Facilitate Counselling Process Essay

I declare that this assessment is my own work, based on my own personal research/study . I also declare that this assessment, nor parts of it, has not been previously submitted for any other unit/module or course, and that I have not copied in part or whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of another student and/or persons. I have read the ACAP Student Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct Policy and understand its implications. I also declare, if this is a practical skills assessment, that a Client/Interviewee Consent Form has been read and signed by both parties, and where applicable parental consent has been obtained. 1. Explain the purpose of counselling and the scope of counselling relationships, including professional limitations. Counselling is a professional progression avenue where a client can tell their story to a counselor in a confidential setting. Throughout the process counsellors attempt to build a relationship with clients built on trust and empathy. Counsellors guide clients to achieve personal goals, give tools to be their own solution creator and given them the opportunity to come to their own understanding of themselves and/or situation. Client progress can be attainable with clear, realistic and concise goals, which is managed throughout. In some instances referring the clients to secondary services, other professional avenues and alternate programs beyond the counsellors limitations will allow the client to achieve their goals and understanding. 2. Explain to a new client the nature of the client-centred approach to counselling. Alice, I’m here to listen, empathies and understand your story. You know yourself, you are the expert of your life, feeling and attitudes, I’m here to help you understand what it is you want to achieve. In this forum you are valued, respected and perceived without prejudice or judgment. I’m not here  to tell you what to do or how you should feel, I’m here for you. You are telling your story, your feelings are justified, and you will be understood. 3. Identify three important areas to address with clients in the initial counselling session. Confidentiality – Everything said during the session is bound by confidentiality. No information will be disclosed to a third party without the clients consent. Mandatory reporting – The counsellor is legally bound to disclosure information to relevant governing bodies, breaking confidentiality, in the instance where a minor is in danger and or the client is in immediate danger to themselves or others. Informed consent – The client is made aware of the cost, location, frequency, duration, and note taking of the sessions, out of session contact and late or no show fees. 4. Identify and explain two basic micro-skills of counselling and their purpose in facilitating client understanding. Counselling microskills are skills used to enhance and encourage communication with clients. Two basic microskils, which enhance building rapport with a client, is Attending and Active listening. Attending is showing that the counsellor is present to the client. The counsellor seated facing the client, giving the client the impression that the counselor is involved within process; Open posture, the counselor is available to listen to the client; Leaning forward, appropriately showing attention is being shown; Eye contact, appropriate eye contact showing interest and presences; Relax state with the client allows to the client to feel at ease and comfortable. Active listening allows to consellor to engage with the client, minimal responses can be verbal (hmm, yep) and non verbal (nodding, smile) actions to encourage the client to continue talking, they are being heard and understood. The use of paraphrasing by the counsellor, repeating the client story to them but using own words indicating the counsellor is listening, trying/understanding and empathising with the client. 5. Identify and briefly describe two client disclosures that would require immediate action on the counsellor’s part and what action you would take for each. If a client has disclosed immediate danger to themself or other the councellor is to call the Local Police department and/the Local Mental Health team. If a minor is at risk of significant harm, whether physical, sexual, emotional, psychological abuse or neglect the Department of community services is to be contacted. 6. Choose one of the following examples of clients’ strong emotional reactions and explain how you would respond in your role as counsellor: aggressive behaviour and reaction, excessively talkative, rapid changes in emotions. A client excessively talking I would use SOLER, slience as they need the outlet, miminal encourages to show them they are heard, paraphrase or reflect on what they have said to gain an understanding of what it is they are feeling. 7. Identify and explain three reasons why self-reflection is an important skill for a counsellor. Self-reflection within counsellors is to understand their own emotions, prejudices, bias’s and personal interests. Counselllors need to identify their own countertransference, anxieties and limitations. Engaging with appointed supervisors help counsellors to understand their emotions, create personal development, an outlet. Counsellors are a direct result of their strengths, limitations and values. Time spent on selfreflecting is time spent to better help and understand clients.

An Analysis into the study of knowledge as a term

An analytical survey of cognition appreciates the term to hold several significances. I will turn to myself to three of them. The first significance concerns the ability possessed ensuing from larning. One can cognize how to utilize a library, one can cognize how to stand, walk or how to give a address that could elicit the audience. Another account of cognition involves the familiarity, acquaintance, and personal experience. A individual can cognize a topographic point by holding visited to the topographic point or cognize a politician by have a face to confront brush with him. Last the account of cognition can be the collected facts from experiments, observations and surveies, and doing decisions that justify personal or general belief. At a broader perspective cognition can be grouped into two classs, one is the silent cognition, which can non be expressed in words or Numberss. This is the proficient knowhow and accomplishments that can non be effectual be represented utilizing ma rk of linguistic communication or symbols. The 2nd class is that of explicit cognition that can be expressed in footings, words or symbols. This deals with the theoretical attack of work outing jobs. To my understanding the significance of being educated to one individual means something different to others. Harmonizing to Socrates who is considered to be the male parent of modern idea, the universe is divided into, the wise who know they are saps and the saps who think they are wise. Bing educated can be taken to intend that one is trained in a specific field every bit good as he is able be practically use the cognition gained. An educated individual has acquired general accomplishments and knowledge about topics and thoughts. Over and above acquisition of cognition he is able to analyse, understand signifier an sentiment and pass on this information sanely to others. To many people being educated creates a desire to larn more and invariably change at any given clip. Learning is a womb-to-tomb experience with cases that help determine our heads and our perceptual experiences. When specifying instruction in the context of schooling in needed to look beyond accomplishment of academic ends. The impression that the school ‘s first precedence is rational development is lifelessly. There a strong difference between those who propose instruction as a agency of making or developing and prolonging a democratic society and those who believe that a school ‘s primary function is economic, amounting to a future investing of workers and finally corporate net incomes. The phrase of good educated does non merely mention to the quality of schooling received but besides something about the personality of the scholar. If the term could be taken to intend what one knows and can make, there are many people who are ill educated despite holding a top notch instruction on the converse if the term is taken to mention to the quality of schooling received, the society overflows with good educated people who sat through categories and hardly registered relevant construct s. With these contrasting positions about instruction and cognition, there is a dramatic absence of consensus about what the term ought to intend. At this occasion I have to except some normally possessed misconceptions about being good educated. Merely being in category for a given period of clip can non do a individual educated although he may get some cognition. Imagining alumnuss who are good prepared for the workplace who are non regarded every bit good educated since they do n't hold the ability to use whatever they have learnt. It would be a error to cut down schooling and instruction to a vocational readying. High mark in school merely mean an ability to take standardised trials. Most of the instructors that I have interacted with can immediately call pupils who are talented minds but who merely do n't execute good in tests every bit good as pupils whose public presentation overestimates their rational gifts. As a affair of fact there is no individual trial that is sufficien tly dependable, valid, or adequate in its entireness that it can adequately be treated as a gage of academic success. Besides memorisation and acquaintance with a figure of words, books and thoughts have been rated as a hapless manner of evaluation as an deficient manner of to judge who is good educated. Finally to be good educated there is on constituent that play one of the major functions and that is the school attended. I have analyzed the best sort of a school to be one that is organized around jobs, inquiries and undertakings as opposed to facts, subjects, and accomplishments. Of class cognition is acquired but in context and for a purpose stressing on deepness instead than breath, compassed with find of thoughts more than covering a prescribed course of study. The instructors involved in the acquisition procedure are Renaissance mans and specializers ; they collaborate to offer interdisciplinary class that their pupils play an active function in planing. All this is accomplished in little democratic schools that are experienced as caring communities. It ‘s indefensible to hold a big school, with short categories that have immense tonss on instructor and still be pupil centered, other than a fact transmittal sort of direction scene. This is merely a powerful obstruction t o good acquisition. Therefore to be good educated can be accessed through a complex system, in which pupils reveal their apprehension by agencies of in depth undertakings, presentations and portfolios of assignments such appraisal is based on meaningful criterions of excellence and criterions that may jointly offer replies to the inquiry of ; what is to be educated? Assessment of cognition acquisition and educational success I would concentrate more on empirical logical thinking, societal logical thinking, quantitative logical thinking, communicating, and personal qualities that constitute duty ego consciousness and capacity for leading. Traveling by the definition of being educated the end of instruction is more instruction and hence being good educated is to hold the desire and holding both the chance and the agencies to do certain that larning ne'er ends. Therefore if larning be the thirst for cognition the pupils and the society at big must abandon the impression that instruction is clip devouring and obligatory make fulling our heads and replaced it with the thought that people ever thrive best while larning what they love. Though clip consuming, we ever find clip for what we love, therefore no clip is lost while we rattle from book to book, looking for connexions. Finally am contented every bit long as I read what I read with love, and have small or no concerns if I have really read plenty on what am obligated to read. Note that the whole universe is a schoolroom and to do it one, merely believe that it is. I ever consider that cognition is born out of contact with the universe, an instruction carpentered out of the best combination we can do of a school, reading, on-line geographic expedition and friendly relationship may be the best instruction of all instead than a hapless replacement that must apologise for itself in the shadow of academia. Adult scholars have an enviable manner of larning. I have observed that they are ne'er interested in larning merely for the interest of larning. They go to larn with a motivation of bettering their accomplishments in specific countries, looking for stuffs that reflect existent life challenges that either mirror their fortunes or exemplify a world that they would wish to cognize.

Poverty, Hunger Prevent Filipino Kids From Getting Basic Education

Twelve-year-old Marian (not her real name) is one of the millions of Filipino children whose education has taken a backseat due to poverty. The fifth of eight children, she fled her home when she was 10 because she said her jobless parents hurt her. Marian is supposed to be in the sixth grade this year, but she’s currently enrolled as a Grade 1 pupil, learning basic language lessons and math skills in a public elementary school in Cainta, Rizal. A certain â€Å"Ate Rowena† took her in and convinced her to go back to school.Marian has to face challenges in school. â€Å"Marami pong nanlalait sa ‘kin dahil Grade 1 ako pero malaki ako†¦hindi ko pinapakinggan yun kasi ito na po yung simula para maipagpatuloy ko po yung pag-aaral ko at makatapos po ako (Other children tease me because I’m still in Grade 1†¦but I don’t mind them because this is my chance to continue and finish my studies),† she said. Despite the challenges, Marian is lucky compare to thousands of other Filipino children. 1 out of 6 kids not in schoolOne out of six school-age Filipino children is not enrolled, figures from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) revealed. The net enrollment ratio (NER) or participation rate at the elementary level for school year 2006-2007 was 83. 2 percent, down by 1. 2 percentage points from the previous school year and a far cry from school year 1999-2000’s 96. 95 percent. The NER is the ratio between the enrollment in the school-age range and the total population of that age range.That means that out of all Filipino children aged 6-11—which is the official age range for elementary pupils—17. 8 percent or almost one-fifth are out of school. DepEd figures also show that from 1999 to 2007 participation in elementary education decreased, save for a 0. 19-percentage point increase in 2002. The rate of participation in secondary education is even wo rse. From 2002 to 2007, almost half or 43. 7 of all Filipinos aged 12-15—the official age range for high school—failed to enroll. This is lower than the participation rate of 65. 43 percent in 1999-2000.With these figures the country is still far from achieving the Millennium Development Goal of providing basic education to all, the NSCB said in its report. The Philippines is also far from achieving its own Education for All 2015 Plan, which serves as the blueprint for the country’s basic education. Disparity among regions It is not just the overall figures that reflect that the country is unable to meet international and national goals for education. Government data show that there is a wide disparity in education figures among regions, with most of conflict-ridden Mindanao trailing behind urban centers.The National Economic and Development Authority in its 2006 Socioeconomic Report observed that despite a 0. 38 percent increase in the enrollment of children in 2006 compared to 2005, the figure is lower than expected. NEDA’s figures show that 12. 91 million of the 19. 25 million children enrolled in 2006 are elementary pupils while 6. 33 million were in high school. The overall figure is slightly higher than that of the previous year by only 72,969 children. â€Å"An assessment of the situation points to poverty as the main cause of thislower-than-expected increase. This is further exacerbated by the high cost of schooling-related expenditures. High school students seeking employment to augment family income also contributed to the low increase in enrollment,† the NEDA report stated. The Department of Education admitted that the country’s â€Å"volatile economic situation† is preventing children from going to school. Even with the â€Å"zero tuition† offer of the government, poor families are hindered by lack of employment, hunger and malnutrition, among other problems.â€Å"Time and again parents have complained of financial obstacles,† said Kenneth Tirado, communications officer of DepEd. Poverty to blame Poverty is one of the main causes of the country’s poor education record and has affected participation in education in more ways than one, according to â€Å"Education Watch Preliminary Report: Education Deprivation in the Philippines,† a study done by five advocacy groups including E-Net Philippines, Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education, Action for Economic Reforms, Popular Education for People’s Empowerment, and Oxfam.Citing data from the National Statistics Office 2003 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey, the study said the top reason of people aged 6-24 for not attending school is employment or â€Å"looking for work,† with almost one-third or 30. 5 percent citing that reason. Lack of personal interest came in second at 22 percent, while the high cost of education came in a close third at 19. 9 percent. Other rea sons include, among others, housekeeping, illness or disability, failure to cope with school work, and distance from school.â€Å"The lack of interest among school children indicates a weakness on the part of the school system to make education interesting for the students. This may be due to poor teaching quality, inadequate facilities and supplies and poor infrastructure. Poverty, social exclusion, school distance and poor health are, likewise, factors that weigh heavily on children and dampen their interest to pursue schooling,† said the report.â€Å"The challenge, therefore, is how to make the school interesting and encouraging rather than intimidating; how to make it inclusive, non-discriminatory and poor-sensitive rather than exclusive and elite-oriented; and how to make it accommodating rather than restricting. Finally, the education content, process and experience should be made more meaningful to the children’s life experiences by ensuring appropriate, cultur e-sensitive and values-based interventions,† it added. Increase in budget does not helpGovernment figures show that the budget for education has increased over a 10-year period – from P90 billion in 1999 to P149 billion in 2008. It does not include the P4 billion acquired in 2007 from the private sector, a dramatic increase from 2003’s P400 million after Education Secretary Jesli Lapus re-launched the Adopt-A-School program in 2006. Despite the budget increase, government agencies observed a gradual decline in the net participation rate of students in the past nine years, especially in the regions.Luzon has the highest NER, followed by Visayas, with NERs on the opposite side of the spectrum, and Mindanao with the lowest percentage of school-age children going to school. The National Capital Region and Region IV alternately topped the NERs for elementary education, with the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, having the highest NER from 2004 to 2006. Even NCR’s relatively high figures—at least 92. 6 percent since 2002—have declined by about 0. 6 to 2. 2 percentage points, except in school year 2006-2007 when it increased by a meager .03 percent. Region IX or Western Mindanao posted the biggest NER decrease of 12. 1 percent, from 89. 7 percent in 2002 to 77. 6 percent in 2006. Surprisingly, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao placed 4th out of the 17 regions, with no less than 85. 8 percent net enrollment rate. Unfortunately the trend didn’t continue until high school, where ARMM ranks lowest, consistently placing 17th with only 23. 7 percent to 35. 6 percent when it peaked in school year 2005-2006. The figures went down by three percentage points the next year.In school year 2006-2007 alone 13 out of the 20 provinces with the lowest elementary NER were from Mindanao, while in secondary education 17 were from the area. â€Å"Various programs have been created to cater to the lagging prov inces in Mindanao. DepEd has been implementing these projects with assistance from the private sector and Official Development Assistance from the US Agency for International Development and the Australian Aid for International Development,† said DepEd’s Tirado.Tirado said AusAID’s Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao is seeking to improve the quality of and access to basic education, while USAID’s Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills focuses on targeting high illiteracy and drop-out rates. â€Å"These two projects have contributed to the success of DepEd’s education interventions in Mindanao,† Tirado said. Another project, the Strong Republic Distance Learning School, was established in 2003 â€Å"to provide disadvantaged, impoverished sectors access to formal and non-formal school systems.† Tirado said the 2008 General Appropriations Act has a special provision for the construction of classrooms and scho ol furniture and the hiring of teachers in the ARMM. Peace in Mindanao needed Education advocacy group E-Net Philippines pointed out that since poor education in Mindanao can be attributed to poverty and armed conflict, a long-term solution to address its declining enrollment would be to bring peace to the area. â€Å"During armed conflicts, schools are used as refugee centers, thus disrupting classes.At the same time, children and teachers suffer from trauma which prevents them from effectively learning – or teaching, as in the case of teachers,† said E-Net’s national coordinator, Cecilia Soriano, in an email interview with GMANews. TV. She also said that since there is a concentration of Muslim students in Mindanao, the curriculum â€Å"should be founded on the Muslim wisdom while incorporating the core competencies that will provide children and youth the necessary knowledge to ‘compete’ in the labor market. â€Å"The group is also calling for a budget allotment of P70 million for Learning Centers in indigenous communities in Davao del Sur, Agusan, and South Cotabato, where education is virtually inaccessible, as well as an allotment of P800 million for alternative learning services targeting out-of-school youth. The DepEd provided P420 million to ALS in 2006, according to its March 2008 Performance Report from July 1998 to March 2008. Hunger, malnutrition In a March 2008 report, the Education department said hunger and malnutrition are also barriers to participation in education.In 2007, DepEd improved its school feeding program, with 300 percent more beneficiaries compared to the previous year. Tirado said that to make the distribution more effective, the DepEd-Health and Nutrition Council implemented a â€Å"targeted scheme† that categorizes â€Å"priority provinces† according to the severity of lack of food and vulnerability to hunger. DepEd started implementing the Food for School Program under the Acce lerated Hunger Mitigation Plan during the last quarter of 2005. It was done with the Health, Social Welfare departments, the National Food Authority and local government units.A daily ration of a kilogram of fortified rice is given as subsidy to families through preschool and Grade 1 pupils. The program, which covered 6,304 public schools nationwide and benefited 111,584 preschool and Grade 1 children, distributed a total of 25,338 bags of rice. E-Net Philippines said the strategy is flawed. â€Å"As a motivation to go to school, it sends the wrong message to poor children: go to school to get one kilo of rice instead of the value of learning; it is also an added burden for children as poor parents encourage their children to attend classes to be able to avail of the daily ration,† said Soriano.Strategy for patronage Soriano said the scheme has become a strategy for patronage as local government units select the beneficiaries of the program. â€Å"In fact in 2007, in April, when there were no classes, and just before the elections, the DepEd released rice to preschool and elementary and high school students,† said Soriano. â€Å"There were also problems in implementing the [strategy] which were exposed during the 2007 budget deliberations, such as alleged overpricing of rice, deficiency in deliveries and low quality of rice,† she added. E-Net believes there are other strategies to keep poor children in school instead of giving rice.Addressing health and poverty situations that prevent access to education are among the group’s proposals. Aside from the Food for School program, DepEd has also proposed increased funding for interventions aimed at children aged 5-11. (DepEd claimed that there were significant boosts in budget allotment to certain programs in 2006. These include the Preschool Education Program, which went up to P2 billion from P250 million, the settlement of unpaid prior years of teachers’ benefits, PhilHealth and GSIS premiums, which were given P1. 94 billion from nothing, and a P345 million boost in Alternative Learning Services.) E-Net’s Soriano, however, said there should be â€Å"more targeted education programs for child laborers, indigenous people, children and youth with disabilities and adult illiterates and other marginalized groups. † Despite the odds, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus is optimistic. â€Å"The key reforms and well-focused policy directions to improve basic education are slowly but surely bearing fruit,† he said, adding that the Education department â€Å"has been concentrating its human and financial resources on key performance indicators aimed at improving classroom instruction. â€Å"If it’s up to DepEd, the result of the National Achievement Results this year, where the mean percentage score increased from 59. 94 percent in 2007 to 64. 81 this year, the government’s Education project is a success. Whether this indicates that the country can inch its way toward achieving the 75 percent target MPS by 2010, or if the Education for All plan and the Millennium Development Goal can be met by 2015 is still to be seen. One thing is certain though, efforts at boosting education will only be futile if the poverty situation is not significantly, immediately improved.– GMANews. TV http://www. gmanetwork. com/news/story/111257/news/specialreports/poverty-hunger-prevent-filipino-kids-from-getting-basic-education Literacy is the ability to read and write. [1] The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community.Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community developme nt. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text.Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension.Once these skills are acquired the reader can attai n full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4] http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Literacy In the Philippines, it is assumed that before the Spanish colonization, the natives of the Philippine islands were universally literate that all can read and write in their own respective languages. During the Spanish colonization of the islands, reading materials were destroyed to a far much less extent compared to the Spanish colonization of the Americas.The Spaniards tried to rub literacy in the islands to prevent the islanders to unite. Education and literacy was introduced only to the Peninsulares and remained a privilege until the Americans came. The Americans introduced the public schools system to the country which drove literacy rates up. English became the lingua franca in the Philippines. It was only during a brief period in the Japanese occupation of the Philippines that the Japanese were able to teach their language in the Philippines and teach the children their written language. After World War II, the Philippines had the highest literacy rates in Asia.It nearly achieved universal literacy once again in 80s and 90s. Ever since then, the literacy rate has plummeted only to start regaining a few percentage years back. The DepEd, CHED, and other academic institutions encourage childr en to improve literacy skills and knowledge. The government has a program of literacy teaching starting in kindergarten. New reforms are being brought in shifting to a K-12 system which will teach children their regional languages before English, as opposed to the 10-years basic education program which teaches English and Filipino, the country's two official languages, from Grade 1.Literacy in the 21st century Main article: New literacies Young school girls in Paktia Province of Afghanistan Economic impact Many policy analysts consider literacy rates as a crucial measure of the value of a region's human capital. For example literate people can be more easily trained than illiterate people – and generally have a higher socio-economic status;[42] thus they enjoy better health and employment prospects. Literacy increases job opportunities and access to higher education.Korotayev and coauthors have revealed a rather significant correlation between the level of literacy in the ear ly 19th century and successful modernization and economic breakthroughs in the late 20th century, as ‘literate people could be characterized by a greater innovative-activity level, which provides opportunities for modernization, development, and economic growth' [43] In Kerala, India, for example, female and child mortality rates declined dramatically in the 1960s, when girls schooled according to the education reforms after 1948 began to raise families.In addition to the potential for literacy to increase wealth, wealth may promote literacy, through cultural norms and easier access to schools and tutoring services. [citation needed] In 2009, the National Adult Literacy agency (NALA) in Ireland commissioned a cost benefit analysis of adult literacy training. This concluded that there were economic gains for the individuals, the companies they worked for, and the Exchequer, as well as the economy and the country as a whole – for example, increased GDP.The annual income g ain per person per level increase on the Irish ten level National Qualifications Framework was â‚ ¬3,810 and the annual gain to the Exchequer, in terms of reduced social welfare transfers and increased tax payments, was â‚ ¬1,531. [44] Broader and complementary definitions Traditionally, literacy is ability to use written language actively and passively; one definition of literacy is the ability to â€Å"read, write, spell, listen, and speak. † Since the 1980s, some have argued that literacy is ideological, which means that literacy always exists in a context, in tandem with the values associated with that context.Prior work viewed literacy as existing autonomously. Some have argued that the definition of literacy should be expanded. For example, in the United States, the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association have added â€Å"visually representing†[clarification needed] to the traditional list of competencies. Similarly , in Scotland, literacy has been defined as: â€Å"The ability to read, write and use numeracy, to handle information, to express ideas and opinions, to make decisions and solve problems, as family members, workers, citizens and lifelong learners.â€Å"[52] A basic literacy standard in many places is the ability to read the newspaper. Increasingly, communication in commerce and in general requires the ability to use computers and other digital technologies. Since the 1990s, when the Internet came into wide use in the United States, some have asserted that the definition of literacy should include the ability to use tools such as web browsers, word processing programs, and text messages. Similar expanded skill sets have been called multimedia literacy, computer literacy, information literacy, and technological literacy.[53][54] Some scholars propose the idea multiliteracies which includes Functional Literacy, Critical Literacy, and Rhetorical Literacy. [55] â€Å"Arts literacyâ₠¬  programs exist in some places in the United States. [56] Other genres under study by academia include critical literacy, media literacy, ecological literacy and health literacy[57] With the increasing emphasis on evidence-based decision making, and the use of statistical graphics and information, statistical literacy is becoming a very important aspect of literacy in general.The International Statistical Literacy Project is dedicated to the promotion of statistical literacy among all members of society. It is argued that literacy includes the cultural, political, and historical contexts of the community in which communication takes place. [58] Given that a large part of the benefits of literacy can be obtained by having access to a literate person in the household, some recent literature in economics, starting with the work of Kaushik Basu and James Foster, distinguishes between a ‘proximate illiterate' and an ‘isolated illiterate'.The former refers to an illiterate person who lives in a household with literates and the latter to an illiterate who lives in a household of all illiterates. What is of concern is that many people in poor nations are not just illiterates but isolated illiterates. Greek and Roman were written languages long ago. Ancient Chinese tested candidates for government positions. German and English both became written languages in about 800 AD. Teaching literacy Main article: Learning to read Teaching English literacy in the United States is dominated by a focus on a set of discrete decoding skills.From this perspective, literacy — or, rather, reading — comprises a number of subskills that can be taught to students. These skill sets include phonological awareness, phonics (decoding), fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Mastering each of these subskills is necessary for students to become proficient readers. [59] From this same perspective, readers of alphabetic languages must understand the alphabetic princi ple to master basic reading skills. For this purpose a writing system is â€Å"alphabetic† if it uses symbols to represent individual language sounds,[60] though the degree of correspondence between letters andsounds varies between alphabetic languages. Syllabic writing systems (such as Japanese kana) use a symbol to represent a single syllable, and logographic writing systems (such as Chinese) use a symbol to represent a morpheme. [61] There are any number of approaches to teaching literacy; each is shaped by its informing assumptions about what literacy is[citation needed] and how it is best learned by students. Phonics instruction, for example, focuses on reading at the level of the word. [60] It teaches readers to observe and interpret the letters or groups of letters that make up words.A common method of teaching phonics is synthetic phonics, in which a novice reader pronounces each individual sound and â€Å"blends† them to pronounce the whole word. [60] Another approach is embedded phonics instruction, used more often in whole language reading instruction, in which novice readers learn about the individual letters in words on a just-in-time, just-in-place basis that is tailored to meet each student's reading and writing learning needs. [60] That is, teachers provide phonics instruction opportunistically, within the context of stories or student writing that feature many instances of a particular letter or group of letters.Embedded instruction combines letter-sound knowledge with the use of meaningful context to read new and difficult words. [62] Techniques such as directed listening and thinking activities can be used to aid children in learning how to read and reading comprehension. In a 2012 proposal, it has been claimed that reading can be acquired naturally if print is constantly available at an early age in the same manner as spoken language. [63] If an appropriate form of written text is made available before formal schooling begins, reading should be learned inductively, emerge naturally, and with no significant negative consequences.This proposal advances knowledge and understanding because it challenges the commonly held belief that written language requires formal instruction and schooling. Its success would change current views of literacy and schooling. Using developments in behavioral science and technology, an interactive system (Technology Assisted Reading Acquisition, TARA) would enable young pre-literate children to accurately perceive and learn properties of written language by simple exposure to the written form. The broader impacts of this possibility are far reaching.The inability to read is prevalent around the world and even in American society. The cost of illiteracy as well as the huge cost of formal literacy instruction is one of the major financial burdens on societies. [citation needed] In addition, many students who are considered literate still have difficulty in comprehension which may be related to making reading instruction contingent on spoken language. By embedding the child in written language, their learning to read becomes embodied in the same manner as learning spoken language.This innovative intervention would also help redirect financial resources where they will have the most impact. Although 90% of private and public education spending is on children between the ages of 6 and 19, 90% of brain growth occurs before age 6. [citation needed] Spending for nurturing children for literacy before age 6 will be a large market and will have the most impact in improving the quality of life, especially for children without internet access. Public library efforts to promote literacy The public library has long been a force promoting literacy in many countries.[64] In the United States, the release of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) report in 2005 revealed that approximately 14% of adults function at the lowest level of literacy; 29% of adults funct ion at the basic functional literacy level and cannot help their children with homework beyond the first few grades. [65] The lack of reading skills hinders adults from reaching their full potential. They might have difficulty getting and maintaining a job, providing for their families, or even reading a story to their children. For adults, the library might be the only source of a literacy program.[66] United States Programs have been instituted in public libraries across the United States in an attempt to improve literacy rates. Some examples are listed below. READ/Orange County, initiated in 1992 by the Orange County Public Library in California, is an example of a flourishing community literacy program. The organization builds on what people have already learned through experience as well as education, rather than trying to make up for what has not been learned. The organization then provides the student with the skills to continue learning in the future.[66] The program operate s on the basis that an adult who learns to read creates a ripple effect in the community. An adult who learns to read impacts not just himself but the whole community: he becomes an example to his children and grandchildren, and can better serve his community. [66] The mission of READ/Orange County is to â€Å"create a more literate community by providing diversified services of the highest quality to all who seek them. † Potential tutors train during an extensive 23-hour tutor training workshop in which they learn the philosophy, techniques and tools they will need to work with adult learns.[66] After the training, the tutors invest at least 50 hours a year to tutoring their student. Another successful literacy effort is the BoulderReads! program in Boulder, Colorado. The program recognized the difficulty that students had in obtaining child care while attending tutoring sessions, and joined with the University of Colorado to provide reading buddies to the children of studen ts. Reading Buddies matches children of adult literacy students with college students who meet with them once a week throughout the semester for an hour and a half.The college students receive course credit, ensuring the quality and reliability of their time. [67] Each Reading Buddies session focuses primarily on the college student reading aloud with the child. This helps the child gain interest in books and feel comfortable reading aloud. Time is also spent on word games, writing letters, or searching for books in the library. Throughout the semester the pair work on writing and illustrating a book together. The college student’s grade is partly dependent on the completion of the book.Although Reading Buddies began primarily as an answer to the lack of child care for literacy students, it has evolved into another aspect of the program. [67] While the children are not participants in the tutoring program, they do show marked improvement in their reading and writing skills th roughout the semester, due in part to the admiration and respect they gain for their college reading buddy. The Hillsborough Literacy Council (HLC), operating under the Florida Literacy Coalition, a statewide organization, strives to improve the literacy ability of adults in Hillsborough County, Florida.Working since 1986, the HLC is â€Å"committed to improving literacy by empowering adults through education. â€Å"[68] The HLC also provides tutoring for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). Approximately 120,000 adults in Hillsborough County are considered illiterate or read below the fourth grade level. Through one-on-one tutoring, the organization works to help adult students reach at least the fifth grade level. 95,000 adults living in Hillsborough County do not speak English; volunteers in the organization typically work with small groups of non-English speaking students to help practice their English conversation skills at any time.http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/L iteracy#Philippines http://www. cea-ace. ca/education-canada/article/educated-parents-educated-children-toward-multiple-life-cycles-education-po http://rer. sagepub. com/content/78/4/880. abstract http://literacyencyclopedia. ca/index. php? fa=items. show&topicId=251 http://www. educationspace360. com/index. php/reading-writing-education-and-the-parents-influence-20458/ http://www. hfrp. org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/parent-involvement-and-early-literacy http://thekristafaith. blogspot. com/2012/09/social-issue-illiteracy-in-philippines.html http://education. blurtit. com/118279/what-are-the-causes-of-illiteracy http://countrystudies. us/philippines/53. htm http://www. indexmundi. com/philippines/literacy. html http://k-12. pisd. edu/currinst/pfl/home. htm http://www2. ed. gov/pubs/OR/ResearchRpts/parlit. html http://filipinofreethinkers. org/2012/05/04/underestimating-parental-involvement/ Parental Involvement in School In this complex world, it takes more than a good school to educate children. And it takes more than a good home. It takes these two major educational institutions working together.http://www. ncpie. org/WhatsHappening/researchJanuary2006. cfm All the above studies (plus many more) are summarized in A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement, by Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp (Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 2002). http://www. edpsycinteractive. org/files/parinvol. html related literature Studies have indicated that children whose parents and/or other significant adults share in their formal education tend to do better in school.Some benefits that have been identified that measure parental involvement in education include: Higher grades and test scores Long term academic achievement Positive attitudes and behavior More successful programs More effective schools All parents want their children to become successful, caring adults. Simila rly, many parents want to be involved with the formal education of their children. Sometimes, however, they don't know where to start, when to find the time, or how to go about making positive connections with the school.At the most basic level, parents can begin encouraging the education of their children by showing that they truly value education themselves. Discussion Question â€Å"Can you think of some ways that parents and grandparents might show their children that they value education? † Answers might include: Enrolling in classes themselves Showing an interest in reading Taking part in study groups Talking about educational issues Paying attention to school matters Showing concern for child's progress Giving time to the school-classroom, PTA/PTO, or library.Parent involvement is linked to children's school readiness. Research shows that greater parent involvement in children's learning positively affects the child's school performance, including higher academic achie vement (McNeal, 1999; Scribner, Young, & Pedroza, 1999; Sui-Chu & Willms, 1996; Trusty, 1998; Yan & Lin, 2002) and greater social and emotional development (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997; Fantuzzo & McWayne, 2002). Simple interactions, such as reading to young children, may lead to greater reading knowledge and skills (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). And, children with richer home

Significance of Troy in Iliad and Uruk in Gilgamesh Research Paper

Significance of Troy in Iliad and Uruk in Gilgamesh - Research Paper Example Homer’s Iliad is fundamental to any study of Troy and the Trojans... the Iliad’s importance for the purpose of the book is twofold. First, it is the earliest surviving literary representation of the Trojans... Secondly, the Iliad had a continuing influence right through to the end of the ancient world. (Erskine, 48) ...nor were the trench and the high wall above it, to/ keep the Trojans in check longer. They had built it to protect/ their ships and had dug the trench all round it that it might/ safeguard both the ships and the rich spoils which they had/ taken, but they had not offered hecatombs to the gods. It had/ been built without the consent of the immortals, and therefore it/ did not last. (Book XII) Troy was built by the sea and was protected by a trench and a fortified wall. This shows the military strength of Troy and it also explicit its ability to attack the enemy from behind its walls. The high walls of the fortress gave an opportunity to assess the strength of the approaching enemy and an easy way to attack it. Moreover, the trench also served as an important defense mechanism to keep the enemy out of the city. Though the military might of Troy seemed invincible, yet it fell because the gods were perhaps not happy with the people. As it was built without paying homage to the gods or the ‘immortals’; therefore, it was bound to be destroyed. It points towards an important religious factor in Iliad that cities can retain life only with the approval of gods. â€Å"The lofty towers of wide-extended troy† (36, Book II) could not be saved from burning down to ashes even with all its military strength.This was not the case long before, when â€Å"None stands so dear to Jove as sacred Troy† (68, Book IV). Troy was a city that was self-sufficient in crops and agriculture.

Not sure yet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Not sure yet - Essay Example The new â€Å"knowledge based† economy is defined by the World Bank (Report, 2003, p1) as that which relies â€Å"primarily on the use of ideas rather than physical abilities and on the application of technology rather than the transformation of raw materials or the exploitation of cheap labor†. This is a new determinant that propagates the idea of life-long learning. This change is bound to have an effect on the choice of an individual’s vocational education and training methods. We witness a contradiction and a replacement of the traditional view of life-long education of what Longworth (2003,p33) sees as being â€Å"about the development of the whole person† with that of its contemporary view of what Bagnall (2000) calls as ‘economic determinism’. This need has come about with the emphasis laid upon the currency in paid employment and an unavoidable need to sustain one’s employment and currency in the growing face of change. This paper shall argue that there is an imbalance in the view of lifelong learning and that the need for life-long learning changes with the change in time, industrial circumstances and that it also relevant to economic carve. But we shall argue that the traditional conception of lifelong learning as being a mode of personal fulfillment also holds an important role in setting the real purpose of life-long Education while this view is given less importance in today’s world. A balanced outlook between that individual and social obligation of life-long learning is desirable and this shall be the perspective of the paper while not forgetting that the use of these two perspectives as the purpose and end of the life-long education depends upon individual and circumstances. The change that has come about in the view in Lifelong learning however, shall be exemplified with the change in education system, policies and globalization

The Impact of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on Host Countries Essay

The Impact of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on Host Countries - Essay Example According to the research findings, Foreign Direct Investment has over the last three decades aroused conflicting responses from the first and third world. In essence, FDI gives the investor the power to operate a company in another country for the long term. Developed host countries are not too welcome to the idea on the premise that they fear foreign firms will end up dominating their local firms. In contrast to this, developing countries are more welcome to the idea on the grounds that FDI will bring additional capital, expertise and new technology into their country. Host countries record FDI flows as liabilities along with similar items in their balance of payments. In host countries like these FDI flows make up a large percentage of the total investment in the economy as compared to more developed countries; the effects of FDI on these countries differ as well, with developing countries showing a steady growth trend as compared to developed countries who showed boom and bust cy cles as a result of engaging in FDI. Growth is normally measured by looking at the trends in per capita GDP growth. Analysts relate FDI to per capita to GDP growth by looking at figures of gross FDI inflows and FDI inflows per capita to see if they have any impact on the economic growth of a country. Research has revealed a positive relationship between FDI levels and growth levels in an economy, in some cases, these results have been insignificant as well but these variables have never shared a negative relationship. The extraneous variable has a magnitude changing effect on this relationship. It has been seen that the more developed a country is, the better and greater positive effect FDI will have on its economic growth. Most studies that have analyzed the impact of FDI on the economic growth of the host country have found the results to be pretty elusive. Most established relationships are based specifically on the host country’s own specific economic characteristics. Thu s it is difficult to generalize these effects and apply them to other countries as the findings of a study. However, the probable effects are not completely elusive, as the endogenous growth theory provides a framework for the positive linkage between growth and FDI inflows.

Change in the demographics of Central America from 1450 to 1914 Essay

Change in the demographics of Central America from 1450 to 1914 - Essay Example It is an unequivocal fact that industrialization has drastically changed the world and profoundly impacted the human societies in a way that would definitely be astounding for someone who inhabited the present massively industrialized areas 6 or 7 hundred years back. Central America is also such a region that has experienced a lot many changes in the human population over time owing to the threat of different diseases particularly, urbanization, and the industrial revolution.Historical evidence suggests that most of the people occupying the region of Central America in 1450 did hunting for existence. They were also not much acquainted with norms or ethical values, that are given major importance presently. Native population in 1450 was roughly in millions and by 1750, the figures of the population decreased significantly. This marked decrease in the native population can be majorly linked to the spread of myriad diseases like malaria, chicken pox, and tuberculosis for which no medica l remedies were present then because advances in microbiology occurred much later. â€Å"The introduction of infectious diseases like smallpox, to which Native Americans had no immunity, reduced their population by 90 percent from 1500 to 1700.†. It's not that the native population extinguished completely, rather the native American was present after 1750. During this period, Indians and Africans continued to be brought in Central America as slaves by the Europeans who began colonizing and settling in this region.

Divorce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Divorce - Essay Example Similarly, the aggregate percentage of born again Christians who commit divorce, evangelical and non-evangelical alike, is statistically close to the figure of non-born again adults who have had divorce case with one-third of either population. Evangelicals do not necessarily attend the church though most are said to have had profound conviction in Christ and the doctrine of salvation by grace and if their count is combined with the number of believers who are basically parishioners, roughly about 33% enter into divorce whereas among the atheists and agnostics, 30% are reported to have gone through the similar situation. While the 3% difference may be attributed to the sampling error, the almost identical statistics is typically due to the lower rates of marriage experienced by the non-believers who prefer cohabitation. According to George Barna, â€Å"Americans have grown comfortable with divorce as a natural part of life† that is why such an act or decision of stepping out o f marriage has become prevalent. There apparently exists no huge deal in having divorce as American social structure has absorbed and become accustomed to the idea as if to acknowledge it being an ordinary norm or convention. The increase in cohabitation which correspondingly augments the likelihood of divorce may be claimed to generate a continuing trend especially since U.S.

Rthur Anderson Scandal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Rthur Anderson Scandal - Essay Example This helped the firm to grow and ended up being one of the companies serving the greatest number of clients in the U.S. Those who worked with Andersen were aware of his motto: "Think straight, talk straight.† Andersen also played a big role in upping the standards in the U.S. accounting industry. Additionally, he was involved in innovation of new accounting standards that are still being used today. Andersen was active in social activities that also got involved in charitable organization as well in promotion of education. The firm spent large amounts of money into training new recruits (Martin and Arthur 127). This was crucial in stressing the company’s morals and its consistency around in offering and performing services. The company was admired by many people for the high morals exhibited. He became even more popular when he refused to engage in a fraud case when one of his prominent clients presented flawed accounting records. He chose to lose the client rather than committing fraud, as was the wish of the client. This had a positive impact since it increased his reputation and that of the company. Greed Begins During the 1980s, the company started experiencing internal friction. Then, there were two divisions making up the firm. These were the consulting division and the audit division. The latter was much more established although consulting was then growing much faster than any other portion of the company (Ferrell et al. 327). This unequal growth of the departments led to the conflict arising since the consulting division felt that they needed a bigger share of the firm’s profits. As a result, there were disputes between both divisions, with each side citing the other as being greedy and unfair. Both the audit and the consulting divisions were essentially separate companies. The consulting firm was under the ownership of Andersen. It paid a percentage of their earnings to the parent company (Ferrell et al. 329). Later, Andersen estab lished another consulting division within his company. This new division competed with the other consulting department and this enabled them to retain all the earnings. Later the two sides split, forming separate companies. Fraud begins Andersen was involved in many cases, all of which he was accused of committing accounting fraud. Some of these companies included Sunbeam, Baptist Founding of Arizona, Quest Communication, Waste Management and Global Crossing. Surprisingly, Andersen was able to settle all these claims without admitting any existence of fraud. In case the claims got more serious and had nothing but to admit to fraud, the company put the blame on a few â€Å"corrupt partners.† However, the increased fraud cases were not favorable to the company as they were tarnishing the name of Andersen. Analysis It is clear that the continued unpunished behavior of the company’s activities led to a snowball effect that resulted in increased corruption at a high level. The accounting fraud issues had started small in the past. The activities went on unchecked until the management pushed the limits of the fraudulent deeds (Ferrell et al. 317). For a long time Andersen was generally viewed by many people as the symbol for integrity and honesty. Thus, most of these people thought that these fraudulent activities were not occurring at the high level of the firm. The Enron Scandal Enron Corporation was a global energy, commodities

Plato’s and Cicero’s life and Political Ideas Essay Example for Free

Plato’s and Cicero’s life and Political Ideas Essay Between 429-347 BCE, were the period of Plato and his ocean of philosophical dispositions and carried the most deep-seated political, social and intellectual thoughts. His questions raised the consciousness of intellectuals, students and general people making them think every aspect of their life from new and fresh perspective. As said by Alfred North Whitehead, â€Å"All Western philosophy consists of footnotes to Plato. † (Garvey 7) Plato was a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, and naturally in his works there is a reflection of Socrates thoughts and ideologies. But while remembering, Plato we should not forget Cicero, 106-43 B. C. who was himself part of many of the political developments of his time. He was not only a philosopher but also an orator, lawyer and politician. He laid more importance to politics over philosophy. His philosophical works came about only in the period when he was forced to refrain himself from politics. Though he was neither considered as exceptional thinker nor we can see any originality in his works yet his thoughts on various aspects of philosophy exerted tremendous influence on many thinkers after many years to come. His popularity rose in 19th century. There is no comparison between Plato and Cicero as they were both of different ages and had their own distinct attributes, yet if we give deep thoughts into their philosophical works what we get is what we call slight deviations in their thoughts on Politics. Plato was born in Athens during 428-7 B. C. E but there is no certainty about this date because according to Diogenes Laertius, Plato was born in the same year when Pericles died. He was also considered to be six years younger than Socrates was and his death came when he passed the youthful years of his life-at the age of 84. If according to Apollodorus’ version, the death date of Plato is correct then his birth date should lie between 430 or 431 but Diogenes put his birth in 429. Diogenes further said that if Plato was the twenty years old at the time of Socrates murder in 399 then his year of birth should be 427. These years between 429-347 B. C. E is considered to be very appropriate, whereas, Cicero was born on 3rd January 106 BC in Arpinum, as Arpino today. It is a hill town situated 100 kilometres towards south of Rome. This small Italian got Roman citizenhsip in 188 B.  C. and began to speak Latin rather than their language Volscian before they were enfranchised by Romans. The assimilation of nearby Italian communities into Rome laid Cicero’s future as a Roman statesman, orator and writer. Though he had a great mastery over Latin rhetoric and composition but Cicero would never from him heart considered himself as a â€Å"Roman† and he was aware of this fact through out his life. During this period of Roman history, it was considered as cultured to able to speak both the Greek and Latin languages. Like many of his contemporaries, Cicero also got education in Greek rhetoricians, and their most influential teachers of their time was also Greek. His knowledge of Greek language enabled him to translate many of its theological concepts into Latin brining maximum number of common people into the world of Greek philosophical thoughts. He was so inclined towards the study of Greek culture and language that he would be called by the other boys as â€Å"Little Greek boy†, yet it is his obsession with the Greek language that made him tied to the traditional Roman elite. The family of Cicero belonged to the local class of nobles known as domi nobles, but without any tie with the Roman senatorial class. Cicero was only connected to Gaius Marius, the most popular person born in Arpinium. In 80 B. C. , he led the most popular faction during civil war against optimates of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Cicero’s father was a knight who would compensate his personal life by reading books. His mother was Helvia who was a very good housewife. (Clayton Online edition) Plato’s was also fortunate to be born in a noble family of Athens. He was the son of Aristone and his mother’s name was Perictone. He got his nickname from the wrestler’s broad shouldered physique. He was expected to follow the family’s tradition of politicians but when he witnessed that Athens entered into conflict with Sparta during Peloponnesian war, he aliented himself from politics and at the age of twenty, joined the School of Socrates. Socrates main ambition was to seek the truth and further explore on the issues like virtue and pity. He also critcised religious and political institutions but allegations began to be levid against him from all corners as he was charged for corrupting the mind of youths. Plato captured the nerves of the society at large and pened down his earnest views followed by Apology and Crito. When Socrates died, Plato opened his academy in a grove which was considered to be sacred to the demigod Academus, near Athens. The importance of Academy grew when Aristotle became its student. Astronomy, Mathematics, and Philosophy were the subjects taught in the Academy. Few years of his life, Plato spent in travelling gaining more knowledge in the other parts of Mediterranean whereas rest part of his life was spent in Athens until he died in 347 B. C.  Ralph Waldo Emerson, a great American essayist, philosopher, a poet and a leader of Transcendentalist movement of the nineteenth century evoked, Plato is philosophy, and philosophy, Plato, at once the glory and the shame of mankind, since neither Saxon nor Roman have availed to add any idea to his categories. †Ã¢â‚¬â€(Emerson, Spiller, Ferguson Slater Carr 23) Plato understood politics from the angle of justice and democracy. His aim was to give the rulers the main principle of what constituted real politics. For Plato, politics was an application of what metaphysics and ethics considered as true. His ideal world was something which was true, good and therefore virtuous. He gave to the world the best mouth piece of the study of human behavior and his relation with society. His â€Å"Republic† was his ideological stand point whereby he posed number of questions and pondered their answers in the light of various assumptions and dynamics of society. His main question comes from the light of what is good and bad in their world-Why should we be good and why in this cruel world, wicked are more happy and successful? To find out the answer to this question, Plato had to invite the whole community-the Polis. In other words , if you can find out the right direction to form polis which is healthy then the importance to individual happiness is ruled out. For Plato, justice is a base which could only be frutifully gained by bringing about balance in wisdom, courage and temperance. For Plato, even an ideal state can be self desructive. Plato posited the view that even ideal state where all have equal rights could also be destructive and it could be happen in turn by the very basic concept on which democracy stands. Though Republic, the Statesman, the Laws are three main political dialogues of Plato, and they developed their ideologies on the basis of what today is termed as conceptual analysis-in other words clarification of the basic principles on which politics stands and its importance. For Plato, this conceptual analysis was a preliminary stage for further critical evaluation of thought processes. According to Plato, making right decisions on the administration and making right choice between peace and war are the two most crucial initial steps of good politics. Such decisions could not be left into the hands of public only but by good orator. Cicero’s works included fifty speeches, around thousand letters to friends and associates, among them the several of his works included rhetorical theories and twelve out of them are on philosophical topics. These display great intellectual thoughts that deepen Cicero’s conviction that both the philosophy and rhetoric are independent to each other and are very important for human life and society. His works on philosophy stand witness to the rhetorical techniques and style of Roman oratory. The political philosophy of Plato was largely based on speculations about ideal state. Though he did conceptualize his points by imploring upon the city-states of Greece and events in current political scenario, yet his discussions evolved largely around what he and other intellectuals thought to be ideal states. The essence of his ideological state lied in the needs of the man on the individual level and on the whole and these needs of the man joined them together to work for the common goal. The members that make the society could be divided into different classes according to their particular work criteria. As according to Plato, in man, there are two different souls in the same way in the society also, there are three different classes: philosophers, warriors, and producers; one of which belongs to the rational souls and the rest two belong to the irrational souls and each class has its own particular role to fulfill. For e. g. philosophers run the state, warriors defend it and producers cultivate their skills to produce the materialistic goods needed by the state. On the other hand, much of the Cicero’s political thoughts followed Aristotle concept of ideal state. For Cicero, there were three main forms of government; monarchy, aristocracy, and the constitutional state, but he also believed that there is every scope of perversion in each form of government, which emerges from those who do not have regard for the public good. Not one form of government is perfectly good. Instead Cicero prescribed what is known as composite form of government with the principles of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. This form of government today is known as Common Wealth form of Government and Cicero termed as the Res Publica, literally known as â€Å"The People’s thing. His composite republic is based on the monarchical principle, also known as consuls; the aristocratic is likened to the Senate of Rome, which performs both the legislative and executive functions. The democratic principles are tribunes referred to as committees (comitia) in ancient Rome. Rather than revolutionary or politically visionary, Cicero was being considered more as a â€Å"political conservative† who was eager to preserve the Roman Republic against the designs of Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, and Octavian whose aim was to make Rome into their own personal empire. But Cicero did not succeed in preventing Roman Republic from collapse and was murdered by the followers of Mark Anthony. (Marcus Cicero, Section 12). Cicero’s law was based on these two: â€Å"That true law was reason, That good is always good, that bad is always bad and in traditional Roman values. † (Simmons Online) He criticized all other form of constitutions for breaching the rights and interests of people and conveyed that political system should provide legal rights to every one equally but give electoral, legislative and judicial rights in accordance to their merit and wealth. Cicero’s first book On the Orator laid importance of Oratory in the politics of Rome. Oratory had been part of the Roman politics, and Cicero mainly superimposed its value. His discussions merely revolved around education basically history and poetry with composition of logic, philosophical theory and rhetorical techniques. As said by Stephen Whites’s, â€Å"Orator, clearly reflects Cicero’s own proficiencies, unites thorough knowledge of history and law with complete command of in a Romanized version of Platos philosopher-rulers†. (White online edition). Both Plato and Cicero wanted education to be based on philosophy to produce best statesman. While Plato’s more emphasis was on training on mathematical ground and transcendental metaphysics, Cicero wanted many practical programs of instructions designed to cultivate articulacy and civic debate. (White Online edition). His On the Republic is his much thought provoking dialects on leadership and politics. It was almost lost but its first third was recovered in 1820. On the Republic is a challenge of Plato’s Greek political theory based on utopian thoughts. He defined republic as â€Å"a peopl’e affair, â€Å"(res populi) and people as a community who have joined in to one consensus on their mutual interest. His other part constitutes his explanation on types of constitutions in classical Greek style and developed the data on the development of Roman institutions; whereas some of the sections which are either lost or preserved in very poor state have in short explanation of Hellenistic debates on the nature and rewards of justice and the discussions on education system of Rome. Yet another of his book On Laws is a sequel to a legal system. Contradicting Plato’s laws, he contended that Rome already had embodied itself much the ideals of law. On Laws truly appeared to be very important in the sense that it contains full account of natural law. Based entirely on Stoic ideas, Cicero contended that the whole concept of law is already a part of nature with an appropriate order, which could be codified in legislation for final tribunal in a court of law. After these writings, civil war erupted and he did not go further into this, but last of his books summed up his thinking on political grounds by bringing out the importance of morality in public life. In his On Duties which was his epistle to his son, he gave the routes to bestow on the proper code of conduct for Roman nobility emphasizing justice, benefaction and public service. His entire focus was on the men of high status and their way of dealing with the problems relating to personal ambitions and social obligations. Cicero too always stood on his profound trust on the noblest trait of human beings, which is their humanity and inculcate reasoning power to improve the lives of human beings. His thoughts on humanism are best skewed in his â€Å"On the Ends of Good and Evil†. The dialogue herein reflects on the question of what and where is the end of all human actions and the way you attain the happiness. Cicero agreed with Aristotle and saw that human beings are political or social animals. â€Å"But nature has given to mankind a compulsion to do good, and a desire to defend the well being of the community . (Cicero Rudd R I. 1). † But the most influential model book was The Republic by Plato. Cicero’s homage to the Republic was found in its expression in the section which was lost but also found its place in his concluding marks of the cosmos and the afterlife (The Dream of Scipio), which reflects the myth of err by the end of the Plato’s end book. Plato has been directly quoted and or reflected several times. Cicero’s Scipio states that, â€Å"Rather than invent a city for themselves as Plato did, he prefers to examine a real historical stance (The Roman Constitution) which comes closet to the ideal†. (Cicero, Rudd, Powell xvi) But it was also mistake to espouse that, because Cicero had departed from Plato in certain way, his Republic is in very deep sense anti-platonic. It is further said that â€Å"Cicerio’s Scipio was enough of a Platonist to regard philosophy and astronomy as wise man’s true occupation, and to declare that one should take political offices only our of sense of duty or necessity, as Plato’s Guardian do. (I-26-29)( Cicero, Rudd, Powell 17) There are many similarities between the Plato’s Republic and Cicero, de ra republic. Each formulated on the account of relationship between citizen and state. Both of them discussed on justice, both of them bestowed theory of constitution. Both of them also had mentioned discussion on education and a vision of an after life. Sharpely too suggested that â€Å"Cicero Republic in the sense, Plato’s turned inside out. † (Cicero Zetzel 14) In the Republic by Plato, Socrates and his friends are trying to implore and analyze on what should be an ideal city but do not want to analyze the state in which he was living. Plato and Cicero were only mouthpieces in an arena of political thoughts in their respective periods whereas in Ciceros De re publica, all the comments whether directly or indirectly emphasized on the organization of the state they ought to be living, which was Roman Republic in the final stages.

Organisational Theory And Management In Practice Commerce Essay

Organisational Theory And Management In Practice Commerce Essay An organization is a structured social system consisting of groups of individuals working together to meet some agreed-on objectives. Organizational theory (OT) is the study of organizations for the benefit of identifying common themes for the purpose of solving problems, maximizing efficiency and productivity, and meeting he needs of stakeholders.   Consistently OT can be conceptualized as studying three major subtopics: individual processes, group processes and organizational process. Since organizations consider the field of public health from free clinic to refugee crisis support teams to research institutions, an understanding of organizations and how they work, helps public health professionals to be more effective participants in and leaders of organizations.      The first evaluate will try to accomplish the huge task of summarizing major concepts in organizational theory.   The three broad concepts that will be explored include:  individual processes, including  motivation theory,  personality theory, and  role theory;  group processes  including  working in groups/communication,  leadership, and  power and influence; and  organizational processes, as it relates to  organizational structure, and  organizational culture.   In the process a basically introduction to select organizational models will also be presented.  Organizational Issues: How well do the different units of care delivery fit with one another?   For example if the laboratory was contracted out to a lab several miles away, the hospital may be limited by the time it takes for medicine to be collected, transported, analyzed and transported back.   This process may also be on a schedule, (on the hour or half hour) which then adds the wait time for transportation.   An in-house lab staff might be considered, although cost of overhead and staffing would have to be considered for its cost.   What also is the climate in the organization, are works overall satisfied, dedicated, feel empowered to deliver excellent care?   Has the organization build and supported a culture of excellence? The second evaluate will carry on, Where is decision-making centralized, and what would be the benefits and disadvantages of diversifying sources of power?   In light of the patient population needs, what types of problems are most commonly seen?   Uniform vs. diversity pressures help to guide modes of action.   If a lot of non-acute conditions are presented to the hospital we might want to consider the utilization of an Urgent care model ancillary to maintaining the ER for acute condition. We will assume that acute issues, and staff related issues are not the problem, since resolving them would be self-explanatory.   We will consider only adjustments in organizational structure and design for the sake of relevance to the topic of OT.   For example, Queens Hospital consider a new model of care delivery, in which the Emergency Department diversifies to a decentralized model of management and adds new modes for care delivery.   The new process would look something like this : When a patient enters the hospital they are seen immediately by a Triage nurse.   The nurse has the option, after registration is complete, to one of three routes:   the nurse can channel a patient through the traditional method, to be seen by Emergency room physicians according to priority.   The nurse can also decide to transfer non-acute patients to urgent care center (an initiative of this hospital or a close center), or to initiate pre-approved protocols for common illnesses, (such as asthma) prior to visitation from the physician.   Utilizing this model has a few advantages.   By developing the structural complexity, patients can take service initiated and completed at a faster rate.   That is not only provide the hospital to see more patients, but it will improve consumers satisfaction.   Also job roles and responsibilities may increase the motivation of staff by maximizing their control of patient care.   Nurses can more effictively utilizie their professional skills and doctors can focus on patients with conditions or complications that require their skill and training. Reference: Organizational Theory by Kathryn Barzilai Management and Organisational Behaviour Plus MyLab Access Code  by Laurie J. Mullins  (Paperback  Ã‚  27 Apr 2010) 3.2 Analyse the relationship between management structure and culture and its effect on business performance Managers are people who guide an organization towards achievement of the business objectives (thetimes100, 2010). Management impacts the culture of the organization. Culture is an intangible set of practises that take their origins from socio, political, religious-norms and values of the society. Its the responsibility of management to develop a coherent culture that allows the members of organization to develop their individual and collective abilities. Thus having the right management structure that would assist in this regard is quite crucial. In the modern business environment when the rules for running the business have been formalized management is responsible for the overall running of the organization. The modern business employees the M-form (Multi-divisional form) or U-Form (Unitary form) of management structure depending on the type of firm. The structure of the firm is closely linked to its success (Abe, 1997).By classifying management into these two categories management of modern organizations have been able to focus on developing a structure that would best meet the needs of the organization. Management plays a key role in inducing the kind of organizational culture that could lead to organizational success. Management if effectively utilizes its potential it can induce a culture that would translate into motivated staff that feel associated with the core values of their organizations. It was the vision of the management of South West Airlines that transformed it into one of the most successful Low cost airline s of the world. Each member of the organization was valued by the company and their opinions were given important. Mintzberg suggested a topology of five different configurations of management structure whose various combinations could be used to manage an organization. These five components include The operation core , the strategic apex , the middle line , the techno structure and support staff ( Bedrouni et.al.,2009 ).Depending on the what component plays the key part in the operations of the organization there could be wide variety of coordination mechanism that could run the organization. When the strategic apex holds the key, management part that it is able to carry out direct supervision of over the staff and is a lot more control of the organization. As mentioned earlier every organization has got its own type of culture that is created as a result of several factors. A culture builds over a number of each and it is not easy to identify. According to Harrison culture can be categorized into four different types .These four types include Power, Role, Task/achievement and Person/Support Cultures (Harrison, 1986). In an organization power culture originates from a single source. This kind of culture stems in a situation where there are less procedures involved and members of the organization put a lot of faith in a single person that lies at the centre of the web (Naouman,2001 ).In the modern organizations where members are given great deal of importance individual culture could be most appropriate to describe them. In this type of culture a lot of focus is given to the individuals so that their interests are better served. The problem with this type of culture is that such individuals cannot be managed easily as organization is too concerned about appeasing them. In the role culture the focus is on the roles and the culture is associated with posts rather than individuals who are on them. Finally the task achievement culture encourages much more disciplined management style where achievement of the objectives is of paramount importance. For successful business operations execution it is important that organization that are running their operations overseas are fully aware of the type of cultures that exist in the other countries. E.g. in China people in the top management position are generally older people who are generally respected due to their age. A new manager coming from USA needs to be aware of the cultural norms of China otherwise he mind up end of upsetting senior Chinese officials and it would create an air of mistrust in the organization. Therefore success of business is closely linked with the induction of a culture that enhances the potential of the company employees and makes them feel responsible towards their company. An organization depending on its industry type needs to understand that what management style would be best suiting it. Due to non-tangible of culture it is paid less attention to by the senior managers and later it could give rise to lots of un-foreseen complication resulting in failure of organizations. References: Abe,E.,(1997)The Development of Modern Business in Japan The Business History Review , Vol.71.,No.2,pg299-308 Harrison , R. ( 1986 ) Understanding your organizations culture Harrison Associates Inc., C.A. Berkley rintegration of mergers and acquisitions Research Conference on the changing roles of management accounting as a control system The times 100(2010) Management structure and organisation [Online][Accessed on 15th November 2010]url:http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theorymanagement-structure-organisation264.php 3.3 Write about different motivational theories and their application and performance within the workplace There are a number of different opinions as to what motivates workers. The most iconic held theories are discussed below and have been developed over the last hundred years or so. Unfortunately these theories do not all reach the same conclusions. Motivation is the stimulus that can either be conscious or unconscious which acts as an incentive for achievement of goal ( Borkowski, 2010). The drive to achieve a goal is based on psychological or social factors. The building block for motivation includes expectation, behaviour, goals and some form of feedback ( Srivastava, 2005 ).What it means is that an individual may have a number of desires and expectation that could be driven by a person needs to gain higher position in an organization or to gain some kind of financial benefit . There are various number of motivational theories. Based on what has been stated in the literature motivational theories have been classified into two types by Borkowski (2010). These two groupings are based on content and process. Content theories or the need theories identify various factors that motivate people. Its the individual desire to satisfy inner needs that motivates them. It tries to look at the behaviour from the perspective of individual working in an organization. It is helpful for managers who want to understand the behaviour of their employees. The process theory looks at the behaviour itself that is generated by the individual. It sees that how behaviour is energized, directed, sustained and how it can be stopped (Borkowski, 2010). Motivational theories have gained significant importance as the co-relation between employee attitude towards his work and its impact on the quality of work has been analyzed. Motivation is not just about giving speeches but it is about ensuring higher level of staff satisfaction in the job role that they are in. There are a number of motivation theories that are in the literature. Two important motivational theories considered are as follows. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Theory It is one of the most popular theories that are stated about motivation. According to this theory human needs are put in a hierarchical form ( Koontz Weihrich,2006 ). These needs are ascending from the lowest to the highest. According to Maslow when one set of needs is satisfied at a certain level it no more becomes a motivational factor and person moves on to the next level. The various levels starting from bottom up as suggested in the figure are physiological needs, Security or safety needs, acceptance needs, Esteem needs and Need for self actualization. This theory helps the organization in better understanding the needs of its employees. The organization are made aware that if they want to satisfy the needs of their employees they have to provide an environment where their individual needs are satisfied on various levels. The categorization of needs into different levels helped in better understanding of how motivation works in the organization. Maslow theory though quite daring has been criticized as a simplistic division of individual needs. According to the critics such as Douglas T Hall and Khalil Nougaim ( Koontz Weihrich,2006). The needs the priority of needs may vary at the top depending on the individual. D:Rana_assignmentRAUFMaslowsTheory.png Maslow Model (Source: Koontz Weihrich, 2006 ) Herzbergs Two Factor Theory Herzbergs two factor theory is based on the actual research that was carried out by Herzberg. For establishing his theory he asked a number of employees to recall the instances when they felt motivated towards their work and the times when they felt frustrated. Based on what he observed Herzberg suggested that when certain factors are present in the work environment they lead to motivation of staff members and this absence causes dissatisfaction of employees towards their work (Davies, 2007). The satisfaction is closely related to the environment in which employees are working. Therefore management should provide the environment where employees feel satisfied with their work. This could include safe working condition, reasonable salary and benefits. The criticism of Herzberg theory is that motivational factor can be relevant. A single factor can be motivational for some and could cause job dissatisfaction for other people ( Borkowski,2010 ) e.g. for some a certain salary amount might be enough to motivate them where as some could see the same amount as far less and it could negatively impact their motivational level. The finally, all that great motivation theories does not include same point. Therefore, there is no single theory that gives the answers to all of the raised questions about motivation. What motivation is and how it impacts a person behaviour varies from individual to individual References: Borkowski, N.,(2010 ) Organizational Behavior in Health Care Jones Bartlett Learning Srivastava,S.,K.( 2005 ) Organizational Behaviour and Management Sarup Sons Koontz,H.,Weihrich,H.,(2006 ) Essentials Of Management Tata McGraw-Hill Borkowski,N.,(2010 ) Organizational Behavior in Health Care Jones Bartlett Learning Davies,S.,J.( 2007 ) Security Supervision and Management: The Theory and Practice of Asset Protection Butterworth-Heinemann 3.4 Evaluate the impact of technology on a given organization Communication technology has involved positive and negative effects on organizational communication, which is communication between people in the same organization. Organizations you belong to use organizational communication to establish communication patterns and systems. Communication technology, like email and teleconferences, makes organizational communication easily accessible. Using these methods of electronic communication can help make distance a non-factor in organizational communication .Also it helps you better collect data around the workplace, allowing her to make more informed decisions, such as how much of a raise you deserve . Technology also creates a more connected workplace. Electronic communication, like online forums, gives you a place to complain about work. Managers can obtain constructive criticism from your complaints and make changes in order to improve the workplace. In the past design and of computer system and products were not sensitive enough to use of ordinary users. They were complicated and could only be handled by the expert users. Punch cards were fed into system that required complex processing of data. With improvement in both computer hardware and softwares tasks became simpler and hardware devices became easier to manipulate. The large frame computers that required expensive cooling systems , which occupied large office space were replaced by desktops that could now perform the same time with many times greater efficiency in a short span of time . The paradigm shift in the development of modern technology can be attributed to the development of microprocessor. Microprocessor is a small intelligent device that takes inputs processes those produces outputs with a speed that cannot be comprehended by an ordinary person. Another consideration is that might be increased accessibility of organizational communication can complicate the boundaries between your work life and home life. Be wary of how you use communication technology. For example, it might not be a good idea to accept friend requests from managers on social networking websites in order to avoid crossing boundaries. Also impact of electronic communication on organizational communication depends on how management implements the technology in the workplace. For example, email becomes beneficial when used to schedule a company meeting. On the other hand, hackers are increasing threats to the network security. they can breach into the technological systems to get information about the individuals that they are not supposed to get. The employees are expected to perform their task with higher level of accuracy. This causes increase in stress level in the work place as failure to complete the task in an accurate manner could threaten the job of an employee. Softwares are creation of many months, years of individual hard work. With the increase in piracy an individual might not get rewarded for his efforts. Not everyone has got the right to access the information that is out there in organization system .Unauthorized access to the organizational resources could result hierarchical protocol getting violated and it could pose a challenge to the discipline of the organization. Therefore technology has had a positive impact on the organizational infrastructure in many ways. Still it has caused certain challenges that have to be dealt with in the modern business environment.

History of Baju Kurung

History of Baju Kurung The baju kurung, a kind of regional clothes for Malay female, includes baju and kurung. In Malay language, baju means clothes and shirts; kurung means confinement, imprison. Baju is a kind of frock coat, whose sleeve length is to the wrist; kurung is a kind of skirt, which is of the ankle length. Additionally, with a 200-year-long history, the baju kurung was invented by Sultan Abu Babar, who is the father of Modern Johor. In 1800s, when aiming at creating the baju kurung, he considered two main factors: conforming to the rules of their religion and being aesthetically pleasing. As the time goes by, the baju kurung has developed into three main kinds of styles. The original style is the Taditional Baju kurung. The hemline comes below the knees. Another style is the Baju Kurung Kedah. It is similar to the traditional one, but its kurung is cut shorter in the hem so that it is below the waistline. The last style is the Baju Kurung Moden. It is the modern pattern for women. There are ma ny differences between the modern cut and the traditional cut, for example, the collars in the modern one is commonly accessorized with some sumptuous buttons, while the tradition one seldom has this kind of decoration. Since Malaysia is an Islam country, Islam requires that a womans clothes should cover the whole body except hands and face. Consequently, compared with modern clothes, the baju kurung may look conservative. However, many Malay women still prefer the baju kurung. As Malaysia is an Islam country, the baju kurung not only meets the requirement of the religion, but also shows the unique culture of Malaysia. To conform to religion duty is one of the reasons why Malay women wear the baju kurung. Islam, with a more than 1300 years long history, has a great influence on the Muslim and a stringent requirement about womens clothes. As Koran, the holy book of the Islam, says, Prophet, tell your wives and daughters, and the women of the faithful, to draw their wraps a little over their faces. They will thus be recognized and no harm will come to them. God is forgiving and kind (Koran, chapter33, verse59). Furthermore, The clothes for the Muslim women should not be so glamorous that it can attract the attention of men(Asma and Paul, 2003, pg189). Meanwhile, an attire of the baju kurung with a sleeve-length frock coat and a long blouse, covering the whole body of a woman, loose enough and not revealing the figure, just fits the requirement. As a fact, 64. 3% of Malay women pointed out they wore the baju kurung because of their religion. Besides, as a unique part of Malay culture, wearing the baju kurung among Malay women has been considered as a common way to show their cultural identity. As one Malay woman said, Not only Malay women, but also many Malaysia-Chinese girls enjoy wearing the baju kurung to present that they are in Malaysia, which indicates that they are really proud of their culture. Whats more, with the development of Malay culture, the baju kurung, which combines the merits of tradition and modern fashion, brings Malay women, especially young women many benefits. First, the modern baju kurung adds more beauty, elegance, and safety to Malay women. The baju kurung is gradually modernized as the fold on the right side of the skirt are varied, boarded, they do not always start from the waistline, and may be shorter and various in length: the modern attire of the dress moves great individually(Broch-Due, Rudie, and Bleie, 1993, pg297). With the development of modern fashion, and many kinds of colours and embroideries to choose, various kinds of the baju kurung are designed to meet the requirements from individuals. In fact, 90% of Malay women said that the baju kurung was beautiful, and they enjoyed wearing the baju kurung. Additionally, The Baju kurung is loose enough, the ladies who are fat or pregnant can look elegant when they wear baju kurung(Anonymous, para.9) . Covering the whole body but not wrapping up womens body, the baju kurung makes women more elegant. Meanwhile, the baju kurung brings much safety. It must be loose enough, so as not to describe the shape of a womens body. So wearing the baju kurung makes me feel comfortable and safe, especially from naughty eyes which love to stare at womens body(Broch-Due, Rudie, and Bleie, 1993, pg199). While in some extent, the baju kurung may cover womens physical beauty. With a consideration of safety, the baju kurung is practical and acceptable. Second, as a kind of national clothes, the baju kurung is widely worn in formal occasions, such as wedding, and funeral. One Malay young woman said, When a woman is wearing the baju kurung, she is generally considered polite, respectable, and genteel. From this view, the baju kurung is a kind of formal dress for certain occasions in Malaysia. Third, the baju kurung is comfortable and cool. It is true that Malaysia is a tropic country, when Malay women are wearing the baju kurung, it may be considered hot and stuffy. However, 80% of Malay women explained that it was not hot at all. Made of cotton or silk, women who wear the baju kurung no longer feel hot and uncomfortable. In short, due to bringing mental and practical benefits, the baju kurung, as an unique traditional clothes, is acceptable by many modern Malay women. Moreover, to a Malay Muslim woman, wearing the baju kurung not only expresses her loyalty to Islam, but also displays Malay culture to foreigners. At the same time, the baju kurung makes women beautiful, elegant, safe, formal, and comfortable. Thats why the baju kurung, as a kind of traditional clothes, can be developed and inherited until today. All in all, if one traditional clothes intends to last longer, it can learn from the baju kurung, to make a successful combination tradition and modernization. References Books: George Sale (1764). The Koran: commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed. Britain: Bavaria Library Vigdis Broch-Due, Ingrid Rudie, Tone Bleie (1993). Jendered Symbols and Social Practice Cross-cultural Perspectives on Women. Britain: Berg Publisher Asma Abdull Ah, Paul Pedersen (2003). Understanding Multicultural Malaysia: delights irritations. America: Pearson Publisher Laurence Goldstein (1991). The Female body: figures, styles, speculations. America: University of Michigan Press Beng Huat Chua (2003). Life is not complete without shopping: consumption culture in Singapore. Singapore: NUS Press John Nguyet Erni, Siew Keng Chua (2005). Asian media studies: politics of subjectivities, first edition. America: Wiley-Blackwell Internet: Retrieved from http://web.singnet.com.sg/~hsh17/sect1baju.html on 26th October 2009 http://www.101cookingrecipes.com/malaysia-cooking-recipes/malaysia-melayu-malay-baju-kurung-kebaya-cloth.php on 26th October 2009 http://www.pahang-delights.com/baju-kurung.html on 28th October 2009 http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/translation on 3rd November 2009