Campbell Company of Canada: Plant Tour Assignment

GMS 401: Plant Tour Assignment Campbell Company of Canada [pic] Date: March 12th, 2012 Ryerson University Executive Summary As students of Operations Management, we were charged with visiting a manufacturing or service facility and to present and report on our observations. Since all of the members of our group have either worked in or visited a service facility, we were excited with the opportunity to visit a manufacturing plant as part of this project.A few emails and phone calls later, we had organized a tour of The Campbell Company of Canada’s manufacturing facility, in Etobicoke. As a result of our tour, we are able to report on the following key elements: ? Company profile ? Details of the manufacturing process ? Plant layout ? Inventory control systems in place ? Quality assurance techniques ? Maintenance practices ? Ergonomics on the assembly line What they do well: The tour was an invaluable way for us to learn about and see first-hand the challenges faced by the mode rn day manufacturing plant.Work crews have been divided into teams motivated to seek improvements in the manufacturing process and the workers are non-unionized. With a daily output of approximately 1. 5 million units, it’s key that the plant minimizes downtime. As such, Campbell’s has transitioned over the years from reactive maintenance to preventive maintenance, and follows predictive maintenance as a best practice. Productivity and workplace safety have increased with the automation of processes in every area. SAP inventory systems have improved operations in supply chain management.In addition, Campbell’s has done well incorporating ergonomic lessons into all of its training sessions. They’ve also recognized that a healthy workforce consistently performs at high levels, and they have made a point to provide employees with amenities which focus on health and well-being. Recommendations for Improvement: Despite the strides made with employing predictiv e maintenance techniques, onsite technicians aren’t fully trained to deal with problematic equipment and thus Campbell’s is regularly bringing in external personnel to fix this.Since replacing the equipment isn’t a cost effective option, training onsite technicians to better address problems on this machinery when they occur could help reduce the downtime on the line. The threat of production bottlenecks may also be diverted by more general purpose equipment in the packaging area to accommodate sized containers. Our group felt there is an opportunity to improve the comfort, health and motivation of employees by improving ventilation in the packaging area. Table of Contents Executive Summary1Section 1: Company Profile3 Appendix A: Floor Plan †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Appendix B: Thank You Letter †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 Section 1: Company Profile Campbell Soup Company (referred throughout this report as â€Å"Campbell’s†), a multi-national corporation headquartered in New Jersey, USA, has been delivering products with an exceptional taste and food experience for over 140 years. Founded in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell and Abraham Anderson, the company has grown into a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality onvenience-branded food products with a particular focus on canned tomatoes and vegetables, jellies, soups, condiments and minced meats (Campbell Company of Canada, 2012). Over the last century Campbell’s has developed into the leading house-hold brand name, not only domestically in North America, but globally. At present, Campbell Soup Company is the number one maker of soups in the world and dominates its domestic markets of North America with a market share of 69 percent (Forbe s Canada, 2011).In addition, Campbell’s Company of Canada represents a 60 percent global market share of the $4 billion soup market (Wikinvest, 2010). The wholesome goodness of Campbell’s products entered the Canadian markets on November 28, 1930; where a manufacturing plant was opened up in Toronto, Canada (Funding Universe, 2012). Hired locally from the Toronto area, many generations of families have since contributed to Campbell’s immense success within the soup industry (Funding Universe, 2012).Of the many products offered by the Campbell Soup Company, this report focuses on the soup production and manufacturing operation of Toronto-based Campbell Company of Canada (also referred to Campbell’s throughout this report). Being the sole provider of Campbell products to the entire Canadian market, Campbell Company of Canada runs production 5 days a week on 20 hour work cycles. Conveniently located just north of Lake Ontario, the Campbell Company of Canada plant encompasses 550,000 square feet of property; with 500,000 sq. ft designated for the actual plant and 50,000 sq. t for administrative offices. This plant employs 580 staff members, 430 of whom work within the physical plant, with the remaining 150 working in the offices. To get a better feel of the plant’s functionalities our group engaged in a plant-tour led by Mr. Gord Kirk, who is a Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Campbell Company of Canada. The Toronto-based plant produces a variety of canned aseptic soup & sauces. Of the aseptic soups, 5 types are primarily produced: Vegetable, Tomato, Chicken Noodle, Cream of Mushroom and Beef Broth. According to Mr. Kirk, roughly 1. million products are produced at this plant each day. These products are then shipped to third party retail food chains, mass discounters, mass merchandisers, club stores, convenience stores, drug stores and other retail, commercial and non-commercial establishments (Wikinvest, 2010). Currently, Campb ell Company of Canada’s largest retail customer is Wal-Mart Inc. , which contributed to approximately 18 percent of the company’s consolidated net sales during the 2010 fiscal year and 16 percent in both 2009 and 2008 (Wikinvest, 2010). Appendix A: Plant Layout [pic]Appendix B: Thank-You Letter Monday, March 12th, 2012 Attention: Ms. Bertha Walls and Mr. Gord Kirk On behalf of my team, GMS 401: Operations Management, I would like to take the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for assisting us with our team project. Each team member contacted numerous companies in order to arrange a plant tour of the facilities, but the policies of these firms prohibited tours due to health and safety concerns. We were quite fortunate to have stumbled upon Campbell’s as a tour option and were delighted when an opening became available. Ms.Walls, from the initial telephone conversation through the two weeks leading up to the day of the tour, you were extremely receptive a nd helpful. In addition to booking our tour promptly and providing us with important details such as plant regulations and safety codes; you took the initiative to provide us with a layout scheme of the Campbell’s plant and a framework of questions and answers which related directly to the key topics of our report. Ms. Walls, my team and I are very thankful for everything you did for us. Your professionalism, knowledge and kindness were phenomenal. Sincerely, Operations Management Team Ryerson University Campbell Company of Canada: Plant Tour Assignment GMS 401: Plant Tour Assignment Campbell Company of Canada [pic] Date: March 12th, 2012 Ryerson University Executive Summary As students of Operations Management, we were charged with visiting a manufacturing or service facility and to present and report on our observations. Since all of the members of our group have either worked in or visited a service facility, we were excited with the opportunity to visit a manufacturing plant as part of this project.A few emails and phone calls later, we had organized a tour of The Campbell Company of Canada’s manufacturing facility, in Etobicoke. As a result of our tour, we are able to report on the following key elements: ? Company profile ? Details of the manufacturing process ? Plant layout ? Inventory control systems in place ? Quality assurance techniques ? Maintenance practices ? Ergonomics on the assembly line What they do well: The tour was an invaluable way for us to learn about and see first-hand the challenges faced by the mode rn day manufacturing plant.Work crews have been divided into teams motivated to seek improvements in the manufacturing process and the workers are non-unionized. With a daily output of approximately 1. 5 million units, it’s key that the plant minimizes downtime. As such, Campbell’s has transitioned over the years from reactive maintenance to preventive maintenance, and follows predictive maintenance as a best practice. Productivity and workplace safety have increased with the automation of processes in every area. SAP inventory systems have improved operations in supply chain management.In addition, Campbell’s has done well incorporating ergonomic lessons into all of its training sessions. They’ve also recognized that a healthy workforce consistently performs at high levels, and they have made a point to provide employees with amenities which focus on health and well-being. Recommendations for Improvement: Despite the strides made with employing predictiv e maintenance techniques, onsite technicians aren’t fully trained to deal with problematic equipment and thus Campbell’s is regularly bringing in external personnel to fix this.Since replacing the equipment isn’t a cost effective option, training onsite technicians to better address problems on this machinery when they occur could help reduce the downtime on the line. The threat of production bottlenecks may also be diverted by more general purpose equipment in the packaging area to accommodate sized containers. Our group felt there is an opportunity to improve the comfort, health and motivation of employees by improving ventilation in the packaging area. Table of Contents Executive Summary1Section 1: Company Profile3 Appendix A: Floor Plan †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Appendix B: Thank You Letter †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 Section 1: Company Profile Campbell Soup Company (referred throughout this report as â€Å"Campbell’s†), a multi-national corporation headquartered in New Jersey, USA, has been delivering products with an exceptional taste and food experience for over 140 years. Founded in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell and Abraham Anderson, the company has grown into a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality onvenience-branded food products with a particular focus on canned tomatoes and vegetables, jellies, soups, condiments and minced meats (Campbell Company of Canada, 2012). Over the last century Campbell’s has developed into the leading house-hold brand name, not only domestically in North America, but globally. At present, Campbell Soup Company is the number one maker of soups in the world and dominates its domestic markets of North America with a market share of 69 percent (Forbe s Canada, 2011).In addition, Campbell’s Company of Canada represents a 60 percent global market share of the $4 billion soup market (Wikinvest, 2010). The wholesome goodness of Campbell’s products entered the Canadian markets on November 28, 1930; where a manufacturing plant was opened up in Toronto, Canada (Funding Universe, 2012). Hired locally from the Toronto area, many generations of families have since contributed to Campbell’s immense success within the soup industry (Funding Universe, 2012).Of the many products offered by the Campbell Soup Company, this report focuses on the soup production and manufacturing operation of Toronto-based Campbell Company of Canada (also referred to Campbell’s throughout this report). Being the sole provider of Campbell products to the entire Canadian market, Campbell Company of Canada runs production 5 days a week on 20 hour work cycles. Conveniently located just north of Lake Ontario, the Campbell Company of Canada plant encompasses 550,000 square feet of property; with 500,000 sq. ft designated for the actual plant and 50,000 sq. t for administrative offices. This plant employs 580 staff members, 430 of whom work within the physical plant, with the remaining 150 working in the offices. To get a better feel of the plant’s functionalities our group engaged in a plant-tour led by Mr. Gord Kirk, who is a Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Campbell Company of Canada. The Toronto-based plant produces a variety of canned aseptic soup & sauces. Of the aseptic soups, 5 types are primarily produced: Vegetable, Tomato, Chicken Noodle, Cream of Mushroom and Beef Broth. According to Mr. Kirk, roughly 1. million products are produced at this plant each day. These products are then shipped to third party retail food chains, mass discounters, mass merchandisers, club stores, convenience stores, drug stores and other retail, commercial and non-commercial establishments (Wikinvest, 2010). Currently, Campb ell Company of Canada’s largest retail customer is Wal-Mart Inc. , which contributed to approximately 18 percent of the company’s consolidated net sales during the 2010 fiscal year and 16 percent in both 2009 and 2008 (Wikinvest, 2010). Appendix A: Plant Layout [pic]Appendix B: Thank-You Letter Monday, March 12th, 2012 Attention: Ms. Bertha Walls and Mr. Gord Kirk On behalf of my team, GMS 401: Operations Management, I would like to take the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for assisting us with our team project. Each team member contacted numerous companies in order to arrange a plant tour of the facilities, but the policies of these firms prohibited tours due to health and safety concerns. We were quite fortunate to have stumbled upon Campbell’s as a tour option and were delighted when an opening became available. Ms.Walls, from the initial telephone conversation through the two weeks leading up to the day of the tour, you were extremely receptive a nd helpful. In addition to booking our tour promptly and providing us with important details such as plant regulations and safety codes; you took the initiative to provide us with a layout scheme of the Campbell’s plant and a framework of questions and answers which related directly to the key topics of our report. Ms. Walls, my team and I are very thankful for everything you did for us. Your professionalism, knowledge and kindness were phenomenal. Sincerely, Operations Management Team Ryerson University

8th of march Essay

Happy women’s day! International Women’s Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. This day women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day. 8th March is celebrated as International Women’s Day, worldwide. The day is observed to bring a ocial revolution aiming at gender equality. In fact, in some countries like China, Nepal, Vietnam, Russia, it’s an official holiday! Here are some fun-facts about Women’s Day and areas where women excel, which is sure to make every woman proud of herself! 1. The first Women’s Day was observed on 19th March 1911. More than 1 million women and men attended rallies to support women’s right to work, vote, hold public office and to end gender discrimination. Over the years, 8th March as fixed as International Women’s Day. 2. Research suggests that women possess much stronger verbal skills, compared to men. Women are naturally more articulate. 3. Yellow mimosa is the symbol of Women’s Day in Italy, Russia and Albania. In Italy, men give flowers to women. Chocolates and yellow mimosa tops as gifts in Russia and Alba 4. Women have better empathy and can interpret emotions better. Women are also faster to identify something visually different than usual. According to scientists, women have a stronger immune system and female hormone oestrogen gives women this edge! 6. Women, if they receive proper medical care during her birth and pregnancy, have a longer life expectancy than men. 7. Women and caring go hand in hand. This may be the reason why many patients prefer female doctors. Several studies indicate that female doctors are more encouraging, reassuring and spend up to 10% more time with patients.

Book binding Essay

OBJECTIVES:2. OBJECTIVES:The term ‘binding’ is sometimes used to describe the cover of a book. For example, you might refer to a book as having a binding of leather, or being bound in linen. But binding also means the act of attaching many pages to one another to produce a book. Bookbinding is a very old craft and the techniques used in hand-binding have hardly changed over the centuries. Mechanization has changed the way most books are made but hand-bound books still use the same the techniques and equipment. As a craft, bookbinding plays an important role in the production of artist’s books, the preservation of antique books, and in training for fine arts students. As a commercial process, bookbinding plays a role in the lives of any consumer who picks up a book or magazine. Advances in commercial bookbinding techniques have greatly improved the cost, and therefore accessibility, of printed material all over the world. IT: 3. WHAT DID YOU DO TO ORGANIZE IT:A prior permission has been taken from the Teacher-in-Charge of our institution to perform the work. Eight students of class VIII, Sec A are selected to participate with me. The Biology Laboratory of this institution has been selected as the working place. I first told the students the procedure of book binding:†¢ Stapling and Sewing – The collected papers exactly the same sized are piled them up. Then staple down/sewed along one edge. †¢ Gluing – A white paper paste, or â€Å"library paste,† is good for most purposes. †¢ Covering – Any book will be enormously improved if it has some kind of a cover. The cover doesn’t have to be cloth or cardboard or particularly heavy. prasenjitzoology@gmail. com 1 BOOK BINDING CONTRBUTIONS:4. CONTRBUTIONS:†¢ MINE – I directed as well as helped the students how to prepare for such works. †¢ MY HEAD TEACHER – He encouraged and motivated me to perform the work. He also helped me by inspiring the students also. He also helped me by granting a fund for that. †¢ MENTOR – The Principal, Prof. D. P. Nag Chowdhury of the College, Shimurali Sachinandan College of Education was the mentor who helped me mentally as well as providing printed materials to do the work. The Director of the workshop, Prof Trishna Goswami as well as the Coordinator, Prof. S. R. Adhikari of the College, Shimurali Sachinandan College of Education, P. O. – Shimurali, District – Nadia also helped me in many ways. A book binder of that locality also helped various ways to make successful this work. CTIVITY: 5. OUTPUT OF THE ACTIVITY:Students can bind books at home following these simple instructions. This is so simple that the students themselves can make them for the joy of learning science. It can encourage them in publishing business. PERSONAL:6. YOUR PERSONAL:†¢ OBSERVATIONS – Students shortlisted the materials from their book or as directed that are needed to perform the work. Sheets of paper for binding into a book, Bone folder, Studio Tac double-sided adhesive, Heavyweight papers for end pages, Pencil, Jade glue, Paint brush, Headband tape, Craft knife, Binder’s board (acid-free), Book canvas, Iron-on transfer paper (optional)are collected by the students from their homes and market. Then prasenjitzoology@gmail. com 2 BOOK BINDING they started the work following the book binding procedure as stated. My students enjoyed this very much and many of them tried this on their own. †¢ EXPERIENCES – Teaching children about the publishing business entails more than writing stories and creating characters. In fact, you can turn any English lesson into a crafts project by introducing children to bookbinding activities. †¢ DIFFICULTIES – Manipulatives and experiments are teaching aids that the children are allowed to play with and touch. Hence it was a time consuming process. FROM:7. FEED BACK FROM:†¢ STUDENTS – The participants were fully satisfied and wished such programme to be of more and more so that they could update their knowledge & activity. This is the spirit of teaching and learning. With hands on activities they acquire first-hand knowledge which inspires them to pursue the field of publishing to become successful who is the wealth of a nation. †¢ COLLEAGUES – They highly appreciated such activities more and more so that the students can easily understand their lessons. The students can test these works without any fear of cost or breakage. This is so simple that the students themselves can make them for the joy of learning science. Teaching children bookbinding is a way for them to become part of this long tradition of book arts in a fun and imaginative way. †¢ MENTOR – He thanked me so that I have done the work accordingly in involvement with my students in my institution. This will be proved very useful in rural and urban schools as well. ************* prasenjitzoology@gmail. com 3

Automatic Control and Systems Engineering Literature review

Automatic Control and Systems Engineering - Literature review Example A block is a negligible component of Event-Condition-Action system that can state the behaviors represent in a process model. An algorithm is urbanized to detect blocks beginning a process meaning network and transform it into a hierarchical hierarchy model. The behaviors in every block type are modeled by means of ACTA formalism. This provides a hypothetical foundation from which ECA rules are recognized. The future ECA rule-based move toward shows that it is likely to execute the workflow by means of the active ability of database without users’ interference. The operation of the future methods is illustrated from side to side an instant process. FOR the previous several years, companies have been experiencing a lot of changes in their commerce surroundings. One is an interior change caused by the rising force for the need to satisfy a variety of customer wants. In order to meet the varied purchaser needs, corporations may have to branch out their commerce processes. Another alter faced by companies nowadays is an outside one resulting from the put in to in strategic coalition and e-Business. This modify compels a corporation to become caught up in the commerce processes of other company [2]. Not only have such interior and external changes caused by a lot of new commerce processes to be shaped, but they have also greater than before the difficulty of the processes. According to the expert analysis, the changes in commerce environments have shaped the necessity of knowledge and tools to make sure efficient and effectual process management. As a consequence, there have been many attempts to improve information systems towards as long as higher functions of process management further than simple treatment of self-governing tasks. A WorkFlow Management System (WFMS), a software tool to describe, administer, and pass multifaceted business processes there a new solution to the requirement of process management knowledge and utensils (G. Alonso, C. Hagen, D. Agrawal, A.E. Abbadi, and C. Mohan, 2000). Consider the commerce process obtainable in Fig. 1. This instance shows a process of credit card request, which is collected of variant behavior, such as â€Å"request form satisfying† and â€Å"form scanning.† A WFMS more often than not uses such a graphical symbol to explain the commerce reason. The model represents the priority relations among behavior and some structural relations, such as behavior proceeding in serial arrange or parallel. The symbol also includes thorough specifications of action, such as task performers, connected documents, and essential applications.

Current and Future Change in Communication Assignment

Current and Future Change in Communication - Assignment Example From this paper it is clear that  health communication campaigns are used by media organizations to deliver quality information in promoting health safety and behavioral changes in order to maintain a healthy living. In this regard, media organizations have advertised several healthcare products with an aim of creating awareness. In the United States, several campaigns emphasizing on safe sex practices and use of condoms such as the â€Å"Great American Condom Campaign† play a significant effect on reducing unwanted pregnancies as well as spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.This study highlights that the campaign has undergone several transitions in its struggle to promote safe sex from mere advertisements on the importance of using condoms. Currently, the campaign has introduced the â€Å"amplify project† where high school and college students register as members and distribute condoms within their institutions. In addition, the project also trains the members on providing peer counseling services to their colleagues on sexual reproductive health as well as the rights and freedoms of young people. The campaign aims to register as many students as possible with an ultimate goal of gaining global recognition in the fight against HIV and sexually related diseases.  Mass media provides a platform in which health care providers disseminate information about its products to potential customers. In this regard, the communication of information is quick and detailed.

Class Blog (reflection paper) Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Class Blog (reflection paper) - Article Example In many ways I did not believe that the conditions were harsh and imagined that perhaps the family enjoyed a comfortable stay at a Western hotel during the evenings while only sharing the food and accommodation of the local villagers during working hours. These suppositions quickly evaporated when my best friend invited me (and I accepted) to participate one year as an assistant for the trip. Armed with my pre-conceived notions about how it would be I was in for one of the most monumental shocks of my entire life. Additionally, the experience worked to impress upon me one of the most valuable ethical lessons I have yet learned. So powerful was this experience and the ethical ramifications thereof that it has partially reshaped the way I live my own life. Supposing that I would be surrounded by a team of part time â€Å"do gooders† that were more interested in the exotic local than the needs of the villagers, I soon found myself enveloped by a world I could never have imagined nor believed had it been explained to me. What was really going on was that each and every one of the volunteers were taking time from their own highly paid jobs in the United States to volunteer their time, energy, and money (medical supplies were covered by those that were volunteering) to alleviate the suffering of those that did not have access to a hospital or medical clinic within 85 miles. It was during this time that my view of the world and how ethical behavior should look like began to form. I cannot say that I have seen the light and now the needs of fellow humans has turned me into the perfect example of a humanitarian; however, what it did do was shatter my expectations regarding what life was really like and why people performed such selfless and costly acts of service. From a spiritual perspective, I was able to relate to what the volunteers were doing. In fact, from a spiritual perspective, nearly all persons of faith can relate to

Menken's Dead Gods Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Menken's Dead Gods - Term Paper Example Take for instance, Huitzilopochtli, who was the national god of the Aztec of Tenochtitlan and the most celebrated and feared of all the gods of the ancient Aztec. The Aztec built a great temple on the Pyramid in Tenochtitlan in his honor. At its completion ceremonies, it is reported that more than 20,000 human sacrifices were offered in a four day celebration (Andrews 224). This attests to position Huitzilopochtli occupied among the ancient Aztec. However, apart from a few savage in the Mexican forest, Huitzilopochtli is as dead as dead great men like General Coxey Richmond P. Hobson because he lives only in history. No one worship or pay reverence to him in any form. He is a forgotten character even among the present day Aztec. Huitzilopochtli is not the only god that is a victim of death. Indeed, the numerous Roman gods and goddesses such as Jupiter and Venus, the Egyptian gods and goddesses such as Isis and Osiris (British Broadcasting Corporation), have undergone similar fate. Ju piter is no longer worshiped by present day Romans nor is Osiris of any relevance to the 21st century Egyptian. The same applies to all the gods mentioned by Mencken. These gods live only in history like great man like Abraham Lincoln. Their temples and place of worship are historical monuments just like the home of Abraham Lincoln is a history monument. Thus I absolutely concur with Menken that these are now dead gods.... In fact, the ability to procreate and response to external influences are the determining characteristics of the living. Indeed, the gods mentioned by Mencken exhibits these traits. Huitzilopochtli, for instance, cannot response if he is insulted or when his temple is abused. He cannot influence events happening around him. A dead god has no influence on present day events. He has lost its place. Like the dead man, he lives only in the mind of his lovers and in history. He does not create anything neither does he initiate ideas. Nobody attributes great inventions and ideas to the gods mentioned by Mencken, at least in our time. A living god is a source of inspiration to its followers. A dead god provides no inspiration. As a result of all the lacks of the dead god as mentioned above, he has no worshippers or followers. Indeed, the trademark of a dead god is his lack of followers and worshipper (Mencken 1). This follows from the dead god inability to influence events and to response t o external events. Why are other gods still alive? To be alive means to respond to changes in the environment, to influences events, to initiate ideas, and to procreate. These are characteristics of the living. Gods are acclaimed to be alive if they are held responsible for events happening in the society. As a result, they attract followers, who flock to their temples to worship. Indeed, other gods are alive because they are still considered to be accountable for events happening in the society. At least their followers held them accountable! This attracts thousands, if not millions, of followers to their place of worship. Take for instance Jesus Christ, who the Christian believed to be God. To the Christians, he

The Luxury Passenger Carrier Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Luxury Passenger Carrier - Case Study Example The company has decided to raise the average fare to $ 205. If the tax rate is 30 percent, how many passengers per month are needed to generate an after-tax profit of $ 750,000? Â  f. (Use original data). Springfield Express is considering offering a discounted fare of $ 120, which the company believes would increase the load factor to 80 percent. Only the additional seats would be sold at the discounted fare. Additional monthly advertising cost would be $ 180,000. How much pre-tax income would the discounted fare provide Springfield Express if the company has 50 passenger train cars per day, 30 days per month? Â  g. Springfield Express has an opportunity to obtain a new route that would be traveled 20 times per month. The company believes it can sell seats at $ 175 on the route, but the load factor would be only 60 percent. Fixed cost would increase by $ 250,000 per month for additional personnel, additional passenger train cars, maintenance, and so on. Variable cost per passenger would remain at $ 70. Â  Springfield Express should be sure that its forecasts are correct.

Switching point for work place - Fluid Power Lab Report

Switching point for work place - Fluid Power - Lab Report Example 1V2, 1V3,1V4 and 1V5 record multiple switching points when tested on mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper work pieces and no points are recorded on plastic, cardboard and rubber. No hysteresis is recorded on plastic, cardboard and rubber. When dealing with magnetic sensors, it is important understand that there is a possibility of several switching points being existent. This can eventually result into multiple counting when counters are used. This effect is dependent on the strength of the field of the magnet used and the distance between the magnet and the proximity of the sensor. Attaching the magnet with the correct orientation of the axis helps to prevent the ambiguity of the output signal. The selection of sensors is a major factor that must be taken into account when looking for industrial solutions. The choice of the sensor is very crucial when performing any installations in an

Questions for Case at the Dimensional Fund Advisors (The Size Effect Study

Questions for at the Dimensional Fund Advisors (The Size Effect and The Value Effect) - Case Study Example DFAs business practices of trying of avoid the lemons problem while not doing any fundamental analysis suggest that they believe strong form of market efficiency but worried that semi-strong form of market efficiency might fail (Cohen 4). These sentiments can be illustrated by the dedication to the principle of market efficiency where over any given time frame; no investor has the ability to pick stocks that would beat the market in its performance. Its main concern was the presence of negative private information known to the seller but not to the market. According to Cohen, the Fama-French -three factor type of efficient market brings into consideration three products; size, value, and market risk factor in the capital asset pricing model (13). With the deterioration of the small stocks in the 1980s and 1990s, these small stocks managed to outperform small stock indexes and small cap funds due to purchase discounts which were combined with the avoidance of adverse selection. It is true to say that due to the size effect, smaller stocks tend to do better than large stocks as in the case of LinkedIn and Google where the former has higher returns than the latter. Conversely, according to the value effect, since Google has a higher book to market ratio as compared to LinkedIn, this means that in this case, Google gunners more returns (Cohen 19). In consistence to the hypothesis that market price is efficient, we can conclude that small firms and value firms on average have high returns. However, investors are not crazily excited about the small and value investment products that DFA recently offered, which exactly focus on earning the high returns of small and value

Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies Essay Example for Free

Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies Essay Apple corporation bases its success on â€Å"creating innovative, high quality products and services and on demonstrating integrity in every business interaction.† According to Apple, four main principles contribute to integrity: honesty, respect, confidentiality, and compliance. To more thoroughly detail these principles, Apple has drafted a code of business conduct that applies to all its operations, including operations overseas. Apple disappointed socially responsible investors. Apple has come under fire since around 2006 as details emerged surrounding the workplace environment at Apples Chinese suppliers. An article in The New York Times publicized unsatisfactory worker conditions, which included grueling 24-hour shifts, overcrowded dorms, exposure to toxic chemicals, and horrific explosions. Foxconn Technology Group operates many of the plants in question in Chengdu, China. When it comes to customers, Apple is said to be a bold innovator that leads the industry into new directions and forces others to follow. However, when it comes to the management of its supply chain and treatment of workers in the Chinese factories that make its products, Apple hides behind the constraints of prevailing industry practices. What is even more disconcerting is the fact that these practices are in violation of not only local and national laws, but also of Apples own voluntary self-imposed code of conduct. Most of Apples worker-related problems were focused on Apples manufacturing partner Foxconn and its subsidiaries. Apples China operations first caught international attention in June 2006 with a long story in Britains Mail on Sunday.1 This was followed by a series of similar stories in other leading international news media, and has continued to this day.2 Because of Foxconns secrecy, it is well-nigh impossible to develop an accurate assessment of the problems in the factories owned and operated by Foxconn and its various subsidiaries. However, a brief description of extreme conditions prevailing in these factories and widely reported in the  media gave the readers some indication of the enormity of the problems that likely to existed in those plants. Apple has audited many of its suppliers and found violations of its Supplier Code of Conduct, but requesting its suppliers improve working conditions is not as powerful as changing suppliers to ones with more humane conditions. Part of the problem is that Apple has no legal liability for what happens in Chinese factories owned by separate manufacturers. Environmental organization Greenpeace had frequently campaigned against Apple, requesting elimination of non-recyclable hardware components, the removal of toxins from iPhone hardware, and a comprehensive take-back plan to prevent Apple products from ending up as waste. Greenpeace also began a protest in 2003 against Apples use of toxic PVC plastics and brominated flame retardants, or BFRs, in Apple’s products. Apple eliminated these chemicals in 2008, becoming the first laptop maker to do so (Corporate Responsibility Spotlight: Apple, September 14, 2012.) Workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside China’s plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors. The suppliers demonstrated disregard for workers health. In 2010, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after the workers were said to have been ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. In 2009 two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning (Duhigg, Charles and Barboza, David. In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad, (The NewYork Times) January 25, 2 010.) The publications outlining the ethics and social responsibility violations of Apple caused more consumers to actually start to wonder where and how Apple products are manufactured. Consumers have focused on Apples remarkable products rather than how they are produced. The New York Times story on iPad working conditions, for example, generated 1,770 reader comments. Many, if not most, blasted Apple  or the overall system of cheap labor. And an online petition prompted by the This American Life piece that called for Apple to protect Chinese workers had garnered roughly 166,000 signatures—and counting. I determined that Apple’s customers would be willing to pay more for its products if Apple had to increase selling prices in order to provide better wages and benefits for suppliers’ workers. Apple seems to make people crazy, described as a cult because it has such a vociferous following.† The Secrecy Strategy† (Moltz, John., Why Apple Drives People Crazy. Macworld. Feb2013, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p100-100. 1p). Stock-market and financial analysts are known to always have had a hard time understanding Apple because Apple does not sell commodity products or chase market share at the cost of everything else. Its modus operand i is: Enter a market, stake out the high end, and scoop up all the profit. As copycats such as Samsung flood the low end, Apple continued to hold the high end by evolving and differentiating products, while looking for new markets. One key approach used is to never telegraph punches; that way, no would know which market would be remade next. Hence Apples famous veil of secrecy, which further frustrated analysts. The bottom line was that the appeal of Apples products and its business strategies were said to be inscrutable, which made the company a Rorschach test. People saw what they wanted to see, and the idea that Apples fortunes are plummeting is more appealing to many than the idea that it might continue to ride high. The appeal of Apples products and its business strategies are believed to be both inscrutable. Apple joined the FLA in 2012 following intense public attention over allegations of widespread problems at Foxconn, China’s largest private employer. The FLA said both Apple and Foxconn â€Å"have agreed to ongoing assessments by FLA in order to ensure that labor practices meet FLA standards and remain in compliance for the long term.† Current and former Apple executives, moreover, say the company had made significant strides in improving factories in recent years. Apple has a supplier code of conduct that details standards on labor issues, safety protections and other topics. The company has mounted a vigorous auditing campaign, and when abuses are discovered, Apple says, corrections are demanded. And Apple’s annual supplier responsibility reports, in many cases, are the first to report abuses. This month, for the first time, the company released a list identifying many of its suppliers. Apple has continued to be aggressive in  calling out suppliers who dont meet up to its code of conduct. In January, Apple said it had fired Pingzhou Electronics after it was found to be hiring underage workers. Apples Supplier Code of Conduct sets the minimum age for workers at 15. (Apples Labor Practices In China Scrutinized After Foxconn, Pegatron Reviews. Forbes.com. 12/12/2013, p2-2. 1p. 1 Chart). What made Steve different from other marketers, is that he understood that his job as a marketer was not to focus on making money or sales, and, unlike other marketers, Steve’s marketing skills was seem in the way he presented his products: Here are some of the quotes that reflect Steve’s focus in business: If it could save a person’s life, could you find a way to save ten seconds off the boot time? You‘ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward—not the other way around. Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying that they had done something wonderful is what mattered to Steve. Steve made the marketing process simple; if he gave people what they want, educated them on why they needed it, showed them how it will improve their lives, and why no other competitor’s products could compete with the convenience and ease of use of yours, customers would be willing to spend. References Apples Labor Practices In China scrutinized after Foxconn, pegatron reviews. Forbes.com. 12/12/2013, p2-2. 1p. 1 Chart. Apple’s Marketing Strategy – Sell On Value, Not Price. Retrieved from http://www.chrisnosal.com/apples-marketing-strategy-sell-products-on-value-not-price/ (Duhigg, Charles and Barboza, David.( January 25, 2010). In China, human costs are built into an iPad, (The NewYork Times). Frauenheim, Ed. February 6, 2012. Bad Apple: Could the era of exploitation outsourcing be near its end? Retrieved from http://www.workforce.com/blogs/2-work-in-progress/post/bad-apple-could-the-era-of-exploitation-outsourcing-be-near-its-end) Kannel, Charlie, The Motley Fool (September 14, 2012) Corporate responsibility spotlight: Apple. (Daily Finance). Ira Kalb, Marshall School of Business, USC . (September 13, 2013) Apples Cheap iPhone might not be that affordable, but it does protect the brand (Business Insider). Retrieved from

US history from 1865-1900 Essay Example for Free

US history from 1865-1900 Essay Most Americans thought the war would not last long. Southerners thought that just one victory on the battlefield would force the Union to see that they were a separate nation now. Northerners believed that one victory would convince the Confederate states to return to the Union. Northerners thought their victory would come easily. They had many advantages over the South. Besides, the north already had a government and an army, while the South had to start their own government and army in 1861. The South, however, had hidden advantages. (Tindall, 1984). For example, many of the best officers in the U.S. Army came from the South. When the war began, many of these officers joined the rebels. These Southerners knew that the North would have to invade the South to fight the war. Soldiers tend to fight harder when they defend their own homes. Fighting on home territory thus gave the South an advantage over the North. By the end of 1865, the Union was also entirely slave-free (Bailey). Upon Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, the powers of his office fell upon Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. In many ways, Johnson’s life story was similar to that of Lincoln. He was self-educated and worked his way up through the political ranks and before the war he had reached the position of United States senator from Tennessee. Johnson had remained loyal to the Union when Tennessee seceded. Throughout his career, Andrew Johnson had performed his political tasks well. He had demonstrated integrity, sincerity and courage. Having risen from poverty himself, he was respected by many poor Southerners. Unfortunately, President Johnson did not have the strong leadership qualities of his predecessor (Bancroft, 1956). Â  Southern states adopted constitutions that complied with congressional stipulations and ratified the fourteenth amendment. Most of the Southern states were readmitted to the Union in 1868, although federal troops were kept in the South for nearly a decade thereafter. In order to further protect the voting rights of freedmen, Congress proposed the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution. The last several Southern states to be readmitted to the Union were required to ratify the fifteenth amendment as well as the fourteenth. Much of America’s steel business soon came under the control of a young entrepreneur named Andrew Carnegie. His venture into the building of iron bridges soon led him into the manufacture of iron. When he was convinced that the Bessemer process was the wave of the future, he entered the steel business. By early 1880s, he had joined forces with Henry C. Frick, and their company was the leading producer of iron and steel in the United States. Because so many changes took place in the South after the Civil War, it is often referred to as the New South. Agriculture became more diversified. Cotton remained the chief crop, but tenant farmers began to grow a wide variety of other crops as well. Other endeavors besides agriculture also became increasingly important in the southern economy. Industry was to play an important role in the development of the New South. The South had the ingredients necessary for several important types of industry. It had good sources of waterpower. It has the capability of producing important raw materials such as cotton, tobacco, lumber, coal, oil and iron ore, It also had a large labor force willing to work for relatively low wages (Brinkley, 1993).

A Study On Importance Of Leisure Sociology Essay

A Study On Importance Of Leisure Sociology Essay Societies consist of men, woman, and children and of various age groups. If these components are not present there can be no society. They make up society collectively. Our society responds differently to recreation and leisure and in turn so do the individuals. The individuals play an important part of how they function in society and how they react to recreation and leisure. The way in which we perceive our roles in society impacts on our recreational and leisure activities. We must consider the way in which we as individuals and our society come together in terms of recreation and leisure. As individuals we need to ensure that our roles in society impact positively. Society in general does not consider the impact of their roles and how it affects leisure. They both are two different entities but function together. I will consider the factors that affect us as individuals in society and how it relates to our leisure in the following discussion. Leisure as a Social Phenomenon Leisure is considered to be a complex social phenomenon that affects many social institutions and should not be considered as just past time activities. Recreation and leisure significantly affects several social institutions. However if utilised incorrectly they can have negative effects on many aspects. Within our societies leisure can be practised in different ways. It can be undertaken alone or in solitude, or it can be occur in a social environment that can be private or community based. We can all participate in leisure in its different forms and this does not necessarily mean that it is not influenced or affected by other people. Our leisure is in fact more often than not affected by other people. Our surroundings and environment can affect our privacy in terms of leisure in three ways: namely by supporting it, by infringing on it and by forcing us into it. Parents can support the leisure activities of their children by purchasing toys for them, which can inspire them to pursue a specific career or cause in life. Our leisure can also be infringed upon by others, for instance competing over the television with an older brother or sister when your favourite show is on. Circumstances can also force us into solitary leisure, for example writing. A famous example is J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the, The Lord of The Rings novels. In the trenches of World War I, he began recording the episodes of war that brought horror to him. He used this as escapism from the harsh reality he was facing. These recordings of the harshness he experienced were later transferred into the books, The Lord of The Rings. The writing of his books not only provided a sense of recreation and leisure to him. It has also provided these benefits for millions around the world. This demonstrates how one persons leisure can directly and indirectly affect people around them. His books have been developed into multi million dollar earning movies. The movies have lead to memorabilia and figurines being collected by children and adults as hobbies. People have flocked to the premieres of these movies. This indicates the domino effect of his recreation and passion on the rest of the worl d. This has also positively affected numerous people and economies. In contrast to this an individuals solitary recreation can also have negative consequences. In February 2004, Warren le Blanc murdered his 14 year old friend by savagely beating him with a claw hammer and stabbed him after luring him to a park in Liverpool, England. Warren re enacted violence from a popular video game that he used to play called Manhunt. Warren played this game as a recreational past time but there was a negative transfer from his experience. The game gained interest for all the wrong reasons. It was played on the personal computer and Sony play station platforms. These are both popular past times for all age groups. This demonstrates how a video game, a popular past time, became a societal hazard which stemmed from a persons solitary recreation. This emphasises the need for control of technology in our societies in order to alleviate negative consequences. However it must also be remembered that the positives of solitary recreational experiences outweigh the ne gatives. Leisure does not only occur in solitary settings. It can also directly involve other people. They can take the form of bystanders and participants. Both bystanders and participants collectively contribute to the activity. People can further be divided into primary and secondary groups. Primary groups are small groups in which there are face to face relations which are fairly intimate and personal in nature. These primary groups consist of two types namely: family and cliques. Secondary groups are defined as a larger relatively temporary, more anonymous; formal and impersonal group based on some interest or activity and whose members interact on the basis of specific roles (Henslin, 1993). Secondary groups can be a cooking class, book club or Sunday golf league. Primary groups have several factors such as social custom, family beliefs and kinship which influence leisure activities. Secondary groups on the other hand are not only influenced by the group but the individuals in turn can affect the group. The type of groups that we as individuals form part of will have an influence on our leisure activities. It will also affect the people in that group. Our role in these groups will affect our societies in which we exist. It will have individual implications as well as group implications. Leisure, Recreation and Gender In our post modern era the categories of gender are gradually being broken down and multiple categories of gender are arising. With post modernism people are able to express their gender and sexuality with fewer boundaries and constraints. As history suggests men have been the superior sex in most western cultures. In past centuries recreational activities were reserved for men only. There was also a general segregation of genders. Males were the bread winners and woman in were in charge of the household. Due to this most of the woman undertook their recreational activities at home. In recent times the expectations of woman and men have changed. Men and woman tend to change and share roles within our post modern society. Men have a desire for leisure as it is motivated by their hard work. They consider it as a reward for the work they endure. Women generally have a weaker motivation for it as they have to deal with the constraints of the household first. Women tend to combine their leisure with household chores, such as decorating or supervising activities for the children. I certainly feel that leisure opportunities do exist for women outside of the household but other duties and concerns take precedence. There may be cases where equal opportunity exists for men and women but women still tend to perform the feminine tasks. They will naturally be concerned with meals and care of children at various activities. Another problem facing womens participation in these activities is that they find it difficult to participate in them. Other woman may be too busy with family, lack physical ability or merely not knowing where to learn the activity. It is important that women empower themselves in aspects of leisure and recreation. This will ensure that they will also reap the benefits of recreation and leisure. Men need to accept them into programmes and provide equal opportunities in our communities. In recent times there has been an increase in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. People now feel free to disclose their alternative sexual identity. In the past however leisure did not deal with issues of sexuality. These individuals are now being openly accepted into communities; however few opportunities exist for them in terms of recreation and leisure. They are increasingly becoming parents, which indicate that they also have families. All families need to enjoy the benefits of recreation and leisure including the gay and lesbian families. There are few programmes that are designed for them, which re-enforces that they need to be accepted into all programmes without discrimination. There have been programmes such as the gay games and Olivia cruises but this creates segregation. We should design programmes that accommodate everyone irrespective of their sexual orientation. In this way we eliminate any misconceptions and preconceptions that people may have within o ur societies. Leisure, Recreation, Race and Ethnicity Involvement in recreational and leisure activities is influenced by ones race or ethnicity. These factors also contribute to how programmes are provided for communities people. Race and ethnicity both influence recreation and leisure but have different meanings. Race refers to the genetic make up of a person. This includes characteristics such as eye colour, skin colour and hair. Ethnicity refers to our social and cultural heritage. Ethnic groups can be identified by language, customs and religion; this is what distinguishes them from other groups. There continues to be racial and ethnic stereo types in our society despite the ongoing struggle against discrimination. This impacts significantly on recreation and leisure due to the fact that most programmes do not cater for all races and ethnicities. It also creates segregation amongst groups in programmes. This is one of the reasons that the department of Sport and Recreation of South Africa has created the indigenous games project. The project is trying to trace and bring in indigenous heritage to life amongst people of South Africa. Western cultures predominantly oversee these programmes. Leisure services should aim to merge the different groups in order to give people the opportunity to learn about the different races, cultures and ethnicities collectively. This would create an understanding between the differences that people may experience. This would also prevent under representation in the diverse races and ethnicities. We need to ensure that all groups feel comfortable a nd feel a sense of belonging when participating in these programmes. Everyone should be invited, included and involved. By having programmes that include these factors we can create understanding and positive relationships between groups. This will enable us to overcome the prejudice and racial discord that may be still present in our communities. I feel that one way in which we can alleviate the problem of under representation is for the so called minorities to give themselves another identity. They must no longer consider themselves as a minority. By constructing an alternative identity they can give themselves a new representation. This would lessen the perception of them being minorities by others. This in turn would make them more open to participation in programmes. This may develop an attitude in them in which they believe that they are part of the group. We must strive to provide programmes that alleviate inter-group misunderstandings and promote favourable relations. Socio economic Status and its Influence on Leisure and recreation Socio economic status is a means of classifying people into categories based on their income, education, occupation and wealth. People within a specific class have similar attitudes, values and interests. These things can impact on recreation and leisure choices. Socio economic status can affect leisure in a number of ways. Firstly, the amount of education and/or the amount of money that a person has influences the amount of free time and income available for recreational purposes. In general the lower classes have been minorities when it comes to participation in recreational activities. They also seldom participate in health and fitness programmes. Those in higher classes who have more education and disposable income look for more refined and prestigious leisure. For example, in the United States it has been discovered that the poor working class and middle class have been the predominant users of public and non profit services. The agencies that function in the various sectors provide programmes for all income levels but target the lower and middle class particularly. This is a rational approach as it provides opportunities for those who cannot afford the more expensive recreational options. However the upper class may have access to these programmes but often choose to go the commercial route. The y may utilize these services as most consider it as providing a higher quality of service. The upper class may also choose the option of commercial services due to the issue of status. Status may be assigned to things such as exclusive club memberships or exotic travel destinations. There are also activities that may appeal to all social classes such as reading or socializing but there are others that can be placed in each social class exclusively. For example, attending the opera or yachting may most likely be assigned to the upper class, where as a camping trip would more likely be an activity of the middle class. Sometimes there are activities that are popular to all classes but may be enjoyed in different ways. Socio economic status has a significant effect on recreation and leisure activity choices. If we are to be justified providers of recreation and leisure we need to understand these impacts and supply services that meet the needs of everyone. It may not always be possible to provide these services to all people but we need to understand the variations in needs and leisure patterns for those that we target. In this way we can ensure that no one is denied and unrepresented of recreation and leisure opportunities. An important factor that has restricted many people lately is the global recession. The ability to fund recreational or leisure services is an issue that all socio economic classes have faced. With the current state of the economy all service providers have to generate income to stay alive, even the non profit and public organisations. The concept of pay to play is becoming more prominent and this eliminates the poor and working class almost entirely. Many programmes are being kept alive by sponsorships and in turn keep our much needed recreational programmes alive and accessible to all. Is leisure good or bad? Most if not all leisure activities we can do have positive outcomes. There are really good leisure activities, however, only if they are carefully moderated. Some of the activities that people participate in during their free time include sports, cultural activities, technology as well as socialising with friends. Sporting activities e.g. swimming or playing soccer provide great positives in the sense that we exercise, we relax, forget about our problems for a while and meet people. I feel that leisure activities which involve sport should keep the element of competition as low as possible. The emphasis should be on having fun and taking in the experience. When it develops into a serious competition it could deter others who are simply there for the fun aspect. Everyone should be included at all times with the intention of providing some sort of satisfaction to all involved. Cultural activities like learning to play a musical instrument, reading or writing can provide a host of positives. Many people use music as a mode of personal expression of their thoughts and emotions. This can help provide an outlet for the individual. There are many traditional instruments that people can learn to play despite being of different ethnic or racial backgrounds. The instructional classes educate people on the culture behind the music as well as provide them with the skill of learning how to play these instruments. This also allows us to overcome barriers of race and ethnicity in the sense that people spend more time with other races. Technology provides us with alternatives to traditional leisure and recreation. It sometimes eliminates the physical component but can stimulate the mind. Playing video games, web browsing and watching television can be very interesting as well as educational. There are video games which can give us an idea of what it takes to pilot a plane or be a front line soldier during the Second World War. It creates experiences similar to the actual thing and provides escapism from the reality of life. We should however be very careful with these activities; they can make people socially incapable, by making them shy or quite and restrict face to face encounters. It can also make people spend too much time indoors. We must draw a firm balance when participating in these activities in order to extract the positives. Television has numerous good or bad programmes which can educate, provide relaxation and relieve stress in an individual. It also has negative influences, which means we must select what we watch carefully. Most individuals enjoy spending time with friends, such as going to the movie theatre, going out for dinner or going out at night. These activities provide a lot of benefits to us but there are problems associated with it as well. A major problem is the abuse of alcohol and drugs at night time meeting spots. People tend to over drink on nights out with friends and engage in substance abuse. Substance abuse can have serious emotional and physical implications. Self control will lead to happy and enjoyable experiences in these situations. Science and technology has provided our societies with the highest levels of comfort. Technology has also made much more time available to us. Holidays and vacations have also increased and the duration is much longer. If we do not control our leisure and recreation it may become the core of our existence. Our free time must be spent constructively rather than being detrimental to us. It is the responsibility of our societies to make recreation and leisure an asset rather than a liability. How is leisure beneficial to the individual in Society? Leisure has many implications to the individuals in our society and it does not discriminate against race, class or gender when providing people in our society with positives. Society needs to be educated on how recreation and leisure programmes can be beneficial to them. This will promote participation and emphasise the importance of it in our societies. Leisure is a major force in our lives, to the extent that it has become a major concern for governments, parents and leaders. People are now spending more money each year on activities such as sport, tourism, outdoor recreation and many other past times. There has also been a drift towards organised leisure with changes in basic living and competition between our interests. However leisure can still be spontaneous, solitary and surprising. Apart from physiological needs such as sleeping, leisure is what we engage in mainly. According to Leitner and Leitner (2004) if you are 18 now, of the probable 60 years that you will live for, you will spend 18 years in full time leisure. This might be an alarming statistic but it is quite precise. Recreation and leisure has the ability to educate and provide us with vital components for our health and growth from our birth to our death. It is in this sense that leisure provides us with a sense of wellness, satisfaction and improved quality of life. Recreation and leisure can provide the potential to significantly contribute to our physical, social and emotional well being. Having considered the importance recreation and leisure I will now discuss the benefits that it can provide us with. Emotional well- being is an important component for a good life. If we are mentally healthy we are filled with positive emotions. Recreation and leisure can provide us with positive emotions. Recreation and leisure provides a channel for us to improve self definition, self actualization and a sense of empowerment. It provides us with opportunities for self exploration of our talents, capacities and our potential. Recreation and leisure do not possess any constraints and can be used to reinforce our identities. Being actively involved in Recreation and leisure relates to our mental health in way that leads to our intrinsic motivation being enhanced in daily life. Iwasaki and Mannell (2000) found that by simply believing in it, it can contribute to our emotional well being and is enough to reduce mental illness symptoms. This may be quite precise in the sense that in what ever we do we have to think positively in order to achieve our goals. On the other hand, active leisure and recreation may be more stimulating than passive recreation and more beneficial to our psychological health. If the both are linked the outcomes may be even more positive. Stress is a major issue for everybody. Numerous studies have pointed out leisures ability to help people cope with stress. Stress can often make us very sick and can lead to complications such as heart disease, hypertension and body pains. The effects of these complications can be reduced by recreation and leisure. The research in the field of recreation and leisure has confirmed that enjoying lifes pleasures, having satisfying social relationships and pursuing self expressive behaviour can help to lower stress and have positive effects on our immune system. This suggests that we should support our recreation and leisure in order to avoid these complications. Psychological well being can be promoted by activities that are meaningful, fulfilling and active. It provides a balance for the demands of life even during times of crisis. Our physical health is strongly related to emotional health. Our physical health can benefit greatly from leisure and recreation. By staying active in recreational and leisurely activities we can gain numerous physiological benefits. The cardio vascular, respiratory, musculo skeletal and metabolic systems benefit greatly. Recreation and leisure can help the body respond favourably by reducing the risks that of coronary heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer and diabetes. An active lifestyle also helps decrease fatigue, provides us with protection against obesity, maintains bone density and joint mobility and may even protect us from urinary tract infections. Constant physical activity promotes enjoyment, encourages support from others and enhances our confidence in our ability to regularly participate. It also helps to reduce any negative perceptions of being physically active. Technology and peoples life styles have made life in general more sedentary. This emphasises the importance of activity during recreational and leisure activities much greater. It does not matter on the type of activity that has been chosen. It can be a game of Frisbee, surfing, group exercises or even tai chi. They will all provide some sort of physical benefit. Numerous studies have also confirmed that regular participation in these recreational activities provide the necessary aerobic benefits. Recreation and leisure also provide benefits such as social well being and social development. They both contribute to our friendships and the ability to get along with others. Recreation and leisure promotes social interaction for both children and adults. Participation in activities that are highly sociable promotes social support. Our social well being requires social support. This can help test connections or relationships amongst individuals an can also strengthen and test the relationships during recreational experiences. When people feel that they are being cared for and supported they tend to feel better about themselves and their lives. This can help people to develop and maintain their family lives. With the developments in technology activities that emphasize sociability are not as common as they used to be in our societies. People are moving further away from the concept of socializing. Some prefer to watch a movie alone at home on the DVD player rather than at the movie theatre with others. People invest in home gym equipment instead of attending a gym at a recreational centre or a health club. It is important to preserve the older methods in order to promote social benefits to the individuals in our societies. The many benefits of recreation and leisure converge to create a sense of well -being in people. It is important as it emphasizes the vitality in our surroundings and the world. It helps us develop vigorous and caring communities and has the power to create harmony among the diversity in which in exist. Life satisfaction is what we strive for everyday. It is difficult to define but we can recognize it when we have it. It is an emotional and internal experience. Recreation and leisure helps us achieve this satisfaction. When we are satisfied with our lives we focus less on our selves, become less hostile and abusive and generally less vulnerable to disease. These are qualities that need to be eliminated from our societies. We need to be more loving, forgiving, trusting, creative and sociable. Recreation and leisure can help provide these qualities for us. This will in turn provide a snow ball effect as happy people tend to be more positive about their leisure activities. They feel positive and accept the belief that these activities are in fact helping them and the people around them. In order for the importance and benefits of leisure and recreation to be experienced by people in society, we need to have leisure professionals who possess the necessary skills to ensure it is executed effectively. Whether you are employed at a hospital, camp, theme park, national organisations or a resort, you must be able to deliver positive experiences for people. You must be able to personify qualities that reflect professionalism. He should also possess qualities that enable him to deliver the programme or activity successfully. The leisure professional must base his efforts on the needs and interests of the focus group. He should try to develop programmes based on their needs rather than his own. Even if he is employed in a profit making organisation he must focus on the desires and needs of the consumer or else he will fail in his attempts. He should possess the willingness to listen and learn to people in order to provide the correct aspects of the programme. He should embrace the diversities of race, culture, gender etc. Respect should be given to himself and the participants. Recreational experiences require precise organisation and planning. He must be able to provide a sustained effort in the provision of activities. A willingness to put in long hours and hard work is imperative. A lot of recreational activities occur on weekends, after hours or public holidays. This means that he must be willing to work during other peoples free hours. This is a major sacrifice that most people are not willing to make so it is important to consider. The leisure professional should possess a high degree of integrity. Our world is constantly faced with acts of misconduct and improper behaviour. When delivering a service you must maintain a high level of ethical responsibility. This is important especially when dealing with the diversities amongst people. Participants should be treated with dignity and fairness by the leisure professional. This will transfer between participants; they will learn to treat each other graciously and with respect. The leisure professional must possess the ability to project the direction of the programme or activity. He must be able to visualise the positive outcome of the service. The plan will only come together if he can first see it happening. This provides direction and intention. The participants will generally expect an excellent service but he muse try to exceed those expectations. CONCLUSION The importance of recreation and leisure to the individuals in our society has a number of implications. As discussed earlier it relates to race, gender, socio economic status etc., it affects a wide array of people and institutions. We must try to educate people on the importance of these types of activities in order to overcome the various barriers that our societies face. It is one of the best developments in the last century to help overcome barriers such as diversity and health related problems. The reality is that recreation and leisure programmes do work. This is correct to the point where specific projections of what recreation and leisure can achieve have been put forth. There are national departments that have multi -million dollar budgets around the world in order to make it a part of everyones lives. It has been making a difference to millions of lives around the world. REFERENCE: 1. Jarvie, G. Maguire, J.A., 1994. Sport and leisure in social thought, Taylor Francis. 2. (Organization), H.K. Kinetics, H., 2006. Introduction to recreation and leisure, Human Kinetics. Champaign, Illinois, USA 3. Russell, V.R., Jamieson M.L., 2008. Leisure Program Planning and Delivery. Human Kinetics. Champaign, Illinois, USA 4. Moran M. J., 1979.leisure Activities for the mature adult, Burgess publishing company. Minnesota. USA 5. WWW.SRSA.GOV.ZA

Russian and Chechnyan conflict Essay -- essays research papers

Conflicts in a country occur everywhere in the world. Russia and Chechnya's conflict is one example.There were many reasons and factors that led this conflict to grow into a war. Both Russia and Chechnya had different goals and interests that they tried to achieve. This led them to oppose one another and see eachother as enemies. The following is a full analysis of the conflict, which explains the background factors, which contributed to it. The Chechnya- Russia conflict, can be more understood by looking to the past. The historical background is needed to display the whole picture of the war. The area in the southern Russia was called the Caucasus region. Many non-Russian ethnic groups lived there. It all began when the czars started a 300-year attempt to conquer the Northern Caucasus in 1560. They failed to take over Chechnya and other areas of the Caucasus because the Ottoman Empire had conquered them. The Chechens converted to Islam when they became under the Ottomans rule. Russia still did not give up. It made stronger attempts to invade the area and finally forced the withdrawal of the Ottomans by 1785.After winning the Caucasian War, the Russian government pressured many people to leave from Chechnya to different Muslim countries of the Middle East. In 1877,1920,and 1929 the Chechens made unsuccessful rebellion attempts against the czars and later Soviet powers. Their main goal behind this was to resist unification, anti-religion campaigns, and Russification. B...

Definition Of Good And Evil Essay -- essays research papers

Throughout human existence, questions have arisen concerning the nature of good and evil. Many scientist, philosophers, and theologians have been intrigued by these questions. Through Augustine’s Confessions and E. O. Wilson’s In Search of Nature, one is accessible to two distinct perspectives concerning the nature of good and evil.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Augustine sets up an argument in his Confession that attempts to define evil. God is the author of everything. Augustine says, â€Å"nothing that exists could exist without You [God]† (Book I, Chapter II). Nothing in this world exists apart from God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For Augustine, God is good because everything He made is good. Everything about God is good. No aspect of Him is lacking, false, or not good. However, the question of evil and from where it came still remains.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Augustine then asks himself where it was that evil came. Evil could not have come from God; it must have come from another source other than God. Because we clearly see evil in this world, did God allow it to enter? This would seem that God is not omnipotent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Originally Augustine believed that evil had substance. However, his views changed later where he says, â€Å"If they were deprived of all goodness, they would be altogether nothing; therefore, as long as they are, they are good. Thus whatsoever things are, are good; and that evil whose origin I sought is not a substance† (Book VII,...

Poland during World War 2 Essay -- essays research papers

I. History of Poland After the Partitions of Poland (1772-1795), which had decreased the size of the country, giving most of the land to Russia, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary. The First World War provided a practical chance for Poland to restore its independence. The powers, which had separated the country more than one hundred years earlier, were fighting on opposite sides. Germany with the Austro-Hungarian Empire (the Central Powers) fought Imperial Russia allied with France and Great Britain. Polish troops, under their own banners, also joined the fight. At first, under the command of the anti-Russian revolutionary Jà ³zef Pi ³sudski, Polish battalions were formed to fight Russia. But in 1917, after a number of successful operations against Russians, the legions were disbanded and Pi ³sudski was tossed into jail when the Polacks refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Central Powers. Meanwhile, with the fall of its monarchy, Russia's grip on Poland began to slowly decrease to nothing. This enabled the Polacks to organize a Polish army in France to fight against the Central Powers. Russia was defeated first and Germany and Austria soon followed . Finally, on November 11, 1918, Poland re-emerged as a free nation after 123 years of captivity. However, some problems remained. After the Communist Revolution Russia was determined to carry the flame, so successfully kindled at home, to Poland, Germany and beyond. In 1920, not quite two years after regaining independence, Poland was forced to fight again to maintain its sovereignty and to defend Europe. II. Pre World War II The brief, nineteen-year period of peace following the war and lasting until 1939 was marked by a consolidation of the three partitioned territories, which for over one hundred years had belonged to an alliance of different countries. It also marked a time of vigorous economic growth for Poland. In the early 1920s German intrigues in the Free City of Gdansk prevented the free flow of Polish trade through that port. Poland's response was to build a new port in the small fishing town of Gdynia. By 1938, Gdynia became the busiest port in the Baltic Sea and provided serious competition for Gdansk. In south-central Poland, construction of an industrial complex began in 1936. It had hydroelectric power plants, steel works, aircraft manufacturing, machinery, ammunition and fertilizers. In 1938 P... ...d and they were rounded up and sent to ghettos in towns and cities. The two largest ghettos were established in Warsaw and Lodz. Between 22nd July and 3rd October 1942, 310,322 Jews were deported from the Warsaw ghetto to these extermination camps. Information got back to the ghetto what was happening to those people and it was decided to resist any further attempts at deportation. In January 1943, Heinrich Himmler gave instructions for Warsaw to be free of all Jews by Hitler's birthday on 20th April. Warsaw contained several resistance groups. The largest was the Polish Home Army. There was also the Jewish Military Union and the communist Jewish Fighter Organization (ZOB) led by Mordechai Anielewicz, Yitzhak Zuckerman, Gole Mire and Adolf Liebeskind. On 19th April 1943 the Waffen SS entered the Warsaw ghetto. Although they only had two machine-guns, fifteen rifles and 500 pistols, the Jews opened fire on the soldiers. They also attacked them with grenades and petrol bombs. The Germans took heavy casualties and the Warsaw military commander, Brigadier-General Jà ¼rgen Stroop, ordered his men to retreat. He then gave instructions for all the buildings in the ghetto to be set on fire.

Gloria Steinem’s Effect on Modern-Day History Essay

Gloria Steinem has had the greatest impact on modern day women in American society because, as an activist, she fought to achieve rights of equality. As a woman whose life was affected by society’s opinions and views of women, she was determined to change these standards. She set a goal to regulate women’s rights and have women’s role in society matter just as much as men’s. To accomplish said goals, â€Å"Gloria Steinem systemized organizations that would fight against discrimination towards any alienated group, organized speeches that covered strong topics such as women’s role in politics, women’s side of rape and pornography, and funded a company that would allow women at home to share their stories and speak for themselves† (Bauer, Garlena A, B2). Gloria Steinem has had the greatest impact of modern day society because without her assistance and provision women’s culture would diverse from what it was like in the 50s. Gloria Steinem accomplished the goals she set out to attain; she was able to change the outlook on women’s roles in America. In the 50s, American women were responsible to execute family traditions and follow the â€Å"rules† of motherhood – they didn’t really have much say in life decisions; but â€Å"Gloria Steinem changed that by getting politically active and being determined as an advocate for women’s rights of equality† (Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty, D1). â€Å"She was also nominated as a spokesperson for feminism and the leader of the enlargement of women’s rights of equality; she organized groups to fight discrimination against women such as NWPC and WAA† (Yanak, Ted and Pam, Cornelison, I1). All these actions led to an effective move towards the Women’s Liberation Movement. Steinem’s assistance towards women’s rights involved creating and editing Ms. Magazine, â€Å"the 1st feminist mass circulation magazine in the U.S. Influencing the Women’s Liberation Movement was one of her greater achievements† (Bauer, Garlena A, B2). â€Å"Others would include covering certain topics at protest that no other would discuss; such as pornography, rape, incest, abortion, poverty, lesbianism, politics, women’s health care and care for battered women† (Bauer, Garlena A, B2). All these add up to object to inequality for women in America. Overall, the battle to obtain equal rights alone is great success, but Gloria Steinem also attempted solving world problems as an activist. Not only did Gloria Steinem challenge critics and politicians by having her own say in topics about women’s rights, but â€Å"she also confronted them about resolving other complications in America and worldwide such as animal rights, the fight against genital mutilation, child abuse, and human trafficking† (Hepola, Sarah A, F3). Steinem had a lot on her plate, but she was determined to resolve as many problems and to help as many people as possible. In order to do so, she started ordering initial organizations to gain perspective and to prevent each cause from getting worse. â€Å"National Women’s Political Caucus, Equal Rights Amendment, Women’s Action Alliance, and National Black Feminist Organization†: were just some of the actions and initial organizations taken and funded my Gloria Steinem (Yanak, Ted and Pam, Cornelison, I1). With these organizations present, she was able to gain supporters; which would help her get make a point for women’s rights – the point being that she is not the only one who believed that women should be given choices like men, and that they should all have the same equivalence and impartiality. Her points were brought forth in every issue of ‘Ms. Magazine,’ where she would discuss all topics related to women’s rights and include reader’s opinions. â€Å"In every edition of ‘Ms. Magazine,’ Gloria Steinem would be sure to include readers’ personal stories† (Matthews, Glenna, E2). This was an important contribution on behalf of the readers’ part because their stories proved that women should have been entitled to their own opinion to those who weren’t activist or feminist and altered their opinions on women’s rights. Gloria Steinem also made sure to promote feminist cause – an example being reproduction rights – the articles would vary in focus but one thing that stayed the same was the fact that the articles spoke for all women who were expected more of. Gloria had different believes of what a household women should ensure. â€Å"As a feminist, Gloria Steinem criticized certain aspects of the traditional role of motherhood† (Charles Moritz, G2). She believed women should have been able to work if they would like to or marry who they loved, not who they were forced to marry because of economic or beneficial reasons. â€Å"Steinem wanted to assure that all women were able to fairly make their own choices† (Charles Moritz, G2); she knew that wasn’t an option because women were degraded only for the fact that they were women. â€Å"During years of working for a living, I have experienced much of the legal and social discrimination reserved for women in the country [†¦] all for the clearly sated sole reason that I am a woman.† (Hepola, Sarah A, F1). Within the supportive fight to gain equality for women, Gloria Steinem accomplished significant impressions on U.S. history. â€Å"She became a social activist, humanist and feminist† (Bauer, Garlena A, B1). Gloria Steinem was the target of much criticism, nevertheless, â€Å"she spent her life time committed to women’s liberation and remained committed to all political causes of the news and left a natural path into her career as a feminist to let other feminist peruse with what she started† ((Bauer, Garlena A, B1). Gloria Steinem has had the greatest impact on modern day women in American society because, as an activist, she fought to achieve rights of equality. As a woman whose life was affected by society’s opinions and views of women, she was determined to change these standards. She spoke for other women in the U.S. that were not able to do so because their opinions would not be valid since they were women. Since the understandings of women’s suffrage and the stance on women’s liberation and rights has changed from the 1950s to modern day believes, an assumption can be made that Gloria Steinem is the one who can be acknowledged for completing such task since she spent a life time committed to making a difference and making an effort to resolve the problem of discrimination.

Kuwait Education System Essay

This is a study with Kuwait in focus. Its going to analyze Kuwaiti education with regards to the following important factors, efficiency and degree of development of the education system, important changes, effects of these changes, most important weaknesses in the availability of human capital measures to overcome these weaknesses, how good the education service is available and how students from Kuwait perform in internationally comparable test scores. The paper generally to tackle the issue stated. Kuwait is a nation in Middle East. It borders Persian Gulf, which is between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It has an area of 17,280 square kilometers and a relatively small population of about 2,596,779 as per estimates of July 2008. Most of its population is male and almost half of this total population figure constitutes foreigners. Kuwaitis constitute about 80% of the total labor force as per 2004 estimates. Almost 10% of world’s oil reserves are in Kuwait and it’s a relatively rich country. Kuwait spends about 3. 8% of it’s GDP on education. Also literacy levels stand at very high percentages for instance 93. 3%. Male literacy is higher at 94. 4%compared to female’s 91% as per 2005 estimates. (The World Fact Book, 2008) Before tackling various issues concerning education it’s good to have a historical background of the same. Kuwaiti educational system development is largely attributed to the richness of the nation courtesy of oil exportation. In the early 1990s educational facilities were quite few in Kuwait. The schools that were there were Quranic schools called al-katabibs. The Quranic schools taught arithmetic, reading and writing. Public education was non existent in the earlier part pf the 20th century and thus, funds to education came from wealthier nationals. The government took over the educational system in the year 1939and by 1945 it had begun 17 schools. After the WWII when oil production started to pick up, the government also raised the stake of its revenue that went to education. In 1960s Kuwait had 45000 students in its educational system which 18000 were female. Major development in education also happened in the 1960s and in 1965 schooling was made compulsory in Kuwait (Kuwait Cultural Office, 2008) The efficiency of the Kuwaiti educational system is explained as follows: today in Kuwait there are about 500,000 students in school, which is about 30% of its total population. There are three levels of education in Kuwait and each one of them takes duration of four years to complete. These levels include elementary, intermediate and secondary. Attending school is compulsory for children in the age bracket of six to fourteen years. All these stages of Kuwaiti educational system are free. From second grade in school, children in Kuwait start studying English language. Kuwaiti parents send most of their children to foreign private schools established in Kuwait. These private schools are usually very prestigious. For example American school of Kuwait. Also this private education, though not fully funded by the state is highly subsidized besides allotment of land for construction of schools and issuance of textbooks. Public schools in Kuwait are a bit different compared to private schools since from first grade, there’s segregation of children by sex. Kuwait also ensures equity of education offered to women with that of men. For example the 1989 education initiative, where there was introduction of daytime literacy clinics to benefit women. Kuwaiti government also makes sure that every new school has a library with an expansive book collection. The government also established an â€Å"education Net† which was a project to link each and every government school and library to a telecommunications data network (Kuwait cultural office, 2008) To explain the various important changes and their effects, an overview on the education system of Kuwait will cover from 1900s. In the early of the 20th century education was aimed at gaining basic literacy and this was in context of religion. The existing schools then were quran schools. Wealthier people sent their children abroad for higher education in around 1912 merchants who were interested in their children’s (especially sons) education started private schools. For instance, mubara kiyya school, which was the first modern institution of education. Later on in 1921, another notable private school was established by the name ahmadiyya school and which was the first to offer English as a subject. Shortly after 1921 the first girl’s school was established and it taught home economics, Islamic studies and Arabic. Education was later put under state control in 1939. Teachers from Palestine started a mission for education which had students being sent abroad for education and also started new schools. As a result, four elementary schools started. An overall national department of education to govern government schools and teachers from Palestine, Syria, Iraq Lebanon and Egypt started a program to ensure secondary education in Kuwait. In around 1945 there were 17 schools in Kuwait. Later in the 1950s rapid changes occurred. for example, the founding of the first kindergarten schools and a first technical college in the academic year 1954-55. 80 students were enrolled in this college in the first year. In 1956 the institute for the blind was established. Later on in 1958 an adult education program was started for men. On to 1960s in i1963 an adult education program was started for women. By the year 1970 there were 738,662students in Kuwaiti schools where less than half were Kuwaiti nationals. In 1973 there were 1,644 special needs students and 11 institutes of the special education. Since it’s initiation in 1956. Jumping to 1982, the number of teachers was a bit high at 24,367 of whom 6,748 only were Kuwaiti. By the academic year 1997-98 the number of teachers was 27,359 of which 17,357 were Kuwaiti. This changed from 1: 3. 76 in 1982 to 1. 7:1 in 1997-98 academic years. Today the government provides a kitty for each of the education levels in Kuwait namely, elementary, intermediate and secondary school. Another important change is that at university level, a university was established and which was called Kuwait University with the majority of the student body being made up of Kuwaiti. (State University. com, 2008) Kuwait is highly reliable on foreign countries for human capital and thus the problem of human capital in Kuwait. Human capital is a country’s stock of knowledge and skills and it constitutes the skilled labor in the economy. Kuwaiti labor force is dominated by non-nationals. There was especially an influx of foreign laborers in Kuwait in the 1970’s. Kuwaitis relied at high levels on the labor of expatriates who had high morale from their countries. Kuwaitis have thus become minorities in their own home due to high dependence on foreign skilled labor for both private and public sectors. Unemployed nationals of Kuwait as well as nominally employed ones over-rely on the state for easy jobs and welfare. Foreigners are also seen to influence the traditions and cultures of Kuwait. Real employment may also be desired but hardly attainable due to the set social system where nationals lack the skills to fit in the labor market. To remove the dilemma set by this predicament Kuwaitis thus have to think in the lines of the following solutions: practical education to be offered to nation and that befits the national requirements of the labor market, reduction in the number of work visas issued to foreigners and leveling the wage differences between citizens and non-citizens. Some international assessments have been carried out on Kuwait education system. The factors in consideration are schools self-evaluation, and evaluation of teachers. There was a particular study carried out due to low secondary school student participation rates where completion rates were low, repetition was high besides the high drop-out rates. Also students’ achievements even after high school education are considered as those which are disappointing. This was considered true especially because Kuwait students performed dismally in international assessments of student achievement. To conclude on the study, even though, the government of Kuwait has done a giant leap toward development of its education, a lot remains undone. In focus should be the global applicability of Kuwaitis education and also at national levels. Since today’s labor force constitutes about 80% non-nationals, practicability and fitness of the Kuwaiti education should also be among the major issues that require speedy resolution. Generally to ensure this are there from the findings in this study. So the government’s ministry of education needs to invest a lot on issues to do with Research and Development as regards issues of practical educational development. Incentives to nationals should also be created to take courses at the university level that are similar to those of the non-nationals’ expatriate staff by even making it more interesting and exciting. More students should also get involved on exchange programs with other students in economies which are performing highly and through their human capital. References Hladczuk, J and Eller, W. 1992. International Handbook of Reading Education Greenwood Publishing Group Kellaghan, T. 2008. Developing Assessment Ca pacityIn The Kuwait Education System. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://www. moe. edu. kw/pages/misc/wathaeg%20feb%202008/wathaeg%20almoa shr%20alwa6ani%2017-19feb%202008/Kalaghan_Report1. doc. pdf Kuwait Cultural Office. 2008. History. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://www. kuwaitculture. com/About%20Us/History. htm State University. Com, 2008. Education In Kuwait- An Overview. . Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://education. stateuniversity. com/pages/784/Kuwait- EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW. html The world fact book, 2008. Kuwait. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ku. html