Impact of Standardized Testing Essay Example for Free

Impact of Standardized Testing Essay There is a vast literature available concerning African American male student accomplishment and its relation to the accomplishment gap occurrence (Perry, Stelle, Hilliard, 2003; Thernstrom Thernstrom, 2003; Hrabrowksi, 1998; Ogbu, 1998; Patterson, 2006; Polite Davis, 2001; Duncan, 1999; Freeman, 1999). Researchers and media channels explain the causes of African Americans continuously staying behind their White partners. Several provide limited allegations concerning African American male student accomplishment from either a past, sociological, or monetary view when deciding school achievement or failure. On the contrary, sufficient notice has not been granted to experiential and mixed methodological styles for assisting in advancing the debate concerning the provision of efficient resolutions toward narrowing the achievement gap that exists between African American male learners and counteracting deficit-model styles. In â€Å"Educating African American Males: Voices from the Fields†, the author Fashola (2008) and some other important academician researchers tackle this matter. The book is segmented in eight chapters, locating itself in many thematic areas that include social, ethnic, and past matters; school reform; primary, middle and high school experiences; structural analysis of manliness; institutional types of prejudice; and extra-curricular activities which assist in the promotion of affirmative self-confidence and analytical skills for African American males. Altogether, the providers enunciate the requirement of novel styles by demanding the educational commune to shift beyond conventional means of accomplishment and to comprehend the importance of social, past, ethnic, behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and educational styles that add to the broadening of the achievement gap between African American males and their white partners. Cooper and Jordan (2003) tackle the issues of African American male student achievement and they do this by locating and investigating the past as well as the methodical impacts of prejudice and also by displaying the way institutionalized domination have a part to play in the broadening of the achievement gap. The authors assess the elements such as uncontrolled unemployment, poverty, and insufficient accessibility to health care as the possible elements of African American males not being franchised in the circumstance of school and community. The authors imply that an â€Å"intergenerational poverty† (p. 2) exists which disseminates a self-fulfilling prediction for several of African American males. Ogbu’s (1998) research allows for the contextualizing of such past injustices. It is implied that â€Å"the treatment of minorities in the wider society is reflected in their treatment in education† (p. 159). In his book Noguera (2003) assists in the contextualizing of few of the practical attitudes which are required for the comprehension of certain of the behavioral trends of African American males which have an impact on them in school. The author offers information and research which record the way they were marginalized and wronged by the schooling experiences in the capitalist educational frameworks. Text offers a qualitative study which looks for determining the part that educators have in the motivation of students; teachers can utilize this information to reassess and modify their educational and instructional practices and also to fulfill the requirements of African American males and at the same time provide with suitable scaffolding so as to assist the learners in meeting the academic standards. Along with this, Noguera also debates that the learners are to be taught and habituated so as to see that the academic institutions are advantageous to them and also that the anticipations for them are high. Noguera writes about the schooling experiences of African American males by assessing their accomplishment trends in public schools and tackling with their consequent detachment. He writes that Black males underperform on standardized tests and that they undergo much higher drop-out rates. Although Black males achieve much and their performance is good in the primary grades, they tend to underperform by the age of nine (Garibaldi, 1992). His recommendation is that the educators should be placing literary and language enrichment at the head of their instructional concerns. This is particularly important during their primary school times; supplementing with the talents allows for African American males to become self-sufficient, analytical thinking is principal for their general intellectual achievement or failure. Development of Problem An operational attitude to the tradition of schooling also offers a valuable contextual structure for the investigation of student â€Å"oppositionality† and â€Å"resistance† (Ogbu, 1998) as minor traditional features displayed by particular minority learners in reaction to their communal marginalization. The idea of identity and the way it is written either by a person or the community is made pertinent by the reactions of these marginalized learners and is a vital part of a sufficient hypothetical viewpoint on tradition. The academic achievement gap which is present between African American and White learners is a very urgent contest for the urban education in the United States in the present times. Generally, the rank and academic achievement of minority groups in science have been issues of concern in various areas (National Science Foundation, 1994; Atwater, 2000). In a wide-ranging assessment of the issues, Jencks and Phillips (1998) suggest that there should be an application of methodical and preserved research attempts targeted at investigating the causes for the low performance of particular minority groups. When discussing the achievement gap and displaying it as a challenge for the urban education, there has to be an emphasis placed on certain aspects of the urban schools which are responsible for the existent gap. In the United States, the fact that the majority of the Black students study in urban or inner city institutions is correct, and on the other hand White students normally study at suburban schools. It is possible that this factor is responsible for the achievement gap between the Blacks and the Whites and it provides with an urban/suburban aspect. Urban academic institutions are also different from the suburban ones in the accessibility of the study material and commune sources. Even though the fact that the suburban schools normally have much better sources in contrast to the urban schools is true, an exploration can be made in whether the resources that are accessible for the urban schools are utilized most advantageously so as to improve the student involvement and intellectual accomplishment. Even though standardized testing traditionally has been slackly connected to responsibility and student education, the association had been weak. The association between student education and high-stakes standardized testing became more distinct, and a rise in the utilization of the tests has reached classic magnitude following the introduction of the No Child Left Behind. The argument behind such a connection is that raised pressure to perform well on standardized tests, and also a series of incentives and penalties, will raise the student education and accomplishment. Impacts of such testing standards have broad results, not just on the current generation but also on the next generations of youth. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to assess the impact that standardized testing has on African American male students. The study aims to display the issues connected with the impact of standardized testing on African American males. African American males face discrimination and due to that they do not perform as they should in their academics. Innumerable researches have been conducted to examine African American youths’ academic results. There is relative concentration with a stress on the achievement gap between African American youths generally and also that of other ethnic categories, like the Europeans and Asian Americans. Several conceptual structures have been offered which propose the achievement gap in educational results is the outcome of societal-level discrimination which afflicts African Americans (for example, Fordham Ogbu, 1986; Ogbu, 1987, 1994; Steele, 1997). In reality, several of the studies record the negative impacts of such macro system-level elements on the encouragement and intellectual accomplishment of African American learners (Howard Hammond, 1985; Ponterotto Pedersen, 1993; Steele Aronson, 1995). Nature of the Study Social research can be deductive or inductive and each is applied according to the research type. Deductive approach refers to particular information that has been gained from a general theory. Through the theory the researcher gets the foresights concerning the happening. Deductive research is termed as theory testing. In the case when a research initiates with a theory and is following the hypotheses that the researcher has set to test, the approach is deductive. Deductive reasoning sets to work moving from the more universal to the more precise. Induction is usually described as moving from the specific to the general. Observations are used for inductive approaches. Inductive reasoning moves from the more specific to a broader generalization and theory. In this case there is quite some uncertainty involved and the conclusions are based on theories.

Solutions to Rising Healthcare Costs

Solutions to Rising Healthcare Costs Rising cost in health care its solution Contents Executive Summary Reasons for high cost in health care Solutions to the rising cost of health care Implementation of Universal Health care model The Beveridge Model The famous Bismark Model The National Health Insurance Model The Out-of-Pocket Model Procedure to implement Workplace Health Model Conclusion References Executive Summary Undoubtedly, health care costs has emerged as a severe issue these days, especially when the budget is appreciably high. The present financial situation of the world today reveals comparatively high cost in medical and health care. Day by day, the cost of insurance premiums and medical claims for employees is rising at an all-time high and is continuously following an upward trend. In such critical situation, business leaders are being called upon to make changes at workplaces and to implement models which can help in curbing rising costs. Many of them are turning to workplace health programs to help employees so that they can adopt healthier lifestyles. This also will help in lowering the risk of developing costly chronic diseases. A coordinated move toward the workplace’s health promotion results in a planned, prearranged, and comprehensive set of curriculum, policies, benefits, and ecological supports designed to meet the health and safety needs of all employees. Programs r elating to workplace health care tend to be more successful when both occupation and health is considered in the design and execution of the workplace. In fact, a mounting body of evidence indicates that workplace-based interventions that take coordinated,  planned and integrated approaches towards reducing health threats to workers both in and out of work are more effective than traditional isolated programs. (Prevention, 2013) (Figure 1: Health care expenditure) (Source: Forbes, 2013) Reasons for high cost in health care This decade has alarmingly witnessed an appreciable increment in health care costs. Whether it is ever-increasing health indemnity premiums, growing drug costs, or escalating hospital prices, it is an agreeable fact that these costs need to be constrained, or even lowered. For many years and in immeasurable articles, physicians have been the scapegoat for rising healthcare costs in thewhole world. On the other hand, it has been seen that something else is exposed by digging deeper into the key mechanism in healthcare spending as technology and know-how, various administrative expenses, hospital costs, lifestyle substitute and chronic disease conditions have all had superior impacts on rising overall healthcare costs than medical doctors. The bulk of medical payments go to hospitals and device manufactures. It has been suggested by critics that the incomes of physicians is directed by most spending of healthcare. Despite the fact, it is not necessary that the primary beneficiaries of health care spending are physicians. The medical procedure payment in bulk goes in hospitals and in manufacturing the devices. But this does not mean that majority of benefits are gained by physicians and they have caused a rise in the health care settings. This becomes an extremely wrong notion. The five main factors responsible for the increase in health care costs have been discussed below: Unnecessary Care in various occasions Out of many reasons, overuse and needless care, accounts one-third to one-half of all health care expenditure and this equals to hundreds of billions of dollars, in addition to the half-a-trillion spent per year. Preventable Harm to Patients This is one of most common problems of health care. The information is astounding. This is a surprising fact that early elective delivery harms both women and newborns. Children born at 37-39 finished week growth are at much elevated risk of death. They are also at a distant higher risk for evils like respiratory problems and right of entry to theNICU. Wastage of Billions of Dollars A report submitted by the Institute of Medicine  Health  suggests that a third or more of health expenditure are pointless. The cost of these pointless, injurious and early hours elective deliveries account to nearly $1 billion per year as was predicted in a study by the  American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Vicious inducement in how we pay for Care? By tradition, people pay providers for various health plans, Medicare and other Medicaid no matter what services they provide. This is regardless of whether the overhaul truly reimburses the patient or not, as the tremendous new book called The Incentive Cure points out. Deficient in Transparency There must be proper requirement for medical expenditure made. Transparency stimulates change like nothing else. Cases like early elective deliveries demonstrate that, despite of warnings over the years from medical societies and various organizations and highly appreciated national organizations, the rates of these deliveries have been going up for decades.(Forbes, 2013) Solutions to the rising cost of health care Cost in health care all over the world is rising at a rapid rate. The health care spending is increasing faster than the overall economy in US too. As per the National Health Expenditure Accounts data from 2008, it is shown that, people of US spend more than $2 trillion every year on health care which is 16.2 percent of gross domestic product. The amount spent per person comes out to be approximately equal to $7,681. Going up health care costs are inextricably linked to the enlargement in the number of uninsured, making it imperative that the subsequent step in health system improvement include efforts to address growing costs. The American Medical Association (AMA) has recognized four broad policies to maintain the health care expenses and get good benefits for the amount spend after health care: Diminish the burden of avertable disease Make health care delivery more efficient Diminish nonclinical health scheme costs that do not add to patient concern Uphold value-based administration at all levels Here is an elaborate discussion on the above four strategies: Diminish the burden of avertable disease The policy to diminish the risk factors for ailing and preventing the commencement of chronic diseases will definitely improve the patient’s fulfillment with medications and precautionary care recommendations. This policy will also encourage enhanced nutrition and physical movement with prevention in injury due to accidents and violence. This policy will also give enhancement in carrying out more public health campaigns. Formulate health care delivery more efficient The policy of formulating a better health care delivery is always needed to reduce the rising expenses in health care. This will not only improve coordination of care but will also help in reducing unnecessary use of services. This particular strategy is helpful in increasing use of services with optimistic return on investment i.e. in terms of future disease and cost. Here we can get increased accessibility of information on the usefulness of different treatments; advance management of chronic diseases. This will in turn reduce the medical errors and shift care to cost-effective sites of service. Diminish nonclinical health scheme costs that do not add to patient concern This particular strategy will help in eliminating unwarranted spending that does not make an addition to the value of patient concern, such as administrative expenses, profit making, etc. Uphold value-based administration at all levels. This successful strategy tends to improve the processes by which assessment are made so that both cost and benefit can be taken into consideration. Again particularly clinical outcomes are considered in this strategy. Both information and incentives are needed to be improved a lot for host of resolutions. Assessment can be increasingly incorporated into such assessments as physicians and patients decide among medicinal therapies, as insurers plan health chart features, and as legislators settle on budgets or authorization coverage of meticulous benefits. (Association, 2013) The ultimate solution to the ongoing rise in healthcare expenses cannot lie in shifting responsibilities, generating hostility among workers, and contracting the managerial screws on the system. Such solution must lie in dealing with healthcare in a truly fundamental way. Implementation of Universal Health care model Rising costs in Health care is definitely a serious problem. There is a need that every company in the world formulates some strategic and universal plan for appropriate healthcare treatment of its human resources. They must put into practice such plans, which will not only be advantageous to the employees, but also will help that organization to curb the large expenditure in health care. A sound deliberate plan sets the long-term course for a healthcare system in any organization. This will identify the key initiatives and define answerability for results. Various healthcare strategic planning solutions of various organizations in reality guarantee improved presentation through establishing: A fixed accountability for results by human being and date A trouble-free tool to use with which management can manage day-to-day outcomes There must be fast start for one to start on accomplishment of plans Arrangement and promise from all stakeholders An exclusive explanation specific to one’s capability and needs (System, 2005-2013) Health care is the economic black hole of every country. Legislation and rules can only go so far as setting up the system and paving way for new technology but can’t do a great deal on their own. For a genuine combat with health care’s cost challenges, the focal point must budge to disruptive business models as searching innovative ways of delivering accessible treatments at a much lower cost. While new business models are looked-for across the spectrum of healthcare, many impediments put off new ideas from captivating root. There are barriers, which possibly will stem from the fact that health care in various countries do not function like the free market. For example, customers rarely compensate directly for their own care, so there is modest incentive for making trade-offs such as preferring something cheaper that they can get in lesser cost. The regulatory atmosphere often does not allow reasonably priced solutions to make it to marketplace. Finally, there are inco mpatible incentives and hospitals want patients to get that operation, but insurance companies do not want such. (Eyring, 2012) As the expenditure of healthcare has risen, companies have tried to apply many cost-containment stratagems. However, all of which are likely to be only in part effective and only for a little while. More imperative, the new strategy make enemies, cause workers to be disbelieving of the company’s goodwill and intentions, subvert constructive attitudes on the part of the workforce, and harshly degrade the attitude and esprit of retirees with regard to the corporation. The contemporary approaches all amount to cutting benefits and variable costs. The most widespread practice is to push up the workers’ assistance while, at the identical time, reducing the obtainable benefits in the company’s insurance plan. If we take a corporate point of view, we can notice that implementation of a universal health care system is relatively easy and clear-cut. Corporations would make a permanent annual contribution to the national health care system as a percentage of the salary and wages of all workers. For example, it may be only as a talking point, 7.5 percentages of all salary and wages. (Coates, 2004) For implementation of a Universal Health care system, there are four basic models, which can be applied for an appropriate health care system within an organization. Countries all across the globe are following the map of complex legal, economic, and political landscapes to settle on the best path towards worldwide health coverage (UHC). Below we can illustratefour basic models for health care systems. The Beveridge Model In the Beveridge Model, the facility of health care is provided and financed by the government through tax expenditure, comparable to the public library. Many, but not all, hospitals and health centers are owned by the government and some doctors are employees under government, but there are also personal doctors who accumulate their fees from the government. These schemes tend to have low costs per capita, because the government, as the one and only payer, is in charge of what doctors can do and what they can charge. The countries, which are using the Beveridge Model or a variation include: Cuba Great Britain The famous Bismark Model Despite of being most popular in all around the various European countries, this system of providing health care would look comparatively recognizable to Americans. It uses an insurance system and here the insurers are called sickness funds. They are usually financed in cooperation by employers and employees through payroll deduction. Unlike the U.S. indemnity industry, though, Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to wrap everybody, and they do not make a profit. Doctors and hospitals tend to be personal in Bismarck countries. Although this is a multi-payer model and the country, Germany has about 240 different funds but this tight regulation gives government comparable cost-controls as single-payer Beveridge Models. Countries those are familiar in using the Bismarck Model or a variation comprise of; Germany France Belgium the Netherlands Japan Switzerland The National Health Insurance Model These systems have elements in combination of both Beveridge and Bismarck models. It uses private-sector providers, but imbursement comes from a government-run insurance plan that each citizen pays into. Since there is no need for advertising, no financial reason to deny claims and no profit, these universal insurance plans tend to be cheaper and much simpler managerially than American-style for-profit insurance. The single-payer is inclined to have substantial market power to consult for subordinate prices. The classic National Health Insurance system is found in Canada, but some recently industrialized countries like Taiwan and South Korea. These are some newly developed countries, which have also considered the NHI model. (Forward, 2011) The Out-of-Pocket Model Researches state that only some developed, industrialized countries, perhaps 40 of the world’s 200 countries in the world have established health care systems. Most of the countries on the planet are too deprived and too incompetent to provide any kind of mass health checkup facilities and proper medical care. The essential rule in such countries is that the rich get medical care but unfortunately, the people who cannot afford the cost, stay sick, or die. Almost hundreds of millions of people go past their whole lives without ever seeing a doctor in rural regions of Africa, India, China, and South America. They may have right of entry, although, to a village healer using home-brewed medication that may or not be of use against very disease. In the world under poverty, patients can from time to time scratch together enough money to pay a physician bill but if they cannot, then they pay it otherwise like they pay in potatoes or goat’s milk or child care or anything else they may have to provide. If they have nothing, they remain deprived of health checking facility. The above mentioned four models are moderately easy for Americans to understand because the Government and people of the country have all these elements in their fragmented national health care equipment’s (RESOURCES, 2010) (Figure 2: Health care systems) (Source: Resources, 2010) Countries in blue have some type of universal health care. Countries in green are currently attempting to implement some type of universal health care. Orange countries have universal health coverage provided by United States war funding. (Glow, 2007) Procedure to implement Workplace Health Model (Source: (Prevention, 2013) Any organization before implementation must look into the procedure to be followed for implementing an appropriate health care model. There may be four steps to follow: Step 1: Assessment A proper assessment process must be carried on relating to individual, organizational and community. For individual assessment on health risks and use of services needed to be taken. Current practices and infrastructure of the organization must be assessed. Step 2: Planning or Workplace Governance In the next step, planning and workplace governance needed to be considered. This starts with leadership support and management and continues with various workplace health improvement plans and dedicated resources. Step 3: Implementation In the third stage, there require proper implementation of various rules and regulations. There must be proper programs and policies with regard to various health benefits and environmental supports. Step 4: Evaluation After implementation of workplace health care model, evaluation on such polices must be taken. Evaluation is needed on workers’ productivity and health care costs. Management should look into whether implementation of health model helps in cost curbing or not. Assessment also needs to be taken on improved health outcomes and organizational changes (Glow, 2007) Conclusion We all are aware of rising cost of health care and thus, workplaces are suggested to implement such a health care plan that will not only prove to be beneficial to the employees but will also help in curbing the cost within the organization. For having a reasonable health care opportunity, an organization must take into consideration some ideas including of implementing an automated prior authorization program, having a therapeutic consultation programs, transformation of electronic health records and various health information in exchange of e-prescribing. Policies also can be taken on simplification in administration of home and community based services, taking proper information on pharmacy claims, proper review on payment methods etc. (Moeller, 2013) As evident from this report, there is a significant issue with regard to health disparities that exists in the countries. This issue leads to high costs in healthcare. Especially in between 2003 and 2006, it was estimated by Joint center for political and economic studies that health inequity costs that are either total direct or total indirect affect the minority populations (racially or ethnically inclusive of low wage and low productions) In order to achieve truly the costs of savings in the systems of healthcare, it is advised by experts to look at every factor that drives the costs of healthcare over the GDP, growth of population and inflation. Also, analysis of literature and data does not simply point out that physicians are the main cause of rising health care costs. The factors are several as discussed in the report with respect to life style of people and chronic status of individuals (Coates, 2004).

What Is Peace Journalism Media Essay

What Is Peace Journalism Media Essay How could the media contribute to peace building? Most of the peace settlements even with the Oslo peace Accords in the Middle East, the Dayton Accords which ended the Bosnian War took place as far away from the media as possible. It is known to the related partied of the world situations that media is usually seen as a threat. On that perspective this study will measure the importance of Peace Journalism as new concept of journalism and its acceptance to the audience as one of the tools for world peace. Peace is always related with conflict as its nature, so this study will find the attitude of audience to Peace Journalism. Key-Words: Peace Journalism, War Journalism, Conflict resolutions, audiences of media. Introduction: When some journalists and researchers like David Loyn, Philips argued against peace journalism then Jack Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick argued in favour of it. They tried to find the real distinctions, debated over right or wrong points of peace journalism. Academic writers and scholars also commented on the topic. Some thought it was critical, some thought its not critical enough and some thought its better than war journalism as journalism. This study will find the reality and necessity of peace journalism in the contemporary civilised world when the planet earth is facing undeclared world war with different battle fields and the manipulation of media publicity with propaganda. Background: Peace journalism follows a long history of news publication originating in non-sectarian Christian peace movements and societies of the early 19th century, which published periodicals. Sectarian organizations also created publications focused on peace as part of their proselytizing in the 19th century, as did utopian communities of the period. From the 20th century, a prominent example of sectarian journalism focused on peace was  Dorothy Days  Catholic Worker. Besides being an element in the histories of  pacifism  and the  social movement  press, peace journalism is a set of  journalism practices that emerged in the 1970s. Norwegian sociologist, peace researcher and practitioner  Johan Galtung  proposed the idea of peace journalism for journalists to follow to show how a value bias towards violence can be avoided when covering war and conflict.  Christian organisations such as The  World Council of Churches  and The  World Association for Christian Communication  also practice peace journalism. Professor Johan Galtung, a professor on Peace Studies and director of the TRANSCEND network, started using the term, Peace Journalism in the 1970s. Conflict and Peace Forums, a think-tank developed Galtungs original ideas in a series of international conferences from 1997-99, and in publications: The Peace Journalism Option (1998); What Are Journalists For? (1999), and, Using Conflict Analysis in Reporting (2000). Former BBC journalists Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick adopted the Phrase Peace Journalism and they became scholars and educator in peace journalism. What is peace journalism? As Lynch and McGoldrick describe the word peace journalism is misunderstood as advocating peace. They agree that the phrase Peace Journalism would not appeal to all. They also tried to make a definition which was Peace Journalism is when editors and reporters make choices- of what stories to report and about how to report them- that create opportunities for society at large to consider and value non-violent responses to conflict. (Lynch and McGoldrick, 2005) Today, journalists often write and report from a third-person perspective and it seems like they just report the facts. If journalists compete not to distort any report to publish the facts as they are, while maintaining awareness of the reporting impact, then it may fall in step with the ideals of peace journalism. But journalism is not only reporting. In a feature or article a journalist could express every truth of fact even from a first-person position. Characteristics of Peace Journalism Lynch and McGoldrick versioned that journalists would not do just for the idea and practice but they should know the differences between Peace and War Journalism and how they could avoid from engaging the war journalism as always its character is propaganda. Understanding peace is very important. Without knowledge no journalist could engage with the mission. The first condition to seek peace is conflicting situation. In my understanding, if the situation is peaceful from beginning then no advocacy on peace is needed. Because there is already peace there. They need development journalism rather peace. So within a conflicting situation if the question of peace arises then the journalist does their mission with their understanding first. Then as part of peace journalism they need to measure the conflicting stories and the role of disputed parties. For a greater knowledge, Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick prescribed 17 tips for better peace journalism. They described what to avoid and what to accept. Whos benefit? Some western journalists advocate through their reporting to justify the aggression by the super powers on any sovereign (?) country and nation, destructions on their assets and killing their citizens for the greater interest of world peace (?).Any destruction and mass killing is treated as collateral damage. For their own survival media often overlook the reality. Reporters must continue with embedment (a big joke on neutral journalism) otherwise they could easily end up dead. There is no peace journalism without a conflicting situation or a war or damages against any civilisation. So any conflicting situation is a pre-requisite for peace journalism if any media desires that. And it always depends on the choices by the editor or authority of the media not to the reporter. But peace is made neither by culture alone, nor by politics and economics alone.  Ã‚  It is made by all three, synergistically.  Ã‚  The formula for peace is always equality, equity, and mutual respect.  Ã‚  We have to learn to celebrate not only the peace elements in our own culture but also in others. (Galtung, 2003). Peace is always for the benefit of the people and they are the audience. Peace is act of non-violence with creativity which was described by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick as followers from the life of three greatest personalities of human race: Mohammed laid down his cloak in the Kaba at Mecca to forestall violence in a quarrel over who had the right to carry a sacred black stone. It meant everyone could lift a corner of the cloak with the stone placed in the middle. Christ intervened to prevent the stoning of an adulteress by saying, let him who is without sin cast the first stone. The Buddha intervened to prevent a war breaking out over water. She reminded the parties that the water was worth very little. Whereas the lives of their warriors were beyond price. Peace to be peace, must give something to every one. If it is for one party/person and against another, it cannot be peace. (Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick, 2000) Objectivity and Discontents Objectivity and peace journalism totally depends on the authority of media. A freelance could cry on social media for peace and pro-fare objectives but people always use to depend on the main media of the world. But the freelance cannot change anything through his crying. David Loyn criticised peace journalism not only as his believe but also attacked it as meaningless, worst and misleading journalism. He wrote reporting wars in the way of encouraging peacemaker rather than warriors are the most dangerous part of peace journalism as it became as a new orthodoxy. How does objectivity work in practice? Anyone who has ever interviewed two observers of the same incident knows that there is no perfect account. Each reporter takes a view from somewhere. When a Russian armoured infantry company arrived in Kosovo out of the blue in 1999, after the NATO bombing campaign but before NATO ground troops, and seized the airport in a sneak raid, a British and a Russian journalist would have covered the same event completely differently. There could be no agreed narrative- but both would use the tool of objectivity to tell the story in their own terms, and in the terms understood by their viewers, listeners or readers. Here this study only could observe the debate between the scholars in favour or against peace journalism. It is also seems quite dangerous to determine the right or wrong of the both sides. Both Lynch and Loyn argued on the theory rather than practicality of the circumstances of journalism of this time. Media has become more visible, readable, and audible than ever in human history. Beside the reality its importance also realised by the powers who are doing everything against peace. In every country where there is a government that has their own interest at heart rather than the peoples. Either the supporter of peace or war loves to use media as their propaganda mechanism. So that they invisibly control over the media authority thus they control the reporting. Direct conflict or war reporting is not possible without an embed or attachment situation which ultimately paralyses the life of a true journalism. Media authority also dont want to take any risk on the life of a journalist where there is a greater chance to assassinate the reporter even in a friendly fire scenario for his truth. These types of practice are already taking place. It is a fact that to continue with a huge establishment no media authority would take any risk to stand against the powers of the world. Only a few but they are also backed by some other powers. There is no neutrality. Peace journalism creates some questions. Why peace and for whom? When does the topic of peace arise? How could we define peace as a peace not as a trick? Critical peace journalism There are some other types of journalism which are also not branded as peace journalism but their actions ultimately goes to the benefit for peace journalism. Noam Chomsky and Robert Fisk are two of them. This study found both of them as critical peace journalists. But they are not recognised as peace journalist at all. This study will evaluate their recent published articles on the assassination of Osama Bin Laden which brought their reactions to the audience and it carries the message of world peace in final. Robert Fisk: So now for a reality check. The world is not safer for Bin Ladens killing. It is safer because of the winds of freedom blowing through the Middle East. If the West treats the people of this region with justice rather than military firepower, then al-Qaida becomes even more irrelevant than it has been since the Arab revolutions. (Independent, 4/05/2011) Noam Chomsky: We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bushs compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. There is also much media discussion of Washingtons anger that Pakistan didnt turn over bin Laden, though surely elements of the military and security forces were aware of his presence in Abbottabad. Less is said about Pakistani anger that the  U.S.  invaded their territory to carry out a political assassination. Anti-American fervour is already very high in Pakistan, and these events are likely to exacerbate it. The decision to dump the body at sea is already, predictably, provoking both anger and skepticism in much of the Muslim world. (guernicamag.com, 6/05/2011) The two above cases clearly indicated that both the articles warned the related parties about the situations from the perspective of audiences and its target against the conflict in favour of peace. The author of this study finds those as critical peace journalism which was not widely accepted e or circulated as peace journalism rather than criticism. The way the media present conflict and violence will be a major factor in determining the reaction: war, or peace. One assumption is readiness to identify the legitimate goals of the other. Most parties are carriers of mixed bags of goals, so the task is to provide an umbrella for all legitimate goals. Sufficient prominence of such possible outcomes in the media is a basic necessary, if not sufficient, condition. (Galtung, 2006) War Journalism -VS- Peace Journalism The common understanding on war journalism is that its violence oriented where the elits or power based forces use media as their propaganda mechanism. All the related parties want to see their possible victory in the war reporting. Also the national media have the same desire as their audience in a conflicting situation. In the same way Peace Journalism is based on conflict but peace oriented and reports should be truth oriented and reports mostly cover both parties in the conflict for a better solution or outcome avoiding a more disasturus situation. In a phrase, Peace Journalism is a broader, fairer and more accurate way of framing stories, drawing on the insights of conflict analysis and transformation. The Peace Journalism approach provides a new road map for tracing the connections between journalists, their sources, the stories they cover and the consequences of their reporting the ethics of journalistic intervention. It opens up a literacy of non-violence and creativity as applied to the practical job of everyday reporting. (Lynch and McGoldrick, 2001) As Lynch mentioned war journalism is Violence/war Oriented Propaganda-oriented Elite- oriented Victory- Oriented And peace Journalism itself is therefore Peace/conflict oriented Truth- oriented People- oriented Solution oriented Problems for reporting on a conflict situation is that when two nations start fighting each other, both sides automatically become involved in psycological warefare also. In that situation side wants to see their victory. Here is the success of war journalism. To capitalise on that position, super powers allow journalism with attachment just to control the media for propaganda. In a conflicting situation to overcome human disaster there is no alternative but peace reporting for a possible calm situation. But it may not possible all the time. Kathleen OToole of Stanford University news service quoted from James Schear, deputy assistant secretary of defence for peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs that for most of the parties in most of the conflicts, war is a safer bet than peace. James Schear told the campus audience and described it as a brutally depressing fact. Schear previously worked for the United Nations in Cambodia and Bosnia. War is often safer, he said, because it has a familiar pattern; it imposes order, stifles dissent, generates profits in Angola and other places, provides employment, provides a pathway to advance. (OToole, 1997) Role of social media for peace Social media plays a major role in the field of mass communication. That role could recognise as one of the event of journalism also. When journalists fail to publish any report to their respective media they are leaking the topic or report to the public through social media. Any member of the public could have the chance to publish any news in the social media as well. In terms of peace journalism there is a huge opportunity to serve the people targeting a peaceful environment avoiding any conflict or war situation. A Reporter could avail of the advantage of wider publicity of social media to reach the audience and to get a prompt response from the audience. Journalism of Social Media now is a reality. The web has changed everything. Anybody with a blog can be a reporter, with a mobile phone can be a camera man, and even on Facebook, Twitter or a thousand other platforms can be a news editor or at least a  curator. So its easy to see the power that lies in the future of social media. The future of social media in journalism will see the death of social media. That is, all media as we know it today will become social, and feature a social component to one extent or another. After all, much of the web experience, particularly in the way we consume content, is becoming  social and personalized. ( Lavrusik 2010) So its possible that traditional media could be merge with social media meaning the content of Peace Journalism would be different from now. Journalists would be more realistic and even free to serve their ideas for audience without any type of super-power pressure which could distort the news content. But still its difficult to know whether the audience would accept more peace journalism than war. Though it differs the mind of audiences is still more or less captured by violence. They love to play violent videogames, watch violent movies, documentaries even bloody sports they like more than anything. They like to see the victory over others, its a psycological matter but on that reason nobody could be definitive whether audience would accept peace journalism or not. Audience of Peace Journalism War may be pointless for mankind but peace never will be pointless. If peace journalism is a mission then it could not be a pointless topic. It is very hard to see how it could be a popular one and how to get journalists to view the topic as one of the most important requirements for mankind. Theoretically there is no alternative but peace journalism at this stage for the audience, but other researchers, academic and journalists argued on that point that its not possible to find a solution of conflicts worldwide but beyond the conventional duties of journalism. The mass media dont parrot militaristic arguments as bluntly as bloggers, but theres no great taste for peace there, either. I cant name a single major columnist who advocates massive military cuts. Nor a single one who has openly sided with the peace movement. The opinion elites have gradually allowed the concept of immediate withdrawal from Iraq on to the front page, without taking the radical step of turning the U.S. away from being a threatening bully on a global scale. (Chopra, 2005) Who cares? This moment the most circulated news of the planet of earth is the killing of unarmed Osama Bin Laden the famous leader of CIA created terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda. This killing news captures whole media attention. The Noble Lauriat on Peace US President Obamas popularity already increased with his successful killing mission of an unarmed terrorist (their creation). It is now very tough to define the reporting character whether those are reflecting peace journalism or propaganda journalism. Some people accept the killing as an act towards peace and some are totally reversed. For example journalist Robert Fisk is a successful media personality, who is continuously criticising the aggressions and imperialistic activities of superpowers. The view of this author is that Robert Fisks articles are the latest version of journalism and the ultimate target is to reduce conflict if the conflict creators realise the message of his articles. This type of article which was criticising the conflict makers might not be acceptable by the super powers or by some others audiences who like to watch thrill and war. Fisks articles always bring some messages which never in favour of War Lords or War super powers. So it is tough to measure the peace journalism without a definite standard to compare with anything. Conclusions: At this stage of the planet earth where the Homo sapiens are living for a consecutive period might enter in a dangerous band of time cycle. People are used to watch wars and conflicts through news media and movies. New generations love to see thrill and suspense with fighting. Even people are enjoying the latest video game of the assaasination of Osama Bin Laden. Huge people gather around any show on armaments in different countries of the planet. They love to see the heroes till the disaster falls into their own life. This is reality. But it varies with time and circumstances. Though peace journalism faced controversy from the beginning, its existance now also the reality of journalism. Peace Journalism basically exist on research, academic and theory rather than practical. Audience also like to see war journalism but like the idea of Peace Journalism for all mankind. But for Peace Journalism to become a reality it requires a complete shift in the thinking of the media machine, at t he moment there are few voices speaking out in favour of it. Only when that changes can there be any hope for Peace Journalism. For audiences to accept it all of our mainstream media sources must do it. Acknowledgement: This eassy has been read by Mr. Joseph Coffey my classmate and I acknowledged his extended cooperation to correct my mistakes.

Who Controls the Private Sphere in an Archaic Greek Society :: Women Power Greek Greece Essays

Who Controls the Private Sphere in an Archaic Greek Society Abstract: Texts, such as Oeconomicus, reveal that while men in Archaic Greek society had authority over their wives, they were too confident of their control, and once they taught women how to act and behave they granted women authority over the household or private sphere. This segregation of the public and private spheres allowed women control not only over the private sphere, but also some control over her own life. Did women in Archaic Greek society have control over their lives? Today, many would argue that women did not have control, but rather their fathers and husbands controlled them. However, when looking closely at Greek texts, such as Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, one discovers that husbands were so confident of their control that once women were taught how to manage the household they granted women complete authority over the decisions made in the private sphere. Although men still had authority over women, the segregation of public and private spheres gave wives some control over their lives. Initially, when a girl was married, her husband had complete control over her life. A man’s bride was usually a very young girl who was considered an empty vessel because she had no knowledge about how to behave or manage a household. During a conversation in Oeconomicus between Socrates and Kritoboulos, Socrates asked, "Did you marry her when she was a very young girl and had seen and heard as little as possible" (16)? Since girls did not come to a man’s household with any knowledge it was the husband’s job to only fill her vessel with the knowledge that he wanted her to know. In this way, men believed that they had control over their wives’ lives. Although men felt that they had control over their wives’ lives, it seems unlikely that women came to their husbands without any knowledge about how to manage the household. No matter how sheltered a girl was raised she still must have picked up skills from her mother. Therefore, it is safe to assume that girls were deceiving their husbands about the skills they knew and were simply putting on an act of naivete so their husbands believed they were in control.

The Cuban Revolution Essay -- Cuban History Cuba War Essays

"They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?" -- Fidel Castro Introduction During the 1950’s, Cuba was on the brink of revolution. The nation, which had suffered numerous corrupt and oppressive governmental regimes, fell victim to yet another when Fulgencio Batista seized power under a military coup in March of 1952. A cry for a just Cuba, that was economically, politically, and socially free continued to echo throughout the island. In 1959, a group of radical revolutionaries, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, overthrew the Batista dictatorship and put in place the political and social structures that exist in Cuba to this day. Pà ©rez-Stable’s Reasons for Revolution Even after obtaining its independence from Spain in 1898, conditions still existed in Cuba that made it ripe for insurrection. Pà ©rez-Stable feels that one of the primary causes for Cuba’s problems was the economic instability that resulted from its dependence on sugar. This industry, says Pà ©rez-Stable, "was the most important depository of domestic and foreign capital investments" (14). Because of its short harvesting season, however, sugar was largely to blame for Cuba’s unemployment and underemployment. In addition, sugar was responsible for the nation’s continued economic reliance on the United States. The U.S. was Cuba’s primary trading partner. The Cuban and United States governments had established reciprocity agreements by which the United States would buy the majority of Cuban sugar in exchange for reduced tariffs on its imports to Cuba. Nevertheless, these agreements worked to the advantage of the U.S. while helping to preserve economic hard ships for Cuba. By the 1950’s, ... ...scouraged in socialist Cuba. Works Cited Castro, Fidel. "History Will Absolve Me"(excerpts). Closing speech in trial for the 1953 Moncada attack. Excerpt 1:From The United States, Cuba and the Cold War American Failure or Communist Conspiracy?. Ed. L. Langley. Lexington, MA: 1970. 26th of July Movement. "Program Manifesto of the 26th of July Movement". in Cuba in Revolution. Ed. R. Bonachea and Nelson Valdà ©s. Garden City, NJ: 1972. Guevara, Ernesto "Che". "One Year of Armed Struggle". In Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War. Trans. Victoria Ortiz. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1968. Paterson, Thomas G. Contesting Castro: The United States and The Triumph of the Cuban Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pà ©rez-Stable, Marifeli. The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Cyber Bullying Essay Essay

Bullying. It is something everyone has heard of, witnessed or experienced. When the word â€Å"bullying† is heard, many people think of the classic school kid being picked on at lunch, in a physical and/or verbal manner. Although verbal and physical bullying still occur, there is a form of bullying that has grown to be quite prominent, due to the vast use of technology in this generation. This form of bullying is known as; cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is a deliberately harmful, aggressive, and repetitive form of bullying through the Internet and related technology. Cyber bullying is just as harmful as physical or verbal bullying, and should be taken just as seriously. Cyber bullying negatively impacts children in many ways. The most prominent effects of cyber bullying are the toll it can take psychologically, and emotionally on the people involved. These effects are exacerbated by the current popularity of social media. The psychological effects of cyber bullying are obvious , and in some way more severe than physical bullying. The psychological effect of cyber bullying can be more severe because there is often no escape from one’s tormentors. Unlike the typical bullying thats takes place at school or on the bus, cyber bullying follows students around 24/7. With technology like smartphones, the repetitive harassment is nearly impossible to escape. In many cases of cyber bullying, it begins with one bully but ends with many. The internet is open to everyone. Once something is out there, for example a picture, it can be sent to phones everywhere and is essentially on the Internet forever. With one click of a button, information can instantly spread like wildfire. It is psychologically damaging to know that even if that picture, those words, that rumor, are deleted, it is never actually gone. Although cyber bullying isn’t necessarily as public as a punch at school would be, it can often be easily hidden by the victim. If there are no bruises or bumps, it is hard for any family or friend to see what the targeted person may be suffering with inside. Fifty-two percent of cyberbully victims never tell anyone about what is going on. Isolation, is often where internalizing problems leads. Cyber bullying becomes a battle not only with the bullies, but also a battle with oneself. Social media has become the main way of communication. Many people have at least one of these sites available to them: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr. It is no secret that there are bullies who target certain, or any people online. Thirty-percent of online  teens say they have been targets of menacing and/or hurtful online activities; and 88 percent of online teens say they have witnessed someone being mean or cruel to someone else on a social network. Most bullies have the power online; there is really no way to be stopped through a computer screen. Especially with the â€Å"anonymous† option, harassing the target can be the easiest thing to do, because the power the bully feels; being unknown, and knowing there is little chance of any consequences. Eighty percent of teens use their cell phones regularly making it the most common form of technology used. Many teens are willing to take the risk of being cyber bullied, not because they don’t think it is serious, but because social media affects one’s social status. In a world where almost every teen has some sort of social media, it can be hard to feel â€Å"normal† or involved if you don’t have one too. As a result of most o f this generation communicating online, cyber bullying has become more popular and dangerous. Much like physical bullying, cyber bullying has a huge emotional burden. Being a victim of cyber bullying often leads to depression. Since in most cases, teenagers cannot escape the relentless harassment, it can lead to feeling hopeless and isolated. When hundreds of people, some you may or may not know, begin harassing you, it can feel like the entire world is against you. Being harassed constantly can slowly eat away at the victim. Self esteem is what gets damaged most. Being degraded, made fun of, or accused of actions that never happened can lead to the victim eventually believing the rumors. Lastly, an emotional struggle triggered by cyber bullying is anxiety. It becomes a constant fear, every time you use your social media, you wonder what may be waiting for you. The worst part about cyber bullying is it follows you everywhere; at home, at school, etc. While cyber bullying can affect a person at any time or place, it often comes to head at school. If there are rumors, or a private picture circulating for everyone at school to see, simply attending school can provoke anxiety. In many cases, victims of cyber bullying have such bad anxiety about facing schoolmates in this situation, that they stop going to school. It is time that we as as a society treat cyber bullying just as we would physical bullying. It may not leave a scar or bruise visibly on one’s body, but it leaves an emotional wound that may never completely heal. Cyber bullying can take place anytime, anywhere, and creates psychological and emotional burdens for the victim.  Since technology is becoming more and more evident in this generation and will only become more prevelant in the future, this would be the time to act.

Early Perspectives in Psychology Essay

Structuralism emphasized that the objective of psychology is to study the elements of consciousness and to learn how it operates and how it influences behavior (Eysenck, 1998). Structuralism focused more on the structure of consciousness and tried to identify the different experiences that each sensation and perception elicited. They believed that by breaking down the elements of each sensation, they would be able to gain a better understanding of human behavior. For example they tried to identify the different tastes that a person could experience, like salty, sour, sweet and bitter. By identifying the structure of the experience and of how a person perceives it, psychologists can identify the different behaviors that the individual may exhibit based on that experience, like when someone who eats something salty may make a grimace and then look for a drink. The method used by structuralists’ was introspection or the systematic observation of one’s experience. Structuralism was an attempt by psychology to become scientific; experiments were conducted to define the different elements of consciousness. Psychologists were trained to explore behavior by analyzing their own experience, introspectionism as a method was heavily criticized because it was a vague concept that did not lend itself to scientific replication. Moreover, it was difficult to learn and was subjective. Structuralism however provided a limited view of psychology and there arose a different perspective called behaviorism. Behaviorism posits that the goal of psychology is to examine behavior. Overt behavior as seen by behaviorists as the only human facet that can be objectively analyzed, how a person reacts or behaves towards a stimuli explains behavior (Zimbardo, Gerrig & Richard, 1999). Behaviorists believed that a person can be trained to exhibit a certain behaviory providing him/her with the right environment and learning. Although behaviorism gained popularity in the field of psychology, many criticized it as being too mechanistic and take the humanness out of the person. One of the appeal of behaviorism however was that it was very objective and treated mental processes as kind of a black box that should not be given due importance because it was not overtly possible. Behaviorists think that a person’s behavior is a reaction to the presenting stimuli. Behaviorism used the scientific method to study behavior; one of its most important contributions is the concept of classical and operant conditioning. It has been applied to a wide range of psychological fields like education, training and psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis was developed by Freud in the period when Behaviorism was at its height. Psychoanalysis as a psychological perspective says that man’s behavior is influenced by his experiences during childhood (Conlan, 1994). Psychoanalysis also believes that human behavior is greatly influenced by the unconscious part of the human mind. He likened the human mind to an iceberg wherein the tip was the part that was conscious. Psychoanalytic theory argues that an individual’s internal conflict is brought about by the repressed desires of the person. The method used by psychoanalysis is free association, wherein the person is asked to relate to the therapist what comes to mind, aside from free association, psychoanalysis also delved into dream analysis and hypnosis. The theory was criticized for giving too much importance to the unconscious and at that time, Freud offered a controversial perspective of human behavior which many did not understand, however it has become one of the most important theories in psychology and many theorists within this orientation developed. Psychoanalytic theory however lacked scientific credence as it was focused on personal thoughts, memories and interpretations of which differed from one theorist to another.