Globalization Essay

Globalization and technology moves the world of business forward. Globalization and technology are essential elements in providing new grounds for business transactions. Understanding how globalization and technology work to make negotiating across countries possible. This examination will discuss the various implications of globalization and technology in the negotiation process. Further, provide insight into the value of globalization and technology in business transactions. Globalization plays a substantial role in the everyday business processes. Globalization allows companies or businesses to expand and outsource jobs to maintain a low price for products. â€Å"Negotiations and contracts constitute one of the major issues in business†(). Expansion to other countries will bring in more revenue for the business and create jobs. In a domestic business transaction, globalization may also include the expansion from one state to another. The business process may vary from state to state; moreover, the needs and wants of the consumers vary as well. In negotiation, globalization takes the same business processes into consideration regarding whether to greet people in a specific way, a preference of gender at business meetings, or even the style of business cards. Another method of globalization may be from purchasing an ethnic item at the grocery store. The negotiation process to arrive at an agreement or contract to distribute this specific ethnic product took place to allow this product to exist in the store. Undoubtedly, globalization employs the use of technology to permit an ease of business transactions. For example, instead of hosting a teleconference with the advancement of technology, businesses may videoconference and have the face-to-face connection. In relation to negotiation, videoconferencing allows the negotiations to take place through globalization. Face-to-face situations compel a negotiator to be more honest and cooperative because of the personal and emotional consequences of being caught in a lie in the face-to-face context† (Thompson, 1998, p. 267). Therefore, technology may pose as a negative factor in the negotiation process. Nevertheless, the mix of globalization, technology, and negotiation may not necessarily work together to produce an ideal outcome. Ultimately, the effects of globalization and technology in the negotiation process may be beneficial. However, adapting to the new methods of business and negotiation is important. In addition, practicing effective negotiation strategies through globalization is significant to understanding the best method of arriving at a settlement or agreement. In negotiating globally, understanding the opposing side’s culture may benefit the contract at hand. Therefore, studying the business practices of the opposing side is important to not offend them and prolong the negotiation process.

Ancient history course notes

Focuses on written sources, written sources restricted to the last 5500 years, written sources are limited to literate societies, written sources from ancient societies were mostly written by men, reflecting a male bias. Archaeology: Focuses on physical sources, physical sources extend as far back as the beginning of human history Into prehistory, physical artifacts provide information about all human activity, and archaeologists usually study the lives of all members of society.Find a site finds Excavate Record what is found Examine and investigate Publish Findings Analysis and Interpretation of finds Finding a site: Human activities have led to many chance finds. Some activities Include: plugging, land reclamation, digging and building foundations, quarrying and dredging, construction of roads, railways. Sewers etc and modern warfare. Crop Marks, Shadow marks, and satellite photography..Excavation: People who may be involved in a dig: Anthropologist- Someone who studies the origins of the human species and their change over time. Epigrapher-studies Inscriptions, deciphers tablets. Paleontologist-studies fossils of living organisms. Architect-Designs and oversees the making of buildings. Forensic Pathologist-a branch of pathology that deals with determining the cause of death. Proctologist-studies the translation of texts written on papyrus. Botanist-Studies all aspects of plant life Geochemistry-study of the earth's chemical compositions. Radiologist-A doctor who specialists In the use of x-rays. Ceramicist-A craftsman who shapes pottery and makes it in a kiln Numismatist- Someone who studies, grades and collects coins. Zoologist-studies all features of the animal kingdom Anatomist-studies features and organs of human and animal bodies. Climatologist- Studies climate Volcanisms-studies all features of castles and volcanoes.

Economics question and answer Essay

Economics: question and answer Introduction Question 1            War unrest in Middle East has negatively impacted on the price and quantity of oil in the market. The expectation of war from Syria and Iraq to spread to Middle East countries cause fear of possible shortages of supply as people may possibly do without oil. As a result people will buy more to store in preparation for future shortages. As the demand increases, price of oil goes up as people anticipate war unrest in the near future. When eventually the war sets in oil production is disrupted but people do not demand more since they had enough to cushion the scarcity (Kemp, 2013). In the graph illustration below, assuming the market was initially at the equilibrium. Since scarcity is expected in future people will by more (high demand) to spare for future. As the demand increase from 150 units to 350 units, the price also increases accordingly from $0.25 to $ 0.35. Graphical illustration 3411220146431000 Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1: when people expect civil unrest the demand is high but and the prices go up. Question 2            Car and petro are complimentary good that are consumed together. Taxation on one of the complimentary products greatly influences the price of the other good. The increase in price of one good causes a corresponding decrease in the price of the other good and vice versa. For instance, taxing petrol increase its price, leading to high demand for high fuel efficient cars. Increase in demand for high fuel efficient cars results to increased price and vice versa. On the other hand increase in price for petrol leads to decrease in demand for low fuel efficient cars thus leading to their low price (Dwivedi, 2012). Many thus will buy high fuel efficient cars Graphical illustration Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 2: price of petrol increases when tax is imposed Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 3 this graph shows increase in demand and price for high fuel efficient when the price for petrol increases due to taxation Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 4: the graph show decrease in demand for high fuel efficient cars when the price of petrol goes up Question 3            The fact that suppliers cannot sell live chicken directly to consumers coupled with the fear of mass death due to anticipated chicken flu results to high supply in the market. When supply increases beyond demand the price falls down. In addition since the health official are the only buyers a monopolistic competition comes into play since the price for chicken is not control by the market forces of demand and supply (Taylor, & Weerapana, 2012). The equilibrium the will shift to the right. Graphical illustration lefttop Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 5 : Excess supplies of chicken in the market results to low demand and eventually falls in price. The farmer expects future unfavorable condition due to outbreak of chicken flue. Question 4 Price elasticity of demand is the measure of responsive of the quantity demanded of a product to price change with other factors held ( Dwivedi, 2012). Price Elasticity of Demand (PEoD) = percentage change in quantity demanded (%ΔQ) à · percentage change in price (%ΔP) %ΔQ = 35 -50 / 50 Ãâ€"100 = -30% %ΔP = 8 -6 / 6 Ãâ€"100 = 33.33% Therefore, PEoD = -30 %/ 33.33% = -0.900            As economists we are not interested with the negative sign of our price elasticity of demand and therefore we take the absolute value. Therefore, the price elasticity of demand when price increases from $6 to $ 8 is 0.9. Interpretation.            For the above case the demand for the good is price inelastic. This means that the demand for the product does not respond highly ton price changes. As evident in the computation, an increase of price by 33.3 % of the price results to a corresponding decrease of quantity demanded by 30%. The demand thus is not very sensitive to price changes. Question 5(a)            Externality is an effect or a cost of the consumer behavior that may not be borne by the consumer but by the society. This mean s that the effects are caused by the consumer but the society bears the consequences. Tobacco smoking is among the activities that cause externalities. For instance narcotic in tobacco is believed to cause lung cancer to smokers. However the external cost of providing medical care to smokers is borne by non-smokers, by smokers and the government. Additionally environmental pollution due to smoking is borne by the family members of the smoker’s friends and even non-smokers strangers. Moreover, smoking has environmental externalities that involve deforestation to create room for tobacco growing. Agrochemical used in tobacco production also adds to environmental pollution and degradation. Cigarette wastes are common in all cities, sidewalks and around homes. Although majority of these wastes are biodegradable, the filter and plastic wr appers and remain in the environment for long and the consequences of such pollution are felt by the larger society. 5(b)            The Australian government in its attempt to control and minimize the external costs resulting from tobacco imposes high tax on tobacco. High taxation on tobacco increases the cost and as a result the demand for tobacco decreases. The tax imposed is transferred by producers to the consumers (smokers). When this happens, the demand curve will shift from right to left as indicated in the graph. Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 6: (Tax increase the price for tobacco leading to low demand and eventually low consumption) Question 6            When entry barriers are eliminated in the market huge number of firms enters the industry resulting to excessive supply of commodities. In a market where entry barriers are limited the price of commodities is determined by the market forces since no firm has control over the market. Excessive supply that is created results to low prices of goods and services offered. In response the price the price goes down due to competition from other firm. As a result, the profit that firms were making initially decreases due. Graphical illustration 1627833top00 Question 7            Oligopolistic market structures is a type of market where by small number of larger firms control the market jointly. The firms trade in almost similar goods. Oligopolistic firms do not engage in price competetion (Vives, 2001).Basing our argument on the game theory; where the actions one firm depend on those of other firms, it is evident that when for instance one firm lowers its price compared to other firms, customers will be attracted by the lower prices resulting to other firms making economical loss in their operation. In response to this the other will lower their price slighted below the initial firm eventually attracting the customers. The other firms in the market will make loss and eventually respond by making their prices much lower compared to other firms. This process continues until the firms sell at economically a low price that is illustrated by kinked curves (Vives, 2001).There to remain competitive and make profit do not engage in price competiti on. Alternatives to price completion            Oligopolistic firms compete by using alternative modes such as advertisement, product differentiation and barrier to entry in the market. Oligopolistic firms undertake a vigorous advertisement of their products both in national and international levels. Advertisement is made to make potential customers aware of the existence of the product in the market and the good qualities associated with such good and services (Taylor & Weerapana, 2012). Advertisement is carried out through mass media and product promotion. In addition oligopolistic firms constantly differentiate their products in terms of quality and always struggle to come up with new products design that outshine those of competitors. In the recent era product differentiation has been enhanced by ever growing technology and innovation. Since oligopolistic firms compete in almost similar goods and services coming up with new products with good qualities gives a firm advantage over its market rivals. For insta nce phones manufacturing firms have constantly developed phone with new applications to remain competitive.            Furthermore, the firms create market entry barriers to new firms, a strategy that ensures that the existing share of market. The common market barriers include the patent rights, important government franchises and the existing economies of scale. These barriers ensure that the market is not flooded by many firms that in the long run may reduce the existing firms’ share of the market control. References Dwivedi, D. N. (2012). Microeconomics. New Delhi, India: Pearson Education/Dorling Kindersley. Kemp, G. (2013). War with Iran: Political, military, and economic consequences. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Taylor, J. B., & Weerapana, A. (2012). Principles of microeconomics. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Vives, X. (2001). Oligopoly pricing: Old ideas and new tools. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: MIT Press Source document

Discuss the role that governments have played in the development of Essay

Discuss the role that governments have played in the development of the Australian system of employment relations since 1980 - Essay Example Therefore, a sound employment relations system should create a favourable environment that is ideal for achieving maximum economic efficiency, motivation, productivity, employee development, and enhancing employee loyalty (Lewis, et al., 2003, p. 7). There are three main parties that make up the employment relations systems: employers, employees and the government. Employers have certain rights that are provided by their state labour laws. The main employer right is the ability to hire and fire employees. They also have a right to relocate, close or enter into collaboration with their company of choice. Moreover, employers have the right to introduce new technologies within the work place. Rights exercised by the employer may to some extent affect the employees adversely (Gardner, 1997, p. 6). Employees always aim at getting the best terms and conditions of employment from their employers. This process involves sharing their opinions with the management and also airing their grievanc es. Employees also use trade unions to fight for the right to take part in decision making at their workplace. Workers unions serve the purpose of presenting concerns of workers to the management, and they are as a result of workers uniting together against their employers (Gardner, 1997, p. 7). State and central government are particularly crucial in influencing and regulating employment relations through rules, laws, memorandums, and issuance of awards. Government includes tribunal courts, third parties and labour institution within the government (Gardner, 1997, p. 9). The three main parties in the employment system have their own representative bodies, which work on behalf of the entire party. Employers are represented by employers associations, employees by trade unions while the government is represented by the courts and tribunals such as Fair Work Australia (Forsyth and Stewart 2009, p. 4). The scope of employment relations is extremely wide, and there are five main issues c overed under the employment relations scope. These issues include collective bargaining, mechanisms for settling employment disputes, standing orders, involvement of workers in decision making process, and unfair labour practices (Rose, 2008, p. 11). Employers should be in the forefront in ensuring that there is a strong and healthy relationship between them and their employees. These excellent relationships can only be achieved through employment relations programs that are vital in the development of a motivated, competent, and loyal team of employees. This team can only be achieved through a well structured employment relations program that focuses on employee training, employee surveys, employee reward and recognition, and employee appraisal. Moreover, the program should focus on proper conflict resolution mechanism and hiring of most suitable workers (Lewis, et al., 2003, p. 27). Employment relations systems from various countries around the world operate in different styles, b ut the main aim is to maintain a healthy relationship between all the parties involved. Governments have contributed immensely in the creation of ideal working environments for the citizens. The Australian government is one such

Dealing with disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Dealing with disaster - Essay Example The cavalry he referred to includes many rescue personnel and organisations. Many individuals, groups, and agencies get involved in disaster response and recovery operations. It is important for disaster response planners to understand these teams in order to assign them roles and responsibilities that they can fulfill effectively during a disaster. The United Kingdom is less susceptible to large-scale disasters than many other countries. However, the UK is not entirely immune from the effects of all hazards. According to the national risk assessment, UK is considered to be most at risk from the spread of pandemic diseases, the effects of severe weather and flooding (Caron, Kelly, and Telesetsky 2013: 81). As a result, the UK government has established its domestic disaster response framework at all levels in the central government and local authorities. Different organisations including the civil society organisations and other institutions such as the British Red Cross Society get involved in disaster response, and their roles and responsibilities are outlined in this framework. This framework is highly devolved, and it may be difficult to establish what qualifies to be a well-defined role or responsibility and what does not. However, Caron, Kelly, and Telesetsky (2013) proposed that the emergency response framework should pr ovide greater clarity and understanding for all response teams. The rate at which disasters occur has risen from about 200 disasters in the 1980s to about 400 disasters per year (United Nations 2008: 1). 0ver 90 percent of these disasters are climate-related, and it is projected that this trend will continue as the weather related hazard events will continue to be more volatile and more frequent. The vulnerability is growing, and countries have become more prone to disasters. This vulnerability has increased due to

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination - Essay Example Major emigration from Sweden to America started after 1839, when the initial organized emigrant communities began to arrive in New York (Beijbom 1996). From 1850 to 1929, more than 1.3 million Swedes migrated to America, a quantity that covered around 26 percent of the total population of Sweden during that time. Sweden had one of the top rates of emigration of all of the European countries. The rates of immigration to America varied every year, nevertheless, mirroring economic conditions in both Sweden and America. The first major migration of Swedes to the United States came between 1868 and 1873, as famine in their home country and opportunity for land in America encouraged around a hundred thousand Swedes, primarily farm families, from Sweden. (Granquist 2009) Swedish-Americans had relatively little negative experience with regard to discrimination, because the Swedes did not experience some of the cruelties other ethnic groups experienced. Swedish immigrants were in general well accepted by majority of Americans and appeared to mingle well with their neighbors. It helped that the Swedes were seen as welcome immigrants, because they came from a Protestant northern European nation (Granquist 2009). All in all, Swedish Americans were educated, possessed skills, and industrious type of people, and found employment on farms and in mines and factories. Young Swedish women were particularly in demand as domestic servants in American homes. In many areas in the United States during that time, Swedes lived near other Scandinavian and German immigrants. A conventional typecast of nineteenth-century Swedish immigrants was that they were either farmers or agricultural laborers in the countryside areas, or domestic servants in urban areas. There was a certain amount of veracity in this typecast since such jobs were often occupied by immigrants who have recently reached the United States. Many Swedish immigrants were educated, skilled, and self-driven,

Ethics and the college student Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethics and the college student - Research Paper Example At this age someone develops good habits and by repeatedly doing the habits, they grow in an ethical way (Paul & Elder, 2006). Conversely, ethical habits can also be developed from the teaching someone acquires from the taught rules for example cleaning hands after visiting the washroom, not spitting around, covering the mouth while coughing. All these and many others are rules taught in the society thus when someone learns them, they tend to develop the ethical habits derived from them. When one gets to high school, there are those habits a high school student is supposed to have for example, completing assignments and attending all classes as well as following rules. Therefore, a student will develop the ethical habits dictated by the environment they are in which is the learning (Paul & Elder, 2006). There are also those ethics that can be obtained from establishing new habits. For instance someone can establish a habit of ensuring that they will never do a punishment or cross the wrong side of the law. Such a person will always do what is right so as to ensure they do not get punished. These are the ethics observed according to the area of study for instance medical ethics for health students, business ethics for business ethics and engineering ethics for engineering students (Paul & Elder, 2006). This kind of ethics help one in improving their performance in that field as well as determining what is right to do in that field. Educational ethics also help in shaping the student to perform morally in the place of work for example being responsible. This is dictated by the knowledge of what is morally good to do. It is this type of ethics that enables a person to determine their mode of dressing, the activities they do in public as well as the language they use to communicate (Paul & Elder, 2006). This ethics also dictates how one

300 word essay, history of history 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

300 word , history of history 4 - Essay Example IV concentrated on fighting the Romans and the Spaniards5, and neglected his duties and vows as the Pope and his expectations as a Church leader6. However, soon, due to certain events7, he underwent a radical shift in his approach towards his office, and from then onwards, expended all his efforts and all his life in establishing rules and practices that were aimed at reviving the lost spirit of the Church8. Renke cites several examples of the reforms that Paul IV introduced as part of his reforms, such as reinstituting the government officials and clergy9, and making the practices of the Church more strict and binding upon the public as well as the clergy10. Renke writes in a very theatrical style11, and presents the history of Papacy with a lot of earnest and interest, which is evident through his writing. However, he merely presents his own opinions about the events that occurred, and his own perceptions about the actions of the Pope and other individuals whom he has mentioned in his book12, rather than citing the incidences themselves and leaving the judgment and conclusion to the readers. Therefore, his writing style is clearly biased towards a certain standpoint, and his writing cannot be claimed to be critical or analytical in nature. It is, nevertheless, quite entertaining and absorbing, and makes the reading of historical anecdotes quite interesting to the general

Analysis of Genealogy of Morals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Analysis of Genealogy of Morals - Essay Example Instead of understanding as being inherent or natural, he argues, they are the instruments of the privileged few to preserve the status quo and keep themselves in power. In Nietzsche’s point of view, this directly undervalues them. I argue that he perceives this notion of good and evil as philosophically worthless and, moreover, something to be removed from human society. We, as well, just like Nietzsche should begin searching for the origin of the words. The argument of Nietzsche is founded on linguistics; he explores the words in several languages, and terms resembling them. He explores initially the German ‘schlecht’ which means bad. He examines parallel words such as ‘schlicht,’ ‘schlechtweg,’ and ‘schlechterdings.’ These three words are deviations of the word simple, guiding Nietzsche to the assumption that the words are connected; that to a certain extent the meaning of ‘schlecht’ was modified, and this modification stands for the ideals of the German society of that period, that the plebeians, average citizens were, blatantly, bad. Likewise, Nietzsche specifies Latin, mentioning particularly malus which means ‘bad’ and melas which means ‘black’ (Leiter 2002, 41). Nietzsche afterwards mentions the structure of the upper and lower classes of Rome. In Roman traditions, he emphasizes, those with black hair were customarily recognized as lower class, whereas the upper class are those with light and blonde hair. He draws the same thought s in Greek and Celtic traditions, generally making the argument that the terms for good and bad varied basically from classiest concepts in which the privileged few had such power they could even exploit the language to function in their own interest and motive (Leiter 2002). However, there is dissimilarity in the words, certainly the thoughts, being made use of now and those that were presented initially. Good and bad are not synonymous as

Electronic and Digital Media Industry Assignment

Electronic and Digital Media Industry - Assignment Example One of the historical and contemporary roles the media plays is it acts as a surveillance for the society. Media broadcasts and passes down information about the happening s in the society including any threats hence making people make counterplans. In the past, media played a role of educating the public about ethics but the issue is not so pronounced in the contemporary times. The media in the brink of company competitions in this contemporary times acts as a marketing channel where companies advertise their products in the different media forms hence making their consumers aware of the different products. They also participate in social awareness campaigns, political campaigns and other forms of campaigns aimed at teaching the society.Photography before the 1960s was not electronic but used chemicals and hence the quality of the image was questionable. The contemporary times however have led to photography becoming digital and the images clearer and hence lowering the cost of phot ography in general and even the cost of purchasing the cameras that are consumer friendly. Recording has also moved from use of gramophones and other cylinder devices to the crystalline CDs, cassette tapes and to now DVDs and iPods among others. Transmission of the radio waves has also evolved from the use of multiple channels and relying on cable transmission that were RF-based to the current use of fiber optic cables.The mass media uses the transmission, photography and recording for purposes of marketing.

Reflective Account Essay Example for Free

Reflective Account Essay This seemed to keep his mind off worrying about were his wife or daughter was and stopped him from wanting to walk about the ward. After a while the patient asked if he could lie down for a while, and I explained that this was ok. I lowered the bed for the patient as low as it would go, to prevent the patient from falling or injuring himself while climbing into the bed. By doing this I was following the guidelines set out by the health and safety at work act 1972 and carrying out risk assessments to prevent harm to myself or others. Once the patient had got into the bed safely I put the bed side up to prevent him from falling out while he was sleeping, I then gave him his buzzer. Before leaving the room I asked the patient if he would like the room door left open or closed over, by doing this I was promoting the patients right to choice and individuality. I then left the room and closed the door as the patient had requested, and told the staff nurse in charge of him, that he was now sleeping, and that I had emptied his catheter bag and updated the fluid balance chart. I had to tell the staff nurse that I had left the room, so that if anything happened they knew that I was not there, as I would be accountable for it. Being accountable for my actions is one of the NMC code of conduct and is in line with professional accountability. I think that this task was very fulfilling as I was able to help other staff around me, as well as keep a patient calm. I enjoyed talking to the patient and found it very interesting. It also allowed me to practice keeping patient’s charts up to date. References

The Private Sector Essay Example for Free

The Private Sector Essay Below is a quick summary on the key events from the present day back to 1936 and a brief description of what each one is about 1936 Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp at Skegness with over 600 chalets included 1938 Holidays with Pay Act introduced People given time off work whilst still getting paid 1946 Fred Pontin opens his first holiday camp near Weston-Super-Mare Competition to the Butlins holiday camp 1950 First packaged air holiday organized by Horizon Advance in technology allowing this to happen 1952. First jet airline passenger service faster and more comfortable way of travel 1959 First jet airline passenger service to Australia transport and technology has allowed for this to happen 1960 Number of domestic holidays exceeds 30 million for the first time and number of holidays rises to 3. 5 million showing an increase of people taking holidays Early 1960s First global distribution systems developed by American airline companies 1968 Worlds first commercial Hovercraft operated from Dover to Boulogne Advance in Technology and meant people could get across quicker than with ferry. 1969 Development of Tourism Act introduced. Formation of the British, English, Scottish and Wales Tourist Boards Government realized that they had to promote the country for tourism and for incoming and domestic tourists 1976 Concorde goes into service A supersonic transport plane built by Britain and France, begins passenger service 1981 60 per cent of households in the UK have regular use of at least one car More money been made and another form of transport meaning that domestic tourism can expand with people been able to travel in the UK easier. 1987 Number of holidays abroad exceeds 20 million for the first time, whilst domestic holidays fall to 28. 5 million, the lowest number since 1955 Showing that the advance in flying and cheaper holidays abroad with sun are tempting people to go that way 1992 EU Directive on package holidays introduced EU has found it important to pass legislation 1992 Department of National Heritage formed For Culture, Media and sports 1995 Le Shuttle and Eurostar carry first passengers through Channel Tunnel New quicker way of getting across the channel 1997 70 per cent of all households in the UK have regular use of at least one car Showing that more money is coming into the households 1998 Number of holidays abroad exceeds 30 million for first time Cheaper flights and cheaper accommodation abroad. More time 1998 An estimated 1. 4 million people purchased travel tickets on the internet New cheaper way of getting tickets for travel and also quicker 1999 The English Tourism Council replaced the English Tourist Board 2000 Air passenger duty reduced on economy flights removes barrier to the growth of inbound tourism. 2001 September 11th and Foot and Mouth disease hits Britain meaning restrictions to people going into certain places People afraid of flying after the 11th attacks. 2002 Terrorist bomb in Bali Effect on people wanting to travel, meaning there could be an increase in domestic tourism 2003 SARS broke out and in March Iraq war started For both, People not wanting to travel abroad meaning there could be an increase in domestic tourism The main reasons for the rapid growth in the industry since the end of the Second World War are: 1. The changing social economic circumstances. Increase in leisure time   Increase in disposable income   Increased car owner ship 2. Technological developments 3. Product development and innovation 4. Changing consumer needs and expectations and fashions I will explain each of these reasons below E1 Changing Social Economic Circumstances 1. Increase in Leisure Time There are a variety of reasons why there has been n increase in the leisure time. Firstly there has been a decrease in working time since 1971. The table below shows the decrease in working time from 1971 to 2001. Full Time Workers 1971 2001. Weekly hours of work 42. 0 39. 7 This has resulted in an increase in free time for people and therefore more time to go away. People have also been encouraged to take time off work and go on holidays because of the introduction of paid holidays. With the introduction of this it has encouraged people to take holidays because they can take time off work whilst still been paid. There has also been an increase in the amount of days that people have off from work and the annual hours or work per worker has also decreased. All of which equal to an increase in free and leisure time. Full Time Workers 1971 2001 Paid Holiday Days 16. 7 25. 1 Public Holiday Days 6. 0 8. 0 Annual Hours of Work per Worker 1,999 1,807 Another factor for the increase in leisure time is that of more people employed as just part time workers, as the table below shows. Key Labour-Force Statistics 1971 2001 % of Labour Force employed as part-time workers 15. 5 30 This table shows a big increase in the amount of part time workers in 2001. This could mean that if someone only works 4 days a week they will have more leisure time and therefore more time to go on holidays. There have also been changes in the age structure of the population   Decrease in birth rate   Population Getting Older Increase in life expectancy The decrease in birth rate means that people have more time on their hands and also more money because they dont have young children to look after. The growth of the population means that there are more people which can mean more holidays been sold And finally the increase in the life expectancy means that there are more old aged pensioners and when they have retired from the working life they will have a lot more time to do leisure activities. There has been an increase in ready meals. Whereas before the 1990s people would have to go to different shops such as the groceries and the butchers and then preparing all the separate ingredients which were very time consuming. Now you can go to the local supermarket and buy meals already prepared which just need heating up and also they are significantly cheaper. Saving money and time can increase the leisure time. Finally the introduction of household consumer goods means that cleaning up around the house is easier and a lot quicker than before which also saves time. 2. Disposable Income. Disposable Income is money that is left over after you have bought something. This money goes into a variety of things such as the following list:   Tax   National Insurance   Pension   Mortgage   Clothing   Council Tax   Power   Food Individual disposable income has risen in the UK which has meant an increase on the consumer spending on travel and tourism In the economy when there is a recession this means there is high unemployment, high interest rates and high inflation. When the economy circumstances are in recession the taking of holidays is usually one of the first items of household expenditure to be cut out. An example is in the early 1990s recession in the UK led to a decrease in the overseas holidays, with consumer confidence low due to the fears of unemployment and a fall in house prices. When there is a boom in the economy though, this leads to high employment, low in interest rates and low in inflation. This means that there is confidence for the consumers because of the high employment and with extra money through disposable income more money is been spent in the travel and tourism industry. The rate of inflation is another key factor in the UK economy. The rate of inflation is the rise in prices of products and can affect whether people buy certain products and when a holiday increases in price then consumers will look elsewhere if they feel the holiday is not value for money. The exchange rate is also a key feature in the UK economy. When the English pound is strong against other currencies such as the euro and the dollar then people are more likely to travel abroad because they are getting more money for their pound and so outbound tourism is greater. However this affects inbound tourism to the UK because the exchange rate for foreign countries is not as good. 3. Car Ownership Since 1945 there has been an increase in the car ownership that people now have. In 1997 70% of all households in the UK had regular use of at least one car and now there is an estimate of 20 million cars in the UK The effect of households having access to cars is that it can encourage travel in the UK. It is a lot easier to go by car to places than other forms of transport around the UK and this will increase the domestic tourism. In 1998 80% of trips were taken by cars with a 3/4 of the population visiting the countryside at least once a year which shows how important the use of a car has been for the UK tourism. Another factor of the increase in car ownership is that the development of the road network has led to the rise in the visit to the countryside E1 Technological Developments Since the 1940s there has been a steady increase in the technological developments with aircraft, ships and trains all been developed and carrying larger numbers In the 1970s there was the development of the jet engine which encouraged people to travel abroad and with prices falling in recent years and the introduction of cheap airlines such as easy jet it has encouraged people to fly abroad. This has also led to the further developments of package tour holidays with the transport and accommodation all been included. In 1999 the most popular tourist destination abroad was Spain with more than a quarter of UK tourists going there. Below is a table showing the percentage of people going to certain European destinations Under 16 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 and over All1 Spain 32 28 24 26 26 30 31 27 France 29 17 18 21 19 17 17 20 USA 7 7 9 9 8 6 5 7 Greece 4 10 7 6 7 6 3 6 Eire 2 5 5 5 5 5 7 6 This table also shows the kinds of age groups that visit those countries. Another popular holiday destination outside of Europe is the USA. This is all related to the growth of technology because it has allowed people to travel around more and get to places which were before impossible. www. statistics. gov. uk Following the opening of the channel tunnel there has been more competition for the transport industry. The channel tunnel has offered a quick and cheap way of travel across to channel and into the rest of Europe. With flight prices also falling with the introduction of cheap airlines such as Easy Jet and Ryan Air, people have chosen to go this way because it is the fastest way of travel and with prices falling the best option for many people. This has led to a problem for the ferries on the sea because people have chosen to use over forms of transport such as the airlines, the euro tunnel has also suffered because of this. Airlines can now be cheaper than the ferries and Euro tunnel with the introduction of low cost airlines and quicker. To compete therefore with other forms of transport, ferry has started making their holidays start from the ship with nightclubs, bars, cinemas and other entertainment. This to compete and keep ferry going. 2. Communication and information systems. The development in the communications and information technology systems has resulted in a significant impact on the travel and tourism industry. The computer reservation systems (CRS) and global distribution systems (GDS) has improved the sales of airline tickets, packaged holidays, hotel accommodation and other tourism products since the development in the late 1960s in the USA. The use of Global Distribution Systems has enabled companies such as Thomson to operate commercially in the world and develop partnerships with airlines; hotel groups; tour operators and so on. The internet has had a huge impact on the travel and tourism industry. Back in the 20th century people would go down to the travel agents and book their holidays through this all together with flights, accommodation and so on. However with the introduction of the internet people have found booking holidays through this is usually cheaper and quicker than going down to the travel agents. You can now book each aspect of the holiday separately and many people have recognized this and now you can easily book flights and accommodation on the internet for cheaper than going to the travel agents which have led to problems for the travel agents. 3. Product Development There has been changing needs and expectations of the consumers such as people now expecting to have ensuite bathrooms which have now become a necessity rather than a luxury to people There has also been a development of the mass market tourism industry with resorts such as Euro Disney becoming more and more popular for tourists because it is a holiday which there is something to do all the time. Things like Innovative travel products, domestic tourism and the seaside resorts and holiday camps have all been developed since the 1950s and these have been developed because they are popular and countries can make money and people have the time to go to them. People started to travel abroad in the 1970s because it was becoming possible to do so with the advance in technology such as the introduction of airplanes, people having more time on their hands with things such as paid holidays and as it has become cheaper and cheaper to get abroad people have left the UK as they are guaranteed sun more in other countries than here in the UK. Even though the domestic tourism have fallen since its peak in 1974 of 40 million people the industry has thought back with the development of short breaks such as weekend breaks to major cities in the UK or to country places such as the Lake District for which has offered a cheap and relaxing way to get away for a short time. Blackpool is an example of a 12th month holiday destination. This is because Blackpool has something to offer all year round such as the pleasure beach and the lights as well as concerts. Tour operators, airlines, hotels and travel agents are consistently under pressure to develop their innovative products in order to meet consumer need and retain their market share in the competitive market. Tour operators have successfully developed innovative new products for specific markets such as families and single people. The industry is continuing developing new products and services to cater for all markets. Examples for tour operators developing their products can be offering late deals for cheaper prices and given special offers. For example when a large group are going on a skiing holiday some tour operators will offer discounts on the party. E1 Features of the Travel and Tourism Industry Travel and Tourism can be split into two groups which are:   Commercial (The Private Sector)   Non-Commercial (Public and Voluntary Sectors) The UK travel industry is dominated by the private sector with the majority been small and medium sized organizations. These private sector companies have the main to simply make a profit. The main activities in the private sector are:   Sales Catering and Accommodation. Travel Services Entertainment Many are public limited companies which are owned by shareholders. There is also the Public Sector in the travel and tourism industry. These are largely funded by central or local governments. These organizations include tourist boards and local authorities which run museums, art galleries and tourist information centres. Visit Britain and the National and Regional tourist boards are the key public sector organizations involved in supporting the UK industry. Previously the Visit Britain was known as the BTA. Visit Britain markets Britain to the UK as well as the rest of the world to build on the value of tourism in Britain and throughout the year by creating world class destination brands and marketing campaigns. Its goal is to promote Britain to the rest of the country and the rest of the world. Visit Britain is funded by the Department for culture, media and sport. Regional Tourist Boards support the work of the national tourist boards to promote the domestic tourism. There are 10 regional tourist boards in England and there are 3 in Wales.

The Classification And Description Of Speech Sounds English Language Essay

The Classification And Description Of Speech Sounds English Language Essay Speech sounds are broadly divided into two categories, namely, Vowels and Consonants. If we say the English word shoe, we realize that this word is made up of two sounds, one represented by the letter sh and the letter oe. When we produce the word represented the letter sh slowly, we realize that during the production this sound, the air escapes through the mouth freely and we do not hear any friction. The sound that is represented by the letter sh in the word shoe is a consonant and the sound represented by the letters oe in the word shoe is Vowel. (All sounds during the production of which we hear friction are consonants, but not all consonants are produced with friction). This will be discussed under the type of consonants in this chapter. If we say the words she, shoe, shy, show, ship and shout, we will realize that when we produce the sounds represented by the letters e, oe, y, ow,i and ou in these words, the air escapes through the mouth freely without any friction. All these sounds are therefore vowels but each one of them sounds different form the others. These sounds should therefore be sub-classified. Similarly, if we say the words shoe, see, zoo, and who, we will hear friction during production of the sounds represented by the letters sh, s, z and wh. All the se sounds are therefore consonants. But once again we will see that each of them sounds different from the others. The sounds that are called consonants also need to be sub-classified. In the chapter we will take up the classification and description of consonants. To describe a consonant sound, we need certain important pieces of information. We need to know the following regarding its production: the air stream mechanism; the state of the glottis; the position of the soft-palate; the active articulator; the passive articulator; the stricture involved. Let us discuss these in some detail. The air -stream mechanism: All English sounds (vowels as well as consonants) are produced with a pulmonic egressive air-stream mechanism, i.e., lung-air pushed out. The state of glottis; Speech sounds can be classified voiceless or voiced, depending upon whether the vocal cords are wide apart and the glottis is wide open (voiceless) or the vocal cords are kept loosely together and they vibrate (voiced). The position of the soft-palate; Speech sounds can be classified as oral or nasal, depending upon whether the soft-palate is raised so as to shut off the nasal passage of air (oral) or it is lowered to open the nasal passage of air simultaneously with an oral closure (nasal). Sounds can also be nasalized. And (e) The active and passive articulators: Of the various articulations described, at least two are required for the production of any speech sound; some articulators move during the production of speech sounds. These are termed active articulators. Certain other articulators remain passive and the active articulators move in the direction of these. These are termed passive articulator. The lower tip and the tongue are the active articulators. The upper lip and the entire roof of the mouth are the passive articulators. It should be remembered, however, that the upper lip and the soft palate are capable of independent movement; but when either of these is one of the articulators involved in the production of a sound, it is always the other articulator (the lower lip in the case of the upper lip and the back of the tongue in the case of the soft palate) that moves towards these. So the upper lip and the soft palate are considered passive articulators. The stricture involved: The term stricture refers to the way in which the passage of air is restricted by the various organs of speech. Let us study the various types of strictures in detail. Complete closure and sudden release: The stricture may be one of complete closure, i.e., the active articulators come into firm contact with each other, thus preventing the lung-air from escaping through the mouth. Simultaneously there is a velic closure, i.e., the soft palate is raised, thereby shutting off the nasal passage of air. Thus the lung-air blocked in the mouth. When the oral closure is released, i.e., when the active articulator is suddenly removed from the passive articulator, the air escapes with a small explosive noise. Sounds produced with a stricture of complete closure and sudden releases are called Plosive. The initial sounds in the English word pin, bin, tin, din, kin, and gun are plosives. Complete closure and sudden release: If after blocking the oral and the nasal passages of air, the oral closure is removed slowly, i.e., if the active articulator is removed slowly from the passive articulator, instead of the explosive noise that is characteristic of plosive consonants, friction will be heard. Sounds that are produced with a stricture of complete closure and slow release are called Affricatives. The initial sounds in the English word chin and jam are affricate consonants. Complete oral closure: the active and passive articulators are in firm contact with each other, thereby blocking off the oral passage of air completely. But the soft palate is lowered so that there is a velic opening, i.e., the nasal passage of air is opened. The lung-air will then escape through the nostrils freely. Sounds that are articulated with a stricture of complete oral closure are called Nasals. The final sounds in the English words sum, sun, and sung are some examples of nasal consonants. Intermittent closure: The soft palate is raised, thereby shutting off the nasal passage of air. The active articulator strikes against the passive articulator several times with the result that the air escapes between the active and passive articulators intermittently. Such a stricture is termed intermitted closure. Sounds that are articulated with a stricture of intermittent closure are called trills or rolled consonants. The letter r in English words like red and ran is pronounced as a trill by most Scottish people. For some consonants the active articulator strikes against the passive articulator just once and then quickly flaps forward. Such consonants are called taps or flaps. The letter r in very is pronounced as a tap by some English people. Close approximation: The active articulator is brought so close to the passive articulator that there is a very narrow gap between them. The soft palate is raised so as to shut off the nasal passage of air. The lung-air escapes through the narrow space between the active and passive articulators, producing audible friction. Sounds that are articulated with a stricture of close approximation are called Fricatives. The initial sounds in the English word five, vine, thin, then, sip, zip, sheep and hat are fricatives. Partial closure: the active and passive articulators are in firm contact with each other. The soft palate is raised, thereby shutting off the nasal passage of air. If the sides of the tongue are lowered so that there is plenty of gap between the sides of the tongue and the upper molar teeth, the air will escape along the sides of the tongue without any friction. Sounds that are articulated with a stricture of complete closure in the centre of the vocal tract but with the air escaping along the sides of the tongue without any friction are called laterals. The initial sound in the English word love is a lateral. Open approximation: The soft palate is raised, thereby shutting off the nasal passage of air. If the active articulator is brought close to the passive articulator so that the gap between them is wide the air will escape through this gap without any friction. Sounds that are articulated with a stricture of open approximation are called frictionless continuants and semi vowels. In fact Peter Ladefoged uses the term approximants to refer to sounds that are articulated with a stricture of open approximation. Having looked in detail at the six points referred to at beginning of this chapter; let us describe some consonant sounds with reference to the six points. The sound represented by the letter p in the English word spy: The air stream mechanism is pulmonic egresssive. The vocal cords are drawn apart. The glottis is open. The sound is voiceless. The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage of air is shut off completely. The sound is oral. The active articulator is the upper lip. The passive articulator is the lower lip. The stricture is one of complete closure and sudden release the sound articulated is a plosive. The sound represented by the letter s in the English word spy: The air-stream mechanism is pulmonic egressive. The vocal cords are drawn apart. The glottis is wide open. The sound is voiceless. The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage of air is shut off completely. The sound is oral. The active articulator is the blade of the tongue. The passive articulator is the teeth ridge. The stricture is one of close approximation. The sound articulated is a fricative. The sound represented by the letter n in the English word finger: The air-stream mechanism is pulmonic egressive. The vocal cords are kept loosely together. They vibrate and the sound is voiced. The soft palate is lowered. The nasal passage of air is open. The sound is nasal. The active articulator is the back of the tongue. The passive articulator is the soft palate. The stricture is one of complete oral closure. The sound articulated is a nasal. The sound represented by the letter v in the English word vine: The air-stream mechanism is pulmonic egressive. The vocal cords are kept loosely together. They vibrate and the sound is voiced. The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage of air is shut off completely. The sound is oral. The active articulator is the lower lip. The passive articulators are the upper front teeth. The stricture is one of close approximation. The sound articulated is a fricative. Three-term labels: Consonants are described using three-term labels. The three term refer to (a ) the state of glottis, (b)the place of articulation and (c) the manner of articulation. The three terms should be arranged in the order in which they have been listed above. Some consonants are described below with three-term labels. The letter p in the English word spy represents a voiceless bilabial plosive. The letter d in the English word dear represents a voiced alveolar plosive. The letter k in the English word sky represents a voiceless velar plosive. The letter ch in the English word cheap represents a voiceless palate-alveolar affricative. The letter m in the English word mat represents a voiced bilabial nasal. The letter n in the English word finger represents a voiced velar nasal. The letter y in the English word yes represents a voiced palatal approximant. (Semi-vowel).

Whales Essay -- essays research papers fc

Whale weighs as much as 20 elephants but lives beneath the sea. The blue whale is Earth's largest animal. Larger than the largest of ancient dinosaurs, blue whales can grow to be more than 100 feet (30 meters) long and weigh nearly 150 tons. Not all whales are so large. The much smaller pilot whale grows to about 28 feet (8.5 meters) in length. And dolphins, which belong to the whale family, range only from 3 to 13 feet (1 to 4 meters). Although whales spend their lives in the sea, they are, like humans, warm-blooded mammals. After a baby whale is born, it nurses on its mother's milk, just like the young of land mammals. Whales are members of the order Cetacea, along with dolphins, porpoises, and the narwhal. There are two basic types of living cetaceans: baleen, or whalebone, whales of the scientific suborder Mysticeti; and toothed whales of the suborder Odontoceti. General Characteristics Whales live in all of the open seas of the world, though some occasionally enter coastal waters. Some species, such as the white whale, or beluga, may travel upstream in large rivers. Some species migrate with the seasons; others remain year-round in the same habitats, where they find their preferred food. The present-day distribution and abundance of some species has been greatly influenced by the commercial whaling industry. Whalers eliminated or greatly reduced the numbers of some species of baleen whales in certain oceanic regions where whales once frolicked in abundance. This is particularly true in parts of the Arctic Ocean and the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, where the blue whale was almost completely exterminated in the early 1900s. Some species of whales, however, are numerous today in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The skin of whales is usually black, gray, black and white, or all white. Some, such as the blue whale, have skin that is bluish-gray. The surface of the skin is smooth, but like other mammals, whales have hair. Hair first appears while the fetal whale is still developing inside its mother's womb. In adult whales, hair is confined primarily to a few bristles in the head region and is largely absent over most of the body. Whales that live in polar regions are insulated from the extreme cold by a layer of blubber, or fat, enveloping their bodies. Baleen Whales The baleen whales inc... ...usion In 1946 the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established to set up the guidelines followed by whaling nations today. The sizes, kinds, locations, and seasons of catches are controlled. However, strong international politics came into play, and some nations steadfastly voted against, or even ignored, restrictions that were not economically advantageous. The limitations were passed almost too late for the blue whale, which had already declined to dangerously low numbers in all oceans. The once large populations of blue whales in the eastern North Atlantic were almost brought to extinction. Today, fewer than 500, and possibly as few as 100, are found there. In 1971 the United States declared all commercially exploited whales endangered species and made it illegal to import any whale products. The United States lists the blue, bowhead, finback, gray, humpback, right, sei, and sperm whales as endangered species. Therefore, we should take goof care of whale. Works Cited Cousteau, Jacques, and Paccalet, Yves. Whales (W.H. Allen, 1998). Tinker, S.W. Whales of the World (Bess Press, 1997). Day, David. The Whale War (Sierra Club Books, 1997).

Texas Conventions :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The state of Texas has some of the most prestigious and accommodating conventions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Texas is the constituent state of the United States of America, lying in the southcentral United States. It is bounded on the north by Oklahoma, on the east by Arkansas and Louisiana, on the southeast by the Gulf of Mexico, on the southwest by Mexico, and on the west by New Mexico. Texas is the largest of the U.S. states besides Alaska. It is both diverse in population and rich in natural resources.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Being the capital of Texas, Austin has one of the nicest convention centers. â€Å"There’s a freedom you begin to feel the closer you get to Austin†¦it’s a great place to live.† –Willie Nelson. The Austin Convention Center has a convention and meeting planning team. The planning team will:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Assist you with the invitation or bidding process to bring your professional organization to Austin for a meeting.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Relay your detailed meeting information within 24 hours to the hotel community requesting them to submit rates, dates and other meeting information directly to you by your deadline; this ‘one-stop shopping’ saves you from tracking down the right salesperson at all hotels and repeating the same detailed information over and over again.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inform you of availability of the hotel rooms in the city for any given dates by consulting our convention and meeting calendar.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Provide you with the convention services, such as brochures and visitor guides for your attendees.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Help with housing and registration.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Help you access suppliers for a number of meeting-related services.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Attendance boosters. (www.askjeeves.com â€Å"conventions†) The current Austin Convention Center should double in size from 411,000 to 881,400 total square feet. During the first seven years, from 1992 to 1999, over 2.4 million people attended over 1,220 events, including 135 public consumer shows, 256 conventions, 514 conferences, meetings, and seminars, 57 business trade shows, and 209 food and beverage-only events. Over 50% of the events have represented repeat business since the second full year of operation which shows that people like the convention center. The Austin Convention Center received near-perfect marks in the 1998-1999 Fiscal Year Client Evaluation Surveys. It scored an overall rating of 4.52 when the highest to be received is 5 points. 97% of clients said they would definitely reschedule another event at the Austin Convention Center. During the last fiscal year (1997-1998), 36 conventions had a direct dollar impact of over $95 million to the city of Austin. (Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau).

Reverse Anorexia in Bodybuilders Essay -- Health Nutrition Exercise Pa

Reverse Anorexia in Bodybuilders Women compose the overwhelming majority of the reported cases of eating disorders. The, desire to be thin consumes many young women who idealize the false and unrealistic model form depicted in popular magazines. Recently, researchers have started to appreciate the role of exercise in the development of eating disorders. This shift has illuminated the striking influence of sports on body image satisfaction in men as well as women. The importance of a fit physique has grown increasingly salient to men in modem society as indicated by the rise of hypermasculine action heroes such as Arnold Schwartzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. One growing sport, bodybuilding, now has the sixth largest sports federation and has come to the attention of researchers. In the last few years, researchers have linked bodybuilding to an overwhelming drive for lean muscle mass coined "reverse anorexia" by Pope, Katz, and Hudson (1993) and "bigameraria" by Taylor(1985). The bodybuilders' obsessional behavior r esembles anorexia nervosa with remarkable similarity except that the drive for enormous muscles replaces the drive for thinness. This alarming psychological syndrome may motivate bodybuilders and weightlifters, to a lesser extent, to relinquish friends, to give up responsibilities, to pursue unusual diets, to overtrain and to risk their health by abusing steroids. Reverse Anorexia in Bodybuilders Bodybuilders who exhibit reverse anorexia strive constantly to gain more lean body mass, but even when successful persist in believing their size is inadequate. Pope et al. (1993) found that 8% of their bodybuilder subjects insisted that they were ver small when they were really big and muscular. This belief aff... ... 148, 917-922. Pasman, L., & Thompson, J. K. (19-8-8). Body and eating disturbance in -obligatory runners, obligatory weightlifters, and sedentary individuals. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 7, 759-769. Pope, H. G., & Katz, D. L. (1988-)., Affective and. psychotic syndromes associated with use of anabolic steroids. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 487-490. Pope, H. G., Katz, D. L., & Hudson, J. 1. (1993). Anorexia nervosa and "reverse anorexia" among 108 male bodybuilders. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 34(6), 406-409. Schwartzenegger, A., & Hall, D. K. @ 19-82). Arnold- The education a builder. New York: Pocket Books. Taylor, W. N. (1985). Hormonal Manipulation: A new era of monstrous athletes. Jefferson, N. C.: McFarland. Yates, A. (I991). Compulsive Exercise and the Eating disorders. New York: Brunner/ Mazel, Inc.

Impressment of British Men and the Draft of the Vietnam War Essay

In this paper, I would briefly discuss the Impressment of British Men and the Draft of Vietnam War. I would present the similarities and differences of the two eras in answering the question â€Å"How are the two eras of Impressment of British Men and Draft of Vietnam wars can be compared and contrast? † In addition, I would also try to present some argument regarding these era. Impressment is defined as the enforcement of fitted but unwilling men through crude and violent methods (Britannica Corporate Site, 2007) or forcibly inducting men into military service or in navy. (Politics and Public Service Impressment, 2005) Impressment is more common on navy than on military service. Physically fitted men were forced to serve on ships to fill the crew complement and on military in times of conflict. Conditions in European navy and military were very hard were the navy and military men experience scarcity of food, brutal punishment, different diseases and homesickness. These conditions resulted to impressments of men because only few volunteer in enlistments and they really need manpower. And most of the times, men at ages 18-55 were in danger of this practice. Impressment goes this way. Strong sailors formed a press gang. It is usually headed by a ship officer who chose strong and ruthless crew. They were armed with sly tongues and clubs. They would wait for other ships where they first offer employment to sailors as an attempt to make them come willingly. If they don’t want to come, this is where they forced them. They grab men and experienced sailors to impressed forcing them on board the ship. Their targets are mostly poor and criminals, those who have least social power over them. (Alternative Canadian Heritage Moments) Some of the men seized by the press gang chose to jump off and leave the British ship. They choose to come to the American merchant marine who offers better pay and more comfortable positions and adopt also the American citizenship. British navy targeted the British deserters and searched any ship including the American ship. Supposedly, impressment should only be for British men. However, sailors from other nations, particularly in America were also seized because they look similarly to British men in appearance, clothing or language. (War of 1812) British men stop their ships at sea and since they were unable to get enough men, they wouldn’t believe any document as proof of their citizenship. (Smith, 2007) Once a man was impressed, he was offered choices of whether he would sign as volunteer and receive benefits and salary or just remain as pressed man and receive nothing at all. (Royal Naval Museum Library, 2001). The impressment of American by the British men is considered as violations to America’s sovereignty and maritime rights. Because of this, the Americans were really offended which resulted to war they declared against Britain on June 1812. At that time, British were engaged in the war with the Napoleonic Empire so they did not give that much attention to the United States complaints even after the declaration of war against them. But after taking some considerations they formed First Nations allies and campaigns to protect Canada. The allies and Canadian military worked together to stop the American invasion even if they are inexperienced in this field. (War of 1812) The practice of impressment in Britain was last used in 1803-1815 during the Napoleonic wars but the right of using it still retained. By the year 1853, some changes were made like giving a pension for the sailors who continuously served in the navy for a certain number of years. The changes made reduced the need of impressments until it died out the form it used to be since many men would volunteer already. (Royal Naval Museum Library, 2001) Drafting of men during Vietnam War or what we call conscription is similar in impressments of British men during the Napoleonic war. Conscription means the same as impressment which is forced service to the military force or any institution with established authority. So they are similar in the sense that the physically-abled and fitted men are forced to do serve in the military service. About 2. 2 million of approximately 8. 6 million men and 250,000 women who served the military during the Vietnam War era were drafted. In contrast to the Impressment where their way of avoiding it is escaping, the draftees could avoid the draft resistance by deferment, exemption or medical disqualification. (Seely) These two eras are also different in the process of getting unwilling men involved into military service. In Vietnam War, the draftees were chosen in deferment system in 1792 until it was changed into a â€Å"lottery† manner in 1863. The remarkable date of the first draft lottery is on December 1, 1969. This is a way of United States of drafting young men to fight the war in Vietnam. There are 366 capsules representing each day of the year. Inside the capsules were pieces of papers were draftee’s birthday whose age ranges from 18 to 26 is written. The birthdays are between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1950. The drawing of these capsules is shown to the national television and broadcast on radios. Capsules were drawn one by one and the dates drawn were assigned a certain number depending on the order respectively. (CNN Perspective Series) The draftees were then called for duty still according to order that they were drawn until the number needed for military manpower is reached. Draftees would then undergo screening before they could actually be sent to Vietnam. Some might be rejected because of their physical and mental fitness or legal grounds such as conviction to crimes. (CNN Perspective Series) Still, because of draftees mass armies were raised at little cost and sustained the military force. But then discrimination was rampant making the draft controversial. This is obvious when the working class and the rich could pay money for $300 to avoid being drafted. (Gill, 2005) During the Vietnam War, the draft prepared can easily be tapped by the authority and send to war. That is why the war lasted for almost ten years. (Jahnkow, 2007) This conscription in United States ended in 1973 when Vietnam War ended and political oppositions to the draft started to progress. From getting draftees, military became a volunteer force when the US Congress abolished the draft. (Friedman, 2006). The issue of draft or constriction or impressments remains debatable between an individual concern and a national society security concern. When we practice democracy of choosing what you want, we cannot deny the fact that the manpower needed by the military forces of the nation is not enough and volunteer enlistment remains low. Others argue that one who enjoys the security offered by the country’s army forces owe not only their property but their service to the nation. Many people who talk about renewing and bringing back the draft believes that the US armed forces need more members to serve and defend the country. (Gill, 2005) On the other hand, some argue that a military group or army consists of volunteer citizens would be a more effective armed force. Since they volunteer their dedications to work can be expected. There is also a big probability that they will stay in the service for a long time. The time supposedly be used in constriction would then be used in practicing and developing military skills. Moreover, there is less morale problems. (Friedman, 2006) Some say there’s no more need of draft because of the technologies used in wars today. The military needs professionals and not just men who have combat skills. Another argument is that of expanding the reserve corps and activating them in times of conflicts rather than recruiting through constriction. At least, reserve corps was trained with the military skills needed for an effective troupe, something that a draft could not provide. Generalizing the research I’ve made regarding the two eras of Impressment of British men and the Draft of Vietnam War, I guess history would repeat itself if in the present the legislators will consider reviving the draft or impressment for the armed forces. Let’s say they approved draft or impressment, there will also be protests, rallies and riots from the people to stop it. This would mean another conflict within the country. And more lives will be sacrificed for this matter. Taking into consideration the national security concern on the other hand, we can also see the need of recruiting and getting more men involve in the military and armed forces. But as some people are saying, there could be a better way of doing it so than renewing the draft and impressment practices of the 1700s. With this I want to quote Rich Janhkow, a member of Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft, in the article he wrote Muddled Thinking About Conscription. He said, â€Å"People who are now advocating a draft need to be challenged to look more carefully at the facts and consider the full, global implications of what they are proposing. Otherwise, they may eventually get what they are asking for, which would come back to haunt us all† (Jahnkow, 2007). Bibliography Alternative Canadian Heritage Moments. (n. d. ). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from Alternative Heritage Moments Project: http://www. opirg-carleton. org/alt-khm/ pmwiki/pmwiki. php/Main/Impressment Britannica Corporate Site. (2007). Retrieved August 26, 2007, from ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA ONLINE: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9042221/impressment CNN Perspective Series. (n. d. ). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from CNN interactive: http://www. cnn. com/SPECIALS/cold. war/episodes/13/the. draft/ Friedman, G. (2006, November 21). A Fresh Look at the Draft. Retrieved August 28, 2007, from STRATFOR: https://www. stratfor. com/offers/061109-MCA/280234. php? ref=061109-MCA&camp=06 Gill, K. (2005, June 27). US Politics. Retrieved August 28, 2007, from Military Conscriptin, Recruiting and The Draft: http://uspolitics. about. com/od/electionissues/a/draft. htm Jahnkow, R. (2007, January 21). ZNET. Retrieved August 28, 2007, from Muddled Thinking About Conscription: http://www. zmag. org/content/showarticle. cfm? SectionID=51&ItemID=11909 Politics and Public Service Impressment. (2005). Retrieved August 26, 2007, from us history. com: http://www. u-s-history. com/pages/h456. html Royal Naval Museum Library. (2001). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from Royal Naval Museum: http://www. royalnavalmuseum. org/info_sheet_impressment. htm Seely, R. A. (n. d. ). A Further Flight. Retrieved August 27, 2007, from givewings. com: http://www. givewings. com/writings/essays_on_war/vietnam. html Smith, S. (2007). wiseGEEK. Retrieved August 27, 2007, from Conjecture Corporation: http://www. wisegeek. com/what-is-impressment. htm War of 1812. (n. d. ). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from galafilm: http://www. galafilm. com/1812/e/background/brit_impress. html.

Theodore Adorno’s notions of ‘standardisation’ and ‘pseudo-individualism’ might be applied to contemporary pop music

Basing your discussion on an analysis of at least 2 contemporary artists or bands, consider the ways that Theodore Adorno's notions of ‘standardisation' and ‘pseudo-individualism' might be applied to contemporary pop music. Do you see any problems or shortcomings from this approach? Popular Culture has enticed much research; with the increase of media studies there are a number of minds picking apart what they see. With icons filing up and saturating mediums such as television, magazines, radio stations to name a few, the celebrity filled industry is undoubtedly causing a stir amongst the masses. Theodore Adorno (1903-69) emigrated to England in 1934 to escape Nazism. He lived in the United States of America for 10 years, (1938-48) before returning to Frankfurt, where he was a member at the ‘Frankfurt Institute of Social Research'. Theodore Adorno was a key figure in the study of popular music and had intrinsic Marxist view on the capital nature of society. Adorno believed that the culture industry â€Å"is the central agency in contemporary capitalism for the production and satisfaction of false needs†. (Adorno, T and Horkheimer, M. 1977, p349). He argues that popular music is a mass-produced and shallow standardised part of the culture industry. This would suggest that all aspects of popular music including types of songs, song lyrics and parts of songs e.g. chorus, are all standardised. (Longhurst, B. 1995, p5). Popular music is therefore divided into particular categories or genres of music such as rock, pop, rap, heavy metal and reggae etc, however according to Adorno, all popular music is standardised consisting of verse, chorus, bridge, that are interchangeable from one song to another. The effects of standardisation are often hidden by what the industry calls pseudo-individualisation. These are incidental differences, also known as ‘frills' that are put within a song to disguise that it sounds the same. Adorno distinguishes sharply between pop music and serious music between high culture and low cultures. Serious music, which he regards as classical, Beethoven or Mozart for example, plays to the pleasures of the imagination offering an engagement with the world, as it should be. Especially due to this separation his theories were often attacked for being elitist. The comparison of pop music and serious music was a main topic for him. Adorno describes individuals who enjoy popular music â€Å"corrupt by immersion and open to the domination of industrialised capitalist systems.† (Longhurst, B. 1995, p8). This view accounts for the emotional needs that popular music may fulfil as ‘false and immature, rather than deep and/or penetrating. â€Å"Adorno continued to equate the form with Tin Pan Alley and jazz orientated variations of it, ignoring the rise of rock and roll in the early 1950's. This undermined his critique and resulted in his views generally being strongly rejected by more contemporary rock analysts.† (Shuker, R. 1994; 23). Adorno claims that Popular music is churned into a production line where everything sounds similar, it's an industry that exploits us for profit and social control, to accept certain conditions about the world in which we live through a capitalist society. It would be fair to say that to some extent this is true. We do live in a capitalist society and in the music industry the process of absorption is achieved by capitalism through advertising and marketing of a product with a pop star or pop band. Everything about them becomes a commodity, their clothes, image, likes and dislikes etc, transcends its immediate functional use to become a key symbol of a whole lifestyle. The argument implies that the rise of the popular music to mass status is a consequence of the symbolic strategies invested in it rather than the actual quality of the music. This essentially means that although the products of the culture industry are alike in most cases, some ‘individuality' is consciously added to make it different from the rest even though essentially it is the same product. This is pseudo individualism. Adorno uses the Hollywood star system as an example, â€Å"the more dehumanised its method of operation and content, the more diligently and successfully the culture industry propagates supposedly great personalities, and operates with heart throbs.† (Adorn, T. 1991, p87). A modern day example can be seen in boy bands such as ‘Westlife', ‘Nsync', ‘Backstreet boys' and the most recent ‘One true voice' derived from ‘Popstars the rivals', a spin of show produced originally as ‘Popstars' in January 2001. Although the music is very similar in structure, tonality and content, the customer can choose between several versions of these boy bands. It could be suggested, â€Å"the culture industry produces culture, which the masses consume unthinkingly and are thus confirmed as unthinking. It is a culture which produces satisfaction in the here and now, depoliticising the working class, limiting its horizon to political and economic goals that can be achieved within the oppressive and exploitive framework of capitalist society†. (Storey, J. 1998 p188). The audience, through a selection process selected the new boy band, One True Voice over a number of weeks. A group of 5 males aged between 17 and 22, they do fit into a typical boy band category. They released a Christmas song called ‘Sacred Trust' which is actually a cover version of another male group the ‘Bee Gees'. Adorno would claim that we as masses consume everything the business churns out and on a personal level I would agree as this appears to be both standardised and contains pseudo individualism as it is sung by a new group with added frills however this has been apparent in popular music for generations and manufactured groups will continue to use this method in order to generate more sales. We live in a consumerist society where these manufactured groups are providing a service for their audience. A major critique of this is that Adorno does not look at the emotional response of the audience and how standardisation is also a form of pleasure. By this it mea ns that standardisation is a form of security for the audience and this predictability is often welcoming. Adorno and other writers of the Frankfurt school, especially Herbert Marcuse (1898-1978) sees the process of the culture industry as a means of capitalist society to stabilize itself. Theodore Adorno claimed that popular music operates as a tool of social ‘cement'. Although his writings was published in 1941, his accounts on popular music does not account for the complexities of recent popular music and popular culture. He is heavily criticised due to his unchanging elitist views and it would be fair to say that popular music is not as monolithic as Adorno claims. The perspectives offer a relevant but quite pessimistic and what can be considered as narrow minded views of popular music. They have offered foundations for interpretation and understanding of music however many theories since have built on how audiences' contextualise and use the products of mass culture rather than what the culture industry does to the audience. Antonio Gramsci's (1891-1937) work on Hegemony opened many doors for thought, including ideas that ‘members of society negotiate with the products of the culture'. (Fiske, J. 1992, p309). Hegemony helps identify that popular culture is not simply imposed on the subordinates by the bourgeoisie and that people are not simply â€Å"passive and helpless mass incapable of discrimination and thus at the economic, cultural and political mercy of the barons of the industry†. (Fiske, J. 1987, p309) Fiske suggests that audiences draw contrasting ideas from different text. Madonna is a fine example where pleasure of the audience is in the â€Å"power of a severely suboridatly subculture to make their own statements and own meaning†. (Fiske, J. 1987, p233) These theories have their strengths and differences in helping unpack the tapestry of music. One element they all share is the acknowledgement that pop music has important social effects. Who are the main consumers of popular music? Youth are highest consuming marketing within pop music accounting for the highest percent of single sales. Bradley (1992) accounted the significance with youths and music as reaction to post war teenager with an increase in disposable income and new position in society. James Coleman (1961) highlighted the separateness of youth culture from adult society and its closeness to the market through consumption of popular music. Consumption has been linked to youth culture as far back as the 50's, where growing western markets created specific products and goods for the teenager. (Wulff, H. and Taliai, A. 1995). An example of success in popular music is Madonna. She is a key figure in the pop industry as a pioneer for breaking conventions within gender and sexuality, and has been around for 3 decades, now in her 50's still appealing to the youth, However much debate on Madonna has taken place focusing on her image rather than her music. She has been perceived as ‘the lowest form of irresponsible culture a social disease' and ‘an inauthentic product of the culture industry who was involved of the exploitation of others of the gain of that industry'. (Bryman, A. 2001). In relation to Adorno he may have perceived Madonna to be a cultural product, taking pseudo individualism to an extreme, which in turn made her very popular. Madonna moves from various genres of music and blends them together; she had a hit record with ‘Don't cry for me Argentina' a more operatic song very different to what is considered mainstream music. I feel that Adorno would have critiqued this as popular classical as she took something that can be considered elitist and brought it into popular culture. This view is contrasted with her comparison as an ‘organic feminist who ‘allows girls to see that the meaning of feminine sexuality can be in their control, can be made in their interests, and that their subjectivity's are not necessarily totally determined by the dominant patriarchy'. (McClary, S. 1991.) McClary in her analysis of Madonna has found her to be exceptional as a musician who has endured maintained an incredible amount of power as a successful female artist over three decades. A simple look at her back catalogue and it is apparent that she uses sexual power as a commodity alike many women throughout western history. Including seventeenth century composer Barbara Strozzie, who was one of a few women who broke through the elite circle of classical music, by posing bare breasted for publicity. It would be very interesting to know what Adorno would account for that. (Rosand, E. 1986). Madonna however ‘brings hypocrisy to the surface and problematizes it'. With publications of her book, sex and video discourses like ‘in Bed with Madonna' She takes a key role in the aggressor sexually. She connects the notions of power and sex and projects it back outwards into the main stream hands on hips Gautier bust pointy and proud. Her intentions never simplistic, it is possible her representations aim to detach stigmas and notions of taboo to certain sexual matters. ‘This may lead to greater tolerance for those engaged in these ‘perverted' practices' and a layered stream of meanings dipictable from her messages. Irony has been depicted as a key strategy in her possible master plan. In ‘Like a Virgin' her little girl voice and play with signs of famous temptresses, her pouts, her coquettish nature and using ‘†traditional music signs of childish vulnerability projecting her knowledge that this is what patriarchy expects of her and also her awareness that this fantasy is ludicrous†. (McClary,S. 1991, p153). A principal factor in the understanding of Madonna messages is the language of cultural experiences and perceptions that she speaks to her audience with. Madonna gives her audience standardisation in the sense that some of her music can be chopped and changed however she also gives her audience challenging and contrasting views about being a woman in today's society, that could be argued against Adorno as being engaging, testing and also plays to the pleasures of the imagination offering engagement to the world as it is now. Her audience within popular music are aimed specifically at the mass (for financial and wider broadcast of her messages) and ‘as evidence in that she plays for the lowest common denominator-that she prostitutes her art an extension of her self'. Prostitution is a service never the less, and it evident that she uses her role to play with traditional boundaries and identities. Madonna uses the tool of fantasy a mode typical of the culture industry, however she here compliance to the powers stop, as she twist notions within them. Her fantasies have been seen as ambiguous and unsuccessful for men and she has been compared to a genuine ‘Boy Toy' as male interpretations and reactions to a majority are often that of anxiety and unease rather than appease. (Rolling stone 508 March 28th 1989). On the other hand, the power of Madonna is undoubtedly clear, her vast empire of her Production Company, her own music label and a net value of 600 Million speaks volumes about her nature as a business women as well as an artist and social figure. It is fair to say that that although popular music in today's generation can be considered as standardized, and to a great extent, manufactured music will always be so, Adorno's views are out of date and biased as he had a very low opinion of popular music. Being a musician himself, his opinions were based on his own assumptions of high and low culture and although he did make some substantial claims about standardization and pseudo individualization, popular music today has more important factors to be dealt with such as the messages it is portraying. One being that we do live in a consumerist society where essentially everything is a product, even classical music today, which Adorno would have considered high art is now commercialized and used as a commodity to sell through advertising. Through it all music captures a moment or feeling that Adorno does not account for. Music is another form of expressing an emotion whether it is classical or pop music and it is there for enjoyment, to provide a service and an option to listen to whatever pleases the ear.

The Environment of Crisis on the Nigerian Educational System

Comparative Education Volume 33 No. 1 1997 pp. 87 ± 95 The Environment of Crises in the Nigerian Education System CORDELIA C. NWAGWU ABSTRACT The Nigerian education system witnessed tremendous expansion between independence in 1960 and 1995. However, the rate declined after 1986 when economic depression resulted in the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme. A population explosion, frequent changes in the government due to military coups, a depressed economy and unplanned and uncontrolled educational expansion all created an environment of crisis in the education system.The crises included those of poor funding, inadequate facilities, admission and certi ® cate racketeering, examination malpractices, general indiscipline and the emergence of secret cults. Personnel management problems resulted in frequent strikes and closures and the abandonment of academic standards. The thesis is that any society which stimulates the uncoordinated growth of its education system and then fails to provide the necessary dedicated teachers, teaching and learning facilities and operating funds for staff and student welfare services, is creating an environment within which all types of problems and crises will ? urish. Lessons for other developing nations include the need for democratically elected stable governments instead of military regimes and better planning, funding and management of the education system. The National Policy on Education (NPE) It is necessary to examine brie? y the present system of education and its immediate past in order to appreciate the nature, causes and magnitude of the different types of crises in the system.The National Policy on Education (NPE) popularly referred to as the 6-3-3-4 system, was introduced in 1977 and then revised in 1981 (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1981). It marked a radical departure from the British system of education which Nigeria inherited at independence in 1960. Basically it adopted the American system of 6 years of primary education, 3 years of junior secondary school, 3 years of senior secondary school, and 4 years of university education. Primary education is free, but not compulsory.Junior secondary education is supposed to be free, but it is not yet so in any of the 30 states in the federation. The transition from primary to junior secondary education was planned to be automatic but many states conduct competitive entrance examinations since the available junior secondary schools cannot accommodate all the aspirants. A major emphasis in the NPE is the teaching of pre-vocational subjects to all students at the junior secondary level. The learning of Nigerian languages is also compulsory at the primary and secondary school levels.Much more attention is being paid to women’ s education and the teaching of science, technical and vocational subjects at the senior secondary and tertiary levels. Although many policy documents support decentralisation of the system of administratio n, there is an ever-increasing tendency towards centralisation of Correspondence to: Cordelia C. Nwagwu, Institute of Education, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. 0305-0068/97/010087-09 $7. 00 O 1997 Carfax Publishing Ltd 88 C. C. Nwagwu ducational control especially as the federal government is called upon to assume a greater role in the funding of the education system at all levels. During the 1993 ± 1994 academic year, there were 38,254 primary schools, 5959 secondary schools, 55 colleges of education, 45 polytechnics and colleges of technology and 35 universities in Nigeria. Though some critics consider the above statistics inadequate for a country with approximately 100 million people, the number of institutions represents a phenomenal rate of expansion of the education system between 1960 and 1993.Indeed, at independence there was only one university college, one college of technology, no colleges of education (only 280 low-level teacher training colleges) and 443 se condary schools (Fafunwa, 1974). It is generally acknowledged that the system has developed quantitatively, but it lacks many of the ingredients needed for qualitative growth. The problems in the Nigerian education system which have reached crisis dimensions are direct consequences of the rapid, unplanned, uncontrolled and uncoordinated expansion of the system. Contextual and Theoretical FrameworkNigeria has been politically independent for the past 35 years. During this period, a democratically elected civil government has only been in power for 10 years. The remaining 25 years have witnessed military rule by different military regimes which seized power in military coups. All over the world, military regimes, which although they claim to be a corrective intervention, are usually seen as an aberration since they govern by force and not by the wish of the people. They tend to be unpopular, undemocratic, dictatorial, corrupt and unaccountable to anyone except themselves.In Nigeria, l ong periods of military rule have created problems of instability, uncertainty and degeneration on the political, economic, social and educational scenes. There are very many educational policies which are released in the form of decrees and edicts, but the policy implementation has been haphazard and quite unsatisfactory. Irregular and sudden changes in the government leadership result in good educational policies failing to be implemented in full or even started. In Nigeria there have been ten different governments since 1960, that is an average of one every 3. years. Many people have attributed the various crises currently plaguing the Nigerian education system to the poor and unstable national leadership, the ripple effects of which tend to hit education programmes and institutions hardest. For example, every new government prefers to start its own projects rather than to complete those started by its predecessors. Consequently, in many educational institutions, from universitie s to primary schools, we  ® nd uncompleted and abandoned buildings and other facilities.To make matters worse for the Nigerians and the education system, military regimes have no de ® ned mandate and duration, so the military of ® cers appointed by their seniors to administrative and political positions see their appointments as temporary. They have no constituency and, invariably, they are posted to administer a state other than that of their own origin. With little commitment to the people or to the development of the education system, they cannot afford the luxury of long-term planning. In this operational environment, the education system becomes very vulnerable to crisis.Moreover, in the view of MacKinnon (1960), it is unfortunately true that the opportunities for patronage and, in the Nigerian case, ethnicity and religion as well, will usually bring into power and government institutions people who have mediocre ability or who are more concerned with self-interest than w ith the welfare of the public and the education system. Therefore, the administrative style of the military governments in Nigeria has created a context within which ordinary organisational and managerial problems in the schools quickly turned into intractable crises.The military governments appeared more interested in exercisCrises in the Nigerian Education System 89 ing absolute control over the teachers and students, whom they perceived as potential troublemakers, than in intervening in educational problems which could not be settled quickly with decrees and edicts. This was especially so where the release of funds was involved. Educational planning has been described as the application of a rational, systematic analysis to the process of educational development so that national education can respond more effectively to the needs of individuals and society.Coombs (1970, p. 15) opined that although educational planning per se is not the source of policies and decisions, people who have such responsibilities need it to guide them. It is the argument of this paper that because the Nigerian leaders did not pay suf ® cient attention to educational planning, particularly during the long periods of undemocratic non-consultative military governments, they could not keep the intricate internal and external relationships of the educational system in a reasonable balance.As there were rapid dynamic changes in the social and economic circumstances of the country, the education system could not adjust quickly enough and so the environment of crises became inevitable. Whatever educational planning existed in Nigeria during the unstable and tense years of military regime exhibited the characteristics which Coombs (1970, p. 19) described as focusing on the mechanics and logistics of education rather than on the needs of the students and society. Such planning was therefore short-term in outlook, fragmentary in its coverage, non-integrated and non-dynamic.Moreover, the so cial demand approach to educational planning was emphasised by various governments in Nigeria, both civilian and military, for political and propaganda reasons. Thus, for example, the refusal to charge tuition fees in the universities and the policy of establishing a federal university and a polytechnic or college of education in every state in Nigeria were politically popular but educationally and economically irrational decisions. The policy was made when there were only 12 states in Nigeria.Now that there are 30 states, with the military government in the process of creating more states in 1996, the funding crisis in higher education is being further aggravated. Any education system that emphasises growth and expansion without due regard to the development of reliable sources of funding, an adequate supply of trained teachers for different academic programmes, infrastructural facilities to accommodate natural and stimulated increases in school population and a dynamic economy to absorb its graduates from the schools is laying the seeds that will, on germination, create an environment in which all types of crises will ? urish. Such is the experience of the Nigerian education system. Funding and Educational Development We can examine the crises in Nigerian education from two broad perspectives. One approach is to look at different periods in the development of education in the country and the major crises that featured during each period. This method was adopted by Ocho (1995) when he grouped the crises periods as follows. (1) The crisis of irrrelevance, 1842 ± 1954. (2) The crisis of unequal expansion, 1955 ± 1969. (3) The crisis of unplanned expansion, 1970 ± 1983. 4) The crisis of  ® nancial inadequacy, 1984 ± 1994. In this paper, we shall adopt the second approach which focuses on the crises which have plagued a given period. Here, we shall concentrate on Nigerian education in the last decade and a half, 1980 ± 1995, a period that has created alarm among educational administrators, parents, teachers, students and even the international community. The crisis of educational funding is a fundamental issue because critical shortages of 90 C. C. Nwagwu  ® nance have affected the organisation and administration of education at all levels.The oil glut in the world market in the early 1980s led to a sudden decline in revenue from petroleum products which had accounted for approximately 80% of Nigeria’ s income from exports. The consequences were immediate. The free universal primary education (UPE) scheme which was started by the federal government in 1976 was hurriedly handed over to state governments and the poor ones could not sustain the programme. Bursary awards for student teachers were stopped and subsidised feeding for students in higher education institutions was also abolished.The chairman of the Implementation Committee on the NPE, Dr J. S. Sofolahan, summarised the situation when he said in his 1991 report t hat `The National Policy was conceived in times of oil boom, born in times of oil glut, and nurtured in times of economic depression’ (Sofolahan, 1991). Chuta (1995) said it was important to note that there was a decline of 6% in real gross domestic product (GDP) between 1980 and 1990 and he referred to this as bad for the future of Nigeria.In 1994, the Central Bank of Nigeria reported that the money supply, particularly by way of de ® cit  ® nancing in the economy, increased from 5 N 24. 3 million in 1980 to over 5 N 64. 9 million in 1990. This led to tremendous increases in the prices of goods and services. The Nigerian currency was seriously devalued from the naira to US dollar ratio of 1:1 in 1985 to 85:1 in 1995. Neither individuals nor the educational institutions could cope with the rate of in? ation. Worse still, the federal government reduced its subvention to educational institutions.For example, while student enrolment in the universities continued to increase, the government expenditure per student declined from 5 N 3085 in the 1980 ± 1981 academic year to 5 N 3057 in the 1984 ± 1985 academic year, in spite of rising costs and in? ation in the economy (Akangbou, 1986). In 1994 ± 1995, the government spent 5 N 5000 per university student, but the real value in terms of 1984 ± 1985 purchasing power was only 5 N 500. The management of the education funding crisis has been very unsatisfactory.Basically, the strategy has been to pass the responsibility for  ® nding extra funds from one tier of government to another, and to ask parents to pay fees where none were paid before or to pay more where government subsidies had formerly been provided. For example, the annual tuition fees in state-owned universities increased from an average of 5 N 1000 in 1990 to 5 N 3000 in 1993 and then to 5 N 7000 in 1995 ± 1996. At the secondary level, the tuition fees, even in states that had free secondary education in 1990, rose from an average of 5 N 300 in 1993 to over 5 N 600 in 1995 ± 1996.To help pay primary school teachers’ salaries which were owed several months in arrears, the federal government established the National Primary Education Commission by Decree No. 31 of 1988. This was later abolished by Decree No. 3 of 1991, but was re-established by another government by Decree No. 3 of 1994. Another strategy to address the education funding crisis was the merging of some federal universities. However, the succeeding government, for political reasons rather than to improve the sourcing of funds, demerged them in the late 1980s and they exist today as separate universities.For their part, some institutional authorities embarked on the retrenchment of staff and a reduction in enrolments. These administrative decisions associated with poor funding created problems and shortages in the educational environment. Crisis in Facilities Management The inadequacy of the infrastructural facilities to cope with the very rap id rate of expansion in student enrolment is a major source of crisis in the education system. There are two main reasons for this situation. The  ® rst is a high birth rate of 3. % per annum, thus providing a relatively young population, with 48% of the total population under 15 years of age. The second reason is economic depression and in? ation which have made it dif ® cult to build new Crises in the Nigerian Education System 91 classrooms, maintain the old ones and buy new equipment. In 1985 ± 1986, there were 12. 9 million pupils in the primary schools. The  ® gure for 1993 ± 1994 was 15. 87 million pupils. During this period, very few new classrooms were built to accommodate the extra 3 million pupils, hence there is a problem of overcrowded classroms today.It was the same story in the secondary schools in the period 1989 ± 1994 as Table I shows. TABLE I. Classrooms and enrolments in Nigerian schools Primary schools Secondary schools Year Classrooms Enrolments Clas srooms Enrolments 1989 ± 1990 375,726 12,721,087 76,819 2,749,528 1991 ± 1992 377,439 13,776,854 82,930 3,123. 277 1993 ± 1994 447,859 15,870,280 104,693 4,032,083 Source: Educational Data Bank, Federal Republic of Nigeria (1995). The crisis of the shortage of the infrastructure and facilities is felt everywhere and at all levels of the education system.The library facilities and books are grossly inadequate and so is the provision of classrooms, classroom furniture, laboratories and workshops. Hostels are not available in some institutions, including universities. Where some are provided, the rooms are crowded with students. Chuta (1995) observed that the hostel room shortage had become so acute that a black market racket had developed. In many institutions, buses for students have broken down beyond repair, while even electricity and good drinking water are not assured on a daily basis.To address the shortage of facilities, parents are often asked to provide chairs, desks an d beds for their children in the primary and secondary schools. The government obtained a World Bank loan to purchase books and instructional materials for use in the universities and for secondary schools the federal government secures equipment for vocational workshops under a bilateral agreement with some East European countries such as Bulgaria. Unfortunately, some schools cannot install and use these because they lack the necessary electricity and/or water for their operation, as well as trained technicians to manage and maintain them.The objectives of the NPE cannot be attained in the absence of teaching and learning facilities. Indeed, the environment of the critical shortages of the infrastructure, facilities and services is a frustrating and crisis-generating one. Crisis of Indiscipline and Standards Critics from within and outside education are often locked in serious controversy over whether the standards in Nigerian education are rising or falling because they cannot agr ee on what the standards ought to be in the  ® rst instance.However, Nwagwu (1990) argued that minimum standards in education should be perceived as yardsticks for responding positively to the challenges of relevance, need satisfaction, quality and excellence in the education system. Therefore, any system that fails to meet the population’ s expectations of providing the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes they require to solve individual and societal problems, has fallen below the expected standards. This, in the view of Coombs (1968, p. ), implies subjecting the input into the education system, the programmes and processes and the education system’ s outcomes or products to critical analysis. In this paper, the standards in Nigerian education have been deliberately linked to the various acts of indiscipline that appear to be on the increase at all levels of the system. Three 92 C. C. Nwagwu major acts of indiscipline? admission rackets, examination of malpracti ces and secret cult activities? will be discussed. Admissions MalpracticesDue to the limited vacancies and high demand for placement into secondary and tertiary institutions, there is an admissions crisis, which in turn has affected standards for two main reasons. Firstly, the quota system leads to the rejection of many brilliant candidates and the admission of weak ones because of their place of origin and the connections they have with important personalities. For example, the Federal Ministry of Education formula for admission into the federal secondary schools is as follows: merit 15%, states quota 40%, environment (catchment zone) 30% and exigency (discretion) 15%.The formula for admission into federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education is merit 40%, states quota 30%, catchment zone 20% and discretion 10%. Secondly and arising from a down-grading of merit as a basis for admission, there is much racketeering during the exercise. Bribery, corruption and nepotism become agents that ensure admission of weak candidates and, at times, even of the bright ones who have lost faith in merit, fair play and justice.As a result of this situation, mediocrity and economic power take precedence over academic standards. Examination Malpractices Related to the admissions crisis is the desperate need to obtain certi ® cates and, consequently, the serious crisis of examination malpractices. Chuta (1995) identi ® ed four main strategies for cheating in examinations by the code names given to them in Nigeria by the students. (1) Life mercenary service by which an academically able person enters the hall and writes the examination for the real candidate. 2) Hall assistance whereby materials useful for answering the questions are brought into the hall with the collusion of the supervisors and invigilators. (3) Express service by which the real candidate sits in the hall while a hired person writes the examination outside and later smuggles the answer script s into the hall. (4) Super express service whereby the candidate is given the question papers in advance; the candidate writes the answers at home and then brings the scripts into the hall on the examination day.Alarmed by this development, the West African Examinations Council and other examination boards cancel thousands of students’ results every year and ban some schools from serving as examination centres. The students affected are expelled or suspended. The Nigerian Government also directed that offenders should face special tribunals under the Miscellaneous Offences Decree to ensure speedy trials and stiff penalties. An important step in solving the problem is to examine the environment that has created the need for these vices and crises in the education system.A proper analysis puts the blame on two main factors. One is the education system itself which puts so much emphasis on examinations. Worse still, the assessment of a student’ s performance is placed on just one examination either for admission to or for the award of a particular certi ® cate. Continuous assessment is still new in the system and it is not a part of the evaluation process for many examinations, such as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination for entrance into the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. Crises in the Nigerian Education System 93Another factor is that Nigerian society, as in many developing countries, places too much value on the possession of certi ® cates rather than on the acquisition of requisite knowledge and skills. Many students, therefore, supported by their parents and teachers, even resort to criminal activities (including membership of secret cults) to pass the public examinations which will secure these cherished certi ® cates and help obtain admission into higher institutions or employment. The bogus certi ® cates which many people carry about are, in essence, a manifestation of what Dore (1976, p. ) refer red to as `the quali ® cation ± escalation ratchet’ and `the diploma disease’ . In Nigeria today, students refer to their educational certi ® cates as `meal tickets’ . Their main preoccupation is with how to obtain the certi ® cate and not with how much knowledge and skill they have acquired from the teaching and learning experiences in their schools. Unfortunately, the educational environment has not fostered positive attitudes towards the acquisition of essential knowledge, values and skills as a condition for deserving an educational certi ® cate.With educational institutions very poorly funded and with great shortages of quali ® ed teachers, instructional facilities and materials, very little effective teaching and, hence, learning, takes place in the schools. Confronted by employers and a society that are so certi ® cate conscious and competitive entrance examinations into higher education institutions, the environment for admissions racketeer ing, examinations malpractices and membership of secret cults is properly set. Personnel Management ProblemsAfter independence, there was an unprecedented popular pressure to build more schools and to train more and better teachers. The government responded positively to this social demand for education without serious regard to a cost ± bene ® t analysis of the implications. Consequently, between 1960 and 1985, primary school enrolment increased  ® ve times and secondary enrolment over 22 times, while higher education enrolment increased 84 times. As expected, there was also a tremendous increase in the number and quality of teachers.Part-time and sandwich in-service programmes expanded between 1985 and 1995 and led to many professionally trained teachers with the National Certi ® cate in Education (NCE) and  ® rst degrees in education. As a result of this positive development, salaries and allowances have also increased so much that some state and local governments can n o longer regularly meet their monthly obligations to teachers. With poor and sometimes unpaid teachers’ salaries and allowances, the environment has been created for frustration, indiscipline, a lack of dedication to duty and frequent strike action among teachers at all levels.Bereday (1969) remarked that `Financing education is an under-developed and unimaginative enterprise’ (p. ix) and this is very true in Nigeria. Today there are overcrowded classrooms, overworked and underpaid teachers and double sessions particularly in urban areas, yet there are many unemployed but well-trained professional teachers. Hardly a month passes without either a group of primary, secondary or higher education teachers being out on total strike action demanding improved conditions of service.This disrupts academic sessions, breeds ill-taught graduates and retards educational development in the country. The quality of all education systems re? ects the quality, dedication and motivation of its teachers. If teachers are well-supported by the government and society, they can use their commitment and teaching competence to help stem the crisis of student indiscipline and examination malpractices and to reduce the impact of the shortages of facilities and funds. 94 C. C. Nwagwu ConclusionThis analysis of the condition of education in Nigeria shows that unplanned and uncontrolled expansion of the system, inadequate funding, corruption and poor management are mainly responsible for the many types of crises there are today. The organisational climate is not conductive to serious teaching and learning. This is because over the decades, particularly under the military regimes, Nigeria has pursued the policy of an unrestrained positive response to the social demand for education.Thus, within the education system germs of problems had a fertile environment in which to grow until they have become chronic diseases that now threaten the very existence of the system. The Nigerian Government appear to have ignored the important advice given by educators such as Dore (1976, p. 8) that the effect of schooling, the way it alters a person’ s capacity to behave and do things, depends not only on what is learned, but also on how and why it is learned and the environment within which it is learned. There are a few general lessons to learn from the Nigerian experience.The  ® rst is the need for developing countries to aspire to be governed by stable, popular, democratically elected governments which can develop long-term as well as short-term plans for the articulated development of the nation and the education system. Military regimes are arguably incapable of providing such leadership because the hand-picked military junta does not have the training and experience nor the mandate, time and temperament to operate in this way. Secondly, good policies that are haphazardly implemented can create crises.For example, the quota system of admission came into bein g in Nigeria to meet the demands of the `federal character’ provision enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This was designed to ensure an equitable representation of all parts of the country in all the federal institutions and the protection of minority and disadvantaged groups such as women. Unfortunately, the formula produced by the government of ® cials for the quota system neither ensures equity nor merit because of its defective formulation and worse still, its poor, dishonest and undisciplined application.The Nigerian experience highlights the point that supervision of the effective implementation of education policies is thus as important as their initial formulation. Thirdly, Nigerian experience suggests that the planning and management of the education system should be left to professional educators who arguably have the training, experience and, above all, the interest and commitment necessary to achieve the effective development of th e system and the attainment of both short-term and long-term educational aims and objectives.Fourthly, schooling is not synonymous with education and political leaders should constantly be made aware of this. Therefore, a situation in which young people are stimulated to go to school but are then denied reasonable facilities and opportunities for effective teaching and learning experiences is likely to lead to a crisis, not only in the education system but also for society as a whole. In Nigeria today, there is a crisis of con ® dence in the ability of the education system to tackle the many serious problems confronting it.Nigeria is at a crossroads where she must develop the courage to  ® ght problems which range from home to school and through society to government. The  ® rst major step is a recognition that the environment that has generated and supported the identi ® ed crises in Nigerian education must be changed if an operational climate that will ensure effective tea ching and learning is to be achieved. In the  ® nal analysis, however, what is needed most are more stable education policies which are faithfully implemented, better planning and the management and utilisation of whatever material and human resources re available for developing and maintaining an effective and ef ® cient education system. Crises in the Nigerian Education System 95 REFERENCES AKANGBOU, S. D. 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