Culture and Education Essay Example for Free

Culture and Education Essay The institutions of education which are shaping the minds of todays youth do not all teach the same facts and curriculum. Throughout the world there are differing opinions on what, when, and how certain facts, theories, and concepts should be taught. Not all children are taught the same truths; this statement might sound unfair, or maybe incomprehensible. How, one may ask, could accepted truths not be taught as such; and what decides whether they will be or not? Cultural constructs such as norms, morals, and shared religious beliefs play a role in what education consists of and looks like for different groups of children all over the world. Let’s take a look at the common History class. When taking a History class in the United States you will most likely be learning U. S. History, and even if you take a World History class it will still focus on the U. S. and how it interacted with and impacted other countries. In Japan you would be learning Japanese History. However if you were to read through certain Japanese history text books you might be alarmed to find that Japan is portrayed not only as a victim instead of an aggressor in the context of WWII and that there is a lack of general information regarding their participation in the war all together. Largely in debate is the Nanking Massacre in which the Japanese allegedly systematically kill 300,000 people including both civilians and soldiers. There are two schools of thought, The Massacre Denial and The Massacre Affirmative. Japan’s culture is one of honor which makes it difficult for them to acknowledge their mistakes, and thus largely try to ignore the Nanking incident in a sort of sweep it under the rug fashion. In Japanese Universities many teachers will teach that while the event did happen the numbers were closer to 10,000 and included only soldiers while some classes do not cover the topic at all. In China they teach that it did in fact happen and claim the body count reached 300,000 or more. The effect of this difference in truths being taught is that in Japan younger generations do not view Japan as having been an aggressor in the war, and younger Chinese generations continue to view the Japanese as horrible people. Then there is Human Growth and Development / Sex Ed. While many believe it is a necessary section of what children learn in Health classes, some find it to go against their culture. In certain groups simply discussing opening a woman’s menstrual cycle or how a baby is made can be taboo. Not to mention once you start getting into discussions about birth control options and how to properly put on a condom all hell can break lose. To those whose culture forbids them from having premarital sex, these classes can seem obscene and worrisome in the sense that perhaps these classes will cause their children to commit these sins after acquiring knowledge about it. Then there are also cultures who simply think that school is not a place for these things to be covered, and that it is the parents’ responsibility to teach their children about them themselves. Another main concern is also when these things will be taught. I myself remember being taught about the changes that would happen to my body once I hit puberty starting around 4th grade in Human Growth and Development classes. It wasnt until high school that anyone really talked about sex, and ways to make it safe. Some people think that due to rates of teen pregnancy and the way these teen parents seem to be getting younger and younger, that it may be necessary to begin bringing up safe sex much earlier on. However, many people believe this would be overstepping many cultural boundaries. Either way schools almost always allow parents to remove children from these classes as they understand that these matters are viewed differently by different cultures. The way in which the Theory of Evolution is taught throughout the U. S. s another prime example of how cultural beliefs try and sometimes succeed in shaping educational curriculum. While throughout the science community the Theory of Evolution is greatly accepted as the reason behind animals and humans being the way they are today, the fashion in which it is taught to students throughout the United States varies from state to state. A map published in a 2002 issue of Scientific American which was based on data collected by Lawrence S. Lerner of California State University the map depicts the quality of coverage given to the Theory of Evolution in each states Science Standards. It shows that while in a little over half of the states the teaching of the theory is considered very good to satisfactory, a number of states, particularly several in the Bible Belt, an area of the Southern United States where the culture reflects the strongly conservative and Evangelical population which boasts higher church attendance than the countries average; there is â€Å"unsatisfactory, useless, or absent† coverage of the theory. The battle to allow for another theory to be taught instead of, or alongside Evolution is ongoing but has been approved in Kentucky as well as Tennessee. These states now teach Creationism/Creation Science, â€Å"A literal belief in the biblical account of Creation as it appears in the Book of Genesis. Creationists believe that the creation of the world and all its creatures took place in six calendar days; they therefore deny the theory of evolution. †() In areas of the U. S. where religion is not a large part of culture it is not likely for Creationism to be seen as something which should be taught in science classes, however is areas where the religious roots of a culture run deep the attempts such as these to control education are apparent. If one were to make a list of all things which are agreed upon by their culture to be truths and compared it to that of another’s there would undoubtedly be differences. While one would hope the majority of facts matched there will always be variations. This is reflected through the words of teachers and the knowledge of their students. Ones’ culture defines what education consists of and looks like for them, perhaps it seems unfair, but it is undeniably true. Not all children are taught the same truths.

Operation Management Case Studies Essay Example for Free

Operation Management Case Studies Essay Operation Management Case Studies Intoduction Case study on Salmon processing facility Question 1 E= $ 6,333.33 Therefore, the additional expenditure for the productivity of the two systems to equal will be $ 6, 333.33 Question 4                   If the cost of energy increases in future, the productivity of facility will be affected negatively and it will decrease. If the cost of the energy increases beyond the estimated additional expenditure of $ 6,333.33, the productivity of the new facility will be much lower than that of the old system and therefore, it will not be advantage to the firm. This will also affect reduce the profitability of the company. Case 2 on Hard Rock Cafe Question 1                   The Hard Rock strategic changes that it has experienced include globalization and changes in its brand through unique services that include rock music. The music has led to the growth of this company. It has managed to open 157 cafe facilities in more than 57 countries. The cafe has also diversified brands to fish and lobsters in Britain. Moreover, it has started shifting its target market from tourists to non tourists’ cities in United Kingdom in addition to leasing cafes in tourism cites such as Nottingham (Heizer, Render, 2013). Question 2                   Hard Rock has various PRODUCTS that vary from Hamburger, beef, and other tourism attracting meal. The cafe is has also diversified its products to fish and lobsters thus widening its market and meeting the needs of the customer.                   Hard rock cafe moved its LOCATION from domestic market to global market. In addition, it has started opening in new non tourisms LOCATIONS such as Manchester united to prevent risks associated with economic fluctuations that arise from tourism business poor performance.                   Hard rock HUMAN RESOURCE has participated in developing new strategies that has helped to improve the performance the business. For example, the introduction of sound and visuals in dinner events that attract more customers and recruitment of highly trained employees that provides quality services.                   The Hard Rock has improved its  SERVICE by adding unique services that cannot be found in any other place in the world such as music on both quality visual and sounds. They serve food with enthusiasm on their customers (Heizer, Render, 2013). Question 3 -123825158750Introduction Growth Maturity Decline Standardization Less rapid product changes more minor changes Optimum capacity Increasing stability of process Long production runs Product improvement and cost cutting Little product differentiation Cost minimization Overcapacity in the industry Prune line to eliminate items not returning good margin Reduce capacity Forecasting critical Product and process reliability Competitive product improvements and options Increase capacity Shift toward product focused Enhance distribution Product design and development critical Frequent product and process design changes Short production runs High production costs Limited models Attention to quality Best period to increase market share RD product engineering critical Practical to change price or quality image Strengthen niche Cost control critical Poor time to change image, price, or quality Competitive costs become critical Defend market position OM Strategy/Issues Company Strategy/Issues HDTV CD-ROM Color copiers Drive-thru restaurants Fax machines Station wagons Sales 3 1/2† Floppy disks Internet 00Introduction Growth Maturity Decline Standardization Less rapid product changes more minor changes Optimum capacity Increasing stability of process Long production runs Product improvement and cost cutting Little product differentiation Cost minimization Overcapacity in the industry Prune line to eliminate items not returning good margin Reduce capacity Forecasting critical Product and process reliability Competitive product improvements and options Increase capacity Shift toward product focused Enhance distribution Product design and development critical Frequent product and process design changes Short production runs High production costs Limited models Attention to quality Best period to increase market share RD product engineering critical Practical to change price or quality image Strengthen niche Cost control critical Poor time to change image, price, or quality Competitive costs become critical Defend market position OM Strategy/Issues Company Strategy/Issues HDTV CD-ROM Color copiers Drive-thru restaurants Fax machines Station wagons Sales 3 1/2† Floppy disks Internet                   The company is still in the growth stage but approaching maturity. This is from the fact that Hard Rock is trying to change its products from beef and Hamburger to lobster and fish, it can be noted that it is trying to improve its products in order to increase its competitiveness. The company is still forecasting on its future market where it want to change from tourists-dependent market to non-tourism dependent market (Heizer, Render, 2013). The cafe has products that are reliable with little improvement. Reference Heizer, J., Render, B. (2013). Principles of operation ,management: Sustainability and supply chain management. Pearson Source document

Great man and theory of leadership

Great man and theory of leadership   The main idea behind Great Man theory is that leaders cannot be made, for they are born leaders (Great Man Theory, Assumptions, n.d.). The supporters of the great man theory concentrated mainly on well known historical political and military leaders (Leadership Theories, The Great Man Theory,  ¶1). They also claimed that unexpected events, like for instance war, can also cause sudden rise of the leader, among which one could list Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, or even Adolf Hitler, who managed to gain support of the majority of the population. But even centuries earlier, humankind witnessed historical events used to support the concept of the great leader theory, like for instance Moses (Great Man Theory, Description, n.d), who was seen as the only one capable of freeing Israelites.   The leaders, who fall into the group of the great man, were perceived not only as heroic but also mythic, possessing specific traits (Leadership Theories, The Great Man Theory,  ¶2). On the other hand, because people posses different traits, it was impossible for the great man theory supporters to establish an universal model of the great man, characterized by common values and the same number of traits. Nevertheless, those who support Trait Theory believe that a set of universal traits of leaders can be established (Leadership Theories, Trait Theory,  ¶4), and people who make good leaders have the right ‘or sufficient combination of traits (Trait Leadership Theory, 12Manage, Assumptions of Trait Theory,  ¶3). Basically, if one can identify people to have the certain traits, the traits falling into the Trait Theory boundary, then leaders can be easily identified (Shead,  ¶1).   Clawthon (1996,  ¶5) writes that â€Å"fate or providence was a major determinant of the course of history, the contention that leaders are born, not made was widely accepted, not only by scholars, but by those attempting to influence the behavior of others†. According to him, the Great Man theory has been abounded due to the increased interest in the behavioral sciences, and to the claim that if not everyone, then many, can be trained to become leaders through enhancing their abilities, for â€Å"nurture is far more important than nature in determining who becomes a successful leader† (1996,  ¶6). One could say that one of the reason behind abounding The Great Man and Trait Theory was also the fact that instead to concentrate on effective leadership it looked into what possible could make a great leader. It fully focused on leader, omitting the importance of the followers (Leadership Theories, Weaknesses,  ¶1 ), who might look for a certain traits in their le aders and abound them if failed to find. Among those desired traits are honesty, inspiration, forward-looking, competency, and intelligence (Shead,  ¶6).

Anglo-Saxon Ideal Code of Conduct :: Beowulf Epic Poems Anglo-Saxon Literature Essays

Anglo-Saxon Ideal Code of Conduct The epic poem of â€Å"Beowulf† presents the characteristics of two heroes, Beowulf and Hrothgar. During this Anglo-Saxon time period, Hrothgar rules as the king of his Danish lands. However, this king faces many problems due to the disturbances of a monster known as Grendel. As an Anglo-Saxon warrior of the time, Beowulf hears of this creature and journeys through the hero's path to kill Grendel. Through this journey, Hrothgar and Beowulf reconstruct the code of conduct of an ideal Anglo-Saxon king and warrior. The Danish lands of the time are ruled by Hrothgar, a respected and generous king. These qualities of character were admired by the people of his time and place. All people of Hrothgar's kingdom respected this king, and they all accepted his â€Å"very word far and wide as a command.† The people also give him great titles such as the â€Å"Lord of the Mighty Danes,† â€Å"guardian of the Scyldings,† and â€Å"protector of warriors.† Much of these people's respect come in response to Hrothgar's generosity to everyone. This generosity can be seen towards Beowulf, when the king gives his thanks for the heroic deeds of the warrior. Hrothgar rewards Beowulf with priceless material as he says to the warrior, â€Å"You shall lack no earthly riches I can offer you.† The people of the land also trust their king, who holds a strong belief in God. In the scene where Hrothgar celebrates Grendel's death, he holds the monsters hand as he says, â€Å"Let us give thanks at once to God Almighty for this sight.† The followers of the king both respect and trust their ruler, and through his generosity and strong trust in good, Hrothgar displays the ideal code of conduct for an Anglo- Saxon king. Another epic hero that has qualities that follow the Anglo-Saxon code of conduct is Beowulf. This warrior, known to be the â€Å"strongest man alive,† leaves for a heroic journey when he hears of the evil Grendel. He first shows his strength and bravery when he sets sail to assist Hrothgar in defeating Grendel after hearing news of the creature in his own land. Beowulf is constantly referred to as brave, such as when he defeats Grendel, and Hrothgar must reward him for his heroics. As the â€Å"brave man moved forward until he stood immediately before the Danish lord,† Hrothgar says, â€Å"I will reward this brave man with treasures.† The unbeatable strength of Beowulf shows during his confrontation with Grendel, when the monster instantly realizes that â€Å"never had he met any man

Authors Playing With Our Emotions Essays -- The Fear, Speaking Bittern

Authors Playing With Our Emotions in Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Fear†, Chuck Palahniuk’s â€Å"Speaking Bitterness†, Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery†, and Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† Some authors are very clever in the way they toy with our emotions. It is not uncommon to find yourself giggling at a story while simultaneously realizing you probably should not be laughing at something that is actually quite gruesome. These mixed emotions are stressful for a reader, and this anxiety is an author’s way of creating paranoia. Paranoia is a fear caused mainly by extreme anxiety, and in many cases the anxiety is a result of dissonant emotions that create tension. Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Fear†, Chuck Palahniuk’s â€Å"Speaking Bitterness†, Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery†, and Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† all utilize dissonant emotions to cause stress for the reader. Frost and Palahniuk focus on the conflict between fear and a lack of reason for fear. Jackson and O’Connor focus on the dissonance between humor and gore, and also the conflict between a need to feel sympathy for a character and a lack of connection to said character. But there are also the fearless, bold, and strong-minded people. There are people who may not be affected by the tricky ways of these authors. However, they are the exceptions, and just because they do not feel it does not mean they are not supposed to. Despite these exceptional people, authors design their stories specifically to include the tension from dissonant emotions in order to elicit paranoia-related anxiety. It is natural to want to identify the source of an emotion, so when authors create an overwhelming sense of fear without explanation, the reader experie... ... author wants them to be guided. The paranoia aspect is a theme that the authors are trying to utilize as a means to a certain end of their choosing, and that is why they induce such anxiety in their readers. A sense of paranoia is elicited by the tension created by conflicting emotions. Works Cited Frost, Robert. â€Å"The Fear†. Robert Frost’s Poems. New York: St. Martin’s, 2002. 107-111. Print. Jackson, Shirley. â€Å"The Lottery†. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. 586-592. Print. O’Connor, Flannery. â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find†. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. 1042-1053. Print. Palahniuk, Chuck. â€Å"Speaking Bitterness†. Haunted. Chuck Palahniuk. New York: Doubleday, 2005. 258-268. Print.

The Internet :: essays research papers

The Internet Imagine life today without the convenience of the Internet. People would actually have to get up out of their comfortable chairs, get in their cars, and drive to the store, the library, the mall, or wherever they wanted to go. Wouldn't that just be a shame? But the Internet has not always been used for the entertainment, in the beginning it was only used by military personnel for communication reasons. In fact, if you were not a computer expert or a genius, you could not even begin to figure out the very complex system known as the Internet. The Internet is the child of several marriages: The government to science, and the telecommunications industry to the computer and software industry. The Internet was the result of some visionary people in the early 1960's who saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific and military fields. In, J. Licklider, proposed a global network of computers, and moved to the Defense Advanced Research Projects to develop it. One of Lickliders colleagues, Lawrence Roberts, came close to connecting the first computers in California and Massachusetts, but because the telephone's circuit switching was inadequate the connection was unable to be established. It was not until 1966 that the first Internet was actually conceived. Originally, This project was only meant to be a small network connecting super computers amongst researchers in the United States. This network became known as the Advanced Research Project Agency(Net) or the ARPANET. The innovators of this network wanted to see the ARPANET connect more than just super computers, they wanted people around the United States to be able to use the ARPANET. In 1967 these innovators went to the Association of Computing Machinery Symposium and presented papers to legalize their endeavors. In 1967 they were approved by the ACMS to continue their work, and in 1968 the first software and networking hardware were designed, and by 1969 the ARPANET had connected four universities in the southwestern United States. These schools included: Stanford Research Institute, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. By 1971 fifteen more schools had been added to this network including a university in Hawaii. Although the Internet was constructed for military purposes it was slowly moving away from those roots. The network was becoming so commercial that librarians began automating and networking their catalogs.

Fashion and Gender

Introduction In the western culture, fashion has affected and reflected the distinctions between the social and economical status of men and women throughout the years. From the 19th century on, gender, social understanding of femininity and masculinity, became clearer and more precise. They were identifiable through fashion and clothing and were an important aspect in distinguishing roles of men and women. However, changes in fashion will blur as much as emphasise the differences between gender, evolving in parallel borrowing from one another.Thus, as the constant changes in fashion, the level of differences between men and women varied very so often. Fashion was influencing and defining gender role and gender lifestyle was influencing fashion. Masculine men and feminine women The first signs of gender distinctions appeared at the start of the 19th century following the French Revolution. In addition to separating social classes, fashion now established a clear division between male and female clothing. Men were no longer powdered or perfumed and they got rid of ornaments and wigs, now signifies of femininity.Their clothing was characterized by a restricted use of material, tailored construction, simplified set of surface, uniformity, net and spotless garments, perfect hats and limited color (29 January). According to the trickle-down effect, fashion trends were still created by the upper-classes and were followed by others down the scale (05 February). Then, according to Georg Simmel, two types of males emerged from the middle-class. Dandies were followers of the leisure class and never went against a particular fashion dress code while bohemian were rejecting fashion (05 February).Men of the upper-class are characterized as a Flaneur by Walter Benjamin: â€Å"Empathy is the nature of the intoxication to which the flaneur abandons himself [†¦]† (05 February). The upper-class still needed to follow three rules in order to stay on top and keep the m iddle-class from rising; the expensive fabric, the lack of movement inflicted by the garment and the novelty of the ensemble (05 February). They conformed to a conspicuous lifestyle with their absence of labour and function in the society, but still in a more subtle way than women in terms of dress (29 January).Indeed, women became a physical display representing the husband’s wealth through fashion, assuring their social rank in the leisure class; the new aristocrats. Important gatherings such as the Grand Prix de Paris were a place where â€Å"one went to the races, as to the theater, partly to look over the women and their apparel† (Hebert, 24). They would wear multiple colors, dresses with pouf skirts, light fabrics, beading and flower ornaments, parasols and other accessories. Women were placed in the forefront with fashion and devoid of any role or power. [†¦] the adornment of both the female person and her environment was an expression of women’s inf erior economic power and her social status as a man’s chattel† (Veblen, 91). Unattached and unmarried women were also expected to dressed respectfully and fashionably for the dignity of her family and for future husbands. Lower-level women such as actresses and prostitutes, who were mingling with the upper-class, wore more revealing clothes but still in fashion. Women were thought of as irrational and sensible creatures who adhered to fashion by weakness, to have a sense of belonging.During the 19th century and early 20th century, there is a clear distinction between man and woman fashion. It is reflected in their clothes and in their social status and role in the society. Gender was easily identifiable with the shape formed by the garment. While men wear clean cut, sober and solid suits, holding all the power, the women dress in soft, elaborate and colourful dresses, trophies to the men. ? Fashion upside-down With the start of the World War I, women were now helping ou t and filling more masculine jobs. Roles were no longer clearly defined according to hysical characteristics. â€Å"Because while war work forced women to life in new social and physical environments, they had to adapt their clothing to unfamiliar activities and spaces† (Matthews David, 101). New technology and new combat techniques meant also a change in menswear. Soldiers had to wear uniforms that hid their masculine forms to allow movement. They replaced their flat and boxy hats with a more feminine and round one with leaves and flowers to hide in the trenches. â€Å"A definite outline, a traditionally masculine attribute, proved a deadly handicap in battle† (Matthews David, 97).Upper-class men were traditionally supposed to show their status through clothing. The advent of the war blurred distinctions between classes as both had to participate in the war effort. Men were no longer useless and ineffective in the society, with meant a necessary change in fashion. Res trictions in luxury fabrics, such as silk, fur and ornaments, forced a transformation of men’s masculine and luxurious attire. All men were now wearing jersey fabric clothing, darker earth colours and softer silhouettes. In the early 20th century, there was a eminent need for change in fashion.While men were adopting feminine fashion to survive during the war, women started borrowing the simplified and linear masculine silhouette. â€Å"The flip side of this feminization of the sniper was the much more generalized masculinization of women’s civilian and uniform dress during the war† (Matthews David, 101). They started wearing suits with sober colours to adapt to their more active lifestyle in the warfare. The latter was the start of a changing role in society for women. Before this change, women had no power on fashion or society.They were now needed for labour and they showed to be very efficient. This allowed women to make decisions and have a definite role so ciety. By adopting the masculine look, they gained power. They were no longer considered as an accessory to men. The exchanges of particular characteristics of gender made the distinctions and the differences more blurry. The World War I was a turning point in fashion for both men and women. Shortages of materials transformed clothing; new fabrics emerged, new silhouettes using less fabrics, less ornaments, leaner cuts, suits for women and softer clothes for men. Women were now looking more or less like men with the square suits and linear dresses, requisitioning their roles as women as though the clothes itself hold the power. While men were still the dominant figure, women were revising their position in the public and private sphere. ? Conclusion To conclude, gender is a social perception of masculinity and femininity. Through the 19th and 20th century, both men and women were affected by fashion; gender leading the distinctions.Sexes were defined by gender in the 19th century wi th the specific trends of clothing for each. Men were wearing clean and linear cuts, showing their boxy figures, while women wore elaborate and frivolous clothes highlighting their silhouette. Roles were also clearly different according to gender. Men held all the power and women served of accessories, displaying the husband’s wealth. The World War I acted as a turning point for men and women. Both were transforming their fashion because of their active lifestyle by adopting each others gender characteristics of fashion.Men softened their figures while women started wearing masculine suits. Gender differences became were blurred and roles redefined; women gained power and all men got functional for the society. Hence, the level of distinction between gender is in constant change. Fashion influences gender roles and gender lifestyle influences fashion. The latter blurs, blends as well as emphasis the social perceptions of what a men and a women is and looks like. Gender contin ues to affect and reflect distinctions between sexes, both constantly borrowing and exchanging from one another.