Human Behavior & society Essay Example for Free

Human Behavior society Essay One good argument in favor of natural determination of human behavior is through an experiment done with lab rats. In this case, a castrated male rat (with no testosterone) is placed with a female lab rat that has been injected with testosterone. In this case, the female acts dominant while the male is submissive. This to an extent proves that natural factors e. g. hormones play an important role in human behavior. Besides this, the moodiness experienced by humans undergoing puberty, as well as pre-menstrual syndrome, in which human behavior fluctuates, shows that natural factors do play a role in determining human behavior. On the other hand, the lab rat experiment is questionable, mainly because the biology of rats is significantly different from humans, and secondly, because humans themselves consume testosterone without such drastic swings in behavior. This suggests that what is currently seen as hormone-triggered changes in human behavior could have social undercurrents. Human behavior itself is a highly complex topic. In some instances, as seen with hormones and also genetically inherited diseases, it is completely due to natural circumstances and events. In other instances, certain types of human behavior is caused by social conditioning and socialization e. g. compliance with the law and the observance of norms and values. In some unusual cases, it is determined by nature and society, working hand-in-hand, or sometimes one after the other to cause a change in such behavior. To judge this issue in terms of absolutes would be unjustified. Exactly in what way human behavior is developed depends on both society and on nature- and in many cases either society or nature is more dominant. However, it is clear that human behavior overall is shaped by a blend of both natural and social factors and issues, from genetic inheritance to socio-economic class.

Strategic Planning Human Resource Management Commerce Essay

Strategic Planning Human Resource Management Commerce Essay Strategic human resource is a strategy or plan that carried out by organization to guides an organization in accomplishes its vision and mission. Through a strategic plan, the organizations can develop an effective human resource plans that will enable the organizations to make a management decisions especially something that will give a benefit to their employee and organization in the present and to support and guide the direction or flow of the organization. Human resource strategies are designed to ensure that organizations have the staff they need to meet customer demand. Lately, whether we realize it or not, the strategic human resource planning has been used widely in organizations. A discussions highlight several key term of strategic human resource that can affect the business in organization. There are characteristic of strategic human resource, planning process and the way of the organization implement their strategies. Usually, based on the strategic plan, it will guide the organization to be more competitive. Through this journal, it is explore about the strategic human resource management that has been practiced in organization for a small business. Other than that, it is also has been practices in staff training and development to ensure that the staff achieve their standard and perform better. INTRODUCTION Human resources is a set of individuals who form a organization workforce, business or an economic sector. Other terms sometimes used to replace the term human resources as workforce, talent, labor or simply people. Human resource management is reflected in the professional disciplines and business functions of overseeing human resources of an organization. Different with human resource management, strategic human resource management pay attention to human resource activities with the long-term objectives. Strategic human resource management also focuses on issues of internal human resources. In addition, the strategic focus of human resource management is to manage and resolve the problems that effects people management programs in the long-term and often globally. Therefore, the ultimate goal of strategic human resources to improve productivity of workers by giving attention to the business barriers that occurs outside of human resources. This journal focuses on Strategic Human Resources Planning. Human Resource Planning as a process of systematic review to determine human resources requirements to Make sure That the number of employees in line with the required skills. Human resource planning is a step in identifying human resource needs of the present and future of an organization to achieve the goal. HR Strategy will need to demonstrate that careful planning of people issues will make it significantly easier for organizations to achieve greater strategic and operational goals. Better strategic planning is needed to ensure that the organization obtain competitive opportunities from other organizations in the future. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The mainly purpose of this study is to examine whether strategic planning human resource management can support the achievement of business goals. This goals and objectives are attainable when the strategy aligned with organizational goals. The next purpose is to develop and expand the workforce in organization and meet future demands. Furthermore, strategic human resource also develops plans for the future and to make sure all employees meet company goals and expectations. Besides that, provide individual member of staff with information relating to staff development and training opportunities, and their task. FINDINGS What is Strategic Human Resource Management According to Huselid and Jackson, strategic human resource management specifically develops, implemented and executed based on a deliberate linkage to a companys strategy. Strategic human resource management also means that employees are strategic resources for example human capital that must be managed and leveraged in executing corporate strategy. The SHRM paradigm were predicated on the belief that specific human resource practices need to promote behaviors designed to deliver firm strategies and were focused on the relationship between employee behavior and company strategy (e.g. Snell 2001; Schuler and Jackson 1989; Fisher 1989). It also focuses on strategic context that influences on individual and later systems of technical human resource management practices. Managers were expected to employ the system of individual practices based on considerations of external threats and opportunities and internal resource capabilities, resources, and competencies their firms strategy, to e licit and reinforce the required behavior. Besides that SHRM is align with traditional human resource management practices such as recruitment, selection, training and development and rewards to a companys strategy. It also means place the policies and procedures that facilitate proficient strategy execution, using teams to leverage cross-functional knowledge and competencies, improve the knowledge management capabilities that facilitate the leveraging of best practices and effective also being efficient to capture the economy of scope opportunities, improve learning organizations that facilitate the constant adoption, utilization, ownership, and internal dissemination of best practices, and executing change management approaches that contribute to building and maintain the strategy supportive of corporate cultures. The researcher also said that the SHRM includes developmental performance feedback, management by objectives techniques, and balance scorecards; competence development maps and frameworks; open book management pra ctices to reduce worker-manager status differential; cross-functional teams and project teams profit sharing, team based compensation, merit pay, and long term incentives; enterprise resource planning human resource management solutions; and enhanced involvement of the human resource function in crafting, implementing, and executing strategy and also structured interviews, bio-data, cognitive ability tests, and assessment center. Next according to assumption by Arthur, fundamental to the strategic HRM perspective is that firm performance is influence by the set of HRM practice firms have in place. The expectation by external stakeholder relevant in shaping technical HRM activities include the government, which regulates a wide range of employment practice, and various professional organization (Baron , Jennings Dobbin, 1998; Tolbert Zucker, 1993). The expectations of these stakeholders tend to be similar for all firms, and they fell some pressure to conform. Key internal stakeholder like line managers and executive prefer high- quality technicalHRM activities (Tsui, 1987).The stakeholders are not yet likely to hold strength expectation or put pressure on organization to adopt these practice becausethe HRM activities are relatively recent innovations (cf.John, 1993; Wright McMahan, 1992). Characters of strategic human resource management Emphasize the ability of value creation The important path that organization must consider is a strategy that will be used based on their strategic resources. The organization must allocate their resources with effectively and then can decide the main objective. For organizations, the purpose to determine a strategic key of human resource is to identify employees that have a high achievement and have talents to compete with others. Think highly about the value chain management The key term of value chain management describe about strategic integration of the human resource with each function. The strategic human resource management will consider each function and try to create effective plans that can maximize the policies, procedure and also systems in the organization. Thus, the organization can implement the strategy and to use efficiency at the maximum level. Emphasizes contributions to the organizations strategy The success of the strategic human resource can contribute to the organization growth. The strategy must be aligning with the organizational objectives. First of all, there must be a clear tasks and relevant that affect organizational efficiency. There are also basic functions and skills that will be combining to develop a strategic human resource. Therefore, the organization can perform the task with excellent and thus can accomplish the organizations strategic objectives and at the same time can contribute to the growth of the organization. Should be recognized The approach taken to the management of human resources will be found that there is a mutually critical. For example, when the organization was changed and has redefined the role of the individual, indirectly it will affect to the way in which individual performance is managed, and the way in which the pay structure should be designed to reflect and support new ways of performing work. Specific human resource management initiatives will ensure that the sequence changes occur in the correct order and indirectly recognizes the need to understand where you are now in relation to each different area. (Roy Massey, 1994) (Taking a Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management Roy Massey) Approach to strategic human resource Blending strategies is one of the approaches to achieve an organizational vision, mission and objectives. An appropriate element of human resource strategy is required in order to formulate and implement these strategies. A blended strategic approach combines face to face methods through computer activities between each employee. The trainer and also trainee will interact with each other from time to time to share their information or any ideas about development. By this strategy, they can meet thru their organizations websites and discuss for any progression. The strategic human resource planning process Assess the current human resource capacity The most important steps in organization based on strategic plan are to assess the current capacity of human resource. The employees will be identified their knowledge, skills, behavior and also abilities before perform a tasks. Thus, the management can describe each type of employee based on their capabilities while handle the tasks given. Therefore, the management can evaluate employees performance and from that they can find a right employee that must undergo a training program to enhance their abilities. Forecasting human resource capacity The second step based on the strategic plan is to forecast human resource requirements for the future. The management must forecast the demand and supply for the organizations future. Forecasting can support the organizational goal and give the important information especially human resource capacity to management. Gap analysis The third step is to identify the gap between the organization present and in the future. This gap analysis will identify the number of staff will be employed in the future, the scope of the organization will be carried out, the skill and technology required and so on. It is important because through this strategic plan, management can improved or there are new practices to make the organization move forward, always up dated and achieve their strategic goal. Developing human resource strategies There are several strategies that the organization may take advantage in order to meet their goals in the future. The organization can do a training program to develop their employees. The management also can send their employee to take courses to become expert or certificates them. This training is to upgrade and enhance the employees skills and it will give advantage to the organization. Strategic implementation Future performance capabilities HR must analyze the capabilities inherent in the organization to determine the core competencies that will be needed to implement the strategy in the future. The basis for the strategic contribution of HR is to close any gaps between actual competencies required of the future. Values and culture HR policies should be examined from the perspective of core valuesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹, to ensure that the value are accordance with the new strategy. To maintain stability in the middle of turbulent change, HR must play an important role in communicating the companys core values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹and operational changes to employees. Learning and system thinking Regeneration strategies must be combined with strategic HR learning program. Teamwork, communication, problem solving, statistical analysis processes, and continuous improvement are just some of the skills that must be learned and adapted to meet the new strategy. Passion to improve HR must help develop a healthy respect for the bridle view, so that they can be heard and discussed, especially when dealing and strengthen with the company weaknesses. HR must replace the hardcore, bureaucratic policy to friendly lines, flexible framework that does not damning line managers. Partnerships and collaboration HR can do a lot of action to help resolve the structural stress and cross-functional teams. HR will be a third-party collaborators allows others to become successful, productive partnerships that need to intensify the companys ability to achieve new strategies. Communication and commitment HR has an actual cheerleading role to play in the follow-up to the strategic planning session. Given the role of HR neutral organization, it can and must be followed up to make sure that the commitment and passion for the new strategy to be experienced. HR can proceed the planning process across the organization so that everyone taking part in the continuous organic strategic planning process. (Ivey business journal strategic HR by Doug Treen) http://wwwold.iveybusinessjournal.com/view_article.asp?intArticle_ID=206 Strategic Implementation practices in Small Business According to ORegan Ghobadian ,the strategic planning is setting of long-term business goals, and the developing and implementing of formal plans to achieve these goals. From a comprehensive reviews of the small business,it suggest thatstrategic planning is generally more common in better performing enterprises (Hormozi, Sutton, McMinn, Lucio, 2002; Lurie, 1987; Miller Cardinal, 1994; Schwenk Shrader, 1993). For example, small businesses that strategically plan ,compared to those that do not strategically plan are more likely to be those that get a higher sales growth, higher returns on assets, higher profit margins and higher employee growth (Berman, Gordon, Sussman, 1997; Bracker, Keats, Pearson, 1988; Carland Carland, 2003; Gibson Casser, 2005). Strategic planning involves the systematic setting of comprehensive business goals. In the present study, business ownership motivations were compared against four planning criteria that is the use of business plans (yes vs. no), the formality of business plans (written vs. unwritten/in my head), the timeframe of business plans (short-term only vs. long-term only vs. both short- and long- term), and the timely review of business plans (at least half yearly/yearly vs. less than once every two years). Usually , small business operators engaged in strategic planning can be expected to: Have a business plan, Have a business plan that was written, Have a business plan that covered both the short- and long- term periods; and, Have a plan that was reviewed regularly. Following Huselid, Jackson, and Schuler (1997), strategic human resource management (SHRM) can refer as a critical element in fostering operational efficiency and firm performance. The reseachers agrees that the characteristics of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) strategic human resource management practices determines how people managed their capabilities and on the effect side, is directly related to its value as a strategic partner. It contend that the factors affecting the quality of a SMEs of SHRM resource management capability include the industry and competitive condition of its partners and direct competition from other SMEs and businesses intention to provide value to a SMEs partners. SHRM and Business Strategy Fit or Integration SHRM existence increasingly enhance the value of to the organization. SHRM strategy refers to moving pattern organization and management techniques or approaches used to achieve organizational objectives and to continue mission of the organization (Inyang, 2004:20). In an attempt to be successful or achieve a competitive advantage, organization must pick and follow a variety of approaches. Academic support as mentioned has consistently stressed the need for HRM to be strategic business partners. This means that the SHRM integrated with business strategy. Integration or fit refer to the SHRM involvement in the formulation and implementation of organizational strategy and SHRM alignment with the strategic needs of the organization (eg Buyens De Vos 1999; Schuler Jackson, 1999). Human resource managers should join together with other senior managers in the organization during strategic decision-making process in order to become a strategic business partner. Membership at this level in the hierarchy of the organization offering the opportunity to SHRM to represent the concerns and influence the strategic direction of the business from the beginning of the decision making process. SHRM and the Resource Based View (RBV) of the Firm A firm that acquire and develop human resources can achieve a competitive advantage (Hamel Prahalad (1989). Resources owned by the firm that helped it reach ongoing competitive advantages must be satisfy four requirements. Resources should be precious, rare, inimitable, and can not be replaced. If the firm uses resources that are not easily substituted or duplicated by other firms, the firm can take this opportunity to get a competitive edge not simultaneously pursued by other firms. Among the most essential factors competitive advantages is the capability of to distinguish what the business provide to the customer than those provided by competitors. Purcell et al (2003) maintain that such discrimination can be achieved by having the HR strategy, policies and practices that ensure that: The firm has high quality employees from competitors. Unique intellectual capital owned by organization are developed and nurtured. Organizational learning is encouraged, and Certain organizational values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹and culture exist that binding the organization together gives it focus. The RBV of the firm is related to developing strategic capabilities, investing in sufficient organization workforce to increase value to the firm. RBV purpose is to enhance the capacity of resources reach strategic fit among resources and opportunities, and obtain added value from the efficient allocation of resources. Business strategy designed to reach objectives of the organization are not likely to succeed when HRM was not undergo the formulation and implementation of strategies. Organizations should provide a conducive environment for the integration of HRM with business strategy from HR to provide energy to drive the organizations strategy. Wei (2006) stated that HR systems and practices are important in helping to accelerate the achievement of business strategy through people management. Strategic human resource practices in staff training development Firstly, by strategic planning, the organization can achieve their specific strategic business objectives. These planning implement an action with follow the procedure that related to the study and discuss to resolve the difficulties and any matters in the organization. Strategic planning can actively solve the conflicts such as culture conflicts through effective communication with each other members, full participation from the combination of organization and any department and get a high support from the members. Hence, staff training can achieve their training and accomplish business strategy goal for development. Secondly, the strategy oriented training more concern about sharing and initiative, carries out the training transfer, creates conducive working environment that stand for lifelong training and enhances the training productivity. It different from traditional training because this training focuses on long term objective and guide the organization development. In organization, training transfer is about the transformation of the training results. It is a process where the staff training applied the knowledge, skills, and behavior into practical work. Thirdly, implement the strategic training that focuses on core competitiveness of employees and organization. Give expand spaces to staff to develop their competitiveness and through training also they can increase their knowledge, skills and work achievement. Hence, the staffs understand the concept and can effectively adaptation the strategic goal of the organization. Thus, it can be consider that the success of strategic human resource can produce qualified excellent talents in the organization. CONCLUSIONS The success of the strategic human resource can contribute to the organization growth. The strategy must be aligning with the organizational objectives. There must be a clear tasks and relevant that affect organizational efficiency. It is also a basic functions and skills that will be combining to develop a strategic human resource. Therefore, the organization can perform the task with excellent and thus can accomplish the organizations strategic objectives. Then, the strategic planning can refer as a broad managerial process of developing a vision, mission statement, goals and objectives that can be serve as influential guides to employees using the top bottom management approach (Warner, 2000). Next, for small business ownership motivations are diverse and significantly influence how operators manage their businesses. As we can see, the operator is the business and accordingly, research into small business strategic planning needs to focus on the operator and his/her personal motivations and ambitions. The role SMEs can play in fostering the competitiveness of big businesses and the challenges they need to overcome have been well documented. Further insights on the factors that aid or inhibit successful partnering, can only be of strategic importance not only to SMEs but to their big business partners. However, powerful strategic partnership and alliances between small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and big businesses is critical to the ability of big business to build and maintain the sustainable competitive advantage.

A Review Of The Fm Radio

A Review Of The Fm Radio FM has proved itself to be the most innovative and extremely popular medium across the world. This medium enjoys a unique history. It has evolved like any other regular medium but proved itself when other media failed to do so. INVENTOR: It was Major Edwin Armstrong, who is the original inventor of the Frequency Modulation (FM) radio broadcasting system. Major Edwin is not only the inventor on FM but has also contributed greatly many enchantments to the Amplitude Modulation. Since the inventor was one of the developers of AM so he always knew what the AM lacked and its problems. Keeping his experience in his hand, Major Edwin devised a new type of radio transmission that eliminated these problems. He named the new type Frequency Modulation later on popularised as FM. The inventor had to face problems in launching hi FM. He took his idea to his friend who was the head of Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Major Edwin noticed the professional jealousy in the head of RCA so therefore sold the manufacturing rights to several other radio manufacturing companies. This resulted in Armstrong being plagued by RCAs determination to undermine his invention. The legal battle started between RCA and Armstrong and as a result of it the inventor jumped from his 30th floor apartment, ending his life. Working of FM: According to record of Westinghouse and KDKA On December 26, 1933, Edwin Howard Armstrong was issued five basic patents on his FM system. At the same time, it is important to remember that many stations in the VHF band were still amplitude modulated. Actual official FM operations began in 1940/41. Major Armstrong (U.S. Signal Corps, WWI) conducted the first regular transmissions of the FM techniques used today beginning in 1935 on a frequency of 42.1 MHz from a transmitter loaned him by RCA atop the Empire State Building in New York. On April 10, 1938, Armstrong began the experimental station W2XMN on 43.7 MHz at 600 Watts. Full Power of 35,000 Watts and regular programming was report begun on July 18, 1939. The station lasted until 1954. Several more stations began regular program service in 1940 as GE and other manufacturers started making quantities of FM receivers. All were still considered experimental and were operated without commercial content. According to online process there are two ways in which FM stations work. Either they are Digital or Ana-log. In Ana-log FM, the frequency of the AC signal wave, also called the carrier, varies in a continuous manner. Thus, there are infinitely many possible carrier frequencies. In narrowband FM, commonly used in two-way wireless communications, the instantaneous carrier frequency varies by up to 5 kilohertz (kHz, where 1 kHz = 1000 hertz or alternating cycles per second) above and below the frequency of the carrier with no modulation. In wideband FM, used in wireless broadcasting, the instantaneous frequency varies by up to several megahertz (MHz, where 1 MHz = 1,000,000 Hz). When the instantaneous input wave has positive polarity, the carrier frequency shifts in one direction; when the instantaneous input wave has negative polarity, the carrier frequency shifts in the opposite direction. At every instant in time, the extent of carrier-frequency shift (the deviation) is directly proportional to the extent to which the signal amplitude is positive or negative. In digital FM, the carrier frequency shifts abruptly, rather than varying continuously. The number of possible carrier frequency states is usually a power of 2. If there are only two possible frequency states, the mode is called frequency-shift keying (FSK). In more complex modes, there can be four, eight, or more different frequency states. Each specific carrier frequency represents a specific digital input data state. Frequency modulation is similar in practice to phase modulation (PM). When the instantaneous frequency of a carrier is varied, the instantaneous phase changes as well. The converse also holds: When the instantaneous phase is varied, the instantaneous frequency changes. But FM and PM are not exactly equivalent, especially in analog applications. When an FM receiver is used to demodulate a PM signal, or when an FM signal is intercepted by a receiver designed for PM, the audio is distorted. This is because the relationship between frequency and phase variations is not linear; that is, frequency and phase do not vary in direct proportion. Federal Communication Commission (FCC): The FCC permitted regular commercial operation of FM stations in 1941, and the first commercial FM station, W47NV (now WSM-FM) in Nashville, signed on during New Years Day of 1941. The first Non-Commercial FM station was KALW, San Francisco. Owned by the SF Unified School District, this station was licensed in March of 1941, and apparently signed on officially sometime between then and September. (This station was equipped with a converted RCA unit, given to the District, after 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition. Armstrong also operated a subcarrier on that transmitter and demonstrated transmission of facsimile, to show that newspapers might also be delivered by radio broadcast stations. His facsimile demonstrations were carried on later by a number of FM stations, most notably those of the Cox broadcast and newspaper group, including WIOD-FM in Miami. Difference between AM and FM: AM radio stations broadcast at much lower frequency when compared with FM. According to Porter (2010) Commercial AM stations broadcast at 550 kilohertz to 1600 kilohertz, while FM stations broadcast at 88 megahertz to 108 megahertz. The prefix kilo stands for thousand, and the prefix mega stands for million. She further says that the radio waves travelling in the air remain more vulnerable to amplitude changes rather than frequency. AM and FM are different in their working. They transmit in different ways. AM transmits through power and the ionosphere interferences with these radio waves while FM is though high antennas in the air to broaden the range of broadcast. FM Media in Pakistan: Naz (2008) writes that Pakistan Broadcast Corporation (PBC) took the first step in setting up an FM station back in 1994 as FM Gold. PBC has used its own studios and staff for FM Gold. The initial transmission was limited to the big cities only. The transmission slots were from 7:00 AM till 1:00 PM as experimental. In 1996 PBC started FM 101 as an independent FM channel. Fm 100 is considered the pioneer FM station, established in 1994 and started its transmission on March 23 1995 according to their webpage history. After an immense response to FM 100 in listenership and commercialization and technological boom, the debate of privatization hit the Pakistan Media field. Soon afterward Musharraf liberated the Media and so new and private channels entered the media entrepreneurship. This proved to be a very positive step for FM stations development. Radio has been an integral part of any nations communication. It has the power to make or break the society when it comes to the impact of radio. The radio in Pakistan has also seen downfalls in history and at times it has also seen upsurges. The nation when had only one media of communication, radio, the nation utilized the media vastly and vitally. Radio Pakistan has witness its glory days when whole families use to sit around it for news or infotainment. With advent of TV radios usage graph dropped little down. But the usage of TV was limited to cities only. Even today at many far flung areas in Pakistan, TV is not the media in use but still its radio. Introduction of FM in the country was the revival of radio medium in the country. The broadcast quality of FM is vastly superior to that of AM. The FM stations in Pakistan can be categorized in three: Affiliated channels The affiliated broadcasters are the legal broadcasts that come under PEMRA in Pakistan. These channels are properly licensed and they operate under the laws of Pakistan. These are geographically registered. Right winged FM broadcast There are FM channels that are designed for the right winged society keeping in view the fact that religion is the base to everything in our society. Currently Pakistan does not have such channel operating. Sustained Illegal FM broadcasters These are un-authorized channels that have been used by many non-state elements. The biggest example of this category is the illegal FM stations in Swat and FATA. This type or category is mostly used by negative elements in a society or revolutionist. For many areas in NWFP and FATA, since there were number of illegal stations working, therefore, government has introduced alternative radio stations controlled by government itself. Mostly these alternative radio stations are available in the urban centres along with international radio stations like BBC and VOA. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA): To regulate the public and private media Musharraf made a regulatory body Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). PEMRA according to their official website has been established under PEMRA Ordinance 2002 to facilitate and regulate the private electronic media. It has mandate to improve the standards of information, education and entertainment and to enlarge the choice available to the people of Pakistan Including news, current affairs, religious knowledge, art and culture as well as science and technology. According to Wikipedia (2010), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (formerly named RAMBO Regulatory Authority for Media and Broadcast Organizations) was formed to gradually liberate the broadcasting sector in Pakistan. PEMRA has issued a number of licenses to Cable TV operations, FM Radio stations and Satellite TV Channels. PEMRA and FM: FM radio broadcasting is used for the high quality sound. The band according to PEMRA is 880109 MHz. The area of coverage is 40-50kms. The main clauses of PEMRA dealing FM stations are 13. Media ownership concentration and exclusion of monopolies. To ensure that fair competition is facilitated, media diversity and plurality are promoted in the society and undue concentration of media ownership is not created. Maximum number of licences that may be issued to a person or any of its directors or partners where such person is a company or firm, who is directly or indirectly, controlling, owning or operating more than one media enterprise, shall not exceed a total of four satellite TV, four FM Radio licences and two landing rights permissions. Area of operation- A licensee to whom a licence has been issued for a particular area shall not extend or shift its operations beyond the territorial limits of that area without prior permission of the Authority and up-gradation of its existing licence or issuance of a new licence shall also be subject to permission in writing by the Authority: Provided that an FM radio licensee shall not be allowed to shift its station from the city for which it has been licensed. The body has a set code of conduct about the content. The code of conduct is same for both the audio and audio visual media. It is a 2 page code of conduct which includes the basic ethical restrictions. FM today: Like the rest of the world, Pakistan also saw the boom in the radio industry and so after allowing from government to set up private radio stations, more than 200 FM stations have been licensed. Presently there are number of FM stations working in big and small cities. MA Research Foundation (2009) writes that majority of the current radio stations are entertainment focused while some also broadcast news. The FM station is an active media and an important source of contacting with people. Local FM stations can be very helpful for communicating with people at a local level plus it could narrow down the gap between administration and public. Initially the FM media lacked trained people. Since there were not many trained radio workers. But then in the following years many universities offered degrees in media which to some extent met the deficiency of trained people. Still the media is said to be growing and at initial stage of learning since trained people are not substitutes of experienced ones. Problems and Solutions of FM Stations: The biggest and foremost problem that FM stations face is in the selection of broadcasters. FM broadcasters are commonly known as RJs i.e. radio jockeys or MJs i.e. Music Jockeys. Since the media lacks experienced people therefore selection and hiring has been an issue in the industry. In case of an RJ, only the quality of voice has been considered benchmark. As far as the criteria of selection is considered, command over language, pronunciation, general knowledge in social political and ethical issues must be stressed. An RJ must not be just put in front of the mike without his/her training in various fields. He/she should first be trained according to the policy of the parent company. Before sitting in front of the mike the RJ should at least have knowledge about the psychology of people of the broadcast area or the target audience. These days the FM is only a revenue generation firm. Revenue at any cost not only damages the standard of the station but also the reputation plus it is contrary to the ethical values practiced in Pakistan. To attract more listenership and through huge listenership attracting more and more advertisers has been an issue. Since all radio stations except few follow this policy therefore the FM media faces monotone in its programming. For this reason mostly the programs are entertainment based and musical. FM in Pakistani Society: The FM media has the ability to mobilize the society and depart information to the society. Therefore it could be an important tool for the societal development. The FM stations are the best way to involve people in the society development projects. For this purpose more and more community radios should be set up. Setting up community radios might be risky because if not set properly. These can be used for negative propagandas. Properly set means to be like a proper radio station registered with PEMRA and under the law of the country. Radio and specially FM stations that are now even available in mobiles as well are a cheap source of entertainment, education and information. Especially in big cities where one has access to number of different radio stations. This is not only a cheap media in terms of price but also a portal media which was easy to carry with you. A common use of the FM is seen during any other work since it is a cold media. It can be listened while doing some other routine work. People enjoy listening to it while driving, ploughing in villages, and workers in factories or shops. FM in Pakistan gained more popularity in electricity crisis. When people have no access to any media, FM stations proved to be the only source of information. The role of the media is also to unite people in case of any insurgency or problem in any country. These radio stations are also helpful in dealing with the natural calamities. This role was visible during the 2005 earthquake. The radio stations besides their regular transmission also aired the names and information about the missing people and injured people so that they may be contacted by their relatives. Not only had this but the radio proved itself in Pakistan when it tried in bringing people out of that trauma that the nation had gone through. FM media and Politics: The emergency in Pakistan: During emergency rule in Pakistan, when all media had to go through dark phase and when people had no access to any medium, before moving towards internet as media , people of Pakistan had tried FM stations. H.Yousaf(2009) says that people had been using FM radio broadcasts and cell phones as a way to organize and disseminate information. She adds that the emergent, ad hoc, and hyper local networked public spheres thus created served the public well under emergency rule. According to the writer the medium did not emerge as a site for civic engagement or community building. This was due to the fact that the FM channels both private and public were banned to air news and current affairs even before the emergency rule. According to PEMRA regulations the FM stations were supposed to broadcast diversified mixture of programs specializing in education, information, entertainment, culture and other areas. Initially this clause was interpreted to mean that no form of news is allowed. Community radios are thought to be daily life radio which guides you to make your day easier. This may be by telling you the right road to your office or keeping and umbrella in case of forecast rain. The city radio of Karachi according to H.Yousaf, played the role of community radio during 2008 Karachi riots. It kept on alerting people with traffic updates. FM stations: The common FM stations that are accessible in the federal capital are: FM 101 This is the channel of Radio Pakistan. The channel was specially introduced for the youth of Pakistan. The content of the channels involve regular programming with strict ethical code of conduct. FM 101 does not enjoy a complete freedom of expression since it comes under a government body. FM 101 also airs its transmission on dish TV. FM 100 FM 100 was the first and a leading channel. It has maintained its standard of content. All the content aired on FM100 is in respect to the culture and traditions of Pakistan. FM 96.4 FM 96.4 is relatively new. The channel is a simple entertainment channel. The channel has RJs for whole day. FM 94 It is an English channel. The channel is called Planet 94. This is an entertainment channel which airs the entertaining content in English. FM 92.4 This is a specialized community radio station from Islamabad Traffic Police. The channel specialises in traffic management information and education. The channel is localized therefore it airs special content for traffic. FM 89 This is an English based channel. The name of the channel is city FM 89. Its target audience is English speaking foreigners and overseas Pakistani who have returned to Pakistan. Many people call it a elite class or upper class radio station. It currently operates four stations across Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad. FM 91: FM 91 is another English channel. It is owned by an advertising agency. Listening to 91gives an impression of it set to be a top dog. This maintains the Pakistani culture and does not westernize the content at the value of Pakistani culture. The RJs at FM 91 seem to be more Pakistani speaking English. The channel also airs Urdu music at time. The channel enjoys the ratio of music and content at 70:30 in terms of language Urdu and English. So the channel cannot be categorized complete English. FM99 Targeting the lower middle and middle class of Pakistan 99 has gained popularity in masses. The channel also airs programs on current affairs and news. It also airs programs in other languages like dari and Pashtu. FM 93 FM 93 is also a channel of Radio Pakistan. It specializes in sports. The channel airs live coverage of the cricket matches of Pakistan. FM 106.2 This is a musical special since it does not have any RJ. The channel only has music aired all the time. Besides that the channel airs BBC sports news 3 to 4 times a day. It is also a cricket specialized station because it also airs the coverage of the cricket matches but no other sports. Content of FM stations: If the content of above mentioned fm channels is examined closely there would be clearly seen that these fm channels or purely entertainment based. The news content is not mainly focused by these channels if we see them collectively. But after examining them on individual level the findings are different from channel to channel. The FM stations in Pakistan are mostly entertainment based. This entertainment mainly is through live shows that RJs conduct and play music on the whole. They have a link time defined by their company. The linked time refers to the time that they speak on air. In between this link time, music is played. Many radio stations are now running programs for women issue and even youth or children based as well. But the format of the programs is more or less the same. The special programs that focus on women issue or any other will have some experts in it talking on the issue and being contacted by local women through telephone in case of any query. Another benchmark that the radio station of Pakistan has set is to have a Ghazal program at the late hours of the day. The programs of the radio stations can be said to be monotonous. Any FM station will have a special music hour, a specialised program, a night time ghazal program and regular music based shows. The radio station should keep in mind the program that it has to present. While planning a program, the length and utility of the program? How long the program will be, its frequency and also its consequences. Keep in view what will be the consequences of your programs and will it be anything utilizable for the society or not. The news element on radio seems to lack some technicalities. A good new bulletin on radio can become a cause of attraction for the listeners. The main function of news and current affairs on FM channel is to aware people and trains them. Easy access to information leads to educated society and once the society is educated it gains the confidence to play its role in nation building. According to MA research publication (2009) Presently, FM radio stations are working on big and small towns, and highways but many radio stations avoid broadcasting news due to strict and tough policies of PEMRA. In fact, in the beginning PEMRA had not allowed the private sector radio stations to present news and current affairs programs, but now after the PEMRA has relaxed its rules, some FM radio stations have began news and current affairs programs. However, the FM radios presenting news programs face shortage of trained and experienced staff, having a keen news sense and command on technical aspects of news. Moreover, the listeners want immediate information about major happenings while the FM radios due to lack of proper staff fail to provide them correct and timely news. They further write that The FM stations do not have trained and experienced people. That is why the standard of the news and current affairs is not up to the mark and satisfactory. The stations should have a co de of conduct for the people from news and current affairs. There is a big way difference in the content of public and private channels. The public channels fm 101 and fm 93 have got different focus and preferences. They give hour to hour detailed news bulletin and they also broadcast news programs, news documentaries, dialogues, and promotional content for the state authorities. If we examine the news content of these two channels they can considered being puppets in the hands of government. The activities and events of the authorities are also given a prominent coverage by these two channels. This is what we can take as a drawback of these channels but if we see the positive side it is found after analyzing their content that these channels are very patriotic and loyal. Every national day is celebrated by fm 101 and fm 93 with specially designed program line. As far as the music collection is concerned, Indian songs are not allowed to air through fm 101 and fm 93. When the content of both the channels is compared with each other, it is found that fm 101 has a conventional and sober tone while fm 93 is designed according to the demand of todays trends. Its more lively and dynamic in its program formats and content even fm 93 is given more freedom as compared to fm 101. Another good aspect of these two channels is they give a significant importance to decency of the content and they are strictly monitored to maintain the civility in the programs. Radio junkies are not allowed to use bold topics or bold and indecent words in their conversation. Very keen attention is given to the Urdu pronunciation and dialogue delivery of the presenters. You would find an excellent selection and delivery of words uttered by the presenters in the programs especially in the news bulletin. When it comes to the private channels fm 100 is the one which comes at the top of this league in terms of decency, standard and quality content. The best thing about fm 100 is it keeps its decency and follow the moral values but also comes in the league of modern channels. It fulfils the demand of todays youth but doesnt adopt cheap methods to increase its popularity. The listenership of this channel is very high just because of this reason. It wouldnt be wrong if we call it a well balanced fm channel of Pakistan. The news bulletin is aired after every hour and there are also some programs designed to discuss the social and political issues. This channel doesnt focus on news content that much as compared to the other channels. It focuses on the traditional and culture oriented program formats. Fm 99 is considered to come under the popular channels. This channel gives a great focus to the news content as well. The channel is also known for its over-entertainment content and program formats. It caters each and every strata of society. It doesnt pay much attention to the decency of the content and language used by the presenters most of the times cross the borders of civility. The channel hired presenters from every region and designed the programs in many regional languages as well. There is no restriction on the selection of songs. Fm 106.2 is a pure entertainment channel. It is owned by ARY, a reputed television channel of Pakistan. It airs nonstop music 24 hours a day. There wasnt any presenter in the channel when it was started but it was just focusing on airing the music all the time. Now they have started some programs but most of the time nonstop music is aired from the channel. News content is not given attention by this fm channel. FM 91 as caters elite class keeps the essence of parent culture in its programs. Most of RJs on the channel are with neutral accent. Their RJs do not Americanize their accents while speaking English. The channel is purely an entertainment channel. They have special designed programs for peace, patriotism and peace promotion. Another 24 hour entertainment channel plays mostly English, Hindi and Urdu music. The channel also has the privilege to be the first in playing its part for the community betterment. The program was specially designed for the youngsters to seek advice from experienced people to pursue their career. As far as RJs of FM91 are concerned, well this channel has maintained a set standard in hiring its RJs. So you will find good RJs on this station who not only are well groomed in their personalities but they add something to the society through this powerful medium that they have. Another radio station launched by the Islamabad traffic police, is FM 92.4. This can be categorized under a community radio since it performs some tasks of a community radio. But the tasks that it performs for community are limited to traffic and road problems only. In a way this can also be called a specialized radio which is dealing a single department. The content aired is not up to the mark since the RJs at the station seem to be amateur. They are not well trained or experienced. The station has stick policy to play only the national music and no other type. The channel airs the traffic update of Rawalpindi and Islamabad from time to time. Along with that they keep on playing promos that comprise of traffic rules and road ethics. FM94 and 96.4 are comparatively new in line. FM 94 is still struggling with target audience since the channel has still not made it to favourites of any group. This is another English channel that airs all English content. It is also a creation of Radio Pakistan. Since it is a public owned station therefore it is faced with lot many restrictions when compared with other English stations. FM 94.6 is Urdu channel. It is purely an entertainment channel. The channel faces the same issues of substandard content that other Urdu stations also suffer from. FM stations Network: The FM station like TV stations in Pakistan can find a common ground and produce a networking for the betterment of the field. For the betterment two declarations have already been conducted which are discussed below: Murree Declaration: Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in collaboration with International Broadcasting Bureau of Voice of America (VOA) organized a five-day workshop at Shangrila Hotel, Murree from May 14 to May 18, 2006, which was attended by local and foreign FM broadcasters and university representatives. The workshop participants approved the following declaration: 1. A community radio forum should be established in Pakistan. 2. PEMRA should review and amend its rules and policies to help in development of community radio in Pakistan. 3. PEMRA should allow the community radios to present news and current affairs programs. 4. Strategy should be formed for booting freedom of expression, ensuring security and safety of people related to mass media, and further straightening of media organizations. 5. Network should be formed between participants of workshop. 6. Universities should set up training academies for broad casters of all communities in their mass communication/ journalism departments. 7. The radio stations set up in the earthquake affected areas should be allowed to continue their broadcasting, and they should also be given status of community radios. 8. A network of campus radios should be established in Pakistani universities. 9. Pakistan Press Foundation should be requested to continue its training workshops for the capacity building of community broadcasters. 10. The government should ensure peoples access to information at every level A six-member committee comprised Mr. Razi Rizvi of Voice of America Urdu Service, Mr. Owais Aslam Ali Secretary General Pakistan Press Foundation, Mr. Sajjad Paracha of Mass Communication Department University of Bahawalpur, Ms. Shazia Gul of Mass Communication Department University of Peshawar, Mr. Aijaz Ahmed of Mass Communication Department University of Baluchistan Quetta, and Mr. Muhammad Rafiq Bhatti, Deputy Controller Radio Pakistan Muzaffarabad drafted the declaration. Rawalakot Declaration: Pakistan Press Foundation in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES) organized a workshop on Development of FM Radio in Pakistan at the Himalaya International Hotel Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir on August 9-10, 2008, which was attended by the station managers and broadcasters of 23 FM radio stations of Pakistan. They approved following declaration: 1. The government should make laws to ensure access of FM radio information at every level. 2. A guar

Universal Issues in Education Essay example -- Argumentative Persuasiv

Universal Issues in Education Many universal issues in education are a major concern for our country today. The principles defining education, how children are raised, the grave impact of technology, and the way minorities are treated and perceive themselves are all issues for us to be alerted about. Teaching and learning have been an important issue since human existed in this world. What is "teaching and learning?" According to the Oxford dictionary, "teaching" is the process to cause somebody to know or to be able to do something, and "learning" is the practice to gain knowledge and skill. In Paul Goodman' s opinion, the schools are only a therapeutic halfway house for young kids. And Ralph Waldo Emerson refers that "universities are, of course, hostile to geniuses." In general, education is to help young people adapt to this society and perform well. The manner in which children are raised affects the development and growth of a child trying to learn in school. In, "Zen and the Art of Burglary", a father feels he must lock his son in a trunk in order for his son to determine how to secretly escape and master his father's skill. The son finally acquires the skill, but he had to experience the actual deed, first. Sometimes, kids need to venture through a certain act, so that they eventually understand how it works (Fa-yen). Another concern in raising children deals with what they pick up from adults. Moral intelligence is learned from other people. Children are constantly observing grown-ups, and in turn, begin imitating their behaviors and mannerisms. Kids begin to pick up skills on day one. Parents are capable of teaching their children about wishing and yearning, as well as coping with disappointment. During a ... ...duced to a new field of study. Finally, education should help to build a good social identity for people as well as maintaining their own heritage. Bibliography 1. Gelernter, D., "Unplugged". The New Republic. 1994. 2. Goodman, P. Little Brown Reader. Pg. 358. 3. Emerson, R.W. Little Brown Reader. Pg. 361. 4. Fa-yen,W. "The Sayings of Goso Hoyen". Buddhism in China. 1964. 5. Coles, R. "On Raising Moral Children". The Moral Intelligence of Children. 1997. 6. Stoll,C. "Invest in Humanware". The New York Times. 1996. 7. Bambara, T.C. "The Lesson". Little Brown Reader. Pg. 442. 8. White, M. "Japanese Education". Little Brown Reader. Pg. 396. 9. Belencky, M.F., McVicker, B., Goldberger, N.R., Tarule, J.M. "How Women Learn". Women's Way of Knowing. 10. Shen, F. "The Classroom and the Wilder Culture". Little Brown Reader. Pg. 417.

Comparing A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises :: comparison compare contrast essays

A Farewell to Arms & The Sun Also Rises "After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain" (332). This last line of the novel gives an understanding of Ernest Hemingway's style and tone. The overall tone of the book is much different than that of The Sun Also Rises. The characters in the book are propelled by outside forces, in this case WWI, where the characters in The Sun Also Rises seemed to have no direction. Frederick's actions are determined by his position until he deserts the army. Floating down the river with barely a hold on a piece of wood his life, he abandons everything except Catherine and lets the river take him to a new life that becomes increasing difficult to understand. Nevertheless, Hemingway's style and tone make A Farewell to Arms one of the great American novels. Critics usually describe Hemingway's style as simple, spare, and journalistic. These are all good words they all apply. Perhaps because of his training as a newspaperman, Hemingway is a master of the de clarative, subject-verb-object sentence. His writing has been likened to a boxer's punches--combinations of lefts and rights coming at us without pause. As illustrated on page 145 "She went down the hall. The porter carried the sack. He knew what was in it," one can see that Hemingway's style is to-the-point and easy to understand. The simplicity and the sensory richness flow directly from Hemingway's and his characters' beliefs. The punchy, vivid language has the immediacy of a news bulletin: these are facts, Hemingway is telling us, and they can't be ignored. And just as Frederic Henry comes to distrust abstractions like "patriotism," so does Hemingway distrust them. Instead he seeks the concrete and the tangible. A simple "good" becomes higher praise than another writer's string of decorative adjectives. Hemingway's style changes, too, when it reflects his characters' changing states of mind. Writing from Frederic Henry's point of view, he sometimes uses a modified stream-of-cons ciousness technique, a method for spilling out on paper the inner thoughts of a character. Usually Henry's thoughts are choppy, staccato, but when he becomes drunk the language does too, as in the passage on page 13, "I had gone to no such place but to the smoke of cafes and nights when the room whirled and you

To what extent does Soyinka present Jeroboam and his gullible congregation firstly as victims of social forces

To what extent does Soyinka present Jeroboam and his gullible congregation firstly as victims of social forces and secondly, as victims of their own greed and opportunism in The Trials of Brother Jero? â€Å"Human life cannot be represented in a fully or truthful manner without taking account of the pressures brought to bear upon the individual by his milieu, by the particularity of social situation and historical circumstance† John Cruickshank (1969) I have chosen the quote above as a starting point for my essay because I believe that Africa as a continent has seen such extremes of political and social upheaval that to overlook the importance of history, and its affects down the evolutionary scale on the people of Africa, in African literature and particularly in Soyinka's The Trials of Brother Jero would be very wrong. But how far can you make allowances for greed, selfishness and opportunism (which almost every character in the play attributes to) under the assumption that they are just products of the greed, selfishness and opportunism inflicted on the people when colonisation reared its ugly head? by the same token I feel that it is easy for an audience or reader of a play to put characters good or bad points purely down to their ‘character'. When a play write presents you with characters that are so easy to interpret then you have to ask yourself, why? Jero is a prophet, â€Å"by birth and inclination† and this is indeed the first thing we learn about him. The way Soyinka presents him to us is initially set out in the stage directions where Jero is described as â€Å"suave†. Jero's opening line â€Å"I am a prophet†, I feel, encourages the audience to think that maybe a real prophet would be more modest. Jero's direct speech to the audience employs a traditional African style of address that forces an audience to actively analyse Jero's speeches. That said Soyinka does not make it difficult for us to see that Jero is far from being a religious man as he informs us of his betrayal of his previous master for his own personal gain. So why would Soyinka use such a style of address if he did not want to us to analyse something more in the apparent openness of his characters speech? I feel that Soyinka has used this literary tool in order to encourage an audience not to see the truth in the characters (as this is very easy to see) but to think about why they have come to be the way they are. G. N. Ofor (1991) in his essay entitled The Urban Novel: A Historical Experience tells us about social realities of the time prior to colonisation: â€Å"African villagers were noted for their homogeneity and were guided by traditional beliefs and values. Members of the community were very closely bound together and the primacy of the community over the individual was emphasised† I think it is very important that G. N. Ofor chooses to specify that this state was what Africa was like before colonisation as this suggests that things have changed because of colonisation. Certainly in The Trials of Brother Jero the people are guided by traditional beliefs with the characters attending church regularly and Jero being something of an advisor (certainly to Chume anyway) but Jero himself is not guided by the hope of enlightenment or saviour after death, nor is he compelled to help people for the sake of being a kind and generous person. Everything he does, in some way, contributes to his own personal gain, gain of money or respect or personal favours. In the quotation below which is an excerpt from the play Jero finds out that Chume's wife is in fact also his creditor who he has been trying to avoid, and so allows him finally to beat her despite forbidding him not to up until this point. Jero says â€Å"he wants to beat his wife, but I won't let him. If I do, he will become contented, and then that's another of my flock gone for ever. Jero: Ah. That is the only way. But er†¦ I wonder really what the will of god would be in this matter. After all, Christ himself was not averse to using the whip when occasion demanded it. Chume (eagerly. ): No. He did not hesitate. Jero: In that case, since, brother Chume, your wife seems such a wicked, wilful sinner, I think†¦ Chume: Yes, Holy One†¦? Jero: You must take her home tonight†¦ Chume: Yes†¦ Jero: And beat her. You could easily conclude from this that Jero is presented as a victim of his own opportunism or that Jero is an opportunist, I suppose that to consider a character as a victim of anything suggests that we cannot or do not blame them for it; that, from a humanitarian point of view we can empathise with Jero's course of action. But Soyinka does not present to us any signal that Jero has suffered any sort of moral dilemma as he recurrently exploits his congregation. So we need to consider the social forces that might shape the attitudes of the characters in The Trials of Brother Jero The ideological view points detailed in the quotation by G. N. Ofer. Do not apply to the character Jero so Maybe Soyinka chooses not to present Jero in this idyllic image as a remark against such opinions saying that he does not agree that Colonisation is a reason that people in Africa have become more of a capitalist nation like in European society and is making the point that the image of Africans as a tight knit, un-selfish communism never completely existed. In the same essay I quoted from earlier and on the subject of the effects of colonisation, G. N. Ofer goes on to say that: Factors like taxation, a common portable currency, the desire for European goods, the need and the opportunity to make profits contributed immensely to the historic shift from a subsistence economy to a monetary economy. This loosened the co-operative ties binding the individual to his clan and lineage members. † If you read the above quote with reference to Soyinka's character Jero you could certainly see how, perhaps, Soyinka's character Jeroboam is presented as a victim of this new found ethic, catalysed by the influence of Africa's capitalist colonisers. In fact in Soyinka's own words, from an essay entitled from a common backcloth: A reassessment of the African literary Image he writes of â€Å"the European observer† that: â€Å"He still fights a rearguard today. It has grown subtler. Accommodation is his new weapon, not dictation† Soyinka (1988) Accommodation of the African continent or of the minds of the African masses perchance? Chume is another of Soyinka's main characters in the play, an un-educated, naive, gullible, hen-pecked man who relies completely on the ‘help' he gets from Jero. Looking at the play it is easy perceive that Soyinka has presented Chume as a victim. In the excerpt I have quoted below we can see how Chume goes to see brother Jero, desperate to find help for the mental torture he suffers by his nagging wife, Amope; Chume: My life is hell†¦ Jero: Forgive him, father, forgive him. Chume: This woman will kill me†¦ Jero: Forgive him, father, forgive him. Chume: Only this morning I†¦ Jero: Forgive him, father, forgive him. Chume: All the way on my bicycle†¦ Jero: Forgive†¦ Chume: And not a word of thanks†¦ Jero: Out Ashtoreth. Out Baal†¦ Chume: All she gave me was abuse, abuse, abuse†¦ All Chume wants is for Jero to allow him to beat her, just once, but Jero keeps him hanging on saying it is not the will of god. All Chume wants out of life is to have a peaceful relationship with his wife and to gain a better job. Chume is actually under a great deal of pressure to conform to the expectations of his wife and his peer. Amope says â€Å"A chief messenger in the local Government Office – do you call that work? Your old schools friends are now ministers, riding in long cars†¦ † while Jero mocks Chume for his â€Å"animal jabber† he goes on to say that he is â€Å"too crude, but then that is to my advantage. It means he would never set himself up as my equal. † you could argue that any characters desire for monetary gain or a materialistic attitude to life could be seen as a direct effect of the colonisation of Africa. As I have shown in earlier quotations and as I have read so far, it would seem that many of the people who write about the state of the African infrastructure have the opinion that colonisation has been a destructive factor because it imposed the materialistic, dog eat dog attitude of Europe. Many writers believe that the effect of Europe has caused a lack of solidarity between the African masses. It would seem, also that there have been many literary works which satirise this idea, Claude Wauthier (1978) in The literature and thought of modern Africa writes; The tone is just as sarcastic about Europe in the long free-verse poem by the Ugandan Okot p'Bitek, song of Lawino, the bitter-sweet lament of a black woman who is reproached by her husband for being illiterate and not knowing European social manners: My husband pours scorn On black people He behaves like a hen That eats its own eggs. Bearing this in mind it seems as though Soyinka has presented Chume as a victim of the social forces imposed by those around him. He fits perfectly into Eustace Palmer's view (quoted by G. N. Ofor in The essay The urban novel: a Historical Experience) of; â€Å"The rural innocent†¦ who is ignorant of the qualities needed to survive in the hot-house that is the city and who is quite often inadequately equipped, as far as education is concerned, to qualify for the lucrative jobs the city offers. † Palmer (1979) It is interesting to include that G. N. Ofor remarks on the above quote with: â€Å"However it is pertinent to note that without the creation of towns/cities by the colonial administration, there would have been no urban novel. † As for Chume's own greed and opportunism, I think it would be difficult for anyone to argue that a person could be said to be greedy for wanting to live harmoniously with their wife/husband or to want equality. All we know of the rest of brother Jero's congregation is the few people he mentions that he has convinced will become prime ministers of certain states, there is a woman who badly wants children and Jero tell us that the most popular of his prophesies is to tell people they will live until they are 80. As Jero says â€Å"if it doesn't come true, that man doesn't find out until he's on the other side. The last character we meet in the play is ‘member', who aptly becomes a member of Brother Jero's congregation by the end of the play. Jero, at first, attempts to speak to him by pretending he has prophesised the meeting between them. Shockingly the member turns away saying â€Å"Go and practise your fraudulences on another person of greater gullibility† and so for a second it seems as though there may be at least one character that will not fall for the charms of Brother Jeroboam – this is not the case. All it takes is for Jero to say what he wants to hear and he is hooked. Jero tempts him by saying â€Å"And at a desk, in a large gilt room, great men of the land awaited your decision. Emissaries of foreign nations hung on your word. And on the door leading into your office I read the words, minister for war†¦ † Asking god or brother Jero to help people become ministers or heads of state or merely to have a better job or more money seems to go against the true usages of religion, Which I had understood to be performing the will of God (of whichever denomination) and keeping unity between all the people within the culture. It seems to me that Soyinka may be trying to show that while every member of Jero's congregation is manipulated by him they themselves are not completely innocent in their reasons for their faith. Mineke Schipper (1982) in Oral Literature and Total Theatre says; â€Å"In traditional society the religious system determines the cultural unity of the people. Life forces bind man to his past, his present and his future and determine his relationships with gods, spirits, nature and natural phenomena. The unity tends to break down where western influence increases. † It is interesting that the subject of western influence is again considered to be the destructive factor in the lack of unity between the African people. The quotation above suggests that western influences have even meant a breaking down of the unity that religion brings. After having looked at The Trials of Brother Jero, and having discussed the idea of victimisation I can only conclude that human beings, from whatever culture or walk of life, all desire the same basic things – money and material possessions, respect, power and equality (though not necessarily in that order). The idea that has cropped up so often in my essay, that the social forces which work upon the individual and the nation as a whole are a direct effect of colonisation, is probably the most interesting point of all. You can indeed find reasoning within the text to assume that Soyinka may have intended for this theme to become apparent, whether or not you regard any of the characters as victims or even if you regard them as victims and perpetrators together at the same time. Below I have included a quotation from S. E. Ogude in his essay African Literature and the Burden of History: Some Reflections in which he talks about another African playwright, Chinua Achebe (1975) Saying: â€Å"He also reveals the weaknesses of the traditional society and the ease with which European capitalism and religion supported by gun powder and cannon balls successfully challenged the dominance of traditional culture. † If this is indeed true then it is a terrible, terrible shame.

How is ICT Used in Schools and What are the Effects? Essay

Introduction I have chosen to do a report on the effect on schools and colleges. I chose this topic because I attend school every day and I can find out a lot about schools. I can also find out about the use of ICT in colleges because my mother works at a college. I will be able to find out information to include from many sources. I think finding out about the development of ICT is very interesting and I can compare the ICT facilities. I will also be able to find out information about how ICT is used in schools. To do this I am going to use a range of sources, for example, books, the Internet and people. How has ICT changed over the last 30 years? Computers can be changed for interactive learning, unlike 30 years ago. The only disadvantage to this is the pupils will not be as motivated as they would with a teacher. Computers have changed dramatically over the last few decades. Computers started appearing in schools in 1983. At this time there were very few, they were called Caltext Word Processors. They were larger, slower, had less memory, the programs were not advanced. Now there are hundreds of machines, printers, scanners etc. Modern computers have more processing power than the larger, room-sized computers, which were around in the 60’s and early 70’s. How has ICT changed in schools? ICT is used in schools for many purposes, for example, recording grades and attendance. All the information for attendance is input into the computer and a spreadsheet is made. The percentage is calculated by the computer and a new monitoring system phones parents at regular intervals during the day to enquire about absences. It keeps phoning until there is a reply. School libraries use ICT for bar code readers and the librarian can access data about who has which book, the book on loan and the return date. It can also be an efficient form of identification. For example Hillcrest, our card system is an efficient way to but dinner. The cards can also be used for library cards because they have a photo on them. This is taken from a digital camera and was input into a computer and put on to a card. This is useful because they can be used as identity, because the coloured stripe shows which year each pupil is in. The black stripe along the back of the card stores information about the name, year and the amount of money on the card. An advantage to this system is it doesn’t show who has free meal, the information is not available to other pupils. As well as ICT being available to other pupils, it is also useful for teachers, because a database can be kept of all the details of the pupil such as the date of birth, emergency contact numbers, and progress in lessons and behaviour. With ICT help can be given in other subjects. Programs such as Encarta, The Way Things Work, and especially the Internet. The Internet is helpful because pupils can access any educational site and web page filters such as The Birmingham Grid For Learning, stop offensive pages being shown. The Internet also has a useful site for teachers, where they can input students work into the site and it tells them how much has been copied of the Internet. This helps to prevent Plagiarism. Teachers can also access prepared lesson plans and schemes of work. Students can also save their work on the network, in their own area. Which can be accessed from any network computer and it is also secure because each persons account is password protected. Schools can use Digital Cameras to put a photograph into the computer to put photographs on to the website, art students can include graphics into their work and the photographs can be used for swipe cards or identification cards. What are the historical aspects of the changes in ICT in schools? Years ago, computers may only have been used in computing, but now they are used in many other subjects, for example, Maths software, Science software, homework and revision programs, and business forecasting tools. Computers have become more developed, e.g. when computers were first put into the education system there may not have been printers in schools, but now there are many in each classroom. Computers are also much more advanced, the old dot matrix printers have been replaced by Ink Jet and Laser Jet printers which give a much better quality, are better value for money because printing off large amounts of paper is cheaper. It also has a higher resolution, which means the print out is better. What are the technological breakthroughs, which have helped in schools? Breakthroughs in ICT are helpful in schools for a number of ways. Bar Code Readers are useful in the school library to check out books; Voice Recognition could be useful for teachers who do not want to type a worksheet/handout. This is an advantage for disabled people who find it difficult to use a keyboard. They could dictate a worksheet into a program called Voicepad. Scanners are a breakthrough and any picture that is input into a computer can be edited, changes in colours, change the size etc. Also, Smart Cards are a breakthrough and are used in schools as identity cards as well as library cards. What technology is used and what is available for use? What is available to buy? Is it available in schools/ colleges? Who uses it? Scanners Available Might not be available to students Printers (laser and colour) Available to teachers and students, although some schools may have to restrict printing to save on resources which is an environmental issue Students and teachers, because they need to print their work. Photocopiers Available Students may have to ask a teacher to photocopy for them Computers Always available, though the ratio between schools may vary Teachers and students will need to use them for work A school network Available to every computer in the school Teachers and students will need to have an account Internet Available to most computers Will be limited for students because of the web page filters put in place by teachers Joystick May not be available in schools, but may be available in colleges May only be available for older pupils or teachers use Touch Screen May only be available in schools for children with disabilities. Would only be used with children who can not use a keyboard Light Pen May not be available at all May be available for teachers only What effect has ICT had in schools, and how would this be done without the use of ICT? ICT has had a big effect in schools and colleges for example e-mail is sent through the phone lines and is very quick. In my mothers’ work the students e-mail their work to the lecturers and have a reply with answers and their mark. The students with an e-mail account can contact the teachers and other students even when they are on study leave. In universities, worksheets, course details/notices and other important notices are e-mailed to group e-mail addresses, for example, all first year business students or all of first year computing rather than addressing it to each individual student. Tutors set up group e-mail accounts. All university e-mail addresses can be forwarded to home e-mail accounts. If ICT were not available pupils would have to go into college to find the teachers when they could be using that time to study. They would have to keep checking noticeboards for important information. The Intranet is useful because anyone who has a username and password within the school or college can find announcements, messages and company documents. Most universities have a program called â€Å"Blackboard† where the students can find notes assignments, web page links, and past exam papers. They can also find information from off-campus. This is very important for 2nd and final year, and also placement year students. How has ICT improved facilities in the area? Interactive whiteboards enable teachers to demonstrate and not have their backs to pupils. Touch screens can be used in education centres, not necessarily just in schools. Tests should be completed on touch screen computers because they will also tell you how much time you have left and they allow you to change an answer as many times as you like. It will record the answers you give. They use these on driving theory tests. How has ICT affected the way people work? ICT can affect the place where you work because with e-mail and Intranets you can work from home. The pupils could use distance learning. This is also available for adults who enrol on Learn Direct courses. Also, working from home is convenient because you can change the hours you work, and where you work to what is more comfortable for you. This benefits you because your stress load will decrease because you can e-mail work to the person in charge. This would be useful for someone who is unable to attend school/college and needed to make up the work with homework assignments because they can e-mail the completed work to the teacher. Although, working from home would cut off contact with people you see everyday at work. Learning in school means people have advantages when they go into work, e.g. having word processing skills means people need less training in basic skills. Teachers can carry around mobile phones and laptops to keep in contact with other colleagues when they are not a t work because they are on courses. Students can type up homework, coursework and revision notes. They can research on the Internet. They can also back up pieces of work, and if the first version was lost, they could retrieve the backup copy and continue to work from that. They can also carry between home and school, this dramatically reduce the amount of paperwork the pupils have to carry to and from school. Although, they must remember to take care of the disk and not subject it to extreme heat (by putting it near radiators) or magnets because they could destroy the disk. What rules and regulations need to be put into place to use ICT? Teachers will need to restrict Internet usage and put filters on offensive pages. This prevents them from being shown to students. The Internet can be useful for students work and revision, e.g. finding past exam papers. Although using copyright material is illegal, security is not always good on the Internet because people can hack into the Internet and find anything. Using computers for a long period of time can have a health risk: radiation, backache, wrist pain and eyesight.