Challenges Facing Public Schools Essay Example for Free

Challenges Facing Public Schools Essay The fundamental purpose of education is to gain knowledge, inculcate the forms of proper conduct and acquire technical competency, (Oak, 2010). These skills and abilities are considered important in our world so as to have socio-economic growth and development individually and in the community. Goel (2007) observes that it is because education is so important that the US Department of Education aims to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. Thus in countries such as the US, children who may not be able to afford the cost of schooling can access education in public educational institutions subsidized by the government. Though noble, the concept of public education unfortunately has a number of fundamental challenges that must be investigated for lasting solutions. These challenges are highlighted below, their problem statements and the arising hypotheses: Problem Statement 1 One of the greatest concerns in public schools is violence. Lede (2010) notes that violence in public schools is a growing concern of parents, teachers, school administrators, politicians and community leaders. Lede (2010) continues to observe that â€Å"many communities in the United States of America are faced with the dilemma of how to protect the integrity of the education by eliminating violent behavior among the school’s constituency and the environment where learning takes place. † What are the determinants of violence in public schools? What is the effect of parental involvement and violence in public schools? Is there any relationship between poor teacher training and violence in public schools? Hypothesis Economic and social issues are affiliated with violence in public schools. Parental socialization at the home front influences students’ propensity to violence in public schools. Teacher training does not impact on the existence of violence in public schools. Importance of the statements and hypothesis in the research The statements and hypotheses in this research would assist the researcher in investigating the problem of violence in public schools and begin to explore solutions that address the root cause of the problem and not the symptoms of the problem Problem statement 2  Another one of the core challenges faced by public educational institutions is that of insufficient funds. By virtue of the fact that public schools depend on the government to meet their budgets, more often than not, the schools find themselves without enough money to carry out their activities. What is the effect of lack of sufficient funding on the quality education in public schools? What is the effect of programme prioritization on budget management in public schools? What are other sources of funding that can be explored to ensure constant funding of public schools programmes? Hypothesis Lack of sufficient funds compromises on the quality education offered in public schools. Budget rationalization can be successfully achieved through programme prioritisation of the programmes at public schools. Diversification of the sources of funding to meet budgetary needs at public schools has ensured sustainability of the schools’ programmes. Importance of the statements and hypothesis in the research A research on this issue would ensure that sustainable solutions to budgetary constraints are met that translate to operational efficiency (Maguad, 2007) and a high quality of education is constantly high in public schools. Problem statement 3 Public institutions of learning are faced by the problem of low or no parental involvement. Since many of the students in public schools come from middle and working classes in which both parents have to earn a living to sustain the families, it is rare that the parents find time to be actively involved in their children’s school life. What is the effect of parental involvement on student achievement in public schools? What is the correlation between parental aspirations and expectations for their children and student achievement in public schools? Do parents give away the right to educate their children when they place them in public schools? Hypothesis A student’s performance is influenced by his/her parents’ interest and participation in his school work. Parental aspiration and expectation for children determines the achievements of the children in school. Parents of children in public schools forfeit any right to determine what or how their children are educated. Importance of the statements and hypothesis in the research The research would find out whether parents have an active role to play in their children’s well being for assured achievement in school. The issue of parental involvement could also form the basis of understanding other challenges facing public schools such as student violence (Alliance for the Separation of School State, 2008). In conclusion, public educational institutions experience many challenges ranging from budgetary constraints, student violence and low parental involvement. Much research needs to be done to establish why these problems exist in the first place and lasting solutions for these institutions.

cloning :: essays research papers

Cloning Imagine being a first year medical surgeon just out of the highest-ranking university in the nation. You are placed in the ER, in the Methodist Hospital building, as your days are spent saving people from the cruel realities that they are forced to live among. Day after day, you see handfuls of people coming in with a variety of gunshot, knife, and domestic violence wounds. Your troubles are easily compensated, however, by receiving over $200,000 a year, a brand new Mercedes, and a house upon the palisade shores. Suppose for a moment that one evening while you are on duty, an ambulance radios in and informs the hospital staff that they are bringing in a multiple gunshot wound victim and to prepare the ER for an immediate operation. You begin to order people around and dictate what needs to be prepared before the ambulance arrives. Finally the victim is present, only to show that he is not the average gangster or policeman, instead it is the near lifeless body of your own son. Your bl ood freezes; your brain shuts down, as you see every precious second slip away through the lifeless gaze of your child's eyes. His life and future all depend on you saving his life. He has been shot twice in the chest and his little heart is working ten fold to keep him alive. You realize that the only way to save him is an immediate heart transplant and you have not a second to lose. You yell at the assistant to find the nearest heart donor in hopes that your young son will make it through the night. Unfortunately your hopes are destroyed as the medical assistant informs you that the nearest heart donor is in Spokane, Washington 3,000+ miles away. You slowly turn to see the dying face of your son, and only wish to take the entire burden from his shoulders and hoist it upon yours. Your son gives you an unforgettable look of fear as he slips away into the gates of heaven far from his warm and safe family. You drop to your knees in tears, and you swear you could hear the voice of your deceased son say, "Why? Why didn't you save me mommy?" Similar instances are faced daily in hospitals all over the world. Children, adults, grandparents, and loved ones all come in one at a time with the hopes of survival in their heads, but with the taste of death in their mouths.

Educational and Cultural Experience Essay

In research undertaking the methodology section is one of the crucial areas to be tackled in a proposal document. This is due to the fact that it forms the basis of the results of research findings. A research can be faced with big challenges due to a wrong choice of the method to be used. To avoid this good planning of the method is essential and more in order to get reliable results. The issue of reliability establishes that a research should have the ability to show consistency in the results even after a study is done by different researchers repeatedly. Reliability in research study can also be enhanced through good structure of the methodology. When the correct data collection methods are used, proportional samples are collected and the correct method of analysis is used in a research can achieve validity. In a research, the research problem forms the basis of research (Morgan et al. ,1980), and this is where the study should focus on. The methodology can take on either the positivist approach also known as the quantitative, or take the post positivist approach also known as the qualitative approach. The qualitative approach is a more detailed than the quantitative approach as it lays more emphasis on the finer details of the data and in most cases, it involves a researcher’s judgment and interpretation. Quantitative approach deals more with quantification like calculating the population sample, population size among others. The choice of the researcher on either the qualitative or the quantitative approach depends on whether the research/study is inclined to the natural sciences or the social sciences (Finch, 1986); (Easterby-Smith et al. 1991). 3. 1 Role of the Researcher The role of the researcher is an integral part of the evaluative process in the qualitative research. I am a certified teacher of mathematics, music and elementary education. Prior to the classroom, more than ten years were spent in insurance investigative claims work. The occupation included extensive ‘on-the-job’ training in organization, communication and interviewing skills. I was also deployed to Kuwait and Afghanistan, respectively, and have over 15 years in the United States military acquiring certain proficiency as a planner, liaison, administrator and human resource specialist. Co-operative inquiry involves at least four different kinds of epistemology; in other words, ways of knowing. Presentational knowing results from experiential knowing and provides the first form of expression through narratives and various expressions of art. Presentational knowing is expressed through ideas and theories. Practical knowing is modeling how to do something and is portrayed in a skill or competence. These epistemologies are compatible with each other. If knowing is grounded in experience, expressed through stories and images, understood through sounds ideas, and expressed in worthwhile action in one’s life, then knowing will be ‘more valid’ (Reason, 1999). 3. 2 Research Design To appropriately analyze the participant’s stories, the research will employ a narrative framework that serves as a screen through which the story of the participant may be examined. This method also becomes an avenue for which the participant may critically reflect on his own perspectives in order to construct or reconstruct meaning in his own life world. The considerable narrative analysis approach requires a level of scholarship and sensitivity which I am preparing to employ. This approach involves a human science observer that is a sensitive of the subtleties of everyday life. Ardent reading of relevant texts of the humanities, history, philosophy, anthropology and the social sciences as they pertain to the domain of interest is a main ingredient to the effectiveness of this proposed research (van Manen, 1990). For this study, the researcher actively participates in examining the experiences of a translator in the delivery of translation of language and culture amidst the socio-political challenges of the past. Qualitative research is exploratory in nature and is best suited for understanding phenomena. The approach should remain pragmatic for the researcher in order to remain in a tentative state with regard to applicable variables or desirable themes which may enable appropriate examination of the individual’s experiences. 3. 3 Data Collection Methods During my 12 month deployment as a liaison officer, I commenced amicable communication with each of the translators who accompanied me to the daily meetings. During my tenure, I engaged in many open discussions concerning cultural and social differences, nuances in communication and language disparities. After a few months, I presented some of my proposal ideas and opened discussion to the possibility of participation in a study I was contemplating. Several of the translators asked me to serve as their advocate in order to petition for the United States Special Visa. So, over the last year, many of these translators have since relocated to various communities in the United States. Both secondary and primary data sources will be used. The triangulation method of data collection will involve the use of interviews, literature review and case studies (Zikmund 2003, pp. 1-745). The primary data method that was used is the questionnaire method of data collection. Questionnaires were distributed among the Afghan officials, Liaison officers, and interpreters. There were also case studies that were conducted for other three countries to know about the experiences of interpreters in the other countries compare with the ones in Afghanistan. This also drew an insight of the various experiences of interpreters in other countries. There was the use of literature review in order gather information on the educational and cultural experiences of interpreters generally. The literature in this research included research journals, books, articles and sources from university libraries (Dick, 2000). Interviews also form pertinent component data collection methods. This enabled the getting of a clear picture of the plight and livelihood of Afghan interpreter, their mode of operations, factors affecting them and future predictions on their cultural and educational experiences. The four categories of quality management in research were highly considered. They include; validity, reliability, ethics and rigor (Zikmund, 2003). Reliability of a research is its ability to have consistence in results. This was done through controlling the sample by stratifying the population to get a more representative sample. Validity is the ability of a scale to measure what it is intended to measure but not going beyond the topic of the study. The triangulation method was used to control this aspect in research. Ethics involves adherence to the norms accepted in gathering of information. This was ensured by providing secrecy on the information collected from the subjects. The rigor of the research was directed towards efficient sample size in a critical facet in any investigation. The main purpose a researcher will utilize a sample is to reduce the charges and collect important data faster (Zikmund, 2003). The key purpose of data collection was to ensure a rich set of description was obtained. To achieve this, the interviews were transcribed in real time by the interviewer. The responses were then reduced and analyzed by adopting principles of data codification and clustering (Miles et al, 1994). 3. 4 Sources Researches normally rely on secondary data to enable them gain initial insight into the research problem. The classification of secondary sources of information is on the basis of internal or external sources referring to information acquired within the organization or outside the organization. The secondary sources are liked for their cost saving aspects and time saving. Secondary sources of information are supposed to be searched prior to conducting primary research, and usually for the literature review section of a research. This is because secondary information provides useful background that identifies main questions and all other issues that will need to be tackled by the primary research (Steppingstones, 2004). The disadvantages that are associated with the use of the secondary sources range from the unavailability of pertinent information on the research topic, to the integrity, accuracy, and reliability of some secondary sources. Other disadvantages associated with secondary sources arise where data is available in a format other than that required by a researcher, and the age of the information particularly where the information is several years old and may not reflect the present circumstances. This makes it necessary to limit secondary information to sources which are not more than six years old (Steppingstones, 2004). The data gathered for this research is from a wide range of documentary sources relating to the cultural and educational experiences of interpreters in general as well as those specifically relating to the plight and livelihood of the Afghan interpreters. These mainly included policy documents, academic and the non-academic documents. First, journals on livelihood of Afghan interpreters were searched. Second, electronic databases were searched using key words like ‘interpreters’, ‘translators’ ‘Afghan interpreters’ and ‘experiences of Afghan interpreters’. Third, Afghan government website for International communication and the website for the International Security Assistance Force were searched. Literature review included both conceptual and empirical works with about 25 articles reviewed for this study. 3. 5 Interviews Interviews in a research are useful in getting information behind a participant’s experiences. This is particularly important because an interviewer may be able to pursue in-depth information regarding the topic of study, and also the fact that interviews serve as follow-ups to responses obtained from questionnaires. Qualitative research interview should seek to give a description and meaning of central themes regarding the experiences of the subjects, by seeking to cover both the factual and meaning level. It was important that a guided interview approach was adopted so as to ensure that same general areas of information are gathered from each interviewee (Valenzuela et al. , 2004). The interviews dwelt on the following areas: †¢ Educational and cultural background of interpreters. †¢ The relationship between educational background and cultural background of the afghan interpreters. †¢ How the educational and cultural backgrounds shape the livelihood and experiences of the afghan interpreters. †¢ What the future hold for the afghan interpreters and their plight given the limited educational background as well as the rigid cultural backgrounds. Once the data is collected through the open-ended interview process, the documents will be transcribed. After transcription, to ensure a correct analysis of the data, the participant will be shown the transcription and asked if what is written is aligned with their viewpoints. The data will then be analyzed from the transcription. Qualitative research is exploratory in nature and is best suited for understanding phenomena. The approach should remain pragmatic for the researcher in order to remain in a tentative state with regard to applicable variables or desirable themes which may enable appropriate examination of the individual’s experiences.

Critical Discourse Analysis of Language Advertisements

Kotler 4P’s of marketing Faculty of Business and Management University of Balamand January, 2011 Copyright  © 2011 All Rights Reserved Acknowledgement Thank you Dr. Fadila for your continuous support and the perseverance, tolerance that you have provided us throughout the semester. Table of Contents Acknowledgement ii Table of Contents iii Chapter 1 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 4 Body 4 Chapter 3 7 Model Application 7 Chapter 4 9 Conclusion 9 List of References: 10 Chapter 1 Introduction 1. Historical Development: Four P’s of marketing was known as â€Å"marketing mix†. In 1948, Prof. James Culliton, â€Å"an American marketing expert†, has considered the â€Å"marketing manager† as a â€Å"decider†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦As well as, this model is needed to achieve the company’s marketing objectives by delivering value to customers. Chapter 2 Body 1. Main elements or components of model: There are four main elements of the model: 1- Product 2- Price 3- Place 4- Promotion 2. Each element or step in detail in the model with example o f company (Cadbury Co.) using this model: a. Product: †¢ Product means the good- and services combination the company offers to the target market. †¢ It is what the business provides to satisfy customer needs. It is about asking customers about what products and services they need to satisfy them. †¢ In other way, clients contribute in making products, and products are being more acknowledged (Tapscott, D., p.1, 2000). †¢ Example: product is Cadbury dairy milk made from real chocolate. â€Å"Its ingredients include cocoa butter and there is a glass and half full cream dairy milk in every 200 grams of Cadbury milk chocolate†. Cadbury purchases 65 million liters of fresh milk every year to produce Cadbury dairy milk chocolate (Bulhan S., p1,2005) b. Price: †¢ PriceShow MoreRelatedEnhancing the Tourist Destination: An analysis of the Official Tourism Website of Indonesia1378 Words   |  6 PagesB. Literature Review 1. Tourism Discourse Tourism is a movement which comprises the straight interaction between cultures and all that this conception consist of namely culture and heritage, folklore, customs, gastronomy, dancing, rules, etc. The relationship between language and tourism has been paid attention by some scholars such as MacCannell (1976) and Urry (1990) who argue the tourism development depends on language use and how to construct and define the tourist experience and destinationRead MoreAn Analysis Of The Calgary Herald1196 Words   |  5 PagesCalgary is the largest metropolitan area in the province and it is where the majority of Canada’s oil companies are headquartered. As such, the Herald’s readership is made up of people whose lives revolve around oil and are key players in the public discourse on oil and the environment. In light of this, the Calgary Herald plays a role in supplying the frames, metaphors, and storylines about oil that reach the public. This in turn, affects readerâ€℠¢s perceptions and attitudes and potentially influencesRead MoreThe Hidden Power of Media Discourse and the Capacity of the Capitalist Class to Exercise this Power2081 Words   |  9 Pagesof media discourse and the capacity of the capitalist class and other power-holders to exercise this power depend on systematic tendencies in news reporting and other media activities† (Page 25). Explain and exemplify. Zulfiqar Ahmad ID # 4025 Submitted to: Dr. M. Umer Farooq 1. Introduction Hidden power, according to Fairclough (1995a), is the â€Å"power behind discourse† and entails how and to what extent the holders of powers exercise their influence. Discourse being a socialRead MoreAnalysis Of Jamieson s The Double Bind And A Bitch 833 Words   |  4 Pagescandidate shows too much femininity, she risks losing brains, and authority. On the other hand, if a candidate is not feminine enough, she becomes too masculine, strong, shrew, and a bitch. According to Jamieson, gender stereotypes and gendered language are factors reinforcing the bind. The more women begin taking posts traditionally held by males, the more people view them as competent leaders. By taking leadership positions, women being to dismantling the standards of the femininity/competenceRead MoreSexuality, Obscenity, Community : Women, Muslims And The Hindu Public1475 Words   |  6 Pagesand consistencies of print culture, and throughout the chapter, Gupta corroborates her points utilizing a broad range of literary and textual evidence, including books, poems, pamphlets, songs and advertisements, which seemingly provide a strong, substantiated argument. However, upon critical analysis of the chapter, it can be argued that there are some gaps and inconsistencies within Gupta’s debate; namely concerning the absence of women in the feminist theoretical framework she employs, the argumentRead MoreAdvertising and Society2565 Words   |  11 Pagescommon experience incorporated by brands, images, logos, and even silly jingles. We define who we are by what we buy and wear because we know that others judge us by what we buy and wear. And advertising influences those judgments. Today because of advertisements conditioning and trendsetting, judgments are made on what clothes people wear, what shampoo and kitchen cleaner they use, not on whom we really are. This leads to a certain degree of social discrimination and emotional insecurity especially inRead MoreAdvertiseme nts : How Do They Persuade Us ?3275 Words   |  14 PagesAdvertisements  : How do they persuade us  ? Advertisements are part and parcel of our lives. Perhaps, they are one of the most decisive and, at the same time, imperceptible factors moulding and channelling our â€Å"purchasing habits,† so to speak. On the face of it, advertisements promote products and services; they create demand by dint of inducing and increasing consumption. Yet, the ways in which they convey their messages have a profound effect on all aspects of our lives: our happiness, our cultureRead MoreStandards for Teaching in the Modern Classroom1411 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the last century literacy and the definition of being literate has changed and evolved. No longer are teachers at an advantage by creating curriculums based on traditional lessons of ‘reading and ‘writing’. One must now incorporate every day language, and cultural influences, including technology to enhance the learning experience (Callow, 2011). Within the classroom, context and it’s various forms are h ighlighted (McDonald, 2013), and children are benefiting greatly from the allowance of multipleRead MoreAdvertisements For Sales Promotion : An Advertisement2514 Words   |  11 PagesStudent’s Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Date: Advertisements Introduction Advertising is form of communication that is directly invoked in passing critical messages to the target audience. It is also termed as a promotional mode that has persuasive instincts of swaying buyers to a given direction. Therefore, advertisements for sales promotion are destined to orient the thinking and perception of buyers to a given product. While there are different forms of advertising, the main message expressedRead MoreMy Fascination With Second Language Acquisition Essay1650 Words   |  7 PagesLanguage carries the beauty and persona of our thought process and the study of Linguistics helps us develop insights, appreciate and analyze many aspects of this powerful medium of expression. My fascination with Second Language Acquisition (SLA) began with the course ‘Language Acquisition and Learning’ that I took while I was in the 4th year of my undergraduate program at the University of Dhaka. In that course, for the first time, I was introduced to various theo ries and hypotheses about how people