What are the distinguishing aspects of Hispanic culture which affect Essay

What are the distinguishing aspects of Hispanic culture which affect political behaviour in the US after Obama - Essay Example The Census Bureau of the United States has defined individuals who are of Hispanic origin as those individuals who live in the United States, but state their origins as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American. The same definition has been utilized by small business organizations all over the country as well as many federal, state and municipal agencies. This is needed by the mentioned organizations when it comes to awarding contracts to businesses owned by individuals from minority groups (US Census Bureau, 2001). As of this writing, the record for the number of Hispanic nationals residing in the United States has come up to 33 million, therefore making around 12 percent of the entire US population. It has been predicted that the numbers would increase to over 50 million by the year 2020 (US Census Bureau, 2001). According to Mendoza (1989), the Hispanic community is becoming increasingly acculturated. The process of ‘acculturation’ refers to the process of the integration of ethnic minorities into the mainstream culture of their environment. There has been research implying that acculturation has the tendency to reduce the feelings of inadequacy and helps minorities to feel a part of their ethnic group and the mainstream culture (La Fromboise et al., 1993). In the Hispanic population, acculturation has become more and more prevalent and despite this, there are still some cultural traits that Hispanic individuals possess, which in turn come into conflict with American culture. Lee et al (2006) has mentioned that cultural differences plays a part in affecting the organizational goals and objectives of an administration. The enormous changes in demographics within the 21st century has meant that postmodernism became one of the main players in the 2008 presidential elections. According to Sanchez & Fernandez (1993), Hispanic identity has been defined as the level to which individuals

Compare and contrast governmental structure of the Republic of Rome Term Paper

Compare and contrast governmental structure of the Republic of Rome and Ancient Greece - Term Paper Example Ancient Egypt’s leadership is based on the divine rule of the Pharaoh while the Republic of Rome believes to a certain extent in democracy where people are recognized to have a say in the government. II. The new kingdom of ancient Egypt c. 1570 - 1090 The new kingdom of ancient Egypt began when the pharaohs of the eighteenth Dynasty reunited Egypt after the second intermediate period (Edgar et al Chapter 1). In governance, the leadership of ancient Egypt does not recognize democracy (old, middle and new kingdom). People are treated as a subject of a Pharaoh who was believed to be a living god. The pharaoh’s power is not subject to check and balance like those of Rome’s Republic. The pharaoh is the sole authority and needs not confer with a Senate, magistrates or assemblies in its rule. It does not have a tribune because it does not recognize any representation in the form of check and balance. Ancient Egypt adopts the theocratic form of government. Unlike Rome, r eligion plays a central role in Egypt that became a basis of its government and structure (Bauval 35). Due to its theocratic nature, the priests (aside from the pharaoh) were the most esteemed class in ancient Egypt. They also hold vast power because they carry out the decrees of the pharaoh. The government structure of the new kingdom of ancient Egypt was also simple because of the theocratic form of government where all powers in the government emanate from a single person which was the pharaoh. There was also no constitution in ancient Egypt. Perhaps the only thing ancient Egypt shared with the Republic of Rome was that its laws were not written. But unlike in Rome where laws can be proposed and ratified, the laws in Egypt were absolutely based on Ma’at which meant truth and justice, which was to be fair all except the slaves. The officials of ancient Egypt were few unlike in Rome where it has a Senate that is composed of few hundred men, and relatively large number of rep resentatives in its assemblies and magistrates. The officers in ancient Egypt’s government structure are as follows; a. The pharaoh – the ancient Egyptian state was embodied by its king, which was called the pharaoh, a term which literally meant a â€Å"big house† referring to the royal palace but was later referred to the king himself. The king is believed to have supernatural powers and was worshipped and obeyed as a god. The king or the pharaoh is very powerful. In the old kingdom of ancient Egypt, he literally owns the entire land of Egypt and is entitled to all its produce (Thompson 26). Ma’at One of the pharaoh’s primary functions was to mediate between the gods and man, especially in dispensing Ma’at which is the code of behavior and standard of morality of how to do things in ancient Egypt. Ma’at meant â€Å"truth, order, proper behavior and justice (Thompson 26). To sin against Ma' at is to bring chaos into life (Verharen 93 ) b. The viziers – is also known as the tjaty. The vizier is considered as the pharaoh’s right hand. He is also a judge of ancient Egypt’s high court which is the equivalent of Supreme Court today. And just like the Supreme Court, his judgment is final and non appealable. The vizier was also in-charge of the economy and oversees the construction of magnificent temples and buildings (Bob Hobbs 66). c. Nomarch –

Australian Defence Force (ADF) capability Essay

Australian Defence Force (ADF) capability - Essay Example Historical ISR capability In the past, the ISR has been able to accomplish much in ensuring that the intelligence for the Australian defense is available at the utmost time of need. The Australian defense forces have had first hand intelligence since the system has significant capability towards detention and prevention of looming attacks (Stevens, 2001). According to the study work of Great Britain & Arbuthnot (2008) the intelligence wing has been able to show its capability by producing tailored intelligence data to meet the needs of the defense forces at their time of need. Providing imagery intelligence and measuring intelligence activities, targeting and production of general intelligence, has been an ardent capability. Surveillance since its inception has been topnotch where the defense forces of Australia have been able to take random checks on the prevailing global cryptology threats, the surveillance system thus since its inception has been efficient to facilitate decision m aking and combating tactical fighters and commanders (Breen, 2010; Boyne, 2012). The surveillance wing has five operational groups that cooperate to ensure that every operation in the air is secure. The reconnaissance wing since its inception has been able to show its capability by ensuring imagery and timely data before the defense forces get into the combat, ensuring that there are few casualties while in action. This wing according to Kearney (2003) has helped in the past during the invasion of Vietnam and Iraq, but remains to be seen with increasing rate of terrorism. Contemporary capability According to the research work by Bernus, Nemes & Schmidt (2003) currently the ISR operates with one hundred fighters while the defense forces of Australia claim that operating with fifty fighters would be as generous. The ISR of Australia has the capability of deterring and defeating armed attacks in and around Australia, due to the dangerous phase of the world presently the current ISR rem ains unreliable. Currently, according to Levey (2004) there has been a misconception on the capability of the Australian ISR because it has been helping the defense forces to combat and invade Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. This misconception has sent confusion in different quarters on the defensive system of Australia. Currently, though the system has formidable capabilities, there are increasingly more threats due to the increasing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq giving a likelihood of an attack against Australia. The current ISR is under threat because the emphases on land operations are misleading to the Australian defense forces as seen in the study works of Godara (2009). For the current ISR to be capable to fight the looming terrorist attacks in Australia, the Australian authorities have to shape up their systems to be able to serve a broad national interest. This means that the ability to use military force when necessary, and knowing what is happening in their strategic a reas of interest remains supreme to ensure that the ISR is capable (Grey, 2008). Future capability Considering the increasing terrorist threats, there has been rising need to spice up the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance of the Australian defense forces. This has been through proposals such as the one by the ministry of defense to replace the present Lockheed Orion which has unmanned aerial vehicles, with a more sophisticated warfare vessel. To ensure that the future

The Inclusive Education Policy In Myanmar Education Essay

The Inclusive Education Policy In Myanmar Education Essay This research focuses on the primary and lower secondary level students with disabilities for the purpose to address the educational needs of CWDs in Myanmar. In addition, one of the most important concerns in the Myanmar educational sector is how CWDs can be provided with opportunities to take responsibility for their learning throughout the concepts of community involvement and technical assistance to achieve a sustainable future. The political and social context is discussed in terms of international policy reforms and initiatives, especially the Salamanca Statement that agreed to ensure a basic education for all children, including CWDs. The Salamanca Framework for Action (1994) was a significant milestone in the education for CWDs and recommended the mode of service delivery of timing and intervention that linked to inclusive practices. National-level policy and laws as they relate to CWDs are briefly described in service delivery, and increase awareness about the educational opportunities for them. Moreover, the government tries to make the concerted efforts harmoniously for the quality of life of PWDs at pleasant. According to the guidance of the EFA-NAP, the following activities are being implemented: Providing primary school textbooks worth over 1835.51 million kyats in free of charges for over 5 million primary students to initiate free, compulsory primary education; Preparing the programs for scholarships and stipends which will be implemented starting from 2012-13AY in basic and higher education sectors; and Enacting the private school registration law and developing rules and regulations in coordination with concerned departments to contribute the education services by the private sector. For improving the quality of school education, monitoring and supervision mechanism has been strengthened since 2006-07 AY by focusing on the teaching and learning process. Basic education schools were classified by 5 levels (A, B, C, D, E) based on applying the following monitoring and supervision criteria such as Accomplishment of the school principal; Level of school attendance; Implementation of monthly lesson plans; Students achievements; Use of teaching aids, facilities laboratories; Cultivating morale and ethics; Capacity of teaching staff; Adequate classrooms and furniture; School sanitation and tidiness; Adequate teaching aids and multimedia facilities; Greening of a school campus; and Good physical setting of schools. Myanmar has made progress in the education sector to fulfill MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education with the target of ensuring that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling: however the dropout rate still high in secondary school level. A total of 92 governments including Myanmar and 25 international organizations reaffirmed commitment to the goals of Education for All (EFA), recognizing the necessity and urgency of providing an education for children and youth with special needs within the regular education system. By the official data on net enrollment in primary schools was 84.6% in 2010 (MOE, 2010, EFA in Myanmar) and the gender discrimination has mostly been removed from basic education enrollment. However, the net enrollment rates in secondary and tertiary education are very low. The quality of education at all levels remains a serious concern. Inclusive education (IE) is to support education for all, with special emphasis on removing barriers to participation and learning for girls and women, disadvantaged groups, children with disabilities and out-of-school children. The core point of IE is the basic right to education, which is rooted in many international human rights treaties since the UDHR adopted in 1948. The Dakar Education Forum (2000) reaffirmed that education was a fundamental human right and underlined the importance of a rights-based government actions in implementing EFA activities at the national level. The agreements on the principles and standards of IE spelt out the international human rights instruments and a rights-based education system. Myanmar government applies a rights-based approach to education in their programming and planning processes. It will also briefly discuss possible entry points and tools to move forward. In addition, it is hoped that this research will increase understanding of human rights importance in underpinning development cooperation programming, as well as fostering a discussion on the practical aspects of implementing such programming. Many of the problems are related to the lack of education quality, relevance and exclusion of learning. There is a well-recognized link between overcoming the barriers of learning and achieving the EFA goals. Government and schools principals must, therefore, pay special attention to children who should be in school, and are not, and to children who are in school, but are unable to succeed there. At the present, MOE is making special arrangements for the disabled and other excluded children to attend formal schools and to continue their education receiving special care and attention. In Myanmar, IE programs were formulated to accommodate for all children regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions. These programs include all vulnerable children such as CWDs; children form mobile families, orphans, street children, and other disadvantaged children. No.25 Basic Education Primary School (Yangon) is the best witness of MOE in implementing IE. A new multi-pronged strategy for the capacity building in Teacher Education can promote the progressive adoption of effective teaching and learning methodologies for all CWDs at all levels. MOE and other partners strengthen educational management for the Basic Education Sector Plan that supports the Governments education service delivery to meet commodities needs at the school level. IE is a programme that creates opportunities for CWDs to pursue education together with non-disabled children in mainstreaming schools. It can bring about the educational opportunities for them. Nowadays, CWDs who have completed their primary education through special schools are now able to continue their education in mainstreaming schools by keeping abreast with other non-disabled children. IE According to the statistics data from MOE in 2011 showed that, there were 801 disable children in mainstreaming schools, 1450 children in special schools for the blind and the deaf, 30 disable students in universities and colleges and 6 disable students in master degree courses in 2010-11 AY. The government policy was developed and practiced with policy reform to fill the gap in legal and policy development. As par hearing from the media, the advocacy for helping disabled issue more and more in Myanmar. The government policy and legal change occur on resetting criteria for definition of PWDs. Out of nine criteria (international norms), some implementation processes of IE use four criteria to define the PWDs. To be more specific about educational opportunities for CWDs, the government agrees to provide all children (including all regardless of physical condition) equal opportunity to learn basic education. In the actual situation, there has a gap between policy and practice. The concept of IE means welcoming all children, without discrimination, in formal schools. Indeed, it is a focus on creating environments responsive to the differing developmental capacities, needs, and potentials of all children. Inclusion means a shift in services from simply trying to fit the child into normal settings; it is a supplemental support for their disabilities on special needs and promoting the childs overall development in an optimal setting. It calls for respect of difference and diversity of individual characteristics and needs. This has to include a consideration of overall organization, curriculum and classroom practice, support for learning and staff development. By the collaboration and cooperation of MOE, DSW is implementing inclusive education for the students with disabilities especially for the Blind and the Deaf students. Also, inclusive education workshops were held throughout the country and the teachers from the MOE and the staffs from DSW were also attended. Myanmar is now implementing six sectors for PWDs across the nation such as Enhancing Education Standard, Improving Vocational Trainings and Job Opportunities, Promoting Health Care Service, Enhancing Reintegration into the Society, Upgrading Capacity Building and Morale, and Providing Social Needs. In this situation, if the service providers can make the concerted efforts harmoniously, the life quality of PWDs will surely be enhanced and pleasant. Inclusive education can bring about the educational opportunities for CWDs. Some NGOs and DPOs are collaborating with the Department of Social Welfare, the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Health for CWDs, who have completed their primary and lower secondary education level through special schools, able to continue their education. 3.6.1 Implementing processes of IE by I/LNGOs TLMI is involving a little part in this area of IE implementation processes. They only conduct trainings for teachers on disability issues, the importance of CWDs to get the opportunity to attend schools like any other children and providing some barrier free arrangement in selected schools. TLMI is working with the parents of CWDs to convince to send the formal school and on the other hand they also try to engage with school principals to accept and pay attention for those children. Also they proposed the education need of PWDs in the Draft disabled law, advocate the decision makers and teacher, and we are working together with U Tin Nyo, retired DG from MOE who is very interested in IE for CWDs. Myanmar Independent Living Initiative (MILI) has concrete plan to implement the IE programs for children with cross-disabilities, they could not take shape it yet fully because their organization is just one year old still young. But, some executive members of MILI organization are actively involved in comprehensive disability law drafting process to ensure the educational rights of PWDs. The Long experience of disability inclusive education for five years, the community-based rehabilitation programs mainly supported poor children with disabilities to go to mainstream schools, advocated parents and education teachers for disability inclusive education and renovated the schools to be accessible for students with disabilities in collaboration with Department of basic education, DSW, local PWDs Self-help Organizations and other relevant stakeholders. That organization has planned to work in IE policy for PWDs by following kinds of strategies; Awareness raising and advocacy for disability inclusive education policy law Capacity building of educational officers and staffs, and parents as well Support children with disabilities for their mainstream and special schools Change the schools as accessible friendly places for disabled children Strengthen the collaboration among government departments, non-government sectors and relevant stakeholders to ensure the educational right of disabled children Eden initiated the project of IE implementing in formal schools and the plan for barrier free renovation such as walkways, seat toilet and one handrail that fixed in the toilet. In that project, 80 IE students were gathered at Eden Centre for CWDs. Also Eden celebrated the township level awareness meeting for introducing to the teachers for successfully implemented IE policy. It means that the principals and teachers from 21 schools are introducing IE awareness about IE at their schools. Therefore, IE process can only succeed through strong collaboration and cooperation amongst all shareholders especially from the government site and the donor site as well. Eden is cooperating with DSW and MOE. According to their advice, they held workshops and trainings for awareness raising workshop with DSW and MOE and shared awareness about IE and disability issue to other I/LNGOs staff, local authorities, other stakeholders and teachers from mainstream schools. EDEN organizes a series of mobile training courses throughout Myanmar aimed at helping improve the lives of disabled people which focus on activities such as CBR, IE and disability development. Through the help of DSW and Department of Basic Education No. (1), (2) and (3), awareness training not only about IE but also the Social Model of Disability was conducted in mainstream schools. PWDs in Yangon have more chances to access this information with help from NGOs and DSW, but those living in rural areas having difficulties due to inconvenient transportation and lack of mobility, U Hta Oke said. Im pleased about the growing number of people working in the field, but most of them are using a charity approach, which involves giving food, money, tools and other necessities, he said. Not many are using a life-based approach, which means providing training so they can stand on their own feet. Moreover, for the educational status of children with hearing/seeing/ intellectual disabilities in Myanmar is inadequate and behind-the-times. There is only the DSW has one project on sign language especially for people with hearing disability. There is no standard educational practice. Teachers learn by copying the methods of older teachers. According to the UN CRPD agreement emphasizes bi-lingual/bi-cultural education for people with hearing disability. The Mary Chapman School in Yangon uses the philosophy Total Communication that is method has been a widely adopted language policy in deaf education from the 1970s. But this philosophy is out-dated. Graduation rates are very low. In Yangon Division, only 14 students with hearing disability have passed high school and only six have graduated from university until 2011-2012 academic years. Undertaking All School-age Children in School Program In Myanmar, all school aged children in school project (ACIS) was implemented by the MOE by collaborating with UNICEF since 1994 with the aims of reducing the number of over-aged out of school children, eliminating non-school going populace, ensuring that all school aged children to attend school and increasing the enrollment rate of primary level students. They designed the last week of May as the Whole Country School Enrollment Week. 3.6.2 Special schools which are supported IE for CWDs Myanmar has a policy of IE, which means disabled students, including those who are blind, are allowed to attend classes in mainstream schools. This study found that mainstream schools are not properly equipped to cater for students with disabilities which mean that most CWDs are forced to attend special schools, despite the policy. There are challenges to implementing the policy, since schools lack the required resources and facilities. Myanmar Christian Fellowship of the Blind (MCFB) was founded on 4th August, 1975, to upgrade the basic level of education afforded to blind people in order to increase opportunities of leading independent in life styles. That foundation encourages beneficiaries in education specific to their needs including vocational training, as well as a focus on how to cope as a blind parent and job placements. The MCFB accepts children aged five and above and enrolls a similar method to the government mainstreaming schools. At that school, students can learn from grade 1 to 5 and then they can continue their secondary education in formal school. That school charges Kyats 15,000 a year for day students and Kyats 40,000-50,000 for boarding students, which covers accommodation, meals and tuition fees. However, there are over 700 blind and visually impaired students receive a formal or vocational education. The schools should be equipped with teaching materials in Braille, and teachers who know how to teach the blind by using Braille, said Mr. Thein Lwin, the general secretary of MCFB. Also in an interview with the principal of the Kyee Myint Daing School for the Blind found that the school accepts children from age six to 16, who are taught to the fourth standard. After they finished the primary education, they are sent to a formal school to continue their secondary education. The school and provides has both day students and boarders with free of charges for all fees of food and accommodation. The school can accept 200 students for one academic year. Mary Chapman School for the Deaf accepts children from the ages of five to 18. At that school, children can learn regular curriculum that is taught in formal schools together with speech reading, finger spelling and sign language. Moreover, children at that school over 10-year of aged are taught reading, writing and arithmetic and vocational training such as tailoring, knitting, book binding, bag-making, cooking and massage. The school fee is Kyats 6,000 per month including meals for students. The School for Disabled Children in Mayangone Township in Yangon is operated by the DSW. That school accepts both physically and mentally disabled children between the ages of six to 18 and teaches the standard curriculum up to the fourth standard. It has developed a special curriculum for children with a learning disability that take into account the extent of their disability and their capacity to learn. The current admission fee is Kyats 10,000 for one academic year. Further, while the study found that, the technical for education and training initiatives are not new to Myanmar. As a result of some recent educational developments and reforms, it is new to some teachers and learners both in curriculum and methods of delivery. Special Program for Over-aged Children This program is one of the branches of all school aged children in school especially for over-aged children. It was started in 2003-04 AY at basic education schools. If the child has between the age of 7 and 8, he/she will complete the primary education within 3 years and if the child has over 9 years of age, this accelerated program enables to complete his/her primary education within 2 years. Monastic Education System Under the supervision the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the monastic basic education schools are initiated by collaborating with the MOE. They use the formal basic education curriculum of MOE but the schooling hour is flexible according to the students availability. This program is so benefit for the marginalized children including CWDs that is complementary to the formal education system. In 2010-11 AY, there were about 1431 Monastic schools (1071 primary schools, 246 post primary schools, 112 middle schools and 2 high schools) with 0.215 million students including novices and nuns. Currently, at least 40% of all students in Myanmar are attending at these monastic schools. The research found that it is still very few opportunities for CWDs if we compared to the entire nation. 3.7 Problems of accessibility to education faced by PWDs The principle of basic education as a right based approach has been accepted internationally. However, a large number of CWDS are not able to complete a minimum number of school years in most developing countries. They face a variety of barriers before coming to school and even within the school. This research findings highlighted the problems of CWDs to access education that although the regulation and laws on inclusive education for all excluded children have been well established in Myanmar. The government runs the IE as the national level education development plan, however, there is a lack of educational assistive materials such as Braille books, Braille writing frames and syllabuses, qualitative/standard papers for writing in Braille, assistive devices for mathematical teaching or learning, and sign language interpreters. For these reasons and because of the lack of skilled teachers, the IE systems benefits have not been realized. Learning through the restricted environment has also been one the most critical issues of educational opportunities for PWDs that needs to be addressed in order to create equality and equitable education in Myanmar. The current education system does not suit for PWDs in rural area, specifically in promoting the education standard of CWDs. In fact, there are several factors that influence over the education opportunity for CWDs. In addition, the researcher tries to explore what are those factors, challenges, and obstacles in pursuing education in the community. The following data are contributed by the PWDs and community representatives during the field research. Towards the attainment of MDGs, many challenges still remain with regard to special focus which is required on hard-to-reach areas. A need of advocacy with more focus on duty bearer is a strategy to make sure of the long term commitment. The policy needs to be rewritten with a better understanding of authorities, duty bearers and duty holders. Moreover, the accessible services for PWDs in Myanmar is very little, only those who live in cities could access to those services and even then they need to get to such places where by need a lot of barriers to overcome to get there and money factor is another big barrier. In 2008, there are only 100 Physiotherapists appointed in hospitals under ministry of health. According to the First Myanmar National Disability Survey 2010 showed that there were only 50% of PWDs in Myanmar never attended school, out of which 66.5% enrolled in primary schools, 22.2% in secondary schools. Some kind of problems concerned with CWDs. A large percentage of those who do attend mainstream schools soon drop-out because of unfriendly attitudes and environments in educational settings. They often encounter negative treatment from their peers who are not sensitized to disability issues. Most teachers and school principals are not familiar with the idea of including. In Myanmar, one of the Southeast Asian countries, most of the people are still discriminate and exclude the CWDs traditionally. They believe money can make CWDs to be happy. Its not right. In special schools, there have IE projects for all CWDs. It can only the way to make in those childrens lives to be valuable. While the enrollment rate increase almost 100% every year at school opening seasons, there is alarming about 40-50% dropping out before they completed in their primary education so one could imagine for students with disabilities. There is little help for schooling opportunities for students with disabilities with the current situation because of the low awareness about the disability issue, wrong traditional believes and practice, less accessible resources (Brielle, sign language, teaching aids, Buildings, etc.), Low prioritization and no special law and regulation to protect them. Among the four types of disabilities, accessibility for physical disability, blind and deaf disability may be about 3. For people with intellectual disability is 0.05. The vast majority of CWDs never attended school and that a large percentage of the ones who do attend mainstream schools soon drop out due to inaccessible school infrastructure, lack of learning scopes, improper learning process and unfriendly school environment. But amongst the children that are not in any form of educational setups, a large majority shows a keen interest to acquire education. CWDs may have many of the problems that affect children at risk. The difficulties and problems are not because of their impairments but because of several barriers around their environments. During this field research, the researcher notified that there is an absence of reliable and consistent data on the educational status of children according to their disabilities. This makes it difficult for educators, policy-makers and programmers to understand the nature of the problem, and identify possible solutions. Moreover, the current teaching methods are not addressing to the individual needs of students with disabilities by lacking training and experience of teachers in teaching and handling them. Currently, the education of CWDs is concerned by DSW. For this reason, it is difficult to mainstream the program. Education for CWDs needs to be addressed by the MOE by collaborating with DSW and other stakeholder organizations. Economic Factors The high cost of instructional materials of CWDs further curtailed their access to all inclusive education services. Some representatives from DPOs were also presented about the cross section of economic factors of CWDs families to access education. To summarize the various agreements on poverty issues that is seriously hindering the CWDs from accessing education. Poverty is not only affected on the accessibility of basic education for CWDs but also for other children. In other the school drop-out CWDs case, many of them are suffering from an unrecorded or undiagnosed disability. If the community aware more about the disability issue, they could try to improve education for those children, but right now the illiteracy rate of this population is so high and that caused an economic burden on countries. In the failure to include those CWDs, most of the community members are ignoring an important step in our attempt to eradicate poverty. Poverty and lack of knowledge on disability issues are the major problems accessing education for CWDs. Poverty would stand out on top as there are livelihood opportunities for parents who are poor and having CWDs in the family. The researcher agrees with the respondents that because of the perceived added costs of health related problems, the problem is relatively deeper when the CWDs are involved. More than half of the population of PWDs lives in rural areas detached from the benefits of information and communication, transportation, and certain advanced technological facilities. Indeed the high cost of equipments, coupled with the rampant poverty predetermines the near or total absence of instructional materials. There does not seem to be a policy to ensure the massive distribution of these materials. School infrastructure The lack of matching infrastructure necessary for the integration was identified as a key challenge to all inclusive education services. Most of the schools infrastructures are not comfortable for children with physical and visual disabilities. There are many environmental barriers for wheelchair movement. In schools that are at least two stories high, there is no way to climb up the stair by children in wheelchairs or using crutches. Parents of physically disabled children have to be carried up stairs and the doors are also not large enough for wheelchairs to pass through. Lack of classroom adaptations hinders the movement of children with disabilities including the furniture of the classrooms and accessible toilets. These barriers are so difficult to access IE. A key problem is the lack of clear policy guiding I/LNGOs interventions in education for students with disabilities. Another barrier is the lack of reliable information and statistics which could back up planning and funding processes. All schools are under the Ministry of Education, but the development issues of CWDs are still under the DSW. Existing policies related to education and disabilities were found to be contradictory to each other. Appropriate policy formulation adaptation is required to overcome the barriers. Moreover, the budget for education is the basic need and awareness of duty bearers and duty holders need to be promoted along with its legal and policy development. It is somehow, inclusion is not a subject of Teachers training college, training methods tools are not available in Myanmar. Insufficient knowledge of inclusive teaching methodologies, lack of public awareness about the needs and opportunities of this target group and lack of funding to support inclusive education for CWDs are all preventing these children from receiving an education and being included in wider society. It is found that to be depended upon the individual teachers or school principals interest to initiate and include in the mainstream education system. Most of the services are available only in Major City such as Yangon, Mandalay and Sagine where 27% of PWDs are aware of existing social services, while only a third of those ever contacted the agency. Isolation and negative attitude by peers According to the EFA strategy, all schools are found to be enforcing IE process regarding the CWDs but there are no insulting them, special support for them, no strenuous work for them. In some cases, some non-disabled children perceive some CWDs as contagious and fear that they will transmit from those disabilities. Some superstitious parents of non-disabled children want to prevent their children from making friends with CWDs. This is one factor that upsets one of CWDs. Information and awareness sector As to the awareness of NGOs who provide services for PWDs, 14.7% know of their presence but just over 1.7% of those who are aware of the services had ever contacted NGOs. Concerning special institutions, 20.2% of PWDs have knowledge about special institutions but only less than 1.7% of them ever had contact with them. Only 14.6% of PWDs know about the existence of organizations for and of PWDs whereas only 2.5% of them ever been involved with those organizations. Participation of PWDs in IE policy is not a big problem for physically disabled persons. The big problem is IE and vocational training for ID. Government, I/LNGOs and DPOs need to do a lot of it. Unavailable trained teachers in adopting students with disabilities The lack of enough trained teachers has predetermined that CWDs lack the specialized care they need. This could be explained by lack of awareness and disability related facilities like ramps, special toilet facilities, learning materials by the parents. Teachers can integrate the virtue of education levels, roles and responsibilities by being exposed the requirements of CWDs in the community. In almost all schools, the students with disabilities allow to sit in front of the classrooms. Nevertheless in some schools, there was no effort to support for CWDs in this regard. The researcher noticed that one student with hearing disability was sitting at the back of the classroom that worsen her learning skill. When the researcher asked her class teacher about it, she said that the child had not told her about it. Teaching method Another problem faced by CWDs is the traditional methods of teaching and learning that has little scope for addressing diverse learning needs of students, lack of continuous assessment of individual learners, and a serious shortage of assistive devices and learning materials all act as major barriers to CWDs. There is no special curriculum for CWDs in mainstream schools but there are some special schools for CWDs, which unfortunately those schools are not located in and around the rural area. If CWDs can able to access formal education in the mainstream schools, they can gain not only education, but also the opportunity for social inclusion with their non-disabled friends that are so important to practice for their life-skills. Summarizing the interview with one student with intellectual disability from special school shared his feeling that he wanted to attend the school and he would like to live with his friends. If he stays at home, he feels so lonely and bored because he has nothing to do at home. He wants t

Jonathan Livingston Seagull :: Jonathan Livingston Seagull Essays

Jonathan Livingston Seagull Jonathan was not an ordinary seagull. For a thousand years, seagulls have spent their whole life on scrambling after fish heads. But Jonathan saw something different. He thought that life should not be just eating and fighting, even seagulls should have a reason to live. For him, his meaning of life is to fly. We all wish that we could spend all our time on doing things we like, just as Jonathan spent all his time on his beloved flight. However, the success in finding his meaning of life didn't bring with him any honor, but caused him to be an object of shame and irresponsibility, and to be banished due to his neglect to finding food. After having been banished, Jonathan was full time practicing flying and made great progress. He thought he had found his own heaven, and wondered why there are so few seagulls enjoying themselves in the heaven; "heaven should be flocked with gulls!" Therefore, besides finding his own meaning of life, he eventually returned to the place that once had expelled him, and help the fellows there to find their purpose of life. This is what I like most in the story. "You don't love hatred and evil...you have to practise and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it themselves" Jonathan was unselfish and lenient. He wasn't hostile to those who forced him out of his homeland, on the contrary, he learned to love them and help them. To forgive and love your enemy is even more difficult than finding the meaning of life, but Jonathan, a little seagull, managed to act it out. While Jonathan carried on practising, he found out that" this world isn't heaven at all". Heaven is being perfect, is not limited by time and space..."there is no such place". So, heaven is somewhere that we can never step out foot in. Very often, people do their best longing for the best result, they like to be perfect and try their best to be perfect. They have an idea of heaven in their mind and are upset all the time because they can never achieve it, we all have too many flaws. Jonathan Livingston Seagull :: Jonathan Livingston Seagull Essays Jonathan Livingston Seagull Jonathan was not an ordinary seagull. For a thousand years, seagulls have spent their whole life on scrambling after fish heads. But Jonathan saw something different. He thought that life should not be just eating and fighting, even seagulls should have a reason to live. For him, his meaning of life is to fly. We all wish that we could spend all our time on doing things we like, just as Jonathan spent all his time on his beloved flight. However, the success in finding his meaning of life didn't bring with him any honor, but caused him to be an object of shame and irresponsibility, and to be banished due to his neglect to finding food. After having been banished, Jonathan was full time practicing flying and made great progress. He thought he had found his own heaven, and wondered why there are so few seagulls enjoying themselves in the heaven; "heaven should be flocked with gulls!" Therefore, besides finding his own meaning of life, he eventually returned to the place that once had expelled him, and help the fellows there to find their purpose of life. This is what I like most in the story. "You don't love hatred and evil...you have to practise and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it themselves" Jonathan was unselfish and lenient. He wasn't hostile to those who forced him out of his homeland, on the contrary, he learned to love them and help them. To forgive and love your enemy is even more difficult than finding the meaning of life, but Jonathan, a little seagull, managed to act it out. While Jonathan carried on practising, he found out that" this world isn't heaven at all". Heaven is being perfect, is not limited by time and space..."there is no such place". So, heaven is somewhere that we can never step out foot in. Very often, people do their best longing for the best result, they like to be perfect and try their best to be perfect. They have an idea of heaven in their mind and are upset all the time because they can never achieve it, we all have too many flaws.

Economics for Business Essay

When we speak about the UK market of postal services, its image is indispensably connected with the notion of monopoly. For more than 350 years the UK postal market has been dominated by the Royal Mail. However, since 2006 the market has been open to competitors, and the postal services’ market players strove for possessing equal business opportunities. It is essential to review the current trends in the postal services market within the UK through the prism of monopoly, competition, and their benefits/ effects for the consumer and the overall efficiency/ quality of postal services in the country. Monopoly Royal Mail in the UK has for long been referred to as â€Å"privileged and increasingly unusual position of being a state-owned company protected from the market place† (Crew & Kleindorfer 2007, p. 7). As a result, Royal Mail has become one of the brightest representatives of what monopoly is within the British economy as a whole. It is essential to understand that when we speak about the state of postal services in the UK market, it cannot be described other than monopolistic before the year 2006. Moreover, even in the light of the improving communication strategies, Royal Mail was not losing its position, and was even strengthening it: â€Å"we are still dependent on the efficient, speedy delivery of bills and payments to our homes and businesses in exchange for the price of a stamp† (Starkey 2006, p. 71). Despite the primarily negative attitudes towards the monopolistic position of Royal Mail, monopoly is an objective market notion, and as any other market structure, it possesses its benefits and its disadvantages. In order to arrive to relevant conclusions, we have to consider both. One of the major advantages of monopoly, and particularly in the postal services, is exercising the principles of the economy of scale: in smaller postal enterprises this task may become impossible to fulfill. Moreover, having more available free resources, monopolies are frequently viewed as being closer to innovation than any other smaller enterprises within the postal services sector. However, this assumption is rather argumentative, and economic professionals tended to evaluate Royal Mail’s position within the postal services market as â€Å"negatively monopolistic† (AICES 2006, p. 8). This simply meant that Royal Mail was not striving towards exercising its free resources to bring innovation into postal services sector; as a result, competition was viewed as the only resolution for that difficult economic situation. This is a well-known conflict, when one tries to assess the opportunities and drawbacks of the monopolistic market structure: while monopoly generates significant profits which could potentially be directed at innovations, it simultaneously lacks any incentives to make these innovations real. This conflict has become the major reason for opening the market of UK postal services to competition. It is even more interesting to bear in mind that competition is not always the best solution to all economic problems of monopoly, and the responses to opening the postal market in the UK are still dubious and extremely various. â€Å"Much of nonsense is due to the liberalization of postal services. Here commercial firms bid for, and take, the lucrative part, the business mail. We all know what happens then. My own bank envelopes come with a commercial firm’s logo; the various branches email the details to a central department, where statements are prepared, one truck takes it all away and they only have to deliver to main postcode areas. (Clark 2007) The monopolistic structure of the UK market was not connected with any type of competition: the market was dominated by Royal Mail, and this VAT exempt company served the only postal services provider in the country. With the Government being the major Royal Mail’s shareholder, it was understandable why this provider possessed multiple economic benefits and did not strive to improve the quality of its services (Sloman 2004, p. 45). For us to understand all implications of the UK postal services’ liberalization, we come to the description and evaluation of the current situation within the UK postal market sector. The new market structure of postal services in the UK It is very important to understand how the postal services’ market in the UK looks at present. It should be noted that Royal Mail currently faces the competition from other 17 postal companies, and this market structure seems to create favorable conditions for effective competition. The largest portion of mail within this market goes from businesses to consumers (Starkey 2006, p. 72). â€Å"Several companies have signed â€Å"access† agreements with Royal Mail, allowing mail they have collected and sorted to be fed into Royal Mail’s network for final delivery. Royal Mail made 2. 4 billion access deliveries in 2006-07†³ (Starkey 2006, p. 72). Even with the 17 new postal companies becoming competitive to Royal Mail, the latter still provides 99% of all postal deliveries within the UK. â€Å"We can’t make the companies take advantages. We can just set the rules and put in a licensing regime, but Royal Mil will always be the major service provider† (Simpkins 2005). Other alternative postal service providers are currently capable of providing any types of postal services, with the exception of non-bulk items’ delivery, less than 100g in weight (Crew & Kleindorfer 2007, p. 8). Thus, is it possible to suggest that the postal services market in the UK has become as open as many had expected it to be? Of course, it is possible that the full effects of opening the UK postal services market are not yet perceived by the customers and businesses. However, it is also probable that there still exist significant barriers to competition within the postal market. â€Å"Postcomm is concerned that the competition so far has been too limited, and that this has allowed Royal Mail to get away with providing customers with a poor quality service† (Crew & Klenidorfer 2007, p. 9). Before 2006 the mail market of the UK was stated to lack competition, but possessing a considerable potential for growth; as a result many viewed competition and market openness as the best resolution to multiple issues postal monopoly in the UK traditionally rose (Falkenhall & Kolmodin 2005, p. 10). The opposition of Royal Mail to opening the market was natural and understandable: the company viewed this step as the direct pathway towards reduction of the profit margins, but the situation could not remain unchanged due to contemporary economic requirements towards competition. The efficiency of postal services after opening the market will gradually change. This process will be slow due to multiple barriers created on the way of potential Royal Mail competitors. However, some of the following results can be expected within the long-term period, and after numerous postal companies acquire fair access to different niches of the postal services’ market. First, the emergence of new services will increase the overall efficiency of the postal services in the UK. It is already evident that being surrounded by multiple competitors that strive for conquering and expanding their market share, even Royal Mail had to introduce a three-year plan of renewal: â€Å"changes have included the introduction of Single Day Delivery, reviews of its mail centers and transport and a significant number of redundancies† (Starkey 2006, p. 74). Second, the competition further increases efficiency by providing foreign market players with the opportunity to enter the market of postal services; as a result the efficiency of postal services at the international level also increases, which is especially important for businesses. Royal Mail was once blamed for being underdeveloped in terms of mechanizing its services, and making them more efficient (Falkenhall & Kolmodin 2005, p. 14). The current market processes in the UK postal services structure urge companies to reduce their workforce and to implement effective IT solutions for better services provision. Although, this does not mean that creating competition in the area of postal services inevitably leads to unemployment. With the creation and expansion of private postal operators, the amount of required qualified workforce increases, and we can state that competition only contributes into changing the balance of workforce between the operators. Competition is the best tool of increasing profitability and efficiency of national postal operators (Crew & Kleindorfer 2007, p. 44). One may suggest that the discussed changes in the market were long anticipated, and the fact of legal uncertainty and Royal Mail’s monopoly seriously hindered the process of investing into postal services by private operators. What one can expect now is the growing efficiency of the postal services along with the increase price control and the constant process of quality improvement in the structure of postal services in the UK. It should be noted, that the discussed improvements will and could occur in the ideal economic situation, when the openness of the market means providing real fair opportunities for competitors. However, the reality of the situation is different: â€Å"full competition in the UK postal market is blocked by two very fundamental issues: Royal Mail’s unique VAT exemption and the focus on downstream access† (Starkey 2006, p. 4). Private players of the postal market cannot access fair business opportunities and increase their efficiency against the zonal pricing introduced by Royal Mail not long before opening the market. Royal Mail has an access to changing its prices without being reviewed by Postcomm (Clark 2007). As a result, we face the challenge of competition vs. the realities of destabilization in the UK market of postal services. We cannot objectively state that the competition was introduced to increase efficiency, when Royal Mail creates unfavorable conditions for the rival operators (Starkey 2006, p. 5). While the efficiency of postal services changes very slowly, it is more than evident that the customers have already benefited from making the market of postal services competitive. First of all, private operators have changed the emphasis of their services from being business-oriented to being customer-oriented. As a result, â€Å"new entrants are building their products around their customers’ needs rather than asking their customers to fit in around their businesses† (Starkey 2006, p. 75). For example, numerous private customers have already perceived the benefits of later collection times (AICES 2006, p. 11). It is anticipated that private market players will keep expanding the range of postal services in case no barriers are created against these initiatives. The impact of competitive postal services on the customer is better to be viewed through the prism of Royal Mail achievements. The company has been the leading postal provider for almost 400 years, and its changing position and market attitudes can display the tendencies of economic development as a result of market openness. The major changes have taken place in company’s attitudes towards their customers: â€Å"although there is still some way to go to embed a culture of commercial customer focus throughout the organization, there is no doubt that Royal Mail has turned the corner† (AICES 2006, p. 18). Customers have acquired additional power in maintaining effective relations with the postal service: Royal Mail services turn towards being more attentive to their customers. They have displayed new abilities to listen to the customer, and to change in accordance with the customer’s requirements. Competition appears to be the matter of choice for the customer; consequentially, companies in the postal services sector have more incentives to pursue customer value through innovation and better customer satisfaction. The current situation in the UK market of postal services is still much confused and contradicting. On the one hand, we have the evidence of customers being completely satisfied with postal services being competitive. On the other hand, we cannot agree to the fact that the efficiency of postal services has increased even through the prism of growing profitability of some postal services. Certainly, the postal services have reached the stage at which costs are more comparable to the prices of postal services: the elimination of monopoly has opened the gateways to being more reasonable and more objective in setting the price for postal services. Simultaneously, it is difficult to disagree to the fact that Royal Mail still occupies 96% of the UK market (Starkey 2006, p. 6). The essence of competition is not in attracting rivals, but rather providing consumers with choice. In this situation efficiency of postal services is replaced by more important customer preferences. Monopoly is a â€Å"big, big issue, and it is a test of our society as to whether we are to organize everything to make a profit† (Benn 2007). Royal Mail is the embodiment of the economic paradox in the area of postal services in the UK. This paradox lies in connection with economies of scale. While with the large delivery volumes Royal Mail’s unit costs are low, but with Royal Mail being monopolistic the company can hardly be called efficient. Thus, with the price of Royal Mail’s services being extremely competitive and sometimes too low, it is simultaneously inefficient (Falkenhall & Kolmodin 2005, p. 29). Competition thus appears more beneficial for the customers, than for the companies in the postal services’ niche. It is essential that other private players can have access to similar scale benefits even if they cannot compete to the well-branched delivery network of Royal Mail. The efficiency of Royal Mail’s rivals cannot be increased until the issue of VAT exemption is resolved. â€Å"The VAT regime for post in the UK is a particularly pernicious barrier. Most people here will be aware that although Royal Mail is VAT exempt, its competitors are not, which causes pricing distortions especially for those customers that are also VAT exempt† (Starkey 2006, p. 76). Simultaneously, there is another serious concern about the rival companies’ behavior on the market. Some specialists fear that what takes place in Royal Mail is subsidizing lighter items with heavier mail, subsidizing social users for the account of business users, etc (Crew & Kleindorfer 2007, p. 51). In this situation competitive postal companies will strive for taking the most lucrative market niches, leaving Royal Mail without income from the most profitable services. However, this is where VAT exemption can serve for the benefit of the company: due to the lower prices, it is hardly possible that open competition will jeopardize the universal service and Royal Mail in general. In this situation one may possible predict the instability of the postal services market in the short-term period, and instability of the market structure is no better than previously existing monopoly. The UK postal services have appeared in the extremely essential stage of reconstruction – introducing competition cannot go smoothly for all market players. It should be noted that the issues of elimination or threat to the universal service are easily neutralized, and universal services can in no way be compromised by introducing competition. Any objective analysis shows that consumers, as well as businesses, have benefited from market opening through higher quality. In addition, prices have been substantially reduced for business customers while households have been protected from price increases† (Sloman 2004, p. 97). Yet, our objective analysis shows that competition in the UK postal services is in its initial stage. We have proved that customers evidently benefit from making the post market competitive, but the economic efficiency of the postal services is still to be achieved and increased. Conclusion We have come to conclusion that the effects of competition in the UK market of postal services are primarily viewed within the area of consumer satisfaction. The overall economic efficiency of postal services still leaves much to be desired. However, introduction of competition is the solid basis for providing consumers with choice, and expanding the market structure of postal services in the country. Certainly, monopoly possesses its advantages, but competition is the best perspective for both the new private players and Royal Mail in creating incentives for development and improvement.

Film Reflection- Race the Power of an Illusion

The informative film, Race The Power of an Illusion, Part 2 focused mainly gun point about Race, A category/ an idea. Assigning meaning based on how we look, different morals, values, beliefs and intellectual abilities. The social construct is mainly created by the society which occurred in the past and still to this day plays a roll in a humans everyday life. This film made me feel overwhelmed by the actions and behaviors because of ones race. It also made very good meaning full connections which have stuck in my head throughout the week.I am able to connect this film in couple ways to my life because where I live at home consists of the majority of dark skin and it kills me to see an individual judge when on the inside everyone is the same. Just like the example the professor gave in class, if you have a brown egg and a white egg, when they are both cracked and sitting in a bowl, there would be no absolute way to tell the difference. The thing which baffles myself is that the film started on by looking at the Declaration and having it show that men are created equal with freedom and equality.I personally am confused because with all the racial happenings occurring then, how could one call that â€Å"freedom’ and â€Å"equality. † Today as we live life, freedom comes up in the dictionary as â€Å"The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. † (dictionary. com) From what I do understand, that is not what it resembled back when the differences of one caused converse. I really enjoyed this film, it left an impact on my life and it was a film that was entertaining with all of the interesting points and comments made.