Observation Report of Child Example

Observation Report of Child Example Ethical considerations checklist Has the whole team been informed about the portfolio requirements? Have you made clear that all members concerned in the observation will have access to the material? Have the nature of the observations (including aims, tools to be used) been  explained to the children/ young people (where applicable)? Have you considered the importance of respecting the child/ young persons privacy, dignity and possible emotional reactions? Have parents been informed- and has the study process been fully explained to  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   them? Have you confirmed that all details will remain confidential by ensuring all documents are anonymous? Date: 10 January 2017 Dear parents/guardian I am writing to ask for permission to observe your child as part of my university course. All information about your child would be kept as confidential. Thank you for your support. I †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. give permission to †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. to observe my child Sign†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Date†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Name of observer: Aamna. (nursery nurse) Name of child: child A Date of observation: 4/01/17 Starting time: 3:30pm Finishing time: 3:40pm No of adults involved: 1 No of children involved: 3 Area of observation: home corner, constructive area, quite area and mathematic area (indoors) Aim: to observe child A while playing Objective: to analyse how child A interacts with others This is a brief snap of child A interacting with adults and other individuals within the setting. Its a Wednesday afternoon just after teatime and child A begins to play with child B who is the same age as child A. Child A starts in the home corner and continues the day playing with other activities. Child A begins to play in the home corner area and pretends to be a policeman and says hands up to himself. Child A appears to be searching for something and pulls out a police uniform jacket and he proceeds to put the jacket on himself inside out, he then looks under the other uniform jackets. I interrupt child A and ask him what he is looking. He does not respond, he finds a briefcase with pretend injections, bandages and a stethoscope. He then takes the policeman jacket and places it back in the correct place. Child A picks the stethoscope and places it around his neck backwards. He looks down at a doctors shirt and grabs the shirt briskly with one hand and quickly clutches it close to his chest. Child A then attempts to put the shirt on, he starts by putting his right arm into the right sleeve and the left arm into the left sleeve. He then pulls it down from the back and closes the buttons starting from the bottom up to the top. Once he has completed closing the buttons he stops and sighs out loud with his hands on his waist. He then sits on the floor with his legs crossed and wiggles his bottom. Child A places the diaphragm on child Bs shoulder, child B then places the diaphragm part on left side of his chest demonstrating, as child B lets go of the stethoscope child A takes it off his chest and tries to put it on himself. Child A attempts then to put it on Child B again the same way child B demonstrated but still puts it the other way round with the diaphragm on child Bs shoulder again. Child A sighs and throws the stethoscope onto the floor with force, after throwing the stethoscope he crosses his arms and frowns at the ground with his eyes towards the floor. From the corner of his eye he slowly looks around, as he slowly looks up again he notices me looking at him. He begins to smile and takes the stethoscope from the floor and apologises to the stethoscope. He now looks up at child B walking towards the constructive area and walks after him. As he walk s towards the constructive area with his hands swinging from left to right and proceeds to sit on his knees and grabs onto a toy car with his left hand and says look I have a blue car, what colour do you have?. Child B responds by saying my car is green, I have this one at home and child A nods his head up and down. Child A suddenly jumps up and runs towards the quite area and begins spinning three times with his hands swinging up and down, he falls onto his knees whilst laughing and says wow Im dizzy.   He jumps right up with his hands in the air and continues spinning round. He catches his breath and places his hands onto his head whilst attempting to sit back on the floor and makes a woo woo sound.   He moves his head round repeatedly but this time in slow motion with his eyes closed. After two full minutes he stands up and   choses another table activity. Now Child A proceeds to the mathematic table which contains unifix cubes. Child A stands still with his right hand on t he side of his head and looks around the table and finds a seat and walks towards it, he pulls the seat and sits then, puts both of his legs under the table he then places both hands at the sides of the chair and tucks himself under the table. He reaches out for the cubes which are placed in the middle of the table. Child C snatches the unifix cubes from child As hands, child A looks directly at child C face and says sharing is caring with his hands on his waist with his left eyebrow raised. Child C gives the cubes back into child As hand Child A then starts to attach each unifix cube together. While picking up the cubes he says the colours of the cubes and the number of how many cubes there are in a low toned voice one is yellow, two is green and three is red, he continues up to ten then looks around to see if anyone is looking at him with his head down and rolls his eyes to the right corner of his eyes. With the unifix cubes he builds a long line and says this is the wall in my ga rden and its big, big, big. As he uses the word big he moves his right hand up on top of his head. After creates a oval shape and claims to say its a hippopotamus by saying Im a hippopotamus and you cant catch me in a deep voice with his hands by his side and rocks on his chair from left to right. Child A separates the cubes one by one and places the cube back into the middle of the table. He stands up and walks behind the chair and tries to tuck it under the table using both of his hands on the sides of the chair and crouches down. He now stands back up and runs towards the writing area and picks a colour pencil and a piece of paper for himself and for child B, then walks back to the mathematics area. As he gives the coloured pencil to child B he says here you go and passes on the pencil to child B. He then starts to draw lines with a red colour pencil onto a piece of paper, he grips the colour pencil by placing the all four fingers and his thumb sticking out towards him with his right hand and says look the cubes are like the cubes I made before to child B with a smile. Child B attempts to hold the coloured pencil, the pencil keeps falling out of his hands and ends up onto the floor. Child A looks at the floor to pick the pencil up for child B and helps child B on how to hold the pencil as he says this is how you hold it in your hand. Child A was included as the socially active child in this scenario of observation. The social, personal and emotional development can be noted through observing the behaviour, responses, and interaction with the other children within this setting. I would describe child A to be going through various stages of developmental experiences, and learning curves.   The theorist Jean Piaget   suggests four types of stages for cognitive development, in my observation it would specifically be looking at the preoperational stage (2-7 years). Within this stage Piaget speaks about the children of this age group that are able to analyse symbolically. In the first area of observation in the home corner, for when child A is experimenting with the police uniforms and the doctors briefcase child A seems to show a general awareness of the nature of a stethoscope and its connection to the doctors shirt which he wore prior to selecting the instrument this would symbolise that he might have a interest to work within healthcare for example. This kind of imaginative play could perhaps influence their occupation as they grow older. In this area Child A faces his first interaction with Child B who in this instance appears to be more advanced, he attempts to correct and teach Child A the correct way of placing the diaphragm through active learning. Jean Piaget   relates cognitive, moral, and emotional development. In his opinion, cognitive and emotional development show parallel,   courses of development, with cognition providing the structure and emotion the energy of development. Just as children go through stages of cognitive developme nt, they likewise display emotional development and understanding new   emotional expressions and experiences which are characteristics of different levels of development. Although my presence might have caused a bias in the childs natural behaviour I was able to see his response to his reaction as he threw the stethoscope aggressively in frustration and when he notices the presence of an adult he quickly says sorry to the stethoscope and smiled. Vygotsky suggested that social interaction within cognitive development would develop while socialising first. This means that most individuals would look to see how parents behaviour are towards things, watching the way they speak and then they would try to imitate them just as child A imitates conversational skills through discussing the toy cars they are playing with and identify the colours of the car. Play and playfulness is categorized into three key areas, imagination and creativity, playful exploration, problem solving and dizzy play. Dizzy play consists of rough play, tumbling humour and language play such as seen with Child A as he spins around saying woo and announcing wow im dizzy   expressing pure joy and a burst of physical energy release. On the mathematics table Child A is confronted by Child C, in this scenario Child C expresses a negative action by snatching from Child A in an aggressive manner. Child C handles this situation in a very emotionally respectful manner, he quotes sharing is caring which immediately diffuses a potential clash and encourages Child C to return the cubes. This was one of the most interesting parts of child to child interaction within this observation, as this showed an advanced development of empathy within Child A which usually begins to develop as toddlers where the concept of i and me begins. Child A shows the understanding of not only his own but the emotional needs of those around him Theorist such as Glassman, (2000) develops ideas for behaviourism and demonstrates ways of observing to   understand development. He also mentions a focus on learning. He suggests that learning means changes in behaviour which indicates experiences and interactions in an environment. This explains and demonstrates child A focusing on learning when Child B shows him how to use the stethoscope, which allows him to learn how to use it. As child A changes his choice of profession from being a policeman to a doctor, his behaviour also changes. The reason for the change was that he wasnt able to find the hat but found the briefcase without struggling. This is a result of child A experiencing and interacting within the environment. In this observation I mainly focused on what child A was able to do rather than what he couldnt do. Vygotsky includes in his theory about emphasis childrens capability and the partnership between the child and adult as the same between me and child A. Within this observation child A has demonstrated many skills as he becomes active to the use of his body movement whilst playing, he interacts with the environmental materials and people around him. Child A communicates as he shares his thoughts and information through playing with child B and other practitioners. He communicated verbally with some simple sentences. He shows excitement and having fun while playing with the different areas. Child A absorbed himself, concentrated and thought about what activities he involved himself with. Interacting was the main skill developed by child A as he formed this action a couple times during the observation. My observation was thorough and well, and through watching small emotional signs and reactions to different scenarios I was able to understand through a more practical approach about the emotional development of a child at play he interacts with children of different stages of development themselves. Reference list: Fromberg, D.P. (1990). Play issues in early childhood education. In Seedfeldt, C. (Ed.), Continuing issues in early childhood education, (pp. 223-243). Columbus, OH: Merrill. Frost, J.L. (1992). Play and playscapes. Albany, NY: Delmar. G Department for Education, 2012. Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. (EYFS). London: Early Education Palaiologou, I. (2012) Child observation. 2nd ed. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Analysis Of An American Social Welfare Policy Social Work Essay

Analysis Of An American Social Welfare Policy Social Work Essay Social welfare policies are an integral part of any political system. Many countries across the world have formulated social welfare policies to cope with the numerous social issues affecting society. There are many underprivileged people in society who include the unemployed, poor and disabled, and these require assistance from the state in order to achieve their potential. Social welfare in the US includes healthcare, empowerment, housing and other programs geared towards assisting the poor, unemployed and marginalized in society. Such programs include Medicaid, AFDC (Aid for families with dependent children), WIC (women, infants and children) programs, veteran programs and others. The US social welfare policy has been in existence for over two centuries and it traces its roots to British Poor Laws which were used by British colonies (Brown et. al. 12-17). These laws differentiated between people who were unable to work due to unemployment and those unable to do so due to physical health or age. The previous group was assisted with employment in workhouses while the latter was granted cash or other forms of assistance by the government. It is important to understand the US social welfare system in order to assess whether the objectives it was formed to attain are in fact being accomplished. This will enable us to make recommendations on whether the policy should be improved, remain the same or scrapped altogether. This paper will evaluate the US welfare policy in detail. It will assess its history and reasons why it was developed. The policy description and analysis will assist in evaluating the welfare policy. Afterwards an assessment will be made on whether the policy is effective in meeting the needs of the American society. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end of the paper. Historical background It has been stated that the US social welfare policy has been in existence for over two centuries and it traces its roots to British Poor Laws which were used by British colonies. The government realized that there were the poor and marginalized in society and that some of them were unable to meet their basic needs due to lack of employment. The huge number of unemployed people was a burden to society and contributed highly to acts of deviance which were experienced then. There was also the need to take care of war veterans who had contributed to the stability of the US through sacrificing themselves to defend their country. Congress approved programs aimed at supporting war veterans as early as 1862. Before government intervention, there was also some form of welfare which was practiced by villages. For instance, when families required assistance and friends and neighbors were unable to provide sufficient help, villages provided such help through workhouses or almshouses and poor re lief systems. There was also Mothersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ pension law which helped single mothers bring up children comfortably as well as cash allowance for the poor. In some states, aid for the blind was provided as early as the 1920s. However, these were mainly laws formulated to cater for specific objectives and were not necessarily a government policy as is in the modern world. The welfare policy was developed to cater for needs of families which suffered the Great Depression. The Great depression which occurred in 1929 and lasted for almost two decades before global economies recovered. It caused collapse of many economies and stock markets, massive unemployment, deflation of products and a general decrease in disposable incomes of most households. After the Great Depression, the government decided to develop a welfare policy which targeted families and households among other deserving groups. In 1935 the Social Security Act which defined policy programs was passed under President Roosevelt. Various social welfare policy programs including Aid to Dependent Children and unemployment compensation were developed as a result. In addition, government agencies such as Department of Labor, Department of Housing, Depar tment of Education and department of Agriculture were also formed to oversee the implementation of the welfare policy (Taylor 68-73). In subsequent years, various other policy programs were developed to meet modern needs. For instance, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act passed in 1996 under President Clinton aimed at assisting the poor and empowering them to obtain employment as opposed to dependence on aid. The problems which necessitated development of the welfare policy will be discussed in the following section of the paper. Problem description necessitating policy There were several problems which necessitated the development of the social welfare policy. It is important to understand that different generations faced various problems throughout history although most were similar. This section of the paper will analyze the reasons necessitating development of the social welfare policy at different points in time depending on problems prevailing at the time. Initially, it has been discussed that social welfare was developed due to four major reasons. The first was to address the problem of poverty and unemployment. It was realized that friends and neighbors were sometimes unable to assist the poor in society who were beginning to be a burden to society. Many unemployed people were poor and had begun participating in social vices since they were unable to afford money for basic needs. There were no clear statistics on poverty levels but it was believed that over 10% of the total population lived in poverty. The second reason which necessitated de velopment of the welfare policy was the old and especially the war veterans who had sacrificed themselves for the country. Such categories of people were unable to work effectively due to age or injury and they began receiving support from the state. However, the modern welfare policy system began due to the effects of the Great Depression. It has been discussed that the Great depression which occurred in 1929 and lasted for almost two decades caused collapse of many economies and stock markets, massive unemployment, deflation of products and a general decrease in disposable incomes of most households. The Great depression was a massive problem which caused a fall of crop prices by over 50%, collapse in construction industry, over 50% decline in tax revenues and personal incomes, collapse in logging and mining industries and an over 25% increase in overall US unemployment rate amongst other problems (Modigliani 41-43). These were huge financial problems which threatened the survival of many families and businesses and the government developed the welfare policy aimed at supporting the affected families and households among other deserving groups. This facilitated the 1935 passage of the Social Security Act which defined policy pr ograms under President Roosevelt. Other welfare policies have been passed under President Clinton and these aimed at assisting the poor meet modern challenges and empowering them to obtain employment as opposed to dependence on aid. Policy Description There are two major policies which will be discussed as far as policy description of the US social welfare system is involved. The first is the 1935 the Social Security Act passed to mitigate the effects of the Great Depression and the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act passed to cater for the poor and marginalized in society. The 1935 the Social Security Act This Act was passed under President Roosevelt and it formed the basis of developing the welfare system as is used today. The Act advocated for development of programs which limited the threats to American society including poverty, old age, burdens of widows and orphans as well as unemployment. These problems were made worse by the Great Depression which occurred during this period in history. The Act provided various benefits to unemployed people and retirees, with lump-sum payments being made after their death. The payments which were made to retirees were funded by taxes on the payrolls of current workers, with half the payments being funded by employers. The old, families with depended children and unemployed were financed by funds in various states which were advanced by the central government. Many minorities and women were locked out from these programs. This was due to the fact that the Act did not cover employees in domestic service, agricultural labor, government employees, nurses, teachers and social workers. This locked out minorities and women who dominated these sectors. The Act also discriminated against women who received insurance programs based on children or husbands. Minorities such as blacks received lower funds for assistance in some states due to the perception that blacks needed less money for maintenance. During this period, approximately $35 million was paid out in welfare programs by the central government. It is important to note that these welfare programs were long term in nature and did not have strict time limits where people could rely on welfare. 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act It has been discussed that this Act was passed under President Clinton. It had a significant impact on the goals and methods of assistance on the poor in society. The bill was passed with the belief that welfare programs were encouraging immigrants to relocate to the US where they became social burdens to society (Frum 325-327). It aimed at providing short term assistance to families as opposed to long term assistance as was being previously practiced. It also led to the change of long term welfare programs to short term ones. For instance, the 1935 Aid to Families and Dependent Children program was replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. In addition to shortening the length of welfare programs, this Act also increased eligibility standards required by those claiming benefits. These included reduction in immigrant welfare assistance, stricter conditions for eligibility for food stamps and recipient work requirements (David 33-37). The objectives of the program were requi ring welfare recipients to obtain employment after 2 years, ending welfare as an entitlement form, encouraging two parent families, limiting welfare support from federal funds to 5 years and enhancing child support enforcement. Welfare support came from both the federal and state government, with $650 billion being payable in welfare programs in 2009. Policy Analysis It is important to analyze the welfare policy which has been discussed in the paper in order to evaluate its legal and ethical implications. The major goals of the modern welfare system are to prevent dependence on welfare while at the same time assisting the old, unemployed, poor and single families amongst other target groups. The aim of the previous welfare system was to assist families, the old and unemployed mitigate the effects of the Great Depression. The intention of the 1935 the Social Security Act was to provide assistance to these marginalized groups. This was a noble intention since the great depression threatened the survival of many families and businesses. However, there were defects in the programs since they discriminated against minority groups and women. They were also long term support programs which indirectly encouraged reliance on aid by the needy. Since the needy were assured of financial support, some became comfortable and did not see the need to look for em ployment since the government was supporting them. However, these weaknesses were later discovered and the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was passed. This Act corrected the weaknesses in the earlier legislation since it supported the previously discriminated groups including women and minorities. It also limited the timeline for welfare support and made welfare eligibility more difficult to discourage reliance on welfare both immigrants and native US citizens. This is an important step since it encourages people to empower themselves as opposed to relying on government support. The welfare policy enables the unemployed and poor to seek employment. This improves their relations with the rest of society since they are not seen as burdens that rely on support from public taxes as was previously the case. It also enables the recipients to improve the quality of life since it empowers them to seek financial stability and empowerment. Governments across the world should embrace welfare policies which help the needy b ut at the same time discourage them from relying on aid in the long run. Summary and conclusion The US welfare system has been discussed in detail. The system traces its roots to the 18th Century when villages assisted the needy and old in society. However, the modern form of welfare which is practiced today was developed from the 1935 the Social Security Act which was passed to mitigate the effects of the Great Depression. The Great depression caused the collapse of many businesses and loss of jobs by households due to massive unemployment. The Act aimed at providing long term support for the poor, needy, unemployed and the old in society. However, it faced two main weaknesses which were discrimination against minority groups and women, and encouraging reliance eon aid by beneficiaries. In order to solve these weaknesses, the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was passed. The Act supported the previously discriminated groups including women and minorities and limited the timeline for welfare support and made welfare eligibility more difficult to discourage r eliance on welfare both immigrants and native US citizens. This encouraged recipients of welfare to look for employment opportunities and empowered them in the long run. It also improved their relations with the rest of society since they are not seen as burdens that rely on support from public taxes as was previously the case. It is important for governments to develop social welfare policies which are similar to those applied in the US. These will assist the marginalized and empower them to seek financial empowerment through obtaining meaningful employment. Such programs should not encourage recipients of welfare to depend on it in the long run. They should have feasible timelines when recipients of welfare should cease dependence on such programs. Only recipients who are unable to gain employment due to unique circumstances such as age or disability should receive long term welfare assistance. The programs should also have strict eligibility requirements to prevent abuse by able-bodied people capable of gaining employment. This will improve the social welfare of society in general.

Merchant of Venice Essay: The Depression of Antonio -- Merchant Venice

The Depression of Antonio in Merchant of Venice    In the Merchant of Venice, we see a truly anti-Semitic play by Shakespeare.   However, we also see a tale of money (greed and generosity), love (heterosexual and homosexual), and emotion (joy and sadness).   The play revolves around Bassanio's love for Portia.   Bassanio needs money to play the suitor to Portia in "style".   His friend who loves him, Antonio, agrees to give him the money, but, because all of his money is invested in his merchant ships he must take a loan from the greedy Jew Shylock.   Shylock loans him the money in exchange for a pound of his flesh if he does not pay the loan back on time.   Bassanio wins Portia's hand, but, before they are joined together, Portia will disguise herself in order to win the freedom of Antonio when his ships meet with ruin and he cannot repay Shylock.   Shylock ends up losing half his wealth and must convert before Portia is through with him.   Antonio is a fascinating character study when it comes to psychology because he is such a sad but noble character.   He is world-weary and life's material things do not bring him joy.   He is also confused about his sadness.   As he says in the opening speech of the play, "In sooth, I know not why I an so sad:/It wearies me; you say it wearies you;/But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,/What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn;/And such a want-wit sadness makes of me/That I have much ado to know myself" (Shakespeare   203).   Antonio explains he has scattered his investment risks quite adequately, so it is not his "merchandize" that makes him sad.   Yet, he does admit that he feels it is his nature to be sad, as if he has a chemical imbalance that classifies him as cl... ...nificance with those of the Jewish faith who might befriend him, and it gives him a cynical, negative perspective of the culture around him.   However, at the end of the play Antonio does seem to find some small measure of happiness when he comes to understand how much Portia has done on his behalf.   This shows him that his perceptions of her understanding may have been limited because he more than likely did not expect his strongest ally to be the wife of the man he loves, "Sweet lady, you have given me life and living;/For here I read for certain that my ships/Are safely come to road" (Shakespeare   228).   Thus, Antonio could be recommended for therapy because his depression has the potential to be ameliorated with a deeper understanding and acceptance of his thinking regarding life. Works Cited Shakespeare, W.   The Complete Works.   Random House, NY:   1975.   

where is all of my money going? Essay -- essays research papers

While searching through various newspapers and newspaper web sites online, I realized that the biggest social problem of all is the how misinformed and uneducated the public is. In search of articles on important social problems, the most prominent topics I found were things such as â€Å"Halliburton is awarded $72 Million in Bonuses,† â€Å"Putin blows of steam over baltics at EU Summit,† â€Å"Egypt Presidential Vote may not be very open,† â€Å"China is unwilling to impose sanctions on North Koreans.† Although these are fairly important â€Å"world† issues, they aren’t as important as things such as global structural inequality, racial and ethnic problems, gender inequality and male superiority, over consumption and starvation, and globalization and technology. It seems that people are so caught up in the smaller issues that we forget that some countries are wasting too much of the world’s resources, while other countries are starv ing to death, and ultimately we’re destroying the Earth at a rate faster than even imaginable. But that’s not what we hear on the news because we’re so caught up with the â€Å"runaway bride,† and the naughty priests.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I did, however, find an article that somewhat relates to the issue of overspending and misplacing our funds while we’re at it. The article is from the Los Angeles Times and is entitled â€Å"$82 Billion Okd in Emergency Spending.† I’ve never managed national budgets, but with that kind of money we could build countries and feed billion...

HENRY FORD :: essays research papers

hENRY FORD ---------- He produced an affordable car, paid high wages and helped create a middle class. Not bad for an autocrat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henry Ford1863-1947Henry Ford's parents left Ireland during the potato famine and settled in the Detroit area in the 1840s. Ford was born in what is now Dearborn, Michigan. His formal education was limited, but even as a youngster, he was handy with machinery. He worked for the Detroit Edison company, advancing from machine-shop apprentice to chief engineer. In 1893, Ford built a gasoline engine, and within a few years, an automobile, still a novelty item of the rich or do-it-yourself engineers. In 1899 Ford left Edison to help run the Detroit Automobile Company. Cars were still built essentially one at a time. Ford hoped to incorporate ideas from other industries -- standardized parts as Eli Whitney had used with gun manufacturing, or assembly line methods George Eastman tried in photo processing -- to make the process more efficient. This idea struck others in his field as nutty, so before long, Ford quite Detroit Automobile Company and began to build his own ra cing cars. They were good enough to attract backers and even partners, and in 1903, he set up the Ford Motor Company.He still met resistance to his ideas for mass production of a car the average worker could afford. But he stuck to his goal and finally in 1908, began production of the Model T. Ford gradually adapted the production line until in 1913, his plant incorporated the first moving assembly line. Demand for the affordable car soared even as production went up: before Ford stopped making the model T in 1927, 15 million had been sold, and Ford had become the leading auto manufacturer in the country. In addition to the moving assembly line, Ford revolutionized the auto industry by increasing the pay and decreasing the hours of his employees, ensuring he could get enough and the best workers. During the Model T era, Ford bought out his shareholders so he had complete financial control of the now vast corporation. He continued to innovate, but competitors (growing more powerful t hough fewer in number) began to cut into Ford's market share.Ford became interested in politics and as a successful and powerful business leader, was sometimes a participant in political affairs. In 1915, he funded a trip to Europe, where World War I was raging. He and about 170 others went -- without government support or approval -- to seek peace.

The 20th Century State of the American Dream

The American dream has always been a popular and typical subject matter in literature and arts in the United States. Though not a lot of people may be able to define the term in technical detail, Americans certainly know it by heart. The American dream has grown to a multitude of meanings over the years. A 15-year old girl may see the American dream as winning Ms. USA and being able to represent her country in front of the whole world. A young college student on the hand may see it as finding the most promising job and succeeding in his dream profession someday.While a newly wed man may see the American dream as acquiring his own house and property in a typical sub-urban area where he can start his life with his family calmly and peacefully. These are just some possible faces of American dream based on the perspectives of Americans from different walks of life. However, the real and concrete definition of ideal may not be that certain. The American dream have also been observed to ev olve through the years since it has to base itself on the necessity of the American society.And considering the current state of the American society in this modern age of the 20th century, the American dream can be easily seen as the vision of America as an economically stable, politically peaceful and societally harmonious nation. In this light, one may easily see how the different sectors of the country contributes to the achievement of this dream. However, although it can be observed that all of the American's visions are directed to this goal, there may still be things that hinder the achievement of this ultimate dream.In Loren Hickock's letter to Harry Hopkins in 1934 reveals the state of America, and this was reflected in this statement: â€Å"A Promised Land, bathed in golden sunlight, is rising out of the grey shadows of want and squalor and wrethchedness down here in the Tennessee Valley these days† (Hichock, 1934). The United States of America as the nation on whic h the roots of the state if Tennessee stands was evidently described as a gifted nation showered with golden sunlight. This entails a lot of positive things. This can entail how rich the soil of America is, and this can entail how great it natural resources are.This could have made the American Dream reachable if only the showers of the golden sun was put to good use. In the same letter by Hickock, she describes the state of American farm lands in Tennessee and how these lands, despite their arability and richness do not even grow sufficient crops for people to consume. Hickock writes, â€Å"Crops grown on it are stunted. Corn, for instance, grows only about a third as tall there as it does in Iowa. They tell me it isn't even good timber land. Just a thin coating of soil over rock. † (Hickock, 1934). This was during the 1930s.The situations at present may already be the same, but these confessions may reveal a pre-existing predicament which may have found its way to the roots of all Americans. A similar situation to this which can be seen to hinder America in achieving its ultimate dream is people's waste of resources. Just like the failure of earlier Americans to maximize the capacity or arable lands in Tennessee, American nowadays are suffered with debts and unnecessary financial debts that eventually make them fail in balancing and maximizing their prime resource which is money.Aside from the dilemma on resources, one of the most significant dilemmas of Americans that may have hindered them for so long in achieving the American dream is racism and discrimination on religion. The popular men's magazine in the US, Playboy conducted an interview with Malcolm X regarding the state of racism in America. During the 1960s. In Malcom X's answers, his view of the American dream was clear; however, the destruction of this dream was depicted even clearer. Malcom X says: â€Å"Freedom, justice and equality are our principal ambitions[†¦ The white man has t aught the black people in this country to hate themselves as inferior, to hate each other, to be divided against each other[†¦ ] the brainwashed black man can never learn to stand on his own two feet until he is on his own. We must learn to become our own producers, manufacturers and traders; we must have industry of our own,to employ our own† (â€Å"Playboy Interview Malcolm X, Alex Haley†, 1963). In these lines, the division between black and whites Americans was very apparent.It seemed like these people were living in two separate nations, when in fact, there were sharing one ground. Hence, there was practically no concrete sense of unity during that time. And although most Americans would claim that racism has finally found its end in the country, it can never be denied that it has created a serious scar in America's history. That although the current American society may be doing everything to heal the issue, the scar will always be there and it will never be erased in America's face.This can also be one of the most significant and considerable hindrances of achieving the American dream. Today, almost everything is being commercialized already. Everything seems to have a price tag. Because of this, people are becoming more and more competitive against each other to the extent that human rights violations are committed against their own countrymen. Evidently, in this kind of situation, achieving the ultimate American dream would be impossible. America has always been deemed as the land of the free.But considering how pressured, restrained and oppressed people are now due to financial debts, poltical predicaments and economic instability, America may not be totally free after all. At least not yet. This picture can be easily seen in this statement of Hickock in the same letter she sent to Hopkins: â€Å"And all over the state, in rural areas, the story is the same– an illiterate, wretched people, undernourished, with standards of l iving so low that, once on relief, they are quite willing to stay living so low that, once on relief, they are quite willing to stay there for the rest of their lives. It's a mess† (Hickock, 1934)

Stefan’s Diaries: The Craving Chapter 13

That night I lay in bed, gazing up at the ceiling. The moon sh 1 finished the gauzy uninfected curtains, and the house hummed with activity, a melee of footsteps, heartbeats, and mice skittering within the walls. It felt as though the consummate house were alive, with the exception, of course, of myself and Damon. The Sutherlands had no idea, merely when theyd clear their foundation to me, they had invited Death in. I was a cancer on their happy existence, and soon the darkness would spread, eating through their va allow de chambre until there was nonhing left.Though I was no willing bring outicipant in Damons worm plan, it would be no antithetic from how Katherine insinuated herself into my life and decimated the entire Salvatore family. Like it or non, this familys well-being rested squ arely on my shoulders. If Damon killed them, their blood would be on my hands, too. plainly how could I live him? I was so much weaker than my brother, and I had no plans to put dow n nourishment on hu manhoods once again for fear that Id be unable to stop.I rose from bed and pushed the curtains aside with a violent flick. As I sta reddened at the moon, that orb that had witnessed so much of my ill-doing, I replayed the conversation wed had with Margaret everywhere and all over in my head. The firm set of her jaw. The clear tone of her look. The way her lucid blue eyes had sized up me and Damon, as though she could keep in line straight through our come up to our unbeating hearts. Winfield was ready to sign his fortune over to Damon, yet his daughter remained immune to my brothers Power. merely how?The just protection I knew against vampires was vervain, but Id not inhaled its cloying scent since arriving in New York. When trying to draw expose Katherine, my father had spiked my whiskey with vervain, send Katherine into a miasmic fit when she drank my blood. If only my father had thought to protect me sooner, he and I might still be in Mystic Falls, p oring over write up books as I studied to add over Veritas.Sliding the window open, I stepped out onto the narrow balcony. The night was spookily still. No wind rustled the trees, and even the pigeons that roosted on the neighbors roof were quiet. My balcony faced east, toward the muddy eastbound River and the narrow spit of land they called Blackwells Island, where the city had recently rebuilt the lunatic asylum. A juiceless smile twisted my lips. If only I could check Damon in there. exactly wherefore I let out a groan and clutched the wrought-iron rail with my hands. I had to stop wishing and hoping and thinking of millions of if onlys. I could not wish Damon into oblivion and I could not rewrite the past. What was done was done. Even at my peak Power, I could not exertion the world to spin backward, could not arise back time and undo what Katherine did to me and my family. still I was not powerless over the future. I had free will, I had experience, and I had the choic e to fight.Hoisting myself up on the rail, I leaped to the roof, landing on the tar with a soft thud. New York was a bigger city, and someone, somewhere, had to grow vervain or at least pretend dried sprigs. Id chip kill up and down the routes until I caught the revealing scent of the herb. Spiking Lydias drinks would be impossible Damon was feeding from her but if I could just strewing some in Winfields whiskeyI ran across the roof, preparing to jump to that of the neighbor, before grading down their fire escape to the street below.Where are you going, brother? The cheery spoken language sliced through the night the same gunshot, and I froze on the ledge.Slowly, I move somewhat to face a bright Damon. He looked ready for the second part of his evening jaunt, wearing a triad-piece suit and twirling a gold slash in his hand. I recognized it instanter it had belonged to Callies father, the man who had imprisoned Damon, torturing him and ravenous him before forcing him to do battle with a mountain lion. Damon must have stolen it afterwards he killed Callie. Unbidden, an image of Callie bloomed in my mind. Her pleasing green eyes smiling at me, the freckles that dusted every inch of her bole, the way she had so bravely given herself to me on the set ashore of the lake, offering her blood even though she knew what I was and what I could do to her.Her dead, twisted body lying in the puke behind Lexis house.You bastard, I said in a low, fury-filled voice that I scarcely recognized as my own. Rage that had been grammatical construction for weeks with no outlet tore through my veins, and I felt as though my muscles were on fire. With a growl, I threw myself at him. Why wont you just let me be?Our bodies collided, like stone on stone. Startled, Damon trim down backward, but instantly he pushed me off and flipped to his feet. He wrapped his arms around my neck with a vise-like grip. If you were so do-or-die(a) to be free of me, you shouldnt have strained me to become a vampire with you, he hissed, all traces of joviality gone from his demeanor. I struggled to free myself, but his knee press more forcefully into my spine, pinning me to the roof. You were the one who urged me to become what I am to see what Katherine gave us as a bounty rather than a curse.Trust me, I gasped, trying to twist from his grip. I would evolve it back if I could.Tsk-tsk, Damon chided. Didnt Father watch you that part of being a man is living with your choices? He pressed my buttock into the tar roof, scraping open the genuflect there. Then again, you were such a chagrin to him at the end not wanting to marry Rosalyn, taking up with a vampire, killing himYou were always a disappointment, I spat. I should have killed you when I had the chance.Damon let out a dry laugh. Well, that would have been a shame, because then I couldnt do this.The pressure on my spine abated as Damon hoisted me up by the back of the shirt.What are you I start ed.Before I could finish, Damon launched me previous with the force of a lit cannon. My body careened through the night air, and for a brief, weightless moment, I wondered if I was flying. Then the sonorous pavement of the alley between the Sutherlands and their neighbors home rushed up to greet me, and my swot up cracked loudly on the impact.I groaned, upset radiating through my limbs as I rolled to my back, blood trickle down my face. I lay like that for hours, staring at the stars until my Power mend me, resetting my bones and stitching up the deletion in my cheek more swiftly than the most skilled medic could.But when I stood, a new pain shot through my chest. Because there on the brick wall of the Sutherlands home, written in red ink that could only be blood, were three terrifying wordsIm always watching.