Threat of the over use of technology ( computer ) in teaching student Research Paper

Threat of the over use of technology ( computer ) in teaching student in primary schools - Research Paper Example hnology offers a variety of benefits to enhance the quality of education and make the process of learning more convenient and interesting both for the teacher and the students, overuse of technology in teaching students in primary schools poses several kinds of threats as well. â€Å"Family, school, and workplace environments are now on the verge of what can be termed the â€Å"Triple Disconnect† – from self, others and nature† (zonein.ca, 2014). The Canadian Society of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics state that infants between 0 and 2 years of age should not be exposed to any kind of technology at all, children from 3 to 5 years of age should not be exposed to technology for more than just one hour per day, whereas the exposure of children in the age-range of 6 to 18 years to technology should be limited to 2 hours per day (Rowan, 2014). Threats posed by the overuse of technology in primary schools include but are not limited to the social chal lenge of isolation, reduced motivation for the studies on the part of the students, and increased tendency to have negative effects of using technology on their health. Overuse of technology in the classroom can be a cause of isolation of the students. â€Å"[C]ritics have written and spoken extensively of their beliefs that schools should not use technology for a variety of reasons ranging from creating social isolation to preventing students from learning critical basic skills† (ncrel.org, 2005). Students of primary schools are essentially children. Children as students need close supervision and monitoring in order to have their attention directed solely towards the studies. With the growing literacy rate, the population of students in the primary schools has increased over the years. This has raised challenges for the school administration in general and for the teachers in particular. Teachers today have more students to supervise than they used to have in the past. However, the increased strength of

Represent men and women Essay Example for Free

Represent men and women Essay Through the course of British history, the group in power has had control over communication. In this case and most it is the male gender that maintains control of communication, which is why there are many injustices in the English language towards the way that men and women are represented. There are language injustices towards gender, which include, forms of address, generics and derogatory terms as well as loaded language and gender based suffixes. Since we have simply inherited this sexist language instead of creating it, we should surely not be perpetuating out-of date archaic language. Many of these issues need to be addressed if we are to avoid gender stereotypes and maintain equality amongst both sexes. The issues can be noted in such minor parts of grammar such as pronouns but these are quite important in representing gender. A perfect example of this is in phrase his and hers (normally referring to something such as bath robes belonging to a couple). Here the masculine pronoun his is placed before the feminine pronoun. Many could say that this is sexist but it simply is due to the history of male domination in the English language. This proves the Reflectionist model, which said that language was a symptom rather than a cause of social divisions. However, in some ways language could also be a cause of social divisions. This would only be the case after language was a symptom of Social divisions. For example, the female under-representation in language is caused by the male control (symptom). However, the language therefore makes women feel excluded (cause). Brooks (1983), Dayhoff (1983), Hyde (1984) all researched the reaction to the idea of the generic he, where the default assumption is that someone is male or masculine. Their research suggests that men feel included and women feel excluded, in some cases alienated. The generic he is the theory that he has gained common usage through history. However, the common usage of this term can cause women to feel excluded by the term, men to feel subject to prejudicial treatment by language (i. e. when talking about criminals, drug-users etc), men to be seen as the standard by which we must assess everything (default assumption). Furthermore, gender stereotypes will carry on existing unless the generic he and default assumption are changed to reach a more neutral standpoint. This is why one has to specify when not following the default assumption, such as in the cases of male nurses and lady doctors. Mackay and Fulkerson also noted in 1979 that women rarely judged sentences, which contained the generic he although they referred intentionally to women. This was even the case when the examples suggested female such as a nurse must frequently help his patients out of bed. In some ways this suggests that many women have become accustomed to the idea of the generic he. However, one done a year earlier by Moulton, Robinson and Elias contradicted this research theory. They asked a number of students to write brief stories about people mentioned in stimulus sentences. On some of the students they used a sentence containing the generic he and on the others they used a sentence, which didnt. They found that the ones who read the sentence containing the generic he more often wrote about male characters than the others. However, when I performed this experiment along with my class we found no real difference. This original theory could be wrong, but I think that they have simply over-generalised since the effect of the generic he can depend on the person or people in question. What is important, however, is that the generic he is offensive to both men and women and so it usage should therefore be restricted or prevented. Many believe that the best option should be too avoid offence by not using single sex terms where necessary and try to be politically correct towards language representation. However, although political correctness is intended to be polite and respectful it can seem to be parodic and often hyperbolic. Thus, there are often mockeries of politically correct language, which suggest that some people are unwilling to inherit it. For example, sometimes words such as camerawoman deliverywoman are used in order to seem politically correct. Unfortunately, both seem humorous as the syllabacy (in the case of deliverywoman) or the usage (in the case of camerawoman) seems unusual and slightly ridiculous. People have become so familiar with the use of -man on the end of many words that it is pronounced as m(a)n instead of m(ae)n. Subsequently, some people believe that -man is a suffix and not a word because of the change in pronunciation. For many this is why -woman sounds inappropriate as -man has had a pronounced change to form a suffix whereas -woman is already said as wom(a)n so it will be harder for it to change in to a suffix. This seems to be why the feminine suffixes -ess and -ette as in actress and usherette. However, these sort of terms can seem derogatory and diminutive because they are following the generic he and therefore have to create feminine term for such unisex occupations as actors, ushers and authors. Surely, the first male term should be kept and applied to both sexes. Some professions already have a universal name such as in the case of Doctors and writers although when describing a female in one of these professions, some may say lady doctors or women writers. There are also the odd occasions when man is a prefix such as in mankind. In reality this word should be adapted to humankind to maintain a neutral meaning Furthermore, it is important to use neutral words in this society to maintain equality between the two sexes. Therefore, words such as chairman should be changed to chairperson or chairholder and fireman should be changed to fire fighter. The supreme effability principle states that language can convey any thought or meaning, which humans may want to communicate. This is why vocabulary is constantly being developed to reflect new ideas advances. This would mean that people would begin to use more neutral words and phrases as the stress for gender equality continues in modern society. This idea of course feeds back to Edward Sapir and Franz Boas Reflectionist model in that the language will become more neutral towards gender as society does. However, forms of address still seem to be archaic in modern day society and only recently have people attempted to rectify it. For example, the female title Ms was introduced quite recently to create a female term with the same semantics as the male equivalent Mr. Before the creation of this word, women had to use the terms Mrs or miss. These would signify the womans marital which was unfair when the men only had one single term so they could hide their own marital status. So, the phrase Mr and Mrs is pejorative to the woman, as they have to show their marital status yet their husband does not. An alternative to this phrase would be Mr and Ms. The phrase ladies and gentlemen is also unjust as it refers to women in a neutral way and men in a complimentary, hyperbolic way. To combat this an alternative would be Lords and ladies or something to a similar effect. The couplet of words master and mistress used to have equal meanings when established but now the masculine word master has developed connotations of power and control (this explains the verb to master) whereas the feminine word mistress has had a semantic change and developed sexual connotations. This phrase should simply be avoided since it has been used for centuries and will soon be archaic as the meanings of the two words are so different. As Shirley and Edwin Ardener researched, the male gender have been in a position of power and so have developed injustices in the English language such as the abundance of words describing which have sexual connotations. D. Bolinger did a test to compare the connotations of words that described men and women. I followed this idea and found out that about 50% of the words chosen for women had sexual connotations whereas it was only about 25% for men. Words like slut tart babe were copious in the list of words describing women This shows that womens sexuality is over-represented in language whereas forms of address for women are seriously limited On the other hand mens sexuality is under-represented in language whereas forms of address for men are almost over-represented. This is all due to the fact men held the power to control language through English history. In truth more words with positive connotations will begin to spring up which describe women as the weight of equality shifts to the middle. However, part of the reason that there are still so many words describing womens sexuality is because the media still include many derogatory terms relating to womens sexuality. The television, radio, newspapers, films and magazines still include the sexuality of women since it includes loaded language relating to sex that interests the public. On the other hand, newspapers should avoid infanticization by using derogatory terms like sex kitten when describing women. This seems to unjust since these types of terms would not be used on men since these terms fit the female stereotype. They are normally infanticizing diminutives, which also have sexual connotations. Furthermore, less words describing men as the dominant sex should be used and newspapers should avoid using words describing mens sexuality that are almost complimentary such as a stud. English language does have many gender injustices, according to forms of address, affixes, pronouns and generic descriptions. These all have words that portray men in a more positive light than women. However, unlike most other romance languages, English is far more neutral in the fact that words do not have gender. This means words cannot be associated with a certain gender only their meaning can. Furthermore, most of the problems can be easily fixed as the language evolves.

Cultural Policy in the UK

Cultural Policy in the UK CULTURAL POLICY IN THE UK: Mid-1960s to late 1980s Cultural Policy in the UK: Critical overview of the last 30 years MARCH 2010 In the last three decades (approximately 1980 to 2010), cultural policy in the UK has taken a generally questionable direction. Overall, cultural policy and practices of the past 30 years have been overwhelmed by new neo-liberal discourses and ideologies, namely: economic rationalism, monetarism, neo-conservatism, commodification of culture, managerialism and performativity. Examining each of these in turn, it becomes apparent that a market-driven, neo-liberal approach to UK cultural policy has largely failed in each of its stated aims: economic growth, artistic excellence, increased access to the arts, and social justice. The mid-1970s were a real turning point in terms of cultural policy, with broad policy changes occurring from this time on both within and without the cultural sector. In many ways, the earlier 1970s epitomised cultural and political concerns with the general welfare of the public, and some support of the arts for their own sake rather than as an instrument of broader political and social change. The early 1970s saw, in many ways, a political climate of idealism. Cultural policy of the time reflected this atmosphere. However, there were drastic political, cultural, and ideological changes made later in the 1970s which have, to a degree, continued to shape the cultural policy discourse of the next thirty years and up to the present day (Gray, 2007). In the cultural sector as a whole, Gray describes the development of what he calls instrumental policies (Gray, 2007, p.5) since the mid-1970s. By this term Gray describes the shift in cultural policy from an arms-length, distanced governm ental approach to the arts and culture; to a political interest in using the cultural sector as an instrument, or instruments, of social, economic, and political change. In the first decades of state patronage of the arts, the Arts Council saw itself not as a source of direction, not as a source of artistic policy, but as a kind of enabling body (Stevens, 1998: 10, quoted in Caust, 2003, p.52). By the late 1970s, however, this attitude on the part of the state had changed dramatically. Instead of standing back and simply allowing the arts to develop and flourish via generous state subsidy and support, many Western governments including that of the United Kingdom developed the ideology that they could and should instead expect outcomes for their investments (Caust, 2003, p. 52). The overwhelming shift to a market-based, market-driven ideology in terms of cultural policy has had many negative effects upon the arts themselves, and several tangentially-related areas of the social and political landscape. In the last thirty years, it is economic change which appears to have been the states prime concern in terms of cultural policy, despite public assertions to the contrary. Gray states that the ideological and organisational changes toward instrumental policy-making have had an effect upon what the state does, how it does it, and the justifications and reasons that have been put forward to explain them (Gray, 2007, p.5). The reforms that have taken place in the realm of cultural policy in the United Kingdom have been summarised by scholars as variously representing a mode of privatisation (Alexander and Rueschemeyer, 2005, pp. 71-4), or one of commodification (Gray, 2000). Privatisation concerns, variously, a heightened level of interventionism in the management and administration of public assets (Gray, 2007, p.5) by private entities or actors; or the sale of previously-nationalised state industries and assets to the private sphere. Commodification is a term used to describe wider ch anges in political actions and ideology, concerning the replacement of cultural value derived from its usefulness, to value derived from its exchangeability (Gray, 2007, p.5). Commodification results from an ideological shift within the state, and this can be seen as a driving force in cultural policy developments within the last thirty years. Despite government assertions that artistic excellence and broadened public access to the arts are prime concerns of the state, economic concerns are also often of perhaps overriding concern to the Thatcher, Major, Blair and Brown administrations which governed Britain between 1980 and 2010. Tony Blairs opening statement in the government publication Culture and Creativity: The Next Ten Years (____) makes the economic preoccupation of the government in relation to cultural policy quite explicit. Blair acknowledges a connection between creativity and production and then makes an economic justification for his governments investment in supporting creativity in its broadest sense (Caust, 2007, p. 55). With reference to both culture and creativity, Blair states: [t]hey also matter because creative talent will be crucial to our individual and national economic success in the economy of the future (Smith, 2001: 3; quoted in Caust, 2007, p.55). Economic Rationalism Economic rationalism is a term first coined in Australia with regards to economic policies and ideologies which favour privatisation of state industries, a free-market economy, economic deregulation, reduction of the welfare state, increased indirect taxation and lower direct taxation (Pusey, 1991). Such policies were particularly widespread in a global context during the 1980s and 1990s. The policies of Thatcherism provide an example of economic rationalism in action. The origins of the term economic rationalism were actually favourable, in describing market-oriented policies of various administrations in Australia, the UK and the US in the 1970s and 1980s (Pusey, 1991). In the 1990s, the term started to be used with an unfavourable tone, toward the Third Way policies of both the Australian Labour Party and the UK New Labour party of the 1990s. Both these parties initiated market-driven reforms within their political ideologies, which placed them closer to Thatcherite economic rationalism via increased emphasis upon the private sector in economic, political, and cultural arenas (Pusey, 1991). These were parties which had not traditionally placed a relatively great emphasis upon the free-market economy, and therefore the term economic rationalism has been used somewhat disparagingly to indicate that these parties have, to a degree, abandoned their historically leftist roots, when social justice and expansion of the welfare state took precedence over sheer capitalism. In terms of cultural policy, economic rationalism is evident throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom. Thatcherist policies in the 1980s placed unprecedented ideological and practical emphasis upon the free market, and in terms of cultural policy this translated to cuts in arts and education budgets, and the development of private-public partnership in cultural funding. The logical effect of such policies was that the arts, in particular, became increasingly monetised and reliant upon market and mass appeal in order to survive economically. The UK governments of the 1980s and 1990s placed great ideological and political emphasis upon the economic potential of the countrys cultural sector. Bennett (1995) views such economic potential as being used as a prime justification for state action and interventions within the cultural sector (p. 205-7). However, as Gray (2007) points out, this is not necessarily the same as seeing culture as a mechanism for economic regeneration (p. 16). The governments of the 1980s and 1990s appear to have sought to use various pretexts, including economic arguments, in order to justify their interventions in the sphere of cultural policy, however their true intentions most of the time were to stimulate broader economic growth through such cultural policies. As we shall see later, attempts at stimulating economic growth through cultural policy have, by and large, failed overall. Caust (2007) asserts that more recent government policy debates have been dominated by an economic paradigm (p.52). Arguments which focus upon the economic value of the arts have developed, and thus a political atmosphere is created in which the intrinsic value or worth that society may place upon the arts is trumped by the arts purely economic value. Economic rationalism, through its emphasis on the free market and upon the private sector, speeds the development of such an atmosphere, which permeated the UK cultural policy sector throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Although Causts discussion (2007) focuses on cultural policy in the Australian context, there are many parallels with UK cultural policy during the same time period. Caust describes a changing climate in which less emphasis came to be placed on the definition of art itself and upon value judgments of a particular art piece or art form by acknowledged experts.   Instead, market theory is emphasised, and increased importance is placed upon those art forms which can achieve the greatest commercial success. In the realm of cultural policy, such a change in the mode of arts valuation by the state leads to the desire to support arts activity which was commercial, exportable and cost-efficient (Caust, 2007, p.52). In the realm of cultural production, the natural result of such cultural policies is the emergence of mass cultural products which satisfy the market. Simon Cowell, and the massive, global Pop Idol and X Factor talent-show franchises he created, epitomises the result of two decades of economic rationalism. These programs, in which amateur singers compete in a televised, viewer-voted series, are vastly commercially successful and have been licensed in the US and many European and Latin American countries. Cowell has made a fortune, and it is typically a given that the winner of Pop Idol or The X Factor will have the Christmas number-one single in the UK (2009/2010 was an exception to this rule, when a social-media campaign deliberately pushed a reissued single by agit-rock group Rage Against The Machine to the top of the UK charts in a display of protest against the blandness and ubiquity of Cowells cover-song artists). While a huge success in economical terms Cowells franchises combine all the government-desired traits of exportability and mass-market appeal, while stimulating sales of music media in addition to generating signifi cant revenue via paid telephone voting and merchandise it could hardly be argued that the format of these shows stimulates artistic originality, experimentation, or musical development in any significant way.   The example above demonstrates that to give the market what it wants often leads to a lowest-common-denominator approach to cultural production and a bland stifling of the development of new and exciting art forms. Such effects of economic rationalism on cultural policy and therefore upon culture itself reflect Causts discussion of economic concerns and their effects on culture. As Caust states, such market-oriented cultural policy creates a compromising role for artists since serving the state as an economic generator is very different from taking risks artistically, or being innovative and creative generally. It could be argued this objective is little different from the expectations of a totalitarian state, in which its artists serve the states political aims. (Caust, 2007, p.54) Managerialism Prior to the late 1970s and early 1980s, governments had on the whole aimed to effect an arms-length approach in terms of arts management. One of the founding principles of the Arts Council itself was that it should be relatively independent of the government itself, and not directly under government control. Gray (2007) noted the general tendency of governments to adopt relatively indirect forms of involvement (p.11). Gray states that this role can be advantageous for governments, as they are not especially held accountable for the results of such policies implemented at arms-length: they can have some effect on the sector by producing general policies but, at the same time, they can avoid being held directly responsible or accountable for the specific policy choices that are then made on their behalf. (Gray, 2007, p.11) However, with the political, ideological, social and economic changes which took place when Thatcher was elected, the governments of the 1980s onwards adopted an increasingly managerialistic approach to the arts and cultural policy. Increasingly, the arts management implemented by successive administrations over the last three decades has been moved towards a new style of management that has been influenced by private sector models (in the form of mission statements and marketing, for example) (Gray, 2000, p. 112). It certainly follows logically that governments which prioritise capitalism and the free market would be attracted to the idea of imposing private-sector management models upon spheres they were hoping would become economically productive. Hence, successive governments have attempted to run the arts and cultural spheres, to some degree, as if they were private commercial enterprises. In many cases, this is a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the inherent nature of m any areas of the arts. Generally, the start of managerialism in UK cultural policy can be seen during the reforms taking place under the label the New Public Management (NPM) (Gray, 2007, p.6). NPM emphasised several core concepts, which were put into action via UK state intervention in the cultural sphere. Under NPM, managers in the arts realm were empowered to make more decisions relating to their sphere of management; results were prioritised, and valued, over processes; managerial control was more generally decentralised; competition in terms of public service provision was actively encouraged; new emphasis was placed upon performance measurement; and management appointments now tended to be made through contracts rather than through seniority or hierarchy within the sector (Osborne and McLaughlin, 2002, p. 9; Pollitt, 2003a, pp. 27-8; Gray, 2007, p.6). Following the 1988 Ibbs Report, new managerial bodies were created by the government for example, the Executive Agencies (or, more formally, Non-Departmental Public Bodies) (Gray, 2007, p. 8). This led to a general decentralisation of government arts management, but also to issues regarding accountability, managerial responsibility and the relationship of elected politicians and appointed managers with the prime example being that of the clash between the then Home Secretary Michael Howard and the then head of the Prison Service, Derek Lewis. (Gray, 2007, p. 8) Local Strategic Partnerships and Regional Development Agencies were newly-instigated modes of arts management, which further emphasised both the decentralisation of government cultural policy during this period. Additionally, these agencies show evidence of overall managerialism towards the arts in that they demonstrate a devolution of power to local and regional arts managers. (Gray, 2007, p. 9) In later years, a somewhat different (modernizing) model of public management (Gray, 2007, p.6) was implemented, although the more general emphasis upon the concept of managerialism with respect to cultural policy did endure. Commodification of Culture In keeping with governmental emphasis upon the economy and the free market within the last three decades, there has followed an increasing commodification of culture. An obvious example of such commodification is enclosed within the phrases cultural industries and creative industries, which were hailed by New Labour in the 1990s and 2000s as a means of economic regeneration in the United Kingdom. Caust (2007) argues that the development of a view of cultural activity and production as an industry grew not only from the government, but also from the cultural producers themselves: When it became increasingly difficult in the early eighties to successfully argue the arts to government purely on the basis of the community welfare model, bureaucrats, practitioners and academics began the shift towards using a language that described the arts as an industry and developed the economic/cultural industry model. This led to the use of the terms cultural industries in Australia or in the United Kingdom, creative industries to describe all activities connected with the arts, as well as sectors far removed (Caust, 2007, p. 54) These cultural industries had been growing throughout the latter part of the twentieth century, aided by technological advances and global economic factors. In the northern hemisphere, populations were enjoying increased economic prosperity; leisure time was on the increase generally; television allowed mass cultural consumption in unprecedented fashion; and consumer electronics including audio and video equipment were becoming widely available and affordable (Hesmondhalgh Pratt, 2005, p. 3). By the early 1980s, the state was increasingly aware of these growing cultural industries both within the UKs own economy, and on a more global level. A path of increasing commodification of public policies was followed since the mid-1970s, with resultant changes in a broad range of cultural spaces. Ideologies prior to this mass commodification of culture had identified society as a whole as the primary intended beneficiary of government cultural policy. Increased commodification led to a shift, as the intended beneficiary of cultural activity and policy was now the individual consumer (Gray, 2007, p.14). Whereas cultural policy had previously been judged upon a broad range of criteria including social justice, access, and excellence; increasing commodification led to a narrowing of the criteria for judging cultural policy (ibid). Increased emphasis on the market value of cultural products and industries leads to an assessment of cultural policy in primarily, if not exclusively, economic terms. Again, this demonstrates a political preoccupation with the outcomes and outputs of cultural policy rather than the processes and inputs re lated to such policies, and a clear link between managerialism in cultural policy and the concomitant overall commodification of the culture produced under such a system. Performativity Just as the language and aims of commercial private industry were adopted for the cultural policy sphere via managerialism, economic realism, and the commodification of culture, so too the cultural sphere adopted measures and concerns regarding performance during the last three decades. Again, policies were judged on their results, their output and their products, and the economic success of cultural endeavour. In the realm of education, standardised performance tests have been increasingly introduced into the state schools, with the frequency, scope and range of educational tests increasingly greatly throughout the past thirty years. Likewise, in the sphere of cultural policy, tests of performance have also been increasingly implemented. These include Comprehensive Performance Assessments, and the Comprehensive Area Assessments replacing them in 2009, Best Value Indicators, Key Lines of Enquiry for Service Inspection, Local Area, Funding and Public Service Agreements, all of which p rovide explicit criteria against which service provision can be assessed (Gray, 2007, p. 8-9). The driving ideology behind such a raft of new tests to measure cultural and educational performance would appear to be a notion of accountability. The government wants to prove to an often sceptical public that its policies, whether in education or in culture, are working. Decentralisation of managerial power, and increased managerialism in cultural policy, provide a layer of accountability, or at the very least a scapegoat for failed or disappointing policies. Again, this move towards evidence-based policy-making and assessment reflects the belief of successive governments that the models that work for business can be applied to the cultural sphere. It is uncertain whether this is in fact correct. Culture does not function in the same way as manufacturing or other private business enterprises, and the outputs or achievements of the cultural industries and creative industries may be relatively intangible and ultimately difficult to measure with performance tests. Here, again, the inappropriateness of applying capitalist, market-driven ideals to the sphere of cultural policy is exposed. Also, the possibility is raised that such performativity in the cultural sphere serves two, largely unstated functions for the government: firstly, regular testing encourages increased cultural production, which within the confines of cultural industry could be expected to increase economic production; secondly, such emphasis on performance provides a form of justification for government policy in the cultural sphere. There has always been dissent regarding state arts spending in the United Kingdom how much public money is spent, what it is spent on, and what return the British taxpayers can exp ect on their investment in the arts. Performance tests in the cultural sector allow the state to point to demonstrable success, progress, or productivity in the cultural sector, which can be interpreted as proof of successful cultural policy implementation. Instrumentalism Instrumentalism the use of cultural institutions and cultural policy to achieve specific political aims is in many ways as old as cultural policy itself. For as long as there has been state arts patronage in the United Kingdom, the state has attempted to utilise the institutions, activities and sectors it sponsored to make political, social and economic changes to society. In the most recent three decades, the emphasis has been upon the latter, whereas earlier in the twentieth century, more importance was perhaps placed upon concepts of social change and nation-building. The roots of the Arts Council the organisation CEMA which was instituted during the Second World War were in morale-building, increased public access, softening of Britains class divisions, and fostering patriotism and a sense of the unified nation. As such, state intervention in the cultural sphere has more often than not been with at least some intention of using said intervention as a political or other tool. Gray states that the museums sector, in particular, is effectively being used as a tool for the attainment of the policy objectives of actors and concerns that have traditionally been seen to lie outside of the museums sector itself (Gray, 2007, p. 3). Museums are particularly susceptible to political manipulation, as they occupy a unique cultural space in terms of creating a nations sense of history and heritage, and fostering ideas of nationhood and the future of a country. What is included or excluded in a museum, and the manner in which it is displayed and framed, has a huge effect upon its reception and the ideas it can inspire. Vestheim (1994), talking of cultural policy, defines instrumental policy as being to use cultural ventures and cultural investments as a means or instrument to attain goals in other than cultural areas (p. 65). In broad terms, all cultural policy, and by extension all public policy, can be viewed as instrumental policy. All policy is intended to achieve something (Gray, 2007, p. 205). So, while instrumentalitsm has always been a feature of cultural policy in the United Kingdom, it is in recent decades that it has come to the forefront of the cultural discourse. Thatcher, Major and New Labour under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have all emphasised cultural policy as an instrument of economic regeneration, and achievement within the market. As such, they have acknowledged that their cultural policies are more baldly instrumental in nature than those of preceding administrations which at least paid lip service to ideals of social justice, welfare, and development of the arts for their own sake. Neo-Conservatism After the industrial and economic woes of the 1970s in the United Kingdom, the tide was ready to turn to neo-conservatism, and this was a change mirrored in many of the Western societies. Reagan, for example, was president of the United States during the Thatcher regime in the UK, and both pursued Conservative policies within a capitalist framework. In cultural policy and artistic thinking, neo-conservatism was perhaps the ideological opposite to the Romanticism of the preceding century. In the nineteenth century, cultural discourse was dominated by the ideal of the lone, genius artist who would be successful only posthumously (a striking example of this would be many of the great Romantic musical composers). Romantic ideology lauded the isolated artist-genius who was inspired to work purely because of artistic passion, rather than economic concerns. In fact, to be a poor and starving artist conveyed perhaps relatively more artistic credibility. It was believed that the true value of art is transcendent and can be determined by experts, commonly accompanied by the idea that the monetary value of art is false and the market cannot decide (Hesmondhalgh Pratt, 2005, p. 5). Concomitant with this was the Romantic belief that art was for all, and that culture has the power to act as a civilising force upon society as a whole. Neo-conservatism tuned these ideas on their head. The lauded artist of the 1980s through 2000s is economically successful, creating a cultural product or commodity that appeals to, and responds to, the demands of the mass capitalist market. Ideals of the civilising powers of high culture upon society as a whole have been largely abandoned in practical terms, in favour of economic concerns (despite state assertions to the contrary, the prime goal in recent years appears to be financial rather than social). Limited positive effects of neo-conservative cultural policies and ideologies can be appreciated in some spheres. Caust argues that, in a society which is dominated by capitalist values (Caust, 2007, p.54), an economically successful artist will likely receive greater respect for their work, as well as more money. Furthermore, the market-driven, neo-conservative emphasis on the exportability of cultural product can have the positive effects of creating national pride and highlighting the value of cultural production to the wider world (ibid, p. 54). Monetarism Conclusions In recent times arts funding agencies have been restructured to reflect a market-driven agenda rather than an arts-driven agenda. (Caust, 2003, p. 51) Overall in the last thirty years, cultural policy in the UK has looked increasingly to capitalism, the free-market economy, and the so-called cultural and creative industries in terms of cultural policy direction. Models from the world of business and commerce have been applied over several decades to the cultural sector: managerialism; instrumentalism; monetarism; economic realism; performativity; and the overwhelming commodification of all kinds of culture. In implementing these policies, many of the more socially-just aims of prior generations of cultural policy-makers have been neglected or abandoned. In an era of increasing globalisation, successive UK governments of the past thirty years have pushed for cultural production, economic viability and profitability, and the creation of exportable cultural commodities for mass cultural consumption. Applying such concepts and organisational structures from private industry to the cultural sector has its drawbacks. Caust states that, when it comes down to dollars, the arts cannot in any way compete with many other components of the broad cultural industry spectrum such as the communications or IT areas. (Caust, 2007, p.55). Overall, the forces of neo-conservatism have not succeeded in making the UK cultural sector an economically productive and independently viable industry. In attempting to fit the arts and culture into a capitalist mould, UK cultural policy of the past thirty years has failed in many arenas cultural, social, economical, and political. Bibliography ACGB, records: 1928-1997. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/wid/ead/acgb/acgbb.html (London: Victoria Albert Museum) Alexander and Rueschemeyer, 2005 _________________________________ Alexander, David (1978), A Policy for the Arts: Just Cut Taxes, (London: Selsdon Group, 1978) Amis, Kingsley (1979). An Arts Policy? ( London: Centre for Policy Studies, 1979). Barnes, T. (2001) Retheorizing economic geography: from the quantitative revolution to the cultural turn. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 91, 546-65. Pusey, Michael (1991).   Economic Rationalism in Canberra: A Nation Building State Changes its Mind. Cambridge University Press. Bennett, O (1995), Cultural Policy in the United Kingdom: Collapsing Rationales and the End of a Tradition, European Journal of Cultural Policy, Vol. 1, pp. 199-216 Bilton, Chris (____).   Cultures of Management: Cultural Policy, Cultural Management and Creative Organisations _______ Caust, Jo (2003).   Putting the Art back into Arts Policy Making: How Arts Policy has been Captured by the Economists and the Marketers, The International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2003 Vol. 9 (1), pp. 51-63 Cormack, Patrick ed., Right Turn ( London: Leo Cooper, 1978) Croft, Andy (1995) Betrayed Spring: The Labour Government and British Literary Culture, in Labours Promised Land? Culture and Society in Labour Britain, 1945-51, ed. Jim Fyrth (London: Lawrence Wishart, 1995) Elsom, John (1971), Theatre Outside London ( London: Macmillan, 1971) Fisher, Rod (2010) United Kingdom/ 1. Historical perspective: cultural policies and instruments, Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, 11th edition, 2010. Council of Europe/ERICarts. Retrieved from http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/unitedkingdom.php Fyrth, Jim (1995). Labours Promised Land? Culture and Society in Labour Britain, 1945-51, London: Lawrence Wishart Gray, C. (1995), The Commodification of Cultural Policy in Britain, pp. 307-15 in J. Lovenduski and J. Stanyer (eds), Contemporary Political Studies 1995 (Belfast, Political Studies Association) Gray, Clive (2007).   Instrumental Cultural Policies: Causes, Consequences and Museums, Paper to the Arts and Humanities Research Council Instrumental Museum and Gallery Policy Workshop, University of Glasgow, October 2007 Gray, Clive. (2000). The Politics of the Arts in Britain.   Palgrave Macmillan, UK. Haines, Joe (2003) Glimmers of Twilight. London, Politicos Publishers. Haney (2010). Britpop, Retrieved March 17, 2010 from http://uweb.cas.usf.edu/~dslone/pathfinders/haney.htm Harris, John S. (1969), Decision-Makers in Government Programs of Arts Patronage: The Arts Council of Great Britain, The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Jun., 1969), pp. 253-264. Western Political Science Association, University of Utah Hennessy, P. and Seldon, A. (eds.) (1987) Ruling Performance: British Government from Attlee to Thatcher. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Hewison, R. (1998), New Cultural Models for Old, International Journal of Cultural Policy, vol. 5(1), 99-107. Hull, Robin (1958). Subsidised Music: 1. Th

Darren Aronofskys Requiem for a Dream Essay -- essays research papers

Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream Requiem for a Dream is a movie that was directed by Darren Aronofsky. It's a story about the decent in to the hell and torment of drug addiction; however, Aronofsky sets out to demonstrate both the seductive ecstasy of a high and the shattering anguish of addiction. Character development is the main focus of Requiem, which is shown through creative camera angles, precise editing, and brilliant acting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This movie blew my mind away, actually I found it difficult to sit through the entire movie without taking a break to go outside just to make sure that reality wasn't as bad as the movie made it seem. Aronofsky did a mind-boggling job of exploring the pleasures, and horrors of drug use. However, he did it in a way that I had never seen before, his camera work and editing were so creative I couldn't help but repeatedly think "Wow, I've never seen anything like that before." In a movie review of Requiem Arthur Lazere states "Technique is important here because Aronofsky's films are both manneristic and expressionistic in spirit and style, exaggerating and distorting images for dramatic effect. He uses split screens, fast motion, fades to white, body-mounted cameras, repeated sequences, exaggerated sound effects somewhat self-conscious methods that quite deliberately keep the viewer always aware of the filmmaker and what he is up to, much the same way some painters u se a think impasto"   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  "I'm somebody now, Harry! Everybody likes...

Environmental Protection UK Essay

Two lower primary boys died and their father and his girlfriend were equally hospitalized in coma after a terrible encounter with odorless, colorless and toxic fumes that leaked into their bungalow residence from a nearby hotel old and deteriorated boiler (Haines 2010). Carbon monoxide is a toxic and deadly gas that besides being odorless and invincible is quite light than air therefore rendering the gas more terrible in case of leakage. Mild exposure to the gas makes one get disoriented with dizziness and nauseating effect that render someone fatigued and sick. Continuous exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) leads to death within a short time for children while adults can pass out into a coma and if medical care is not guaranteed death is inevitable. Organically the gas contains oxygen molecule triple bonded with carbon and usually reacts with the body depriving the red blood cells ability from picking oxygen in presence of the lighter gas leading to cell suffocation due to lack of oxygen. Therefore the general public should be well familiar with the grave danger of CO that is usually liberated in partial combustion of petroleum products, gas, wood and coal that are used in boilers, engines, heaters and burners. Consequently it is important that the domestic home environment is sealed from dangers associated with CO gas leakages that are common due to presence of combustible materials in kitchen, garages and power generating equipment. Carbon monoxide in homes is as a result of partial combustion of fuels like gas, oil, coal or wood in various home appliances. This gas then leaks out into the atmosphere and inhaled by its victims unknowingly since it is odorless, colorless and very toxic to the thus calling for availability of first aid kits in all homes. Human efforts of preventing air leakage into the house especially during the cold season reduces the availability of fresh air into the house thus posing a threat of carbon monoxide congesting in the house especially when combustion activities are going on such as cooking or heating up the room. Use of unvented gas heaters and kerosene stoves can become a good source of carbon monoxide in homes since the fresh oxygen is inhibited from getting into the house or cooking room thus combustion is not fully achieved resulting into production of carbon monoxide. Worn out and poorly maintained devises that use combustion can lead to leakage of carbon monoxide saturation in homes due to untimely disconnections, blockage, wrong size of equipment that result from making use of unqualified personnel to install the house hold appliances or delay in replacing worn out ones . Such equipment includes boilers, heaters, generators and furnaces (EPA 2010). Blocked chimneys and poorly vented ventilations encourage accumulation of carbon monoxide in homes. Animal nests or thrown materials in chimneys always results into the carbon monoxide spilling back into the house thus leading to inhalation by any life animal and people found in the house or room. Further, blockages inhibit oxygen entry during combustion thus very little oxygen is made available for combustion which results into carbon monoxide production in the house thus posing a threat to lives. Storage of vehicles in attached garage leads to Carbon monoxide emission through the exhaust pipe especially during the warming up of the engine. Warming up of automobiles and other machines powered by gasoline like generators ,lawn mowers and grills in enclosed areas pose carbon monoxide poisoning hazard Use of charcoal burners, driers or ovens to heat up a poorly ventilated house leads to carbon monoxide build up and saturation in homes (NMGCO 1). Carbon monoxide is known to inhibit the capability of the blood carrying blood to major body most essential organs such as the heart, brain and liver. Upon inhalation, Carbon monoxide being a lighter gas than oxygen dissolves faster through the alveoli wall unto the red blood cells’ hemoglobin. The oxygen carrying protein has cooperatively ability such than it easily combines with large portions of available and lighter gas carbon monoxide thus forming a compound known as carboxyhemoglobin instead of oxyhemoglobin that is readily spent by the body cells (Robert 2010). Since carboxyhemoglobin is never used in the body, the blood is soon saturated with a foreign gas that cannot be easily removed thus depriving oxygen the hemoglobin transporting protein leading to oxygen deprivation that leads to headache, dizziness, fatigue, and chest pain to individuals with heart problems at lower concentration (NMGCO 2010). When the carbon monoxide concentration gets higher than the body immunity can handle it leads to poor vision and sensitization of the body cells in the victims leading to nausea, brain malfunction and mind confusion. At extreme concentration, carboxyhemoglobin is formed in the blood thus inhibiting the intake of oxygen in the body thus resulting into death of the victims (Bailey 2010). There are different measures that can be applied in order to reduce carbon monoxide poisoning accidents whose incidents are quite expensive to mitigate. Since the gas is tasteless, odorless and colorless, therefore carbon monoxide detectors can be installed in homes and domestic environments. Usually the accumulation of carbon monoxide can take place without notice in homes that use boiler, gas, kerosene and oil if the equipment is faulty. Regular checks should be organized by home-keepers by inviting qualified and focused technicians who can do professional repairs. Old burners, boilers, generators and CO producing equipment can be done away with in order to prevent unfortunate mistakes (CO 2000). According to US Environmental Protection Agency gas stoves can be done away with if the home environment is to be kept safe since though the equipment is cheap it pumps 5 to 15 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide with the deteriorated ones scoring 30 ppm while the U. S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards advocates for outdoor air to contain 9 ppm and indoor a maximum of 35ppm of CO-thus the stove and coal appliances need to be used in open ground (Pollutte 2008). Meticulousness approach to usage of boilers and stoves can be achieved by usage of clear and dry fuel of the highest possible approved standards (Environment 2010). Other measures include having a Gas Safe Registered engineer to install gas appliances with annual checks. Bedroom heating material should avoid usage of gas and cabinet heaters. All homes that operate CO emitting appliances have to install chimneys and heat ventilations tat have to be checked frequently to clear blockage by cleaning (NHS 2009). In case of an emergence one should cut off the gas supply in the appropriate valve with immediate ventilation and urgent call to a medical facility and a qualified and certified technician to check on the leakage and report appropriately the cause with effective repairs to protect life and environment. Information dissemination to the community is quite vital if the health of the society is to be-held as a top priority. Carbon monoxide incidents can be compiled together to arouse the mind of the ignorant public about the ill effects of CO leakage and prove that all homes are at risk since gas and coal heaters are common cooking apparatus. Also the history brings in news about the colossal effects of accumulated amounts of carbon monoxide that affected legendaries as Allan Poe though during that time their generation attributed their deaths to sensitivity of the mind. Therefore if leaflets, magazines and other printed media forms of communication in conjunction with the internet, TV and other digital and analogue mass media the community can be reached and change can be effected bringing about both awareness and a social order that is organized to mitigating risks associated with carbon monoxide poisoning. Conclusively, carbon monoxide poisoning affects the body’s concentration of oxygen thus attacking the general health of the suffocated body parts. Since the gas is odorless, tasteless, and colorless makes it such a dreadful chemical gas that further enhances the fumes’ ability to sneak in and kill within a relative small span of time in high concentrations while causing detrimental body health deterioration that retards immunity leading to poor health and life. References: Haines, S 2010, Corfu â€Å"carbon monoxide death family’s fight for justice†, BBC News Channel, accessed 5 May 2010 NHS, 2009, â€Å"What preventative measures can I take against carbon monoxide exposure? Gas safety – Carbon monoxide awareness†. Health and safety Executive, accessed 5 May 2010 < http://www. hse. gov. uk/gas/domestic/co. htm> Pollette, C 2008, â€Å"Why is carbon monoxide poisonous? † Science, accessed 5 May Environment, 2010, â€Å"Using wood and coal for Home heating. Environmental Protection UK , accessed 5 May Robert, R 2009, â€Å"Is This Common Poison Carbon Monoxide Causing Chronic Illness? † Articles Directory< http://www. articlesbase. com/alternative-medicine-articles/is-this-common- poison-carbon-monoxide-causing-chronic-illness-1433959. html > CO, 2009, â€Å"A Guide to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning†, Carbon Monoxide, accessed 5 May EPA 2010,An Introduction to Indoor Air Quality, Carbon Monoxide (CO), US Environmental protection Agency, Accessed 05 May 2010 NMGCO 2010, Sources of Carbon Monoxide, New Mexico gas company, Accessed 05 May 2010 < http://www. nmgco. com/Sources_Carbon_Monoxide. aspx > Bailey, R 2010 Carbon monoxide,About. com Accessed 05 May 2010

10 Time Management Strategies That Are The Key to Life Success

10 Time Management Strategies That Are The Key to Life Success Feel stressed? Despite knowing you have the talent and the drive to achieve real success, do you just constantly find yourself on the wrong side of an insurmountable pile of tasks and often feel discouraged? Don’t worry too much. You just need a reboot of your time management skill set and develop better time management strategies. The trick is to organize your tasks and projects in a system that works for you and will work no matter what  stress a random crisis adds. You’ll find your stress level in general comes down considerably if you can find your own time management groove.Make the most of the 24 hours given to you each day with these 10 time management strategies.1. Learn to TriageStep one is to figure out what  your major goals and most pressing projects are, and then to put those at the top of your priorities list. Then rank the rest in order of importance. Start each day by assessing what you have to do and focusing your immediate energy on the most import ant tasks.2.  Make a List, Check It TwiceYou’ll have to focus your energy on big ticket  items first, but you also want to make sure you set up regular time to work on the things that get pushed to the bottom of the list so nothing falls through the cracks. Find a system that works for you that means you get the most pressing things done first, but also regularly cycle all the way through your list.3. Don’t be Afraid to DelegateOnce you have your system in place, there will be a few things that you can put on someone else’s desk. Don’t hesitate to do this. It’s a necessary leadership skill, and it will help you keep focused on the things requiring your unique attention.4. Set Deadlines, Even If They’re FakeYou’d be amazed at how much more you can get done when under deadlines. Make a calendar of when your projects are due to your superiors or coworkers. Then add in some deadlines of your own- just remember to hold yourself to them .5.  Practice the Best De-stressing Method You KnowNo matter how organized you are, stress can derail you if you let it spiral out of control. Find ways to relax and reconnect so physical and mental weariness never keep you off your game. Sleep!6. Pick Your BattlesDon’t obsess over the insignificant or unimportant. Figure out what really requires your energy and effort, and fix that spotlight where it most needs to be.7.  Don’t Stop Once You Find MomentumDo whatever you can to pick up speed in your new system, and then start riding that high. Continue picking up speed as you cross projects off your list. Don’t break your pace!8. Concentrate on  One Thing at a TimeMultitasking isn’t always the answer. You might find you’re most productive when you focus on one thing at a time and get more things done overall.9. Time YourselfIf procrastination is a problem for you, consider working in 25 or 45 minute intervals with regular breaks. That way you know you’re only ever a countdown away from a Facebook break, but you’re also guaranteed to power through some work. This works best if you turn off notifications on your phone. Put it in a drawer during your work intervals!10. Get Started- Now!You’ll never get anywhere in your system if you never set one up. Act now. Start early. And get it done. You’ll be delighted with the results.

A Sliver of Awareness essays

A Sliver of Awareness essays The first time I read The Awakening by Kate Chopin, I was frustrated and wanted to pound my fists on my thighs. I was angry with the author for denying the character Edna a right to love and happiness, as well as making her such a selfish creature that committed suicide, thus depriving her children of their mother. But on closer introspection and class discussion, I have come to see a different side to the story, and have been moved. I see in Edna what I have seen in many young women, filled with idealism, as they start their family and their "happily ever after." However, it always seems that after the glamour and bliss wears off from the wedding and gifts and new status in life, that idealism turns to boredom, tedium, and realism. This leaves the door open for someone like Robert to present themselves as a break from routineexcitement, attraction, drama, and an element of danger as well. Edna falls prey to the realization that her married life is not fulfilling her, and as confused as she is, she feels great needs and emotions that have to be addressed. Her infatuation with Robert, as well as her experimentation with art, is uncovering the same deep roots of passion within her. "She (Edna) slept but a few hours. They were troubled and feverish hours, disturbed with dreams that were intangible, that eluded her, leaving only an impression upon her half-awakened senses of something unattainable." (p. 32). This odd, almost transcendental feeling that Edna has is the result of her first recognition of desire for Robert. Chopin places passages like this in different places to remind the reader of Edna's emotional awakening. "Edna felt as if she were being borne away from some anchorage which had held her fast, whose chains had been looseninghad snapped the night before when the mystic spirit was abroad, leaving her free to drift whithersoever she chose to set her sails." (p. 33). Using these tools, Chopin sets u...

This is a lab report concerning essays

This is a lab report concerning essays Objective: To become familiar with various types of laboratory equipment Materials and Methods/Procedures: A 10ml pipette was used to pipette 5ml of water 4 times into a 50 ml graduated cylinder, and the results were measured. Next, a 50 ml graduated cylinder was filled to the 50 ml mark twice and the contents were poured into a dry 100 ml volumetric flask, and a 100 ml graduated cylinder was filled to the 100 ml mark and the contents were poured into a dry 100 ml volumetric flask. The results of the 100 ml experiments were then compared. A ruler was used to measure the side of a cube in inches and the number was converted into centimeters, millimeters and meters. A triple beam balance was used to weigh an item, the results were converted to grams, milligrams and kilograms. An empty 100 ml beaker was weighed and then 50 ml of water was added, and the beaker was weighed again. The beaker's weight was subtracted to obtain the weight of the water. The procedure was repeated with a 25 ml beaker and 10 ml of 200 proof ethyl alcohol. 50 ml was converted to microliter, deciliter and liter. Six stoppers of similar size were weighed individually and the Results: The results of the pipette procedure showed the volume in the graduated cylinder was 20 ml and there was not a difference in the expected result. The procedure with 100 ml of water proved that the volume of both experiments was the same- 100 ml. The measurement of the side of the cube was .5 inches, 1.27 cm, 12.7 mm and 00127 meters. The weight of the object was 15.852 g, 15851 mg, and 0.015852 kg. The weight of the beaker was 49.49 g, the beaker and water weighed 99.93 g, resulting in the water weighing 50.440 g. The density of the water was 440 g/ml. The weight of the next beaker was 30.059 g, the beaker and alcohol weighed 37.825 g, with the alcohol alone weighing 7.226 g. and havin ...

Effects of Music and the Media on Culture and Society Essay

Effects of Music and the Media on Culture and Society - Essay Example In fact, with the growing acceptance of music within the American society, many musicians, composers, and singers have emerged and created their style of music according to their preferred genres. The role of music has given the American society a tool for inspiration, amusement, and encouragement to utilize the musical abilities of the people. However, the effects of music in the society have negated because of how it influences aggressive thoughts, feelings, and actions especially the portrayals of the artists in music videos. According to researches, majority of members of the society who listen to music are the young people, in which music plays a significant role in their teenage lives. Specifically, American adolescents mostly listen to kinds of music such as hip-hop, gangster music, rap, and heavy metal that have a significant impact to the minds and behaviors among youth. For example, teenagers who are fond in listening rap music or gangster music tend to dress themselves as a rapper or gangster based on how music videos display its genre. Hence, despite the fact that music has brought racial unity in the American society, it had also brought negative impacts especially to the minds of the young people in America (â€Å"The Negative Effects†). The Role of Media The media have been used by people all over the world, from a different race, culture, socioeconomic status, and also across ages because of how it served as a tool for knowledge, teaching, amusement, and advertising. The media are responsible for delivering credible and reliable stories, news, and facts to the people around the world. Accordingly, the principal role of media... This report approves that the American society had used media as a tool for entertainment and information through books, films, televisual entertainment, periodicals, advertisements, and online networking. Accordingly, the American society is principally molded by the functional role of media within the lives of the people. Nowadays, the most utilized and influential technology for media is the internet because of how it provides all the portrayal of information and amusements. Furthermore, television is widely used in the society because of its accessibility by the people and attracting more preference rather than listening to a radio or reading periodicals. The media portray different kinds of information that could alter or create different perspective in the minds of the people. For example, people in the society would perceive that the figure of a model is what the society wants, and in turn, tend to have similar figure of the model. This essay amkes a conclusion that music and media have both gained popularity within the American society and became part of the American culture. However, the role of music and media had become stronger and had influenced most of the culture and society in America. Particularly, the existence of music has created an American culture and society that respects different races or ethnicities as people get along through the desire of creating wonderful music. Moreover, the media have created an American culture and society of independence and also the freedom in expressing information that are important for the American people. Hence, the music and media have the important role in shaping the culture and society to the best interest of the people.

Summary response waiting for supermanby Dir. Davis Guggenheim Essay

Summary response waiting for supermanby Dir. Davis Guggenheim - Essay Example I was crying because no one was coming with enough power to save us† (Guggenheim). It is also documented that Canada was the co-founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone. He was successful in managing the private funded institution. According to the director, he intends the film to serve as an education reformer. Guggenheim links this to the â€Å"inconvenient truth† which attempted to take part in climate change reform. He concludes that the problem that he may face is the teachers union. The union defends its workers against any dismissals. Later he asserts that the only savior which he may have is the charter school system. Apart from the weltering of socioeconomic reasons, Guggenheim also explains why we are having this mess. Furthermore, he delves into the highly scholastic and even records of the charters. Thus, the real crisis among the American public-school education roots from the relative low pay which the full time teachers get. Thus, he addresses ways of eliminating some of the few incentives which is tenure instead of proposing for a higher pay. According to Guggenheim, his proposal will attract competent teachers. The director frames his film basing on competition. He implies the case where five children await for news about their admission in a charter school. They are not lucky, for instance, Francisco who is a Bronx and a first grader is among the 792 applicants who are eying for the 40 vacancies at Harlem success academy (Guggenheim). Therefore, â€Å"waiting for Superman† is a call to the arms. It aims at calling anyone who would like to step up and help fix problems in education. It is also a cry for mercy and help. That is, ‘someone calling to become the children’s

Implications of Flexibility in the Recruitment and Retention of Essay

Implications of Flexibility in the Recruitment and Retention of International Nurses on UKs Health Care Sector - Essay Example The International Council of Nurses Workforce Forum (2002 as cited in Parker & McMillan 2007) reported that majority of developed nations is or will be confronting shortages in the supply of nurses stemming from a shrinking availability of nurses alongside heightened needs for healthcare services. As the involvement of the UK in the international community expands, it is fundamental to explore likely implications for the growth of IHRM. With intensified advertising intended to persuade nurse to seek for employment opportunities abroad, as stated by Dowling (2007), the population of nurses vacating their current position to fill a vacancy in a richer nation, or those refusing to return to their native soil after obtaining their diplomas in Western colleges or universities is enlarging. Therefore, there is an immediate need to identify the effects of such trends on healthcare provision and to explore techniques in which recruiting organisations and firms can cope successfully. In the context of the current shortage of nurses, recruitment of health care workers by richer nations, like the UK, may witness critically scarce supply of highly trained and experienced nurses in nations where they are in demand. Certainly this is by now the situation in developing countries where vast population of nurses was employed by health care organisations in the UK. Flexibility in the Recruitment and Retention of Migrant Nurses in the UK Nurses wanting to work abroad should be informed of a broad range of recruitment and qualification barriers. Some of these major challenges are expensive and demanding immigration processes, adjusting to diverse clinical traditions, the requirement to become proficient in a new language, the expense of migration, and the requalification procedure (n .a. 2010). Although the procedure could be restructured in a number of instances in behalf of immigration, official endorsement is an indispensable patient and specialised security process that should be rigidly sustained (Connell 2007). National regulatory agencies, according to Choy (2010), are assigned to guarantee the quality and aptitude of migrant nurses. Communication is one of the obstacles to migration, but regarded a foundation of health care organisations. Patients communicate their problems, express their physical or emotional issues, and provide descriptions of their health concerns to healthcare providers (Hearnden 2007). Nurses should be capable of communicating with other stakeholders, including families of patients and health care personnel. They require the technical and existing language proficiency to converse under pressure and constraint. Language has been a significant consideration in the choice of destination country (Hearnden 2007). Nevertheless, according to Kingma (2008), while the supply of nurses in major source nations decreases new source countries are sought for and migration obstacles are not impervious anymore. In the UK, even though nurses offer important health care provisions and nursing is an attractive profession, there exists a critical problem. Budget cuts have led to unsafe and intolerable working conditions. Inflexible recruitment practices

Conservation of Fresco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Conservation of Fresco - Essay Example Innumerable artists practiced fresco painting during the years to come, and this art became popular through the Greek, Roman and Byzantine Empires. Unfortunately, not many frescos have survived. Some rare Roman frescos are found in Herculaneum and Pompeii. Christians wo lived during the early period from 250 to 400 AD, painted some small frescos as a form of decoration of Roman catacombs, the burial place. The popularity of fresco painting declined after the Renaissance. But Mexican painters Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and David Siqueiros were using the techniques of fresco painting in their murals and through this once again the revitalization of fresco art took place. Again during the American Depression, painters like Thomas Hart Benton were engaged in fresco production. Now, fresco art is no longer used as it was used before, the main reason is because of its susceptibility to humidity and weathering. Regard to this reason, many artists have abandoned the fresco painting in the production of serious art. This paper will try to explain a little about fresco painting in general and then move on to the process and technique used in the production of fresco art. Then the paper would deal about the conservation of fresco paintings and finally explain its importance. Calcium carbonate is the binding material that is used in the production of fresco art. ... This results in the formation of calcium carbonate upon the surface of the material thus forming the plaster. The colour is applied before this change occurs so that it gets settled underneath the plaster formation which then looks similar to a glass. When viewed through a microscope, a particle or piece of fresco looks like thousands of minute mosaic put together and creates an astounding appearance. The art produced in such a way is called as fresco art or painting. It is not very difficult to paint a simple fresco if we are well aware of the process and technique. Many people throughout the world are engaged in fresco painting as entertainment or part of their hobby. Finally, to make this process very easy here is a short cut. Fresco painting is nothing but applying pure colour onto wet lime and the next thing that happens is the formation of crystalline substance over the wet surface. Now, the whole thing dries up producing fresco. One of the great things to have in mind is that all over the world ancient people followed this process in the creation of fresco art. Though the people of the ancient civilization had no means of communication, yet they all followed the same process in the making of painting and this is so surprising to us. It has led modern chemists to analyse the process through the study of ancient artists of different places. ELEMENTS OF FRESCO There are five elements that are used for creating a fresco. I have listed out one by one below so that there may not be any confusion. 1. The Structural Wall - This wall is the physical body in which the artist creates the fresco art. 2. The Design - Refers to the fresco's environment or architectural setting. 3. Lime

Fashion Photography As A Career Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fashion Photography As A Career - Term Paper Example The paper "Fashion Photography As A Career" focuses on the career of Fashion Photographer. This document takes a deeper thought in understanding the virtues which are essential in fashion and design photography as a career. The three main virtues required in a fashion photography career are: patience, moral virtue and intellectual value. Generally, photography is aimed at delivering good materials which have creativity and attractive aspects. However, photographers ought to consider the moral values in their field of profession as photography is a method of passing information to a general public. In this case, fashion photographers ought to consider the drift between moral and immoral in their work. The essence of fashion photography is to capture the emerging trends of fashion and display them in a gallery for people to be enlightened by the growth in fashion and design in relation to technology changes. As technology advances, the mode of dressing changes and many communities in t he world tend to abolish the ancient cultures. Many fashion photographers have used this notion to explain the trends of art with some relating the emerging trends of fashion and design to the Stone Age way of dressing. Fashion has takes different dimensions as time travels and people tend to deviate from morality affiliating moral values to the ancient culture. In this case, patience, positive thinking and tolerance become essential virtues in fashion photography as a career. People often tend to rush in their career.

Changes in work place safety since the 1900's Term Paper

Changes in work place safety since the 1900's - Term Paper Example information prior to 1880s.Amesricans modified the route to industrialization in order to fit their geographical and economic needs, they encouraged labor and time saving machines and procedures. Employers made such developments under legal and regulatory system that rooted out employer’s interest in workplace safety. Therefore, Americans developed highly profitable production methods that were dangerous very often (Aldrich, 2001). Aldrich (2001) reveals that work safety has long been compromised due to the fact that accidents were cheap in American, employers could afford to risk employees. When heirs of injured or killed employee sue employers for compensation, it was too hard to get it. Employer could prove that it was worker’s own fault, some other worker’s fault or the worker has assumed the risk. Usually courts dismiss such cases and deny liability. Several surveys about 1900 work safety revealed that only about half of all workers recover from fatal injures while their compensation only amounted to only half a year’s pay. Employers didn’t have to pay much for accidents, therefore Americans industrial methods were not developed enough to take care of safety. According to Fisk (2003) when it comes to comparing American workforce at the beginning and ending of the century, changes are quite frequent, some of these changes are very dramatic and well-known while some are just the opposite. In some cases, statistical data is not sufficient for making quantitative comparisons but discernible in most of the cases. During 20th century, total size of workforce increased approximately six times. US Bureau of the Census reports that the workers who are 10 years of age and above were registered and reported to have a rewarding occupation was 24 million in 1900(part 1,p.127) while according to Employment and Earnings (2000, p.10) it became 139 million in 1999 for 16 years and above (cited in Fisk, 2003). Fisk (2003) further explains that it is not just a

Conservation of Fresco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Conservation of Fresco - Essay Example Innumerable artists practiced fresco painting during the years to come, and this art became popular through the Greek, Roman and Byzantine Empires. Unfortunately, not many frescos have survived. Some rare Roman frescos are found in Herculaneum and Pompeii. Christians wo lived during the early period from 250 to 400 AD, painted some small frescos as a form of decoration of Roman catacombs, the burial place. The popularity of fresco painting declined after the Renaissance. But Mexican painters Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and David Siqueiros were using the techniques of fresco painting in their murals and through this once again the revitalization of fresco art took place. Again during the American Depression, painters like Thomas Hart Benton were engaged in fresco production. Now, fresco art is no longer used as it was used before, the main reason is because of its susceptibility to humidity and weathering. Regard to this reason, many artists have abandoned the fresco painting in the production of serious art. This paper will try to explain a little about fresco painting in general and then move on to the process and technique used in the production of fresco art. Then the paper would deal about the conservation of fresco paintings and finally explain its importance. Calcium carbonate is the binding material that is used in the production of fresco art. ... This results in the formation of calcium carbonate upon the surface of the material thus forming the plaster. The colour is applied before this change occurs so that it gets settled underneath the plaster formation which then looks similar to a glass. When viewed through a microscope, a particle or piece of fresco looks like thousands of minute mosaic put together and creates an astounding appearance. The art produced in such a way is called as fresco art or painting. It is not very difficult to paint a simple fresco if we are well aware of the process and technique. Many people throughout the world are engaged in fresco painting as entertainment or part of their hobby. Finally, to make this process very easy here is a short cut. Fresco painting is nothing but applying pure colour onto wet lime and the next thing that happens is the formation of crystalline substance over the wet surface. Now, the whole thing dries up producing fresco. One of the great things to have in mind is that all over the world ancient people followed this process in the creation of fresco art. Though the people of the ancient civilization had no means of communication, yet they all followed the same process in the making of painting and this is so surprising to us. It has led modern chemists to analyse the process through the study of ancient artists of different places. ELEMENTS OF FRESCO There are five elements that are used for creating a fresco. I have listed out one by one below so that there may not be any confusion. 1. The Structural Wall - This wall is the physical body in which the artist creates the fresco art. 2. The Design - Refers to the fresco's environment or architectural setting. 3. Lime

Changes in work place safety since the 1900's Term Paper

Changes in work place safety since the 1900's - Term Paper Example information prior to 1880s.Amesricans modified the route to industrialization in order to fit their geographical and economic needs, they encouraged labor and time saving machines and procedures. Employers made such developments under legal and regulatory system that rooted out employer’s interest in workplace safety. Therefore, Americans developed highly profitable production methods that were dangerous very often (Aldrich, 2001). Aldrich (2001) reveals that work safety has long been compromised due to the fact that accidents were cheap in American, employers could afford to risk employees. When heirs of injured or killed employee sue employers for compensation, it was too hard to get it. Employer could prove that it was worker’s own fault, some other worker’s fault or the worker has assumed the risk. Usually courts dismiss such cases and deny liability. Several surveys about 1900 work safety revealed that only about half of all workers recover from fatal injures while their compensation only amounted to only half a year’s pay. Employers didn’t have to pay much for accidents, therefore Americans industrial methods were not developed enough to take care of safety. According to Fisk (2003) when it comes to comparing American workforce at the beginning and ending of the century, changes are quite frequent, some of these changes are very dramatic and well-known while some are just the opposite. In some cases, statistical data is not sufficient for making quantitative comparisons but discernible in most of the cases. During 20th century, total size of workforce increased approximately six times. US Bureau of the Census reports that the workers who are 10 years of age and above were registered and reported to have a rewarding occupation was 24 million in 1900(part 1,p.127) while according to Employment and Earnings (2000, p.10) it became 139 million in 1999 for 16 years and above (cited in Fisk, 2003). Fisk (2003) further explains that it is not just a

Human Resource Activities of Qantas Airways Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Activities of Qantas Airways Essay The Qantas Airways is the largest airline in Australia. Its Human Resource Management operates in the company in four major areas, which are business segments, corporate, shared services, development, and learning. This report gives limelight to the Qantas airways HRM and its role in ensuring perfect operations of the company. It further discusses change management and job analysis and design. The company has undergone intensive change management such as cutting of prices and labor costs in order to ensure high productivity, moderation of wages as well as the introduction of flexible structures through a versatile and motivated workforce. Moreover, the HRM is also responsible of ensuring that right people are hired and given necessary training under job analysis and design. However, despite the roles that the company has entrusted the HRM, there have been heightened cases of accidents and strikes from dissatisfied workers alleging that they are paid meager salaries. This shows a HRM gap in delivering its responsibilities. Therefore, the report further argues that the HRM has failed in its change management and job design and analysis strategy. In order to correct the situation, the report further proposes that the HRM change its training and communication model. As a means to an end, the report discusses some of the implications emerging from the HRM problems and ends with a comprehensive summary. Description of Qantas and their HRM Activities The Qantas Airways is Australia’s largest airline. It has a solid history as it began its business years back by transporting passengers and mails. Today, the company has expanded its operations in almost 140 destinations across the globe. It is Australia’s largest employers with around 37,000 employees. The human resource management operates in the company in four major areas, which are business segments, corporate, shared services, and development and learning. Under corporate level, the HRM is responsible for employees’ remuneration as well as benefits, the industrial relations of the airline with its competitors and development of the management. In the business segment level, the HR teams often collaborate with other business segments to ensure successful delivering of strategies that will ensure competitive advantage. Human resource has a major responsibility in the company and under shared services; the HRM is responsible of managing  workers records, supporting remuneration and recruitment process and managing employees’ compensation as well as coming up with strategic plans on staff travelling schedules and schemes (Belobaba, Odoni and Barnhart, 2009). Finally, under the learning and development level, the HRM comes up with training programs for employees to help them deliver their work effectively. HR Functions: Change Management and Job Analysis and Design at the Qantas Airways Discussion of Two HR functions in the Qantas Change Management The Qantas airline was formerly owned by the government hence did not perceive efficiency and profits as its prime goal (Rothkopf, 2009). After its privatisation in 1995, the HRM had to adopt various management practices in order to overcome the company’s external and internal influences. The HRM in their change management has emphasised on cutting costs and more so reduction of labour costs to guarantee heightened productivity, moderation of wages as well as the introduction of flexible structures through a versatile and motivated workforce (Marks, 2007). Cutting labour costs in the Qantas airways have involved strict measures from the HRM such as reducing wages and salaries through eliminating costly practices (Hernandez, 2011.). The Qantas airline HRM has undertaken immense changes in order to cope with diverse external and internal factors (Gillen and Morrison, 2005). Various factors led to changes in the HR management such as the need to have more profits in the company a nd the fact that the company was under government ownership. This means that the airline had maintained its authoritarian hierarchical structure, autocratic form of leadership, and strict procedures and rules (Hughes, 2012). In addition, the airline has been involved in a major change as far as training is concerned and in 2003, the HRM facilitated in the expansion of the company’s apprenticeship programme (Gunn, 1988). According to Kirkpatrick’s model of learning and training, training helps in ensuring affirmative results (Kearns, 2010). Job Analysis and Design Job design and analysis is the cornerstone of the Qantas HRM. Job analysis can be viewed as the hub of all human resource management activities that are needed for effective organizational functioning (Berman et al, 2009). Under job analysis, the HRM is responsible for planning, recruitment, selection, placement, and induction of workers (Berman et al, 2009). The procedures that are often supported by job analysis process include personnel selection, training, job evaluation as well as performance appraisal (Berman et al, 2009). In addition, the process of job analysis supports the Qantas organizational strategy in dealing with market competition and talent crisis. According to human resource theory, strategic HRM focuses on connecting all HR functions with organizational goals (Rothwell and Benscoter, 2012). The Qantas airline HRM in the process of job analysis determines various training needs of workers. Moreover, in job analysis process, the HRM determines on some of the things that affect behavior in the company. After job analysis process, the next step is job design, which aims at outlining and organizing duties, responsibilities, as well as tasks in a single unit in order to achieve particular objectives. Job design in the Qantas airways is essential in enabling effective feedback. In addition, training is an imperative part in job design in order to make sure that employees are conscious of their work demands. Training encompasses leadership training to employee orientation (Aulenbach, 2007). Development and training plays an imperative role in ensuring success of a company. Today, most organizations view training as an imperative role of human resource (Price, 2011). From research conducted, it is apparent that most organizations such as the Qantas airways are spending a lot of money on training with a belief that it will consequently give them a competitive advantage in both global and local market (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2011). According to human resource theory (Bacon et al, 2009), workers need maximum support from human resource function. In that case, the Qantas airways offer training to staff in order to motivate them as well as ensure competitive advantage in the company. Frances (2009) avows that training is imperative in ensuring imperative piloting skills. In 2009, the company opened approximately $10 million staff training centers in an effort to build on economies of scale. The HRM through job design help the workforce to make vital adjustments. Problem s and Implications Faced by Qantas Although the two major basic functions of HRM is to ensure successful change management and job analysis and design, the Qantas airline has undergone  through various challenges in these two areas. The HRM in their change management focused on cutting costs such as labor costs in order to increase productivity, ensure moderate workers’ salary and introduce flexible structures. However, they have failed in ensuring effective and non-biased change management. This is because, workers recently have been complaining of being paid meager salaries and even gone for strikes. Under change management, they should have ensured successful remuneration of employees. However, it is embarrassing to note that a reputable company like Qantas with such successful change management strategy has failed to take care of its employees. The unsolved salary issues have caused employee outcry and various scandals in the company. The pilots have been protesting over meager salaries and the union workers have continued to demonstrate over pay inequality arguing they are paid 25% less than their equals in Victoria (Hernandez, 2012). In a survey that was conducted in 2012, on three thousand Qantas employees, the workers expressed dissatisfaction with the management of the company mostly the HRM (McDonald, 2012). Serious staff challenges have continued threatening the company yet up to now the HRM is still reluctant to come up with a new change management model such as ADKAR model that will cater for the interests of workers and allow the company to focus activities on particular business results (Hiatt, 2006). Under Job analysis and design, it is apparent that the HRM made immense mistakes in choosing the right candidates. Despite heavy training programs that the HRM has invested in during job analysis and design process, it is only in 2008 that the company was involved in an in-flight incident, which caused ser ious injuries to passengers and death of 129 passengers due to specious commands (Frances, 2009). In addition, it is apparent that training has not had a positive impact in the company since in 2006, the Qantas Airways pilots failed to monitor their position hence ended up to the wrong runway. Moreover, in 2009, the company’s pilots failed to acknowledge and decided to overshoot their destinations by 150 miles (Frances, 2009). Frances (2009) alleges that captains in the company are not competent enough as they lacked knowledge on use of stick shaker and stall recovery thus causing serious accidents. It is hence clear that the HRM department leaves a lot to be desired as incidences have continued to intensify despite the company’s change management and job design and analysis strategy (Louise, 2011). With such a successful airline company, it is apparent that its HRM is ineffectual and has only led to losses than success. The company asserts that it is committed fully to developing its people, yet they do not seem to know how they can forge a beneficial relationship with its staff. There has been a lot of change in the company including cutting of costs, developing training programs, outsourcing working rules and regulations, collaborating with the unions yet the situation seem to be moving from bad to worse. It is apparent that the HRM has been incompetent in hiring the right personnel and dealing with employees. Implications to Stakeholders Various stakeholders include trade unions, government, shareholders, customers, community, business partners, employees, the media, and non-governmental organizations. They all have a major influence on the company’s performance and its strategy. The media coverage on wrong decisions in the Qantas have affected negatively on the company’s image. The problems discussed obviously imply that the HRM, shareholders, and business partners have been reluctant in solving the current crisis hence affecting the performance of the company. Because of the accidents reported, most consumers are not keen on using Qantas airline hence affecting profitability (BBC News, 2012). Additionally, the challenges in the company have also affected employees and consumers on grounds that they have lost confidence with the running of the company (Sandilands, 2011). The looming disagreement between Qantas and its pilots shows clearly that the HRM and business partners have failed in ensuring they contribute in effective management of the company. In addition, the Non-governmental organizations have failed in conflict resolution between the Qantas and its employees. It is apparent that the HRM, business partners, and non-governmental organizations involved have failed in coming up with rational solutions to ensure such current disputes do not develop into a major crisis. Instead of the company’s CEO, Alan Joyce holding productive talks, he has been busy making provocative comments in numerous heated exchanges. For instance, he condemned union members on issues regarding wages arguing that their talks and protests were baseless (Bamber, 2011). The union leaders in return criticized N senior managers and accused them of tarnishing the brand image of the company while they were awarding themselves hefty salaries. This hence implies that the  community as well as Union members have lost confidence on the company’s stakeholders and this in return has led to bad publicity and reduced profitability. Consequently, the media has given a wide coverage on the company’s latest controversies meaning that it is benefiting financially because of the developing story. It is upsetting to see Qantas’ employees go on strike due to poor management issues in a company owned by various stakeholders. The shareholders, business partners, the HRM, CEO, and Nongovernmental Organizations have a major role to play in ensuring issues in the company are resolved and the company goes back to its initial profitable situation. Therefore, they need to sit down and come up with a rational plan towards improvement (Bamber, 2011). Action plan and Recommendations With the increasing incidences, there is hence a need to come up with an action plan. First, all the stakeholders must meet to discuss on ways to solve the recent crisis. In the meeting, there will be change of communication and training model to more rational models that are employee oriented. The HRM will carry out the process and engage other stakeholders to give ideas on how salary and training issues ought to be handled. The change process will take place from 1st to 28th November in the company’s boardroom. To carry out the process, the employees will be interviewed in order to show some of the areas they would need change. The entire company’s workforce and managers will be given information concerning the changed plan. The recent problems involving HRM function has caused the company to suffer financially. The Qantas airline in their website asserts that, â€Å"Qantas is committed to providing meaningful jobs with competitive salaries and superior benefits† (Qantas, n.d). However, they have failed in fulfilling their promise as the strikes reported tell a different story. In addition, they allege that they â€Å"provide targeted, quality training to the Qantas group and assists in the development of skills† (Qantas, n.d). However, the accidents reported show a major gap in their training strategy. The HRM should revisit their training and communication model and make a change on it. It is time the company moved out of a market approach change strategy that only focus on making profits and focus on employee oriented approach that consider the interests of workers. With an effective training  model, there will be workshop and focus group sessions where employees air their grievances and come up with solutions to their problems (Frances, 2009). In addition, effective HRM communication should contribute successfully to teamwork, learning, innovation, safety, and productivity (Krizan et al, 2010). Moreover, the HRM should invest heavily on their pilot candidates and ensure that they get the right training. Coming up with a HR strategic oriented communication model is important in guaranteeing that employees are at par with requirements and needs of the company. This will help in discussing paramount issues affecting the running of the company. Once there is fit between communicat ion and training model in relation to the role of the HRM, the next step should be to come up with a tactical plan on how the HR will be managing their roles to ensure there are no more scandals. The HR needs to be involved fully in daily operations of the company to ensure alignment with needs of the employees. Moreover, the HRM should come up with performance management plan, which is imperative in following up on the performance of the staff members. The HRM should also be transparent in its strategy. This means that the company’s operational and strategic agenda should be communicated clearly to workers and must be accepted. This will ensure employees’ needs are met and there are no operational challenges. In addition, its mission should be shared with other shareholders to make sure they are on the right path to correcting the image of the company. Today’s HR models recognize on the fact that people do not leave their issues at home when they are going to work. For the company to be successful, it should focus on the needs of the workers whether personal or professional. This will motivate the workers to deliver quality work. In that case, there will be less accidents and remuneration problems in the company (Frances, 2009). In addition, in training sessions, the HR should focus on changing staff members’ attitude towards work and teach them on how to have a positive attitude. This will help in motivating workers and encouraging them to air their grievances through dialogue.