Assignment #2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

#2 - Assignment Example One time when dad was the only one at home, I tried talking to him about my day. I had a really bad day but I don’t want to just blurt it out to him because to me, the feelings are painful and I want to be assured that I will be listened to. So I asked him how his day went. He replied with a brief story about what happened at the office. When he didn’t ask me, I tried asking him another set of questions and none of them seemed to give him the signal that it’s time for him to ask me. When I got upset, I told him, â€Å"Aren’t you even going to ask me about my day?† I felt really bad. But he apologized and said, â€Å"Sweetie, I didn’t even know you wanted to say something. You kept asking me. If you want to tell me about your day, go right ahead.† Only then did I realize that men don’t instinctively know this â€Å"non-spoken rule† among women. For them, if you ask a question, it is a message that you just want information and not comforting. As it was pointed out by Maltz and Broker, one tendency of a woman when it comes to communication is to ask questions. (A Cultural Approach, 38) In my experience in that conversation with my dad, this proved to be true. I believe that this miscommunication was due to gender differences because whenever I ask my mom or my girlfriends about their day or feelings, they always return the question to me. We always ask each other questions but I don’t recall my dad or brother asking me. As it was explained in men’s features, men make more direct declarations of fact or opinion than do women. (A Cultural Approach, 38) When they want to say something, they don’t ask me first, they go right ahead. Another factor that may have affected the miscommunication in my example is sex role. As it was said in Explanations Offered, having been taught to speak and act like â€Å"ladies† women become as unassertive and insecure as they have been made to sound. (A Cultural Approach,

The English Language, Past, Present and Future Essay

The English Language, Past, Present and Future - Essay Example The process of literacy is actually influenced by both traditional and functional perspectives which will be contemplated in this essay. The traditional perspectives differ from the functional perspectives in respect that while the former assists the encounter of literacy with the printed texts in reading and writing in the schools and keeps the journey of literacy limited to the school domain and educational context of schooling, the latter encompasses a different view which grooms literacy beyond the school domain to make it serve bigger purposes in life. Both perspectives play a phenomenal role in transforming one into a literate person. It is also worth mentioning that a variety of ways is used in different communities to include and socialize children into literacy and those ways may stand in contrast with each other. So the issue of how different language practices need to be sufficiently tailored in respect to different kinds of learners as a way of speeding up the process of their socialization into literacy will also be explored in this essay. Literacy is a multidimensional activity based on a wide range of perspectives. According to one definition, it is considered a product of a wide variety of component skills all of which are essential to master high-level performance. â€Å"Phonological awareness, letter knowledge, automaticity in reading letter sequences, and lexical access could be identified key component reading skills† (Snow 2004, p. 3). The definitions for literacy differ enormously. Holistic thinkers see the act of reading as a solitary and integrated capacity and stress that attention should be paid to solitary components in reading instruction as meaning-making forms the bedrock of good reading skills. They in contrast to componential view do not consider literacy to be the product of an array of component skills which are mentioned earlier. While some consider literacy to be a solitary activity, others claim that it should essentially be viewed as an â€Å"interactive, collaborative activity embedded in social purposes, even when the act of reading itself is solitary† (Snow 2004, p. 3). As defined by the solitary viewers, reading and writing do not form collaborative activities but should be acknowledged primarily as â€Å"inside-the-head psycholinguistic processes† (Snow 2004, p. 3). The traditional perspective remains central to literacy while living in the present global environment heavily influenced by technology has developed new literacy needs. The autonomous model of literacy is one of the main models based on the traditional perspective according to which literacy does not have its roots embedded in the social context and exists â€Å"independently of specific contexts of social practice and producing effects independently of contextual social factors† (Lankshear 1999). So, the literacy practices in accordance with the traditional perspective are viewed independent of dynamic trend in everyday practical life. In contrast to this, the functional pers pective based ideological model rejects the notion that societal contexts do not play any role in the process of making a person literate. Literacy in many forms keeps evolving and is embedded in multiple contexts including â€Å"particular relations and structures of power, values, beliefs, goals and purposes, interests, economic and political conditions, and so on† (Lankshear 1999). It is important to acknowledge that the practice of literacy originates not from the literacy itself as implied by the traditional perspective but from the combined action of literary components and multiple other social factors. The development of literacy does not remain restricted to the schools alone rather it keeps developing in the social life and

Analysis of the Personality Traits of Steve Jobs Essay Example for Free

Analysis of the Personality Traits of Steve Jobs Essay Steve Jobs is arguably one of the most successful CEOs of our times. In his time at Apple and Pixar he has redefined business across the Computing, Music and Mobile communications industries. In spite of being a college dropout he has gone on to become a technology and a business icon. His ability to achieve extraordinary success against tremendous odds makes him an extremely interesting personality to study. Following are his key personality traits. 1)Charismatic Charisma refers to the ability of a person to be able to mesmerise and hold the attention of others. Steve Jobs has charisma in ample abundance. His talks at the annual Macworld Expo have an attendance akin to that of a rock concert. People from all over the world flock in to listen to him for hours together as he delivers his famed talks on technology, innovation and Apple products. 2)Ingenious Ingenious is a rare personality trait that enables an individual to be clever, original and innovative. Prior to the launch of the iPod, the entire industry was looking at desktop publishing and the internet as new sources of revenue. Steve Jobs however was among the few who realised that there was latent demand in the MP3 player segment. He followed up on his insight by launching an iPod which had extremely innovative functions and a unique design. The product captured the attention of the world and along with his other innovation iTunes went on to change the way the world listens to music. Quite clearly he is an ingenious person. 3)Persistent Persistence is the ability of a person to stick to his convictions in spite of huge obstacles. With regard to this an early manager of his had commented that Steve never takes â€Å"no† for an answer For him â€Å"no† is only a comma and never a full stop. He will keep coming back till his objective is achieved. Years later his persistence was in ample display as he stubbornly stood his ground against internal opposition to his unconventional plan to turnaround Apple. 4)Unempathetic Empathy is the ability of an individual to understand Steve Jobs is known for pushing his employees to extreme limits. He is known for firing his employees often in an erratic fashion. This shows that he is unempathetic to people around him.

Impact of Education Choice on Public Funds Essay Example for Free

Impact of Education Choice on Public Funds Essay Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U. S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. Though the U. S. Supreme Court declared school desegregation in the 1954 ruling on the famous â€Å"Brown v. Board of Education case, the state of Mississippi did not allow racially or ethnically different students to mix together in schools until 1970, sixteen years after the 1954 Supreme Court ruling, according to the Civil Rights Timeline, created by the Mississippi Humanities Council at Southern Mississippi. Brown v. Board of Education prompted parents in Mississippi to create nonpublic and charter schools in efforts to keep schools segregated. Legislation and School Choice in Mississippi At the present time, Mississippi doesn’t truly offer school choice. There is no private school choice program. Parents are not given money from the state to send their children to private or parochial schools. The Education Commission of the States reports that Mississippi has enacted a mandatory inter-district school open enrollment policy. Students can move between school districts- but that is not guaranteed for those who want to change schools. Both the sending and receiving school boards must approve it. Mississippis Constitution prohibits the appropriation of any state education funds for the support of sectarian schools or private schools (Miss. Const. Art. 8, Sec. 208). Though at the same time, state accreditation is mandatory for nonpublic schools receiving state funds. According to State Regulation of Private Schools, (June 2000), Mississippi law provides free textbooks on loan to pupils in all elementary and secondary schools in the state (Miss. Code Ann.  § 37-43-1 et seq). The loan of textbooks to qualified private schools does not violate Mississippis constitutional prohibition against public support of sectarian schools or the control of educational funds by religious sects. Private, parochial or denominational schools accepting free school textbooks on behalf of their students must file annual reports as required by the State Board of Education (Miss. Code Ann.  § 37-43-51). Throughout the years, numerous bills to give vouchers or tax credits/ tax deductions have died in House Committees. It was allowed to die in 2009. During the 12 years that the law was on the books, only one traditional public school converted to a public charter school. Senate Bill 2721 is the latest bill in regards charter schools. This current bill is one authorizing new start-up charter schools to be established in Mississippi recently passed the State Senate and is now being taken up in the House of Representatives. Senate Bill 2721, which passed the senate by a vote of 50-2 in February, authorizes five new start-up charter schools to be established in the state. With this bill, the school can be brand new, not a failing school converting to a charter. Local school boards would have the first look at proposals, but authorization power would still rest solely with the state board of education. According to Bill 2721, the definition of a start-up charter school is â€Å"a public school operating under the terms of a charter granted by the State Board of Education with the approval of the local school board or school boards on the application of an eligible entity and may draw its students from across public school district boundaries† (Harrison, 2010) . Previous attempts to expand charter schools in Mississippi were shot down by fears of racial segregation. Some fear that it is a backdoor attempt to re-segregate many of Mississippi’s public schools, though supporters point out that a majority of charter school students in many parts of the country are minorities. â€Å"There’s been some resistance from the Mississippi Association of Educators and other groups that say you’re taking money from public education,† Watson continued (Harrison, 2010). â€Å"That’s an absolute falsity—this is public education† (Harrison, 2010). Opposition still remains from some caucus members and from teacher unions (Heartland. org). Those who oppose the potential implementation of charter schools believe the schools will be taking away students, resources and funding from a public school system that is already heavily financially burdened. Impacts on Funding and Analysis Mississippi charter schools are eligible for the same funding as regular schools. They may receive federal, state, local or private funding. They are not taxing authorities and may not levy taxes or request tax increases in order to generate funding. Charter schools are funded with taxes, but operate with more flexibility and fewer restrictions than the traditional public schools. Often times, charter schools have a special emphasis, such as on the art or the sciences. According to the Mississippi Code of 1972, â€Å"the State Board of Education may give charter schools special preference when allocating grant funds other than state funds for alternative school programs, classroom technology, improvement programs, mentoring programs or other grant programs designed to improve local school performance†. Allowing charter schools to be created will minimally decrease the funding that public schools receive. Minimal because at most only five charter schools will come into existence and they will be spread throughout the state, not centralized in one location. The amount of funding will still be based on the number of students enrolled in the schools. Charter schools traditionally keep their numbers small. Jackson public schools is the third largest district in the state of Mississippi, none of these legislations are negatively impacting the funding of the district. Even the state law allowing book loans to private schools has not taken away from the students of JPS. It has been speculated that having a charter school law would make Mississippi eligible for more grants through the Race to the Top program, which is part of the stimulus package passed last year by Congress and signed into law by Obama. If this speculations is true, then all districts in the state are losing funds due to lack of charter schools. But the state Department of Education has said the lack of a charter school law would not prevent Mississippi from being eligible for the grants through the program (heartland. org).

Racial Stereotyping in Advertising

Racial Stereotyping in Advertising When advertising occurs in television you can see how leading companies of the world try to attract persons for them to buy their products, but sometimes instead of bringing them incomes, the ads, in which they invert a lot of money, bring them a little more than money and attention, they bring them serious problems. No one can deny the incredible power mass has, but the problem of this is that while more powerful something is the more it can gain attention, from babies to adults, all of them can get easily the attention required not just to buy things, also unconsciously to build stereotypes towards people. During the past decade the media has become a great format of expressing ideas to the people, but this advertising sometimes can perpetuate racism and can also create sub conscience among the mass. No one can deny that the television is the major advertising technique that the companies have now a day, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube (http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tvhealth.html).In a study made by that same company, (A.C. Nielsen Co.) you can observe that a normal person that lived at least 65 years in his life time would have at least seen 2 million commercials over his lifetime (http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tvhealth.html).This previous statistics show us perfectly how the television has an amazing way to spread ideas trough the whole world, but the problem is when the ideas spreading to the world include stereotypes that can hurt certain group of people. Afro-Americans, Asians, popular public figures, all of these groups are common target to stereotypes. S ome people may say whatÂÂ ´s the big deal about all this stuff? Yeah there have always been people treating bad Afro-Americans, so? Stereotypes toward Afro-American persons have always been a great deal, they have really been. Since they came to America they have been discriminated, most of all because of their dark color, maybe this seems a problem, but a bigger problem is when huge companies such as Intel (Computer company) make racist ads that are not even worth sending them to the media. In July 2007 Intel made a public campaign on television were a white man stands while six color athletes are bowing down to him, the ad of course was removed from National television, and it appears that it has also been removes from internet, since it cant be found anywhere, the only thing that can be find is a promotional picture of the add. This add made a lot of critics from customers and from the media, it even lead to Intel asking for public apologies in their own website, We are sincerely sorry and have identified specific steps covering heightened cultural sensitivity, our review and approval process, and just using more common sense to ensure that this does not happen again. (Don Mac Donald, http://www.intel.com/news/sprintad.htm) Using ads that perpetuate racial stereotypes did not go to good to Intel since they even had to make an apology publicly that today is still visible to any people who wants to see it( http://gawker.com/284292/intel-ad-stupid-or-stupid-and-racist). As well as Intel, but with more luck, Asian Toothpaste Company named Auulws made also a racist add towards Afro-American, with the only difference that this one made a direct comparison between a black man and a new on market black toothpaste. The add in this case sends us a message directly, not all black things are bad (comparing it to a black men), buy our new black toothpaste. It sure sounds to racist to even be used in television but it really did, and it did not create too much controversy in Asia maybe because they found the ad funnier than racist. At last this company was the one winning because of the success of the innovative product ( http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/racist-toothpaste-commercial). The commercial you just read was made by Asians, but as well as they make stereotypes of people in U.S, people in the U.S make stereotypes of them like the one Whiskas (Company that sells cat food) made about 3 years ago, the ad shows how an American man fools an Asiatic woman that seems to be stupid in the commercial. The message that Whiskas successfully give to the public is that Asian cat food is bad, and that Asian woman are stupid (http://www.adsavvy.org/25-most-racist-advertisements-and-commercials/) Every culture, group of people or however you want to call it can be a victim of this strong way of making stereotypes in television, even the strongest persons on earth such as the president of the United States, Barack Obama. In a commercial made by the Japanese mobile company, Emobile, you can see president Barack Obama being compared to a monkey, this ad was banned in several days due to the strong humor the Japanese try to show in television (http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/japans-emobiles-commercial-depicts-obama-as-a-monkey-racist-or-just-a-commercial/question-809365/?page=2). Television is a very strong form of communication as you can see, and all of this is because of the large part of society it can get to. Even tough, there are other advertising techniques that are very powerful because of their accessibility to the people, there is just one specifically that doesnt need you to pay to see it (such as television or newspaper) and this are the billboards. The billboards are the second most important form of advertising as they get to the 93% of the population in the city where it is shown. Actually in America an amount of 5.5 billion dollars are used in billboards annually, and this quantity is expected to grow even more in the next years. This means that the billboards are a great way to reach people if you are talking of advertising. (http://www.businessknowledgesource.com/marketing/using_billboards_for_marketing_026351.html). The billboards may seem very good way of advertising, but this good way of advertising is also a good way of advertising stere otypes toward groups of people such as what Sony did in 2006. In 2006 in the Netherlands Sony(technology manufacturing corporation) was promoting the new PSP(Play Station Portable) of color white and may have not done it the correct way. They use a white woman to represent a white psp and she is aggressively holding the head of the black men (black psp). The peculiar billboard Sony used to promote the white PSP was used in over 100 billboards all over Netherlands. After the ads were taken of Sony did not really defend themselves, instead they just respond The marketing campaign for the launch of the White PSP in the Benelux focuses on the contrast between the Black PSP model and the new Ceramic white PSP model.(SonyÂÂ ´s CEO). The polemic billboard from Sony of course caused some boycotts of buying the white ceramic PSP, but after some time the things calm down. This of course taught Sony a lesson the bad way. (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/sony-under-fire-for-racist-advertising/). The advertising over the years have been a great deal since advertising is publicity and publicity is money. As a matter of fact, the racist stereotypes shown on media are not just to black, Asian, or powerful people they can apply to any person in earth. The racism in media is not the only problem in the media, there are also some other problems in the media that can affect society. Thankfully there are several groups that defend racism and the content that the adds can display on the advertising such as the ITC (short for International Television Control) or the CEOUSA (Central for Equal Opportunity). The ITC has experience controlling the Television Advertising since 1990.The ITC doesnt just control the Television advertising in some parts of the United States, it also does this labor in the United Kingdom. This organization is responsible for banning advertising on the television that are not morally correct for the society in certain regions, they are the main reason that announcements affecting racial stereotypes do not last in air to long. (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/itc_publications/itc_notes/view_note64.html) By the other hand the CEOUSA sponsors conferences, supports research and publishes ads on issues promoting equitacy, ethnicity, assimilation and public policy. CEOUSA focuses on three areas in particular: racial preferences, immigration, and assimilation and multicultural education. There can be lots of more groups even more than this ones promoting the anti racism, we can know that, but other thing we know is that there are also a lot of people who can still be making racist advertising. In the world what talks the most is the money, all advertisings are made with money to get more money that is how it really works. From huge companies like Sony to very small companies such as Auulws, all need to make advertising to sell their products. Until there all goes alright, the problem is when they start messing with some culture, race, gender, or nationality. When that happens some people start to indignate and the awesome idea some guy had for selling more things converts to a really big controversy throughout all the internet, television, and news. However, at last the ones that make this continue or not are us, the consumers are the ones who decide if this type of advertising continues or not. Many times unconsciously we support this by buying products because of some funny ad we saw and that we did not know that it perpetuated racial stereotypes. So how I say at last the ones that make this continue or stop are us, and just us, the consumers.

Comparing John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau Essay

Comparing John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all dealt with the issue of political freedom within a society. John Locke's â€Å"The Second Treatise of Government†, Mill's â€Å"On Liberty†, and Rousseau’s â€Å"Discourse On The Origins of Inequality† are influential and compelling literary works which while outlining the conceptual framework of each thinker’s ideal state present divergent visions of the very nature of man and his freedom. The three have somewhat different views regarding how much freedom man ought to have in political society because they have different views regarding man's basic potential for inherently good or evil behavior, as well as the ends or purpose of political societies. In order to examine how each thinker views man and the freedom he should have in a political society, it is necessary to define freedom or liberty from each philosopher’s perspective. John Locke states his belief that all men exist in "a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and person as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man." (Ebenstein 373) Locke believes that man exists in a state of nature and thus exists in a state of uncontrollable liberty, which has only the law of nature, or reason, to restrict it. (Ebenstein 374) However, Locke does state that man does not have the license to destroy himself or any other creature in his possession unless a legitimate purpose requires it. Locke emphasizes the ability and opportunity to own and profit from property as necessary for being free. John Stuart Mill defines liberty in relation to three sph... ...Mill does not implicitly trust or distrust man and therefore does not explicitly limit freedom, in fact he does define freedom in very liberal terms, however he does leave the potential for unlimited intervention into the personal freedoms of the individual by the state. This nullifies any freedoms or rights individuals are said to have because they subject to the whims and fancy of the state. All three beliefs regarding the nature of man and the purpose of the state are bound to their respective views regarding freedom, because one position perpetuates and demands a conclusion regarding another. Bibliography: Works Cited Cress, Donald A. Jean-Jacques Rousseau â€Å"The Basic Political Writings†. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987. Ebenstein, William. Great Political Thinkers â€Å"From Plato to Present†. New York: Rinehart & Co, 1951.

Essay --

Benchmark II 2 to 6 players Object: Collect as many Princess Points and have the highest amount at the end of the game! Setting up: Picking Your Princess-- Choose a princess! You have a choice of seven princesses: Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, and Ms. Beideman. The probability of choosing your favorite princess, Ms. Beideman is 1/7 or 14.29% Princess Points -- Place all princess point chips off to the side, for later use in the game. At the end of the game, princess points will count towards winning the game! Cards -- Separate the cards into four decks: Career Cards, Salary Cards, Castle Cards, and Chariot Cards. Money -- Have all the players spin the dial once. The player with the highest number will be the banker. This player is in charge of all the Princess points being exchanged to and from the bank. There are five spaces on the dial. This means that the probability of being the banker no matter what, otherwise known as landing on the number five, is ⅕. The probability of not being the banker no matter what, otherwise known as landing on the number one, is also ⅕. Imagine three people are playing the game, and two of those people have landed on the numbers 1, 4, and 2. The fourth person’s chance of becoming banker is ⅕, because the third person can only win the title by landing on 5. The third person has the same chance of winning the title as losing the title: the chance that she does not become banker is ⅕, since the only way she could not become banker is if she landed on 3. Playing the Game: What You Do on a Turn -- On the beginning of your turn, spin the wheel. The dial is numbered from 1-5. Remember the number your dial landed on, then spin again. Next, add the two numbers received from spinning t... ...ces will also be included. 17 spaces will be neutral, which neither give nor take Princess Points. The player’s chance of landing on a neutral space is 17/27, or 22.97%. Dependent Probability Each card has their own different probabilities of being able to choose a card. This probability is dependent on the amount of players and cards already removed from the deck. Each category of cards includes 10 individual cards. Binomial Probability Spaces including gaining Princess Points and neutral spaces will be included in binomial probability. Both gaining Princess Points and neutral spaces have 17 spaces on the board individually. Therefore the probability of landing on one of these spaces is 34/75, or 45.33% Venn Diagram Available Jobs Depending on Degree Thank you, and enjoy the game! Your gamemakers, Shira and Jocelyn May the odds be ever in your favor.