Wishing I Found The Courage Sooner Professor Ramos Blog

Wishing I Found The Courage Sooner â€Å"Do you feel any older?† my dad said as he was giving me my annual birthday speech. I was turning sixteen, and I got the same speech every year, except this year he had added, â€Å"You still arent allowed to date, And if I find out you do, there will be consequences.† Now this was surprising to me, because although I knew I wasnt allowed to date, I knew I was getting older and it just didnt really make sense because my brother was only a year older and had already been dating for years. Although it may seem a bit much and sound completely sexist, my dad isnt some horrible guy. I am his only daughter and the youngest of all my siblings, so I figure thats why he acts a little too protective over me and still sees me as a kid. As angered as I was about what my dad told me, I let it slide because it didnt seem like I had anything to think about at the time because I didnt have a boyfriend. However, I was also scared to ever tell my dad if I did. This wasnt the first time I had been treated differently than my brother. Jumping back to being seven years old, I recall things like having to set the table everyday. Which if you ever had to do you would know its an extremely annoying task, mostly if you were like me and were obsessed with watching movies, because I would be running back and forth trying not to miss the important parts. I cant say there was no good to come from setting the table because everytime we ate me and my brothers would have a competition on who could finish their food first and I would always lose, until I discovered we had two size forks. Everyday I would give myself a big fork and give them little forks. The most shocked i’d ever seen them was the first time they ever saw me finish before them. â€Å"What? No way? That’s impossible† â€Å"Better luck next time† I replied with an evil smirk. This went on for years until one day I asked, â€Å"why do I always have to set the table?† My question was never really answered. Instead I was told â€Å"because you’re always downstairs and your brothers are upstairs.† I didn’t say anything back although I knew that what he was saying was just an excuse. I always noticed a pattern which was my stepmom cooking in the kitchen and me being asked to set the table. After that day, I did start to notice a change. I still continued to set the table quite often, but some changes were made. There started to be days where my brothers were told to do it, or it would be split and I would set the table while my brothers would grab drinks for everyone. Life at my mom’s house was very different, maybe because she was a girl and new how it was to be treated differently and wanted for me and my brother to be raised as equals. We always had the same chores, bed time etc. The thing with my mom knowing how it was to be raised as a girl she knew the danger and scariness that came with it. There was an overlap on where my mom and dad agreed and that was on my curfew and where I was not allowed to go out and my brother was, even at a younger age they were more strict on what time and where I was going. This was always extremely annoying and very frustrating. My mom was always extremely strict if I wanted to spend the night at someone’s house or go out with friends. She gave me the same speech everytime I left the car, it was very serious and always felt extremely long and I didnt really understand why she would tell me all the time. It would start with who im going with, where I was going, when will I be back, then she would get number of my friends parents. Although my brother got a similar speech, it wasnt the same and wasnt as stressed as mine was. I know my mom wasnt the only person giving this speech to their kids about safety but I always noticed it was more focused on girls. This didnt annoy me as much until I started to get older. When I was thirteen years old, I was at my dads house and I got a message from my friend saying there was a fair in town. She asked if I wanted to go with her, it was already pretty late and I already knew it was going to be a struggle to try and convince my dad. I finally got the courage and went downstairs. I began by sitting next to him, pretending to be interested in whatever he was watching. Wow this movie seems really interesting, I might watch it later yeah its really good, I rented it earlier, if you want to watch it you have to by tomorrow because I have to return it I nodded and after about seven minutes began asking him if he knew there was this really cool carnival that was only open that we ekend. I could tell he could see where I was headed in the conversation and he chuckled a bit. I continued on with all the really cool things about this carnival and how all my friends were going. Then got annoyed when my brother walked halfway down the stairs said â€Å"im going to the movies with my friends in an hour† turned around, and walked up stairs like it was nothing. While I got told no, because it was late, already dark outside and not safe. He gave me a compromise, and I took it. He said â€Å"the fair will still be there tomorrow and you can go then when its earlier.† Over the years I realized more and more that what was happening wasnt fair and needed to be talked about. I went to my parents and began to talk to them about how they were making me feel less than my brother and how it wasnt fair or equal what they were doing. I told them that â€Å"I deserved to be treated the same way my brother was treated and that, I want to be able to leave the same time and be able to come back the same time.† â€Å"we are so sorry, thank you for coming to us and letting us know how we have been making you feel† Without even realizing it, my parents especially my dad realized what he had been doing. After telling them, I felt as if a weight was lifted off my chest, I felt free. I wish I had went to my parents sooner because since then, me and my brother have been treated as equals and I no longer felt alone or less than my brothers. h

The Copenhagen Zoo killed Marius the giraffe and four lions.

The Copenhagen Zoo killed Marius the giraffe and four lions. When the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark  killed Marius the giraffe  on February 9, 2014, the public outrage was instantaneous and worldwide. Marius was dissected in front of a public audience, including children, and then fed to the zoos lions. The furor had barely cooled down when, on March 24, 2014, the same zoo  killed four healthy lions, including some who had feasted on Marius remains.   Unfortunately, animals born at zoos do not always get to live their lives out fully.  David Williams-Mitchell, a spokesperson for the  European Association of Zoos and Aquaria,  told CNN that approximately  3,000 to 5,000 animals are killed each year at EAZA zoos. Of these, several hundred are large animals like giraffes and lions, while the majority are smaller animals, including insects and rodents. According to The Independent, five giraffes have been killed in Danish zoos since 2012, as well as  22 healthy zebras, four hippos and two Arabian Oryx throughout Europe. Although policies of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums are different from those of the EAZA, the animals in American zoos do not always live out their lives at the zoo. Marius the Giraffe    Marius was a healthy, two year old giraffe who was killed by the Copenhagen Zoo  to prevent inbreeding. Although other zoos had offered to take in Marius, one already had Marius brother (making Marius genetically redundant at that zoo), and the others were not accredited by the EAZA. Lesley Dickie, Executive Director of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, explained in a CNN op ed that Marius would be unlikely to survive in the wild; sterilization for male giraffes can lead to undesirable side-effects  and contraception for female giraffes is difficult, in its infancy, can can be irreversible. Dickie and Copenhagen Zoo officials have repeatedly pointed out that the killing of Marius was within EAZA guidelines.   The zoo and their staff have received death threats and threats to burn down the zoo. Four Lions Killed at Copenhagen Zoo    A few weeks.after killing Marius, the Copenhagen Zoo killed a family of four healthy lions - two parents and their cubs. The zoo had brought in a new, young male to mate with the 18-month-old females who had been born at the zoo, and did not want the young females to mate with their own father.  The zoo argues that the new male would have killed the adult male and two young cubs, as part of a male lions natural behavior of killing all the cubs  and killing the adult male when he takes over a new pride of lions.   The zoo claims that no other zoos were interested in taking the lion family. The justifications for killing the lions have focused on the animals natural behavior, but killing the lions is hardly natural. In the wild, the new male would have to oust the male head of the pride before taking over. This would happen only if the new male were stronger.  Survival of the fittest keeps the species strong as it continues to evolve.   While a new, stronger male would have killed the existing male and the young cubs,  this explanation fails to  address why the older female lion was killed. Controversy . While animal rights activist oppose keeping animals in zoos regardless of their breeding and killing policies, the practice of killing excess animals is especially objectionable and draws public outrage. If thousands of animals are killed every year, why did Marius death garner so much media coverage? It may have been because Marius was dissected and butchered in front of a public audience, and then fed to lions. The controversy, however, was not centered around the dissection and butchering, but on the reasons the giraffe was killed. As Dickie points out, a zoos resources are finite. They knew or should have known in advance that Marius would be genetically undesirable for breeding and yet they allowed Marius parents to breed. The arguments against sterilization or transferring Marius are unconvincing. The British zoo that wanted Marius is capable of making their own determination as to whether Marius was valuable, and the problems with sterilization cannot be worse than death. The whole problem appears to stem from the zoos desire to feature baby animals, even if allowing the animals to reproduce leads to overbreeding, overcrowding and killing.   Supporters of the zoo point out that lions are regularly fed meat from dead animals, and many critics of the zoo are not vegetarian. However, whether some critics of the zoo are hypocrites is a separate issue from whether the zoo was right in killing Marius. Animal rights activists do not believe in keeping any animals in zoos (not be confused with sanctuaries), and are vegan, so there is no inconsistency in the animal rights position.   After the four lions were killed, humor website The Global Edition published a satirical  piece,  Copenhagen Zoo Kills Four Healthy Staff Members To Make Space For New Employees. American Zoos and Aquariums While European zoos would rather allow the animals to naturally reproduce and kill excess animals, American zoos prefer contraception. Regarding Marius killing,  the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums stated in a press release,  Incidents of that sort do not happen at AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums, pointing out that AZA-accredited zoos minimize overbreeding. AZA zoos do sometimes overbreed, leading to animals being sold to unaccredited zoos, circuses, and even canned hunting operations.   Jack Hanna,  director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio, called the killing of Marius the most abominable, insensitive, ridiculous thing Ive ever heard of. What is the solution?    Many have argued that Marius could have been sterilized, that his parents could have been sterilized, or that Marius should have been transferred to another zoo. The lions could have also gone to another zoo, the zoo could have built a second lion enclosure,  or the zoo could have passed on bringing in the new lion. While these solutions may have saved these five lives, the issue is bigger than these five animals. Keeping animals in captivity, regardless of whether they are bred, overbred, or intentionally killed,  violates the animals rights  to live their lives free of human use and exploitation. From an animal rights viewpoint, the solution is to boycott zoos and all animal cruelty, and go vegan.

Individual Reflective Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Individual Reflective Report - Essay Example More than half of the workforce employed on temporary basis with limited or no perks and benefits i.e. employee discounts, lunches, T&D allowance etc, offered other than market competitive salary. Lack of contractual obligations often resulted in unannounced resignations from junior employees with no notice period. Also, as a result of major policy changes, middle managers mainly store managers were made contractual and course of career progression within ABC was made restricted. Therefore, the interest of such managers in developing and retaining basic talent as a business leader was rather limited due to their own limited career growth. The store owners who were the founders and directors of the store were the only stable position holders in the organization and maintained a distant relationship with rest of the workforce with communication mainly through emails or meetings at head office. Resultant was no communication of management’s values, beliefs and goals to rest of th e employees. Furthermore, HR department was responsible for providing menial support in terms of recruitment, payroll and employee management instead of playing a role of HR business partner. A critical analysis of the situation illustrates that there were eminent issues faced by ABC in terms of lack of leadership display, employee motivation, managerial control, communication of vision and strategic partnership between HR department and rest of the business. The given situation was observed by senior management when a surprise visit was paid by one of the partners to the store which was met by a series of change in some basic policies. During an open meeting with senior managers, I shared my views by stating that that most of the employees perceive their compensation and benefits to be highly uncompetitive and was willing to switch for minor raises. With the help of this input, management increased some of the benefits while keeping the basic salary structure same and also began th e regime of employee recognition through best sales man of the quarter and monthly birthday celebrations etc. Despite the fact that these strategies were expected to increase employee’s morale, there was a limited increase in employee retention rate. Therefore, the interventions designed were not addressing the root causes of the problems faced by ABC. Self-Evaluation and Application of Organizational Theory Analyzing this scenario in the light of organizational change models, it was found that internal formal and informal subsystems along with industry related factors were triggering this change in employee retention (Waddell et al., 2011). The management identified lack of reasonable perks as the key factor behind low employee motivation and retention ignoring lack of leadership and managerial control at ground level. The change that was induced by the senior management had an episodic impact with no continuation in betterment of existing policies. Resultant was a convergen t change followed by small adaptation to existing market practices, loose support from managers and leaders along with small positive output. Analyzing this progress in the light of change offered by Plowman et al (2007), it was observed that ABC needed a continuous and radical change since the internal system was undergoing major instabilities. The discrepancies were existing organization wide and a frame-bending adaptation was required. Another major lacking observed in

Compare education system differences between US and China Essay

Compare education system differences between US and China - Essay Example For most, practical knowledge is more important than textbook knowledge.† (Chen, 2001). However, the Chinese system is totally focused on examination and higher scores. Their ultimate goal of education was concerned with the success of the student in his/her achievement, which would let them earn money and fame in future. In the American education system, the school structure holds a grade system where kindergarten through fifth grade is classified as elementary school, sixth through eighth as junior high school and ninth to twelfth as high school. However, in China, the grade division is split a little differently, with the kindergarten to sixth classified as elementary school, and seventh to twelfth as middle school. In addition to these structural differences, the US schools use a holistic system of education where the students’ school grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, code of conduct, application essays as well as a personal interview are taken into account. On the contrary, the education system in China solely focuses on the academic results and hard work exercises. Unlike in US, the entire school system of China is very rigid with guidelines and predetermined classes, while the American system exercises more freedom on the part of the students. For instance, in US, a stude nt has the freedom to choose his or her classes which is totally unheard of in China, as every class and syllabus, all through the high school to college is set in advance, for the reason of avoiding the complications accompanied with the personalized education system. The concept of education has a greater influence on the students’ reflection towards the society in the future. The major dissimilarity between the American and Chinese education lies in their teaching systems. This system has a profound impact on the students’ attitude of learning and pursuing

The Big Decision Essay Example for Free

The Big Decision Essay An accountant is expected to be both an accountant and a professional. An accountant should follow general professional obligations. After the incidents involving Arthur Anderson, Enron, and WorldCom, the role of a professional accountant was changed. Brooks (2007) stated, â€Å"Professional accountants owe their primary loyalty to the public interest, not just to their own financial interests, company directors or management, or current shareholders at the expense of future shareholders. † (Chap. 1, p. 22). Decisions made by executives should reflect their corporation’s ethical values. In knowing this information, the case of Daniel Potter and his employer Baker Greenleaf raises some concern. I will address the dilemmas of the case, the stakeholders involved, and the course of action that Daniel Potter should take. (Brooks, 2007) Baker Greenleaf is a large accounting firm. Actually, they are one of the Big Eight accounting firms. Daniel Potter was a recent graduate of an Ivy League school before working for Baker Greenleaf. He understood the values and work ethics that he should follow. There came a time when he was assigned an account which was not new to Baker Greenleaf. The account was very important. In the past, Baker Greenleaf shared the account with another Big Eight accounting firm. Baker felt that they should be the only accounting firm that serviced that long-standing account. In order to achieve this, they believed that they needed to deliver a satisfactory performance in their auditing services with the company. After Dan completed the audit, he discovered concerns in which he could not solve. Dan’s estimate and the balance sheet value of real estate property resulted in a difference of opinion which significantly affected the income statement by more than three percent. Dan’s first reaction was to include a subject –to-opinion proviso, which included his findings, along with his report. His supervisor disagreed with his actions and wanted Dan to issue a clean opinion. At the end of the day, Dan’s supervisor removed Dan’s investigation from the files and replaced it with a clean opinion. He also delivered a negative evaluation of Dan’s performance on the audit. The dilemma in this case is that Dan was undecided as to the course of action he should take regarding his analysis that was replaced with his supervisor’s clean opinion (Brooks, 2007). The stakeholders involved in this case were investors, clients, buyers, as well as the company who was presented with the audit. Since the value of the property was inflated to almost two million dollars over its actual value, buyers were being misled. With Baker Greenleaf basically putting their stamp of approval on the audit, they are taking part in their client’s scheme. Baker is more concerned with profits than with the ethical values they should uphold. If the public ever found out about this scheme, the company could possible go out of business and investors could stand losing a great deal of money. Investors, clients, as well as buyers of the real estate are entitled to be aware of the activities that are taking place in the company. Let’s discuss some of the processes of decision making as well as the actions that should be taken. In order to make ethical decisions, accounts should possess values of integrity, honesty, objectivity, skill and discretion. They should also exercise due care, professional skepticism, and pledge to place the needs of the public, the client, the profession, and the employer or firm before the professional’s own self interest. In making an ethical decision, Dan should follow the framework for ethical problem solving which involves eight steps. He should first establish objectivity. Baker Greenleaf is doing the analysis. Their interest is to acquire the long-standing account. The ground rules of the company seem to be honesty and professionalism since the real estate subsidiary gave them problems in the past (Brooks, 2007). Next the problem needs to be identified. The problem is that Dan’s supervisor does not want to submit a report that discloses negative information on the real estate subsidiary. The subsidiary fabricated the value of their larges real estate property at two million dollars when it was actually valued at no more than one hundred thousand dollars. This problem that has been uncovered belongs to the subsidiary as well as Baker Greenleaf. It is a problem for the subsidiary because they are misleading their real estate buyers on the value of the property. Their buyers will buy a property in excess of the amount that is essentially worth. Baker Greenleaf can be help liable for real estate property bought by buyers that was overpriced. Third, Dan should use the five-question framework to analyze the situation. Since Baker Greenleaf is one of the Big Eight accounting firms, they should have ground rules that govern all of their accountants to abide by all rules and possess ethical decision making skills. The stakeholders are the clients and buyers of the subsidiary as well as the subsidiary and Baker Greenleaf. The subsidiary has a right to make any decision regarding their company and their asses, but any decisions related to the audit of the subsidiary are made by Baker Greenleaf. It seems as of the ground rules of the subsidiary are to carry out any means that will generate the most profit for the company. They do not have any ethical principles or rules. Their current rules and principles are not fair to all concerned. Fourth, Dan ought to determine the cause of the problem. The rules are being broken so that the company can make a bigger profit. The rules are being broken Prima facie. After reviewing the evidence, the problem was discovered. Dan’s supervisor doesn’t posses ethical values. He is only concerned about how he will be perceived by the executives within the firm. After that, the objective must be established. The desirable outcome is to report a subject-of-opinion to indicate the material difference in opinion regarding the value of the subsidiary’s largest real estate property. Dan wanted the executives of the firm to be aware that the financial statements were subject to a $1. million dollar adjustment. The timeframe is within the next couple of days. This is measurable. Next, Dan needs to explore his options. Dan can raise his concerns with his partner counselor as well as the personnel department along with any evidence he has exposed. He can also quit the job and look for anther place of employment without any attempt to inform someone else of his findings. The seventh step is to decide on the best solution. If Dan goes to his partner with his concerns, they may or may not look into the situation. If he leaves Baker Greenleaf without informing someone else, they may still have this problem without any knowledge of it. They could possibly be sued by their negligence. The decision to that should be implemented is to inform Dan’s partner counselor as well as the personnel department. It may affect his supervisor’s creditability but the credibility of the firm is much more important. The final step for Dan is to plan and implement the decision. He should gather all evidence showing his findings as well as document when he spoke to his supervisor about the issue. He should also document what was discussed. In the case of Dan and Baker Greenleaf accounting firm, we reviewed the dilemmas of the case, the stakeholders involved, and the course of action that Daniel Potter should take. If the public could bust down the doors of corporate headquarters and demand financial information, then we may not need accountants to validate the information. For now, we must comply with the laws and hope that the people we believe in being honest and ethical continue to be responsible and never forget that the public stakeholders.

Impact of Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin :: Uncle Toms Cabin Essays

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811, in Connecticut. She was the seventh child of a famous protestant preacher. Harriet worked as a teacher with her older sister Catharine, at the Hartford Female Academy. She was also an established writer. She helped support her family financially by writing local and religious periodicals. Harriet began writing when she was young, beginning with poems, travel books, and children’s books, and eventually writing adult novels. Her first adult novel that she wrote and published was Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a controversial book that Harriet wrote on her feelings of slavery. The story focuses on the harsh reality of slavery and the main character, Uncle Tom, a suffering black slave whose Christian love and faith overcame enslavement. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, and the second best-selling book of the century after the Bible. 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the first year after it was published. Harriet being a sworn abolitionist, her views and comments written in the book helped start the Abolitionist Cause in the 1850’s. The book also spread many stereotypes about African-Americans, such as Mammy (slang for mother), Pickaninny (slang for a black child), and Uncle Tom (slang for a black servant faithful to his white master or mistress). The impact of the book was so great, that before the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to meet Harriet. When he finally met her in 1862, he said, â€Å"So you’re the little woman that wrote the book that made this big war!†. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, however, had a greater impact in England than it did in America. The first London edition of the book came out in May, 1852, and sold over one million copies. The biggest reason it was more popular in England than America was because of British antipathy to America. One remarkable writer from England explained that "The evil passions which 'Uncle Tom' gratified in England were not hatred or vengeance [of slavery], but national jealousy and national vanity. We have long been smarting under the conceit of America--we are tired of hearing her boast that she is the freest and the most enlightened country that the world has ever seen. Our clergy hate her voluntary system--our Tories hate her democrats--our Whigs hate her parvenus--our Radicals hate her litigiousness, her insolence, and her ambition.

Strategic Management of Agribank

ABSTRACT In the present age, big cities in Viet Nam are growing at a rapid pace, especially in the economics, as a result many banks are established including Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam.Founded on 26/03/1988, Agribank has always played the leading role in Vietnam’s economic development with 1034 correspondent banks in 95 countries and territories (since 12/2009). In the new period, Agribank constantly improve their competitiveness to maintain the number one position of commercial banks and the dominant role in agricultural and rural financial market, serving farmers, agriculture and rural areas. To become the member of Group Finance and Banking in the country, Agribank’s strategy is associated with the sustainable development of customers, banking, partners and communities.Based on the data obtained from a small-scale interview carried out within Agribank’s employees and reviewed literature, our project’s team analyze Agribankâ₠¬â„¢s strategic management. Another key point of this report is providing recommendations to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. It is hoped that this empirical report can bring the readers with a more detailed look at the Agribank’s strategic Management. TABLE OF CONTENT Abstract†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦1 I. Executive summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 II. Introduction of the company†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 III. Managerial function†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 IV.Literature review†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 V. Strategic management†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 1. Step 1: identifying the bank’s goal†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 2. External Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 3. Internal Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦9 VI. Conclusion and recommendation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 12 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 14 I. Executive summary This report was commissioned to analyze, evaluate and also to give recommendation about the Strategic management of Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development of Vietnam. The research draws attraction to AgriBank’s current missions and goals: focusing on renovating and developing banking technology in a modernization manner.Further investigations give a SWOT analysis about AgriBank and conclusions about their status are made: Internally, Agribank has quite a lot of strengths such as large number of gross capital, high prestige, modern facilities, as well as some weaknesses like bad financial capability and low operation effectiveness. Besides, externally, Agribank also has many opportunities: peaceful political status, economy recovery, the freshness of the domestic market, and has to deal with lots of threats from competitors, loss of well-qualified employees, or governmental policies. After carefully evaluated, Recommendations are given: AgriBank should penetrate the market strategies to get higher performance by focusing its sources of human and facilities on Main market. †¢ AgriBank should also expand the market strategy, which is to take advantage of its available products and services to enter a new market in order to expand market share, get more output and approach new potential customers. II. Introduction of th e company Agribank is the largest bank in terms of fund resources, number of employees, assets, operation network and customer bases with reputation not only in local market but also international market.Agribank has always focused on the innovation and application of banking technology in favour of business administration and the development of an advanced banking service network. As the report of Agribank. com. vn – â€Å"As of November 2011, Agribank had the total asset of VND 5240,000 billion, total equity of VND 22,176 billion, total outstanding loans of VND 414,464 billion, total fund resource of VND 478,000 billion, total staff of 35,000 people, 2,300 branches and transaction offices†.Agribank is one of the leading bank in Viet Nam in terms of receipt and implementation of foreign projects, especially from World Bank, Asia Development Bank, European Investment Bank and French Development Agency. At present, Agribank is serving 10 million household and 30,000 ent erprises. With the position of a leading commercial bank in Viet Nam, Agribank has shown its great efforts and contribution greatly to the nation’s industrialization and modernization as well as economic development. Due to its location and market share, Agribank’s target market is Vietnam, especially in rural areas.About target customer, in the first period, its target was people who did the agricultural work. However, nowadays, Agribank has no target customer as it welcome everyone who provide capital and invest in many fields other than agriculture. III. Managerial function In the context of a profound and comprehensive integration, to make a difference in how well Agribank performs as well as to cope with this uncertain situation, Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam need strategic management.Hoang Thu Hien – one of the staffs of Agribank – pointed out that: â€Å"One of Agribank’s strategies is making great efforts in fund mo bilization from both local and foreign sources and maintain the credit growth at a reasonable level†. Another way is giving priority in investment in agriculture, farmers especially to farm households with agricultural, forestry, fishery and salt production. She also reveals that those strategies is built in the period 2000 – 2010 by a group of financial experts hired by Agribank. They are still used today and other details of the strategic management are kept as secret database of the bank.The general strategy of Agribank this period is it will put forth a number of solutions which are following the policy of the Government and the State Bank of Viet Nam on monetary policy in 2011 and for coming years (n. d. ). First of all is speeding up the fund mobilization from different sources for serving agriculture, farmers and rural areas then setting up the progress on implementing the Circulation 13, 19 of SBV on safe index for credit institutions or following the SBVâ€℠¢s Governor and relative agencies for adding fund in 2011 and developing strategy on international cooperation and foreign fund projects for 2010-2015.Secondly, Agribank has completely changed into Ltd Company with 100% capital of State and pushing up the modern banking technology based on IPCAS II which is used to develop the new products and services with high quality to better serve the customers. Thirdly, Agribank is trying to train the staff about the core cultural values including honesty, discipline, creativity, quality and efficiency. Finally, Agribank plans to carry out the project on business development strategy for 2011-2015 towards 2020 †¦ to prove the prestige of the largest commercial bank-financial institution in Viet Nam.IV. Literature review Regarding Strategic management, many scholars have researched about it so as to find out the best way to establish strategy and manage it. Stephen P. Robbins   and Mary Coulter with â€Å"Management tenth edition† have drawn the most detailed and comprehensive picture of Strategic Management. According to their theory, strategy is â€Å"plans for how an organization will do what it’s in business to do, how it will compete successfully, and how it will attract and satisfy its customers in order to achieve its goals† (Stephen amp; Mary 2009, p. 163). And then strategic management is defined as what managers do to develop an organization’s strategies. There are three reasons why strategic management is important which are stated that it makes a difference in how well an organization performs, it is necessary to cope with uncertain situation and to provide organizational goals for each part of the organization to work toward. After clarifying the importance of strategic management, those two authors draw a big picture of the strategic management process.There are all 6 steps in the process which the first 3 are most important. The first step is to identify the organizationâ €™s current mission, goals and strategies. Mission is defined as a statement of the purpose of an organization and goals are understood as measurable performance targets. Identifying those concepts will help the organization draw a general path to follow. The next two steps can be combined as SWOT analysis which analyze 4 main factors: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.It can also be defined as doing external analysis – environment around the organization and its effect- and internal analysis – the organization’s specific resources and capabilities. The next step namely Formulating strategies is done after all the analysis and is to establish a detailed path for the organization to follow. The last 2 steps are about implementing and evaluating the strategies that have been built up in the last step. Agreeing with those two authors’ theory, we have conducted interview and done some research and analysis about Agribank Vietnam. V. Strateg ic ManagementTo research about the company’s strategic management, we are required to conduct the first three steps of Agribank’s strategic management process. Our project team will identify the Agribank’s missions and goals and do the internal (SW) along with the external (OT) analysis. Furthermore, the recommendations will be set up to uphold the strengths, overcome weaknesses, maximize opportunities and eliminate any threats or turn them into opportunities. 1. STEP 1: IDENTIFYING THE ORGANIZATION’S CURRENT MISSION AND GOALS To maintain the leading bank, provide the modern and high quality products nd services, meet the demand of customers and increase the non-credit income, Agribank is focusing on renovating and developing banking technology in a modernization manner. That is its mission in 2011 and for the coming years The Agribank An Phu pointed out that Agribank expects to reach the goals for 2012 as follows: the fund resource increases by 15-17% co mpared with 2011, outstanding loans rises by 11-12%, the rate of loans to agricultural and rural areas is 70%, NPLs below 3%, non-credit income goes up by 10%, CAR complies with international standard.In general, Agribank’s goal is bringing prosperity to the customer. 2. EXTERNAL ANALYSIS After deciding the mission and goals of Agribank, the important thing is to conduct an external analysis, which includes the two components: the general and the specific environment. Each factors in the components maybe an opportunity or a threat to Agribank, basing on how they can affect Agribank’s market. A. Opportunities As to mention about the general environment, it is reported that the world’s and Vietnam’s economy are recovering from the crisis and are predicted to be growing in the near future.A recent article from the famous BBC (9 October 2012) has reported: â€Å"What is happening is a re-balancing of our economy. We have created a million net new jobs [and] we are now a net exporter of cars, but it is a slow process. † With the economy flourishing, Agribank has an opportunity to expand the market size and provide more services to the customers. In addition to the country’s economy recovery, Agribank also benefits from the fact that Vietnam has officially entered the WTO. By joining the world’s economic flow, Agribank has more chances to meet big partners and to develop itself.For example, the bank can learn from the foreigners about the new technology and inquire their way of working and technical skills. And, as to mention the political conditions, Vietnam is a peaceful country with no terrorists or civil wars; which encourages the development of law and economy, and Agribank can make use of this to complete their working system. The opportunity for Agribank does not only come from the general environment but also the specific environment, especially from the customers.According to the Standard Charter Bank’ s CEO, saying to baomoi online newspaper (Phuong 2009), Vietnam has a young and fresh banking market, which is not fully exploited. He also points out that in the recent years, the number of banking service users rises gradually and it will continue to rise in the next 5 years. Furthermore, according to the vietnamplus. vn (Son 2009), Vietnam’s average age tends to become higher, consequently, many people will begin to consider saving for their pension plan.Agribank can take advantage of this opportunity to reach more to the customers’ need. B. Threats Besides the opportunities, there are also threats that Agribank has to deal with. The fact that Vietnam has entered the WTO also brings along the trouble of the market share being downsized because Vietnam banks and companies are now freely get investments from foreign companies. It will also increase the competition between Vietnam and other WTO countries, creating great tension to Agribank. In addition to this, the Gov ernment policies are also putting Agribank under pressure.The current ceiling interest rate is kept really low at 9% – started from 11th June, but it’s also predicted to be lower, according to Dr. Vu Dinh Anh’s analysis (Thanh 2012). This policy makes it hard for Agribank and other banks to mobilize capital from people, and so on earn less profit on lending other companies money. In addition to the general environment’s influences, the specific environment, too, holds some menaces. The number of competitors growing rapidly in today’s time of high-technology, following with the decrease in number of high-quality employees is current problems that Agribank have to face.Nowadays, joint-stock company banks such as Vietcombank, Vietinbank or ACB bank are playing their leading roles in banking industry in Vietnam, alluring a large number of users comparing to AgriBank. Not as powerful as JSC Banks, but the banks with foreign investments like the Standard Charter Bank being equipped with higher quality and credit funds and non-bank credit organizations are acting as the harbingers to Agribank. According to Vietnam Credit Information and Rating Company’s report (Thanh 2012), 32 banks are rated to be highly competitive.Unfortunately, Agribank is not listed. Adding to the threats from competitors, the upcoming workforce in banking being estimated to be really large but cannot be so sure about the quality is also a trouble for Agribank. The best workers tend to chase for high position with high salary in foreign countries or other bank rather than Agribank; while the rests are not really well-trained. In general, the threats to Agribank are surpassing the opportunities that the bank can get, but its whole banking business is predicted to be growing. 3. INTERNAL ANALYSISBeside external analysis, it is also very important to explore and assess the internal factors of Agribank which are its strengths and weaknesses. Understanding ab out those internal elements will give us the knowledge of Agribank’s ability to take benefit from the opportunities and to face the threats. A. Strengths The first and the most powerful strength of Agribank is that it has the largest total capital, the biggest operation network and the hugest source of labors and customers in Vietnam. According to the article â€Å"3 ngan hang thuong m? i nha nu? c co v? n di? u l? tren 1 t? USD† on gafin. n (23 March 2012), a familiar website for investors, Agribank is the commercial bank that has the greatest amount of total capital in Vietnam which is over 29. 606 billion VND. It is an advantage for Agribank as it can invest in a lot of fields and activities with its huge capital. About its operation network and source of labors and customers, Agribank has over 2. 300 branches and office and 37. 500 staffs all over the country. Moreover, according to the official website of Agribank (n. d. ), it also signs contract with other foreig n banks from Laos, Cambodia and China to expand its market.Another strength is that it is the unique and main bank that focuses on the field of agriculture and rural areas. In Vietnam, only Agribank is the commercial bank that is nurtured and controlled by the government to develop agriculture and support agricultural workers. Vietnam is the country that has the main focus on agriculture and producing food so that this market share would be a big benefit for Agribank. Moreover, Agribank is considered as having the lowest rank of risk due to its support from the government and it also has the prestige of a governmental bank with tradition and experience.This advantage can gain the customers’ trust that not all other rivals can do. Last but not least, one more strength of Agribank is that its high technology applying in its infrastructure. To approve this point, the article â€Å"Viettel va Agribank ky k? t th? a thu? n h? p tac toan di? n† on danviet. vn (D? c 2011) sta tes that from November 20th, 2011, Viettel would coordinate with Agribank totally with its telecommunication infrastruction. The combination of those two giants will be an extreme advantage for Agribank to upgrade its system and bring better products to its customers. B. WeaknessesIt is undeniable that Agribank is one of the strongest banks in Vietnam at this time; however, it still has its own weaknesses that need improving to get the highest performance. The first alarming weakness is its bad financial capability. Although its system is modern and successful in Vietnam, Agribank’s financial control is still weak compared to the global standard. Stockbiz. vn reported that Fitch Ratings has affirmed Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s (Agribank) Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B’ (12 July 2012). The Outlook is Stable.At the same time, the agency has affirmed Agribank’s Viability Rating (VR) at ‘cccâ €™ and Support Rating Floor at ‘B’. A full rating breakdown is provided at the end of this release. Also according to this rating agency, Agribank has low rank of risk thanks to the support from the government, not from its own ability. The bank’s reported non-performing loans (NPLs) are the highest among domestic peers. Its low level of reserves, together with a high level of special mentioned loans (SMLs) and a slower economic backdrop, is likely to keep credit costs elevated in the near- to medium-term.As a result, Fitch expects the bank’s profitability to remain low, given also potential margin squeeze from a regulatory cap on lending rates on the agriculture sector. Therefore this weakness may not affect Agribank immediately in the domestic market, but if it wants to expand to the oversea market, it has to improve its financial capability a lot. Another clear weakness of Agribank is that its operation effectiveness is not high enough. Although the bank was established in 1988, it still hasn’t made huge impact on Vietnam’s agriculture.Farmers still do the farming work with traditional methods and do not use much technology in working. The rate of poor households in rural areas is still high after years. This weakness could be very dangerous as it would lose the customers’ and government’s trust, which can reduce its total capital. One last weakness of Agribank is that its human resource is huge but not qualified enough. There is a sad truth in Vietnam that people who have social relationship with some â€Å"big men† inside the company are likely to get the job. And Agribank is not an exception.Due to this terrible truth, many people who are not educated well enough still have good job and decide the destiny of the bank. Therefore, its human resource can not satisfy the requirement of the global standard, which would be a disadvantage for it when expanding to the bigger world. VI. Conclusion and Recommendations  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conclusion, like other corporations and organizations, Agribank has its all strengths such as large number of gross capital, high prestige, modern facilities, and weaknesses namely bad financial capability and low operation effectiveness.Beside these internal factors, Agribank also faces up with opportunities: peaceful political status, economy recovery, the freshness of the domestic market, and threats from competitors, loss of well-qualified employees, or governmental policies. Therefore, based on the analysis of SWOT and the wholesome interview of sole employee, we have drawn up the strategies for Agribank to achieve more success in the next five years. 1. Penetrating market strategies In this strategy, we would focus our resources of human and facilities on Main market to get higher performance.To get the strategy accomplished effecti vely, some methods must be applied such as: Improving the mobilization capital – by allowing wide range of maturities, or periods, interests rate or accumulated interests. Furthermore, the bank can also try to attain   sponsored -agricultural projects or projects of supporting small and average-scale business. Another method is improving the quality of credit service by using up the qualification of the staff to do   research on reducing some steps of procedures so that the transaction duration will be minimized which makes it faster and more convenient to deposit.Another effective   solution is diversifying and developing the quality of the services because at the moment most of Agribank   products are traditional ones, so it is less competitive. Therefore, the bank should introduce new advanced and convenient services and products to ensure the ability of serving customer efficiently. This method also heightens the administrative status of the management. 2. Expandi ng market strategy This is the strategy in which Agibank would take advantage of its available products and services to enter a new market in order to expand market share, get more output and approach new potential customers.There are some methods that can be applied, the first one could be intensifying the process of constructing material facilities or, in detail, purchasing necessary assets especially IT equipments, strongboxes, electric generators. Secondly, it could develop the network by establishing more   transaction posts which help popularize brand name. Thirdly, Agribank can enhance the quality of the staff by focusing on recruiting, introducing new reserving reward policies, retraining the current staff to get higher qualification and ability.Furthermore, in the period of expanding to new market, Agibank may appoint the most important and experienced cadres (skillful employees) to new brands in order to make sure that new brands can operate effectively. Beside those, Ag ribank   should speed up marketing operations/ activities   because marketing plays an important role in popularizing and giving products to the public. Some methods for developing marketing performance are : for products, improving traditional products and services, shortening procedure of transaction, and bringing new benefits to customer.For location, it can choose the most convenient location so that customers can easily make transactions. For advertisement, it is advisable to use radio, television, newspaper and the internet as the important way to advertise the bank. Furthermore, it is the way we serve that is one of the most means of advertisement to customers. Last but not least, we recommend to reinforce the control of internal activities which means that does not merely   check the account or the asset of the bank but verify the quality of credit, the efficiency, safety so that administrator can easily find out and re-correct defects and mistakes.References Agribank An Phu official website n. d. , â€Å"D? nh hu? ng phat tri? n c? a Agribank Vi? t nam†, viewed 17 November 2012, http://agribankanphu. com. vn/vn/company/details/dinh-huong-phat-trien-cua-agribank-viet-nam6. html Agribank Vietnam official website n. d. , â€Å"Agribank phat tri? n b? n v? ng vi s? th? nh vu? ng c? a c? ng d? ng†, viewed 17 November 2012, http://www. agribank. com. vn/101/786/gioi-thieu/dinh-huong-phat-trien. aspx Agribank Vietnam official website n. d. , M? ng lu? i ho? t d? ng Agribank – hon 2300 Chi nhanh, Phong giao d? ch tr? dai cung hinh ch? S, viewed 21 November 2012, http://www. agribank. com. vn/101/790/gioi-thieu/mang-luoi-hoat-dong. aspx BBC 9 October 2012, viewed 18 November 2012, http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-19876587 D? c Hi? u, Viettel va Agribank ky k? t th? a thu? n h? p tac toan di? n, 21 October 2011, viewed 21 November 2012, http://danviet. vn/62504p25c50/viettel-va-agribank-ky-ket-thoa-thuan-hop-tac-toan-dien. htm Ga fin 23 March 2012, viewed 23 November 2012, http://gafin. vn/20120323104832101p0c34/3-ngan-hang-thuong-mai-nha-nuoc-co-von-dieu-le-tren-1-ty-usd. tm Phuong Nhi 2009, â€Å"Th? tru? ng ngan hang Vi? t Nam r? t tr? †, Baomoi, April 2009, viewed 20 November 2012, http://www. baomoi. com/Thi-truong-ngan-hang-Viet-Nam-rat-tre/126/2960677. epi Thanh Thanh Lan 2012, â€Å"L? n d? u tien x? p h? ng nang l? c c? nh tranh ngan hang†, Vnexpress, 8 September, viewed 19 November 2012, http://ebank. vnexpress. net/gl/ebank/tin-tuc/2012/09/lan-dau-tien-xep-hang-nang-luc-canh-tranh-ngan-hang/ Thanh Thanh Lan 2012, ‘Tr? n lai su? t huy d? ng co th? v? 8% m? t nam', Vnexpress, 29 August, viewed 18 November 2012, http://ebank. nexpress. net/gl/ebank/tin-tuc/2012/08/tran-lai-suat-huy-dong-co-the-ve-8-mot-nam/ Son Bach 2009, â€Å"Vi? t Nam co co c? u dan s? vang, tu? i th? tang†, Vietnamplus, 31 December, viewed 19 November 2012, http://www. vietnamplus. vn/Home/Viet-Nam-co-c o-cau-dan-so-vang-tuoi-tho-tang/200912/29400. vnplus Stockbiz 12 July 2012, viewed 23 November 2012, http://en. stockbiz. vn/News/2012/7/12/309322/text-fitch-affirms-vietnam-s-agribank-at-b-outlook-stable. aspx *** Group tasks No| ID| Name| Task| Report|

The Short Bus

In the summer we got a writing assignment. For this assignment we had to read the book The Short Bus and write a paper about it. Later on after school had started and time had passed the author of the book, Jonathan Mooney came in and had a presentation with us. Now I will be writing about the many different implications, both positive and negative, of being labeled different in our society. Also, I will describe and justify my ethical response to the use of words as weapons against others.Being labeled in our society is not necessarily a bad thing, it could be good. A good thing that comes from this is it helps you understand if someone is mentally handicapped. For an example, if someone has a mental handicap they could be considered â€Å"slow† and that is a nicer thing to say than â€Å"retarded† so to speak. Also, another reason this would be good is because in many schools special services are offered to those who are â€Å"different†. Tutoring, extended tim es on tests, alternative courses, and even a dedicated classroom can all be offered.But, in order to be qualified for those offerings, you would have to have the label of being mentally handicapped. My thought on this would be that many people that have mental handicaps already know that they are the way they are. They also usually accept the fact that they have a disability that many others do not have. On the other hand, there are unfortunately some bad things in this. Labels can be a very hurtful thing to a lot of individuals. Labels can add to prejudice and discriminations.They could also prevent or discourage you from getting to know someone. Being called gay, retard, or even an idiot are all forms of discrimination. If someone is homosexual or mentally handicapped they can most definitely not help it, it was the way they were born. I’m sure that most people that have these â€Å"problems† so to speak already feel like an outcast and giving people labels just make s the situation a lot worse and more painful. Also, this could very possibly make you not want to get to know someone.If all of your friends are giving a certain someone labels and making fun of them, there is a very good chance you would be discouraged in getting to know this person. That is not fair at all to the person getting the label or the person that would want to get to know someone. Another thing, when you are diagnosed with a handicap the handicap is not permanent. Therefore, you could eventually lose the handicap and still be considered the label in school and still have the special classes and extensions and such.On the other hand, if you never had any handicap before and you develop one sometime in the future, you would not be able to have special tutoring, extended time on tests, alternative courses, and a dedicated classroom, etc†¦ until you were diagnosed with the mental handicap that you could very possibly have obtained in the future. The second part of this essay I will give my ethical response on using words as weapons against others. I do not know where name-calling, labels, or being â€Å"different† originated from, but I despise it greatly.I think name-calling, labels, and all forms of using words to hurt others are very unacceptable. All this does is hurt someone; it does not help the person who is saying the words, at all. A lot of the words people use to hurt others do not even make much sense. For an example when someone says someone is ghetto it that someone or something is trailer trash. No one really knows where this came from and it really does not make sense at all yet, people still use it to hurt others. Using words to hurt people can become a pretty big deal.Recently, a handful of homosexual students committed suicide due to the bullying by others. According to ABC News Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge Tuesday, days after his roommate allegedly posted video on the Internet of him having sex with an other man. The recent eruption of gay teen suicides has been across the country, from the East Coast to Indiana, Texas to California, where 13-year-old  Seth Walsh, who recently hanged himself,  was memorialized Friday night This could happen to anyone at any time if the verbal bullying does not come to a stop.In this paper, I wrote about the many different implications, both positive and negative, of being labeled different in our society. Also, I described and justified my ethical response to the use of words as weapons against others. I think I gave my opinion pretty clearly. I also gave an example of what bullying others verbally could to do someone, thanks to ABC News.

The Lifespan Development and Personality of Diana, Princess of Wales

The Lifespan Development and Personality of Diana, Princess of Wales Free Online Research Papers This paper focuses on the life span development and personality of Diana, Princess of Wales. Diana Frances Spencer, the third daughter of four children born into British aristocracy by her parents, Frances Shand Kydd and John Spencer was born on July 1, 1961. Her parents separated in 1967 and the children remained living with their father. Upon the death of her paternal grandfather, Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer in 1975, Dianas father became the 8th Earl Spencer. She became Lady Diana Spencer and the family moved to the familys sixteenth-century ancestral home of Althorp (Wikipedia Contributors, 2007). Six years after becoming Lady Diana Spencer, at age of 20, she married the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles who was 13 years her elder. The ceremony was one of the century’s grandest royal weddings and she became HRH The Princess of Wales. The following year she became mother of Prince William and two years later she became the mother to son Prince Harry. In December, 1992, Diana and Charles separated and divorced in 1996. In July, 1997 she was in a tragic fatal automobile accident. Impacts on Her Life Childhood Childhood is the development in one’s life between infancy and adolescence. Diana was born into a family of privilege and royal descent where money was not an issue. She was home schooled until the age of nine. She was a quiet and reserved child living a happy life until her parents divorced when she was eight. Shortly thereafter she became visibly depressed. Adolescence Adolescence is a period in one’s life in which major physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes take place. The actual age may vary but generally occurs somewhere between the ages of 12 through 18. This is a critical stage where a child attempts to become independent, wants to establish their identity and there are noticeable changes in their behavior. Adolescence occurs when a child begins physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to maturity. Several changes occurred in Diana’s life during these phase. Due to the death of her Grandfather, she gained the title of Lady. She also began attending boarding school of which was a bit difficult for her along with the fact that she academically struggled, became lonely and homesick. Adult Development Adult development was again a difficult stage in the life of Lady Diana. She became engaged and later married Prince Charles thus becoming known to the world as HRH The Princess of Wales. Out of the marriage were born two children. From the onset of the engagement, she became a target for the media and was considered the most photographed woman in history and was always in the public eye. Shortly after the marriage, her and her husband grew apart. She became extremely lonely, depressed and diagnosed with bulimia, a psychological eating disorder characterized by abnormal perception of body image, constant craving for food and binge eating, followed by self-induced vomiting or laxative usually affecting female adolescents or young female adults (Schimelpfening, 2007). Ultimately, the two divorced in August, 1996 and she became Diana, Princess of Wales until her untimely death one year later. Influences of Heredity and Environment on Psychological Development Being born into a family with noble ancestral heritage, certain influences significantly impacted the psychological development of Diana. Her moral development was greatly enhanced by the heredity and environment as a child. Upon entering adulthood, the moral development was further enhanced while expectations became greater nearing the title of the HRH The Princess of Wales; however, her emotional development was always a difficult process for her. From the time of her birth to around 8 years old, she maintained a relatively normal lifestyle. The divorce of her parents was of course, difficult and preparing to live a fairy tale life was difficult as well primarily when the fairy tale life was falling apart. The difficulties in her marriage seemed to make her stronger and more visible in terms of charity work and media. The support systems for her played a reverse role whereas she focused on helping others to make her the happiest. Theories of Personality Erickson’s theory is that development extends throughout the life-span and is divided into periods or stages. The amount of conflict in each stage determines whether the positive or negative pole is learned. Each stage is marked by a conflict, for which successful resolution will result in a favorable outcome. Stage five Adolescence: 12-18 years, where the conflict is identity versus confusion was difficult for Diana, resulting in loneliness and depression. Her title, identity and expectations changed a couple of times throughout this period in her life and the direction her life was taking in becoming the wife of Prince Charles was exhausting. Stage six Young Adulthood: 18-40 years, presents conflicts in intimacy versus isolation as part of her failed marriage. The media also rumored her as having several love relationships, yet failing at those as well. During this stage of her life, she became extremely lonely, depressed and was diagnosed with bulimia. Another personality theory which can be applied to Diana is humanistic psychology which is known to be difficult because there are no agreed-upon definitions of what constitutes a humanistic personality theory. The following four elements are central to the general viewpoint to which the humanistic label is applied: (1) an emphasis on personal responsibility, (2) an emphasis on the here and now, (3) a focus on the phenomenology of the individual, and (4) an emphasis on personal growth. In giving a brief description on each element listed, personal responsibility strictly means that one is ultimately responsible for what happens to them, the here and now perspective means an individual should focus on what is going on with his or her life at a specific point in relationship to time opposed to reminiscing about the past or daydreaming of a future event. The phenomenology of the individual basically means that individuals know themselves better than anyone else does and the personal gro wth element means that there is more to life than simply having immediate needs met and that people are not content when their immediate needs have been met. Rather they are motivated to continue their development in a positive manner. Diana excelled on the elements one, three and four primarily when it came to her ambassador role and helping in the over 100 charities. Best Theoretical Approach There is no best theoretical approach to Diana’s individual behaviors and achievements. Each stage of her life based on Erickson’s theory is clearly identified and marked with conflict which is basically textbook Erickson. The humanistic theory holds three of the key ingredients to Diana’s uniqueness; however, she does not in my opinion meet the criteria of element two. She gave her time and herself to raise millions of dollars for many causes. These causes primarily would benefit the sick, homeless and the poor. Many examples exist of her physically touching HIV/AIDS patients, sitting with children dying of cancer or personal visits to homeless shelters and leprosy wards or. â€Å"She was known to take her sons, Princes William and Harry, with her to poverty-stricken areas of South London to meet homeless people camped in cardboard shelters. She ministered to the children and adult victims of unrestrained landmines. To outsiders, her life began in a fairytale f ashion; yet she rose to demonstrate to the world that one can overcome adversity and leave a meaningful legacy. She restored a sense of mission and humanity in a stodgy institution, the monarchy of England† (Nieboer, 2007). Conclusion Diana will be remembered not for just one of her accomplishments, but for many from birthing the future King of England to showing kindness to the sick, to touring an Angolan minefield, to being identified as the â€Å"People’s Princess†. Her personality was caring and giving, but did not come without struggles from within herself. Amongst the sadness in her life, Diana developed into a highly respected woman and was noted for her sense of style, charisma, humor and high-profile charity work. She developed into not only notable leader, but an inspiration for many people throughout the world. Upon her death, the world was greatly saddened by the loss. The loss generated an intense outpouring of grief and widespread public mourning throughout not only Britain, but the world as well and created an unprecedented event of social psychology in terms of mass mourning and outpouring of emotions. References Nieboer, S. (2007). Diana, Princess of Wales. Learning to give. Retrieved May 12, 2007 from Website: learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=88 Schimelpfening, N. (2007). Depression. Retrieved May 12, 2007 from Website: http://depression.about.com/mbiopage.htm Wikipedia Contributors (2007). Diana, Princess of Wales. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 12, 2007, from Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Diana%2C_Princess Life Span Development and Personality of Princess Diana Research Papers on The Lifespan Development and Personality of Diana, Princess of WalesPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceHip-Hop is Art19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Essay

Tarbosaurus - Facts and Figures

Tarbosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Tarbosaurus (Greek for terrifying lizard); pronounced TAR-bo-SORE-us Habitat: Floodplains of Asia Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (70-65 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 40 feet long and five tons Diet: Herbivorous dinosaurs Distinguishing Characteristics: Long head; exceptionally small arms About Tarbosaurus When its fossils were first discovered in Mongolias Gobi Desert, in 1946, paleontologists debated whether Tarbosaurus was a new species of Tyrannosaurus, rather than deserving its own genus. Clearly, these two carnivores had a lot in commonthey were both huge meat-eaters with numerous sharp teeth and tiny, almost vestigial armsbut they also inhabited opposite sides of the globe, Tyrannosaurus Rex in North America and Tarbosaurus in Asia. Lately, the bulk of the evidence points to Tarbosaurus as belonging to its own genus. This tyrannosaur had a unique jaw structure and even smaller forelimbs than T. Rex; more important, no Tarbosaurus fossils have been found outside Asia. Its even possible that Tarbosaurus had evolutionary precedence, and spawned Tyrannosaurus Rex when some hardy individuals crossed the Siberian land bridge into North America. (By the way, the closest Asian relative of Tarbosaurus was an even more obscure tyrannosaur, Alioramus.) Recently, an analysis of a Parasaurolophus fossil revealed numerous Tarbosaurus bite marks, in patterns indicating that this tyrannosaur methodically scavenged its victims already-dead corpse rather than chasing it down and killing it. This doesnt conclusively settle the debate about whether tyrannosaurs were hunters or scavengers (they probably pursued both strategies, as necessary), but its still a piece of valuable evidence.

Aesthetic Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Aesthetic Perspectives - Essay Example It is an artwork using the media chalk, conte crayon and ink on paper, and is an example of a Realist painting (Horsley, 2003). In fact, Bravo was touted as the greatest Latin American realist (Horsley, 2003). The painting depicts a paper package of considerable size wound around by wire, seemingly in order to keep it secure and the contents of the package from being exposed. In terms of the FORMALIST (Art and Aesthetics, n.d.) theory of aesthetic perspectives, the painting can be analyzed in the context of space, form, texture, color, and lines. The painting of the package occupies most of the space of the canvas, so that all the observer sees is a paper package wrapped in wire. The form of the painting is very true to life, and immaculately arranged. The corners are crumpled just a little to give the painting a feeling of realism. It is very easy to infer the texture of the package; it is made of paper. The colors of the paintings are bland, and very real; the package is pastely cr eam in color, with the wire silver. As far as the formalist perspective is concerned, the artist has succeeded to portray arrangement and realism in the painting. This leads us to the other perspective, that of IMITATIONIST (Art and Aesthetics, n.d.) theory. As discussed earlier, this is a work on realism, a branch of Imitationism (Art and Aesthetics, n.d.). There is nothing more to the painting than a package wrapped in wire.... When an observer looks at the painting, he gets the feeling of enclosure and secrecy. Since the package occupies most of the space of the canvas, the observer cannot look at the surroundings of the package, and feels as if he is also wrapped around in it and closed tight. The wire around the package seems to protect the package from opening and the contents from being exposed. This gives a sense of secrecy to the painting. Nevertheless, the package is made of paper, and so it is fragile, and can tear open any time. This invokes a sense of suspense to the exposure of the hidden contents of the package, and the observer feels a thrill, as if by waiting and looking at the painting for a longer period of time, he might be able to break open the package and look inside. The real inspiration for the painting, as explained by the artist, was quite mundane: his sister arrived with some packages, and Bravo was fascinated by their form and texture (Horsley, 2003). His depiction of the painting , however, infuses more meaning to the package than just the artist’s fascination. The other artwork of the pair is â€Å"Rabbit† by Jeff Koons. Made in 1955, it is a sculpture crafted out of stainless steel (Holland, 2010). It is huge in size; to get an estimate, it comes to the waist of an average adult male, and since it is put up on a pedestal, it faces the observer with an eye contact (Holland, 2010). This artwork, too, can be studied in the three perspectives as discussed for the previous artwork. The discussion is as follows: In the perspective of the FORMALIST (Art and Aesthetics, n.d.) theory of aesthetics, the first point to be noted is the medium of the sculpture, that is, stainless steel. It should be noted that it is very difficult to carve