My Truck Essays - Truck, Vehicles, , Term Papers

My Truck My truck got me into a lot of trouble. I had a lot of trouble with my brother. He took my cars and trucks to play with when ever he could. Apparently he thought the green truck was as fascinating as I did. He loved to play with my green truck as much as I did. This was the truck that he took a lot. That green pick-up truck got me into some fights with my brother and caused the trouble I got into. Playing with my truck also lead to trouble with my mother. I had hundreds of blocks set up around my room as roads. I didn't see it as a big problem. But, when my mom comes in to vacuum, she has to remove my blocks. I Hated This!!! Now, six yeard laterI can see her point; my room would not get vacuumed for month at a time. I would come home from school and find my room clean and vacuumed!! When I saw what had happened to my blocks I got mad, I wouldn't eat dinner that night. The next time I refused to let her move them and I got into a lot of tantrums over this. My mom tried to draw the positioning of the blocks onto graph paper, so she could put them back later, but it did not work out. The trucks and the blocks just continued to get me into trouble. My windows would be open in the summer, we didn't have air conditioning, and it was very windy. My door would slam in the night. The rest of the family would not get any sleep. So, my mom came in to close the windows a little and she would kick over my blocks and cars. In the morning, I woke up ot see how muck damage was done. My blocks were skattered, and some times my little plastic micro machine cars would me broken. If you know about to toy cars, once the axle is bent from being stepped on, or being turned, the wheels don't turn. But not my green pick up truck. It was made of metal and had very strong axles. I would make roads with my wooden blocks and scoot cars on top of the roads. I also had some stop signs that I would place where the roads would meet. I had a cut-out piece of blue felt that I used as a lake. Now, when you have a lot of cars that you set up on roads that go all of the way around your room, you can only move one or two cars at a time. The car that I played with the most was my truck.

politics of displacement essays

politics of displacement essays Jean Elshtain, Chp.2 "Democracy and the Politics of Displacement" In the excerpted chapter titled "Democracy and the Politics of Displacement", Jean Elshtain discusses the concept of politics of identity'. In discussing the politics of identity', Elshtain argues there is an emerging social phenomenon, wherein society is turning the private affairs of our lives into public discourse. The Western World has become a public pool, in which the information mediums and venues of society are overflowing with confessions and apologies. We have made the private affairs of our lives, into a booming business. Society has witnessed a proliferation of self - help groups, twelve- step' programs, anger management programs, television shows broadcasting a tell all' theme and Internet chat groups designed for people to post the confession and/or apology of the day. Inherently, it has not only become socially acceptable, but socially encouraged to "air our dirty laundry." We are actively creating an Apologizing Society.' Elshtain argues that as the boundary separating the private and the public becomes increasingly hazed, a new social identity emerges. Elshtain argues that as this new social identity emerges, there arises a politics of identity.'Our social identity is no longer composed of "differentiated spheres of human activity," but rather it has become a dichotomous social relationship involving those who are victims and those who are victimizers. Moreover, it is the quality or character of being a victim' that becomes public discourse. In turn, this quality of being a victim becomes an individual's primary or dominant identity: it defines their entire being. Through the process of class discussion, it was realized, that as the quality of being a victim enters the public lime- light, there emerges a social accumulation of victims and victimizers. The social accumu ...

10 Tips to Improve Kindergarten Reading Comprehension

10 Tips to Improve Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Learning to read is an exciting milestone for kindergarteners. Early reading skills include letter recognition, phonemic awareness, decoding, blending, and sight word recognition. Go beyond worksheets to improve kindergarten reading comprehension and skill through hands-on learning activities, games, and targeted techniques. Key Takeaways Build a foundation for comprehension by providing explicit phonics instruction and reinforcing new knowledge through interactive games.Select books with repetitive text that focus on topics your child enjoys, and read each one multiple times. Repetition encourages comprehension.While you read, help your child make connections by asking questions about the story and encouraging them to visualize it. Start with a Strong Foundation Overall reading success, including strong comprehension skills, begins with phonemic awareness. More than merely reciting the alphabet, kindergartners need to learn the sounds that each  letter makes.  Phonemic awareness also includes: blending individual soundsisolating beginning and ending sounds and recognizing words that start or end with the same soundssegmenting words into individual sounds Children need explicit phonics instruction. This instruction  builds on phonemic awareness to teach the relationship between letters or groups of letters and sounds. The most effective phonics instruction follows a specific sequence beginning with vowel and consonant sounds and building to two and three letter blends, double consonant ends, plural words, and diagraphs (letter blends such as ch, sh, bl, and th). Finally, kindergarten students should work on recognizing high-frequency words commonly known as sight words. Fry words and  Dolch sight words are two such word lists.   Play Kindergarten Reading Games Get young children involved in hands-on activities that improve their phonemic awareness and reading comprehension skills. Roll Word Families Start with two blank dice. On one, write word-beginning consonant sounds (example: b, s, t, m, p, r). On the second, write word-ending vowel-consonant sounds (example: at, op, an, in, ap, et). You should be able to combine the beginning and ending sounds to create consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. To play, invite your child to roll the dice and read the resulting word. Some of the combinations will be nonsense words, but that’s okay. Nonsense words still provide practice blending sounds. If desired, ask students to identify which words are real and which are nonsense. I Spy Send  children on a CVC or sight word scavenger hunt through classroom books  with a simple I Spy game. Ask them to search the books for  CVC  or sight  words, then report back on the words they find. Act Out Passages Encourage students to act out a scene from a book they are reading. This fun, simple activity adds meaning to the words on the page, and helps children focus on and visualize those meanings. Bingo Use a preprinted sight word bingo card or fill a blank template with sight words or CVC words. Create a few different card options and give one to each student, along with marker chips. Call out the words one at a time. As students locate each word on their card, they will cover it with a marker until they have five in a row. You can use preprinted bingo cards or try other printable sight word games. Reading Recommendations for Kindergarten When looking for books that kindergarten students can read independently (or with a little help), it’s important to keep a few facts in mind. First, children should recognize and be able to read 90% of the words in a â€Å"just right† book. It helps to remember the 5-finger rule. If a student makes five errors reading a page from a book, it’s too hard. One error is too easy. Four errors might mean the book is okay to try with some help. The sweet spot for a just right book is only two or three errors per page. Second, remember that it’s okay for children to read the same book multiple times. It may seem as if this isn’t helpful for reading comprehension because they are memorizing the text. However,  becoming  comfortable  and familiar with text improves reading fluency, vocabulary, and word recognition.   Similarly, reading books with repetitive text, such as The Foot Book or Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, improves reading comprehension. Include books with familiar sight words such as Big Brown Bear or Big Pig, Little Pig, both by David McPhail.   Finally, help children select books on topics that interest them. Keep in mind that some children prefer fiction books while others thrive on non-fiction. Try non-fiction books written for early readers such as Baby Pandas by Bethany Olson, Big Shark, Little Shark by Anna Membrino, or On a Farm by Alexa Andrews. Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Assessment One of the easiest ways to assess reading comprehension in kindergarten students is the  Informal Reading Inventory (IRI), also known as a Qualitative Reading Inventory. The IRI  allows  instructors to individually assess a student’s fluency, word recognition,  vocabulary,  comprehension, and oral reading accuracy. Kindergarten students should be assessed in the middle and at the end of the school year. Children are usually asked to read a passage aloud.  Reading fluency rate is determined by how many correct words  a student reads in one minute. Oral reading accuracy can help an instructor determine a student’s reading level and ability to decode words. Comprehension can be checked by asking questions about the passage or asking the student to summarize what he read. Vocabulary is assessed through open-ended questions about words in the passage. Model Good Reading Habits It is important for children to see that  their parents and teachers  value reading. Teachers can help by setting aside 15 to 20 minutes for silent reading each day. During this time, students and their teacher choose books to read silently. Parents can help by making sure that children see them reading at home. Teachers and parents should read aloud to students regularly so that children can hear the role that reading rate and voice inflection play in fluency. Choose books that are above the level that children could read on their own to expose them to new vocabulary. Parents should make bedtime stories part of their nightly routine. Ask Questions Improve kindergarten students’ reading comprehension by asking questions. Before reading, look at the book’s title and illustrations and ask students to make predictions about what will happen. During the story, ask questions about what is going on, what students think will happen next, or what they would do if they were the main character. After the story,  ask questions about what happened, how the story made the children feel, or why they think the book ended the way it did. Help Kindergartners Make Connections Helping students make connections is another effective technique for improving comprehension. Give students a foundation for what they’re reading. Talk or watch a video about unfamiliar experiences before reading about them. Help children  connect  stories to their own experiences. When reading a book about a boy getting a new puppy, for example, talk to students about who has a pet. Ask where they got their pet and how they chose it. Teach Comprehension Strategies Teach children what to do when they don’t understand what they’re reading. Instruct students to: Re-read the passageLook at  the pictures for cluesThink about what happened before or read what happens next If those tips don’t help, students may be reading a book that is too difficult. Don’t forget the 5-finger rule! Use Anchor Charts Anchor charts are resources to help students remember the key concepts about what they’ve learned. Anchor charts for reading comprehension might include reminders about decoding techniques, making connections, or visualizing the story. Build Vocabulary Increasing a student’s vocabulary in an excellent way to improve their reading comprehension. Give students confidence in their budding reading skills by defining  unfamiliar words ahead of time so that they don’t lose the meaning of the story. Teach them to  infer the meaning of a new word from the context of the story. For example, if a student reads, â€Å"The tiny ant goes in the little hole,† he may be unfamiliar with the word tiny but recognize little from his sight word list. Teach kids to ask themselves questions such as, â€Å"What could go through a little hole? Would it be something small or something big?† By reading the word in context, kids can learn to infer that tiny must mean small or little. Encourage Visualization Teach children to create mental images, often called brain movies or mind movies, when they are reading. Ask them to draw a picture of what is going on or what the character is thinking or feeling. Instruct them to use their  five senses to picture the action of the story in their mind. Envisioning the action of a story is a fun way to improve students’ reading comprehension.

Do you agree that the concept of core values in International Essay - 3

Do you agree that the concept of core values in International Relations is not being applied in its spirit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Either way, justify your answer with the help of examples - Essay Example In essence, the essay seeks to expound on how diverse factors in Saudi do impede and curtail the promotion of international relations Conflicts that threaten to graduate into war do exist in Saudi Arabia. The existences of various anti-governmental groups are the perpetrators of this insecurity. The reasons for low levels of security range from frequent active Protests demanding to air their grievances to the government (Al-Ahmadi 2011). This mainly involves the Shia; that is a minority group in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, cases of violence and use of weapons during effort to quell protests have been reported. The security forces had to deal with armed Protestants in the early protests. Another recent big blow to help fight the war against insecurity in Saudi Arabia surfaced when the government turned down the chance to take up membership in the United Nations Security council. This was after the country being elected to join the ten nonpermanent members of the Security Council. The reason for turning down the seat was unclear and therefore this to some way suggests that the government is unwilling to streamline security issues. Consequently, this scares away the foreign investors as well as the citizens lose confidence in the government. Security is a fundamental requirement for development and it cannot be overlooked by any country willing to match ahead economically. Contrary with Saudi Arabia, we feel that the security is not given priority. This undermines the international core value relations. While the world is advancing with measures to counter insecurity Saudi Arabia in not willing to be part of this prosperous change. Therefore, the future of the country in terms of security is unpredictable although it is likely to fall into more insecurity upsurge. Individuals, groups, societies and nations enjoy the free will to express themselves and do what they feel is right as long as they are not interfering with other peoples’ rights.

DuPont analysis (Apple vs Samsung ) Research Paper

DuPont analysis (Apple vs Samsung ) - Research Paper Example It is a recognized world brand that has led the process of digital migration in communication and computers. The main products produced by the firm are iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, iTunes, Mac App Store and iCloud. Apple Company primarily trades its shares in the NASDAQ while it’s also listed in other exchanges including mexico and paris. Samsung started as a small business solely owned by a Korean based business man who was mainly involved in export business. The business grew from exporting dried fish vegetables and fruits to manufacturing the products themselves. Years later the firm diversified its product line to electronics. The giant firm then expanded operations opening up branches all over the world while retaining its original brand name Samsung. The firm comprises more than 78 different companies and affiliates in its wide range of products. In the electronics sector, Samsung produces a wide variety including mobile phones, tablets, televisions and home appliances. The firm is worth being a bench mark for Apple Inc due to its experience and achievements in the market. The products of Samsung compete well with Apple products in the market thus the need to compare them. The efficiency of the firm can be measured using the DuPont analysis. DuPont analysis measures assets of their gross book value to produce a higher return on equity. The use of the gross book value is aimed at getting the actual return on equity without accounting for depreciation which artificially reduces the return on equity. Depreciation reduces the return on equity, but is not an actual activity that reduces income, but a value assumed that the asset depreciates by during the course of its usable life. To get the return on equity, the following formula is used: The firm, Apple Inc is currently not performing well when performance is measured using the DuPont identity. Apple Inc has a low return on equity compared to its competitor Samsung. Investors interested

Class Inequality Essay Example for Free

Class Inequality Essay Social class is one of the oldest and most persistent inequalities in British society. In the past, people were very aware of their social class and their expected roles and responsibilities. People would have worn different clothes, behaved in different ways and had a very different culture from each other and they would have accepted this as a perfectly normal element of behaviour. We are still aware today of some of the cultural differences between the social classes so that rich people and poorer people have different accents, are educated differently and wear different styles of clothes from each other. These cultural differences that separate the classes are known as indicators of class. In the past, many people also believed that people of the highest social classes were better than other people and should be respected because of their social position. This idea is known as deference. People nowadays are less willing to admit that social class is important. Poorer people may imitate the styles and behaviour of wealthy people by buying copies of their expensive clothes in cheaper shops or buying replicas and fakes. However, rich people often copy the street style of the working class people and their fashions. The differences between the classes seem to be blurred to such an extent that many people would not define their social class in the same way that sociologists might. Sociologists mostly believe that despite the way that people reject the idea of social classes, it is still important in our society. We are just less aware of it than people were in the past. It affects our life chances and our life styles, with high earning people enjoying a superior standard of living and better life chances than those from more deprived backgrounds. Subjective class can be measured by attitudes, beliefs and political opinions. This generally consists of the vague notions upper, middle and working class and most people would identify themselves as belonging to one of these groups. This type of description does not explain the full range of  differences between these groups. People may be middle class and have access to huge wealth, whereas others have the education, lifestyle and manners of the middle class but are relatively poor. Equally, people from a working class background who achieve very good professional jobs may well still feel themselves to be working class. In contrast, sociologists are concerned with objective class. This refers to our occupations, education, possessions and our wealth. It can be measured in the data put out by the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys such as mortality lists. Sociologists have had limited success in attempts to measure social class objectively. There are two generally used scales of social class, though a very wide number have been devised by sociologists in the past. The Registrar Generals Index of Social Class was used by government statisticians till 2001, and is still widely used as a rough indicator of peoples background. It uses occupation as the basis of differentiation. People are placed in a five point scale. This is still used by advertisers and manufacturers who target products to certain markets. There are weaknesses with this class indicator because it does not take into account peoples income or their job security. In addition, women take their class from their male relatives. Most people are in class C or class 3. Since 2001, the class structure has been amended to take into account employment conditions including: job security, promotion opportunity and the ability and opportunity to work on their own and make own decision s about tasks. This new scale is known as the NS SEC. Goldblatt suggested alternative measures of class including home ownership, access to a car and educational status and he has shown that all of these can be correlated to inequalities in health. One of the most recent attempts to define the class system in a new and radical way was by Will Hutton (18995). Hutton is a critic of the New Right. He argues that social inequality, in the form of low wages, low skill and high unemployment, has resulted in a clearly divided and economically unstable society. Hutton has put forward the 30-30-40 thesis to show the three-way split in contemporary British class relations. He says our society can now be seen to consist of: 30% unemployed, low paid, insecure work; 30% with some job security and quality of life; 40% privileged workers in secure and regular employment. In addition, the nature of work which is a traditional measure of a persons class position is changing so the debates have become complex and theoretical. Certainly, inequality is an important social dynamic, but there is a question mark over whether this is related to social class or whether people even recognise class as significant in their lives. Marxists argue strongly that it is but that people do not recognise it for reasons related to deskilling and proletarianisation; feminists suggest other dynamics influence inequality and post-modernists suggest that the important dynamic is not class but the ability to spend money. 2 What is the link between class and occupation? Traditionally class has been linked to the type of work a person does. The debate as to the nature of class has therefore become more complex as the nature of work has changed. The upper classes are able to live off unearned income such as rents from land or property. There are so few of the upper classes that they are more or less invisible to sociologists. Very little research has been done on these people. Upper class people usually keep themselves to themselves and are not willing to participate in studies. Recent work by Adonis and Pollard (1998) stresses the significance of the upper class in modern British society and they consider that there is an emerging superclass that consist of an elite of extremely high paid managers and professionals. According to Adonis and Pollard, this new superclass is linked financially to the City of London, a male and upper class world that has many links with the traditions and heritage of public school and Oxbridge elites of the past. This superclass emerged from the financial changes of the 1980s and is composed of people who benefited from low taxation and privatisation of industry to become significant in international trading with global companies. They earn multi-million salaries and have large financial bonus packages. Papers tend to refer to them as Fat Cats. The middle classes live off professional work such as law, medicine or the ownership of a business. Generally they earn more and have better working conditions than the working class. Working class people work with their hands as tradesmen or labourers. Work with the hands is known as manual work. We still call professional people who sell knowledge rather than skills, non-manual workers. This is the basic social class division in society between manual and non-manual work. Middle class work requires educational qualifications and skills. Most people who are members of the middle classes will have been to university and gained higher level professional qualifications as well. Generally, middle class professional work is well paid or has good conditions and terms of service. In the past, there would have been quite serious differences in pay between professional workers and manual workers though these differences have been eroded. C Wright Mills (1956) and others have seen the middle classes as divided into two groups. The higher professions have the potential for high earnings and who are self-employed or employed by large corporations. These are people such as judges, accountants, lawyers, dentists, doctors. These people tend to control entry into their occupations. The lower professions are often, though not exclusively, feminised and work in the public sector. They have limited access to high earnings and include teachers, nurses, and social workers. The lower middle classes have become more like the working class according to the Marxist, Braverman (1974) who points out that many of the professions, such as architects, have become vulnerable to redundancies. He also claims that skills are being lost (de-skilling) because mechanisation means that individuals are now being taken over by technology. People are no longer required to undertake tasks that traditionally required talent. Tradesmen have lost their skills to machines, and architects plans can be created by computer programmes. Others, such as teachers or opticians who are unable to control entry into their professions are no longer able to claim high rates of pay as there is always demand for work and people who are willing to  accept low rates in return for employment. Oppenheimer (1973) has also suggested that the middle classes have lost power and authority in work. Working class work may require high levels of skill and effort: however, because it is manual work, it is not generally well paid and often is of relatively low status. In addition, although years of on-the-job training may be involved in such work, people will not have been to university or college. Hairdressing, for example, is one of the worst paid occupations on average. Unskilled work is very low value, low status work and there are few openings for people who have no educational qualifications. Work which once was done by people is now done by one person with a qualification who operates a machine. In the 1930s, digging was done by teams of men with shovels. We would be surprised to see people do work of this kind today. Even much check-out work is now done by machine alone. In the 197Os, it was commonly believed by many commentators that the working class were becoming more middle class as their incomes were higher than previously earned by the working class. This theory was known as the affluent worker thesis or embourgeoisement and was supported by Galbraith. This theory was disproved by Goldthorpe, Lockwood, Bechofer and Platt (1968) who conducted detailed research on car workers in Dagenham. They found that that the workers worked longer hours and had different attitudes to work from middle class management. Fiona Devine (1992) repeated the work and found that redundancy and unemployment were a real concern for working class families. The gap between professional work and working class work was widening. Another debate has opened up in terms of occupation and class in the last thirty years. Unemployment and benefit dependency has become more common in British society. This has led to the development of a significant underclass of people who have never earned their own money. In the early 1970s, the term was used sympathetically by Giddens and other members of the developing New Left (1973) to describe those who faced massive deprivation and social inequality with working conditions and income levels below even those of the working class. At the same time, other social commentators from the New  Right were using the term underclass negatively to describe a class of people who have little self-sufficiency but rely on social security benefits to survive. The term dole scrounger was widely used in the press to describe those who lived on benefit. What is the relationship between work, class and income? There is a common belief that those who earn more money have worked harder for it. In reality, the low paid are often extremely hard working but unable to gain an acceptable income from the work that they do. One of the reasons is to do with the changing nature of the work that is available. The structure of the British economy has undergone radical change since the end of World War 2. There has been a massive move away from employment in primary industries such as agriculture and coal mining. Manufacturing or secondary industry has also experienced a drop in employment. There has been a reduction in traditionally male heavy industry and a growth in light industry and assembly work that can be automated and which employs more females. The real growth sector in the economy has been in service sector jobs. Many of these are middle class jobs in management and training; however, more are jobs which offer long hours, low pay and casual part time work in restaurants and pubs. Ivan Turak (2000) points out that the actual number of manual jobs fell by 11% between 1981 and 1991 while non-manual jobs have expanded. Certain sectors of the workforce have been more vulnerable to unemployment, and he points to the older male manual worker as being particularly vulnerable. Paul Gregg (1994) has claimed that one of the main causes of poverty in Britain is unemployment and that the UK had a third more families out of work than other developed countries. Statistics suggest that in a fifth of households, there is no adult in employment and although in the rest of Europe, 80% of single parents work, in Britain the figure is closer to 40% of single parents in work. Figures based on social class alone are difficult to access, as emphasis is placed on other forms of inequality in official data. However, there is a  clear link between a persons social class and the opportunities or life chances that they may experience. As Wilkinson (1996) identified, people at the bottom of the stratification system in the UK have severely reduced life chances: In Britain people in the poorest areas have death rates that are age for age four times as high as people in the richest areas. Among Whitehall civil servants, junior staff were found to have death rates three times as high as the most senior administrators working in the same offices. In 1994, it was established that 2.2 million workers in the UK earned less than 68% of the average gross weekly wage that stood at less than  £6.00 per hour in that year. These low paid workers tended to be female, the young, the disabled, single parents and members of ethnic minorities. Their work was part-time, homework or casual labour and they tended to be found in certain areas, and in smaller firms. After much pressure on government, National Minimum Wage legislation was introduced by the Labour government with effect from April 1999. It is currently set at  £5.73 (2009). Employers organisations had predicted a massive increase in unemployment following the introduction of a minimum wage, but this did not occur. Even so, people still resort to desperate measures to obtain satisfactory income. Evidence presented to the Low Pay Commission by the Greater Manchester Low Pay Unit (2000) described one woman who had taken on three low paid jobs at one time in order to make ends meet. Wadsworth (2007) suggests that around 10% of British households rely on minimum wage income. He also points out that many minimum wage earners take a second job to supplement income. Bryan and Taylor (2006) suggest that those who earn National Minimum Wage (NMW) tend to stay in NMW work jobs when they change employment. In addition, low pay workers spend time out of work. More than 80% of NMW workers are female, and many are over the age of 50. Most of these workers had no qualifications. There is also some evidence that employers can evade minimum wage legislation through a variety of semi-legal tactics and pay their workers less than they are entitled to. Migrants are very vulnerable to this kind of abuse. We are clearly a long way from Tony Blairs claim in 1999 we are all middle class. Where class convergence has been greatest it has been at the margins of the classes with a blurred area between the upper working class and lower middle class. The term embourgeoisement is less discussed than it used to be, but Goldthorpe et als conclusion that the working class has fragmented into a new and traditional working class commands general support to this day. Another factor worth remembering when considering the embourgeoisement debate is what is happening at the other end of the working class. At the bottom of society many see an impoverished underclass of those living on the minimum wage or in receipt of long-term welfare. This impoverished group has seen their living standards deteriorate relative to the rest of society. 3 How does social class affect educational attainment? As the ESRC point out, British sociologists all tend to agree that qualifications are the best predictor of whether a child will gain a high earning middle-class job. However they also point out that there are unequal success rates between social classes at school and unequal entry and success rates in post-compulsory education. Government data reveals significant differences between the educational attainments of the differing social classes. In 2008, 35% of the working class pupils obtained five or more good-grade GCSEs, compared with 63 per cent of children from middle class families. While the proportion of poorer children getting degrees has risen by just 3 per cent, the increase among those from wealthier backgrounds is 26 per cent. The reasons for the development of this pattern are complex. It could be to do with home or schools, or it could be related to cultural or material deprivation. Sociologists, Bynner and Joshi (2002) used longitudinal birth cohort data and discovered that the link between class and educational underattainment is clear and years of government policy have had little impact on this inequality. In 1999, West et al found that there was a 66% correlation between free  school meals and low school attainment. Levacic and Hardman in 1999 also pointed out the relationship between free school meals and poor GCSE grades. OKeefe found that there was a measurable relationship between free school meals and higher levels of truancy. Jefferis (2002) found an unarguable link between class and attainment. She studied nearly 11,000 children born from March 3 to 9, 1958. Maths, reading and other ability tests measured the educational attainment of the children at ages seven, 11 and 16. At the age of 33 their highest educational achievement was recorded. Her research team found the gap in educational attainment between children of higher and lower social classes widened as time went on it was greatest by the age of 33. At university level, social class inequalities still have an effect. Wakeling suggested in 2002 that a lower class degree and rich parents are more likely to lead to a student taking up post-graduate studies than the highest level university degrees and a modest background. Boliver (2006) found that only 35% of candidates from semi/unskilled manual class origins applied to a Russell Group university (one of the top 100 universities in the UK), in contrast to 65% of those from professional backgrounds. Machin and Vignoles (2005) conducted research on links between higher education and family background, focusing particularly on the experiences of two cohorts of individuals born in 1958 and 1970. They claim that links between educational achievement and parental income / social class strengthened during this period. The Social Mobility Commission, reporting in 2009, found that social class accounts for much of the gap in attainment between higher and lower achievers. They reported that the gap widens as children get older. In addition, it was claimed that increased spending on education has favoured the middle classes. In other words division between the social classes is widening. 4 What is the relationship between social class, criminality and inequality in the UK? Maguire points out that the prison population tends to consist of young,  male, poorly educated people who are likely to have experienced difficult or deprived childhoods and many of whom come from ethnic minority or mixed ethnic backgrounds. In 1992, 40 % of male prisoners had left school before the age of sixteen. People from lower social class backgrounds are significantly more likely to appear in victim and conviction statistics than people from wealthier backgrounds and it is a matter of argument as to whether they commit more crime, or they are more likely to be convicted if they do commit crimes. In the past, much analysis of criminal behaviour worked on the false assumptions that crime statistics were an accurate representation of crime and that conviction rates gave a fair representation of criminal behaviour. Self report studies show that the majority of the population have broken the law and that middle class crimes can often be very serious indeed. For example, Murphy et al (1990) showed that football hooliganism is not limited to the working classes and Pearson (1987) found that drug offences occur in all social classes. White collar crime and corporate offences receive very little attention from the news media in comparison with youth crime such as knife crime. Levi (1993) pointed out that official statistics do not include tax fraud cases as these are rarely prosecuted by the police or followed up by the criminal justice system. Snider points out that capitalist states are unwilling to pass laws that regulate business or challenge the rights of the rich to make money. Karstedt (2004) estimates that middle class crimes such as car tax avoidance, tax fraud and damaging items once worn in order to return them to shops may cost the UK something in the region of  £14 billion each year. Braithwaite, as early as 1979, concluded that working class children and adults commit the types of crime that are targeted by the police and do so at higher rates than middle class people. There is also research evidence to show that some forms of crime are linked to poverty and deprivation. Gang crime is especially prevalent in areas of deprivation where there are fewer opportunities for work. Brodie et al (2000) and Hope and Shaw (1988) found disadvantaged communities to be vulnerable to youth crime. It is estimated that 40% of crime takes place in about 10% of local authority areas. Stratesky (2004) links this phenomenon to the concentration of power and social exclusion in post industrial communities. Willott and Griffin (1999) found that working class men in prison justified their criminal behaviour by claiming that they were supporting their families. Furthermore, because they were effectively excluded from society, they could not then be expected to follow its rules. It could be argued that these accounts are self- serving because the victims of crime are often the very weakest in the community. Living in a poor and deprived community is also to live at risk of being a victim of crimes such as car theft, vandalism, anti-social behaviour, burglary and violence. Hughes et al (2002) suggest that more than half of victims of crime have already previously been victimised. This acts as evidence that some types of crime are more likely to be associated with working class status than others, particularly crimes against property and the person. 5 Are there class inequalities in the experience of health? The over-arching factor affecting health inequality in the UK is social class. Study after study shows that people born in poor families are low birth weight, are more likely to die as babies, grow up with poor health, are vulnerable to disabling disease and impaired development and they die early. Their children will experience poor life chances so health inequality runs in families. Some of these health inequalities are due to patterns of poor life style so that obesity and smoking related illnesses are also diseases of poverty and deprivation. Children born in poverty and deprivation are also vulnerable to high risk behaviour such as drug abuse, binge drinking and sexual transmission of disease. Furthermore, in 2002, the Office for National Statistics said that inequalities of health and life expectancy between social classes were widening. Spicker points out that figures from the UK show that people in lower social classes, including children, are more likely to suffer from infective and parasitic diseases, pneumonia, poisonings or violence. Adults in lower social classes are more likely to suffer from cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease. He also underlines the point that there are inequalities in access to health care according to social class, so that the  poorest people live in areas with fewer doctors, more difficult access to major hospitals and poorer services. Wheeler et al, working on 2001 Census data also found that areas with the highest levels of poor health tend to have the lowest numbers of doctors and other health professionals (other than nurses). They also discovered that areas with high levels of poor health tend also to have high numbers of their population providing informal care for family and friends. There is lower take-up of preventative medicine such as vaccination and routine screen ing for disabling conditions among working class people. This called the inverse care law. Discounting theories that suggest the working class are genetically weaker, then the unavoidable conclusion is that poverty leads to ill health through poor nutrition, housing and environment. This is exacerbated through cultural differences in the diet and fitness of different social classes, and in certain habits like smoking. Tim Spector (2006), an epidemiologist found that social class has an impact on how the body ages, irrespective of diet and bad habits. In a study of 1,500 women, he discovered that there is a link between class and poor health. He claims that the cause is that people from lower social backgrounds are more likely to feel insecure, especially at work, and suffer low self-esteem and a sense of lacking control over their lives. He claims that the stress this causes creates damage at a cellular level that accelerates ageing. Support for this theory can be found in the fact that studies consistently show that people from lower social classes experience higher levels of mental ill-health, with particularly high rates of depression and anxiety. There is additional health risk from many working class jobs. Males in manual jobs are more than twice as likely to get occupational lung cancer. Bladder cancer is also work-related, associated with work in industrial settings. For nearly all conditions the risk of heart disease, cancer, stain injury and stress is higher for those in working class occupations rather than managerial jobs in the same industry. 6 Class change and sociological theory Social class is undoubtedly changing significantly and this has prompted a  number of debates as to the meanings of these changes and the impact that they have on class. Marxists have a problem because Marx suggested that people would develop a class consciousness and overthrow capitalism. Clearly, this has not happened, in fact people are less aware of class as a social dynamic. There are different explanations for this. 7 8 What is proletarianisation? Proletarianisation is a Marxist concept that sees the middle-class as identifying increasingly with working-class identity. Applied research has focused upon using case studies to examine whether non-manual work is becoming increasingly similar to manual work. Neo-Marxists like Erik Wright or Harry Braverman claim that proletarianisation is progressing at a reasonable pace. In contrast, neo-Weberians like David Lockwood and John Goldthorpe have always vigorously argued against it. One reason for this conflict of views is that different meanings of proletarianisation are adopted in order to measure it. Neo-Marxists such as Wright and Braverman argue that routine white-collar workers are no longer middle class. They consequently see such jobs and even some professions, such as nursing and teaching, as particularly prone to proletarianisation. Braverman argues that deskilling in the workplace affects both manual and non-manual work, causing him to argue that routine white-collar workers have joined the mass of unskilled employees. As such they are part of the working class, they are proletarianised. Braverman argues that deskilling and the loss of the social and economic advantages non-manual jobs enjoyed over manual work, are the key factors behind the growth of proletarianisation. In addition, many workers have lost the control and autonomy they enjoyed 20 years or so in the workplace. A good example is the university lecturers Wright cited as example of semi-autonomous workers in a contradictory class location. Many university lecturers are very poorly paid and on short term contracts. Many earn less than primary school teachers. In addition they are subject to performance  scrutiny and time monitoring. Many professionals in education are now subject to clocking in and out like factory workers. It has been argued by some feminists, such as Rosemary Crompton, that women are more prone to proletarianisation than men, in the sense that they experience poorer promotional opportunities. In examining the work of clerks (Crompton and Jones) they found that only a low level of skill was required and that computerisation seemed to accentuate proletarianisation. However, Marshall et al have challenged the idea of proletarianisation. They found both male and female routine white collar workers reported greater levels of autonomy than those in the working class. They found that it was mainly manual workers who felt their work had been deskilled. In contrast, the perceptions of over 90 per cent of male and female non-manual workers were that neither skill levels nor autonomy had significantly diminished. However, they did find that personal service workers such as receptionists, check-out operators and shop assistants lacked a sense of autonomy in a manner similar to the working class. Since this group is composed primarily of female workers, this supports the idea that women are more prone to proletarianisation. Recent research by Clark and Hoffman-Martinot (1998) has highlighted a growing number of casual or routine workers who spend their working day in front of a VDU and/or on the telephone. †¢ Marxists would see such workers, especially those is call centres as working class despite the white-collar working environment. They would see the low morale and general worker discontent as evidence of class consciousness and a sense of collective work-place identity. †¢ A Weberian analysis would identify class in terms of a group sharing a weak market position in the labour force. Weberians might identify any internal competition between workers and factors such as performance-related pay as designed to fragment the workforce. Any attempts at unionisation, they might argue, could reflect the pursuit of sectional interests (party) rather than evidence of class consciousness. 9 How have contemporary models of class developed? As we have seen a range of neo-Marxist and neo- Weberian models of class have developed in the past 50 years or so adapting and interpreting the ideas of Marx and Weber. There is a consensus that the size and make-up of the working-class is shrinking as we move to a post-industrial society, however, there are markedly different interpretations about the meanings and consequences of this change. †¢ Neo-Weberians such as John Goldthorpe and David Lockwood have focused upon occupational categories within a market power context. †¢ Neo-Marxists argue that the critical issue is whether the working-class are falsely conscious. †¢ A third group, the postmodernists have argued that class is dead; having lost its significance as a source of identity. Consumption, they argue, has become the main definer of people in society. What do postmodernists say about class changes?  Postmodernists would question whether class and class identities are meaningful concepts anymore, arguing it makes more sense to speak of a fragmented society with identity increasingly derived from consumption rather than issues associated with production, such as occupation. According to a Postmodern vision, people are seen to acquire their identities as consumers rather than as producers. Status differences (now based on consumption) were seen no longer as sharp and divisive, but loose and cross-cutting. Peoples consumption became home-centred in the post-war period, rather than communal, and their identities as consumers became constructed from images that came into their homes through the rapidly expanding media. The mass popular culture that resulted seemed more real than experiences outside the home and at the workplace. The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu researched the relationship between consumption and class. He found that consumption patterns varied not only between classes but within them too. He argued that people thus use consumption to both establish and express their social difference. Bourdieu draws from both the work of Marx and Weber in his analysis that consumption and class are interrelated influences on identity. He argues social  divisions are not shaped by economic capital alone but introduces his important concept of cultural capital that he sees as shaping lifestyle including promoting education success, sports and leisure activities. However, he argues that cultural capital has to have symbolic status and be recognized within the society as having high status.

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Creating a Student Portal for Bataan Peninsula State University Essay

The project is to create a Student Portal for Bataan Peninsula State University. Its purpose is to raise the availability of certain students’ records like the grades, finances/billing, and curriculum checklist. Along with, is the process of encoding students’ final grades and the forming of the dean’s list. Using the student portal, data can be accessible at any time and location over the Internet. Background of the Study The Bataan Peninsula State University was established by virtue of Republic Act 9403, signed into law on 22nd of March 2007. It is a conglomeration of fine leading higher education institutions in Bataan seeking  to contribute to the national and regional development through providing excellent quality of services in instruction, research, production and extension. Guided by one Vision of becoming a university of excellence acknowledged not only in the country but also in the Asia-Pacific Region, BPSU shall continue to gear toward the realization of its mission of providing quality and relevant education in order to contribute to the national and regional development. Before the conversion, BPSU used to have three campuses; two are located in the City of Balanga while the third is situated in Orani. The passage  of RA 9403 resulted to the expansion of BPSU’s campuses as the said Act duly integrated the Bataan State College in Dinalupihan and its satellite campus in Abucay (formerly Bataan National Agricultural School). The five campuses of the university have very humble beginnings and yet they all emerged with glorious histories to be proud of. More empowerment is expected to be bestowed to each campus as their strengths shall be utilized for the success of the 111 programs and other services of the university. On June 2008, the University made education more accessible to the residents of the towns of  Bagac and Morong by establishing an extension in the Municipality of Bagac. The extension offers some of the most in demand courses in the country like BS Entrepreneurship, BS Hotel and Restaurant Management, first two years of Nursing, and General Engineering courses. Contributing to national development has always been the topmost priority of the university; therefore BPSU relentlessly keeps itself updated on the recent trends to be responsive to the present and future demands of the community. At present university has three programs granted with Level 1 Accreditation from AACCUP. Fifty-six (56) programs are scheduled for accreditation from 2008 to 2012. Moreover, the university continues to equip itself with faculty and employees who have remarkable skills and knowledge in order to uphold academic excellence and maintain its capacity of producing quality graduates. At present, 6 percent of its faculty have Doctorate degrees and 31 percent have master’s degrees. The rest are still working on their post-baccalaureate studies. It is not surprising that the enrollment continues to increase over the years as the university has proven its capability to match and even to surpass  the performance of other reputable universities in the country in various competitions and also in the licensure exams. Other than this, low tuition fee rates, and pollution-free and safe environment further encourage the Bataenos and those from other nearby provinces to patronize BPSU. For BPSU, a life without challenges to conquer would be futile as the university always stretches the limit to adapt to the changes and to turn trials into opportunities. Even cuts in the budget will not impede BPSU from attaining its goals. Aside from relying on its several IGPs to augment the  budget and sustain its programs, the university continues to strengthen and to establish partnerships with local and international agencies that are more than willing to work side by side BPSU as it continues its journey towards a more dignified future. [bpsu. edu. ph] Every educational institution has its sole priority to give the best learning out from their best performances of teachings, processes and resources to their students. And, BPSU which is one of these institutions had already proven that they can absolutely give it. In the University’s actual operation, there are lots of offices and  departments that are responsible on producing, maintaining and keeping every student’s records. Two of these are the Registrar’s department and the Finance’s department. Along the Registrar’s department is where the student’s documents are piled. Student’s documents consisting of personal data and academic information from their previous schools and from BPSU itself which are produced due to the span of years of the student’s admission in the University, for instance, are the grades. Another department mentioned is the Finance’s department; this also conducts one of the main tasks required for tracking the admission of the  student every school year. That task is to keep files with regards to all of their finances, including all of the payments that are made, balances and other financial issues. These certain information of a student can also be found in the enrollment system that was used by the Registrar’s Office, it is how the Registrar has the authority to view the financial status of a student. Students must know every transaction that was made in the University especially when it has to do with their own concerns. They must always be informed of all the latest records that were kept and reported to  the offices responsible for their stay-in within the institution. On the registrar’s part, a student is not allowed to have an update or a look within their record every time they desired. Considering that the registrar is also busy for other major works assigned to him. Seemingly, it will just consume time and effort for finding a particular record in their repositories. A student can only be given the opportunity, which depends on the situation. Naturally, grades were available every end of the semester in a printed form, though, some of the instructors are considerate in informing a student of the grades as often as possible. While on the finance office part, the records kept are confidential. In order for a student to be informed of the balances remaining on their account, the student should ask the finance officer. But it’s not that simple, as the officer is not free to answer every student’s questions or uncertainties at anytime. At some point in a semester, the finance’s department issues the statement of account of each student that still has remaining balances that must be paid in order to be given a permit that is a requirement before taking an examination On pondering on these unwanted situations experienced by the  students, the thought of having a medium that will grant access to student’s account as often as they want sprung up. The medium is what we called a Students’ Portal. A portal or a web portal, also known as a links page, presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. Apart from the standard search engine feature, web portals offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information, databases and entertainment. Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple applications and databases, which  otherwise would have been different entities altogether. Some related studies are researched and included on the documentation for further comprehension of the proposed system. †¢Orani Water District Intranet Based Public Information Kiosk This thesis is made by the IPiK Group, BSIT students of Colegio de San Juan de Letran – Bataan that aims to create an integrated public access information system to be used by employees and visitors of Orani Water District that will improve the current process of dissemination of information. Also, the developers target the replacement of old bulletin boards with digital ones. All the information contained and posted on a bulletin board will be encoded and displayed in a public access computer, with a web-based interface to access the information. The public access computer will be implemented in a client-server environment. A domain controller will be used to apply access control and policies to the public access computer. The officer-in-charge only has to encode the information on the system rather than printing it and then posting it on the bulletin board. The system will only be updated by an administrator. The company’s system administrator will handle the updates and backups. The backups will be made using MS SQL Server 2005’s automatic backup service. The backup files will be stored on a backup DVD-ROM. The system will not be available online, only through the intranet. It will be available only from 8 AM to 5 PM. The proposed system named as Letran-Abucay Students’ Portal has the same objective with the IPik Group thesis that is to render information for the users. The main users of the Orani Water District Intranet-based Public Information Kiosk are the customers, while for the Students’ Portal are apparently the students. What will be the difference of the two is that the  Students’ Portal will be a web-based application and is accessible using a web browser which is opposed to the public information kiosk that is a window-based application. †¢Bataan Information System This thesis is made by the STI-Bataan students under the advisory of Ms. Cristina de Leon, who is now a Letran IT Professor. It is about the designing and developing of a Bataan Information System in a multimedia form and to solve the problems encountered by the provincial government in promoting Bataan. The Information System will be easy to access and directed to the end-user and will support an interactive environment with a  user-friendly feature in promoting the province of Bataan. Information system is frequently used to refer to the interaction between people, processes, data and technology. In this sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology (ICT) an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes (Wikipedia) Giving information is how the two systems, which are the Bataan Information System and the proposed students’ portal, are similar. Both render numbers of information that are accessible by an authorized user in a  computerized process. †¢Campus Portals a Framework for Development Accommodating End-users’ Online Activities (an International Thesis) This thesis is about the development of a campus portal created for the University of Wollongong; thus was prepared by Tharitpong Fuangvut on 2005. A Campus Portal is an exciting recent phenomenon forming part of the new generation of online services for all stakeholders in institutions of higher education. Conceptually the general notion of a Portal should be to be distinguished from that of other Web- based applications and the traditional Intranet of the institution. The major objective of this research is to propose a development methodology specifically suitable for Campus Portal projects. While there are many accepted development methodologies for traditional and Web-based Information Systems, no clear body of knowledge on the development of Campus Portals has yet been recognized. Additionally, as this is a new area, the definitions, terms, concepts and important issues agreed to by academic researchers and practitioners, are still evolving. This research, therefore, needs to clarify and identify some important issues regarding Campus Portals  and their development, prior to composing the development methodology. In the second and third phases of the research, two studies were carried out, a preliminary study and a case study. These generated more understanding of the issues and extended the body of knowledge on Campus Portals, especially concerning their development. The preliminary study explored and investigated the online services and Campus Portals of 40 higher education institutions’ sites in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK and Canada. The findings of the preliminary study show that there are no standard patterns in the function of  personalization and customization in Campus Portals. The case study was conducted in an Australian university among the major stakeholder groups, namely, the development team and the end-users (students and academic staff). Students were the primary focus of the end-user study, from which data was collected using a survey to build up usage patterns of their online activities. Statement of Goals Due to the data gatherings that the researcher had conducted many thoughts lead the proponent to know and study more of the certain dilemmas and inefficiencies that taking place within the process wherein  the people affected perhaps are not aware. Currently, students are given limits on viewing their own records kept by the University due to several uncertainties it will cost, uncertainties that include lack of time and extensive work of the people involved. Furthermore, the proponent had also studied prior concerns which will benefit everyone that are included on the process once implemented on the system: †¢Security of data that will ensure a protected system that traces and prevents unauthorized access; †¢Encoding of the final grades that is one of the tasks of the faculty every end of a semester; †¢Downloadable and printable documents such as the Grades Slip coming from the Registrar’s office and a variety of forms coming from the Dean’s office. †¢Availability of students’ list with final grades which will help the Dean to generate the Dean’s list. The following goals are made and collected by the proponent through the aim of resolving the concerns mentioned. The goals are as follow: General Goal To develop a Student’s Portal for Bataan Peninsula State University that will enable students to access their personal, academic and financial records. Specific Goal To implement an authentication of users through the  use of ID no and password, as to prevent intruders and to assure the safety of all the data transmitted over the network. To incorporate a module for encoding the final grades of students every semester that the faculty uses. To provide downloadable and printable forms those are being retrieved from the Dean’s, Registrar’s and Finance office. To include a module that will enable the Dean to view the academic status of the students that she can use as basis for retrieving the Dean’s list. Significance of the Study For the Students Students are the ones that have a great benefit on the students’  portal because it will provide them quick access of their taken subjects prior to the curriculum they had enrolled with the corresponding final grades for each. Also, the system ensures the confidentiality and the update of records for each semester as long as new grades are issued to help the students be informed of their academic performance in the University. Aside from grades and subjects that can be viewed, a student will also have the privilege to view some his or her financial data that was managed by the finance office. For the Dean’s office Using the students’ portal, the Dean is able to view the academic  status of the students that include detail such as the final grades and to gather the names of those that are included on the Dean’s list. And also, as the portal offers a module for downloadable forms that are coming from the office, the task for issuing these certain forms will be eliminated thus reducing the workload of the Dean. For the Registrar’s Office As the students will be provided of options on determining their academic records, whether to just view it on the portal or to still ask for a printed copy coming from the Registrar’s office, somehow there will be a lessening of task on the Registrar’s part. For the Finance Office The Finance office can gain benefit from the students’ portal since the students can already check over their financial records online reducing the printing of documents such as the statement of accounts if permitted. For the Future Researchers The future researchers can acquire fundamental knowledge from and be able to use this thesis documentation as basis of their own research study if it’s all about developing a students’ portal. For the Developer To the developer, this will also provide better comprehension of her proposed system that will lead her to the further understanding of the entire  study that surely they can use on preparation of a brighter future that awaits her as IT professional. Scope and Limitations This study will focus on creating a students’ portal for Bataan Peninsula State University which is web-based where student records are the prior concern and accessible online. Student records that include: †¢Student’s personal information †¢Curriculum checklist that comprises all the subjects taken and to be taken by the student based on the University’s curriculum and the final grades for each †¢Grades records that consist of all the grades of the student for all his  subjects that he can query through supplying of a school year or semester. †¢Financial information that comprises the tuition fee with miscellaneous fees and discount fee, if there’s any, of a student. †¢Subject offering that pertains to the schedule of each subject that a student had enrolled belongs. The student can use this link to plan for his schedule for the upcoming semester. †¢Class Schedule encloses all the subject schedules of a student. As part of the authentication that was implemented on the portal, the users must provide an authorized username and password. On the system  there will be four types of user’s account: the student the faculty, the dean, the registrar and the administrator. In the Student account, the authorized tasks that users can do are: †¢Viewing of their records in through selecting from the following links: myProfile; myGrades that contains sub links such as Semester Grades, Curriculum Checklist, Collection of Grades; myFinance, mySubjectOffering and mySchedule. †¢Viewing other student’s or faculty staff’s records through selecting mySearch link, sending and receiving of messages through myInbox which is a form of messaging. †¢And, printing and downloading of forms such as Grades slip,  curriculum checklist and forms issued by the Dean and Registrar(eg. Change of Grade Form) Second, in the Faculty account, the authorized tasks that users can do are: †¢Entering student’s final grades for a particular subject, section school year and semester through the use of myClassRecord. †¢Viewing other student’s or faculty staff’s records through mySearch. †¢Uploading of lessons for the students Third, in the Dean account, the authorized tasks that Dean can do are: †¢Viewing of the Dean’s list for the current and the previous school year and semester. †¢Searching students to review their academic performance from the first year of his admission up to the present. †¢Searching class schedules by entering the assigned beginning and ending time of a class, in order for the Dean to be informed of what particular class is was going on for a moment. †¢Viewing faculty subject loads and schedules. Fourth, in the Registrar account, the authorized tasks that Registrar can do are: †¢Viewing of student’s general weighted average. †¢Updating the grades of a student that obtained a INC remarks from the past school year. †¢And, selecting the students that will form the Dean’s List. Lastly, the Administrator account, the authorized tasks that Registrar can do are: †¢Conversion of tables of records from MS Foxpro format to MS SQL. †¢Setting the current school year and semester. †¢Uploading of downloadable forms. †¢And, reset users’ passwords. The following are the limitations of the Students’ Portal: †¢Only the â€Å"Other Information† part and the password are the only records in the student’s page that can be altered. †¢Only the administrator can convert the tables from MS Foxpro format to SQL/simply add records on the database, can set the school year and can upload forms. †¢Only final grades are to be encoded by the faculty. Faculty cannot  edit anymore the grades of the students that belong to the previous school year and semester. †¢Only the faculty user and student users can exchange messages. †¢Only the Registrar can update the INC remarks of students that completed the subject. †¢Lastly, only the registrar can form the dean’s list. Definition of Terms †¢Transaction – a transaction usually means a sequence of information exchange and related work. A transaction is a unit of work that you want to treat as â€Å"a whole†. It has to either happen in full, or not at all. †¢Records – In computer data processing, a record is a collection of data  items arranged for processing by a program. Multiple records are contained in a file or data set. The organization of data in the record is usually prescribed by the programming language that defines the record’s organization and/or by the application that processes it. †¢Portal – a term, generally synonymous with gateway, for a World Wide Web site that is or proposes to be a major starting site for users when they get connected to the Web or that users tend to visit as an anchor site. †¢Web Portal – also known as a links page, presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. Apart from the standard search  engine feature, web portals offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information, databases and entertainment. †¢Links – Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another. In a multimedia environment such as the World Wide Web, such objects can include sound and motion video sequences. †¢Search Engine – designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are usually presented in a list of results and are commonly called hits. The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other types of files. †¢Database – is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed, and updated. In one view, databases can be classified according to types of content: bibliographic, full-text, numeric, and images. †¢Client-server – describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request from another program, the server, which fulfills the request. †¢Web-based – refers to those applications or services that are resident on a server that is accessible using a Web browser and is therefore accessible from anywhere in the world via the Web. †¢Technology – the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, and crafts, or is systems or methods of organization, or is a material product (such as clothing) of these things. The word technology comes from the Greek technologia techne ‘craft’ and -logia, the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include â€Å"construction technology†, â€Å"medical technology†, or â€Å"state-of-the-art technology†. †¢Application – program or group of programs designed for end users. Software can be divided into two general classes: systems software  and applications software †¢ Methodology Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) provides a set of models, principles, and guidelines for designing and developing enterprise solutions in a way that ensures that all elements of a project, such as people, processes and tools, can be successfully managed. MSF also provides proven practices for planning, designing, developing, and deploying successful enterprise solutions. The researcher had intended to use MSF for her methodologies especially because they are in use of Microsoft solution tools such as the Microsoft. NET Framework and the Microsoft SQL Server. MSF has five phases these are the: Envisioning, Planning, Developing, Stabilizing and Deploying. Envisioning Phase – This phase broadly describes the goals and constraints of the study. During this phase, the reseacher gathered necessary information and resources for developing a students’ portal. One of the activities that were conducted is an interview with BPSU’s database administrator to further determine what are the things and transactions necessary to put on the portal to satisfy the needs of the University and the predicted users. Some of the approved transactions are the viewing of student’s profile including the  personal, academic and financial information; encoding of final grades and forming of the Dean’s list. Risk assessment regarding the developing of the system is also accomplished. On the process, the impact of the consequence is learned by determining the likelihood of its occurrence and the severity of the outcome relative to established project objectives. The envisioning phase culminates in the vision approved milestone. This milestone is the first point at which the project team and customer agree on the overall direction for the project, including what the product will and will not include. Planning Phase – This phase determines what to develop and how to develop it. The process of information is modified, gathered and undergoes three design processes namely conceptual, logical and physical perspective. During this phase, the researcher planned how to develop the Bataan Peninsula State University students’ portal on the way its functionality can achieve the requirements of the educational institution. For conceptual design process, the expectations of the users or beneficiary of the study must be achieved like the proposal that students by using the portal can easily view their own records. For the logical design process, this meet the developer’s steps and requirements on how to develop the said system, like in an instance the system software solution will be developed using Microsoft Visual Studio and SQL Server Management studio. This solution is able to interact and communicate with other transaction processes, applications and data source. Lastly for the Physical design process, with the developer’s perspective, the development of the system will be a great help and ease not only for the students but also for the offices of the University that handles student’s information keeping considering the volumes of users  and transactions. There would be a web-based implementation of a portal which will be used as the primary means for dissemination of the student’s profiles and information. The planning phase culminates in the Project plan approved milestone. This milestone is the point at which the project team, the customer, and key project stakeholders agree on the feature set and the design of the application. The Project plan approved milestone is essentially the contract with the customer to proceed with the project. Developing Phase – During this phase, the solution is developed and optimized until it is  deemed ready for production use. On this phase, the student’s portal is developed. The researcher experienced several revisions on the design, the basic functionalities and on the core transaction in order to follow the needs of the identified users. The development phase culminates in the Scope Complete milestone. At this milestone, all features are complete, and the product is ready for external testing and stabilization. This milestone is the opportunity for customers and end users, operations and support personnel, and key project stakeholders to evaluate the product and identify any remaining  issues they need to address before it ships. Stabilizing Phase – This phase conducts testing of the complete solution. During this phase, the researcher focuses on resolving and prioritizing bugs and preparing the solution for release. The stabilization phase culminates with the release of the product. The Release milestone occurs when the team has addressed all outstanding issues and shipped the product or placed it in service. At the Release milestone, responsibility for ongoing management and support of the product officially transfers from the project team to the operations and support organization. Deploying phase – the developer deploys the core technology and site components, stabilizes the deployment, transitions the project to operations and support, and obtains final customer approval of the project. After the deployment, the developer conducts a project review and a customer satisfaction survey. During this phase, the developer tested the usability of the students’ portal and determined whether it has achieved the requirements of the University that are identified during the envisioning stage by letting some selected persons from the proposed users/customers. The deployment complete milestone culminates the deploying phase.

How Does Hitchcock Manipulate the Audience in the Shower Scene in the Film, Psycho Essay

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was an English film maker in the 20th century. He was well known for his techniques in engaging with the emotions of the audience and maximizing the feelings of anxiety and fear. Hitchcock, (also nicknamed as the master of suspense) directed more than fifty feature films of which the majority had twisted endings and thrilling plots, including violence, murder and crime. His iconic feature was to always appear in the movie. He was most likely to be seen walking through a busy crowd or across a street in some part of the film he was regarded as the greatest British film-maker and an iconic cultural figure. Psycho was one of Hitchcock’s most famous films. It was made in 1960 and although it originally received mixed reviews it was later re-reviewed resulting in 4 academy nominations. The story is about a young woman who steals a sum of money from her boss and when hiding in a motel she is brutally murdered by the psychotic hotel owner. The film is in black and white to add to the suspense with the music which originally Hitchcock wasn’t going to have. Psycho was considered Hitchcock’s best movie and is an inspiration to most horror films today. In this essay I will be describing the techniques Hitchcock uses to emphasize the fear and manipulate the audience during and leading up to the shower scene. The lead up to the shower scene starts with Marion, (who so far is thought of as the main character) driving down a highway in the busy rain making it almost impossible to see ahead of her. Whilst Marion is driving you soon come across a small lit up sign saying ‘Bates Motel’ Hitchcock uses the effect of the light to make it almost suggest it’s heavenly, this is a reassurance to the audience that Marion will be safe because she’s found somewhere to stay. However when we reach the motel it appear to be deserted until the camera zooms up to a big old fashioned house, with a small shadowed figure on the second floor, that appears to be in the shape of a woman, this at the time is a reassurance to Marion because someone is there who can help her. During this the only sound we hear is the heavy rain which fills the emptiness of the scene. A young man then appears to help her book a room, although he tries to create conversation Marion’s sentences are short, as if to portray she is in a hurry. Hitchcock then zooms in on her when she is writing her signature. We notice that she writes a different second name, this makes the audience shifty, because she’s lying. The cameras zoom onto the man who is introduced as Norman, he hesitates before picking a key, this arouses curiosity in audience as you wonder why he would pick a different room. When Norman is showing Marion the room he opens the windows and is hesitant to go into the bathroom or even say its name. He appears shifty and awkward which once again perks up interest in the audience as to why he is so shifty, you can help but feel a little worried as to why he can’t go into the bathroom. The conversations between Marion and Norman are short and awkward. As soon as Norman leaves the music starts to fill the silence and Marion wraps the money up in a newspaper to hide it, the music rises when this happens which suggests tension which makes the audience feel uncomfortable, as if she were taking a risk. Norman comes back with food for Marion and takes her into a small room behind the office to eat, as soon as you see the room stuffed birds fill the screen giving a creepy affect as if they were all watching you. As Norman talks to Marion he is constantly fiddling with his fingers as if to show that he is nervous, he also stutters some words to add to the effect. The conversation is awkward and Norman seems to be leading most of the conversation. The camera then moves to a low angle where a stuffed bird appears to be looking at Norman as he speaks, he compares the emotions of feeling empty and the light inside to go out to a damp grave which puts his emotions into context. When Marion recommends he takes his mother to an institution Norman leans in and the camera focuses on his showing his facial expression appear as anger, the music starts and his voice starts to rise as he gets angry. He then quotes, â€Å"She just goes a little mad sometimes. † This sentence sends a shiver down the audience’s spine because they assume the worst of that sentence. Questions are asked as the sentence can be interpreted in many ways. At this sentence Hitchcock zooms in on Marion’s face which appears uncomfortable and a little scared. She then rises to appear at a low angle which makes her look bigger and leaves. The camera returns to Norman who is now at a high angle shot, he appears small and desperate when he asks her to stay, you can tell from the camera angle what the answer is going to be. As soon as Marion leaves the music starts and we watch as Norman takes a painting off a wall to reveal a spy hole. We watch as Norman spies on the unsuspecting Marion as she undresses, to the audience this may appear as a typical thing for a man because they can’t help that they’re attracted to women. He then leaves to go back to the house, the music rises and builds up with tension to suggest that something is going to happen, however when the music reaches the highest pitch, Norman turns away, with his hands in his pocket as if to show his anger and energy has gone. At the beginning of the shower scene you see Marion writing calculations for her money however she later rips it up and throws it away. This almost gives the affect of a cliff-hanger which expresses the empty silence. As no-one is speaking Hitchcock emphasizes every sound possible, the opening of the shower rail, the unwrapping of the soap and the sound of the water coming from the shower, he does this to build the tension. For the next minute you see Marion happily enjoying a shower and for this reason you don’t expect anything bad to come after it, the camera moves from different angles and shots to show that she is happy. It then leads onto a wide shot where you are in full view of the shower and the curtain behind her. We see that Marion is at the bottom right hand side of the shower which almost gives the idea of vulnerability and her being trapped at one side because there is no way out if anything were to happen. Although Marion is the only moving thing in the shot you soon see a shadow appearing through the shower curtain, all the sounds are blocked as the water fills the silence and hides any other sounds you might be able to hear. As you see the shadow getting closer and darker tension and curiosity builds the camera slowly zooms into the looming shadow. (This is used by a retractable camera on the back wall. As the camera zooms in closer to the shape you can start to make out a human figure, you can feel your heart racing as you see a hand reach out to draw back the curtain. As soon as you hear the sound of the curtain being ripped back high pitched minor key music starts to reveal a terrifying figure of a women holding a break knife raised in her hand ready to kill. Hitchcock cleverly uses lighting and a low angle camera shot to shadow the face of the murderer so you don’t know who it is that kills Marion, this also adds curiosity to the fear as you don’t know who the murderer is. However the audience can assume that it is Norman’s mad mother. The next 45 seconds involve a brutal murder with sounds affect of stabbing and screaming as you watch the mad mother attack Marion. Hitchcock uses various camera shots and angle to add to the fear by constantly changing the views so you are not fully clear of what is going on, it also adds to Marion’s emotions as she struggles to prevent herself from being stabbed by the woman. At the same time you can also feel the emotions of the mother who portrays anger and revenge through the desperation of her stabbing and how she carries on to stab Marion even though she knows that she would die anyway. Hitchcock also uses a low angle shot which makes the murderer appear bigger and more superior to Marion as if to portray that she has won, and Marion won’t survive, he also uses the high angle shot to make Marion appear smaller and vulnerable. The mother then makes a swift exit leaving Marion to die as the music slows down. The camera zooms in onto Marion’s hand as it slides down the titles, Hitchcock then cleverly adds to the effect of putting Marion at the side of the shot, this almost adds effect to the fear because placing Marion in the centre of the screen may have appeared as quite tacky. The camera shows Marion put all her effect into reaching out to the shower rail as if she’s motioning for someone to help her, but then as the music stops she grabs the hand railing and falls to the floor motionless. The music almost signifies her death and murder, because when the music starts she’s frightened and screaming, thus meaning the music is high pitched but as she slowly sinks to her death the music deepens and slows down, then when she finally dies, the music stops. After that the only sound you are left with is the shower still running, the camera zooms into the drain as you see the darker shades of the water, which is the blood run down the drain. Hitchcock then cleverly zooms right into the drain, then when he zooms out, it reveals the eye of Marion as the camera rotates to reveal her motionless face. This could suggest that Marion’s life has gone down the drain, because she has nothing left. Her body appears motionless and innocent. The scene then ends with a shot viewing the money that was left behind, and the only sound is the shower running in the background. This leaves us at a cliff-hanger because Hitchcock as killed off what we though would be the main character and the $40,000 has been left, and we do not know what will happen to it. In conclusion to the evidence found we can see that Hitchcock used techniques uch as lighting, camera positions and angles, shots and sound to create suspense. He mainly uses music and silences to build the tension in the scene. The silences make the audience feel uncomfortable because this makes them expect something is going to happen. Hitchcock makes the audience expect the unexpected but then does the opposite. For example, he kills the main character off a third of a way through the movie. This adds more fear to ‘Psycho’ because unlike most horror films today, you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Progressive Education Essay Example

Progressive Education Essay Example Progressive Education Paper Progressive Education Paper According to Gribble (1985) in progressive schools, there is this sense of social equality between adults and children which is one of the progressive ideals. Where the staffs are violent, pupils could also use the same method as a defence mechanism. Gribble further opined that just as machines are used by people so teachers should be used by children too and not children being directed by teachers. In line with progressive education, childrens learning should be purposeful, not tied to a particular curriculum usually entrusted on them with series of examinations and tests/assessments. The teachers moral responsibility is to help the children, guiding them to explore their talents and interests. It is however, important to avoid instilling irrational beliefs that children might not understand. The child must learn how to develop independency. Anything that has the tone of moral compulsion is against the principles of progressive education, which uniqueness rests firmly on the refusal to impose a particular set of values not only the ones contained in the curriculum (Gribble 1985). The philosophy of progressive schools has no room for any dictated creed. Children in progressive schools are allowed to make a choice and to express their opinions freely. The extent to which this is practiced depends on each school because children are helped to see learning as something they should enjoy. Progressive schools discourage competitiveness (Gribble 1985). Since children make their own choices and work at their own pace and not according to the dictate of anyone, it means that the individual pupil does not need to compete with anyone. This helps to relax the learning environment making it conducive for learning. A child neither measures his/her own achievement with any other childs nor does the OFSTED that would normally pressurise a state or public school present. There is usually no necessity for progressive school authorities to put pressure on the teachers who in turn pass the pressure on to the children through series of tests/assessments in order to be on top of the performance league table. There is usually no punishment in progressive schools and no inclination to any religious dogma or denomination. However, no matter how ideally progressive education is portrayed as panacea for traditional or conventional form of education as obtains in public, independent and state schools, it is obvious that some of them are not truly and completely progressive. There have been changes in the application of the original philosophy as propounded by pioneers of progressive educational methods some of whose contributions are mentioned and discussed next. Progressive thinkers There are some famous thinkers on childhood whose work are so vital in the history of child-centred education. Some of these writers in the early years did not categorically call their work progressive education, but what they did was catalytic to the formulation of body of knowledge that is called progressive education today to which a lot of acknowledgement is owed. This essay will briefly talk about their ideas, principles and ethos. One of these early writers was Jean Jacques Rousseau whose writings and progressive tilt brought about a fundamental change in the education of children. According to Darling J. ( ) in Rousseaus book Emile (1762), it is stressed that man should not disturb child growth but leave it the way nature has provided for it. Child-centred education came as an alternative due to dissatisfaction about the traditional education of that time. This rejection helped to fashion out current progressive education thought. In Emile, Rousseau asserts that the progressive idea took its root against the background of obligation and child depravity attached to children in those days where strict discipline and moral training for children was the norm. Rousseau rejected this idea and believed that children are good; that the evil seen in children is from a corrupt society. His ideas were that children should not be trained in such a way as to repress their natural tendency. When juxtaposed to modern progressive education concepts it translates to not imposing any particular learning style on children but rather allowing them to discover things by themselves Young childrens educational programmes should in Rousseaus view be confined to those things in which they have natural interest (Darling1994: 8 ). Rousseau promoted the fact that children learned from direct experience and opined that feeling is always learning, which can be understood to mean- learning from environment and not from a book. Rosseau is of the opinion that children should not be taught how to read until they are ready. He imagined that they would understand by learning from the environment and from feeling things around them. In addition to that he was of the belief that there has to be little information from a book. This is echoed by Calydon [ed] (1969:50) when it is said that Experience goes before instruction. However Rousseau did not clarify when learning from a book should set in but children should also seek information from books. This opinion is true because looking at teachers for instance, they had to learn from books and not only depend on experience. In modern progressive education students learn largely from experience as well as from books. Rousseau also advocated cordial relationship between a child and the teacher and that the child should learn from their actions. As discussed earlier progressive education does not see the teacher in authority like the teacher is seen in public schools; progressive education is therefore more of a child- centred approach to teaching. According to Darling ( ) Rosseau divided childhood into stages of human growth and development. He contended that different stages of growth require specific techniques. Therefore in progressive education pupils are given individual attention because each child has their own needs and peculiarities depending on their stages. Friedrich Froebel who established the first kindergarten at Keilhau, Germany in 1837 contributed immensely to the progressive idea of education. He believed that everyone has a spiritual value. Like Rosseau, he believed that every child had within themselves what they were to be at birth. He also believed that the appropriate educational environment would encourage the child to achieve optimum development.