My Educational Experience Essay

My education began in first grade in 1974. My state didn’t mandate kindergarten, so my parents didn’t send me, even though my brothers and sister went. It wasn’t easy for me, because school was the first place I ever got to interact with other people, mainly children, as an equal. Before school started, I was pretty much kept indoors, and not allowed to have contact with other people, except for members of my own family. Being the youngest, I was looked down upon as being inferior, a lower class citizen, and basically, a big joke. During the first 5 years of my life, I figured that was all I was entitled to, and even though I hated it, I lived with it. In first grade, I had to interact with other kids for the first time, which wasn’t easy. I did eventually learn that I could be an equal to them, and soon settled down into school. The quality of education that first year wasn’t bad, I learned a lot and grew a lot during that year. I had great teachers too, who really gave me the help I needed. Second grade at that school was a different story though, I had a different teacher, who wasn’t very good, and seldom offered the help I needed. I was also treated like I was lower than the rest of the students. I don’t know what her problem with me was, but it set me back a great deal, both academically and emotionally. When I needed help, it wasn’t given and I was often ignored. She felt that it wasn’t worth it to help those students who needed it. Fortunately, my parents saw this and intervened, first trying to negotiate, then after that broke down, transferred me to another school. The new school was very different, being more structured than the first, and being a boys’ school. When I started, I was behind in many ways due to the problems of my previous school, but I had a dedicated teacher who helped me catch up the best she could in a short time. I remember having difficulties with cursive writing, which my new teacher helped me with, but giving me a crash course in it for a few weeks at recess every day. I did learn it, but never learned it well, and always got poor marks in penmanship as a result. I don’t fault her for that because she did the best she could under the circumstances. In other areas, I began to excel, often being on the honor roll, being one of the top students in the class. In fact, my teacher was very surprised at how I had started the school behind, and had caught up and excelled. It was nice to be appreciated, both at home and school because I did so well, and it really felt good to accomplish something. I stayed at that school for over 2 years, and had one day hoped to walk across the stage and graduate from there. It never happened because while I was in fourth grade, for some unexplained reason, my parents, who had always respected this school, began to despise it. Among their complaints were I was always doing homework, the school is a â€Å"playhouse,† and â€Å"they don’t do anything,† which I meant they offered few extracurricular activities, which was a true statement, but in my opinion, wasn’t a problem. On one occasion, I was even picked on about the khaki uniforms we had to wear, which had been worn by my brothers at different schools with no complaints at all from my parents. They constantly harassed me knocking everything about the school and eventually, I gave in and agreed to go to another school, the same school my sister was attending. This new school was totally different from the previous school. It was coed, the classes were larger, and seemed to put academics in lower regard than I was used to. I was also introduced to the concept of â€Å"school spirit,† the mindless blind following and support of your school regardless of what they do. I also learned that being a boy who was not athletic was a serious strike against me, since they valued football and other sports over everything else. At my other school, we had always had textbooks that were current and up to date. At this new school, the books were often old and falling apart, if we were lucky enough to get one. During the second and last year I was there, fifth grade, I was basically forced to support my sister in her school band activities, in order to show â€Å"school spirit,† something I had no interest in. I was dragged to every single football game, which I didn’t enjoy at all, and even worse, my parents often tried to make me praise her and tell her how much I enjoyed it, which I didn’t. I would rather have stayed home taking it easy, than sitting in the cold stands being blasted with wind and rain, as we sometimes had to endure. I was also dragged to parades she marched in, and often had to listen to her complain about having to do it. My view was to exercise a little free will and not worry about it, but was told, â€Å"it’s a school activity.† She made a choice to play in the band, why not live with the consequences. One other new experience I had there was being used for slave labor. Since I wasn’t an athlete, I often spent P.E. periods picking up trash on the grounds, which many times, made me miss afternoon classes. In spite of my parents’ complaints, this practice continued. Fortunately, I was taken out of that school, not because of my difficulties, but because of the poor teachers my sister was forced to endure. Sixth grade was my first and only year in Catholic school. What was really strange was we wore khaki uniforms, the same design I had worn only a year and a half before, that my mother said were â€Å"awful looking.† I was also a hard year partially because of the previous summer, which was spent not doing things I liked, but having to go into the swimming pool everyday on my sister and mother’s command. That summer was so humiliating that I often couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, because I felt like a puppet, dancing on my mothers’ and my sisters’ strings. That year was difficult because many of the students didn’t accept me, because I was a transfer student, and I often felt like less of a person because of the humiliating summer I spent before. I also had a hard time going to my parents, since the previous summer had showed me they didn’t’ really care about how I felt or if I had a problem, but instead about forced conformity. It also seemed like my parents had something to prove to this school, which I don’t understand. In one instance, I had to write about what I had done that day, and my mother was determined I would put no TV on that piece, because she wanted to show I didn’t watch TV, which wasn’t true. She does often lie to get what she wants and even when caught sees no problem with it, but will not tolerate anyone else lying to get their way. At the end of the school year, my mother asked me if I wanted to have a swimming party for my class, to which I responded no. She went to my teacher and set one up anyway, which showed me how little my feelings meant to her. I didn’t know how to swim, and had no interest in it, yet she would do anything to force me to swim, enjoy it, and even devote my entire life to it. I honestly believe her goal was to eliminate everything from my life excluding school and swimming, a life I couldn’t have survived. Seventh grade was another school I was sent to because of my sister, she was going there so I had to go there. I did not at all fit in, mainly because most of the students in my class had been expelled from other schools, and I hadn’t. I also had incompetent teachers, many of whom were employed there solely, by the principal’s own admission, worked cheap. I was very unhappy there, not only for these reasons, but because I was discriminated against not only at school, but at home as well. At school, our class was banned from many events, because of a few problem students. That didn’t bother me much, but I also got discrimination at home. My sister would often brag to people about how I spent my summers as her slave because I had to drop anything I wanted to do when she wanted to swim, and often had other students call me â€Å"Igor† after the hunchback assistant in the old horror movies. If I ever said anything derogatory to or about my sister, I would be punished, yet she did all of these things to me, and even admitted to our parents she had done it, but was never punished. In fact, they often said that it was impossible for a girl to be bad, that only boys are bad. The school seemed to preach the same thing, in fact, she was once in a fight and there were no consequences, I was and was punished at school and at home. She should have been punished too but instead she was able to brag to my parents and everyone else about fighting, with no consequences. Another incident of discrimination was with my sister’s English class and my Math class. We both had to deal with incompetent teachers, who were neither certified nor held degrees. The classes were impossible and we learned little. What our parents did was to go down to the school and arrange for her to get special treatment, meaning the principal would teach her personally, while I got nothing. I felt if she got out, why shouldn’t I? When I said this, I got no answer, no discussion, other than â€Å"That’s just the way it is.† Fortunately, I only stayed one year at this school, which was more than enough. However, I wasn’t out of the woods, I had to spend another summer of forced swimming with my sister, which again, made my life miserable. Eighth grade was my first and only year in public school. My mother made numerous promises to me about how it would be better than anything else, but it wasn’t. I was basically harassed again, for being a transfer student, and because my voice had changed before everyone else’s. A lot of the students constantly grunted at me to make fun of my voice, and nobody would do anything about it. My parents said it had nothing to do with my voice, but instead, was because I â€Å"act goofy,† yet would never explain to me what I did that was so bad. I was very miserable, I didn’t know what to do, and suffered day in and day out, and many times, wanted to end my life. What finally brought down my life there was I didn’t participate in an optional project for the science class, and as a result, my science teacher, the only teacher out of six, wouldn’t recommend me for a gifted program, something my parents took very hard. Ever since, even now 18 years la ter, they call me uncooperative. I was also punished for the entire summer, being barred from TV, music, reading, and any other activity I found pleasurable, being allowed nothing but swimming when my sister wanted me to because â€Å"getting in that pool everyday will build you up until you are a human being again.† My sister in the mean time attended public school, and also refused to activities she didn’t want to do. She was downgraded by her English teacher for not doing some optional projects as well but was she punished, or course not. Our parents simply went to the school board, and got her grades changed, from C to A, and was given me as a swimming slave for the summer. I didn’t understand this, she gets a reward for her behavior, and I get punished. I guess my parents don’t believe in punishing girls, I don’t know. My sister went to college, but I ended up in another so-called Christian school. During my first year, I refused to be put through â€Å"Freshman Hell Week,† in which senior students are allowed to humiliate freshman for a whole week. To me, that sort of behavior had no business in school, and was far from the strict environment my parents told me it would be. What added insult to injury that year was when my parents saw the yearbook and pictures of Hell Week, my mother actually said â€Å"You should have gotten together with them and acted goofy.† First I’m accused for allegedly â€Å"acting goofy,† and them I’m criticized for not â€Å"acting goofy.† This makes absolutely no sense. My high school years weren’t very happy. My grades were ok, but I didn’t like it at all. I was often picked on because I didn’t do extracurricular activities, I didn’t date, and basically thought there was a world beyond football, proms, and cheerleaders. The worst came my junior year, I was turned down for the honor society, and my parents at first, thought it was politics, then turned against me condemning me for having no personality, not being nice enough, participating in no activities, and not being â€Å"glib,† which has been an obsession of theirs ever since. They often condemned me for believing that school grades are based on work, instead of personality, something I never understood, since I was nice and didn’t make any trouble for anyone. My senior year was uneventful, thank goodness, and I was glad to be out of that place. Many people complain about the ineptness of our public schools and want vouchers and other initiatives to privatize education. My experiences tell me this will not work. Many of the private schools I went to were no better and even worse than public schools. The public school I attended had textbooks for each student; I can’t say that about a few of the private schools I was associated with. In addition, the excellent school I went to between second and forth grade is now closed, due to lack of enrollment, while the football school continues to stay in operation. My school years were very painful for me, not only for what I went through at school, for what I went through at home, where it was often preached, â€Å"nothing matters but school and swimming.† If I made poor grades, I was punished, but if my sister did the same thing, it was the school’s fault. One day, I know I will completely heal of it all, but now, I’m just working towards that day. The answer is out there; I just have to find it. Amen.

The Nacirema

In review of the article â€Å"Body Ritual Among the Nacirema† by Horace Miner, this was a very satirical piece on how Native Americans had a very ritualistic approach towards many religious ceremonies and how they interacted with each other at these ceremonies. Horace Miner brought up very appalling view points about the native Americans. The way he worded his synopsis of his studies was very dark and oppressive. Almost making the foreigners to him seem animalistic. When in real life they were doing things such as going to the doctor and getting their teeth cleaned but since he did not know the tools they were using it was foreign to him. This makes me wonder what I actually see in other cultures to be foreign or domestic. I may go to another country in a remote place and see very odd things and maybe be shocked but to those people it is the proven science to survival for them. Also in the satirical aspect of this paper it makes me think of how we should look at people. After reading through the article it seemed that the anthropologist went into this looking for something out of the ordinary. In studying each person seems to look and key on the interesting facts, but if you look to hard and over exaggerate it seems to imbelish what was actually happening. So actually it seems that even though this article was satirical in its purpose it over eggagerated the tools and purposes of medicine practices then and made people appear to be something that they actually were not.

Blood Promise Chapter Fifteen

Abe glanced over at one of his guardians and gave a swift nod. The man instantly walked away. â€Å"It's done,† Abe said. â€Å"Just like that?† I asked in disbelief. His lips quirked into a smile. â€Å"Rolan knows who I am. He knows who works for me. Once Pavel makes my†¦ ah, wishes known, that will be the end of it.† I shivered, knowing Abe spoke the truth. Considering what a smartass I'd been to Abe this whole time, it really was a wonder I hadn't had my feet set in cement and been tossed into the ocean. â€Å"So why aren't you forcefully dragging me out of here?† â€Å"I never like to make anyone do anything they don't want to. Even Rolan. It's much easier if people simply see reason and do what I ask them to, without the use of force.† â€Å"And by ? ®see reason,' you mean, ? ®blackmail,'† I said, thinking of what I'd just agreed to. â€Å"We made a trade,† he said. â€Å"That's all. Don't forget your end of the bargain. You promised to leave here, and you don't seem like the type to go back on your word.† â€Å"I don't.† â€Å"Rose!† Viktoria suddenly appeared at the door. Wow, that was fast. Pavel was calmly dragging her by her arm. Her hair was mussed, and a dress strap was slipping from her shoulder. Her face was a mixture of incredulity and anger. â€Å"What did you do? That guy came and told Rolan to get out of here and never see me again! And then†¦ Rolan agreed. He just left.† I found it slightly funny that Viktoria immediately blamed me for this. True, I was responsible, but Abe was standing right there. It wasn't a secret who his employees were. Nonetheless, I defended my actions. â€Å"He was using you,† I said. There were tears in Viktoria's brown eyes. â€Å"He loves me.† â€Å"If he loves you, then why did he hit on me as soon as your back was turned?† â€Å"He did not!† â€Å"He's the one who got Sonya pregnant.† Even in the alley's dim lighting, I saw her face pale. â€Å"That's a lie.† I threw up my hands. â€Å"Why would I make that up? He wanted to make plans with me as soon as you were out of town!† â€Å"If he did,† she said, voice shaking, â€Å"it was because you led him on.† I gaped. Beside me, Abe listened quietly, a smug look on his face. He was so self-satisfied and probably thought he was being proven right. I wanted to punch him, but Viktoria was my concern. â€Å"How can you think that? I'm your friend!† I told her. â€Å"If you were my friend, you wouldn't be acting like this. You wouldn't try to stand in my way. You act like you loved my brother, but there's no way you could have-no way you really understand love!† Didn't understand love? Was she crazy? If she only knew what I'd sacrificed for Dimitri, what I'd done to be where I was now†¦ all for love. She was the one who couldn't understand. Love wasn't a fling in a back room at a party. It was something you lived and died for. My emotions surged, that darkness welling up within me that made me want to lash out in return for her horrible accusation. It was only through the strongest of efforts that I remembered she was already hurting, that she only said the things she did because she was confused and upset. â€Å"Viktoria, I do understand, and I'm sorry. I'm only doing this because you're my friend. I care about you.† â€Å"You aren't my friend,† she hissed. â€Å"You aren't part of this family. You don't understand anything about us or how we live! I wish you'd never come here.† She turned and stormed away, pushing back inside through the long line of partygoers. My heart ached as I watched her. I turned to Abe. â€Å"She's going to go try to find him.† He still wore that damnably knowing expression. â€Å"It won't matter. He'll have nothing to do with her anymore. Not if he values that pretty face of his.† I was worried for Viktoria but kind of had a feeling Abe was right about Rolan. Rolan would no longer be an issue. As for Viktoria's next guy†¦ well, that was a worry for another day. â€Å"Fine. Then we're done here. Do not follow me anymore,† I growled. â€Å"Keep your promise to leave Baia, and I won't have to.† I narrowed my eyes. â€Å"I told you: I always keep my promises.† And as I hurried back to the Belikov house, I suddenly wondered if that was true. The blowout with Abe and Viktoria was like cold water on my face. What was I doing here? To a certain extent, Abe had been right†¦ I had been deluding myself, pretending Dimitri's family was my own in order to soothe my grief over him. But they weren't. This wasn't home. The Academy wasn't my home either, not anymore. The only thing I had left was my promise-my promise to Dimitri. The promise I'd somehow lost sight of since coming here. Some of the Belikov family was in bed when I got home, but others were still in the living room. I slipped upstairs to my room, waiting anxiously for Viktoria to get home. A half hour later, I heard footsteps on the stairs and the sound of her door closing. I knocked gently on it. â€Å"Viktoria,† I said in a loud whisper. â€Å"It's me. Please talk to me.† â€Å"No!† came the response. â€Å"I don't ever want to talk to you again.† â€Å"Viktoria-â€Å" â€Å"Go away!† â€Å"I'm just worried about you.† â€Å"You aren't my brother! You aren't even my sister. You have no place here!† Ouch. Her voice was muffled by the door, but I didn't want to risk a fight in the hall and let the others hear. Going to my room, my heart breaking, I stopped and stood in front of the mirror. It was then that I knew she was right. Even Abe was right. Baia wasn't my place. In a flash, my meager belongings were packed, but I hesitated before going downstairs. Viktoria's closed door stared at me, and I had to fight the urge to knock again. If I did, it would only trigger another fight. Or, maybe even worse, she would forgive me-and then I would want to stay forever, lost in the comfort of Dimitri's family and their simple life. Taking a deep breath, I headed downstairs and walked out the front door. I wanted to tell the others goodbye but worried the same thing would happen, that I'd look at their faces and change my mind. I needed to go, I realized. I was angry at both Viktoria and Abe. Their words had hurt me, but there'd been truth in them. This wasn't my world. I had other things to do with my life. And I had a lot of promises to keep. When I was about eight blocks away, I slowed down, not because I was tired but because I wasn't sure where I was going. Leaving that house had been the biggest step. I sank down on the curb in front of a neighbor's silent, dark yard. I wanted to cry without knowing why. I wanted my old life back. I wanted Dimitri and Lissa. Oh, God, I wanted them. But Dimitri was gone, and the only way I'd see him was if I truly set out to kill him. And as for Lissa†¦ she was more or less gone to me too. Even if I survived this, I didn't think she could forgive me. Sitting there, feeling lost and alone, I tried reaching out to her one more time. I knew it was foolish, considering what I'd seen before, but I had to try one more time. I had to know if I really could have my old place back there. I slipped inside her mind instantly, my runaway emotions making the transition easy. She was on a private jet. If Jill had been stunned by meeting St. Vladimir's A-list students, going on a trip with them made her downright comatose. She stared at everything wide-eyed and barely said a word during the whole flight to the Royal Court . When Avery offered her a glass of champagne, Jill could barely stammer out, â€Å"N-no thanks.† After that, the others seemed to forget about her and got carried away by their own conversation. Lissa noticed Jill's uneasiness but didn't do much to remedy it. That was a shock. The Lissa I had known would have gone out of her way to make Jill comfortable and be included. Fortunately, the younger girl seemed perfectly entertained by watching the others' antics. I also took comfort in knowing Jill would be okay once she met up with Mia. Lissa had sent word ahead to Mia to come pick up Jill when they landed, seeing as Lissa and the others had to attend to one of Tatiana's functions right away. Mia had said she'd take Jill under her wing for the weekend and show her some of the innovative things she'd learned to do with her water magic. Lissa was glad for this, happy she wouldn't be babysitting a freshman all weekend. Even if Jill was totally off of Lissa's radar, one person wasn't: Avery's brother Reed. Their father had decided it would be a good idea for Reed to go with them, and seeing as Mr.-excuse me-Headmaster Lazar had played a key role in working with Tatiana to arrange this trip, there was little argument. Avery had rolled her eyes and spoken to Lissa about it covertly, just before boarding. â€Å"We're all riding your reputation,† Avery said. â€Å"Part of the reason Dad let me come was because you're in good with the queen, and he wants it to rub off on me. He's then hoping I'll get in good with her, and then that'll rub off on Reed-and the rest of the family.† Lissa tried not to over think the logic too much. Mostly, she was bothered because Reed Lazar was still as unpleasant as he'd been the first day they met. He wasn't really mean or anything; it just made her uncomfortable being around him. Really, he was the polar opposite of Avery. Whereas she was animated and could always strike up conversation, he stayed tight-lipped and spoke only when spoken to. Lissa couldn't really tell if it was shyness or disdain. When Lissa had tried asking him if he was excited to go to Court, Reed had simply shrugged. â€Å"Whatever. I don't care.† His tone had been almost hostile, like he resented her for asking, so she'd given up all other attempts at conversation. The only person, other than his sister, that Lissa saw Reed ever speak to was Avery's guardian Simon. He had also come along. When the flight landed, Mia was as good as her word. She waved enthusiastically when Lissa stepped off the plane, her blond curls whipping around in the wind. Lissa grinned back, and they gave each other quick half-hugs, something that never failed to amuse me given their former enemy status. Lissa made introductions for those who needed them as an escort of guardians led them away from the landing strip and toward the inner portion of Court. Mia welcomed Jill so warmly that the younger girl's uneasiness faded, and excitement glowed in her green eyes. Smiling fondly, Mia glanced away from Jill and over to Lissa. â€Å"Where's Rose?† Silence fell, followed by uncomfortable glances. â€Å"What?† demanded Mia. â€Å"What did I say?† â€Å"Rose is gone,† said Lissa. â€Å"Sorry†¦ I thought you knew. She dropped out and left after the attack because there were some things†¦ some personal things†¦ she needed to take care of.† Lissa feared Mia would ask about the personal things. Only a few people knew about my search for Dimitri, and Lissa wanted to keep it that way. Most thought I'd just disappeared from post-battle trauma. Mia's next question completely shocked Lissa. â€Å"Why didn't you go with her?† â€Å"What?† Lissa stammered. â€Å"Why would I do that? Rose dropped out. No way am I going to.† â€Å"Yeah, I suppose.† Mia turned speculative. â€Å"You guys are just so close-even without the bond. I assumed you'd follow each other to the ends of the earth and figure out the details later.† Mia's own life had gone through so much upheaval that she took that kind of thing in stride. That weird, fluctuating anger I'd been feeling pop up in Lissa every so often suddenly reared its head and turned on Mia. â€Å"Yeah, well, if we were so close, then it seems like she wouldn't have left in the first place. She's the selfish one, not me.† The words stung me and clearly shocked Mia. Mia had a temper of her own, but she sat on it and simply held up her hands in an apologetic way. She really had changed. â€Å"Sorry. Wasn't trying to accuse you of anything.† Lissa said nothing else. Since my departure, she'd beat herself up about a lot of things. She'd gone over and over things she could have done for me before or after the attack, things that might have made me stay. But it had never occurred to her to go with me, and the revelation hit her like a smack to the face. Mia's words made her feel guilty and angry all at the same time-and she wasn't sure who she was the maddest at: me or herself. â€Å"I know what you're thinking,† said Adrian a few minutes later, once Mia had led Jill away and promised to meet up later. â€Å"What, you read minds now?† asked Lissa. â€Å"Don't have to. It's written all over your face. And Rose never would have let you go with her, so stop agonizing over it.† They entered the royal guest housing, which was just as lush and opulent as it had been when I'd stayed there. â€Å"You don't know that. I could have talked her into it.† â€Å"No,† said Adrian sharply. â€Å"You couldn't have. I'm serious-don't give yourself one more thing to be depressed about.† â€Å"Hey, who said I'm depressed? Like I said, she abandoned me.† Adrian was surprised. Since my departure, Lissa had been more sad than anything. She'd occasionally been angry at my decision, but neither Adrian nor I had seen such vehemence from her. Dark feelings boiled within her heart. â€Å"I thought you understood,† said Adrian, with a small, puzzled frown. â€Å"I thought you said you'd-â€Å" Avery suddenly interrupted, giving Adrian a sharp look. â€Å"Hey, hey. Leave her alone, okay? We'll see you at the reception.† They were at a point where the groups had to split, girls going to one part of the lodging and guys to the other. Adrian looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he nodded and headed off with Reed and a couple of guardians. Avery put a gentle arm around Lissa as she glared at Adrian's retreating figure. â€Å"You okay?† Avery's normally laughing face was filled with concern. It startled Lissa in the same way Adrian's moments of seriousness always startled me. â€Å"I guess. I don't know.† â€Å"Don't beat yourself up over what you could have or should have done. The past is gone. Move on to the future.† Lissa's heart was still heavy, her mood blacker than it had been in quite a while. She managed a tight smile. â€Å"I think that's the wisest thing you've ever said.† â€Å"I know! Can you believe it? Do you think it'll impress Adrian?† They dissolved into laughter, yet despite her cheery exterior, Lissa was still struck by Mia's offhand comments. They plagued Lissa in a way she hadn't thought possible. What really bothered her the most wasn't the thought that if she'd come with me, she could have kept me out of trouble. No. Her biggest issue was that she hadn't thought of coming with me in the first place. I was her best friend. As far as she was concerned, that should have been her immediate reaction to my departure. It hadn't been, and now Lissa was racked with even more guilt than usual. The guilt was all-consuming, and she would occasionally transform it to anger to ease the pain. It didn't help much. Her mood didn't improve as the evening progressed, either. Not long after the group's arrival, the queen hosted a small reception for the most elite of all visitors who had come to the Court. Lissa was quickly discovering that the queen always seemed to be hosting some party or another. At one point in her life, Lissa would have considered that fun. She no longer did, at least not when it came to these kinds of parties. But keeping her dark feelings locked up, Lissa stayed good at playing the role of nice royal girl. The queen seemed happy that Lissa had a â€Å"suitable† royal friend and was equally pleased when Lissa impressed other royals and dignitaries she was introduced to. At one point, though, Lissa's resolve nearly faltered. â€Å"Before you leave,† said Tatiana, â€Å"we should see about your guardians.† She and Lissa stood together with a group of admirers and hangers-on who were keeping respectful distances. Lissa had been staring vacantly at the bubbles in her untouched champagne and looked up with a start. â€Å"Guardians, your majesty?† â€Å"Well, there's no delicate way to put this, but now, for better or for worse, you're without any protection.† The queen paused respectfully. â€Å"Belikov was a good man.† My name naturally didn't come to her lips. I might as well have never existed. She'd never liked me, particularly since she thought I was going to run off with Adrian. As it was, Lissa had noticed Tatiana watching with some consideration while Avery and Adrian flirted. It was hard to say if the queen disapproved. Her partying aside, Avery seemed a model girl-save that Tatiana had wanted Lissa and Adrian to eventually get together. â€Å"I don't need any protection right now,† said Lissa politely, her heart clenching. â€Å"No, but you'll be out of school soon enough. We think we've found some excellent candidates for you. One of them's a woman-a lucky find.† â€Å"Janine Hathaway offered to be my guardian,† said Lissa suddenly. I hadn't known that, but as she spoke, I read the story in her mind. My mom had approached her not long after I left. I was a little shocked. My mom was very loyal to her current assignment. This would have been a big move for her. â€Å"Janine Hathaway?† Tatiana's eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline. â€Å"I'm sure she has other commitments. No, we've got much better choices. This young lady's only a few years older than you.† A better choice than Janine Hathaway? Not likely. Before Dimitri, my mother had been the gold standard by which I measured all badassedness. Tatiana's â€Å"young lady† was undoubtedly someone under the queen's control-and more importantly, not a Hathaway. The queen didn't like my mom any more than she liked me. Once, when Tatiana had been bitching me out for something, she'd made a reference to a man my mother had been involved with-someone whom I suspected might be my father, a guy named Ibrahim. The funny thing was, the queen had almost sounded like she had once had an interest in the guy too, and I had to wonder if that was part of her dislike for my family. Lissa put on a tight, polite smile for the queen and thanked her for the consideration. Lissa and I both understood what was going on. This was Tatiana's game. Everyone was part of her plan, and there was no way to go against her. For a brief moment, Lissa had that strange thought again, of something Victor Dashkov had once said to her. Aside from his crazy killing and kidnapping schemes, Victor had also wanted to start a revolution among the Moroi. He thought the power distribution was off-something Lissa occasionally believed too-and that it was wielded unfairly by those with too much control. The moment was gone almost as soon as it came. Victor Dashkov was a crazy villain whose ideas deserved no acknowledgment. Then, as soon as courtesy allowed, Lissa excused herself from the queen and headed across the room, feeling like she was going to explode with grief and anger. She nearly ran into Avery as she did. â€Å"God,† said Avery. â€Å"Do you think Reed could embarrass me any more? Two people have tried to make conversation with him, and he keeps scaring them off. He actually just told Robin Badica to shut up. I mean, yeah, she was going on and on, but still. That is not cool.† Avery's dramatic look of exasperation faded as she took in Lissa's face. â€Å"Hey, what's wrong?† Lissa glanced at Tatiana and then turned back to Avery, taking comfort in her friend's blue-gray eyes. â€Å"I need to get out of here.† Lissa took a deep, calming breath. â€Å"Remember all that good stuff you said you knew about? When is that going to happen?† Avery smiled. â€Å"As soon as you want.† I returned to myself, sitting there on the curb. My emotions were still going crazy, and my eyes were fighting off tears. My earlier doubts were confirmed: Lissa didn't need me anymore†¦ and yet, I still had that feeling that there was something odd going on that I couldn't quite put a finger on. I supposed her guilt over Mia's comment or spirit side effects could be affecting her, but still†¦ she wasn't the same Lissa. Footsteps on the pavement made me look up. Of all the people who might have found me, I would have expected Abe or maybe Viktoria. But it wasn't. It was Yeva. The old woman stood there, a shawl draped over her narrow shoulders, and her sharp, cunning eyes looking down at me disapprovingly. I sighed. â€Å"What happened? Did a house fall on your sister?† I asked. Maybe there was a benefit to our language barrier. She pursed her lips. â€Å"You can't stay here any longer,† she said. My mouth dropped open. â€Å"You†¦ you speak English?† She snorted. â€Å"Of course.† I shot up. â€Å"All this time you've been pretending not to? You've been making Paul play translator?† â€Å"It's easier,† she said simply. â€Å"You avoid a lot of annoying conversation when you don't speak the language. And I've found that Americans make the most annoying conversation of all.† I was still aghast. â€Å"You don't even know me! But from the first day, you've been giving me hell. Why? Why do you hate me?† â€Å"I don't hate you. But I am disappointed.† â€Å"Disappointed? How?† â€Å"I dreamed you would come.† â€Å"I heard that. You dream a lot?† â€Å"Sometimes,† she said. The moonlight glinted in her eyes, enhancing her otherworldly appearance. A chill ran down my spine. â€Å"Sometimes my dreams are true. Sometimes not. I dreamed Dimka was dead, but I didn't want to believe it, not until I had proof. You were my proof.† â€Å"And that's why you were disappointed?† Yeva drew the shawl more tightly around her. â€Å"No. In my dreams, you shone. You burned like a star, and I saw you as a warrior, someone who could do great deeds. Instead? You've sat around and moped. You've done nothing. You haven't done what you came to do.† I studied her, wondering if she really knew what she was talking about. â€Å"And what is that exactly?† â€Å"You know what it is. I dreamed that, too.† I waited for more. When it didn't come, I laughed. â€Å"Nice vague answer. You're as bad as any scam fortune-teller.† Even in the darkness, I could see the anger kindle in her eyes. â€Å"You've come to search for Dimka. To try to kill him. You must find him.† â€Å"What do you mean ? ®try'?† I didn't want to believe her, didn't want to believe she might actually know my future. Nonetheless, I found myself getting hooked in. â€Å"Have you seen what happens? Do I kill him?† â€Å"I can't see everything.† â€Å"Oh. Fantastic.† â€Å"I only saw that you must find him.† â€Å"But that's all you've got? I already knew that!† â€Å"It's what I saw.† I groaned. â€Å"Damn it, I don't have time for these cryptic clues. If you can't help me, then don't say anything.† She stayed quiet. I slung my bag over my shoulder. â€Å"Fine. I'm leaving then.† And like that, I knew where I would go. â€Å"Tell the others†¦ well, tell them thank you for everything. And that I'm sorry.† â€Å"You're doing the right thing,† she said. â€Å"This isn't where you should be.† â€Å"So I've heard,† I muttered, walking away. I wondered if she'd say anything else: chastise me, curse me, give me more mysterious words of â€Å"wisdom.† But she stayed silent, and I didn't look back. I had no home, not here and not in America. The only thing left for me was to do what I'd come to do. I had told Abe I kept my promises. I would. I'd leave Baia like I told him. And I'd kill Dimitri, as I'd promised myself I would. I knew where to go now. The address had never left my mind: 83 Kasakova. I didn't know where it was, but once I reached the town's center, I found a guy walking down the street who gave me directions. The address was close by, only about a mile, and I headed out at a brisk pace. When I reached the house, I was glad to see that the lights were still on. Even as pissed off and raging as I was, I didn't want to wake anyone up. I also didn't want to speak to Nikolai and was relieved when Denis opened the door. His expression was all astonishment when he saw me. Despite his bold words back at the church earlier, I don't think he'd really believed I'd join him and the other unpromised ones. He was speechless, so I did the talking. â€Å"I changed my mind. I'm coming with you.† I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what came next. I'd promised Abe I'd leave Baia-but I hadn't promised to return to the U.S. â€Å"Take me to Novosibirsk.†

Place-names (linguistics) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Place-names (linguistics) - Essay Example Particularly in the case of England, the power of naming becomes a key insight into the history of conquest from foreign powers that the island has experienced in its long life. These conquerors understood the act of naming as the linguistic equivalent of driving a flag into the soil of the vanquished foe’s garden – a means of solidifying and extending the message of their invasion and subsequent occupation throughout time. Such is the power expressed through names and naming processes. As Rose-Redwood, Alderman and Azaryahu (2010, p. 454) note, â€Å"the naming of places is one of the primary means of attempting to construct clearly demarcated spatial identities†. For the purpose of the following essay, these spatial identities are to be thought of as political identities as well. â€Å"As a place-name becomes opaque and the original meaning is lost over time, the name comes to feel like a word, in that it feels like an arbitrary combination of sounds used to r efer to a certain item or idea† (Radding & Western 2010, p. 396). The same is true of a conquering force, as this essay will demonstrate. This essay argues that the study of place-names requires â€Å"a critical analysis of the social and political struggles over spatial inscription and related toponymic practices† (Rose-Redwood et al. 2010, p. 455). As such, the study of place-names becomes more informative about the past – about the role that naming played in the military, social and cultural history of England. However, what this essay will also demonstrate is that the social and political act of spatial inscription and place-naming still occurs in the present day, and still functions as a highly effective method for a conquering power to secure its presence over the emotional and psychological space of the invaded populace. This essay will compare the Norman Invasion of England of 1066 with the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003 to illustrate how the topo nymic practices continue to serve key political functions. Despite the thousand year gap between these two military campaigns, the core activity remains the same – rename the conquered space using conqueror language in order to cement physical power with linguistic power. This essay will also show how place-naming served a crucial political function even after the use of maps as a means of demarking political territory became widespread. Linguistic and toponymic practices have been used by invaders not only to stake a claim in the conquered lands and to demonstrate their ownership literally, the power of naming extends that power across the centuries, simply because the town or village will adopt the name, people will continue to use the name over and over, and as time passes, the name becomes part of the cultural vernacular and assimilates into the new order. As Radding & Western (2010, p. 395) explain, â€Å"names are given intentionally, to impart a certain meaning. They can be the converse of arbitrary. Yet, over time, people can fail to remember the original, specifically intended meaning and attribute other ones†. In addition, the act of saying the name repeatedly, over many centuries, continues to assert the dominance of the original source of the name. Thus the individual or group that claims the place via the name also lays claim to the psychological, social and cultural space of the invaded peoples, by leveraging the insidious and viral nature of language itself. As Rose-Redwood et al. (2010 p. 454) note, â€Å"

Challenges of Western Brands when Marketing to Chinese Literature review

Challenges of Western Brands when Marketing to Chinese - Literature review Example This potential can be signified by the continual growth of retail sales of consumer goods, for instance retail sales figures increased by 3% in 2007 (PRC 2011). China may be described as a large and homogenous developing market. The ‘huge population, the rapid industrialization and unprecedented economic growth’ provides manufacturers a great opportunity (Ewing et al., 2002). Multi-million Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) like Coca Cola, Uniliver and Mc-Donald’s have experienced a lot of success in this market. The consumer brand consciousness in china goes through four eras and steps into a post-industrialization era. The consumer’s attitude has seen a change from a supply-side orientation to a demand-side orientation (Schlevogt, 2000). Nolan (2002) once pointed out that china is moving rapidly to integrate with the world economy. The Preference For Domestic Brands There are still some issues which may act as an impendent for international companies. One such impediment, cited by many scholars, is local brand loyalty in china. Ayala and Lai (1996) claimed that foreign brands may find it hard to enter this market, due to the development of brand loyalty. â€Å"Foreign brands underestimate the power of domestic brands and the degree of brand loyalty to them† (Ewing et al, 2002). ... Other factors that internal brands have to contend with while competing with local brands are ethnocentrism and protectionism. According to Bates (1998) the idea that â€Å"west is best† is no longer the dominating factor for consumer’s first choice. Although, western culture still does influence consumption behaviors, it tends to benefit local brands more than their foreign competitors. For example, there has been a general trend among businessmen to wear formal business attire, rather than casual wear. But local brands like Youngor and Firs have been the main beneficiaries of this trend instead of foreign manufacturers. â€Å"European fashion was most aware by Chinese consumers, but consumers simply consider it as a source of choice rather than actually purchasing European fashion products† (Bates,1998). According to Nolan (2002) when China joined the World Trade Organization, their local corporations needed to find a way to compete on a worldwide field. Chinaà ¢â‚¬â„¢s industrial policy also faced many issues in the process of emerging into the global business arena. These limitations in turn, constrained the development of local brands. For instance, ‘policy inconsistency exists in the same industry, China’s weak economy based, and failures in China’s bureaucracy’ (Nolan, 2002). The Growth of China’s Fashion Industry The Vogue China Fashion Index (2006) (the National Bureau of Statistics) found that Chinese consumers associate fashion with modernization, innovation and personalization. According to the statistics, 18.7 % of Chinese consumers consider modernization as the highest factor while selecting fashion, and then followed by 17% who consider

The Reality of Work Cultures in the Modern Economy Essay

The Reality of Work Cultures in the Modern Economy - Essay Example Work culture plays a significant part in bringing the best out of workers and enabling them stay in the work place for a prolonged period. Work culture is significant as it leads to contented workers and enhanced productivity. Richard Sennett asserts that individuals’ work culture will be defined by the novel ideas of flexibility, decentralization and control, flextime, work ethics and teamwork, and change. Moreover, the stated concepts have an impact on character as articulated by commitment and loyalty and eventually lead to the lessening of personal traits and values that are attractive in society (Sennett 1999, p. 9). The modern way of working makes it extremely demanding to get a life as asserted by Sennett. He claims that the personal effects of work in the New Economy have made the individual to be disoriented due to notions such as flexibility, decentralization and control, flextime, work ethics and teamwork, and change. In the contemporary way of life, there has been a spatial modification of work activities on a universal degree, as space and geography have become significantly essential components of work, labour relations, and labour markets (Sennett 1999, p. 9). This means that workers will use most of their time trying to engage in activities that will help them adapt to new working requirements, therefore, it will be difficult for them to get a life. Nonetheless, modern way of working has enhanced connections between individuals, nations, and organizations. This has been made possible by developments in technology and has made it extremely simple to transport people, capital, and commod ities in and across regions as a rapid speed. This has also made employers, customers, and employees focus solely on work activities, and losing their individual existence, hence not getting a life. In addition, the modern way of working has liberated employers from standard spatial and temporal restrictions and facilitated them to position their work activities finely and to gain inexpensive sources of labour. Therefore, workers who provide their labour in exchange for low wages cannot have a life simply because their income cannot match their needs (Golden 2001, p. 240). Moreover, the modern way of working entails developments in communication and information technologies. These advances permit capitalists to impose restraint over spatially and decentralized distributed labour processes. Also, in the contemporary way of working, an individual has to engage in activities that will maintain and enhance their job skills. This will help them to keep up with shifting job needs. Numerou s people find it demanding to find ways of staying employable in a rapid-changing working environment in which talents become quickly out of date. Unlike employees of the early periods, modern day workers are most probable to go back to school or engage in activities that will enhance their talents as they change careers. This will make it difficult to get a life as argued by Sennett. Sennett highlights flexibility, decentralization and control, flextime, work ethics and teamwork, and change as the issues which lead to the corrosion of character. For Charles Stuart Mill flexibility signified the source of individual freedom and which continues to have an impact on our comprehension of the flexibility notion. Sennett asserts that search for flexibility has lead to the development of new structures of control

Compare and contrast the marketing strategies of two companies Essay - 1

Compare and contrast the marketing strategies of two companies - Essay Example Nike is a major sports brand in the United States that manufactures different types of sports gears and equipment. The name is the most popular brand in terms of sports shoes and apparels. Nike has created a major loyalty base around the world, especially due to its trend setting marketing and advertising campaigns, as well as the number of sports stars it occasionally ropes in to endorse its products. The company sells its products through various retailers – both online and offline – along with the exclusive brand stores of Nike. Apart from selling sports related products the company sponsors many high profile athletes and teams in various sports. Most of the time where Starbucks Coffee formulates its marketing strategy is in the Service phase of the product life cycle. However, their marketing strategy also targets the market during the Realize phase where they produce and deliver the best coffee possible to their customers. When looking into the marketing strategy of Nike they mostly formulate their marketing strategy during the Realize phase in which they manufacture the products and try to capture the market by selling their innovation in the market (Armstrong et al., 2012). The main method that Starbucks Coffee applies to its marketing strategy is to advertise their brand through their own products like t-shirts, coffee mugs that their regular customers purchase. On the other hand the advertising methodology of Nike is exclusively through print media and sometimes through electronic or digital media as well. The early advertising of Nike was mainly focused on the new shoes that it released and the message of the advertisement showed the benefits of various shoes like basketball, tennis and running shoes. While formulating the marketing strategy Nike made effective use of television as they believe it to be the most powerful medium of information and commercial. The TV commercials of Nike make a viewer feel the necessity of the product

International Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Trade - Essay Example Most of the countries participate in such trades. The US exports high tech goods such as aircrafts, chemicals and ammunitions and at the same time it imports consumer goods, which are traded internationally at much lower prices. Usually, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment has a direct correlation; that is to say, employment or new jobs in the country rises in tandem with the growth in GDP. Gross Domestic Product, in the economic parlance, is the measure of goods and services that are produced in the country. GDP is the sum of the incomes of all the residents within the country. It is also measured by adding all kinds of spending such as government spending, investment spending and consumer spending. All exports generate incomes at home and they are part of GDP. Imports do not form a part of the GDP as they generate incomes abroad. For many years in US, imports exceed exports. That means domestic markets suffer in the goods that are imported. For example, steel import disrupt s domestic steel industry resulting into a closure of many units and the loss of jobs. The government often imposes tariffs on certain products to make imports costlier safeguarding domestic industries. At times, the government resorts to quota system and restricts imports within predetermined quota for a given country. This is usually found in textiles and garments business where quotas are allotted to the countries beyond, which they cannot send material into US. Tariffs restrict international trade as they are one kind of tax on imported good and make imports costlier. The university students in US are not benefitted as consumers of other industrial goods because education industry in US is a big exporter. A huge number of students from other countries enroll in US universities for study and research by paying huge tuition fees in US dollars and spend in US for their essential needs during their learning. Since 1930s, many countries have supported free trade among nations by redu cing tariffs. That is how the process of globalization has progressed at the rapid pace and world trade touched to the tune of almost $12,400 billion by 2009 (International Trade Statistics, 2010 p.12). World Trade Organization (WTO) works toward reduction of tariffs and smooth flow of goods and services among the nations. The WTO also works to discourage retaliatory taxes among nations. When two countries trade their currencies form a relationship for transaction to place. It is true that exchange rates between two currencies are governed by the demand-supply dynamics of the currencies that arise due to trade between two countries. When US imports more Chinese goods and exports less to China, a trade gap also called balance of payments is created causing more demand for Yuan against dollar. When this continues for a long, dollar tends to depreciate against Yuan. In 2011, the US exported goods worth $103.93 billion to China while imported goods worth 399.36 billion creating trade ga p of $295.5 billion. The trade gap was $273 billion and $226.8 billion in the year 2010 and 2009 respectively. The figures reveal that the trade gap is constantly on the rise and the reason for this is that the China produces hosts of goods at much lower the cost compared to the producers in US. The US consumers have benefitted a lot due to these

The economic and environmental factors affecting USTs operations Coursework

The economic and environmental factors affecting USTs operations - Coursework Example The firm that is analyzed in the paper is UST Inc. UST Inc is involved in the manufacture of tobacco products which continue to be one of the oldest and most profitable industries. This fact has been borne out not only in the ratios but the fact that the company has been identified as the most profitable company in the United States by one of the most trusted sources – Forbes. The financial results speak to this fact. However, as in any industry there is competition and what has been happening is that even though the market is growing by 3.7% per annum UST has not been able to grow with it. This is due to the fact that the company has not been responding appropriately to the threats posed by its competitors. However, there are some environmental factors that have been affecting the company and so UST needs to answer these and other questions including: †¢ What environmental factors affect the operations of UST’s business? †¢ What business risks does the company face, †¢ Can the company undertake the recapitalisation process effectively? †¢ Why is UST considering recapitalisation and what would be the incremental effect on the company’s value? †¢ What other factors beyond interest rate shields should UST consider in assessing the value of its recapitalisation plan? The environmental factors include political/legal, economic, and social issues. In addition to industry factors these affect every business and should therefore be given due consideration. In terms of the political/legal aspects the tobacco industry has been faced with tough regulations. These have had a negative impact on the cigarette industry but much less on the moist smokeless tobacco. However, and restrictions have had a negative impact on the prospects for future growth in the industry. While being saddled with a $100 to $200 million over the next 10 years in payment as settlement in keeping with an agreement arrived at with Medicaid the company also face restrictions on its advertising and promotional campaign which is aimed at reducing the exposure of the youth population to tobacco products. Additionally, UST has a few litigations pending which is the nature of this industry. However, the smokeless tobacco industry has a much lower exposure to health related law-suits. The Medicaid settlement signifies a reduction in net income which cannot be recouped at this time when UST’s market share is declining. In terms of the economic issues although consumption has been increasing UST’s market share has been declining. The growth that has been exper ienced appears to be going to the company’s competitors. UST has a track record of growth and innovation but this has not been the case in recent times. The company is used to the practice of annual price increases – sometimes even twice per year but the competition will definitely prevent the company from doing so for most of its brands. This trend of increasing prices has been somewhat abated by the introduction of price-value brands by the company’s competitors. Although UST is large in comparison to its competitors and has a major share of the market the company has not responded the way that investors and analysts would like and so they are doubtful as to whether UST has not been able to respond in a timely and appropriate manner in order to regain its market share. Additionally, the resignation of the company’s chief financial officer (CFO) and the Director of Tobacco in 1997 is a signal to investors that something is fundamentally wrong on terms of both the companies manufacturing operations and its financial management which are two key areas. These are key persons within the company and who obviously would have impacted the company’s financial results. Like most other companies that are engaged in the production of goods the aim is to have products at each stage of the product lifecycle and to have products that will appeal to different groups.

Design & defend an optimal performance appraisal system for a position Research Paper

Design & defend an optimal performance appraisal system for a position you aspire to hold (medical supervisor) - Research Paper Example The typical methodology geared to dealing with performance appraisal systems relies on using a generalized approach where one performance appraisal system is used for a number of different hierarchical positions in an organization (Cascio, 2013). However, it would only make sense to design a performance appraisal system that is attuned to the needs of a particular position being appraised. This paper attempts to design an optimal performance appraisal system for the position of a medical supervisor based on current research findings. Description of Position The performance appraisal system under design is for the position of a medical supervisor. Essentially the position requires a large amount of daily interaction with patients as well as members of staff and occasionally contact with members of regulatory agencies. Additionally, the medical supervisor represents a senior position at any medical institution and is responsible for overseeing the training and skill development of his subordinates. The medical supervisor needs to keep tabs on the budgeting of resources and scheduling of staff members to ensure uninterrupted medical service to patients. The multifaceted nature of the job of a medical supervisor means that the incumbent medical supervisor needs to be ready on all fronts to deliver in order to be relevant to the organization’s overall objectives. Proposed Optimal Appraisal Performance System The proposed appraisal performance system for the position of a medical supervisor is divided into sections based on the major responsibilities for the position. The responsibilities are segregated through broad overviews since the current paper is not intended to dissect all of the responsibilities in complete detail. The primary responsibility of a medical supervisor is to the patients under treatment. Patients can be seen as the customers for any medical system so delivering to the customers is of the utmost importance. The medical supervisor is suppor ted by his staff at various levels and positions in order to service the patients so dealing with staff is a secondary responsibility to ensure satisfactory service provision at least. Moreover, the medical supervisor is responsible to his immediate superiors and members of regulatory agencies such as the American Medical Association (AMA) who require consistent feedback for continuous performance assessment. Performance Appraisal for Patients The basic contention behind performance appraisals is to provide employees with feedback regarding their performance (Broady-Preston & Steel, 2002). In the case of medical institutions, the customers are patients under treatment. Performance appraisal needs to emanate from patients and their relatives who judge the quality of services being delivered by a medical supervisor. Essentially such a grass roots level performance appraisal system bases itself on the 360 degrees appraisal system proposed by Milliman (1994). The idea behind such an app raisal system is to ensure that all people interacting with an employee especially customers provide their effective feedback in relation to the employee’s attitude and behavior (Cascio, 2013). This provides the medical supervisor with a more goal oriented performance appraisal system that encourages a quantitative method to evaluate job

Post Colonial Intervention in Somalia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Post Colonial Intervention in Somalia - Essay Example The civil war issue has been the main target of many humanitarian as well as peacekeeping missions such as the AMISOM but the conflict still exists as a result of various factors such as the fact that countries have intervened for their own selfish reasons such as oil and trade routes. These will be explored in the paper as an analysis of the various interventions is presented.The civil war issue has been the main target of many humanitarian as well as peacekeeping missions such as the AMISOM but the conflict still exists as a result of various factors such as the fact that countries have intervened for their own selfish reasons such as oil and trade routes. These will be explored in the paper as an analysis of the various interventions is presented. Six main United Organizations were involved in coordinating overall humanitarian efforts in Somalia: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNHCR, UNICEF, and WHO. In addition, over 30 NGOs worked as implanting partners of the UN in Somalia. Among the things that were addressed by the United Nations organizations together with the NGOs included coming up with priority options that could aid combat famine and loss of innocent lives in Somalia. However, delayed international media coverage of the conflict played a significant role in triggering international responses (Schraeder, 2006).The first reports by the NGOs who were residing in the country when Said Barre was overthrown did not receive significant attention.

A Brief Survey and Analysis on Procrastination Among Undergrads Essay Example for Free

A Brief Survey and Analysis on Procrastination Among Undergrads Essay In this survey, we developed a set of questions asking students in the unit of a dormitory. We asked individual students to assess their degree of procrastination, the specific occasions when they have significant sign of procrastination and their difficulties in solving the problem. We then asked them to think about one of two occasions when they were highly productive in order to see and compare what serves for and against their procrastination. Then, choosing the dormitory as a whole sample, we asked students to name one of them who is most productive generally, and asked them if they’ve noticed the difference and invited them to figure out the reason for this difference in productivity. In this way, we have managed to attain a number of individual samples to analyze their procrastination as well as group samples from which we may conclude the peer influences in this group of students. Results Based on the various results of individual survey, we have selected and categorized several typical cases presented in the form of case study as follows. Case 1: Procrastination with Trivial Things In one of the dormitory we carried out the survey, a student lost his key but just refused to get another one. Instead, he phones his roommates to open the door for him when he can’t enter, causing much trouble to his roommates. Another student we surveyed was said to have kept his dirty cloths for ages and not want to wash them simply because of the cold weather. Everyone may be reluctant with specific tasks for various reasons, especially boring and time-consuming work such as laundry. Case 2: A Whole Night in Dormitory without Finishing Homework Many of the students we surveyed mentioned their low-productivity in the dormitory. Often is the case when students find the clock ticks time away without awareness of what they have just done. In this case, distraction in dormitories plays an important role in students’ procrastination. With roommates playing games, listening to music or simply just walking around, it calls for great effort to stay focused. And it is even worse when there is work to be done on the computer with access to the Internet, as there is much more distraction online such as games, videos, IMs and SNS, which can easily attracts students from what they should be doing. Case 3: Perfectionism Perfectionism is another classical cause for procrastination. Students who want to have a perfect outcome often turn out to find nowhere to start, fearing that they would screw things up. Being back and forth with the project ahead may also lower his self-esteem and then possibly put him into a vicious circle of low self-esteem-caused procrastination. Case 4: Endless Entertainment No matter if it’s Sitcoms, SNS or computer games, many students have at least one type of entertainment from which they can tear away from. Many students surveyed mentioned the very typical scenario when they tell themselves to start working by six but still enjoying the â€Å"last† episode or round hours later. With more and more distraction and entertainment around, students show much more difficulty to stay focused without external control. Case 5: Vicious Circle From what we have learned from the survey, it is rather easy to fall into a vicious circle because of procrastination, which in turn worsens one’s procrastination. Many students will feel depressed and low mood because they’ve left too much of tasks behind and therefore cannot focus, suffer low-productivity, thus undermining their self-esteem and making it harder to accomplish the tasks next time. Case 6: Wrong Reward Many experts suggest setting a period of time for oneself when he or she focuses the tasks at hand. Then reward him or herself for having concentrated during this period. This may serve to build up one’s self-esteem and concentration with the time period set longer and longer. But there are cases in which the rewards are too appealing (for example one’s favorite game) that students either hurry to finish the task simply to enjoy the reward with poor quality or get stuck with the reward and keep excusing himself for extending the time, which holds up later schedule and puts him back to procrastination. Case 7: Enjoying the Last-Minute-Accomplishment Some of the students surveyed admitted that after accomplishing their tasks right before the deadline for several of times, they become fond of this kind of schedule and planning. These students often achieve extraordinarily high productivity during the last minutes with results turning out to be not bad. Students therefore become dependent on this external driving force and used to completing tasks in the last-minute. General Analysis In the cases described above, we can see that lack of self-control is a very dominant cause for procrastination. How well can a person resist his temptation, control his entertainment and avoid distraction largely affects his degree of procrastination. There are also certain psychological mechanisms contributive to one’s procrastination. Noticeably, these many of the causes mentioned above are inter-connected, meaning there’s hardly an easy one-way solution to procrastination. Discussion From the specific cases mentioned above, we can already spot some of the causes for procrastination. Furthermore, these causes are often also related. We will first further discuss the different causes for procrastination in this section and then specially analyze the peer influences in the scope of procrastination. Peer Influences on Procrastination From the group samples we’ve collected in the survey, we analyzed the cases when students become either more or less productive because of their peer and concluded three major types of peer influence on procrastination. Competition In one of the dormitories we’ve surveyed, one student who completes tasks much faster than his roommates has been nominated as the most productive and executive. When asked about his productivity, he attributed it to his competition with his high school classmate. Another student also mentioned what he heard form friend in Qinghua University where students in a dormitory are highly competitive and look up to the best and fastest, which creates an atmosphere of positive competition driving each one to speed up and work hard. We believe that competition is one of the most effective external driving forces apart from the looming deadline itself. Though there isn’t necessarily a competitive atmosphere, it is not very hard to look for a peer to compete with so as to urge and encourage each other. Peer Reference Peer reference here indicates the psychology when one looks on his peer to excuse himself from not working. Many people may have this kind of voice echoing in the mind: â€Å"It’s OK. Nick hasn’t started yet. Leave it some other day!† What’s worse, some students admitted that in order to keep this excuse valid, they often do not urge the other one to start working purposely but join in him dragging the to-do list instead. We believe that this overlooking and following of peer procrastination is due to lack of . And this crowd psychology in many cases contributes to the atmosphere of procrastination. On the other hand, it is rather crucial for the one with higher productivity to actively urge and influence his peers to prevent procrastination as a â€Å"shepherd†. Peer Pressure Throughout our survey, some students with low productivity turn out to be surprisingly efficient in team work, because they feel compelled to fulfill their share of responsibility in a team working on a same goal otherwise they will hold up the whole schedule. Therefore, it is crucial for team leaders to set a common goal and emphasize the importance of every individual’s work. However, this peer influence doesn’t always work as there are always irresponsible people in a team. Summary From the interconnected influences discussed above, peers do have certain influence on procrastination, either positively or negatively. When one wants to drag things on, others’ procrastination can be a good justification. However, it appears a little harder to impose positive influences on procrastination as it calls for certain mechanism, i.e. competition, peer urging or team cooperation. And the conclusion can be safely drawn that when there are more mechanisms functioning, individuals are easier to prevent his or her procrastination with the assistance of his peers. Therefore, apart from one’s own effort, actively seeking positive peer influence is also a good solution. Recommendations True as it is that solving procrastination needs multiple methods, we will elaborate our recommendations in a separate way so that students with different types of procrastination can find the suitable solution for his particular case more easily. While the methods are many, the philosophy behind is simple: actively seeking external influence. And specific methods are elaborated as follows. Avoid Distraction/Disturbance For students finding it hard to concentrate and work effectively, we recommend they go to the library, classrooms or other quiet places for serious business. One may also turn off the cell phones to further avoid any distraction or disturbance. For those who find themselves often wasting hours on games (either computer games like DotA or video games on little gadgets like Angry Birds) or surfing, it is also a good idea to go somewhere else to work or study, leaving anything that can distract you back in the dormitory or locked up. Peer Influence As discussed earlier, peer influence does play certain roles in the scope of procrastination. So to find a right peer who pushes you to work hard or poses challenge as a competitor is also a solution to procrastination. Or maybe, as some researchers suggest, pre-commitment supervised by peers is also a good idea. You can simply post on your SNS sites that you will finish your thesis in a week or not visiting renren.com for 5 days and encourage your friends to see if you make it. Technical Assistance Sometimes you have to use the computer or the Internet to do some research or write an essay when you cannot leave them away. How to avoid the temptations to click on the button? There are certain applications or extensions that help you control your time. For example, stayfocused is a Google Chrome browser extension which limit your visit to certain sites such as Facebook (well, the GFW has already done the favor), renren.com or tudoou.com etc which can easily suck hours out of your schedule. Once you set the time limit, you cannot change it that day. And if you try to change the limit when the allowed time is running out? Small windows will keep popping up to ask you if you’re sure to change the limit and not cheating. And even link to an article on procrastination as you finally clicked â€Å"yes†. This is just one example of the use of technology on the fight against procrastination.

Methods Of Recovering Energy From Waste

Methods Of Recovering Energy From Waste Biomass (waste) energy is increasingly attracting attention worldwide because it is a renewable source of energy and potentially CO2 neutral. At present, most waste materials are converted into electricity often by combustion. Waste combustion is widely applied for district heating and combined heat and power for electricity generation. This report describes waste, waste reduction and treatment regulations in Europe as well as different types of waste generated, an overview of waste to energy technologies applied throughout the world today. Energy from waste has been evaluated based on their ability to reduce the emission of pollutant into the atmosphere. In order to mitigate climate change which is gaining increasing awareness, recent developments of different technologies that have been able to process waste to generate heat and power with high efficiencies can be considered to be the most viable option to replace fossil fuels. 2 INTRODUCTION Due to the rising cost and the ecological disadvantages of fossil fuels, there as been concerns about the future of energy supply in the world. According to the World Energy Council, fossil fuel covers about 82% of the worlds energy. And this has caused severe damages for the environment in terms of greenhouse emissions, sea level rising, air pollution, etc. Moreover, as the World continues to experience globalization, rapid industrialization and technological advancement, it will certainly get to a point, where supply of these fossil fuels will not meet demand. Therefore, it is imperative to find an alternative source of energy (Soetaert and Vandamme, 2006). Research and development of renewable sources of energy and energy from biomass is expected to be of immense benefit to the society as it reduces the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and it is not exhaustible. Biomass is a major source of biologically derived bio fuels (bio-ethanol) and biogas. This is considerably becoming a reality in energy/electricity generation. Biomass can be burnt directly to produce heat or electricity, or it can be converted into solid, liquid or gaseous fuel through fermentation process into alcohol and anaerobic digestion into biogas. There are many environmental and social benefits associated with biomass energy. These include reduction in CO2 levels, energy carriers to rural communities, waste control, etc. (Calbe, Bajay, Rothman and Harry, 2000). Biomass raw materials for energy generation includes the first generation feedstocks i.e. energy crops (corn, sugarcane, wheat, etc) and the second generation feedstock mainly lignocellulosic materials (wood and agricultural residues). Hence, using biomass as a substitute for fossil fuels is sustainable and beneficial. However, there have been contentions on the use of human food (energy crop) for energy generation especially in developing countries where there is shortage of food. Hoffert et al. (2002), Dismiss the use of biomass for energy, others take the opposite view (Dewulf and Langenhove 2006). To this effect, energy recovery from waste can be an economical viable option. 3 WASTES 3.1 Definition Waste arises as a result of human technological development and social activities. The Uks Environmental Protection Act 1990 indicated waste includes any substance which constitutes a scrap material, an effluent or other unwanted surplus arising from the application of any process or any substance or article which requires to be disposed of which as been broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise spoiled, this is supplemented with anything which is discarded otherwise dealt with as if it were waste shall be presumed to be waste unless the contrary is proved. Murphy et al. (2002) defined waste as a material with no further beneficial use. The figure below shows the Schematic illustration of the EU Legal definition of waste 3.2 EU WASTE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE The Directive requires all Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health or causing harm to the environment and includes permitting, registration and inspection requirements. The Directive also requires Member States to take appropriate measures to encourage firstly, the prevention or reduction of waste production and its harmfulness and secondly the recovery of waste by means of recycling, re-use or reclamation or any other process with a view to extracting secondary raw materials, or the use of waste as a source of energy (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2009). 3.3 UK WASTE MANAGEMENT POLICY The UK Waste Policy is developed from the idea of sustainable development. This policy encourage diversion from landfills by imposing high tax levies on landfill site, reduce the amount of waste produced by the commercial sector, and ultimately encourage re-use and recycling of materials. 3.4 WASTE HIERARCHY Figure 3.1 Waste hierarchy 3.5 TYPES OF WASTE Municipal Solid Waste Hazardous/Radioactive Waste Sewage Sludge Medical/Clinical Waste Agricultural Waste Industrial and Commercial Waste Other Waste e.g. construction and demolition industry waste, mines and quarry waste and power station ash, iron and steel slags (Williams, 1999). There are also two different kinds of component fraction in a waste stream; The Organic fraction i.e. Biodegradable and the Inorganic fraction. 3.5.1Municipal Solid Waste This is composed of/includes mainly household waste, with commercial and trade waste which is collected or disposed of by a municipality within an area. The composition of MSW streams varies, depending upon socio-economic factors, geographical locations, climate, population density and level of industrialization etc. for example in US and other industrialized countries where value is placed on time, consumers have adapted to the mentality of using disposable at all times, thereby driving packaging and wrapping technologies to a new level, in addition with the putrescible waste from food stuffs. The energy fraction contained in materials of this type of waste stream can be between 75 to 90%. Whereas in less developed countries where the waste stream is composed dominantly of putrescible fraction i.e. foodstuffs, vegetable and organic materials with minute packaging materials, the energy content will be much lower (Murphy, 2002). 3.5.2 Hazardous Waste Hazardous Waste is waste which contains substances that are considered to be dangerous to health and society. This includes substances which are reactive, infectious, harmful, toxic and corrosive etc. examples are chemicals such as, hydrogen cyanide, sulphuric acid, hydrofluoric acid etc. explosives such as dynamite, ammunition etc. water reactive chemicals such as potassium, phosphorous, sodium hydride etc. In USA, estimate arisings of hazard waste is 275 million tonnes, UK 4.5 million tonnes, Germany 6 million tonnes, Spain 1.7 million tonnes (Williams, 1999). 3.5.3 SEWAGE SLUDGE Sewage Sludge is usually generated at the waste water treatment facility. It is a by-product of the treatment of raw sewage from domestic households, which may also include commercial and industrial waste. The sewage is composed mainly of water, but after treatment, the moisture material is concentrated to form sewage sludge (Williams, 1999). They are solid, semi-solid or bio solid in nature. Harper-Collins Dictionary of Environmental Science defines Sewage Sludge as a semi-solid mixture of bacteria, virus-laden organic matter, toxic metals, synthetic organic chemicals, and settled solids removed from domestic and industrial waste at sewage treatment plants. (Renewable Energy Institute) The sewage sludge treatment undergoes both aerobic and anaerobic digestion and the final treated sewage sludge is either land filled, spread on land as fertilizers or incinerated. Recent developments have shown that biogas can be produced during anaerobic digestion. 3.5.4 CLINICAL WASTE Clinical Waste is mainly produced/waste arising from health centres, hospitals and nursing homes etc. Examples include drugs, syringes, needles, blood, human or animal tissue etc. Approximately 0.3 millions tonnes of clinical waste arises in the UK annually. Majority of clinical waste are incinerated (Williams, 1999). 3.5.5 AGRICULTURAL WASTE Agricultural waste is waste streams generally produced from agricultural activities. They are produced within agricultural premises and they include organic materials such as slurry, manure from livestock, silage effluent and crop residues. It is estimated that approximately 700 million tonnes of agricultural waste is produced in OECD countries. UK also produces large tonnage, 80 million tonnes estimated from housed livestock alone (Williams 1999). 3.5.6 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL WASTE These are types of waste stream that arises from both industrial and commercial sectors such as hotels and catering, food, drink and tobacco manufacturing industries, metal manufacturing industries, timber and wooden furniture industries, mechanical and electrical industries, transport and communication industries etc. The typical composition of this waste streams differs and very wide. A survey carried out by Environmental Agency of some 4,500 commercial and industrial businesses in England in 2002/2003 showed that commercial waste amounted to 30 million tonnes and industrial waste 38 million tonnes (mt). In that survey, the main sectors producing CI wastes were retail (12.7mt), food, drink and tobacco (7.2mt), professional services and other (7.1mt), utilities (6.2mt), the chemicals industries (including fibre, rubber and plastics) (5.3mt), basic metal manufacture (4.8mt) and hotels/catering (3.4mt) (Defra, commercial and industrial waste in England, 2009). 4 ENERGY RECOVERIES FROM WASTE TECHNOLOGIES Energy is recovered from waste either through thermal combustion or biological/chemical reactions. The energy recovery process produces electricity directly through combustion, or produces synthetic and combustible fuel i.e. methane. 4.1 INCINERATION Incineration with energy recovery is the controlled combustion of waste and it is the most wide spread waste to energy implementation. It involves the combustion of waste streams at high temperatures and the heat produced can be used to drive a turbine in order to produce electricity and district heating. Waste materials or fuel are fed into incinerators in two ways, the mass fired/burning systems and refuse derived fuel (RDF) fired systems. The mass burning involves minimal processing; the entire mixed municipal solid waste is fed into a furnace without any removal/separation of recyclable and non combustible materials. For RDF fired technologies, MSW undergoes pre-treatment, separation of non-combustible and recyclable material which is known as RDF. RDF fired systems has a higher energy content compared to unprocessed MSW because of its homogeneity (Tchobanoglous, Thiesen and Vigil, 1993). There are various types of incinerator plant design: moving grate, fixed grate, rotary-kiln, and fluidized bed incinerator. 4.1.1 Moving Grate This can also be called Municipal Solid Waste incinerators. The moving grate enables the movement of waste by a waste crane at one end of the grate through the combustion chamber to the ash pit at the lower end. The combustion air is supplied through the grate lying below. Cooling of the grate itself is essential for the mechanical strength of the grate. One single moving grate boiler can handle 35 metric tonnes of waste per hour, and 8,000 hours per year. 4.1.2 Fixed Grate This is a simpler type of incinerator. It is made of a brick lined compartment with a fixed metal grate above the lower ash pit, with one opening for loading and another opening in the side for removing incombustible solids known as clinkers. 4.1.3 Rotary kiln It is mostly used by municipalities and large industrial plants. Rotary kiln incinerators have 2 chambers, primary and secondary chamber. In the primary chamber, movement and conversion of solid fraction of the waste to gases and partial combustion occurs while the secondary chamber completes the gas phase combustion reactions. 4.1.4 Fluidized Bed Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) is a combustion technology used in power plants. FBC developed from efforts to find a combustion process that is able to control pollutant emissions. Advanced fluidized bed combustion offers a viable power generation technique. In fluidized bed combustion, a strong airflow is forced through a sand bed, which keeps the waste suspended on pumped air currents and takes on fluid like character. Due to the turbulent mixing, the waste and sand are fully circulated through the furnace. 4.2 BALDOVIE WASTE TO ENERGY PLANT The Baldovie waste to energy plant is a state of the art facility commissioned in Dundee in 1999, to replace a waste disposal incinerator due to its inability to meet EU requirements on emissions. The plant is run by a joint venture between Dundee city council and private sector partners. The joint venture is collectively called Dundee energy recycling limited (DERL). The plant processes 120,000 tonnes of waste annually and generates electricity to meet its own demand (about 2.2MW) and also supply to the public (about 8.8MW). Separation techniques carried out before combustion removes and recovers ferrous metals which can be resold (Gazetteer for Scotland, 2010). 4.3 LANDFILL GAS CAPTURE Landfill is a waste disposal site where waste is deposited onto or into the land. When waste is deposited, it undergoes various degradation process which produces gas mainly methane. Modern landfills have gas recovery systems, where the landfill gas is extracted and can be used for production of steam, heat and electricity (Dewulf and Langenhove 2006, p.248) 4.4 ANAEROBIC DIGESTION Anaerobic treatment technologies are used throughout the world for effective treatment of organic waste. This technology is particularly attractive because the energy required for operating the process is minimal compared to energy required for aerobic process. Anaerobic digestion is a complex biogenic process which involves the microbial degradation or conversion of organic waste in a closed reactor vessel (absence of air) to produce gas chiefly methane (55-65%), CO2 (35-45%), and trace amounts of N2, H2 and H2S, depending on factors such as the composition of waste, organic loadings applied to the digester, time and temperature. The methane-rich biogas which can be combusted to generate heat and electricity In general anaerobic digestion is considered to occur in three stages: A] Liquefaction or polymer breakdown; B] Acid formation; and C} Methane formation Substrates for anaerobic digestion includes waste water from food processing, breweries, distilleries etc. sewage sludge, animal waste, farm residues. 4.5 GASIFICATION AND PYROLYSIS Gasification is defined as a partial oxidation/combustion of biomass and various combustible waste/carbonaceous fuels to produce gas. This gas can be used in internal combustion engines and gas turbines to generate electric power. Pyrolysis is a thermal process which involves the breakdown of organic materials in waste under pressure in the absence of oxygen. The pyrolysis process produces a liquid residue and gas which can be combusted to generate electricity. The principal difference between the two systems is that, pyrolysis system use an external source of heat to drive the endothermic pyrolysis reaction in an oxygen free environment, whereas gasification systems are self-sustainable and use air or oxygen for partial combustion of solid state (Tchobanoglous, Thiesen and vigil 1993). 5 CONCLUSIONS Energy from waste has been evaluated based on their ability to reduce the emission of pollutant into the atmosphere, minimise waste, and generate heat and power. With the recent development of different technologies that have been able to process waste to generate energy with high efficiencies, waste to energy technologies can be considered to be viable substitute/option for fossil fuels for electricity generation and also in minimizing of waste accumulation.

How Self-Motivation can Create a Positive Impact on Your Life?

How Self-Motivation can Create a Positive Impact on Your Life? Introduction Self-motivation is a process wherein a person develop ways on how to keep his or her self motivated at all times despite challenging times and without direct help from other people. Experts say that self-motivation is a very important factor in a persons life because this will help him or her see things in a positive way. This will also enable him or her to overcome challenges by developing an attitude that could withstand trials and failures.If one is able to develop a good outlook in life, everything will start falling into their proper places. In fact, he or she might even be surprised of the things that were able to accomplished in that span of time. THE ABCs OF SELF MOTIVATION If you are one of those who have just realized the importance of self-motivation and would want to start it but you just dont know how, here are some of the things that can help you: Re-assess yourself. Many people think that they know themselves already that is why they decline to do self-assessment regularly. Experts say that these people dont realize that the more that they decline doing self-reassessment, the more that they get stuck to their own routine which leaves them lesser room for improvement. If you want to start with constant self-motivation, it is best that you know yourself very well. If you know yourself well, you will know your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Once you were able to identify all of these, it will be easier for you to set goals for yourself that are within your reach and your capabilities. Knowing ones self will also enable you to take note of your weaknesses and find ways on how to overcome, manage, and deal with them. The same works for your strengths because you might even find a way on how to improve them. Start with small and simple goals. Dont put too much pressure on yourself. If you are just starting with self-motivation, it will be best if you start small and simple so you wont feel defeat when you werent able to meet the standards you have set for yourself. If you start with small and simple things, you are giving yourself the chance to accomplish bigger things ahead. Keep track of your progress. Monitoring how well or bad you are doing will help you maneuver things that find ways that would best work for you. For a person who is just starting with his or her self-motivation process, it is best to keep track of how you are doing so you will know where are the areas that you should improve on and what are the things that you should continue doing. Find time to share and help others. Self-motivation is a process that indirectly involves other people for it to be successful. If you think you are doing well at your own pace, it would help if you find time to share the experience as well as the ideas to others so you will influence them. If the people-especially those that matter to you-see that you are doing good and self-motivation is creating a big impact in your life, they would even might want to try the same thing that you are doing.

First-class Opportunities for Mature Students Essay -- Postgraduate Stu

A recent report has outlined several ways for universities to adapt to the rising amount of older learners seeking higher education. Published by Universities UK, the document addresses the growing demand for courses which are tailored to the needs of students who have completed their careers. The text says that, due to the projected rise in older learners – based upon the increased life expectancy of the UK population and the multiplying numbers of HE applications by this market – universities need to ‘find fresh ways of adapting to and supporting an ageing population’. Within the document, the authors call on universities to assist in promoting demographic change; Professor Chris Phillipson and Jim Ogg (both Keele University staff) say that a changed perception of older generations, and their role within society, can be promoted by higher education institutions through the introduction of fundamental alterations. The text advises universities to increase their involvement with support services aimed at older people, and to actively encourage psychological health in over 50s, ...

Education: Empiricists vs Rationalists Essay example -- philosophy of

The importance of experience in education has always been the subject of philosophical debates. These debates between empiricists and rationalists have been going on for quite some time. Rationalists are of the view that knowledge acquired through senses is unreliable and learning can only be done through reasoning. On the other hand, empiricists believe knowledge is acquired through empirical impressions and concepts that cannot be learnt without being experienced (Evans, 1992, p. 35). This debate was however resolved by Kant who argues that both experience and rationality are necessary in learning. John Dewey was an American philosopher of the twentieth century and he also contributed to the debate on the learning process. In his book Experience and Education, Dewey (1938), he stated, â€Å"the belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative† (p. 25). This famous quote has been evaluated a nd referred to regularly in the debate on learning through experience. According to Dewey (1938) experiences can only be termed as educative if they lead to further intellectual and moral growth. In order for experience to be termed as educative, both the community and the individual have to benefit from the said experience. The experience has to contribute to growth in curiosity, sense of purpose, and initiative in the learner. He was of the view that traditional education was hierarchical and therefore undemocratic in nature. According to him, in order to produce well informed, thoughtful and democratic students, learners need to participate in all aspects of the school program and gain the experience. Eventually, a learner has to reflect on the experience ... ...work became widely accepted. However, his philosophy will continue to earn critical acclaim even in the coming days. Works Cited Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Reflection: Turning experience into learning. New York, NY: Kogan Page. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Macmillan. Evans, N. (1992). Experiential learning: Assessment and accreditation. New York, NY: Routledge. Ewert, A. (1989). Outdoor adventure pursuits: Foundations, models, and theories. Columbus, OH: Publishing Horizons. Goodlad, J. (1984). A place called school: Prospects for the future. New York, NY: McGraw- Hill. Kolb, A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lewin, K. (1952). Field theory in the social sciences: Selected theoretical papers. London: Tavistock.