Subsidize University Fees For Low Income Group Essay Example for Free

Subsidize University Fees For Low Income Group Essay INTRODUCTION: Globally, there is increasing demand for higher education, especially from the youth population of developing countries, as it is viewed as an important pathway for greater social mobility (Devesh, 2008). According to the World Trade Organization (WTO 2010), private returns from higher education are high for both developed and developing countries. In developing countries, the wage differential between a secondary school leaver and a university graduate is estimated to be as high as 200%. Besides the wage premium, rapidly changing technology in a globalized world is also demanding new and changing competencies that require life-long learning skills, for which mature students often have to go back to college for re-training and re-skilling. Malaysia is one of the most subsidized nations in the world. Its total subsidy of RM74 billion in 2009 is equivalent to RM12,900 per household or 4.6 per cent of GDP even higher than Indonesia (2.7 per cent) Philippines (0.2 per cent). Out of the numbers, RM 30.8 billion goes to Primary, secondary, higher education and scholarships. Higher education in Malaysia is divided into 2 sectors; public and non-public sector, there are about 20 universities and 6 university colleges (the term â€Å"university college† is used to for those tertiary level education institutions that are able to confer their own degrees but have not achieved university status). In the non-public sector there are 559 institutions of varying types including: universities and university colleges and foreign university branch campuses. The term â€Å"non-public† refers to the broad category of institutions not funded by the state. A division between private and for-profit institutions exists within this category, but is not entirely clear. Outside of these categories are polytechnics (24) and community colleges (37), which will not be dealt with this profile. The Higher Education Department within the Ministry of Education, co-ordinates and monitors the activities of public and private universities and colleges. Because of government’s large investments in higher education, issues of government involvement and university autonomy arise. Currently, students  are assigned to specific universities based on their cumulative grade point averages, faculty members are essentially civil servants with highly fixed salaries, and vice chancellors and deans are appointed by the state. Malaysian public higher education students must pay tuition and other fees and cover their living costs (though accommodations on campus are subsidized by the government). Solid financing is the backbone of a well-functioning higher education system. The decision to attend tertiary education has monetary and non-monetary variables. In Malaysia the cost of tertiary education (tuition fees) and associated living costs affect how much a cash constraint can discourage otherwise talented students from enrolling and completing higher education. Currently many kinds of subsidies exist such as government owned and operated school (public and private universities state colleges), subsidized loans, grants and scholarships. THE â€Å"PROS† TOWARDS GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY: Why does government need to intervene in the market for education? That is, doesn’t the market produce the â€Å"right† amount of education? If the market outcome is not right, what is the best way to intervene? To answer these questions, we first need to consider the basic model of education. In the economic model of education, every person in society has a certain amount of brain power, skill, knowledge, understanding, and the like. All those factors other than our â€Å"unskilled† labor allow us to produce output. We can think of all these factors as one, the composite factors which is human capital. It is very useful to think of human capital as analogous to physical capital. Durable: continues to have value over time, can decrease over time due to â€Å"depreciation† and can increase due to â€Å"investments†. Acquiring education is like making a physical investment, improves the quantity and/or quality of the human capital. The purpose is to increase productivity and that’s for sure. Hence, there are a few drawbacks if the Malaysian government didn’t subsidized university education tuition fees. Family income determines whether the student can afford the costs of the university or college. First issue related to monetary variables and non-monetary variables will lead to a drop line of a higher education access. This has made many young talents and bright students fail to enter university and are a loss to future generation. This is due to: †¢Cost benefits barrier – the barrier arises when the group decides that the cost of attending university is greater than its expected return to the education investment. †¢Cash constraints barrier – occurs when the students who have decided that the returns to education outweigh the costs still cannot put together the resources to obtain entry to universities. †¢Debt aversion barrier – arises when an individual refuses to use the funds at his or her disposal because part of the funds might be loans, which at some point will have to be repaid. †¢Parental education, race and ethnicity, gender and geographical location – all play a role in the college decision-making process. Of course there are many reasons why government should step in. Subsidy indirectly can reduce crime. Of course crime is clearly an externality in this context. The actions of others affect us and they are not negatively compensated. If we look at current situation there is an extremely strong relationship between crime and education. Well at least for three reasons: †¢Pure human capital motive – education related to income, and people with higher income have less incentive to commit crime. †¢Direct schooling effect – classes makes students smarter so realize that crime doesn’t pay at all. †¢Opportunity cost of time – students are busy at faculty so actually in other words have less time to commit crime. Escalating expenditure for public higher education has ked the government to adopt a cost-sharing system in which students and parents shoulder and increasing share of the costs. The MARA financial aid scheme was converted in January 1998 to a 100% loan scheme except for loans given out under the Excellent Student Scheme. The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) was established for the purpose of offering subsidized loans to help students meet the costs of enrolling a local higher education institution.  It is also designed to ensure that there would be loans available for Malays to afford both public and private higher education so that the targeted ethnic composition of enrolment in higher education is maintained. THE DEBATE TOWARDS GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY: When the government is in the business of handing out money, interest groups lobby to get it, or advocate receiving more than they are already getting. So, it is with spending on higher education. Over the long run, the funding for those areas has increased dramatically. Taxpayers should be skeptical of the current reasons for subsidizing universities further. There are few arguments are dubious for five main reasons stated below in regards with government subsidy related to university fees. It can be elaborate and debate as the following: There is no link between higher education subsidies and economic growth, and none between universities or college degrees and job creation. Malaysia has spent a much higher proportion of personal income on federal and state government to support for higher education. States with a higher proportion of university and college graduates do not necessarily grow by adding more college degrees. For now, the country is currently experiencing a rather worrying unemployment especially among young graduates. Excess of the graduates is unable to meet domestic open vacancy in any sector since most of them are experiencing the freezing phase of job vacancy. Thus its shows there are no linkage at all between higher education qualifications with job vacancies. Indirectly it could not keep the countrys economy. More subsidies equals to more waste. The number of academicians, staff, administrators and service staff at all 20 universities and 6 university colleges increased at a faster rate than full-time equivalent students over the same time period. At the same time, the compensation for the average employees increased too for sure. Colleges set tuition rates relative to supply and demand, but the government subsidies distort this process and inflate the cost. That’s why private universities such as Sunway International College and Lim Kok Wing University which receive no government funding, do a much better job at keeping down the cost of tuition. At the present time the federal government already spends billions of dollars subsidizing universities, whether it is money for Lecturer’s salaries, buildings, or the millions of dollars provided for research. The cost of classes and tuition picks up only small portion of the tab. Aside from that, there are many people who do not deserve or would not make the best of the education provided. Scholarships and government grants are available for people who have worked hard and earned the opportunity, but to hand it over to everyone for free are insane. When comparing earning power between college graduates and non-graduates, correlation is not causation, and the actual cost of universities or collage matters. Proponents of more funding for higher education almost always cite the same statistic as their main point: Overall, universities and college graduates tend to make more money in their lifetime than those without a degree. But this assumes that the degree caused the higher earnings, rather than the fact that those who complete college are already more likely to be financially successful whether they attend university or not. The common figure cited is that a college degree is worth MYR1 million over the lifetime of a worker. Besides ignoring the point above, this is a poor exercise in statistics. The number is arrived at by taking the difference between the average pay of a university and college graduate and the average pay of a non-universities and college graduate and multiplying it over a 40-year career. First, that only tells us what the average is today, not what the actual future earnings are. Second, this assumes that all universities and college degrees have the same value. For example, it assumes that a Bachelor of Arts in art history is the same as a Bachelor of Science in quantum physics. Most significantly, it ignores many important factors: taxes, the real salary data of today’s graduates, the opportunity cost of going to college (how much someone would earn during those years in school), the fact that large proportions of student’s starts school and do not finish, and, most  importantly, student loan debt. Keep in mind that government may be funding someone’s desire to paint or be involved in the arts which do not advance society enough to justify the cost. Perhaps if everyone were taking physics, biology, or computer sciences in order to contribute in a meaningful way post grad it would be a different story. Also the amount of people in college is at the highest it’s ever been. In fact a BA or BS degree is essentially required now for low level jobs and a Masters or Doctorate is needed to advance up the ladder. Ensuring that everyone has university or college schooling would not enhance the labor market – it would dilute a university degree. The assumption among many is that every career should require a higher education. This belief leads to subsidies for subjects with little practicality in the workforce and areas where a student may be better off doing an apprenticeship or working for four years than attending more school. Pushing for everyone to go to universities or college does not automatically make those students university-ready; it lowers the overall standards of higher education. This has led to a high dropout rate, more repeated classes for those in school and an explosion of marginal subjects in which many degree-holders are forced to work outside that field because of a lack of demand. In short, incentivizing degrees students do not ever use. Higher education may be the next bubble to burst. Much like the housing bubble, higher education is fueled by government subsidies, publicly-backed loans and incentives that say everyone should be doing something. Lately tuition costs have risen steeply well above inflation while colleges compete to expand into areas outside of their main purpose and taking on more debt to do so. At the same time, competition from other sectors, like online education, offer cheaper alternatives to the bread-and-butter of university academia. It is important for citizens to be educated, both to learn a job and to better be able to respond to a changing marketplace. But there is a difference between education and schooling. Spending more money to send  people to get a specific number of degrees at a specific institution is different from education. Education comes in the form of apprenticeships, trade schools and time on the job learning. And education is something you can’t force on someone else. Just putting someone in college does make force them to learn anything. Education is a personal matter, and more subsidies will only influence a persons decision to learn or not to learn at the barest of margins. Higher education can build new skills, enhance old ones and show prospective employers that students are able to put in the time to earn a degree. But the value of a degree varies — by the institution, the cost, the time and the subject. From an individual’s perspective, private universities and colleges may be worth the cost. But for a growing number, it’s not. And government subsidies, where political incentives trump market realities, only worsen that problem CONCLUSION: Education issues remain an important priority in developing countries. Because resources are limited and ensuring adequate allocation is a struggle for many countries including Malaysia itself. The delivery of educational services has become a challenge. Malaysia, like other countries in Southeast Asia, faces similar challenges in ensuring the allocation of appropriate funding for efficient and equitable educational services in order to promote access to quality education for all social groups. While Malaysia faces many challenges amid rapid global chances, we can draw on a number of strengths and unique advantages as we take purposeful policy actions to move forward. Education is not preparation for life; education is a life by itself. From the job market to tertiary education, from UPSR to A-Levels, Education in Malaysia focuses on bringing us the latest news and analysis on our nation’s best bet on the future. The future earnings of the individual typically constitute an adequate return on the gross investment in obtaining higher education. Moreover, providing  subsidy university and college education to all is a rather inefficient way to serve the interest of poor students since a large proportion of students who acquire higher education come from relatively well-off families. Raising demand for higher education and the need to produce a critical mass of highly educated and skilled workers for a knowledge economy has led to the massification of Malaysian higher education. However, escalating higher public education expenditure led the government to adopt a cost sharing system where students and parents shoulder and increasing share of the cost for acquiring a higher education.

Sucker Rod Pumping System Engineering Essay

Sucker Rod Pumping System Engineering Essay Artificial lift allows wells to be produced that are non-flowing. Generally this is achieved by a mechanical device inside the well, such as pump; decreasing the weight of the liquid/gas mixture via high pressure gas; or improving the lift efficiency of the well. In the production string (tubing) that is usually set without a production packer, a pump placed below the dynamic fluid levelling the well lifts the crude up to the surface. This energy input allows the fluid to continue on its way and relieves the pay zone of all or part of the back pressure downstream from the pump. Sucker Rod Pumping is the most common method of artificial lift (85%), with gas lift second (10%), and then electrical submersible and hydraulic pumping about equal (2%) in usage. Sucker rod pump uses a vertical positive-displacement pump consisting of a cylinder and a hollow plunger with a valve i.e. it works by creating a reciprocating motion in a sucker rod string that connects to the downhole pump assembly. It is run into the tubing screwed onto the end of a rod string. The system is actuated from the surface by a motor that drive a walking beam or a hydraulic elevator. Introduction Sucker Rod Pumps, also called Donkey pumps or beam pumps, are the most common artificial-lift system used in land-based operations. Motor drives a reciprocating beam, connected to a polished rod passing into the tubing via a stuffing box. The sucker rod continues down to the oil level and is connected to a plunger with a valve. On each upward stroke, the plunger lifts a volume of oil up and through the wellhead discharge. On the downward stroke it sinks (it should sink, not be pushed) with oil flowing though the valve. The motor speed and torque is controlled for efficiency and minimal wear with a Pump off Controller (PoC). Use is limited to shallow reservoirs down to a few hundred meters, and flows up to about 40 litres (10 gal) per stroke . Technical Details: Artificial lift allows wells to be produced that are non-flowing. Generally this is achieved by a mechanical device inside the well, such as pump; decreasing the weight of the liquid/gas mixture via high pressure gas; or improving the lift efficiency of the well. Artificial lift consists of two main processes: Mechanical lifting by pumps. Lessening the fluid density by mixing with gas injected in the part of the production string ,or gas lift In the production string (tubing) that is usually set without a production packer, a pump placed below the dynamic fluid levelling the well lifts the crude up to the surface. This energy input allows the fluid to continue on its way and relieves the pay zone of all or part of the back pressure downstream from the pump. The two most common pumping methods in the world are: Sucker rod pumping Centrifugal pumping Sucker Rod Pumping: It is the most common method of artificial lift (85%); with gas lift second (10%), and then electrical submersible and hydraulic pumping about equal (2%) in usage. Sucker rod pump uses a vertical positive-displacement pump consisting of a cylinder and a hollow plunger with a valve i.e. it works by creating a reciprocating motion in a sucker rod string that connects to the downhole pump assembly. .It is run into the tubing screwed onto the end of a rod string. The system is actuated from the surface by a motor that drive a walking beam or a hydraulic elevator. Components Every part of the pump is important for its correct operation. The most commonly used parts are described below: Barrel: The barrel is a large cylinder which can be from 10 to 36 feet long and a diameter from 1.25 to 3.75  inches (95  mm). After using several materials for its construction, the API (American Petroleum Institute) standardized the use of 2 materials or compositions for this part which are carbon steel and brass, both with an inside coating of chrome. The advantage of brass against carbon steel, weather is a more soft material, is its 100% resistance to corrosion. Piston: This is a nickel-metal sprayed steel cylinder that goes inside the barrel. Its main purpose is to create a sucking effect that lift the fluids beneath it and then, with the help of the valves, take those fluids above it and, progressively, out of the well. It achieves this with a reciprocal up and own movement. Valves: The valve has two components the seat and the ball which create a complete seal when closed. After trying several materials, the most commonly used seats are made of carbon nitride and the ball is often made of silicon nitride. In the past, balls of iron, ceramic and titanium were used. This last type of balls, made of titanium, is still being used but only where crude oil is extremely dense and/or the quantity of fluids is too much. The most common configuration of a rod pump requires two valves, called the travelling valve and fixed or static valve. Piston Rod: Its a rod that connects the piston with the outside of the pump. Its main purpose is to transfer the engine produced by the Nodding Donkey above in an up/down reciprocal movement. Fitting: The rest of the parts of the pump is called fitting and is, basically, small pieces designed to keep everything hold together in the right place. Most of these parts are designed to let the fluids pass uninterrupted. Filter: The job of the filter, as guessed, is to stop big parts of rock, rubber or any other garbage that might be loose in the well from going into the pump. There are several types of filters, being a common iron cylinder with enough holes in it to permit the entrance of the amount of fluid the pump needs the most commonly used. Explanation Of How It Works/ Is Used: Figure A: Components of Sucker Rod Pump ` A motor and gearbox supply power to turn the power shaft. There is a counterweight at the end of the crank. A pitman arm is attached to the crank and it moves upward when the crank moves counterclockwise. The Samson arms support the walking beam. The walking beam pivots and lowers or raises the plunger. The   rod attaches the plunger to the horsehead. The horsehead (not rigidly attached) allows the joint (where rod is attached) to move in a vertical path instead of following an arc. Every time the plunger rises, oil is pumped out through a spout. The pump consits of a four bar linkage is comprised of the crank, the pitman arm, the walking beam, and the ground. Figure B: Operational Detail of Sucker Rod Pump Here the plunger is shown at its lowest position. The pitman arm and the crank are in-line. The maximum pumping angle, denoted as theta in the calculations, is shown. L is the stroke length. After one stroke, the plunger moves upward by one stroke length and the walking beam pivots. The crank also rotates counter clockwise. At the end of the upstroke the pitman arm, the crank, and the walking beam are in-line. For name and location of parts, see Figure A: A motor supplies power to a gear box. A gearbox reduces the angular velocity and increases the torque relative to this input. As shown in Figure B, (the crank turns counter clockwise) and lifts the counterweight. Since the crank is connected to the walking beam via the pitman arm, the beam pivots and submerges the plunger. Figure B also shows the horsehead at its lowest position. This marks the end of the down stroke. Note that the crank and the pitman arm are in-line at this position. The upstroke raises the horsehead and the plunger, along with the fluid being pumped. The upstroke begins at the point shown in Figure B. At the end of the upstroke, all joints are in-line. This geometric constraint determines the length of the pitman arm. Figures C (a) and C (b) show the plunger and ball valves in more detail. These valves are opened by fluid flow alone. During the plungers upstroke the plunger valve or riding valve is closed. The column of liquid corresponding to the stroke will be lifted up to the surface while, relieved of the weight of the fluid, the pressure of the pay zone can then open the bottom valve or standing valve, thereby allowing the pump barrel to fill up with effluent. During the down stroke the valve of the hollow plunger opens and the standing valve closes, thereby preventing the fluid from returning into the pay zone and allowing the plunger to return freely to its initial point at the base of pump barrel. The pump is single acting and its theoretical output is equal to the volume generated by the plungers stroke and cross-section multiplied by the pumping rate, i.e. in a homogenous system: Q=S*N*A Where, Q=Flow rate. S=Stroke. N=Number of strokes per time unit. A=Area of the plunger. In practice following parameters are also involved: An efficiency factor A coefficient depending on the units that are use Figure C(a) TABLE OF VARIABLES THAT AFFECT SUCKER ROD STRING AND PUMPING UNIT LOADING Polished rod load Pumping speed Pump setting or depth Physical characteristics of the rod string Dynamic characteristics of the rod string Plunger diameter of the pump Specific gravity Pump intake pressure Polished rod acceleration pattern Mechanical friction Fluid friction Pump submergence Compressibility or gas interference Pumping unit inertia Pumping unit geometry Counterbalance Torque characteristics of prime mover Flow line pressure Innovativeness and Usefulness: Any liquid-producing reservoir will have a reservoir pressure: some level of energy or potential that will force fluid (liquid and/or gas) to areas of lower energy or potential. You can think of this much like the water pressure in your municipal water system. As soon as the pressure inside a production well is decreased below the reservoir pressure, the reservoir will act to fill the well back up, just like opening a valve on your water system. Depending on the depth of the reservoir (deeper results in higher pressure requirement) and density of the fluid (heavier mixture results in higher requirement), the reservoir may or may not have enough potential to push the fluid to the surface. Most oil production reservoirs have sufficient potential to produce oil and gas which are light naturally in the early phases of production. Eventually, as water which is heavier than oil and much heavier than gas encroaches into production and reservoir pressure decreases as the reservoir depletes, all wells will stop flowing naturally. At some point, most well operators will implement an artificial lift plan to continue and/or to increase production. In relative to US data sucker rod pumping is the most common method (85%); with gas lift second (10%), and then the electrical submersible and the hydraulic pumping about equal (2%) in usage. Plunger lift and several variations of all these processes are in limited use. The prominence of sucker rod pumping is due, in part, to the large number of shallow, low productivity wells in the Midwestern and western United States. Mainly sucker rod pumps are used for onshore areas. Sucker rod pumps are used primarily to draw oil from underground reservoirs. The mechanisms it employs however are found in a wide variety of machines. The four bar linkage can be found on door dampers, on automobile engines, and on devices such as the lazy tong. The Sterling engines also use a linkage similar to the one used by the pump. Current Status of Development: Every project requires an in depth study of the topic. Being in the starting phase of our project, currently we are going through as many books, journals and online material as we can. Collecting as much data as we can, we plan to go through an extensive study of sucker-rod pumps and artificial gas drive techniques, principles etc. Having a comprehensive knowledge of sucker-rod pumps is our first objective, after which we will think of ways in which we can apply practically. Current sources being referred:

School Shootings: Causes and Warning Signs

School Shootings: Causes and Warning Signs The Virginia Tech Massacre, the Sandy Hook shooting, and the Columbine High School Massacre are events that people will never forget. School shootings are a rare occurrence but for the people experiencing these events time stands still, and they will never forget. This paper will look at the reasons why these events take place, and the warning signs displayed by the shooters before the event happens. This paper will also explore what the media’s role in covering the shooting events, and the preventive measures that have been made over time to combat this issue that faces schools around the world. The number one issue that faces children today is bullying in school. It is not just the face to face type of bullying that is thought of when a person thinks of bullying. Today’s youth have to face cyber bullying along with the face to face bullying at school. Roland defines bullying as â€Å"continuing, negative behavior directed toward a victim by an individual or group† (2002). Another study calls the act of bullying marginalization. They define this as the act of pushing individuals outside the realm of social significance (Mongan, Hatcher and Maschi 2009). Yet another word associated with bullying that came from Mongan, Hatcher, and Maschi’s study is what is called masculinity attacks (2009). There study was conducted on the Columbine shooting. This is a statement from a survivor of that shooting describing what was said to the two young men that committed the shooting. â€Å"Sure we teased them. But what do you expect with kids who come to school with weird hairdos and horns on their hats? It’s not just jocks; the whole school’s disgusted with them. They’re a bunch of homos†¦..If you want to get rid of someone; usually you tease ‘em. So the whole school would call them homos† (Gibbs Roche, 1996, p.48). Bullying would be a form of peer rejection. When a person is rejected by one group that they see as a positive, they may be pushed to another group that will have a negative influence or even resort to social isolation. Studies show that if a person has a strong attachment to family, peers, and school they are less likely to be an offender of delinquent acts (Curran and Renzetti 2001). They will see themselves as outcasts from the mainstream groups, and he or she will grow a large amount of animosity toward the group that bullied them. There has been some research conducted on the effects of bullying on school shooters, but bulling may be just a catalyst and not the main reason. Hann and Mays conducted a study and found that two thirds of all the offenders were bullied prior to the shooting incident (2013). Hann’s and Mays’s study does show a connection between bullying and school shooting, but also shows that the bully or bullies may not be the specific targets. They s uggest that the stats show that bullies are the targets, but then go on to say that the shooters randomly target students in the school forgetting about the bullies (Hanns and Mays 2013). They may give more weight to the theory that bullying is more of a catalyst to the shooting than a main reason. Being bullied at school can lead to indicators or warning signs that a child may be going in the wrong direction. If the child becomes very isolated from social interactions this may be a warning sign that he or she may be having problems. Mongan, Hatcher, and Maschi show the stages that a person goes through before the final act of violence. They have come up with a model called the Stages of Change Model. This informative model shows people what to look for in regards to a child’s behavior. The table on the next page shows the different stages that a child may go through before committing the school shooting. This chart is to show school administrators and parents the warning sig ns to look for. TABLE 1 Applying the Stages-of-Change Model to Youth At Risk of Committing a School Shooting Stages of change        Ã‚  Identifying signs: Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of at-risk youth Stage 1         Precontemplation _ Has thoughts about planning or engaging in a school shooting Stage 2        Ã‚  Contemplation _ Feels unfairly treated Has ‘‘grandiose’’ ideas of getting back at the school or others Stage 3        Ã‚  Preparation _ Weighs the pros and cons of attempting a school shooting Has morbid fantasies of death Develops a plan of attack Stage 4        Ã‚  Action _ Commits to follow through on plan_ Withdraws from others_ Obtains weapons for attack Stage 5        Ã‚  Maintenance _ Establishes a plan and sets a date for the attack_ Spends time rehearsing plans (i.e., thinking about it or practicing) Stage 6        Ã‚  Termination _ Feels attack is justified_ Completes the attack (murder and/or suicide) (p.639) These warning signs are used to help prevent a possible shooting. Other issues that may also push a child to delinquency or other crimes may include abuse in the home. If a child is already having a tough time at school, and then he or she goes to an abusive home life this will have a negative effect on the child. He or she may also have a personality disorders that have an effect on the delinquency, and this can often lead to suicide (Hann and Mays 2013). Violent movies and music have also been linked to violent behavior along with interest in firearms and bombs. Other psychological problems including depression, impulse control, or sadistic tendencies have been linked to school shooters (Hann and Mays 2013). Another argument that is being made is the accessibility of guns in the United States. Hann and Mays study points out that this is a major factor in the person’s ability to commit the act of a school shooting (2013). However, Mongan, Hatcher, and Maschi (2009) point out about the availability of guns in America that, â€Å"school shoo tings have also occurred in countries that employ strict gun control laws, and school shootings did not begin in America until 1966 even though there was a pro gun culture† (p637). When these types of events take place people want to place the blame on someone or something to achieve closure. This is when the blame game starts and blame is pushed from one person or thing to another. According to Hann and Mays parents are often at least partially to blame for the shooting then followed by teachers and school administrators (2013). However, there is another source that many people place at least some blame too and that is the media. The media coverage of school shooting is very highly scrutinized among the victims and researchers alike. Some researchers put a lot of blame on the media for their coverage of these events. The people who make these claims seem to believe that the media’s coverage of these events cause â€Å"copy cat† school shooters. Hann and Mays point out that school shootings did not attract the media attention before 1997 as they do now (2013). The first major event that got the media coverage that Hann and Mays are speaking of is the Columbine shooting in 2001. It was the worst high school shooting of the time killing 12 students and one teacher and is believed by some to inspire others to commit similar crimes in different parts of the United States (Hann Mays 2013). A study was conducted by Haravuori, Suomalainen, Berg, Kivirousu, and Marttunen to see what impact the media coverage had on adolescents traumatized in a school shooting. This study was conducted on 231 students aged 13-19 years in Finland. A similar study was conducted on students at Virginia Tech after that shooting. There were three types of journalistic behavior experienced during the media coverage of both events. These behaviors included behaving badly, media mod, and displaying compassion. Both studies concluded that that being approached by the media and being interviewed had a negative effect on posttraumatic distress (2011). Most media outlets would say that they were doing what the people want them to do and that is to report the news, and something as big as a school shooting would need to have extended coverage to get all that needs to be reported. They would also argue that they show great sympathy for the victims and their families. Where the issue lies for the researchers is when the extended coverage becomes too extended. Hann and Mays suggest that the media coverage prolongs the grief found in the communities that experience these tragedies (2013). What is meant by that statement is that the media prolongs the grieving process in that the people have to relive the event every time they step out their door or turn on the television. The researchers say that media needs to stick to just the facts of the situation and not over do the coverage with needless information. The entire how, why, and the target selected may spark another school shooting at another location according to the researchers. The prevention of these types of crimes has to be combated early before the crime even happens. Parents, teachers, and school administrators need to see the warning signs early to prevent these types of crimes in their communities. The majority of the effort should be placed on prevention. According to Hann and Mays (2013), â€Å"In almost all shootings there were signs that the shooter or shooters might be preparing for this violent act. Over 90% of the shootings studied were planned at least 2 days ahead, and most of these shootings were discussed by the perpetrators via social media shortly before they occurred† (p.52). They also say that the media needs to tone back on the coverage of school shootings to help prevent other possible shootings (2013). Another possible prevention is schools suspension practices. If a child is suspended from school then that child may not have the proper supervision at home. If a child is already displaying warning signs of a possible delinque nt then this type of punishment will only aggravate his or her already fragile condition (Hann Mays 2013). Hann and Mann state that some school districts have created crisis management teams to deal with possible school shootings. Mongan, Hatcher, and Maschi conducted a nationwide survey in 2007 that concluded that, â€Å"6% of students had carried a weapon on school property† (p. 635). They suggest that the policies that schools have in place that deal with carrying weapon on their campus is not enough and that better measure need to be in place to help prevent and combat the issue of school violence. Schools need to provide workshops to educate on the stages of change model (Table 1) and how it applies to school violence, and instituting and formal referral process in the schools (Mongan, Hatcher, Maschi 2009). Almost all of the authors of articles that deal with school shooting do say that more steps need to be taken to prevent these acts of violence from happening. These authors contend that due to the violent nature of these crimes and the negative effect that it has on our society that stronger measures need to be implemented in our schools. School administrators and parents need to look for the warning signs that the child displays, and they need to have a reporting system in place that will handle the problem before it escalates. They also say that the media needs to scale its coverage back to limit the amount of time it takes for the community to heal. Media outlets need to be aware that they may inadvertently spark a copycat school shooting at another location with the extended coverage that is given to these types of events. A group that has studied school shootings has produced a chart that shows the different stages of progression that a possible school shooter may go through bef ore committing the act. They suggest that schools have workshops for parents and teachers to help with seeing the warning signs before they get out of hand. References Curran, D.J., Renzetti, C.M. (2001) Theories of Crime (2nd ed). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn Bacon. Center for the Prevention of School Violence (2002, May). Just what is school violence: New brief. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://www.ncdjjdp.org/ cpsv/index.html Center for Disease Control. (2008). Understanding school violence. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/YVP/SV_FactSheet.pdf Gibbs, N., Roche, T. (1999, December 20). The Columbine tapes: In five secret videos they recorded before the massacre, the killers reveal their hatreds-and their lust for fame. Time, 154(25), 40- 51. Haan, P., Mays, L. (2013). Children Killing Children: School Shootings in the United States. Social Work Review / Revista De Asistenta Sociala, (4), 49-55. Mongan, P., Hatcher, S., Maschi, T. (2009). Etiology of School Shootings: Utilizing a Purposive, Non-Impulsive Model for Social Work Practice. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 19(5), 635-645. doi:10.1080/10911350902910583 Reddy, M., Borum, R., Berglund, J., Vossekuil, B., Fein, R., Modzeleski, W. (2011) Evaluating risk for targeted violence in schools: Comparing risk assessment, threat assessment, and other approaches. Psychology in the Schools, 38, 2, 157‑172. Roland, E. (2002) Bullying, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. Educational Research, 44, 55‑67.

Sociology: The Study of Culture Essay -- Sociology Essays

Many times I have attempted to comprehend the actions of other people. I always wanted to know why people of different genders, descents, and colors had certain cultural, societal, and religious beliefs. It became apparent to me that all persons are a direct reflection of their environment. In other words, all persons unconsciously, and sometimes consciously, reflect and imitate their environment and the things that they see. Every culture has their own individual stereotypes and belief systems. The reason for this is that people place arbitrary meanings on life's occurrences based upon those of the individuals which preceded them. Thought patterns of an individual are all dependent upon the teachings of others. We perceive and understand the physical and social world based on the meanings we attach to people, things, and actions. To put it simply our minds are all guided by the force of "other minds" that are "more developed" than our own. This is all a part of Sociological study. These studies look at the predominant attitudes, behavior, and types of relationships within a society. A society is a group of people who have a similar cultural background and live in a specific geographical area. but before we get into this however Lets take a step back and look at the field in which these studies derive from. Sociology is a social science that studies individuals, groups, and institutions that make up human society. It is an observation of how people relate to one another and to their environments. They also study the formation of groups; the causes of various forms of social behavior; and the role of churches, schools, and other institutions within a society. Social behavior is studied extensively in the field of s... ...rom all secular practices. This includes watching television, listening to radio or partaking in any activities which is not in reverence of their religion. To a Christian however this practice would seem absurd. Their reality does not carry the same beliefs. Although these are just a few examples it gives you an idea of how a persons geographical location and cultural background can shape their individuals belief. Many of which are not practiced by other cultures. If you wanted to better understand a persons ways or why it is that people of different ethnic backgrounds have different beliefs and practices. It would be best to start with trying to understand that persons culture and their socialization process. Once you begin to grasp an understanding and they way they have grew up then it will be easier to understand why they do things in a certain way.

Why Do Companies Spend Money On Computerized Systems? :: essays research papers

Starting in the late Twentieth Century, many companies started using computerized systems. Most of these companies started using these systems to save time and reduce costs. Even though these computerized systems are rather expensive, in the long run they saved companies money. The companies saved money by making or purchasing a computerized system by reducing paper usage and employee overtime. Since employees did not have to spend there time doing paper work, they could do their jobs faster and more efficiently. This gave the employees more time to do other projects around the office. One computerized system that saved employee’s time is automatic payroll. Instead of wasting time filling out paper time sheets, the employee could simply â€Å"clock† in at the beginning and end of each shift. Some companies like this idea because it can possibly reduce the number of employees needed in the payroll section of their company. Many aspects of the computerized system might take away some duties from the human employee. This can save the company a lot of money, but is very bad for employee morale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Management also benefits from the computerized system. Management is able make decisions much faster because the information they needed to make these decisions with is right there and could easily be accessed. There is no searching for documents or other files. The company can easily give access to certain parts of the computerized system to one group in the company and not the other. This way, information is kept private or public, depending of the company needs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is not always the case that the company’s employees and employers notice most of the benefits that a computerized system has.

“Examine the View That the Family Is Universal”

George Murdock examined the institution of the family in a wide range of society. Murdock took a sample of 250 societies of different cultures and discovered that there was some form of the nuclear family which existed in every society. Murdock then concluded that the family is universal and provides four function. Sexual(stable relationship for adults), reproduction(continuing to create more society members), economic (pools resources to provide for each other), socialisation (teaches norms and values of society).Kathleen Gough disagreed with Murdock statement that the family is universal since she investigated a society in India called the Nayar who were an exception to the family. For example sandbanham relationships were not lifelong unions, either party could terminate the relationship at any time, sunbanham husbands had no duty towards the offspring’s of their wives, husband and wives did not form an economic unit. Husbands were not expected to maintain their wives. This society was a matrilineal society. in terms of Murdock definition of the family, no family existed in the nayar society since those who maintained a sexually approved relationship did not live together and cooperate economically.Another type of family known as the martifocal familles are considered an expection to murdocks defintion of the family as some children are raised in a household that do not contain men and are headed by females. For example a significant proprtion of black familles in the island of the west indies(Guyana).female headed familles are oftern known as the matriarchal family.Another type of family which may go against murdock definition of the family is gay and lesbian families.murodck claimed the household will contain â€Å"two of both sexes† however lesbian and gay household contain a union from the same gender.In conclusion although the nuclear family, the ideal type of family from the new rights perspective is found in every society. Not all househ old consist of this particular family. Therefore the nuclear family in my opinion is not unversal since it is not found in every household.

Expressionism in Death of Salesman Essay

From the opening flute notes to their final reprise, Miller’s musical themes express the competing influences in Willy Loman’s mind. Once established, the themes need only be sounded to evoke certain time frames, emotions, and values. The first sounds of the drama, the flute notes â€Å"small and fine,† represent the grass, trees, and horizon – objects of Willy’s (and Biff’s) longing that are tellingly absent from the overshadowed home on which the curtain rises. This melody plays on as Willy makes his first appearance, although, as Miller tells us, â€Å"[h]e hears but is not aware of it† (12). Through this music we are thus given our first sense of Willy’s estrangement not only from nature itself but from his own deepest nature. As Act I unfolds, the flute is linked to Willy’s father, who, we are told, made flutes and sold them during the family’s early wanderings. The father’s theme, â€Å"a high, rollic king tune,† is differentiated from the small and fine melody of the natural landscape (49). This distinction is fitting, for the father is a salesman as well as an explorer; he embodies the conflicting values that are destroying his son’s life. The father’s tune shares a family likeness with Ben’s â€Å"idyllic† (133) music. This false theme, like Ben himself, is associated finally with death. Ben’s theme is first sounded, after all, only after Willy expresses his exhaustion (44). It is heard again after Willy is fired in Act II. This time the music precedes Ben’s entrance. It is heard in the distance, then closer, just as Willy’s thoughts of suicide, once repressed, now come closer at the loss of his job. And Willy’s first words to Ben when he finally appears are the ambiguous â€Å"how did you do it?† (84). When Ben’s idyllic melody plays for the third and final time it is in â€Å"accents of dread† (133), for Ben reinforces Willy’s wrongheaded thought of suicide to bankroll Biff. The father’s and Ben’s themes, representing selling (out) and abandonment, are thus in opposition to the small and fine theme of nature that begins and ends the play. A whistling motif elaborates this essential conflict. Whistling is often done by those contentedly at work. It frequently also accompanies outdoor activities. A whistler in an office would be a distraction. Biff Loman likes to whistle, thus reinforcing his ties to nature rather than to the business environment. But Happy seeks to stifle Biff’s true voice: HAPPY . . . Bob Harrison said you were tops, and then you go and do some damn fool thing like whistling whole songs in the elevator like a comedian. BIFF, against Happy. So what? I like to whistle sometimes. HAPPY. You don t raise a guy to a responsible job who whistles in elevator! (60) This conversation reverberates ironically when Howard Wagner plays Willy a recording of his daughter whistling Roll out the Barrel† just before Willy asks for an advance and a New York job (77). Whistling, presumably, is all right if you are the boss or the boss’s daughter, but not if you are an employee. The barrel will not be rolled out for Willy or Biff Loman. Willy’s conflicting desires to work in sales and to do outdoor, independent work are complicated by another longing, that of sexual desire, which is expressed through the â€Å"raw, sensuous music† that accompanies The Woman’s appearances on stage (116, 37). It is this music of sexual desire, I suggest, that â€Å"insinuates itself† as the first leaves cover the house in Act 1.5 It is heard just before Willy – reliving a past conversation – offers this ironic warning to Biff: â€Å"Just wan na be careful with those girls, Biff, that’s all. Don’t make any promises. No promises of any kind† (27). This raw theme of sexual desire contrasts with Linda Loman’s theme: the maternal hum of a soft lullaby that becomes a â€Å"desperate but monotonous† hum at the end of Act I (69). Linda’s monotonous drone, in turn, contrasts with the â€Å"gay and bright† music, the boys’ theme, which opens Act II. This theme is associated with the â€Å"great times† (127) Willy remembers with his sons – before his adultery is discovered. Like the high, rollicking theme of Willy’s father and like Ben’s idyllic melody, this gay and bright music is ultimately associated with the false dream of materialistic success. The boys theme is first heard when Willy tells Ben that he and the boys will get rich in Brooklyn (87). It sounds again when Willy implores Ben, â€Å"[H]ow do we get back to all the great times?† (127). In his final moments of life, Willy Loman is shown struggling with his furies: â€Å"sounds, faces, voices, seem to be swarming in upon him† (136). Suddenly, however, the â€Å"faint and high† music enters, representing the false dreams of all the â€Å"low† men. This false tune ends Willy’s struggle with his competing voices. It drowns out the other voices, rising in intensity â€Å"almost to an unbearable scream† as Willy rushes off in pursuit. And just as the travail of Moby Dick ends with the ongoing flow of the waves, nature, in the form of the flute’s small and fine refrain, persists – despite the tragedy we have witnessed. Sets In the introduction to his Collected Plays, Miller acknowledges that the first image of Salesman that occurred to him was of an enormous face the height of the proscenium arch; the face would appear and then open up. â€Å"We would see the inside of a man’s head,† he explains. â€Å"In fact, The Inside of His Head was the first title. It was conceived half in laughter, (60) for the inside of his head was a mass of contradictions† (23). By the time Miller had completed Salesman, however, he had found a more subtle plays correlative for the giant head; a transparent setting. â€Å"The entire setting is wholly, or, in some places, partially transparent,† Miller insists in his set description (11). By substituting a transparent setting for a bisected head, Miller invited the audience to examine the social context as well as the individual organism. Productions that eschew transparent scenery eschew the nuances of this invitation. The transparent lines of the L oman home allow the audience physically to sense the city pressures that are destroying Willy. â€Å"We are aware of towering, angular shapes behind [Willy’s house], surrounding it on all sides. The roofline of the house is one-dimensional; under and over it we see the apartment buildings† (11-12). Wherever Willy Loman looks are these encroaching buildings, and wherever we look as well. Willy’s subjective vision is expressed also in the home’s furnishings, which are deliberately partial. The furnishings indicated are only those of importance to Willy Loman. That Willy’s kitchen has a table with three chairs instead of four reveals both Linda Loman’s unequal status in the family and Willy’s obsession with his boys. At the end of Act I, Willy goes to his small refrigerator for life-sustaining milk (cf. Brecht’s parallel use of milk in Galileo). Later, however, we learn that this repository of nourishment, like Willy himself, has broken down. That Willy Loman’s bedroom contains only a bed, a straight chair, and a shelf holding Biff’s silver athletic trophy also telegraphs much about the man and his family. Linda Loman has no object of her own in her bedroom. Willy Loman also travels light. He has nothing of substance to sustain him. His vanity is devoted to adolescent competition. Chairs ultimately become surrogates for people in Death of a Salesman as first a kitchen chair becomes Biff in Willy’s conflicted mind (28) and then an office chair becomes Willy’s deceased boss, Frank Wagner (82). In, perhaps, a subtle bow to Georg Kaiser’s Gas I and Gas II, Miller’s gas heater glows when Willy thinks of death. The scrim that veils the primping Woman and the screen hiding the restaurant where two women will be seduced suggest Willy Loman’s repression of sexuality. Lighting Expressionism has done more than any other movement to develop the expressive powers of stage lighting. The German expressionists used light to create a strong sense of mood and to isolate characters in a void. By contrasting light and shadow, and by employing extreme side, overhead, and rear lighting angles, they established the nightmarish atmosphere in which many of their plays took place. The original Kazan Salesman made use of more lights than were used even in Broadway musicals (Timebends 190). At the end of act 1, Biff comes downstage â€Å"into a golden pool of light† as Willy recalls the day of the city baseball championship when Biff was â€Å"[l]ike a young God. Hercules – something like that. And the sun, the sun all around him.† The pool of light both establishes the moment as one of Willy’s memories and suggests how he has inflated the past, given it mythic dimension. The lighting also functions to instill a sense of irony in the audience, fo r the golden light glows on undiminished as Willy exclaims, â€Å"A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away!† We know that Biff’s star faded, even before it had a chance to shine, and even as Willy speaks these words, the light on him begins to fade (68). That Willy’s thoughts turn immediately from this golden vision of his son to his own suicide is indicated by the â€Å"blue flame† of the gas heater that begins immediately to glow through the wall – a foreshadowing of Willy’s desire to gild his son through his own demise. Productions that omit either the golden pool of light or the glowing gas heater withhold this foreshadowing of Willy’s final deed. Similarly, productions that omit the lights on the empty chairs miss the chance to reveal the potency of Willy’s fantasies. Perhaps even more important, the gas heater’s flame at the end of Act I recalls the â€Å"angry glow of orange† surrounding Willy’s house at the play’s beginning (11). Both join with the â€Å"red glow† rising from the hotel room and the restaurant to give a felt sense of Willy’s twice articulated cry: â€Å"The woods are burning!†¦There’s a big blaze going on all around† (41, 107). Without these sensory clues, audiences may fail to appreciate the desperation of Willy’s state. Characters and Costumes Miller employs expressionistic technique when he allows his characters to split into younger versions of themselves to represent Willy’s memories. Young Biff’s letter sweater and football signal his age reversion, yet they also move in the direction of social type. The Woman also is an expressionistic type, the play’s only generic character other than the marvelously individualized salesman. Miller’s greatest expressionistic creations, however, are Ben and Willy Loman. In his Paris Review interview, Miller acknowledged that he purposely refused to give Ben any character, â€Å"because for Willy he has no character – which is, psychologically, expressionist because so many memories come back with a simple tag on them: somebody represents a threat to you, or a promise† (Theater Essays 272). Clearly Ben represents a promise to Willy Loman. It is the promise of material success, but it is also the promise of death.6 We might consider Uncle Ben to be the ghost of Ben, for we learn that Ben has recently died in Africa. Since Miller never discloses the cause of Ben’s death, he may be a suicide himself. His idyllic melody, as I have noted, becomes finally a death march. In Willy’s last moments, the contrapuntal voices of Linda and Ben vie with each other, but Willy moves inexorably toward Ben. Alluding to Africa, and perhaps also to the River Styx, Ben looks at his watch and says, â€Å"The boat. We’ll be late† as he moves slowly into the darkness (135). Willy Loman, needless to say, is Miller’s brilliant demonstration that expressionistic techniques can express inner as well as outer forces, that expressionism can be used to create â€Å"felt,† humane character. The music, setting, and lighting of Salesman all function to express the world inside Willy Loman’s head, a world in which social and personal values meet and merge and struggle for integration. As Miller writes in the introduction to his Collected Plays: [The play’s] expressionistic elements were consciously used as such, but since the approach to Willy Loman’s characterization was consistently and rigorously subjective, the audience would not ever be aware – if I could help it – that they were witnessing the use of a technique which had until then created only coldness, objectivity, and a highly styled sort of play. (39) In 1983, when Miller arrived in Beijing to direct the first Chinese production of Death of a Salesman, he was pleased to find that the Chinese had created a mirror image of the original transparent set. Seeing this set, and observing that the kitchen was furnished with only a refrigerator, table, and two (not even three) chairs, Miller felt â€Å"a wonderful boost† to his morale (Salesman in Beijing 3-4). Teachers and directors might offer a similar boost by giving full weight to the expressionistic moments in Death of a Salesman. For directors, achieving such moments may be technically demanding, but they should not be abandoned simply because they are challenging.7 Similarly, the expressionistic devices should not be considered too obvious for postmodern taste. In truth, the expressionism in Salesman is not intrusive. Its very refinement of German expressionism lies in its subtlety, in its delicate balance with the realistic moments in the drama. This ever-shifting tension between realism and expressionism allows us to feel the interpenetration of outer and inner forces within the human psyche. The expressionistic devices also elevate Willy’s suffering, for they place it in the context of the natural order. To excise the expressionism is to diminish the rich chord that is Miller’s drama