Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Analysis Of Gwen Harwood s Poetry - 1944 Words

Gwen Harwood, a contemporary female poet, born in Brisbane Australia in the 1920 s, wrote her poetry during a time where Australian society held dominant gender ideologies that focused on domesticating women. A widely held belief of a passive, nurturing mother figure who looked after her children and complied with her duties as a house-wife , whilst men were viewed as the sole source of income and had a minimal nurturing role with children, was shared, along with ideas of male superiority, and of masculine qualities being superior to feminine qualities, both of which were only expected to be embodied by males and females respectively. The construction of people, places and institutions through poetic conventions in Harwood s poetry allows the audience to identify these cultural beliefs in conventional gender roles and expectations within 1950 s Australian society in particular. These constructions critique the attitudes and values of the time, especially where women are concerned, a nd thus position the audience to reject the patriarchal assumptions of the time. Her poems Suburban Sonnet and Prize Giving are can be perceived as radical interpretations and criticisms of the views of the time they were written in, and attest to Harwood s own beliefs of female independence and placing value on feminine and masculine roles and qualities equally. Harwood grew up with the main female figures in her life being her mother and grandmother, who were both very independent; herShow MoreRelatedGwen Harwood1749 Words   |  7 Pagesreligion and language, Gwen had many early influences in her childhood that were clearly going to have an effect on her later life. Gwens family had strong connections with music and it became a very important part of her life, causing her to aspire to become a musician. Gwens grandmother introduced her to poetry and she began to write her own in the 1950s. Soon after, she learnt the German language to establish a wider reading of poetry and invo lve the language in her own works. Gwen married a linguistRead MoreShould Female Contruction Workers Earn the Same Wages as Male2427 Words   |  10 Pagesvulnerability as the first and last instances of any explanation of rape is to make the identity of rapist and raped pre-exist rape itself (Wadlby). The point to consider is that Freuds account incest Until very recently around early part of 1970s, the sexual assault of children within their families was rarely openly discussed until the emergence of the second wave of feminism. Incest ... of sexuality may have normalized heterosexuality and the positions it offers for its subjects but it did

Monday, December 16, 2019

Genetically Engineered Potato Free Essays

NAME:  SHIZA ALI CLASS:  BS III TOPIC:  GENETICALLY MODIFIED POTATOESGENETI CALLY ENGINEERED POTATO A genetically designed potato could be a potato that has had its genes changed, exploitation recombinant DNA technology. Objectives of modification contain presenting pest-fighting, amendment the number of some chemicals fashioned by the plant, and to avoid staining of the potatoes. Multiplicities changed to reap a good variety of starches could also be accepted for industrial usage merely, not for diet. We will write a custom essay sample on Genetically Engineered Potato or any similar topic only for you Order Now THE PROCESS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING:  Genetic engineering is wide employed in scientific research. Mouse models ar designed for medical specialty studies, bacterium are designed to supply medications like internal secretion, and crops are designed for agriculture. All of those product of gene-splicing were created exploitation identical basic steps: 1. Distinguishing an attribute of interest. 2. Uninflected that genetic attribute. 3. Inserting that attribute into the order of a desired organism. 4. Growing the designed organism. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has quite recently given the thumbs up for ranchers to begin industrially growing a few distinctive hereditarily changed potatoes. The potatoes, which come in Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet, and Atlantic Varieties, have been built to create less of a fixing that can transform into a growth causing operator when seared. The potatoes additionally oppose wounding, a typical event in gathering and transport which can lessen their esteem or considerably render them unsellable.The new assortments, which have been named â€Å"natural† potatoes, were created by Idaho based biotech organization JR Simplot. The potatoes are joining another age of GM substances that are intended to profit both the ranchers and the shoppers, instead of simply the cultivators as herbicide or pesticide-safe assortments would. A few GM apple assortments, for example, were as of late made which take more time to dark colored when cut, in spite of the fact that these â€Å"Cold apples† presently can’t seem to get the endorsement.To achieve the upgraded attribute, Simplot analyst added charming characteristics to the tubers that are ordinarily found in other created and wild potatoes. The characteristics encode a system that results in deceased age of amino destructive (the building square of proteins) called Asparagine. Regardless of the way that Asparagine is found in various foods, it’s conveyed in high obsessions in a couple of groupings of potatoes. Exactly when warmed to high temperatures, for example in the midst of singing or warming, it can shape a manufactured called Acrylamide f the right sugar particles are accessible. French fries and potato chips have been found to contain particularly a lot of acrylamide when differentiated and diverse sustenance. Lab examinations found that the inborn potatoes delivered between 50 to 70% less Acrylamide when fricasseed than non-designed assortments, however by and large the levels of different supplements were unaffected. In spite of the fact that it’s realized that acrylamide is a poisonous concoction, the advantages of these potatoes to shoppers are murky at this stage.Since the Innate assortments were made by including qualities from different potatoes, instead of various creatures, Simplot is cheerful that shoppers will be all the more inviting of the yields. In any case, sensibly it’s impossible that this will influence hostile to GMO supporters, and some have just whined that the innovation has not been enough controlled and hence endorsement ought not to have been conceded this early. One gathering has additionally squeezed McDonald’s to not utilize the potatoes, regardless of the way that Simplot has been a noteworthy provider of solidified French fries to the cha in since the 1960s. How to cite Genetically Engineered Potato, Papers

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Robots in Society and the End of Manual Labor for Humans

Question: Discuss about theRobots in Society and the End of Manual Labor for Humans. Answer: One of these fine days, the world is going to experience one of the greatest unemployment crisis in the history of humankind. The crisis being right or bad will depend entirely on how the world had prepared for it. Technology is advancing at a faster rate that machine intelligence is capable of performing all manual labor tasks. Ingelhart (2015) argues that the world is on the brink of technological based societal transformation. Furthermore, the change is likely to be bigger than that witnessed during the industrial revolution. The revolution is not just the machine driven technology for manual labor but man inventions that think at the level of human beings and beyond. Furthermore, automated systems will take nearly half of the manufacturing jobs in the next generation (Frey Osborne, 2017). On the same note, the second wave of transformation is yet to be fully realized, it is, however, estimated that the full breakthrough would be achieved in the 2040s and 2050s. Technology and its effects on the manual laborer's workforce are not a new phenomenon. Furthermore, it is not an impediment to those people who are eager to work. For instance, the invention of internal combustion engines may have rendered many carriage assembly workers jobless, but it created many jobs in the advertising, manufacturing, and auto mobile maintenance industries. A report by the Deloitte consultancy firm estimates that through automation, though the economy of Australia has benefited, 800,000 have been lost since 2001. Furthermore, the report indicates that it is likely that more than 11 million manual jobs are likely to be lost within the next decade through automation of tasks performed by the manual workers (Rossel, 2015). The manual labor markets have never witnessed such a massive change in the workforce. The potential consequences are clearly being witnessed by the decreasing number of employed manual laborers. Moreover, the continuous application of robotic machines to replace the human workforce is an urgent issue facing many nations. However, many governments have failed to address the issue. Many nations have been unable to set up cabinet committees to come up with solutions or even look at the impact these robots have had on the economy and the ethical dilemmas they potentially have on the masses. In addition to that, many nations have failed to come up with a clear way of sharing revenues generated through the use of robots (Dom Hanson, 2015,pp621-46). The traditionally intellectual jobs are not also safe anymore. Machines such as Watson system by the International Business Machine that was famous for the win in jeopardy is likely to take over jobs involving large data (Carayannis, 2010). Doctor and lawyer jobs are in danger of being fully automated through the use of robots due to the ability of robots to integrate and consume more information than human beings. Similarly, traditionally intelligent jobs will be the first to go in this technological transformation. Moreover, we should appreciate the nature of machines. Technology has brought with it machines with creativity, robots able to compose music and write stories. The invention of machinery focused on the replacement of dull routine tasks with automated interfaces. Computers, for instance, was capable of executing complex mathematical calculations seamlessly, computations which previously was performed by a large number of people. Furthermore, the strides achieved in the 20th century, however, is far much advanced than those of the last fifteen years (MacCroy et al.2014). With the cheap computing power, big data analytics tasks have been fully automated while complex decision making is left to a few chosen professionals. Throughout human history, technological advancements continued to ignite frustration due to the potential of unemployment and job displacement. Back in the history of human beings, nearly 90 percent of people worked on their farms, in the 21st century, only about 2 percent of the worlds population works on their farms. During this ancient periods, unemployment was unheard. The current trend of polarizing the labor market has led to the shrinking of middle-wage occupations while low wage jobs increase. Furthermore, many individuals who end up losing their jobs to robotic systems, easily accept low paid wages because it is easier than retraining to pursue a position demanding high-level skills (Dauth, 2014). On the other hand, many argue that government involvement in the formulation of policies can help shape the industry. In a hypothetical scenario, two cases are true. Robots and automated machines produce all that is necessary for the survival of the human race, and human beings wont find work and continue to lose their daily source of income because all work is left to the robots and machines (Bakkari, Rachidi Khatory, 2015). This is the society of today. The result is that a small fraction of the population which was wealthy before automation took place continue to live comfortably while enjoying the benefits of the machine economy. The majority of the population which is poor continue to starve. According to Heyer (2010), robotic systems have come with some advantages. For instance, efficiency in the manual work sector has been enhanced. Advancements from the steam engine to the Internet have improved our lives, have created new business opportunities and driven growth in the economy of many nations. Many automated systems are capable of multitasking. Case in point is a robot welding, riveting, bonding and installing various parts of equipment. Hypothetically, it may turn out that advancements in automation of work processes may end up augmenting human labor instead of replacing human workforce. Furthermore, technological advancements may never exceed the mental capacity of human beings (Lin, Abney Bekey, 2011). However, the acceleration of automated systems is continuing to widen the gap between the economic winners and losers. Many possibilities may play out in the future but the trend being witnessed is going to have a profound effect in the next century, and the world should, therefore, prepare well for what will transpire. Cheap machines will do jobs and tasks belonging to the manual laborers, and the wages of unskilled workers will continue to decrease. In summary, a new category of unemployed and unskilled labor commonly referred to as digital losers are emerging in the 21st century. The board of contention continues to be that automated systems and robots coupled with digital technologies are continuing to be blamed for the lack of jobs. In addition to that, many people who are studying with hopes of being employed in the future are now worried. Moreover, new robots are encroaching into the skills of humans beings in an unprecedented way. Many middle-class jobs are at the center of it all. High skilled jobs in the education and engineering sectors are not being spared either. No economic law exists to state that anyone automatically benefits from a technological advancement. The economic elite in the society understands some workers are likely to lose out in the battle against the machine. It is imperative that the governments of affected countries step in to avert the looming crisis. A government through the formulation of polici es and levies can help salvage the situation. The adoption of a machine is not disputed, but it should not be at the expense of the manual labor workforce, this is because a machine will never be more intelligent than the human brain. Furthermore, failure to deal with the crisis will continue to widen the gap between the upper class and the lower class in our society. Economic gains may be achieved through automated systems but the world risk having a population which is idle. The dangers associated with having a population which is learned or unskilled in the case of manual workers who lack jobs is like having a ticking time bomb waiting to erupt. References Bakkari, M., Rachidi, A. and Khatory, A., 2015, December. Evolution of automated production systems in SMEs: what are the consequences for the employees? Carayannis, E.G., 2010. Innovation, Technology, and Knowledge Management. Dauth, W., 2014.Job polarization on local labor markets(No. 18/2014). Iab discussion paper. Dorn, D. and Hanson, G.H., 2015. Untangling trade and technology: Evidence from local labor markets.Economic Journal,125(584), pp.621-46. Frey, C.B. and Osborne, M.A., 2017. The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerization?Technological Forecasting and Social Change,114, pp.254-280. Heyer, C., 2010, October. Human-robot interaction and future industrial robotics applications. InIntelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2010RSJ International Conference on(pp. 4749-4754). Inglehart, R., 2015.The silent revolution: Changing values and political styles among Western publics. Princeton University Press. Lin, P., Abney, K. and Bekey, G., 2011. Robot ethics: Mapping the issues for a mechanized world.Artificial Intelligence,175(5-6), pp.942-949. MacCrory, F., Westerman, G., Alhammadi, Y. and Brynjolfsson, E., 2014. Racing with and against the machine: changes in occupational skill composition in an era of rapid technological advance. Rssel, P., 2015. The changing interaction between robots and humans in the working environment.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Internship Report

Executive Summary Almutlaq Holding Company specializes in the manufacturing and selling of furniture. The vision of the company is to raise the level of performance and increased productivity locally and internationally. In realizing this long-term vision, the company is currently changing some activities in order to be a franchise system. This plan will cover the Gulf region and the Middle East on completion.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Internship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is also a move to include Almutlaq Holding in the Saudi stock market to convert it from a closed-joint holding company into public company (Tong 550). This will enhance participation opportunities and financial securities for the Saudi citizens. However, in the future, the company plans to choose business areas carefully based on the new and existing economic and social development variables in order to provide quality produc ts and services to the consumers at reasonable costs depending on economic segments of society. The company’s mission is to â€Å"develop the idea of showing, production, sales, and the endless work to raise efficiency and professionalism† (Green and Madison 106) to enhance economic development of the kingdom. Based on this founding mission accompanied with the strong and professional supportive teams that manage its five vital departments (the IT department, the department of sales and marketing, procurement, accounting, and human resource), it has been registering a steady increase in sales and customers’ satisfaction. It has also opened new companies, City. W Saudi Arabia, Sudair Furniture Factory, Real Estate Investment, and Almutlaq Co. Ltd to supply international and local furniture. Therefore, the report details the activities undertaken during the internship training at Almutlaq Holding Company. The company attached its internship students to various dep artments depending on their areas of study. Having been attached to the accounting department, I had the pleasure to undertake the role of preparing financial statements, routine functions, inventory management, and promotion.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Company Description Almutlaq Holding, HQ – Olaya Main St., Opp. Alandalus Market Having been established under the name of Almutlaq Company Limited by Almutlaq in the mid 1960s, the Almutlaq Holding has been expanding gradually in its mission of manufacturing and selling furniture in the Arab Kingdom and the world at large. Under the management of commitment, loyal, and hardworking second-generation leaders, the company has gained a great reputation among local and global consumers (Green and Madison 109). Through the establishment of Real Estate Invest, Sudair Fur Factory, City Saudi Arabia, and Almutlaq Co. Ltd , the company specializes in the manufacturing and selling of home furnishings such as sofa sets and wooden cabinets to employees, retailers, wholesalers, and other manufacturers in the United Arab Kingdom. Figure 1 represents the organizational chart of Almutlaq Holding. It comprises the top management: the company CEO, CEO office manager, and the internal editor. Below the top management are five departments headed by the respective managers. Accounting department is headed by accounting manager working together with seven accountants responsible for managing the company’s finances. The commercial operations manager works in collaboration with Almutlaq Co. purchasing manager, warehouse general manager, city warehouse general manager, and the purchasing manager, as well as internal purchasing manager. Under the human resource manager, there are other staffs comprising one personnel manager, two personnel coordinators, and two government relation representatives.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Internship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Under the leadership of IT manager are the programmer, ERP, systems and network administrators, and e-services manager. Marketing manager aided by the advertising manager, customer relations manager, and the photographer head the sales and marketing department. Functions of Different Departments The accounting department is responsible for routine functions such as recording transactions, reconciling bank statements, preparing interim and annual financial statements, securing the confidential accounting information, and carrying out inventory management (Kessler and Grant 129). The commercial operations department does not directly generate income into the company. However, its role is inevitable. The department carries out procurement activities, collects company’s support functions of other departments by enhancing collaborative working en vironment, fosters development, and implements the company mission, policies, and guidelines. Human resources department does the management of employee population such as â€Å"recruitment, training, compensation, employee benefits and relations, communications, and performance management† (Green and Madison 101). The information technology department in Almutlaq Holding updates its website besides providing IT support requirements to the company. The sales and marketing department carries out promotional activities as well as product definitions in terms of â€Å"color choices, package sizes, feature modifications, and even shifts to a new product line† (Kessler and Grant 130). The department is also charged with the responsibility of modifying the furniture according to preferences and quality demands. Besides, it receives and responds to customers’ feedbacks. Internship activities Working under the accounting department gave me a lot of impeccable experience to complement and apply my theoretical college knowledge into the real life situation. Having been ushered into the company by Ehab Dwedar, the accounting manager, and guided through by a team of professional accountants led by Abuobaidah Ahmed (my supervisor), I was at total ease carrying my specific tasks.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More I have the greatest pleasure to acknowledge the experience gained from Almutlaq Holding Company as diverse and very vital for my future career. I have experience in inventory management, recording transactions in the invoices, bills and vouchers, keeping bills and vouchers, collecting and monitoring debtors, reconciling bank statements with the company’s bank account, preparing trial balance, revenue statement, and balance sheet (Kessler and Grant 136). Through the help of Reda Zeid as the e-services manager, I have also gained experience in social media business promotions. In Almutlaq Holding Company, motivation of employees through training, offering transportation services to customers, giving warranties, evaluating customers’ needs and preferences, printing, and social media promotions enable the company to be more effective and efficient. How Al Yamamah University prepared me for the internship At the university, I have gone through a vigorous training in finance . The course enabled me to specialize in entrepreneurial finance and financial management, learning financial statement and ratio, investment analysis, valuation and sources of finance, venture capital, and business angel financing (Tong 534). Therefore, I developed knowledge of financial planning, investment and financial analyses plus income and cash flow statements, and balance sheets, which enabled me to effectively undertake and implement internship duties and responsibilities. Moreover, having learned how to prepare financial statements using secondary data at the University, I was able to relate my theoretical experience to the work at hand. An assessment of the internship My main responsibility at the Almutlaq Holding Company was to prepare the company’s financial statements such as trial balance, revenue statement, and balance sheet. However, to broaden the capacity in my field of study, I took the initiative of supplementing the role with other responsibilities. I w as also charged with the responsibility of recording transactions in the invoice, bills, and vouchers as well as keeping, collecting, and monitoring debtors, reconciling bank statements with the company’s bank account (Kessler and Grant 126). Besides, I was given the role of making and keeping stock of furniture, maintaining inventory books such as stock transfer and physical stock register. Working under accounting department gave me a lot of impeccable experience to complement and apply my theoretical college knowledge into real life situation. I have the greatest pleasure to acknowledge the experience gained from Almutlaq Holding Company as diverse and very vital for my future career. I have a firsthand experience in inventory management, business promotions, as well as preparing and managing financial statements, which are needed in business organizations. Conclusion Internship training is very vital in exposing a student to the real work environment because it does not o nly give experience to an individual. Rather, it supplements practical skills with skills, which I will not be able to acquire in classroom. The training also exposes one to more accounting and financial challenges thus providing relevant solutions that lead to a more technical expertise in the field of finance. During my financial training at Almutlaq Holding Company, I got a chance to work with its co-branches, City Saudi Arabia, Sudair Furniture Factory, and Real Estate Investment. Therefore, I was exposed to several activities within the financial discipline such as company routine functions, inventory managements, and preparing interim financial statements (Green and Madison 100). The skills and experience I acquired can enable me to work in any business venture. In addition, I acquired communication, organizational, leadership, and analytical skills, which have enabled me to realize that, at work, non-technical skills are equally very important. Most significantly, I experienc ed various activities associated to my career and professional development because I was able to apply my theoretical knowledge to accomplish practical tasks effectively. Works Cited Green, Brian, and Roland Madison. â€Å"An Exploratory Study of the Effect of Professional Internships on Students’ Perception of the Importance of Employment Traits.†Ã‚  Journal of Education for Business 86.2(2011): 100-110. Print. Kessler, Lara, and Rita Grant. â€Å"Internships as a Beneficial External Learning Environment: A Survey and Case Study of Accounting Interns and Employers.†Ã‚  International Journal of Learning 16.8(2009): 125-140. Print. Tong, David. â€Å"Negative Opinion of Company Environment Mediates Career Choice of Accountancy Students.† Education Training 54.6(2012): 534-557. Print. This report on Internship was written and submitted by user Korath to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Elizabeth Movie Review essays

Elizabeth Movie Review essays The film Elizabeth, released in 1998, tells the story of the Queen of England known as the Virgin Queen. Queen Elizabeth was the half sister of the dead Queen Mary Tudor for whom she took the throne. Although the movie told the basic story of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, there were many different historical inaccuracies that are shown throughout the film. A few of these inaccuracies that are shown in this film are the way the queen carries herself as a politician, the way that she is courted by different royalties from different countries, and even in the way the Queen is dressed throughout the movie. As a young politician, the Queen is shown throughout the movie in a way that portrayed her as being very timid and almost very inexperienced. She is shown during her first scene as Queen of England biting her lip unsure of what decisions to make. The truth is quite far from the way the movie depicts her. She was brought up during the reign of her father Henry VIII. As a young princess, Elizabeth was enrolled in schools with the finest teachers in the land. Her professors taught her all of the subjects that a politician would need to know. She would have been very prepared for what she encountered as the new Queen of England. Early European monarchies often intermarried with other monarchies to establish different alliances. This practice was very popular during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Usually Kings and Queens married off their daughters to other sons of monarchs. Throughout the movie you see how France and Spain try to court Queen Elizabeth. The fact that she was courted was very true. But the time as which it happened was very false. Throughout the movie she is shown as a young Queen in her mid-twenties. When she was actually courted she was much older. She was in her forties before she was courted by any country. The way she was courted was much different too. In the f ...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Biography of Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party Leader

Biography of Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party Leader Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948–December 4, 1969) was an activist for the NAACP and the Black Panther Party. At age 21, Hampton was fatally shot alongside a fellow activist during a law enforcement raid. Activists and the broader black community considered the deaths of these men unjust, and their families ultimately received a settlement stemming from a civil lawsuit. Today, Hampton is widely remembered as a martyr for the cause of black liberation. Fast Facts: Fred Hampton Known For: Black Panther Party activist who was in a law enforcement raidBorn: August 30, 1948 in Summit, Illinois.Parents: Francis Allen Hampton and Iberia HamptonDied: December 4, 1969 in Chicago, IllinoisEducation: YMCA Community College, Triton CollegeChildren: Fred Hampton Jr.Notable Quote: â€Å"We always say in the Black Panther Party they can do anything they want to to us. We might not be back. I might be in jail. I might be anywhere.  But when I leave, you’ll remember I said, with the last words on my lips, that I am a revolutionary. Early Years Fred Hampton was born on August 30, 1948 in Summit, Illinois. His parents, Francis Allen Hampton and Iberia Hampton, were Louisiana natives who relocated to Chicago. As a youth, Fred excelled in sports and dreamed of playing baseball for the New York Yankees. However, he also excelled in the classroom. Hampton ultimately attended Triton College, where he studied pre-law in hopes of helping people of color fight back against police brutality. As a teen, Hampton became involved in civil rights by leading a local NAACP youth council. He helped to grow the councils membership to more than 500 members. Activism in the Black Panther Party Hampton had success with the NAACP, but the radicalism of the Black Panther Party resonated with him even more. The BPP had successfully launched a free breakfast program to feed children in a number of cities. The group also advocated for self-defense rather than nonviolence and took a global perspective on the black freedom struggle, finding inspiration in Maoism. A skilled speaker and organizer, Hampton quickly moved through the ranks of the BPP. He became the leader of Chicago’s BPP branch, then the chairmain of the Illinois BPP, and finally the deputy chair of the national BPP. He engaged in grassroots activism, working as an organizer, a peacemaker, and taking part in the BPP’s free breakfast program and people’s medical clinic. A COINTELPRO Target From the 1950s until the 1970s, the FBI’s Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) targeted leaders of activist organizations like Fred Hampton. The program served to undermine, infiltrate, and spread misinformation (often through extrajudicial means) about political groups and the activists who belonged to them. COINTELPRO targeted civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as radical groups like the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and the Young Lords. As Hampton’s influence in the Black Panthers grew, the FBI began to focus on his activities, opening a file on him in 1967. The FBI enlisted a man named William ONeal to infiltrate and sabotage the Black Panthers Party. ONeal, who had been previously arrested for car theft and impersonating a federal officer, agreed to the task because the federal agency promised to drop the felony charges against him. O’Neal quickly gained access to Hampton by becoming both his bodyguard and a security director in Hampton’s Black Panther Party chapter. As a Black Panther Party leader, Hampton persuaded Chicago’s black and Puerto Rican street gangs to call a truce. He also worked with white-dominated groups like Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground. He called the multiracial groups he collaborated with his Rainbow Coalition. Following FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s orders, O’Neal undid much of Hampton’s work to foster peace in the community, leading community members to lose confidence in the BPP. Fred Hampton's Killing Sowing discord in the community wasn’t the only way O’Neal attempt to undermine Hampton. He also played a direct role in his killing. On December 3, 1969, O’Neal secretly drugged Hampton by putting a sleeping pill into his drink. Shortly afterward, law enforcement agents initiated an early morning raid on Hampton’s apartment. Despite not having a warrant for weapons charges, they entered the apartment with guns firing. They mortally wounded Mark Clark, who was guarding Hampton. Hampton and his fiancee, Deborah Johnson (also called Akua Njeri), were asleep in their bedroom. They had been wounded but survived the gunfire. When an officer realized that Hampton hadn’t been killed, he proceeded to shoot the activist twice in the head. Johnson, who was expecting a child with Hampton, was not killed. The other seven Black Panthers present in the apartment were charged with several serious crimes, including attempted murder, armed violence, and multiple weapons charges. However, when a Department of Justice investigation revealed that Chicago Police had fired up to 99 shots, and the Panthers had only fired once, the charges were dropped. Activists considered the killing of Hampton to be an assassination. When the FBI’s Pennsylvania field office was broken into not long after, the COINTELPRO files found included a floor plan of Hampton’s apartment and documents that mentioned covering up the FBI’s part in Hampton’s killing. Lawsuit and Settlement The family members of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark sued the Chicago Police, Cook County, and the FBI for $47.7 million in 1970 for wrongfully killing the men. That case was thrown out, but a new case took place in 1979 after officials concluded that the law enforcement agencies involved had obstructed justice and refused to hand over relevant paperwork related to the killings. Three years later, the families of Hampton and Clark learned that they would receive a $1.85 million settlement from the local and federal agencies responsible for the men’s deaths. Although that sum was far less than what they’d sought, the settlement was an acknowledgement, to a degree, of wrongdoing. Had the Chicago Police not killed Fred Hampton, he would have been named chief of staff of the Black Panther Partys central committee, making him a key spokesman for the group. Hampton never got that opportunity, but he has not been forgotten. Soon after his death, the BPP filmed an investigation of his apartment, which police did not close off. The footage captured is seen in the 1971 documentary â€Å"The Murder of Fred Hampton.† An estimated 5,000 mourners turned up to Hampton’s funeral, during which the activist was remembered by civil rights leaders such the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy.  Although activists Roy Wilkins and Ramsey Clark characterized Hampton’s killing as unjustified, none of the officers or officials involved in the raid were convicted of wrongdoing. Legacy A number of writers, rappers, and musicians have referred to Fred Hampton in their writings or lyrics. The group Rage Against the Machine famously mentions the activist in its 1996 hit â€Å"Down Rodeo,† in which frontman Zack de la Rocha declares, â€Å"They ain’t gonna send us campin’ like they did my man Fred Hampton.† In the city of Chicago, December 4 is â€Å"Fred Hampton Day.† A public pool in Maywood, Illinois, where Hampton grew up, bears his name. A bust of Hampton sits outside the Fred Hampton Family Aquatic Center. Hampton, like other political activists, seemed keenly aware that his work would put his life in jeopardy. However, while he was alive, he expressed confidence in his own legacy: â€Å"We always say in the Black Panther Party that they can do anything they want to us. We might not be back. I might be in jail. I might be anywhere. But when I leave, you’ll remember I said, with the last words on my lips, that I am a revolutionary. And you’re going to have to keep on saying that. You’re going to have to say that I am a proletariat, I am the people.† Sources Ballesteros, Carlos. â€Å"Black Panther icon Fred Hampton’s boyhood home facing foreclosure.† Chicago Sun-Times, 16 October, 2018.â€Å"Fred Hampton.† National Archives, 15 December, 2016. Silva, Christianna. â€Å"Who Was Fred Hampton, the Black Panther Shot and Killed by Chicago Police 48 Years Ago?† Newsweek, 4 December, 2017.â€Å"Watch: The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther.† Democracy Now! 4 December, 2014.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The point of making people and organizations more accountable Essay

The point of making people and organizations more accountable - Essay Example This is because there are the stakeholders who need current information on the status of their concerns. For example, in an international session that looked at accountability across all sectors involved in HIV, including community, government and UN, a reporter reported that - The movement is now fragmented. There are some new voices but it's not representative of everyone. And ever since treatment became accessible, the sense of urgency is lost. Many activists who were fighting for their lives have now gone on medication and gone back to having full time jobs (Narayanan, 2006). One strong point of making people and organizations more accountable is that people's ability to realise their rights to resources have increased (Newell &Wheeler, 2006b). Accordingly more responsive institutions enable people to gain access to resources, equipping them with legal frameworks, citizen engagements, understanding of accountability, and state-market relations. Citizens are taught a range of informal and formal strategies to demand accountability, too. Another reason in making people and organizations more accountable is to fight the perception that the organization is illegitimate. Therefore, organizations, especially those international in scope, need to increase transparency, improve accountability, and think harder about norms for global governance (Nye, 2001). By increasing visibility, criticism may be minified (Lloyd & de Las Casas, 2005). It cannot also be discounted that some organizations are speaking up on behalf of marginalized communities and have facilitated the participation of these communities in such matters as HIV/AIDS response (Code of Good Practice, 2004). There are questions then about the quality and accountability of programmes being delivered by some organizations. NGOs are said to have lacked resources, technical skills or experience, and this has implications for the quality of programming, monitoring and evaluation of these programmes (Code of Good Practice, 2004). The truth is that not everyone benefits equally from programmes so that attention has to be given to issues of intra-community accountability, adequate channels of representation, and new mechanisms for inclusion and participation (Newell & Wheeler, 2006b). This sense of community as a reason for accountability was also emphasized by Johnsson (1996). Another is that while markets have bonded people together, environmental, social, and political interdependence have also increased (Nye, 2001). There is concern that humanitarian agencies have no accepted body of professional standards to guide their work, especially when new ones are coming into the humanitarian sector. A truism is that whether experienced or newly-created, humanitarian assistance agencies could make mistakes, be misguided or sometimes misuse the trust placed in them (Borton, 1994). Moreover, any allocation of resources needs guidance (Code of Good Practice, 2004). There is also the need for donors to be more accountable to those they aim to support and those they press to reform (Newell & Wheeler, 2006b). History is replete with peoples' fight from developing countries with country borrowings with the World Bank and IMF. Indeed, rational behaviour (Olson et al, 1998) is one point of making

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Failing Public Education in America Research Paper

Failing Public Education in America - Research Paper Example However, the movement was hit and brought down by the Supreme Court in United States before the First World War. Instead of the parochial education, the public education was made compulsory in the United States after the Second World War. The need for public education against the parochial education was given priority and the public schools gained importance. The public education was made mandatory for all the citizens of the country. The progressive ideas of the society have led to the popularization of public education in America. The public education in America has evolved over the years (Smith 59). At present, there are not one but two systems of public education in America. The first system is considered to be present in the suburbs and in some wealthy areas of the society. The second system is considered to be present more in the rural areas of the country. While the first system could be much better and could be termed as mediocre with the international neighbors, the public e ducation system in the rural areas is in dire crisis. These public schools are in a situation where they require some sort of restructuring and planning. Majority of the students of public schools in the rural areas drop out before attaining the high school degree or diploma. This leaves the students unprepared to get jobs in the current economic scenario. Also the students do not have the base to go for advanced or higher studies. The students are also left isolated from the technical courses that require basis education in the public schools. The policymakers have identified the fall and deterioration of the quality level of education and consider it... According to the paper the public education system in America was established in the early part of the 1920s. The public education was made mandatory and access to public schools was mandated and the private schools were dissolved. A systematic methodology has been adopted for this research on the public education system of America and its current status. The reasons behind the failure of the public education system in America, its consequences and strategies for revival from the situation of crisis have been explored with the help of this research. The ethnic distinction between the public schools in the rural and urban areas should be lowered in order to achieve overall development of the public education system. This essay approves that the public education system in America has a long heritage and was established to make public education for the citizens mandatory as compared to the parochial education. The public education system in America has evolved over the years. The public educators have been teaching students in the same education system which has lacked infrastructure due to the incompetency of the teachers and the weakness in the course curriculum. Apart from this funding of the public education system in America has lacked earnest efforts. This has resulted in drop out of nearly half of the American students from the schools before the attainment of basic high school education. The situation of crisis and failure in public education of America has recent raised concerns among the heads of the state who view this as a source of threat to national security.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Functional Areas - Staff at R. Bethels Essay Example for Free

Functional Areas Staff at R. Bethels Essay R. Bethels have two owners, a manager and three other members of staff. The manager looks after the day to day running of the shop and helps run the business. The owners complete the paper work of the business and look after the financial side. Human Resources At R. Bethels, human resources is for: * Recruiting and dismissing * Providing good working conditions * Negotiating with trade unions * Health and safety The owners of R. Bethels are in charge of human resources. They will employ and dismiss employees. They will decide how much they get paid and how often they get paid. The manager will make the phone calls to employees, open and run the shop and to advertise available jobs. It is important that the manager does this in order to employ the correct people. Employing the correct people is good for motivation, quality of work and customer satisfaction. The Owners of R. Bethels may not do things to provide good working conditions all the time but he will decide what are good working conditions and tell members of his staff how to make these conditions available. This is so that people will want to work for R. Bethels. They will negotiate with trade unions in order to give their employees decent pay and good working conditions. They will also decide how to handle health and safety issues and improve them as and when they need to. R. Bethels need to be a healthy and safe environment so that people are able and willing to work for R. Bethels. As R. Bethels is a small business, training may not always matter but the owners will be in charge of it if it is needed. This would be needed for motivation, job satisfaction and an increase in profit through happy and satisfied customers. Finance Finance department covers: * Recording financial matters * Preparing accounts * Paying wages and salaries * Obtaining capital and other resources The owners deal with the companys finances. They will record and file all of the financial documents. This is important, as when R. Bethels need a financial document e.g. a sale they have just made, it will be easy to find. The owners will decide on who gets what amount of money per week or per annum and they will hand out the wages to the employees. They will also prepare accounts in order to sort out money, which comes in and goes out of the business. R. Bethels need capital in order to trade properly, the manager or the owners may sort this out. Administration and ICT Support Function R. Bethelss administration and ICT support is for: * Cleaning and maintenance * Health and safety * security * Clerical services * Word processing The manager will deal with clerical services and possibly computers and Internet. The clerical services are things like answering the phone and typing up letters. The manager would do this or the owners would, depending the circumstances. These are needed in order to keep in touch with customers, banks, other companies, etc. The employees would deal with cleaning and maintenance in order to keep things clean and in working order. The manager and the employees would share out the duties of everything else in order to keep the business a safe place to work. Marketing and sales Marketing is needed to enable R. Bethels to find out what customers need. This helps increase sales in order to increase their profit. As the manager at R. Bethels will have more time than the employees and the owners, he will be able to cover marketing. The owners and the employees will also be able to do this if they have any spare time, if they need to. The manager will ring up restaurants companies in order to advertise the companys products that are available. He will take time with customers to show them how to cook and serving ideas for the fish. When the customers want buy a product, they will be served by the manager or the employees and the money will be handed into the till machine. Customer services This deals with: * Keeping customers happy * Dealing fairly with complaints * Responding to enquiries * Offering credit * After sales service * Advice and information * Reliability * Good products, fairly priced R. Bethels may not be able to deal with all of the things in this list, because of the size of their business. The owners will decide how these things are sorted out but all of the staff at R. Bethels will have to help meet them. R. Bethels will try their best to keep customers happy. Keeping customers happy is what customer services are needed for. Research and development Research and Development is all about researching products and how customers respond to the business. If there are any things that need improving, R. Bethels will talk to their supplier and sort it out. At R. Bethels, the manager and the employees will do the research but the employees and the owners will sort out the product development. R and D is an important function because R. Bethels can have an advantage over their rivals and they can have a more desired product. At R. Bethels, the business lifestyle will be totally different to that of Dominos. At the moment there are only five people who are involved in the business, if and when this changes the lifestyle of the business will probably change too possibly in a dramatic way.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Leaving Home- Original Writing Essay -- Papers

Leaving Home- Original Writing She climbed on the hard mattress and pulled the fluffy, violet diary from under the feathered pillow. She opened the hard-back book and ferociously flicked through the pages, trying to find a blank one, she opened her bedside draw and rummaged through the useless items, she picked up a pen and began to write. â€Å" How could they do this to me? Why now? Why couldn’t they have told me earlier so I had time to acknowledge it, I mean I am sixteen I will be going away to college soon, why didn’t they tell me when I was like ten so I had time to think about it? Do they still love me after what I did? Do I still love them after what they told me?† Marie scribbled her thoughts onto the lilac page. As she recorded the night’s events she realised something and stopped writing. â€Å"I have to leave?† She told herself as she slammed the diary and launched the pen across her room. Marie then started to pace impatiently around her darkened room and started to talk rapidly to herself. â€Å" I can’t be in the same house as them, but I don’t want to leave Jane, she is my sister I can’t just leave her, but she is just too young too come with me, she isn’t really my sister, not by blood anyway.† She debated with herself. Tears ran down her soft cheeks as she tried to find a solution. â€Å"Jane belongs here, I don’t,† she quietly said to herself. She crept over to her bed and lay down, â€Å"they’re not my parents. I need to fid my real parents, my real family, even if they don’t want to be found and even if it means leaving everyone I care for behind. I have to leave.† She told herself. The tears where like a river now, streaming down ... ...l.† The cab driver said. Marie turned around to face the cab. â€Å"Yea just a second.† Marie replied. She locked the door and put the key in the letterbox at the end of the garden. She opened the door of the cab and climbed in. â€Å"Prescott street, Arizona please.† She told the driver. Tears ran down her face as she looked out of the window and saw her hometown for the last time. As she drove off she remembered all the good time she had whilst growing up there. She thought about the first time she met her wonderful friends, the first day in high school and all those memories seemed like nothing when she remembered what her so called mother told her on her Grandmothers funeral. She considered telling the driver to turn round, that she had made a mistake but she knew what she had to do, it wasn’t like she would never go back.

Monday, November 11, 2019

‘Describe and Evaluate Carl Jung’s Theory Concerning Personality Types Essay

Introduction In this essay I aim to demonstrate an understanding of Jung’s personality types by describing and evaluating his theory and to show how they might useful in helping a therapist to determine therapeutic goals. I will also look at some of the criticisms levelled at Jung’s theory. Carl Gustav Jung, (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961), was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist, and the founder of analytical psychology. His father was a Pastor, and he had an isolated childhood, becoming very introverted, it seems he had a schizoid personality. Although Freud was involved with analytical psychology and worked with patients with hysterical neuroses; Jung, however, worked with psychotic patients in hospital. He was struck by the universal symbols (or Archetypes) in their delusions and hallucinations (ref. Dennis Brown and Jonathan Redder (1989) p. 107). His work and influence extends way beyond understanding personality, and he is considered to be one of the greatest thinkers to have theorised about life and how people relate to it. Carl Jung was among many great personality theorists who drew inspiration and guidance from the ancient models like astrology and the Four Temperaments. For hundreds of years there has been some kind of ‘typology’ to try and categorise individual’s attitudes and behaviour, e. g. Astrology. Oriental astrologers invented the oldest form of typology; believing is that there is a personality trait that is relevant to each sign and that a person’s character/personality can be classified in terms of the elements – fire water air and earth. Those under fire had a fiery nature and corresponding temperament and fate, etc. The ancient Greeks believed in the ‘four temperaments’ / ‘four humours’, which can be traced back to Ancient Greek medicine and philosophy (400BC), especially in the work of Hippocrates – the ‘Father of Medicine’) and in Plato’s ideas about character and personality. It was believed that in order to maintain health, people needed an even balance of the four body fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. These four body fluids were linked to certain organs and illnesses and also represented the ‘Four Temperaments’ or ‘Four Humours’ of personality. The Greek physician Galen (AD 130-200) later introduced the aspect of four basic temperaments reflecting the humors: the sanguine, buoyant type; the phlegmatic, sluggish type; the choleric, quick-tempered type; and the melancholic, dejected type. Galen also classified drugs in terms of their supposed effects on the four humors. He thus created a systematic guide or selecting drugs, which although scientifically incorrect were the foundation stone of treating psychological and psychiatric illnesses. Carl Jung approached personality and ‘psychological types’ (also referred to as Jung’s psychological types) from a perspective of clinical psychoanalysis. He was one of the few psychologists in the twentieth century to maintain that development extends beyond childhood and adolescence through mid-life and into old age. He focused on establishing and developing a relationship between conscious and unconscious processes. Jung believed that Page 2 there was a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious and without it the unconscious processes can weaken and even jeopardise the personality and this is seen in one of his central concepts of individuation. He believed that individuation is a life long process of personal development that involves establishing a connection between the ego and the self, which could be brought to its highest realisation if worked with and the unconscious was confronted. (Stevens 1999) Jung, like Freud, referred to the ego when describing the more conscious aspect of personality. Unlike Freud he did not seek to minimise the unconscious side of the personality, but instead gave it equal status, complimentary to that of the conscious. He referred to the integrated personality as Self; the centre of the total psyche, including both the conscious and the unconscious. The Self includes all of a person’s qualities and potentials whether or not they become apparent at a particular stage of life. The goal of therapy is to guide the client to become a whole a human being as personal circumstances will allow. It was out of Jung’s confrontation with the unconscious, both in himself and in his patients, that he slowly elaborated his psychology. In his 1921 work, ‘Personality Types’, Jung compared his four functions (as shown below) of personality to the four points on a compass. While a person faces one direction, he or she still uses the other points as a guide. Most people keep one function as the dominant one although some people may develop two over a lifetime. It is only the person who achieves self-realization that has completely developed all four functions. His book also acted as the compass by which Jung tried to understand how he differed from Freud and Adler, but more importantly, could begin to chart the internal world of people. Jung’s Four Psychological Functions are as follows: Rational Functions ?Thinking (process of cognitive thought) ?Feeling (function of subjective judgment or valuation) enabling decision making Irrational Functions ?Sensation (perception using the physical sense organs ?Intuition (receptivity to unconscious contents) providing the information on which to make judgments. Jung held a deep appreciation of creative life and considered spirituality a central part of the human journey. There is a whole literature relating Jungian psychology and spirituality, primarily from a Christian perspective. This literature includes writings by Kelsey (1974,1982) and by Sanford (1968, 1981). Caprio and Hedberg’s (1986) Coming Home: A Handbook for Exploring the Sanctuary Within is a practical guide for spiritual work in the Christian tradition. It contains striking personal stories, excellent illustrations, and useful exercises. (Frager & Fadiman 2005) Jung’s description of personality states that in order to Page 3 identify a psychological type it is necessary to determine whether a person is oriented primarily toward his inner world (introversion) or toward external reality (extraversion), known as the fundamental attitude of the individual to emphasise its importance. Jung’s eight personality types are as follows: ?Extroverted Thinking – Jung theorized that people understand the world through a mix of concrete ideas and abstract ones, but the abstract concepts are ones passed down from other people. Extroverted thinkers are often found working in the research sciences and mathematics. †¢Introverted Thinking – These individuals interpret stimuli in the environment through a subjective and creative way. The interpretations are informed by internal knowledge and understanding. Philosophers and theoretical scientists are often introverted thinking-oriented people. †¢Extroverted Feeling – These people judge the value of things based on objective fact. Comfortable in social situations, they form their opinions based on socially accepted values and majority beliefs. They are often found working in business and politics. †¢Introverted Feeling – These people make judgments based on subjective ideas and on internally established beliefs. Oftentimes they ignore prevailing attitudes and defy social norms of thinking. Introverted feeling people thrive in careers as art critics. †¢Extroverted Sensing – These people perceive the world as it really exists. Their perceptions are not colored by any pre-existing beliefs. Jobs that require objective review, like wine tasters and proofreaders, are best filled by extroverted sensing people. †¢Introverted Sensing – These individuals interpret the world through the lens of subjective attitudes and rarely see something for only what it is. They make sense of the environment by giving it meaning based on internal reflection. Introverted sensing people often turn to various arts, including portrait painting and classical music. †¢Extroverted Intuitive – These people prefer to understand the meanings of things through subliminally perceived objective fact rather than incoming sensory information. They rely on hunches and often disregard what they perceive directly from their senses. Inventors that come upon their invention via a stroke of insight and some religious reformers are characterized by the extraverted intuitive type. †¢Introverted Intuitive – These individuals, Jung thought, are profoundly influenced by their internal motivations even though they do not completely understand them. They find meaning through unconscious, subjective ideas about the world. Introverted intuitive people comprise a significant portion of mystics, surrealistic artists, and religious fanatics. They are mystic dreamers, concerned with possibilities rather than what is currently present. Seldom understood by others. Repress sensing. Jung described himself as an introverted intuitor. Introverts are people who prefer their internal world of thoughts, feelings, fantasies, dreams, and so on, while extroverts prefer the external world of things and people and activities. Page 4 Today the words have become confused with ideas like shyness and sociability, partially because introverts tend to be shy and extroverts tend to be sociable. But Jung intended for them to refer more to whether you (â€Å"ego†) more often faced toward the persona and outer reality, or toward the collective unconscious and its archetypes. In that sense, the introvert is somewhat more mature than the extrovert. Our culture, of course, values the extrovert much more. Jung warned that we all tend to value our own type most, (Boeree 1996); a notion which is particularly useful to therapists today as it is important not to allow personal feelings to take place when working with clients. Both introvert and extravert overvalue their strengths and each tends to undervalue the other. To the extravert, the introvert seems egotistical and dull, and to the introvert, the extravert appears superficial and insincere (Fordham, 1966). Jung believed that a person remained an extravert or introvert without change for the whole of his life, and that heredity determines whether the libido is directed inward or outward. Whether a person is an introvert or extrovert they need to deal with both their inner and outer world. And each has their preferred way of dealing with it, ways which they are comfortable with and good at. This hypothesised stability of the introversion-extroversion trait is consistent with empirical research using Non-Jungian measures of introversion and extraversion. (Cloniger 2000) Jung suggested a link between each of the attitudes and certain neurotic disorders which will be discussed later. We now find the introvert-extravert dimension in several theories, notably Hans Eysenck’s. In Eysenck’s (1982) view people are biosocial animals and that psychology stands at the crossroads of biological sciences and social sciences. He states that psychology must become more of a true science with methodology in all that the therapist does in order to permit personality theorists to make predictions that can be tested and therefore make possible the development of the causal theory of personality, which he believes will inevitably help the therapist with clients presenting problems. Jung compared the conscious part of the psyche (ego) to an island that rises out of the sea. We notice only the part above the water, even though there is a greater landmass below the water – much like an iceberg, the unconscious lies below (Fordam1953). The personal unconscious is a reservoir of experience unique to each individual consisting of perceptions, thoughts, feelings and memories that have been put to one side or repressed but not always covered by sea and therefore can be reclaimed. Whereas the personal unconscious is unique to every individual, the collective unconscious is shared or â€Å"transpersonal† and consists of certain potentialities that we all share because of our human nature, because we all live in groups and in some form of society or family life. He believed that the collective unconscious did not develop individually but was inherited and consisted of pre-existent forms, the archetypes. An archetype is a universal thought form or predisposition to respond to the world in certain ways and is crucial to Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious because it emphasises potentialities in which we may express our humanness. He believed that they appeared to us in dreams, art, ritual, myths and symptoms. Eysenck believed that from a point of view of science, Jung’s contribution to the study of personality types had been primarily negative as he permitted mystical notions to override empirical data and sought to go beyond descriptive analysis to the causal analysis of personality. A person is not usually defined by only one of the eight personality types. Instead, the different functions exist in a hierarchy. One function will have a superior effect and another will have a secondary effect. Usually, according to Jung, a person only makes significant use Page 5 of two functions. The other two take inferior positions. Jung believed that it was not sufficient to possess just one of the above-mentioned functions to be a well-rounded personality and be able to face life’s experiences. Jung described two of the four functions as rational and two as irrational; also he used the terms judging/perceiving. Thinking can account for logic and judging. Our likes/dislikes are a feeling function. These two functions are known as rational as they use our reflecting ability. Sensation and intuition are known as irrational functions because it is what is seen in the external world (sensation) and inner world (intuition). In practice, the auxiliary function is always one whose nature, rational or irrational, is different from the primary function. For instance, feeling cannot be the secondary function when thinking is dominant, and vice versa, because both are rational and judging functions (Daryl Sharp. 1989. p.19) One of the four functions may be developed more, and this would be known as a primary or superior function, whilst the others may be classed as inferior. What this means is that a primary function is one which a person uses more, whilst perhaps, other functions are not used so much (inferior) and these might contribute to a person feeling unable to cope with a situation in which an inferior function is needed to be active. Jung acknowledged that the four orienting functions do not contain everything in the conscious psyche. Will power and memory, for instance, are not included. The reason for this is that they are not typological determinants-though naturally they may be affected by the way one functions typologically thinking is always accompanied by an inferiority of feeling, and differentiated sensation is injurious to intuition and vice versa (ref. Daryl Sharp. 1987. p. 15) Jung used the term ‘libido’ to define what he meant by extrovert and introvert, it was not meant in a sexual way, like Freud, but as a term for energy. Introversion, writes Jung, â€Å"is normally characterized by a hesitant, reflective, retiring nature that keeps itself to itself, shrinks from objects {and} is always slightly on the defensive†. Conversely, Extraversion â€Å"is normally characterized by an outgoing, candid, and accommodating nature that adapts easily to a given situation, quickly form attachments, and, setting aside any possible misgivings, will often venture forth with careless confidence into unknown situations†. (ref. Daryl Sharp1987. p. 13). The balance between the two can be disturbed either way, on the one side, extreme withdrawal, introversion or even psychosis, cuts a person off from external reality. On the other side, excessively extroverted or constricted personalities may be cut off from subjective feelings or inner reality (Ref.Dennis Brown & Jonathan Redder 1989p. 81). Jung acknowledged that it is sometimes difficult to work out what personality type some people belong to, he stated, ‘†¦It is often very difficult to find out whether a person belongs to one type or the other, especially in regard to oneself’ (ref Jung. Anthony Stevens. 2001. p. 99) People change their way of behaviour in different circumstances, because this is the way they wish to be perceived, to be accepted by others. Jung referred to this as a persona (or a mask) where a person relays to others, someone they are not, seemingly to conform to others expectations of them. This is also known as the primitive side of the personality The persona Page 6 forms in early childhood, when a child forms in his mind what is acceptable to his parents, teachers etc. If it is repressed this is what Jung referred to as ‘the shadow’. If the shadow is not allowed to surface, it will grow bigger. Jung believed that by facing up to your shadow, it may enable you to change it. The shadow may emerge in times of extreme anger/dreams. Jung believed that the shadow is essential as it allows an individual to view the world. We are each born with a natural balance. If our natural balance is upset due to repression or conditioning then our minds will in some way seek to restore the balance which Jung saw as the power of the unconscious surfacing as ‘the return of the repressed ‘. The ego emerges out of the self in childhood. It is your individuality, who you are, your own ego appertaining just to you, the centre of consciousness. As you go into adulthood there may be trouble between the ego and self, as the individuals attitude change. Affirmation of the Self liberates its creative energies and brings certain knowledge that the best life is the life lived sub specie fraternisation (ref.. Anthony Stevens 2001. p. 157). Jung seemed to place a lot of emphasis on the Self. I suppose this is because it is the Self, which he believed, will ultimately envisage change in behaviour. He was one of the few psychologists in the twentieth century to maintain that development extends beyond childhood and adolescence through mid-life into old age. (ref. Anthony Stevens 2001. p. 38).. Jung disagreed with Freud on his views on sexuality i.e. the ‘Oedipus complex’. Jung preferred to call this complex ‘a love aspect’, of a mother/child and not a sexual one/incest, as Freud believed to be the case. Jung and Freud both agreed though, that unconscious thoughts (dreams) were the way to personal insight of the individual. After his parting with Freud, overtly because of disagreement about the importance of sexuality, but perhaps also over father-son rivalries, Jung again withdrew into what Heisenberg (1970) calls a ‘creative illness’ during which he too conducted a self analysis (ref Dennis Brown and Jonathan Redder (1989) p. 107). But he did not use ‘free association’, but provoked unconscious imagery which he wrote down, drew his dreams, prolonging stories which he told himself. This is how he became involved in analytical psychology. He spent long periods at his lakeside retreat, alternating between his inner world/ outer world. Freud, looked back into a client’s childhood, whereas Jung looked to the future more and did not put much importance into the past, more in what can be achieved, the goals to aim for†¦.. the hope†¦.. of change. The unconscious mind of a man, Jung believed, contained a female element (anima), and a woman’s a male element (animus). These he believed to be linked to erotic desires, on what the individual finds attractive in the opposite sex. Another belief Jung held, is that if a person reacts very strongly to his anima/animus it may lead to homosexuality. This is what he believed, not which has been proven to be true. Page 7 Jung’s theories, I believe to be useful in therapy, because if you can assess an individuals personality, you can endeavor to make the therapy more applicable to their ‘type’ which Jung viewed as their uniqueness as an individual, ‘the wholeness’. He did not hide behind a client like Freud,preferring to use a face to face method, where the client and the therapist are equal; he also used personal work on dreams, a variety of ways to try and promote growth in the client, to look to the future. His views on mental illness gave some hope to a sufferer as he believed that within the psychosis experienced there is a personality concealed, with hopes, desires etc. he tried to understand them through interpretation. Jung saw mental illness as a flaw, as inferior, but tried to help the individual face this inferior side and approach his extroverted side to achieve ‘wholeness’. On the whole, Jung’s typology is best used in the way that one would use a compass; all typological possibilities are theoretically available to the Self, but it is useful to be able to establish those co-ordinates that one is using to chart one’s course through life. Jung accepted that this course is never intractably fixed; it may be at any time be subject to alteration. Viewed in this light, awareness of one’s psychological type is not a constraint but liberation, for it can open up new navigational possibilities in life, the existence of which one might otherwise never have discovered (ref.Anthony Stevens. 2001. p. 101) Jung possessed his critics, mainly Freudian, after his split with Freud; in particular his Archetypes theories focusing on Jung’s belief that the origins of archetypes (and their basis in the collective unconscious) transcend to the individual, in that they reflect on ancestral or universal essence. The critique also examines a related notion of Jung’s, that the collective unconscious unites us with the world around us in an immediate paranormal or synchronization sense. These notions of Jung’s are found to be seriously flawed. In spite of this, the critique suggests that Jung’s belief in the genetic basis of certain unconscious content holds some promise. With this in mind, suggestions are made concerning needed modification in Jung’s theory and concerning the kind of evidence required for its support. (ref. Journey of Humanistic Psychology, Spring 1996. Vol 36 no. 261. 91. p. 223-242. Another criticism with regards to Jung is he does not delve into childhood experience; in contrast to Freud and psychoanalysis and some psychologists find his theories difficult and drawn out. Also his theory does generate a moderate amount of research and 2) Neither possible to verify or falsify. (ref. HttpYahoo. com. Page 8 Conclusion In order to efficiently help a client and to determine therapeutic goals it is necessary to establish whether a person is primarily orientated toward their inner (introversion) or outer world (extraversion) and next to assess which are the dominant and auxillary psychological functions of the client. Jung said that people connect ideas, feelings, experiences and information by way of associations in the unconscious in such a way as to affect their behavior. He identified these groupings as ‘Complexes’. He believed that they may be organised around a particular person or object and the therapist may use this knowledge to bring to the forefront of the client’s consciousness a situation which they may be finding difficult to extricate from. The therapeutic goal of Jungian therapy is to help the client resolve unbalanced aspects of their personality which present in a number of differing ways of psychological disturbance. Examples include: extreme negativity, addictions, degrees of paranoia, sudden religious conversion, in appropriate attachments to unsuitable partners, hysteria, mania, depression, hypochondrias or schizoid personality traits as Jung himself had as a boy. By understanding his theory and how each type may present the therapist can help them unlock the shadow sides of their personality. It is a process in which the client is helped to come to terms with the place of self within their own world and also to help them see that they are part of a greater collective unconscious. Much of Jung’s work was about the interconnectedness of all people and cultures. Today more than ever as we seek to become â€Å"one world† Jung’s work with eastern as well as western religions and cultures seems more and more appropriate. The work of Hans Eysenck through empirical studies across the world has shown that personality types exist in all cultures and therefore concludes that there is a genetic component to personality types. â€Å"Such cross cultural unanimity would be unlikely if biological factors did not play a predominant part† (Eysenck,1990) But like Jung he believed that environmental factors probably determine how much an individual will develop to their full potential. The use of appropriate assessment techniques can be invaluable in helping a therapist to develop the untapped potential within the individual and is so doing contribute to the collective unconsciousness and synchronicity of the planet as a whole.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Customer Service Essay

1. Organisations that intend to be successful need to design products, services and product/ service bundles to meet customer needs. How can they do this and how can they ensure that the organisation’s plans achieve quality, time and cost specifications agreed with customers? What data and records might be drawn upon to make plans intended to meet customer needs? Organisations that use market research to gather feedback from consumers regarding product design and product/ service bundles tend to be more successful that those who do not use market research as a business tool. Data received from the market research records that have been collected from any market research including surveys, questionnaires, focus groups or simply speaking with customers, are drawn upon to ensure the organisation achieves quality, time and cost specifications as per the customer’s requirements. For example, the Mining Village I currently work at have designed a total accommodation bundle for its clients. Each room is equipped with Wi-Fi, a Smart TV, air conditioning, refrigerator and advanced security systems. After a hard day’s work guests can unwind around the fireplace, watch a movie in the cinema, socialise in the Tavern and recreational room or work out at the gymnasium, pool or tennis court before sitting down to a meal in the restaurant. The cost of the bundles includes 3 meals a day plus use of the facilities as mentioned above. The Owner of the Village, has done market research with Companies who would require accommodation in the area with the Coal Steam and Gas development in the Area. They drew down on the information received and purposely built the accommodation to house those working in the area. The market research provided a edge to the company over the Hotels in the area, as the Village supplied everything the market were after. 2. What monitoring and evaluation procedures might be followed to ensure that the organisation keeps up with changes in customer needs and in market conditions, obtains and distributes resources appropriately and is able to consistently meet product quality and delivery standards? Monitoring and evaluation procedures are important to keep up with changes in customer needs and in market conditions. They ensure the organisation  obtains and distributes resources appropriately, and constantly meets product quality and delivery standards. Monitoring and evaluation procedures include interviewing and communicating with customer regularly, as market conditions and customer needs often change. It is important to find out their priorities, likes, dislikes and purchasing intentions, demographics and psychographics. Procedures also include measuring progress against the organisations vision, its goals, and its predetermined performance expectations and quality standards. KPIS and KRAs should be monitored as they provide measurement criteria. Data should be compared with the forecasted or expected performance, and measured against the organisational goals and against the individual, team/section/division and organisational KPI’s. Customer feedback is vital and can be collected through customer surveys, product testing, focus groups or simply speaking with the customers during sales transactions. Speaking with sales staff is also important, as they are the ones who deal with the customer’s every day. They are able to directly observe customer responses to products and to the service they receive. 3. How can customer feedback be collected and used and why is it necessary to consult with customers (internal and external) and with other stakeholders when monitoring and assessing the organisations progress toward achieving quality targets? Customer feedback should be collected and used to investigate and identify target markets, current and emerging needs, satisfaction levels and complaints. The ways you can collect feedback are through formal surveys including mail, email and phone, questionnaires, focus groups, speaking with customer service operators and speaking to customers while they shop or customer feedback forms. It is necessary to consult with customers and other stakeholders to identify progress towards the results, the likelihood of receiving the results towards quality targets and the impact of work against the targets.  Consulting with customers and stakeholders helps to keep the work on track, and can let you know if things are going according to plan. For example The Old Spaghetti Factory has Customer Feedback forms on their dining tables. Customers are able to fill in a feedback form to comment on customer service quality, food quality, speed of service and the dining experience overall. By collecting the feedback forms the managers are able to see if the team is performing up the standard the organisation is aiming for. 4. Within the organisation there will be groups of people or teams which work toward goal achievement. How can managers and supervisors ensure that team members have the skills needed to communicate effectively with customers and to provide excellent customer service? How might they assist colleagues in overcoming difficulties with meeting customer service standards? Managers and supervisors need to ensure that team members have to skills needed to communicate effectively with customers and to provide quality customer service. For this to be done, the managers and supervisors themselves need to have a clear understanding of the goals and objectives the organisation is trying to achieve in relation to customer service standards. They need to be able to help team members understand and act towards meeting those requirements. Managers and supervisors also need to be able to communicate well with team members. To ensure the employees are fulfilling the customer service requirements of the organisation, the manager or supervisor need to make sure the team members know how the organisation expects is employees to behave and what the organisation expects the team members to achieve in the workplace. Their performance should be measured and adjusted according to the organisations goals. To assist their colleagues, if they required assistance in overcoming difficulties in customer service standards, they need to communicate with their colleagues. They should ask if there was any reason as to why they are having difficulty reaching the customer service standards of the organisation. They should reiterate the company’s customer service standards and the reasons why they need to meet and exceed customer expectations, and how it impacts on the achievement of the organisations goals. The offer of support as well as retraining, coaching or mentoring should be given by the  manager or supervisor. Kerri has noticed that Terri work performance is lacking. She is being rude to the customers and is not completing the tasks that are required to provide superior customer service. Kerri has spoken with Terri and reiterated the organisations goals and objective in relation to customer service. She can see that Terri’s performance is lacking as she is unmotivated at work. Kerri has offered Terri a series of coaching sessions to help her be motivated and work to the organisations standards. 5. What procedures might be followed to identify problems with appropriate individuals and groups to adapt customer services, products and/or service delivery so that it continues to meet customer needs? KPIs and targets can be applied at individual level or as a department. Those who do not meet their targets can be coached or placed on a performance improvement plan to assist them in achieving their targets.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

How Does College Athletic Recruiting Work The Complete Process

How Does College Athletic Recruiting Work The Complete Process SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you are a high school athlete who aspires to compete in college sports, you should know about the college athletic recruiting process. Even if you don’t end up getting a scholarship, many intercollegiate athletes who don’t receive aid are still recruited to participate in sports at the collegiate level. The college recruiting process can be confusing. There are tons of recruiting rules that vary by division and the process for each prospective student-athlete can be extremely different. In this article, I’ll explain the various steps of the college recruiting process. I’ll provide important advice for prospective student-athletes so that you’re able to reach your collegiate and athletic goals. The Biggest Steps in the College Recruiting Process Making Contact With Coaches: Generally, for most student-athletes, the process really begins when you have your first conversation with a college coach about possibly playing for him or her. Campus Visits: One of the many benefits of being a recruited athlete is having the opportunity to visit multiple college campuses and have all your questions about athletics and academics answered. There are two types of visits: official and unofficial. On official campus visits, your transportation to the college, meals, and entertainment are paid for by the university. Visits From Coaches:College coaches can visit you at school, practice, a game, or in your home when they're recruiting you. Coaches use these visits to evaluate you and to try to sell their program to you. Scholarship Offers:For most student-athletes, the scholarship offer comes near the end of the recruiting process. Typically, a coach will call you to extend an offer of athletic aid. Depending on the sport you play and the college that is recruiting you, you can be offered a full or partial athletic scholarship. Signing the National Letter of Intent: Signing a letter of intent marks the end of the college athletic recruiting process. The letter is an agreement that you will enroll in a certain school in exchange for athletic aid. At this point, coaches have to stop recruiting you, and if any coaches contact you, you have to let them know you've signed a letter of intent. Now that you have a basic understanding of these steps, I'm going to walk you through the entire college athletic recruiting process. Keep in mind that the process and timeline will be somewhat different for each individual athlete. For example, some recruited student-athletes don't apply to a college until after they have taken an official campus visit. Others have already applied, been accepted, and have received a scholarship offer by the time they go on their official visit. Parts of the Process Can Vary Widely Depending on your sport and how heavily you're being recruited, the college athletic recruiting process can vary widely. Top level recruits, especially in the high profile sports of football and men's basketball, will be sent tons of letters, receive tons of phone calls, and may be offered athletic scholarships before they even enter high school. They won't have to take much initiative in their recruiting process. For recruits who are not as well-known nationally, they will have to be more proactive in the recruiting process, and they'll often have to sell themselves to college coaches to get a scholarship or a guaranteed spot on a team. Additionally, the sport you play also has a huge influence on the process. In some sports, there are literally over a thousand colleges with a team in that sport. If you're being recruited in one of those sports, you want to know what you’re looking for in a school and narrow down your college list early in the process to avoid being overwhelmed. For other sports, your options are already limited based on the number of colleges with that sport. I was a gymnast in college, and currently, there are only 16 NCAA men's gymnastics programs. When I was looking at colleges, there were a few more than that, but I had a much easier time narrowing down my college options than most simply because I knew I wanted to compete for an NCAA gymnastics team. Honestly Assessing Your Abilities and Aspirations By your junior year, if you’re interested in participating in varsity intercollegiate sports, you should start figuring out what type of school you want to attend. What division would best suit your interests and abilities? What are your athletic priorities? Getting a scholarship? Getting playing time? Competing against the best competition? Playing for a certain coach? Fitting in with the other personalities on the team? Having access to the best resources? What are you looking for in a college outside of sports? Once you know what you want, the recruiting process will become much easier. Then, as you start looking at each school individually, you can determine if it matches what you're looking for. Don't be afraid to ask questions to coaches, current team members, academic advisers, and admissions representatives to get the information you need to make your college decision. However, if you're being recruited, especially if you're a top recruit, college representatives may only tell you what they think you want to hear. Do your own research as well. Have Your High School Coach Work For You Talk with your high school coach during your junior year. Ask for his or her honest assessment of your ability to play college-level sports. See what he or she would be willing to do and could do to help with the recruiting process. Many high school coaches have relationships with college coaches and can help start the recruiting process for you. Also, if there are specific schools you're interested in, see if your high school coach can reach out to the coaches at those colleges. How and When College Coaches Can Initiate Contact With You The rules vary by sport and division, but the general rule is that college coaches can’t talk to you before the end of your junior year. However, many schools will send you information via mail as soon as you’re on their radar. If you receive a recruiting questionnaire and you have any interest in that school, make sure you fill it out and send it back. If you’re a priority recruit, the coach will call you in the spring of your junior year or the summer before your senior year. July 1st before your senior year is the date when coaches can initiate contact for most sports for Division I colleges. Once college coaches are permitted to talk to you, the general rule is that they're allowed to contact you once per week. Keep in mind that just because you get mail or a phone call from a coach doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get a scholarship offer. Initiating Contact With Coaches Most student-athletes will have to initiate contact with coaches if they want a scholarship or want to participate in intercollegiate athletics. I highly recommend that you take a proactive approach to your recruiting process. When To Contact Coaches There is no exact right time to contact college coaches, but the general rule is that earlier is better. Typically, prospective athletes will contact coaches during their junior years or the summer before their senior years. Even though there are rules regarding when and how much a coach can contact you, there are no rules stopping you from contacting a coach whenever and however often you deem necessary. Use your discretion, though. If a coach is not responding to you, don’t continue contacting him or her. How to Contact Coaches The most common way to initiate contact with a coach is through e-mail. Your initial e-mail should express your interest in the school along with key information about you: your academic accomplishments, your athletic accomplishments, including awards, stats, and experience, and any attributes that would make you a good fit for that school or team. Additionally, the e-mail should contain a link to a video. The video should be relatively short, only a couple of minutes long. Show highlights from games and possibly practices that demonstrate your athletic abilities and readiness to participate on the collegiate level. If you do a team sport, make sure it’s clear who you are in the video. Also, have a full game tape ready, in case one of the coaches requests it. Feel free to a call a coach to express your interest. Even though it may be hard to get a coach on the phone if you're not already on his or her recruiting radar, you can always try or leave a message. Ask what the coach needs from you to be considered for a scholarship or a spot on the team. Furthermore, you can make a profile on a recruiting website. Examples of recruiting websites include BeRecruited, NCSA, and CaptainU. Some of their services are free and some require you to pay. The recruiting websites make sure you’re sending the right information to coaches, and they can provide you with contact information for college coaches. While these websites can be rather helpful, they’re not essential. Make sure you're contacting college coaches. Camps Some sports and schools offer summer camps that the coaches attend. These camps can provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your athletic abilities to the coaches. Some of these camps are open and some are by invite only. The effectiveness of camps in helping you get recruited varies widely by school and sport. Some camps are just designed to make money and some are actually used by coaches to evaluate prospective student-athletes. Make sure that you research a camp before you or your parents spend money to attend. Applying Generally, the application process is the same for student athletes and non-student athletes. The main difference is that depending on the sport and how heavily you’re being recruited, you may be encouraged to apply early. And, your application may be processed sooner. Often, recruited athletes will learn of admissions decisions before the rest of the admitted students. Also, for recruits, your application may have some identifying marker indicating that you’re a recruited athlete. That’s so the admissions committee knows you're a recruit, and while it helps, it’s no guarantee of admission. Typically, the admissions committee will be alerted to how heavily you’re being recruited as well. During my recruiting process, for a couple of the schools that were recruiting me, I didn’t have to write a personal essay. Back in my high school days, I was rather happy to get out of writing those essays. For Stanford, my alma mater, I had to complete the same application as the rest of the students, though. Now I'm having flashbacks to writing my personal esssays. Good times. Campus Visits Once you get past the mail and the phone calls, the next step is to visit the campus. At this point, you may or may not have already been admitted to the college. There are two types of visits: unofficial visits and official visits. Unofficial Campus Visits An unofficial visit is one that you pay for yourself. What the coach plans for you on your trip often depends on how heavily you’re being recruited. Sometimes the coach will just speak with you briefly and then you’re on your own. For unofficial visits, schools can’t provide money for meals, transportation, or entertainment. However, you can receive up to three free game tickets. That's a pretty nice benefit, especially if you play a sport where game tickets are hard to come by. You can take an unlimited amount of unofficial visits and take them at almost any time, except during so-called â€Å"dead† periods when coaches can’t have contact with prospective student-athletes. Make sure to clear any unofficial visits with coaches before you make them. Feel free to ask a coach about taking an unofficial visit, regardless of how much contact you’ve had with the coach or if the coach has been recruiting you. Official Campus Visits For official campus visits, the trip is paid for by the school. Transportation, meals, and entertainment are covered for the prospective student-athlete. Official visits can last no more than 48 hours. NCAA rules dictate that you’re allowed five official visits and no more than one per school for Division I schools, but you can take an unlimited number of official visits to Division II schools. You can start taking official visits beginning on your first day of classes during your senior year of high school. If you attend junior college or do not enroll in a college after graduation, you can take an additional five Division I official visits starting October 15th following your senior year of high school. Before any official visit, though, you must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center and submit your ACT or SAT test score and high school transcript to the school you plan to visit. Sometimes scholarship offers will be made before official trips, and sometimes they’ll be made after. If you’re offered an official visit, you're definitely a top candidate for a scholarship. Also, even though Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships, they do offer official visits. If you have the opportunity, I strongly recommend that you take official campus visits. On your official visit, you may be given the opportunity to watch practices, attend games, tour the campus, speak to academic advisers, sit in on classes, and hang out with the members of the team. I thoroughly enjoyed my official campus visits. Just to give you an idea of how much campus visits can vary, I'll describe a couple of mine to you. When I went on my recruiting trip to the University of Illinois, I was put up in a hotel suite and taken to a fancy Japanese restaurant. I had a scheduled meeting with an academic adviser and I was taken on a tour of the campus by an official campus tour guide. A few weeks later, I went on a recruiting trip to Temple University. On that trip, I stayed on the couch in one of the team member's apartments and ate cereal for most of my meals while I was there. I got a driving tour of the campus from the coach and there was no meeting with an academic advisor. However, I did get to see the Liberty Bell and eat an authentic Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I enjoyed my Temple trip, but it differed greatly from my Illinois trip. Illinois was just a more well-funded program and had a larger recruiting budget. Unfortunately, Temple dropped its NCAA men's gymnastics team in 2014 and is now continuing as a club sport. I got to experience life as a college student at Temple for 48 hours. Visits From Coaches Sometimes coaches will visit you at your school, in your home, or at one of your practices or games. There are rules that dictate when coaches can visit you. Typically, a coach will visit either to evaluate you or because you’re a top recruit and he or she is trying to sell you and your family on the school. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. If a coach is visiting you, it’s definitely a good sign about your prospects of receiving a scholarship or offer of admission. Scholarship Offers Usually after conversations with coaches and campus visits, a coach will extend a scholarship offer. Scholarships can be full (covering the full cost of attendance) or partial. Remember that you don’t have to accept or decline the offer right away. You should take your time to think about your options; choosing where you go to college is a big decision that you shouldn't make hastily. Also, even if you verbally accept an offer, the verbal agreement isn’t binding. You can change your mind up until you sign your scholarship offer. Additionally, for many sports, you won't receive a scholarship offer until you gain admission to the university. Again, this can vary depending on the sport, school, and how heavily you're being recruited. Typically, the coach will continue to contact you throughout the whole recruiting process and after a scholarship offer is extended. Your recruitment is not done until you have signed your National Letter of Intent. There are early and late signing dates that you have to sign by that vary depending on your sport. National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent is a binding agreement that says you will enroll at a specific school for the next academic year in exchange for athletic aid. Normally, you'll have to sign the NLI along with a scholarship offer from the school. If you don’t follow the terms of the agreement and enroll in the school, you’ll generally have to sit out a year of competition if you go to a different school and you’ll lose a year of eligibility. Almost always, the school won't issue you a formal scholarship offer and NLI until after you've been accepted to the university. However, there are instances where a school has to rescind its acceptance if you fail a class or end up not meeting certain requirements of the university. If you don't gain admission to the school, you'll be released from the agreement. Additional Advice for Prospective Student-Athletes Focus on Your Academics Many prospective student-athletes neglect the importance of academics in the recruiting process. Not only do you have to be eligible to compete, but also you still have to gain admission to the school. College coaches often won't recruit students who they don't think are qualified academically for their schools, regardless of these students' athletic skills. If you’re being recruited athletically, you will receive some preferential treatment when your application is processed, but the school still has to determine if your academics are good enough to be accepted. Especially at top academic colleges, your academics should be on par with non-student athletes if you want to have a legitimate shot at admission. The amount of preferential treatment you receive in the admissions process varies depending on the school, your sport, and how heavily you're being recruited. Especially for so-called â€Å"minor† sports (anything other than basketball and football at most schools), being recruited may only give you a minimal boost in the admissions process. Do Everything Earlier For recruited athletes, the timeline for when you should do things to prepare for college is sooner than for other students. You should start studying for your ACT or SAT by your sophomore year. You should have reached your SAT or ACT target score by the end of your junior year. Remember that college coaches won’t want to spend time recruiting you if they don’t think you’ll be admitted. Also, you should be able to show coaches that you’ve taken college prep classes, passed AP tests, and have good standardized test scores before the start of your senior year. Furthermore, you should narrow down your college list by the end of your junior year so you know which coaches to contact. Don’t wait until the second semester of your senior year to start sending out e-mails. It will be too late by then. Colleges will likely have offered their scholarships and filled their open spots by then. Be prepared to complete your college applications early. Depending on your sport and recruit status, you may have to complete multiple college applications in the early part of your senior year, months before many of your peers. Research the Schools You're Considering Regardless of whether you've started the recruiting process or not, you should research the colleges you think you may want to attend. For each of these schools, learn about the campus, the majors offered, the athletics facilities, and any other information that you think may be relevant in making your college decision. Also, most college websites will have information specifically for prospective student-athletes. This information will provide specific rules regarding recruiting and there may be information regarding the recruiting process for that school. Often, you’ll be able to fill out a recruiting questionnaire directly from the website. Make Sure You're Eligible All NCAA athletes have to be certified by the NCAA Eligibility Center . You’ll have to send in your transcript and SAT/ACT scores. What's Next? If you're looking to compete at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics, review the list of NCAA Division I schools. If you want to research colleges, use the best college search websites. Also, I recommend you check out this post on how to get into your top-choice college. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: