Knowledge and the sources provided Essay Example for Free

Knowledge and the sources provided Essay Evacuation was both successful and unsuccessful. The Government did manage to secure its objectives of keeping children safe and keeping the war machine going without the threat of children being killed which was a successful aspect of evacuation. Although the conditions on the train were cramped and there was a lack of facilities, a vast amount of children were transported out of the cities quickly and efficiently. Most of the children who were evacuated also benefited from it although some did have bad experiences. However a major problem with evacuation was that a significant number of children either did not go or returned back to the danger-zones. Despite the government propaganda for instance the How and Why pamphlet, which contributed to the efficient way in which children were evacuated many parents refused to allow their children to leave. In Hope and Glory a mother agrees to evacuate her children but then becomes overcome with emotion and unable to part with her children. This was quite a common occurrence and some parents did not even consider evacuating their children due to preconceived ideas. Source E highlights this; the man being interviewed would not send his child away as he thought that they cant be looked after where theyre sending them. This man, like many other citizens had preconceptions of the countryside such as theyve nothing there; they were starving there before the war Many children who were evacuated returned home, some because they were unhappy and some because their parents did not see the need for them to remain there because of the phoney war in which no bombs were dropped on cities. This meant that they would be back in danger zones, which was not a success from the governments point of view. The actual transportation of the children was very well organised; the children were all registered in advance and were put onto the trains efficiently. Source A depicts evacuees walking to the station in London. This suggests that evacuation was well-ordered as all the children are walking in an orderly fashion; they are all smiling and a few are waving. This shows that the children were content in being evacuated. However one must take into account the fact that the source is a photograph hence it could have been staged. Source B contradicts this and suggests that evacuation was a nerve-racking experience for the children involved as they were too afraid to talk. The source also states that the children didnt know where they were going; this is a negative factor as it would cause angst amongst the children and suggests disorganisation. As well as simply the organisation and official objectives behind evacuation; there are other aspects which one must consider. Many children gained a lot of new experiences and there were many long-term benefits. Some long-term benefits include broadened horizons of the children, increased understanding between classes and a raised awareness of urban poverty. Many country dwellers did not know how city children lived and evacuation was an opportunity for them to find out. Source C, an extract from Carries War by Nina Bowden highlights a misconception about evacuees as the child in the novel says she thinks were poor children, too poor to afford slippers. However this source is not really a primary source, as although it is based on reality, it is a fictitious novel. A lot of evacuees had positive experiences such as enjoying healthier, safer surroundings than the cities as well as developing a life-long love of the countryside. On the other hand some children were just treated like servants by their foster families or made to feel very unwelcome. These children experienced some of the negative factors of country life. Many of the foster families had negative experiences such as bad-mannered children or children with poor personal hygiene. These experiences are both positive and negative; although they were unpleasant, they resulted in raised awareness of urban childrens welfare. This raised awareness of poverty resulted in the introduction of the Welfare State Shortly after W. W. II. Many foster families and evacuees enjoyed the experience of evacuation and treasured memories of it for many years. The evacuees were predominantly grateful, Source D, a government advertisement suggests that the foster families were doing a real service for the nation; this evokes patriotism and causes people to come together and help each other, which is another positive outcome of evacuation. This advertisement encouraged people to take in evacuees thus making the arrangements easier and more orderly, increasing the successfulness of evacuation. When looking at all the evidence available to us it is clear that although evacuation was not a great success as there were a great deal of setbacks, such as the children who did not go and children who returned home it was quite successful as the government did secure the objective of reducing civilian casualties. Many other benefits were as a result of evacuation and it was an enlightening experience for all those concerned. There were a few negative effects for certain individuals but as a whole, this nation benefited from evacuation.

Monolingual and bilingual childre

Monolingual and bilingual childre Developmental differences between monolingual and bilingual children The first language acquisition of infants is an astonishing and remarkable phenomenon on its own. It is unbelievable what knowledge these children can acquire in such a short period. There are certain cases, however, when these infants were born into bilingual families: that is, families where parents speak different languages. Bilingual children, thus, are the ones who need to acquire two languages simultaneously, studying both their mothers and their fathers mother tongues. This research aims to discover what developmental differences there are between monolingual and bilingual infants (if there are any) and what difficulties children have acquiring two different languages at the same time. The first major difference between the two sides (apart from the amount of information they have to obtain) lays on the systemization of knowledge. Monolingual infants need to treat the sounds and expressions they hear as part of one united system. In contrast, bilingual infants need not only create a system between the things they are hearing and what they refer to, but they even need to separate and pigeonhole them into two different language systems. This is called Language Discrimination and is a common phenomenon for all bilinguals. Although in bilingual families, language teaching usually occurs in a one-person-one-language context (that is, each parent represents one language only in front of the child), there are several situations when a neutral (previously unknown) person is talking to the infant. This can be the most difficult for the child, as they need to find the proper communicational channel without the familiar face, sound etc. of the parents, which they usually connect the given language to. This can be said to be the first major difference between bilingual and monolingual infants. Not only need bilinguals learn twice as many words and structures as one-language children do, they also need to separate the inputs into two different systems. There is another difficulty, with which monolinguals do not need to deal and that is Code Mixing. Code Mixing is the use of elements (phonological, lexical, morphosyntactic) from two languages in the same utterance or stretch of conversation. It can occur within an utterance (intra-utterance mixing-e.g., see cheval [horse]) or between utterances (inter-utterance mixing) (Genesee Nicoladis, 2007). This phenomenon is prevalent and typical for bilinguals, not only while they are children, but also among grown-ups. In case of infants, code-mixing can usually appear in the form of gap-filling. This means that, while they are speaking in one of their native languages, they substitute certain words or phrases from the other language of theirs. This can be the result of incomplete language knowledge; but it can also derive from the fact that a given word does not come to the childs mind and they substitute it for avoiding communicational breakdown. Code-mixing is based on the context-sensitivity of children; this means that depending on whom they are talking to they use one of their languages as dominant and only borrow inputs from the other system. (This can depend on which parent they are speaking with, for instance.) Since monolingual children have no other systems from which they can borrow resources, this phenomenon is not known for them; thus, only bilinguals face them. The appearance of the first words is at about the same age by mono- and bilingual children alike. They occur at the age of 12 or 13 months. Further vocabulary acquisition (first nouns, verbs, expressions etc.) also come more or less at the same time. However, there is a major difference between the two groups. When monolingual children learn a new word or expression, they connect it to a new referent. As opposed to this, bilingual children have more than one word for everything, thus, the new name does not necessarily comes with a new referent for them. As a result, bilinguals total vocabulary size (total number of words) is different from their total conceptual vocabulary (the total number of nameable concepts). It remains unclear which of these measures is most comparable to simple vocabulary size measured in monolingual infants. (Werker Byers-Heinlein, 2008) This way or another, this is the reason why it is so difficult to contrast their vocabulary and word learning process. Apart from the previously mentioned aspects, we need to cover two more important areas and these are childrens communicative competence and learning flexibility. There are certain problems which are relevant to monolingual and bilingual children equally: production of target-like language forms that are comprehensible to others; getting ones meaning across when language acquisition is incomplete; and use of language in socially appropriate ways (Genesee Nicoladis, 2007). Nevertheless, bilinguals also have to cope with the difficulties of conjugating a given situation with one of their languages, raising further hardships for them. As for learning flexibility, one would assume that bilinguals learn much slower as they need to achieve more language knowledge during the same time. However, research by à gnes Melinda Kovà ¡cs and Jacques Mehler (2009) proved that [t]welve-month-old preverbal bilingual infants [] seem to be more flexible learners of multiple structural regularities than monolinguals. Therefore, the fact that they will later speak two native languages comes with a further advantage that they are (more) able to study two different things simultaneously. Altogether, we can see that beside the similarities, monolingual and bilingual children have several differences, as well. The acquisition of two languages comes along with further difficulties apart from the amount of knowledge they need to achieve such as categorisation hardships, code-mixing and so on. Nevertheless, the process of acquiring two languages needs approximately the same amount of time as learning only one first language. First words and first expressions all appear at about the same age by both groups. In addition to these, beside the later advantages of knowing two languages, the developed learning flexibility of bilinguals will help these children in their later studies as well. References: Genesee, F., Nicoladis, E. (2007). Bilingual first language acquisition. In E. Hoff M. Shatz (Eds.), Handbook of Language Development (pp. 324-342). Oxford, England: Blackwell. Kovacs, à . M., Mehler, J. (2009). Flexible Learning of Multiple Speech Structures in Bilingual Infants. Science, 325. doi:10.1126/science.1173947 Werker, J. F., Byers-Heinlein, K. (2008). Bilingualism in infancy: First steps in perception and comprehension [Electronic version]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(4), 144-151.

Immanuel Kants Idea of Knowledge

Immanuel Kants Idea of Knowledge Immanuel Kant is responsible for introducing the term â€Å"transcendental† to the philosophical discussion. By doing this it was his goal to reject everything that Hume had to say. His argument proved that subjects like mathematics and philosophy truly existed. One of his main arguments was the idea that gaining knowledge was possible. Without this idea of knowledge there would be no reason for a discussion. Since we know that knowledge is possible we must ask how it got this way. According to Kant, one of the conditions of knowledge is the Transcendental Aesthetic, which is the mind placing sense experience into a space and time sequence. From this we understand that the transcendental argument is an abundance of substances situated in space and time, with a relationship to one another. We cannot gain this knowledge from sense-experience (Hume) or from rational deduction alone (Leibniz), but showing how knowledge exist and how it is possible. Kant makes the claim in the Transcendental Aesthetics that space and time are ‘pure a priori intuitions. To fully understand what this means we must define what an intuition is. According to Kant an intuition is raw data of sensory experience. So basically intuitions are produced in the mind. Kant is saying that space and time are things that are produced in the mind and given before experience. Space is a necessary a priori representation, which underlies all outer intuitions. It does not represent something in itself or any other relationship. Space is only a form of appearance represented outside of the mind. Time, on the other hand, is a necessary representation that underlies all intuitions and therefore is a priori. Since time is only one dimensional there is no way that we could access it quickly. We know that space and time are both a priori because of all of our experiences. Kant also claims that space and time are ‘empirically real but transcendentally ideal. When Kant says that space is ‘empirically real he is not presupposing external objects. There is no way for space to be an empirical concept. We cannot just come up with the idea of space; a representation of space must be presupposed. When we experiences things outside ourselves it is only possible through representation. For space and time to be ‘transcendentally ideal Kant is basically saying that â€Å"they are not to be identified with anything beyond or anything that transcends the bounds of possible experience or the a priori subjective conditions that make such experience possible in the first place.† Before Kant begins to explain the transcendental aesthetic he claims in the introduction that mathematical knowledge is synthetic a priori. This statement is based on Kants Copernican Revelation. According to Kant, time and space taken together are the pure forms of all sensible intuitions. This is our way of creating a priori synthetic propositions. These propositions are limited in how they appear to us but not present within themselves. We have a priori knowledge of synthetic judgements. According to Kant our judgements/statements can either be analytic or synthetic. An analytic judgement would be where the concept of the predicate is part of the concept of the subject. If it is denied then there would be a contradiction. A synthetic judgement, on the other hand, is where the concept of the predicate is not contained in the concept of the subject. So, if we denied it then there would be no contradiction involved. An analytical judgement would be â€Å"all bachelors are unmarried†. The concept of bachelor is defined as being unmarried. In analyzing this word we would say that it is an unmarried male adult. When we analyze concepts the parts come out. Therefore, when broken down our predicate concept of â€Å"unmarried† is shown. The mind is capable of finding this concept without going outside and experiencing it. If we tried to deny this statement there would have to be a contradiction, therefore making it false. An example of a synthetic judgement would be â€Å"the sun will rise tomorrow†. When we say this it is our way of taking two separate and distinct ideas and putting them together. There could be no contradiction in this statement because we can image that something like this could occur. In Section I of the Transcendental Aesthetic, Kant gives four arguments for the conclusion that space is empirically real but transcendentally ideal. As we know space is not an empirical concept. We cannot physically derive the idea of space. The only way that we can receive these outer experiences is through our representation. When it comes to space we cannot represent the absence of space but we can imagine space as being empty. In order to be given any content in our experience we must presuppose space. Knowing that space is not a general concept we can only discuss one space at a time and if we speak of diverse spaces we only mean parts of the same space. The parts cannot decipher the bigger space but only what is contained in it. Since space is seen as only one, the concept of spaces depends on a limit. Concepts containing an unlimited amount of representations cannot be contained within itself. All parts of space are given to us at once. Therefore it is an a priori intuition not a concept. All of the previous information is Kants way of showing that the synthetic a priori knowledge of mathematics is possible. As we know mathematics is a product of reason but is still synthetic. But how can this knowledge be a priori? The concepts of math are seen a priori in pure intuitions. This just means that the intuition is not empirical. If you do not have intuitions then mathematics would not even be a concept. Philosophy, on the other hand, progresses only through concepts. Philosophy uses intuitions to show necessary truths but those truths cannot be a consequence of intuitions. The possibility of math only occurs because it is based on pure intuitions which only occur when concepts are constructed. Like pure intuition, empirical intuition, allows us to broaden our concept of an object by providing us with new predicates. With pure intuitions we get necessary a priori truths. Synthetic a priori knowledge in mathematics is possible only if it refers to objects of the senses. The form of appearances comes from time and space which is assumed by pure intuitions. Doubting that space and time do not belong to the object in themselves would cause us to not have an explanation about a priori intuitions of objects. We have to come to the conclusion that in space and time objects are only appearances entailing that it is the form of appearances that we can represent a priori. Concluding that a synthetic a priori knowledge of mathematics would be possible. What is the Transcendental Deduction? This is the way concepts can relate a priori to objects. Kant says, â€Å"If each representation were completely foreign to every other, standing apart in isolation, no such thing as knowledge would ever arise. For knowledge is [essentially] a whole in which representations stand compared and connected.† Kant lays out a threefold synthesis about experience: a synthesis of apprehension in intuition, a synthesis of reproduction in imagination, and a synthesis of recognition in a concept. We should not divide these steps into one but they should all be intertwined as one. So what we see must occur consecutively. Therefore our idea of the Synthetic Unity of Apperception comes into play. This is where every possible content of experience must be accompanied by â€Å"I think†. Everything in your mental state should be able to be accompanied by â€Å"I think† if not then it will not matter at all. â€Å"I think† is not something that consists in sensibility. It is an act of spontaneity. It precedes all possible experience. The unity of this particular manifold is not given in experience but prior to it. Thinking substances can only perceive what is going on inside as perception goes on at all times. This is where our awareness of a manifold comes into play. We are aware of one thing after another. Each impression is different from one other. We must say that these impressions are mine. Basically accompanying them with the phrase â€Å"I think†. As for the Transcendental Unity of Apperception we are never aware of ourselves as the thinker but just the intuitions. All of our experiences must be subjective to this combination of things. I must actively pull them all together as them being a part of my experience. The only way that I can be aware of this â€Å"I† is if I am able to pull together all of these representations. In this we can see the idea of objective unification. There is a connection between transcendental unity of apperception and objective unification. When we speak of objective unification we believe that there is a right way to put things together. This concept basically comes from our categorical synthesis which involves a priori concepts. With the categorical synthesis it is our way of putting together intuitions in a category. We must be able to make a judgement. For example we must be able to say this is how things seem to me because of pass experiences. By saying this it would be a near judgement. Whereas a judgement would be us just saying this is how things are. To make a judgement is to say this is how things are out there; how they objectively are rather than how they appear subjectively. For a manifold to be complete the sensible intuitions have to be subject to the category. This is how we can have a categorical synthesis. We cannot have sense impression unless I can bring them together under a unified manifold by knowing they are objective rather than subjective. Any intuition that we have must be subject to the category. We could not have an awareness of one event coming before the other unless there is a manifold of â€Å"my†. Appearances are not objects in themselves. They are not just representations; they are separate intuitions therefore having no connection between them. Imagination is what connects the manifold of sensible intuitions. Nature is just appearance. Anything that appears to us must conform to law. We have to complete this synthesis in order to have experiences. It is presupposed that there is an objective to all of my experiences. Without it there would be no way to put them together and I would not be aware of them as experiences. Both the threefold synthesis and a transcendental unity of apperception are necessary to have ordered experience for any sort of theory of experience. 3. Kant defines Idealism as â€Å"the theory which declares the existence of objects in space outside us either to be merely doubtful and indemonstrable or to be false and impossible.† Since I am conscious of my own existence, objects in space must also exist. Having knowledge, the only thing that we are aware of is our representations. These representations are only achievable through an object outside of me not by the representation of that object. Therefore I exist in time because I am capable of perceiving actual things outside of me. I am conscious of my existence in the same frame of time as I am conscious of those objects existing outside of me. When referring to idealism it is believed that our immediate experience is inner experience and from this particular experience we only receive outer objects. It is quite possible that these representations come from within. When considering the representation â€Å"I am† a subject is included. We do not know what that subject is though. So according to circumstances we do not have any experience of that subject. To fully understand the knowledge of the subject we must have intuition. But the only way to receive this inner experience is through our outer experience. To have the existence of outer objects we must be conscious of ourselves. This does not mean that our representation of them involve true existence because they could also be produced by our imagination. The representations of our outer objects come from our perceptions. According to Kant â€Å"all that we have here sought to prove is that inner experience in general is possible only through outer experience in general. Whether this is or that supposed experience be not purely imaginary, must be ascertained from its special determinations, and through it congruence with the criteria of all real experience.† According to Descartes, we really know only what is in our own consciousness. We are instantly and honestly aware of only our own states of mind. What we believe of the whole external world is merely an idea or picture in our minds. Therefore, it is possible to doubt the actuality of the external world as being composed of real objects. â€Å"I think, therefore I am† is the only idea that cannot be doubted. This is because self-consciousness and thinking are the only objects that can be experienced in the real sense. Descartes presented the main problem of philosophical idealism which was an awareness of the difference between the world as a mental picture and that of a system of external objects. Lockes theory, on the other hand, encompasses the mind as the origin for modern conceptions of identity and the self. Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through a continuation of â€Å"consciousness.† He also speculated that the mind was a â€Å"blank slate† or â€Å"tabula rasa†. These two strategies are very different from the above strategies of Kant. At the beginning of early modern philosophy, in Descartes, we seem to see our familiar world slipping away. At the culmination of early modern philosophy, in Kant, however, we get our familiar world back through at a price. In the following essay I will discuss this process, beginning with Descartes, ending with Kant, and discussing two of the four philosophers we have examined this semester. In Meditation One Descartes gives three separate arguments. From these particular arguments one can conclude that we cannot claim to know with certainty anything about the world around us. Everything might seem probable but in reality that does not mean that it lacks doubt. If we can never be certain how can we know anything. This is the main reason for Descartes bring this issue up. Basically his entire argument is based on Scepticism. Scepticism is very important and is seen as an attempt for our knowledge and understanding of the world. It is really hard to doubt that someone really exists but there is no way that one could get rid of the idea of scepticism The one thing that we know is that Descartes does not just randomly doubt everything. He provides very concrete reasons for the things that he doubts. As he sets up this doubt he has to be very rational about it. If he does not then his argument is not going to work. The KK thesis that Descartes uses is to show how these arguments work. The KK thesis follows: if a knows that p, then a knows that a knows that p. basically this means that if I know that there is snow outside then I know that I know that there is snow outside. The problem with this argument is that if we are not sure about our senses then there is no way that we can be sure about the knowledge that we possess. In making this thesis work one must have a strong understanding of what â€Å"knowing† really means. But there is no way that one can actually have this understanding. One must have self-knowledge or basically one must really know himself/herself. Therefore if you do not have that notion of self then you do not possess any knowledge. As we can see the KK thesis works in favour with what Descartes is saying in all of his arguments. The only problem is that he does not believe that his argument about God is that strong. He feels that if there is an Omnipotent God then there is no way that he could ever deceive us. There is no way that he could be all knowing and make us doubt the things that we do. On the other hand there is no way that there could be no God because our senses had to be created by someone. Therefore there must have been an evil demon that has deceived us. But since he doubts everything then he is not mislead into the false believing of a demon. So, in a later meditation he proves that there is a God and that he is not a deceiver. We turn to Liebniz and we continue to see the world slipping away as he discusses the monad. In looking at the things that Liebniz said it is believed that monads (Entelechy) are not physical or mental but biological. Therefore, the ultimate cogs of the world are biological elements or Entelechies. In doing this there is no distinction made between inanimate and animate objects, which would make everything, animate. If these monads are really just biological there is no way that they can make changes in each other. The only way for this to happen is if God caused these changes to happen. The reason that monads cannot bring changes in bodies is because that is not what they were programmed to do. They were created so that compound substances could be made. The biological nature of Monads makes their essential qualities to be apperception and appetition and even motion itself. Their relation is more of a final cause than an efficient cause. This is why he considers final causes as the principle of efficient causes and gives priority to final causes. Therefore, this made it hard for a monad to bring change in a body. As we can see, God is the unifier of the monads but he also brings harmony. Leibniz came to the conclusion, by using metaphysics and the nature of monads, that God was the ultimate monad and the Creator of this world. We are now at a point where nothing is the same. We believed in one thing but now it is completely different. The first problem that Berkeley would have with this objection is the fact that ideas cannot exist if they are not perceived. If we cannot perceive of the idea then there is no way that we can truly conceive of the thing. For example if I do not have the idea of the sky being blue then there is no way that I am going to walk outside, look up, and say the sky is blue. I do not have the concept of blue in the first place. He says that we cannot say what reality is like without using language. You cannot use a word well if you do not know the meaning of that word. When we are describing an idea it is based on what we feel. There is no way that I can say what I mean if I have no conception of the word. According to Berkeley, ideas do not do anything so it cannot cause anything to happen. The mind is active; it is able to perceive of new ideas by imaging. The one thing that the mind cannot do is actually form ideas. It can perceive the ideas but cannot come up with ideas that will resemble the mind when it does this. So, therefore there is no way that we can perceive of any sensible things without knowing what the words mean in the first place. If you do not know what the words mean then you cannot come up with ideas and without the ideas you cannot perceive anything. As we continue we start to see some changes. Berkeley is bring us closer to what Kant has to say. We finally come to Kant and we get our world back through pieces. The way that we do this is through the Kantian price. The Kantian price is how we get our world back through space and time. We have to realize that we would not exist without a world of space and time. Space is not empirical; the idea of space cannot be conceived of. Space is of only one thing. It cannot be talked about in parts because parts are only contained in the overall bigger picture. All space is, is a form of all appearances of the outer sense. As for time it is a little different. Time is not something, which exist of itself. An intuition taking place within is what time is. Time cannot be removed from appearance even though it does not have to actually possess appearances. These appearances can come and go but time cannot be taken away. It is only suitable in conjunction to appearance not for objects preoccupied or taken in general. Time and space are the pure forms of all sensible intuition and so are what make a priori synthetic propositions possible. Therefore, bring back our world through a price. We get a chance to see how Kant breaks down what everyone is saying and shows us how the world is not really slipping away but it is just seen in a different way.

Development of Business Strategies Essay -- Business Development Strat

The paper below responds to the following three prompts: 1. â€Å"The six forces model of strategy helps firms develop externally coherent business strategies†. Discuss applying the model to real cases. 2. Explain strategic posture and how it helps firms make strategy in uncertain business environments. 3. Evaluate the role of mergers and acquisitions in corporate strategy. 1. â€Å"The six forces model of strategy helps firms develop externally coherent business strategies†. Discuss applying the model to real cases. The six forces model is an extension to Michael Porter's Five Forces Model. The six forces analyze different areas in an industry. The forces in this model are: a. Competition- Analysis that if there are a lot of competitors. If so, are there any dominant players in the market. b. New entrants- To analyze if it is easy for new entrants to enter the market and compete? c. End users/buyers- Is the price easily affected by the buyers? Can the company work with a specific potential buyer? or to analyze their strength of their position in their relationship with the buyers d. Suppliers- Study the number of suppliers if it is a monopoly and if not, how many suppliers are there in the market. e. Substitutes- To study how easily a product can be substituted and how easily these substitutes are available f. Complementary products- Effect of complementary products and services on the market. The six forces model is used to study the strategic position of a company in a concerned industry and in a given market place. It is also applied to calculate the market effectiveness of a company with regard to competition and profitability. Let us take FedEx as an example. FedEx is one of the largest global courier... ...gy. †¢ Adam Hartung(2014), Three Smart Lessons From Facebook's Purchase Of WhatsApp http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2014/02/24/zuckerbergs-3-smart-leadership-lessons-from-facebook-buying-whatsapp/ †¢ Ibrahim AKGÃâ€"BEK, Mergers and Acquisitions as a Growth Strategy http://psrcentre.org/images/extraimages/412031.pdf †¢ PALO ALTO, CA and HOUSTON, TX (2001), Hewlett-Packard and Compaq agree to merge, creating $87 billion global technology leader http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-release.html?id=230610#.U00iUvmSy50 †¢ Wikipedia, Tata Group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group †¢ Sebastian Spaeth, Nina Geilinger, Corporate Strategy Mergers & Acquisitions http://www.smi.ethz.ch/education/courses/corporatestrategy/Slides_2012/CS_06_MA.pdf †¢ KENT RHODES, Merger and Acquisition Strategies http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/merger-and-acquisition-strategies/

Teaching Young Students Essay -- Education, Language, Music

Preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are essential years in children’s life for learning how to read and understanding the basic fundamentals of language arts. Some of these concepts include letter recognition, sight word recognition, capitalization, punctuation, and reading fluency. Everything that children learn during these important years will follow them the rest of their lives. Reading and writing must start with the very basics of letter identification and then progress to writing and reading words and sentences. It is important for children to have a positive learning experience because reading is a very important skill that will continually be needed in everyday life. Whole language and balanced literacy are two commonly used methods for teaching language arts to beginning students. There are many activities used to teach young children how to read and write including the use of music in the classroom, sight words, games, and worksheets. There are two main approaches to teaching reading to young students. One common approach is whole language. Kate Walsh states that whole language â€Å"emphasizes connecting children with meaningful text as the preferred path to developing fluent readers† (10). In whole language, using the context of the sentence to figure out a word is essential. Walsh further explains the importance of context cluing in whole language by describing it as â€Å"having children identify new words by discerning their meaning in the context of the text† (10). Another approach to teaching reading is balanced literacy which, unlike whole language, â€Å"fuses the literature-based approach with some phonological instruction but only on an â€Å"as needed† basis† (Walsh, Glaser, Dunne 10). Mixing these two conc... ... the student must understand the difference between an uppercase and lowercase letter and when to use them in different situations. Independent exercises are important in the learning process for children because it makes them feel like they have accomplished something on their own, and they show what the child truly knows. There are many different approaches to teaching language arts to young learners. It is important to understand that every classroom and every child is different. Different activities and methods should be used with different children and different situations. Learning the basics of language arts will follow with children throughout their years of schooling and throughout their life. Learning how to read and write for a young student should be a positive and fun experience. Through different methods, many teachers have made learning fun!

The Philosophy of Filipino Culture

Philosophy of Filipino Culture May 20, 2010 Crossing Cultures: A Philosophical Reflection on Filipino Culture and Cultural Transition Experienced by Third Culture Kids Oh it's a mystery to me. We have a greed, with which we have agreed†¦ and you think you have to want more than you need†¦ until you have it all, you won't be free. Society, you're a crazy breed. I hope you're not lonely, without me. – Eddie Vedder (Society) In a world that is becoming increasingly smaller as globalization takes its universal toll on countries and cultures, the sentiments expressed in the lyrics of this song often resonate with the individual trying to find a sense of identity through society and feeling overwhelmed by it. As we have learned in class, an individual tries to concretize him/herself by acting in the world as a â€Å"dynamic X. † This characteristic, as explained by Max Scheller, is a universal factor inherent in everyone that drives us as humans to try to find our identity in a world that is constantly changing around us. Being a â€Å"Dynamic X† we ourselves are constantly changing, and we triangulate our sense of identity by comparing ourselves to the society around us to try and develop a sense of who we are through achievement, careers, personal preference of music, movies, literature and – most importantly – our name. It is through our name that we present ourselves and our capacity for historicity to the world. It is also through our name that we are known and recognized as part of a society. Considering the inherent characteristic of being a â€Å"Dynamic X† and how we use it to derive a ense of identity, the most influential factor which we use as a reference to triangulate our identity is culture. Culture, as we have learned in class, tells us how to be a person amongst others. The culture to which we are born into is something that we are affected by without having a conscious choice in how it affects us. As we develop into adults, we imbibe the cultural values, c ustoms and traits around us and form who we are through them. This process of imbibing a culture is forever ongoing, giving merit to the characteristic of being a â€Å"Dynamic X†. In its most general definition, culture can be seen as a code of systems and meanings which are unique amongst different diversities of people. Generally, most people are born and raised in one dominant culture to which they identify with as their own. Reflecting on this definition of culture and how we go about imbibing it as we develop our sense of identity, the question that this paper will attempt to answer is â€Å"what happens if a person grows up in several different cultures and how does it affect their own sense of identity? Falling into this unique and growing demographic, I personally have experienced growing up in several different cultures around the world. Being the son of a missionary couple, I have lived in three drastically different countries and cultures throughout my life. Having spent my early childhood years living in Jos, Nigeria, I assimilated into my identity certain â€Å"African† characteristics that I still feel have a hold on who I am today. Spending the bulk of my educational and developmental years here in the Philippines, I have also categorized my identity as being half-Filipino, an epiphany of sorts that only took place in my life after having experienced life alone in Philadelphia, PA U. S. A. All my life I have grown up with the mentality that the U. S is my â€Å"home. † Even though my mother is a full blooded Filipina, we were conditioned as children to believe that the U. S is where we would ultimately settle. This shaped my sense of identity significantly while growing up as I utomatically assumed that because I was an American citizen at birth I was 100% American. All that changed, however, when I graduated high school here in the Philippines and started college in the U. S. I soon found myself to be far different from the Americans around me. Several aspects of American culture, one that I associated as my own growing up, became increasingly difficult to relate to. I finally decided during my sophomor e year in college to move back to the Philippines to finish my studies. I regard that decision as one of the best ones I have made in my life. As I moved back here however, I also felt a severe distance and separation from the culture around me. This feeling led me to the realization that I was considerably different from people born exclusively into Filipino and American cultures. It was during my first months living back here that I realized I was a textbook example of what is known as a Third Culture Kid. According to sociologists David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken, a â€Å"Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a signfificant part of his or her developmental years outside the parent’s culture. The TCK builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the TCK’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background. † Throughout the last half of the 20th century, the TCK demographic has been growing significantly as international travel and commerce have been made extremely convenient. Being a type of identity, however, the TCK experience does not fully encapsulate what it means to be an individual, as the second sentence in the definition above points out. Lacking the option to â€Å"own† a culture or be fully recognized as a member of a society definitely affects the sense of individual identity of the TCK growing up. As experienced by me, the longing to be a fully integrated member of a culture or society can create extreme insecurities and dysfunctions in a person if they do not focus on the advantages of what a TCK identity has to offer the world. Using my TCK identity as a framework for understanding the Filipino culture, hich I consider now to be the closest to my heart in terms of who I am, I will attempt to reflect on certain aspects of it that I found difficult to relate with and transition into my own sense of identity. Looking at these difficulties I experienced while transitioning back into the Filipino culture, a better sense of who I am – the fundamental question of philosophy – can be achieved. Also, in regarding these observations as lessons learned on my part, I can better understand how I interact and deal with people here in the Philippines, which has been a longing of mine for quite some time now. The first aspect of Filipino culture that struck me as cultural barrier was Language. Even though I grew up here in the Philippines for the majority of my life, I was raised in an English speaking home and school system. Although I can understand Tagalog fluently, and speak it well enough to get around the city and hold casual conversations, my accent is what ultimately distinguishes me apart from other Filipinos. Filipino culture, while heavily influenced by American culture, is at the point were to fluently spoken English is somewhat looked down upon by the majority of the masses living here. A reason for this can obviously be found in the shift from English to Tagalog as the language used in the educational system that took place a couple decades ago. This attitude towards English speakers has also been enhanced due to the rise in BPO and call centers here in Manila. Having trained communication skills in two different call centers here, I can say with conviction that people who work there, a large and growing percentage of workers aged 19-35, have a subtle disdain for the language that makes it difficult for fluent speakers of English to be accepted as members of this culture and society. This, obviously makes sense since the national language of this country is and should always be Tagalog. It does, however, create difficulties when trying to transition into this culture; difficulties aided all the more by the fact that casual joking about English speakers (i. e. nosebleed jokes etc) have practically become a social norm. ( Reflecting on this cultural barrier as a TCK and Filipino citizen, I’ve come to realize the importance of language as a tool for the transmission of culture and values, as was stated in Berger and Lukmann’s article on Institutionalism. Having undergone two years of being made fun of (lightly) for my Kano accent while speaking Tagalog, I have also realized that my identity as a TCK can adapt to the cultural bantering with a healthier attitude now days. I no longer feel insecure about my â€Å"baluktot† Tagalog and have come to accept that the Filipino culture pokes fun of me without any malice – a characteristic of our culture that I have come to admire. Another aspect of the Filipino culture that I have had difficulty relating to and integrating into my own identity is the Shame-based aspect of it. Having gone to an American based international school system, my attitude towards confrontation and humor was definitively American. This differs drastically from the Filipino culture, where shame is regarded as the ultimate social taboo. In American culture, there is a mutual understanding that confrontation and directness is the norm when addressing issues between people. This trickles down into the humor of Americans, which is based on practical jokes and oriented more towards embarrassment. This difference in mentality can create a lot of offense to Filipinos. On the other hand, the shame based cultural aspect of the Philippines can also create confusion to Filipino-Americans like me, who have experienced instances where a â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† might not necessarily mean it. The confusion caused by this aspect of Filipino culture has dissipated over the time I’ve spent integrating myself into it. I feel now that my humor is more Filipino than American, and I can understand the dynamics of the shame based culture works. In general, I feel that overcoming this transition into Filipino culture has significantly helped me understand who I am as a Filipino-American. All in all, these aspects of Filipino culture, which have been overcome and assimilated by me have made me realize how much my identity is inclined and oriented towards this culture. Another aspect of culture that we learned about in class was that it changes after behavior changes. Being passed down from generation to generation, this characteristic also defines culture as constantly changing. The most significant realization that occurred to me about my identity as a TCK in relation to this definition of culture was that I have been more prepared to adapt and tackle change. As technology develops faster and faster, the rate of change in cultures worldwide increases. The unique advantage that I have as a TCK is that change and transition has been occurring in my life ever since I could remember. With the culture of ours gradually morphing into a culture of pressure to achieve, others who are not used to change and transition might not handle it as well as I can. This is the main advantage of being influenced by multiple cultures while growing up and I can say that as the world continues to demand individual responses to change, I am perhaps better equipped to handling them because of my TCK experience.

Effective Intervention Essay

This paper tends to serve as a research towards school programs that aims to avoid or stop the bullying attitude in school. In explanation to this the research will identify, whether or not, if the said policies or programs are effective. The data includes the school name as well as their total effort on the particular topic which is about bullying and programs that tend to prevent such an attitude. What is Bullying? Parents should know the importance of this act towards their child because the bullying act’s impact might affect the child’s social, psychological, and mental processes. Through the bullying experience, the child will gain a sense of fear from those who tend to be stronger than her or him which will definitely lead to anxiety, depression, and inferiority complex. Bullying is defined as the power of a certain person or the authority of a certain person over another. This act can be classified in three categories which are physical bullying, verbal bullying, and exclusion from activities (Stopbullyingnow, 2007). Physical Bullying This category of bullying act includes hitting, kicking, pushing, and even choking and punching of a certain student to another he or she feels inferior to him or her (Stopbullyingnow, 2007). Verbal Bullying This category is different from the first because this act of bullying includes threatening, taunting, even teasing, making gossips and/or rumors, and stating hate speeches (Stopbullyingnow, 2007). Exclusion from Activities This act of bullying wherein a certain child commands another child not to play or not to communicate with the child that the â€Å"boss† doesn’t like. Like for example; don’t you dare play with her or else†¦ Central City Cyberschool’s Anti-bullying Strategy Bullying Intervention Strategy is what every school such as the Central City Cyberschool learns and executes in order to reduce or prevent the bullying practices in their school. This strategy starts on a School level which tends to educate the teachers as well as the administrators, the staffs of the school, every parents, and individual students about the bullying behavior and certain response tactics to prevent or avoid it. A curriculum is set into the school in every classroom level in order to effectively promote the intervention strategy. Curriculum 1. Promotes kindness (Starr, 2005) 2. Promotes Communication (Starr, 2005) 3. Promotes Cooperation (Starr, 2005) 4. Promotes Friendship (Starr, 2005) This curriculum tends to enhance anger management and conflict resolution skills on the children in order to avoid possible conflicts in the school environment. On the contrary, children are hardheaded and that what is told to them goes inside their ears and comes out after. Other strategy/individual level 1. Manages serious talks with bullies and their victims (Starr, 2005) 2. Serious talk with the parents of the bullies and their victims (Starr, 2005) Principles of Teaching with Regards to the Intervention  · Respect young people’s autonomy (Davis, 2005)  · Maintain young people’s sense of belonging (Davis, 2005)  · Teaching how to learn cause and effect thinking as well as to promote conscience development (Davis, 2005) Since children are expected to be hardheaded and ego dragged, the said three principles should be considered before making any action against the bully children. These three principles will help develop discipline towards a certain child who has a bad attitude to the other children. Conclusion The discussed programs and strategy not only in the Central City School but also in other schools are said to be effective because the school staffs, teacher, parents, and administration joined efforts together and strictly execute their implementation towards the prevention of bullying without making a violent act against the bullies. They only tend to alter the negative behavior of the bully students and at the same time prevent the bully victims from having fear and any psychological disorder that the act might cause them.