MGMT 4500 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MGMT 4500 - Essay Example This position in the airline’s context is determined by the number of domestic passengers served by the airline. The airline’s portfolio has been built by both strengths and weaknesses. While scenario is relatively a normal phenomenon to almost every business venture, the measures employed by Southwest Airlines in exploiting its strengths and addressing the underlying weaknesses are critical and unique its performance. The company primarily concentrates in domestic passenger travel services, giving it a local advantage. However, in international terms, its business performance is based on collaboration with international airlines. Prior to local, regional or international success, Southwest Airlines has outstanding strengths that maintain its top position in meeting air travel demands for the domestic market. Customer service is one of the critical areas that the airline roots its strengths in. The airline has in the past undertaken and continues to undertake service evaluation with regard to customer expectations. In this customer service practice, Southwest Airlines seeks to identify loopholes in its line of service. Customers are the primary determining factors of the success of a business venture. The management and the employees of the Southwest Airlines critically accounts for this fact by striving to meet customer satisfaction in air travel services. Customer feedbacks are presently used as a tool for designing, formulating and implementing customer service policies in the company. Employee base and the number of flights offered per day is an essential current strength. By close of business year 2011, Southwest Airlines had an employee base of 37,000, and offered up to 3,300 flights a day (Hill & Gareth, 2012). This has been realized to due to the ever rising customer volume especially in the last two years. The effectiveness, efficiency and commitment to duty by its workforce, Southwest

New Pedestrianism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

New Pedestrianism - Research Paper Example The new urbanism approach’s ability to attain these goals of sustainability at the same time is its greatest strength. New Urbanism and its Principles For a long time, urban sprawl that is dependent on cars has been criticized due to its contribution to social isolation, degradation of the environment, and long term financial un-sustainability. Architects, beginning in the early 80s, started to fight this sprawl through new urbanism with significant developments coming up alongside the concept’s principles3. These neighborhoods started to take on a European and pre-war urban model, often resembling typical small towns or earlier inner city neighborhoods. For this reason, these neighborhoods are usually referred to as TNDs, or traditional neighborhood developments. These neighborhoods are built on several fundamental planning principles. The first fundamental planning principle of new urbanism is mixing of uses with institutional, civic, and commercial spaces located in community corridors, as well as centers, which are surrounded by close-by housing that provides service and job access sans use of cars4. This normally takes on the form of a town square or main street. The second fundamental planning principle is diversity. Urban sprawl can lead to separation of the populace by the level of their income. New urbanism seeks to provide for various housing in one area that range from high to low cost5. It is possible to accomplish this through townhouses, detached one-family homes, and mixed apartments in one neighborhood. This also promotes affordable housing inclusion. The third fundamental principle of new urbanism is that it should encourage walking6. This comes with increased benefits to the community and environment, while also creating supportive social networks through daily interactions with fellow local acquaintances and neighbors. The concept encourages those living in these neighborhoods to walk through a mixing of uses, while also making sure that there are plentiful and wide sidewalks with well designed streetscape, minimization of curb cuts, and compact blocks. Mass transit and bicycling connect pedestrians with other areas within the larger urban region and are, thus, important as well. The fourth fundamental planning principle of new urbanism is definition of public space7. Streets are normally considered as space that is vital for public life and are important for the occurrence of daily interactions of the community. To make the area attractive, landscaping, lighting, and materials must be detailed carefully. New urbanism also holds public squares and parks in high esteem. The fifth and final fundamental planning principle of new urbanism is complimentary architecture8. Public space is defined by the private property facades that abut it and new urbanism takes into account the importance of a street wall that is strongly defined by close-up and attractive buildings that offer spaces and services. Houses in tra ditional neighborhood developments are normally close to the streets, while they are built on lines in downtown areas. Because of the importance of public interaction in new urbanism, front porches are a common feature. Majority of traditional neigh

Article analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Article analysis - Assignment Example In both scenarios, the business success for both companies and suppliers will depend on the depth and strength of their relationship. This paper starts with an explanation of the common mistakes companies commit in dealing with their suppliers. Several factors that companies should consider before getting a supplier or outsourcing a business process will follow. Different types of supplier relationships are then explored. The paper ends with a discussion of properly managing supplier relationships. 2. Mistakes to avoid in supplier relationships The first mistake that companies commit even before entering into supplier relationships is the lack of organizational/business process analysis. Companies often enter into supplier relationships without first knowing what the company really needs. These â€Å"unevaluated processes† blind a company from the areas where it excels and areas where it needs improvement (Aron and Singh 136). A company, then, might mistakenly outsource core p rocesses which are vital to its functioning, or manufacture in-house those components which can be sourced from suppliers at lower costs with same quality, for instance. Another mistake companies make involves getting into supplier relationships for the wrong reasons. ... Venkatesan talks about the fear of some companies on being â€Å"hollowed out† once they establish a relationship with a supplier (99). These companies fear that sourcing components from suppliers makes their products lose their unique qualities which make them less competitive. While this fear may have a rational basis, companies tend to forget the purpose of getting a supplier in the first place. 3. Factors to consider in sourcing Several factors need to be analyzed first before coming up with a decision of whether or not to source. A thorough analysis of a company’s areas of strength and weakness should be accomplished first. This analysis will help the company determine which processes are vital and, therefore, should be kept in-house, and those processes that don’t necessarily add value to the product and, therefore, are better left at the hands of a service provider or a supplier. Aron and Singh suggest differentiating the â€Å"core, critical, and commodi ty processes† of a business organization (136). Core and critical processes usually involve management and analytical processes while commodity processes are clerical in nature. Venkatesan, meanwhile, differentiates â€Å"strategic and non-strategic components† (100). When it comes to manufacturing companies, the decision to source from suppliers usually come from an understanding of the products strategic and non-strategic components. Strategic components, as decided by management, are those that make the product stand-out from the market. These components have a direct impact on the product’s quality, differentiation, and market position. Non-strategic components, on the other hand, don’t necessarily affect the outcome of the final product. This can be the screws of a DVD player, capacitors

Organic vs Non-Organic Essay Example for Free

Organic vs Non-Organic Essay I. Introduction: Thesis Statement: People should consume organic foods because they have More nutritious, No pesticides are used on them, No hormones or antibiotics are used in their production A. Major Proposition or Premise (before because): People should consume organic foods B. 1st Minor Proposition or Premise (after because): More nutritious. C. 2nd Minor Proposition or Premise (after because): No pesticides are used on them. D. 3rd Minor Proposition or Premise (after because): No hormones or antibiotics are used in their production. II. A. 1st Minor Proposition or Premise (after because): More nutritious B. Evidence: Expert Testimony: Lady Eve Balfour Philosophical Theory: Jeffrey Stephen Wicken Historical Examples: N/A Statistics: ( journeytoforever. org/farm_library/worthington-organic. pdf) Logic: The producers of non-organic food argue that the organic label is a marketing tool. It is not a statement about food safety. Nor is â€Å"organic† a value judgment about nutrition or quality. Organic is how it is produced. Just because something is labeled organic does not mean it is superior, safer, or more healthy than conventional foods. All foods in this country must meet the same high standards of safety regardless of their classification C. Opposition of 1st Minor Proposition/Premise: There is no evidence whatsoever that a diet high in or exclusively of organic foods is any healthier for you than a diet of conventional foods, no clear or consistent difference could be found in the nutritional value D. Evidence: Expert Testimony: Martin Hickman Philosophical Theory: Dan Glickman 2004 Historical Examples: N/A Statistics: (http://www. independent. co. uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/organic-food-no-healthier-than-conventional-1764448. html) Logic: There is plenty of evidence however that a diverse diet, high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish is healthy E. Refutation(Against) of Opposition Premise: A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the nutrient content of organic vs. conventional foods over the last century III. A. 2nd Minor Proposition or Premise (after because): No pesticides are used on them. B. Evidence: Expert Testimony: Sir (Dr. ) John Krebs. Philosophical Theory: Ned Goth Historical Examples: N/A Statistics: http://www. independent.co. uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/organic-food-no-healthier-than-conventional-1764448. html Logic: While synthetic pesticides are prohibited in organic farming, some ‘natural’ pesticides may still be used, and they are not necessarily less worrisome just because they’re natural. C. Opposition of 2nd Minor Proposition/Premise: Organic farmers claim to use a combination of techniques to avoid having to â€Å"resort† to using pesticides D. Evidence: Expert Testimony: Sir (Dr. ) John Krebs Philosophical Theory: Ned Goth Historical Examples: N/A Statistics: http://ourworld. unu.edu/en/apples-have-feelings-too/ Logic: Organic pesticides pose exactly the same sort of environmental and health risks as do non-organic pesticides and often pose more risks than synthetics. E. Refutation(Against) of Opposition Premise: The difference between organic and synthetic pesticides is not their toxicity to pests, people or the environment, but rather their origin IV. A. 3rd Minor Proposition or Premise (after because): No hormones or antibiotics are used in their production B. Evidence: Expert Testimony: Sir (Dr. ) John Krebs Philosophical Theory: Ned Goth Historical Examples :N/A. Statistics: (http://www. independent. co. uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/organic-food) Logic: All scientists said it was safe and none of the studies showed the hormone to appear in or alter the milk or meat C. Opposition of 3rd Minor Proposition/Premise: Organic milk and non-organic milk are essentially identical D. Evidence: Expert Testimony: Sir (Dr. ) John Krebs Philosophical Theory: Robert V. Tauxe, M. D Historical Examples: N/A Statistics: ABC News 20/20, How good is organic food? , February 20,2000 Logic: Hormones appear naturally in all milk, eggs and soy products F. Refutation(Against) of Opposition Premise: Conventional milk in the US is 100% free of artificial hormones and 99. 999% free of antibiotics. V. Conclusion: So is organic food better for you? Well if you consider that decreasing your toxin burden and increasing your intake of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants can have a significant impact on health, then it certainly is. Of course, you have to be able to afford the increase in price, but it might be worth cutting out fast foods and spending your money more wisely on home-made meals.

Private Tutoring The School Performance Of Senior Students Education Essay

Private Tutoring The School Performance Of Senior Students Education Essay Private tutoring has long been a major phenomenon in parts of Asia, including Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In this study, we attempt to highlight the relationship between private tutoring and students school performance in Hong Kong. It seeks to account the variety of factors of changing students school performance. The study certainly considers the declining of the confidence of education in current education system as one of the key factors. Meanwhile, the study will examine possible theories to attribute to attend private tutoring and school performance. Finally, we will discuss the effect of attending private tutoring that cause the students poor school performance in their school. In the recent decade, the academia has published a boom of studies on private tutoring in different parts in the world. In the same time, the researches of Bray Mark (2005) reveal that private tutoring is growing elsewhere, especially in the Asian Societies. In countries of Japan, Taiwan and Korean, more than one third students regularly receive private tutoring; in Hong Kong the proportion is considerable higher. As Baker and LeTendre (2005: 55) state, the use of private after-school activities has become a world megatrend among families with children apart from the local education system. Simultaneously, as Baker and LeTendre(2005:61) state that one of the most certain functions of private tutoring is the enrichment strategy. It means that the demand of the private tutoring is associated to the competition for future educational opportunities and the existence of high-stake examinations (public examination). For example, there is a close connection between ones educational qualifications and labor market opportunities. However, private tutoring also provides negative effect to the students such as decreased their interest and participation in school classes. Private tutoring is attributed to a lack of interest of the students. They have kept in mind that they can pay for someone who helps them pass in the examinations and they dont need to pay attention in regularly school lessons. Private tutoring create new educational opportunities for many individual but also placed heavy burden on the states education system (Silova et al.,2006b). In HK, according to the Professor Mark Brays research, there are about 70% senior forms students attending private tutoring. The proportions are higher especially just before important examinations. Meanwhile, according to Census and Statistics Department in 2005, from primary to secondary schools, the total annual expenditure of the tuition fee has reached 3 billion HK dollars. Although there are no lack of researches studying the tutoring culture in HK, still most of them are mainly focus on studying what motivates students attending tutoring or the relationship between private tutoring and academic achievement. Whether the out of school tutoring would affect the in-school education, yet it is remains invisible in most researches or debates, let alone policy documents. 2. Objective With a specific focus on the phenomenon, the study examines private tutoring phenomenon in Hong Kong and analyses its consequences for the students school performance in the secondary school. We aim to generate pervious studies and develop another aspect of this topic, to have a more specific research towards this topic. Hence, more specifically, our objectives are: To further understand the contemporary situation of private tutoring To examine the main factors leading to the change of school performance; (such as students expectation of tutors, confidence in current education system to help students to gain qualification) To test possible theories linking the relationship between private tutoring and school performance To examine how attending cram schools can affect the performance on mainstream schooling 3. Significance Explicit significance: The mainstream education system is expected to achieve a wide range of goals. It includes the development of all-rounded students who have sport and musical talent as well as academic interests or personal development. However, the standardize curriculum emphasized by private tutoring contrasts with that in mainstream schools. Examination-oriented tutoring institutes cut off the notion of the mainstream education and infuse the focus of passing examination into students mind. We view this phenomenon as negatively distorting the development of mainstream curriculum. Private tutoring can distort the curriculum in the mainstream system, upsetting the sequence of learning planned by mainstream teachers and exacerbating diversity in classrooms. (Bray, 2007) Indeed, the over emphasize the importance of private tutoring becomes the barrier over the development of all-rounded students. In fact, the phenomenon may be an expression of the students over the current education system. The increasing in public demand of private tutoring reflects the existing fundamental problem of current education system, especially the examination institution. Hence, it is the time now for HKSAR government and educationists to review on the current education curriculum. Implicit significance: This research is mainly based on the Brays observation. In his previous study, he mentioned that students attending private tutoring potentially lead to the poor school performance (Bray, 2007). But in the study, he did not concretely point out the theories or concepts to explain the attribution among attending private tutoring and poor school performance. Hence, our research indicates two relative theories to explain the mutual relationship which is called achievement goal theory and cultural of dependence. The notion of two theories and the attribution among attending private tutoring and poor school performance will be described in detail of the latter part literature review. Therefore, our research broadens the existing context of the theoretical framework in the study of private tutoring. We hope to have implications for understanding the contemporary students expectation towards the tutoring and what is more important is that we hope our research can find something useful for the contemporary educational organizations to enable students to obtain an all-round development and acquire life-long learning skills. Literature Review As forming a deductive research, we are going to apply two theories to test our hypothesis, which are achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992) and culture of dependence (Yasmeen, 1992) . Achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992) Achievement goal theory is the label used in educational psychology to discuss research into motivation to learn. Goals of learning are thought to be a key factor influencing the level of a students intrinsic motivation. According to this theory, it integrates cognitive and affective components of goal-directed behaviors. Since achievement goal theory argues the purposes of achievement behavior, it mainly studies an the integrated pattern of beliefs, attributions, and affects that produces the intentions of behavior and that it is represented by different ways of approaching, engaging in, and responding to achievement-type activities (Ames, 1992: 261). Under achievement goal theory, Ames (1992) suggests performance goal which focuses on students ability and sense of self-worth. The ability is built up by doing better than others, by surpassing normative-based standards such as examination. More importantly, students want to achieve their goal with little effort. Therefore, students believe learning is an only way to achieve a desired goal and attention is directed toward achieving normatively defined success (Ames, 1992). Base on this theory, we can understand that why students taking tutoring is so popular in following literature review. Senior secondary students attend to mass private tutoring The demand of receiving tutoring is high in senior students (form 4 to form 7) (Lee, 1996). It is because they are presumably sitting two open examinations, which are Hong Kong Advance Level Examination and Hong Kong Certification of Examination. The main reasons for Hong Kong students having tuition are that they are not satisfied with their academic performance. Also, some of the students say they that do not understand what their teachers teach in class (Lee, 1996: 8). Furthermore, there were 8% of respondents admitted preparing for the public examinations is a reason to have tuition (Lee, 1996: 8). In short, as mainstream schools cannot help students to improve their results to take in public examinations, senior students take in tutoring. Students gain from tutoring for taking in public examination The majority of students believe that the quality of tuition class is better than schools (Nanayakkara and Ranaweer, 1994). The reason is that students believe tutoring is a short cut to prepare for public examinations. Kwok (2009) mentions that in Hong Kong, tutors usually deliver exam skills and tips, so tutees do not expend full effort in learning individual subject and feel potential loss if they do not receive tutoring. Also, they, usually represent an authoritative teaching image because of their dress code. In other to meet tutees individual need, tutors introduce CDs and lots of supplementary resources to their tutees. Furthermore, in students view, idol tutors are regarded as famous teachers because they can inspire tutees to study efficiently (Kwok, 2009). For example, idol tutors persuade their tutees to select certain areas for revision. Some past public examination questions were covered in idol tutors lecture notes. All these cause students to rely on tutors rather than school teachers (Kwok, 2009). Culture of dependence (Yasmeen,1992) Yasmeen (1992) argues that lots of students tend to rely on tutoring because of its exam tips. However, classroom attention tends to reduce creation discipline problems for school teachers. In short, students regard only receiving supplementary tutoring is more important than learning with tutoring and mainstream school. Base on the culture of dependence, there is related information that is found from literature. Dependency on school teaching for examination Most students believe the result of public examinations is vital. Kwak (2004) points out that since university admission is determined by public examinations, but not students school records, students seek to prepare efficiently to take the examinations. In mainstream education, however, schooling not only focuses on examination achievement but also all-rounded education (Bray, 2007). In contrast, the content of tutorial classes is close to the major public examinations (Bray and Kwok, 2003). Hence, students tend to undermine the publics trust in school instruction (Kwak, 2004: 4). School performance Bray (2007) argues that tutoring will cause negative impacts on school performance. As some students rely on private tutoring too much, they may be less interested in mainstream education. Also, Students believe that private tutoring can inform student how to pass their examinations; they do not need to attend school classes except when they are required to do so by school regulations (Hussein, 1987). In Japan, some students are absent in school before examination. They just study at homes and attend in tutoring classes (Sawada and Kobayashi, 1986). Since topics have been covered in tutoring classes; students do not pay attention in mainstream education and have less confidence in teachers teaching (Nanayakkara and Ranaweer, 1994). There are also other factors affecting students performance in school like social network. Friendship in school is one of the factors to determinate students performance (Yang Tang, 2003). Since friends have same background like school environment (Fehr, 1996), students are more likely to access resources that may be good for coping with academic stresses (Ibarra, 1995). So, friendship network can let students confirm their academic performance (Baldwin, Bedell, Johnson, 1997). More importantly, a student who is central in a friendship network has a grater chance of helping others and being helped: thus, he is likely to perform better in the school (Yang Tang, 2003: 96). Furthermore, advice network in school can help students perform well in school. Advice network means that individuals share information and guidance for the completion of work (Sparrowe, Liden, Kraimer, 2001). When a student finishes his task, he can increase his work by obtaining help from available advice network. It reflects an individual is capable of accumulation knowledge and experience about task-related problem. If a student is central in his advice network, he is likely to perform actively in the school (Yang Tang, 2003). Conceptual Framework After reviewing the literatures, we form the following conceptual framework. Hypothesis These are our hypotheses of the study as follow: If students participation in tutoring is high, then students would have more gain from tutoring. According to achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992), one of the reasons motivate students taking tutoring is that they seek to success in examination with playing little effort. Therefore, we believe that students can receive lots of useful materials and information from tutors like examination tips supplementary exercise when participating in tutorial lesson for a long time. Higher students gain from tutoring, less dependency on school teaching for examination. According to culture of dependence, students will more rely on tuition than school for their study. So, we want to test whether the tuition for students are important and studying in mainstream schools can fulfill students satisfactions of taking examination efficiency. The less dependency on school teaching, the more difficulty concentration on study in school. The less dependency on school teaching, the less interest in school. The less dependency on school teaching, the lower attendance in school. After reviewing the literature, usually there are negative impacts on school performances that are mentioned after students receive tutoring. These hypotheses try to link up the former variables in our conceptual framework and studies whether there is a relationship between the three variables and the poor school performance. Conceptualization In this part, there are some definitions of the key concept that help us to clarify the nature and direction of the study. 1.) Definition of Private Tutoring According to the Mark Brays book which called the shadow education system: private tutoring and its implication for planners, the definition of private tutoring can be divided into four dimension. Firstly, it is the dimension of privateness. Private tutoring primarily concerned with tutoring provided for profit-making purposes by the private enterprises and individuals. It is not concerned with the supplementary help at public expense, such as provide head-start programmes for slow learners and the unpaid work, such as voluntarily help others with homework and tasks. Secondly, it is the dimension of the subjects which private schools provide. Private tutoring mainly focuses on the academic subjects, such as English, Cantonese or Mathematics rather than some extra-curricular subjects, such as musical or artistic skills. On the one hand, teaching academic subjects help students relieve the heavy academic load of formal classroom and solve the pressure of facing public examination. On the other hand, those non-academic subjects are merely for personal interest and indirectly related to the formal education system. Thirdly, the form of the private tutoring deserves special attention. The form of private tutoring may be provided in different ways. Some tutoring is provided one-to-one in the home of either the tutor or their client. Other tutoring is provided by correspondence in the mail or over the internet. But in our research, we mainly concentrate in the area of mass private tutoring, such as the tutoring provided by Modern Education and Kings Glory Education in Hong Kong. The form of mass private tutoring is there no more than 45 tutees in each tutoring class and the tutoring run both regular class (live) and video class. Meanwhile, the tutoring classes mainly focus on public examinations with intensive notes, revision exercises and on-line follow up services (Kwok, 2009). Finally, it is related to the education level of the target students. Private tutoring exists at the post-secondary and even pre-primary levels. In the majority societies including Hong Kong, private tutoring is most evident at the senior secondary level rather than the junior secondary and upper primary levels. Hence, the senior students in the secondary school can be reflected the phenomenon of private tutoring. At the meanwhile, senior secondary students more tend to perceive private tutoring as the gateway to success in public examination. Our research is mainly focused on senior secondary school students which mean form 4 to form 7 students. 2.) Gain from tutoring According to the study of Yiu (1996), he mentioned that the reasons why students attend the private and what their gain in the tutoring class. First of all, since the EMI schools used English to teach the subjects, students may be benefited from hearing the content again in Chinese. Private tutoring used Chinese as the medium of instruction certain increases students understanding of the topic and enhances their interest in learning. Secondly, tutors provide some extra notes and exam skills for the students which school teachers do not provide. Thirdly, tutors could help consolidate the content which school teacher teach in the class. Therefore, students have a deep understanding of school curricular. Finally, the extra teaching materials of the tutors provide extra-curricula knowledge to the students which they can not learn in class room. 3.) School teaching for examination To conceptualize the school teaching for examination, we will defend it is the materials that provide to students for preparation of examination. So, exercise, text book, skills for taking examination, quiz and mock examination which are provided by school will be considered school teaching to help students prepare for examination. It is because these materials can let students conform their knowledge and practice more in order to prepare them efficiency in taking examination. 4.) Definition of School Performance According to the definition of Indicator and Professional Developing Department (2007), the school performance can be divided into four main dimensions as following: attitudes and emotions (Personal) academic results (Academic) participations in groups (Social) performance in co-curricular activities (Social) At the meanwhile, the concrete meaning of poor school performance is the students who have: (i) difficulty concentrating on study (ii) decreased academic achievement levels (iii) decreased interest in school (iv) increased absences (v) not participate in class or co-curricular activities actively (vi) not willing to participate in groups But in our research, we do not measure academic results as an indicator of ones school performance. Its because the measurement of academic results need to take a long period time to collect the examination results from the students. Currently, students will get their results in Jane to July, and hence we do not have adequate time to finish our research before April. Measurement We choose the 4 level of measurement to form operation and assigns numerical values to the variables. Here are some examples in each variable: Students attending Tutoring NominalÆ’Â   classified into 2 or more categories E.g. Attending private tutoring 1) yes 2) no Gain from the tutoring IntervalÆ’Â   rank objects such that the magnitude of the difference between two objects can be determined E.g. Satisfactory towards the exam tips provided from tutorial Totally satisfied, 2. Satisfied, 3. Dissatisfied, 4. Totally dissatisfied) Besides of the 4 level of measurement, some scales are used to measure subjective feelings of respondents. Dependence on School Teaching for Examination We adopt the Semantic Differential Scale, which is constructed by Osgood in 1950s. It is interested in attitude toward an object but not in each respondents evaluation. E.g. Overall the lessons I am taking in school are Interesting __ __ __ __ __ Boring Useful __ __ __ __ __ Useless Easy __ __ __ __ __ Difficult Poor school performance We adopt the Likert scale, which is constructed by Rensis Likert in 1930s. Subjects are asked to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements which are favorable or unfavorable to the construct. E.g. Student Attitudes towards Main Schooling Strongly strongly agree agree disagree disagree Q.1 Tutors is superior than teacher ____ ____ ____ ____ Q.2 absent at school servial times is OK since I can catch up the lesson by attending tutorials ____ ____ ____ ____ Research Design Purpose of Research The research is an explanatory and descriptive research. Explanatory: In the research, we will explain the conceptual framework we construct, as the conceptual framework constructed by our group, we will explain how we construct this conceptual framework. Descriptive: In the research, we will describe the statistical data we will get in the survey by questionnaire, in order to generate a finding of the survey. Nature of Study Deductive Approach: Our research will be conducted in deductive approach. After reviewing the literatures, we find two theories, which are Achievement goal theory and Culture of dependency, to prove that how students attending tutoring classes will affect their school performance. We will base on these two theories to conduct our research about the relationship between those two variables in Hong Kong, which are students attending tutoring classes and students school performance. Quantitative: In our research, we have quantitative research method to test the hypotheses in the research. Since we have concerned the difficulties of analysing qualitative data, we choose quantitative research method to conduct the research. We will use survey to obtain the information about how students school performance be affected after the students (respondents) have attended to tutoring classes. And for the survey, we will make use of questionnaire to conduct the quantitative research. Since we want to have statistical information to explain how students attending tutoring classes will affect their school performance. Sampling Sample size: The research will seek 150 respondents in the research from form 4 to form 7 secondary school students who have attended tutoring classes in Hong Kong. Non-probability Sampling: We will select non-probability sampling in the survey, as we do not have the name list of all form 4 to form 7 secondary school students in Hong Kong, we cannot select the probability sampling in the survey. Also, non-probability sampling is less costly and time-consuming, which are important advantages for us to select non-probability, as we do not have much time and budget to conduct the research. Purposeful Sampling: Our group considers that the school performances of the secondary school students from form 4 to form 7 are more influenced by the tutoring classes. Since they have to prepare for the public examination, such as HKCEE and HKALE, they may rely on the tutoring classes which focus on the techniques of examination, and this is just what the students need to prepare for the public examination. Convenience Sampling: The research targeted respondents are the form 4 to form 7 secondary school students who have attended tutoring classes. Therefore, our group will precede the survey in Park Lane Plaza in Tuen Mun, the reason for this is we consider that arcade has many tutoring schools inside, such as Beacon college, Kingsglory Education, Modern Education and Everlearning Eduaction. Therefore, we can capture the accurate samples that can match our targeted respondents, in order to enhance the validity of the research. Ethical Concern Our group has concerned the ethical concern may induce during the research, as we do not want to harm the respondents after participating in the research. And we have concluded the possible ethical concern in three kinds. Students may feel bad about participating in the survey. Students may worry if they have answered poor performance at school in the questionnaire will result in a negative effect to themselves and even their schools. Therefore, in the questionnaire, we will not ask students personal information, and also, we will ensure the information they provide must keep confidential. Students may worry about the survey that obstructing them from attending tutoring classes promptly. Also, students may think that the survey is time-wasting for them if they think the research will take for a long time. To deal with this problem, we will conduct the survey after those tutoring classes have finished, then, students may be free to participate in the research. Also, we will tell them the exactly time the survey will take, which is just about 8 10 minutes, and then the students may be pleased to participate in the survey, as the survey is not very long. The students may have doubt about the research and even us. As they may worry if their information answered will be misused. To deal with, we will inform the respondents who we are and show them our students identity card. Also, we will tell them what the purpose of the research is and how their information will be used in the research. More importantly, we will tell respondents that the information will keep confidential. Data Collection Methods Through this research, we want to find out the relationship between senior students in mainstream schools to attend tutoring class and poor school performance. To know the situation in Hong Kong, we will design a questionnaire and use quantitative interview. It is because data become more convenient to collect and more accurate that avoids subjective perception (Division of Sociology of Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998). We know that there are three main methods to conduct the research with questionnaire in quantitative interview. They are face to face mode, telephone mode and postal mode. Although face to face mode is slow and the cost is high, we still applied it because of the call back rate and high veracity. In the questionaire, we try to narrow down and choose suitable interviewees. Then, we will ask them how often do they attend to tutoring class. Also, we can find what they can gain from tutoring class, dependency on school teaching for examination and school performance after they have attended the tutoring class. We hope through the quantitative interview using questionaire in face to face mode to find out the information that proves our hypothesis between senior students in mainstream schools to attend tutoring class and poor school performance. Data Analysis After we have conducted the interview, we will use bivariate analysis to prove the relationship between different items. Bivariate analysis means the analysis of two variables in the mean time, for the purpose to determine the empirical relationship between them (Babbie, 2004). Firstly, we have to prove diffetrent items of relationship to form our conceptual framework. We have to prove that if students attending more in tutoring class with spending more, they will expect more from the tutoring classes. Then, if students can gain more in tutoring class, they will depend lower on school teaching meterials for examination. And then, if students depend lower on school teaching meterials, they will gain poor school performance. Secondly, after we can prove four independentrelationships, we can try to link up them with running SPSS to find out do they connect altogether. Lastly, if they can be connected, that means our conceptual framework is correct. But, if they cannot be connected, we will find out the reasons and factors that make the relationship unconnected. Budget Schedule

Lives On The Boundary Summary And Analysis English Language Essay

Lives On The Boundary Summary And Analysis English Language Essay The education system in America is broken according to Lives on the Boundary, by Mike Rose. Rose gives examples of how and why education should be equal for everyone. The first part of the book I found it very difficult to find a theory out of the things that Rose wrote because the majority of the first 67 pages were about how he grew up and the low socioeconomic world that he had the trudge through to get where he is now. But then when I look at the statistics from the beginning, I see that yes, our nation is not proficient in many subjects, but we are also growing in mass amounts with college and high school graduates when compared to other countries and even ourselves in the 1800s. In 1890, 6.7 percent of Americans fourteen to seventeen year olds were attending high school; by 1978 that number had risen to 94.1 percent. (Rose, pg 6) For a country that has a failing education system, that number seems to have grown, making me believe the opposite. Yes, I agree that our education sy stem is not perfect, but it is not as terrible as many believe it to be. For those students who have now will to learn, we as teachers can not force them and when people say lets look to the past for the answer, there was never an answer for why our schools are not working. There has never been a solution, only a problem that has been reworded and restated in so many different ways that when reading a book this about the failing of the education system seems to be redundant. When Mike Rose was growing up he had only a few books available to him so he began to buy comic books because he loved the heroes and the action. After comic books he moved to other items like the instructions to his chemistry set and science fiction novels. He wrote very little in his schooling until his last year of high school where a teacher helped him find an interest in doing so. My first enthusiasm about writing came because I wanted a teacher to like me. (Rose pg 102) Although he did become a good reader, with help from his comic books and chemistry set instructions, he did not score well on English tests. It can be assumed that Rose only liked to learn or read about the concrete things in life; basically he was only educated by what entertained him and tuned out the things he did not understand. He even states in his book that this was a method he commonly used, but it proved to be harmful for him and his education in the long run. Rose goes on to explain the struggles of immigrants in this country and their need to learn English to improve their own lifestyles. Not only are we all categorized as black, red, yellow and white, but we have to understand what those categorizations mean, especially when we are trying to understand the world of education. We all hope that racism does not exist amongst teachers and professors, but we can not say anything for the parents or siblings. The education system can not control the time a student is out of the classroom. As Rose points out, whether we like it or not, race can and sometimes does play a factor into education. Rose says a failed education is social more than intellectual in origin. We as educators must realize that a traumatizing experience may have a very negative effect on a students education. Losing a parent or a sibling can cause a student to regress or stand still in their education, unable to move forward. After such an experience, we should try to work w ith the students to help them regain the ability to learn and comprehend things, instead of just tuning out. The only solution I could really see Rose proposing is trying to keep the children engaged with each other as well as the teacher. This may have a positive effect so the child does not grow up to be the shy wall flower that is underprepared. Rose goes on to argue that great classic novels should be taught and the students should be able to learn from them by choice, not just because they have to regurgitate something later on for an exam or a paper. It would even be a good idea to revise these messages and redress past wrongs would involve more than adding some new books to the existing cannon. (Rose p. 107) In this quote, Rose is saying that education needs to be changed so that education is available to all, this can help the underprepared students to have a fair chance at advancing in their education. Also, by bring in great, classic novels, this can help students to become more cultured and well versed in literature. If teachers are trying to keep students engaged by bringing in books by Snookie and Lady Gaga, that is when I will agree that our education system is failing miserably because students need literature, not pop-culture trash. The more we try to cater to their needs with literature, the more of a decline w ill be apparent and the underprepared will then grossly outnumber the prepared. The narrative of this book offers the theory deeply buried within the authors own personal story. I think that I struggled reading a novel be such a narrative voice when I was trying to find a theory. When you as the reader get to move with him through his school experiences, being the underprepared and then into his own classrooms, you can see the growth that is possible. Many people believe it is not probable for the underprepared to succeed. That is where I believe the theory comes into plan. I began to see a theory emerge within Roses own experiences. Throughout the book, he is talking about how the underprepared are being stuck on a continued path of underachieving or even failure because no one seems to give them a real chance or the tools required to achieve success. For a good portion of the book, I felt like I was reading another article for class; the problem is brought up and addressed, in several different ways, but we never find a solid solutions. The only solution that educators have been using is to put all of the remedial or underprepared together so they dont hold anyone else back, but they also never get the opportunity to learn. Rose makes the good argument that tests or exams should not just be a regurgitation of information that the teacher gave, but failed to give more than one or two examples. To engage students, we as educators must be able to do more than just lecture for an hour and expect them to be paying attention. Teaching, I was coming to understand, was a kind of romanceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦You wooed kids with these things, invented a relationship of sorts, the terms of connection being a narrative, the historical event.(Rose pg 102) I think this quote embodies everything that a teacher needs to do to engage students to help them want to learn. By creating a romance with learning, the students can feel excited and happy about learning. The students can feel giddy about buying a book or even solving the math equation, it all depends on how the teachers choose to engage them. All in all, Rose makes some very convincing arguments about the decline of the education system, but like many of the authors we have read, he only offers a few ideas to fix the problem. His idea of creating a kind of romance with education to engage the students is a good idea, but a lot of teachers may argue that it will meet with to much resistance. As many of us have witnessed or even experienced, standing at the front of the classroom and just lecturing does not engage many students and with todays generation, they will probably be on Facebook or Twitter while you are giving your lecture. So how do we engage the students of this generation? Do we turn to technology to help us run a classroom or do we stick with the old lecture and hope that students are paying attention? I believe there has to be a compromise between lecture, some form of group work and technology. By allowing group work, like Rose does in some of his classes, the students can learn from each other and help to e xpand their own ways of thinking. By still using some lecture, as Rose does as well, you as the teacher still get your say in, hopefully in a creative way that the students enjoy listening to and learning from. And with technology, the students in this generation get to use what they are familiar with to help them, and some students even find enjoyment when the teacher needs help with the new projector or smartboards. Rose brings up many problems and offers just a few good solutions but I believe the problem of education and the underprepared has been around for a very long time and it will take more than a book or a few ideas to fix it.

Essay --

Smithsonian Digital Libraries provided various materials for its user which are Databases, Exhibitions and Collections. These materials are very useful to researchers as it provide accurate and reliable information. Besides that, it also provides the collection of online books range from Art, History and Culture. Database is a collection of data to search materials easily. Smithsonian Digital Libraries provides databases such as Taxonomic Literature II which are a selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types. In addition, other available database is Smithsonian Research Online that itemized a set of services to the research community both within and outside the Smithsonian Institution. Other examples of databases available are listed as below. †¢ Example of Databases in Smithsonian Digital Libraries: o Taxonomic Literature II o Smithsonian Research Online o Index Animalium o Trade Literature Through exhibitions in Smithsonian Digital Libraries enable users to explore the rich variety of topics, images and materials featured in online exhibition. On the other hand, the current exhibition allows users to view the display of the latest exhibitions as the date and location are being stated. Besides that, National Museum of American History curators created the panel to offer users with reproductions of the world’s greatest pieces such as illustrations from rare books and document from the travelling exhibition column. †¢ Examples of Exhibitions in Smithsonian Digital Libraries: o Online Exhibition o Current Exhibition o Travelling Exhibition o Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web Smithsonian Digital Libraries range from various type of collection. One of the collections is Caldwe... ...for its users. For educational purposes, user can easily access through the three main type of collection that have been provided. Researchers and scientist are being supply with current periodicals and professional society publications. In addition, with the existence of online books, user will acquire the same information as the printed book. On the other hand, user can also view the exhibition on interesting topic as Smithsonian Digital Libraries offers various type of exhibition such as online and travel exhibition. There are no broken links in this digital library. †¢ Link All the listed hyperlinks in Smithsonian Digital Libraries are well-functioning as it takes user to the accurate information. The link contains in this library were involve only internal link. For example, if user clicks on either one of the link, the tab will be open through the same page.