughly assessed in a specific country. It became the basis here in our country that having many languages implies a rich culture, diverse culture but carries with it the brand that national unity might be generally impossible due to regionalistic factors. Our country experienced so many shifts in language policy. Colonizers from Spain and America became the key contributors for it to happen. Looking back on the time of Spanish regime. Not all people can speak Spanish so the Spaniards made serious efforts to use Spanish to teach and speak it and make it as a national language. During that time, increasing number of tagalong users were growing. Slowly, it established the title as one of the major local language and until now, was strengthened and included as part of the school curriculum. To counter the growing number of Filipinos using other foreign languages, local literatures emerged to battle out the western culture. Filipinos during that time made use of their local language that is commonly spoken on that specific place and then use this language to write literary pieces like poets, production of drama; and sometimes as a form of entertainment during fiestas, other writers create a play using the foreign language emphasizing how it is awkward to speak the foreign language using ridicule included in the play. Though Filipinos made serious efforts to preserve the culture, some are slowly being converted to use the foreign language, and that approach is in the form of a religion. During the Spanish regime, it became a must to use Spanish as a medium of speaking while inside the church. And many people was moved that if they will not do church work, they will not go to heaven, they became a â€Å"panatiko† without realizing that religion; Roman Catholicism; became the way for the Spaniards totally colonize the culture and imply the Spanish culture.

The Educational and Race Issue on Everyday Use

Final Semester Take Home Test : Everyday Use Auliya Atika F. Auliya Atika F. Mr. Gindho Rizano M. Hum Prose II May 24, 2012 Final Task Examination The Educational and Race Issue in Everyday Use Everyday Use is a part of the short story collection In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Woman (1973) by Alice Walker (Wikipedia). Alice Walker is an African – American blooded who often made issues about African – American itself mostly in her works . Everyday Use is one of her outstanding work which got many appreciation from literary’s devotees.This story itself is telling about an unlucky family who consist of Mama and her two daughters, where is a quarrel between Mama and her oldest daughter and also how her youngest daughter who have a very self low-esteem perceive any conflicts at their home. For this chance, I want to discuss the related topic which prominent enough to this stories, there are two things I want to discuss, the first is the educational issues betwe en the characters, especially about the contrary among Mama and Maggie with Dee.And the second is race issues which contain in some parts of this story. The characters of Mama and Maggie in this story described is not get a good education facilities because of some unexperctable problem: â€Å"I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down† (page 3). Although she and her youngest sister just couldn’t reach the proper education, her oldest sister, Dee could enjoy school until college now and she even studied in a prestigious boarding Final Semester Take Home Test : Everyday Use Auliya Atika F. school at other city.Dee at her sixteen age already have her own unique style, from head to toe, so bright and colorful, and ever her hairstyle which Mama can’t tolerance it anymore from the bottom of her heart: â€Å"A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts my eyes †¦. I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out† (page 4). Mama actually hopes by sending Dee to the highest level of education, she could get into the moment to share any knowledge as large as Dee got from school: â€Å"†¦we raised the money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school. † (page 2).And the best point of expentacy of Mama sending her to school is in order to Dee more appreciate her in any things. Mama hopes Dee could appreciate Mama’s large and manly body, Mama’s dark skin, and how Mama acted like a strong man and she loves it a lots. It is a very simple hope from a mother to a daughter actually, but Dee definitely couldn’t make it at all. Dee just come back home after a long time since the last time she came with her more arrogant style towards her own family. She even greet Mama with the strange greetings language â€Å"Wa-su-zo Tean-o,†, which actually an African language.She comes to home with a strange boy who she introduced to Mama as her boyfriend. Her lofty style towards Mama, and how she threats Mama and Maggie bad, as she’s much better on any points than both of them are the result of what we get from studied on years. She’s just alienated herself and make her own arrogant cogitation about her life. Ironically Maggie who just never left home and having a traumatic problems because of she almost burned of fire at her home in the past. Her body just shuffled when she walks and her chin always bend down. She’s kind of a very nervous girl and just taking anything given to her.She’s very unconfindent with her lack of education and very suffered of her serious shyness towards society out there. Eventhough Mama always says to her that someday she will marry John Thomas and sooner after then will gain her self confident and could be a stronger woman. We can see the ironic contradiction between those two siblings and how education and the lack of it could give them dangerous impact s to their each other life. Final Semester Take Home Test : Everyday Use Auliya Atika F. The race issue also coloring this story in some aspects.Alice Walker itself actually is African-American and like to mold the topic about race on her works. The stories in the collection book where this short stories published is taking the setting place around Walker’s home where contains of cultural mixing between the modern New York City and the East Africa Nation Uganda (Sparknotes). And also the characters in this story possibly reflected the author’s family. Walker is the youngest child of eight children in her family. Shes growing up during 1960’s-1970’s, and during that time she must to do a lot of work in her young age.Woman in this era still expected to do the house works stuff, such cooked, cleaned the house, etc. But it is actually is quite different with this story, because Mama ever tell about how she is doing some works which man used to do it, and in t he actual African-American tradition, it is not suitable for woman who doing the man’s work: I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. . . . I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather.I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. (page 1). We can observe the racism elements in this story firstly through Mama’s character. How she described her own appearance and and her life background and also how people think of her: â€Å"Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? (page 2). Another point which indicate the race element in this story is how Mama is comparing the skin color between she and her daughters: â€Å"Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. † (page 2). The African traditional culture in this stories also could be seen in the last part which Mama is arguing with Dee concerning the quilts, as their family heritage. Dee is really wanting the quilts, but Mama keep insistent to grant the grandmother’s command to give them to Maggie, it is a culture or that she keeps Final Semester Take Home Test : Everyday Use Auliya Atika F. n and don’t want to break it: â€Å"I†¦snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (page 9). The quilts itself used to wear and as a piece of uniforms that Dee’s grandfather wore during the civil war, it could be a symbolizes about Black-American suffering experiences. We could also observe the race issue through Dee’s character. The change of Dee’s n ame into an African name â€Å"Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo† actually because she wants to protest being named after the people who have oppressed her: â€Å"I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me† (Page 4)..By changing her name, she seemed doesn’t want to be associated with her family’s culture and she feels freedom after her name have changed. And although her new name is African name, but she doesn’t related it at all into her family. After being a more educational and smart woman who studied until the high level, Dee even felt ashamed with her family reality life: â€Å"She wrote me once that no matter where we â€Å"choose† to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends. † (page 3). She is even unaware to comprehend herself to learn making quilts, a traditional heritage from her family.She just looked the quilts through the material value, not from heritage va lue. Heritage or generation, it is not a symbolize of her family traditions, she just wear it without any meaning at all. Dee’s view on the value of family culture and tradition value seemed very contrast with Mama and her sister, Maggie. Mama and Maggie think that traditions are something eternal and no longer definited as an â€Å"Everyday Use†, it is always planted in their heart and mind as an admiration to their ancestors who have built these traditions since a very long time ago.As in the beginning of the story, Mama as a narrator proudly introduced herself as a strong African-American woman. Obviously we can conclude that the both issues I discuss this time is very related to each other in this story. The first is the educational issue that happened among the main characters, Mama and Maggie with Dee. Mama and Maggie who forced to give up their school since the beginner grade is very contrary with Dee who could continue her study until the high level, college. B ut the high education that Dee could Final Semester Take Home Test : Everyday UseAuliya Atika F. reach apparently couldn’t shape her become into a polite woman and a good children. She’s become arrogant with her high intellectual level, she unaware with her family cultural and traditions and even more underestimate her mother. And although Mama and Maggie are low in educational, but they have a highly appreciation to their own culture and tradition. So, the second issue which is about race could joint to the previous issue, the educational issue. Alice Walker is very famous to drop the race issue in her mostly works.In this story the race issues could we find out through the characteristics of especially Mama and Dee. Dee who have been in the year of college, but her appreciation to their family tradition is become weaker and make her be arrogant and underestimating her own family. Her intellect maybe has been killed her respect. So the education couldn’t determ ine someone become also better in her mindset and behavior. Works Cited Walker, Alice. Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Woman: Everyday Use. 1973 Klarer, Mario. An Introduction to Literary Studies (Second Edition). (London: Routledge, 2004) 103-115. www. wikipedia. org/Everyday_Use

High school Essay

We could say that an educated person is like a piece of artwork, it is open to the interpretation of the viewer. Just like every art work critique has their own opinion about an artwork, everyone has their own different interpretations of what an educated person is. One thing is clear though, in order to be a successful person in life, you do not need money, as well as in order to be an educated person, you do not need a college diploma. What you are willing to give up in order to become your best person depends on how much you truly want to accomplish that goal. Not everyone knows right away what they have a passion for. One has to explore new activities and only then will they be able to decide for themselves. Everyone expresses their opinion, and in my thought an educated person is the willing to put in time like Gladwell explains, claims their learning rights like Rich exercises, applies critical thinking and reasoning to work towards a success like Wagner emphasizes and lastly does not fall victim to adversity like my father focuses attention on. An educated person should always be willing to put in time. This means that they are willing to give up what they want now, for what they want most. For example, in Gladwell, Schoenfeld the math professor experimented with a young girl Renee, which took her approximately twenty-two minutes to figure the slope of a vertical line. â€Å"This is eight-grade mathematics†¦ If I put the average eighth grader in the same position as Renee, I’m guessing that after the first few attempts, they would have said, ‘I don’t get it. I need you to explain it. ’ (Gladwell 2008, pp. 245). † What Schoenfeld proved with this experiment was the willingness of Renee to continue the math problem. Of course, compared to the eighth grader, Renee had more self-discipline and wanted to continue on going until she was able to solve it. An educated person should be willing to put in time and work towards their goal. It will not be easy or given to the person, there is a lot of time and energy put to having what one wants. Another idea Gladwell explains is the amount of time one is willing to put in and how that makes one an expert. â€Å"Researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours† (Gladwell 2008, pp.40). Gladwell’s idea of hard work and dedication to whatever it is that you want to become an expert at takes at least 10,000 hours. I agree with him, but only to a certain point. It is true that in order to become someone well knowledgeable on a certain activity or topic one must practice and put in time. I do not necessarily agree that 10,000 hours should be the exact number for â€Å"true expertise† as Gladwell calls it, but it definitely should not be a few hours. For example, ideally doctors should be one of the most specialized fields. They are ones performing their knowledge on people and I honestly would not want a doctor that has gotten a few hours of practice to do anything to me, because there is more of a chance that they are not as experienced as someone else that has been working for decades as a doctor. An educated person should be willing to put in time to practice which is what makes someone good at their specialization. Rich’s idea of â€Å"claiming an education† also applies within our pursuit to defining an educated person. Rich explains that a student should not think about education as â€Å"receiving it†, but to be thought of as â€Å"claiming it† (Rich 1979 pp.365). Rich explains that claiming an education is taking as if one were the owner. I agree with Rich, students should have the mentality of taking the education being given to them. There is a difference between claiming what is rightfully yours, and taking what if rightfully yours. One difference is that when you claim something, you are putting in effort to learning what is being taught. For example, a student that goes to class and learns whatever the lesson was for that day, would in my terms be called receiving. On the other hand, if that same student were to go to the instructor’s office hours and basically use the resources that there are around campus, that would be claiming. The mere difference of going one step above the other makes the difference between the two. Rich also backs this idea of claiming, with the simple act of participating in class, becoming more engaged in class and the teacher’s professional life. This idea of claiming an education is not limited to those in school, because not every educated person goes to college, or needs a college degree. It is helpful in order to have something to fall back upon. One way we can connect the idea of claiming an education without going to school, could be my father’s story. His decision of dropping out of high school did not stop him from doing what he wanted to do. He claimed his rights to learning about how to create his own company and becoming a successful entrepreneur, without having a business college degree. Claiming your rights as a human being over all is what counts. Anyone should be able to express their passion for something. In my father’s case, he first started by working at a small local shop as a cashier, but he found himself not doing what he loved, â€Å"I loved helping people, make their houses bigger or just fixing their house up for them. † (Gomez 2014). My father eventually stopped receiving, and started claiming. An educated person is one who does not receive, but one that claims and demands their ability to practice their passion. Give a child a list of three words with a definition to each, allow them to memorize it and few minutes later, they can regurgitate it back to you. As an education major, it is easy to go a whole year teaching children a certain vocabulary words, or teaching them how to solve a math problem, but explaining why the answer is the answer, is a lot more difficult. Wagner explains that many students lack â€Å"intellectual challenges† (Wagner 2008, pp. xxv). A class lacking intellectual challenge for students can cause a downfall in the future. Providing students with more rigorous work and questioning their solutions, prevents them from finding lessons uninteresting and eventually leading them to want to drop the course, or worse yet, want to drop out of school. For example in history class, one has to remember specific dates, but also know why several of these specific events happened or what lead to it. I was one of them. Rarely do students remember what lead to wars, or life historically changing events, like the great depression because they are just taught either to memorize the dates or they find it easier to only remember the dates and names of important historical figures. The same concept can be applied to mathematics, where one has to know how to solve the problem, but does not always know why a certain formula was used or why it only works with that certain problem. According to Wagner, knowing the answer is not sufficient, one must know and be able to critically think about the end result. Therefore, an educated person should be willing to not only claim their education, but also be able to apply more critical thinking and reasoning. Which by later exercising that through practicing and preparing, one can accomplish their goals. Lastly, I interviewed my father, because he is the first man I have ever admired. He was able to successfully carry out a career that he did not go to college for. Matter of fact, he never went to college, and only completed a few years of high school. Through my interview with him, he allowed me to truly appreciate and admire him a lot more. One main adversity he got through was coming in to the United States, he believes that without coming to the United States his success would not have been possible. â€Å"Coming from a huge family, having 8 brothers and 7 sisters you did not always get what you wanted† (Gomez 2014). My father further explained that he was always having to share his things and he never had the opportunities that I have today. â€Å"I had to run a whole mile in order to get to class, there were no buses, because we lived in the country, and I had to run to the city every morning to get to school† (Gomez 2014). My father continues with his story, â€Å"every morning we all had to do chores, mine were taking care of the farm animals. I would milk the cows every morning and since I had to do my morning chores before school, sometimes I ran late and I had to go to school smelling like farm animals and sweat† (Gomez 2014). The dedication put into working back then is not the same today. For everything there is always an excuse made up. I myself have made many excuses, but it takes an educated person to not make excuses. He could have easily said I am not walking a mile to go to school, but he was determined. My father did not drop out of school because he was failing his classes. At age 18 he became an innocent victim in a shooting, in which he was shot in the stomach and had missed a big portion of his senior year. He was months away from graduating, but he never was able to complete his missed classes due to the lack of support from his teachers, he explained. He after started his own family and came to the United States when I was born. â€Å"You are the luckiest one of everyone in the family† he told me, â€Å"your sisters do not have the opportunity that you have and an educated person is one who can make the best situation out of a tough one† (Gomez 2014). Without doubt, my father was able to create a self-made company. He was the only one of his 15 siblings to become an entrepreneur, and today in my eyes he is the most successful. An educated person would ideally be my own father, who was willing to put in time to learn about his passion, claim his rights as a United States resident and created his own business, and lastly he did fall victim to adversity. An educated person and a successful person go hand in hand, but the definitions are endless, and open to many interpretations, but what makes either person educated or successful, depends on what they are willing to give up in order to become their best person. An educated person is one who no matter what is willing to put in time in order to be called an expert at his passion. Someone who rightfully claims the ability to carry out their love for their passion and lastly, someone who does not fall victim to adversity. ? Bibliography Gladwell, Malcolm. â€Å"The 10,000-Hour Rule† in Outliers, 34-68. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Gladwell, Malcolm. â€Å"Rice Paddies and Math Tests† in Outliers, 224-249. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Gustavo Gomez, interview by Alondra Gomez, April 28, 2014. Rich, Adrienne. â€Å"Claiming and Education† in On Lies, Secrets and Silence, 365-369. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1979. Wagner, Tony. The Global Achievement Gap, intro xix-xxviii. New York: Basic Books, 2008.