Hospitality Industry Swott Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hospitality Industry Swott - Essay Example One of the ways is having a reflection at the SWOT analysis of individual hospitality destinations and basing on the analysis for make informed and forecasting decisions for the future. I. Future As noted in the introduction, the agenda for which a lot of people travelled has now changed (Hotel Managers Group, 2011). Today, people travel for business purposes more than for leisure and holiday. As a way of meeting the future challenge and this new changing trend, hospitality agencies has to open itself up more to target major companies who would need their facility for business meetings. If this should happen, the implication to hospitality agencies for the future is that their traditional role of accommodating visitors overnight would have to change. Though the giving out of conference rooms and other facilities for meetings was originally part of the traditional role of hospitality companies, the latter would now have to take the fore front in commanding income and revenue. In order to utilize this changing trend well, managers are admonished to focus more attention on making their meeting outlets, receptions and services more improved and advanced. Even though people travel less for tourism purposes of late, patronage of leisure activities such as the use of casinos keep rising (McCain, 2008). Because of this, hotel managers are advised to consider as future innovation, the need to incorporate the operation of casinos into their services. This is because once casinos are added there will not be the need to attract only foreign visitors but domestic users as well. It would also make the overall functionality of the hospitality facilities expanded (Knowles, 2009). Knowing what the future would hold for their company if they invested more in casinos, it was reported that â€Å"Asia’s third largest casino company is paying $236 million for the 14 acres of waterfront land surrounding The Miami Herald† (Miami Herald, 2011). Other hospitality companies are admonished to make such moves for the future of their businesses. II. SWOT Strength A major strength for the hospitality industry is that it represents a very large portion of the American labor force. For instance there are figures like 12.7 employed workers in restaurants, 50,000 operating hotels, over 4.6 million hotel rooms and 1.8 millions employees in lodging industry (NDSU Fact sheet index, 2011). The implication of these statistics to insiders of the hospitality industry is that they can always have readily available human resources to take up duties. It is recommended that as rapidly as possible, the human resources be given needed training and upgrading that will make advanced human capital for the merging markets of tomorrow. Weakness Ironically, the weakness of the hospitality industry is directly associated with its strength. Unfortunately, even though the industry employs a lot of human resource, the pay for the industry is relatively low. This situation creates e mployee turnover, which eventually affects the successful management of businesses. There is however a way out to this. It is

Pros and Cons of High Stakes Testing in California Research Paper

Pros and Cons of High Stakes Testing in California - Research Paper Example It is a tool of progress but not for judgment of the capability or cleverness. Moreover, data from statewide testing is normally available to the public hence every parent is capable of viewing the performance of the child. Accessibility of these information aids parents in making of more informed decisions concerning how their child fair on with education (Madaus, Russell & Higgins, 2009). High stakes examinations causes anxiety but annual testing and frequent practice tests assist children in advancing their test taking capabilities over a period. Thus, children are capable to learn how to deal with pressure, developing appropriate skills and strategies essentials in achieving the parent’s and school expectations (Au & Tempel, 2012). Conversely, teachers and corresponding experts possess solemn detriments in regard to high stakes testing. High stakes tests cause any discipline that is not related to mathematics and language arts not to be learnt in class. Moreover, science, social studies and art to be forfeit in order to create time for learning test prep (Au & Tempel, 2012). Pressure on the underlying teachers can clamp down the ingenuity and originality. Moreover, pressure from the administration normally results to less elasticity in developing lessons plan to the prevailing individual students. Escalated pressure on the prevailing parents and students is normally counterproductive in case the pressure is not constructive. How high stakes testing has helped or hindered student achievement or progress High stakes testing has resulted to development of alteration within the classroom that is important and positive. The plan has teachers to better plan their underlying instruction thereby allowing them the capability of narrowing in specific bodies of knowledge that are fundamental to students. This guidance of the curriculum have aided children in understanding concepts by compelling teachers to be more aware of state standard requirements in regard to teaching (Au & Tempel, 2012). Moreover, high stakes testing in schools have made the teachers to be aware of the matching instruction to what the students require to know in order to be successful on the state mandated tests. Nevertheless, high stakes testing allocate limited time within the school year thus does not permit time for infinite instruction hence impacting negatively on the part of the children (Madaus, Russell & Higgins, 2009). Description of state's testing system and high stakes testing High stakes testing grants teachers a chance to improve their skills in giving instructions and stipulate the standard that guide curriculum thus allowing more parental involvement within the education. Moreover, curriculum reflects on the state-mandated standardized test that is typically granted annually. State&apos as a testing system is a developed set of state standards that possess peculiar set of skills that students ought to be taught at particular grade level. It allo ws for easy movement of the students from one school to the other in the same state within the middle of school year. It was seen to be taking away the teachers creativity and abilities of teaching (Au & Tempel, 2012). Description of ethical questions involved with the testing The ethical questions in regard to the testing pertain to the perception that the technology was faulty even though underlying

Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay Example for Free

Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay Note: Nineteenth Century American Transcendentalism is not a religion (in the traditional sense of the word); it is a pragmatic philosophy, a state of mind, and a form of spirituality. It is not a religion because it does not adhere to the three concepts common in major religions: a. a belief in a God; b. a belief in an afterlife (dualism); and c. a belief that this life has consequences on the next (if youre good in this life, you go to heaven in the next, etc. ). Transcendentalism is monist; it does not reject an afterlife, but its emphasis is on this life. The Assumed, Presumed, or the Self-Identified Transcendentalists: Central Points of Agreement: NOTE: The Transcendentalists, in keeping with the individualistic nature of this philosophy, disagreed readily with each other. Here are four points of general agreement: Basic Assumption: The intuitive faculty, instead of the rational or sensical, became the means for a conscious union of the individual psyche (known in Sanskrit as Atman) with the world psyche also known as the Oversoul, life-force, prime mover and God (known in Sanskrit as Brahma). Basic Premises: 1. An individual is the spiritual center of the universe and in an individual can be found the clue to nature, history and, ultimately, the cosmos itself. It is not a rejection of the existence of God, but a preference to explain an individual and the world in terms of an individual. 2. The structure of the universe literally duplicates the structure of the individual self all knowledge, therefore, begins with self-knowledge. This is similar to Aristotles dictum know thyself. 3. Transcendentalists accepted the neo-Platonic conception of nature as a living mystery, full of signs nature is symbolic. 4. The belief that individual virtue and happiness depend upon self-realization this depends upon the reconciliation of two universal psychological tendencies: a. the expansive or self-transcending tendency a desire to embrace the whole world to know and become one with the world. b. the contracting or self-asserting tendency the desire to withdraw, remain unique and separate an egotistical existence. Correspondence. It is a concept which suggests that the external is united with the internal. Physical or material nature is neutral or indifferent or objective; it is neither helpful nor hurtful; it is neither beautiful nor ugly. What makes one give such attributes to nature is that individuals imposition of her/his temperament or mood or psyche. If Im feeling lousy, I may dismiss a gorgeous day; if Im feeling bright and cheerful then the most dreary of days becomes tolerable. And so, the Transcendentalists believed that knowing yourself and studying nature is the same activity. Nature mirrors our psyche. If I cannot understand myself, may be understanding nature will help. Here is Darrel Abels take on this concept: Since one divine character was immanent everywhere in nature and in man, mans reason could discern the spiritual ideas in nature and his senses could register impressions of the material forms of nature. To man the subject, nature the object, which shared the same divine constitution as himself, presented external images to the innate ideas in his soul. (American Literature, Vol. 2, 1963, 4-5. ) Transcendentalism and the American Past. Transcendentalism as a movement is rooted in the American past: To Puritanism it owed its pervasive morality and the doctrine of divine light. It is also similar to the Quaker inner light. However, both these concepts assume acts of God, whereas intuition is an act of an individual. In Unitarianism, deity was reduced to a kind of immanent principle in every person an individual was the true source of moral light. To Romanticism it owed the concept of nature as a living mystery and not a clockwork universe (deism) which is fixed and permanent. A subtle chain of countless rings The next unto the farthest brings; The eye reads omens where it goes, And speaks all languages the rose; And, striving to be man, the worm Mounts through all the spires of form. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, 1836 Transcendentalism was a 1. spiritual, 2. philosophical and 3. literary movement and is located in the history of American Thought as (a). Post-Unitarian and free thinking in religious spirituality (b). Kantian and idealistic in philosophy and (c). Romantic and individualistic in literature. A Brief Chronology of Events. †¢ 1832 Emerson resigns the ministry of the Unitarian Church unable to administer the holy communion. †¢ 1836 The annus mirabilis of the movement, during which Emerson published Nature (the gospel of transcendentalism); George Ripley published Discourses on the Philosophy of Religion; Orestes Brownson published New Views of Christianity, Society, and Church; Bronson Alcott published Record of Conversions in the Gospel (based on classroom discussions in his Temple School in Boston, and provoking severe criticism); the Transcendental Club, also known as Hedges Club, met for the first time. †¢ 1837 Emerson delivers his Phi Beta Kappa address on The American Scholar at Harvard, which James Russell Lowell called an event without former parallel in our literary annals. †¢ 1838 Emerson delivers his Divinity School Address at Harvard which touched off a great storm in religious circles. †¢ 1840 The founding of the Dial, a Transcendental magazine, which enjoyed its obscurity, to use Emersons words, for four years. †¢ 1841 The launching of George Ripleys Brook Farm a utopian experiment. Hawthorne was a resident there for a short time and wrote The Blithedale Romance based upon his experience there. †¢ 1842 Alcotts utopian experiment at Fruitlands. †¢ 1845 Thoreau goes to live at Walden Pond. †¢ 1846 Thoreau is put in jail for his refusal to pay poll tax. †¢ 1850 Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. The Transcendentalists found themselves increasingly involved in abolition of slavery. †¢ 1855 Walt Whitman publishes his Leaves of Grass. †¢ 1859 Charles Darwins Origin of Species is published. †¢ 1862 Henry David Thoreau dies. Basic Tenets of American Transcendentalism: Note: This list must not be considered to be a creed common to all transcendentalists. It is merely a grouping of certain important concepts shared by many of them. †¢ 1. Transcendentalism, essentially, is a form of idealism. †¢ 2. The transcendentalist transcends or rises above the lower animalistic impulses of life (animal drives) and moves from the rational to a spiritual realm. †¢ 3. The human soul is part of the Oversoul or universal spirit (or float for Whitman) to which it and other souls return at death. †¢ 4. Therefore, every individual is to be respected because everyone has a portion of that Oversoul (God). †¢ 5. This Oversoul or Life Force or God can be found everywhere travel to holy places is, therefore, not necessary. 6. God can be found in both nature and human nature (Nature, Emerson stated, has spiritual manifestations). †¢ 7. Jesus also had part of God in himself he was divine as everyone is divine except in that he lived an exemplary and transcendental life and made the best use of that Power which is within each one. †¢ 8. Miracle is monster. The miracles of the Bible are not to be regarded as important as they were to the people of the past. Miracles are all about us the whole world is a miracle and the smallest creature is one. A mouse is a miracle enough to stagger quintillions of infidels. Whitman †¢ 9. More important than a concern about the afterlife, should be a concern for this life the one thing in the world of value is the active soul. Emerson †¢ 10. Death is never to be feared, for at death the soul merely passes to the oversoul. †¢ 11. Emphasis should be placed on the here and now. Give me one world at a time. Thoreau †¢ 12. Evil is a negative merely an absence of good. Light is more powerful than darkness because one ray of light penetrates the dark. †¢ 13. Power is to be obtained by defying fate or predestination, which seem to work against humans, by exercising ones own spiritual and moral strength. Emphasis on self-reliance. †¢ 14. Hence, the emphasis is placed on a human thinking. †¢ 15. The transcendentalists see the necessity of examples of great leaders, writers, philosophers, and others, to show what an individual can become through thinking and action. †¢ 16. It is foolish to worry about consistency, because what an intelligent person believes tomorrow, if he/she trusts oneself, tomorrow may be completely different from what that person thinks and believes today. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Emerson †¢ 17. The unity of life and universe must be realized. There is a relationship between all things. †¢ 18. One must have faith in intuition, for no church or creed can communicate truth. †¢ 19. Reform must not be emphasized true reform comes from within. Reasons for the Rise of American Transcendentalism There was no one precise cause for the beginning of Transcendentalism. According to Paul Boller, chance, coincidence and several independent events, thoughts and tendencies seemed to have converged in the 1830s in New England. Some of these were: †¢ 1. The steady erosion of Calvinism. †¢ 2. The progressive secularization of modern thought under the impact of science and technology. †¢ 3. The emergence of a Unitarian intelligentsia with the means, leisure, and training to pursue literature and scholarship. †¢ 4. The increasing insipidity and irrelevance of liberal religion to questing young minds lack of involvement in womens rights and abolitionism. †¢ 5. The intrusion of the machine into the New England garden and the disruption of the old order by the burgeoning industrialism. †¢ 6. The impact of European ideas on Americans traveling abroad. †¢ 7. The appearance of talented and energetic young people like Emerson, Fuller, and Thoreau on the scene. †¢ 8. The imperatives of logic itself for those who take ideas seriously the impossibility, for instance, of accepting modern science without revising traditional religious views. Important ideas from: Warren, Robert Penn, Cleanth Brooks, and R. W. B. Lewis. A National Literature and Romantic Individualism. in Romanticism. eds. James Barbour and Thomas Quirk. NY: Garland, 1986, 3-24. 1. Transcendentalism was a philosophical, literary, social, and theological movement. 2. Its origin is traced to the relaxing of Puritan Calvinism into Unitarianism a belief very much like Deism. From its early liberalism, Unitarianism developed, for some of the young intellectuals, into a new orthodoxy of smug social conformity that denied the spiritual and emotional depths of experience corpse-cold Unitarianism, as Emerson was to call it. (11) 3. German and English Romanticism provided some inspiration towards the search for some deeper truth. 4. Transcendentalism represented a complex response to the democratization of American life, to the rise of science and the new technology, and to the new industrialism to the whole question, in short, of the redefinition of the relation of man to nature and to other men that was being demanded by the course of history. (11-12) 5. Influences: a. From Plato came the idealism according to which reality subsists beyond the appearances of the world. Plato also suggests that the world is an expression of spirit, or mind, which is sheer intelligibility and therefore good. b. From Immanuel Kant came the notion of the native spontaneity of the human mind against the passive conception of the 18th c. sensational theory (also known as the philosophy of empiricism of John Locke and David Hume; the concept that the mind begins as a tabula rasa and that all knowledge develops from sensation). c. From Coleridge came the importance of wonder, of antirationalism, and the importance of individual consciousness. d. From Puritanism came the ethical seriousness and the aspect of Jonathan Edwards that suggested that an individual can receive divine light immediately and directly. 6. Transcendentalism was, at its core, a philosophy of naked individualism, aimed at the creation of the new American, the self-reliant man, complete and independent. (22) 7. The achievement of the transcendentalists has a grandeur. They did confront, and helped define, the great issues of their time, and if they did not resolve those issues, we of the late twentieth century, who have not yet resolved them, are in no position to look down our noses at their effort. (23) Towards a Definition of Transcendentalism: A Few Comments: from Henry David Gray, Emerson: A Statement of N. E. Transcendentalism as Expressed in the Philosophy of Its Chief Exponent, 1917 1. The spirit of the time is in every form a protest against usage and a search for principles. Emerson in the opening number of The Dial. 2. I was given to understand that whatever was unintelligible would be certainly Transcendental. Charles Dickens in American Notes 3. I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations. Thoreau, Journal, V:4 4. The word Transcendentalism, as used at the present day, has two applications. One of which is popular and indefinite, the other, philosophical and precise. In the former sense it describes man, rather than opinions, since it is freely extended to those who hold opinions, not only diverse from each other, but directly opposed. Noah Porter, 1842 5. Transcendentalism is the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining a scientific knowledge of an order of existence transcending the reach of the senses, and of which we can have no sensible experience. J. A. Saxton, Dial II: 90 6. Literally a passing beyond all media in the approach to the Deity, Transcendentalism contained an effort to establish, mainly by the discipline of the intuitive faculty, direct intercourse between the soul and God. Charles J. Woodbury in Talks with Ralph Waldo Emerson 7. Transcendentalism was not speculative, but essentially practical and reformatory. John Orr in The Transcendentalism of New England, International Review, XIII: 390 8. Transcendentalism was a distinct philosophical system. Practically it was an assertion of the inalienable worth of man; theoretically it was an assertion of the immanence of divinity in instinct, the transference of supernatural attributes to the natural constitution of mankind. Transcendentalism is usually spoken of as a philosophy. It is more justly regarded as a gospel. As a philosophy it is so far from uniform, that it may rather be considered several systems than one. Transcendentalism was an enthusiasm, a wave of sentiment, a breath of mind. O. B. Frothingham in Transcendentalism in New England, 1876 9. The problem of transcendental philosophy is no less than this, to revise the experience of mankind and try its teachings by the nature of mankind, to test ethics by conscience, science by reason; to try the creeds of the churches, the constitution of the states, by the constitution of the universe. Theodore Parker in Works VI: 37 10. We feel it to be a solemn duty to warn our readers, and in our measure, the public, against this German atheism, which the spirit of darkness is employing ministers of the gospel to smuggle in among us under false pretenses. Princeton Review XII: 71 11. Protestantism ends in Transcendentalism. Orestes Brownson in Works, 209 12. The fundamentals of Transcendentalism are to be felt as sentiments, or grasped by the imagination as poetical wholes, rather than set down in propositions. Cabot, A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1887, I: 248 13. First and foremost, it can only be rightly conceived as an intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual ferment, not a strictly reasoned doctrine. It was a renaissance of conscious, living faith in the power of reason, in the reality of spiritual insight, in the privilege, beauty, and glory of life. Frances Tiffany, Transcendentalism: The New England Renaissance, Unitarian Review, XXXI: 111. 14. The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine. If there is anything grand or daring in human thought or virtue, any reliance on the vast, the unknown; any presentiment, any extravagance of faith, the spiritualist adopts it as most in nature. The oriental mind has always tended to this largeness. Buddhism is an expression of it. The Buddhist is a Transcendentalist. Shall we say then that Transcendentalism is the Saturnalia or excess of Faith; the presentiment of a faith proper to man in his integrity, excessive only when his imperfect obedience hinders the satisfaction of his wish? Ralph Waldo Emersons lecture on The Transcendentalist, Works I: 317-320 15. (Transcendentalism was) a blending of Platonic metaphysics and the Puritan spirit, of a philosophy and a character taking place at a definite time, in a specially fertilized soil, under particular conditions. H. C. Goddard, Studies in New England Transcendentalism, 1908. 16. If I were a Bostonian, I think I would be a Transcendentalist. Charles Dickens in American Notes.

Juvenile Delinquency And The Problems Of Society Criminology Essay

Juvenile Delinquency And The Problems Of Society Criminology Essay Juvenile delinquency is a common problem that all societies seem to face. Although it is apparent that all juveniles will at some point in their life commit some sort of delinquent act, it is unclear as to why juveniles behave this way. Many theories have been developed to try to explain the phenomena but, no single theory has the perfect answer to the problem. After researching several theories, a theoretical integration of the Anomie theory of Deviance by theorist Robert Merton and the Social Bond theory by theorist Travis Hirschi, juvenile delinquency could both be better explained and potentially be prevented. Ideas from both theories are both accurate; however, when combined the theories could truly rise to their full potential because of shortcomings that both theories show. While the Anomie theory is a social structure theory relying on the environment, it would complement the social bond control theory by integrating the idea that delinquency is a matter of environment, and i t will bring out the inherent evil within all humans (Orcutt 2002). Basically, the environment can enhance the evil or help contain it depending on the positive or negative influence the environment in question has on the individual that is struggling with the internal instinct. The Anomie theory of Deviance offers a good explanation as to why Juveniles are delinquent. In America people live big and our definition of economic well being is very different than those societies in less developed nations, for instance, Africa. The more stuff the better off you are in the current time. This includes: a home, a car, an iPod, the latest trends, and a well paying job or essentially the most amount of money you could possibly get your hands on. According to this theory, the main motivation of our society and the way it operates is this most common focal concern: economic stability (Orcutt 2002). Since this theory is a social structure theory, it considers the macro or larger level of societal conditions. Furthermore, this theory puts the blame on the structure of society and claims that society is the reason for juvenile delinquency. Merton argues that everyone in our society has been socialized and that money and economic prestige and status are so essential to happ iness and life fulfillment. Our concentration on material things and economic status is the motivation for juvenile delinquency within this theory because of the disproportionate opportunities between social classes to achieve the cultural goal (Orcutt 2002). Thus, the problem in society that causes juvenile delinquency, in accordance with this theory, is a lack of legitimate means of achieving what society deems most important: money. Merton believes that that majority of people will conform to the cultural goal and the institutionalized means to achieve it. The ideal and culturally acceptable ways of achieving the cultural goal are what Merton calls institutionalized means (Orcutt 2002). These would include opportunities such as a well paying job, a college education, supporting capitalism and free enterprise, starting your own business, and even working hard or overtime for promotions. However, our society has a problem structurally because the means listed previously are not equally offered between the American social structures. Merton says that although everyone wants to achieve this goal of economic success, the social structure does not provide enough institutionalized means to go around (Orcutt 2002). There are not enough opportunities to support all the people in society who are pushing for the same goal. The upper class obviously has the most opportunity to benefit from institutionalized means because they have a monopoly on the means. They can afford universities, have resources to start businesses, and they can leave money to their children to continue economic success. So they take their share of the means first by simply being born into a high social status. The middle class gets second pick because they too share some of the same opportunities as far as legitimate ways of achieving economic success. On the other hand the problem arises when it comes time for the lower class to try to take advantage of the institutionalized means of achieving the cultural goal. Many in the lower class cannot attend college for lack of money to do so, they cannot pass down money to their children, and they do not have access to higher education which hinders them from being competitive in a higher paying work force. Thus, many opportunities are gone before they even reach the age to apply for college. This situation is called anomie or nomlessness because people have accepted this goal of economic success, but the norms are not consistent with achieving it. This causes the strain between the cultural goal and institutionalized means. The frustration that the strain causes for people of the lower class causes them to turn to illegitimate, or socially unacceptable, means of pursuing the cultural goal (Orcutt 2002). The first is conformity, or, people who achieve the cultural goal by taking advantage of an institutionalized mean (Agnew 2007). The second is innovation. People who become innovators accept the cultural goal, but because of the lack of institutiona lized means, they strive toward economic success by inventing illegitimate or illegal means such as: drug dealing, black market selling, illegal gambling, prostitution, or robbery (Agnew 2007). Basically, their goal is the same but their method of achieving it is different and socially unacceptable. The third category is retreatism. People who fall into this category reject the cultural goal. They cannot achieve the goal and give up on wanting to accomplish it. They also give up the institutionalized means of accomplishing it. They become drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill, or those who commit suicide. People who just fade out of society and no longer take part in it- they retreat from society due to the pressures that the narrow cultural goal causes (Agnew 2007). Fourth is the ritualism category. People who fall into this category give up on the cultural goal, but go through the motions of the institutionalized means blindly. They do the means with no goal in mind (Agnew 2007). For example, someone who gives up on getting a degree but still comes to class and simply sleeps or daydreams through lectures is simply following the ritual. They take exams but flunk them all. People that go to work and work 40 hours a week, then go blow their paycheck in hours also fall into the ritualistic category. This theory declares that this kind of behavior is a result of not having the institutionalized means to try to achieve the more middle/upper class lifestyle (Agnew 2007). These people are most likely going to fall in the working class. Finally the fifth category is rebellion. The goal of people in this category is to replace both the cultural goal and the institutional means to achieve it (Agnew 2007). For example a socialist feels that the cultural goal is not economic success, but more so political reform. The white supremacists and black panthers would fall under this category. The Amish would also (in some respects) fall under this umbrella when considering our societies goal by growing their own food and making their own life through means of labor not money. This theory is favorable for consideration as an explanation for all crime except for white collar crime. The reason the strain theory does not apply to white collar crime is because people who have committed such crimes have already achieved the cultural goal and thus dismiss everything the theory stands for. From this perspective, there is no real reason, according to Anomie, for their delinquency. This theory is also favorable because it is relatively easy to test. Travis Hirchis Social Bond theory is another interesting perspective to consider as an explanation of Juvenile delinquency. According to Hirchis social bond theory, there are four elements to consider and explain why people conform to societies norms. Because this is a Control theory, instead of explaining why crime is committed this theory explains what is needed to prevent delinquency from happening; in other words, control theories explain why people conform (Welch 1998). Hirchi believed that it is necessary for one to have attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief in order to prevent delinquency and promote more pro-social behavior (Shoemaker 2000). Attachment refers to the psychological and emotional connection one feels toward another persons or groups and the extent to which one cares about their opinions and feelings. This is the more social concept of the theory (Shoemaker 2000). Commitment is the result of a cost-benefit approach to delinquency. It refers to investments accumulated in terms of conformity to conventional rules, such as time, money, effort and status, versus the estimated costs or losses of investment associated with nonconformity. This is the rational aspect of the theory. Commitment is also involves the commitment to ones future. This means an individuals hopes, dreams, aspirations, and desires. The stronger commitment to ones future allows less risk for delinquent behavior because it gives individuals a reason to not commit delinquent acts. Involvement refers to the participation in conventional and legitimate activity, which could include extracurricular activities such as school plays, clubs, organizati ons, and athletic events (Shoemaker 2000). Belief involves the acceptance of a conventional value system. The weakening of the belief in conventional values and norms is a major factor in the risk of delinquency. If youth does not believe in the values they are being taught, there is much less reason for them to conform. In the Shoemaker book, this theory was evaluated with three relationships in mind; delinquency and religion, delinquency and the family, and delinquency and school (Shoemaker 2000). Although this theory can be used to explain all types of crime, these relationships further proved its accuracy. According to Shoemaker, there is a relationship between delinquency and religion in the aspect that delinquents are less religiously active than nondelinquents (Shoemaker 2000). However, when considering the family lives of delinquents, broken homes were a huge pre-indicator of delinquency to come. If a family life is healthy and stable for an individual, the risk of delinquency is much less than that of a single parent home or an abusive home. School can also play a significant part, especially when considering the attachment factor of the theory. School failure is almost always correlated with delinquency therefore it is important that a student feels both attached and committed to their education. The frustration from missing such components in their school experience can be devastating to their future and can run a much higher risk for delinquency (Shoemaker 2000). The social bond theory is favorable because it can be easily tested by breaking down all the components of the bond. Attachment and commitment can be observed as well as the other elements of this theory. Yet, the unfavorable factor about this theory is that it does not adequately explain the drift theory alone. This theory only gives the view on people who are delinquent and by society learn to control their delinquency. It does not account very well for those who commit a delinquent act once in their youth and then grow to be productive citizens of society. Despite this flaw in my integration theory I have included a valid explanation for the drift theory and the aging out concept. By integrating these two theories, delinquency can be much more understood in terms of the constant internal struggle that humans face against the inherent evil they are born with. The environment which youths encircle themselves in plays a role in how well they can control the evil that so wishes to emerge. This integrated theorys outlined struggle between the environment and the inherent evil can also better explain the drift theory and aging out because it shows the fact that though youth believe in the socially constructed norms, they are not perfect and sometimes the opposing side of their battle wins and thus causes them to commit a delinquent act. An impressionable, influenced youth who is trying to create an identity may struggle to find a niche or environment which they feel can allow them to both express themselves and be in congruence with the morals and values their parents, and society have instilled in them. The struggle to maintain control of internal evil is more diff icult for youth than adults because they do not yet have enough commitment to their future to want to control their delinquent impulses. This is why aging-out applies because as youths grow older and mature into adults the idea of their future becomes more real and thus they need to find ways to secure the well being of both themselves and their families. Ultimately their attachments grow to more conventional things. My integrated theory is especially important when considering the lower class because with the lack of institutionalized means to create a healthy environment, youths tend to turn to illegitimate means in order to commit and believe in something, regardless if it is healthy or not. The struggle to maintain control of their evil is attributed to the fact that they do not have a secure future due to broken families, school failure and status frustration, and lack of exposure to legitimate means of achieving the cultural goal. This situation is to blame for youths falling into unhealthy peer groups, taking advantage of illegitimate means, and ultimately becoming delinquents. For example a student who is failing in school because his school does not have funding for extracurricular activities does not have as much attachment to school as does a middle class student who is committed to their future by means of programming that influences her to believe education will guide their to succes s. Also, if a students family does not appreciate the value of a college education the student will thus not be in an environment that encourages this particular legitimate mean. Thus in a circular fashion, the parents dont attend college or pursue a higher education and so the children do not feel an attachment, commitment, or belief in the idea of education. They then cannot make enough money to support themselves, and like many in their community turn to illegitimate means of making money. According to the anomie theory, the disproportion of the institutionalized means is to blame for delinquency. An obvious solution would be to offer more institutionalized means to the lower class. I feel that by both adding and sharing the experiences of the higher social classes, it can offer commitment and attachment to the lower class youth. I believe that if society provides more institutionalized means to the lower class, the youth will then socially bond to the means and the positive influences they will bring. Thus, delinquency will diminish based on the fact that youths will learn skills that will help them control their inherent delinquent impulses. This integrated theory is better than the theories alone because it provides both an explanation for the drift phenomena and it will provide opportunities to help prevent white collar crime as well. The two theories both complement each other and offer a solution for each others shortcomings. I also feel that this would address a ll levels of crime even white collar crime because it could potentially bond those who have achieved the cultural goal with those who have not. This would allow people who have it all so to speak have more charitable opportunities and would offer them an opportunity to help others through the legitimate social bond process. This would spread goodwill among the upper class and allow them to have more generous thoughts. Perhaps, if given the opportunities to help others in need of institutionalized exposure, the greed that drives a lot of white collar crime could be potentially lessened as well as the lower class delinquency. Basically, this would bring less divide between the social statuses. The most beneficial delinquency policy prevention to my integrated theory would be mentorship programs and funding for extracurricular activities for youth in underprivileged communities. I believe that by implementing sports teams and after school organizations with students who are of a mixed social class, but similar athletic ability and interests, would both bond the students and offer good role models for the lower income students to look up to. I feel that many children do not get the exposure to legitimate institutionalized means or people who conform to the means enough to fully understand and appreciate them. If a child had a mentor who has a strong commitment to the future, and a low record of delinquent acts, perhaps the child could also learn to have a commitment to their own future. I also feel that schools could sponsor more trade programs and apprenticeships for students who are academically challenged. I also feel that by funding more extracurricular organizations for different cultures, religions, and interests for youth of all kind would attract a more diverse population to the community in question. By forming a stronger more opportunistic community, people would bond with others in different races or of different cultures. We need for people of different backgrounds to attach to the same activities and mentality so they can all pursue a common goal and so they can all believe in and accept the same conventional value system. There needs to be more interaction between the classes so that the environment becomes more neutral and the institutionalized means become more available to people out of the upper class. Children who have a tutor who does well in school and is praised for it may look up to their tutor as a role model and thus decided that they too believe in the value of an education. People need to start using each other as a resource for a better society in the future. I f more people acted on the beliefs of this theory not only do I feel delinquency would be significantly less in youth, but those youth would grow to make society as a whole better in their adulthood. This theory helps ensure the future of tomorrow with the youth of today. I feel that this could condition children to believe in and be open to all kinds of people and thus reduce racial tension, gender bias, and even police discretion. I feel that it is time to break the stereotypes and labels that we have been socially conditioned to believe in. I also feel that more academic funding is necessary for scholarships to be given to a wider range of people across the social classes. I think that scholarships are too easily given to those who can afford to attend college without assistance and thus leave little opportunities for students who are truly in need. In addition to college scholarships I think apprenticeship scholarships to pay for job training and equipment is necessary too. I feel that students are too often pressured into thinking that college is the only form of higher education. This theory could be easily tested. I would first take a random sampling of data from youth from different social classes about their experiences with school and their community. This would measure happiness, fulfillment, delinquent acts in the individual, and goals or plans for the future. Then I would do a more restricted sampling and survey from students who have committed delinquent acts and upper class students who have secure grades, access to institutionalized means and seem destined to succeed in society (probably based on teacher recommendations etc). After taking this basic data I would conduct another survey after implementing an afterschool mentorship (with the same delinquents in question) which includes; college visits, community service, job shadowing, sports and recreational activities, and free tutoring. After six months with this mentor, I would administer yet another survey to both the mentor and mentee and see if social bonding occurred and if the delinquent is ha ppier now that he or she has adopted many similar values and beliefs as their mentor. Finally a year after the mentorship ends, I would find those previously deemed delinquent students and hope that the mentorship programming encouraged the students enough that they would then have faith in their futures and would be doing better socially, academically, and legally. It is my belief that the interaction would prove my theory correct. My final step in the policy amendments and testing procedures would be to encourage for the juvenile court system to adopt and attempt to fund such mentorship programming for first time delinquent youths. I feel that this would help stop things before they become repeat offenders and thus will quicken the aging out process by surrounding youth with a more positive environment. Repeat juvenile offenders could potentially be asked to serve their time and then be placed in a regulated apprenticeship to learn a trade. Hopefully they will socially bond with co-workers and age out of delinquency in pursuit of a steady paycheck. Though I realize that my theory would take a lot of work to implement and would never be able to completely annihilate juvenile delinquency, I do feel that it could create positive changes in the lives of youths everywhere. If more people believed in sharing institutionalized opportunities with the lower class and making institutionalized opportunities more available we could provide positive influences for youths. This would allow youth to learn all the skills necessary to control their delinquent impulses and thus would give youth a reason to conform to the socially accepted norms of society. .

Texas Annexation :: essays research papers

Narrative History of Texas Annexation, Secession, and Readmission to the Union Texans voted in favor of annexation to the United States in the first election following independence in 1836. However, throughout the Republic period (1836-1845) no treaty of annexation negotiated between the Republic and the United States was ratified by both nations. When all attempts to arrive at a formal annexation treaty failed, the United States Congress passed--after much debate and only a simple majority--a Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States. Under these terms, Texas would keep both its public lands and its public debt, it would have the power to divide into four additional states "of convenient size" in the future if it so desired, and it would deliver all military, postal, and customs facilities and authority to the United States government. (Neither this joint resolution or the ordinance passed by the Republic of Texas' Annexation Convention gave Texas the right to secede.) In July 1845, a popularly-elected Constitutional Convention met in Austin to consider both this annexation proposal as well as a proposed peace treaty with Mexico which would end the state of war between the two nations, but only if Texas remained an independent country. The Convention voted to accept the United States' proposal, and the Annexation Ordinance was submitted to a popular vote in October 1845. The proposed Annexation Ordinance and State Constitution were approved by the Texas voters and submitted to the United States Congress. The United States House and Senate, in turn, accepted the Texas state constitution in a Joint Resolution to admit Texas as a State which was signed by the president on December 29, 1845 . Although the formal transfer of government did not occur until February 19, 1846, Texas statehood dates from the 29th of December. Opposition to Texas' admission to the United States was particularly strong in the North during this period. If a challenge to the constitutionality of the move could have been made successfully at that time, there is little doubt that the leaders of the opposition would have instituted such a suit in the Supreme Court. Sixteen years later, in January 1861, the Secession Convention met in Austin and adopted an Ordinance of Secession on February 1 and a Declaration of Causes on February 2. This proposal was approved by the voters, but even before Texas could become "independent" as provided for in the text of the Ordinance, it was accepted by the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America as a state on March 1, 1861.

Luciano and The XTERMINATOR Crew :: Essays Papers

Luciano and The XTERMINATOR Crew The XTERMINATOR label came to be in 1987 when Vena Recordings changed it's name to Kings & Lions. This name remained for a few years in the middle of the 1980's and then was changed again to Exterminator. In time Exterminator records dropped the"E"from the title to leave the present day label, XTERMINATOR. Phillip"Fattis"Burrell is the producer of XTERMINATOR records and is responsible for the success the label has seen thus far. All musicians that have worked with"Fattis"have spoken very highly of him and his dedication to the production of reggae music."The seriousness and zeal that à «Fattis' has is so compatible to mine that we pull in tandem like a sculling boat team,"said Luciano after working with"Fatis"on his hit song"It's Me Again Jah". The"XTERMINATOR Family"consists of Luciano, Mikey General, Sizzla, Dean Fraser, and the Firehouse Family (which consists of ex-Third World guitarist, Steven"Cat"Coore, multi-instrumentalist Donald"Danny"Dennis, keyboardist Robbie Lyn and master drummer Sly Dunbar). This"family"tours together, with Luciano as the headliner and Mikey General and Sizzla opening the show. Dean Fraser plays the saxophone (the third best in the world as of last year) and sings back up vocals. While the Firehouse crew provides the backing for the vocals. It is not hard to see why the XTERMINATOR label has been so successful in the last few years. Since the early 1990's the XTERMINATOR label has been recruiting new talent for their label with fire and compassion."Fattis"is not afraid to work with young artists who show raw talent and potential. This is the primary reason that he and the XTERMINATOR label have seen such a jump in popularity and profits in the early to mid 1990's. Also with Dean Fraser as the Musical Director of XTERMINATOR Records a small load was lifted off"Fattis's"shoulders. (1. Barrow, Steve) Jepther McClymont (Luciano) born December 20, 1964 was raised in Davey Town in the parish of Manchester, Jamaica. His father being musically inclined had built his own guitar and used to play it frequently. Jepther took a liking to his father's guitar and began to learn how to play the instrument. His father left his mother and his eight other siblings to fend for themselves when he was a mere eleven years of age. Jepther's first public singing came in a local church quire at quite a young age. His mother had no trade to earn them money, but they survived as best they could.

HCL Corporate Ethics Essay

* Code of ethics statement:- HCL Core Values: * To uphold the dignity of the individual: In line with HCLT ‘s â€Å"Employees First† philosophy, wherein employees are the organization main focus, they place significant emphasis on the respect and dignity of every HCLT employee. HCLT employees are empowered to drive innovation, transforming client engagements and markedly improving client satisfaction. HCLT believes in valuing employees as individuals (not resources), upholding the dignity of all people and displaying tolerance and respect. * To honor all commitments: They keep their commitments to each other and with every stakeholder. * Commitment to quality, innovation and growth in every endeavor: HCLT is committed to supporting quality processes and employee productivity through a working environment and culture in which they feel appreciated and allow innovation to thrive. * To be responsible corporate citizens: They believe in encouraging a sense of social responsibility and to give back to society. They take pride in being a company with a strong social conscience. They firmly believe that every drop counts and every step aimed at helping the community is an important step. Their commitment to making a positive difference to the community and the environment in which they operate is a sustained effort and not just a one-off initiative. EFCS culture at HCL: They create value in a specific place, the interface between their HCLT employees and their customers. This is called the â€Å"value zone.† The â€Å"Employees First, Customers Second† (EFCS) philosophy is about placing the employees first and customers second to activate the value zone – the place where the frontline employees interact with customers and create real value for them. This recognizes employees as the strategic elements, turns the management structure upside down and democratizes HCLT‟s functions and way of working. Every employee who works in the value zone is capable of creating more or less value. The whole intent of EFCS is to do everything that can enable those employees to create the most possible value. This approach has led us to take a number of actions to turn the organizational pyramid upside down. In other words, they want management to be as accountable to the people in the value zone as the people in the value zone are to management. Their recruitment and promotion policies are based on meritocracy and ability to learn, adapt and assimilate change. They ensure equal opportunities irrespective of gender, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity in hiring, pay and/or career advancement. They focus on promoting workplace diversity and have specific supplier vendor diversity programs.