Decreasing Population of Bachelor of Secondary Education Essay

INTRODUCTION Anyone who chooses a teaching career in the Philippines must hold a degree in teacher education. Teachers in public and private elementary schools must have at least a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. High school teachers are expected to have a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with specialization (a major and a minor) in high school subjects. Both degrees are awarded upon successful completion of approved teacher education courses in recognized institutions. Teaching in colleges or professional degree programmes at the tertiary level requires at least a master’s degree in a particular area of specialization. But obviously, population of Bachelor of Secondary Education students were decreasing ultimately. Because of these, quality of education in the Philippines will likely face a crisis if the current trends in decreasing college enrolment and increasing dropouts especially Bachelor of Secondary Education and Bachelor of Elementary Education will continue. There are several factors to consider why the population of Education students diminished. Due to continuing tuition hikes, many college students decided to take vocational courses. Recently, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) National Commission of the Philippines reported that approximately 22 percent overall student survivals from first to fourth Year College. And undeniably, teacher is a very stressful profession. Teacher engaged in actual classroom teaching that render not more than eight hours of actual classroom teaching a day, preparation and correction of exercises and other work incidental to his/her normal teaching duties. Secondary teachers shall be assigned to no more than six daily forty-minute periods of instruction. For college, the normal teaching load of a full-time instructor shall be eighteen hours a week. The teaching load of part-time instructors who are full-time employees outside of teaching shall not exceed twelve hours per week. However, the average teachers’ salary at present is inadequate as source of livelihood. Teaching is a noble profession companied by the fact that they have a lot of pressure responsibilities to mould people in the society they belong. RELATED LITERATURE Teaching is a profession whose rewards have the potential to be great, yet its challenges have the potential to be frustrating at the same time. Teachers have the opportunity to positively impact their students’ lives. Helping young people reach their potential is extremely rewarding. However, some students are difficult to connect with, or have problems that interfere with their behavior and performance in the classroom. Aside from that, they also encounter difficulties in their work schedule, most teachers arrive at school early, stay late or bring work home. Planning, grading, meetings, conferences and professional development must be accomplished in addition to the daily teaching of lessons. They are also a typical 10-month employee and are off when school is closed for holidays and vacations. However, teachers may have to get summer jobs to supplement their salaries (Sally Miller, 2005). All higher education institutions in all countries have experienced tension between the demand to be specifically applicable to local needs and the desire to maintain ideas and values of universal reference (Hargreaves, 1973). Basically in Bachelor of Secondary Education or in any other teaching/education courses. The management structure of primary teaching education is inadequately organized to guide teacher education institute in accordance with the national development strategy. Rigidity and inefficiency in the schooling process result from the absence of effective, central and complete planning(Dunkley, 1981). Because of this, teacher’s wanna be decreasing extremely. According to Dr. Rupert Maclean(1988), there are some important implications for the development of the system of teacher education in the region such as: (1) need to recognize that the pursuit of learning is a lifelong process, (2)an examination of the extent to which educational institutions should be autonomous, and the consideration of the social and economic cost and benefits involved when greater autonomy occurs, (3)the reform and expansion of teacher education as a vital step towards the rejuvenation of public education. On the other hand, A Unesco Publication, The Changing Role of the Teacher, states â€Å"There was a time when the teacher’s roles was to pass down to the younger generation the knowledge, experiences and mythology of a slow evolving society The pace of change in contemporary society has made his role redundant. The role of teacher must be, among other things, a change agent. It does not matter whether one is addressing the situation in a developing country or an industrialized nation, the problem remains the same. What are the new dimensions of his/her role, and how is the teacher to be trained to fulfil that role. In examining the changing role of the teacher we need to see the changes as being a response to, and an attempt to confront the pressure of a society undergoing constant transition† (Goble and Porter, 1977). For this statement, we can say that teachers play an important role in changing the education in the society. For example, in Malaysia, education is envisioned to serve two important functions: (1)a means to achieve national unity and (2) a vehicle for national development. Since 1964, English was slowly replace by Bahasa Malaysia, the argument being that a nation system of education using a common medium of instruction, in addition to a common syllabus , will provide a strong base for promoting national unity. Unfortunately, the policy has created inter-ethnic tension, in view of the fact that in Malaysia about 53% are Chinese and about 11% are Indian origin(S. Husin Ali, Chang Yii Tan, Tan Boon Kean, 1987). Teacher is responsible in almost every job in the society especially when we are talking about the future of every student they handle in primary, secondary and tertiary level. Focusing in higher education, according to Trow(1938:132) higher education itself ‘a stratified system of institution, graded formally or informally in status and prestige, in wealth, power and influence of various kind. Moreover, teacher in the Philippines had its beginning as early as Spanish period. Teacher education programs have always been dictated by the urgent needs of the time, Before 1950, there were only a few state colleges offering a teacher education program. However, when the Department of Education reported the gravity of the problem of undersupply of professionally qualified teachers, enrolment in teacher education registered slowly upward. To encourage more schools to offer teacher education courses, requirements for opening normal schools and college were relaxed(Carson, 1978). Furthermore, most countries in the region of Asia recognize the crucial importance of pre-service education for teachers. For instance, the 1986 National Policy on Education states that â€Å"no people can rise above the level of its teachers† (de la Cruz, Leandro, 1988). Lastly, most important evidence of quality in an education system is to be found in the quality of the pupils/students produced. The problem, however, is to arrive at satisfactory indicators which will show that better quality education has been achieve (Adams, 1988). Accordingly, much discussion in quality and standards will show in this research. And also this study will attempt to show what was really the factors we can consider in the change in population of education students. For future studies, it will be necessary to analyze different data that related in the given topic. This research will have the great contribution in people awareness especially students on what are the trends in higher education. METHODOLOGY In order to gain information, the researcher conducted an interview with the highschool teacher including Mrs. Carol Isidro (Filipino II), Mrs. Crisamie Mendieta(Physics), Mrs. Laudato (Filipino II), Mrs. Musa (English I) and university instructors namely Ms. Michelle Zuniga (ITEC), Ms. Rona Feranil (Math), Ms. Jeneth Menil (P.E. and English), Mrs. Cherry Rose S. Uminga (Biology), Mrs. Grace Balingit ( Campus Asst. Librarian). It was made on March 3-5, 2010 at the Carmona National Highschool and Cavite State University- Carmona Campus. The researchers were able to perform an interview through the use of interview sheet/form/guide which the data currently record. They also used a pen to write every single information that the interviewee provide. During the pre-interview stage, the researchers put all the possible questions in a sheet of paper and improve it through the use of Microsoft word 2003. They also used Xerox machine to multiply the number of interview form/ guide. At the interview proper, the researchers used English language as the mode of communication. They apply formal way of gathering the point of views of the target population. And at the post interview stage, the researcher combined all ideas that the sample population had provide. Some of the information they were able to gather play an important role in interpreting the different ideas in understanding the cause of the issue of decreasing population of Bachelor of Secondary Education. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In pre-Spanish times, education was informal, unstructured, and devoid of methods. Children were provided more vocational training and less academics by their parents and in the houses of tribal tutors. Major changes in education system happened during the Spanish colonization. The tribal tutors were replaced by the Spanish Missionaries. Education was religion-oriented. It was for the elite, especially in the early years of Spanish colonization. But education during that period was inadequate, suppressed, and controlled. According to a new report of Commission on Higher Education (CHED), that the number of tertiary population in schoolyear 2002-2003 was 1.87 million compared to 2.4 million in 1994-1995. It cites however that general population of college students in the universities without classifying the program they belong was decrease incredibly. Even though there have not been any formal studies and analysis about this subject, there are several people and organization that will contribute in the explanation of the issue. According to Raymond Palatino, vice president of Anak ng Bayan (nation’s youth), college students who can no longer afford to study a four year course are planning to shift in other program usually vocational just to achieve their dream of earning a college diploma. In the lowering economic status of the Philippines, teachers play an important role in molding a future to a better one. Bachelor of Secondary Education program and many other teaching-related program students will likely face a doubt in pursuing their profession. They are more responsible in all aspects of an economy rather than any other job. Thus, they have great mission in everyone’s life. The purpose of this research is to provide consciousness towards the current issue of diminishing number of college students specifically Bachelor of Secondary Education students. Knowledge about this topic would make people aware in possibilities and reasons behind education status of a country. Concerning the standard of education in the Philippines, in June 2009 the president of the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) cited the Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) notice a continuing decline in the quality of education in this country. He said this was due to four main factors: ‘a) mismanagement of the educational system, b) not investing wisely in education, c) lack of management competencies, d) systemic corruption. Another reason why the Philippines is not a major supplier of tertiary education for overseas students in the region is because some instructors and professors in SUC’s (state universities and colleges) be deficient in several abilities in professional teaching. These mandated subjects include the life and works of Filipino national hero Dr Jose Rizal, three subjects of Filipino language, and basic mathematics, science, and Filipino cultural subjects more appropriate for senior high school than for tertiary level. Also in order for the researcher to have primary information about the certain matter, they conducted an interview and look some documents that will testify the population of Bachelor of Secondary Education students in Cavite State University and Carmona National Highschool located at the community of Carmona, Cavite. The basic purpose of the interview was to gather different opinions and personal point of views of the people which generally related to the issue and the aim of the documents was to show relation of different information. The mode of communication during the interview proper is in English language in order to show formality and may give highly appropriate information. The prepared question in the interview guide/form was commonly as regards to the behavior, characteristics and ability of the sample population. From the school documents of Cavite State University, the researcher was able to identify the number of Bachelor of Secondary Education during first and second semester since 2002 at given university. As a follow up to this information, the Graph 1 shows the overall population of the enrollees of BSE program. Figure 1 Graph of enrolled students in BSE program at CvSU Carmona Campus, (Mrs. Mojica, Campus Registrar) As can be seen by the graph, the population of Bachelor of Secondary Education was inconsistent. At school year 2002-2003, during first semester of given year, the recorded population was 22 enrollees. At the latter part or in second semester, the population increased by 26. The population through that year (2002-2003) was said to be slightly increased. At first semester of 2003-2004, the enrollees were 84, and at the second semester in decreased by 76. At the first semester of 2004-2005, the documented enrollees increased by 119, and at the second semester, the enrollees extremely increased by 124. The inconsistency of the population appears at the middle of the year between 2002 to 2007. During the first semester, the population of Bachelor of Secondary Education at year 2005-2006 was 132 and at the second semester it declines to 121. At reach of 2006, the population on that particular campus noticeably decreases. The year 2006-2007, first semester, the enrollees was 110, it decrease to 104. And at the following year (2007-2008), the BSE students was consisted of 86 (first semester) and 93(second semester). At 2008-2009, the BSE program students got their smallest population at only 71 during first semester and 66 at second semester. Fortunately, it survives and reaches 84 enrollees at first semester of the year 2009-2010 and at second semester it decreased to 71. The population in that particular campus was the number of Bachelor of Secondary Education students in all year levels. The researchers also gather information from the teachers of Carmona National Highschool and instructors of Cavite State University-Carmona Campus through interview. From 5 sample population that the researchers were able to interview, such results only shows that people are aware in the tertiary level issue especially in teaching program. The first question at the interview guide was the reasons why did they choose Education program as their profession. From 5 interviewees 2 of them answered that that’s their parent’s choice. Also 2 of them proclaimed as their passion at the remaining one said that it’s their childhood dream. The result of first question shows that variation in reasons on choosing their program occurs. There are several aspects in choosing a program. It may be the behavior of a students or the behavior of the people around them. Another question although too broad to discuss â€Å"what are the factors to consider in choosing a program?† According to the observation of teachers/instructors there are too many factors they consider in entering the field of teaching. It can be the (1)parents choice, (2)job demand, (3)stability or security of the future job, (4) location of the school, (5)availability of the school, (6)scholarship offered, (7) line of interest, passion, personal choice or childhood dream (8) affordability or in financial matters, (9)relatives or friends influence. Another question answered by the interviewee, â€Å"What did you notice in the population of Bachelor of Secondary Education nowadays?† tested the attentiveness of the respondents. The result was interesting because majority showed that they see population of BSE students was said to be decreased. Only 1 of them, out of 5 answered that it increased. In order for the researcher to identify point of views of the sample population about the factors that affect the decreasing population of BSE students, they include it in their interview guide. The results of the question give ideas about the aspects which is much related in a given topic. The main factors given by the teacher/instructors were: (1) financial, (2) job demand, (3) unable to reach the standard, (4) majorship offered in the universities, (5) stressful, (6) issues or bad images of the teachers nowadays, (7) salary, and (8) chance to go abroad. The result of this question provides an appropriate answer about the certain topic. Although no longer the main component of this research, most of the target population that researchers able to interview has smaller number of colleagues whom they really want to be a teacher. According to Ms. Jeneth Menil (Engl and P.E. teacher in CvSU), and Ms. Tita Salamatin (English instructor in CvSU) approximately 10 % of her overall classmates in highschool really wants to be a teacher. And base on the observation Ms. Michelle Zuniga (ITEC teacher in CvSU) there are only 5 % wishes to be a teacher. Mrs Crisamie Mendieta (Physics teacher in CNHS) proclaimed that 2 out of 40 of her secondary classmates has a passion of teaching. While Mrs. Musa (English teacher in CNHS) notified that there are about 20 % of her highschool colleagues would like to be an educator. Fortunately, according to them, most of their highschool classmates including the teachers/instructors they interviewed whom wants to be a teacher pursued what they really want to be. Luckily, after several years of studying in teahing profession most of them succeed to be a teacher. But during their stage of studying in college, their college colleagues their population inside the campus as the Bachelor of Secondary Education students, their population said to be diminished as they reach their senior year. They give possible reason on why this condition occurs. The target interviewee told so that money is one of the greatest possible reasons for that. Some of their classmates choose the more convenient, time-saving courses such as vocational courses. Another reason was some of their colleagues realized that it is not their line of interest or their passion. According to Mrs. Mendieta others would like to take medicine/nursing for they think that it is in demand abroad. Lastly, the researcher confirmed that the population of Bachelor of Secondary Education decline after several years of establishing a teaching related field. They also give an idea about several factors on why this circumstance triggers. CONCLUSION The researchers prove that the population of students taking up of Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) is decreasing due to the different reasons. The researchers also conclude that there are several factors that really affect on students in order for them not to choose teaching programs. Those factors include: (1) financial, (2) job demand, (3) unable to reach the standard, (4) majorship offered in the universities, (5) stressful, (6) issues or bad images of the teachers nowadays, (7) salary, and (8) chance to go abroad. Each factor was perceived by the target population which consists of highschool teachers and university instructors. This research show that aside from giving readers an idea about the condition in terms of population of the tertiary level students specifically Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) program, it also provide awareness about the factors that affect in this phenomenon. Although not really a main part of the research, the researchers still provide information about the vast majority of teachers interviewed indicate that they are satisfied with their jobs, but there are problems. While teachers’ salaries have improved, many teachers believe that their pay is still inadequate. Local conditions have a major impact on teacher satisfaction. On the teacher’s wish list for job improvement are lighter workloads, more parental support, fewer discipline problems, and greater administration support. Students at tertiary level have a freedom to choose what program they were able take, but researchers tries to identify the major causes, effects, and explanation in the current trends in the society. They also supply needed information and data in order to understand what really the topic is. Recommendations, suggestions, clarifications and point of views by different kind of people combined in only one research paper and organize it according to purpose. This research aims to promote the Bachelor of Secondary Education program and it also intends to increase the number of enrollees to certain program.

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UCR and NCIC - Essay Example The NCIC started out its operation by helping law enforcement in the apprehension of fugitives and helping to locate property that was stolen (â€Å"Public Safety†). Since the NCIC database consists of information about humans and property, the database includes 18 files, which contain this information. Records for articles and other properties such as vehicles, guns, boats, among others, are found in seven files, while the remaining 11 files consist of person records, including fugitives, sexual offenders, gang members, wanted persons, terrorist groups, among others. To back up the files, this database also includes images to assist law enforcement agencies in the identification of people and property (â€Å"Public Safety†). The NCIC can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, during a traffic stop, a law enforcement officer can instantly check the NCIC records to verify if a particular vehicle in the traffic stop was stolen, or if it is being driven by a criminal. The NCIC therefore, serves an important purpose of availing an electronic database, which can be accessed by various criminal justice agencies for inquiries, and information on crime and criminals from other agencies. The information in the NCIC therefore, helps law enforcement and authorized agencies to locate missing persons and stolen property, identify criminals, and protect the law enforcement personnel (â€Å"Public Safety†). The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) was established in the United States out of the need for tracking changes in the rate of crime at the state and national level. This program mainly collects data about crime instances reported by various law enforcement agencies in different states. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is responsible for the collection and publishing of this crime data annually. These publications however, vary depending on the state, type of crime, and nature of criminals. The most popular and biggest annual

Domestic Violence, alcohol and substance abuse Thesis

Domestic Violence, alcohol and substance abuse - Thesis Example Excessive use of alcohol in men increases the possibility of wife abuse (Lynetta, 2011). According to researchers, there is a relation between the 2 behaviors and its exact character remains blurred. One research worker states that, â€Å"alcohol and substance abuse are the most prominent element that leads to domestic violence. Many of the theorists found that too much use of alcohol and substance abuse are the main factor in the dynamics of spouse beating (Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, n.d.). Many statistics records show a relationship between domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse. According to recent reports of the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) assailants in more than 90% of the domestic abuse cases used alcohol or substance abuse on the day of the assault (Buddy, 2011). In addition to this, one more study shows this relation among domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse; according to this study before assaulting their partners forty-eight to eighty-seven percent of the batterers were under the influence of alcohol, among these rates substance abuse rate is thirteen to twenty percent whereas alcohol rate is sixty to seventy percent (Buddy, 2011). Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (n.d.).  Chapter 1—Effects of Domestic Violence on Substance Abuse Treatment - Substance Abuse Treatment and Domestic Violence - NCBI Bookshelf. [online] Retrieved from:

Summary of Professional Ethics Module Essay Example for Free

Summary of Professional Ethics Module Essay Ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies the difference between right and wrong. As professional accountants, you will have many opportunities to choose between right and wrong. And as you have seen in the business press, making the wrong choice can lead to serious consequences including corporate failure, loss of reputation, fines, and even jail sentences. The objective of this unit is to introduce you to different branches of ethics, in order to help you understand that people approach the topic with different points of view. You will learn about different ways of thinking through an ethical question. This will help you identify the way that you make decisions so that you can recognise your own personal ethics in any professional ethical problem that you may be faced with. In this way, you can mitigate any detrimental impact of your own personal ethics, with a view to a more objective approach. Perspectives on ethics In very broad terms, there are three ways of looking at ethics that have developed over time: rules conformance, good intentions, and competence. One way of thinking about ethics is in terms of conformity to rules. From this perspective, ethics is understood as a list of things to do and to not do. Sometimes the list gets very long and complicated and needs to be interpreted by a whole institution of people. The ethical person, from this perspective, is the one who conforms to the rules. A second way of thinking about ethics is in terms of good intentions. From this perspective, a behaviour is considered ethical if it is based on good intentions. Good behaviour then follows from good thinking. The third perspective thinks of ethics in terms of competence. From this perspective, the ethical person is one who can make decisions based on principles and then act on them. This perspective is thought of as looking at competence, because ethics is thought of in terms of an ability rather than an attitude our duty to others One way to think about ethics is to acknowledge that there are things that someone just does not do, as part of a duty to others. A limitation of this principle is that you have to decide what those things are that someone should not do. At least one philosopher (Immanuel Kant) has defined those duties by saying ‘act according to principles that everyone could follow. ’ For example, if you disobey traffic lights, you should consider what would happen if everyone did so. The point is that we should recognise everyone as equals, and not assume that the rules are any different for ourselves than they are for other people. As an accounting example, a professional accountant would not deliberately issue false or inaccurate financial statements. If everyone did so, no statements could be trusted and as a consequence not only would the profession be brought into disrepute, but all financial statements would have no value to their users. Ultimately the need for accountants and for financial reports would be called into question. Consequences Another way of thinking about ethics is based on thinking about the consequences to different people. Briefly, consequentialism encourages you to make decisions based on the consequences — both positive and negative — for those involved. This category of thinking is the branch of ethics known as utilitarianism. This states that an action is right if it leads to the most good outcomes and the least bad outcomes for the greatest number of people. One limitation of thinking about ethics in terms of consequences is that you have to agree on what sorts of consequences matter: for example, should you be trying to promote pleasure and avoid causing pain, or should you instead focus on promoting people’s actual well-being, regardless of whether doing so makes them happy? A modern application of this point of view is the cost-benefit analysis, which involves assigning monetary values to the costs and benefits of an action and seeing how they add up. This practice is often used in evaluating new projects. As an accounting example, an accountant thinking in terms of consequences would prepare ‘true and fair’ financial statements because doing so would bring the most benefit to the greatest number of people. In other words, stakeholders inside and outside the organisation would be able to make more informed decisions as a result. Virtue theory  In virtue theory, the emphasis is on deciding what sort of person one should try to be, and to define the virtues such a person would embody. You decide what makes a good person, instead of what makes a good action, and act accordingly. One limitation of this way of thinking is that what constitutes a virtue must be agreed upon, and it can vary by culture and over time. For example, the qualities of good financial reports were once considered to be completeness, historical accuracy, reliability and strict adherence to the legal form in disclosing business transactions. More recently, the qualities of good financial reports have come to be relevance for decision-making, reference to a wider conceptual framework, and presenting the economic substance of business transactions. As an accounting example of the use of virtue theory, in deciding whether to agree to a client’s request to use a questionable method for valuing inventory, an accountant would ask, ‘What would a conscientious accountant do in such a situation? What would one of my respected mentors do? ’ Social contract theory  The social contract theory of ethics advises you to think about ethics as embodying a set of rules agreed upon by reasonable people to bring order to social living. So when making an ethical decision you ask yourself, ‘What rule would reasonable, unbiased people agree to? ’ You then follow such rules, regardless of whether they benefit you in particular situations. One criticism of this theory points out that the agreement referred to by social contract theory is entirely imaginary. Why consider yourself bound by an agreement that never happened? An accounting example of social contract thinking might be seen in a situation where an accountant has to decide between loyalty to a client and candid assessment of financial statements. Both of those options involve important social values. Thinking in social contract terms, the accountant might ask, ‘What sort of rule for balancing these values would unbiased people agree to? ’ Confucian ethics Confucian ethics seeks to provide harmonious relationships within society, the family, and the individual. Looking within yourself and learning from experienced people are seen as the main roads to wisdom and self-harmony. The emphasis on experience leads to respect and reverence for the past, the aged, and for one’s ancestors. One of the criticisms of this model is that in a society where relationships are considered more important than the laws themselves, corruption and nepotism may be tolerated. As an accounting example, in deciding whether to agree to a client’s request to use a questionable method for valuing inventory, an accountant thinking in Confucian terms might consider agreeing to it because doing so would cause harmony with the client. Rules of thumb In addition to scholarly branches of philosophy, some other ways of looking at right and wrong have developed. The golden rule The classic golden rule is to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ’ In other words, ‘I will not cheat that person because I do not want them to cheat me. ’ The golden rule is a simple and useful tool, but it does have some limitations. We don’t really know how babies or animals want to be treated, for example, so the golden rule can’t tell us much about how to treat them. Also, the whole rule is based on your own feelings of how you yourself would want to be treated. But your own needs and preferences might not be typical. For example, the fact that you personally do not value privacy does not mean that you don’t owe others an obligation to respect their privacy. As an accounting example, this rule of thumb could be applied to mean that you disclose all information that may be relevant in financial reports because, if you were the reader of those financial statements, you would expect to receive all the information, and disregard any that is not relevant to you. Mirror Test Another rule of thumb is the mirror test. This is a quick way to evaluate a decision that you are about to make, and reinforces the notion that you are responsible for your own actions. Imagine you’re looking in a mirror and ask yourself: Is it legal? If it is not legal, dont do it. What will others think? Others meaning a friend, a parent, a spouse, a child, a manager, the media, or someone else whose opinion is particularly important to you. As an accounting example, in deciding whether to agree to a client’s request to use a questionable method for valuing inventory, an accountant thinking in terms of this rule of thumb would consider how a story about this action would look on the front page of the local newspaper. Justice and care based approach What this quiz actually does is help you identify whether you lean towards a justice and rule-based approach or whether you lean towards a care-based approach. The justice and rules-based approach says that the rules should be applied equally to everyone and that justice and fairness are most important. Some researchers have suggested that this is a more masculine approach to the world. The care-based approach says that care, rather than justice, is most important and that we should act responsibly to people in need. Some researchers have suggested that this is a more feminine approach to the world. You can see why this research is controversial, and why you may disagree with the results. However it is interesting to consider whether gender could influence ethical positions. It may also help you when discussing issues with colleagues from other countries. Generally, in North American and European groups, men have been found to have, on average, higher ‘justice’ scores and women have been found to have, on average, higher ‘care’ scores. The significance of these statistical findings is a topic of ongoing debate among scholars. It is important to know how you approach an ethical question, and to recognise that other people may approach it a different way, irrespective of gender.

Hidden Violence Essay Example for Free

Hidden Violence Essay The word gang-everyone knows what it means or what it stands for. Of course by the time children get to the end of their elementary years they’ve heard of know gangs such as; the Cribs, Bloods, Latin Kings, Vatos Locos, but none of those names cause as much fear and terror as the gang called La Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13. La Mara known for their psychotic methods of killing and running their turf, no other gang comes close to causing the same fear as La Mara Salvatrucha (ms-13gang. com). Forced to abandon their home land due to the civil war in El Salvador, the adventure to the U.S. was good at the start but soon the odds turned against them. Therefore for their protection they were forced to start was today is known as the most dangerous gang of the world La Mara Salvatrucha (National Geographic). A simple face-off between El Salvador’s government and guerrilla groups began the civil war of 1980 in El Salvador. The civil war killed 75,000 people and left 8,000 missing and another million or so homeless. The war was known for the government’s massacres and its Death Squads killing of civilians, nuns and priests (bookrag.com). This led many Salvadorians to search for a better life, many of whom came to America for their fresh beginning. A group of refugees in Pico Union, California had to get used to their new home, not knowing that by escaping the war in El Salvador they had just jumped right into a new one against the LA street gangs. Immigrate parents working endless sifts providing no parental supervision; young Salvadorian children were being raised by the streets of LA. After being beaten, stabbed, and harassed by the rest of the LA street gangs, a group of refugees decided to form a strong hold or as it is called in Salvador, a Mara. They said, â€Å"If these guys want violence we’ll show them violence† keep in mind that these refugees had a good knowledge of what violence was as well as having previous military training (ms-13gang.com). Then came the day when they said enough is enough it is time to take a stand, and the infamous MS-13 was formed. Born in LA in the 1980’s, expanding to parts of Canada, Spain, England, and Germany becoming bigger and dangerous day by day. La Mara can now be found in Washington D.C, Oregon, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida just alone in the United States. In Central America they can be found in El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and several other Latin countries. MS-13 is considered to be one of the most dangerous and organized in the world (altereddimensions.net).There are two ways to get into the gang. For males one is to get jumped in, which means the new recruit is surround by numerous members and beaten for at least 13 seconds. The other way is by killing either an enemy gang member or just a simple killing. For females there is a third option which is to get having sexual intercourse with several MS members or as they call it gang banged. MS-13 has many similar criminal characteristics as other gang such as: smuggling drugs, people, and weapons. The biggest difference with MS-13 is the willingness to use brutality in all their activities (keysaferschools.com). All of the MS-13 activities were kept low-profile very well. Unlike many gang which us guns, knives, and ropes to hang their victims, La Mara Salvatrucha uses machetes, which have become their weapon of choice (ms-13gang.com). From the start gang members only wore white, gray, and blue colors mostly colors token from El Salvador’s flag. Using a weapon such as the machete is pretty insane right? Well they went all out with this weapon not just slicing n dicing all their enemies but also just by smacking their brains out with the machetes. Let’s get to the gang signs they throw up when representing their hood. Using one hand where they stick out the pinky finger as well as the index finger letting the thumb cross over the other two fingers that are cured into the palm. Another gang sign is using both hands having both index fingers and thumbs out, extending the two fingers between the index and the pinky half way out still cured also on both hands which leaves the pinky h idden on the side last thing is to join the pinky knuckles together also having the ring fingers touch. This powerful symbolism a fearing sight to experiences, both representing devil horns are yet another hint why these guys are considered to be, if not the most, at least one of the top dangerous gangs in the world (mahalo.com). Representing their hood is so important to them that they use their own faces to rep their hood. MS members tattooing them-self all over the body especially on the face, with signs such as, MS-13, 666, and X III in big letters and fonts too. All their tattoos are gothic which simply means something very dark spirited, members will most commonly have 666 tatted on their body (ms-13gang.com). Stacking, some call it a type of dance to gangs it is just another type of language used to tell the other gangs they are MS-13 and that this is their turf. Not only do they claim their territory and rep their hood, but also around non-members, police, and enemy gangs stacking is used as their secret code language. The reason that some people think of stacking being a type of dance is because basically it uses the whole body moving in a redeem following behind hand motions. Starting out in California, soon after their members were being deported back to their home countries right after El Salvador’s civil war ended (altereddimensions.com). Police force in their native country not being suited to face off against MS-13’s level of brutality had no way to control or restrain them, and MS-13 began to grow extremely all over El Salvador. Not wanting to attract too much police attention they decide to move to their neighboring country, Honduras. Honduras a very significant act of the MS-13’s reign of terror along with a period filled with fear and anxiety for Hondurans. The Gang Slaughter of La Mara Salvatrucha on a bus with six children and twenty-two adults left a huge impact in the eyes of many. Suspected gang members armed with assault rifles cruelly sprayed a bus full with h oliday shoppers in the city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras. One of the suspected gang members was arrested in the same area just hours after the horrific action found with two assault rifles, two pistols, and ammunition in his vehicle. Another two where found just 10 miles away from San Pedro Sula two days after (altereddimensions.net). Only these three arrested suspects were linked to MS-13. As for the rest of the sad people who joined in this satanic act are believed that they were going through inanition for La Mara Salvatrucha. Yet again MS-13 attracting much attention from the Honduran authorities, they decided to move again but this time they don’t move together they spread like crazy (ms-13gang.com). Then the world wide spread started from this point on, migrating back to the United States to rejoin their soldiers left behind, and spreading over Central America as well as in parts of Europe and Asia. Up until 2002 no police department had any solid information on La Mara Salvatrucha. That’s until a brave young lady Brenda Paz spoke out against the infamous MS-13 on a search for a new start (mahalo.com). At only 16 years of age Brenda wanted to take a stand and try to stop what today is classified as an organized crime. At the time Brenda had just got paginate by the leader in her area which he knew nothing about. For almost six months she was under protection provided by the government but due to her pregnancy she left the area to get some air and have open space. Just soon after in 2003 she was found dead in Virginia-she was six months pregnant. Her body was found under a bridge in Shenandoah County. Stabbed 13 times all over the body this is just another act of La Mara Salvatrucha to show they are for real (altereddimensions.net). Several MS-13 members have been accused of the killing, Brenda who was helping authorities from at least six states investigate the gang was a great lost for the police force as well. In most case MS-13 members feel great pride when carrying out violent actions because to them it’s the crazier, most violent, and originally that gets them more resp ect with the gang, ranking up in other words. Imagine a little snow ball, what happens to the tiny thing when rolled around a few times? It grows tremendously right, yeah exactly correct. The more and more you roll it the bigger it gets. That’s how La Mara Salvatrucha started out as a simple little snow ball and look at it now, seems to me that it hasn’t stopped rolling yet and never will. Their first enemy 18 street a Mexican gang in Cali, the LAPD, the FBI and many more couldn’t stop them, what makes you think anyone can! People just stay clear of the streets avoid crossing with gangs and If you hear of MS-13 near you just stay inside. MS-13 has no respect to anyone other than their own and will let their full fury out on anyone who crosses in their way. N.p.: n.p., 1999. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . N.p.: SparTech Software, 1998-2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . Logan, Samuel. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . N.p.:  © National Geographic Channel, 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .

Impact of Culture on Life Satisfaction of Students

Impact of Culture on Life Satisfaction of Students ABSTRACT Defining culture by reference to deeply situated societal values and beliefs, this study makes three contributions to the growing field of satisfaction research: first, it tries to uncover the relationship between international students life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction across different cultures; Second, it explores whether and to what extent a range of cultural values serve as important moderators of international students life satisfaction; Finally, it explains the Life Satisfaction differences between international students across five nations (India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey). A total of 100 international students from the University of Northampton participated in this study. Analysis of the present study is based on data from two surveys. The first is the Dieners Satisfaction with Life Survey (SWL) to measure international students overall satisfaction with life across nations. The second is the cultural satisfaction survey which includes the six d eterminants of cultural factors: satisfaction in general, job, social relationships, health services, authority services and public safety. Using both Pearson and Partial correlation coefficient, statistical analysis showed that except for the General Satisfaction section p value is more than 0.05 (p>0.05) for each of the subsections. In addition, hypothesis one showed that there is not any correlation between Life Satisfaction and Cultural Satisfaction amongst International Students. Therefore, null hypothesis is accepted. One-Way between subjects ANOVAs enables us to partially accept hypothesis 2, which states there will be a difference in CS between International Students from different countries. Statistical results of one-way ANOVAs also accepted Hypothesis 3, which states there will be a difference in LS between International Students from different nationalities as well. According to these results, Hypothesis 2 is partially accepted because four out of the six subsections of the CS (General and Job Satisfaction) showed these differences. These results show the importance of the cultural determinants of the social relationship, health, authority and public safety satisfaction play a particularly prominent role on individuals Life Satisfaction. Finally, based on the Dieners SWL (Diener et al, 1984) and cultural life satisfaction survey, the empirical results show that several cultural values are indeed very significant influences on individuals assessment of their life satisfaction. INTRODUCTION Psychological research during the past two decades has revealed cultural differences across a wide range of domains. These studies focus on several factors such as what are peoples desires, wants, and needs, and which life domains are decisive in an overall evaluation of living conditions? Does the quality of a society in which a person lives play a significant role? As a result most psychologists are now keenly aware that the way people in different cultures think, feel, and act are, in varying degrees, different. International students have in recent years come to constitute a large proportion of the world-wide student body in higher learning institutions. There are hardly any countries that are unaffected by the presence of international students in its institutions of higher learning, or the pressure to send some of its own students to study abroad (Paige, 1990). Current estimates suggest that up to 1 million students annually study in countries other than their own (Open Doors, 1996/97). One rationale behind the increasing number of international students is the assumption that students can serve both as cultural ambassadors and resources (Klineberg, 1970; Mestenhauser, 1983; Paige, 1990), and as links between cultures (Eide, 1970). It has also been assumed that these cultural links could help reduce inter-group tension, prejudice, hostility and discriminatory behaviour, and to help increase international understanding and co-operation (Amir, 1969; Baron and Bachman, 1987; Fulbright, 1976) . These assumptions, however, have not always been supported. On the contrary mental health problems such as depression, psychosomatic complaints, anxiety and paranoid reactions (Jou and Fukada, 1997a and b; Sam and Eide, 1991; Ward, 1967; Ying and Liese, 1991) have been suggested to characterise international students. These are in addition to socio-cultural problems (e.g., language difficulties, difficulties in negotiating day-to-day social activities and, racial and ethnic discrimination) (Furnham and Bochner, 1982; Kagan and Cohen, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1993) and academic problems such as failure (Aich, 1963; Barker et al., 1991) have been documented as characterising international students overseas sojourn. Life Satisfacion (LS) has been defined as a global evaluation by the person of his or her life (Pavot et al., 1991, p. 150), and has been identified as a key aspect of quality of life and Subjective Well Being (SWB) (Mannel and Dupuis 1996). SWB is a way of defining a good life, and is often referred to as happiness. People who experience abundant SWB have many pleasures and few pains, and they feel satisfied with their lives (Diener, 2000). Satisfaction also refers to the cognitive/judgemental aspects of SWB (Neto, 1995). Diener and his colleagues (1999) argued that, SWB and happiness, has both an affective (i.e., emotional) and a cognitive (i.e., judgmental) component. The affective component consists of how frequently an individual reports experiencing positive and negative effects. In addition to this, previous research (Diener et al., 1999) has found college students consider happiness and LS to be extremely important, and there is evidence that increased LS impacts upon academi c performance in college students (Rode et al., 2005). Research has shown that increased LS and happiness may be related to goal progression (Emmons, 1986), close social relationships (Myers, 2000), and being involved in flow activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Moreover, Veenhoven (1991) uses the definition of LS as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life as a whole favourably. (1991: 10). This idea emphasises satisfaction with ones life, implies contentment with or acceptance of ones life circumstances, or the fulfilment of ones wants and needs for ones life as a whole. Furthermore, the need satisfaction model (Maslow, 1970; McClelland, 1961) and the spill over (Diener, 1984;Wilensky, 1960) theories provide useful frameworks to conceptualise the processes that underlie happiness in a life domain. The basic premise of the need satisfaction model is that people have basic needs they seek to fulfil in each life domain. Individuals derive satisfaction in a particular life domain when events and experience related to that domain fulfil their needs. Therefore, this model seems to suggest that people who are successful in satisfying their needs are likely to enjoy greater SWB than those who are less successful. For example, a person reports high satisfaction of her health life domain based on positive experiences concerning health-related activities such as a healthy diet, regular exercise and attention to medical needs. Moreover, the spill over theories of quality of life are viewed as having two broad types; bottom-up and top-down theories. Firstly, bott om-up theories assume that LS is a summary evaluation of aspects of ones life. For example, one is satisfied with life because one has good social relationships, enough money, weight under control, and an interesting job (Choi et al., 2007; George and Landerman, 1984; Larsen, 1978). Secondly, top-down theories assume that LS is due to personality influences. For example, a neurotic individual is more dissatisfied in general with his or her job, social relationships, weight, and income in particular ( Shepard, 1974; Kremer and Harpaz, 1982). Although there may be some agreement about the important qualities of the good life, with considerations like health and successful relationships, each individual assigns different values to these factors (Diener et al., 1985). Each person has his or her own values, criteria, and basis for evaluation. Furthermore, considerable research effort has been devoted to the study of adults perception of the quality of their lives, including LS judgements. LS research is supported by the variety of measures appropriate for adults, such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; Pavot and Diener, 1993), Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch et al., 1992), Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten et al., 1961), and the Salamon-Conte LS in the Elderly Scale (Salamon and Conte, 1984). Several studies have been carried out regarding LS and the results of these studies emphasise that LS is related to different factors. A great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. Due to variation in the characteristics of the included samples such as age, gender or culture questions which are commonly found in questionnaires as well as included indicators, different factors have been found to be associated with LS. Campbell (1981) indicates that there are at least 12 domains involved in contributing to LS. These are health, finances, family relations, paid employment, friendships, housing, living partner, recreational activity, religion, self-esteem, transportation, and education (Campbell, 1981). Specific cultural and social factors also have been found to play an important role in determining LS and happiness (Triandis, 2000). LS is used worldwide in research including adults, young people, students, older people etc. (Baiyewu and Jegede 1992; H illeras et al. 2001b,Neugarten et al. 1961; Vitterso et al. 2002; Wood et al. 1969) and is supposed to be a useful outcome variable in different countries. Cultural context is an important element that influences an individuals cognitive evaluation of ones life. Culture affects people in a variety of basic psychological domains, including self-concept, attribution and reasoning, interpersonal communication, negotiation, intergroup relations, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). Sociologists and social psychologists are interested in socio-demographic patterns that emerge when people evaluate their overall living conditions (Veenhoven 1984; Argyle 1999; Headey and Wearing 1992; Hagerty et al. 2000; Glatzer and Zapf 1984). However, socio-demographic factors account for less than 20% of the variance of SWB, a finding confirmed in several studies (Campbell et al. 1976; Andrews and Withey 1976; Diener and Suh 1997). Many efforts have been made to analyse determinants of LS and researchers from several disciplines illuminate this subject from different perspectiv es. The study revealed that the standard of living, access to employment, job satisfaction, marriage, social relationships, social networks, and health were the most decisive factors when explaining variations in LS within countries. Previous research also indicate that these factors have a positive impact on individuals LS (Diener et al. 1999) with results also showing that individuals with high LS have such benefits including physical health, mental health, good interpersonal relationships, and educational and vocational success (Frisch, 2000; Park, 2003, 2004; Veenhoven, 1989). More recently, economists have shown an interest in explaining LS outcomes with respect to reported SWB as a proxy for individual utility. They primarily focus on cross-country comparisons, the question of marginal utility of income, and the relationship between absolute and relative levels of income on SWB (Frey and Stutzer 2002a, b; Oswald 1997; Layard 2005). Moreover, LS differs a great deal between individuals and between European countries. The previous study within the enlarged European Union shows average LS in 2003, measured on a scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied), ranged from 8.38 in Denmark to 4.41 in Bulgaria. In every country high income goes hand in hand with higher LS scores. However, poor people in Denmark are nevertheless more satisfied than rich people in Bulgaria. The large differences in the overall level of LS between old and new member states have so far been explained with reference to the level of economic prosperity in each country (Fahey and Smyth 2004). Moreover, several studies have pointed out that poorer countries tend to possess lower LS than richer ones. To support this idea, Leelakulthanit and Day (1993) compared the LS scores of Americans and Thais. The results showed that Americans were more satisfied with their lives than Thais. Similarly, Diener et al., (1995) investigated LS among American, Korean, and Chinese college students. The results of the study illustrated that American college students scored more highly on LS, positive feelings and influential factors (e.g., income and wealth of the countries) than both Chinese and Korean college students. The results of these studies emphasized that the countries with high qualities (such as income, wealth, education) have higher LS scores than the countries who have low quality of standards . Conversely, Heady et al. (2004) instead analysed household panel data for five countries and found the happiness measure to be considerably more affected by economic fac tors than found in most of the earlier literature. The economic factors in the study include wealth and consumption expenditures and among the findings are that wealth has a stronger impact on happiness than income and that non-durable consumption expenditures are as important for happiness as income. Recent cross-country studies have therefore returned to this issue, questioning the insignificance of economic factors, which led to a heated debate in Social Science Indicators between Richard Easterlin, who defended the standard conclusion that average income does not matter, and Michael Hagerty and Ruud Veenhoven, who opposed this and argued that positive happiness trends in most nations were caused by income growth (Hagerty and Veenhoven 2003; Easterlin 2005; Veenhoven and Hagerty 2006). Moreover, a number of previous studies exposed evidence about health playing a critical role in overall LS. In fact, health has long been viewed as one of the major factors to LS as previous studies have found that health plays a crucial role on individuals LS (Linn et al., 1988; Michalos, Zumbo, Hubley, 2000; Okun et al., 1984; Parkerson, Broadhead, Tse, 1990). Additionally, a number of previous studies have examined the relationship between LS and health factors such as obesity, alcohol use, suicidal thoughts, physical activity, stress, and academic performance in different populations. For example, the study of the Moum (1996) found that people who score high on LS measures are less likely to attempt suicide. Lewinsohn et al., (1991) also pointed out that people who score high on LS are less likely to become depressed in the future . Several researches have also examined that LS is related to healthy behaviours in a number of different populations (Kelly, 2004; Rudolf Watts, 20 02; Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b). To support this idea, Statistics Canada Web Site (2009), found that Canadians LS was related to their health. The statistics showed that people who were satisfied with their lives reported that their health was excellent (62.5%) and only 8.4% of people who were satisfied with life reported poor health. Conversely, of those people who were not satisfied with their lives, 54.2% reported that their health was poor. As a result, this study found that weak levels of health are directly related to low levels of satisfaction with life, low levels of morality, and low levels of satisfaction. This study also stresses that public health provisions have an important role on the improvements of individuals quality of life. For example, Life expectancy in France or Germany has risen sharply. However, this improvement is not due to high-technology. These countries attach importance to improve the quality of health in urban sanitation. The main aim here is relatively low-cost treatment (for example; antibiotics for childrens ear infections) (Deaton, 2008). From the past to the present, a great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. These sources include ones overall wealth, whether one is single or married, male or female (Gold et al., 2002; Murtagh Hubert, 2004), or young or old (Diener, 1984; Mercier et al., 1998; Prenda Lachman, 2001) A few studies have investigated international undergraduate students Satisfaction with Life (SWL) in the pattern of culture associates. Definition of the SWL emphasises the individuals own Quality of Life (QoL) based on their selected standards (Shin and Johnson, 1978). Each individuals decisions about their own particular criteria of their QoL can help them to judge and establish their own SWL (Diener et al., 1985). This shows that ones SWL is not a universally determined criteria of QoL, because each individual is judging their SWL by their own evaluation of the QoL. This is one of the important reasons to focus on people of diverse ethnic background and their differ ent values and perceptions of what may characterise the good life (Diener et al., 1985). Another important reason to study SWL and Culture across different nations is based on cultural factors (such as ones quality of life) that play an important role on individuals happiness. Veenhoven (1991) found that living in an economically prosperous country where freedom and democracy are respected; political stability; being a part of a majority rather than a minority; being toward the top of the social ladder; being married and having good relationships with family and friends; being mentally and physically healthy; being active and open minded; feeling in control of ones life; having aspirations in social and moral matters rather than money-making and being politically conservative are significantly related with individuals happiness rather than unhappiness. Moreover, other researchers have established that individuals from different cultures have different levels of economic and social satisfactions with their Jobs. For example, people who have the same jobs but who live in different countries might have different levels of job satisfaction because of cultural influences (Cranny et al., 1992; Gallie Russell, 1998). This signifies that both economic (money) and social (interest) satisfaction with work, such as individuals quality of their working styles, experiences and achievements, is another very important component of individuals overall SWL (Frijters et al., 2003; Kraft 2000). Furthermore, health is a subjective phenomenon manifested as the experience of wellness/illness based on individuals evaluations of how they are feeling and doing. There are variety of factors on an individuals health satisfaction which have been related to their LS such as weight (Ball et al., 2004), alcohol use (Murphy et al., 2005), stress (Schnohr et al., 2005), and physical activity (Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b) These have been shown to be related to life satisfaction in different populations. The relationship between LS and various aspects of perceived health has been investigated in different nations because in different cultures people have different health institutions and services which can affect both their QoL and SWL. Previous researchers found that there is a positive relationship between subjective health and LS (Arrindell et al., 1999; Lohr et al., 1988; Rapkin Fischer, 1992; Willits Crider, 1988). The information above supports that to study both SWL and culture have been useful in illuminating how individuals differ in their SWL from different nations and the role of culture. A Number of studies emphasize that culture affects individuals from several basic psychological domains. For example, attribution and reasoning, intergroup relations, interpersonal communication, self-concept, negotiation, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Lehman et al., 2004; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). From the theory and research presented in this review, it can be seen that cultural factors are the integrative parts of the LS. According to this, this study will focus on the Culture and LS amongst international students to see whether culture plays an important role on the undergraduate students LS from five different cultures. The specific aims of the study are three-fold. Firstly, it determines whether there is a relationship between international students LS and CS amongst five different countries. Secondly, it specifies whether the international students have differences in CS in general factors (i.e. quality of services/ city/life etc.), social relationships, job satisfaction, health, authority and public safety across five different countries. Thirdly, it explores whether there is an LS difference between International Students from five different countries which are China, India, UK, Turkey and Nigeria. In this study, I will focus on more cross-cultural phenomenon of the st udents satisfaction as well as its link with cross-cultural differences in the bases of LS (Schimmack et al., 2002; Suh et al., 1998) and provide tests of an empirically supported explanation for the differences. When people construct judgments about their overall LS, different cultural members place relative emphasis on different aspects of life. Therefore the hypotheses for this study are: There will be correlation between LS and CS amongst International Students from five different countries . There will be a difference in CS between International Students from five different countries There will be a difference in LS between International Students from five different countries. METHOD SECTION Participants A total of 100 students from the University of Northampton (UCN) in Northampton participated in the study. The sample for the current study comprised of 100 students, with twenty participants from each of the five nations India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey. Participants were selected from these five countries because many students from these countries came across to study in the University of Northampton. All participants were more than 18 years of age. Both males and females between the ages of 18-25 were selected. Each participant was required to complete both Questionnaire Section A of Life Satisfaction and Section B of the Cultural Satisfaction (see Appendix 2). All student participation was voluntary. Apparatus/Measurements The measures for the study were either taken directly or with modification from existing scales as described below. With the exception of the Satisfaction With Life Scale, all the items reported here were answered on a 5-point Likert Scale. Life Satisfaction : Global life satisfaction was measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985) to measure the life satisfaction of the international undergraduate students. The SWLS is a five-item inventory with a 7-point scale. The five items used to measure satisfaction with life are : (a) In most ways my life is close to ideal; (b) The conditions of my life are excellent; (c) I am satisfied with my life; (d) So far I have gotten the important things I want in life; and (e) If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. Participants respond to each item on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), yielding a possible total score ranging from 5 to 35 (see appendix 2). Satisfaction With Culture: Participants cultural life satisfaction was measured by questions both from Quality of Life Satisfaction Survey (2003) (QLS) (cited in Delhey, 2004) and the 2006 General User Satisfaction Survey (GUSS) (Torbay Council, 2006). Researcher also prepared some of the questions. The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction within six cultural life domains: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety were considered important influences on individuals life satisfaction. Participants respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (see appendix 2). General : The general questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of twenty-three out of the 70 items, was added to the beginning of the Cultural life satisfaction scale in order to measure general life satisfaction about the cultural factors. The researcher also prepared the questions from 1 to 19. However, questions 20 to 23 from the general section were obtained from QLS. Students were expected to respond to each item based on a five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples of items are It is a good place to live, overall quality of life in the city, water quality, noise etc. However, nine items were measured on an ordinal scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of general services (e.g. health services, public transport, education system etc.). Participants again respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (very high). Higher values indicate higher LS. Social Relationships : To achieve a high level of joy and happiness in life, people must be socially involved with people. This involves getting along well with others, having friends and companions, and offering help to those who need it. This part evaluates international students social relationships in their home countries through sixteen items. However, five questions about the tensions between different groups were obtained from QLS. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer Very many tensions and 5 to No tension at all. Moreover, eleven questions consisted of general problems about parents, children, teenagers etc. These eleven questions were also prepared by the Researcher. Statements such as parents not taking responsibility for the behaviour of their children, noisy neighbours or loud parties and people being attacked because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion etc. The items were also based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (a very big p roblem) to 5 (not a problem at all). Job Satisfaction: In this section questions asked students to evaluate their overall Job satisfaction and financial situation. Questions in the Job Satisfaction section were adapted from QLS. A list of seven items was constructed to measure the job satisfaction variable. Items were presented on a 5- point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Items included My work is dull and boring , I am well paid, and My job offers good prospects for career advancement etc. Health Perception : The health perception variable was measured on a Likert scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of health services in international students countries. This section consisted of eight items. Questions 1 to 4 from the health section were obtained from QLS. However, questions from 5 to 8 were obtained from GUSS. Items were presented on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very satisfied to very dissatisfied where 1 corresponds to the answer very dissatisfied and 5 to very satisfied, and included statements such as waiting time to see doctor on day of appointment, Quality of Hospitals and Deal with patients etc. Authority: The authority section consists of seven items. Question 1 and 7 from the authority section were adapted from GUSS . Also, questions 2 to 6 were prepared by the researcher . The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale, and included statements such as how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with each of the following services provided or supported by your country City Council such as; Sports/leisure facilities and events, libraries, museum, galleries, theatre etc. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer strongly disagree and 5 to strongly agree. Public Safety: Public safety questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of nine items. Questions in the Public Safety section were prepared by the researcher. Questions include how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood during the day? and how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood after dark? etc. The responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very unsafe to very safe, and 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Procedure Before the experiment participants were asked to read the standardised instructions (see appendix 3 ) and to give their consent verbally. According to the standardised instructions, participants were fully informed what the study was going to investigate. The standard instructions informed the students of the purpose of the study; that participation was voluntary and the responses were going to be treated confidentially. Also, it explained the details of what participants would have to do and were allowed to ask any questions. Experimenters informed the participants that the aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a relation between participants general life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction. By giving their consent to taking part in the study, they were agreeing to be involved in this study and were then asked to sign the consent form (see appendix 4) and read the brief (see appendix 4). After that, participants were asked to fill in the questionnaire. The que stionnaire consisted of two sections; section A and section B. Section A was about the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985) to measure life satisfaction. The scale comprises of five-items and the responses were made on a 7-point agree-disagree Likert scale (Diener et al., 1985). On the other hand, section B was about cultural life satisfaction (Questions were obtained from QoL). The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale and was designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction. The scale provides scores for six dimensions namely for the participants satisfaction with their nations. The six sections of the cultural satisfaction are: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety considered important on individuals cultural life satisfaction. According to participants responses, negative scores indicate dissatisfaction, whereas positive scores indicate satisfaction of the specific domain for the individuals life satisfaction. In this experiment, participants were not timed. Therefore, all the participants had the same life satisfaction and cultural satisfaction scale. Participants were also aware that they were allowed to withdraw at anytime without giving reason. After the experiment, the experimenter gave the participants a cue sheet which consisted of a brief explanation of what the study was about and the experimenters e-mail address (see appendix 5). Also, each Life satisfaction scale had the participant number recorded on the top of the paper so, if the participants changed their minds and wanted to retract their results from the study, they could email the experimenter and give their paper number by 01-01-2010. Also, participants were allowed to ask any questions. There was no deception of the participants in this study. Finally, no personal data was requested. As a result, the participants were anonymous . Questionnaires will be kept confidential and securely kept in the locked answers cupboard. Design This study was performed to determine the relation between culture and life satisfaction. The dependent variable of the study was the life satisfaction and the independent variable was culture. In this experiment, participants were sampled around the university campus and each participant received only one questionnaire. All experime

Motivating Sales Engineers in the Industrial Business Essay -- Busines

Introduction Salespeople are often internally driven and self-motivated (Srivastava and Rangarajan, 2008), and are increasingly becoming consultants who sell value-added services (Smith and Rupp, 2003). Nowadays more industrial companies employ sales engineers (SE) and therefore they represent an emerging class of knowledge workers on sales (Darr, 2002). I will first describe my experience in Festo, before briefly addressing some theories about motivation, related to it. Was there a mismatch between theory and business as I knew it? If so, I will try to identify it, and to explain why Festo's incentives failed with me. Finally, I will suggest how Festo should have motivated its SE, based on the theory previously discussed. What is a SE? I have mainly worked as a salesperson, although having studied engineering. Then, let me ask: what is a SE? A salesperson with a strong technical knowledge on the field he/she is selling. Furthermore, a SE could be defined as a technical-consultant salesperson or a knowledge worker (Darr, 2002). These ideas somehow extend Lidstone's definition of a technical salesperson: someone who sells industrial products, equipment or highly engineered components; put a major emphasis in his/her know-how, are often worried with technical details, and tends to forget his/her job is to sell (1995). SE at Festo Festo Argentina had around 20 SE (2007) nationwide (from a workforce of 120), half of them farther away than 400 miles from main office. Every SE had a different emotional background (psychological characteristics), engineering field (industrial, electronic, mechanical), and socioeconomic situation (some married, others young and single; well-off, working class, etc.). We were distributed geograp... .../2010]. Pritchard, R. and Ashwood, E. (2008). Managing motivation: a manager’s guide to diagnosing and improving motivation. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Smith, A. and Rupp, W. (2003). An examination of emerging strategy and sales performance: motivation, chaotic change and organizational structure. Marketing & Intelligence Planning, 21/3, pp.156-167. Smyth and Murphy (1969). Compensating and motivating salesmen. New York: American Management Association. Srivastava, R. and Rangarajan, D. (2008). Understanding the salespeople’s â€Å"feedback-satisfaction† linkage: what role does job perceptions play?. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 23/3, pp. 151–160. Steers, R. and Porter, L. (1987). Motivation and work behaviour, 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. Stewart, G. (1994). Successful Sales Management, 3rd edition. London: Pitman Publishing. Motivating Sales Engineers in the Industrial Business Essay -- Busines Introduction Salespeople are often internally driven and self-motivated (Srivastava and Rangarajan, 2008), and are increasingly becoming consultants who sell value-added services (Smith and Rupp, 2003). Nowadays more industrial companies employ sales engineers (SE) and therefore they represent an emerging class of knowledge workers on sales (Darr, 2002). I will first describe my experience in Festo, before briefly addressing some theories about motivation, related to it. Was there a mismatch between theory and business as I knew it? If so, I will try to identify it, and to explain why Festo's incentives failed with me. Finally, I will suggest how Festo should have motivated its SE, based on the theory previously discussed. What is a SE? I have mainly worked as a salesperson, although having studied engineering. Then, let me ask: what is a SE? A salesperson with a strong technical knowledge on the field he/she is selling. Furthermore, a SE could be defined as a technical-consultant salesperson or a knowledge worker (Darr, 2002). These ideas somehow extend Lidstone's definition of a technical salesperson: someone who sells industrial products, equipment or highly engineered components; put a major emphasis in his/her know-how, are often worried with technical details, and tends to forget his/her job is to sell (1995). SE at Festo Festo Argentina had around 20 SE (2007) nationwide (from a workforce of 120), half of them farther away than 400 miles from main office. Every SE had a different emotional background (psychological characteristics), engineering field (industrial, electronic, mechanical), and socioeconomic situation (some married, others young and single; well-off, working class, etc.). We were distributed geograp... .../2010]. Pritchard, R. and Ashwood, E. (2008). Managing motivation: a manager’s guide to diagnosing and improving motivation. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Smith, A. and Rupp, W. (2003). An examination of emerging strategy and sales performance: motivation, chaotic change and organizational structure. Marketing & Intelligence Planning, 21/3, pp.156-167. Smyth and Murphy (1969). Compensating and motivating salesmen. New York: American Management Association. Srivastava, R. and Rangarajan, D. (2008). Understanding the salespeople’s â€Å"feedback-satisfaction† linkage: what role does job perceptions play?. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 23/3, pp. 151–160. Steers, R. and Porter, L. (1987). Motivation and work behaviour, 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. Stewart, G. (1994). Successful Sales Management, 3rd edition. London: Pitman Publishing.

Gettysburg :: American America History

Gettysburg By late afternoon, on the 2nd July, 1863, after fierce hand to hand fighting, Major General John B. Hood's 3rd Division's flanking attack on Big Round Top had been successful. Meade realising the lack of troops on the Round Tops had rushed the 1st Maine to try to thwart Jackson who having let Hood bypass Sickles force in the Peach Orchard caught way out in front of the main Union lines and seize the Top (s). Sickle was outflanked and held by Laws Brigade leaving only the 1st Maine to take the brunt of the killing power of the massed Confederate infantry. Colonel Chamberlain, commanding was killed in the first volley and whatever morale the Union troops retained was soon broken. It was over in less than ten minutes, the remnants of the Federal forces streamed back to the relative safety of their main line on Cemetery Ridge. Hood sent reports of the securing of the Tops to Jackson.Thomas'Stonewall' Jackson had assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia after Robert E.Lee was wounded by a stray shell late on the afternoon of the 1st. Though not serious, General Lee had shrapnel wounds to both legs and concussion and command had passed to his deputy, Jackson. Jackson sent for Lieutenant-General Longstreet and ordered him to get his artillery onto the Tops and commence bombardment of Meade's forces. Cabell's Battalion of Artillery is despatched to Big Round Top and commences an immediate cannonade. Alexander has despatched half his cannon to assist and by 7.00pm 67 cannon are belching their deadly breath down on Cemetery Ridge. In the pitch dark lit only by the shell bursts of the Confederate fire the Union troops mill about in panic. Orders are countermandered , duplicated and totally confused as officers try to keep their various charges in check. The casualty toll is becoming horrendous and more and more troops are trying to flee the field. Unfortunately, in the dark they have little sense of direction and hundreds are going from one field of slaughter to another as Ewell has his men on battle stations on the right flank. Those fleeing forward rush into Pickett's command . At 10 pm the bombardment ceases as the Rebel artillerists realise they are running low on ready supplies of shells. Though they would not realise until morning that the battle was won, they had done the damage with their evening fusilade. Gettysburg :: American America History Gettysburg By late afternoon, on the 2nd July, 1863, after fierce hand to hand fighting, Major General John B. Hood's 3rd Division's flanking attack on Big Round Top had been successful. Meade realising the lack of troops on the Round Tops had rushed the 1st Maine to try to thwart Jackson who having let Hood bypass Sickles force in the Peach Orchard caught way out in front of the main Union lines and seize the Top (s). Sickle was outflanked and held by Laws Brigade leaving only the 1st Maine to take the brunt of the killing power of the massed Confederate infantry. Colonel Chamberlain, commanding was killed in the first volley and whatever morale the Union troops retained was soon broken. It was over in less than ten minutes, the remnants of the Federal forces streamed back to the relative safety of their main line on Cemetery Ridge. Hood sent reports of the securing of the Tops to Jackson.Thomas'Stonewall' Jackson had assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia after Robert E.Lee was wounded by a stray shell late on the afternoon of the 1st. Though not serious, General Lee had shrapnel wounds to both legs and concussion and command had passed to his deputy, Jackson. Jackson sent for Lieutenant-General Longstreet and ordered him to get his artillery onto the Tops and commence bombardment of Meade's forces. Cabell's Battalion of Artillery is despatched to Big Round Top and commences an immediate cannonade. Alexander has despatched half his cannon to assist and by 7.00pm 67 cannon are belching their deadly breath down on Cemetery Ridge. In the pitch dark lit only by the shell bursts of the Confederate fire the Union troops mill about in panic. Orders are countermandered , duplicated and totally confused as officers try to keep their various charges in check. The casualty toll is becoming horrendous and more and more troops are trying to flee the field. Unfortunately, in the dark they have little sense of direction and hundreds are going from one field of slaughter to another as Ewell has his men on battle stations on the right flank. Those fleeing forward rush into Pickett's command . At 10 pm the bombardment ceases as the Rebel artillerists realise they are running low on ready supplies of shells. Though they would not realise until morning that the battle was won, they had done the damage with their evening fusilade.