Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

The old poet Kahlil Gibran, a long time ago, once said, "You work that you may keep pace with the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission toward the infinite." An interesting thought, that we work in order to keep pace with the earth. Now, I'm sure you're asking yourself, how can my near minimum wage job, where the customers treat me like a doormat and I still have to be pleasant and chipper, keep me in sync with the soul of the earth. Well I imagine there are higher rewards to part-time high school jobs, but other than the always too small pay checks, I am hard pressed to fathom them. Yet, that is not the kind of work I am speaking of. And then there is school work. Yes of course there are obvious rewards, such as these diplomas we are about to receive, to putting in a lot of time, energy and hard work into our studies. However, today I am here to talk about another aspect of work. It is work that many of us have been involved in one way or another either in sch...

Building Community: The Neighborhood Context of Local Social Organization Essay

Using the data in the table provided on pages 20 and 21, what can you say about the relationships people have with their neighbours and immediate community? Provided is a table, which was taken from a study by the research consultancy ICM on different aspects of neighbouring. This table looks at the responses of people to answers on neighbouring, using different groupings. On the top, the general heading shows the gender, age, social class and regions. The horizontal axis identifies the answers that were give, lead by the weighted base. The header gender divides into three subheadings, the total of all the people that were asked separated into male and female. The next general heading- the age_ divides into 6 different age groups, beginning at the age of 18 and ending in 65+. From the age of 25 there is an increase of 9. Social class, another general heading is separated into 4 subheadings, while the general heading regions divides into 5 subheadings. So, the horizontal axis describes some characteristics of the people which were asked. What are the main patterns in this table? The row gender, here divided into male and female, doesn’t reveal any huge differences in the percentage of how those questions were answered. The percentages are quite close together. The row social class, with 4 different subheadings, reveals, that there is only one huge difference in question one: â€Å"I have a very good relationship with my neighbours†. Class AB with the highest percentage of 46% and Class C2 the lowest with 32%. A difference of 14%. Wales & South West, as one subheading of the general heading region, seems to have the best relationship with their neighbours with a percentage of 42%, examining answer one, followed by the Midlands. But here also, it is only a difference of 10% in total in comparison to Scotland, where it is 32% The biggest difference of a good relationship to neighbours is to find at the general heading age. The subheading 25-34 has a better relationship to their neighbours (25%) than the age group 18-24(18%). But this increases remarkable up to the age group 65+ with a percentage of 59%. What are the interesting features? The pre-given answers are divided into positive answers(6), such as:†I have a very good relationship with my neighbours† and negative answers(6) such as:†I don’t have a very good relationship to my neighbours†. Only one answer is kind of neutral. Throughout all subheadings, the answer:†I spend a lot of time with my neighbours† are answered quite similar, the biggest difference here is 6%, at the age subheading again. Also, the neutral answer has similarities in terms of percentage. The table shows, that even that you have a very good relationship with your neighbours, does not necessarily mean, you spend a lot of time with your neighbours. References: Source:ICM(2011) Good Neighbours Survey:Prepared on Behalf of Band and Brown by ICM Research.London,ICM Research Ltd. End of TMA03 part one Word count: 497 TMA03 Part 2 Examine the argument that â€Å"Good fences make good neighbours† 1.Social identity 2.Relationship with neighbours 3.Good fences do make good neighbours 1. What is a social identity? According to Taylor(2009), the term identity is widely used but rather difficult to pin down. People have many different identities. A different identity (a group or collective identity is also given by difference from other groups),for example, being a woman,not a man and so on. A group or collective identity is both individual, saying something about a particular person, and social, because it refers to others who are similar or different. An identity given by connections to other people and social situations is social identity. Those different social identities can  overlap, which means, the definitions are not mutually exclusive. Some kind of a relationship for example can be people in the same street that see each other and say hello to each other-they share a relational identity as neighbours, a collective identity as local residents. In most situations, people understand identities in terms of what people do rather than what they are. The sociologist Harold Garfinkel suggests, that social life is in constant motion. People also have the skills and knowledge to create and maintain social order. Social order, which regulates everyday social interaction between neighbours, often consists of contradictory obligations and norms, which have to be negotiated in the course of everyday social life in the street.(Byford,2009,p.267) As described by Joanna Bourke people developed for example an distance mechanism to maintain a good relationship to their neighbours. 2. Everybody needs good neighbours? Neighbours are expected to have a â€Å"general disposition towards friendliness while , at the same time, respecting others† â€Å"need for privacy and reserve† (Willmott, cited in Byford,2009,p.253) Depending on a variety of factors such as age, cultural background, socio-economic status and also personal characteristics as well as personal preferences makes up the individuals relationship to a neighbour. There is no â€Å"code of conduct† or a manual, how to behave as a good neighbour, however people acquire over times knowledge through socialisation, through the practice of being a neighbour. Life in a neighbourhood is ordered and structured. There are rules, habits and conventions, which regulate how people live together and interact in the street.(Byford,2009,p.262) When neighbouring goes wrong usually communications breaks down. In todays society a mediator is brought in, to re-establish communication, and neighbours should resolve their problems themselves. 3.Why does a fence makes a good neighbour? Part of any streets infrastructure are timber fences, hedges, walls, gates curtains and other structural artefacts that are designed to keep residents apart rather than bring them together. The expression â€Å"Good fences make good neighbours†, captures the essence of a paradox that permeates life in every  neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods are, or are expected to be communities of people living together, while, on the other hand, they are a collection of distinct homes inhabited by individuals, families and households whose privacy is guarded from intrusion by outsiders, including neighbours.(Byford,2009,p.251) With the word fence is not just only actually the physical fence meant. It also means those structures mentioned above. Everybody wants and needs good neighbours, but also everybody wants and needs privacy. An example given by Byford on page 251 when he looked at buying a house. He was told, how great the neighbourhood was, how kind and nice the next door neighbours wer e. On the other hand most of the time the neighbours weren’t even there. Conclusion A good fence does make a good neighbour. â€Å"Fences† are there, to keep the neighbours at a distance people want them to be. References: Taylor,S.(2009)†Who do we think we are? Identities in everyday life† in Taylor,S.,Hinchcliffe,S.,Clarke,J.and Bromley,S.(eds) Making Social Lives,Milton Keynes,The Open University Hinchcliffe,S.(2009)†Connecting people and places† inTaylor,S.,Hinchcliffe,S.,Clarke,J.and Bromley,S.(eds) Making Social Lives,Milton Keynes,The Open University Byford,J.(2009) â€Å"Living together,living apart:the social life of the neighbourhood in Taylor,S.,Hinchcliffe,S.,Clarke,J.and Bromley,S.(eds) Making Social Lives,Milton Keynes,The Open University End of TMA03 part 2 Word count: 658

How Entrepreneurs Impact an Economy

Introduction As economies continue to integrate due to globalisation and formally closed economies like India and China march toward total liberalisation, entrepreneurship is on the increase. A close analysis of developed and industrialised economies indicates a common denominator that stands out amongst all of them, which is the important role played by entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in such economies.This phenomenon has proved to us that if an economy is to develop fully, entrepreneurship should be allowed to flourish. Therefore it is the objective of this paper to critically analyse the impact of entrepreneurs in any given economy. In this paper the writer will identify and discuss the many benefits afforded to an economy through entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship and the disadvantages of the same and draw conclusions on the overall impact of the entrepreneurs. InnovationIndividuals often resort to entrepreneurship for one of the following reasons, because they find a market n iche and have the solution to profit from such niche, because they have been unable to find suitable employment or a suitable means of income and therefore have resorted to using their creativity to generate an income for themselves, or because they have the technological know-how and the financial resources (or able to source all of the above) necessary to generate income by satisfying a need in the marketplace.Irrespective of which of the above led an individual to become an entrepreneur it is clear that innovation and creativity is the driving factor and therefore it can be stated that the biggest impact of entrepreneurs to an economy is the innovative contribution that they make. Job Creation As stated in the previous section one of the main reasons that individuals tend to become entrepreneurs is because they are unable to find suitable jobs.As a result, by being enterprising, creative and finding a market niche, not only are they able to generate an income for themselves but a lso to employ other individuals in their business operations. Therefore one of the most positive impacts that entrepreneurs make on an economy is job creation and the reduction of unemployment levels within that economy. In developed countries we see that almost 40 – 50% of the workforce are employed in small and medium scale business enterprises that were started up by very enterprising individuals.Likewise in countries like India we see that millions of women have been able to pull their families out of poverty through self employment and entrepreneurship that has been made possible by different Non Governmental Organisations and due to the availability of such resources through micro finance etc. Africa is another good example of small scale entrepreneurs helping to reduce poverty and help many avoid destitution. Therefore based on everything that has been stated above it is apparent that entrepreneurs can cause a great degree of impact on an economy through job creation a nd income generation.Increased Competition Another positive impact of entrepreneurship on an economy is the increasing level of competition in that economy as new entrepreneurs join the fray in existing domestic markets. While one may venture to say that this will only lead to market saturation, the upside of such a phenomenon is that it causes all the players in the market to re-evaluate their operational capabilities, increase value addition, lower costs and become more efficient.Thus it can be stated that competition reduces likelihood of monopolies and oligopolies in the marketplace and is beneficial to the customer and the economy as a whole. Increased Productivity One of the advantages of increased competition in an economy is that individuals and firms continue to source methods that can better improve their operations, use resources more efficiently and most importantly reduce costs while adding value. All this often results in an increase in productivity in an economy and a increase in the gross domestic product (GDP), which is indeed a benefit for the economy.While opponents tend to state that when productivity increases the unemployment can often increase, thus reducing the positive impacts, it is the opinion of the writer that increased productivity which can then lead to increased unemployment will then cause more individuals to be creative, find niche markets, become entrepreneurs and begin generating more employment opportunities, thus re-inventing the wheel and driving the economy forward.New Markets As stated in the previous section increased competition in the marketplace can cause saturation and as a result many entrepreneurs maybe driven to seek new markets for their products and services or adapt market penetration tactics.Either way such a phenomena of increased competition, which ultimately causes individuals to look for new markets can be considered as a positive impact on the economy and therefore entrepreneurs can be considered to pla y a very important role in the economy. As integration of economies continues due to globalisation entrepreneurs often tend to look for markets that are outside of their domestic sphere thus generating foreign revenue and increasing the prosperity of the economy as a whole.While this maybe a very simplistic explanation of the impact that entrepreneurs make on an economy, it is also safe to say that the employment generation, increased competition, market expansion, market penetration and sourcing new markets all result in income generation that ultimately help an economy to become more prosperous, draw millions out of poverty and generate funds for social welfare activities that ultimately uplift the living standards of its citizenry.Negative Impacts of Entrepreneurs The single largest negative impact of entrepreneurs on an economy is the plundering of resources, which can have a disastrous affect on the environment. While such negative impacts are mitigated to some extent in develo ped economies due to the enforcement of environmental protection standards and regulations, this is not the case in developing economies.Further entrepreneurship requires a certain degree of business knowledge and know how, without which entrepreneurial ventures can often fail, which can also cause many financial hardship that in extreme cases can even lead to destitution. Social Entrepreneurship Today we see the realm of social entrepreneurship growing exponentially which is a very positive sign and has helped to draw millions out of poverty, decrease unemployment, decrease the number of people dependent on social welfare and all in all uplift the living standards and quality of life of millions.Further social entrepreneurship initiatives are also often seen as ‘green initiatives’ that take into consideration the impact on the natural environment and therefore strives to keep this at a minimum, thus increasing awareness about such issues, avoiding plundering of natural resources and conserving the environment wherever possible. Therefore it can be stated that the negative impacts of entrepreneurs on an economy can be mitigated to some extent through social entrepreneurship. ConclusionBased on everything that has been discussed above it is apparent that the positive impacts of entrepreneurs on an economy, far outweigh the negative impacts. Job creation, reduction in unemployment levels, increased competition, opening new markets, increasing productivity, foreign income generation and poverty alleviation are some of the positive impacts that entrepreneurs have on an economy. However this is not to say that there are no negative impacts such as the wastage and plundering of resources, yet taken as a whole it is apparent that the entrepreneurs positively impact an economy.

A Kindergarten Lesson Plan on Addition and Subtraction

A Kindergarten Lesson Plan on Addition and Subtraction In this sample lesson plan, students represent addition and subtraction with objects and actions. The plan is designed for kindergarten students.  It requires three class periods of 30 to 45 minutes each. Objective The objective of this lesson is for students to represent addition and  subtraction with objects and actions to understand the concepts of adding to and taking from. The key vocabulary words in this lesson are addition, subtraction, together and apart. Common Core Standard Met This lesson plan satisfies the following Common Core standard in the Operations and Algebraic Thinking category and Understanding Addition as Putting Together and Adding To and Understand Subtraction as Taking Apart and Taking From sub-category.   This lesson meets standard K.OA.1: Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds (e.g., claps), acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions or  equations. Materials PencilsPaper  Sticky notesCereal in small baggies for each childOverhead projector Key Terms AdditionSubtractionTogetherApart Lesson Introduction   The day before the lesson, write 1 1 and 3 - 2 on the blackboard. Give each student a sticky note, and see if they know how to solve the problems. If a large number of students successfully answer these problems, you can begin this lesson midway through the procedures described below. Instruction   Write 1 1 on the blackboard. Ask students if they know what this means. Put one pencil in one hand, and one pencil in your other hand. Show students that this means one (pencil) and one (pencil) together equal two pencils. Bring your hands together to reinforce the concept.Draw two flowers on the board. Write down a plus sign followed by three more flowers. Say aloud, â€Å"Two flowers together with three flowers make what?† The students should be able to count and answer five flowers. Then, write down 2 3 5 to show how to record equations like this. Activity   Give each student  a bag of cereal and a piece of paper. Together, do the following problems and say them like this (adjust as you see fit, depending on other vocabulary  words you use in the math classroom): Allow the students to eat some of their cereal as soon as they write down the correct equation. Continue with problems such as these until the students feel comfortable with addition.Say 4 pieces together with 1 piece is 5. Write 4 1 5 and ask the students to write it down too.Say 6 pieces together with 2 pieces is 8. Write 6 2 8 or the board and ask the students to write it down.Say 3 pieces together with 6 pieces is 9. Write 3 6 9 and ask the students to write it down.The practice with addition should make the subtraction concept a bit easier. Pull out five pieces of cereal from your bag and put them on the overhead projector. Ask students, â€Å"How many do I have?† After they answer, eat two of the pieces of cereal. Ask â€Å"Now how many do I have?† Discuss that if you start with five pieces and then take away two, you have three pieces left over. Repeat this with the students several times. Have them take out three pieces of cereal from their bags, eat one and tell you how many are left over. Tell them that there is a way to record this on paper. Together, do the following problems and say them like this (adjust as you see fit):Say 6 pieces, take away 2 pieces, is 4 left over. Write 6 - 2 4 and ask the students to write it as well.Say 8 pieces, take away 1 piece, is 7 left over. Write 8 - 1 7 and ask the students to write it.Say 3 pieces, take away 2 pieces, is 1 left over. Write 3 - 2 1 and ask the students to write it.After the students have practiced this, it’s time to have them create their own simple problems. Divide them into groups of 4 or 5 and tell them that they can make their own addition or subtraction problems for the class. They can use their fingers (5 5 10), their books, their pencils, their crayons or even each other. Demonstrate 3 1 4 by bringing up three students and then asking another to come to the front of the class.  Give students a few minutes to think of a problem. Walk around the room to assist with their thinking.Ask the groups to show their problems to the class and have the seated students record the problems on a piece of paper. Differentiation In step four, separate students into tiered groups and adjust problems based on complexity and number of steps. Support struggling students by spending more time with these groups and challenge advanced students by asking them to experiment with different types of counting, such as with their fingers or even with each other. Assessment   Repeat steps six  through eight together as a class at the end of math class for a week or so. Then, have groups demonstrate a problem and do not discuss it as a class. Use this as an assessment for their  portfolio or to discuss with parents. Lesson Extensions   Ask students to go home and describe to their family what putting together and taking away means and what it looks like on paper. Have a family member sign off that this discussion took place.

5 Events and Incidents That Never Happened

5 Events and Incidents That Never Happened 5 Events and Incidents That Never Happened 5 Events and Incidents That Never Happened By Mark Nichol Remember when they booed Bob Dylan for going electric at the Newport Folk Festival? And isn’t it disgusting how military personnel returning from serving in the Vietnam War were routinely spat on by antiwar protesters? Those were more or less reprehensible behaviors or they would have been if they had actually occurred. But these incidents, and a few others also outlined below, are all overstated or outright fabricated, loosely based on actual events but bearing little or no resemblance to them. 1. Electric Dylan The accounts that suggest that Bob Dylan was not well received the first time he, backed by members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, played live with an electric guitar stemmed from Dylan’s own misperception of the audience reaction and some faulty memories. Some audience members were upset, but only because Dylan’s set was so short. And master of ceremonies Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame), who was said to have been incensed at the sound, was not angered by electrified Dylan but by the poor quality of the amplified sound. Some concertgoers and critics alike did later complain about Dylan, but it was his perceived shift toward more commercial songwriting that caused their ire, with perhaps some confused bandwagon-jumping criticism of his amplification. 2. Spitting on Veterans There were isolated incidences of hostile behavior toward soldiers returning from tours of duty in Vietnam, but their reception was generally very positive. Only later, when antiwar sentiment grew and some veterans traumatized by having fought in a hellish war and doing so on the losing side returned Stateside, did a few of them and their sympathizers begin to embellish these anomalous events and conflate them with isolated nonexpectorating protesters into a frequent and widespread occurrence. 3. Bra Burning In September 1968, in Atlantic City, a group of female protesters symbolically shed their adherence to society’s standards for femininity by tossing bras, girdles, cosmetics, and other beautification accouterments into a garbage can. Though there was supposedly a suggestion that the accumulation be ignited, no bras were burned at this seminal feminist event. Two years later, in Berkeley, California, a similar event that took place did involve combustion, but no widespread bra burning ever took place. (At neither event were bras actually removed and discarded.) One journalist’s metaphorical association of the demonstrators with draft-card burners apparently gave rise to a widespread misunderstanding that numerous such conflagrations occurred. 4. Hats Off It was once widely believed that just as Clark Gable, by not wearing a T-shirt under his dress shirt in the early screwball comedy It Happened One Night, supposedly inspired men to refrain from buying undershirts, with catastrophic results for their manufacturers, John F. Kennedy doomed the chapeau industry by going hatless at his inaugural ceremony. It’s easy to believe that if he did indeed go bareheaded, he was only following, and not precipitating, a trend, because hats were already going out of fashion. However, the entire premise is false: Multiple photographs depict him wearing a silk top hat as part of his formal attire throughout that day. 5. â€Å"Try Acting† Sir Laurence Olivier supposedly derided Dustin Hoffman’s efforts to prepare for the torture scene in the political thriller Marathon Man by going without sleep, asking him, â€Å"Why don’t you try acting?† In truth, Hoffman, whose first marriage was failing while he was filming the movie, showed up on the set one day looking bedraggled after partying at Studio 54. When Olivier, his costar, noticed his condition, Hoffman evasively said he had been staying up all night to get himself in the mind-set for a grueling scene. Olivier did offer the advice â€Å"Why don’t you try acting?† but it was in jest, and they shared a laugh over it. Relation to Writing So, what do these corrections have to do with writing? A great deal, it turns out. These myths and misperceptions were largely perpetuated by writing by people distorting facts in articles, books, and other written accounts of the events, followed by others regenerating the errors. The lesson to be learned is this: When you write about something, be sure you know what you’re writing about. Do not bolster fallacies by blindly accepting what you read or heard. Before incorporating historical events great or small into your fiction or nonfiction, investigate and corroborate. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of RhymeWhenever vs. When Ever10 Types of Hyphenation Errors

Training Evaluation Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Training Evaluation Paper - Essay Example ded outcomes are higher productivity, improved quality of work, improved communication across horizontal and vertical lines, higher worker morale, greater job satisfaction, increased output and sales, reduced turnover, reduced scrap rate, and lower absenteeism etc. In order to determine these outcomes in our evaluation, we intend to measure the effectiveness of the program both before and after the training. We will allow a certain time elapse after the training program in order for the results to be achieved. Also, our evaluation design does not only cater to over optimistic results, because one of the most important factors of our evaluation is to find out how, if at all, the training program could be improved. In the first level of our evaluation design, we will record the participants’ reaction to the overall program immediately after the training program, by using instruments such as a questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended items (including rating scales etc.) in order to determine whether or not participants have a positive attitude towards all components and sub-components of the program. From this we would be able to evaluate the most important strengths and weaknesses of the program. We will respect the confidentiality of participants’ responses by keeping our instruments anonymous; this would produce more honest answers. Level two of our design is more imperative to our evaluation design. In this, we will gauge the learning of participants. We will match their learning outcomes with the trainer’s learning objectives mentioned in the beginning of the program. The assessment will be done across three areas, namely: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. For example, if the training program is on computer systems, we will evaluate after the training program whether the participants know the difference between Windows 95 and Windows ME (knowledge); whether they can upload a new operating system to a computer (skill); and whether their

ECO202 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ECO202 SLP - Essay Example Your answer to this question can give an interesting perspective as to how lobbying can distort economic policy and decisions. CAUTION: I am not looking for general comments that could apply to the country as a whole or any given organization, what I want is comments that are relevant specifically to your organization) Your Full Name Your Prof Name Course Name Date of Submission Lobbying for Novartis Monetary and fiscal policies can have significant impact on business operations of any firm. These policies can not only affect the top line (revenue) of the firm but also several costs and most definitely the bottom line (net profit after tax). With the goals of firms being to maximize profits, government economic policies can have a major role to play in firms booming or going out of business. The role of the lobbyist of a company is then to try to get the government to adopt economic policies that would benefit the firm while at the same time not be detrimental to the economic growth of the country. In order to identify the specific lobbying areas for Novartis, it is first important to understand some key elements about Novartis and how its business is structured. Novartis is a pharmaceutical company (operating in 140 countries) headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and does most of its research and development (R&D) activity in the US.