Developing a Training Plan Essay Example for Free

Developing a Training Plan Essay Organizations can help to improve employee communications and ethical practices among employees by having a successful training program in place. When a successful training program is in place, those trainings can provide other unique opportunities for organizations because those trainings can help to give employees important information that can help them be more successful at their job. When employees are successful at their job, that then equals more success for the organization. Training new employees and team environments is best implemented when the organization develops a training program that will give the employees useful information they will need to get a full understanding of the organizational structure, policies, and goals of the company. This paper will review some practices that prevented Enron from collaborating and communicating effectively, provide training ideas that could have helped the management staff be successful and lastly, address how this training plan could have improved Enron’s management team and other employees. When developing a successful training plan, one must identify the issues that were present within Enron’s leadership and management team. Training should start from the top, that way, the people with leadership status, including the management team, will be well prepared to successfully train their staff to do a job well done. Organizational Behavior 12th ed stated that norms are the acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the groups members (2007). When it comes to Enron, the norms of the leadership and management team displayed unethical behavior. It is imperative that leadership and management staff know that they are a team working towards the overall success of the company. This wasn’t the case at Enron, the management team did not work together as a team. When working in a team, communication plays a huge part in having a successful outcome. The management staff at Enron did not have effective communications. Management staff thought more of how contracts could be beneficial to them, instead of how beneficial those contracts were to Enron’s overall success. Another downfall to Enron was the fact that they didn’t conduct a competitive bidding process. Not conducting a competitive bidding process ultimately affected the business as a whole and the employee’s job stability. When the leadership and management team decided to have disregard to their obligations, but more regard to unethical decisions, the downfall of Enron began. With that being said, a training plan would have definitely been beneficial for Enron to implement. The downfall of Enron happen because there was no successful training plan implemented. In order for teams to be successful and effective at what they are trying to accomplish, they must communicate and communicate clear and concise, which would have been in the training plan. Effective communications can mean the difference between success and failure. Being that, an effective training plan should include information ranging from employee communications, ethical practices, conflict resolution, decision making and any other useful information that will help the team work together to reach overall success. This training plan will focus on effective communications, the structure and responsibility of the Enron team, conflict resolution, team building and ethical decision making. These are things that are important to any team working towards achieving their goals and objectives set by the organization. When it comes to structure and responsibility, the leaders at Enron did not train their management staff to make the right choices and do the right thing. Leadership in Organizations stated that managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing (2007). The leaders at Enron did not do the right thing, so the managers could not do things right. Without proper training, leadership and management staff can not delegate task and implement strategies in a successful manner, because there weren’t taught themselves. A training plan would instill in Enron employee’s the vision and integrity the leaders, managers and employees have.

Human Capital and Development in Nigeria

Human Capital and Development in Nigeria Development all around the world is related to the economy. The economy is in part a social system of production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of a country. People produce, distribute and consume goods and services and as such they need to be skillful, well experienced and be in good condition physically and mentally (Human Capital) in order for the economy to develop and prosper. Human Capital development especially through Health care and Education are primary factors needed for each and every individual in a society to function well and be able to reach his/her full potentials, increasing overall productivity and thus development. Nigeria, a country with a teeming population of about 140 million constitutes a huge economy in which each and every individual matters in the development process. Every individual contributes one way or the other to the GDP and thus to development. A high level of Education in Nigeria will lead to high levels of income and savings thereby increasing investment and thus productivity. On the other hand, a low level of Education in Nigeria will lead to low levels of income, savings and investments which will eventually translate to reduced productivity. Also, a country with a high level of disease will have a low level of development unlike a country with a low level of disease which will have a far better level of development. This is because an unhealthy person will not be able to work to full capacity which will reduce overall productivity and thus GDP. Nigeria also is a democratic country, where the government is formed by the people and for the people. Without Education to some certain extent, the people that will form the government will make wrong choices and thus the whole government will always be inefficient and ineffective. Nigerias economy is already suffering from misallocation of resources, corruption, embezzlement and unethical leadership over the years. Essential issues that affect the lives of people and the economy are being dealt with by inefficient governments; Issues concerning the tradeoff between efficiency and equity in the production of social services, health care, education, clean drinking water and infrastructure. Also, government offices are filled with the wrong people (structural problems) leading to further inefficiencies which affects the peoples ability to enhance themselves both physically and mentally for a better Nigeria. Section 2 after the Introduction of the paper will cover the Literature Review. Section 3 will be Human Capital and Development Indicators. Section 4 of the paper will cover Nigerias Human Capital and Development. Section 5 will cover Empirical Investigation on the impact of Human Capital on Economic Development in Nigeria. Section 6 will cover recommendations and Conclusions. 2. Literature Review The literature of human capital and development in Nigeria is mainly centred on the emphasis of factors that constitute human capital and affect development e.g. education, health, social services and enabling environment. A definition of human capital in the work of Ogujuiba and Adeniyi (2005) state that; anything contributing to the improvement of human productivity, stimulate resourcefulness and enhance human dignity and overall quality of human life while refining attitudes, is an essential part of the human capital of any nation. These will include four important aspects namely the education system, health services, social services and good governance. Any improvement of these four important aspects will eventually lead to development. Akingbade (2008) asserts that; for any nation to have economic development within and outside its borders, it has to cater for its citizens via human capital development. Under achievement of human capital development in a country leads to underde velopment of such country via failure to meet national objectives and lack of optimization of available potentials and resources. Poor human capital leads to hunger, poverty, disease, brain-drain, optical flight, huge debts, political instability etc thereby hampering the development process. There is a positive relationship between human capital and development. As more and more efforts are made to increase the value of human capital of a society, the more the development level of that society. The more a nation has knowledgeable, skilled and resourceful individuals, the more the national growth and development of that nation. The human capital status of a nation will directly influence and positively correlate with economic and social indicators such as gross domestic product, income per capita, balance of trade, life expectancy, literacy rate, level of industrialization and the quality of infrastructural provisions. It can also have great impact on political stability, national peace and harmony as well as the prevailing ethos. (Ogujuiba and Adeniyi, 2005). One of the factors that constitute human capital and affect development is education. Increase in the level of quality education of Nigerian citizens will increase productivity and hence development. Lucas (1988) includes human capital as an additional input in the production of goods, while retaining the other features of the neoclassical growth model. In the model, the labour force can accumulate human capital, which is then used together with physical capital to generate the output of the economy. In one version of the model, human capital is acquired through time spent in an (non-productive) educational process, introducing a trade-off for workers between employing time to produce output and using it to gain further human capital that will increase their marginal productivity when working in subsequent periods. In another version of the model, human capital is gained by the workers through on-the-job training, and so the time employed working increases their productivity later on . A recent research on the impact of human capital on economic development carried out by Ogujuiba and Adeniyi shows a more robust result using data from the Central Bank of Nigeria annual report 1970 2003. Their findings were that education level indicated via primary to tertiary education enrolment in Nigeria has a positive impact on Nigerias economic development. Even though the relationship between economic development and tertiary education enrolment is positive, it is also found to be weak. This is probably associated to the decay in most of the tertiary institutions, persistent strikes and disruption of academic activities, inadequate funding and weak infrastructure in the educational sector of Nigeria. Becker (1992) provides the most direct link between education and economic growth: lower fertility provides an opportunity to increase human capital, which in turn helps sustain lower fertility. The more educated the parents are, the more likely they go for smaller families because not only do they have a higher opportunity cost of time, but also they can teach their children more effectively. High levels of human capital cause low fertility and high investment in human capital. Other factors that constitute human capital and affect development are health services, social services and good governance. Health services include all the necessary need of a citizen when he/she is ill. Health services can be reflected by several indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality. Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995, Ch.12), among many others, have also included life expectancy and infant mortality in the growth regressions as a proxy of tangible human capital, complementing the intangible human capital measures derived from school inputs or cognitive tests considered; their finding is that life expectancy has a strong, positive relation with growth. This means that Health services which help an individual to operate at his/her full capacity increases overall productivity and hence growth and development. When there is good governance, there will be social services and also, human capital will be increased thereby leading to development. But Nigeria, a country that relies only on oil revenues lacks good governance. Barton (2003) points out that due to lack of good governance in Nigeria, expenditure outstripped revenue, large internal budget deficits mounted and grandiose external debts appeared. He also added that a general lack of accountability and transparency, two critical factors for maintaining good governance was lacking in Nigeria. These problems also eroded overall credibility and drastically undermined investor confidence. Nigerias international image is rather poor. In a credit-risk rating published in the Economist in1994, Nigeria was ranked third to last, after Iraq and Russia (The Economist, 1994). In view of our topic, the literature has been focused mainly on the relationship that runs from human capital to development. In my own view, the relationship can also run from development to human capital. For example, Nigeria with its abundant natural resources can enjoy economic development via international trade gains. Nigeria in collaboration with multinational corporations can exploit its natural resources and sell to the world market. These gains from the global market can be channelled to various sectors of the economy thus enhancing growth and development. But all this will be possible if and only if there is good governance in Nigeria which will allocate resources efficiently, implement the right policies and lead the various sectors of the economy in the right direction. With these gains to trade, which lead to development, human capital can be revisited to enhance greater development. On the other hand also, high levels of human capital can increase revenues via increasi ng output and attracting foreign direct investments. For example the case of India; where their governments have spent a lot on their people to attain Information Technology know-how which attracts companies in the United States to outsource some of their IT work from India. Nigeria is a country with a high population thus with a high human capital potential. With the necessary governance and commitment, Nigeria can be rich in human capital thereby leading to its development. 3. Human Capital and Development Indicator Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). All these factors affect the output level of a country. According to the 2007/2008 human development Report, Iceland is ranked 1st while Sierra Leone is ranked 177th in the 2005 human development Index. The HDI for Nigeria is 0.470, which gives the country a rank of 158th out of 177 countries. This clearly shows that Iceland is more developed than Nigeria because of the difference in human capital. Table 1 below shows Nigerias Human development index for 2005. Table 1: Nigerias human development index 2005 HDI value Life expectancy at birth (years) Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (%) GDP per capita (PPP US$) 1. Iceland (0.968) 1. Japan (82.3) 1. Georgia (100.0) 1. Australia (113.0) 1. Luxembourg (60,228) 156. Senegal (0.499) 163. Botswana (48.1) 102. Algeria (69.9) 136. Nepal (58.1) 158. Rwanda (1,206) 157. Eritrea (0.483) 164. CÃ ´te dIvoire (47.4) 103. Tanzania (United Republic of) (69.4) 137. Equatorial Guinea (58.1) 159. Benin (1,141) 158. Nigeria (0.470) 165. Nigeria (46.5) 104. Nigeria (69.1) 138. Nigeria (56.2) 160. Nigeria (1,128) 159. Tanzania (United Republic of) (0.467) 166. Malawi (46.3) 105. Guatemala (69.1) 139. Bangladesh (56.0) 161. Eritrea (1,109) 160. Guinea (0.456) 167. Guinea-Bissau (45.8) 106. Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (68.7) 140. Yemen (55.2) 162. Ethiopia (1,055) 177. Sierra Leone (0.336) 177. Zambia (40.5) 139. Burkina Faso (23.6) 172. Niger (22.7) 174. Malawi (667) Source: UNDP Human Development Index Trends The human development index trends tell an important story of how human development changes over time. Since the mid-1970s almost all regions have been progressively increasing their HDI score (Figure 2). East Asia and South Asia have accelerated progress since 1990. Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), following a catastrophic decline in the first half of the 1990s, has also recovered to the level before the reversal. The major exception is sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1990 it has stagnated, partly because of economic reversal but principally because of the catastrophic effect of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy. Figure 2: Trends Nigerias human development growth is slow compared to other regions in the world and this also translates to slow development. This is possibly due to factors that hinder the three dimensions that the HDI captures (life expectancy, adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level and purchasing power parity, PPP, income). Factors may include: high level of diseases, poor health services, misallocation of resources, bad governance, poor infrastructure, and poor educational systems. 4. Nigerias Human Capital and Development Nigeria, a country with a teeming population of over 140 million people with an oil dependent economy has had a declining average economic growth over the years. This is in part due to poor human capital. Several sectors of the Nigerian economy have suffered immensely due to poor human capital. Poor human capital has its devastating effect on the development of any economy. Low income, hunger, poverty, disease, brain-drain, optical flight, huge debts and political instability are all the ramifications of poor human capital. Nigerias high population does not indicate high human capital value because only a few people are opportune to have quality education, health services and other human development services. The value of the human capital asset of a nation is a function of quantity, quality as well as the operating environment (Akingbade, 2008). High population only indicates high potential for human capital development. When substantial inputs and efforts are made to elevate these potentials that is when high population translate to high human capital value. Among the inputs are; a good educational system, good health systems and a conducive operating environment. Nigeria lacks both inputs and efforts needed to elevate its high human capital potentials. For instance, Nigeria is far more endowed in mineral resources and human population than Japan, Sweden or Singapore; yet it comes nowhere near these countries in technological advancement and in economic and social development. What makes the differenc e is human capital, its development, effective engagement and utilization. (Akingbade, 2008). In terms of the educational systems of Nigeria, there are a lot of government owned primary and secondary schools. Also, there are a lot of Universities in Nigeria but the problem is the amount of resources invested in these areas is insufficient. Due to the few resources allocated to the educational sector, quality education becomes difficult to attain. As Nigerias population increase in a geometrical ratio, the resources allocated to education is increasing slowly or sometimes decreasing. This misallocation of resources results to a lot of pressure on existing infrastructure leading to depreciation. Huge quantities of people pass out from primary, secondary schools and the Universities with little or no knowledge and no jobs to do. The masses in Nigeria are the ones mostly deprived of quality education and health services. Due to the deprivation of quality education, there are low incomes and wages. These low incomes and wages drive away already existing persons with high human cap ital to foreign countries in search of a better pasture (brain drain). This brain drain leads to insufficient professionals in Nigeria causing overall productivity to fall. The country is left with a lot of people with little or no useful knowledge in terms of increasing overall productivity. It is in the midst of all this that people are meant to elect a leader they dont know about. The masses deprived of quality education dont know their rights, the constitution, and other related matters that affect their social well being now and in the near future. Inefficient and ineffective leaders are put in place to continue misallocating resources thereby worsening the situation. More masses become poor and thus reduce the overall productivity of Nigeria. Another part of the problem is poor or inadequate health facilities, infrastructure and professionals. The existing health facilities and infrastructure cannot cater for the teeming population and hence a lot of people are deprived quality health care. Due to inadequate health facilities, a lot of people die from diseases that are curable thereby reducing Nigerias high human capital development potential. Also, due to low incomes and wages explained earlier, Nigerian doctors, nurses and health officers migrate to developed countries for a better life. These inadequacies in health facilities, infrastructure and professionals undermine the health sector and hence lead to reduced overall productivity of the nation. The Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) measures severe deprivation in health by the proportion of people who are not expected to survive age 40. Education is measured by the adult illiteracy rate. And a decent standard of living is measured by the unweighted average of people without access to an improved water source and the proportion of children under age 5 who are underweight for their age. The Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) value for Nigeria is 37.3 which rank Nigeria 80th among 108 developing countries. Table 2 shows the values for these variables for Nigeria and compares them to other countries. Table 2: Selected indicators of human poverty for Nigeria Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) 2004 Probability of not surviving past age 40 (%) 2004 Adult illiteracy rate (%ages 15 and older) 2004 People without access to an improved water source (%)2004 Children underweight for age (% ages 0-5) 2004 1. Barbados (3.0) 1. Iceland (1.4) 1. Estonia (0.2) 1. Thailand (1) 1. Czech Republic (1) 78. Rwanda (36.5) 158. Uganda (38.5) 127. Algeria (30.1) 114. Mali (50) 108. Philippines (28) 79. Malawi (36.7) 159. CÃ ´te dIvoire (38.6) 128. Tanzania (United Republic of) (30.6) 115. Guinea (50) 109. Indonesia (28) 80. Nigeria (37.3) 160. Nigeria (39.0) 129. Nigeria (30.9) 116. Nigeria (52) 110. Nigeria (29) 81. Burundi (37.6) 161. Guinea-Bissau (40.5) 130. Guatemala (30.9) 117. Fiji (53) 111. Sri Lanka (29) 82. Yemen (38.0) 162. Congo (Democratic Republic of the) (41.1) 131. Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (31.3) 118. Congo (Democratic Republic of the) (54) 112. Maldives (30) 108. Chad (56.9) 173. Zimbabwe (57.4) 164. Burkina Faso (76.4) 125. Ethiopia (78) 134. Bangladesh (48) Source: UNDP Nigeria, a country with abundant natural resources and high population can invest immensely in human capital development in its citizens to enjoy increased productivity. With the immense Oil revenues, Nigeria can channel sufficient resources to providing opportunities for all citizens to develop to their fullest potentials through education, training and motivation as well as creating the enabling environment for everyone to participate fully in national development. These will include expenditures in educational and training institutions, health facilities, adult functional literacy, vocational and skills acquisition programmes, information and communication technologies (ICT) as well as in research and development. With all these investments, foreign direct investment will increase (e.g. Information Technology task outsourcing of American companies from India) and revenues from within and outside the country will also increase. 5. Recommendations and Conclusion Despite all the poor education system, health services, social services and governance system in Nigeria, there are possible recommendations that will help reduce the enormous impact on the economy. Each and every system stated above has its impact on human capital and thus the development of a nation and as such have different recommendations. Starting with the poor education system in Nigeria, one must consider the resources allocated to this sector before making any recommendation. First of all, the teachers available in schools and Universities considering the number of students are really inadequate. Nowadays, everyone wants to be rich, no one wants to help in social development. Our values have changed and we have become more self centered. So our values need to be changed back via value re-orientation suiting our social values. Students need to understand what is at stake in the educational system and be encouraged to be teachers. Quality teachers need to be produced. No education system can rise above the quality of its teachers and no nation can rise above the level of its education system (Akingbade, 2008). When there is an increase in the number of quality teachers, the ratio of teachers to students will be efficient for quality education. The Nigerian populace is increasing at a geometrical ratio while the numbe r of quality schools and University is somewhat stagnant. For this reason, there need to be more schools for the teeming populace so as to have a considerably small ratio of teachers to students in a well built infrastructure conducive for learning. Also, the educational system needs to undergo reforms to be well equipped with the challenges of the highly advanced global economy. The integration of the use of computers in all spheres of the education system needs to be emphasized because the world is continuously advancing in computer technology. Teachers/Lecturers salaries and improved working conditions in educational institutions should be given high priority by the Government. Regular closure of tertiary institutions due to strikes, cult activities, and excesses of student unions, etc. should be addressed by the relevant authorities. The effort of Government on increasing primary school enrolment through the free compulsory Universal Basic Education should be sustained. This cou ld also be complemented by involving private and religious organizations. Â ­Another problem that needs urgent attention is the issue of poor health services. If the whole country is sick, the whole country stops functioning. And as such here are possible recommendations for the Nigerian health sector; First and foremost is strategizing various ways to retain our medical doctors and nurses to reduce brain drain. Due to poor salary given to these workers, they tend to migrate to other countries. The salaries of doctors and nurses need to be reconsidered in terms of the actual state of the economy. Other alternatives to well paid salaries can be more benefits to the workers to serve as an incentive to stay in Nigeria. For example policy can be created to say if you are a doctor in Nigeria, you are entitled to a house and two cars; one for you and one for your wife. Another recommendation for the Nigerian health sector is the provision of adequate facilities and infrastructure to the ever growing populace. The government needs to increase its expenditure in the health sector as the population increases. More hospitals need to be constructed and more medical equipments need to be installed in these new hospitals. Good hospital roads need to be constructed in order to have easy access. The provision of more ambulances is really a crucial issue in case of emergencies. Also, Information and Communication Technology need to be integrated to the Nigerian health sector so as to increase efficiency. Our doctors and nurses need to be updated always via the internet and as such they need to be familiar with computers and the internet for better performance. All these good hospitals with many doctors and nurses need not to be deprived for the masses; it should be accessed by all because everyone matters in the development process. Lastly, the most important issue after getting all the doctors, nurses, equipment and infrastructure is the maintenance aspect. All these hospitals need sufficient maintenance to survive for a long time and as such a qu alitative maintenance company trusted by the government should be given the sole task. If one maintenance company lacks the capacity to maintain a lot of hospitals, other qualitative maintenance companies can also be in place. With two or more maintenance companies, there will be competition between them and price of maintenance will fall. Good governance in Nigeria can be indicated via various factors and one of the factors is social service. When there is good governance, there will be qualitative and quantitative social services for the people thereby enhancing human capital. But on the other hand, when there is bad governance, there will be white elephant projects leading to few social services. Good governance in Nigeria should be encouraged via fighting corruption and setting up effective and efficient check and balance system. Every individual that is given responsibility in office should be held accountable for his/her actions. Also, government expenditure relative to its revenue should be monitored to enhance good governance. Another recommendation for good governance is making all government decisions transparent to the people. Keeping people in the loop of government decisions reduce the probability of strikes and civil unrest. Strategizing good governance for Nigeria will greatly improve Nigerias image to t he international community thereby encouraging potential investors to invest in the Nigerian economy. As investors invest and the government provides more social services for the people, human capital is immensely increased leading to economic development. In a nutshell, all recommendations should be posed at all possible factors that constitute human capital and affect development; educational systems, health services, social services and governance. It is these factors that turn high human capital potential into human capital value and it is these factors that help a nation develop both socially and economically. CONCLUSION We have seen despite the fact that Nigeria has been immensely blessed with natural resources and high human capital development potentials, it still fails to become one of the leading economic and technological giants in the world. Nigeria in the Human Poverty Index ranks 80th among 108 developing countries; meaning a lot of the masses in Nigeria are poor, deprived of health care and quality education and thus translate into low or no development. Also, Nigeria in the Human Development Index ranks 158th out of 177 countries showing that there is low life expectancy, adult literacy, purchasing power parity and enrollment at primary, secondary and tertiary level. Several results of various research points out the fact that all the factors mentioned above affect the value of human capital of a country and its development. And as such, all these factors need to be given the outmost importance in policy making. With the globalised economy becoming more competitive and advanced in terms of technology, Nigeria, a country with all that it needs to be on top should make the best use of what it has in order to have the best there is in this global economy.

Sula by Toni Morrison Essay examples -- Black Community Racism Racist

Sula by Toni Morrison In the novel Sula, by Toni Morrison we follow the life of Sula Peace through out her childhood in the twenties until her death in 1941. The novel surrounds the black community in Medallion, specifically "the bottom". By reading the story of Sula’s life, and the life of the community in the bottom, Morrison shows us the important ways in which families and communities can shape a child’s identity. Sula not only portrays the way children are shaped, but also the way that a community receives an adult who challenges the very environment that molded them. Sula’s actions and much of her personality is a direct result of her childhood in the bottom. Sula’s identity contains many elements of a strong, independent feminist character. However, the people in Medallion do not see Sula in a positive light. When she returns to Medallion as an adult Sula is seen as evil and regarded with much fear. The reason Sula outcast from the community is specifically due to the fa ct that she is a woman who refuses to contain herself in the social norms set up for the town. She refuses to marry and frequently sleeps around. The characters that exist around Sula serve as a point to compare the different ways the community treats those who are different. Specifically the way the characters, Shadrack and Hannah are treated by the community can be compared to the way the community treats Sula. In one way or another, Sula, Shadrack, and Hannah are outcast from the community in the bottom. Shadrack and Hannah however are not regarded with near as much fear or resentment the town feels towards Sula. The difference between the way the town treats Hannah and Sula is particularly alarming. After the death of Sula’s father, Hannah has no real relationships with men. She sleeps only with the husbands of her friends and neighbors husbands. Although Hannah sleeps with married men the people in Medallion have a certain respect for her. "The men, surprisingly, never g ossiped about her. She was unquestionably a kind and generous woman..."(p 2013). Hannah has affairs with the same men over and over again. Because of this most often the wives of those men take it as a compliment when Hannah sleeps with them. Hannah is Sula’s mother and has indirectly taught a young Sula to view sex as a source of pleasure. "Seeing her step so easily into the pantry and emerge looking precisely ... ... views on life to any man. There is an imagination in Sula and an intelligence which can be seen in all her actions. This imagination allows her to look closely at the community surrounding her and rise above it. She sees herself not so much in the community but separate from it, and the town does make a separate place for Sula. She doesn’t take what is given to her, she doesn’t blindly accept the social norms the community has set for women. In the end of the novel, right before Sula dies, Nel, Sula’s old best friend, sums up why the whole community has viewed her as evil, a roach, a bitch and feared her so greatly. "You can’t do it all. You a woman and a colored woman at that. You can’t act like a man. You can’t be walking around all independent-like, doing whatever you like, taking what you want, leaving what you don’t." (p2057). Throughout the novel however, that is exactly what Sula does. She attempts to live her life the most free she can. Free from the social norms of a patriarchal community who sees a woman solely in relationship to a man. If a woman doesn’t have a relationship with a man and take up socially accepted responsibilities, she is seen as evil, inconceivable.

The Evil of Richard the Third :: essays research papers

The Evil of Richard III Shakespeare Richard III was a traitor, a murderer, a tyrant, and a hypocrite. The leading characteristics of his mind are scorn, sarcasm, and an overwhelming contempt. It appears that the contempt for his victims rather than active hatred or cruelty was the motive for murdering them. Upon meeting him he sounds the keynote to his whole character. " I, that am curtailed of this proportion, cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deform'd, unfinish'd sent before my time Into this word scarce half made up"( 1.1.20-23) The first scene of the play begins with a soliloquy, which emphasizes Richard's physical isolation as he appears alone as he speaks to is audience. The idea of physical isolation is heightened by his references to his deformity such as "rudely stamped ....Cheated of feature by dissembling Nature, deformed unfinished". "( 1.1.21-22). This deformity would be an outward indication to his audience of the disharmony from Nature and viciousness of his spirit. As he hated "the idle pleasure of these days" and speaks of his plots to sent one brother against another, Richard seems socially apart from the figures around him, and perhaps regarded as an outsider or ostracized because of his deformity. His separation his family is emphasized when he says "Dive, thoughts down to my soul"(1.1.41) when he sees his brother approaching. He is unable to share his thought with his own family as he is plotting against them. Thus, we are given hints of his physical, social and spiritual isolation which is developed throughout the play. But despite these hints, he still refers to himself as part of the House of York, shown in the repeated use of "Our" The task which Shakespeare undertook was to mold the hateful constitution of Richard's Moral; character. Richard had to contend with the prejudices arising from his bodily deformity which was considered an indication of the depravity and wickedness of his nature. Richard's ambitious nature, his elastic intellect, and his want of faith in goodness conspire to produce his tendency to despise and degrade every surrounding being and object, even as his own person. He is never sincere except when he is about to commit a murder. "therefore, since I can not prove a lover, To entertain these fair well spoken days, I am determined to be a villain".As a villain Richard must be heartless, he can not let his emotions interfere with his actions.

Introduction to the Sciences Essay

The statement that; â€Å"Computers are part of our everyday lives.† Is so correct, I don’t think the people of today would know how to do anything without the computer. Between the desktop top computers and laptops to the smart phone everything can be stored using less space and the ability to locate stuff so much more easier that if the world of today lost computers around the world for even just an hour would put this world in an uproar. There are three essential properties of every material that scientists use as a premise for almost every study. The kind of atoms is the first one that the material is made up of. You will have your neutral elements and your compound elements. The neutral elements have the same amount of protons and electrons, which basically cancel each other out leaving them neutral. The compound element deals with combining more than one element. In the way those atoms are arrange is the second one. The best example of this is by comparing the atoms of liquid and the atoms of solids. For example the atoms of liquids move around much more freely than the atoms of solids which are packed together. The third one is the way the atoms are bonded together. There are also four key properties one must understand when studying a material. The first is strength which has the ability of a solid to resist changes in shape. The strength of the material, which means it must be able to withstand the forces being applied to it without breaking, is the first. There are three distinguished different kinds of strength that scientists and engineers recognize. One is the ability to withstand crushing, another is its ability to withstand pulling apart and the last one is its ability to withstand shearing. The most critical key property to us is those that control the flow electricity. An electrical conductor is capable of carrying an electrical current. See more: how to start an essay Which means electrons can flow freely. However, there are also other materials that can also conduct electricity, like saltwater that contains ions of sodium and chlorine, which also freely move if they become of an electric current. Electrical insulators are a material that will not conduct electricity unless they come into contact with an extremely high voltage that can pull the electrons loose. Semiconductors and Superconductors are the third properties. Semiconductors are neither good conductor nor are they a perfect insulator. But, they are the most important components of our electronic age. A superconductor is a property that exhibits materials that when cooled within a few degrees of absolute zero. The last one is the magnetic properties of materials. Even though we may not pay much attention to magnets they are a part of our daily lives. Magnets are in most of our electric motors or our stereo speakers and many other things we use on a daily bases. Now before we look at microchips and the information revolution, we must learn about doped semiconductors. Doping is intentionally introduces impurities into a pure semiconductor. There are two really important consequences with doping semiconductors the first being, is there are conductions electron in the material and the second one being phosphorus ion that has been left behind has a positive charge. A u-type semiconductor is a semiconductor doped with phosphorus because a moving charge is a negative charge. A p-type semiconductor is when silicon can be doped with an element like aluminum. When the aluminum is dope into a crystal structure there is one less valence electron. This missing electron creates a material tat can easily carry an electrical current. Once it starts moving around the aluminum atom has now acquired an extra electron which has a negative charge. When placing a u-type semiconductor against a p-type semiconductor negative charge electrons will diffuse from the u–type to the p-type whereas positive charged holes will diffuse the opposite way, p-type to u-type. A semiconductor like this is known as a diode. Once constructed a permanent electrical field pushes electrons across the boundary from u-type to the p-type. As the electrons flow in the diode the current flows normally. However, when it is reversed the electrons are blocked by the built in electrical field. This makes the diode allow a one way passage to allow the electrical current in only direction. By the use of a device called photovoltaic cell the semiconducting diodes play a very important role in the future of the U.S. It is nothing more than a thin layer of u –type material bonded to thicker layer of p-type material. The photovoltaic cells are in hand calculators, cameras and televisions. A transistor is a device that s based on our entire information age. It is just like a sandwich. One would have a u-type, p-type, u-type and another would be a p-type, u-type, p-type. Both transistors control the flow of electrons. Even though diodes and transistors still have a role in modern electronic they have mostly be replaced by much more complex arrays of p and u type semiconductors called microchips. The first transistors built where about the size of a golf ball but now days they can be as small as a grain of rice. Microchips incorporate hundreds to thousands of transistors in one intergrated circuit that is designed to perform a specific function. Computer science is a branch o f science that’s main goal is to create intelligence in machines and robots. It is known as artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is the study of man-made computational devices and systems which can be made to act in a manner which we would be inclined to call intelligent. Artificial intelligence research is highly technical, it is deeply divided into subfields that do fail to communicate with each other. The differences between the computer brain and the human brain is that the human brain is composed of soft organic tissue made mostly of fat. The computer brain, however, is composed of hard, inorganic materials made mostly of silicon and copper. Another difference between the two brains is that the human brain’s software-the mind-exists only metaphysically and the computer’s brain knows only what it was programmed to know, well at least so far anyways. References: The Sciences: An Integrated Approach Edition 7 Chapter 11 Materials and Their Properties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

Crim 101 Notes #1

* What is criminology? A social science studying crime and related phenomenon such as law making, criminal behavior, victimization and punishment Discipline of criminology is a recent development Most ideas and concepts we now have about crime and criminals emerged over last 2 or 3 centuries Modern criminology is multi-disciplinary (inter-disciplinary) Influenced by sociology, psychology, and biologyThe fascination with crime Crime is popular topic for newspapers, TV shows , books and movies There is little relationship between crime news and actual amount of crimes Media focus primarily on violent crimes, even though such crimes forms only smart part of all criminal activity Appears as though police solve more crimes and arrest more cirminals than they do in reality The appeal of crime stories and crime newsCrime related stories are often dramatic and lurid Deal with moral questions of good vs evil Criminals appear in stories as insane or dangerous psychopaths Stories happen in shor t time span- between newscasts or newspaper editions Easy for the public to understand Felson’s 10 fallacies about crime Book 1. the dramatic Fallacy o keep ratings high, media seek strange/violent incidents to report/create dramas around murder makes up less than 1% of all crime, yet from watching TV or reading the papers, it seems like a commonplace events seems that most murders are well-planned, grisly affairs, or they happen solely by random chance in fact, most murders start as arguments that escalate into violence most crimes are relatively minor property crimes 2. the cops and courts fallacy police work made to look more dangerous and challenging than it actually is increased policing found to be of limited value ost crimes are not reported, most of crimes that are reported are not solved by police very few elaborate court trials (charges dropped, plea bargaining, guilty plea) 3. the â€Å"not-me† fallacy most people think they could never (or would never) comm it a crime however, many people have shoplifted, smoked marijuana, driven when they’re impaired, or gone joy-riding in a car most people violate at least some laws sometimes, even though they may not get caught or end up with a criminal record 4. the innocent youth fallacy endency to view younger people as being â€Å"pure† or â€Å"innocent† in reality, teen years are the most active years for criminal activity majority of crimes committed by younger offenders younger offenders often are more dangerous than older offenders 5. the ingenuity fallacy tendency to think criminals are more clever than they really are in reality, lightweight, high value items have made crime even more simple most criminals take little planning, little skill, and almost no time to commit 6. the organized crime fallacy endency to view crime as more organized and conspiratorial than it really is most criminals act quickly, avoid contact with co-offenders, and don’t do a lot of wor k or planning dealing with â€Å"organized† criminals makes what law enforcement officials are doing seem more important and sophisticated than its really is 7. the juvenile gang fallacy juvenile gangs nowhere near as sinister as the media and law officials make them out to be loosely structured lots of so-called â€Å"members† just hanging out on the periphery crime that such â€Å"gangs† engage in is â€Å"petty† and disorganized 8. he welfare state fallacy wrong to blame crime on unemployment and poverty no evidence to show that government hand-outs or government programs do anything to decease crime when the economy improves, or when government hand-outs increase, statistics show that crime goes up too 9. the agenda fallacy many individuals and groups blame crime on declining morality; say that a healthy does of moral and religious values is what criminals and society really needs most criminals already know right from wrong, and simply choose to igno re it, especially when they’re not being observed 10. he whatever-you-think fallacy wrong to think that some crime is â€Å"subjective, and is only regarded as crime because of labeling, media attention or influence of interest groups laws are actually quite similar across different countries and different social systems criminologists who talk about negative effects of labeling and how moral problems are turned into â€Å"crime-control problems† are misguided and side-stepping their responsibility to help solve the crime problem crime myths and realities * * * myth| * reality| Most criminals are dangerous and clever| * Most criminals resemble their victims| * Most criminals are pathological individuals who kill at random| * Most crimes are routine, mundane and often trivial| * Police investigators are clever and effective| * Most crimes are not detected, or not reported, most go unsolved| * Most crimes are violent| * Only a small portion of crime is violent| * The el derly are more likely to be victimized| * Young, low SES males are more likely to be victimized| * Victimization are rates going up| * Victimization rates are going down| onceptualizations of crime crime as a legal construct crime as a violation of social norms debate between the consensus vs. and conflict models the legal construct model Sacco and Kennedy say the dominant way of thinking about crime is in legal terms Crime is conceptualized relative to the concept of law- crime is breaking the law Because committing criminal act amounts to breaking the law, it is subject to prosecution and punishment The four main components a.Actus Reus: a real event, in which somebody has committed or failed to commit an act b. Men Rea: criminal intent; you must have the intent to commit the act c. No legal defense or justification d. Must be contrary to a provision of criminal law Crime as normative violation pictures Mala in Se Mala in se: â€Å"something bad or evil in itself† Laws that criminalize acts most societies and cultures agree are inherently wrong, e. g. , murder and incest Mala ProhibitaMala prohibita: something that is deemed to be wrong or criminal only because it is prohibited Acts where there might be considerable disagreement from society to society re: their legality Concensus vs. conflicy * consensus| * conflict| * Society as a functional organism| * Society and social transformation rooted in social conflict| * Norms/expectations based on shared values/interests| * Society not organic or natural. But forced upon us| * Those who are different (e. g. ,criminals) are deemed to be abnormal| * Society/laws based on values and interests of those with the power|

How Does Steinbeck Make Lennie’s Death Seem Inevitable in Of Mice and Men Essay

Of Mice and Men, published by John Steinbeck in 1937, is set in the Salinas Valley of California during the Great Depression. The novels two main characters, George and Lennie, embody the American struggle to survive the Depression, but the novel is timeless because it captures the personal isolation and suffering present in the land of opportunity. During the last scene George tells Lennie to take off his hat and look across the river while he describes their farm. He tells Lennie about the rabbits, and promises that nobody will ever be mean to him again. Le’s do it now,† Lennie says. â€Å"Le’s get that place now. † George agrees. He raises Carlson’s gun, which he has removed from his jacket, and shoots Lennie in the back of the head. As Lennie falls to the ground and becomes still, George tosses the gun away and sits down on the riverbank, this is one of the times when it proves the main point Steinbeck is trying to percieve: loneliness and isolation. The Title ‘Of Mice and Men’ originated from the poem by the Scottish Robert Burns in 1765 , called ‘To a Mouse’. A major point to note is that Burns is saying that the mouse does not think and lives in the present rather than being able to look over life and its past, which is comparable to Lennie (in ways) because he has the mentality of a child he does not mull over past thoughts. However he is also saying that man’s dominion has broken Nature’s social union, because as mankind we do worse. The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray- ‘The best laid schemes o’ mice and men Gang aft agley And leave us nought but grief and pain For promised joy! ‘ This ties in to the mice in the story, but more broadly refers to the tragedy of causing pain with good intentions. There are many ways to look at this verse and how it adds to the inevitability: the mice refer to weak people, such as Lennie, Crooks, and Candy, and men refer to strong people, like George and Slim, the book is a story of weak and strong people. Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men at a time when he was becoming involved in California’s social and economic problems. John Steinbeck lived during the Great Depression years, a time in which many people were at or below the poverty line. Many of those people became non-trustful of any individual new to town, or those that threaten their community social standards. People, in many cases, imagined threats that did not exist. Also, many people became extremely possessive of what little they had. During the late 1930s, California was struggling not only with the economic problems of the Great Depression, but also with severe labor strife. By the late 1930s there were an estimaled 200,000 to 350,000 migrants: underpaid, underfed, and underemployed. However, California’s agricultural system could not exist without the migrant workers. Quotes that reprsent the Great Depression: â€Å"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us. † Chapter 1. This signifies how they are migrant workers during the Great Depression, two guys continuously looking for work and trying to survive. â€Å"I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head. † Chapter 4. Again it signifies the migrant workers of the time, searching for work and never losing hope and always having the american dream in mind. The thought that keeps them going is that one day they’ll make enough money and have land of their own, but the Great Depression was really tough and that just didn’t happen to everyone who wished for it. The American Dream is a dream of a land in which life should be better, richer, fuller and with opportunity for each. It is a dream of social order in which each man and woman should be able to achieve the fullest stature of which they are capable of, and be recognized for what they are, regardless of the circumstances of birth or position. George and Lennie’s main ambition is to â€Å"get the jack together† purchase a few acres of land they can call their own, â€Å"an’ live off the fatta the lan’. This is their dream and their dream, however, cannot exist without friendship. The constant repetition of the way things will be is what keeps the dream alive in Lennie. George needs Lennie just as much as Lennie needs him, which is apparent at the end of the novel. When George kills Lennie, he also kills the friendship, which results in the death of the dream within him. All the characters wish to change their lives in some fashion, but none are capable of doing so; they all have dreams, and it is only the dream that varies from person to person. The farm George and Lennie hope to own is a symbol of the American Dream. Steinbeck uses animal images in his story. Most often applied to Lennie, imagery is particularly apparent in his physical description. His hands are called â€Å"paws† and indicate trouble when he uses them. He lumbers along like a bear in Steinbeck’s earliest descriptions of him. Lennie is also associated with rabbits, which are part of his dream (he will get to tend them on the farm) and because they are soft things he likes to pet. Rabbits also symbolize his realization that he is in trouble; if Lennie does â€Å"a bad thing,† George will not let him tend the rabbits. In the last scene, when Lennie is at the pool, waiting for George, a rabbit appears to him, berating him and telling him that George will not let him care for the rabbits. In addition, Lennie’s loyalty to George is frequently described like that of a dog, especially a terrier. Steinbeck chose these images because they connote particular traits: unleashed power, conscience, and loyalty. In this way, it helps the reader understand Lennie and why he often acts instinctively. Lennie ‘snorted into the water like a horse†¦ ’animal imagery –implies carelessness –ominous – he is simple -it will be the reason they get into trouble later in novel â€Å"Lennie dabbled his big paw† – animal imagery – referred to as a bear, suggests his size, his movements, unrefined, simplicity of thoughts, clumsy, adorable yet aggressive, foreshadowing later danger – also like the bear hunting for fish. ’ Like a terrier who doesn’ t want to bring a ball to his master’ ’ simile to compare Lennie to a terrier and George to a master. At the end of the novel, George kills Lennie in much the same way as Carlson kills Candy’s dog. The dog is seen as useless and smelly, therefore it was see n as more of a nuisance to Carlson and the others in the bunk house. The men argue that the dog is miserable and in pain, which convinces Candy to let Carlson shoot the dog. After the dog is killed, however, Candy tells George of his regret for letting someone else shoot his dog. The dog was Candy’s responsibility, and Candy feels he let the dog down by not taking its life himself. â€Å"You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs. † (Page 60) This is basically Candy realizing that he’s weak and not really important to anyone on the farm; he has no more power than his dog, who was shot, had. â€Å"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog. (Page 61) This was one of the most important quotes that Candy made. It foreshadowed the end of the story, which was that George would shoot Lennie instead of letting a â€Å"stranger† (the other ranch hands, namely Curley) do it. This quote foreshadows this due to the parallelism that is drawn b etween the relationship of Candy with his dog and the relationship of George with Lennie. George is determined not to let this happen to him. George knows that Lennie will be killed by Curley and the other men if and when they find him, and George wants to protect Lennie from the others. George sees Lennie as his responsibility, and George feels that he must take action to look after Lennie, even if this action leads to Lennie’s death. Lennie’s death also reflects the killing of Candy’s dog in the actual manner of the shooting. George shoots Lennie in the back of the head, just where Carlson told Candy he would shoot the dog, promising that the dog would die instantly and would feel no pain. George wants this â€Å"pain-free† death for his friend. In conclusion, Steinbeck is able to highlight the loneliness of the unsettled migrant/workers, and the sharing of their dream. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck has made the ending of the novel (in which Lennie’s death occurs) inevitable by emphasising the loneliness of most of the characters such as- Curley’s wife, Curley, Candy (after his Dog’s Death, Crooks and George (after Lennies Death) at one point they all make a speech about their dreams and loneliness. Steinbeck also manages to emphasize Lennie’s stength and that because he has the mentality of a child, this is not the best combination as he most always ends up doing wrong. Steinbeck explores all of the forementioned points through references to animals because