Mattel’s China Experience

In 1945, the Mattel brand was born. Ruth and Elliot Handler and Harold â€Å"Matt† Matson launched Mattel out of a garage workshop in Southern California. The first Mattel products were actually picture frames, but Elliot soon started using those picture frames to create dollhouse furniture. Harold Matson eventually sold out to his partner, Ruth and Elliot Handler. The Handler’s, encouraged by the success of the doll furniture and turned the emphasis of the company to toys. By 1955 Mattel was advertising toys through the popular show â€Å"Mickey Mouse Club†; this revolutionized the way toys were marketed. By 1959 Mattel had introduced Barbie, named after their daughter Barbara’s nickname. Barbie would soon lead Mattel to the forefront of the toy industry and fascinate girls all over the world for decades. In 1960, Mattel became a publicly owned company, stock was listed was listed on the New York and Pacific Coast Stock Exchanges in 1963. By 1965, sales topped $100 million and the company joined the Fortune 500. In the years to come Mattel would enter the ever growing electronics industry, they would also enter several joint ventures and licensing agreements that would earn them more profit (Mattel History, www. Mattel. com). In 2010, Mattel posted profit of $24. 8 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with a loss of $51 million, or 14 cents a share in the previous period. Sales totaled $880. 1 million, an increase of 12% compared with $785. 6 million a year earlier (Chang, 2010). A host of external factors can influence a firm’s decision of direction and action. Influencing Mattel’s decisions are economic factors, social factors, political factors, technological factors and ecological factors. Mattel must lso understand the globalization strategy as it will allow them to pursue opportunities anywhere in the world and enable them to optimize business functions in the countries in which it operates (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Companies such as Mattel, seeking lower prices have benefited from the â€Å"China price† which was 30 to 50 percent cheaper than the cost to make the equivalent product in the U. S. Companies choose China for a variety of reasons including lower business costs, cheaper labor, facilities, plant and equipment and raw materials. There were also differences in regulatory oversight between China and many other countries, including the U. S. The U. S. banned lead toys in 1978; China only signed an agreement to do so in September of 2007 (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Being a global company, Mattel faces multiple political, economic, legal, social and cultural environments as well as various changes within each of them. Other issues arise in geographic separation, cultural and national differences and variations of business practices which all tend to make control and communication efforts between headquarters and the overseas affiliates difficult. Global companies like Mattel also face intense competition due to the differences in industry structures within countries. External factors such as technological change force Mattel to promote innovation to remain competitive. Mattel must be aware of technological changes that might influence its industry. Political factors are also considered external and are designed to benefit and protect firms like Mattel. Political constraints are placed on firms through actions like fair trade decisions, antitrust laws, tax programs, minimum wage legislation, pricing and polluting, many of these aimed at protecting employee’s (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Outsourcing to China also creates concerns in quality control as in the case of the 2007 recall for Mattel. In July of 2007, Mattel announced it would be voluntarily recalling some of its products from a contract manufacturer in China that was utilizing non-approved paint containing lead. Mattel requires that their manufacturing partners use paint from approved and certified suppliers and have procedures in place that test and verify but in this particular instance, procedures were not followed. Of the 19 million plus Mattel toys recalled, 2. 2 million were because of lead paint. Toys were pulled from the shelves of retailers, media frenzy ensued and public pressure was mounting. By the time the dust had settled from the recall, Mattel had recalled over 19 million toys that were produced in China. Their stock price had declined as they took a $40 million charge for the recalls and their cost increased. Customers were threatening to boycott Mattel and all toys that were made in China. When it appeared nothing could get worse for Mattel, congress sent a letter in 2008 charging that Robert was not honoring the commitment he made to the public during the initial recall incident (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Mattel had to determine what next steps they would take to recover from such a crisis and move quickly in order to protect their brand. Mattel had to identify an approach to the recalls that would enable them to protect the Mattel brand and their reputation while not undermining their intent to be the â€Å"World’s Premiere Toy Brand – Today and Tomorrow† (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Moving forward a solution this type of dilemma should include increased quality control efforts in all areas, increased audits and inspections to retain compliance with industry standards. Chinese policy makers would also need to review their policies and change the countries practices to reduce such problems. In the months after the recall China announced high profile inspections and clampdowns on quality. Another solution would be for producers could subject individual shipments of toys to the same box-by-box inspection that is now applied to pet food additives. China could also force exporters to conform to foreign food and product safety standards, even if they exceed China’s own laws (Oneal, Callahan, & Osnos, N. D. ). Current safety checks in place, including independent audits would need to be reviewed as they did not prevent the chain of events leading to the recall (Story, 2007). There are many different solutions mentioned above that could work together to minimize the likelihood of such massive recalls in the future. Mattel should increase its quality controls for the toy industry, especially for product produced in China. The company and its subsidiaries should comply with the suggested standards of the CPSC Toy Safety Standards which can inspect, monitor, prosecute and even fine for defects. Mattel should report a defect or recall within 24 hours of discovery which did not happen in this case and lead to many distraught consumers that had lost faith in the Mattel brand. Instead of shifting blame to producers in China, Mattel needs to realize that it was their choice to produce in China and therefore the producers are not completely at fault. Mattel also needs to determine the root cause of the problem in order to perform corrective action and prevent it from happening again. Increased quality control and testing should be implemented immediately after a recall of this magnitude. Investigations should take place immediately and continue ongoing until it is deemed that all quality control issues have been addressed. Mattel should take appropriate actions with its producers if it finds that their safety procedures were knowingly ignored. In this case Mattel worked to intercept incoming shipments to keep potentially hazardous problems from being placed on store shelves. Mattel should continue to focus on protecting children from lead-tainted imports (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). In conclusion, in preparation for another scenario similar to the toy recall, Mattel could incorporate the following objectives into their action plan. Objective 1: Get all pertinent information about the recall to the public accurately, efficiently and quickly. Objective 2: Reassure consumers, parents especially, that Mattel is committed to making the safest toys, fixing the problem and being honest and open. Objective 3: Take responsibility for the recall, Mattel should solve the problem while maintaining a stable relationship with producers in China (Mattel Toy Recall, 2007).

Bob Dylan: An Influence for a Generation

â€Å"A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between dose what he wants to do† –words spoken by the singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. Being a man of success himself, yet a very humble and simple man, changed the way people view musical quality. Dylan was awarded with the number one song in the twentieth century with those lyrics from his masterpiece Like a Rolling Stone, by Rolling Stone Magazine. His poetic words were heard all across the world, inspiring all who heard his voice. Telling tales of political and civil injustice, Dylan’s words brought normal everyday life a new sense of hope through tough times in a person’s life. Discussed will be the early era of Dylan from his unique musical talents during his childhood which drove him to his writing pieces, himself as an inspirational and motivated leader of the 1960’s and how his powerful music makes him one of the most influential musicians of all time. In the beginning, Bob Dylan was born Robert Allan Zimmerman on May 24th, 1941 in Duluth Minnesota (Heatly, 126). Dylan was raised in a middle-class family to his parents Abraham and Beatrice Zimmerman (Martin). His father owned Zimmerman Furniture & Appliance Company in the small town of Duluth, but the family was forced to move to the nearby town of Hibbing after he lost the business due to him becoming ill with polio in 1946 (Kooper). Dylan was raised in Hibbing, Minnesota from the age of seven and lived there for most of his childhood (Heatly, 126). Raised in a small town, Dylan was musically inclined and had a great significance in music at an incredibly young age which brought him to learn many various instruments at the same time. He took piano lessons when first moving to Hibbing, but became impatient with the teacher so decided to quit lessons and began to teach himself how to play piano, guitar and harmonica; without surprisingly knowing how to read music (Martin). With his yearning for music, Dylan was largely influenced by the late-night radio broadcasts of the country, blues and rock-and-roll, during his mid-teens (Heatly, 126). Some of his favorites were the blues musicians, which included Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Jimmy Reed (Martin). Dylan’s favorite musical idol was Woody Guthrie, who was a socially-conscious singer/songwriter of â€Å"This Land is Your Land† and several other protest songs (Heatly, 126). Always knowing he wanted to be a musician, Dylan tried to play in many bands as possible during high school and throughout college as well. In 1959, just before enrolling in college, he served a brief stint playing piano for the rising pop star, Bobby Vee (Kooper). With some musical experience, Dylan participated in several high school rock bands while studying at the University of Minnesota with a high interest of American folk music (Heatly 126). While in college, Dylan discovered the bohemian section of Minneapolis know as Dinkytown (Kooper). An after Dylan explored the talent that came out of Dinkytown; Dylan was inspired to quit the University of Minnesota and became a full-time musician. Dylan traveled to the East Coast, playing at several Greenwich Village coffeehouses and was gaining rising fame (Heatly, 126). He went by the phony name of Bob Dylan, which was picked out after the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Dylan picked him because he liked many of Thomas’ poems (Kooper). During his travels between coffeehouses, Dylan was determined to meet up with musician Woody Guthrie. Guthrie, who was actually in a New Jersey hospital dying from a neurological disorder called Huntington’s Chorea. Dylan was able to speak to Guthrie, his idol, before he passed away†¦ but never explained in detail of their only and final conversation between each other (Heatly, 126). With his multiple coffeehouse performances, his career took off and still soars to this day. Bob Dylan became a common name and his skills of music and lyrics became widely known; which make you wonder what was said between him and Guthrie? Bob Dylan is a very skillful songwriter, usually expressing his ideas through his well known protest songs. His protest songs often dealt with problems caused by social and political injustice, which include â€Å"Blowin in the Wind and â€Å"The Times They Are A-Changin† (Martin). The Civil Rights Movement took very kindly to Dylan’s songs, so well that they wanted him to be a part of the cause for quality. His best known work of the 1960’s took on a musical shadow so large it shaped into a political influence. It was such a huge influence, the Civil Rights Movement adopted his song â€Å"Blowin in the wind† as their anthem for equality and peace (Ayoub). Dylan accepted his place in the Civil Rights Movement and gathered the attention of the people to the movement. Frequently performing at the Civil Rights rallies in the early 1960’s which included the March on Washington when Martin Luther King gave his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech on August 28th 1963 (Rathbone). Dylan became a powerful voice to all the working-class people in America during the 1960’s. He had several protest songs that had political content that both reflected and influenced the concerns of a generation of younger people such as the Civil Rights movement, anti-nuclear weapons campaign and the anti-Vietnam War movement (Rathbone). Dylan was a prominent part of the radical change during the 1960’s reform and was greatly recognized for his participation such as receiving the Tom Paine Award by The National Civil Liberties Committee for his contribution and achievements (Rathbone). All throughout Bob Dylan’s musical career, he has created and molded new types of different styles of music together. His inspiration was to intimidate the music of his own music idol, Woody Guthrie. He wanted to be a socially conscious singer/composer just like Guthrie (Heatly, 126). As the times changed, Dylan became a musical chameleon. He was able to conform to the changes in the popularity in music. Dylan’s career started with folk and protest music in the early 1960’s then moved through to electrified folk-rock in the mid and late 1960’s and early 1970’s (Kamin). After the Civil Rights, most fans found Dylan’s folk music more admiring and significant than anything he had ever wrote; popularity formed by creating the raw-sounding combo of vocals, harmonica and guitar. That mixture alone has kept his music career last him forty-seven years (Rathbone). Dylan did not want to stop there; he wanted to evolve into the new generation of music. Dylan cross-pollinated folk and country music with electric rock, creating an entirely new dimension of popular music (Heatly, 126). He liked to mix sounds and experiment different styles to meet his high expectations of creativity. He created the new style called â€Å"folk-rock† mixing his original folk sound but began to play electric guitar to embrace rock-and-roll (Dylan). Some Dylan fans did not approve of his switch but happened to still remained a musical sensation with a wider audience. Dylan and his band also caused an uproar at the Newport Folk Festival in July of 1965, when they began to perform with electric instruments instead of traditional acoustic ones. After being heckled by the crowd, they left the stage after only playing three songs (Martin). Dylan kept his optimism up with his fan-base and continued to play his electric instruments. To win back his fans, â€Å"Like a Rolling Stone† was a United States hit, cementing his reputation as a lyricist but added his new sound among the electrical instruments of guitars and organs (Ayoub). His musical career had its ups and downs, but his fans rolled through his many experimented musical styles. Dylan’s voice and songwriting were still raw but were mixed with the realms of traditional folk, country, blues, rock-and-roll and gospel (Kamin). A Bob Dylan song is more than just a catchy tune to whistle to. Dylan was possibly the most influential singer/songwriters of his era (Dylan). Not only did he create a respectable musical rhythm, his lyrics were his area of expertise. He wrote very poetic and sometimes even abstract but often-philosophical lyrics of astute commentary and therapeutic introspection that spoke to masses during an era of social unrest, political upheaval and radical change (Heatly 126). Dylan had many techniques to keep his audience engaged with his poetic lyrics, by performing his allusive, poetic songs with his nasal spontaneous vocal style and electrical bond. He enlarged pop music’s range and vocabulary while creating a widely limited sound. While accomplishing all of that, he still had the ability to challenge, influence and surprise his listeners (Wenner). In his earlier lyric writings, he focused on the societal issues during his protest era. The songs were broken down into a simple folk melody combined with lyrics questioning the social and political status quo. These songs were very native and unsophisticated in their nature, catching the attention of the zeitgeist of the 1960’s (Ayoub). All of his music was interpreted differently but he reached an elevated standard of lyric writing also the role of the singer/songwriter as well (Heatly, 126). While a fine interpreter of songs, Dylan was not considered a beautiful singer. Many of his own songs when first reaching the public were sung through other artists. Dylan’s fans could get past his singing, only because they were amazed how he could write such wonderful lyrics. Dylan’s music was also more popular though other artist that covered his songs such as Joan Baez, Pete Paul & Mary, Guns n’ Roses, The Byrds and Jimi Hendrix, because adding an able singer to his wonderful lyrics made his music very popular to a wider group of fans (Ayoub). Dylan was hailed the Shakespeare of his generation, due to his intellectualism of classic literature and poetry that showed though his music; even if he was not the artist performing the song (Kooper). It was subsequently common for a band to cover Dylan’s songs in the mid-1960’s, that CBS started to promote him by saying â€Å"Nobody sings Dylan like Dylan. † Whoever sang his songs were immediately recognized as his and a good part of his fame rested not only on his lyrical excellence but on the underlying attitude of Dylan (Ayoub). Even though many artists covered his songs, Dylan had his own techniques to sing his songs. He sang in what he called the â€Å"taking blues† and story-telling format in most of his first few albums such as â€Å"The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan† and â€Å"The times They Are A-Changin† (Dylan). Dylan had many other trademarks and techniques that signified his music. One of his newer types of songs was a lengthy and impressionistic still retaining an element of social commentary but added dense metaphorical landscape like the songs â€Å"Chimes of Freedom† and â€Å"Mr. Tambourine Man. He exhibited his dry wit and inhabited by a sequence of grotesque, metaphorical character (Ayoub). Dylan’s many styles of lyrics have all contributed to his success as a musician. The music Dylan made revolutionized rock, as his lyrics were analyzed, debated, and quoted like no music before him. Dylan chewed up traditional folk and spat out literary and folk traditions still used today (Wenner). Bob Dylan was given a lot of recognition and praise for his achievements and gain throughout his musical career. There are so many musical facets he discovered and always pushed his musical talent to the limit. Not only had Dylan achieve a high musical status, but he is highly looked upon in society for his contribution for the Civil Rights movement. He gave a voice to the working-class to fight for peace and help give a reason for freedom to the minorities. Dylan’s musical talent is beyond any other, as being able to compose his own music and create a whole new genre of music for an ever-changing society of his time. Along with his musical style, his lyrical masterpieces gave his listeners a mass of different trademarks in his lyrics. Every song he has written, all the way from his first protest song to his upbeat electric songs along with his metaphorical and abstract songs, has changed the standard of a singer/songwriter. All throughout his career, Dylan has given a voice to the working people, by creating new genres of music and is the ideal singer/songwriter of the 1960’s. As the ambiguous man he was, he had more questions than answers. At the end of the day, Bob Dylan would always say â€Å"All I can do is be me, whoever that is. † He knew he was a man of radical change, but he did not know he could change the world with a piece of paper, a pencil and a guitar.

Importance of Greek Burial

The Importance of Burial in Greek Religion For the most part, the Greeks did not believe in a different afterlife for the good or bad—i. e. , no heaven or hell. In their view, the afterlife was almost universally grim; the important detail for the dead was whether they were buried or unburied. Those who did not receive proper funeral rites were doomed to wander by the river Styx, the entrance to the Underworld, for eternity; their souls could never be at rest.Thus, denying burial to a corpse not only insulted the body, but also damned his soul for all time. The buried were granted access to Hades, the name of both the Underworld and its king (who was also known as Pluto). In order for the dead to gain this access, a complicated ritual had to be performed. There were few ‘professional' undertakers, so a man's funeral fell to his family, especially the women of the family.They prepared the body for cremation, oversaw the collection of the bones and ashes and burial of the urn, provided the tomb with liquid offerings (libations), and led the mourning, a loud and violent process in which women tore their cheeks with their fingernails, ripped out their hair, and poured dirt over the heads and clothing. Mourning the dead was one of the few things women were allowed to do in ancient Greece, especially Athens. Women of well-born families were expected to stay at home in specially designated women's quarters at all times except during certain religions festivals.Marriages were arranged by a girl's father or guardian. Women were not true citizens of the democracy and could not speak or vote in the assembly. They were not even allowed to speak in court, a basic right for Athenian men. Burying and mourning their dead relatives gave women an opportunity to do something important for their families. It brought women to the fore and gave them a role to play. When Creon forbids burial of Polynices, he denies Antigone the chance to do one of the few important thing s society allowed women to do. Thus, he is attacking her identity, and that is a large part of the reason she opposes his orders.

Thrift's Notion of Fast Subjectivity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Thrift's Notion of Fast Subjectivity - Essay Example As a result, it leads to improved performance in the work place (Adler, 2007). Adler illustrates that once the organization culture has been established it influences individuals’ performance in terms of their perceptions, attitudes, and how they perform within the organization. It also guides the selection of suitable items that can be used in the improvement of work within the organization. To understand organizational culture, it is important to note that culture is not an attribute of a personality who has the same education, and life experiences (Armstrong, 2006). Research indicates that most HR management around the world experience different cultural practices within the organization that can influence organizational management (Sonja &Philips, 2004). Individualism and collectivism refers to the way people interact within an organization and how they relate in order to, improve organizational performance. Motivation is grouped into three dimensions; masculinity and femi ninity amount of uncertainty, power distance and avoidance. Masculinity and femininity refer to the distribution of roles in terms of gender, a factor that has caused a myriad of problems within the society. Women tend to be attracted to social relationships, while the male are more attached to ego goals and acquisition of money and property, and masculinity stands for a society in which the male are the dominant members in terms of their roles. Arthur, (2004) argues that, femininity, on the other hand, stands for the gender roles that overlap each other. HRM is an explanation for humans who are Homo sapiens while, social animal’s recourses stand for human physical financial and technical information (Black, 2002). Management stands for functions of planning, organizational planning and management of organizational available resources. Human resources plan is a systematic process that, ensures that the staff is organized in such a manner that, they are grouped in terms of tal ent and capabilities. Human resource management is the term used to elaborate official systems constructed for the management of people within an organization. HRM responsibilities are generally divided into three areas of management; staffing, employee compensation, and defining and designing work within the organization. Green (2009) indicates that the purpose of HRM is to improve on the productivity of an organization by considering the effectiveness of its employees. Within an organization, the main role of HRM is to improve the staff members productive contribution to the organization in such a way that it is more productive and strategic, ethically, and socially responsible. In an organization, human resource management planning includes all the plans organized by the HRM. The plans ensures that the organization does have sufficient staff members who are qualified, and do perform their duties well to improve performance in the organization. There are five phases of HRM plannin g system. They include designing the management systems, conducting situational analysis, focus on demand, analysis supply, and lastly reconciliation and further planning in the organization (Johnston, 2006). According to Edward & Gubman (2006) as observed in the Journal of Business Strategy, the basic role of human resources is to acquire, develop, and maintain talent. They also align the

Motivation in Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Motivation in Workplace - Essay Example The earlier theories of motivation include the work of many pioneers in the field such as Herzberg, Maslow etc and attempted to analyse and evaluate the motivation within work environment. However, the literature on the subject has evolved over the period of time to include many important and new topics also. This essay will look into the motivation concepts and theories as outlined in the work of Maslow, Aldefer, and Herzberg besides discussing the motivation theory of acquired needs. It is also important to understand that this paper will attempt to analyse above mentioned theories with respect to FBI- an American agency involved in criminal justice. Maslow's theory of motivation is one of the earliest attempts to study motivation and it advocated a systematic and staged process of motivation. According to this theory, in order to motivate an employee, it is necessary that first the physical needs of the employee are taken care off. ... FBI agents though might have a good pay and most of their physical needs are fulfilled however their social security and safety stage may not be achieved. One of the most critical flaws in Maslow's theory of motivation is the fact that it advocates that an employee cannot proceed to next stage if her needs at the earliest stage are not fulfilled therefore though given the nature of the job of FBI agents, their social security and safety may not be guaranteed by their employer. In this regards, Maslow's theory of motivation may not be the appropriate theory to achieve employee motivation until it allow the skipping of various stages of motivation. Aldefer's theory of motivation Aldefer's ERG theory is another attempt to look at the motivation in much broader level as compared to the Maslow's theory. ERG theory is also a hierarchical in nature as that of Maslow's however it attempts to reduce the stages of motivation and classify the human needs into three classes or stages. Existence, Relatedness and Growth are three stages of motivation as outlined by Aldefer. The first level of motivation which is of existence suggest that in order to motivate an employee it is important that the employee's physiological needs are fulfilled first and then followed by the security needs. Since FBI is a crime investigation agency and most of its employees are directly involved into crime investigation which involve possible threat to the life therefore again like Maslow's theory, the safety needs of the employee are not being guaranteed by FBI. It is important to note that FBI has in place different benefits for its employees including Health Insurance benefits, life insurance benefits, retirement

Schopenhauer's will Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Schopenhauer's will - Essay Example The World as Representation or Idea: Platonic Idea - only adequate objectification of the will. It is the object of art and hence knowable as an object of perception. The platonic idea is an independent idea and independent of the principle of sufficient reason. Idealism is a theory of the ultimate reality. Knowledge may either be intuitive or abstract. Intuitive knowledge is derived from primary idea; abstract knowledge from secondary idea. We may know ourselves as willing, but we cannot know ourselves as knowing. A knowing subject cannot become a known subject. The act of willing arises from a need or desire for something and is therefore a manifestation of deprivation or suffering. The fulfillment of a wish terminates the act of willing. The gratification of a desire or wish is a negative condition. It provides only temporary deliverance from the need of suffering. The will cannot be guided by the intellect but the intellect can be guided by the will. The freedom of the will is negative. It is only a denial of necessity. The will wants everything for itself. Egoism concentrates the self interest of each one. Voluntary renunciation of egoism is achieved by a denial of the will to live. Justice is achieved when the affirmation of the will to live by one individual does not conflict with the will to live of another individual. Conscience constitutes our self-knowledge of how our action may manifest the reality of the will. Virtue may proceed from the intuitive knowledge. Denial of the will is seen in asceticism. Suicide is not a denial of the will to live because it is not a rejection of personal well-being. The will is free to deny itself or suspend. The denial of the will does not produce nothingness which is a negative of being....Known and unknown forces act to form sensations. In our mental state we encounter some thing phenomenal-that is our will. The will inner side is for immediate consciousness or willing and the outer for intelligence or bodily motion. The will is beyond the realm of space, time and causality. It is a blind incessant impulse independent of our perception-an inner consciousness of our own existence, our feelings and desires. It is a reality. According to Schopenhauer, reason is the faculty of producing or comparing concepts, understanding is the faculty for comparing perception. Concepts maybe thought of but not perceived. The effects of concepts are language, action and science. Platonic Idea - only adequate objectification of the will. It is the object of art and hence knowable as an object of perception. The platonic idea is an independent idea and independent of the principle of sufficient reason. Suicide is not a denial of the will to live because it is not a rejection of personal well-being. The will is free to deny itself or suspend. The denial of the will does not produce nothingness which is a negative of being. Ethical conduct is negative and requires a denial of the will to live. Concern for others is contrary to self-interest. Schopenhauer's views are pessimistic. His pessimistic pervades almost all areas of his work.

Research Proposal on Training Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

On Training Lab - Research Proposal Example This requires them to adapt to the new reign of automated, technologically driven and digital society which has its own principles and which subjugates its people to leave aside their old ways and conform to the new order. In this regard, it is easier for some groups to adapt to this change quickly; to others, it comes with some difficulty. These groups face some hindrance in the process of adaptation to these new lifestyles due to many reasons. It can be due to their vulnerability to other material conditions such as poverty or unavailability of resources, which may lead to deprivation of secondary pleasures such as technology, or it can be because of their own built-in features like age or inclination towards conservatism or liberalism that affects this adaptation. Based on this notion, one group that finds it extremely difficult to adapt to the technological shift of twenty first century is the elderly or the senior citizens (Robinson, 2009). Speaking of technology, the invention and prevalence of computers have been so far the most intriguing. Not only did computers take over the simple tasks of mails and writing, but also replaced man in areas of communication, documentation, book keeping and much more. From children to adults, farmers to gynecologists and elite to middle-class, most people have access to computers in one setting or another and they utilize its efficiency as much as they can (Fogg, 2003). However the elderly people, in many settings, especially in countries like USA, where nuclear family systems are most popular and the elders live separately, it is common for these aged people to lag behind and lose touch with the society and fall into isolation. Thus, in order to bring the elderly people on a par with other age groups and to save them from falling into depression and isolation, teaching them how to use computers is an essential way to go. This proposal entails essential outline of the research that will study the set-up of computer train ing labs for the elderly. It discusses, for the most part, the intricacies of the study itself and for the other, the issues related to the study. To put it precisely, the project undertaken is of establishing computer literacy center for the elderly in a small locality inhabited by mostly Catholic Christians in Upper West Side, NY. The locality is primal for the project for it is a residence of a major chunk of NY’s population. The demographics also suggest that the residents of the Upper West Side range from upper-middle to middle class. This is a positive trait for the study since it caters to the right sub-group of people; the elderly in this financial standing are usually more deprived in comparison to elders of the elite class since they have fewer resources to afford learning and using computers, both monetary and non-monetary. For this purpose, this research aims to find out the teaching methods most productive in teaching computer to the senior citizens. Methodology The research will comprise two phases: primary and the secondary searches. The primary research will definitely entail the interviews and surveys conducted in the locality with the participants, which will include the senior citizens, their guardians and the teachers and educationists. The secondary research, on the other hand, will entail the study of literature on the subject (Hamilton, 2004). There has been a huge discourse on the subject of pedagogy

Social movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Social movement - Essay Example s in India which was hard to ascertain since many gays in India tend to maintain their sexuality as a secret because homosexuality in the Indian culture is considered both immoral and unethical. The actual number of gays in India is much more than 2.5 million that is the officially recorded population of gays in India (â€Å"India’s gay rights†) since the gays inside the closet are excluded from this figure. The gay march was a wonderful opportunity for the gays both in and out of the closets in India since it not only provided them with a sense of identity and community, but also encouraged more of them to come out of the closet and declare their sexuality to their friends and family and be gays openly since it is no more a crime in India. The gay march was strategically conducted to change the cultural perception that homosexuality is immoral or unethical. â€Å"While†¦many challenges lie ahead, †¦a cultural shift is occurring and the 2009 ruling paved the way† (â€Å"Indias gay

Prostitution Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Prostitution - Coursework Example This was during the Korean war, when a tremendously high rate of sexually transmitted diseases began to affect the active soldier duty roster. Back home, prostitution is considered illegal in all U.S. states except Nevada. The reason being that Nevada has a historical connection to prostitution dating all the way back to the 18th century. According to Karah Lucas Nevada limits prostitution to legally registered brothels and towns with populations of less than 400,000 thus leaving Clark and Washoe counties out of the program (Legal Prostitution Has A Special Presence in Nevada, p. 1). The legalized prostitution program of Nevada has had a positive effect on the trade which our government should actually take notice of. Since the trade is overseen by the state, there are actually rules and regulations that insure the protection of the women in the trade, the men who partake of the benefits of the trade, and the state to whom the brothels pay business taxes to. According to Paul Armetano (The Case For Legalized Prostitution, p.1) , sexually transmitted diseases are actually controlled from spreading because of the weekly mandated testing for the prostitutes. For some strange reason, the brothels also take pride in having healthy women on their staff because it shows the quality of their â€Å"business†. Even though there are actual benefits to be had from the legalization of prostitution, such as the control of sexually transmitted diseases, protection of the sex worker, standardization of the work practice, and more importantly, additional income for the city or state, there are still those conservatives who fail to see these reasons. They choose to remain in their out-dated and out-moded world where prostitution is something that destroys lives due to the degradation and objectification of women. For those in the military service,

Animal Farm Summative Essay Example for Free

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

Characteristics Of Authentic Literacy Instruction Education Essay

Characteristics Of Authentic Literacy Instruction Education Essay Introduction When children come into the world, they come with the innate desire to explore their surrounding and this is seen in their daily interaction with the environment around them when it involves language development and more. They actively participate in their learning of spoken and written language from their parents and other people interactions (Teale Sulzby, 1986). They see print in the world through signs on shops, along the road and even the supermarket and begin to make associations when they explore printed material (i.e.paper and crayons, and story books). They develop their written experiences by trying out different things, experimenting and inventing their own literacies. As the activities begin to take on more meaning, they increase their knowledge of how written language is formed and how they function in the real world, depending on different situations (Goodman, 1986). As a result, the real world offers these children an entire environment that is literally rich with lan guage experiences that the children can learn and produce in a natural setting. These settings will also involve human relationships that affect how children may or may not use the literacy tools they encounter (Tharp Gallimore, 1988). Unlike the empty slate that some people believe children are born with, they are actually vital members of a dynamic system in which the environment influences (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). The more children use the resources available to them in the environment to expand on their knowledge and skills in relation to constructing more solid understanding of factors in the literary world, they are engaging in solving problems that utilizes cognitive skills and through their interaction with members of their environment. Therefore, childrens learning about literacy is integrally tied with practical action, resulting from their need to control, manipulate, and function in their environment. Without a doubt then, children cannot escape the realities of reading and writing, which are so much a part of their lives as there are so many relationships and contexts that are tied in with these realities (Teale Sulzby, 1986). Through participating in activities that require cognitive and communicative functions, children are drawn into the uses of these functions by their caregivers in ways that may nurture and develop them. Consequently, childrens earliest conceptions of literacy and strategies for reading and writing are likely to be formed through activities that are often socially instigated (Bruner, 1972). Therefore, the case for authenticity in literacy is a natural process. Authenticity refers to the real-life experiences an individual experiences when carrying out specific activities (Ableser, 2008). This involves life experiences that are naturally occurring in the lives of children and individuals. When a child argues with her parent on the merits of getting a dog, the points and arguments provided are a result of a natural and real reason for doing so. This authenticity is carried into the area of literacy in the classroom as the concept seems a logical progression of utilizing the innate curiosity and purpose of carrying out an activity as a part of the process of learning, into the classroom teachers goal of getting her students to learn and do academic related activities. The authentic activities that individuals typically exercise in day-to-day situations are replicated in the classroom. Unfortunately the ordinary practices of the culture-what people do in daily, weekly, and monthly cycles of activity do not seem academically sufficient to meet the educational standards set by the power that be. Such practices, for example, include shopping for the best bargain, figuring out the health hazards of microwaves or examining costs for a planned holiday are not translated adequately and therefore seem to be lacking in some way. Authentic literacy practices then seem to have failed in some way. Authentic Literacy Defined Yet, in spite of setback, the power of authenticity cannot be denied as when schools offer classrooms that are authentic-literacy-directed, its potential in offering learning experiences that are similar to how children learn in real life outside of the classroom is an exciting prospect (Newmann Wehlage, 1993). When students learn through real-life tasks, students are working to create meaning from their experiences and these experiences allow students to make meaningful connections (Snowball, 1992). Authentic literacy environments also require that students use communication in receiving and extending their learning experiences. Without communication, the development of authentic experiences will be hindered . Rhodes and Shanklin, (1993) call for authentic literacy experiences in the classroom, such as reading and writing, to hold the same communicative purposes as when students are outside of the classroom. When Schmoker (2007) defined authentic literacy, he explained that students who learn to read, write and think effectively (p.448) do so when they are given opportunities to engage in in-depth reading through higher-order questions that is later used to argue and support an interpretation from one or more texts (p.490) in their extended writing. The classroom discussions that are generated from both authentic reading and writing experiences are also authentic experiences. Purcell-Gates, Duke and Martineau (2007) added to this by specifically mentioning authentic reading materials such as those that involve written genres like novels, newspaper articles, memos, technical procedures and even greeting cards. Characteristics of Authentic Literacy Instruction What would authentic literacy instruction look like in the classroom? As mentioned previously, the level of authenticity can be influenced by the type of reading and writing materials that the teacher uses such as tradebooks instead of the traditional use of text books, which are heavily written for specific school-related goals. For students to experience authentic literacy encounters, there should be purposeful but also meaningful experiences where the literacy event is not the end goal of the activity but rather integrated into the real-life target purpose. Authentic literacy resources include texts normally found within a childs environment, such as trade books, bus schedules, maps, and diaries. People are also valued resources, as they can offer firsthand accounts and personal knowledge to the process of inquiry. When students have access to multiple resources, activities can become more authentic, students can more clearly communicate their message, and be more fully engaged in authentic literacy events (Wortman, 1993). Rhodes and Shanklin (1993) suggest that a classroom that purports to be authentic should allow students to make choices and have a say in their learning experiences. This choice empowers students in classroom interactions and decision-making actions (Wortman, 1993). Snowball (1992) shares this thought that when students are given a choice to plan, explore and share their ideas, there is more purpose to the activities. In fact, Pachtman and Wilson (2006), in one of his studies highlights student choices in increasing motivation. Pachtman and Wilson (2006) emphasized on authentic reading and investigated students opinions on what they found to be meaningful and engaging reading practices. Students who were offered greater choice and say in their learning experiences were more engaged and took responsibility for their learning due to their vested interest from the decision-making. Students preferred to make their own choice of the books they were going to read and the success of those authentic materials in motivating the students was a clear indication that teachers should take note that choice allows authenticity and teachers can make use of this information to plan their lessons (Pachtman and Wilson, 2006). Aside from books, authentic experiences are defined through the individuals choice to create and share meaningful and purposeful text for a self-selected audience (Wortman, 1993, p. 1). This would mean that in areas such as writing, students instead of carrying out the task of writing a letter to someone, whom the teacher had decided beforehand, students can make decisions on who their letters can be directed to. A classroom that is focused on authentic literacy must be relevant to the lives of the students. As much as choice and the type of materials can help create an authentic literacy environment. Teachers and students have curriculum demands put on them and if any authenticity is involved, it remains superficial. The teacher can meet the needs of the curriculum and remain authentic, even relevant to the students. For example, in a unit on wildlife, the teacher may create an activity where students research on specific leatherback turtles. This activity meets the requirements of the curriculum, however is still irrelevant to the students. To meet relevance in an authentic literacy classroom, the teacher could allow students to research on an animal that the students decide on their own which has relevance to their respective lives. Some students may want to research on penguins they saw at the zoo or the cheetah, someone has compared them with. The students will reference from multiple so urces such as the Internet, magazines, and expert sources. The students will decide what they want to do with the information they have gathered, whether it is to write to someone in the government, produce a presentation to source for funds to fund a specific wildlife preservation fund or even come up with a wildlife newsletter to be shared with their classmates. This activity will meet the requirements of authentic resources, choice and relevance; and still meet curriculum demands. Relevant activities allow students to work on skills in a genuine literacy event and helps students make connections between the curriculum and their lives outside of the curriculum. Students will be able to draw conclusions and extend knowledge through their exploration of authentic activities. Authentic Literacy Instruction vs Explicit Literacy Instruction There is clear indication that as children move up the education system the learning and literacy activities seem more focused on meeting standards and curriculum demands. With the addition of high-stakes testing, teachers seem to be pushed against the wall to ensure that the activities their students do in the classroom are more classroom-related instead of mirroring the social and contextual situations of the real world (Bruner, Olver, Greenfield, 1966). Children begin their literacy journey in the formal world of education with typically learning concepts of print, decoding print and eventually figuring out meaning to aid comprehension of the uncountable texts students will face in their literacy-related classes. These classes, more often than not are conducted explicitly, are directed towards helping students gain literacy skills that will be beneficial to them in their later lives after school. These skills are taught so that students can master them and retrieve them when need ed (Powell and Davidson, 2005). There is no denying the role of explicit instruction in students learning. However, when teachers get caught in a cycle of explicit teaching, followed by continuous and repetitious assigning of worksheets, book reports and essays, students lose out on the richness of an authentic literacy approach. Many teachers due to time constraints prefer to use a classroom literacy curriculum that tries to generally fit the needs of all the students in their respective classrooms. However, in reality we know that literacy classrooms are not made up of only one type of students. Teachers will not be able to meet individual students and, diversity would be considered a disadvantage instead of an advantage. Such classrooms do not reflect real-life needs and goals of the students and does an injustice to these students by not enabling them to bridge between their life goals to academic goals (Eckert Bell, 2004). Scribner and Cole (1973) also concur in their classic article comparing formal and informal instruction, such educational practices can do the opposite as these learning activities are so far removed from real-life learning situations and practices that students face a disconnect. Many researchers like Schmoker (2007) believe that the best way to improve reading scores and improve students literacy skills and strategies is by providing direct literacy instruction using authentic materials. He explained that the instruction should move away from meaningless drill-like activities but instead should be focused in getting students to read a variety of texts available in the real world that provide them fodder to explore their comprehension, hone and revise on their interpretation of text-content, as well as improve their arguments of the subject read (Schmoker, 2007; VanDeWeghe, 2008). This will help students have longer-lasting retention of knowledge learned. In fact, Powell and Davidson (2005) believe that authentic literacy can be equivalent to situated literacy where literacy is embedded within real-world events [and] as a medium for genuine communication (p.249). The classroom that has literacy goals embedded within the classroom lesson plan can be brought ab out when a teacher gets her students to make connections between a particular topic and their own thoughts and beliefs. VanDeWeghe (2008) mention that students here are able to express their opinions, share it with their classmates and explore the various interpretations in a social and personal context. These students are learning in an authentic literacy environment because their learning is directly connected to real-life situations and purposes. However, Purcell-Gates et al. (2007) noticed that there can be no direct cause and effect seen from the use of direct instruction in an authentic environment unless further empirical studies come forth. There are too many unanswered questions of how students best learn language forms, its discourse and the related genres. After all, different students learn language differently. They bring into their learning experiences a host of other social and cultural experiences outside the classroom. In spite of all the explicit instruction to various literacy goals, teacher are generally keen to provide more authentic literacy activities. They are progressively moving away from traditional methods and moving towards more authenticity such as when teachers include inquiry-based learning that allow students to investigate real-life problems. This method of learning allows the bridging of what students need to learn in the classroom and the validity of their real-world tasks. Authentic tasks take the form of projects and activities that allow students to reach outside of the classroom and form ties with the community at large. This is a far cry from the demands of the textbooks. Why is authentic literacy important? Authentic focusses on literacy activities that revolve around real-world tasks, applications and contexts. Therefore, it is able to introduce to students the idea that there is a purpose to learning. This purpose is not related to what the textbooks or what standardized tests say they should learn but is purposeful learning that is relevant to the students real lives. Purcell-Gates et. al (2007) conducted a research project that revealed increased ability to understand comprehension of informational texts and write better when students were allowed to engage in authentic informational texts compared to those that were only offered classroom-based typed of texts and activities. Authentic literacy activities can help students retain more of the information they learn as when students were offered authentic texts and writing tasks, there was more active participation and less frustration as students were able to evaluate and better discuss on material that had meaningful purpose and relevance to themselves. These students took care in getting as accurate the information they could get by going to various resources. There was clearly more meaningful learning taking place (Edelsky and Smith, 1984). When students are given a standard worksheet or task to complete, there is less engagement as students do not see how these activities are relevant to their lives (Rhodes Shanklin, 1993). Furthermore, authentic literacy allows students to develop higher order thinking skills that is sadly lacking as teacher try to meet the needs of struggling learners by simplifying real-life texts which then causes the authenticity to be lost (Allington, 2001). There is an acute need for students to be able to read and write materials that require them to evaluate and synthesize information from various sources. Students will not be able to do that if the materials they encounter in the classroom are not authentic and have been simplified. Schmoker (2006) laments the lack of substantive reading, writing and talking (p.54) which are available from authentic texts. Teachers instead of providing easier texts could instead look into getting students to familiarize themselves with authentic texts that have higher-order language so that they can work towards obtaining the language of the educated and not be penalized for the lack of it. To Silvers, Shorey and Crafton (2010), authentic literacy is important as it takes into account student diversity by providing a safe environment for students to evaluate on their world views, question and find answers to the assumptions and beliefs they bring into the classroom and evolve or reinforce identities. Authentic literacy allows students to become empowered democratic citizens as they engage in real-life literacy and making meaning of their learning (Powell Davidson, 2005). What does Authentic literacy instruction look like? Despite teacher reservations about implementing authentic literacy in the classroom, due to time, score accountability, data driven administrations and a heavily weighed content curriculum, authentic literacy is doable. However, for authentic literacy to take place efficiently, teachers should consider the environment from which authentic literacy is to take place in. Students need to feel a sense of security for them to be able to move beyond their comfort zone especially when they are asked by their teachers to take risks in the way they think and process thoughts and ideas. They must feel safe and know that they will be respected for their sharing and collaborating between them and their teacher, and their peers (Powell, Diamond Burchinal, 2010). Students, especially from diverse backgrounds need to know that their cultural knowledge that they bring into the classroom is a valued asset in an authentic literacy classroom. They are allowed to be active participants in their learning and are expected to have differing opinions and reactions to interpreting content, materials and activities offered in the classroom. They can offer unique perspectives and that the classroom environment supports those differences (Powell Davidson, 2005). There is a strong sense of self-worth when students know that their diversity is accepted and respected in an authentic literacy classroom. In fact Barnitz (1994) explains that students can achieve success when they use authentic talk linked to their home life. When the right classroom environment has been set up, teachers can then begin to include the various authentic elements that reflect an authentic literacy classroom. The teachers is able to get students involved and engaged in activities that are allow students to have control of their learning, just like in the real world. They will feel empowered and competent in carrying out these activities. There are a lot of student-centered activities such as conducting experiments, testing out hypothesis, real-life problem solving task and inquiry-based learning. These types of activities allow students to be motivated and provide ample opportunities for them to think, revisit, revise, build connections and develop their critical thinking skills (Ablesser, 2008; Barnitz, 1994). Literary activities that involve real-life audiences such as putting up plays, poetry slams and an actual book reading of a piece of personal piece of writing offers deeper connections for students and the texts they come into contact with. This according to Purcell-Gates et al (2007) supports an important part of authentic literacy which is the use of curriculum-required materials in a more meaningful manner as students are personally involved with the material used compared to the usual, read-a-text-and-answer-questions approach. When students are exposed to a variety of authentic literature that covers a whole range of popular multicultural content, they are able to make visual and mental connections between the texts and their immediate lives and that of their families and various relationships they have outside of the classroom. Discussions on the similarities and differences of cultures and lifestyles simulate real-life situations, which is an aspect of authentic literacy. Vasquez (2003) believes that the use of multicultural literature promotes respect, empathy and acceptance of each other (p. 88). An authentic literacy classroom includes methods of teaching that involves incidence where students can see real-life reading and writing taking place. The inclusion of writing workshops and dialogue journals are good ways to promote this. Collaborating with peers and making personal connections with the topic of their choice as well as the process of receiving and providing feedback increases relevance and purpose to the writing that students do. The students know that whatever writing piece they are working on will be read and reflected and commented on by real people aka their classmates or teachers. There is genuine interest and discussion, which on their own are authentic elements of an authentic literacy classroom. Of course a big part of an authentic literacy classroom is one that uses real-world texts. This when compared to the text book materials can be highly motivating. Authentic texts do not necessarily have to be limited to print form but can be in the form of newspaper or magazine articles, YouTube videos or even MTV music or parts of popular sitcoms or movie excerpts. Real-life materials can be used on their own or as supporting material to an actual text-book material. Whatever the case, including real-world materials allows students to see that there is more to their learning then the text book or school-related documents. This also reminds students that when people read and write texts outside of the classroom, they have specific purposes, such as wanting to get information or to communicate an idea they may have. Therefore students in an authentic literacy classroom also go through the same reasons when they read and write too. When discussing authentic literacy classrooms, there is no avoiding the role of technology in it. Online materials and websites are transforming the way students are now accessing information and knowledge. They are developing critical thinking by having live discussions with an author of a blog or making meaning from the many related links of a certain website. Students are accessing the Internet to find solutions to the everyday problems they come across and an authentic literacy classroom will also reflect this technological tendency. Wikis, Facebook and Twitter introduces a new element into the world of literacy. It is a genre on its own that is an authentic mode of communication. It would go amiss if in reflecting on what an authentic literacy classroom looks like that assessment is left out. The concept of assessment is to help students improve whatever they have been learning about. Unfortunately, in a traditional classroom, test-taking has been elevated into an art, where focus on grades and how well students perform in standardized tests take precedence over what exactly students are learning and performing in. Assessment in an authentic literacy classroom should again reflect on real-world demands. These assessments should be able to provide students with concise feedback on their abilities and whether they are able to transfer their learning effectively into the real world. The assessments are not the product of learning but serve to further educate students about how they can go about improving on their learning. Newmann and colleagues (2001) showed in their research that authentic performance-based literacy assessments helps students further increase achievement, especially in terms of the quality of responses in writing and mathematics. When students were required to apply what they had learned and come up with original uses for what they have learnt, there was value placed in the assessment. Conclusion There is a clear need for individuals who practice lifelong learning and are able to critically read, think and write to come forth from the academic institutions of today. They must be able to compete and come up with novel ideas that meet the novel dilemmas faced by todays society. The call for authentic literacy in classrooms seems to be a good one. While policy-makers, administrators, parents, teachers and to some extent, students want to improve test scores, there is sound reasoning as to why authentic literacy can help improve scores as well as benefit students in their learning. When student read from authentic materials, have authentic purposes, carry out authentic tasks, discussions and collaboration, seek authentic resources to meet authentic demands, they are able to explore, argue, refine and strengthen their thought and learning processes because all that they use to learn and are learning about makes sense due to their relevance in the students lives. Teachers need to be quick in harnessing the advantages of authentic literacy to meet students learning needs and goals. Each student is an individual that is different from his or her classmate. They have different learning goals and they come from different backgrounds and opinions. As problem solvers, these students can meet their goals more effectively if their learning activities are supported by the teachers authentic literacy instruction. Our end goal as teachers is to support students towards becoming more independent thinkers who are able to utilize what they have learned in the school to meet the challenges they face after school, and as citizens of a global society. Integrating authentic literacy learning can be a strong start towards that end goal (Ablesser, 2008; VanDeWeghe, 2008). Maybe Meier (2002) best sums up what authentic literacy is and why it is important for todays classroom when she writes: Children should be inventors or their own theories, critics of other peoples ideas, analyzers of evidence, and makers of their own personal marks on this most complex world (p. 4)

Planning a Game Show

Planning a Game Show Title: All About Women Genre : Television Game Show Logline: It is all about eight women with lack of confidence go on a trip to learning a lot of skills from playing games to reinvent themselves, from an ugly duckling to the white swan. Objectives The main objective of this show is to change people’s behaviour to makeover themselves to be more confident in their life. People nowadays are lazy to be nice on their inner and outer beauty, so this show is to make them to have the motivation of changing themselves to be better. Secondly, our objective is to increase their knowledge of beauty. Women nowadays normally they are lack of the knowledge of beauty. In this show, we invited a lot of professional make up stylist to guide those competitors to make up, diet and so on. Lastly, our objective is to change the attitude of women by making them more attractive. There are no ugly women but lazy women in this world. Some people think that natural is beautiful. But after 20 years old, it no longer works. Through the game show, they will reinvent themselves into perfect women. Synopsis Theme: fantasy fulfilment â€Å"All About Women†, is the Malaysian Television game show. It is the first television game show to offer a Royal beauty treatment to the winner. This show will air every Sunday at 8.30pm on 8tv. â€Å"All About Women† is to help those women who are lack of confidence on themselves in the Malaysia. We will seek the competitors through some interview. Program group are choose 8 competitors to our TV game show. In the beginning, competitors will have a lot of training such as makeup, dressing and so on. After that, there will have small station game to test the competitors. The participant will get marks according to their performance in the station game. These marks is helpful in semi-final as the participant will get some mysteries gift that will boost them to get marks in the semi-final. The last two episodes are our semi-final and final. In the later period of the contest the progress of the competitors is determined 70% by public voting through text messaging or social media and 30% judged by three judges, Jimmy Lee, Grace Wang and Bernard Chandran. The show is hosted by Natalie Ng. Target Audiences The primary audience that we targeted for this show is Malaysia women and men with the age range between 20 to 55 years old. This range of people is more mature in their thinking and they can understand well about the importance of take care for their outer look. Besides that, they are more affordable in buying things to make them look more beauty. After that, this show is joyful and knowledgeable. They can watch this show in weekend to release their stress and also increase knowledge. The secondary audience that targeted for this show is all teenagers that between 13 to 19 years old. The range of this teenagers are more concern about their skin condition. Teenagers nowadays are more likely to care about their inner and outer beauty. So this TV shows can attract them to watch. Besides that, teenagers like to watch something special and excite so they will choose to watch this TV show as they will felt excited when participant are playing station games. Moreover, this TV show is first broadcast during their holiday so they are free to watch the show. Host The host that we invited is Ms. Natalie Ng. (refer to appendix 1.) She had been working for the English and Chinese markets in 2007. She had confidence to take Malaysia market after she finished her Diploma in Mass Communication. She is 8TV’s Entertainment Live Show 8 E-news in year 2008 to 2013. She had also won the 2012 Golden Award for Most Popular Host. Mentor The first mentor that we invited is Mr. Wang Ming Yong (refer to appendix 2.) which will be shown in episode two. Mr. Wang Ming Yong is a healthcare professional from Taiwan. He had studied at Australian School of Herbal Medicine. He is also a well-known dietary nutrition health care consultant. Mr. Wang had be invited before to the ‘Ladies First’ and ‘Health 2.0’ as counsellor of health care. The second mentor that we invited is Mr. Robin Niu (refer to appendix 3.) and he will appear in episode three. Mr. Robin Niu is a skin care professional which is also from Taiwan. Everyone address him as ‘Beauty King’ in Taiwan. He is graduated from a medical school in Taiwan. He have 18 years of experience in investigating skin care product. He get an award by Sogua for the most outstanding contribution to beauty. Mr. Robin have his own brand name ‘Naruko’ which is favourite by billion online users in China. This is the only beauty brand that been awarded the 2009 Top 80 Most Trusted Celebrity Brands and Best New Brand 2010 in Taiwan and China. The third mentor that we invited is Mr. Jimmy Lee (refer to appendix 4.) from Melaka that will be in episode four. Mr. Jimmy Lee is a hair stylist which have 8 years of experience in the hair do industry. When he was 18 years old, he is studying at Hair Connection Academy that is located in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. He had also once been offered to be Hair Lecturer by Snips Academy in Sabah for 4 years. He now had formed A ‘Hair and Makeup Art Studio Academy’ in Sabah with Ms. Ryana Yong. The fourth mentor that we invited is Ms. Grace Wang (refer to appendix 5.) that will be in episode five. She is a makeup artist and have 5 years of experience. Ms. Grace Wang is more professional in bridal makeup. She had completed her hairstyling and makeup course in Taiwan and now all the product that she use is high quality product such as Mac, Bobbi Brown, Lancome and more. She also believes that makeup will enhance personal features and will make people feel good about themselves. The last mentor that we invited is Mr. Bernard Chandran (refers to appendix 6.) that will be on episode six. Mr. Bernard Chandran is a fashion designer and people call him as ‘Malaysia’s Prince of Fashion’. He is a former student of prestigious Paris American Academy in France. He is also the local Celebrities most favourite fashion designer. His cloths infused with bold colours and draw inspiration of Malaysia’s multicultural influences. Mostly of his collection is made up of complex, traditional Malaysian costume with modern touches. Mr. Bernard Chandran collection had been worn by Hollywood Stars and also Lady Gaga. Channel The TV games shows will be on air at 8TV, from every Sunday 8:30pm to 9:30 pm. The first episode will be on air at 15 March 2015 while the last episode will show on 3 May 2015. 8 TV is one of the free-to-air TV stations that are privately owned by Media Prime Berhad in Malaysia. The reason we choose 8 TV as the channel to broadcast this TV game show is the target audience of 8TV is similar to this show which is Chinese audiences and urban youth. Besides that, we choose to broadcast this games show at Sunday as Sunday is weekend and most of the Malaysians are not working or studying at that day. Most of the Malaysian will customarily watch the Chinese news that broadcast at 8:00pm so the show is on air at 8:30pm as we wish to attract the attention of audience after watching the news. Furthermore, this games show will start to broadcast during the school holiday of primary school and secondary school which is 15 March 2015 because we hope that student can watch this game show when they felt boring and continue to support this show. Episode 1: The first episode is an introduction about the TV game shows â€Å"All about Women† and the participant selection. The hosts, Natalie Ng will give an explanation about screening condition for choosing the 8 participant. For example, participant must be a woman at the age range of 18 to 30 who brace up to learn and change themselves into a perfect woman. The interview is held in the studio by 5 mentor of the TV show. They are Mr Wang Ming Yong, Mr Robin Niu, Mr Jimmy Lee, Mr Bernard Chandra and Mrs Grace Wang. The interviewee need to prepare a short video to introduce themselves and the reason why they want to change into a perfect woman. They also need to answer the questions asked by 5 mentors. The list of participant will deciding by 5 tutors and announce at the end of the show. Episode 2: For the first part of this episode, the participants will start to attend the training class. The mentor of this episode is Mr Wang Ming Yong who is a Taiwan health care professional. He will listen to the participant lifestyles and give a comment on whether it is healthy or not. He will also share his own experience on how to maintain a healthy life and the importance of healthy life. The second part of this episode will be a station game. This game is aims to improve cardiovascular fitness and helps them to maintain a healthy weight. In this game, participants are required to run on a 7 meters foot sole massager in a playground. They need to gain the lead in race in order to win the games. The champion of this game will get 6 marks while the first runner-up will get 5 marks and the second runner-up will get 4 marks, and so on. These marks will continue to increase in following episode according to their result in the station game. Episode 3: The first part of this episode will be the skincare training class. The mentor of this episode is Mr Robin Niu who is professional in skin care. He will explain the symptom of different types of skin condition and the way to take care of it. He also explains about which kind of skin is suitable for which type of skin product. After that, he recommends the best seller product and the right way to use it. For the part of station game, participants are given 20 minutes to memorize 10 types of ingredient that widely used in skin care product and its use. After that, a lightning round will hold by the host, Natalie Ng. A total of 10 questions will be asked and the participants need to be the first to blow a balloon in order to answer the question. Participant will get 1 mark when they give the right answer. The marks they gain in this episode will be added on into the marks they got in previous episode. Episode 4: In this episode, Mrs Grace Wang, a professional makeup artist, will be the mentor for makeup training class. She will first points out the mistake that done by the participant and shows them some basic makeup that is easy and suitable for everyone. Besides that, she will explain and show them the most suitable makeup for them. After that, participant will draw lots to decide who will be their partner in the following part of this episode. They need to help their partner to make up and it will be judged by Mrs Grace Wang. Both of the persons in one group will get same marks. The champion will get 6 marks while the first runner-up will get 5 marks and so on. The marks they gain in this episode will be added on into the marks they got in previous episode. Episode 5 A well-known hair stylist, Mr Jimmy Lee will be the mentor of this episode. He will first indicate the mistake that usually done by most of the women and show them the suitable hairstyles for them. He also shows them the latest hairstyles and the hairstyles that fit in different situation. After that, each of them will be given one picture that showing different hairstyles. They are required to complete the hairstyles same as the picture in a period of 30 minutes. Participant who be the first to complete the hairstyles will get 6 marks while be the second faster to complete the hairstyle will get 5 marks and so on. Participant who be the last or cannot complete the hairstyles in a period of 30 minutes will get 1 mark. The marks they gain in this episode will be added on into the marks they got in previous episode. Episode 6 The first part of this episode is a fashion training class and the mentor is Mr Bernard Chandran, a famous fashion designer. He will show them the wrong way of matching clothes and teach them how to matching outfit. He will then show them the newest trend of clothing. After that, they will move to a dressing room that contains hundreds of clothes. They need to match 3 outfits that suitable for working, shopping and outing in a period of 10 minutes. They will wear the outfit they choose and judged by Mr Bernard Chandra. Participant will get the marks at a range of 0 to 18. The marks they gain in this episode will be added on into the marks they got in previous episode. Episode 7 This episode will be a live semi-final. This episode is aim to select 4 participant who can continue proceed to final. In this episode, participant need to make over themselves in 40 minutes will the themes of traditional costume. They can use the marks they get in the previous episode to exchanges some preponderance for their makeover. For example, participant can use 10 marks to exchanges a chance to ask the mentor to help them and 7 marks to changes the brand of a tool. These participant after makeover, will show their picture of before and after. These picture will show in TV and open voting to all audience around the world through messaging or social media. Four participant who have higher votes will proceed to the final. The result will come out in the end of this TV show. Episode 8 The last episode of this TV shows is a live final competition. In the end of this episode, one winner will be the selectedparticipant and will be required to go inside a room full of clothes, accessories and cosmetic product. They need to make over themselves, at the same time, prepare a talent performance in 1 hour. After 1 hours, the photo of their outfit will upload to social media and let public to vote. The judgment criteria for the final is quite similar with semi-final except there are three judges in the final. They are Jimmy Lee, Grace Wang and Bernard Chandran. The criteria for the judges are 30% and the other 70% are from the public voting. The winner will be given a Royal Beauty Treatment. Conclusion In conclusion, even though we face a lot of problem during completing this assignment but we still manage to complete our assignment due to teamwork. While doing this assignment. We learned how to create a television game show. It is not easy to form an idea. We learned how to make a trailer for TV game show as well. When doing this assignment, we find out that it is difficult to invite the host to participate in our TV game show because they are very busy and maybe some are come from foreign country. The purpose for our TV game show is to let the public know more on how to makeover themselves to be more confident and pretty. We invite some famous and professional make up stylist to our TV game shows to attract more people participate in our TV show. We hope that teenagers can improve the knowledge of beauty through our TV game shows and became a person who perfect in both inner and outer look in the future.

Euthanasia Essay -- Death Research Papers

Euthanasia Euthanasia, as defined by the Encarta Encyclopedia, is the â€Å"practice of mercifully ending a person’s life in order to release the person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death† (Encarta, 2004). Euthanasia is a Greek word, which means â€Å"good death.† As humans, we understand death is something we cannot avoid but having some control over death is empowering and reassuring to us. If someone is suffering from a terminal illness, intolerable pain, or in a long-term coma, euthanasia is an acceptable option for someone to end his or her life. With the consent of their doctor(s) these people should be able to have the law on their side supporting their decisions. Euthanasia began in 1906 when Ohio drafted the first bill supporting the acceptance of euthanasia. Unfortunately, the bill did not succeed. About thirty years later, Reverend Charles Potter founded the Euthanasia Society of America in New York (Humphry, 1999). Since its beginnings, euthanasia or mercy killing as it is also called, has experienced many highs and lows, legal wins and set backs. Most noteworthy is the 1976 Natural Death Act passed by California with 10 states quickly following in California’s footsteps (Humphry, 1999). In 1980, euthanasia made a small gain against its largest opposition, the Catholic Church (Humphry, 1999). Pope John Paul II refuses accepting any â€Å"right to die† ideologies although he permits greater use of painkillers and the right to refuse any means to extend life unnaturally. Today, most states have some laws that allow patients to make informed decisions about how they wish to die. Almost every state allows one to have a living will. This simply states that if one is surviving via ... ...e that is breathing for them, or allowing someone to be in coma with no brain waves and simply existing is counterproductive to technology. We need to have a human say in when technology is simply enabling us to exist as machines. In those times, we need the right to say it is time to die. Euthanasia is at best a complicated subject. However, we a free people in a free society should be permitted one of the biggest freedoms of human life- deciding when to die. Doctors like Dr. Kevorkian should be hailed as heroes for human life not labeled doctors of death. Although this decision should never be made quickly or without counseling and much thought; if someone is terminally ill and in much pain he or she should be able to decide when her or she will die. It should be our last right as a person of this world to decide when it is time to move into the next one. Euthanasia Essay -- Death Research Papers Euthanasia Euthanasia, as defined by the Encarta Encyclopedia, is the â€Å"practice of mercifully ending a person’s life in order to release the person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death† (Encarta, 2004). Euthanasia is a Greek word, which means â€Å"good death.† As humans, we understand death is something we cannot avoid but having some control over death is empowering and reassuring to us. If someone is suffering from a terminal illness, intolerable pain, or in a long-term coma, euthanasia is an acceptable option for someone to end his or her life. With the consent of their doctor(s) these people should be able to have the law on their side supporting their decisions. Euthanasia began in 1906 when Ohio drafted the first bill supporting the acceptance of euthanasia. Unfortunately, the bill did not succeed. About thirty years later, Reverend Charles Potter founded the Euthanasia Society of America in New York (Humphry, 1999). Since its beginnings, euthanasia or mercy killing as it is also called, has experienced many highs and lows, legal wins and set backs. Most noteworthy is the 1976 Natural Death Act passed by California with 10 states quickly following in California’s footsteps (Humphry, 1999). In 1980, euthanasia made a small gain against its largest opposition, the Catholic Church (Humphry, 1999). Pope John Paul II refuses accepting any â€Å"right to die† ideologies although he permits greater use of painkillers and the right to refuse any means to extend life unnaturally. Today, most states have some laws that allow patients to make informed decisions about how they wish to die. Almost every state allows one to have a living will. This simply states that if one is surviving via ... ...e that is breathing for them, or allowing someone to be in coma with no brain waves and simply existing is counterproductive to technology. We need to have a human say in when technology is simply enabling us to exist as machines. In those times, we need the right to say it is time to die. Euthanasia is at best a complicated subject. However, we a free people in a free society should be permitted one of the biggest freedoms of human life- deciding when to die. Doctors like Dr. Kevorkian should be hailed as heroes for human life not labeled doctors of death. Although this decision should never be made quickly or without counseling and much thought; if someone is terminally ill and in much pain he or she should be able to decide when her or she will die. It should be our last right as a person of this world to decide when it is time to move into the next one.

Failure of the Legal System in Atonement, Wonder Boys and The Round Hou

The code of Hammurabi, dating back to 1772 BC, is one of the oldest recorded legal codes and reflects the early Babylonians’ views of justice. The code is best known for â€Å"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.† By enumerating punishments for certain crimes the code removes ambiguity and combined with its relatively harsh penalties, especially on lower class citizens, served as an effective deterrent. More profoundly however, Hammurabi’s code formally shifted justice-seeking responsibilities from the individual to the state. Today, most modern legal systems are structured similarly to Hammurabi’s code with their own codified laws and listed punishments. Capital punishment and the idea that â€Å"the punishment should fit he crime† are derivatives from the ancient text that are widespread in the world today. Hammurabi’s code however was not without fault. Pervasive throughout the archetype of modern law are inequitable punishments determined by one’s social standing. For example, the 8th law of Hammurabi’s code states, â€Å"If any one steel cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefore; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death† (King). Both the social standing of the violator and the victim of the crime played a large role in determining what the penalty would be. Today, our view of justice has ostensibly metamorphosed, to the extent that most people today would recognize that the 8th law from Hammurabi’s code was prejudiced and wrong. Although some may wish to remove themselves from such an unjust system, the reality is that we are not far from it. The mode... ...sity, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . Lee, Jaeah, and Brett Bownell. "Charts: Why You're in Deep Trouble If You Can't Afford a Lawyer." Mother Jones. Mother Jones, 1 July 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . McEwan, Ian. Atonement: A Novel. New York: N.A. Talese/Doubleday, 2002. Print. Stevenson, Bryan. "We Need to Talk about an Injustice." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED Talks, Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Wright, Paul. "Prison Legal News - Legal Articles, Cases and Court Decisions." Prison Legal News. Prison Legal News, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .

House Waife

†¢ What kind of job are you looking for? â€Å"I’m looking for a position that is going to help make a company better and challenge me based on my experience and background. † †¢ What are you looking for in a job? â€Å"I’ve enjoyed the challenge of learning in just about every job I’ve had† and, again, â€Å"I’m looking for a position that’s going to help make a company better and challenge me. † †¢ What do you look for in a job? â€Å"Well, I’d like the work to be challenging. I enjoy being challenged every day.By being challenged I’m going to grow personally and professionally, and I find if I’m growing personally and professionally, the economics, benefits and many things like that will always take care of themselves† †¢ How do you define success? When I contribute to a successful organization, I am successful. We both grow. † Then perhaps relate a story about how â€Å" successful† you were in your last one or two jobs. Remember, people love stories, and they remember them long after they remember most everything else. You really don’t have as much experience as we would like; why should we hire you? You know, it’s very interesting, and every job I’ve ever had I never went in to the job having all of the experience that my previous employers wanted. In fact, I went into three of them where I was hired simply because I had more potential than any other candidate. As you can see, I have been successful in every position that I’ve been in even though I had no experience before I started.Some people catch on to things more quickly than others and I happen to be one who is blessed that way. I’m a quick learner and I’ve been able to pick up the things that I didn’t necessarily have any experience with and do extremely well. † †¢ Have you ever â€Å"failed† in a job? â€Å"Well, Iâ €™m like a ballplayer that never really lost—he just ran out of time. Even the very few things that I look back on and others might see as ‘failures,’ I really see as setbacks.Like most people, not everything that I’ve ever done has turned out as perfectly as I would have liked. But even when it didn’t, I’ve learned from it. † †¢ If you could choose any organization to work for, whom would you go to? â€Å"Unequivocally, this company is absolutely the one I would go to work for, †¢ Describe a major project that you have worked on and how it contributed to the overall good of your employer successful project Salary Transfer to Banks

John Updike

Eliana Orosco Mrs. King Composition II 8 March 2013 A&P John Updike was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays, poems, and children’s tale. In the early stories such as â€Å"A&P† John Updike uses memories from his childhood and teenage years. For the sort of â€Å"small† scenes and stories for which he quickly became famous for (Updike 233). Updike uses the elements of setting, mood, and characters to illustrate the theme of a rebellious generation in the short fiction story â€Å"A&P†.The setting of the â€Å"A&P† takes place in a small town north of Boston around 1960. Sammy needs a sympathetic listener (or reader), someone who will grasp the meaning he is constructing for himself as he puts his actions into narrative order. Collapsing past and present in rapid yet reflective colloquial speech, Sammy tells how three teenage girls, barefoot, in bathing suits, came into the A & P store to make a purchase. As they move through the aisles , Sammy, from his work station, first ogles them and then idealizes the prettiest and most confident of the three.He names her, to himself, â€Å"Queenie†; and though he jokes with his fellow cashier about the girls' sexiness, he is quietly disgusted by the butcher's frankly lustful gaze as the girls search for what they want to buy. Worse is his manager's puritanical rebuke for their beach attire as Queenie pays Sammy for her purchase. Outraged that his manager, Lengel, has made â€Å"that pretty girl blush† and wanting to demonstrate his refusal of such demeaning authority, Sammy quits his job on the spot.Though the girls leave without recognizing their hero, and though his manager tries to dissuade him from disappointing his parents, Sammy feels â€Å"that once you begin a gesture, it's fatal not to go through with it† (196). He acts decisively, but the girls have disappeared from the parking lot by the time he exits the store. In practical terms, Sammy's act ion has gained him nothing and cost him everything, but his narrative affirms his gesture as a liberating form of dissent, (M.Gilbert Porter discusses Sammy's dissent as Emersonian nonconformity: Porter 1155-58. ) Sammy does not see how he could have done otherwise, though he finds himself at odds with the only society he knows, sure that â€Å"the world will be hard to me, hereafter† (Updike 238). The time of year in the story illustrates the old generation versus a new generation. The narrator states that the way the young ladies were dressed isn’t normally how they dress in the â€Å"A;P† a very respectable supermarket.Sammy notices everyone’s expression towards the girls while they walk the aisles like when he says, â€Å"The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle-the girls were walking against traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) were pretty hilarious. You could see them, when Queenie’s white shoulders dawned on them, kind o f jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed† (Updike 235).Another way the regular customers were so shocked how Queenie and her friends were dressed they had to take a second glare at them, â€Å"A few house slaves in pin curlers even looked around pushing their carts past to make sure what they had seen was correct. † (Updike 235). The mood of the story is informal/rebellious that it illustrates that the â€Å"A;P† is an uptight supermarket and everything has to be done the right way. Like for example when Sammy rings an item up twice and he gets chewed out by one of the customers, â€Å"I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell.She is one of those cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I know it made her day to trip me up† (Updike 234). Mr. Lengel the manager at the â€Å"A;P† was the first to mention to Queenie and her friends that their attire was not acceptable in the supermarket by saying, â€Å"Girls, this isn’t the beach. Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy† (Updike 237). The characters in the short story illustrates the different rebellious moments in the story.Like for example, when Queenie shows the reader she doesn’t care what people think about her or has to say when she enters the supermarket with a two piece bikini, â€Å"Walking to the A;P with your straps down, I suppose it’s the only kind of face you can have. She held her head so high her neck, coming up out of those white shoulders, looked kind of stretched† (Updike 235). When Sammy tells Mr. Lengel, â€Å"You didn’t have to embarrass them† (Updike 238). With Mr. Lengel replying to him, â€Å"It was they who embarrassing us† (238).Then Sammy quits by pulling the bow at the back of the apron and sta rt shrugging it off his shoulders. When Sammy quits his job is also a rebellious moment because he quits to show the girls he stands up for them but when he does there is no one to thank him for his heroic moment. Sammy finally realizes that â€Å"the world will be hard to me, hereafter† (Updike 238) for the decision he had made for sticking up for people he really didn’t know. What I learned while reading the story is that with every decision there is consequences.Speaking up for someone may not always be the wrong or right thing to do. When you want to speak your own mind and defend someone you should be ready for the consequences coming after. Work Cited John Updike â€Å"A;P. † Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mendall. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 234-38. Print. Saldivar, Toni. â€Å"The Art of John Updike's ‘A & P'. † Studies in Short Fiction 34. 2 (1997): 215. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.