Horse Slaughter Essay Example for Free

Horse Slaughter Essay The topic of horse slaughter doesn’t usually come up very often in everyday conversation. Horse slaughter is more of an implicit subject, which your everyday person doesn’t know much about. Because it is highly controversial, it has gone through the cycle of being banded and then reinstated twice in the last 5 years. With being involved in the horse industry my entire life, I have witnessed the effects first hand. Some people see it as killing pets, animal cruelty, and morally wrong. However, I see it as a source of income, a way to stop the starvation and abuse of horses, an export industry for the United States, as well as a quality meal for in times of despair. The history of people eating horse meat dates back to the early 1800’s when the French were at war with Russia. Emperor Napoleon advised his starving soldiers to eat the dead battlefield horses. Because horse meat is sweet, lean, protein-rich, and finely textured, it sufficed as a quality meal. Due to the high cost of living in France, in 1866, the French government legalized the consumption of horse meat because it could be bought at a lower price than pork or beef. (Sherman) Countries like France, Belgium, Germany, Chili, Japan and many others still consume horse meat today. The history of horse meat for human consumption in the United States has a similar story. â€Å"No longer will the will the worn-out horse wend his way to the boneyard; instead he will be fattened up in order to give the thrifty another source of food supply. This new meat is to be put upon the city’s platter under the protection and encouragement of the Board of Health. The Board at its meeting yesterday made several radical changes in the Sanitary Code, and one of them was to revoke the present section that forbids the sale in this city of horse flesh as food. † (Allow Horse Meat for Food in City) This is a segment from an article by the New York Times, published in 1915. Also in the article, Health Commissioner Haven Emerson discussed that the houses that slaughter horses are to follow the same protocol and inspections as any other slaughter house does. During the 1930’s low supply and high cost of pork and beef made horse meat rise in popularity. Again during World War II, people were again in the same predicament. Inflation during the early 1970’s raised the cost of traditional meats; Time Magazine reported from Carlson’s, a butcher shop in Westbrook, CT, that they were selling over 6,000 pounds of horse meat a day. (Weil) In 2006, the House of Representatives voted to end horse slaughter; the bill passed to make the killing and selling American horses for human consumption an illegal practice in the United States. Today in the US, people do not consume horse meat on a whole sale basis. But because many other counties do, the exporting of horse meat is a huge industry. When the ban was in place, US horses were being transported to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered instead. From 2006 to 2010 the increase in horses being exported to Canada and Mexico was 148 and 660 percent. They are loaded up on trailers and shipped across the boarders, often times going days without food or water until they reach their destination. The regulations, or lack thereof, are different than in the US. Shesgreen) Valley Meat Co. owner Rick De Los Santos brings up valid points in his interview with NBC News last week. The majority of people, who are against slaughter, are getting caught up on the â€Å"ick† factor of killing our â€Å"pets†. However, the process is the exact same for cows and pigs. The horse is struck in the forehead with a tool known as a captive gun. The captive gun an air pressured gun which launches a metal bolt against the horses head rendering it unconscious before it is exsanguinated, â€Å"bled out. Meat plants are inspected regularly, expected to follow code, and are fined heavily if found otherwise. He also makes mention that he is sending horse carcasses to Mexico instead of live horses. If the horses are killed in the US they are still under regulation. (NM Meat Plant Owner Defends Horse Slaughter Plan) I often hear the statement â€Å"Dead horses don’t help the economy! † But before it was banned; the export industry in the US was nearly $65 million dollars a year. That is $65 million dollars that could be coming into the US, but isn’t. Shesgreen) Mr. De Los Santos mentioned in his interview that due to the closing of his plant, he laid off over 160 workers at his small scale plant. With our economy in its current state, I believe we should not be cutting corners with people losing jobs or missing out on opportunities to make money. On the contrary, â€Å"Horses were never raised or bread specifically as a source of food because they have a much lower grain and grass efficiency rate then cows do. They take a lot more food and time to fatten up. Their immune systems are also not as strong s cows and they have the tendency to get sick easier; which can cause weight loss,† explained veterinarian Kathy Ott, owner and senior vet of Clearly Lake Equine Hospital. I did an interview with Dr. Ott knowing that I would receive a perspective of the opposing argument. She referenced that because horses are not specifically raised to be consumed; the vaccines, medications, injections and feed that they receive have not all been certified or regulated by the FDA. (Ott) Humane Society says; owner responsibility is the answer. It is a matter of personal responsibility when someone takes on a horse as a companion or work animal. If an owner can no longer care for a horse, that person has a responsibility to seek out other options for placing the horse or to have it humanely euthanized, rather than simply try to profit by selling it to slaughter. This is a valid point; however, in the state and federal legislation passed thus far in the US, the right to kill horses humanely has never been challenged, with the exception of those falling under the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program. In the USA, horses remain property and anyone can â€Å"humanely† kill his or her own horse without fear of sanction including euthanasia or gunshot. How are do we know everyone one out there kills there horse on the first try? They could have possibly miss the vein or miss the shot. PETA is not against horse slaughter! PETA is disgusted by the idea of transporting of horses to foreign destinations, which increases their stress, probability of sickness and injury. They believe that the previous congressional action that ended the slaughter of horses in the U. S. was terribly inadequate solution, and had only made matters worse for the problem of unwanted and abandoned horses. The organization is a major advocate of local euthanasia or gunshot. They are constantly looking to find a better solution to unwanted and abandoned horse problem. Slaughtering is at the bottom of their list; however, right now it is necessary to prevent more suffering and starvation of the unwanted horse. (PETA) On November 11th, 2012, President Obama signed the ban to abolish the ban on horse slaughter. Horse meat, for the past 100 years, has had an influential effect on America. It has helped us in times of need, as well has been a huge amount of income for the US. With it still being so controversial on an ethical basis, I am sure it will continue to go through the cycle of being banned and reopened.

Famous Creative Thinkers in the World Essay Example for Free

Famous Creative Thinkers in the World Essay It is said that there is greatness in everybody, and it only requires the right place and time to burst out and bless the world. This planet has been blessed to have amazing people walk among us, and they have revolutionized the way people perceived certain ideologies. Jesus Christ, Leonardo Da Vinci, Martin Luther King, Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire, just to mention a few are accredited to have left a mark in this world. With none claiming to be any special than any other man, they stood out to make this world a more comfortable place to live in during their time. Quentin Tarantino, a film director, actor, producer and screenwriter is one of the great men that the 21st century has been blessed to have. With a creative, innovative and ever awe-inspiring works, Quentin has become a figure in society that many people can look up to. His films are usually characterized by non-linear storylines, a glorification of violence and a satirical subject matter that in most times results in an exhibition of neo-noir characteristics. His creative genius by the use of mix and match genre as well as an infusion of music and the morphing of old works and making them new and better are his main characteristics that define him. Quentin’s works have always had a cut above the rest because they seek to contribute largely to the society in general. Whether in educating, reminding or entertaining the society, Quentin has had movie lovers at the edge of their seats and in turn, he has received awards for the same. Quentin has entertaining movies like Pulp Fict ion (1994) that is considered one of the greatest if not the greatest movie produced of all time and Django Unchained that seeks to tell the story of slavery. Movies with stories that remind human beings of their past, or those that make them forget about the daily hassles of life have garnered him success as well as health, although without their share of problems. For example, making of a slavery movie was initially not favored by potential audiences, and it received severe criticism although it resulted to his highest grossing movie of all time. On the other hand, other movies are criticized as having too much violence which is mostly in his line of creativity. The solutions to these problems were primarily making movies that are entertaining and educative, that leave out the brutality of the times that the movies are based on. The second is that the action movies he directs or produces are made for the enjoyment of the entire family, without vulgar language and sometimes incredible humor. For a creative thinker, obstacles are a daily routine since thinking outside the proverbial box is commonplace. For Quentin, research is the initial step towards a resolute creative thinking process. This means a lot of reading and comparisons of different scripts and different possibilities. Tarantino’s creative thinking process revolves around all matters that seem reasonable and worth investing in, promoting ideologies and uplifting talented scriptwriters. Although he is attributed to having anger issues, his movies cannot be remade any better without denying the audience their intended purpose. For example, Django Unchained was meant to educate and remind the American of the past that they are too ashamed of to remember. His works fit perfectly in the 21st century movie making field where creativity and the ‘anything goes’ attitude is prime. Having been an avid movie fan, a trained actor, movie critique and an investor, Tarantino has continued to expand both h is knowledge and skill in the movie world. The age of computing has revolutionized the 21st century and the world has become a better place with computers. The age of computers, as this century is commonly referred to have experienced profound effect in all industries that have chosen to adopt the technology. Grace Murray Hopper (nicknamed ‘amazing Grace’), an American computer scientist as well as the United States navy rear admiral had notable contributions to the world of technology and modern warfare. She is among the pioneer programmers of Harvard Mark one computer, and she developed the first compiler for a computer programming language. This was her first most significant contribution to society. She is also renowned for popularizing the term ‘debugging’ as a term for fixing computer glitches. It is probably because of her sense of patriotism that she volunteered to join World War II, and she was sworn into the Navy reserve where she gained an exemption to enlist because she was underweight. This was among the first hurdles in her career, but what she did not have in physical attributes; she more than made up for them in brains. Throughout her career in both industry and academia, Hopper was a consultant for the United States Naval Reserve as well as a lecturer there. She held several posts in leadership through her career both outside the Navy and also within the Navy. Her technical and marketing skills proved to be of great use to her as she also demonstrated superb political and general business acumen. The major hurdles that she had to overcome were the computer bugs that she was working on while in Harvard. However, working alongside brilliant minds, she co-authored several papers on computers. By the virtue of patience and perseverance, Hopper was able to tackle many of the problems she faced by herself, but in some, she got the assistance of fellow brilliants. She is said to have never turned down a good idea from anyone regardless of their rank in the military of in the lab. By being involved in the successful programming of Mark I through III computers, she was awarded the Naval Ordnance Development Award. Nothing could have been done any different at the time, and up until now, the Mark computers are still formidable in the market. With the age of computing, Hopper’s works fitted perfectly with her time, and her innovations remain a valuable contribution to human beings. By being involved in the university’s academic program, Hopper was able to learn and continue to excel in her field of study and expertise. Up until her retirement, she was a lecturer and an academician whose contributions were noted and highly regarded. Until her death in 1992, Hopper remained an invaluable asset for the United States Navy, Harvard and the World at large. For that, the USS Hopper (DDG-70) Navy Destroyer and the Cray XE6 â€Å"Hopper† supercomputer were named after her in the United States Navy and NERSC respectively. References Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, USN. (2012, March 4). Biography Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, USN. Retrieved May 28, 2014, from http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/hopper_grace.htm Everything Tarantino. (2014, May 27). Everything Tarantino. Retrieved May 31, 2014, from http://www.everythingtarantino.com/ Grace Hopper Biography. (2010, May 12). Bio.com. Retrieved May 31, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/grace-hopper-21406809#awesm=~oFPA4E99lVVRqY Quentin Tarantino Biography. (2013, September 27). Bio.com. Retrieved May 31, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/quentin-tarantino-9502086#awesm=~oFPAGvRhIMAhpw Source document

Facebook Organisational Culture Case Study

Facebook Organisational Culture Case Study Managers with conceptual skills are able to see the organization as a whole, conceptualize about abstract and complex situations ´ and to think strategically (Robbins Coulter 2005). With reference to Forbes Magazine, Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of marvel Facebook and one of the youngest billionaire yet, contributes the ability of vast conceptual skills. Zuckerberg has the ability to think critically and plan for long term. For example, he is able to see the potential of success by using the Internet to connect with people more effectively. Therefore, he created Facebook at 2004 and now it becomes the largest social networking site with millions of users worldwide. Moreover, Zuckerberg carries out his role as disturbance handler with the combination of conceptual skill to solve the difficulties. For instance, he received criticize from users when Facebook introduced new features and issues about privacy. However, Zuckerberg resolve these problems appropriately and continue to oper ate the company successfully. Although Zuckerberg made mistakes in decision making, most of the people believed that he have the potential to improve his conceptual skill and consequently bring Facebook to upper level of achievement. As the CEO of Facebook, Zuckerberg plays multiple roles in managing the organization. Directing, training, motivating and organizing subordinates, supervising their improvement, promoting and reassuring their development are the duties required from the role of leader (LMC 2008). As a leader, Zuckerberg is skilled in making clear decision and limiting unwanted debate. Employees are allowed to recommend various solutions and gain knowledge on possible problems solved by him. Employees are encouraged to argue with his thought on projects to find a better solution (Bosworth 2010). Zuckerberg plays a good leader role by adapting in the human skills and conceptual skills. Next role that he is acting on is resource allocator, which carries the responsibility related to resources allocation of the organization among all concerned people or department. It involves budgeting, scheduling, allocation of duty to subordinates and authorization. From time to time, Zuckerberg has been scheduling for the ‘f8 platform† which is the â€Å"like† button in Facebook. There is three f8 in total in which the first one occuring on May 24th, 2007, second one happening on July 23rd, 2008 and consequently the third one happening on April 21-22 in 2010. During this period, the active user had increase tremendously. Figurehead role involves handling ceremonial and symbolic activities for the department or organization (Daft 2010). Mark Zuckerberg has successfully carried out the role of figurehead in Web 2.0 global social networking trend. For example, Zuckerberg discusses hiring the right people and challenges of an entrepreneur in the lectures on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students on October 26, 2005 (Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture 2005). Furthermore, Zuckerberg planned to set up a foundation with $100 million of Facebooks closely held stock to the Newark Public Schools in New Jersey (Martinez Fowler 2010). His philanthropic donation has helped to improve Facebook image. The figurehead role played by Zuckerberg has enabled him to get more attention than Googles co-founder, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In general Mark Zuckerberg use a great skill of conceptual skills and plays extensive character in all informational, interpersonal and decisional roles in the Facebook which allows and makes it to be the leading social media today. Q2) The only thing that would not change in the world is: the world is kept on changing. The external organizational environment is the elements happen outside of its boundary and may affect the growth of the organization. Figure 1 shows that Facebooks number of users is obviously more than its competitor, Twitter. Although Facebook currently rank as the top social networking sites, they still have to persist in innovating to hold on the honor. From the dimension of legal-political, Facebook created an opportunity that encourages users to share information online for the purpose of communication and business transactions. Unfortunately, it is also a threat that causes Facebook confronts disputation on privacy issue once beacon is launched. Beacon is a platform which takes data from 44 web destinations and combined with Facebooks internal information for the purpose of advertising. It allowed third parties site being posted on the wall of the users profile. It can also track everything people done online even they had logout from Facebook and despite who is using the computer. Regarding to this issue, many investigations have been carried out by security researcher â€Å"Wednesday†, Canadian privacy commissioner, Press coverage and European Commission. There is more than 100 million users personal information being used or spread out to the public without users authorization. This issue is not just about data leakage for user but also for developers and marketers who uses Facebook to operate their business. To pacify this issue, Facebook paid $9.5 million settlement to a class action lawsuit and it is being approved (Kravets 2010). Under the settlement, Facebook agreed to terminate Beaon platform started from November 2009. Facebook should provide a more user friendly privacy settings for the user to avoid the issue above to happen again. For international and sociocultural dimension, Table 1(pg) indicates that the number of users in USA is surprisingly high and owns the first place in the ranking. Although China and India has the largest population in the world but India only owns the fifth place. However, Table 2 (pg) indicates that a month later, India is the leading country which owns the highest audience growth rate. Reason for China did not appear in the ranking is Facebook is being censored by China since 2009. Prediction made by Daft said that â€Å"China will overtake United State economy as number one by midcentury† (Daft 2010, p.66). Unfortunately, China banned Facebook bring down a lot registration in China Mainland population which is about 1,330,141,295 (CIA World Factbook, Jan 2011) and opportunities to generate profit. China government always being tight to the access of internet, information flow and media banned Facebook because of the fatal riots happen in western region of Xinjiang in provin ce of China. Perhaps they believe that such an action will contain the reports or discussions of the riots or stop them from happening completely. Recent news reported that, Mark Zuckerberg still wanted to get connected to China and is now creating some localized version of site to fit Chinas government and hope to launch it in China. Therefore, every organization should be prepared to react to subtle environment shifts and adapt to various challenges environment that are increasingly dynamic. Facebook had tried their best to grapple with challenges like settlement of privacy issues and intervention with China. After conquering the challenges, Facebook is now one step nearer to its mission to connect the whole world. Q3) Ravasi and Schultz (2006) define organisation culture as a set of shared mental assumptions that guide organisation understanding and action by defining appropriate behaviour for various situations. In the past, hierarchy of management is vital for a corporate. However, CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has created a relaxed, unstructured and open corporate culture that emphasizes more on equality (Boissonneau 2011). At Facebook, there are no cubicles, no walls, just mainly office furniture. This enables employees to work in a relaxed environment as they have more employee freedom with no standard work schedules. Furthermore, Facebooks managers also practice this working environment. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks Chief Operating Officer, and even Zuckerberg himself has no office. They work among the employees in the open workspace that could enhance openness and problem solving process. Every Friday, Zuckerberg holds a public question-and-answer session for an hour for the entire organisation. The openness created by this session, according to Zuckerberg, encourages collaboration, team-work and an informal atmosphere and communication among organisation. Facebook is ballooning into an empire, but it remains shabby, funky and slightly adorable. That is partly attributable to a workplace that combines playful start-up culture with muscular ambition and bite. â€Å"Facebooks goal is to be viewed as a â€Å"hip geek culture† in order to attract the best talent† (Finch 2011). Zuckerberg is responsible for the foundations of this culture, creating a fun environment by knocking a gong when someone finishes a big coding project. Facebook even hired well-known graffiti artist David Choe to paint murals in its first offices. According to Yiannopoulos, theres a block of Facebooks meeting rooms named after inventors, with one given to Al Gore, who invented the internet (2011). Facebook uses adaptability culture to interpret and respond quickly to the high-risk decision-making and rapid alteration environment. Besides, Facebook adapts involvement culture that emphasizes employees needs and responses towards environment changes. Face book is creating an intrinsically social culture, rather than enterprise software or geeky, engineer-driven algorithms. At Facebook, the employees can play video or table tennis games whenever they need to unwind on the job. This fun working environment has increased employees job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is the primary factor in intrinsic motivation. Therefore, due to the corporate culture recognized by Zuckerberg, Facebook employees are satisfied with their jobs and as a result do their jobs well and raise the productivity of Facebook. Facebooks slogan is â€Å"Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you†. This slogan explains slightly about the social platform. Facebook has taken a very practical standpoint on providing a social network by created a framework and are expecting users to do most of the work. Facebook internal environment changes when Zuckerberg brought on Sheryl Sandberg, a respected executive from Google in March 2008. Besides, Zuckerberg is willing to take risks by hired Chris Cox, who was grad school dropout as Facebook HR manager. Organisational hierarchy was generally indicated through the price of suit. However, Zuckerberg has changed this culture by still wears T-shirts, jeans and Adidas flip-flops to work just as he did in 2004, when he co-founded Facebook at age 19 (Deneen 2011). Mark Zuckerberg shows effectiveness as a cultural leader for Facebook by able and willing to take the risks in hiring the executives for the company and motivate employees to achieve Facebooks goals by established a comfortable, amusing and unstructured corporate culture. Q4) As time passed, many professions developed several management theories as a guide for manager to run the organization. There are Classical Perspective, which occurred during nineteenth and early twenty, Management Science Perspective, which emerged during World War Two, Recent Historical Trend which happen after the World War Two and Modern Management which combine all different theories. Today business world required different management thinking and theory to fits in different industries and achieve organisational goals (Sridhar n.d). Facebook is the new trend in twenty-first century, which manage and lead by the founder name Mark Zuckerberg. Humanistic perspective was conducted by Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard. They believe that manager need to first value peoples feelings, needs, thoughts and social relations (Daft 2010). Mark Zuckerberg had this management thinking of creating a social network that allowed people all over the world to engage which each other and get updates even faster. Besides, Zuckerberg also adapting this theory to his employees by providing those free meals along the day, bottomless finger foods and unrestricted dry cleaning service. He allowed subordinates to express themselves, motivate them to have the same goals as the organisations goals by giving opinions on improvement of the organisation. He claims that an office is only a place to gather people to brain storming to generate profits and human are the most important resources for the organisation. Therefore, he design his headquarter with no wall between departments, and meeting rooms are located at the middle of work space separat ed by glass walls so everyone can see through the meetings. Besides, a study under ‘A Theory of Human Motivation of Abraham Maslow theories claims that people are influenced by several needs in pyramid order (Kendra n.d). Zuckerberg has fulfilled three levels of need for employees by providing employees free meals and considerable income to satisfied physical needs, allowing them to disclose their thoughts and opinions, appreciate them contribute many ideas and plans to run the business. This will increase employees esteem needs and belief that they are the proper source in helping make the world improve, and Zuckerberg will somehow challenge employees to meet certain goals (Bosworth 2010). This theory will increase organisation growth and acknowledges employees to fulfil their self-actualization needs. But, it required more psychological thinking from Zuckerberg, takes time for him to observe employees personalities and make organisation goals as part of their interest goals. Learning organisation is a modern theory which allows people not afraid to make mistakes and hope they can learn from the mistakes. It allows managers to raise the capability to discover and grow (Senge 1990:3). When Facebook dealing with the mistakes they made in beacon, they understand that not all people like to disclose their thoughts to the public, certain privacy are required from them. Facebook has learnt from this mistake and change their privacy settings. But, they also face the challenge of missing certain trust and confidence from the user. After Zuckerberg combining classical and modern theory, facebook will be creating a better competitive advantage to adapt into today rapid change world. Facebook will be more effective and efficient after adapting with all the theory, although Zuckerberg face a certain weight of challenges.

Singapore Casino :: essays research papers

Casino gambling has been legalised in Singapore. Give economic arguments for and against legalisation. There has been much debate in Singapore both amongst the politicians, religious leaders, senior people in the community, and the lay people at large. It is a hot topic. But, the decision has finally been made, the casino will be built. There are many arguments both for and against building a casino. The government, which is for, cites the economic advantages and everyone who is against cites the social impact the casino will have. Arguments FOR the casino The government’s main argument for the casino is increased revenue leading to a boost in the economy. Currently, Singapore’s revenue comes from high tech electronics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and finance. These industries are starting to slow. According to Reuters Singapore employment in the manufacturing sector has dropped 9% since 1990. In 2004, 14 per 1,000 were laid off in the manufacturing sector and 8.5 per 1,000 in the services sector. The government’s alternative has been to reverse a 4 decade ban on casino’s to help the Singapore economy. The majority of the focus in the long term is from tourism and the flow on effects of tourism such as hospitality, food, retail, taxi, conventions and aviation. The government fears that a steady decline in tourism is already happening. The Prime Minister in his ministerial statement on April 18 2005 said: â€Å"First, we are losing ground in tourism. Tourism in Asia is growing phenomenally, especially the traffic from China and India. Singapore’s tourist numbers are up too, but we see warning signs of problems ahead. Our market share is declining (from 8% in the Asia Pacific region in 1998 to 6% in 2002). Tourists are spending less time in Singapore. They used to stay an average of about 4 days in 1991, but now they stay only for 3 days. In contrast, on average, they are staying for about 4 days in Hong Kong, 5 days in London and almost a week in New York City. We are losing attractiveness as a tourist destination†. In 2004, Singapore earned US$6 billion from 8.3 million tourists. Tourism currently accounts for 3% of Singapore’s GDP, it needs to be at 7% if it is to be a real growth driver. By 2015, Singapore is aiming at 17 million tourists which alone will bring in US$18 billion. It is predicted that by 2010, Asians will spend $23 billion on gambling, and Singapore wants it share.

Violence in Video Games Essay -- essays research papers

Violence in Video Games and Its Affects on Teens Ever since their conception, video games have contained violence; violence being to cause pain or death onto other beings. From early video games to the most advanced, violence plays an important role. Early games like Wonder Boy and Space Invaders contain violence. Space Invaders involves shooting and killing as many alien as possible. Wonder Boy has our hero killing monsters that vanish upon death. The hero is also subjected to violence as enemies swing swords, and throws rocks at him. The degree of violence in video games is based upon personal preference. Does violence in video games contribute to violent act committed by teens? And, what makes teens turn to violence? Being exposed to violence everyday, kids become blunt to it and it becomes a normal thing. It a defense mechanism, a form of denial says Dr. Peter Nieman, a Pediatrician. Video games are seen as fantasy but really help to make violence more acceptable in our society says university of Toronto Sociologist Walter Podichak. There are still many questions whether some video games are more violent than some comic books or some cartoons. It’ s a problem for some kids who are not connected and are dealing with violent images, they may think this is an appropriate behavior. If they have access to a gun, you may see a problem says Det. Sgt. John Muise, of the Ontario office of victims of Crimes. (Source 3) Examples of violent video games and their content In m...

Graduation Speech: Reach for What You Want :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Life is a big store, a market. Now, before you tune out, let me explain this strange analogy. You'll get what I'm saying What do people do in life? They do what they want to do. They spend life trying to get what they want. Whether that's possessions, wisdom, fame, fortune or simply survival, people everywhere right now are living life getting what they want. You're probably thinking: Hey, what about those people that spend their lives serving others or serving God? Think about it some more. Let's say that a guy wants salvation, he's going to spend his life attaining salvation. Let's say she wants to end child hunger. She'll work to end child hunger. While poverty and becoming famous are very different things, the want is not. The feeling of true want is the same for all of us no matter what it is you're wanting. It's this want that makes us human and keeps us involved in this thing called life. Now you might begin to understand why I've compared life to a market. Why do people go to the market or to the store or to the mall? It's because they want something. You want food? Go to the store and buy some. You want clothes? Buy them. You want to give a gift to someone? Find it at the mall! In the same way, life is a market. You want more knowledge? It's yours if you pay for it by studying. You want skill? It'll cost you many hours of practice. You want to graduate? That'll come out to four years of hard work, as you all have done. Now, here's some good news: tonight, our market is expanding! We're moving on to a new market, in a bigger building at a larger town with more people who want better things. Moments in our lives such as learning how to read or graduating from high school are, simply put, expansions of our market of life. But, before we "move on to the big time," we need to do something that all good merchants do: we need to take stock of what we have. I don't mean for you to go home after this and count up how many cans of food you have (not that that's not important.) I mean, reflect upon yourself and your life and take your personal inventory. Look around you. Look within you.

Organising Learning Essay

Furthermore, another area of concern for me is managing behaviour in the classroom. In my opinion, managing behaviour is a partnership between the teacher and the children. The teacher must be the authority figure in the classroom. I feel this is achieved once trust and respect is formed. Once routine is learned and the children know what is expected from them, a lot of pressure is taken off the teacher. In school, the children were constantly encouraged to put their hands up. If they called out the teacher would respond quickly and ask them to put their hand up. Therefore, I have found that unwanted behaviour should either be ignored or dealt with rapidly to reduce further problems. It is they teachers responsibility to decide how to handle a situation. The school has a behaviour policy which the whole school follows. I feel this is a valuable document and offers guidelines to handling challenging behaviour. The teacher uses smiley or sad faces on the board as a management strategy. In my whole school experience only saw three sad faces which was amazing. The Overall behaviour of the children was very good as the teacher used praise, smiley faces, well done points and stickers on a regular basis to encourage good behaviour. The children thought very highly of the teacher and tried hard to please her. I tried to use the teachers classroom management strategies as the children were familiar with them and the children responded to the in a positive wing the very lucky teaching the class as they showed a genuine interest in my lesson and behaved extremely well for me. I feel this was because I tried to make it interesting. I tried to pitch the lesson to their level so they could relate it to their experiences. Meeting the needs of individual children is a constant challenge. Some children may need individual help all the time and there are some children who have special educational needs. Therefore, there needs must be planned for and a lot of praise and encouragement is needed to reward their progress, so they don’t feel excluded from the rest of the class. I believe this is extremely important; an effective teacher must be able to meet the individual needs of every child in the classroom. At university I particularly enjoy science and English lectures. The tutors are friendly and approachable which I feel is because they make sure we all understand the lesson. They quickly recognise if any students are struggling with their work and offer different methods of learning. I feel comfortable participating in these lessons as I feel quite confident in the subject. These tutors also give us the opportunity to discuss our thoughts and ideas with each other which I also think is an effective method of learning. I have also found that assessment is a vital part of teaching and this is an area of concern for me. It is especially vital to assess children at the end of each key stage to provide an individual report they can take with them, which highlight their strengths and possible growth points. Although a teacher will know what level their pupils are at, it is now important to have evidence to support their judgmentsDuring my school placement I observed the teacher assessing the children on a regular basis. Questioning the children is an effective method to establish what level the children are at, this is accomplished in an informal manner and the children are not pressured. The teacher built on the results of the assessment during teaching and addressed any misconceptions which the children may have. Another method of testing was seen at the end of each topic, the children answered questions on a worksheet which provided physical evidence to support the teachers judgment. Sometimes check-lists can be used for smaller groups during some activities which have been planned for assessment. I observed year one and year three and upper key stage two. I saw the same behaviour management in all the classes. Year six children were given more responsibility over their time management and behaviour as the expectations were shared with them from the beginning. Year six did not sit on the carpet, all teaching took place at their tables. It helped to see how the children progress and the NNS and NLS is a valuable document which tells teachers how to develop the children’s learning. I am concerned about becoming an effective teacher, and it is vital that all teachers should recognize their strengths and weaknesses. They should reflect on previous lessons and be able to set targets. I feel that teaching is an occupation where the teachers are also learning alongside the children. Sometimes lessons may not go as well as we anticipate or sometimes they may be better than previously thought. All this should be recorded by evaluating our progress after each day and building on our professional development. It is crucial to act upon areas which need improvement. In conclusion, I have highlighted my concerns of becoming an effective teacher. I have included possible ways to improve areas such as classroom management and behaviour. I have also included my school observations for examples of the teacher giving and receiving respect from the children. I have also included forms of assessment and self reflection which are crucial aspects of teaching. In my opinion, teaching is not simply a career, it becomes part of your life. A creative and stimulating teacher would gain great personal satisfaction from this profession and my school placement has confirmed my desires of becoming an effective classroom teacher. It is important for a teacher to be happy, organised and enthusiastic in school, knowing that they are making a difference to a child’s future. Bibliography Collis, M. Lacey, P. (1996), Interactive Approaches To Teaching, London, David Fulton.  Dean, J. (2001), Organising Learning in the Primary Classroom, Third Edition, London, RoutledgeFalmer.  Edwards, D. Mercer, N. (1987), Common Knowledge, London, Methuen