Personal Management Skills Analysis

Personal Management Skills Analysis The term personal skill put forwarded to me something more than the active of certain characteristic for example communication, taking responsibility, being competent of working with others, decision making, negotiating and problem solving, because some others point of view is personal skill are related to a persons natural abilities Sally Dench (1997). I am personally disagreeing with this statement that I believe personal skill can be developed and built on. However, whatever it is my concern is not what I have to be exhibit good personal skills, rather than apprehend about recognizing my hidden personal skills, qualities, values and interests which will assist me to towards achieving goals and appropriate work contexts related to skills that I have already acquired in the past A Level, O Level and last two years that I have been acquired along with BA (Hons) Degree. I have attached all of my entire transcripts in the back page as evidence that I have achieved all those skills through my entire education. Some of the subjects that I did very well shown in table: Personal Traits and Characteristics: To recognize my characteristics I have done several personality test and psychometric tests such as MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), Belbins test, Juhari Window, the Enneagram personality test, Critical Thinking Test (66%), Blanchard Leadership score test (Supporting), Holland Codes and Honey Mumford learning style; some important and leading traits and characteristics are: Personal Audit: Skills Qualities Interest Values Accomplished Management Skill Classified Research Skill Installed Technical Skill Influenced Communication Skill Willing Helpful Friendly Responsible Cricket Sport Listening Music Independence Work Alone Work Overpressure (However, taken as Influenced, helpful, and hardworking) I do consider all the tests that I have done it has made me known about my actual characteristics also I believe on the outcome because the evidence can be, when I was doing MBTI test I came up with same personality traits as the outcome of Juhari Window and Holland Codes. Values and Qualities: According to my personal audit, my values are mainly concerned Independence, Friendship, Work alone, and work in under pressure. My qualities that I precedence are Willingness, helpful to others, responsive, and friendly. Those qualities and behaviour that I have identified are fairly exists with my general shapes and nature of my personal behaviour. However, according to my values and qualities in the current Phase of my life I would put myself in the social stage of Maslows Hierarchy, consequently according to Holland codes test has also evaluated same traits that my social skills is highly priorities. http://thefreeman.net/journal/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/maslows_hierarchy_of_needs2.png Figure : Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Source: http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp SWOT Analysis: Though I have been illustrating and give reasoning about those personality traits, values and quality with agreeing different tests that carried out, but still question remain in a way that which characteristics, values and qualities can be justify highly important for me? In what way may assured those test result wasnt consequences each other? However to rationalized, Strengths, Weaknesses and substantiate all the characteristics, values and qualities more closely I have conducted a 360* feedback reports with taking reaction from myself and others who have been experienced me since Childhood (family members). Feedback questionnaire and report have attached as evidence. Figure : 360* Feedback (concept from Yukl, G and Lepsinger, R. -1995) Myself: Md Abdul Hai Haroon: Hossain Ahmed Suman Hence, the feedback has identified there are some dissimilarities between my point of views and others. For example, everyone agreed with me that I am introvert, helpful, friendly, shy characteristics, have research skill, IT Skill, activist learner, co-ordinator, and performed in overpressure; unlikely was social, Judging mind (critical thinking), have influenced communication skill, and willing. Though all those characteristics, skill, values and quality was evaluated by different tests in a highest priorities, but according to feedback at least five options havent matched. Therefore, the SWOT analysis has carried out (evidence attached) on the basis on build up creative, matching and converting strategies to take advantage of strengths, utilize and exploit from each opportunity, and capitalizing my strength to contain the weaknesses towards to come across my career goals and aspirations. For example one of my highly ranked weakness is I am introvert, thus I need to improve in rela tion to be creative, out of box thinking, long term friendship, and flexible. One of my opportunities is IT skill that I need to use it towards my carrier in a way to surpass my performance. Personal Aspirations Review: Complete my degree and pursue my master in research methods in psychology Highest Need: Self-Actualization Attain my aspiration being a successful researcher Highest Need: Self-ActualizationOccupational or carrier aspiration consign to individuals wish for future employment. Alois Stutzer (2003) describe in the journal of role of income aspirations in individual happiness as peoples individual aspirations are related to two consumptions are income aspirations and individual happiness aspirations. To me the personal aspiration has always been cornerstone of my future to be researcher basis on my personal interest. However, my personal aspirations are as follows: Attain my aspiration being a successful researcher Figure : My Personal Aspirations The achievement that I have done already so far: Carrying on undergraduate degree in business management course with having excellent result towards to achieve my aspiration in research carrier adjust. I have critical thinking knowledge and IT Skill to present information visually and word processing, effective writing skill, for conducting interview often require gracious skills which can evidence that I have inspiring and recognition teachers feedback and tests that I have done. Figure : Strategies to achieve my aspiration After assessing various management tools, tests and models (force field analysis, PEST and SWOT and profit and loss account) as look upon in job specific requirement I need to be carry on more education qualifications. As shown in figure 2 that my current skills and being a researcher require skill almost match. The possible external forces also could affect my career plan shown in figure 5. Figure : PEST Analysis in my Career Planning Labour Market Review: Opportunity for skill use refers to in both level to which a job allows existing skill and develops new ones. It is quit irrelevant that job seeking in researcher occupational level in young age, but job available, opportunity and requirement in the research field is significant to analyse in current situation. Graduate labour market is becoming more and more diverse and scrappy, even job are also becoming more demandable. In central economic survey (CEPR, see CSU, 2000) found that approximately, 30% of the UK graduate were unemployed in 1986 to 1997. Hence, the desire motivation and determination to stick on my career aspiration is necessary. Figure : Threshold Model Available at: http://www.call-center.net/motivating-agents.pdf However, the factors influence in labour market analysed by PESTELE and SWOT attached in portfolio. In CIPD surveys predict that average 67% organizations expect to make vacant in next and within that 71% are private sector. In 2010 14% of organization plan to recruit school level aged 16, 28% again school level aged 18, and less than half 47% intend to recruit graduates. However, there is huge job market for graduates which may advantage according to aspiration. Figure : Graduate Skill Levels over the past five Years Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/default.cipd Opportunity for Researcher Career Prospect: In the journal of graduate employment and underemployment find out that opportunity for skill use and career knowledge amongst current business graduates in rating significantly higher for suitable employed rather than underemployed in relation to those who have five intellectual skills such as critical analysis, research methods, business solving skill, application to new situation, and reflection; furthermore, written communication, literacy, and IT capability were 69% higher opportunity possibility in labour market. However, in this investigation I can hope the career I have chosen there is flourishing future room have been pending. Figure : Appropriate employed vs. underemployed graduates as function of skill requirements of jobs And yet, as a evidence for job availability, wages and requirement in Researcher occupation have been attached in portfolio. Discussion of Aligning between skills/ Aspirations/ current labour market opportunity: However, the identified current skills, characteristics, values and qualities that I have already and required to successful researcher do match to me. For example I have already critical thinking skill; IT skill; I am judging minded, perseverance intellectual curiosity (willing), communication skill, and open mindedness (friendly). The necessitate characteristics, skills, values and qualities are creative, should be able to work as a co-ordinator of a team and to get direction, highly motivated individual, persuade communication skill, judging minded, intellectual curiosity, perseverance, honesty, Open-mindedness, IT Skill to present information visually and word processing, effective writing skill, for conducting interview often require gracious skills. Thus, the shortages I found between required skills for to be successful researcher and current skill that I have already is lack of writing skill, creativity, and Trust Honesty which unknown me and others. However, after completi ng my degree I will improve my lacking to achieve in this respective field I would take change additional options like education, training, voluntary work and self-employment. Shortages: Writing skill, Creativity, Intellectual Curiosity, Trust Honesty, Choice selection Figure : Personal Aspiration and shortages Farmer (1997) characterizes career aspirations as one of three aspects: career and achievement motivation, mastery motivation and career commitment that influence a persons determination and achievement in a career. As I already mentioned to aspiring become researcher its my personal determination and achievement oriented, therefore, to getting position in existing labour market my concern is not to highly demandable and highly turnover wages incentive, rather than finding a position in way to experience and amplifying my knowledge. Current worldwide stress in business and public service, intensifying organizational flexibilities, and job complexity pushing labour market to become competitive vulnerable for job seeker. During the current decades the labour markets have been at the heart of a nexus of three economic progressions: de-industrialization, reorganization of production, and conditions of employment. However, the changing environment has led to companies requiring highly skills, less turnover and relevant qualification are fundamental important. Lazear and Oyer (2004) demonstrated that there are two kinds of smoothness in modern labour markets ex ante and ex post. The ex post labour fluidity refer to internal labour market which mean worker are hired into ports-of-entry and senior level place are filled from within. Ex ante fluidity consign to the flexibility of labour markets for workers at the beginning of a carrier. However, in this circumstances my concern will be searching job in the ex ante fluidi ty consign labour markets. Furthermore, also reason behind to choose and suitable for me to flexibility labour market because the future of the external labour market, firm that hire internally and wages movement will be consistent, shown in figure 10. Figure : Identification of labour market fluidity (Lazear, E.P. and Oyer, O.- 2004) Personal Action Plan: I have summarized my personal action plan to achieve my aspiration in the table format to become a valued Researcher within next 7-10 years time.

Greeces Policies to Improve Employment Rates

Greeces Policies to Improve Employment Rates Introduction In the attached article in the references, it is shown that Greece has succumbed to a low employment rate since the financial crisis that has affected them in 2007. It is reported that Greece has reached an all-time high unemployment rate of 28% in November 2013 and has not been improving as of late till the point in which the article was written in February 2014. The article also states the contrast of Greece’s unemployment rate to the average rate of unemployment in the euro-zone, which is more than double in percentile. In this assignment, I will be discussing the unemployment issues that currently impact Greece. Economic Concepts Identified Factors affecting unemployment in Greece will be discussed. The precise economic definition of unemployment consists of unemployment falling into one or more of these factors, without work even after actively searching for a job for four weeks, waiting to be called back to a job in which he or she has been laid off, or waiting to start a new job within 30 days. Firstly, we will look at the GDP rates of Greece. By identifying the historical and current GDP rates of Greece, we would be able to identify an inflationary (GDP increases) or a recessionary (GDP decreases over two quarters) economy. Using this information, it will explain certain levels of unemployment in Greece depending if it’s a recessionary or inflationary economy. Recessionary economy generally has a higher unemployment rate due to less resources being used, and inflationary would be vice-versa. Secondly, a few different unemployment rates will be used to provide further statistical analysis of unemployment in Greece. There are three rates that will be used the unemployment rate in general (percentage of labour force that is unemployed) , the long-term unemployment rate (unemployed people who have been unemployed more than 27 weeks), and the youth unemployment rate (unemployed people who are between 16-25 years old). Thirdly, the different types of unemployment will be explained and their subsequent effects on Greece. There are generally three types of unemployment, frictional, structural, and cyclical. Frictional unemployment stems upon the normal labour market turnover. Structural unemployment is unemployment due to changes in technology and the increase in foreign competitors which may affect the skills required and/or a change in location. Cyclical unemployment is unemployment that occurs during a recession. Lastly, we will be looking at the policies implemented by the government of Greece to curb this problem of unemployment. Application of Economic Concepts What Does GDP Indicate in Greeces Economy? Based on the graph attached above, Greece can be seen to have been going through a severe period of recession stemming from the global financial crisis in 2009. This also indicates that Greece is dipping towards the trough of their business cycle. In a recession, there is a slowdown in production output of the country. This is because the output per worker or productivity falls steadily causing an increase in production cost per product. This will in turn induce a dip in profits of firms which will inevitably reduce their labour force to compensate with their reduced output. This has caused a severe increase in unemployment rate from the crisis. Such unemployment caused by the recession is broadly labelled as cyclical unemployment. However, structural employment will also be affected as there will be businesses shifting out of Greece as it is not profitable to retain their business there, causing loss in job opportunity and employment. What does unemployment rates indicate in the Greece Economy? We will zoom in directly to the three rates of unemployment, unemployment rate of Greece currently (26.4%), long term unemployment rate (19.9%), and youth unemployment rate (51.5%). These various unemployment rates can be perceived to being cyclical in nature due to the recession. These rates are abnormally high due to the long recession and the fact that Greece has incurred a vast amount of debts and even required bailouts by the euro-zone. This is also an indication that the Greek economy is uncompetitive. Rising wages have not been matched by rising productivity. The lack of competitiveness has led to a fall in demand for Greek goods and a very large current account deficit (imports greater than exports) which has in turned caused many firms to close, reducing job vacancies and further increasing unemployment rate of the country. Youth unemployment and long term unemployment rates have remained constant due to the fact that the Greek economy has no vacancy for fresh or previously laid-off workers due to the low tolerance of low productivity (hiring these people imposes a great amount of risk. Policies the Greek government has undertaken to reduce unemployment While the origins of the significant recent rise in long-term unemployment are predominantly cyclical in nature, targeted policies to assist the long-term unemployed are likely to be necessary even once jobs recovery is underway. In the first place however, labour market and social policies have a key role to play in preventing the risk that the sharp jump in unemployment becomes persistent by promoting a quick reintegration of jobseekers into employment and enhancing their skills to enable them to move into more productive jobs when the recovery gathers speed (OECD, 2009). Unemployment benefits are available in Greece, but they are generally conditional upon insurance contributions. In terms of international comparison, benefits are low and take-up is limited (Karantinos, 2011). The main unemployment benefits provide income replacement at a flat rate of EUR 360 (slightly less than half of the current level of the minimum wage) for up to a maximum of 12 months of unemployment. Unemployment benefits are only available to those who have made unemployment insurance contributions and to those aged 45-65 under very strict conditions. Those who have never been in work (examples are unemployed young people without work experience) fall outside the system. Greece has stepped up efforts to assist the unemployed since the start of the recession. According to the latest Greek National Reform Programme (2014), the focus of employment policy is on a more efficient use of resources and reallocation of resources, in order to both improve labour market outcomes, and in particular youth labour market outcomes, and to enhance the economic sectors with growth prospects. The main rationale behind the policies currently being implemented by the public employment service (PES) is the boosting of job creation and job retention mainly through the reduction of non-wage cost. For this purpose, the PES has launched a series of policies. These policies have the double benefit that they encourage the access of unemployed persons to the labour market and discourage undeclared work. There is also a package of measures that is intended to facilitate the access of young people and newcomers to the labour market. These include: (a) a work experience programme in the private sector (b) a programme subsidising enterprises for the recruitment of young graduates up to the age of 35 years, (c) counselling and career orientation services, aiming at enhancing employment prospects, (d) programmes to enhance youth entrepreneurship, and (e) vocational and educational training programmes in priority areas of economic activity (construction, tourism, new technologies, etc.). Conclusion Basically in response to the newspaper article and current macroeconomic research, it shows that despite Greece’s policies to improve the unemployment rates, it has not improved much since the global financial crisis. In conclusion, the Greek economy faces two major challenges. The first is the need for strong economic recovery to increase job opportunities, and create constant job expansion mainly to facilitate the youth unemployment. The second is the need for policies to address labour market problems to increase the efficiency in matching of job seekers to new job openings and to assist in the labour market adjustment of the long-term unemployed, so as to prevent the high increase in unemployment from becoming structural. References BBC News,. (2014).  Greece jobless rate hits new record. Retrieved 13 October 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26171213 Greek National Reforms Programme 2014. (2014). Retrieved 13 October 2014, from http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/csr2014/nrp2014_greece_en.pdf Karantinos, D. (2011). Adapting unemployment benefit systems to the economic cycle, 2011.European Employment Observatory Review. OECD employment outlook 2009: Tackling the jobs crisis. (2009). Paris, France: Organization for Economic Cooperation Development. Stevis, M. (2014).  Greeces Older Men May Never Work Again.WSJ. Retrieved 13 October 2014, from http://online.wsj.com/articles/older-greek-men-feel-pain-of-job-losses-1407543506 Tradingeconomics.com,. (2014).  Greece Unemployment Rate | 1998-2014 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast. Retrieved 13 October 2014, from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/greece/unemployment-rate

Consciousness and fundamental act :: essays research papers

1. Consciousness is the fundamental fact of human existence, from the view point of persons examining their own experience. There are various aspects of consciouness, such as perception, mental imagery, thinking, memory and emotions. I believe that consiouness is a property of some lower animals and machines. An ant for an example has a conscious mind about staying in covered areas during the rain and to panic when something attacks it. This shows memory, perception and thinking which shows that it does have a conscious. Some machines have something similar to a conscious. A computer for example has a hard drive which is a lot like a â€Å"memory†, in which it stores something, and it has ram, which is basically information stored and ready to be used. If I were to open a web page browser and than open up a word document, I could instantly jump back to the browser because its stored on my hard drive, but loaded on my ram, which is a lot like how if we think about an old memor y, such as grade school, and than wash our hands, the memory of grade school is still fresh in our mind, and we can go back and instantly load it up with less difficulty than the first time. 2. The mind-body problem asks what is the relationship between the mind(conscious) and the body( brain). The two major positions are dualism and materialism. -Dualism holds that mind and body are made of different substances: the body is material but the mind is some immaterial soul stuff, and the mind interacts with the body to control human behavior. Out of body and near death experiences have also been offered in support of dualism, but alternative, naturalistic explanations of these experiences are available. -Materialism is the view that mind and body are inseparable: mental events are produced by brain events. There are 4 types: -Epiphhenomenalism is the view that conscious is a side effect of brain activity but it has no role in controlling behavior. -Identity theory says that mental events are identical brain event. For each mental event, there is a corresponding brain event. - Emergent interactionism- is the hypothesis that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon: it is produced by brain processes, but it has holistic properties of its own and it exerts downward control on brain processes. -Functionalism is the view that the functional characteristics of mental processes is their critical feature, and it doesn’t make any difference whether the physical substrate is a brain or a computer.

The History of the Panama Canal :: American America History

The History of the Panama Canal The Panama Canal has been called the big ditch, the bridge between two continents, and the greatest shortcut in the world. When it was finally finished in 1914, the 51-mile waterway cut off over 7,900 miles of the distance between New York and San Francisco, and changed the face of the industrialized world ("Panama Canal"). This Canal is not the longest, the widest, the deepest, or the oldest canal in the world, but it is the only canal to connect two oceans, and still today is the greatest man-made waterway in the world ("Panama Canal Connects). Ferdinand de Lesseps, who played a large role in building the Suez Canal in 1869 (Jones), was the director of the Compagnie Universelle Du Canal Interoceanique de Panama ("Historical Overview"). At first De Lesseps seemed to be "the perfect choice for the Panama task." Though as time went on De Lesseps was found to be "anything but the ideal" (Dolan). As soon as de Lesseps' company took over the canal it was doomed (Jones). De Lesseps was a 74-year-old man who was stubborn, vain, and very opinionated (Considine). Because of his experience with the Suez waterway, De Lesseps thought he was smarter than all the engineers beneath his command (Dolan). De Lesseps overrode all opposition of his sea-level canal due to his very popular reputation. He was sold on the idea of a sea-level canal and would not listen to the ideas of others such as French engineer, Adolphe Godin de Lepinary. De Lepinary's idea was to create two large lakes on either side of the mountains. In order to do this they w ould have to dam the Chagres River on the Atlantic side and the Rio Grande River on the pacific side (Considine). Although as time went on more than just a poor director held back the finalization of the canal. Disease, death, and rough terrain slowed down the completion of the canal. "The Terrain at the Isthmus was something they had never experienced and had not put a serious study of it, a very grave error" ("Panama Canal Connects"). Mosquitoes were responsible for many deaths. Illnesses such as yellow fever and malaria made "many of the work forces go to the hospitals or in some cases die" ("Panama Canal"). Mosquitoes carried the diseases and when a person got bit he would give a disease to the mosquito and the mosquito would pass it on to the next victim ("Historical Overview").

The Daval Snuff Project :: essays research papers

Two summers ago I started working at this gun shop. Its not a great job but its money I didn't have before. While working there, I met a guy by the name of Daval Snuff. He's real smart(even though he dropped out of highschool) funny, nice, and knows a lot about guns. Two of Daval's best friends, BoodaSac and Feebus, told that he had a little crush on me. The problem was, I already had a boyfriend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I told Daval about Bobbio, my boyfriend, he threatened to kill him.He said he would literally kill him over me. It may sound weird but, I was flattered.I didn't know if he was serious about it or not, so I took a vacation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While on vacation I went to church and had a good prayer with Pastor Mickey. He simply told me not to believe him. On the fourth coming day of her vacation the guys at work told me that Bobbio had stopped by the store. They also mentioned that he met Daval...   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I called Bobbio no one answered, I got suspious. Little did I know that Daval had invited him to go hunting. What Bobbio didn't know was that Daval was hunting for HIM...   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Little did Daval know, Bobbio was a trained asassign for the MM(Mexican Mafia). Bobbio knew something was up when Daval shot him with a tranquilizer dart, but Bobbio being the trained assasign that he is took the dart out and sucked the poison out and spit it in Daval's eye.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The deadly poison from the dart severly wounded Daval's eyes leaving him blind and alone.With Bobbio gone, Daval was left to fend for himself.

Cultural Genocide: The Movie

The film â€Å"Cultural Genocide† presented Asa Hilliard III, an African American professor of educational psychology, who focused on the particularities of genocide, homicide and suicide. According to Hilliard, he recalls genocide as any one of the following acts with the attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, religious or racial group; few examples include killing members of a group, causing bodily harm and forcibly transferring children to another group.Cultural genocide is best explained with examples, whereas indirect instances may include any prevention from practicing one’s culture or where one loses their sense of culture and a direct example is black on black killings. Homicide is an important issue Hilliard expresses, as there are many murders and bodily harm induced by African Americans towards other African Americans. Homicide not only includes lethal killings, but terminal illnesses as well, such as AIDS.AIDS is detrimental to any group, as it is can be car elessly transmitted to others, due to lack of awareness of their illness; however, it causes much damage to groups since it is being passed along, terminally harming individuals. There are many illnesses and murders that can definitely be avoided among African Americans, but they continue to be inflicted by harm, whether it is consciously or unconscious. In order to avoid such conflict, Hilliard suggests that African Americans need to be in touch with their cultural identity, he offers that it is a tie that binds a culture together, which calls for possible collaboration.Collaboration brings a sense of identity and teamwork to a culture, specifically as it allows a group to function, even when passing national boundaries, as well as individually. With African Americans having better cultural identity, there is a possibility that black on black crime will decrease, as many will view each other as their â€Å"brothers and sisters†. If young African Americans viewed each other a s family, they will most definitely treat each other with more respect and dignity, as the young will avoid physical harm among one another, which will deter crime.Nevertheless, the importance of cultural ties can link to relations among African Americans and more importantly, deter black on black crime. Black on black crime is not limited to only murders, but also within an extraordinary example, in which Hilliard presents regarding teachers in the classrooms and black communities. In predominantly African American classrooms, educators have struggled to find teachers, specifically African American teachers. Educators believe it is vital to have African American teachers, in order for the predominantly black students to perceive their own race as a role model.Having only European teachers be the majority may cause more racial gaps, but is it important to realize that educators did in fact try to employ African American teachers; however, they simply denied the employment opportunit y, as they believed there was no potential for growth or promotion. This example is no doubt causing harm among African Americans, children are not seeing their own race in the education field, causing much destruction, as potential dreams of being an educator can be damaged, as hope for their own race is non-existent.If there were more African American teachers in predominantly black schools, there is more potential for black children to see themselves as being a teacher. There are many ways to encourage children to strive for education, role models are definitely one of them and now that there is a black president in office, he serves as an icon for the African American community, as well as representing a change among racial gaps. Although a drastic change happened in the White house, it is important to remember the educational inconsistency among African American students.Many African American students still suffer many disparities among their school, including the lack of funds , which ultimately the youth endures the burden of having insufficient supplies for learning. Education is becoming severely limited for African American students, as there is a shortage of educational supplies necessary for learning, including books and even teachers. If African American teachers do not want to teach their own race, because of individual concerns of upward mobility, there is much damage imposed on African American children.In order to succeed and move forward, African Americans need to remember their cultural ties and stand together. It is reality that there is an educational gap, where certain races are inclined to being economically despaired; therefore, African Americans need to remember the importance of their cultural ties, which will not only bring them together but also, help each individual succeed. Suicide is mentioned in Hilliard’s speech because of its increasing rate of deaths in the African American community.Hilliard announces it is the leading cause of death for African American men and in fact, more die from suicide than homicide. Women, too, are impacted by suicide, as they carry more attempts to kill themselves than men do. Suicide may have been caused by the lack of belonging to something, many came from broken families and did not have a sense of community, which caused the creation of gangs, where the youth seeks familial ties and sense of belonging, in order to make up for the lack of a family.There is definitely a pattern of why many African Americans suffer and it is due to the lack of cultural identity, many have no clue where they come from and it is indeed causing much destruction. Many African Americans feel they do not belong to anything, as they lack a family, which in turn, leads them to feeling worthless, causing identity loss and thoughts of suicide. In order to make sure no other African American children feel the sense of unworthiness, there must be more collectiveness and collaboration to help overco me upcoming generations and prevent them from feeling unworthy.Many can begin by joining community groups, religious groups, or sporting activities, just to give the initial feeling of belonging to a population, this can therefore, boost self-esteem and bring identity to one’s life. The African American community must work collectively and they are definitely at a good start, as President Obama can help many of his black â€Å"brothers and sisters† conquer racial and economic disparities.

No Child Left Behind

The government’s legislative body has made a number of programs aimed to deal with education problems without knowing the impact of these programs to the local needs. Every child and parent is greatly affected with the quality of education being given in public schools. The No Child Left Behind Act (2001), generally acknowledged as NCLB, is a United States federal law signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002 reauthorizing several federal programs endeavoring to advance the performance of American primary and secondary schools through escalating principles of accountability for school districts and states as well as offering parents supplementary flexibility in preferring which schools their children will go to (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). Its main objective is improving the standard of education for all schools in America. The three key provisions of the act are: annual reading and math assessment of students in grades 3 to 8; awareness of parents, teachers, administrators and students regarding the test results, including the quality of the education provided by the school and the qualifications of teachers; and putting or assigning students according to categories such as economic status, sex, and learning ability to determine the school capacity to cope with the needs of learners. (The White House, 2007). NCLB has four important goals: †¢Ã‚   Increase accountability for student performance Each state must have standards in math, reading, and science, annual testing for all students in grades 3-8, and adequate yearly progress (AYP) objectives for all student subgroups. Successful schools will be rewarded; continually failing schools will eventually be restructured. †¢Ã‚   More choices for parents and students Students attending schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring must be offered a transfer to a better public school and/or supplemental academic services. †¢Ã‚   Greater flexibility for states, school districts, and schools This pertains mostly to streamlining federal funding, including grants. †¢Ã‚   Putting reading first More money will be available for scientifically based reading instruction programs (phonics) so that all children will read by third grade. Competitive grants are available through the Reading First Initiative and Early Reading First program. Overview and Purpose The USCO or Unsafe School Choice Option (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, section 9532) of 1965, as improved by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, states that each State getting finances under the ESEA should employ and create a state-wide rule obliging that students who are enrolled in a continually unsafe public elementary or secondary school, or learners who happen to be victims of a violent illegal offense while in or on the public school premises that they attend, be permitted to attend a safe public school (Department of Education United States of America, 2004).   Each State in America should write a letter to the Secretary confirming that the State has complied with the requirements, as a condition of obtaining funds from ESEA. Local and school board policy/rules Policy is a very important role of the school board in our education system. Like the city coucils, state legislatures and Congress, school boards created the structure and direction of their schools by implementing policies through the power granted by the state representatives. The Board of Education is dedicated in upholding a secure and drug-free location in all school districts. Policies of school boards have the same power as decrees and ordinances. They set objective, assign authorities and create rules that make school management and authority possible (Canal Winchester Local School District Bylaws & Policies, 2007). Policies and Guidelines of School Boards are checked as it deals with the 2001 No Child Left behind Policy. School Board Policies should include: safety measures at school and while learners are on the way to and from school, suitable and effective school regulations that forbid the illegal custody of weapons, unruly behavior and the illegal distribution, use and possession, and trade of drugs, tobacco and alcohol by students; prevention actions designed to keep the environment safe and drug-free; and a system policy for all students that affirms the tasks of administrators, instructors and students in preserving a safe classroom environment (Canal Winchester Local School District Bylaws & Policies, 2007). NCLB is the most recent federal legislation ratifying theories of standards-based schooling restructuring, previously acknowledged as outcome-based education that is derived from the principle that high prospect and setting of objectives will bring about achievement for students (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). The act requires that schools allocate the name, address and home phone number of all students enrolled to armed forces recruiters. The district will use the school choice option as one response to incidents of victimization.   Additionally, the district will develop and implement appropriate strategies for addressing the circumstances that contribute to or support victimization, as well as consistently and proactively manage individuals who have victimized pupils.   The district will promote the importance of school safety and respond to the needs of pupils and staff.   Pursuant to the law, the district will provide an opportunity for pupils, parents and school district and law enforcement personnel to discuss methods for keeping schools safe from violence; to create school safety plans; and to recognize pupils in need of help. The district will organize activities to prevent school violence, including, but not limited to, age-appropriate opportunities for pupil discussion on conflict resolution, issues of pupil diversity and tolerance.   Law enforcement personnel will be invited to join members of the teaching staff in the discussions.   Programs shall also be provided for school district employees that are designated to help school district employees recognize warning signs of school violence and to instruct school district employees on recommended conduct during an incident of school violence. Each State Educational Agency or SEA must increase objective standards to apply in classifying persistently dangerous schools, which are merely not influenced by assumption, emotion, and impartiality.   Such standards should include areas that parents would consider in deciding on a level of safety for the school, and the number of violent offenses. Objective information that could be used as objective criteria consist of records that detail the number of recommendation to law enforcement group for carrying a firearm to school, physical fights or presence of gang on school premises. On the contrary, subjective data might consist of information gathered in a focus faction concerning community-wide view of safety. The gathered objective data that aid each State to identify persistently dangerous schools will have to be attributable to individual school locations and must be both reliable and convincing (Department of Education United States of America, 2004). The objective of the statute is to avoid unnecessary hindrance to student’s learning and to promote a better safety and security for the children. Elementary teachers have to pass state tests indicative of their subject familiarity and teaching proficiency in writing, reading/language arts, mathematics and further subjects of basic elementary school syllabus.   The teachers of middle grades and high school have to pass state examinations in all academic subject categories they teach, along with an undergraduate major, graduate degree, coursework corresponding to undergraduate major or higher qualifications. Teachers are not new to the occupation must have a bachelor’s degree and should pass state test indicating teaching skills and subject knowledge. These credentials have caused some dispute and complexity in implementation particularly for the special education teachers and teachers in rural schools who are commonly requested to instruct various subjects and grade levels (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). Schools acknowledged as needing enhancement are requisite to give students with possibility to make use of public school selection no later than the start of school year following their credentials for school enhancement. NCLB sanctioned (and Congress has consequently appropriated) a considerable boost in financial support for Title I aid, to give subsidy for school districts to put the law’s parental option requirements into practice. Advocates of the Act state the legislation offers parents better educational options for their children, supports accountability within public schools, and helps close the accomplishment gap between white students as well as the minority. The NCLB aims to demonstrate achievement en route for these goals through federally directive standardized assessment therefore, this Act should extend to levels of learning (The White House, 2007). Opinios and Views In summary, I support No Child Left Behind because it gives importance on methods and instruction that have been confirmed to work. Making billion-dollar investments yearly, this policy ensures children on their third grade, learn how to read. Since the law’s reaction if the school fails to make sufficient development is not simply to offer further aid for students, but to entail as well disciplinary measures on the school, the encouragements are to place expectations lesser than higher and to augment separation by race and class and thrust low-performing learners out of school in general. References Canal Winchester Local School District Bylaws & Policies (2007). School Safety. Retrieved August 31, 2007, from http://www.neola.com/canalwinchester-oh/search/policies/po8400.htm Department of Education United States of America (2004). Unsafe School Choice Option. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/unsafeschoolchoice.doc NCELA (2006). Montana and No Child Left Behind. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/policy/states/montana/04_nclb.htm The White House (2007).  Ã‚  Ã‚   Foreword by President George W. Bush. Retrieved July 18, 2007, From http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/1 U.S. Department of Education (2003). No Child Left Behind A Parent’s Guide. Retrieved July 18 2007, from http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/nclbguide/parentsguide.pdf    No Child Left Behind The school has failed the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† requirements for the past 2 years. In order to change the situation, the strategy of appreciative inquiry was implemented. Owing to this step, all of the school’s employees got a new vision of what cultural activities children really need. The concentration of past successful experiences instead of problems was very useful to achieve present success. Since the school has failed the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† requirements for the past 2 years, it requires an efficient change strategy in order to achieve positive results in future. The strategy of the appreciative inquiry is the most efficient in culture change in the public school. The strategy consists in making investigations of all the cultural activities which have been successful in this school during the last couple of years, identifying their positive influence on children, and looking for ways to repeat the previous success through the series of new cultural activities. The strategy of appreciative inquiry is the only strategy which would be efficient in such a case. Traditional change management activities are not going to help because they focus on the problem. In order to make a radical culture change in this school, it’s necessary not to focus on the problem but to investigate pervious positive experience in order to inspire the members of the team. The strategy of appreciative inquiry is applicable in this case because it â€Å"takes a different approach by focusing on what works in an organization and creating a series of statements that describe where the organization wants to be, based on the high points of where they have been. Because these statements are grounded in real experience, people know how to repeat the success and thus have a greater energy to make more moments of success than when presented with a nebulous vision of the future.† (Geof Cox, 1998, p.1) In order to achieve maximum success, the team has include school teachers of all levels, school’s principal. The project has to begin with making all of the teachers in the team remember all kinds of cultural events which took place at school and were enjoyed by students. During this meeting, all of the children’s needs have to be identified through the prism of the results of previous activities which they were engaged in. In the research process the following activities would be identified as the most interesting for children: acting in plays, participating in poetry and music contests, taking part in sports competitions. All of these activities had a great success among kids in the previous years, therefore the success of them in future can be predicted easily. f) The intervention of the new vision would have to last for about 2 months during which all of the mentioned activities had to take place. Many teachers were involved in the process of preparing the activities for children, and their current vision would adapt to the new one in the period of around 2 months. g) The results of appreciative inquiry strategy could be seen in the next half a year because all the teachers got a new vision of their role in the school- not only as people who have to bring knowledge to kids about different subjects, but also as leaders of different cultural activities in which kids could apply all of their talents and abilities. The chosen strategy has turned out very successful, and brought positive results. The strategy of appreciative inquiry is very efficient in such a case because â€Å"by focusing on the successful examples in the past and present, we build a picture of the themes and ideas that we know we can do, and that work. We develop an individual and collective mindset of what we are capable of that is grounded in reality.† (Geof Cox, 1998, p.2) The main implications which could occur in the strategy implementation consist in some teachers’ resistance to change and their little desire to participate in the change process. However, by making them realize the positive influence of the strategy on the cultural life at school, this resistance could be brought to the minimum. The strategy of appreciative inquiry has turned out very efficient in making the school fit into the requirements of the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† vision because owing to it, all of the school’s employees got a new vision of what cultural activities children really need. The concentration of past successful experiences instead of problems was very useful to achieve present success.                                              Bibliography. Geof Cox. Appreciative inquiry. Edinburgh, Scotland., 1998. www.aradford.co.uk