Institute of Management Accounting’s

Institute of Management Accounting’s (IMA) mission is to provide a forum for research, practice development, education, knowledge sharing, and the advocacy of the highest ethical and best business practices in management accounting and finance. The IMA has strongly enforced ethics since it’s inception. Their ethics committee was one of the first committees established in 1919, at their very first meeting. It was call ‘The Standard of Ethical Conduct for Management Accountants. This shows that the IMA is extremely serious when it comes to the professionalism required by it’s members. This guideline has been revised twice, once in 1979 and then again in 2005. Upon the last revision, the code of ethical conduct became the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice. All members must take an oath and adhere to the Institute of Management Accounting (IMA) Standards of Ethical Professional Practice. The are four main principles of this code of ethical conduct. They are: I. Honesty II. Fairness III. Objectivity IV. Responsibility It is the responsibility of every accountant to comply with these standards to avoid any type of disciplinarian action. According to the IMA each member must be professional. Many of the areas of professionalism to be maintained includes a commitment to education. This is the section of the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice that requires all accountant members to stay abreast of the many laws, regulations and technical standards. Due to our everyday landscape and the continual changes in accounting, taxes, etc. , the IMA has a continuing education (CE) requirement. All accountants must take a certain amount of CE classes so that they’ll be able to provide sound advice to their clients. This does not only keep them knowledgeable, it also keeps them aware of their professional limitations. Another part of an accountant’s responsibility is to respect the confidentiality of their clients. They must maintain a high level of scrutiny to make sure that not only do they always perform ethically and within the law, but they must also make sure that all of the activities of their subordinates are legal. This requires a great deal of integrity. To have integrity. The official definition of integrity is: Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. This is the basis of IMA’s existence. Aristotle once said, ‘We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. It is obvious that there is no room for error when it come to the IMA’s code of ethical conduct. An accountant must be ethical when discussing any financial reporting, including advice and recommendations. He needs to assess the financial state of the company to the best of his ability. It is his duty and responsibility to be forthcoming with ALL revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities and let the chips fall where they may. In essence, they must be fair and objective. The IMA’s ethics guidelines have been used by other companies and organizations in some shape, form or fashion for many years. This tells you that this ethical guideline, in particular, is something that crosses all lines. It is very easy to live your life with these principles. As a matter of fact, the IMA expects their members to behave in their personal life and community with the ethical professionalism that is required in their profession. As a student, I can, have and will continue to use every single one of these principles. It is quite obvious that there are many ways to access information with the advent of the internet. Therefore, students today have access to many things that were not available 30 or even 20 years ago. It now takes a great deal of commitment to honesty to maintain one’s integrity. As a student, I too, must maintain that sense of integrity. I believe integrity is the basis of the entire IMA’s Statement of Profession Ethical Conduct. Let’s see how this can is relevant to me as a student. To remain honest in this society is becoming more rare that the norm. It is imperative that I maintain my sense of honesty throughout my education. As a student, there are a variety of ethical decisions to be made at any given time. I will have to make an ethical choices every single day. By being honest and accountable with my decisions, I will actually take away a higher and more thorough learning experience. As a student there are many opportunities for fraudulent behavior up to and including plagiarism. There are many students who are motivated by the consequences of their dishonesty and others who are only motivated by the end result. In other words, they would do it, if they knew for sure that they wouldn't get caught. Those are the students that are lacking in integrity. Personally, my motivation is the consequence of losing out on the education of a lifetime. I’m a Clarity Coach. I help people see their life with clarity. In doing so, I expect to be true to myself. If I can’t see things clearly, and I can only do that by being honest with myself, then how do I expect to help others get to the next level in their life. I am motivated by my passion for knowledge. I want to know more and I want to learn more. I can only do these by adhering to my personal code of ethics. To be competent is to be knowledgeable. One gains a sense of knowledge by learning. The only way to learn is to perform as a student. As a student, there are certain guidelines that you must adhere to. Every university has their own set of rules and regulations. One obvious rule is to enroll and perform in classes. This must be done to continue to develop my knowledge and skills. If that doesn't happen, either party (you or the university) can decide look at other options. You can make the choice to leave or your school can make that choice for you. In reference to me, I must do everything possible to learn what’s put before me to successfully perform in the business program, in other words, I must be competent. There are several reasons to maintain a sense of confidentiality. By revealing privileged information, we can have a substantial impact on other individuals. Anything that precludes another individual from gaining the perceived level of education from taking a course, is quite frankly, unethical and illegal in respect to the inferred rule that everyone is allowed an education. There are several advantages of maintaining confidentiality, the most important one is promoting the opportunity to learn. There is an inherent sense of confidentiality that I must observe hen it comes to the sharing of curriculum assignments, research papers, and a host personal information. In a class environment, you may find out personal information just by the nature of classroom interaction, as well as group projects. Again, it is imperative not to disclose any confidential information acquired during these interactions unless expressly authorized to do so. It is also a huge part of the learning experience for the instructor to maintain a sense of confidentiality to their students. A breech could impact that students interaction, absorption of the information and prevent them from seeking assistance when/if needed. If a professor is confidential with a students information and/or private dealings, they actually strengthen that relationship and foster continued learning and trust in that student. I'm sure it could have a huge impact on my classroom performance. I have to maintain a sense of fairness and objectivity at all times, when it comes to responding to my classmates, group members and professors. I need to be mindful that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, including myself. However, I need to express it in a fair and balanced manner. When we consider the challenges that have been faced by many of our major corporations and accounting firms, along with the S&L catastrophe from years ago, we quickly see how ‘creative’ financial managers can put us all at risk of losing what we’ve worked so hard for, at any given time. If only these companies were committed to the guidelines of the IMA, we could have quite possibly had a very different ‘corporate climate’ all together. It’s quite possible that major ‘financial disasters like Enron and WorldCom would have been unthinkable and therefore non-existent. It is also quite obvious that the IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice is relevant for so many corporations, organizations and even individuals like me. Today, with the advent of the internet, there are so many ways to compromise your integrity. Students today have access to many things that were not available 30 or even 20 years ago. I can honestly say that it takes a great deal of commitment to honesty to maintain one’s integrity. As a student, every day I make the choice to live my life with integrity.

Children Development 3-5 Years

3 – 5 YEARS PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Buttons/unbuttons own clothing, cut out simple shapes, draw a person with head, trunk and legs, walk on a line, aim and throw ball, hop on one foot, form letters; write own name, colour in pictures, completes 20-piece jigsaw, skip with a rope, run quickly and able to avoid obstacles, throw large ball to a partner and catch it. Run, jump, begin to climb ladders; can start to ride tricycles; try anything; is very active. INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTUnderstand concepts like grouping and matching, identify parts of a whole, draw, name, and briefly explain pictures, actively seek information. Tell their full name and age, show awareness of past and present, play with words, mimicking and creating sounds, and make rhymes, point to and name many colors, understand order and process, draw a person with detail, learn both by observing and listening to adults' explanations. Begins to notice differences in the way men and women act. Imitate adults. Continue t o learn through senses. Begin to see cause-and-effect relationships.Are curious and inquisitive. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Retell a story (but may confuse facts) Combine thoughts into one sentence Ask â€Å"when? â€Å", â€Å"how? † and â€Å"why? † questions. Use words like â€Å"can,† â€Å"will,† â€Å"shall,† â€Å"should,† and â€Å"might†. Combine thoughts into one sentence. Refer to causality by using â€Å"because† and â€Å"so† Follow three unrelated commands. Understand comparatives like loud, louder, loudest. Understand sequencing of events when clearly explained. Listen to a long story. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Seem sure of self. May not obey limits, tests rules, and often says no.Need freedom with limits. Self-assured, stable and well-adjusted. Like to be around mother and like to be at home. Like to follow rules. Like being given jobs to do. Can wait for their needs to be met, can feel secure when in a strange p lace away from their main carers, are less rebellious and use language rather then physical outbursts to express themselves. May have imaginary fears and anxieties. Project their own experiences onto dolls and toys. Show awareness of their own feelings and those of others, and talk about feeling. Similar essay: How Different Types of Transitions Can Affect Children

Ge: Five Force Analysis of Case Study Essay

The threat of new entry of the firm is somewhat small because the firm is the large company with long and specialized experience. It is difficulty for new entry to complete with existing products and services which need a large amount of investment and cost in order to run the business and develop the products and services. It is very difficult for the new entry because GE has a very strong brand and reputation as well as patents and know-how that has the new entry cannot be done in the short period in order to compete with GE and other major competitors in this industry. The power of buyers The bargaining power of the buyers is high. This is because, the extremely high of switching cost from competitors such as technology industry where the buyers can find the information easily which will has an impact on them in order to make a decision to purchasing the products. It would benefit of the firm if they can sell a large volume of products. However, there are not all of businesses in GE that have positive impact from switching cost of buying. The power of supplier The firm tends to create long-term relationship with suppliers and most of them are work together in strategic alliance by sharing the knowledge and technology. With this relationship, it is win-win situation that GE and their suppliers will get. Therefore, the bargaining power of supplier is not high since they have become interconnected in term of knowledge and technology. Hence, the suppliers have to take this opportunity to build the relationship with the firm in order to compete with their business. The threats of substitutes The firm has to concern about the threat of new product being produced which will barrier the business performance. There are many products can take the place of the firm products and services. Competitive rivalry The competition is quite high, because the diversification of the business is high and the number of rivalry in the industry is increasing due to the lucrative profit which will cause more risk to GE. The main competitors of the firm are Siemens AG and Emerson Electric. Because they are also leading diversified firm as well as General Electric.

Future of Brazilian Economy campared to a developed country i.e. USA Essay

Future of Brazilian Economy campared to a developed country i.e. USA and Developing country i.e. India - Essay Example Brazil serves as one of the most distinguishing countries of the South American continent. Its distinctive characteristics are due to its splendid geo-strategic location, profusion of natural resources, vast area, cultivation of multiple crops in different seasons, large population and tremendous industrial and agricultural productions. â€Å"Composites industry in Brazil is the largest in Latin America and presently is witnessing good growth after some years of slowdown thanks to the recovery of the automotive industry and increased urbanization. Brazil traditionally has a strong manufacturing base and higher per capita income.† (Lucintel, 2008) The country has made slow but steady and stable progress in all fields of life during the last few years only. The authorities have established a comprehensive export promotion system in order to keep equilibrium between exports and imports, where imports never exceed than the export volume of the country to a dangerous extent.  "The value of Brazil’s exports to the US fell by 34.1% to $20.1 billion in 2009. Brazil imported $26.2 billion worth of merchandise from the US in 2009, down 19% from $32.3 billion in 2008. Brazil’s trade deficit with the US tripled to $6.1 billion in 2009, from $1.8 billion in 2008.† (economywatch.com/) Consequently, her fast pace growth proves Brazilian economy as one of the fastest growing economies of the world at large in this age of perfect competition under free trade economic system. However, being the most populated country of the continent, Brazil had to make hard efforts in respect of winning the present economic position in the international arena. The political authorities of the country had to combat with several socioeconomic challenges including low per capita income, unequal distribution of wealth and resources, high crime rate, ethno-racial conflicts, always expanding unemployment rate, awkward clutches of poverty, political instability, and ina dequate allocation of human and natural resources etc. Somehow, the sincere and dedicated efforts, made by the Brazilian leadership and the masses jointly, have turned out to be fruitful in earning respectable status for the national economy. â€Å"Blessed with the abundant natural resources, Brazil has become the most powerful country in South America in economic terms and thus is leading the other countries of South America. With large and growing agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, Brazil economy ranks highest among all the South American countries and it has also acquired a strong position in global economy.† (mapoftheworld.com) Currently, Brazil’s economy is at eighth position in world ranking with GDP $ 2.023 trillion, and hence she is the only South American country, whose name is got place in the list of top ten economies of the world. The development made by the country is not confined to one specific area or zone only. On the contrary, th e Brazilian economy has showed an upward trend in all fields and departments including trade, commerce, agriculture, industrialization, technological advancement and infrastructure. As a result, the salaries and wages of white collar and blue collar workers have also witnessed tremendous boost along with the high increase in the profit volume of the industrialists and investors. Thus, the analysts and financial experts are taking both business and salary class to climb the ladder of prosperity and financial stability. Before embarking upon the topic under

Why Geometry has played a central part in Painting Essay

Why Geometry has played a central part in Painting - Essay Example My main aim in this text, however, is to explore the relationships and importance of geometry in painting. In order to better understand these relationships we need to look back in time into the â€Å"science of space†. I will aim to include three chapters in this text, the first dealing with the study of geometry, symmetry and their basic, most important properties and its uses in earlier movements of art in order to present the most relevant examples of works into the second chapter which will deal with analysis of works of art (mainly paintings). The third and final chapter will deal with answering the question; â€Å"Why geometry has played a central part in painting?† â€Å"It was then that all these kinds of things thus established receive the shapes of the ordering one, through the action of ideas and numbers†- Plato. Plato’s philosophy of the universe was centered on the Deity. He believed that the universe is built out of four elements; earth, fire, water and air (as Empedocles before him), which takes a form of geometrical solids (earth- cube, fire- tetrahedron, water- icosahedron, air- octahedron) which then can brake further into triangles.As mentioned above geometry means earth measure. As we shall see the journey is from the single point into the line, out to the plane, to the third dimension and beyond eventually returning to the point again. Like the elements of its sister subject music, it is an aspect of revelation in a creation myth in itself. Number, music, geometry and cosmology are the four art.

Amazon Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Amazon - Case Study Example , the organization was an online bookstore but it diversified its operations to include services such as DVDs and VHS tapes, software, electronics, video games, music CDs, furniture, clothing, MP3s, and food items. Technology ensured that E-books could eclipse the sale of hard copies and Bezos took advantage of it (Stone, 2012). This was in recognition to what Amazon had done in making online shopping popular. In order to ensure that its products are closer to the customer, Amazon operates different retails websites for several countries including US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, China, Spain, Italy, France and Japan. In addition, the organization operates international shipping lines to given countries for delivery of its products to its customers there (Enright, 2010). The main competitors for the organization are Apple Inc., eBay Inc., buy.com, Google, Barnes & Noble, Inc., Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC, and Catalog & Mail Order Houses. This is because the companies are in the same business and they have been able to establish themselves in the market as well. These competitors operate several websites that customers can use to purchase their wares. In addition, the competitors such as Apple Inc offer a diverse number of services that can be used to rival Amazon. However, in order to stay ahead of the game Amazon ensures that it produces services that are not available in the other online retailers. For, example it was the first to introduce an international shipping line for transporting goods to its customers (Enright, 2010). The relationship between Amazon and publishers based in New York is very good because Amazon is able to sell books everywhere (Stone, 2012). This means that the organization has already established itself and thus customers trust its operations. Because of its policies, which are to satisfy the customer at all the times, Amazon has been able to create a huge client base. In addition, the existing clients for Amazon act as its marketers

Combining Anomaly and Signature based Intrusion Detection Systems Essay

Combining Anomaly and Signature based Intrusion Detection Systems - Essay Example The researcher states that the Internet continues to modernize the world’s economy. It is apparently changing the way people live, study, work, participate, and devour. At the hub, of this rebellion is technology. Technology has moved from the "back office" to the leading edge. Namely, the interface between the customer and the organization has changed spectacularly. Increasingly, technology is shifting the organization’s associations with its customers from a "face-to-face" to a "screen-to-face" communication. The Internet is not an  innovation  that concerns only one or two sectors of the economy. Because it revolutionizes the way businesses should prudently  systematize  their activities and go to the market, the Internet affects all economic commotions. Organizations maintain data communication networks for paperless business operations along with enhanced communication. On the other hand, threats and vulnerabilities related to data communication networks ar e significantly increasing. Firewalls are not considered as the only solution because these intelligent viruses and malicious codes tend to pass through it. In order to enable advanced security measures, Intrusion Detections Systems are recommended for corporate networks. The types include network-based IDS, host-based IDS, and software-based IDS. These types are further categorized into signature-based IDS which is also referred as misuse detection, and Anomaly Detection. The functionality of ‘signature-based IDS’ is dependent on known signatures. The word ‘known’ is important because threats that are detecting so far are categorized as known threats and are called signatures. Signature-based IDS only detect threats similar to the defined available signatures and do not comply with any new threat. Whereas, Anomaly-based IDS detect unknown activities within the network and detect them as threats and vulnerabilities. These two IDS types comply with different types of methods, process, and various profiles that are discussed in the next part of this coursework. II. Signature-Based IDS The signature-based IDS analyze and identify specific patterns of attacks that are recognized by raw data that is in terms of byte sequences called strings, port number, protocol types etc. Likewise, apart from the normal operational pattern, signature-based IDS detects any activity that is unusual from previously defined patterns. Moreover, the patterns are monitored with strict control algorithms. The signatures are stored in a signature repository. The prime object of a ‘signature-based IDS’ is to search signatures in order to detect a threat or vulnerability that is similar to antivirus software that also detects viruses. The functionality of IDS is to detect attacks that are initiated directly towards the network. Moreover, IDS tries to identify as many events as possible and therefore generate logs.

Discussion Questions In Class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion Questions In Class - Essay Example A limited liability partnership is an organization in which a number of partners or all of them have limited liability. It is true that this type of organization provides the protection of limited liability, characteristics of a corporation and tax advantages of a partnership, and that there exists many similarities between the limited liability corporation and this kind of partnership. According to Sutton (2001), the limited liability corporation reports its income on a â€Å"schedule corporation tax form and computes its self-employment tax on a schedule self employment tax form†. In the case of multiple member liability limited corporation, self employment tax is paid on the member’s allocations on profits. The corporation’s income is reported separately on a 1065 tax return for partnership with each partner computing the bills for self employment tax on their allocations of partnership gains on the schedule self employment tax forms that go along with the 1040 returns on personal tax (Clifford and Warner 2008). It is therefore not true to say that the profit is not subject to self employment tax. A corporation is taxed and also files taxes. It is also important to note that individuals in the partnership are protected against joint liability in the case of one partner or many in the business commits an act of malpractice or misconduct. It is only the assets of the member who has been proofed to have caused failure due to negligence which are attached in case of business failure (Sutton 2001). When it is treated as a corporation, pay self employment tax is not charged on the corporation’s profit. However, according to Sutton (2001), the 1120 of the liability Limited Corporation reports the corporate income tax that is subjected on the profits. The corporation is usually limited by the shares. Non U.S. residents are allowed to own limited liability corporations. It is

Opinion Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Opinion - Research Paper Example Everyone seems to care for the prolongation of the life of a beloved one, no matter the extent of socioeconomic demand thereon. For instance, psychological and medical facts supporting the possibility of terminally ill persons making a dramatic comeback from their conditions within the framework of support and care counter the propensity to implement the rights to be aided to end life. The family bond is so strong that the contemplation of assisting aiding someone to end their life is usually not commonly adopted. The patient’s rights to die may be abused for a number of reasons, creating a deliberate move to eliminate persons who need care and probably make a comeback in their health. The case of reported Dutch euthanasia data illustrates the magnitude of risks that a society may have to contend with, if the procedures of aided death fail to observe humane treatment of human dignity. Families must take a more central role in supplementing the national healthcare system in providing care to the aged, since the overstretched system will increasingly find it difficult to cover everyone. Under such conditions, the risks of euthanasia to the sociocultural fabric will continue to loom in the American society (Pevtzow, 2011). Under the conditions of a growing population of aged persons with high dependence of care to survive, healthcare systems find the burden of balancing service delivery to productive population unbearable. The astronomical costs involved in the care-intensive service to the very old always leads to debates on whether elimination of the persons would make healthcare systems sustainable for the populations. However, as illustrated above, stronger social factors tend to keep the life of the aged closer to the family structure than elimination of their life at will. Abuse of the right to die for the terminally ill, most of which are the aged may be supported by cold family members

World Civilization I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

World Civilization I - Essay Example The Nubians and Egyptians had specific interests in their interaction, something that was to be of great benefit to their political spheres. Despite the pharaonic state aimed at drifting them from the culture of the Niles, Egyptians still held close relations with the Nubians who were powerful, making them feel threatened; also being that their interests were in the gold, precious stones, ivory and ebony that were only available in the southern parts of the Nubian kingdom (Timothy 2010). Nubian equally with the strong interests in Egypt wanted to protect their interests by taking charge of river Nile trade wise and in need of assurance in protection of their independence from Egypt to the north. There also was the Nile River that was a common source of water for their agricultural activities: watering livestock and crops. Due to their broad flood plains and ability to support larger populations, Nubians moved to Egyptian lands for agriculture, something that brought them even closer. In a nut shell, Egypt and Nubian had a lot in common and their interaction in trade and agriculture contributed a lot to their political life. Their interests in each other’s goods and services are what could never have separated them. Egyptians were blessed in terms of productivity and land which brought Nubians close to them also the need to protect their independence; with Egyptians having interest in the gold Nubians had, ivory, ebony and precious stones. This unity was beneficial as it positively impacted on both their political and economic

Sequential and Selection Process Control Structure Essay Example for Free

Sequential and Selection Process Control Structure Essay Associate Program Material Appendix G Sequential and Selection Process Control Structure In the following example, the second line of the table specifies that tax due on a salary of $2,000. 00 is $225. 00 plus 16% of excess salary over $1,500. 00 (that is, 16% of $500. 00). Therefore, the total tax is $225. 00 + $80. 00, or $305. 00. | |Salary Range in Dollars |Base Tax in Dollars |Percentage of Excess | |1 |0. 00-1,499. 99 |0. 00 |15 % | |2 |1,500. 0-2,999. 99 |225. 00 |16 % | |3 |3,000. 00-4,999. 99 |465. 00 |18 % | |4 |5,000. 00-7,999. 99 |825. 00 |20 % | |5 |8,000. 00-14,999. 99 |1425. 00 |25 % | Input |Process |Output | |First name |Get user input |First name | |Last name | |Last name | |Salary | |Salary Salary |Find base tax salary |Bas tax | |Tax table | |Salary range | |Salary range |Determine base tax and |Percentage total |Percentage of excess |percentage of excess |Base tax | |Base tax | | | |Salary |Determine gross salary |Total tax | |Total tax due | |Tax due | |Base tax | |Gross salary | |First name |Display the gross salary |First name | |Last name | |Last name | |Salary | |Salary | |Gross salary | |Gross salary | |Input |Process |Output | |Salary = 0. 0 |Determine salary and taxes |Error message | | | |Salary = 0. | | | |Taxes = 0. 0 | |Salary 15000. 00 |Determine salary and taxes | Error message | | | |Salary = 0. 0 | | | |Taxes = 0. 0 | |Salary = 0. 01 |Determine salary and taxes |Salary = 0. 1 | | | |Taxes = 0. 0015 | |Salary = 1000. 00 |Determine salary and taxes |Salary = 1000. 00 | | | |Taxes = 150 | |Salary = 1499. 99 |Determine salary and taxes |Salary = 1499. 00 | | | |Taxes = 225. 00 |

Assessment Of For And As Learning Essay Example for Free

Assessment Of For And As Learning Essay Assessment of learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what students know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum outcomes or the goals of their individualized programs, or to certify proficiency and make decisions about students’ future programs or placements. It is designed to provide evidence of achievement to parents, other educators, the students themselves, and sometimes to outside groups (e. g. , employers, other educational institutions). Assessment of learning is the assessment that becomes public and results in statements or symbols about how well students are learning. It often contributes to pivotal decisions that will affect students’ futures. It is important, then, that the underlying logic and measurement of assessment of learning be credible and defensible. Teachers’ Roles in Assessment of Learning Because the consequences of assessment of learning are often far-reaching and affect students seriously, teachers have the responsibility of reporting student learning accurately and fairly, based on evidence obtained from a variety of contexts and applications. Effective assessment of learning requires that teachers provide  ?a rationale for undertaking a particular assessment of learning at a particular point in time ?clear descriptions of the intended learning ?processes that make it possible for students to demonstrate their competence and skill ?a range of alternative mechanisms for assessing the same outcomes ?public and defensible reference points for making judgments ? Transparent approaches to interpretation ?descriptions of the assessment process ?strategies for recourse in the event of disagreement about the decisions With the help of their teachers, students can look forward to assessment of learning tasks as  occasions to show their competence, as well as the depth and breadth of their learning. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Assessment for learning focuses on engaging students in classroom assessment in support of their own learning and informing teachers about what to do next to help students to progress. Assessment for learning is assessment for improvement not assessment for accountability as can be the case with summative assessments (Stiggins, 2002). The keys to Assessment for Learning (AFL) is to use a variety of assessment tools and methods in order to provide ongoing evidence to students, teachers and parents that demonstrates how  well each student is mastering the identified outcomes. This evidence is used to provide descriptive feedback to the students and to enable the teacher to differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of individual students or groups. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING VS. ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING Gregory, Cameron, and Davies (1997) outline some distinct differences between Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning. Educators are using these terms to help distinguish between the teachers role as a learning coach versus the teachers role of judging the extent of a students achievement in relation to an established standard. This assessment is considered summative and is done at the end. 1. Assessment for learning is the big deal, while assessment of learning is the done deal. 2. Assessment for learning is formative, while assessment of learning is summative. 3. Assessment for learning is supportive, while assessment of learning measures. 4. Assessment for learning uses descriptions, while assessment of learning uses scores. 5. Assessment for learning happens day by day, moment by moment, while assessment of learning happens at the end. The assertion is that neither one is better than the other, but both need to be used within a  students learning so that the student is able to understand not only the work that is being asked of them, but also how their own learning occurs. Assessment for learning is intended to be both diagnostic and formative to help students improve their learning. Four critical questions that the teacher must ask when planning for assessment for learning: WHY AM I ASSESSING? If the intent of assessment is to enhance student learning teachers use assessment for learning to uncover what students believe to be true and to learn more about the connections students are making, their prior knowledge, preconceptions, gaps, and learning styles. This information is used to inform and differntiate instruction to build on what students already know and to challenge students when their are problems inhibiting progression to the next stages of learning. Teachers use this information to provide their students with descriptive feedback that will further their learning and not as a sumamtive assessment or to report a grade. WHAT AM I ASSESSING? Assessment for learning requires ongoing assessment of the outcomes that comprise the intended learning. In most cases these are the curriculum outcomes. Teachers create assessments that will  expose students’ thinking and skills in relation to the intended learning, and the common preconceptions. WHAT ASSESSMENT METHOD SHOULD I USE? When planning assessment for learning, the teacher must think about what assessment is designed to expose, and must decide which assessment approaches are most likely to give detailed information about what each student is thinking and learning. The methods need to incorporate a variety of ways for students to demonstrate their learning. For example, having students complete tasks orally or through visual representation allow those who are struggling  with reading or writing to demonstrate their learning. HOW CAN I USE THE INFORMA%ON? The information collected in assessment for learning is used to report to the student and by offering descriptive, on time feedback and to provide the teacher with information to allow for changes in instruction for individual students or groups of students. ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING Assessment as learning occurs when students are their own assessors. Students monitor their own learning, ask questions and use a range of strategies to decide what they know and can do, and  how to use assessment for new learning. Assessment as learning: ?encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning ?requires students to ask questions about their learning ?involves teachers and students creating learning goals to encourage growth and development ?provides ways for students to use formal and informal feedback and self-assessment to help them understand the next steps in learning ?encourages peer assessment, self-assessment and reflection. ROLES This assessment model supports the view of today’s learners as actively involved in the learning process. Students are educated on the purpose of assignments and the outcomes they are trying to achieve. Hence the teacher and the student both have critical roles in understanding learning outcomes and modifying learning in Assessment as Learning. Teacher Ensuring assessment methods are appropriate and the purpose is clear to students ensures quality and fair assessment practices as per the Principles for Fair Student Assessment in Canada (1993). Beyond choosing the learning outcomes to be covered, the activities to follow and the assessment methods, in Assessment as Learning, the teacher engages the students in this process. In Assessment as Learning, the teacher is a guide, â€Å"Giving them [students] the tools to undertake their own learning wisely and well. † (WNCP, p. 42) Students learn to monitor their own learning and make adaptations as required. In addition to monitoring learning and guiding instruction through assessment for learning, the teacher is assessing the students’ ability to assess themselves as they learn how to assess their own learning. Teachers can follow the following model in order to practice Assessment as Learning in their classroom: (adapted from WNCP, p. 42-43) 1. Discuss the learning outcomes with the students. 2. Create criteria with the students for the various tasks that need to be completed and/or skills that need to be learned or mastered 3. Provide feedback to students as they learn and ask them guiding questions to help them monitor their own learning 4. Help them set goals to extend or support their learning as needed in order to meet or fully meet the expectations 5. Provide reference points and examples for the learning outcomes Teachers are also responsible for ensuring that students have a learning environment in which they feel comfortable and safe to learn as well as have ample time to practise what is being  taught. Student Beyond completing the tasks assigned to them by their teacher, students move from the passive learner to an active owner of their own learning. Initially, with teacher guidance and tools, students learn to monitor if they have understood the learning outcome being explored and the metacognitive process. Once the metacognitive skills have been acquired, students can independently adjust their learning accordingly and demonstrate the â€Å"self-reflection, self- monitoring and self-adjustment. † (WNCP, 2006, p. 85) Extensive and relevant modeling in the questions below can help students reach this point: 1. What is the purpose of learning these concepts and skills? 2. What do I know about this topic? 3. What strategies do I know that will help me learn this? 4. Am I understanding these concepts? 5. What are the criteria for improving my work? 6. Have I accomplished the goals I set for myself? What is self-assessment? According to Boud (1995), all assessment including self-assessment comprises two main elements: making decisions about the standards of performance expected and then making judgments about the quality of the performance in relation to these standards. When self-assessment is introduced, it should ideally involve students in both of these aspects. Andrade and Du (2007) provide a helpful definition of self-assessment that focuses on the formative learning that it can promote: Self-assessment is a process of formative assessment during which students reflect on and evaluate the quality of their work and their learning, judge the degree to which they reflect explicitly stated goals or criteria, identify strengths and weaknesses in their work, and revise accordingly (2007, p. 160). EXAMPLES OF SELF-ASSESSMENT Self-assessment can take many forms, including: ?writing conferences ?discussion (whole-class or small-group) ?reflection logs ?weekly self-evaluations ?self-assessment checklists and inventories ?teacher-student interviews These types of self-assessment share a common theme: they ask students to review their work to determine what they have learned and what areas of confusion still exist. Although each method differs slightly, all should include enough time for students to consider thoughtfully and evaluate their progress. When students understand the criteria for good work before they begin a literacy activity, they are more likely to meet those criteria. The key to this understanding is to make the criteria clear. As students evaluate their work, you may want them to set up their own criteria for good work. Help them with the clarity of their criteria as they assess their own work. Students observations and reflections can also provide valuable feedback for refining your instructional plan. As your students answer questions about their learning and the strategies they use, think about their responses to find out what they are really learning and to see if they are learning what you are teaching them. K-W-L (KNOW, WANT TO KNOW, LEARNED) CHART. K-W-L (Ogle, 1986) is an instructional reading strategy that is used to guide students through a text. Students begin by brainstorming everything they Know about a topic. This information is recorded in the K column of a K-W-L chart. Students then generate a list of questions about what they Want to Know about the topic. These questions are listed in the W column of the chart. During or after reading, students answer the questions that are in the W column. This new information that they have Learned is recorded in the L column of the K-W-L chart. Purpose The K-W-L strategy serves several purposes: Elicits students’ prior knowledge of the topic of the text. ?Sets a purpose for reading. ?Helps students to monitor their comprehension. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Donna Ogle asserts that KWL helps students become better readers of expository text and helps teachers to be more interactive in their teaching (Ogle, 1987). KWL charts help students to be active thinkers while they read (Carr Ogle, 1987), giving them specific things to look for and having them reflect on what they learned when they are finished reading. In learning, metacognition involves the active monitoring and conscious control and regulation  of cognitive processes. It involves thinking about thinking, self-awareness, and self-regulation (Flavell, 1979). The metacognitive strategy of self-questioning is used to ensure that students comprehend the text. When students set their own purposes for reading, they are more motivated and active as readers. Each student has a schema, or a framework for how they view the world. Accessing a students prior knowledge is the first step in integrating new concepts into their existing schema. KWL charts help activate background knowledge and provide an opportunity for students to set their own learning objectives.

Concepts Of Leadership And Management Assignment

Concepts Of Leadership And Management Assignment 1.0 Introduction Leadership and management practices are useful to individuals success and that of our organisation. For the benefit of this training programme which is to improve leadership and management in the organisation, this material will equip us on ways to obtain professional information on leadership and management and serve as a self-study exercise for us to have knowledge of basic management and leadership skills which can be applied at various departments in our organisation. It will also make us understand the theories of leadership and management, how to improve motivation and performance through the application of relevant leadership skills and the development and effectiveness of teams. At the end of the training programme, I expect us to see leadership and management skills and practices as a tool of driving the organisation to further development and success. 1.1 Analysis of the concepts of leadership and management Leadership can be defined as a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organisation in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders are developing through a never ending process of self-study, education, training and experience. While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge possess by the leaders can be influenced by his or hers attributes or traits such as beliefs, values, ethics and characters. To inspire someone working under us into higher ground of teamwork, there are certain things we must be, know and do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work practices. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve the leadership skills in them. Directors of banks do set-up sales target for each of the branches at the beginning of financial year and new products are normally added to the services of the organisation. This shows that goals and objectives have been put in place for followers to work towards. Through this, the sales will be improved and new customers will join the service of the bank considering the new products introduced by the leadership teams. Managers are important group involved in business activity. We normally believe that managers are responsible for getting things done usually through other people. When job roles are giving to us, our respective line managers normally help us in achieving this either through supervision or working together with us. The term manager may refer to a number of different people within a business. Some job titles include the word manager, such as personal manager. Other job holders may also be managers even though their titles do not say it. Managers act on behalf of the owners of a company which is leader. They are accountable for the activities of the company either to the director or shareholders, set objectives for the organisation; make sure the business achieves its objectives, by managing others and ensure that corporate values are maintained in dealing with other business, customers, employees and the general public. It is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired go als and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. As a manager in one of the branches, a lot of means will be laid down to achieve the target that has been put in place by the leader such as help (conference/lecture or training) to make other staffs see the big picture of how they are fitted into the plan and achieving it. Management texts contain leadership. Actually, leadership is an important function of management and it is mentioned as one of the five functions of management (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading or Directing and Control). Both roles are very much tied to human interactions and thus personalities and traits are essential requirements. Also, leadership and management exists at every level of management, however, the amount of each varies according to the management hierarchy. For example, the board of this organisation has more of a leadership task which is to provide vision to the company and plan to achieve it, while the head of any department rarely goes beyond determining what the next task should be. Leadership and management task within the organisation depends upon how much it allows for leadership in a particular role? As we all know, our organisation was established to provide effective, efficient and affordable health care delivery services to the people in this locality and beyond. The location also positioned it to become a notable centre for the treatment of accident victims. Also, our objectives include making provision for: A full range of hospital and specialist services to the community; clinical facilities for the education of medical and other students; facilities for medical research etc. For, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital to grow and remain healthy, we have to know some elementary skills of management and leadership-skills that will assist us to avoid the crisis situation where we need to do whatsoever that will make us excel in all our services. These elementary skills of management and leadership consist problem solving and decision making, planning, meeting management, delegation, communications and managing ourselves. These basic skills are also fundamental from which to develop more advanced practices in management and leadership. Whenever organisations leaders struggle, its often because they do not know the basics – not because they arent doing what they supposed to do in implementing basic practices in management and leadership. Knowledge and skills contributes directly to the process of leadership and management while other attributes give the leader and manager certain qualities that make them different. Skills, knowledge and attributes make the leader or manager, which is one of the factors of leadership and management. The leadership and management process of an organisation involves-developing a vision for the organisation; aligning people with that vision through communication; and motivating people to action through empowerment and through basic need fulfilment. The leadership process creates uncertainty and change in the organisation. In contrast, the management process involves-planning and budgeting; organizing and staffing; and controlling and problem solving. The management process reduces uncertainty and stabilizes the organisation. Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard give better explanation of the difference between leadership and management. Leadership is not a concept exclusive to or within management. It is a broader concept on its own. Management is thought of as a special kind of leadership in which the accomplishment of organisational goals is paramount. Leadership is influencing the behaviour of someone. Management is planning an objective and achieving that objective. Leadership requires a follower and a leader has to figure out how to influence the follower. Manager has to figure out an objective and theoretically, he may do the job himself and manage the objective. Managers have large number of people under them and they have to lead them to do the work assigned them as part of the organisations plan to achieve the objectives while one can accept leadership as a concept which has utility as a concept separate from management. 1.2 Evaluation of the key management and leadership theories Management and leadership theories focus on what qualities distinguish between leaders and followers in an organisation. For instance, development of the plan for our organisation started with a leadership and management retreat. The aims were to engender a harmonious industrial climate through inter-union, inter-association, inter-staff, and staff association-management interaction and to provide a forum for the leaders and managers to deliberate and proffer advice on pertinent issues of management to enable us move the institution forward. Participants were the Chairman, Board of Management, the Chief Medical Director and other members of staffs. There were lecture, workshop and group activities. The objectives were with the full realization because the staffs are not ignorant and fully participated. This practice looked at variables such as situational factor and skill levels. The participative style of leadership explained by Rensis Likart theories of leadership which encourages decision making by subordinates and their leadership style that involves employee-centred leader were employed. Our organisation also used Blake and Mouton theories of leadership that explained the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interest, and area of personal development, emphasises objectives, organisational work output and great productivity when deciding the best ways to accomplish a task. This plan would have been carried out without considering various union/staffs relations by our leaders/managers thereby having different management and leadership styles/theories differs from that stated above. 1.3 Assessment of the challenges of leadership and management practices We are usually faced by some challenges such as low level of funding; recruitment exercise; opening of new hospital offices/complex; social policy directives; and developments in ICT. Our leaders and managers have the ability to sense change and respond to it effectively. They have been able to predict a decline of health care delivery services due lack of a new technique being available in other hospitals; anticipate possible solutions to changes that may affect the organisation; have a clear vision of the main objectives of the organisation during periods of change and be able to guide the organisation to achieve these; organise and motivate employees to accept challenges and ensure stability and minimise or prevent disruption. For example, there were challenges of delivering adequate health care services to the people of the community some years back, the leaders and the managers quickly identified the symptoms that have caused these challenges. Among these were low productivity and high labour turnover. As soon as these challenges were identified, managers and leaders found the cause of the trouble and developed a strategy for better status of the organisation. Strategies they employed for good status of the organisation include changing people-through hiring and firing, reassignments of duties, training, pay increases or counselling. They also carried out restructure work through job redesign, job enrichment and redefinition of roles. Systems were also improved. These include communication systems, reward systems, information and reporting systems, budgets and stock control. 2.1 Analysis of the key motivational theories and how they influence organisational success It is important for any organisation to motivate its employees. The motivational theories of Maslow, McGregor, McClelland and Herzberg explain content theories of motivation. They simply explained the specific factors that motivate people. They answer the question what drives behaviour? Also, Vroom, Porter and Lawler, and Adams explain process theories of motivation. They are concerned with the thought processes that influence behaviour. If employees are watched closely, fear of wage cuts or redundancy may force them to maintain their effort even though they are not motivated. This is negative motivation. A lack of motivation may lead to reduced effort and lack of commitment. In the long run, a lack of motivation may result in high levels of absenteeism, industrial disputes and falling productivity and profit for the organisation. Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital management has been acting according to Fredrick Herzbergs theory of motivation by being giving recognition for effort o f its staff. We are normally taking into consideration in everything the management of this organisation embark upon! This is a kind of motivation that simply gives us job satisfaction and thereby makes the workers more productive. Herzbergs ideas are linked with job enrichment. This is where workers have their jobs expanded, so that they can experience more of their job process. Improved maintenance factors such as pay or conditions also remove dissatisfaction of staffs. For example, better canteen facilities within our organization make workers less dissatisfied about the environment. All these allow the workers to be more involved and motivated. 2.2 Evaluation of the role of leadership and management in employee motivation It is important for leaders and managers to find out what satisfies the needs of its employees? Organisations have found out that even if employees are satisfied with pay and condition of work, they still complain that their employer does not do a good job in motivating them. Motivation is vital because even at the most fundamental level, it is expensive to get another set of staff than that to keep existing one. Employees want to be involved and regarded and making them happy means they will be at service of the organisation for longer period. Have it in mind that at most not convenient time, leader and manager need to motivate staff. If our employees are doing well and assisting to drive the organisation forward, In this case, we do let them know how much we cherish them on regular basis. Whenever we offer them any gifts or passed any information that is of their advantage across both works equally well. This shows, we put them in mind. If our staffs enjoy socializing with us like they do working with us, then we are doing something good and right. It is important that you lead by good characters when there is an issue with staff, if you expect your employees to work late, then you should stay at work too for such period. At the same time, if you dont want staff coming in at 10am on first working day of the week, then make sure youre at work very early. Its not always about hours of working; show your staff respect and you will hopefully get it back. They will observe you on the way you discus with people around and act in same circumstances, so it is important to behave in the way you will like them to behave as well. Investing in employee is paramount, not only will it mean we are getting the best and latest in the organisation but they will appreciate us for being able to develop under our cares. We make sure we fully research courses to send our employee on to acquire the full training. It is equally good to get feedback from employee on how the course has improved their standard individually. Communicating with our employee is high on our list of priorities. Most of them like a leader or manager they can easily reach whenever there are problems. We do hold frequent job discussion with our employee to make sure they are most happy, doing on good and arent confused about anything. Apart from this, we do communicate with our employee everyday. Exchanging greetings are simple motivational techniques but can make a world of difference. The figure below explains how our leaders and managers make decisions for employees motivation, having first identified the employees needs. Revise Incentive Identify the need/ motivation motivation Result/ Outcome Satisfaction If need is not satisfied Identify the need/motivation – our organisation try as much as possible for employee to be involved in decisions so that they can feel wanted and recognised as important to the company Incentive – Set up discussion with employees about goals and working practices of the organisation Satisfaction – This is a situation where the employee feels their opinion and contribution is valuable Result and Outcome – By meeting above condition, the employee are willing to take more responsibility 2.3 Analysis of the contribution of performance management techniques as organisational processes Managers use performance management techniques to test employees working status on a regular basis. By examining each employees performance, our organisation also measures the overall effectiveness of its workforce and how well the company achieves its objectives. Assigning roles to workers that improve their strengths is a difficult job. Workforce optimisation is a plan to put the right people in the best job roles to maximize their work output. By doing regular appraisals, our leaders and managers easily track employees performance and suggest if they need more training or if they could be more productive with different responsibilities. Another performance management technique we usually employ is compensation package. Overall morale always increase most especially when the employee sees the process to be fair. A happy worker is a hard worker. Incentive-based programs that permit the employee in using less paper or being energy efficient both save on our expenses and the employees are rewarded for putting forth the extra energy needed. The fewer costs our organisation has, the more profit it realizes. 3.1 Analysis of the development of teams Organisations often try to improve the productivity and motivation of people working in groups/teams. The planned, systematic process designed to improve the efforts of people who work together to achieve goals is referred to as development of teams. Team can be described as an internally organized set of people with specific roles for different members to achieve a specific goal while group can be referred to as a collection of people with something in common, such as being in the same place or having their individuals interest. Meredith Belbin (1981) found that successful teams consisted of a mix of individuals, each of whom performed a different role. For instance, monitoring and evaluation team that was set up under the chief medical directors office is a kind of team of different calibers and positions within our organisation. They work on projects with specific term of reference and present biannual and annual reports with veritable indices to the leadership of this organisation. This is not like working in a group; working in a team entails accountability rather than individual accountability and results in a joint work products. The characteristic and goals of the individual members of the team helped to determine the teams characteristics and goals. .According to Belbin, each person has a preferred role and for a team to be effective, all the roles need to be filled. Our organisation selects people that are capable to fill one or more of the roles. Individual member of the team was influenced more st rongly because of their role. This is unlike group with large number of people where very few people take part in the project while others are not and unable to participate effectively in team decisions. Effectiveness of team depend s on the blend of the individual skills and abilities of its members. Team development is based on the idea that before organisations can improve performance, team members must be able to work together effectively. This exercise is used to help team members develop trust, open up communication channels, make sure everyone understood the goals of the team, help individuals make decisions with the commitment of all members, prevent the leader from dominating the team, openly examine and resolve conflicts and to review work activities. 3.2 Analysis of the roles and models of team leadership Leadership of teams must get members of team to work with each other. This is one method that involves low levels of risk among members. The role of team leader include to be able able to organise joint projects or some form of exchange between members of the team. The leaders of the team work together or exchange roles with members for this approach to be effective. This is one method that involves low levels of risk among members. The working spirit was further developed by communication and swapping of team members. This technique was used when our organisation took over the challenges of training medical students from another medical institution and there is a need to avoid conflict. These ideas develop social interaction among the employees. Keeping every single activity connected to the others help team leaders and organisation to achieve what they actually planed. Members are enjoying while performing their roles and are also discovering something new about themselves, their co-workers, and the organisation as a whole. Researching and learning about the team current issues definitely help team leaders in creating the actual activities that the members can participate-in. This affords lapses of any kind for members not to participate in the activities of the team. 3.3 Evaluation of the role and usefulness of teams within the organisation The leader of any team of an organisation aims to create team/group that is effective and efficient. If the team leader or organisation can motivate the team members to work harder in order to achieve goals, the sense of pride in the teams own competence will create job satisfaction for the leadership of the team/team members and employees in general. Looking at the opportunities given to the employees of our organisation and most especially in most units or teams that has so far set- up, the participants are willing to carry out responsibilities for the betterment of the organisation. In some instance, membership of units or teams can be made up of top officials of an organisation which may not interest ordinary employees of the organisation. The introduction of different units or teams in our organisation has contributed immensely for the achievement of our goals and objectives. In term of motivation, employees in team situations are more satisfied and motivated than when we are working under more traditional regimes and have a positive influence on employee commitment and identification. The team work also serves to gain competitive advantage over other organisations. Our organisations provide leaders and managers with legitimate authority to lead. There is need for individuals to imbibe this strong leadership and management trait for optimal effectiveness. In nowadays changing work environment, we need leaders that can challenge the status quo and inspire and persuade organisation members. We also need team leaders to assist in changing and improving a smoothly running place of work.

How the Greek Revered Their Gods :: Ancient Greece Greek History

How the Greek revered their gods In ancient times, the Greeks had absolute and undeniable respect for their gods. They demonstrated their admiration by putting in place many rituals and celebrations to reverence the gods that they loved and feared in order to ensure harmony with them. In particular, the focus will be on the religious beliefs of the Greeks, including prayer and sacrifice, as well as on festivals and the arts, such as the ancient Olympic games and theatre. These aspects of their culture made a significant contribution to their quality of life. Moreover, these topics will be examined in relation to the twelve Olympian gods and their associates. The ancient Greeks practiced a religion that was in effect, a building block to many ensuing pagan religions. This religion revolved around their reverence to the gods. Essentially, the Greeks worshipped numerous gods, making their religion polytheistic. They believed that exercising the opportunity to choose between a wide array of gods to worship offered them a great sense of freedom that they treasured. After all, the Greeks were known for their intellectual distinction of which their means of worship played a huge part. Each city-state, or polis, thus had an affiliated god who protected and guided its residents. Within a given polis, the belief in common gods unified the people. Ultimately, the Greeks yearned for this unity and order in the universe, which is a characteristic that is not unlike that of people today. It might seem contradictory that they believed in many gods and sought organization at the same time, for larger numbers are inherently unstable. But, to the god-fear ing Greeks, each god represented a different facet of life that together upheld an organized universe if each of these gods was properly appeased. To satisfy these gods, the Greeks participated in activities such as prayer and sacrifice and erected divine temples and centers for oracles in honor of specific gods. There is evidence of this institutionalization early on in the reign of the Olympian gods, thus forming the Olympian religion. The Olympian religion lacked the presence of true sentimentality, and the gods were not seen as forgiving or "flawless" as the Christian God is often portrayed. The Greek gods were portrayed as humans, which meant that they were not perfect. That is, the gods made mistakes, felt pain (e.g. Aphrodite in love with the mortal Adonis), and succumbed to anger and their tempers (e.

The Failure of Amanda in The Glass Menagerie Essay example -- The Glas

The Failure of Amanda in The Glass Menagerie In Tennessee Williams’, â€Å"The Glass Menagerie† Amanda was a woman who liked to reminisce about the past in order to escape from reality. Amanda was not wicked but intensely flawed. Her failures were centrally responsible for the adversity and exaggerated style of her character. Certainly, she had the endurance and heroism that she was able to support her children when her husband was gone. In her old life, she was once a Southern Belle with a genteel manner who lived on Blue Mountain. This was a place where Amanda’s version of the good old days back when she was young and popular. Amanda was full of charm in conversation that she managed to have seventeen gentlemen caller in a single day. Amanda liked to talk to her children having seventeen gentlemen callers but ended up marrying a charming Irishman who worked for the telephone company. He traveled and left the family and the only reminder of him was his smiling photograph. Amanda turned the tragedy of her h usband’s abandonment as a joke, â€Å"a telephone man who fell in love with long distances† (643). Amanda’s relationship with her children was illustrated by her failure in life and the exaggerated style of her character. Amanda always put up a defensive front for others to view that hid the reality of her life. She painted a colorful picture for others to perceive. Amanda worked hard to make the apartment ready for her daughter’s gentleman caller. She talked of polishing the wedding silver, taking out the monogrammed table linen to be laundered, cleaning the windows and putting up fresh curtains. Amanda even went so far as to enhance Laura’s bosom with two powder puffs. She called it â€Å"gay deceiver†(662). Amanda was affectionate and loving but demanding beyond reason. She was not in anyway cruel, in fact, very loving but her desires for her family became so unpleasant for her children. Amanda’s relationship with Tom was difficult with and often unreasonable. Although he was a grown man whose wages supported their family, she still would intervene with the affairs of his life. Amanda would instruct Tom how to chew his food by telling that â€Å"animals have secretions in their stomach which enable them to digest food without mastication, but human beings are supposed to chew their food before they swallow it down†(644). Tom goes to the movies as an escape from his ... ...r Laura to have a gentleman caller was another failure. Jim was engaged and is to be married soon. Amanda was furious because the plan did not work out. She accused him of playing a practical joke on them, by intentionally bringing another woman’s fiancà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ to disgrace them. Amanda was obviously surprised, the evening had been expensive for the Wingfields, and her dreams for her daughter have been shattered. Amanda was a woman who typically refuses to face reality that resulted in a lot of disappointments and frustrations. Looking back to the past with regrets only prevented her from moving on. She could have used her past experiences and learned from it. Although she is caring and loving, she should not have sacrificed the happiness of her children for her own selfish desires. Her fears had made her life and the lives of her children miserable. Had she learned to be patient, strong and accepting of what life has brought, she and her family could have had a more fulfilling life. Work Cited Williams, Tennessee. â€Å"The Glass Menagerie.† Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River; Prentice, 2003 641-681

Families Values in Knoxville, Tennessee, Those Winter Sundays, and Two Kinds :: Two Kinds, Amy Tan

Family. What do you think of when you hear that word? Some people think of relatives or the people that they live with. Maybe a stepfather, stepmother, brothers, or sisters. To me, family is love, devotion, and caring. People of a family want to be together and love to do things for each other, such as do the dishes or wash the car for them. The poems that most represent my family values are â€Å"Knoxville, Tennessee† by Nikki Giovanni and â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† by Robert Hayden. The one that does not represent my family as much as the others is â€Å"Two Kinds† by Amy Tan. I love the poem â€Å"Knoxville, Tennessee† by Nikki Giovanni. It gives me a sense of people wanting to be together, family, wanting to be together. Giovanni wrote this poem so that it is told through a child (under the age of ten). The child’s world is made up of his or her family. He or she is mostly with the family â€Å"at the church picnic† (Giovanni 50, line 12) or â€Å"at the church / homecoming† (Giovanni 50, lines17-18). The child goes places with the family and is with them all of the time. He or she has not reached the teenage stage of rebellion and does not mind being with his or her parents. That is why I like this poem. It shows love for family through the uncontaminated eyes of a child. â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† represents family devotion to me. The father in the poem is so devoted to his family that he gets â€Å"up early / and put his clothes on in the blueback cold† (Hayden 51, lines 1-2) to warm the house for them. He does not care about anything except driving the cold away for his family. That is the kind of thing that is done out of true, deep, unconditional love. Families stick together and support each other, even if one is not so kind, like the teenager who fears â€Å"the chronic angers of the house† (Hayden 51, line 9). Families forgive, forget, and keep loving each other. â€Å"Two Kinds† is a story that does not represent my idea of family. The young daughter (Tan) does not obey her mother and continually disappoints her. Her mother wants her to learn piano and believes that she has talent, but Tan does not agree. â€Å"Unlike my mother, I did not believe that I could be anything.

Proposal Essay – Organ Selling

While walking down a city street, alarming cries for help ring out through the air, and it is observed that an individual that appears to be living well has a helpless, poor victim held down, relentlessly beating them to the ground and taking what little they have left for their own advantage and benefit. What would be the right thing to do; run away or try to help, either by stepping in or calling the proper authorities? The morally ethical thing to do would be to help and do what has to be done to stand up for what is right.This same general scenario is happening not too far from this country, where organ brokers are victimizing innocent and poverty-stricken mothers and fathers trying to find a way to provide and get out of debt, by either forcing or deceiving them to give up an organ or cheating them whether formally or informally, after they agree to sell, by either not paying them for their organ at all or only paying a fraction of the promised price (Glaser, S.,2005).But the wa y that nobody tries to help is the same as walking by that same victim that is being beaten on the street. These poor victimized sellers that are turning to that option, unfortunately are completely ignorant to and uneducated on the process, certain organs in their bodies, or any of the functions or importance of those organs which leaves them wide open to exploitation.Therefore, my proposal is to find a way to stop these horrible things from happening to the potential and desperate sellers, by educating them, giving them other means that help both those who are seeking financial gain by selling, and those who desperately are seeking an organ to survive, and eliminating them from the black market organ brokers’ manipulation and exploitative grasp. It is respectfully understood that the World Health Organization (WHO) is strongly against any payment for any type of organ donation for a number of moral, ethical, and medical reasons (Denneman, L., Mol, M. 2009).For instance, as stated in the WHO’s Guiding Principles on Human Organ Transplantation (1991), â€Å"organ trafficking violates fundamental human rights, such as rights to life, liberty, security in person and freedom from cruel and inhumane treatment†(Glaser, S. 2005). Furthermore, it may be a risk to the public in addition to being a crime that, in this particular case, proves to be a conspicuously offensive violation of human rights, because the forcing and misleading of someone into selling their body parts violates their personal independence (Glaser, S.2005).Moreover, safety standards in these areas are severely undermined due to the lack of resources, weak medical regulatory foundation, and corruption; therefore, if there were to be a legalized method of organ buying and selling, the regulatory structures and system would be ineffectively executed (Denneman, L. , Mol, M. 2009). So, one can empathetically concur with the WHO’s decision to stand firm on the banning.Anthropo logist, Monir Moniruzzaman, found 33 sellers who went to organ brokers to sell their kidneys, not even knowing what the word â€Å"kidney† meant nor what its purpose and functions in the body were, and were talked into doing it because of the misleading, false information they received of their â€Å"sleeping kidney† and the 100% safe procedure that had no risks and would cause no long-term harm or damage to them; then were promised over two thirds more than they actually received (Moniruzzaman, M.2012).These people, who lived on only $2 per day to provide for a family and lived in the worst imaginable impoverished conditions, some in a crawl space located under someone else’s house (Bienstock, R. E. 2013). They see thousands of luring ads in local newspapers, promising them the world, and out of fear, hope, and desperation reach out to the organ brokers and get sucked into consenting and at times physically forced to donate (Parry, W. 2012).If there were a stri ctly regulated legal system with fixed prices that these desperately poverty-stricken people can go to ask questions, get true, accurate answers and information, and completely and independently decide to sell. This may be the solution to wipe out these brokers of the black market because if they have no one to prey on they will not have a choice but to find other means of income besides taking a large portion of the sellers’ payments for â€Å"hidden fees† (Resnick, B.2012).Since the WHO is not, in any way, going to lift the ban, and one of the most efficient ways to increase the supply of available organs for the thousands of people on organ waiting lists is to make some form of donation and selling legal, other options must be sought-after. By combining two opposing  viewpoints it is possible for a whole new approach to this rapidly growing problem to transpire, for there may be more agreeable aspects than what meets the eye. Though there are areas of disagreement , it is agreed upon that exploiting the poor and manipulating and/or forcing them to sell their organs at the expense of their health physically and psychologically, and social stance as well as the sellers families also.Instead of going against beliefs of any party by lifting the ban or just pretending that this does not occur on a daily basis or ignore it entirely, not trying to help, it may be possible to educate these poor and desperate people, crack down on busting these organ brokers, and even getting the doctors involved in the protection and prevention of the innocent victims that this vicious system continues to claim. The ethical and moral urgency to protect these people’s rights, freedom, health, and autonomy is equally important, so it should be the main focal point for a new elimination program.This could consist of passing and strictly and harshly enforcing laws against such crimes related to illegal trafficking, and in the process organize public education camp aigns to get the proper and accurate information out to the victims and potential sellers so these brokers that do not get caught are unable to scam and force them to sell out of ignorance (Glaser, S. 2005). These awareness programs and information centers could then, in turn, create some jobs and give those living in drastic poverty some form of income.These developments will require total cooperation and collaboration from both he3alth officials and law enforcement officials equally (Halstead, B. , Wilson, P. 1991). One way would be to pass the law imposing mandatory reporting requirements for doctors who suspect that the organs were obtained using the black market. Currently, transplant doctors work on a â€Å"don’t ask, don’t tell† regimen, which is fueling the brokers to continue luring in more sellers.Since it is the brokers who are the main culprits, it should be them, not doctors, that are pursued, convicted, and be given a more severe punishment (Glaser , S. 2005). In addition to stopping the organ brokers there are a number of other methods that can be carried out to develop an increasing supply of organs, such as promoting consent to cadaver donations upon death, altruistic donations, biotechnology, and/or using tissues and stem cells from aborted fetuses to create the needed organs (Holstead, B. , Wilson,P. 1991).There are a number of options presented and if it is not possible to legalize the sale of organs, completely dissipate the black market, or stop people from using the black market out of desperation for either money or the needed organ, then the way the people are misinformed, uneducated, and exploited, blindly consenting by way of violence and/or manipulation needs to be promptly addressed by carefully and thoughtfully considering getting the knowledge, law enforcement, strict punishments, and health officials help out and start standing up for the innocent victims.Just as one would help if he saw a victim lying in fro nt of him, beaten and bloody in the street, it would be imperative and morally right to lend a helping hand.

Minority Group and Multiculturalism Essay

Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity — commonly termed â€Å"multiculturalism† — emerged in the West as a vehicle for replacing older forms of ethnic and racial hierarchy with new relations of democratic citizenship. Despite substantial evidence that these policies are making progress toward that goal, a chorus of political leaders has declared them a failure and heralded the death of multiculturalism. This popular master narrative is problematic because it mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and misidentifies not only the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered but the options for addressing these problems. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. This report challenges four powerful myths about multiculturalism. First, it disputes the caricature of multiculturalism as the uncritical celebration of diversity at the expense of addressing grave societal problems such as unemployment and social isolation. Instead it offers an account of multiculturalism as the pursuit of new relations of democratic citizenship, inspired and constrained by human-rights ideals. Second, it contests the idea that multiculturalism has been in wholesale retreat, and offers instead evidence that multiculturalism policies (MCPs) have persisted, and have even grown stronger, over the past ten years. Third, it challenges the idea that multiculturalism has failed, and offers instead evidence that MCPs have had positive effects. Fourth, it disputes the idea that the spread of civic integration policies has displaced multiculturalism or rendered it obsolete. The report instead offers evidence that MCPs are fully consistent with certain forms of civic integration policies, and that indeed the combination of multiculturalism with an â€Å"enabling† form of civic integration is both normatively desirable and empirically effective in at least some cases. To help address these issues, this paper draws upon the Multiculturalism Policy Index. This index 1) identifies eight concrete policy areas where liberal-democratic states — faced with a choice — decided to develop more multicultural forms of citizenship in relation to immigrant groups and 2) measures the extent to which countries have espoused some or all of these policies over time. While there have been some high-profile cases of retreat from MCPs, such as the Netherlands, the general pattern from 1980 to 2010 has been one of modest strengthening. Ironically, some countries that have been vociferous about multiculturalism’s â€Å"failure† (e. g. , Germany) have not actually practiced an active multicultural strategy. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. However, not all attempts to adopt new models of multicultural citizenship have taken root or succeeded in achieving their intended effects. There are several factors that can either facilitate or impede the successful implementation of multiculturalism: Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 1 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Desecuritization of ethnic relations. Multiculturalism works best if relations between the state and minorities are seen as an issue of social policy, not as an issue of state security. If the state perceives immigrants to be a security threat (such as Arabs and Muslims after 9/11), support for multiculturalism will drop and the space for minorities to even voice multicultural claims will diminish. Human rights. Support for multiculturalism rests on the assumption that there is a shared commitment to human rights across ethnic and religious lines. If states perceive certain groups as unable or unwilling to respect human-rights norms, they are unlikely to accord them multicultural rights or resources. Much of the backlash against multiculturalism is fundamentally driven by anxieties about Muslims, in particular, and their perceived unwillingness to embrace liberal-democratic norms. Border control. Multiculturalism is more controversial when citizens fear they lack control over their borders — for instance when countries are faced with large numbers (or unexpected surges) of unauthorized immigrants or asylum seekers — than when citizens feel the borders are secure. Diversity of immigrant groups. Multiculturalism works best when it is genuinely multicultural — that is, when immigrants come from many source countries rather than coming overwhelmingly from just one (which is more likely to lead to polarized relations with the majority). Economic contributions. Support for multiculturalism depends on the perception that immigrants are holding up their end of the bargain and making a good-faith effort to contribute to society — particularly economically. When these facilitating conditions are present, multiculturalism can be seen as a low-risk option, and indeed seems to have worked well in such cases. Multiculturalism tends to lose support in high-risk situations where immigrants are seen as predominantly illegal, as potential carriers of illiberal practices or movements, or as net burdens on the welfare state. However, one could argue that rejecting immigrant multiculturalism under these circumstances is in fact the higher-risk move. It is precisely when immigrants are perceived as illegitimate, illiberal, and burdensome that multiculturalism may be most needed. I. Introduction Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity have been in a state of flux around the world for the past 40 years. One hears much about the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism. † Indeed, this has become a kind of master narrative, widely invoked by scholars, journalists, and policymakers alike to explain the evolution of contemporary debates about diversity. Although people disagree about what comes after multiculturalism, there is a surprising consensus that we are in a post-multicultural era. This report contends that this master narrative obscures as much as it reveals, and that we need an alternative framework for thinking about the choices we face. Multiculturalism’s successes and failures, as well as its level of public acceptance, have depended on the nature of the issues at stake and the countries involved, and we need to understand these variations if we are to identify a more sustainable model for accommodating diversity. This paper will argue that the master narrative 1) mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, 2) exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and 3) misidentifies the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered and the options for addressing these problems. 2 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Before we can decide whether to celebrate or lament the fall of multiculturalism, we need first to make sure we know what multiculturalism has meant both in theory and in practice, where it has succeeded or failed to meet its objectives, and under what conditions it is likely to thrive in the future. The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism The master narrative of the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism† helpfully captures important features of our current debates. Yet in some respects it is misleading, and may obscure the real challenges and opportunities we face. In its simplest form, the master narrative goes like this:1 Since the mid-1990s †¦ we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism. From the 1970s to mid-1990s, there was a clear trend across Western democracies toward the increased recognition and accommodation of diversity through a range of multiculturalism policies (MCPs) and minority rights. These policies were endorsed both at the domestic level in some states and by international organizations, and involved a rejection of earlier ideas of unitary and homogeneous nationhood. Since the mid-1990s, however, we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism, and a reassertion of ideas of nation building, common values and identity, and unitary citizenship — even a call for the â€Å"return of assimilation. † This retreat is partly driven by fears among the majority group that the accommodation of diversity has â€Å"gone too far† and is threatening their way of life. This fear often expresses itself in the rise of nativist and populist right-wing political movements, such as the Danish People’s Party, defending old ideas of â€Å"Denmark for the Danish. † But the retreat also reflects a belief among the center-left that multiculturalism has failed to help the intended beneficiaries — namely, minorities themselves — because it has failed to address the underlying sources of their social, economic, and political exclusion and may have unintentionally contributed to their social isolation. As a result, even the center-left political movements that initially championed multiculturalism, such as the social democratic parties in Europe, have backed 1 For influential academic statements of this â€Å"rise and fall† narrative, claiming that it applies across the Western democracies, see Rogers Brubaker, â€Å"The Return of Assimilation? † Ethnic and Racial Studies 24, no. 4 (2001): 531–48; and Christian Joppke, â€Å"The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy,† British Journal of Sociology 55, no. 2 (2004): 237–57. There are also many accounts of the â€Å"decline,† â€Å"retreat,† or â€Å"crisis† of multiculturalism in particular countries. For the Netherlands, see Han Entzinger, â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism in the Netherlands,† in Toward Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in Liberal Nation-States, eds. Christian Joppke and Ewa Morawska (London: Palgrave, 2003) and Ruud Koopmans, â€Å"Trade-Offs between Equality and Difference: The Crisis of Dutch Multiculturalism in Cross-National Perspective† (Brief, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, December 2006). For Britain, see Randall Hansen, â€Å"Diversity, Integration and the Turn from Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom,† in Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada, eds. Keith G. Banting, Thomas J. Courchene, and F. Leslie Seidle (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2007); Les Back, Michael Keith, Azra Khan, Kalbir Shukra, and John Solomos, â€Å"New Labour’s White Heart: Politics, Multiculturalism and the Return of Assimilation,† Political Quarterly 73, No. 4 (2002): 445–54; Steven Vertovec, â€Å"Towards post-multiculturalism? Changing communities, conditions and contexts of diversity,† International Social Science Journal 61 (2010): 83–95. For Australia, see Ien Ang and John Stratton, â€Å"Multiculturalism in Crisis: The New Politics of Race and National Identity in Australia,† in On Not Speaking Chinese: Living Between Asia and the West, ed. I. Ang (London: Routledge, 2001). For Canada, see Lloyd Wong, Joseph Garcea, and Anna Kirova, An Analysis of the ‘Anti- and Post-Multiculturalism’ Discourses: The Fragmentation Position (Alberta: Prairie Centre for Excellence in Research on Immigration and Integration, 2005), http://pmc.metropolis. Net/Virtual%20Library/FinalReports/Post-multi%20FINAL%20REPORT%20for%20PCERII%20_2_. pdf. For a good overview of the backlash discourse in various countries, see Steven Vertovec and Susan Wessendorf, eds. , The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices (London: Routledge, 2010). Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 3 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE away from it and shifted to a discourse that emphasizes â€Å"civic integration,† â€Å"social cohesion,† â€Å"common values,† and â€Å"shared citizenship. †2 The social-democratic discourse of civic integration differs from the radical-right discourse in emphasizing the need to develop a more inclusive national identity and to fight racism and discrimination, but it nonetheless distances itself from the rhetoric and policies of multiculturalism. The term postmulticulturalism has often been invoked to signal this new approach, which seeks to overcome the limits of a naive or misguided multiculturalism while avoiding the oppressive reassertion of homogenizing nationalist ideologies. 3 II. What Is Multiculturalism? A. Misleading Model In much of the post-multiculturalist literature, multiculturalism is characterized as a feel-good celebration of ethnocultural diversity, encouraging citizens to acknowledge and embrace the panoply of customs, traditions, music, and cuisine that exist in a multiethnic society. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown calls this the â€Å"3S† model of multiculturalism in Britain — saris, samosas, and steeldrums. 4. Multiculturalism takes these familiar cultural markers of ethnic groups — clothing, cuisine, and music — and treats them as authentic practices to be preserved by their members and safely consumed by others. Under the banner of multiculturalism they are taught in school, performed in festivals, displayed in media and museums, and so on. This celebratory model of multiculturalism has been the focus of many critiques, including the following: It ignores issues of economic and political inequality. Even if all Britons come to enjoy Jamaican steeldrum music or Indian samosas, this would do nothing to address the real problems facing Caribbean and South Asian communities in Britain — problems of unemployment, poor educational outcomes, residential segregation, poor English language skills, and political marginalization. These economic and political issues cannot be solved simply by celebrating cultural differences. Even with respect to the (legitimate) goal of promoting greater understanding of cultural differences, the focus on celebrating â€Å"authentic† cultural practices that are â€Å"unique† to each group is potentially dangerous. First, not all customs that may be traditionally practiced within a particular group are worthy of being celebrated, or even of being legally tolerated, such as forced marriage. To avoid stirring up controversy, there’s a tendency to choose as the focus of multicultural celebrations safely inoffensive practices — such as cuisine or music — that can be enjoyably consumed by members of the larger society. But this runs the opposite risk 2. For an overview of the attitudes of European social democratic parties to these issues, see Rene Cuperus, Karl Duffek, and Johannes Kandel, eds. , The Challenge of Diversity: European Social Democracy Facing Migration, Integration and Multiculturalism (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2003). For references to â€Å"post-multiculturalism† by progressive intellectuals, who distinguish it from the radical right’s â€Å"antimulticulturalism,† see, regarding the United Kingdom, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism (London: Foreign Policy Centre, 2000), and â€Å"Beyond Multiculturalism,† Canadian Diversity/Diversite Canadienne 3, no. 2 (2004): 51–4; regarding Australia, James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); and regarding the United States, Desmond King, The Liberty of Strangers: Making the American Nation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), and David A. Hollinger, Post-ethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, revised edition (New York: Basic Books, 2006). Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism. 3 4 4 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE of the trivialization or Disneyfication of cultural differences,5 ignoring the real challenges that differences in cultural and religious values can raise. Third, the 3S model of multiculturalism can encourage a conception of groups as hermetically sealed and static, each reproducing its own distinct practices. Multiculturalism may be intended to encourage people to share their customs, but the assumption that each group has its own distinctive customs ignores processes of cultural adaptation, mixing, and melange, as well as emerging cultural commonalities, thereby potentially reinforcing perceptions of minorities as eternally â€Å"other. † This in turn can lead to the strengthening of prejudice and stereotyping, and more generally to the polarization of ethnic relations. Fourth, this model can end up reinforcing power inequalities and cultural restrictions within minority groups. In deciding which traditions are â€Å"authentic,† and how to interpret and display them, the state generally consults the traditional elites within the group — typically older males — while ignoring the way these traditional practices (and traditional elites) are often challenged by internal reformers, who have different views about how, say, a â€Å"good Muslim† should act. It can therefore imprison people in â€Å"cultural scripts† that they are not allowed to question or dispute. According to post-multiculturalists, the growing recognition of these flaws underlies the retreat from multiculturalism and signals the search for new models of citizenship that emphasize 1) political participation and economic opportunities over the symbolic politics of cultural recognition, 2) human rights and individual freedom over respect for cultural traditions, 3) the building of inclusive national identities over the recognition of ancestral cultural identities, and 4) cultural change and cultural mixing over the reification of static cultural differences. This narrative about the rise and fall of 3S multiculturalism will no doubt be familiar to many readers. In my view, however, it is inaccurate. Not only is it a caricature of the reality of multiculturalism as it has developed over the past 40 years in the Western democracies, but it is a distraction from the real issues that we need to face. The 3S model captures something important about natural human tendencies to simplify ethnic differences, and about the logic of global capitalism to sell cosmopolitan cultural products, but it does not capture the nature of post-1960s government MCPs, which have had more complex historical sources and political goals. B. Multiculturalism in Context It is important to put multiculturalism in its historical context. In one sense, it is as old as humanity — different cultures have always found ways of coexisting, and respect for diversity was a familiar feature of many historic empires, such as the Ottoman Empire. But the sort of multiculturalism that is said to have had a â€Å"rise and fall† is a more specific historic phenomenon, emerging first in the Western democracies in the late 1960s. This timing is important, for it helps us situate multiculturalism in relation to larger social transformations of the postwar era. More specifically, multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Prior to World War II, ethnocultural and religious diversity in the West was characterized by a range of illiberal and undemocratic relationships of hierarchy,6 justified by racialist ideologies that explicitly propounded the superiority of some peoples and cultures and their right to rule over others. These ideologies were widely accepted throughout the Western world and underpinned both domestic laws (e. g. , racially biased immigration and citizenship policies) and foreign policies (e. g. , in relation to overseas colonies). 5 6 Neil Bissoondath, Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada. (Toronto: Penguin, 1994). Including relations of conqueror and conquered, colonizer and colonized, master and slave, settler and indigenous, racialized and unmarked, normalized and deviant, orthodox and heretic, civilized and primitive, and ally and enemy. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 5 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE After World War II, however, the world recoiled against Hitler’s fanatical and murderous use of such ideologies, and the United Nations decisively repudiated them in favor of a new ideology of the equality of races and peoples. And this new assumption of human equality generated a series of political movements designed to contest the lingering presence or enduring effects of older hierarchies. We can distinguish three â€Å"waves† of such movements: 1) the struggle for decolonization, concentrated in the period 1948–65; 2) the struggle against racial segregation and discrimination, initiated and exemplified by the AfricanAmerican civil-rights movement from 1955 to 1965; and 3) the struggle for multiculturalism and minority rights, which emerged in the late 1960s. Multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Each of these movements draws upon the human-rights revolution, and its foundational ideology of the equality of races and peoples, to challenge the legacies of earlier ethnic and racial hierarchies. Indeed, the human-rights revolution plays a double role here, not just as the inspiration for a struggle, but also as a constraint on the permissible goals and means of that struggle. Insofar as historically excluded or stigmatized groups struggle against earlier hierarchies in the name of equality, they too have to renounce their own traditions of exclusion or oppression in the treatment of, say, women, gays, people of mixed race, religious dissenters, and so on. Human rights, and liberal-democratic constitutionalism more generally, provide the overarching framework within which these struggles are debated and addressed. Each of these movements, therefore, can be seen as contributing to a process of democratic â€Å"citizenization† — that is, turning the earlier catalog of hierarchical relations into relationships of liberaldemocratic citizenship. This entails transforming both the vertical relationships between minorities and the state and the horizontal relationships among the members of different groups. In the past, it was often assumed that the only way to engage in this process of citizenization was to impose a single undifferentiated model of citizenship on all individuals. But the ideas and policies of multiculturalism that emerged from the 1960s start from the assumption that this complex history inevitably and appropriately generates group-differentiated ethnopolitical claims. The key to citizenization is not to suppress these differential claims but to filter them through and frame them within the language of human rights, civil liberties, and democratic accountability. And this is what multiculturalist movements have aimed to do. The precise character of the resulting multicultural reforms varies from group to group, as befits the distinctive history that each has faced. They all start from the antidiscrimination principle that underpinned the second wave but go beyond it to challenge other forms of exclusion or stigmatization. In most Western countries, explicit state-sponsored discrimination against ethnic, racial, or religious minorities had largely ceased by the 1960s and 1970s, under the influence of the second wave of humanrights struggles. Yet ethnic and racial hierarchies persist in many societies, whether measured in terms of economic inequalities, political underrepresentation, social stigmatization, or cultural invisibility. Various forms of multiculturalism have been developed to help overcome these lingering inequalities. The focus in this report is on multiculturalism as it pertains to (permanently settled) immigrant groups,7 7 There was briefly in some European countries a form of â€Å"multiculturalism† that was not aimed at the inclusion of permanent immigrants, but rather at ensuring that temporary migrants would return to their country of origin. For example, mothertongue education in Germany was not initially introduced â€Å"as a minority right but in order to enable guest worker children to reintegrate in their countries of origin† (Karen Schonwalder, â€Å"Germany: Integration Policy and Pluralism in a Self-Conscious Country of Immigration,† in The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices, eds. Steven Vertovec and Susanne Wessendorf [London: Routledge, 2010], 160). Needless to say, this sort of â€Å"returnist† multiculturalism — premised on the idea that migrants are foreigners who should return to their real home — has nothing to do with multiculturalism policies (MCPs) premised on the idea that immigrants belong in their host countries, and which aim to make immigrants 6 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE but it is worth noting that struggles for multicultural citizenship have also emerged in relation to historic minorities and indigenous peoples. 8 C. The Evolution of Multiculturalism Policies. The case of immigrant multiculturalism is just one aspect of a larger â€Å"ethnic revival† across the Western democracies,9 in which different types of minorities have struggled for new forms of multicultural citizenship that combine both antidiscrimination measures and positive forms of recognition and accommodation. Multicultural citizenship for immigrant groups clearly does not involve the same types of claims as for indigenous peoples or national minorities: immigrant groups do not typically seek land rights, territorial autonomy, or official language status. What then is the substance of multicultural citizenship in relation to immigrant groups? The Multiculturalism Policy Index is one attempt to measure the evolution of MCPs in a standardized format that enables comparative research. 10 The index takes the following eight policies as the most common or emblematic forms of immigrant MCPs:11 Constitutional, legislative, or parliamentary affirmation of multiculturalism, at the central and/ or regional and municipal levels The adoption of multiculturalism in school curricula The inclusion of ethnic representation/sensitivity in the mandate of public media or media licensing Exemptions from dress codes, either by statute or by court cases Allowing of dual citizenship The funding of ethnic group organizations to support cultural activities The funding of bilingual education or mother-tongue instruction Affirmative action for disadvantaged immigrant groups12 feel more at home where they are. The focus of this paper is on the latter type of multiculturalism, which is centrally concerned with constructing new relations of citizenship. 8 In relation to indigenous peoples, for example — such as the Maori in New Zealand, Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Australia, American Indians, the Sami in Scandinavia, and the Inuit of Greenland — new models of multicultural citizenship have emerged since the late 1960s that include policies such as land rights, self-government rights, recognition of customary laws, and guarantees of political consultation. And in relation to substate national groups — such as the Basques and Catalans in Spain, Flemish and Walloons in Belgium, Scots and Welsh in Britain, Quebecois in Canada, Germans in South Tyrol, Swedish in Finland — we see new models of multicultural citizenship that include policies such as federal or quasi-federal territorial autonomy; official language status, either in the region or nationally; and guarantees of representation in the central government or on constitutional courts. 9. Anthony Smith, The Ethnic Revival in the Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). 10 Keith Banting and I developed this index, first published in Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka, eds. , Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). Many of the ideas discussed in this paper are the result of our collaboration. 11 As with all cross-national indices, there is a trade-off between standardization and sensitivity to local nuances. There is no universally accepted definition of multiculturalism policies and no hard and fast line that would sharply distinguish MCPs from closely related policy fields, such as antidiscrimination policies, citizenship policies, and integration policies. Different countries (or indeed different actors within a single country) are likely to draw this line in different places, and any list is therefore likely to be controversial. 12 For a fuller description of these policies, and the justification for including them in the Multiculturalism Policy Index, see the index website, www.queensu. ca/mcp. The site also includes our separate index of MCPs for indigenous peoples and for national minorities. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 7 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Other policies could be added (or subtracted) from the index, but there was a recognizable â€Å"multiculturalist turn† across Western democracies in the last few decades of the 20th century, and we can identify a range of public policies that are seen, by both critics and defenders, as emblematic of this turn. Each of the eight policy indicators listed above is intended to capture a policy dimension where liberaldemocratic states faced a choice about whether or not to take a multicultural turn and to develop more multicultural forms of citizenship in relation to immigrant groups. While multiculturalism for immigrant groups clearly differs in substance from that for indigenous peoples or national minorities, each policy has been defended as a means to overcome the legacies of earlier hierarchies and to help build fairer and more inclusive democratic societies. Therefore, multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals, to replace earlier uncivil and undemocratic relations of hierarchy and exclusion. Needless to say, this account of multiculturalism-as-citizenization differs dramatically from the 3S account of multiculturalism as the celebration of static cultural differences. Whereas the 3S account says that multiculturalism is about displaying and consuming differences in cuisine, clothing, and music, while neglecting issues of political and economic inequality, the citizenization account says that multiculturalism is precisely about constructing new civic and political relations to overcome the deeply entrenched inequalities that have persisted after the abolition of formal discrimination. It is important to determine which of these accounts more accurately describes the Western experience with multiculturalism. Before we can decide whether to celebrate or lament the fall of multiculturalism, we first need to make sure we know what multiculturalism has in fact been. The 3S account is misleading for three principal reasons. 13 Multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals. First, the claim that multiculturalism is solely or primarily about symbolic cultural politics depends on a misreading of the actual policies. Whether we look at indigenous peoples, national minorities, or immigrant groups, it is immediately apparent that MCPs combine economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions. While minorities are (rightly) concerned to contest the historic stigmatization of their cultures, immigrant multiculturalism also includes policies that are concerned with access to political power and economic opportunities — for example, policies of affirmative action, mechanisms of political consultation, funding for ethnic self-organization, and facilitated access to citizenship. In relation all three types of groups, MCPs combine cultural recognition, economic redistribution, and political participation. Second, the claim that multiculturalism ignores the importance of universal human rights is equally misplaced. On the contrary, as we’ve seen, multiculturalism is itself a human-rights-based movement, inspired and constrained by principles of human rights and liberal-democratic constitutionalism. Its goal is to challenge the traditional ethnic and racial hierarchies that have been discredited by the postwar human-rights revolution. Understood in this way, multiculturalism-as-citizenization offers no support for accommodating the illiberal cultural practices within minority groups that have also The same human-righ.