Pursuit of Happiness (Siddhartha Essay)

Throughout Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha, Siddhartha defines his own happiness and Siddhartha does not let anything beside himself dictate his happiness. Throughout his journeys, Siddhartha becomes enlightened because of the way he can so easily find happiness. Siddhartha proves this through his life decisions that go against the grain of â€Å"normal† decision making. Siddhartha throws ideas of money out the window if it is not what is going to make him happy.After a long journey, Siddhartha is finally able to find his happiness. Everybody is always scrambling for happiness; however, there are only few who can actually obtain happiness. The story begins with the background of Siddhartha: son of a Brahmin, lots of friends, plenty of money and advantages in life. Yet, Siddhartha decides he wants to become a Samana. At this point in the story, Siddhartha is willing to do anything to get his father’s permission to become a Samana. Once he earns his father’ s blessing, Siddhartha becomes a Samana and leaves behind all the advantages he had in life. This shows that Siddhartha is not ruled by material things.Siddhartha shows that making decisions solely on what will make him happy is the true way to find happiness. With no regard for money or pleasing others, many would call Siddhartha selfish; however, any happy person must be selfish because if a person is not fulfilling his or her needs then he or she is not truly happy. On the other side, if someone is fulfilling his or her needs, he or she is, in some ways, selfish. In chapter eight, Siddhartha raves and is elated over a simple night’s sleep: â€Å"What a wonderful sleep it had been! Never had sleep so refreshed him, so renewed him, so rejuvenated him!Perhaps he had really died, perhaps he had been drowned and was reborn in another form. No, he recognized himself, he recognized his hands and feet, the place where he lay and the Self in his breast, Siddhartha, self-willed, in dividualistic. But this Siddhartha was somewhat changed, renewed. He had slept wonderfully. He was remarkably awake, happy and curious† (91). This shows that Siddhartha enjoys the simple things in life and he is happy. By the end of his life, Siddhartha is happy and enlightened; however, he is not unwaveringly happy throughout his life. Siddhartha goes through depression and even thoughts of suicide.After leaving his wife and child –Who once were what made him happy- Siddhartha contemplates suicide but after being found by the river,  Siddhartha realizes that life is worth living. He later discovers the beauty of depression: â€Å"’Things are going downhill with you!’ he said to himself, and laughed about it, and as he was saying it, he happened to glance at the river, and he also saw the river going downhill, always moving on downhill, and singing and being happy through it all. He liked this well, kindly he smiled at the river.Was this not the river i n which he had intended to drown himself, in past times, a hundred years ago, or had he dreamed this?† (96). Siddhartha goes from rich to poor to rich again to poor again, yet through almost every change in his life, Siddhartha remains happy. An unknowingly eerie real life comparison to Siddhartha is former NFL running back: Ricky Williams. Like Siddhartha, Ricky Williams went through life and did whatever made him happy and did not let outside influences make decisions for him since he simply did whatever made him the happiest. Williams, like Siddhartha, started his journey as a young man with many advantages.Being a superstar athlete, Williams received a full ride scholarship to the University of Texas. After three years of being the big man on campus, Williams entered the NFL draft in 1999 and was selected fifth overall by the New Orleans Saints. After three successful seasons with the Saints, Williams was traded to the Miami Dolphins. After testing positive for a couple of drug tests, Williams was faced with a short suspension. However, Ricky Williams shocked the world by announcing his retirement from football in the prime of his career, similar to Siddhartha’s choice to embark on Samana life. Williams was finding himself lost in superstardom and was no longer enjoying the game he so dearly loved.The Miami Dolphins demanded money back off of Williams’ contract claiming that he had not held up his end of the bargain. Williams did not care about the money though. In the next year Williams downgraded to a modest house and lived with his long time girlfriend. Williams even spent time living off the grid in Australia and struggled with diagnosed clinical depression problems. After a one-year sabbatical from the game, Williams returned to his homeland of happiness and played organized football for the next six years and made more money but only because he could; Williams could have played football for free because it was his true passion. Th is part in Williams’ life is similar to Siddhartha’s time spent with Kamala in the way that Siddhartha did become a wealthy business man but only because that was what made him happy.Siddhartha makes a similar decision as Williams when he says, â€Å"He could have remained much longer with Kamaswami, made and squandered money, fed his body and neglected his soul; he could have dwelt for a long time yet in that soft, well upholstered hell, if this had not happened: the moment of complete hopelessness and despair and the tense moment when he had bent over the flowing water, ready to commit suicide. This despair, this extreme nausea which he had experienced had not overpowered him. The bird, the clear spring and voice within him was still alive –that was why he rejoiced, that was why he laughed, that was why his face was radiant under his gray hair† (98).The point of the comparison is that even people who seem to have it all may be lacking happiness, which t o Siddhartha and Ricky Williams is the most important aspect of life. Williams’ life took him all sorts of ways and through years of trying to find inner peace he was able to be a happy man just like Siddhartha. As Siddhartha says in chapter nine, â€Å"my path had once led me from his hut to a new life which is now old and dead† (101). Siddhartha’s happiness is a vital theme throughout Hermann Hesse’s novel.Rightfully so, Hesse shows happiness as one of the main goals of life. Similarly to Siddhartha, Ricky Williams also displays happiness through almost all walks of life and they both prove that one must suffer and do some searching before finding his or her true happiness. Through disregard of others’ opinions and society’s view of happiness is the only way to find oneself and the only way that Siddhartha could find himself and reach enlightenment.

Eugenics: the Artificial Selection

S R August 26, 2008 Biology 340 Eugenics: The Artificial Selection In the 1800’s, well-known biologist, Charles Darwin enlightened us with his theory of evolution and natural selection. In short, natural selection states that random genetic changes transpire within an organism's genetic code, such changes are preserved because they are valuable for survival. Darwin’s ideas came from economics applied to biology. By the late 1800’s Francis Galton, Darwin’s cousin, had thoroughly studied his cousins findings and disclosed his beliefs in biology, which he related to human beings.His philosophy was known as Eugenics. Eugenics was an idea was based on ways to control reproduction so that human race can better succeed, in other words, a revised sequel of Darwin’s natural selection, artificial selection. Galton understood that good advancement of mankind was let down by generous outreach to the underprivileged when such hard work motivated people to have m ore children. Galton sought after expanding his eugenics idealism from science to a policy and religion. This science was a form of perfecting the human race through improved reproduction.That alone should have scared people, however, it began to evolve, as Galton desired. Eugenicist aspired the development of advantageous characteristics and abolition of the adverse ones. Eugenics was seen as a means to resolve the combined problems because it located the cause in the flawed germ cells within the embryo of individuals of certain ethnic groups instead of focusing on the structure of society. Eugenicist alleged that inherited disorders with basic modes of inheritance could be construed from derivations of inheritance contained by families, such as polydactyl.Psychiatric disorders, such as manic depression, were also considered when researching inherited disorders. Geneticist understood that behavioral personality had the utmost impact on society. They assumed that people inherited a trait that made them have an affinity to be poor. This was termed as shiftlessness. Other predispositions that were deemed inherited were alcoholism and sexual immorality, which was a notion to be part of the cause to criminal behavior.In the 1920’s restrictive immigration laws were passed because eugenicist believed that undesirable traits were linked to racial and ethnic groups, which was detrimental to society. Furthermore, eugenics was incorporate by Adolf Hitler’s attempt at a master race. His barbaric behavior and massacre of Jews made the initiative of developing a master race became exceedingly ostracized. However, eugenics should not be considered eradicated from society. Some believe that the advancement and encouragement of birth control is considered a major eugenic success.It was seen as a eugenic success because of a sudden increase in population and frenzy to control this. I understand that eugenics may be intended to promote reproduction among the genet ically advantaged. Therefore, in that sense I find it to be acceptable to some extent. The practices that follow this type of positive eugenics, nowadays, is slowly being accepted in society. Such as, in vitro fertilization, a couple may find this option as a gift in life. However, others may argue that adoption is always the best option when infertility is an issue.The fact that there are millions of children that do not have parents, would make me opt for child adoption. As previously mentioned, birth control is considered a eugenic success. In this area I would agree with that generalization. I find that women should take care of themselves form of eugenics that I consider eugenics negative when the attempt is to subordinate fertility amongst the genetically underprivileged. Such an example would be to have an abortion knowing that your child will have a disability.Overall, this subject matter is more complicated and thought provoking that it may seem when once introduced. Howeve r, the evolution of society has made modifications to the early eugenic standards.Work Cited EugenicsArchive. org Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement http://www. eugenicsarchive. org/eugenics/list3. pl Adams, Mark, ed. The Wellborn Science: Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil and Russia (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990 Neo Eugenics: http://neoeugenics. home. comcast. net/~neoeugenics/ Future Generations: http://www. eugenics. net/links/othrlink. html

A Case Study on the Mental Health Problems of Ora and Will

A Case Study on the Mental Health Problems of Ora and Will When it comes to the amount of energy invested referring to Ora a lot of her energy is probably drained through her health problems and her family relationships when it comes to her husband. She has been diagnosed as overweight, having anxiety and depression, she has an eye condition she doesn’t know if there is a cure, and she has colitis. All those things can really put stress on you, it can’t be healthy to deal with so much especially when it seems like there is no real way to fix it. It also mentioned the resentment she is feeling towards her husband who always criticizes her calling her lazy and complaining about her housekeeping. When dealing with so many conditions it would be very helpful to have some type of support and she isn’t getting that from her husband. Now the little bit of energy that is being returned is the fact that she has food stamps and Medicaid to help when it comes to your basic needs and although it is probably not a lot it is still som ething. When it comes to the amount of energy invested referring to Will his health is probably the most draining. He is labeled â€Å"borderline retarded† and â€Å"borderline schizophrenic†. When it comes to having a learning disability, it can’t be easy because you are constantly judged and treated differently. You are often disrespected and not taken seriously because of it so that would be very stressful for anyone. Also, to have a mental disorder like schizophrenia makes things worse because people see you as a monster and want nothing to do with you or they pity you and treat you as if you are incapable of doing anything for yourself which I bet is annoying. Now the bit of energy that is returned is probably from his job. He’s a night watchman and before that he had other jobs, all paying about minimum wage but it is a steady income and that must be a little bit of relief to at least get the house food. As well as he’s good at cleaning and fixing thi ng so he will have the car fixed soon and that will make it easier to get to work. I feel this can be used as a tool to help first get everyone in the family proper tests and exams to see if they have these mental issues or if it honestly was discrimination. If so then the proper resources could be provided to help the children when it comes to school and the adults can go through programs that help you adjust to every day life. I think counseling should be an option just for them to voice out all their stress and have a sense of relief even if only temporary. Another thing to consider is if there are any resources that can be used to fix their utilities, cooking on a couple of hot plates can’t be healthy or that sanitary. If they could cook food properly I feel that would make a big difference, it wouldn’t fix anything but it would be a start.

Analyse and critically discuss the statement below Essay

Analyse and critically discuss the statement below - Essay Example ch as GE, Apple and others use these terms and their associated theoretical underpinnings to gain competitive advantages and their example becomes important while we try to understand the connection between theory and practice. For instance, when it comes to creating a purpose or strategy for an organization, GE uses the vision of the company to guide itself in where it wants to be over a given period of time. No company in the world across any industry in any location is as well respected as GE (Demos, 2006). Throughout its existence, and more recently in the last few years, analysts from the fields of management, human resources and organisational studies have all given their respects to GE (Fisher, 2006). A large part of this respect comes from the way GE handles its human resources of which examples have been given by those who have been a part of GE as well as those who have observed it from afar. In essence, the handling of human resources at GE is deeply linked with their idea of the mission and vision of the company. In theory, the functionalist paradigm of human resource management connects greatly with the idea of rationality and thus rewards as well as punishments become a rational method for ensuring continual behaviour of one type or another. Consequentially, these are an intrinsic part of the management system at GE (Kerr, 1996). Welch (2005) reports that, â€Å"We publicly rewarded people who drove the mission and let go of people who couldn’t deal with it for whatever reason (Welch, 2005, Pg. 16)†. The idea of publicly rewarding top performers ensures that those who see it happen know why some individuals are being rewarded more than others. On a simpler level, the individuals who were rewarded would have a harder time in leaving the company and their strategic relationship with the company would evolve and be strengthened (Henry, 2006). Therefore, rationality and rewards go hand in hand with the theory and strategy behind human resource

Analysis of qualitative design part 2 Research Paper

Analysis of qualitative design part 2 - Research Paper Example Qualitative design is always accredited with the ability to seek and gain insight, this is often by exploring the depth, richness and complexity that is rooted in a particular phenomenon. In conducting this research study, the research relied upon an ethnographic research design, in this case, the researchers main aim was to study the prevailing characteristics of people in relation to adult literacy and gender equity empowerment among the people of rural Elsalvador (Prins 2005). The methods of study applied in ethnographic research designs identify a people’s prevailing culture, variables of the study and makes a comprehensive review of literature. In terms of data collection methods, the research design employs those that give it access to culture patterns and attributes, informants as well as ability to collect first-hand data. The researchers use of ethnographic design in this research was aimed at gaining an in-depth analysis of the effect of literacy education, gender and equity empowerment among the people of rural El Salvador. First, the research design was essential in gaining first-hand data from respondents, through this research design, it was easy to interact with people that provided particular services on the ground and get their views on the particular influence the subjects of study were having on people. Secondly, this research design was essential in enabling the researcher to move and record his observations about the characteristics of the people of rural El Salvador in the wake of literacy education and gender equity empowerment. Thirdly, the nature if this study was too complex to be answered by simple yes or no answers, the respondents were needed to provide an in-depth analysis of what they found as being the impact of gender equity empowerment initiatives and literacy education. The rationale for this study was to

Political Economy (Theories of Late Capitalism) Essay

Political Economy (Theories of Late Capitalism) - Essay Example Resultantly, this era also witnessed a transition from traditional culture to Western culture that prevailed in OECD Countries. Frieden also mention the failure of countries from Sub-Sahara Region to catch up the economic progress that took place. Frieden’s ideas on economic progress that took place during last three decades of 20th Century therefore indicate a radical transition to globalization and emergence of new economic changes that took place mostly in East Asia and OECD countries. Rifkin on the other hand however, is of the view that the last three decades of 20th century witnessed a radical shift into the production process as economic evolution took place during the period. Most importantly, Rifkin defined the relationship between the production process and the firms by arguing that the current period was dominated by the control of ideas and concepts of the employees. The production process which historically dependent on the control of raw materials wherein modern production processes depended on the knowledge based workers. The creation of knowledge based societies therefore were the most instrumental objects which brought the necessary change into the production process. As the labor force became more skilled and knowledgeable, the essential relationship between the labor and production process change fundamentally to accommodate the basic changes that emerge as a result of this shift into the production processes. Thus Rifkin view last three decades as periods of history in which production process and its relationship with other objects changed radically. Harvey, however, views post modernity not as a unique case and consider it as a constant aspect of capitalism and relate it to the phenomenon which is cultural specific. This view is relatively contradictory as compared to the views of Frieden or even Rifikin. Frieden view the last three decades of previous

Summarize the articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarize the articles - Essay Example le being that additional emphasis should go into preparing teachers to think outside the box especially when faced with various setbacks (Wright & Wilson, 2011). It is also important for teacher trainers to adapt and familiarize themselves with emerging technologies that boost student engagement and participation in class. The purpose of this research was to establish, test and verify the attitudes of junior high school students towards the use of technology using the Attitudes Toward Technology Scale for Junior High School Students as developed in 2005 by Yu et al. The study was to specifically establish a model of junior high school students’ attitudes toward technology, determine the relevance of the model and analyze the correlations among the various factors in the model. These factors are based either in the affective domain or PATT and its related studies. (Yu et al, 2012). The study also identifies three theoretical schemes of attitude towards technology as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and behavior and intention use. The findings of this study show that identification with technology and experience with technology curricula were the primary factors influencing the students’ intentions to pursue careers in technology (Yu et al,

Civil Rights Movements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Civil Rights Movements - Essay Example The United States is a diverse country racially and ethnically. It comprises of six distinct races namely; whites, Asians, African-Americans, American Indians, Native Americans and other races.As a result, there are constant cultural differences resulting in friction and warfare. Before political independence, the Americans depended on the Europeans for survival through provision of labour and other essential services. America was thus under the control of British until 1776 when it declared its independence. America was divided into North and South and differences existed between the two. The south was dependent on cotton plantations and depended solely on agriculture and therefore required cheap labour in the cotton plantations. This prompted slavery in the region as a source of cheap labour. On the other hand, the north depended on industries and turned cotton into finished goods. Urbanization was also rampant due to growth of cities and immigration and did not advocate for slaver y. This often brought about conflicts between the north and south prompting the civil war in 1861-1865 (Jones, 1996). The whites were considered a superior race compared to the others. Racial discrimination was therefore evident and continues to plague America in all aspects of life including social, political, economic and cultural areas. The American independence declared all humans as equal and has inalienable right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness and the constitution defended these rights. On this basis, civil rights movements were formed to fight for the rights of the minorities especially segregation and racial discrimination. The movement was particularly powerful in the south where minorities were often mistreated especially due to their conservatism nature and existence of Ku Klux Klan who were resistant to change. This paper discusses and analyzes civil rights movements operations and the varying ideas about how social, political, economic and cultural change co uld be achieved in the United States. American Civil War In order to understand the civil rights movements, it is essential to understand the circumstances surrounding the civil war as it formed the basis for the movements. The war had the worst casualties than all the other wars that had been fought in America including the world wars. According to McPherson (1990), America was experiencing rapid growth in population, territory size and economy as a whole. The population explosion was due to immigration and high birth rates in the north due to industrialization and urbanization. America was also involved in acquisition of new territories through conquering and purchasing such as the Indian Territory hence territorial expansion. Economic growth was a result of industrialization and increased incomes and cheap labour from slavery. The growth led to inequalities in wealth distribution, cultural erosion and increased slavery for the blacks. This often led to class, ethnic and sectional conflicts between north and south. The civil war was prompted by economic and social differences between the north and the south, state versus federal rights, slavery, growth of abolitionist movement as well as the election of Abraham Lincoln among others (Jones, 1996).The south was an agrarian plantation economy and remained bound by traditional values. Family ties, kinship and hierarchy were still important and the south fought to preserve these values. Slavery was thus essential for the regions economy and culture. There was also slow population growth due to migration of people to the cities in the north. The north on the other hand was an industrial capitalist economy characterized by high population growth. Traditional values are of less importance as people from different races worked together in the industrial economy. These conflicting ideologies often led to sectional conflict between the north and south and consequently the civil war. Another factor that led to the civil war

PMP application Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PMP application - Essay Example I laid out an effective technical plan as to how system upgrades and server migration would take place. I served as the liaison to internal and external auditors. I chaired the monthly patch review meeting. In the execution phase, I directed the system administrators make a journal that would record all changes being made to the desktop systems so that we could recover in case of a mistake. I held meetings on daily basis to keep a track of every step. My company wanted to move to a server which had different PHP deployment method. I created, on the destination server, duplicates of each extra SSH/SFTP user, database and application that were on the original server, copied all files to the destination server, and created DNS overrides for the testing part. I told my teammates to make entries in the website to access the content of destination server. I told them how to upgrade the DNS overrides to point to the migrated server. Lastly, we waited for these changes to propagate, and clea red the original server. I was responsible for the first four phases of project management in this project. I helped my teammates with the concept development for the website. I defined the purpose, stakeholders, the basic outline of the organization’s biases, limitations and initial requirements, and the deliverables. I analyzed the executive requirements, business benefits and goals, implementation requirements, functional and financial requirements, infrastructure requirements, and technical analysis and design which included an analysis of the hardware and software tools needed. I, along with other members, wrote down the briefs, set the milestones, and assigned tasks. After briefing the client visually, I laid down basic components of the website and plotted out how they were going to work along. Risk evaluation was one important step in which I balanced the project’s time and cost. I created the staging environment and began the production guide to which I added all the

Measurement and Instruments for a Quantitative Research Plan Coursework - 1

Measurement and Instruments for a Quantitative Research Plan - Coursework Example It is against this background that the levels of measurement to be selected for the study would follow the principle of ordinal scale of measurement. This means that grading shall be assigned to the students according to their performance rate. The levels of measurement shall therefore be a grading system to be tagged or labeled as ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘F’. As an ordinal scale, these levels of measurement shall be directly linked or related to the performance rate of students. In the given situation, students who score grade ‘A’ shall be given the classes they applied for whiles students who score ‘B’ shall be placed in one class below the class they applied for. Finally, students scoring ‘F’ shall be rejected a place in the schools. Given the levels of measurement that will be used in the study, the researcher shall design a multiple-indicator instrument or test. The multiple-indicator instrument will be used because it has the potential of ensuring validity on a number of scales. Cherry (2012) explains that â€Å"When a test has content validity, the items on the test represent the entire range of possible items the test should cover.† This means that the study shall ensure content validity by setting out questions to cover all aspects of the course content to be given to the students (Rodchua, 2009). By so doing, the test items shall represent the entire range of possible items because no aspect of the course content shall be left out. On empirical validity, it has been said that for empirical validity to be achieved, it is important that the researcher creates a criteria with which the results obtained can be compared for confirmation (Cheng, 2009). In the present study, the empirical validity can be measured by means of comparing the scores of the test, to the continuous assessment results that the students will bring from their respective

Animal Farm Summative Essay Example for Free

Animal Farm Summative Essay Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell. It is considered to be an allegory because the farm and the various controversies within it are representing Russia’s condition before and after its overthrow of the tyrannical tsar. The novel explores more than just political conflicts – it shows the lengths human nature and gluttony can go, how surplus of power can destroy the truest of morality, how greed is present in every governing system, and no book, rule, or law can obliterate avarice. It also cleverly observes how humans alter their relationships and mask their true feelings towards others for their own security, and this course of action is evident in the relationship between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington. Napoleon plays a greater role in the aftermath of the rebellion, rather than evoking the rebellion itself, and Mr. Pilkington does not play a great role in the novel until after the rebellion. Napoleon, from the very beginning, is made out to be an antagonist as he indulges in all sorts of suspicious activity, and constantly engages in arguments with Snowball, his partner in looking after the new â€Å"liberal† Animal Farm. The Seven Commandments are against everything man stands for, including Pilkington of Foxwood, and even if they do not have a direct relationship with each other in the beginning, Mr. Pilkington and Napoleon are enemies, because, as Old Major had once said, â€Å"Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever† (4). Napoleon and Snowball have a very idealistic view of Animal Farm, but Napoleon’s attitude towards everything is noticed to be changed after the overthrow of Snowball. His hatred towards the other farmers had already started to falter when their rations fell short, but it is perceived that Napoleon started favoring Mr. Pilkington as he was against Frederick of Pinchfield, where Snowball was rumored to have resided. But their relationship is much like a seesaw as Napoleon goes through a phase of indecisiveness as to whether or not trust Mr. Pilkington as he had declined him any help during the Battle of the Windmill. For instance, when he had sent the pigeons to ask for help, Mr. Pilkington only replied with, â€Å"Serves you right†. As the novel progresses, the commandments are slowly altered, and this shows that Napoleon’s mind is slowly changing, his attitude towards the commandments are changing, and his attitude towards the humans are changing as well. For instance, the commandment â€Å"No animal shall sleep in a bed,† is altered to â€Å"No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,† for Napoleon’s own luxury, and this not only shows that Napoleon has a new outlook on life, but also a new outlook on humans – not only that, but he alters all commandments, showing he is becoming more and more like a human every day, until finally, the day comes when he stands on his hind legs, indulges himself in alcohol, and is seen to be playing poker with Mr. Pilkington. The most important chapter concerning Napoleon’s relationship with Mr. Pilkington would be the last chapter of the novel when the pair are chatting and laughing, when they both draw aces in a game of poker. This sig nifies the looming power struggle between the two. Both Napoleon and Pilkington are striving to be the stronger party and will stoop to any level to emerge the winner. At the beginning of the novel Napoleon treats Pilkington with heavy disdain, and tries to form an isolated community of self-sufficient animals. As the novel progresses Napoleon engages in trade with Pilkingtons farm, and conspires with him to frame Snowball and make him appear a traitor. His relationship with Pilkington is purely selfish and both of them after the same end, to be the stronger of the two farms. To conclude, in Napoleon’s pursuit of creating his idealistic socialist utopia, he ended up turning into the evil he set out to banish, and turning into what all the animals dreaded – turning into a human, just like Pilkington, which is why â€Å"it was impossible to tell which was which†(89).

Accounting and Finance Degree Reflection

Accounting and Finance Degree Reflection Accounting has always been an interest of mine. Since I was a child, I have always been good in calculation, which makes it clearer that accountancy would be a good choice. After years of studying it, I realised accounting is not only about numbers but theory that require various skills in order to perform a good accounting. The increase number of students in the accounting field has made employment extremely competitive. Major findings suggest that, employers require a broad range of generic and professional skills in graduates to add value to business. In the past, generic skills was broad in that it was usually associated with those skills developed outside the technical curriculum. More recently the scope of the term generic skills has extended to emphasize relevance to graduate outcomes in terms of the world of work and, more specifically, employability (Barrie, 2004). The mixture of skills is necessary by the employers as it helps them solve the diversity of business challenges . Generic and professional skills that employers require The embedding of generic and professional skills in higher education curriculum has been of interest for many years. Skills are important for life-long learning and employability. B. Jackling and P. De Lange (2009) suggested that the skills most desired by employers include communication skills, analytical skills and team skills. Communication skill is particularly essential to accounting profession for which interaction between the providers and the recipients of information. For accounting it is important to starts with gathering and processing of information and end with communication of processed information. Previous research shows that accounting graduates experience communication problem in early employment (McLaren, 1990: Pattern and Williams, 1990). Despite that accounting curriculum has positively contributed to the development of written communication skills (Zaid, O. and Abraham, A. 1994) Analytical skills is relating to using analysis or logical reasoning to solve a problem. It is the ability to visualize and solve complicated problems while making accurate and informed decision. Employers are looking for people that are able to think critically and its consequence. For example, one could be good at spread sheets, can manipulate data effectively but they arent good at figuring out whether the information is reasonable or realistic (Ballantine, J. A. Larres, D. M. 2004). There are an increasing number of companies that want employees to work in a collaborative environment in order to respond quickly in an environment with intense complexity. Avery (2001) proposes teamwork as and individual skills, meaning each individual in a team must take responsibility for the process necessary to accomplish a similar goal. Teamwork is used a lot in the field of accounting such as complete tasks, evaluate clients and report and analyse financial statements. Learning outcomes that are relevant to achieving these skills The degree that Im currently pursuing is Accounting and Finance. The module chosen from this course is Financial Accounting and Reporting (U50035), delivered in semester two of the 2011-2012 academic year, and Financial Accounting Theory (U50081), delivered in semester one of the 2012-2013 academic year. As a credit entry student, I took a module in year one similar to Introduction to Accounting delivered in semester one 2010-2011 academic year. The learning outcomes from the modules in the area of financial accounting were designed to provide students with opportunities to build their employability profile alongside developing their knowledge. The modules were designed to encourage students to build their skill base as part of their way to higher level of intellectual development. In my second year I did Financial Accounting and Reporting module. Throughout this module, I manage to develop some skills and achieve some learning outcomes. For instance outline the regulatory framework for financial reporting which applies to UK and international companies and also using financial and other reports to appraise the performance, financial situation and cash position of companies. We were given two coursework assignments: one individual and one group. The individual coursework is regarding IAS 19, Employee Benefits that has been amended. At a glance, the coursework is intimidating because there are substantial amount of research and reading. They reduced my motivation. However, as I started to read, common key term such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), defined benefits, termination benefits, service cost, net interest, re-measurements tend to appear in most of the articles. The skimming phase confirmed that my initial problems came from jargons and new terms about the IAS 19. It taught me to use critical and analytical skill in order to find key words and phrases, which help me to read long articles. The second assignment of this module is to do a group presentation on the financial performance, financial situation and cash position of Good Energy Group plc. Further, I have improved my presentation and writing skill because this coursework is presented in a professional report with graphs and financial data. We have limited time to carry out research and we were worn off by the intensive lectures. This is where I found out how time management and teamwork skills play as important elements for success. We distributed the workload among ourselves and set a time frame for completion. Group members were to adhere to the time frame stipulated. This is how we manage to complete a simple presentation, with many hidden hard work behind our success. Currently Im doing Financial Accounting Theory module. There are several learning outcomes from this module one of it is to understand the function and operation of Accounting in a range of contexts, informed by current thinking and research in the discipline. We were given homework almost every time after a seminar. In week 4 we were asked to read a few articles regarding revisiting the conceptual framework. This article refers that the framework needs updating and refining, the inconsistencies need to be eliminated because framework being less helpful in providing guidance for standard setting decisions. During the seminar in week 5, we then discussed our findings in a small group of three. Through this Ive learned a lot more than self-reading, the interaction has definitely improved my communication skills. One strategy describes by Cunningham (1998) to develop creative and critical thinking skills in students are by analysing real life case studies. During the seminars, students were asked to analyse articles provided by the lecturer. Learning outcome such as able to demonstrate the use of current accepted technical language of accounting and accounting practices internationally is achieved. A constructive feedback is given on the spot after a question is raised. This will assists students to develop a questioning attitude as well as able to update their knowledge. Introduction to Accounting is a first year compulsory module, which introduces student to certain principles and techniques of accounting. The module will be concerned with the processes used to record, summarize and present accounting data. The objective of this part of the module is to enable students to prepare company financial statements. Learning outcome after having completed this module is the ability to prepare a set of financial statements for a company from a trial balance and incorporating a variety of simple adjustments. For example when learning how to produce a financial statement, it requires technical and theoretical knowledge once I discovered how to present the information, thats when I develop non-verbal communication skills (Ballantine, J. A. Larres, D. M. 2004). When I started my first semester, I find myself struggling for time. My lifestyle has become chaotic, as I have to juggle between school, work and family. I felt tired everyday and have no motivation to complete my tasks. This is mainly due to my poor time management. As part of the module, an educational talk from one of the accounting firm, Ernst and Young has made me realize that many things could be achieved with proper time management. A person that works at least 12 hours a day still find himself some time spend with family and for his favourite sports. Conclusion This reflective statement is a learning tool, which will help students better understand, learn and reflect on issues covered in the entire course and in other relevant areas. I believe that a strong academic background is a fundamental issue for student but might not be enough in indicating whether or not a student will be successful in a particular work environment. Throughout this course I personally think that the modules I have taken have been benefiting me in terms of the aspects in which I have learned. It is designed to encourage communication skill, teamwork, critical thinking and analytical skill. This is what employers seek for in a potential candidate. Researching on coursework have opened my eyes and made me aware of any jargons that come across during reading. In the final (third) year, I feel as if I have a great deal of knowledge of the information that I looked at for these modules. The use of case studies, group-based learning, and task designed to address communica tion and presentation skills are suitable for developing appropriate competencies in accounting graduates for future employment.

The Evolution Of Dance In Theater Theatre Essay

The Evolution Of Dance In Theater Theatre Essay Dance is defined as the art of movement. It can be used to express feelings, to exercise, to perform, and some can even interact and have nonverbal conversation though the art of dance. Dance is usually performed through the rhythm and beat of music, but it doesnt necessarily have to involve music. Sports even sometimes incorporate a certain dance, or type of dance. For example, a martial arts kata is simply a series of movements put together to be performed with the grace and strength of a dance. Dance is also used in sports such as synchronized swimming, ice skating, and gymnastics. There are many types of dance, ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, modern, and contemporary just to name a few. Most people cant go through the day without seeing a type of dance performed in some way. Whether its seeing kids dance at a prom, a person walking down the street moving to the beat of their iPod, or simply turning on the television, its something thats in our everyday lives. But have you ever wondered where it all started, or how it became what it is today? Angel 2 It was believed that dancing was a ritual in early ancient civilizations; priests would dance to the rhythm of harps and pipes to tell stories to the ancient gods, people also danced at funerals to express their sorrow. Around this same time period ballet was beginning to evolve in France. As it continued to spread through Italy, England, and Russia, it became a concert dance, which is often, even today, seen in movies and events all over the world. Dancing has continued to blossom into what it is today, and the best way to show how it has become what it is today, is though film. One of the first movies that involved sing and dance was the 1952 film, Singing in the Rain, starring Gene Kelly, Donald OConnor and Debbie Reynolds. This movie was more of a Broadway musical, but it is one of the first movies that involved dance at all. The most famous part of this movie is when the main character, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), dances through the streets with an umbrella as he twirls and sings the title song. He then grabs onto a pole and swings around it continuing to sing. During the filming of this scene he had a 103 degree fever, but thanks to the help of the camera crew, this scene only had to be shot one time. After the production of this movie, dancing became the new craze. Dances such as, the Bop, the Stroll and the Swing became popular. Also when the song Willy and The Hand Jive was released, it stayed at the top of the charts for 16 weeks. Poodle skirts and pony-tails were the style, and Do Wop music was what everyone wanted to hear. Angel 3 The 60s rolled around quickly and with a new decade, came new traditions. A brand new dance became the new trend. In 1960 Chubby Checker released his song entitled The Twist. The Twist was the first Rock Roll dance in which partners didnt have to touch each other. The Twist was once said to be like, putting out a cigarette with both feet and drying off your bottom with a towel to the beat of the music. It was performed with the feel shoulder width apart, standing straight up, with the arms fully extended and slightly bent at the elbows. Then the next move was simply to twist the body back and forth. Other popular dances during this time period were the Mashed Potato, the Monkey, and the Madison. The Baby Boomers definitely played a role in all the dance explosion of the 60s. Throughout the end of this decade many of these dances were seen in movie productions and on Broadway. Next we enter the retro years of the 70s, KC and the Sunshine Band topped the charts, and Disco was the new craze. Everyone was aware that sooner or later the sex appeal of disco would make its way to the film industry. There isnt a movie that shows this better than Saturday Night Fever starring, John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney. Saturday Night Fever became an instant box office hit with the famous dance by John Travolta to the Bee Gees smash hit Stayin Alive. Disco was one of the fast dances of the decade, with 110-140 bmp (beats per minute). It wasnt long before everyone wanted to become a part of the raging disco scene, eventually Angel 4 groups such as Kiss, and The Rolling Stones, and people like Cher and Rod Stewart were all in on the fun. As the years passed Broadway musicals became popular for a short period of time. After the great success of Hair in 1970, movies continued to make it from Broadway to the big screen. Grease, All That Jazz, and Dreamgirls, just to name a few. Toward the end of the 70s came the first big Broadway film to hit the box office. Grease hit the cinemas in 1978 and it soon became a dance sensation. The dances from this film are often recreated in dance classes, at recitals, shows and other events; some of these dances are even trademarked. This movie was not only a musical it was also very popular for its energetic cast and its feel good love story. One of the most famous dance moves from this movie was The Hand Jive. Since then there have been many different variations of how it is done. Grease is one musical that has been said to never get old with the catchy songs and the disco and jive moves of John Travolta. Grease produced one of the best selling soundtracks in the world. Also, once Grease went to Broadway, it was one of the longest running musicals of all time, until Cats overtook it just recently. The next movie of the 70s that shows a definite change in the music and dance of the decade was All That Jazz in 1979. This film starring Roy Scheider and Jessica Lange is based on the aspects of a dancer, a choreographer, and a directors life and career. It was inspired by the Angel 5 directors effort to edit a film, while also staging a 1975 musical Chicago. This film closed out the 1970s with a bang. It was awarded many honors, and four Oscars. Also, in 2001, the United States deemed the film culturally significant and it is now preserved in the National Film Registry. So to wrap up the 70s the Twist, the Bump, the Jitterbug, the Hustle and the Swing were all very popular dances, but through these years nothing compared to the Americans love for the Disco. It was the last immensely popular move driven by the baby boomers generation, but soon enough came the 80s and with a new decade came new traditions, fashions, and of course a brand new dance. The 80s was definitely one of the best decades for new dance moves, and movies that portrayed this. From the musicals like Fame and Footloose, to the break dancing skills showed in the film Breakin, a rewind of 70s disco in Saturday Night Fever, the mambo and freestyle dance of Dirty Dancing, to the unusual dance moves of the extremely popular Michael Jackson. The 80s was another step to make dancing what it is today. These 10 years were some of the best in dance history. One of the first 1980s dance movies to earn a spot in the all-time movies hall of fame is Fame (1980), starring Eddie Barth, Irene Cara and Laura Dean. Fame mainly took part at a Performing Arts Academy, with many great performances. Fame is considered a musical with a large amount of singing and dancing. It was awarded 3 honors, 2 Oscars, as well as 16 other Angel 6 nominations. It wasnt a huge hit, but it still remembered by some and it showed how the sing and dance of this time period was done. 1983s Flashdance was a major pop culture influence, with a style of its own. This film is the story of a Pittsburgh woman (Jennifer Beals) that juggles two jobs, one as a welder, and the other as an exotic dancer. Of course, during this time exotic dancing wasnt twirling on a pole and taking off clothes, it was much different. She longs to make a career of her dancing and apply to a ballet school, but doesnt have to confidence in her skills to apply. Flashdance had a worldwide box-office gross of 100 million, won 10 honors, one Oscar, and was nominated for 13 other nominations. This was a very stylish movie that entertained millions with the 80s pop music and new dance moves. Flashdance popularized the dance of the 80s with many new hit songs and dances. The next movie that shows an evolution in the dance moves of the 80s is actually a sequel to the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever. Stayin Alive was a 1983 movie starring John Travolta, Cynthia Rhodes, and Finola Hughes. This film begins five years later with the main character, Tony Manero, dancing on the weekend nights at a disco club to run from his problems. Eventually he decides to leave his life as a dance instructor and club waiter to pursue a career on Broadway. He ends up getting the lead role in a Broadway show called Satans Alley. This film brought in 65 million, it was a lot less than its predecessor in 1977, but it managed to be one of the top 10 successful movies of the 80s. Angel 7 In 1984 Kevin Bacons moves and energy made one of the best high budget dance movies of the 80s. Footloose combines great dance music with dancers and a story of a guy that came from a big city, to a small town where dance is banned. Jazz, Hip-hop and freestyle were the main dances of choice throughout this film. Around this time in the 80s Footloose was a rival to Flashdance, but it was said many times that Footloose was definitely the favorite for most people. This film starring not only Kevin Bacon, but Lori Singer and John Lithgow as well, brought in 80 million, it was nominated for 2 Oscars and 4 other nominations. The next 1984 movie was one of the lower budget movies, and according to some, it put some of the higher budget movies to shame. Breakin was one of those movies that were very different than what most people were used to. Unlike most movies, it used talented dancers, rather than talented actors to dance. The difference with this movie rather than most during the 80s was that its a celebration of dance; it doesnt really have any particular style it was more of a freestyle dance movie. This movie was about a jazz dancer named Kelly (Lucinda Dickey) that meets two break dancers who combine their dance styles. Although the acting wasnt great, the dancing definitely made up for it. The sequel was released a year later, but it wasnt near the hit as this one. Because this movie wasnt like the traditional movies of the 80s it was only nominated for one award and it only brought in 38 million, however this movie was also very different than the rest during this time period that was a major fa ctor in the downfall. Angel 8 In the film industry of the 80s one of the biggest successes was Dirty Dancing. This is a 1987 film starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey and Cynthia Rhodes. Personally this is my absolute favorite movie of all time. Something that most people dont know was that Dirty Dancing was a true story based on the screenwriter, Eleanor Bergsteins own childhood. This movie was the story of a 17 year old girl and her family who goes on vacation at a resort, eventually Baby Housman (Jennifer Gray) falls in love with the resorts dance instructor (Patrick Swayze), while her family strongly disapproves. She spends her entire summer with him as he teaches her to dance. When this film was finished and about to be put in theatres the directors and cast were informed that this film would be a huge flop and possibly one of the worst films made during this time period. Little did they know that Dirty Dancing is considered today, the best dance movie ever made and it would still be the favorite of many people today. As of 2007 this film earned $213.9 million worldwide, and it was the first home video to sell more than a million copies. The Dirty Dancing soundtrack also produced two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles. This film went on to win an Oscar, as well as 9 other awards, and 5 nominations. Although there wasnt a movie about the dance styles of Michael Jackson, I believe that he played a major part in the shift of styles in the 80s. Michael Jacksons career was booming with new dances, songs and styles during this time. In 1982 his album Thriller still remains Angel 9 today, the bestselling album of all time, and remained on the Billboard 200 peak position for 37 weeks straight. It contained 7 top ten hits, and it was only a 9 track album. We Are the World and Bad were also big hits during this time period, making music and dance even more popular. As the 80s continued Michael Jackson was said to be one of the biggest stars of the world. He popularized dances such as the Moonwalk, the Kick, the Soulful Robot and the Never-Ending Spin. The 80s has been said to be the decade of dance, there was break dancing, the Worm, the Moonwalk and more. During the 80s the dancing definitely took a step up to what it is for most people today. Also, many movies through these 10 years showed a change in the dance styles. The beginning of the 90s dance styles was very similar to the 80s. Michael Jackson was still popular; the same dance movies were being watched over and over; and most people were still stuck in their 80s ways of life. As the 1990s continued dance moves such as the Macarena, the Cha Cha Slide, the Running Man, and the Electric Slide. One of the first dance movies in a long time came out in the year 2000, Center Stage, starring Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana and Peter Gallagher was one of those dance movies with a plot that wasnt so good, but the dancing was excellent. This film revisits styles of ballet, Broadway dancing, and disco, and blends together styles of its own. It also shows the difficulty Angel 10 and common issues of professional dancing and how some people cope with the stress without computer special effects. The next movie isnt exactly a dance movie, but it shows how dancing has recently been incorporated into other activities, such as cheerleading. Bring it On was the 2000; film starring Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku and Gabrielle Union. Bring it On shows how cheerleading involves dance as well, and how had dance has spread to other activities. Not only does cheerleading involve dancing, but many other sports too, such as synchronized swimming its nothing more than a dance in water, or figure skating. Even professional football players are sent to ballet classes to obtain balance and poise. This is an excellent film that shows the importance of dancing in sports such as cheerleading. The year 2004 takes us to a memorable movie where the style changes to ballroom dance. Shall We Dance shows many types of ballroom dance, like the Waltz, Quickstep and Tango. This film was first a Japanese film, but this version starring Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere, and Susan Sarandon, is the story of a workaholic lawyer who is getting bored with his daily routine, and he decides to take ballroom dance classes to make his life a little more interesting. As the time he dances continues he finds joy in it more and more. This film brought in 57.8 million dollars and was nominated for 4 awards. Angel 11 The next film takes us back to the musicals of the 70s and 80s, Hairspray, starring Zac Efron, John Travolta, Amanda Bynes, Queen Latifah and Michelle Pfeiffer was the fourth highest grossing musical film in US cinema history, behind Grease, Chicago and Momma Mia! This film is set in Baltimore in 1963; the story is about a plump teenager Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) who seeks stardom as a dancer on a local television show. The 1988 original version of Hairspray earned 6.6 million and was nominated for 4 awards, while the 2007 version earned 188.8 million in the box office, was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, won 12 other awards, and had 18 other nominations. This was an energetic dance movie, much like Grease, with plenty of heart, it was said to make people want to get up and sing and dance. The final and most recent successful 2006 dance movie is very similar to Dirty Dancing. Step Up, starring Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, is a perfect example of what dance has become today. Step Up is the story of a privileged ballet dancer who meets a free style dance rebel with a dream of making it in the real world of dance. In this film there was a mix of hip-hop, ballet, modern and break dancing to make this film perfect for this list of movies that helped our styled evolve today. This movie earned 65.3 million in the box office, and won one award and was nominated for 3 other awards. Things have definitely changed from the 1950s until today, but one thing in common with all of these movies is the real message; follow your dreams, and never give up on the things that you want. Another thing that all these movies have in common, it that it gives most people the urge to get up and dance.

Emmanuel Kants Ethics Essay -- essays research papers

As we discussed in class on Monday night, Kant’s main argument in the first section was dedicated to developing his belief that a rational beings have the capacity to reason and through this reason comes a beings ability to know what is right or wrong. Also, Kant revealed that a beings also have an inherent desire to keep themselves save physically and strive for happiness. Yet, these desires or needs can be fulfilled with pure instinct and that reason does not need to be used in order to reach those goals. More specifically Kant says, â€Å"The highest purposes of each individual are presumably self-preservation and the attainment of happiness.† â€Å"The fact that reason serves purposes that are higher than individual survival and private happiness.† This tells us the reason for Kant explaining t...

Essay on Dignity of the African People in Chinua Achebes Things Fall A

Dignity of the African People Conveyed in Things Fall Apart In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, it is shown that the African people had their own complex culture before the Europeans decided to "pacify" them. The idea that the dignity of these people has been greatly compromised is acknowledged in the essay "The Role of the Writer," which is explanatory of Achebe's novels. A writer trying to capture the truth of a situation that his readers may know little or nothing about needs a sense of history in order to appropriately address the topic. It is not enough "to beat" another writer to the issue. Writers should make the attempt to express a deeper understanding. Without proper mental investment in a written work, the product will be a shallow representation of what it is meant to convey. Achebe chose to write his novel realistically. He includes the beauty of the Ibo's culture, as well as the gruesome. He recorded that a man might help kill his own adopted son for fear that he would be "thought weak." He also revealed that newborn twins were thrown away. Along with the "great depth" comes tragedy, but all of the details were required to make an accurate presentation of the subject. The writer must understand that the truth is not selective to the pleasant facts. The District Commissioner believed that it was important that he "be firm in cutting out the details" and decreed that a paragraph would suffice for the explanation of Okonkwo. However, Achebe, in essence, wrote an entire novel about this character. It is arrogant to believe that the complete understanding of a human being can be accomplished so easily. The character of the District Commissioner is a prime example of a biased ... ...priciously without consideration to the public's attention to written news. Care must be taken and time set aside to allow for every needed aspect of a literary work to develop. Writing for expediency often excludes the "value and beauty" in the culture of the Africans. Fallacious arguments and insincere statements result from hastening a document. Writers have the opportunity to "tell the people" the harsh realities of the past. Each one who writes about the colonial period has the choice to just write something or to write something substantial. The goal of a writer should be to influence the world for the better. With a proper attitude towards the material, knowledge of the history, and care taken for the preparation, the dignity and self-respect lost to the African people can be regained, and many can know "where the rain began to beat them."

Depth of a River :: essays research papers

Depth of a River   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Poetic expression is evolved from a web of emotions and thoughts. With the help of imagery, formation, and figurative language, a poet is able to transport readers to another world of his creation. Robert Burns uses these attributes to invite readers into world of peace and serenity in his poem â€Å"Sweet Afton.† This lyrical poem expresses the gratitude the persona feels for his homeland’s beauty, while asking nature to be quiet so his love may enjoy the tranquillity of her sleep. Burns’s use of imagery, use of figurative language, and construction with musical aspects help him convey his feelings and ideas to his readers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the rolling hills, winding streams, and wandering sheep, Burns has created a pastoral setting in â€Å"Sweet Afton.† Burns use of imagery helps add to the reality of the poem. A reader is able to hear the blackbirds’ whistling, the dove’s resounding echo, and the lapwing’s screaming. A reader is able to see snowy feet, crystal streams, and green valleys. A reader can even smell the sweet-scented birch. Burns appeals to senses by using imagery words that create the illusion of sound, sight, and smell. Imagery helps express the persona’s feelings in his environment, enabling the reader to stand along with him in his world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Slow-moving rivers symbolize the simple life. Peace is traveling at a pace easily kept. There are no dangerous undercurrents or rocky obstacles; Afton River is gliding crystal. Burns is able to create this illusion through figurative language. He also uses apostrophe by having the persona command the river and wildlife to be quiet, as in â€Å"Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream,† (lines 4 and 24). Much like imagery, figurative language is another vehicle used to carry the feelings of the persona to the reader.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sweet Afton† is a poem broken up into six stanzas. Each stanza contains four lines. These stanzas attribute to the musical effect of the poem. The first and last stanzas are incremental refrains. Burns uses this repetition to emphasize his plea for the river to flow gently and his great appreciation for its beauty. The middle four stanzas each focus on a different feature of nature. The second stanza focuses on the sounds of the birds in the narrow and secluded valleys. The beauty of the surrounding hills, little streams, and the persona’s own sheep are emphasized in the third stanza.

Case Study – Inner City Paint

University of the District of columbia| Strategic Audit Plan/ Case Analysis| Case 28 – Inner-City Paint Corporation| | [Type the author name]| 3/21/2013| Business Policy TR 5:30pm – 6:50pm Spring 2013 | I. Current Situation A. Current Performance 1. Poor financials 2. High account receivables 3. Very disorganized system of business 4. Lack of Customer Confidence B. Strategic Posture 1. Mission: To produce a paint that was less expensive and of higher quality than what has been used commercial buildings, etc. 2.Reputation: Built on fast service; frequently supplies paint to contractors within 24 hours. 3. Primary Market: small to medium sized decorating companies 4. Policies: Walsh handles all mail, payments, and billings II. Strategic Managers A. Top Management * Consists of Stanley Walsh who handles all mailing/billing, payments, etc. * Office is managed by Mary Walsh (Walsh’s mother) with help of two part –time clerks * Plant Manager is an acquaintance o f Walsh’s who only has experience as a painter III. External Environment (EFAS) A.Societal Environment 1. Economic a. The slowdown in the housing market combined with a slowdown in the overall economy caused financial difficulty for Inner-City Paint Corporation (T) b. Now required to pay cash on delivery (C. O. D. ) for its raw materials (T) 2. Technological: Computers and Information Technology offers opportunity to better organize the business (O) B. Task Environment 1. Rivalry High: Larger orders usually go to larger companies due to lack of customer trust. (T) 2. Competitive Prices (O) 3. Threats of Substitutes High (T) IV.Internal Environment (IFRAS) A. Corporate Structure 1. Thirty-five employees (20 part-time); most unskilled workers who lack training (W) 2. Lack of Delegation: lacks employee empowerment and too much of workload is carried by the business CEO/President, Mr. Walsh (W) B. Corporate Culture 1. Rumors abound that the company is in difficult financial strai ts, that it is unable to pay suppliers, and it owes a considerable sum for payment on back taxes (W) C. Corporate Resources 1. Marketing: Lacks a professional salesman other than the owner (W) 2. Finance . Current Ratio of . 92 indicates that the company has an issue paying its short-term liabilities b. Return on Assets of 5. 98% indicates that the company is asset-heavy 3. Facilities: Cheap Rent (S) 4. Inventory: Lack of a Consistent and Reliable Inventory System; owner mental keeps track of inventory (W) 5. Human Resources: The Plant Manager lacks experience or training as a manager. (W) 6. Information Systems: No computer system used for business, very disorganized as a result (W) V. Analysis of Strategic Factors (SWOT Analysis) A. Strengths . Competitive Prices b. Family Business with origin in community c. Fast Delivery for Small Orders B. Weaknesses a. No Financial and Inventory Controls b. Lack of Business Network/Computer c. No Inventory System C. Opportunities a. Hiring pro fessional salesmen to ensure consistent growth and consultants to identify problems and provide solutions b. Attract more market share by raising customer perception of reliability D. Threats a. No Audit of Corporation b. Large Orders usually go to larger companies VI. Strategic Alternatives and Recommended StrategyA. Strategic Alternatives 1. Management Improvement a. Mr. Walsh needs to learn employee empowerment and delegation. He lacks trust in his employees and therefore takes on too much of the business’ customer affairs. b. The plant manager needs to be trained in management due to his lack of experience. c. Public Relations specialist and marketing specialist needed to better handle business and consultations. 2. Facility Improvement: More equipment may be needed to ensure consumers that they won’t have to worry about orders not being ready or too large to handle.B. Recommended Strategy 1. Salary Cuts for All or Cutback of Employees: The President’s six f igure salary is too much for such a small business. 2. Find and Research new suppliers: The high Cost of Goods Sold is greatly reducing profits. 3. Greatly Improve management skills and create policies 4. Hire Salesmen to increase business market share 5. Collect Bad Debt from Clients; Take less credit accounts and more cash accounts because Account Receivables is too high. 6. Create an effective Inventory System that better tracks Inventory on hand.

The Tourism Product- Components of the Tourism Industry

Introduction to Tourism BEM1012 James Ince 620021716 number one tutorial question- Describe how the components of the tourism industry interact together in order to provide tourists with their holiday experience. Please state whether you agree, or disagree with the view of some academics that there is no such thing as the ‘Tourism Product’. In the industry of tourism, there are a number of components that link together, to provide a family, couple or a group with a vacation. These components are more like steps. These steps include, how you get to your destination, where you stay, what activities you do and who organizes all of these things.The formal names for these components are: accommodation sector, attraction sector, transport sector, travel organisers sector, destination sector. They all play a vital role in any vacation. The accommodation sector deals with where they are going to stay, for example, hotel, hostel and bed and breakfast. The attraction sector involv es what activities the guest will do, while vacating. For example, Amusement parks, museums, beaches. The transport sector deals with how the tourist will get to their destination. Whether it is bus, train, plane or cruise ship.The travel organizers are the people that market and sell you the trips. For example, travel agents, tour guides, cruise lines. Destination sector is where the government assist a business. For example, Government may guarantee revenue, tax incentives to build hotels or attractions. All of these segments need to be balanced and coordinated properly to complete a successful industry. If anyone of these steps is not completed to a certain standard, it could impact on the overall industry. In the industry, there is something called the tourism product.This is what a destination collectively does, that either influences the tourist in a positive or negative way. At the end of the trip, it is the tourist perception of the destination, which is the tourism product. It is all the physical and non-physical components grouped together. For example, some of the physical components would be transportation and attractions. The non-physical components would be things like the weather and safety. The tourism product is providing the whole experience to the costumer, giving them the non-bias opinions for their vacation.Some academics have said that they don’t believe there is such thing as a tourism product. I disagree with this statement, because I believe you could have a successful business that provides all of these things to the costumer. My idea of the tourism product is having all of the components and steps needed to make the perfect vacation, added into one big step. This would save the customer, a lot of effort researching on their destination, which they know nothing about. They would get the insights, and secrets on their destination. Without all of the bias and marketing strategies.This business would be successful and reliable bec ause, it is not their product to sell, they are just putting it together for the costumer. The business would have to put the whole trip together for the costumer. To achieve this the business would have to get an insight on what the costumer’s interests were, to therefore plan activities that they would enjoy. To complete this process, they would have to put together all of the components together. Starting with the accommodation sector. A good example of a tourism product is, in my country Barbados, there are many different kinds of vacations you could have.If you are of the wealthy class in England, you can come to Barbados and stay in a five star resort. You can take the expensive chartered yachts out for the day as attractions. There are BBW’s you can rent to drive around for you transportation, this way; you can have all the things you have at home. If this life style does not suit you and you are more of a middle class citizen in England. You could buy a cheap a irplane ticket, from a travel agent on your street. Arrive on virgin or British airways. Stay in a three star hotel, rent a small car. Choose attractions that suit you, going to the beach, spending days in rum shops.Both of these examples give a brief explanation about what the tourism product is. The first component that the tourist must deal with while planning their vacation is, accommodation sector. This sector deals with where the tourists stay when they are vacating. This sector really depends on who is it is staying, whether it is a family, young couple, honeymooners or elderly. It depends on this because; they will want to be close to attractions that they enjoy. For example, young people will want to be close to the club street, while elderly would like to be close to museums or spas.This links to other components because, for transportation. They would like to fly in near to their hotel; therefore they wouldn’t have to pay so much to get from the airport to their ho tel. This reasoning also applies to the attraction sector also, because the tourist vacating, would prefer to be close to the attractions, that they have chosen to participate in. This sector is vital in planning for a vacation, because it determines where you are going to stay. The two factors that help people decide where they are going to stay are price and quality.These two factors usually come hand in hand. Although if you do enough research and enough asking around. You will find a cheap place to stay, with standard quality. The main challenges that occur when dealing with these components are: safety, quality, how central it is, fake marketing and how busy it will be. The second component that is dealt with when planning a vacation is the transportation sector. This sector deals with how the tourist will get from their home to their destination. When tourist plans this stage, they look for the cheapest, safest and best quality flight.This links to the previous component becau se, when you are traveling you want to get near to where you are staying. Therefore you wont have to travel far to get to your accommodation, and save money on extra traveling expenses. This component also depends on what kind of group is going on this vacation. If you have young ones that you are traveling with you won’t book first class because they would probably be too loud. It also depends on how wealthy you are. For example if you can’t afford first class, it is unnecessary to book it because it is a luxury need, not a necessity.The third component of the tourism industry is the attraction sector. This sector deals with what the tourist will do while on vacation. To plan this, you must first look at who is traveling. For example, if it is a young group of friends, then attractions that suit them are nightclubs or amusement parks. If elderly are traveling, then museums or restaurants will attract them. This links to transport because; you need a way to get there. If it is nearby, then taxi will be adequate, but if the journey is far, then a train or bus may be necessary.It also links to the component accommodation because of the same reason; you want to search for attractions near to your hotel. You want to do this because; you don’t have to pay that extra for distance transportation. The fourth component is the travel organizer. This sector is about who markets, sells and organizes your trip. This is the sector that is advertised in the television and radio; these people put together your trip, and try to make it as cost affected as they can. Examples of travel organizers would be cruise lines. Cruise lines are all in one package deals, you pay for everything upfront, and the whole trip is planned for you.This is a sensible trip, because you know how much you are spending upfront. The fifth and last component is the destination sector. This sector deals with government assisting and helping the tourism industry. The government does t his, because they want to economy to be competitive, and each industry to strive. Examples of government assisting the industry would be, government pay for infrastructure, incentives to build hotels or other attractions, training course for staff and allowing a business to do something, in order to attract people.This component links to the others, because some businesses cannot afford to do all of these things without help from government. To conclude, each of these components assist each other, in order for people to have a balanced trip. These components include, accommodations, attractions, transportation, travel organizers and destination sector. Each of these is needed for a tourist to have an enjoyable trip. If one of these components is not completed, the whole trip could be impacted majorly, there needs to be a balance among all of the steps.In the industry there is something called the tourism product, this product is the perception of the destination, from the touristâ⠂¬â„¢s point of view. Whether the perception is negative or positive. It is how all of the components have come together, and how well they complemented, and worked with each other. Many academics think that there is no such thing as a tourism product; I disagree with this opinion, because I believe you can have a successful business, which provides all of these components to a customer.

Is Corruption-Free Society: A Distant Dream?

Once chanakya had said that honey would be kept on your tongue and you would not be allowed to taste; it is impossible. Corruption is the misuse of public power for private profit. It involves those behaviours on the part of government officials, whether politicians or civil servants, where they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them, by the misuse of the public power entrusted to them. Corruption in any where is threat to every here as the saying one rotten apple spoils the barrel. Harshad Mehta, Sukhram, Tehelaka, Telgi cases are the great example of corruption in India.Literacy and corruption are interlinked. Most literates are more corrupted in most of the cases and the most illiterate are the victims of corruption. As in India most of the people are illiterate so they are becoming the easy victims of corruption. Every patriotic Indian realizes that if there is one factor that is keeping India under the spell of perpetual poverty and which makes the li fe of the common citizen miserable, it is corruption. A citizen faces corruption practically at every level and every sector of life.It could be the local rationing department, police, municipal authorities or educational institutions like schools and colleges. In the industry inspector-raj has become a code word for regular bribes collected by the public servants at the cutting edge of administration of the various departments of Central and State governments. Corruption is anti-national, anti-economic development and anti-poor. Nevertheless we have perhaps come to take corruption as a fact and a way of life. This may be partly due to sociological reasons and partly due to a sense of helplessness and defeatism.Corruption is harmful in three different ways: Rajiv Gandhi once observed that out of every rupee meant for the anti- poverty programmes, only 15 paise reached the beneficiary. Out of the 85 paise may be 40 paise can be accounted for as administrative overheads. The leakage o f the remaining 45 paise is definitely due to corruption. Corruption is, therefore, anti-poor. Corruption is also anti-economic development. Political interference, reduced attractiveness of service and declining morale has all combined to whittle away officials’ will to remain honest. The biggest cost is political.Petty corruption is especially endemic at the lower, clerical levels of administration — precisely the point at which the ordinary citizen comes into daily contact with officialdom. People are forced to pay bribes for securing virtually any service connected with the government, even that which is theirs by right and law. People naturally tend to judge the entire structure of government on the basis of direct experiences with the agents of government. It would be difficult to exaggerate the revulsion felt by ordinary Indians toward the ubiquitous and institutionalized venality of public life. Evil social practices also promote corruption.One major social cau se that promotes corruption is the dowry system. Every public servant wants to see that his daughter is married off well and there’s continuous pressure for having a substantial level of dowry. This may be one of the reasons why one comes across cases where even public servants who have otherwise led a clean life become vulnerable to corruption towards the end of their career. Dowry system is definitely one of the social roots of corruption in our country. Equally important is the social pressure in a competitive society for ensuring that children get the best possible education.Right from kindergarten in every educational institution, there is pressure of competition, and education has become commercialised. This has been further accentuated by government policies about affirmative action resulting in a great incentive for self-financing colleges who charge a lot of donation fee and most of it is collected in black. Education pressure and corruption in the education sector i s another social factor contributing to corruption in our system. One of the social roots of corruption in India can be traced to our Indian culture of tolerance. Equally important is another psychological factor.Power is never demonstrated in a society unless it is misused. In certain communities, being as corrupt as possible and amassing as much wealth as possible is seen as a macho demonstration of â€Å"competence†. If this is the attitude, those sectors of society that did not have an opportunity to share the power cake in the past may also rationalize that they must emulate those who had earlier enjoyed misuse of their power and amassed wealth by rampant corruption. Thus, a vicious cycle of corruption is launched where a society tolerates amassing of wealth and does not question how that wealth is accumulated.Is eliminating corruption a myth or reality? If we believe corruption can be eliminated, it can be; if not, it will remain a reality. So is it a distant dream or c an this dream be fulfilled is a billion dollar question. In conclusion, corruption in India exists because of the unsatisfied basic needs of the general population. Corruption in India cannot be eradicated by questioning ethical standards of its population. Removal of corruption can only be achieved by right macro-economic policies and by reducing government control. Honest political leadership is a must as a first step.Opening the economy for the investors around the world can provide the needed capital. Fresh ideas and entrepreneurial spirit has to replace the bureaucratic government control for a wealthier society. Supply of basic commodities has to be higher than the demand for general population not to bribe any government officials. Only skilled entrepreneurs hired by public shareholders can bring the money losing monster public sector to profitability. An efficient tax collection mechanism supported by computerised revenue reporting systems of individual businesses would be a step in the right direction.Qualified political leadership is required to understand and implement such policies. Most importantly, political will of the leaders will be required to take such actions. In Japan and South Korea, former prime ministers and children of presidents have been jailed for corruption. In India, not one senior politician of the many who have been implicated in scandals – and they are numerous – has so far been convicted. The labyrinthine legal system is used to frustrate the course of justice. Three-points can be suggested to check corruption. The first is simplification of rules and procedures.Corruption is like malaria, handled by giving medicine to those affected and simultaneously preventing the breeding of mosquitoes. Many of our rules and procedures breed corruption. Orders have, therefore, to be issued to check and simplify procedures. One example is a ban on post-tender negotiations in government purchases, except with the lowest bidder. Such negotiations are a flexible source of corruption. The second step is empowering the public and bringing in greater transparency. Every office should have a board stating, ‘Don’t pay bribes.If anybody asks for a bribe, you can complain to the CVO, CVC. ’ This way we can educate the public who come to every small office of the GOI and other organisations like banks and public sector undertakings that there is a way out if they do not want to pay bribes. The third step is strong punishment to those who are involves in corruption. Corruption is the greatest hindrance in the development of ever-developing nation. If we want to replace the â€Å"developing† tag from our beloved country by â€Å"developed†, we have to take stringent measures and stand against the parasite of corruption together

Reading and Students with Mental Retardation

Reading proficiency is considered a top priority in education, and a skill with myriad implications for learning and achievement in other areas. Yet in the past, literacy rarely has been emphasized for students with mental retardation. With interventions that recognize the importance of literacy for all students, students with mental retardation can build reading skills that can lead to new interests, increased competencies, and greater independence. Understanding the characteristics of students with mental retardation is an important step toward the development of effective instruction and appropriate assessment. This paper is intended to begin a discussion of the issues surrounding reading and students with mental retardation; it is not intended to be a comprehensive research review. The paper provides: (1) an overview of the characteristics of students with mental retardation, (2) a description of common approaches to reading instruction, and (3) assessment approaches and issues that surround the assessment of reading for students with mental retardation. The paper is one of several brief papers developed to contribute to the process of conducting research and developing accessible reading assessments for students with disabilities. Creating accessible reading assessments based on accepted definitions of reading and proficiencies of reading requires knowledge of the issues specific to each disability and how they affect reading and the assessment of reading. The information in these papers was obtained through a broad review of literature and Web sites of national agencies and organizations, along with input and feedback from professionals in the disability areas. Each paper is intended as a first step to facilitate discussions that include individuals who do not know the disability, in this case mental retardation, and those who may know the disability but have not considered the interaction of the disability with reading or the assessment of reading through statewide testing. Students with Mental Retardation More than 600,000 students 6-21 years of age in the United States received special education services for mental retardation during the 2000-2001 school year, comprising about 11% of all students with disabilities in U. S. schools (U. S. Department of Education, 2002). The causes of mental retardation in children vary widely, including fetal alcohol syndrome, genetic disorders like Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome, environmental factors like lead poisoning, or diseases such as meningitis. The American Association on Mental Retardation (2002) defines mental retardation as a â€Å"disability characterized by significant limitations bo th in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. For many years students with mental retardation were identified solely using intelligence testing. IQ levels among students labeled as mentally retarded can vary from 20-25 (profound mental retardation) to 50-75 (mild mental retardation); according to the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), 85 percent of individuals with mental retardation have mild mental retardation. It has been estimated that 28,056 K-12 English language learners (ELLs) received special education services for mental retardation in 2001-2002. Thus, approximately 7. % of school-age ELLs with disabilities were identified with mental retardation (Zehler, Fleischman, Hopstock, Pendzick, & Stephenson, 2003). The challenge of learning English and having a disability adds another level of complexity to learning to read and demonstrate reading achievement (Mueller & Markowitz, 2004). Similar to other special education categories, but perhaps more unexpectedly, the criteria for students to be eligible for th e mental retardation label varies from state to state (Beirne-Smith, Ittenbach, & Patton, 1998). The Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reported that poor students were 1. 5 times more likely to be referred to special education; it noted significantly lower cognitive development and lower achievement among this population than among non-poor students. The report speculated on causes from lead poisoning to parent education level, but some advocates have argued that poor students, and particularly poor minority students, have been over-identified in the mild mental retardation category and misplaced in special education classrooms (Losen, 2002). The term â€Å"mental retardation† is widely used and coded into federal law, but the term remains the subject of considerable controversy. Some advocacy groups and professional associations argue that the negative stigma of the term mental retardation could be avoided by using less loaded language. The ARC of the United States, one of the country's largest advocacy organizations for people with mental retardation, eschews the term mental retardation in its mission statement (The ARC, 2004) in favor of â€Å"cognitive, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. In 2004, Special Olympics updated its terminology from â€Å"mental retardation† to â€Å"intellectual disabilities† (see the Language Guide under â€Å"About Us,† then â€Å"Information about Intellectual Disabilities† at www. specialolympics. org). In this paper we use the term â€Å"mental retardation† as a legal term defined by IDEA, while cognizant of this significant shift in terminology. Characteristics of students with mental retardation vary widely. Students with mental retardation may have difficulty with expressive language, poor short-term memory, low level meta-cognition skills, and poor use of logic and organization. Some students who are labeled as mentally retarded also have motor difficulties that can affect their handwriting or their ability to hold reading material steadily (Rizopoulos & Wolpert, 2004). Students with mental retardation, like all students, demonstrate wide variation in strengths, weaknesses, interests, and motivation, all of which should be reflected in each student's Individualized Education Program (IEP). Traditionally, special educators have de-emphasized literacy, particularly for students with moderate to severe mental retardation, in favor of functional, social, or motor skills (Kliewer & Biklen, 2001). Many people with mental retardation read below their projected capabilities, and both general and special education teacher education textbooks are marked by a scarcity of information on academic characteristics, assessment procedures, and instruction in literacy for students with mental retardation. Only recently have educators begun to recognize the value of reading and writing skills for all students, including those with severe mental retardation (Katims, 2000). Since school systems have begun to include students with moderate to severe mental retardation in assessments (IDEA, 1997, 2004) and accountability (NCLB, 2001), and thus also included in more academic instruction, these students have been achieving at much higher and more complex levels than researchers, practitioners, and even advocates expected (see Moore-Lamminen & Olsen, 2005). This powerful evidence has forced educational professionals to revisit long-held assumptions about the benefits of academic instruction for all children, and is generating provocative reading research on new, rigorous approaches to reading instruction for students with mental retardation (e. g. , Reading, Writing, Math, and Science for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities, Diane Browder, PI). Instruction for Students with Mental Retardation The focus in education for students with mental retardation has shifted from an emphasis on providing services related to placement, such as disability specific classrooms or special schools, to providing individualized supports to help every student access the general curriculum in an inclusive classroom setting. American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), a lead advocate of the â€Å"supports model,† emphasized in its 2002 definition of mental retardation that the effects of mental retardation can be ameliorated with personalized supports. This shift in thinking correlates with an increased emphasis on inclusionary and mainstream education for students with mental retardation, giving these students access to a challenging and interesting general curriculum and an integrated social environment. IDEA 1997 emphasized that students with disabilities must have access to the same challenging content taught to all students; this was reiterated and strengthened in IDEA 2004. Many special education researchers and advocates argue that holding students with disabilities, including mental retardation, to the same high expectations as all students will improve learning and educational outcomes for these students (McGrew & Evans, 2004). Approaches to teaching reading to students with mental retardation fall broadly into two categories. One broad category is the traditional or direct instruction approach, which teaches reading as distinct subsets of skills such as phonics and sight word recognition (Rizopoulos & Wolpert, 2004). The traditional approach is based on a behaviorist model, emphasizing drill and practice of a linear set of literacy skills. The second approach is a progressive, holistic approach that teaches comprehension and critical thinking along with phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, and reading for enjoyment (Katims, 2000). Each of these approaches has had support with some students with mental retardation and for various purposes (Browder & Xin, 1998; Cunningham, 1999; Driscoll & Kemp, 1996; Hendricks, Katims, & Carr, 1999; Joseph & McCachran, 2003; Katims, 2000; Moni & Jobling, 2000). Assistive technology and technology increasingly have become important supports for reading-related instruction and reading for students with mental retardation. For example, Erickson and Koppenhaver (1995) found that computer and light technology can give students with severe mental retardation the supports they need to build communication skills. Continued interest in the literacy outcomes of students with mental retardation and supporting research has blossomed in the past few years, and is most likely to be a productive area for the reading futures of students with mental retardation (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2005; Erickson, Clendon, Abraham, Roy, & Van de Karr, 2005; Sturm, Erickson, & Yoder, 2003). In their review of literacy approaches for adolescents with developmental delays, Rizopoulos and Wolpert (2004) suggested that both traditional and progressive approaches to literacy instruction can be appropriate for certain students. Recent research by Diane Browder looks closely at the assumption that students with the most severe mental retardation benefit only from functional approaches to literacy. Browder and Algozzine argue more research is needed to understand how students with severe mental retardation might benefit from explicit instruction in decoding and comprehension skills (Browder & Algozzine, draft). Assessment of Students with Mental Retardation Most students with mental retardation participate in the same large-scale reading assessments as all students. While not all students with mental retardation will require supports or accommodations on large-scale assessments, these students have access to the same accommodations that other students with disabilities receive. Whether a student will require extra time on tests, large print, read-aloud directions, alternative setting accommodations, or other supports to demonstrate maximum proficiency depends on the individual strengths and weaknesses of each student. The most common accommodations used for students with mental retardation include breaking tasks into smaller steps, providing read aloud directions or questions, and visual cues (such as arrows, stickers, or stop signs, highlighting of key words or verbs, or supplementing text with pictures). Other accommodations range from encouraging students to stay on task and oral directions accompanied by written directions, to noise buffers and adaptive furniture (Clapper, Morse, Lazarus, Thompson, & Thurlow, 2005). Some students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who are unable to participate in large-scale assessments even with accommodations are eligible to take alternate assessments. All alternate assessments are aligned to grade-level academic content standards, but they can be based on either grade level achievement standards or alternate achievement standards. The students who may participate in alternate assessments on grade level achievement standards may need accommodations not available on general assessments or need different formats or contexts to demonstrate grade-level proficiency (National Center on Educational Outcomes Web site, 2005). Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities can demonstrate proficiency on an alternate achievement standard. Alternate assessments should promote access to the general curriculum and reflect professional judgment of the highest achievement standard possible for each individual student. Summary The intent of this brief paper is to highlight issues surrounding reading and students with mental retardation. While not a comprehensive review, it is intended to give enough of a sense of the characteristics of the students, general instructional approaches used with them, and assessment approaches and issues to generate discussion about the possible ways in which more accessible assessments can be designed for those students who are proficient readers given their diagnosis of mental retardation. This paper is part of the background for research on accessible reading assessments conducted by the Partnership for Accessible Reading Assessments, and for discussions among collaborators on the National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP).