Impact of Trade on East Asia and South Asia Essay

East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it promoted economic development in both regions and transformed port cities of both regions into cosmopolitan centers, but differed in that it helped with the establishment of Buddhism in China while it helped with the establishment of Islam in India. The impact of trade on East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it promoted economic development in both regions. In East Asia, the Grand Canal, a series of connected waterways, linked together north and south China. As northern and southern China traded rice and other food crops, the larger economy of China improved and grew. In South Asia, northern and southern India traded spices, metals, and specialized crops that were not available throughout India. As northern and southern India traded, the south prospered and experienced a surge in economic development. Trade promoted economic development in both East Asia and South Asia because they both traded within their region and outside of it, obtaining profit and wealth, along with goods. The impact of trade on East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it transformed port cities of both regions into cosmopolitan centers. As China traded, Arab, Persian, and Malay merchants settled within its region. The merchants settled in port cities, such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou, which turned into cosmopolitan centers. As India traded, Muslim, Jewish, and other merchants began to dwell within the subcontinent. The brokers became residents at port cities, such as Calicut, which developed into cosmopolitan societies. Trade transformed port cities in both East Asia and South Asia into cosmopolitan centers because they both had thriving commercial centers where merchants moved to in search of business opportunities. The impact of trade on East Asia and South Asia differed in that it helped with the establishment of Buddhism in China while it helped with the establishment of Islam in India. Buddhism diffused into China along trade routes. Merchants set up Buddhist communities in China, such as Dunhuang, helping it gain a foothold in society. Islam spread into India as merchants traded and settled in the region. As they settled in cities, such as Cambay, they spread Islam into Indian society. Trade helped with the establishment of Buddhism in China, but helped with Islam in India because Muslim merchants traveled to South Asia due to its trade centers and relative proximity, while Buddhist merchants traveled to East Asia in search of trade opportunities outside of India. From 600 to 1450 CE, the influence of trade on East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it encouraged economic growth in both areas and helped with the development of port cities into cosmopolitan centers in both regions, but differed in that it promoted the establishment of Buddhism in China while it promoted the establishment of Islam in India.

Research and critical reflection †Money doesn’t buy you happiness. Essay

Money doesn’t buy you happiness. Everyone has heard the statement before and most studies of happiness and well-being generally agree on it. However, even though money does not buy you happiness it is largely agreed that money can be a means to an end. Hence, money cannot buy you happiness, but it can provide you with financial security and well-being. If you asked a poor person if they were happy most will tell you they are not due to living in poor conditions and having poor health. Their need for safety and security outweighs their need for nice things and possessions. So if money does not buy you happiness what does buy you happiness? What are the factors in life that make you happy? One way to address this question could be looking at ones well-being. As such a deeper interpretation of well-being is necessary. When considering the concept of well-being, there are two major approaches, objective well-being, and subjective well-being. Objective well-being looks at how healt hy a person is and the access he has to resources. Subjective well-being on the other hand looks at the overall happiness of a person. In the same breath it is also argued that material well-being, that is the things we buy and want, does not lead to our overall happiness. Hence, money doesn’t buy you happiness. (Williams, 2014). Considering this notion that money does not buy you happiness (Myers & Diener, 1995), Kawachi and Kennedy (2002, p.30 -31) sought out to summarise the main ingredients to happiness in one’s life. They noted sex, ethnicity and age scarcely make you happy. Rather it is the relationships and community you have around you that generates levels of happiness. Furthermore, enjoying one’s work and leisure is highly correlated with happiness. On the other hand, one’s wealth and income does not have a straight correlation with happiness. Some poor people are happy, some rich people are unhappy and vice versa. Nonetheless, millions of people across the globe spend large amount of money consuming things they do not need. I myself fall victim to marketing ploys and consume materialistic things that I do not always need, but want because I believe it will make me fit in more in my community, or make me happier. People follow fashionable trends and want all the new toys that come out thinking it will make them happy. This need of people to have nice fancy things has previously been coined the â€Å"new consumerism†. Back in the day, it meant keeping up with others in your community, if your neighbour got a new flash car, you had to go get one. However, with the popularisation of television,  and later on the rise of mass media, â€Å"new consumerism† meant people were now competing all over the globe. Furthermore, as we live in a world of inequality in terms of income and wealth, the gap between what we want and what we have largely depends on our income. Schor (1998), referred to this as â€Å"the aspirational gap†. If one cannot afford something, he can either be â€Å"unhappy† dealing with not having that product/want, or he chooses to take on debt in order to afford it and have it then and there; thus having to work more to cover the debt and the cycle conti nues. So if we look at happiness as the â€Å"difference between what we have and what we want we suddenly become unhappy† (Williams, 2014, p.5). Largely, I agree with the statement the money does not buy you happiness. By society’s standards I am definitely not a rich man but I consider myself to live a moderately happy life; largely due to the fact that I am healthy, I have good friends and a loving family. According to several scholars (Benin & Nierstedt, 1985, Inglehart, 1990, Myers, 2000) it is indeed our social relationships that generate the highest levels of happiness. With that said, I still consume certain things, materialistic things, and go to certain places in order to construct my social identity. I want things in order to fit in or get praise from my peers. According to many scholars however this does not lead to my well-being but rather to unhappiness. This draws back to the â€Å"aspirational gap†, if I cannot afford to look a certain way or buy certain things and keep up with the times do I ultimately become unhappy? Personally I would like to say it does not apply to me, but reflecting back to Schor’s (1998) study, it appears to point in that direction. As such, I do agree with the concept more so as a lot of people around me become unhappy when they cannot afford something they want. Or become unhappy because they got themselves into debt due to their unnecessary consumptions. Maslow (1943) devised a theory of motivation which attempted to explain the hierarchical nature of people’s well-being. Firstly it is our basic psychological needs like hunger and thirst that we have to satisfy. Next, it is our needs for security and protection, followed by our need for social bonds and love. The last two steps are ones self-esteem and self-actualisation. This is a very hierarchical view which means once a certain level has been satisfied one seeks to satisfy the next until you reach to the top – self actualisation. This will explain why people become unhappy when they cannot afford  something – reach self-actualisation. Moreover, identities are fluid. I constantly consume new trends, go to new places, and change my habits to fit society’s norms. Social psychology attributes this to people’s nature to conform. One study by Asch (1952, ci ted in Bond & Smith, 1996) shows the tendency of people to conform to the majority even when the outcome is clearly wrong. I agree with this as I buy certain clothes and go to certain places because I want to fit in with my surroundings. Zaichkowsky (1994) claims that peoples involvement with a product depends on a person apparent relevance of a product based on his inherent needs and values. Hence my values stem from my surroundings and my need for a product comes from my need to fit in to my surroundings. A lot of the above-mentioned concepts discussed were first investigated after WWII and throughout the 20th century. However, as the world is constantly evolving and changing do these outlooks on happiness and well-being still apply today? Have they gotten any better or worse? Early studies showed an increase in mental disorders and divorces throughout the late 20th century, as well as the increase need of people for bigger and better things. A study by Helliwell, Layard, and Sachs (2012) found that on average rich people are happier than poor people. However, they found that a country’s economic growth does not indicate an increase in the overall happiness of its people. This is simply due to the fact that once people reach a comfortable/secure level of income; further increase of it does not generate higher levels of happiness. Moreover, they found unemployment is highly correlated with low levels of well-being, whilst being employed – and satisfied with your job – was correlated with higher levels of well-being. Finally, they noted in Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, love and belonging come just after basic physiological and safety needs. Clearly, the sources of individual happiness include the set of social interactions through which individuals are interconnected.† (p.70). The aforementioned trends discussed appear to be in line with the current state of New Zealand. Helliwell et. al. (2012) found New Zealand ranked as the 13th happiest country in the world. This was attributed due to a low unemployment rate (6.2%), divorce number down (stats.govt.nz), and ranking high on education as well as freedom. (Helman, 2013). However, when looking at the top 50 richest countries in the world (aneki.com) New Zealand does not even make an appearance. However, it is safe to assume that new  consumerism and the â€Å"aspirational gap† still apply to New Zealand as the countries spending ($2,578 million) is higher than its GDP ($211,678 million). (stats.govt.nz). It certainly appears that money does not buy you happiness. Rather being poor is correlated with low levels of well-being. Money in itself can provide a person with security, but increased income does not appear to have an effect on overall happiness. Looking at Maslow’s theory, a person could have all the money in the world but if they are alone and do not have a loving community of friends and family to share it with they are almost always going to be unhappy. Rather, happiness is determined by a large number of factors with an emphasis on basic needs such as food and water, as well as friendships and belonging to a loving community. Consumption of materialistic objects and the aspiration for more money negatively affects our well-being. References Benin, M.H. and B.C. Nierstedt: 1985, ‘Happiness in single- and dual- earner families: The effects of marital happiness’, job satisfaction and life cycle, Journal of Marriage and the Family 47, pp. 975–984. Bond, R. & Smith, P. B. (1996). Culture and conformity: a meta-analysis of studies using asch’s (1952b, 1956) line judgment task. Psychological Bulletin, 119(1), 111–137. Maslow, Abraham H. 1943 â€Å"A theory of human motivation.† Psychological Review, 50: 370-396. Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2012). World Happiness Report. Centre for Economic Performance. The Earth Institute Columbia University. Helman, C. (2013). The world’s happiest (And Saddest) countries. – http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/10/29/the-worlds-happiest-and-saddest-countries-2013/ Inglehart, R.: 1990, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ). Myers, D.G.: 2000, ‘The funds, frie nds and faith of happy people’, American Psychologist 55(1), pp. 56–67. Myers, D. G. & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6(1), 10–19. Offer, A. (2006). The challenge of affluence: self-control and well-being in the United States. Williams, J. (2014) Consumption and Well-being. Chapter 12. P. 104 – 127. Zaichkowsky, J. L. (1994). The personal involvement inventory: reduction, revision, and application to advertising. Journal of Advertising, 23(4), 59–69.

Islame Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Islame - Essay Example He was able to mobilize faithful under the Muslim religion and the contemporary objective among religious leaders, to ensure converts and spiritual nourishment of faithful, influences them to draw inspiration from Muhammad’s success as a spiritual leader. Muhammad’s ability to attract people and convert then to his opinion also had political aspects that politicians look regard. Success as a political leader is another feature that has established Muhammad as a religious and political role model. His service to the state was adorable and is what most politicians want to convey, as their potential, to the public. The role of faithful in building the society also establishes Muhammad’s leadership as a trait that religious leaders wish to emulate. Muhammad’s was also a moral personality who ensured just judgements and the role of ethics in attaining and maintaining leadership positions established the prophet as a standard for religious and political leaders to emulate. These features have influence on the Muslim community and they consider Muhammad a religious and political role

Addressing School Violence in the United States Essay

Addressing School Violence in the United States - Essay Example Statistically, during the school years of 2008-2009, there were fixed 38 violent deaths on school premises, among students aged 5-18. As for non-fatal violent cases, 1.2 million students suffered from thefts and assaults back in 2008 (Robers, Zhang, and Truman, 2010). The school shootings mentioned above have been classified as â€Å"rampage violence†. It has been established that the acts of rampage violence at school have much in common with other acts of massive violence unrelated to schools. Along with rampage shootings at workplace and political terrorism, these acts have been committed by males who were mentally disturbed (Harris & Harris, 2012, p. 1054). Along with rampage shootings, school violence in the United States includes a list of the following undesired behaviors and anti-social acts: acts against people’s property and objects (for example, arson, theft, acts of vandalism, etc), acts against same-sex and opposite sex peers (bullying, assault, intimidatio n, rape, harassment, etc), acts against school staff (sexual offences, theft, assault). Besides, Algozzine and McGee also mention â€Å"victimless acts† here, which include skipping classes, for example (Algozzine & McGee, 2011, p.91). ... d that school prevention harassment consultations should be carried out by principals and teachers at schools, with emphasis on engaging students in a meaningful dialogue (Wessler, 2011). Further, intervening at the point of school entry is recommended to prevent undesirable behavior at an early age through implementation of the First Step to Success program (Walker, Severson, Feil, Stiller, and Golly, 1998). In order to devise effective policies targeted at handling rampage school violence in the United States, first of all, changes need to be done on the level of scholarly research into the problem. Specifically, the solution which is expected to lead to better understanding of rampage school violence is doing transdisciplinary research (Harris & Harris, 2012, p.1055). Since the existing explanations of rampage violence at American school given by sociologists and mental health experts have been found inadequate in interpreting the criminal actions, a multi-factor approach was sugg ested. It suggests that 5 basic factors need to be studied in order to understand the nature of rampage violent attacks. Specifically, within Newman’s explanatory model, these factors include individual marginalization, exposure to certain cultural scripts, weapon access, inadequacy of surveillance systems at schools, and psychosocial factors that magnify the marginalization (Harris & Harris, 2012, p.1055). Taken Newman’s model as a basis, Harris & Harris suggest that school violence should be studied in a broader context. While they find Newman’s approach limited sociologically, Harris & Harris believe uniting the efforts of scholars in mental health, epidemiologic, social, criminal, and neurobiological spheres will help produce desirable results once the data are used for policy

Managerial Economics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managerial Economics - Research Paper Example Often, the patient needs to adjust with the hearing aids and usually it takes quite a long time failing the endurance of the patient. Social stigma is also a reason for the people not to use the hearing aids as they are likely to be tagged as old and not-so-smart people in the society. It is general perception that price is a chief attribute to penetrate the market but often it is not true for several reasons as has been found in the case of hearing aids too. Price becomes important when consumers view two or more competitive products fulfilling their needs in equal terms. When product differs in their attributes and users see one of them clearly fulfilling their needs in all respects, price becomes a secondary issue. Often, people pay higher prices for a product that meets their needs in clear terms – establishing superiority over competitive products. Amiani (2007) has explored the various attributes that measure elasticity of demand for a product or service. Demand is said to be elastic when total revenue decreases on raising the product price. In contrast, the demand is said to be inelastic when total revenue increases on raising the product price. Some of the attributes, which can decide about elasticity of demand for the hearing aids, can be described as per the following. Hearing aid is an important product, which must have unique features to satisfy the customer needs. Unfortunately, most of the hearing aids available in the market fail to satisfy the customer needs. Hearing aids are in the market since several decades yet consumer perceptions on this product have not changed. Hearing aids are not perceived to be user friendly at the first place. This is one of the major causes for not an appreciable change in the user perception in last several decades. That is to say till date hearing aids suffer from inelastic demand of the market. Hearing aid technology is not yet matured enough so that consumer can differentiate among the products and its at tributes. In other reason, hearing aids require a considerable investment for the patient as it falls out of insurance coverage. Hearing aid yet does not have any substitute in a real sense making it inelastic to the market demand. Amiani (2007) asserts from the past research of ‘Lee and Lotz’ as well as ‘Kochkin’ that hearing aids do not exhibit high elasticity of demand and the reasons are many and varied as mentioned earlier. From this perspective, it makes no sense to reduce the price to increase the revenue of the firm. On the contrary, any such attempt may bring down the revenue of the company. Question: Evaluate different possible strategies that companies could implement to gain a sound position among their competitors in this hearing aids market. Use relevant theoretical concepts discussed in chapters. Answer: Revenue is a function of product price and the corresponding sale in numbers. Any marketer would be interested to increase the revenue and t hereby the profit of the firm. Amlai (2007) has already demonstrated that hearing aids are price inelastic to their demand. Given inelastic nature of demand, as in the case of hearing aids, any reduction in price does not come with corresponding increase in the sale of the product. Marketer needs to explore some other means to expand the market. Currently, only 23.6 percent of the people use hearing aids of the total potential that makes up to 31 million. Even one percent expansion of the total pote

Canadas Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Canadas Economy - Essay Example In specific, Canada has also been one of the sufferers of economic recession and experts have specified that although there have been adverse effects of economic recession, however, Canadian authorities were very effective in overcoming issues and challenges, and thus, were and still are successful in running the Canadian economy in an efficient manner, especially since the past 2-3 years. While the Canadian government received applause from the economic analysts, they had to confront criticism from some experts as well, as they criticized that while running the economic matters of the country, authorities and especially the Bank of Canada have shown ineffectiveness and uselessness. While comparing performance of the Canadian government with G7 states, its graph is going down, and it is imperative that the government with collaboration of the Bank of Canada should take crucial steps to avoid the downfall that will result in adverse impact on different sectors of the country. For this purpose, the paper will try to identify and evaluate the role of the Bank of Canada and the government of Canada in running the economy. In addition, the paper will strive to converse about different economic changes brought in by these two contributors and runners of the Canadian economy. More specifically, economic policies and strategies of the Canadian government for the last two year s will be in scrutiny. Due to the wave of globalization, and most importantly, economic recession, economists are suggesting governments and banking sector to introduce policies that may complement global scenario of economic development rather than limiting to only regional economic development of the country. Studies related to the role of Canadian government have indicated that since the past 2-3 years, the government along with collaboration of the Bank of Canada has created their macro-economic policies on the same track, and the Canadian government is still

Comparing Texts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Comparing Texts - Essay Example The ways in which language is employed to discover its subjective and illusionary nature is different when employed in poetry, plays or novels. Time and intended audience also become factors in how authors choose to explore this element of language. By comparing the use of language in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author -- both intended for mature, educated audiences -- to the more modern novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling intended for a less mature, less educated audience, it is possible to see how truth is questioned through language. Shakespeare’s tone in Sonnet 18 is playful and ironic as he subtly pokes fun at the Romantic language that was then informing literature. He uses formalized constructions to build up an idealized sense of his female character consistent with the concepts considered important by the Romantics, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day, / Thou art more lovely and more temp erate† (Shakespeare, 1969: 1456/1-2). However, he never actually tells his audience anything about this person. All the audience is permitted to know about her is that she exists, even if only in Shakespeare's mind. This levity within the very formalized, academic poetic world was out of step with his contemporaries. Despite the levity, Shakespeare used a very formalized style, informed by the newly introduced Italian sonnet style but with a twist. Shakespeare sticks to the 14 line structure and the iambic pentameter expected for a sonnet, but he follows his own rhyme scheme that blends more comfortably with the English language (Furniss & Bach, 2007: 579, 581, 593). This scheme follows an abab cdcd efef gg pattern. It gave him greater flexibility in matching the rhyme. Even then, he found it necessary to stretch the rhyme a bit, as in lines 9-12: â€Å"But thy eternal summer shall not fade, / Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; / Nor shall death brag thou wan der’st in his shade, / When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.† Combined with the relaxed approach taken by his tone, the formal structure of the poem makes it difficult for a modern audience to understand the joke. Through his use of language, Shakespeare brings his subject down from Romantic idealism to the everyday world of the common man. While Shakespeare mentions that â€Å"Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, / And often is his gold complexion dimmed;† (5-6), giving the scene a sense of beauty, he keeps his subject on the level of the real by adding the twist of providing his readers with a description befitting just about any woman. Through tone, style and poetic devices such as imagery, Shakespeare manages to poke some fun at the traditional academic approach to poetry by bringing in more common language usage. Shakespeare’s woman, because of his tone, style and poetic devices, flashes in our minds as a woman of high quality, sub stance and perhaps even nobility, but still a living, breathing, human woman. In the same way that Shakespeare uses figurative language to both expose and hide his female subject, Pirandello uses meta-theatre to both expose and hide his characters in Six Characters in Search of an Author. From the beginning, it seems these characters are fully exposed to the audience. There are specific stage directions provided ensuring that the audience is aware there are no theatrical tricks being employed. Directions at the opening of Act I specify the stage should be "half dark, and empty, so that from the beginning the public may have the impression of an impromptu performance." The Characters begin to demonstrate their

Greenhouse Effects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Greenhouse Effects - Essay Example However, an imbalance leads to varying degrees of abnormality leading to a change in climate. When solar rays hit a dark surface, heat is absorbed while the polar ice caps tend to reflect heat off. Every part of the earth absorbs and reflects heat differently resulting in differential heating and cooling of the earth. Elevated level of any the above mentioned green house gases can disrupt the balance which leads to increased temperature of the earth resulting in ‘Global Warming’ (UCAR, n.d.). What are Green House Gases? Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (MH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), cholofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride (SH6) are collectively called as GHGs because they trap the solar radiation within the earth’s surface (Ramseur et al, 2008) What is the present level of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Why has Carbon dioxide increased since 1860? The level of carbon dioxide is increasing at an accelerating pace with each passing decade. The safety limit of atmospheric Carbon dioxide is 350 ppm (parts per million). However, since 1988, the level of CO2 has continued to rise. The current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 396.78 ppm (CO2NOW, 2012). The International Energy Agency (IEA) reveals in its report that CO2 emission from fossil fuels hit 31.6 Gigatonnes (Gt) in 2011, just 1Gt below the threshold limit as predicted by researchers (Woodwell et al 1984). According to the energy Information Administration, there has been an increase of 25% of GHG emission since industrialization. What are some predicted environmental damages if carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced? The predicted environmental damages include rise in sea level. This may further lead to degradation of mangroves leading to environmental damages caused by cyclonic storms. Mangroves act as a barrier to wave off cyclonic effects into mainland. Depletion of the Ozone layer is yet another serious threat. Depleting layer of ozone leads to the penetration of ultr a-violet rays of the sun to reach the earth’s surface causing damage of soil properties, bio-degradation and causing skin cancer. Mitigating the effects of climate change can be accomplished by providing possible incentives and through CSR programs aimed at controlling the carbon footprint. Various Multinationals and powerful business houses are motivated to control this aggravating problem and thus taking steps to mitigate carbon emissions. Technological progress has ensured research in this particular field leading to a better understanding of the current scenario. Various software tools have been developed to mark the carbon footprint so that the carbon emission could be reduced by participatory management system. All these technological progress have been possible because complete data have been formulated into respective models of development (Green House Gas Emissions, 2012; Smith, Schellnhuber, & Qader Mirza, n.d.) In your analysis, how certain do we need to be about f uture predictions before acting on this problem? There is enough discourse on reliability of models related to climate change, since climate is a dynamic system. Climate change models are mathematical codes that are run on powerful computers after a series of observations. The confidence in predicted

Ethical behavior in workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical behavior in workplace - Essay Example Till recently I was working for a fast food joint. One day, I was really shocked at the way my manager behaved towards a new recruit, an Afro American youth, who was eager to serve the customer. He had not only rebuked the young boy for showing unnecessary enthusiasm but was also quite vocal in showing his racial prejudice by denying him his right to serve customers. I believe that if diversity within workforce is present, there is absolutely no place for racial discriminations. Workplace environment must constantly encourage ethical practices. It is imperative that managerial leadership must display high standard of code of conduct because they are people who are capable of motivating other for optimal work performance. Indeed, the leaders, through self example and having exemplary traits like tolerance, cross cultural understanding and empathetic attitude hugely create an encouraging work environment. They also promote positive relationship that reflects in improved productivity an d good will of the organization. I was offended by the whole episode and reacted by pointing out that the manager was not only violating work ethics but that his act can be justifiably construed as racial discrimination. As a junior manager, my comments were not well received but atleast the young man was allowed to serve new customers. I was given a negative entry in my employee logbook.

Advantages Of Unit Banking Essay Example for Free

Advantages Of Unit Banking Essay 1.Local Development:Unit banking is localized banking. The unit bank has the specialised knowledge of the local problems and serves the requirements of the local people in a better manner than branch banking. The funds of the locality are utilised for the local development and are not transferred to other areas 2.Promotes Regional Balance:Under unit banking system, there is no transfer of resources from rural and backward areas to the big industrial commercial centres. This tends to reduce regional in balance. 3.Easy Management:The management and supervision of a unit bank is much easier and more effective than that under branch banking system. There are less chances of fraud and irregularities in the financial management of the unit banks. 4.Initiative in Banking Business:Unit banks have full knowledge of and greater involvement in the local problems. They are in a position to take initiative to tackle these problems through financial help. 5.No Monopolistic Tendencies:Unit banks are generally of small size. Thus, there is no possibility of generating monopolistic tendencies under unit banking system. 6.No Inefficient Branches:Under unit banking system, weak and inefficient branches are automatically eliminated. No protection is provided to such banks. 7.No diseconomies of Large Scale Operations:Unit banking is free from the diseconomies and problems of large-scale operations which are generally experienced by the branch banks. 8.Easy Management and Control:Under unit banking system, it becomes very easy for a single office to manage and control efficiently. 9.Close Management and Workers Relationship:Under unit banking system, there prevails a close and cordial relationship between employer and employees. 10.Quick Decision:The owners or the management of unit banks can take quick decision and prompt action in times of emergencies. 11.Use of Local Resources:Local financial resources are used for local development. 12.Lesser Fraud and Irregularities:Due to the less scattered affairs of the bank, there are very little possibilities of fraud and irregularities. Disadvantages Of Unit Banking: 1.No. Distribution of Risks:Under unit banking, the bank operations are highly localised. Therefore, there is little possibility of distribution and diversification of risks in various areas and industries. 2.Inability to Face Crisis:Limited resources of the unit banks also restrict their ability  to face financial crisis. These banks are not in a position to stand a sudden rush of withdrawals. 3.No Banking Development in Backward Areas:Unit banks, because of their limits resources, cannot afford to open uneconomic banking business is smaller towns and rural area. As such, these area remain unbanked. 4.Lack of Specialization:Unit banks, because of their small size, are not able to introduce, and get advantages of, division of labor and specialization. Such banks cannot afford to employ highly trained and specialized staff. 5.Costly Remittance of Funds:A unit bank has no branches at other place. As a result, it has to depend upon the correspondent banks for transfer of funds which is very expensive. 6.Disparity in Interest Rates:Since easy and cheap movement of does not exist under the unit banking system, interest rates vary considerably at different places. 7.Local Pressures:Since unit banks are highly localised in their business, local pressures and interferences generally disrupt their normal functioning. 8.Undesirable Competition:Unit banks are independently run by different managements. This results in undesirable competition among different unit banks. 9.Limited Size of Operation:Unit bank business can not be operated on large scale because of its limited area. Being the small organisation, division of labour can not be applied. 10.No Economy of Reserves:Under unit banking, bank can not transfer its funds to any other branch. So economy in cash reserve can not be secured under this system. 11.Limited Financial Resources:A unit bank has limited financial resources so it is not able to provide full and adequate banking facilities to the industry and trade of the area. 12.Investment of Idle Funds:A unit bank having no other branches, can not utilize its idle funds in profitable ways.

Analysis Of The Elle Novel English Literature Essay

Analysis Of The Elle Novel English Literature Essay Douglas Glover is a known Canadian author of various fiction works that has capture readers of different nationalities, belief and preferences. While there were many other works of Glover such as notes Home from a Prodigal Son, The Enamored Knight, and novels such as The Life and Times of Captain N and 16 Categories of Desire  [1]  , Elle, a novel based on a true or rather historic figure, Marguerite de Roberval, on her way to discovering Canada with her uncle, Jean-Franà §ois de la Rocque de Roberval.  [2]  In this novel, he seemed to present Canada is a satiric language with explicit and implicit intentions of ridiculing religion, faith and aboriginals. It described the moments of first contact and the discovery of Canada by the European adventurers. These were during the times of Jacques Cartiers last and rather tragic attempt to colonize Canada. This first contact was described in ways in what did Canada meant to European adventurers and what did Europeans meant to the countrys original habitants and the clash between these two groups; neither of them recognized each other as human.  [3]  Nevertheless, he associated religion, sex, and revenge in building an image of this newly discovered country or the New World. While excerpts of the story are loosely based on facts, the authors language of conviction has somehow made the story more vivid and looks like more true to life. The author practiced his freedom of expression by choosing to portray such part of history through a work of fiction. In the course of the story, he also used a great deal of latitude as a means to portray Canada. This is to describe the geographical location of the newly discovered country and to create a glimpse of seasonal experiences of the characters such as winter in portrayal of sadness and will for revenge. Moreover, use of latitude seemed to be used to express distance from the European origins of the characters. This latitudinal distance implicates cultural, traditional and civil differences. This further implies the width of territorial expansion attempts of Europe in the past and may be not so many years before modern times.  [4]   For me, as a reader of the novel, these instruments of literature used by the author affected my understanding of colonization, first contact, faith and religion as associated with lust, sex and may be, love. With the claim that the novel was based on facts, it has some effect for me to assume many events in the story to be true. In some sense I tend to forget it being a fiction and not a direct narration of history (perhaps except Elle turning literally or otherwise into a bear). This may be attributed to the loose boundaries set between imagination and fact. This confusion applies to the personalities used and the actual events narrated. In general, it will be safe to believe that majority of the accounts in the story were based on the authors imagination and not a simple re telling of written history. Nonetheless, this also gave me some sense of contempt to inhumane actions on both parties regardless of which side I may choose to give sympathy. If this will be the only book describing the first contact of Canada and its history, I will be facing realizations of the violent, lustful, and inhumane parts of history or the truths that perhaps will never be mentioned on ordinary history books.  [5]   I believe then, that the bigger purpose of the novel is to portray themes not mentioned in the usual history books. Hypocrisy and modesty aside, we can really assume that such themes like sex, violence, lust and other worldly human nature are inclusive of our history.  [6]  While other critics of Glover say that he did not include human nature to sympathize with in his novel Elle, I believe that these themes can be considered not less than parts of our character and human nature regardless of civilization, religion and nationality. Moreover, this is also to portray colonization not simply as expansion of territory. It means penetration in an existing culture or rather an intentional or unintentional exchange of culture between the two parties: the colony and colonizers. This is to emphasize that colonization is not a one way process or a transformation from the colonizers to the colony. Rather, it is an exchange or combination of tradition, belief, education and emotional strings. Other inspirations in the story may be the apparent expansion of trade and prosperity in the ancient times. Colonization and territorial expansion were oftentimes attributed to be acts of European explorers. These expeditions have made tremendous histories and stories worth telling and retelling until these modern times of 21st century. Many of these stories were descriptions of social contacts such as Elle and other novels such as Gullivers Travel. The Themes of the Story To be specific, the themes that I have observed in the novel include: aboriginals, religion, first contact, issues of gender, family, and sex. Among these themes, I see particular emphasis on religion and faith, issues of gender, and sex as individual values. On the other hand, aboriginals and first contact may refer to the authors portrayal of Canada at times of Europeans attempt for colonization. Aboriginals In terms of aboriginals, the author might have been inspired by the recent discovery of ancient pagan culture. Portrayal of public execution and burning were mentioned in the stories quite a number of times. Rituals of native people of the New World were also portrayed. This is expected as some aspects of the novel were inspired by the recent rediscovery of ancient pagan classics. These were subtle critic in the practice of religion and its impacts to human thinking. Religion Excessive practice of religious rituals may cause unfavorable effects on the believers just like Elles mother who got consumed to religious rituals and forgot her other responsibilities and may be, even lost her sanity and sense of reality. The novel seemed to portray religion as one of the causes why her mother did not care for her as a child. Her mother was addicted to religious rituals that were described in absurd way such as licking the foot of the statue of saints in church. Her father, busy with his own desires for expanding power, did not pay fatherly attention to her too. As a result, or may be because of other causes too, Elle was not a very good mother and did not grow closer to her children too.  [7]   The Protestant and Catholic religions were explicitly ridiculed using direct and yet satiric language. Elle had a priest lover. This is scandalous because of chastity and vow of celibacy imposed and believed to be practiced by the priests. Moreover, the novel also mentioned brutal punishment of Protestants because of simple rule breaking and actions not in accordance to its scriptures. Elle were fond of these and even said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I thought the world to be a more exciting place for all the conflict and never missed a public burning or decapitation.  [8]  This was a portrayal in both implicit and explicit way that religion, sex and brutality are related. Family Moreover, these were the times when religion, greed for power and prosperity and all other arbitrary pleasures such as sex and money were favored more than ones own family. Parenting is a loose responsibility and not a highly regarded one. This is true in the case of Elle to her children and her from her parents. Her mother did not care for her because of her evident addiction or obsession to religious rituals. She was also not able to care for her children for reasons not explicitly stated in the story. I assume that it is an effect of her experiencing the same from her parents and her own experiences of violence and brutality in her exile. Inequality against Women Gender issues were also addressed in the novel. It portrayed how Europeans and Canadians treated women. In spite of membership to highly regarded and respected families and aristocratic upbringing, women suffer from violent and unequal treatment. They were vulnerable not only to sexual assaults but also to inequality to opportunities. In those times, women were not expected to take part to exhibitions, voyages and other privileges entitled only to male counter parts. But then again, headstrong girl as that of Elle strived to get some good treatment. This is in spite of her aristocratic upbringing; she grew up uniquely as a headstrong girl. While women were seen as sex objects, she in turn treated his lovers, her sex partners as well. In turn he also used men to satisfy her desire for good sex. She measure manhood in terms of size of penis and ability in love making.  [9]  Likewise, Catherine or Comes Winter, the native woman also experienced the same fate just like Elle. It was far easier to punish a woman with her life, including watching her loved ones to die. Sex and Lust Sex, on the other hand, seemed to serve as an escape for the characters. The main character seemed to satisfy her frustrations through having lustful sex. She seemed to find equality in sex where she is found in beauty and men make love to her the way she needed to be loved. This is to say that sex, in one way or another, is not just a language of the body. It may also be considered as psychological, a cure or rather means of psychological stress. Other themes I see in the novel include revenge and karma. The novel showed some sense of these themes when the General, to whom all sufferings of Elle were attributed to, was killed by a bear (which was apparently shown to be her other personality later on). The general was killed by a bear with a womans heart. The desire for revenge that was stated in the earlier part of the story was satisfied when the general thought of Elle while meeting his death. He was stabbed and acquired fatal blows- an uncomfortable death that Elle once desired to give him. Although it is uncertain if Elle is really the bear or otherwise, the end indeed justified the means because she seemed to be delighted with the news. Whether random Karma or intentional revenge, Elle would have felt the same: gratified and responsible. Emphases of the Novel With these themes, the emphasis of the story relied on human autonomy. Elle, in spite of being a woman with limited physical and may be emotional strength and opportunities, have means to do aberrations with liberty and autonomy as the justifications. Moreover, this can be associated with ones freedom of expression. Although this may not be easy and may even cause ones own life, fear of the consequences was the only barrier for freedom of expression. Likewise, there was also a thrust on human nature to appreciate worldly pleasures: power, territory, sex and lust and beauty. The Personality of Elle Elle is a French girl who was brought up by an aristocratic family. Her mother, addicted to spiritual and religious activities, did not serve to be a good mother to her. The same was true to his father who was paying more attention to reading books and extension of power. Hence, she grew up as a headstrong girl with means to get what she wants. See and react to things she just wanted to. She used sex and books as her escape to reality and thus giving her dreams uniquely hers. She enumerated her desires to be: mild intoxicants, good sex, witty conversation, cheap printed books, and front seat at public executions. Sex outside marriage was known as a sin but giving to lust and earthly desire, they still do it with promises of penance, confessions and indulgence. Yet, in spite of not having married, Elle had many lovers through out the story. It can also be observed that it was not really sex she was fond to. It may also be the desire to have a man on her feet because of her beauty. Or, in another perspective, she may also want to be the cause of mens weakness. Some of her lovers mentioned in the story were Richard, a tennis player. He was weak and easy to seduce. He has been in love with Elle since she was 13 but Elle made the first move and seduce him until the two have given in their lustful desires. Another one was the priest and a messenger of his father. He was way too old for Elle but she regarded him good for having a penis a size of a sparrow and for loving her well in bed. She also was related to the hunter in the remote island she took refuge into. He taught him some things about bears which may be the means of Elle of acquiring the violent ability of bears or even transforming into a bear.  [10]   Elles discovery of faith was not brought about by promising experiences but rather experiences that can be seen better off. However, her faith and epiphany could have been different, perhaps, narrower if experienced differently. Her discovery of faith by being in between the clash or exchange of corpses of Old and New World, through her exile and witnessing the same fate to another woman, and knowing the brutal fate of M. Cartier, caused her the deepest understanding of colonization and both partys resistance of treating each other human. The Vision of Canada These experiences of the character brought the readers, including me, to have more sympathy and deeper vision on Canada. The violence, deaths and degradation experienced by the native people in the hands of the European colonists. On the other hand, however, the colonizers such as Cartier also experienced a brutal fate. Hence, this novel, I think is contempt of the inhumane results of colonization. Canada is only one of the many countries that have experienced this vision. Perhaps all countries that have been attempted to be colonized launched some resistance forces. Each paid their part of violence and brutality in ancient history. However, these events served a deeper purpose to increase social contacts, expansion of trade and prosperity, and maximization of use of natural resources. Yet, as we can see it the modern times, such values, events, and themes may still be applicable. There is still an evident gender inequality, violence, scandals of religion until these times. Hence, such conflicts may also be addressed through rediscovering faith and understanding and paying respect with each other.

The Virgin and The Gipsy Written by D.H. Lawrence Essays -- Virgin Gip

The Virgin and The Gipsy Written by D.H. Lawrence This novel is very intriguing and teaches lessons of morality, religion, and of life and death intended for those with imagination and insight. The author's style contributes deeply to the intrigue and true meaning to this novel. The author's use of imagery makes tensions in the story vivid and emphatic. In this story there is a re-occurring tension between religion and desire. The tension between religion and desire is most clearly demonstrated between the characters of Yvette and the rector. Yvette was brought up in a world of religious conventions and beliefs, an environment of forgiveness, love, and morality. This world is later realized to truly be a world of repression towards all feelings of passion and desire; not the environment of forgiveness, love, and morality Yvette and the readers are lead to believe. This starts the conflict between religion and desire, and confuses Yvette greatly because her religious upbringing denies and contradicts all her natural instincts of love, passion, and sexuality. The rector and Yvette do not share the same understanding of love. They are both very different in their thoughts and expressions, of what love is. The narrator in the story tells us what the rector thinks of Cynthia, his lost wife. He describes her as 'the pure white snow-flower'; (p.6) and expresses that her husband thought of her 'on inaccessible heights†¦that she was throned in lone splendor aloft their lives, never to be touched'; (p.7) This would have the reader believe that Cynthia is considered in the rector's eyes to be like god not bodily in his life. At another point in the novel the narrator informs the reader that the rector believes Cynthia to be sacred and that she was enshrined in his heart, as if she were a religious idol, never simply expressing any love or desire for his lost wife. It's like the rector has moral religious love for his lost wife, and not passion or desire, like the love Yvette feels for the gypsy. When Yvette matures and realizes that she feels differently than her family, she undergoes a change in her heart, and attitude. Yvette's father picks up on her chan ge and resents her for it because the rector wishes Yvette to be pure and clean like him, or her sister Lucille who turned out the way the rector intended. Therefore not expressing or experiencing true l... ...der that the truth will set you free, and lead you into making the right decisions. The flood is a symbol of re-birth, the flood wiped out the dark, dull stone house, and giving Yvette a second chance at the life she wishes to pursue. The characters are a very important role in the novel and are very diversified. Each character is unique and opinionated which adds contrast and intrigue. Cynthia left her husband for another man, but in her husband's eyes is still considered as pure. The rector is an odd man. Even though his wife left him for another man, he worships her as if she were his god. Perhaps this emphasizes his feelings and beliefs towards her, which are holy and without desire. He does not know the meaning of love, or desire so the reader is lead to believe that his beliefs of holiness, and of purity are his means of recognizing love. This novel was very symbolic and had an extensive vocabulary. It was very intriguing and kept the reader's interest throughout the whole novel. I would recommend this novel to anyone who would like an exercise for his or her mind. There is a lot of insight needed to interpret this novel, but the challenge only adds to the intrigue.

Poverty In the Philippines Essay example -- Poverty Essays

Poverty In the Philippines The rich, the middle class, and the poor; are described by the way we live and the amount of money one has. There are many different ways of describing what poverty is, whether it is by how you live or how much money you have. What is poverty and what does it mean to be poor? Not many of us know the true meaning of these terms. Poverty is an issue dealt with throughout the world, but we are not all aware if its conditions. Poverty is a very serious problem around the world. Poverty is defined as the equality to poorness and impoverishment -- (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions). A question to ask ourselves is: â€Å"Should poverty be defined strictly in terms of monetary income, as opposed to some qualitative formula which takes into consideration styles of life as well as material possessions?† (Sheppard 13) Because there are so many different ways we can express the term poverty, maybe there should be a certain way we ca n determine poverty world wide? A person might look like they are poor or think that they are, but by definition they really are not even close. Every country has poverty levels that decide if they are poor or not. The Philippines is a country that deals with this issue on a daily basis. The Philippine islands are located in Southeastern Asia, between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam. The country is made up of about 7000 islands, only 2000 of those islands are inhabited. The population of the country includes about 84,619,974 people. The people of this country are all very close to their families. They work together to make the income that their family needs to survive. Sometimes th... ... rest of my life. Works Cited American Poverty and Welfare Reform. 2002. Women's Policy Research. . Cruz, Maria C., et al. Population Growth, Poverty, and Environmental Stress: Frontier Migration in the Philippines and Costa Rica. N.p: World Resources Institute, 1992. 1-92. Sheppard, Harold L. Poverty and Wealth in America. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1970. 3-279. Davis, Leonard. The Philippines People, Poverty and Politics. New York: St. Martins's P, 1987. 1-225. Philip M. Finnegan. Philippine Islands 2000. Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12010a.htm The Real World Fact Book.Map. 1 August 2003. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rp.html Poverty In the Philippines Essay example -- Poverty Essays Poverty In the Philippines The rich, the middle class, and the poor; are described by the way we live and the amount of money one has. There are many different ways of describing what poverty is, whether it is by how you live or how much money you have. What is poverty and what does it mean to be poor? Not many of us know the true meaning of these terms. Poverty is an issue dealt with throughout the world, but we are not all aware if its conditions. Poverty is a very serious problem around the world. Poverty is defined as the equality to poorness and impoverishment -- (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions). A question to ask ourselves is: â€Å"Should poverty be defined strictly in terms of monetary income, as opposed to some qualitative formula which takes into consideration styles of life as well as material possessions?† (Sheppard 13) Because there are so many different ways we can express the term poverty, maybe there should be a certain way we ca n determine poverty world wide? A person might look like they are poor or think that they are, but by definition they really are not even close. Every country has poverty levels that decide if they are poor or not. The Philippines is a country that deals with this issue on a daily basis. The Philippine islands are located in Southeastern Asia, between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam. The country is made up of about 7000 islands, only 2000 of those islands are inhabited. The population of the country includes about 84,619,974 people. The people of this country are all very close to their families. They work together to make the income that their family needs to survive. Sometimes th... ... rest of my life. Works Cited American Poverty and Welfare Reform. 2002. Women's Policy Research. . Cruz, Maria C., et al. Population Growth, Poverty, and Environmental Stress: Frontier Migration in the Philippines and Costa Rica. N.p: World Resources Institute, 1992. 1-92. Sheppard, Harold L. Poverty and Wealth in America. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1970. 3-279. Davis, Leonard. The Philippines People, Poverty and Politics. New York: St. Martins's P, 1987. 1-225. Philip M. Finnegan. Philippine Islands 2000. Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12010a.htm The Real World Fact Book.Map. 1 August 2003. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rp.html

Review of “Peer-E-Kamil” Essay

Pir-e-Kamil (SAW) meaning The Perfect Mentor, is one of the fiction novel written by well known and famous Pakistani writer Umera Ahmed. The book was firstly published in 2005 in Urdu language and later on in 2011 the book was published in English language too. I have decided to write review on this book because I found the book an extraordinary attempt by the writer Umera Ahmed. I have selected this book for review because the facts shown in the book were heart & soul shaking. Many among us don’t think about these facts and coming life but only consider it as to have the luxuries and to relax after working hard for gathering as much luxuries as they can. The only right path starts from ALLAH and ends at his beloved last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) but unfortunately not as many of us thinks about it. Umera Ahmed was born on December 10, 1976 in Sialkot. Umera Ahmed completed her masters in English literature from Murray College,Sialkot. She began her writing career in 1998 with her initial stories published in monthly Urdu digests. She has written 16 books, ranging from complete novels to compilations of short stories. Her most popular book is the current book of which I am presenting the review Pir-e-Kamil (SAW). This book became identity for Umera Ahmed. Later she became an English language lecturer for the students of O and A levels at Army Public College, Sialkot. However, she left the job a few years back in order to devote her full attention to writing. Her novels and her plays have been adapted for television. Umera Ahmed is one of the most widely-read and popular Urdu fiction novelist and screenplay writer of this era. Her stories revolves around many social, domestic and spiritual issues and consists of colours of true love, friendship, suspense and tragedy. What differe ntiates her from others is her ambition of bringing light on certain controversial issues of modern era. Pir-e-Kamil, is our Prophet (S.A.W) someone the whole Muslim Ummah loves. The story of ‘Pir-e-Kamil’ is about a girl named ‘Imamah’ who went through many changes in her life because of her love for Allah and His Messenger S.A.W. Pir-e-Kamil is a story of Imamah Hashim, who belongs to a family of Qadiyanis. Qadiyanis are a group of people who choose divergence from true Islam by selling their faith and these are considered non-believers by Islamic Law and according to the Law of Pakistan too. Imamah grews up in that family but feels something to be missing in her life. She found what she was looking for in Islam. Her conversion to Islam brought some serious and difficult challenges to her life, and faced rejection and harsh behavior of her family on becoming a Muslim. Her family planned her wedding with her cousin â€Å"Asjad† who was also a Qadiyani. As It isn’t permissible for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim, so she asks for her Muslim neighbors, Salar’s help. Salar was one of those special people who have 150+ IQ level and amazing memory. This book is also about the story of Salar Sikander, a very different and complicated character, who was living a sinful and worse life like the life of anyone in the world but not that of how a good Muslim should live. He had tried to commit suicide a few times just because he wants to feel the pain. After that story the book is about the hardships these characters face in life. The book tells us that Any success in this world and in the next World, is only granted for the love of Holy Prophet (SAW) and beyond that there is nothing that a person requires. Nothing. The writers expressive style does justice to the wonderful plot and by the end of the novel you cant help but at least think over the lessons and morals in the book. The novel’s plot, facts expressed in the novel, the scenes hence, everything was heart touching, heart shaking and perfect. It is not just an ordinary novel, but Pir-e-Kamil will let you examine your own life and see if the lives we are living are in accordance with what Allah (God) wants us to live like in this World. The story of the book is such a great one that no one can sit without admiring it. It shows the people who love Allah and His Messenger (SAW) and how people have changed by the will of Allah through other people. It is spiritual story. I’m sure that there are many people who go through such phases in their lives, infact I think everyone gets a chance at least once in their lives. It also depends on who want that change. Surely, Allah listens and knows what’s in our hearts. One of my favorite parts was when Salar was in a â€Å"fishy† area and hears the name Imamah and the way Umera described his reaction was just superb and fabulous. Great characterization shown by Umera Ahmed in this book. Your heart totally went out for Salar even when you knew he wasn’t a good guy – what a great way to craft a character in the book. It is really a masterpiece of Umera Ahmed and no doubt the book has a magic spell .Although it is totally a fiction novel but after reading this you will just think that may be Salar Sikandar exists or Imamah exists in this World. The concepts , the characters , the dialogues every single thing in book was amazing. Personally the character of Salar Sikandar left me totally mesmerized. I loved the transition of his characters the way he changed is quite interesting. Overall this book is a Masterpiece from the Author. I will surely recommend this book to all people. It is such a type of book which have everything In it and once reading it no once can be restricted from appraising the work of author. A surely recommended book to everyone. I highly recommend this book to everyone because it has got to be one of the most amazing novels ever. It is definitely worth reading. â€Å"â€â€"In life, at sometime or another we come to a point where all relationships cease—where there is only us and Allah. There are no parents, brother or sister, or any friend. Then we realise that there is no earth under us nor is there sky above, but only Allah who is supporting us in this emptiness. Then we realise our worth – it is not more than a grain of sand or the leaf of a plant. Then we realise our existence is only confined to our being. Our demise makes not a whit of difference to the world around us, nor to the scheme of things.† ― Umera Ahmed, Peer-e-Kamil

Integrating school safety data for the purpose of safe school program evaluation Essay

Abstract This paper addresses the issue of school safety and what should be done to enhance it. The need for all stakeholders; the government, the school administrations and community to facilitate safe school planning and thus essentially enhance school safety are equally taken into consideration. The paper further provides some of the indicators that are considered while implementing an effective safe school plan and how to assess and evaluate the proven programs. This in essence, provides a general picture of promoting school safety so that incidents of crime can be lessened. In addition, the need to create an enhanced safe environment needs to be sensitized in every school since it has a direct impact to the performance of schools. Introduction This paper considers data that will provide the way best practices and proven programs can be used to enhance school safety. Such a program that has been considered is Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block grants (JAIBG). This kind of a program considers the underlying premise that young people who violet the laws need to be held accountable for the offenses if society is to improve the quality of life in the nations’ communities. It is to this effect that the paper goes beyond and evaluates the accountability of the juveniles in relation to the environment they live in and other surrounding factors. Consequences or sanctions that are applied swiftly, surely, and consistently and are graduated to provide appropriate and effective responses to a varying levels offense seriousness and offender chronics work based, in preventing, controlling and reducing further law violations. There is, therefore the need to use best practices and such like proven programs to enhance school safety. Further more, the safe school planning procedures have to involve all the stakeholders including parent, teachers, government and the community and of course the students. Safe Schools and School Planning In most cases statistics and the government reports determine safe schools but this ought not to be an end by itself. Various questions are raised in defining a safe school due to the difficulty that comes along with the definition. A safe school is considered one in which guards patrol the halls, metal detectors protect all entrances and all violent incidents are reported to the police. Creating a safe school goes beyond eliminating knifing, fighting and shootings. Violence is also subtle things such as name calling; fear of being ridiculed; teasing; offensive touching; racial, ethical, cultural, or sexual slurs; and bullying (Hernandez, 2004). This shows that most violence in school does not occur overnight but it develops over a period of time. According to (Stevick and Levinson, 2003), â€Å"violence is the most extreme manifestation of range of behaviors that run contrary to schools’ expectations and purposes† A safe school is the one in which the total climate allows students, teachers, administrators, staff, and visitors to interact in a positive, non-threatening manner that reflects the educational mission of the school while fostering positive relationships and personal growth. In addition a safe school is one, which repeated absenteeism, inadequate performance, or dropouts, withdrawals or transfers due to feeling afraid in school are progressively reduced. Incidences of disruption, crime and violence are progressively reduced too. Safe school planning is a clear and concise plan for creating a safe school climate. This requires collaborative efforts of parents, students, school personnel, and communities. The plan should contain a written conduct and discipline code, and policy for annual building inspections to eliminate barriers to safety and a policy for annual written report regarding learning environment to be submitted to the relevant authorities. These are proactive measures that should be taken to reduce if not eliminating school-based crimes. A comprehensive planning process based on state law, gives a guideline to a school and the community at large in developing a plan that is relevant and effective. Best practice and Proven Programs Best practice is a management ideal, which asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity incentive, or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. These are essentially the most efficient and effective ways of accomplishing a task. They are based on repeated procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people. On the other hand proven programs are those have shown success in their repeated use. Though this is the case, proven programs have to adjust depending on the rising challenges in our society. The proven programs are bound to come up with positive results that are manifested by safety school environment. Purpose of the proven programs is to promote school safety by increasing student accountably for their behavior. This facilitates the development of constructive well-conserved† accountability based programs that work with either juvenile offenders who are referred by law enforcement agents, or which are designed in corporation with law enforcement officials to protect student and school personnel from drug, gang and youth violence. It must be noted, however the accountability based programs operate most effectively when they are part of a comprehensive collaborative approach involving a wide range of partners including students, parents, school faculty, and staff, community residence, members of communities organization, law enforcement justice authorities. Partnership with local juvenile justice systems and schools to establish and maintain accountability based programs, and students’ accountability must work in concert with institutional accountability that addresses the underlying causes of students’ violence and misconduct. School safety programs that emphasis student accountability can be build on the experience of successful community-based delinquency prevention and intervention programs. Comprehensive strategy for serious, violent and chronic juvenile offenders and safe futures program are examples that have proven effective in addressing juvenile delinquency (Wilson, 1993). The comprehensive strategy provides a blue print for establishing a continuum of care to meet the needs of at-risk or delinquent youth while protecting the public from harm. It promotes a systematic approach to prevention and the use of graduate sanctions in dealing with the offenses committed by such individuals and advocates the developments of partnerships between the juvenile court, law enforcement and community. Some of the programmatic strategies derived from the comprehensive strategy and the safe futures programs are applicable to accountability-based school safety initiatives include emphasis on juvenile accountability, develop an expanded and integrated network of social services. In provision of comprehensive strategies there is involvement of law enforcement as a stake holder in community-based efforts to prevent and respond to delinquency. Accountability in a school environment means expecting students to comply with school rules and regulations that reflect community standards or behavior and where necessary, addressing students misconduct with appropriate conduct including school discipline. Programs can take a comprehensive approach to reducing delinquency and misconduct in schools by building student accountability into the school culture. Efforts to enhance school safety should be fully integrated into all aspect of school operation including the learning environment curriculum, administration, staff selection and staff training. Enhancing School Safety through Assessment and Evaluation In enhancing school safety there is the need to understand all the indicators that distinguish a safe school from unsafe schools. One of the indictors that characterize a safe school is the orderliness of the school. This involves a creation of a climate of mutual respect and responsibility. This can be evaluated by the way students relate to others, teachers and staff. Expectations about this amicable relationship are what are accepted and consequences for unacceptable behavior are known and applied where appropriate. Another parameter to measure, evaluate and enhance school safety is to ensure that the school has existing plans, and implement the plans progressively. In addition there should be policies and procedures that address the safety of the school. When these issues are put in place the schools safety is enhance and evaluated. Measures that check the number of trespassers, incident of vandalism, reasons for absenteeism and number of firearms and other weapons have to be taken into account to enhance safety in schools. The environment in which an individual lives in has one to one relationship with the criminal or non-criminal behaviors. In considering the environment there is the need to use Crime Prevention Environment Design to ensure that safety at school is enhanced. This design takes into consideration the relationship between physical environment and the users of that environment. It is equally important to acknowledge that the users of the environment both criminals and honest alike are conscious their environment. They therefore can know and recognize a safe and unsafe environment. In doing so, the environment can be made safe by ensuring that buildings are built in an well-organized way. The doors and windows should not be obstructed. The streets and routes in the school should be well labeled and directions shown. Apart from this these routes and buildings should be under twenty-four hours surveillance to monitor intruders and strangers. Equally important is the lighting system, which should be checked to ensure that criminals do not take advantage of the dark alleys. If all this is taken into account then there is high possibility of enhancing school safety. In this sense there is also need to consider the orderliness of the school by taking measures to ensure this. Taking measures in considering the referrals the school gets and the reasons enhances orderliness of a school. Also the orderliness of a school is reflected by the number of suspensions both in-school and out of school and the performance index of the school. It is inevitable to consider the orderliness of a school because it has one to one relationship with the safety of the school. The more orderly the school is the more safety it tend to be and the vice versa is correct. A caring school also does a lot of good in enhancing its own safety. Schools, which care, are characterized by taking caution of the rate of and reasons for absenteeism in the school. A caring school should consider their staffs turn over-we have had of cases where the students have been incited by their teachers to do crimes for example going on strikes. This can be so when the teachers are against some of the management policies. It is therefore important for schools to care for the se issues and also the rate of students’ transfer. It is when the management put their efforts to enhance the discussed issues that the school safety is realized in the long run. To evaluate a school’s safety assessment, safety concerns of members of the school community should be done through surveys, for example. The information gathered from the survey ought to be used in the creation of the safe school plan so that safety concerns can be addressed. Continuous measurement of safety concerns need to take place so that actions can be adjusted to address concerns. On the hand to evaluate orderliness of a school, assessments of reasons of disorder need to occur. From these assessments, a code of conduct reflecting behavioral expectations can be established as part of the safe school plan. Review of the reasons for disorder should help establish the code of conduct. Adjustments to the code should be made based upon continuous review of the school orderliness. This in essence, the use of the available data will enable the concerned parties to enhance school safety. School Safety Data in the Evaluation of Programs Data is vital in evaluation of the programs that reduce insecurity in school. Data from Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2005 shows that, 17 percent of students in grade 9-12 reported they carried a weapon anywhere and six percent reported they had carried a weapon in school. Though the data show that this is a decline from the previous year, it is still shocking and calls for collective responsibility to all stake holders. The data collected in this report also identified other indicators of unsafe school like drugs availability in school and violent incidents at school. The data found in the Indicator reports for the five consecutive years has been used or integrated in the safety programs for the purpose of enhancing school safety. The data equally highlights reported of other actions which are frequently neglected but have a direct impact to the eventual safety of the school like use of hate-related words. Safety school data collected reported incidents what could be classified or determined if a school is safe or not. The data ranges from possession of weapon, sex offences, use of alcohol and drugs, vandalism, burglary among others. The safety of schools in this case is determined by the rates of transfers, suspensions and expulsions. The data shows that there are no incidents of unsafe schools in this state. All the stakeholders, the teachers, school administration, the community and the state can attribute this to the measures that have been taken. The data used reflected the percentages of students who smoked cigarettes and marijuana in a period of six months. This was considered alongside the strategies for prevention and creating a safe school. The effects of mental health from the use of drugs are equally indispensable. Another source of data was the community. The communities that care survey of student levels of risk and protective factors were also considered. The data used was from survey carried out about students from grade 6-12. The data from the Kansas department of Education was used. The set data includes information regarding the numbers of felonies, expulsions, suspensions, misdemeanors and violent acts on school grounds for various schools. This data was from the year 2000 to 2004. School years were included in this database in order to establish a baseline by which to compare data from the school years in which the safe school initiative will be implemented. Conclusion The issue of safe schools is an issue that should be taken with a lot of seriousness bearing in mind the number of criminal related incidents that occur in the school. It is the obligation of all the stakeholders to ensure that they work towards the betterment of school environment in terms of surveillance- it should be a collective responsibility. Educators should consider physical safety as well as intellectual and emotional safety. To promote truly safe schools, educators must understand the culture of all their students and the communities they serve, and help all the students understand and respect the culture and the climate of the schools they attend. On the other hand, the state and the educational authorities have to come up with policies that the school safety is enhanced. Thorough scrutinisation of these policies will at least ensure that the school and the community do not neglect their roles in enhancing safety in schools. References Aspy, C. (2004) Adolescent violence: The protective effects of youth assets. Journal of counseling and development, 286-277 Hernandez, T (2004) A safe school climate: A systematic approach and the school counselor. Professional school counseling 7 (4): 256-62. Stevick, E. (2003). From noncompliance to Columbine: Capturing student perspectives to Understand Non- compliance and Violence in Public Schools. Urban Review 35 (4) 323-49 Vail K. (2004) Troubling rise in school violence. American School Board Journal 191(1): 9-10 Wilson, R. (1991) Violence Prevention for Young Adolescents: A Survey of the State of Art. New York: Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. Witt, P. (1996) Public Recreation in High Risk Environments: Programs that Work. Arlington, AV: National Recreation Park.

Employment and Unemployment

The employment rate means the number of people that is presently employed divided by the population of working age. Unemployment is a situation where labour force participants are avaible, willing to work and actively looking for a job but are unable to find any jobs. Labor force is defined as the people above the age of 16 and older who are employed or are actively seeking employment. Unemployment rate can be calculated by dividing the number of unemployed with the labor force.Changes in unemployment depend mostly on inflows made up of non-employed people starting to look for jobs, of employed people who lose their jobs and look for new ones and of people who stop looking for employment. The cause of unemployment in Malaysia varies. There are four types of unemployments, which include cyclical unemployment, frictional unemployment, structural unemployment and seasonal unemployment. Cyclical unemnployment of Malaysia happens when there is lack of jobs due to the downswing in a busine ss cycle or a recession.Due to this economy declines, the number of job layoffs crossways the world is rising extremely. The International Labor Organization affirmed that up to 51 million jobs worldwide could be eliminated due to the recession. Malaysia is no exception. Normally with an unemployment rate of 2% to 2. 5%, could rise to 4. 5% in that particular year. Since January 2009 about 10,000 Malaysians have been jobless. Another problem that causes the increasing of unemployment rate of Malaysia is that there are so many new job seekers each and every year.Research shows that every year there are 600,000 new job seekers in Malaysia. This is when the frictional unemployment happens which people are in between jobs, entering and reentering the labor force. For example when people quit their jobs for a better position or higher wages or when fresh graduates are actively seeking for jobs. Even though these people are not working, but they are counted as part of the labor force beca use they are searching for jobs.It is stated that structural unemployment is when jobs are available but the unemployed does not have the skills to fill these jobs. In Malaysia, the case is quite the opposite. There are many highly-qualified candidates, but they are too embarrassed to take on low-paying jobs, although a local spokesperson says that ‘job seekers should accept whatever job positions they can get’. That would decrease the number of people seeking jobs, which would decrease unemployment based on frictional and structural unemployment. Seasonal unemployment takes place hen seasonal variations happens during the activities of particular industries caused by climatic changes, changes in fashions or by the intrinsic nature of such industries. In Malaysia, there are a lot of opportunities in the plantation sector. With the typical weather of Malaysia, people in the plantation sector are able to grow crops all year round. Nonetheless, seasonal unemployment still takes place. For example, the sugar industry is seasonal in the sense that the crushing of sugar-cane is done only in a particular season. Such seasonal industries are bound to give rise to seasonal unemployment.

Saving Someone’s Life As A Heroic Act

Saving someone’s life is always looked upon as a heroic. It is acceptable for society to ridicule us should we choose not to respond? Should society throw shame and guilt on us? If in the process of saving someone’s life we loose ours, we did a heroic act, but is that wise? Saving someone else life is a heroic act and deserve a lot of praise and respect. If one person tries to save the life of another person on the cost of his own life then this is a very noble act. Though in our society there are people of every thought and not everyone will appreciate this act, however, we should not see what people say about it. When one person is in very difficult situation that it can cost his life, then we should put our all efforts to save the life of a person. It is our moral responsibility as well as brotherhood. We must understand the situation while thinking that suppose if we would be in such a tough and difficult situation we would like someone to come and save us then it is of utmost importance that we should give our full support to such a person. The question that ‘whether we’ll loose our life in saving other person’s life? ’ remains controversial. As it is not necessary that we will loose ours but of course there are chances that we can loose our own life in an attempt to save other’s life. However, this is the main point of nobility to prefer others over our own self. This is the reason that it is said to be the heroic act. In saving other person’s life society may ridicule us because we took risk of our own life to save other person’s life. But we should always ignore what people say about this. We must not respond to the irritating remarks. Instead, society should always encourage these noble acts and must not blame or throw shame on others. The real essence of our life is to help out others in all possible circumstances. We must prefer and give value to others over our own-self. Hence, this is not the act of shame, but it is a dignified act and has a noble cause. It is not reasonable that society must ridicule us. In fact, ridiculing such a noble act is itself an act of disgrace. We must have enough courage to think of every individual as an important being. Such act also involves immediate thinking and taking decision to save other person from danger. If all society will turn to be more self-fish and refrain from saving others in time of danger then this is a dishonor. For example, if we see a car accident and if we see driver can be pulled out of the car before it goes on flames then we must immediately do it. Though it bears the risk that car will blow-off and anyone standing nearby will blow-off too, but refraining to help driver out will be a selfish act. The decision that whether we should risk our lives or whether we should let other person die is an important one. Nevertheless, the wisdom lies behind the fact that we must put our all efforts to save other person as we might seek when our own life will be in danger. Though it will involve taking risk of our own lives but still we should do our best to save others. This is the act of great generosity and nobility. A dying person always seeks help from others and wants others to save his life. This is our moral duty to save other person. The wisdom behind this act is that we must give preference to others over our own self and secondly we must help others in a way that we seek from others.

Teaching in Urban Districts

The main form of interaction that goes on in schools is between the teachers and the students. Some of the students are difficult or unruly and they present many difficulties for the teachers as the teachers cannot then organize the class and provide the level of quality education that they are capable of. Disruptive students require more attention from teachers and this stops teachers from giving adequate attention to the rest of the class. There are many behavioral problems with students, but there is no method of dealing with such students in United States. Even the solution that can be achieved through disciplinary action has to be determined by the local school board, and then those decisions will have to be implemented by the teachers and the principal. One of the methods through which this can be done is the student parent handbook which is distributed to the students for giving to parents. This may give details of actions that would be taken by the teachers and the principal of the school, if the student does not live up to the expectations of the school and in the class. Other schools even give full details of the punishment that the student may be given when there is any infraction by the student of the rules of the school. (Teachers' Relationships) At the same time, all punishments that are given are felt to be the responsibility of the teacher, by the student and the families of the students. This brings us to the next level as we have to determine the type of punishment that can be given to the students. The limits of this range from verbal warnings to in-school suspensions, and when the student crosses limits of behavior, then the general recommendation is an out of school suspension. At the same time, some students are repeat offenders, and their punishment increases with the number of times they have caused an offense. The system of punishing students and still retaining them in the same school has now been questioned by some educationists, who have suggested that alternative schools be set up for them. This will permit the ordinary schools on teaching of students who have a lot of desire to learn. Another group has suggested that punishments start earlier, from primary school, and the punishments should be clarified with a clear system. The problem is that the parents are not aware of all these systems of the school, as they only go through the written material that they receive from schools and even that in a cursory manner. These do not make them respond and thus the parents' point of view remains unknown. The parents meet and talk to the school authorities only during formal occasions like school open houses and teacher conferences, and at these occasions, most participants are reserved. It is possible for both teachers and parents to set up other meetings, but that action is taken only when the concerned student has problems regarding progress. Even during the process of their training, teachers do not receive much training regarding interaction with parents. As is well known, training for becoming teachers takes place in colleges of education based in universities. The individuals who want to become teachers join up courses for both academic learning as also for courses in education. The combination is expected to teach them both the methods of teaching as also the contents that they desire to teach the students. On joining up for the first time, the students are expected to undergo a period of teaching students. There are some individuals who feel that a teacher who is still in the learning process should be left alone with students, others take the view that it may be better if they are supported by an experienced teacher during the first few weeks of teaching that they undertake. (Teachers' Relationships) (1) The teacher also faces different challenges and those depend on the environment where they start teaching. Schools in urban areas are not individual schools, but are part of a large bureaucracy that is not able to act fast in response to the needs of the schools. These schools generally do not have many resources, and even the buildings are in poor condition in many cases. From outside the school, the environment within the school may be affected by gang activity, drug availability and usage on a large scale and there being a lack of community structure. Students who are coming to the school are burdened not only with educational requirements, but also carry the burden of poverty, hunger and poor housing. There is a feeling among the parents, teachers, principals and students that the school they are concerned with is something special and separate. This can be said to be the tone, climate or ethos of the school, and those seem to be related to all activities that are connected with the school. (NCREL Monograph: Building Collaborative Cultures) This is a unique quality, a special school culture. This has an effect on the way they act, on how they dress, or even what they are continuously talking about or what they will never talk of. It also determines whether they seek help from others or they do not seek help. This culture of the school is built up of different norms, values, beliefs and assumptions and rituals. These are built up over time as teachers, students, parents and administrators have worked together, or dealt with crises and developed their own unstated expectations for interactions and methods of working together. On the other side there are some schools which remain as isolated places for working and there the teachers are left alone. They work alone in their rooms, and have little interaction with their colleagues. They keep the problems that they face to themselves. When one sees these schools, the teachers are islands – they feel a gulf of separation from each other, seldom talk to other teachers, or share their points of view in terms of the profession or even solving their problems. (NCREL Monograph: Building Collaborative Cultures) The urban districts have schools which have had a much longer period of development than new schools which have come up in the suburban areas. This makes their cultural situation much more rigid, and any teacher has to adapt to them. After their graduation from college and getting the necessary qualifications required to become a teacher, most of the teachers still end up working in isolation. The teachers do not get enough time to work along with other teachers, and this is happening even now when there are a lot of efforts being made to get greater involvement of the teachers. There are new efforts to improve the general quality of individuals who join as teachers. The effort is through a compulsory renewal of certificates needed for teaching, creating programs where the teachers will all have mentors and general improvement of their salaries and working conditions. The process of improvement and this is through decisions taken at the school itself. It becomes the responsibility of the teachers in the schools to have a plan for improvement of the school. That will set up objectives for the school and give the teachers a greater say in the methods of running the school. It is possible to have new methods of instruction like teaching in teams, cooperative learning and individualized instruction through the use of computers. There are also other ways through which the performance of teachers can be evaluated. The implementation of these methods encourages the teachers to help their students achieve new state level standards that have been set up. (Teachers' Relationships) It is clear that schools where there is not enough satisfaction for the teachers will ultimately result in their leaving the school. It is not correct to say that low incentives are the main reason for their departure. In the city schools the teachers end up getting a salary less than they get in the schools of the suburbs, but that is not the main reason why they leave the school. There are many teachers who leave the school as they feel that they have not been getting enough support from the school administration. Within the school there are many intrusions during the time given for teaching in the class, there are a lot of problems of discipline of the students, and the teachers do not get a say as to how the school will be run. (Why Do High-Poverty Schools Have Difficulty Staffing Their Classrooms with Qualified Teachers? ) The degree of autonomy that is available to teachers in schools varies to a large extent. There are schools where the teachers have had the greatest role in development of the curricula and also helped the new teachers understand the curricula. On the other side, there are many schools where the teachers had to work with books that had been purchased and teach from them. There are a lot of differences within the teachers themselves which make the entire process even more difficult. A team of teachers from one district selected new mathematics and science curricula, but other teachers found that this curriculum of science was too difficult for the students. Teachers in another school were given a time of half a day for setting out the grade level objectives, but the teachers found the time to be too short and this was done only once. The teachers were not able to make plans that satisfied their desires. The involvement and satisfaction is different from school to school. The only matter that teachers seem to agree on is regarding their opinion of conditions which are suitable for teaching. The teachers are in favor of more flexible schedules, increase in resources for teaching and more assistance for teachers. There was also a difference in accountability and teachers in low income areas are generally ones to face the greatest demand for accountability and the greatest challenges. Certainly the level demanded from them was higher than was demanded from teachers in middle and high income areas. (2) We are facing a failure to ensure that classrooms in the country are filled with quality teachers, and this is more acute as the situation is the worst in disadvantaged schools. In general people say that the lack of teachers is the reason for this shortage. Why Do High-Poverty Schools Have Difficulty Staffing Their Classrooms with Qualified Teachers? ) The reasons for this shortage are ascribed to recent retirements of a large number of teachers and also due to a large increase in enrolment of students. This makes it even more difficult for schools in poor districts to get an adequate number of trained teachers. These school districts are in the urban areas and as a result of this shortage, these schools end up with a large number of under-qualified teachers. This lack of sufficient teachers is felt to be the main reason for the lack of proper education and building of careers of the students from these schools, and these students are in general from poor communities. All these factors are known to the authorities and they have tried to respond by the supply of an increase in the number of teachers to these schools. This has resulted in a lot of efforts to recruit new teachers in these schools, during the recent years. The greatest stress is on schools which are in disadvantaged settings. On further analysis of the data, it is seen that the staffing problems in these schools is not due to a lack of teachers, and what one is trying to say is that they are not suffering from a lack of adequately qualified teachers. The data clearly shows that the problems in staffing of the schools come from a ‘revolving door' that exists in these schools. This means that teachers join and then leave these schools within a short period, and the reason for their leaving the school is not retirement. The data shows that public schools in high poverty area, in urban communities leave about a fifth of their teachers every year! Why Do High-Poverty Schools Have Difficulty Staffing Their Classrooms with Qualified Teachers? ) These results show that the entire staff of the school could be lost within a very short period. The reason for the departure of these teachers is also in part due to the lack of involvement of the parents in the teaching process. Most of the residents in these areas are African American and Latino. The parents from these groups feel that the faculty in the local elementary school is biased against them. This is the reason that the parents state as being the cause for their non-participation in the school activities. Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education) The parents clearly mention that they would work only with teachers who respect and value their children. This causes great difficulty for experienced teachers as they are aware of the value of the participation by parents. Help from the parents was thought to be essential for good education, and this was taken for granted by teachers. Teachers felt parents supported their efforts and expectations for education of children. Today the situation in the cities has changed due to different family arrangement and socio-cultural differences between the teachers and the students with their families. The differences between them arise as the students and their families suffer from poverty, racism, language and cultural differences. The parents feel that the system has been prepared for the education of children from middle class and white families. This is bound to happen as the family has to feel that they have an important role in the education of their children. When the parents are from the middle class, then the parents feel that they have a duty in assisting the school for education of their children. On the other hand when the family is from the low income group, then the parents feel that it is the responsibility of the school to educate children. The thoughts of the parents regarding their own responsibility also make the parents visit the school and participate in all activities of the school. Of course to an extent, it also depends on the attitude of the school and some schools make the parents feel comfortable and at home in the school. Teachers in the urban centers often are not aware of the ethnicities and culture of the students they teach, and they have to learn this to be able to reverse the resistance of the family to involvement with school education. In many cities there have been changes over the years. Many of the cities were dominated by industry earlier, but due to development, the industries are no longer functioning from those cities. With the close of the factories, there were closure of supporting activities like restaurants and department stores. The population of the cities also declined from 100,000 earlier to about 60,000 now. Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education) While the population has dropped, there was a growth in different races in the city – African American and Latinos. The main school is located where the downtown area used to be. Within a range of one block are high rise public housing buildings which are home to four hundred families. Ninety-five percent of the children living there are from the two communities mentioned earlier. This means that the school will have to interact with these communities. The change in situation had led the city school district to have total integration of its elementary schools. Thus the elementary school serving the public housing building has now got all low-income and colored children. As a solution, the district had to send the children on a bus to the affluent elementary school situated on the hill which has a middle class neighborhood. (Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education) The school may have better facilities, but will the parents like it? The number of teachers from the minorities is falling. In 1974, 12. 5% of all full time teachers were African American, and today the number is down to 11 percent. This makes it possible that some students complete school without coming in touch with a minority community teacher. The minorities certainly have better career choices now, but even in teaching they feel that get low salaries and occupational prestige. (Increasing Minority Participation in the Teaching Profession) Thus teaching as a profession is not being liked. (3) It is clear that teaching in urban areas is not liked as it considered difficult to teach there. The schools have wide racial diversity among the students, little supply of materials required to teach, high demands from the bureaucrats that have to be met, low involvement of the parents in the school, and finally, low salaries. These are the reasons why suburban schools find it easier to get teachers as they are able to provide more resources, greater flexibility in the areas of teaching, and finally, better pay. (Teachers' Relationships) The solution to the problem is not that city schools recruit more teachers, which they have to do as they do not have enough teachers now. They have to find ways and means to stop the teachers from leaving the profession. It is very important that the teacher's ability to employ positive behavior intervention and support in the classroom is taken up. When the teacher has defects in terms of skills, the results will appear in the poor results from students who are concerned with the teacher. (Strengthening Emotional Support Services) The schools have to make sure that all students are taught by qualified teachers and this is what makes them worry about retaining the teachers on their roles.