Paying Less for Fashion Essay

Payless ShoeSource, Inc. is the largest footwear retailer in the United States. The company operates about 4,700 stores in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, Ecuador, and Japan. It also sells footwear via the Internet at www.payless.com. Payless has built its success by offering a large selection of shoes at very low prices, most selling for less than $15 as of 2004. The company has been able to maintain its affordable prices by sticking exclusively to a self-service format, keeping a tight rein on cost structure, and insisting on efficient sourcing and inventory controls. Payless ShoeSource targets as its main customers women from 18 to 44 years of age with household incomes of less than $75,000, and it estimates that in any given year, 40 percent of the women in this target group buy at least one pair of footwear at a Payless store. The company remained a May subsidiary until 1996, when it was spun off to May shareholders as an independent, publicly traded firm. Payless ShoeSource founded in Topeka, Kansas in 1956 by brothers Louis and Shaol Pozez that is owned by Collective Brands, Inc, on a revolutionary idea – selling shoes in a self-select environment. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation which merged with the May Department Stores Company in 1979. More than 50 years later, Payless continues the self-select model combined with leading customer service to provide a fun and engaging shopping experience for our customers. Today, Payless serves millions of consumers through its powerful global network of stores in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. The company also has an expanding presence in the Eastern Hemisphere through franchising arrangements. UPDATING 1956: Pay-Less National is founded in Topeka, Kansas, by two cousins, Louis and Shaol Pozez, to open self-service stores selling budget footwear. 1962: The Company goes public as Volume Distributors. 1967: The company is renamed Volume Shoe Corporation; an accelerated expansion program is launched. 1978: The Payless ShoeSource name is adopted for the bulk of the company’s retail outlets. 1979: Volume Shoe is acquired by the May Department Stores Company. 1991: The company name is changed to Payless ShoeSource, Inc. 1996: May spins Payless off to shareholders, making it once again an independent, publicly traded firm. 1997: The mid-priced shoe chain Parade of Shoes is acquired from J. Baker, Inc.; the first Canadian Payless stores open. 1999: The firm launches e-commerce at payless.com. 2000: Payless enters into a joint venture to expand into the Central American region. 2004: As part of a major restructuring, Payless announces that it will close down the Parade chain and close hundreds of Payless ShoeSource outlets. PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Matt Rubel: Nowadays he is Senior Advisor at TPG Capital, L.P. and TPG Growth and served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Collective Brands. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Payless Shoesource Inc., a subsidiary of Collective Brands. He served as the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cole Haan, Inc from February 1999 to July 2005, where he transformed it into a global lifestyle brand celebrating American luxury. Prior to joining Cole Haan, Mr. Rubel served as an Executive Vice President of J. Crew Group. He is responsible for the success of Payless, Cole Haan and J. Crew. His involvement in this case is vital to these brands. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=23134722&privcapId=23307 Cole Haan, J. Crew: specialty retailers throughout the United States. Matt Rubel is the one responsible for the success of this two brands. They are competitors of Payless, but they also sell clothing. Carrie Bradshaw: fictional character and lead character of the HBO romantic sitcom Sex and the City, portrayed by actress Sarah Jessica Parker. This character was the icon of the decade and every woman wanted to look like her and dress like her. She was a fashionista and the sitcom revolved around fashion and clothing. Payless understood this trend and tried to approach women who wanted to look just like her, without spending that much money. Kenneth Cole, Michael Kors: top designers who were hired to fulfill their places in the Payless Design Team. They both had their own clothing lines, but Payless created an alliance strategy with their names and brands, so women would buy their shoes. This was a smart move by Matt Rubel. Lela Rose, Stacey Bendet, Christian Siriano: Haute Coture up-and-coming designers from New York City. One of them actually won a competition show named Project Runway. Payless asked them to take over their collections, aiming for haute couture, in other words, avant garde designs. They intended to sell cheaper shoes, but with great innovative designs. The typical fashionista was in for it. Mardi Larson: principal, owner and chief Marketing & Communications consultant at Mardi Larson Communications and has served a range of clients with consulting services and as a contract associate for more than a decade. Also included in her roster of clients are footwear brands like Sperry Top-Sider, Keds and Stride Rite, among others. She was the head of public relations of Payless, and developed the target marker for them. Maxine Clark: Maxine Clark was born on March 6 of 1949 in Florida, had her degree in law from St. Louis University. In 1996, Maxine Clark found â€Å"Build-a-bear workshop†. Prior to founding Build-A-Bear Workshop in 1997, Ms. Clark served as the President and Chief Merchandising Officer at Payless Shoesource Inc. from November 1992 to January 1996. Recognized the strategy of Payless, as to sell cheap and chic. Marian Salzman: American advertising and public relations executive. She is currently president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR North America and a member of the holding company, Euro RSCG Worldwide’s Executive Committee, with brand reputation oversight for the company and key executives globally. She forecasted this trend that made Payless grow. Tiffany, Gucci, Armani: top brands that can be found in New York’s Fifth Avenue. They are the ones to set trends and women look forward to dress in their clothes. They are very expensive, and the middle class woman cannot buy them. This is where Payless supplies their demand of high fashion and affordable prices. Isaac Mizrahi: American fashion designer and TV presenter, best known for eponymous fashion lines. First big fashion designer to make an alliance with Payless. This made other brands and designers to focus on the company. They also wanted to work with Payless in a long-lasting alliance, with great benefits for both of the parts. Walmart, Kohl’s, Target: American retailers that were seen as great discount one-stop shops that had become the vendors of choice for tight budgets for buying shoes. Payless was competing with this major retailers and they needed something to differentiate from them. Their cheap and chic strategy was the solution to overcome this competitors. Elle, Vogue, W: fashion magazines that set the trends and state what is IN and what it’s not. Payless ran full-page ads featuring their new tagline â€Å"Look Again†. This was a strategy directed to fashionistas and frequent buyers of this magazines. They intended to show them that their shoes were so good that they were featured by this great magazines. Sophia Bush, Brittany Snow: both are actresses and fashion icons. Every teenager and young woman wanted to look like them. They were invited into the backstage of Lela Rose’s fashion show in New York Fashion Week, and were spotted wearing Payless shoes. They featured this Payless shoes and wore them proudly, announcing the fashion world that it was okay to wear something affordable and chic. Karl Lagerfeld & H&M, Vera Wang & Kohl’s, Ralph Lauren & JC Penney, Todd Oldham & Old Navy: this are examples of strategic alliances between great and recognized fashion designers and big retailers. This process of benchmarking made Payless realize that they also needed to make alliances with some big designers and brands. This is where Isaac Mizrahi decided to take the plunge with them, and design a whole collection of couture shoes. MAIN PROBLEM The main problem this company, Payless Shoesource, was facing was that in 2005 Payless was losing market share and began to close some stores. The retail landscape had changed and giant discount shops like Walmart, Target and Kohl’s had become the vendors of choice for budget conscious shopper’s buying shoes. With thrift as its positioning point, the company had lost its edge; they were producing the same shoes year after year hoping that price will bring customers to their doors. As we see the problem here was that Payless wasn’t innovating, they were pretending that the same styles would attract the same people to its stores because of the affordable price. STRATEGY When they noticed they have this problem Payless had to engineer a new strategy, it began with the new CEO Matt Rubel, he was hired because of its extensive experience with high-end brands, he knew that the company would have to design shoes that exclusive people would wear with prices that they could afford. Their new job was in charge of changing its image from the dusty cheap footwear into the fun, hip merchant of fashion. Rubel’s objective of their new strategy was not only give the brand image makeover but also position the company in such a way that the price increasing would seem like a bargain. Been more specific Rubel’s strategy plan was based on four major components. 1) Expanding the Brand Portfolio; this stage consisted in implementing what he calls â€Å"House of Brands† strategy instead of one product line create a well-known national brands. In terms to organize the new corporate structure and keep track of all its brands, he created a collective Brand. 2) The Payless Design Team; they want to develop products that would enter to the customers minds, that would resonate better with consumers, they were making emphasis on fashion, they Payless Design Team dedicated itself to develop original footwear and accessory designs to keep new styles on target with changing fashion trends. 3) Designer Collections; Payless created a strong relationship with some designers for the past, they have forged these three top New York based designers, so their homework was creating strong bonds with these designers, this benefits of this alliances are plentiful, because Payless gets brand cachà ©, making consumers get runway styles they can afford. 4) Fun Inspiring Store Formats; Payless redesigned its logo to reflect the new image and communicate change to consumers, they make some store formats, creating a new atmosphere, making a drastic improvement, stores more open, light and airy with a more satisfying consumer experience built around style and design rather than price. This new strategy implemented by the CEO Rubel will energize the old customers who they lost and also attract new ones. This trendy new image is perfect for existing customers. Payless has truck a formula for value that customers love. It remains confident that this strategy to democratize fashion will produce great results, regardless of future economic conditions. Furthermore of the implementation of the new strategy created by the CEO Rubel, Payless since its inception began with low prices or affordable prices, making a competitive advantage for the company, providing good profits. In 2008 when the global recession happened Payless took a hit, while other retailers were suffering because of its huge losses, Payless stores fared much better. Whereas the other retailers had loss many money in 2008, Payless gain a net profit of 88 million in 2009. To conclude, as well as the company manage two strategies to stay in the market and be competitive it would be great that for strengthen its strategy they can work in one of its four P ´s of the marketing mix, promotion, to attract more consumers, making more publicity of its brand and new designers that are part of the company, probably and we pretty sure they will bring more customers. If people know that those famous designers’ works for Payless, people are going to be more enthusiastic for buying good quality, good design for an affordable price. 1- Which of the different product mix pricing strategies discussed in the text applies best to Payless’s new strategy? From my point of view they are using a mix of different strategies. Firstly, skimming pricing. This is about selling a product at a high price, sacrificing high sales to gain a high profit, therefore ‘skimming’ the market. They have invested a lot of money to hire top notch designers, rebranding effort like remodeling stores etc. There needs to be some mechanism (read, strategy) to recover this cost. For some items they have even employed premium pricing. Interestingly, Payless came up with some really good product like Lela Rose, Abaete etc. On the other hand, they have products which are low as $12. As best strategy that they are employing; I would say that they are going for Product Line Pricing. They want their customers to get attracted by the big brands in their portfolio. In that way, other products will gain due importance too. So to customers, overall portfolio will look very attractive. The strategy for setting a product’s price often has to be changed when the product is part of a product mix. Companies usually develop product lines rather than single product. Product mix means in the same companies have many type product with they are brands it sold. Product mix pricing strategies consist of five elements which is product line pricing, product bundle pricing, by-product pricing, captive product pricing and optional-product pricing. In this case, the product mix pricing strategy Payless use is product line pricing. Product line pricing is setting the price steps between various products in the product line based on cost differences between the products, customer evaluations of different features and competitor’s prices. Payless has strategy product line, from one comprised almost entirely of store brands to one dominated by well-known national brands. Payless now sells shoes under numerous brand names that it either owns or licenses, including Airwalk, Champion, Spalding, Dexter, Shaquille O’Neal-endorsed Dunkman, and various Disney brands. Customer can buy many types of products with different prices by looking at size, width, color and design. For example, for boys’ shoes, they have many shapes, size, color, design, and numerous brands which they can get with difference price from $ 12.99 until $26.99. For girls, there are shoes in differences brand like Fioni, Amerian, Eagle, Dexter, Lela Rose, and Smartfit from $14.99 until $24.99. Most products Payless offers are under $50. Other than that, Payless has relationship with top New-York based designers Laura Poretzky, Lela Rose, Stacey Bendet and Patricia Field. The four are designing everything from pumps to boots to handbags for Payless. Payless sets most of the stores product line below $15. The company’s CEO, Matt Rubel also has suggested that in many cases, price increases may be as little as 50 cent per pair of shoes. But the expansion of its brand portfolio to include famous labels will certainly give payless greater pricing flexibility. 2- How do concepts such as psychological pricing and reference pricing apply to the Payless strategy? In what ways does Payless’s strategy deviate from these concepts? By definition, psychological pricing on the theory that certain prices has a psychological impact. The retail prices are often expressed as â€Å"odd prices†: a little less than a round number, e.g. $19.99 or  £2.98. There is no explicit reference given in the case where we see that they are using this strategy. As a matter of fact, we see that though Payless is increasing the price of their products. So, sudden upward movement of price may come as a shock to customers. This strategy of Psychological pricing can be employed in this scenario. Payless actually did not pay a heed to that and did not come up with any proper plan towards psychological pricing. In what ways does Payless’s strategy deviate from these concepts? By definition, psychological pricing is a pricing approach that considers the psychology of prices and not simply the economics. The price is used to say something about the product. Psychological pricing occurs when sellers consider the psychology of prices and not simply the economics. In the other hand, reference pricing is prices that buyers carry in their minds and refer to when they look at a given product. Consumers usually perceive higher-priced products as having higher quality. But what happen in Payless is, they did not increase the price of their product to gain higher quality product perception, but changed the image from dusty dungeon of cheap footwear into the fun, hip, merchant of fashion. In addition, Payless even re-designed their logo for the first time in 20 years. They then launched new â€Å"Fashion Lab and â€Å"Hot Zone† store format. It was a drastic improvement. As the result, Payless store now have more open, light, and airy thus creating a more satisfying consumer experience. Payless is now looking forward into style and design rather than price. This is where Payless’s strategy deviate from psychological pricing concept. Payless focuses more towards style and design of their product rather than price. They even upgrade their store environment into more comfortable places which then create customer satisfaction. With the new store environment, it makes the $12 shoe looks like a $20 shoe. However, Payless’s manipulating the reference pricing by implementing a drastic improvement in their store. They launched a new â€Å"Fashion Lab† and â€Å"Hot Zone† store format to create more open, light, and airy with a more satisfying consumer experience built around style and design rather than price. The new format not only attracts more customers, but they even make the customer willing to pay a little bit more than they have in the past. All new Payless stores now have one of the two new formats and old stores are being progressively remodeled. 3- Discuss the benefits and risks of the new strategy for both Payless and the designers with whom its partners. Which of these two stands to lose the most? Benefits of the new strategy would be for both, for the designers and for the company, those designers when working for Payless are going to be more recognized for most of the people, they are going to become more famous, they are going to outstand from the others, also people who really knows this designers would buy more frequently shoes on this store making this company richer. Now talking of the risks of the new strategy would be that for the designers maybe they are not well-paid for their work and also they lose status for working to a shoe retailer. Some people might not like these designers anymore because they are working on that company, so they lose credibility. A risk for the company would probably that maybe making these relationships with those designers they have more costs so it would not be sustainable for the company. We think that designers would go to lose more, because as we mentioned before they would lose credibility and consequently they are going to lose loyal customers. 4- Consider the scale on which Payless operates. How much of a price increase does Payless need to achieve to make this venture worthwhile? Payless was looking to move its average price point up a notch or two, due to the expansion of its brand portfolio to include famous labels that will certainly give Payless greater pricing flexibility. What they can do it’s a price adjustment strategy, looking for some variables they can apply to that specific company. For example they can use segmented pricing, they can segment their market. Psychological pricing, buyers have a reference of its price in their minds, also they can use geographical pricing; they can design different types of shoes for a different country depends on the fashion and the weather and also international pricing, analyzing some specific factors of the country, like laws and regulations, economic conditions. Looking all this price adjustments strategies they can achieve a good price depending on the place and making this venture worthwhile for the company and for the customers.

Eva’s death Essay

Also at the beginning of the play, Mr and Mrs. Birling come across as a well-off couple who are very well educated and in the public eye a lot when Mr Birling says to Gerald, â€Å"I could be in line for a knighthood, providing nothing goes wrong.† This means that if a scandal is linked with his family, then the public will turn against him, and therefore he won’t be able to get a knighthood. Because of this, the audience wouldn’t expect them to behave in the way they did, and when we find out what they did, and the affect they had on Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton, it’s quite shocking to see that they were both somehow involved in her death. And when we find out the reasons behind what they did, it changes the impression we get of them, and you see that they are quite selfish and take advantage of the power they have and who they inflict it upon. They are both quite wrapped up in their own lives, and anything that would lose them money or cause them grief, they take no notice of and dismiss the idea. Sheila and Eric are Mr and Mrs. Birling’s children. At the beginning of the play Sheila comes across as a bit childish and immature and maybe still relies on her mum and dad a lot when she say, † yes, go on, mummy. You must drink our health.† We get an impression of Sheila as being naive and shallow, but her comment, â€Å"last summer, when you never came near me,† which refers to Gerald, may suggest to us that she isn’t as stupid as she may seem. Eric seems a bit more mischievous and much more naive than Sheila, in the way he talks and how he acts. He seems embarrassed and nervous, as soon as he is mentioned in the play, as it says, â€Å"Eric suddenly guffaws,† and then doesn’t tell the other characters why he came out with it, which suggests he is nervous about something, which we later find out that it is the money he recently stole from his father, Mr. Birling. hI think Mr and Mrs. Birling are more ashamed of Eric and careful that he doesn’t do anything stupid to embarrass the family, but the family seem to get on with each other quite well, although you get the impression that there is some tension between Eric and Mr. Birling, when Gerald, Mr. Birling and Eric are talking about women’s love of clothes before the Inspector arrives. Sheila also has a link with Eva, who was employed at ‘Milwards,’ because Sheila thought Eva, was laughing at her when she tried on a dress that didn’t suit her. Eva was prettier than Sheila and the dress suited her more, which made Sheila irritated and envious of Eva, so she was guilty of a deadly sin, which was envy. Eric’s link with Eva was that he met her in the palace bar one thing lead to another and he got her pregnant, which made him guilty of lust towards Eva. Although Eric doesn’t seem very responsible he shows some initiative, as he was concerned enough to give Eva some money, which shows his priority was Eva’s future and not necessarily the consequences of stealing from Mr. Birling’s office. I don’t think the audience are too shocked to find out what Eric and Sheila are capable of, because they are young and quite naive, and they don’t seem to have much empathy towards other people, maybe because they haven’t experienced the things Eva has before. Their actions can be linked to their parents as they have a lot of power, so this may be filtered down to them, which they might exploit and take advantage of. By the end of the play Eric and Sheila have changed more than the other characters. Sheila feels extremely guilty for what she has done to Eva and frequently cries and sobs when the Inspector mentions Eva in the infirmary. Eric also feels guilty for what he did to Eva, he says, â€Å"the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her- and that’s what matters.† I think they have both changed because they are young and impressionable, whereas Mr and Mrs. Birling refuse to take responsibility for Eva’s death to save their reputation, and they have never been forced to examine their consciences before and they find that they can’t do it now, and are relieved when they find out the Inspector wasn’t real and want to forget about it and move on. At the start of the play we find out that Gerald is from a family who are socially better than the Birlings. We know this because after Mr.Birling tells Gerald he has the same port as his father gets, Gerald says, â€Å"The governor prides himself on being a good judge of port†. Gerald is also described as â€Å"an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred man-about-town.† We also know that he is the son of Lord and Lady Croft, and we are given the impression that they are not to keen on the engagement of Gerald and Sheila as they didn’t accept the invitation to the dinner. This makes us wander why Gerald would want to marry a woman of a lower status than him. Gerald was involved with Eva when he met her at the palace bar and let her stay in his friend’s empty flat in Bromley, as she had nowhere to stay, and he felt sorry for her. Eva, or Daisy Renton as Gerald knew her as, was his mistress for a time until she had to move out because Gerald was away on business. His involvement with Eva was different to the rest of the characters, because he actually tried to help her and did something good. In a way his actions are the most shocking because he is better-off than even the Birling’s, so you wouldn’t expect him to help out someone like Eva who hangs around in places like the palace bar, and you would have thought he would look down on people like her, and have no sympathy for them. I don’t think his actions fit in with the Gerald at the beginning of the play because he tells Sheila the reason why he didn’t see her much last summer was because he was busy at work, when he was with Eva at the flat, so we find out he was lying to Sheila, which you wouldn’t have thought he’d do as he says he wants to be part of the family and they seem to have a lot of respect for each other. Although Gerald seems moved by the news of Eva’s death, he isn’t entirely willing to admit his involvement with her, and this could be because of the same reason as Mr. Birling, that he wants to protect his own interests. At the end of the play he tries to come up with as much evidence as possible to prove that the Inspector isn’t real, which could potentially get him off the hook, if he could convince the rest of the characters that they had been hoaxed.

Integrated and multi-agency working Essay

1.1 Explain the importance of multi-agency working and integrated working. Multi-agency working allows practitioners from different sectors and professions to work together to support children, young people and families. It makes sure that the child has the best support it can have. It has amazing benefits for the child and early identification and intervention allows that child to have tailor made support, thus allowing the child to reach his/her full potential either in their learning or development. It is important that young children and their families have support as a holistic approach which is part of the government framework. For example.ECM Every Child Matters, the five outcomes of ECM is that we should be working together to achieve the best possible outcomes for the children. The five aims are as follows. 1. be healthy. 2. Stay safe 3 Enjoy and achieve 4Make a Positive contribution 5Achieve economic well-being. A very effect part of multi agency working is inclusion and so they will encourage the child to be a part of whole class learning and will plan and adapt lessons accordingly. So the individual agencies provide different areas of expertise and the child will have the benefit of the holistic approach. 1.2. Analyse how integrated working practices and multi-agency working in partnership deliver better outcomes for children and young people. There are many outcomes for children that will be positive if the professionals working with the children and their families can share and agree upon the way they might assess, plan and implement for the child. Both the children and their parents can be involved in any plans to ensure that a child can achieve their potential both educationally and developmental. It is far more beneficial for the child to have a group of people who are skilled in different areas working with them and their families rather than to have help in only one area. It is equally important that all professionals involved share information on progress because failure to do so may lead to that child not receiving the best advice or help possible., they also need to meet up on a regular basis with the parents, teachers or any adult that are working on a daily basis with that child to have current idea on their progress. It is also important that if they are working with a child who is culturally different to gain as much information and understanding of their culture and communities. Although sometimes the school cannot support all issues surrounding the child such as housing they can provide an important point of contact and organise other professional help thus giving the child a very good start in life. 1.3. Describe the functions of external agencies with whom your work setting or service interacts. In our setting we have several different agencies that come into the school to give extra support to children. Speech and language therapists come in to initially assess the child, they will then either give us a set programme to follow to enable us to work on a 1-1 basis or with a small group of children, and the programme can include things like listening to / following instructions, pronunciation of certain letters /words. The same programme will be sent home to parents and they will be encouraged to follow it to enable the child to have as much help as possible. The Childs GP may have made the referral to the speech and language therapist if they thought that the child had difficulty in communicating effectively. Social workers will work with the child’s family to help them improve many things such as housing issues, poverty or any health needs of if there has been a bereavement that the parents or child are having difficulty coming to terms with. Educational psychologists will work with a child who has specific learning needs or psychological needs; they are usually brought in by the setting and will usually work with the child in the setting. TAC (team around the child) This is 2 or more professionals from different areas who come in to support the child and their families, this is done by offering parenting classes and helping the parent cope with day to day situations that they find stressful, for example this could be arranging childcare or advising on budgeting. School nurse comes in to weigh child, do hearing, dental and sight tests and will inform parent of any specific problems which may arise once these tests are completed. 1.4 Explain common barriers to integrated working and multi-agency working and how these can be overcome. Some professionals use their own abbreviated language when talking about their areas of expertise which is only recognised by their profession and so other professionals from different fields may not understand what is being said or meant. Other professional people may be used to working on their own so may find it difficult to share knowledge or accept advice given to them on how to deal with a situation. Different professions may have a different way of dealing with risks and may have different views and priorities on how to deal with children; they may feel threatened or upset when they are asked to find new ways of working. In order to work together successfully it is important that each profession is respected and made aware that their knowledge is seen as a valuable contribution to the multi-agency working†¦ it is also important for the individual professions to open t heir minds and consider a different approach and to communicate with each other and remember that every profession is working towards the benefit of the child. The key to a multi-agency running smoothly is to have a lead professional who will act as a point of contact for the child and their families and who will then take responsibility for the other agencies involved and communicate between all of the professionals thus hopefully preventing any barriers. 1.5 Explain how and why referrals are made between agencies. If the class teacher has any concerns about a Childs development or progress and think that that child may have an underlying problem that is stopping them from reaching their full potential such as a hearing, speech or any SEN (Special Educational Needs) then they inform the SENCO (Special Educational Co- Coordinator), they will come and observe the child and then if they think along the same lines then they will decide on which professional to make a referral to. The parent can also ask to be referred to a professional agency if they think their child is having specific difficulties. The professional then comes in and do their observations and will decide whether that child will need to be involved with several different agencies or with one specific one, such as speech and language. The parents will always be informed and will be involved in any referral process. It is essential that the Childs needs are identified and assessed quickly so that the proper provision can be put in place as soon as possible and the child can participate and be included in mainstream school and reach their full potential. 1.6 Explain the assessment frameworks that are used in own UK Home Nation. As a way of providing early intervention for a child before their situation reaches crisis point the Children’s Act (2004) and Every Child matters (DFES 2003) outlined a Common Assessment framework (CAF). It is a shared assessment and planning framework. This consists of a form which is filled in by the school (At my setting this is usually completed by the child protection officer) and the parent and can. take between 1 and 1.30 hours to complete. It can include concerns about Childs health and safety within the family, learning and developmental needs, any concerns about poverty within the family or behavioural issues. Once completed the form is sent to the CAF admin who will decide which professionals need to be involved, this could be a single agency such as a support worker who will work closely with the family or a multi-agency (TAC team around the child). By intervening early hopefully this will stop the child being referred to social services and being taken away from their families. 3.3a Analyse the potential tension between maintaining confidentiality with the need to disclose information. Where abuse of a child or young person is suspected. If a child/young person confides in us and discloses information where I suspect they maybe being abused I cannot promise to keep it a secret because I will have to disclose the information given in order to protect them. I would tell them that I have to inform others and that they will not be in trouble, as a main feature of sexual abuse is that the abuser asks the child to keep this a secret and tell them that they will be in trouble if they say something. I would write down exactly what the child said and date and sign the form and discuss the issue with the child protection officer. Potential tension could occur between myself and that child as they may think that I have let them down and abused their trust and may be reluctant to reveal any more, also if the abuser is a family member then once they have been informed of the disclosure they may be angry and could come to the school and threaten me or my family members, they may also remove the child from the setting and that child would be terrified and feel that everything is their fault. The suspected abuser could also make allegations against me saying that I am making up the whole story in order to protect themselves and until the abuse is proven they may try to instigate a group of parents to be little me every day which would cause a very stressful and intimidating situation. For an older child they may decide to withhold some of the information and so I would make it clear to them that they have different options such as the NSPCC, Child line, if they felt they could not talk to me. 3.3b when it is suspected that a crime has been/ may be committed. Firstly it is important to define what the crime is and how serious the crime is, as crime can cover a wide range of things from things like DVD Piracy right through to murder. If I felt the crime would not harm the child or others such as the DVD piracy then I would keep the disclosure confidential because it is important that the trust between child, parent and school be maintained in order for the families to share other information with us. If a child is being hurt or their parents are involved in more serious crime such as abuse, violence, drug trafficking or burglary then it would be obvious that you have to break confidentiality to ensure that the child that you are looking after is not in any significant harm and is safe and protected, and although my reporting the crime to others and the police would cause considerable tension within the family which may even result in a prison sentence and there may be significant repercussions made to me, my duty of care is to that child and I have to protect them at all times. If it were an older child and they were committing serious crimes themselves then I would inform them that I would have to involve the police and break confidentiality , this would cause considerable tension between the child/ young person and myself as they would inevitably get into serious trouble and they may want to hurt me or my family, they may even find out where I live and burgle my house . If the child was taking or selling illegal substances then I would try to find out why they were doing so and then try to persuade them to seek advice from a drug counsellor or their GP, hopefully my early intervention may cause them to realise that what they are doing is wrong and they may see the error in their ways and change their approach to life and breaking confidentiality would be the right thing to do in order to support the young person in getting the best help available.

Group Dynamics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Group Dynamics - Essay Example This was primarily about assessing how serious they were in their passion for music, whether the group and its members loved the kind of music that I loved, and whether they were at par with me in their knowledge and skills about music. I could see that there was some imbalance between the kinds of behavior I expected and the kinds I actually received. But I could rectify this imbalance considerably by my efforts to prove myself before the other members and also sometimes by demanding what I felt, I deserved. I could prove to them that I was seriously passionate about music and that I have serious knowledge and skill in the subject as well. All the same, I could feel that the group and its members were evaluating me as well in the same way. I could feel they concluded their evaluation with a positive note and thus I also became an accepted and trusted member of the band. It was out of this whole experience that I became closely emotionally attached to the group. I also felt that by r emaining in this group, I could gain personally in future also. Thus I became totally committed to this group. I was the only keyboard player in this group and thus I could contribute to our dream to become a winner in the prestigious national level competition.

Definition of Marketing and Nutritional Supplements Assignment

Definition of Marketing and Nutritional Supplements - Assignment Example As a management process, it believe that it must incorporate the 4ps where the organization initiate a new product, sets the price, ensure that it is in the right place to a certain channel of distribution, and familiarization is enhanced through the right promotional techniques. Therefore, I can generalize and argue from a philosophical perspective that the entire process of marketing is social process in nature for it involves taking action to meet clients’ needs and realize organizational goals of increased sales through an exchange of products and customer’s value. To discuss marketing from my point of view, I will consider GNLD, a nutritional supplement company in the U.S. Nutritional supplements have increased tremendously due to the increased importance of essential vitamins and minerals that lack in people’s body. These important are not available in the normal diets. However, the increase in the Nutritional Supplements selling companies has increased havoc since medical practitioners have noted with concern that some of these companies are money making since their productions are not regulated increasing controversy surrounding the products. However, GNLD is an example of such a company, which for over 50 years has ensured good health to millions of people. Its purpose is ideally to empower individuals with essential knowledge and through their scientifically proven products realize long life health. The history of this company is unique. The founder, Jerry Brassfield, introduced this company at a very young age when he realized that quality supplements played a profound impact in restoration of people health. This was after his life was sa ved by his mother who healed his long allergy and asthma through addition of nutritional products in his food. Since the introduction of the company, it has achieved national and international success hence through the founder; the company

How Can Motivation Reduce Employee Turnover in the Banking Sector Dissertation

How Can Motivation Reduce Employee Turnover in the Banking Sector - Dissertation Example For this purpose, the researcher identified the importance of motivation by analysing past literature and available information. This helped in understanding the fact that motivation often impacts in a positive way leading to better understanding and performances of employees. The researcher also conducted primary and secondary research that further helped in understanding the role and importance of motivation in controlling and managing employee turnover. The secondary research is based on the understanding of motivation theories that include reinforcement theory and its advantages and disadvantages in motivating employees, incentive theory and its impact in improving the performance and satisfaction level of employees, equity theory and its impact in enhancing the satisfaction, trust and loyalty level, goals setting theory and its impact in offering direction to employees along with guiding and motivating them and need hierarch theory based on understanding and fulfilling the needs and demands of employees in an effective and expected way. The researcher also conducted primary research that helped in collecting views and responses of five human resource managers through structured interviews. The analysis of primary and secondary research offered relevant findings revealing the fact that motivation helps in enhancing skills and performances of employees if used in a positive and honest manner. However, there was no information and confirmation on the direct relationship of motivation and employee turnover. Overall, it was assumed that motivation is just a tool in enhancing the skills and performance of employees that may reduce employee turnover to an extent depending on the strategies and actions implemented by... The intention of this study is motivation as a term that refers to a process that controls and manages human behaviour in a positive way. Motivation can be defined as a series of phenomenon affecting human behaviour based on psychological, cognitive and social factors. Motivation helps in creating positive energy and feeling that in turn helps in enhancing the overall mood and behaviour of individuals. In organsiations, employees need to be motivates at every stage in order to achieve the organsiational goals and objectives. Motivation has been defined under certain concepts that need to be mentioned and examined in terms of reducing employee turnover within organisations. Initially, the researcher believes that basic concepts of motivation like intrinsic and extrinsic need to be discussed and later other concepts like push and pull and self control will be discussed in detail. Intrinsic motivation refers to the motivation that is developed deep within by individuals. When individual s start taking interest in certain tasks along with enjoying them; they are automatically motivated. Intrinsic motivation does not require any push or strategy and is often felt by individuals. Intrinsic motivation is all about deriving pleasure from activities that help individuals to grow and develop rather than depending on extrinsic factors like rewards and strategies. It is all about engaging individuals in tasks that they enjoy rather than offering tasks that do not appeal much to them. In the context of the banking sector, there are a number of tasks and activities that need to be executed and managed by employees.

Amistad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Amistad - Essay Example The Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico would continue to tolerate the outlawed slave trade until the 1860s, but eventually outlaw slavery by the end of the 1870s2. By the time of the Amistad incident, the feeling in America towards slavery had polarized. Feelings ran the gamut from the abolitionists that called for an immediate ban on slavery, to the people that felt a constitutional amendment was long overdue, and included the advocates that argued slavery was a states' issue and wished to prolong the practice, primarily in the rural South for economic reasons. In the Northern States, "the rising voices of black, as well as white, abolitionists are partly responsible for ending slavery in the Northern states during the first part of the nineteenth century"3. According to Jackson, "if many were sympathetic to the Africans, there were plenty of others among the American press and public with only contempt for them", and Cinque, the leader of the mutineers, was described by one journalist to be "as miserably ignorant and brutalized a creature as the rest"4. Many people such as "Lewis Tapan, a prominent New York businessman, Joshua Leavitt, a law yer and journalist who edited the Emancipator in New York, and Simeon Jocelyn, a Congregational" could sense the coming of the civil war over this unresolvable issue and "decided to publicize the incident to expose the brutalities of slavery and the slave trade"5. In 1839, the nation was deeply divided over the slavery issue and many people were willing to take a hard stance either for or against it. C. Legal aspects of the Supreme Court's decision. Though there was significant political and emotional pressure placed on the court, the eventual decision was a correct legal finding. The case rested on three principles; jurisdiction, the mutineer's status as slaves, and the concept of slaves as property. "The Spanish minister pointed out that the Amistad mutiny took place on a Cuban vessel traveling between Cuban ports and was thus beyond the jurisdiction of American courts"6. The court ruled that the mutineers were "kidnapped and free Negroes, the treaty with Spain cannot be obligatory upon them; and the United States are bound to respect their rights as much as those of Spanish subjects"7. The court rightfully found that they had been kidnapped, since they had been taken in violation of international agreements, and since they were being held as kidnapped captives, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision. "The court declared that the blacks had never been lawful slaves and that they were kidnapped and illegally transp orted to Cuba. Their mutiny was an act of self-defense"8. Adams challenged the Court to find a more sweeping decision "on the basis of natural rights doctrines found in the Declaration of Independence"9. However, the majority opinion "found slavery repugnant and contrary to Christian morality, he supported the laws protecting its existence and opposed the abolitionists as threats to ordered society. Property rights, he believed, were the basis of civilization"10. D. Impact of the Amistad incident on slavery. The impact of the Amistad incident gave the abolitionists a social and political boost that would continue to echo into the future. "The importance of the Amistad case lies in the fact that Cinque

USA Patriot Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

USA Patriot Act - Essay Example Section 215 gives the government power to look and search records of an individual’s activities that are in the hands of a third party. The act also grants the government powers to do secret searches. This also includes searching of private property without notices in accordance with section 213. The search also extends to collecting of foreign information for intelligence purposes as the act narrowly expands the fourth amendment under section 218. The expansion of the fourth amendment is further done in section 214 to include trap and trace search. This allows spying as it collects origin and destination of information and not just the content (American Civil Liberation Union par 5). The outcome of this is that the government has uncontrolled power to search through individual records. It no longer shows any evidence that the subject is an agent of a foreign power. The FBI no longer shows any substantial reason for surveillance, that the records are crime related. The claimed judicial oversight is basically nonexistent as all the government has to do is certify to a judge. The person subjected to search is prohibited from revealing it to anybody (American Civil Liberation Union par 7). The act goes against the spirit of constitution in many ways, especially section 215. It is a clear violation of the fourth amendment in two ways which states that the government has no power to conduct a search without a warrant or showing reason as to believe the subject is involved in or will be involved in crime. It also fails to provide notices to the person whose privacy has been trespassed. It also violates the first amendment that guarantees freedom of speech, yet the subject cannot another about the search. It further guarantees search by FBI on Americans based on their speech (American Civil Liberation Union par 8). The USA Patriot Act is a violation of civil liberty, first it gives the government power to conduct search and spy on individuals

Neil v. Biggers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Neil v. Biggers - Essay Example This ruling based on the show up identification brought about the precedence of making a ruling. The other precedence brought about by this case was due to the fact that the writ for habeas corpus in such a case cannot be cannot be accepted by a federal court. This is because of the affirmance according to the U.S.C 2244 (c). This therefore means that even if the case is appealed, the judgment of made by the lower courts still stands and no further action can be taken (Ingram 2011). This was the case when Biggers appealed the ruling of the case in the Supreme Court. Even though the Neil v. Biggers was ruled in favor of the show up identification process even though it was done over seven months after the assault had taken place, conflict of ideas were raised. This has led to development of more criteria which should be considered before judging an individual based on merely identification by an eyewitness. These criteria are proved by a psychologist employed to do so by the court. They look at several things like the time that has elapsed between the time the assault takes place and the identification process. This is meant to ensure that the memory of the plaintiff is still fresh and hence no wrong identification. Another guideline involves the accuracy of the description made earlier. This is done to ensure that there is no discrepancy whatsoever that may lead to the wrong person being incriminated and the assailant to walk free. All this is done before any ruling on the case is done and it ensures that the witness is really sure of what they are reporting before the court or in front of a jury. The other guideline criteria are on opportunity to view the assailant. This will include the physical features of the assailant like height, weight, skin complexion among other physical traits that will make it easy to identify the individual whether in a line up or

Interpersonal Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Interpersonal Communication - Research Paper Example The communication process differs from person to person. Each person, group or organization has a different approach and technique of communicating ideas, views and messages. The communication process in use depends on the availability of resources, skills and understanding of the members. This paper aims to analyze the fundamental elements of communication, the effect of self-concept, perceptions, listening habits, language differences and non-verbal elements on communication. Furthermore this paper ends up creating a discussion on personal methods to resolve the communication barriers and strategies to promote healthy interpersonal communication and relationships. II. Main Points A. Elements of Communication Process and their Importance 1. A brief intro to the elements and their relevant importance in the communication process 2. Factors affecting Communication Process B. Role of Self-Concept and Perception in Communication 1. Self-Concept and Perception with definition 2. The posi tive and negative impacts on communication C. Non-Verbal elements 1. The effects of non-verbal elements on Communication 2. The evaluation of environment, noise and other distractions on Communication D. Language Differences & Listening Skills 1. The effects of language differences and listening skills on communication patterns 2. Impacts of these elements on communication effectiveness E. Resolving Communication Barriers 1. Personal Methods to resolve barriers 2. Strategies to promote Healthy interpersonal communication III. Summary 1. The main points covered in the paper and the strategies proposed IV. Conclusion 1. An insight on the effects of factors which influence the communication barriers 2. A list of recommendations to avoid those barriers 3. Strategies to adopt in order to promote effective interpersonal communication Student Name Ramona L. Mata CA104 Interpersonal Communication 20 July 2007 Interpersonal Communication Report Introduction Communication is the tool to trans fer and share thoughts, ideas and views. It helps in expressing the emotions, sentiments and feelings of a person. There are many factors that affect the communication process between people and groups. These factors involve the attentiveness of people, cultural diversity among them, age differences, gender distribution, personal skills including listening and comprehension skills, personal feelings and point of views etc. The communication process differs from person to person. Each person, group or organization has a different approach and technique of communicating ideas, views and messages. The communication process in use depends on the availability of resources, skills and understanding of the members. This paper aims to analyze the fundamental elements of communication, the effect of self-concept, perceptions, listening habits, language differences and non-verbal elements on communication. Furthermore this paper ends up creating a discussion on personal methods to resolve the communication barriers and strategies to promote healthy interpersonal communication and relationships. Elements and Factors Affecting Communication Process Communication is an important part of our daily life. All dealings of our life varying from the smaller ones to the larger ones involve different aspects of communication pro

Child abuse Essay Example for Free

Child abuse Essay Child abuse is one of the biggest injustices of all time because it is a never ending cycle. Child abuse is the physical, sexual, or emotional mistreatment or neglect of a child. Children are young, innocent, and fragile. Their minds are like sponges, absorbing everything they see and feel. Thus, leading the children to being the advocate of child abuse when their older. Abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal behavior as an adult. Therefore, child abuse leads the victims to not have the opportunity to a bright future. Neglect is the most common form of child abuse. Over 75% of children who experience maltreatment or abuse suffer from neglect. For every incident of neglect thats reported, an estimated two incidents go unreported. Approximately one in ten young adults (9%) was cruelly neglected by parents or guardians during their childhood. Based on the interviews with 1,761 young adults between the ages of 18 to 24, one in 6 (16%) young adults were neglected at some point during their childhood, with one in 10 young adults (9%) severely neglected during their childhood. Based on the interviews with 2,275 children between the ages of 11 to 17, one in 7 (13.3%) secondary school children have been neglected at some point, with one in 10 children (9.8%) severely neglected. Based on the interviews with 2,160 parents or guardians of children under 11 years old, one in 20 (5%) of children under 11 have been neglected at least once before, with one in 30 (3.7%) severely neglected. On March 31, 2012 (or in Scotland on July 2012), there were 21,666 children in the United Kingdom on the subject of child protection plans under the category of neglect. On March 31, 2012 (or in Scotland on July 31, 2012), 43% of all children on the subject of child protection plans in the United Kingdom were under the category of neglect. There were 18, 220 children were the subject of a child protection plan under the category of neglect in England on March 31, 2012. In England, 43% of all children subject of a child protection plan were under the category of neglect on March 31, 2012. There were 1,006 children on the child protection register under the category of neglect in Scotland on July 31, 2012. In Scotland, 37% of all children on the child protection register under the category of neglect on July 31, 2012. There were 1,040 children on the child protection register under the category of neglect in Northern Ireland on March 31,  2012. In Northern Ireland, 49% of all children on the child protection register were under the category of neglect on March 31, 2012. There were 1,400 children on the child protection register under the category of neglect in Wales on March 31, 2012. In Wales, 48% of all children on the child protection register were under the category of neglect in March 31, 2012. In England, about one in seven children who became the subject of a plan for neglect in 2011-2012 had been subject to a plan at least once before. There were 6.2 million children referred to Child Protective Services in 2011. About 3.7 million children were investigated for maltreatment by CPS in 2011. There were 676,569 children decided to be victims of abuse or neglect in 2011. The most common victims of abuse and neglect are children age 2 and under. More than 11% of victims had a reported disability. In the U.S., there are about 1,570 child victims per year caused by maltreatment and an average of 30 child fatality victims per week. Most child fatalities were under 4 years old (81.6%) with 42.4% less than one year old. In the U.S., 37% of states limit information on child deaths and accidents. In the U.S., the yearly estimated direct cost of medical care of child abuse and neglect is $33,333,619,510. In the U.S., the yearly estimated direct and indirect cost of child abuse and ne glect is $80,260,411,087. The percentage of states that do not obligate legal representation for victims in abuse and neglect is 39%. There are about 408,425 children in the foster care system. About 27,854 of those children aged out of foster care. The percentage of the general population that has a bachelors degree is 30%. The percentage of former foster children that have a bachelors degree is 3%. The percentage of the general population in jail or prison is greater than 1%. The percentage of former foster children incarcerated since age 17 that are males is 64%. The percentage of former foster children incarcerated that are females is 32.5%. The percentage of the general population who experience homelessness during a year is greater than 1%. The percentage of former foster children who experience homelessness after aging out of the system is 24%. The percentage of former foster children who are unemployed for 1 year after aging out is 61%. The percentage of former foster children who are unemployed for 5 years after aging out is 53.5%. Ronald T. is a victim of physical abuse, emotional maltreatment, and neglect.

The War Play Dilemma Essay Example for Free

The War Play Dilemma Essay As violence in the media and media-linked toys increases, parents and teachers are also seeing an increase in childrens war play. The authors have revised this popular text to provide more practical guidance for working with children to promote creative play, and for positively influencing the lessons about violence children are learning. Using a developmental and sociopolitical viewpoint, the authors examine five possible strategies for resolving the war play dilemma and show which best satisfy both points of view: banning war play; taking a laissez-faire approach; allowing war play with specified limits; actively facilitating war play; and limiting war play while providing alternative ways to work on the issues. New for the Second Edition: * More anecdotal material about adults and childrens experiences with war play, including examples from both home and school settings. * Greater emphasis on the impact of media and commercialization on childrens war play, including recent trends in media, programming, marketing, and war toys. * Expanded discussion about the importance of the distinction between imitative and creative war play. * Summary boxes of key points directed at teachers or parents. * New information about violent video games, media cross feeding, and gender development and sex-role stereotyping. * A more extensive list of resources and further reading for adults and children. Here is a short pdf article by one of the authors on some of these themes: Beyond Banning War and Superhero Play http://www.lionlamb.org/young%20children-war%20play.pdf A few key ideas from the book: The deregulation of childrens media during the early 1980s (Reagan administration) led to an alliance of media companies and toy companies and other companies (like food companies); the result of this is an immersion for many children in an interlinked experience of seeing media about violence, purchasing related action figures and toys and video games, and  having these items promoted every place they go (whether to buy fast-food or just in other kids homes). This is a big change from the media environment from the 1960s and 1970s that many of todays parents grew up in. The authors point out that the behaviors promoted by this alliance tend to be very sex-role stereotypical, as in boys need to be fighters and girls need to be princesses. For many children, the authors suggest they can get locked into a pattern of endless cycling through stereotyped behaviors. While it is true that knights and princesses have long been important parts of many childrens play (so this is not intended to dismiss that), what has changed for some children is the tone and extremeness of those experience because of the high degree of continual interrelated media/toy/game/food saturation. Rather than children being able to express themselves building on those knight/princess themes in their own unique ways, because of the integrated marketing, for many children there becomes only one way to be a knight or a princess (as defined by some media and accompanying purchased toys to be used in only very precise and narrow ways). The book focuses mainly on the boy part of this equation. One of the authors has writings on the female stereotyping aspect of media and other issues, described here: http://www.dianeelevin.com/writing.html The dilemma is about a fundamental conflict parents face when dealing with war play. On the one hand, most parents want children to grow and develop by working through developmental issues (like learning to deal with conflict, learning self-control, and learning respect for themselves and others through play, including play involving conflicts as hands-on-learning). On the other hand, most parents want to convey social values related to their beliefs about violence and war as ways to solve social conflicts. The authors clearly do not say all war play is bad, and they also point out that even a cracker can be turned into a gun with one bite. The authors say there are no easy general answers to this dilemma in all situations, but provide a range of options. They suggest younger kids have trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality, and when children are getting hurt, they suggest pointing out to the children what is obvious to any adult, that some other child is just pretending to be a bad guy and they are not really a bad guy. (It can also helps to try to break out of the bad guy / good guy  mindset entirely, to talk about bad actions instead of bad people.) There are a variety of things one can say and do for children who have gotten locked into a repetitive cycle of war play. They give examples of questions to ask to try to help children broaden their behavioral options in regard to war play. These range from asking how the weapons are supposed to work, asking what if the weapon did some other thing (like sprayed foam instead of bullets), to asking what the bad guy does when he is not fighting. As an example of expanding behavioral possibilities, perhaps an interest in, say, light sabers might eventually lead to an interest in math and physics. Here are some funny related web pages: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber.htm Have you ever wondered how these remarkable weapons work? Where does the energy come from, and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power? In this article, you will have a chance to look inside a lightsaber and discover the source of its incredible characteristics. Lets get started! And an interest in light sabers might lead to imagining other non-stereotyped uses for one, also from that site: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber3.htm If you are lucky enough to acquire a lightsaber, you are probably purchasing it for personal defense purposes. A lightsaber completely blows away a can of pepper spray as a deterrent in muggings or robberies. However, many new owners are pleasantly surprised by the many domestic uses of a lightsaber around the home or office. Lets examine a few of the more common applications here, and then you can use your imagination to come up with others. One example there is how a lightsaber can both cut and toast a bagel at the same time. 🙂 From the table of contents, here is the list of topics in their Guidelines for Resolving the War Play Dilemma (each topic has a few pages of explanation and suggestions): * Guideline 1: Limit Childrens Exposure to Violence * Guideline 2: Help Children Engage in Creative and Meaningful Dramatic Play * Guideline 3: Learn as Much as You Can [about the media scenes kids view] * Guideline 4: In Childrens War Play, Address the Issues * Guideline 5: Work to Counteract the Lessons About Violence and  Stereotyping * Guideline 6: Make Keeping the Play Safe You Highest Priority * Guideline 7: Limit the Use of Highly Structured Violent Toys * Guideline 8: Work to Counteract Highly Stereotyped and Limiting Gender Roles * Guideline 9: Create an Ongoing Dialog Between Educators and Parents In my own life, I grew up being taught in public school that I lived in a modern day Athens. As Ive grow older, and paid more attention to politics and where taxes go, it feels more to me more like I live in a modern day Sparta. 🙠 Here is a long list of where many of our tax dollars have gone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events I was surprised to learn how long that list is, regardless of how one feels about the value of any specific event. Ive come to agree with the late Major General Smedley D. Butler (USMC Retired), based on his decades of combat experience, that War is a Racket: http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm Major General Butler talks about what war means for adults in our society in his essay. He starts: War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes. And it seems that, even while The War Play Dilemma book does not address that sort of global issue, a related profit motive seems to have seeped down over the past couple of decades into the media and toy environment that shapes part of our childrens lives (even against our wishes). It seems a few people are making a lot of money at the expense of our childrens balanced lives, to the degree war play has changed over the past few decades to become more and more commercially driven in all pervasive integrated ways (as documented in The War Play Dilemma). So, sadly, Id suggest War Play is a Racket, too. 🙠 And it is easy to say Well, if you dont believe in war play, just say no, but the fact is that just saying no is difficult in a culture saturated both in real war and in war play (without total isolation). The book talks about that difficulty.  Even just going to a local 5 10 store near where we live, about half the prominently displayed toys are war-themed action figures or weapons of various sorts an entire wall of them. Also, many types of media may start off non-violent or less-violent but turn more violent over time (whether Harry Potter as the series progresses or the Wall-e video game which about a third of the way through starts requiring inten tionally killing other robots to make progress, unlike the movie). And then there is the fact that what may be tolerable for older kids may not be so good for younger kids, so any family with two children of different ages faces another set of difficulties. Also, just saying no ignores the dilemma the fact that children do need to learn how to deal with conflict, and many do need to physically work through various issues in their growing lives in some way. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles concept was one of the first big profitable ventures in integrating violent-themed media with toy sales and other sales: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles#Toys_and_merchandise That theme has made over a billion dollars for some, as described on that page: Much of the Turtles mainstream success is owed to a licensing agent, Mark Freedman, who sought out Eastman and Laird to propose wider merchandising opportunities for the offbeat property. In 1986, Dark Horse Miniatures produced a set of 15 mm lead figurines. In January 1988, they visited the offices of Playmates Toys Inc, a small California toy company who wished to expand into the action figure market. Accompanied by the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 TV series, and the subsequent action figure line, the TMNT were soon catapulted into pop culture history. At the height of the frenzy, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Turtles likenesses could be found on a wide range of childrens merchandise, from PEZ dispensers to skateboards, breakfast cereal, toothpaste, video games, school supplies and cameras. How can you avoid something when it is in all those places? Again from Wikipedia: For many parents in the late 1980s, the Ninja Turtles phenomenon represented the latest in a series of shrewd cartoon-toy marketing strategies, a trend that had proven very profitable with Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and a host of other good vs. evil  action-adventure franchises. Parents often found themselves at odds with children who demanded scads of toys and accessories after being subjected to so-called 30 minute commercials delivered via after-school television. That Turtle concept is one of the obvious successes which has fueled a huge child-focused industry trying to repeat that financial gain by inventing the next violent characters with weapon merchandising tie-ins. Star Wars is another franchise which has been a similar success marketing to kids, in part because, while George Lucas signed away the distribution rights to the first Star Wars movie, he managed to retain the marketing rights to related products (in part because no one thought Star Wars would be very valuable as a media property). See: http://www.supershadow.com/starwars/history.html Growing up, I saw Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Star Trek, and so on on TV, and Star Wars several times in theaters, but the level of integrated marketing was much lower then, and there were many other shows for kids as well that were slower paced and generally resolved conflicts non-violently (Mr. Ed, Green Acres, Sealab 2020, the Andy Griffith Show, etc.). Even Lego now has ties to violent media. And also it was not easy to see the same episode more that once, so there was less channeling of behavior into repetitive acts. Im not saying getting lost in violent play did not happen to some kids, just that is was harder back then to be that immersed in a violent media world continuously, especially as a pre-teen (not impossible, just harder). The book explains why is a more difficult situation to deal with these days. Reading that book gave me some more perspective on the situation as a parent, and why it is so hard to come up with useful approaches, especially given the tension between a desire to help children learn by working through conflicts and a desire to pass on social values. Some other related resources Ive found useful: A book: No Contest: The Case Against Competition by Alfie Kohn http://www.amazon.com/No-Contest-Case-Against-Competition/dp/0395631254 He persuasively demonstrates how the ingrained American myth that competition is the only normal and desirable way of life from Little Leagues to the  presidency is counterproductive, personally and for the national economy, and how psychologically it poisons relationships, fosters anxiety and takes the fun out of work and play. He charges that competition is a learned phenomenon and denies that it builds character and self-esteem. Kohns measures to encourage cooperation in lieu of competition include promoting noncompetitive games, eliminating scholastic grades and substitution of mutual security for national security. Here is a small family run company that sells non-competitive games: http://www.familypastimes.com/ It amazes me it took me forty plus years before playing a board game where you help each other instead of try to virtually hurt each other. Here is another related book to understand the seductiveness of war play, both for adults and children: http://www.amazon.com/War-Force-that-Gives-Meaning/dp/1400034639 The communal march against an enemy generates a warm, unfamiliar bond with our neighbors, our community, our nation, wiping out unsettling undercurrents of alienation and dislocation, writes Chris Hedges, a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. In War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Hedges draws on his experiences covering conflicts in Bosnia, El Salvador and Israel as well as works of literature from the Iliad to Hannah Arendts The Origins of Totalitarianism to look at what makes war so intoxicating for soldiers, politicians and ordinary citizens. That seductiveness in one reason that selling violent media about good versus evil is such a profitable thing in our culture. It is seductive to think all of lifes problem would go away if we could identify all the bad people responsible for making trouble and then kill them all(*) but that unfortunately all too often leads to genocide: The Eight Stages of Genocide http://www.genocidewatch.org/eightstages.htm All cultures have categories to distinguish people into us and them by ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality: German and Jew, Hutu and Tutsi. Bipolar societies that lack mixed categories, such as Rwanda and Burundi, are the most likely to have genocide. The main preventive measure at this early stage is to develop universalistic institutions that transcend ethnic or racial divisions, that actively promote tolerance and understanding, and  that promote classifications that transcend the divisions. The Catholic church could have played this role in Rwanda, had it not been riven by the same ethnic cleavages as Rwandan society. Promotion of a common language in countries like Tanzania or Cote dIvoire has also promoted transcendent national identity. This search for common ground is vital to early prevention of genocide. And an alternative view on infinite game playing from one of my wifes favorite books by James P. Carse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_and_Infinite_Games In short, a finite game is played with the purpose of winning (thus ending the game), while an infinite game is played with the purpose of continuing the play. And of course, there is Mister Rogers: What do you do? (with the Mad That You Feel) http://pbskids.org/rogers/songlist/song7.html Anyway, whatever one may think about the political necessity of past or current US wars, the fact is that even for the most dedicated military families, having their own children learn diplomatic options for resolving conflicts is important, as is learning how to contain the expression of violence to whatever is deemed socially appropriate for the situation (including the difficulty of coming home after being in a war zone). While it is true that a big part of military basic training involves desensitizing people to killing other people, another big part of military training involves learning to only kill on command according to rules of engagement. For many kids playing at war, even being able to learn rules of engagement like dont shoot unarmed civilians would be an improvement. Even the top military brass advocate alternatives to violence: U.S. Military Chief Urges More Diplomacy

Death And Paralysis In The Sisters

Death And Paralysis In The Sisters In order to recognize that Joyces Dubliners is a work unified by death, it is necessary for one to return to the beginning, where a meticulous reading is paramount, and start again. The opening story, The Sisters, is concerned with death and its impact upon the living individuals left in its wake. If the reader considers its function as essentially an introductory chapter, one will start to detect a palpable semblance of unity throughout Dubliners, as this story establishes the overarching theme of death and its associated motifs: paralysis, silences, and epiphanies-the latter of which are inextricably rooted in the poetics of modernity. The Sisters is a story that is concerned with youth, which represents the beginning of a progression from childhood to maturity. In this regard, the storys form parallels the narrative for the reader, as the story at its heart is concerned with the young narrators developing awareness; at the same time, the reader starts to acquire a simultaneous awa reness of the afore-mentioned themes and motifs. As we shall see, The Sisters functions as a gnomon for the entire collection of stories, as its narrator is but one of many more who are stifled and subjugated by their environment-like a patient etherized upon a table, as the ubiquitous J. Alfred Prufrock might say (Eliott 1). The Sisters ushers the readers into the world of Dubliners through the eyes of a child narrator. The narrator, along with the reader, confronts images of death in the opening paragraph through a lighted square of window-analogous to the window-panes of J. Alfred Prufrock. It is here, at the very beginning, that the narrator introduces the word paralysis, heralding a theme which reoccurs with death throughout the entirety of Dubliners. In A Beginning: Signification, Story, and Discourse in Joyces The Sisters, Staley emphasizes the beginning paragraph as an overture for the themes, conflicts, and tensions that were to be evoked again and again à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ throughout all of Dubliners (20). Furthermore, Staley affirms that the initial sentences tone of finality and certainty à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ begins the circle of death for Dubliners (22). If one were to accept Staleys claim that the opening paragraph acts as an overture for the novel, it could then be argued that death and paralysis ar e not to be seen as separate entities in the context of Dubliners, but that the two are directly related, if not intertwined. Father Flynn, through his physical paralysis, comes to embody many of the characters in Dubliners, the majority of whom are paralyzed to some extent, whether it is physically, mentally, or emotionally. Later, the reader witnesses the manner in which death interrupts or arrests the living, as the narrator lays in the dark of [his] room and imagines that he sees the heavy grey face of the paralytic (Joyce 11). Already, one can intuit that the dead play a haunting role in Dubliners, as Gothic elements are common to modernist literature. This is evidenced here, as the narrator feels that he is smiling feebly like the paralytic priests cadaver (11). Indeed, at this point the living and dead start to merge as a single image, with the narrator mirroring the state of an immobile Father Flynn. In his critical essay on The Sisters, Corrington states that the boy and the old man fuse briefly through this smile, which contrasts elements of youth and death (24). The innocence of youth is tainted early in Dubliners, as death and Father Flynns deathly influence permeate The Sisters, looming behind both reader and narrator like an ominous shade. The child narrator may very well be a reflection of the reader, mirroring the thought processes that lead to a simultaneous realization of deaths paralyzing nature in the world of Dubliners. The narrators epiphany on deaths paralyzing quality is inadvertent, even ironic, as he calls attention to a sensation of freedom as if [he] had been freed from something by his death (Joyce 13). His actions in the story are contrary to this supposed sense of freedom; it becomes apparent that Father Flynns influence fills the silence that he left behind and acts as an interrupting force. Such a force bears similarities to the dead Catherines effect upon Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, where the latters life is dominated by her memory. Indeed, the narrator goes so far as to anthropomorphize paralysis as a maleficent and sinful being that fill[s] [him] with fear, yet he long[s] to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work (Joyce 9). The boy is both repelled and oddly compelled by the paralysis he experiences here, which exposes his inability to be truly free from Father Flynns death. Therefore, paralysis can be regarded the work of death, as both the boy and his sisters find the mselves utterly torpid in the wake of Father Flynns passing. The boys inability to find any fraction of freedom from Father Flynns death becomes more evident as his mental haunting persists. Here, the child imagines the heavy grey face of the paralytic and feels the apparition follow [him] (Joyce 11). Father Flynn is referred to synecdochically here, defined by a heavy grey pallor that suggests death incarnate, further melding themes of death and paralysis. More importantly, perhaps, the narrator has rendered Father Flynn incomplete, a gnomon by definition. Joyce employs the Euclidian definition of gnomon: a remainder after something has been removed (Joyce 9). This depiction of Father Flynn becomes significant later when one considers who is left more complete by the end of the story, and further relates to Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, who is left incomplete by his loss of Catherine, making him a gnomon of sorts as well. Nonetheless, this point illustrates the narrators inability, or perhaps reluctance, to be freed by Father Flynns passin g. Indeed, it seems significant that he imagine[s] Father Flynns face rather than dreaming about it, which would indicate a sort of conscious rejection of letting the dead be truly dead. In Dubliners: A Students Companion to the Stories, Werner states that when contemplating the word paralysis, the boy attributes to it an active presence that he wishes to observe rather than evade, and the same can be said about the concept of death for the narrator, as both themes are interlaced throughout the story (45). The development of consciousness in regard to death and its paralyzing quality is central to The Sisters. This development points to the storys role as a beginning, as the maturation, or lack thereof, of the various narrators consciousness and perception later becomes a major issue throughout Dubliners. Epiphanies are abundant in Dubliners, as they are in Virginia Woolfs To the Lighthouse, T.S. Eliots The Wasteland, and other modernist literature; nonetheless, as Werner notes in Dubliners: A Students Companion to the Stories, Joyce only gradually focuses his attention on the experience of revelation (47). Furthermore, the increasing complexity of his epiphanies is basic to the mature voice capable of articulating the contingent experiences of truth as an ongoing process for character, author, narrator, and reader (55). Such a development can be seen in the various protagonists encounters with death in Dubliners. In particular, The Sisters represents a beginning for both reader and na rrator. Just as the boy is experiencing his first encounter with death, the reader is experiencing his first bitter taste of life within the world of Dubliners. As a result, there is a simultaneous introduction to life and death. The moment of realization in the penultimate paragraph displays the narrators perception of death, as he states simply that the old priest was lying still in his coffin as we had seen him, solemn and truculent in death (Joyce 18). Here, the narrator still attributes a certain sense of hostility to Father Flynn as if to further affirm the haunting qualities of his death. The detached style in which Joyce imparts this realization is important, as it indicates that the narrator is barely cognizant of anything beyond the dead body. As Beck states in Joyces Dubliners: Substance, Vision, and Art , this realization communicates no incredibly precocious philosophical breakthrough, but the verisimilitude of a dawning awareness, a gradual, hushed, yet decisive epiphany (Beck 43). More importantly, the boy does not seem conscious of his paralysis as later narrators, such as Gabriel Conroy and Duffy, are. If the opening story is essentially a framing device, one can assume that the child narrator in The Sisters exhibits the start of a vicious cycle of internalizing paralysis. Werner claims that the narrator of Araby represents the first stage in the development of a destructive solipsism portrayed in adult characters such as Duffy, but one can argue that this stage actually begins with the narrator of The Sisters (54). Furthermore, Beck notes that the narrator of the Sisters eventually realizes his identity just that much more, and with it his secret isolation (43). Indeed, the core of the story is the boys beginning to see into himself as to the life around him, specifically the impedance of death upon that life. Death is the catalyst for epiphanies in both The Sisters and A Painful Case. In the former example, death triggers an emotional paralysis in the living, while in the latter story, death causes a realization of Duffys pre-existing emotional paralysis. Here, it is important to expound upon the significance of the narrators youth in the story. As Werner notes, the stories of childhood in Dubliners picture early confrontations of young boys with their corrupt environment (41). In The Sisters, such an environment is marked by an inevitable convergence of the living and the dead wherein the latter haunts the former. The young narrator is paralyzed by the external circumstances of his life, as Werner would argue. In fact, Werner goes on to claim that such a suffocating experience encourage[s] even the more sensitive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ children to accept and internalize paralysis, which leads directly to adult counterparts who have surrendered utterly to paralysis (41, 42). James Duffy, the protagonist in A Painful Case, exemplifies the adult Dubliner who has repressed his emotional paralysis for entirely too long, measuring his life in coffee spoons in the same manner as J. Alfred Prufrock. Silence is introduced in the opening paragraph as yet another motif to be associated with death. As mentioned, the narrator of The Sisters characterizes the very presence of Father Flynns corpse with an antagonistic silence. However, one should note the relationship between Father Flynns silence and the sisters referenced in the title, as the two entities are almost at odds with one another. As the story progresses, the sisters keep attempting to break the persistent silence with their patter, but the dialogue is only ever about Father Flynn. In this manner, the dead haunt even the speech of the living. Corrington remarks that the old man has had a certain degree of ascendance over [the sisters] and even in death, he is their primary concern (22). Corringtons comments are primarily concerned with the sisters as a symbol of devoted service to the Catholic Church, the notion of Father Flynns ascendance and enduring presence speak to the haunting nature of the dead. Father Flynn is neve r more than a cadaver in The Sisters, yet his influence is undeniable. He looms over the environs silently, but to such an extent that the silence becomes a malevolent force. Rabate comments on the nature of silence in the context of Dubliners, writing that silence can finally appear as the end, the limit, the death of speech, its paralysis (33). If one works within the notion of silence as an antagonistic opposition to speech, the final moments of The Sisters can be seen as the ultimate paralysis inflicted by the dead Father Flynn. Joyce ends with Elizas speech, interrupted by ellipses before it finally trails off, imparting a paralyzing silence upon the reader. It is as if the characters, like J. Alfred Prufrock, are left wondering the same: how should I begin? Joyce extols little intimation of hope within the world of Dubliners, where the living portray an emotionally paralyzed life equivalent to that of the dead. It is only upon further examination that one can argue that Joyce actually glorifies death to some extent and indicates it as a more amenable condition. Although the eponymous sisters dialogue throughout the story is rife with clichà ©, a particular assertion is striking. Eliza declares that Father Flynn had a beautiful death, which brings to mind Joyces claim that death is the most beautiful form of life (Joyce, Dubliners 15; Joyce, James Clarence Mangan 60). She goes on to say that Father Flynn make[s] a beautiful corpse, which contrasts the paralyzed depiction of his earthly life. In fact, Father Flynn is marked by a certain incompleteness from the opening paragraph of The Sisters, when the narrator associates the priests paralysis with the word gnomon (Joyce 9). As mentioned, the narrator only represents Father Flynn symboli cally-by his face-which further suggests an incompleteness. Finally, the broken chalice symbolizes the beginning of Father Flynns broken state-his burgeoning madness. Another definition of the word gnomon is applicable to Father Flynn; as discussed in lecture, it is a shadow cast as on a sundial (66). Father Flynns influence as a deathly shade is undeniable, as he lingers throughout the story. On the other hand, his being, or lack thereof, serves to illuminate the partial, reduced lives of Joyces Dubliners, which seems to be Joyces ultimate goal here (66). The storys explicit concern with the dynamic of life and death is a deliberate one, as Joyce carefully arranged the order of stories in Dubliners (Beck 42). Indeed, the exploration of life and death is both central to modernity and the major crux upon which Dubliners is unified. Thus, Becks concern with the meaning and interpretation of the story are secondary to revealing the manner in which it functions as an overture to the novel (42). Ultimately, The Sisters establishes a pattern of the dead impacting life to the point of paralysis that is not altered until the final story. The Sisters makes it possible to explore the later stories of Dubliners in the context of themes and motifs set forth from the very beginning. Werner states that the remainder of Dubliners fulfills [the narrators] longing to be nearer to paralysis and its deadly work, which is an accurate assessment, as Joyce continues to develop this particular theme throughout the work (35). It is this inexplicable, paradoxical longing that harkens back to the poetics of modernity and notions of the sublime. The Sisters functions as an overture for Dubliners, introducing the themes and motifs that serve to unify the novel. Death and paralysis are intertwined throughout Dubliners, as they are in many other modernist works. Paralysis is present not only in The Sisters, but in A Love Song for J. Alfred Prufrock, in which the titular protagonist wonders endlessly, do I dare? The impact and implications of death can be seen as well through the influence of Father Flynn. Like Catherine of Wuthering Heights, he hovers over the lives of others like a shade, lending Gothic elements to an otherwise realistic, if stagnant depiction of Irish life. These themes provide an appropriate context-a modernist context-in which the rest of the novel can not only be enjoyed, but properly engaged.

The Idiot Savant Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Idiot Savant   Ã‚  Ã‚   An idiot savant is defined as a person who is incredibly adept at one particular skill but is completely incapable in other aspects of life such as learning, reading, writing and decision making. The term idiot savant was applied to people with this disorder in 1887 by Dr. J. Langdon Down. The term idiot savant is basically an oxymoron. "Idiot" means someone who is in a class of people with an IQ less than 25, and "savant" comes from French and literally means "learned one." People can be born idiot savants, or it can be acquired later in life, even as late as adulthood. The major mystery with idiot savants is that they don't learn the knowledge they have, they just mysteriously have it.    Many people who are idiot savants are autistic. Approximately ten percent of people with autistic disorder have some savant skills. Only one percent of people with other forms of mental disability have savant skills. However, since other forms of mental disability are more common than autism, it turns out that fifty percent of idiot savants have au...

Art - A Culturally Constructed Myth :: American Culture Essays

Art - A Culturally Constructed Myth The development of semiotics in the 20th century revealed much about ideology in mass culture. Structuralist Roland Barthes' texts on the matter are very much products of their times, yet many still have a troubling modern-day relevance. Barthes' Mythologies demonstrates the possibilty to find meaning through the 'trivia' of everyday life. He claims to want to challenge the 'innoncence' and 'naturalness' of cultural texts and practices, as they are capable of producing a multitude of supplementary meanings, or 'connotations'. Although objects, gestures and practices have a certain utilitarian function, they are not resistant to the imposition of meaning. Barthes wants to suspend consideration of function, and concentrate rather on what things mean and how they function as signs. Mythologies is a study of the ways in which mass culture constructs this mythological reality and encourages conformity to its own values. Barthes' analysis of signs reveals that there are very few 'innoncent' objects, that almost everything is 'coded' (assigned meaning). Barthes arrives at this conclusion based on his theory of myth: that a form (expanded from Saussure's sound-image, which was limited to linguistics) and a concept create mythologies: sign systems that render one dominant meaning (or 'signification'). For the receiver, this signification arrives automatically and smoothly, thus seemingly denying the intentional re-coding. Barthes believes that this constant creation of myth is how a culture invents its beliefs and narratives, and is able to find meaning in the world. This premise draws a particular parallel in our contemporary society: for it is my hypothesis that our culture now locates meaning through mythological art (whether fine, commercial, popular, industrial etc.). Has art truly become myth? In order to 'read' or deconstruct myth, Barthes suggests, one must (1) accept the myth as a cultural construction, thus emptying its meaning; (2) rear the myth as full, identifying all possible signs and significations; and finally (3) recognize the signifier as both empty and full, capable of signifying many things, yet with only one clear, dominant meaning. It is my argument that such a deconstruction can render art as myth. Having realized art as a structured cultural phenomenon, and having emptied its direct and apparent meaning, it is possible to identify all its possible significations. Interestingly enough, I find that art reveals many diametrically opposed significations: expression and oppression, bias and acceptance, individual and society, creativity and confinement, and freedom and convention, among others. Art signifies the de-politicization of our culture, for even the most political of pieces cease to cause a stir among the masses.