Police deviance Essay

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Policing has a great potential for abusive conduct where police officers become perpetrators of various crimes. Aside from the exposure to the world of crime there is the inherent police culture which is generally susceptible to corruption. Police misconduct ranges from â€Å"the excessive use of deadly force, excessive use of physical force, discriminatory patterns of arrest patterns of harassment among the marginalized sectors of society which include the aggressive and discriminatory use of the ‘stop and frisk’ and overly harsh enforcement of petty offenses, overreaction to gang problems, lack of accountability including failure to discipline or prosecute abusive officers, or deter abuse by denying promotions and/or particular assignments of prior abusive behavior and a host of other potential abuses† (ACLU 1991). With this theme this paper succinctly captures and elaborates on specific police officer misconduct such as the occurrence of falsif ication of evidences by police officers for the use in trials. ~Nature of Police work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Law enforcement is a highly visible kind of work and the benefits, challenges and potential problems are immense yet appear typically predictable. Films and television people make sure that stuffs like detective stories, sitcoms with punch lines that depict familiar police caricatures and the like keep law enforcement on the frontlines. Not that it needs to be advertised; police work hugs the headlines because their tasks are unavoidably sensational.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Policing is said to be characterized as an occupation with â€Å"hours of boredom followed by minutes of sheer terror† (â€Å"Police Culture and behavior†).   What is it like to be a police officer? What are the qualifications that this specific government agency requires from their potential recruits? Who can get in and stay as assets not only to the workplace or agency but also to the immediate community which is what police work actually entails? This paper attempts to describe and explain in prà ©cis the personality traits and other pertinent information concerning this important worker of every community. It seeks to answer the preceding questions and attempts to present a profile of what every law enforcement agency hopes to hire from among the applicants or attract from the general public. Discussion ~†Ideal Police personality†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In a study, the results reveal that confirms a clear personality profile with police possessing traits as â€Å"authoritarianism, suspicion, racism, hostility, insecurity, conservatism, and cynicism† (www.cameron.edu).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Despite the common thread that exists among the profiles of police, the demands that society impinges on policing style have started to effect on the qualifications expected to emerge from successful candidates. These days the police ought to display such qualities as â€Å"incorruptible, well-adjusted, people-oriented, free of emotional reactions, and logical† (Lefkowitz, n.d.). In addition, literature indicates that an undesirable temperament in policing is introversion with dominance and leadership topping the desirable ones. Women officers are expected to exhibit more assertiveness especially that suspects usually do not respect female cops (Calderon, 2005). Given the culture unique to the workforce, police tasks are not only routinary and yet demand an all-around ability from the person; these are also in most cases stressful. Police suicides have even risen for a variety of reasons. Many are involved in risky assignments while some settle for the more mundane desk job which rarely sees action. The public have mixed perception with the job but many are still drawn to become law enforcement’s recruits. ~Use of false evidences in trials and the police officer’s code of ethics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is a set of code of ethics for every kind of profession which serves as a guide that the police man adheres to in the course of his year spent in policing. It serves as a standard to the individual whose opportunities for corruption and misconduct are potentially aplenty. Adherence to the code of ethics is required more from those exercising such authority since the kind of work these people do hinges on their moral fiber. In cases involving the false evidences for use in trials, obviously, the fundamental right of the suspect has been infringed upon regardless of the fact that the individual in question has had several records of criminal activities or not (ACLU, 1991). The rationale for most officers engaging with this kind of dirty work is their justifiable reason that for so long the criminal had been followed and is known to do the kind of work he did; that it’s high time the suspect be finally imprisoned. When there are no vital evidences linking the suspect to the criminal activity, police officers are tempted to plant and/or provide evidence. This has been an age-old problem and keeps recurring within the judicial system.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are dire consequences concerning this specific act of planting false evidences against arrestees. To the police officer, the individual tends to develop or acquire the propensity to increase and grab the opportunities for misconduct or abuses. The lines between evil and good intentions become increasingly blurred for the individual, thus enabling the person/police officer to be less accountable with his misdeeds or actions (ACLU, 1991).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conclusion, the reforms that had been in place for the police force to lessen or reduce these abuses are somehow adequate but monitoring by citizens, the media and those in government   are better restraints to curb any further occurrences of similar cases of misconduct.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To act in an unethical manner such as the acts already becoming natural for police officers to do reduces and eliminates trust. When a police officer is initiated into policing, he begins with the public â€Å"swear in† which is done by a more superior officer before some number of audience (Kelly, 2003). When this occurs, the solemn ceremony signifies that the public entrusts to the sworn in public servant the duty to choose right over wrong, i.e., an individual cop with all the opportunities before him will not use these instances for his own gain or that of another except for the purposes that he was employed for in the first place. Erosion of trust is not simply a small thing; it is the violation of that basic faith and trust which was expected from the man in uniform. Works cited: Lefkowitz, J. (n.d.). The Police and the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from: http://uwf.edu/swright/Spring%202005/ch%206%20Police%20and%20the%20Criminal%20Justice%20System%20-%203up.pdf Strack, Lorr M.1994. Personality profile of police candidates. Journal of Clinical Psychology; 50(2):200-7. www.pubmed.gov. Kelly, Sean F. Internal affairs: issues for small police departments FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, The,   July, 2003   Retrieved March 17, 2008 http://www.cameron.edu/~harrison/chapter6ile.ppt http://www.post.ca.gov/jobops/062707-062708c-stockton.pdf      

Reasons for Returning to School

Reasons for Returning to School Dolores Hutt ENG 121 Instructor Vanessa Martin January 15, 2012 Reasons for Returning to School After careful thought and consideration, I made the desire to return to school into a realistic goal. I had finally come to the conclusion, that it was time to take control of my circumstances, rather than continue to let my circumstances control me. For the first time in twenty years, I have a window of opportunity to fit a degree program into my daily schedule. Returning to school had always been a desire of mine, but in the past, I did not think I had the time or the money to pursue a degree. I was a single mother, I was working all of the time, my children were very young, and half of my wages went to daycare expenses. Seven years ago I made a decision to pursue a career in Massage Therapy. When the opportunity presented itself to enroll in an accelerated Diploma and State licensing program for Massage Therapy, that was only going to take one year, I jumped on it. Looking back, I realized how fast a year can go by and how easy it was for me to turn a desire into a concrete accomplishment. Having a career in Massage Therapy for the past six years has been a rewarding experience; it has given me that sense of contribution to society and to my community. I have taken much pride in accomplishing my career goals so far, however, through my experiences with working for corporations, businesses, and having my own business, I realize that I am still missing that important element: a business degree. Having gone through that year in school to get my career going, the experience gave me the confidence to overcome the thinking, that I did not have the time or money to pursue a degree, I now believe that the benefits of a degree will far outweigh any outcome of not having it. The benefits of having a business degree to enhance my career are; that a degree will add credibility to my desire to take my career to the next level, and it will open more doors and options concerning high level job positions. I can talk about experience all I want, but at the end of the day, when it comes to running a business, or getting an executive to listen o my ideas, that will help the industry flow more efficiently, I believe that having a degree will help me to be taken more serious. It will also help me take a break from the labor to pursue the creative and business end of things. I am hoping that this degree program will help me to develop the skills I need to keep a successful business running, an d give me the credibility I seek. My first step after obtaining my business degree will be to get a management position in a corporate setting, so I can get the experience I need to have my own company and employees. I believe that a Degree in Organizational Management will help me to accomplish that goal. Experience, though valuable and relevant, is no substitute for a short cut. I have realized that regardless of experience, if I want to be taken serious, having a degree will open doors and add more opportunity and credibility to any experience. So pursuing a degree at this point in my life has become a priority. Returning to school had always been a desire of mine, but in the past, I did not think I had the time or the money to pursue a degree. Any obstacles I had in the past are no longer there. I have an excellent support system at home, a loving and supportive fiancee of six years, a two income household, my career allows me to work part time and make the same amount of money as I did working full time in the past, so I get to spend more time at home, and my children are much older now so daycare expenses are a thing of the past. This online university program offers so much flexibility and affordability, that I really have no excuse to not execute this with full force. For me, the timing is perfect; the time it will take to complete this degree program is short when I compare it to time wasted by not having a degree. I have done this before and I know I can do it again. I keep my goals and plans right in front of me. I know that with perseverance, planning ahead, and just staying positive, that pursuing my degree will be another accomplishment that I can be proud of, and then I can keep moving forward in my life with confidence and ease. I am no longer at the mercy of my circumstances, I have taken control back, and returning to school is exactly where I need to be right now.

Healthcare Reform

Healthcare Reform By Kim LeFave Healthcare is one of the hottest political topics in the news. It affects every man, woman, and child. I’m sure most if not all of you have caught something on this topic. As I researched this topic on the internet I was surprised to learn some of the statistics on healthcare in America. Even though our nation is faced with recession and more than 8% of Americans are unemployed I still assumed the rest of the 92% of working Americans had some kind of healthcare insurance. I was alarmed to learn that 15% of Americans have no coverage. This is roughly 47 million Americans. To me it is obvious that healthcare reform is necessary. We are still one of the richest countries in the world. Why are so many without any healthcare insurance? Those of you who work full-time, how many of you pay a certain amount out of your weekly check for healthcare insurance? It seems to go up higher than the cost of living each year. Do you have adequate coverage? Most Americans are not happy with the out of pocket expenses they have to pay in addition to paying high premiums. Do you have a co-pay every time you see a doctor? Do you have to pay a portion for drug coverage? These costs can add up. When was the last time you saw a doctor? Do you avoid doctors unless you are absolutely sick? The reason I am bombarding you with these questions is to get you to think about what healthcare reform might mean to you. What is it you want out of your healthcare insurance provider? Most of us might say lower out of pocket expenses, like low or no co-payments for doctor’s visits, or low or no co-payments for needed drugs, or even no money taken out of our paychecks to pay for that health insurance. Wouldn’t that be nice? Do you realize that most developed countries have universal healthcare systems, which means whether or not you are employed you are covered for your healthcare needs. After watching a PBS program about universal healthcare in other countries I was very surprised that our country was not trying to do some of the same things that these other countries were doing. Take for instance Japan, under their universal health care system MRI’s are about two hundred and fifty dollars, and in America it is about two thousand dollars. No doctor in Japan is getting rich quick, but people are able to afford healthcare more easily. It is much of the same in other countries that have universal healthcare systems. Okay let’s get back to what is now going on in this country. Basically the Healthcare Reform Bill under President Obama’s administration is a very small step in actual healthcare reform compared to what other countries have done. I’m sure most of you have heard that under the new reform bill insurance companies cannot deny coverage if you have a preexisting condition. Also it limits sky high premiums because of gender and age. It will also prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it the most. It will eliminate extra charges for preventative care like mammograms, flu shots, and diabetes tests to improve health and save money. It is supposed to protect medicare for seniors by extending new protections for medicare beneficiaries. It will also eliminate the â€Å"donut-hole† gap in coverage for prescription drugs. If you don’t have insurance this new reform bill will create a new insurance marketplace called the Exchange. This will allow people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices. It will also provide new tax credits to help people to buy insurance. It will give tax credits to small businesses and give affordable options for covering employees. It will offer a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. It will offer new, low-cost coverage through a national â€Å"high risk† pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. Hopefully this can all be achieved as proposed. It is not supposed to add to the national deficit and is paid upfront from the immediate savings from the initial healthcare reform. If savings are not realized essentially cuts will be required by the President to ensure that the plan does not add to the deficit. In addition these reforms will begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality. It will create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. It will order immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, instead of practicing on defensive medicine. To do this the Secretary of Health and Human Services is instructed by the President to award medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Also large employers with more than fifty employees who can afford to buy insurance so everyone of their employees share in the responsibility of reform will be required. Their will be a â€Å"hardship exemption† for those who cannot afford the premiums. Okay so there it is the basics of the new Healthcare Reform Bill proposed by President Obama and his administration. To me this is just a minute scratching of the surface for healthcare reform in this country. I suppose you have to start somewhere. Not every American will be happy with the proposed changes. To me it should be done more on a trial basis, but let’s get real try it before you buy it in this country is virtually unheard of especially when it come to healthcare. I’m sure we will learn as we go and that it will be an honest effort to avoid high cost health insurance. What bothers me the most is that many things that make the healthcare too costly are not being addressed. What about the cost of a doctor’s visit, or the cost of a procedure, or the cost of your drugs? Will it go down? This reform bill hardly explains if this will happen. I think because of the newly created Exchange, healthcare insurance may go down a bit, but only time will tell if by the year 2013 when the exchange is fully active if it will affect the cost of the quality of healthcare as a whole. I read a blog online that made me question what is in the future for Americans when it comes to healthcare. How are people who can’t afford healthcare now supposed to afford healthcare when this new reform bill goes through? The blog questioned the validity of our government taking over another area where they have continuously failed in other areas. The point was that the Medicare / Medicaid system is already nearing bankruptcy as well as the U. S. Postal Service. It questioned how all this was going to be paid for by suggesting that the only real way to get the money is more taxes. Does that offer Americans a choice or is this being forced on us? These are very important points and even tougher questions that any American would be concerned about. Another blog for the healthcare reform bill suggests that there are many areas that the government has handled well, for instance; fire departments, police departments, waste water management, military, and coastguard. Although most of us think of some of these on a local level they are all federally funded. The strongest point was that this healthcare reform bill will reduce administrative costs from 20-30% to 2-3%. This would also reduce the profit that big time insurance companies and their biggest investors would make. My sister-in-law had that laser surgery on her eyes. When she researched cost she found that she could go to Canada and pay far less for the same procedure. She paid about three thousand dollars compared to the hefty price tag of seven thousand dollars here in the States. Many people have gone to Canada to receive cheaper procedures and cheaper drug prices. To me this is the real issue in this country. Yes, the insurance is expensive, but if you think about it procedures are even more expensive. If the cost of procedures and drugs go down along with the cost of insurance then this would make more sense to me. I think it will be at least another 5-10 years before we see this happen in this country. I think this bill will force some insurance companies to either go bankrupt or lose a tremendous amount of money. How will they compete with the less expensive insurances? Will it be just what happened to our banks? I see lots of merging insurance companies in our future. I hate to be clique but I think only time will tell how this will work out for all our citizens, our government and our insurance companies. Healthcare Reform ? Health Care Reform It should come as no surprise that the United States’ current health care system is in need of some major changes. Everyone knows that going to the doctor or hospital in the United States can cost a lot of money out of pocket, whether you have insurance or not. Americans who do have insurance pay into it with every pay check, only to go to the doctor and have to pay more. What it would be like to not have to worry about how much money there is in the bank when someone is sick? When a person is ill there are enough things to worry about without having to worry if they can afford the doctor bill. What are some of the pros and cons of a health care reform for the United States? No one person or company is safe when it comes to the burdens of the rising costs and decreasing quality of care in our current health care system. â€Å"Per-person health care expenditures in the United States have risen 6. 5 percent per year since 2000, and 5. 5 percent per year on average since 1994. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) Many Americans who do have insurance are not safe from the rising costs of insurance. â€Å"Health care costs burden American mployers, who are forced to cut back on providing coverage and benefits or suffer a competitive disadvantage against international companies who don't bear health costs. † â€Å"Premiums for employer-provided health care have doubled since 2000. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unac ceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) Due to the recession, many Americans have lost their jobs and are left with no insurance. There are 46 million Americans with no health insurance. A large number that do have health insurance are under-insured. Under-insured means that some who have insurance re not adequately protected from high medical costs. Many people with no or little health insurance will put off preventative care and even care they may know they need, until it is so bad that it ends up costing even more money. Individuals with no insurance will end up being diagnosed in later stages than those with insurance. â€Å"Effective chronic disease management and preventive care have been woefully neglected as a national priority and should be a key piece of any comprehensive and effective Reform. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) â€Å"Nearly 25% of uninsured children and 40% of uninsured adults have no regular source of medical care. † â€Å"Inadequate insurance coverage carries with it financial as well as medical risks: the costs of medical treatment are a leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States† (Oberlander, Jonathan. (2002). â€Å"the U. S. health care system: on the road to nowhere? â€Å". Canadian Medical Association Journal , 67, 163-67. ) As a â€Å"great and free† country, we can not sit by and allow our fellow Americans to be denied medical care simply because of their income. A lot of what is rong with the current health care system can be shown in our infant mortality rate. It is fact that the United States’ infant mortality rates is among one of the highest. The United States ranks 26th in the world in infant mortality. How one of the largest and most modernized countries in the world have such a high rate? The answer to that is, it shouldn’t. A Commonwealth Fund Study found that the United States achieves â€Å"an overall score of 65 out of 100 when comparing national averages with benchmarks of best performance achieved internationally and within the United States. † It is clear that the United States is coming in well elow the standards of health, efficiency, and care. What would it be like to have a universal health care system? When it comes to why universal health care could be good for the United States, it's encouraged to watch the movie â€Å"Sicko†. It is one of Michael Moore’s documentaries. Whether loved or hated, it can’t be denied what is obviously working for other countries. In the movie he visits countries like, Canada, France, and Norway, and even Cuba. Yes, Cuba has nationalized health care. In the movie he takes a good look into what it might be like to be able to go to the doctor or hospital and not worry about how much debt might follow. Those people don’t have to worry about whether or not their insurance company is going to cover the cost of certain treatments or procedures. They don’t have to worry about being denied needed treatment, because of a pre-existing condition. People in these countries are generally healthier than Americans simply because they partake in more preventative health care. How is it possible that a country led by Fidel Castro has a better health care system than the United States? It’s simple. These countries have decided that everyone deserves to have health care, and everyone pays taxes for everyone to have it. One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who are against nationalized health care is, â€Å"Why should I have to pay for someone else’s health care costs? † The fact is, we are already paying for others health care. Everyone who works pays into Medicare and Medicaid. The way things are looking now, when I am eligible to use that money, there won’t be any for me. The current government health care system is bankrupting fast. Yes, everyone’s taxes will be raised. Paying more taxes seems reasonable to not have the financial burden be dropped on a single individual and their family in the middle of a stressful time of someone being sick. The costs of medical treatment are a leading cause of bankruptcy debt. † Half of all bankruptcy in the United States involve a medical reason or a large medical debt that they can not afford to pay The plan that President Barack Obama is proposing to the American people has a catching and enticing phrase. The bil l proposes that we build on what works in today's health care system, while repairing the aspects that are broken. To be able to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending. This bill has public and private options for the people, a sliding scale afford ability credits, it will share responsibility among workers, employers and the government so that all Americans can have essential health care coverage and benefits. This bill will make it illegal to not insure people due to pre-existing conditions. It will allow coverage and benefits for mental health and substance disorder abuse. One of the biggest complaints of President Obama's bill is that it is said to include government funded abortions. The truth is, this bill does not clearly state either way whether the government will pay for abortions. It does say that under the public option plan, abortion costs can be covered. Pregnancies due to rape, incest, and when the mothers life is at risk are already covered by the government if the individual receives government benefits. .â€Å"Comprehensive health insurance for all Americans, are long overdue. The best time to fix American health care was [more than] a decade ago. The second best time is now. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) American’s need to stand up and demand adequate health care for everyone. American’s have been great at banding together in times of tragedy, as after the 9/11 attacks. People need to look at our health care system and recognize that this is a time of tragedy for the American people. It seems that most people are afraid of change, but sometimes change is needed. Reference Page (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) Oberlander, Jonathan. (2002). â€Å"the U. S. health care system: on the road to nowhere? â€Å". Canadian Medical Association Journal , 67, 163-67. Healthcare Reform Healthcare Reform By Kim LeFave Healthcare is one of the hottest political topics in the news. It affects every man, woman, and child. I’m sure most if not all of you have caught something on this topic. As I researched this topic on the internet I was surprised to learn some of the statistics on healthcare in America. Even though our nation is faced with recession and more than 8% of Americans are unemployed I still assumed the rest of the 92% of working Americans had some kind of healthcare insurance. I was alarmed to learn that 15% of Americans have no coverage. This is roughly 47 million Americans. To me it is obvious that healthcare reform is necessary. We are still one of the richest countries in the world. Why are so many without any healthcare insurance? Those of you who work full-time, how many of you pay a certain amount out of your weekly check for healthcare insurance? It seems to go up higher than the cost of living each year. Do you have adequate coverage? Most Americans are not happy with the out of pocket expenses they have to pay in addition to paying high premiums. Do you have a co-pay every time you see a doctor? Do you have to pay a portion for drug coverage? These costs can add up. When was the last time you saw a doctor? Do you avoid doctors unless you are absolutely sick? The reason I am bombarding you with these questions is to get you to think about what healthcare reform might mean to you. What is it you want out of your healthcare insurance provider? Most of us might say lower out of pocket expenses, like low or no co-payments for doctor’s visits, or low or no co-payments for needed drugs, or even no money taken out of our paychecks to pay for that health insurance. Wouldn’t that be nice? Do you realize that most developed countries have universal healthcare systems, which means whether or not you are employed you are covered for your healthcare needs. After watching a PBS program about universal healthcare in other countries I was very surprised that our country was not trying to do some of the same things that these other countries were doing. Take for instance Japan, under their universal health care system MRI’s are about two hundred and fifty dollars, and in America it is about two thousand dollars. No doctor in Japan is getting rich quick, but people are able to afford healthcare more easily. It is much of the same in other countries that have universal healthcare systems. Okay let’s get back to what is now going on in this country. Basically the Healthcare Reform Bill under President Obama’s administration is a very small step in actual healthcare reform compared to what other countries have done. I’m sure most of you have heard that under the new reform bill insurance companies cannot deny coverage if you have a preexisting condition. Also it limits sky high premiums because of gender and age. It will also prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it the most. It will eliminate extra charges for preventative care like mammograms, flu shots, and diabetes tests to improve health and save money. It is supposed to protect medicare for seniors by extending new protections for medicare beneficiaries. It will also eliminate the â€Å"donut-hole† gap in coverage for prescription drugs. If you don’t have insurance this new reform bill will create a new insurance marketplace called the Exchange. This will allow people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices. It will also provide new tax credits to help people to buy insurance. It will give tax credits to small businesses and give affordable options for covering employees. It will offer a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. It will offer new, low-cost coverage through a national â€Å"high risk† pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. Hopefully this can all be achieved as proposed. It is not supposed to add to the national deficit and is paid upfront from the immediate savings from the initial healthcare reform. If savings are not realized essentially cuts will be required by the President to ensure that the plan does not add to the deficit. In addition these reforms will begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality. It will create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. It will order immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, instead of practicing on defensive medicine. To do this the Secretary of Health and Human Services is instructed by the President to award medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Also large employers with more than fifty employees who can afford to buy insurance so everyone of their employees share in the responsibility of reform will be required. Their will be a â€Å"hardship exemption† for those who cannot afford the premiums. Okay so there it is the basics of the new Healthcare Reform Bill proposed by President Obama and his administration. To me this is just a minute scratching of the surface for healthcare reform in this country. I suppose you have to start somewhere. Not every American will be happy with the proposed changes. To me it should be done more on a trial basis, but let’s get real try it before you buy it in this country is virtually unheard of especially when it come to healthcare. I’m sure we will learn as we go and that it will be an honest effort to avoid high cost health insurance. What bothers me the most is that many things that make the healthcare too costly are not being addressed. What about the cost of a doctor’s visit, or the cost of a procedure, or the cost of your drugs? Will it go down? This reform bill hardly explains if this will happen. I think because of the newly created Exchange, healthcare insurance may go down a bit, but only time will tell if by the year 2013 when the exchange is fully active if it will affect the cost of the quality of healthcare as a whole. I read a blog online that made me question what is in the future for Americans when it comes to healthcare. How are people who can’t afford healthcare now supposed to afford healthcare when this new reform bill goes through? The blog questioned the validity of our government taking over another area where they have continuously failed in other areas. The point was that the Medicare / Medicaid system is already nearing bankruptcy as well as the U. S. Postal Service. It questioned how all this was going to be paid for by suggesting that the only real way to get the money is more taxes. Does that offer Americans a choice or is this being forced on us? These are very important points and even tougher questions that any American would be concerned about. Another blog for the healthcare reform bill suggests that there are many areas that the government has handled well, for instance; fire departments, police departments, waste water management, military, and coastguard. Although most of us think of some of these on a local level they are all federally funded. The strongest point was that this healthcare reform bill will reduce administrative costs from 20-30% to 2-3%. This would also reduce the profit that big time insurance companies and their biggest investors would make. My sister-in-law had that laser surgery on her eyes. When she researched cost she found that she could go to Canada and pay far less for the same procedure. She paid about three thousand dollars compared to the hefty price tag of seven thousand dollars here in the States. Many people have gone to Canada to receive cheaper procedures and cheaper drug prices. To me this is the real issue in this country. Yes, the insurance is expensive, but if you think about it procedures are even more expensive. If the cost of procedures and drugs go down along with the cost of insurance then this would make more sense to me. I think it will be at least another 5-10 years before we see this happen in this country. I think this bill will force some insurance companies to either go bankrupt or lose a tremendous amount of money. How will they compete with the less expensive insurances? Will it be just what happened to our banks? I see lots of merging insurance companies in our future. I hate to be clique but I think only time will tell how this will work out for all our citizens, our government and our insurance companies.

ICT's & strategic change-master level Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

ICT's & strategic change-master level - Essay Example The original intention use of social media networking is to socializing but it is has exploited by organizations as a mean of information communication technology ICT’s for strategic change. This exploitation of social media networking is consequence of unintended use of IS application. ICT’s & the Strategic Change Drivers: Organization Perspective Jansen et al (2010) investigated the relationship between information sharing on social media and user’s behaviors, they found that the more users involved in social media application the more is their ability to act on these opinion sharing and knowledge they received. The Drivers of Organization behind Employing Social Media Application In theory, any organization is part of external environments, interconnected to other organizations and external environment which is known as ‘the organization as a system’ (Senior &Fleming, pp.6, 2006). The Organization, as a system theory, is not in isolation but a pla ce in the external environment where it receives its input from the external environment and produces their output to the environment. This implies the interrelation and influence of an organization on each other’s and the influence of the external environment in border context. ... The Game theory helps us to understand our organization and our competitors, the theory has been derived from the art of war based on ‘thus, it is said that one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements. One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometime be victorious, some time meet with defeat. One who knows neither the enemy nor himself will invariably be defeated in every engagement’ (Day & Reibstein , 2004). By understanding the different theories related to the organization and the dynamic external environment that will help us to understand the need for strategic change. Many sounds theory emphasized that any organization is not island of isolation but further more is placed in dynamic environments with many other organizations. Therefore the need to understand this environment is matter along with understanding other organization in another word the ‘competitors’. In the case of UK government, employing some framework would be good to analyze and understand the dynamic environment in which the organization placed. I will apply two framework here which are SWOT analysis and Porter framework. SWOT The basic strength of the UK government is its resiliency and the government structure in itself. The vast resources that have been accumulated in the past several hundred years is a testament to the resiliency of the UK government. The ICT of the UK in general gives an edge over all the other European countries. The weakness from my point of view of the UK government is the red tape that abounds the government offices. This weakness is borne from the different controls needed to safe guard the interest of the public. The opportunity that is

Using graphic organizers for learning and teaching purposes Essay

Using graphic organizers for learning and teaching purposes - Essay Example Students having learning difficulties face the learning problems; in order to promote meaningful learning and understanding, the use of graphic organizers has been developed in the recent educational history. In the subsequent parts of this essay, first thesis statement is mentioned and it is followed by three evaluation arguments with each having its own proof and supporting material. Thesis statement Graphic organizers not only facilitate learning to the students with the learning disabilities but also greatly help teachers in the process of teaching. Point one Many students face the challenges of learning disabilities. Due to learning disabilities, they are required to put more additional amount of effort and energy in order to comprehend in classes, particularly when reading expository text (DiCecco & Gleason, 2002). Additionally, some books such as content books are written in such a way that the necessary relationships and connections are not explicitly made clear (Armbruster & Anderson 1988; Beck, McKeeown, Hamilton, & Kucan, 1998). Making comprehension relationships has not been an easy way towards learning. A considerable number of students greatly become unable to comprehend the basic meaning and its different parts of understanding in the required way; for many students, just reading is not enough to comprehend the aggregate meaning and purpose of a given text. The most significant issues causing this problem may be generated internally and externally as well. Internally, some students do not have the required mental capacity to comprehend the context and meaning of a particular text; second, for some students having comprehension mental ability is not sufficient to ensure the attaining of reading and understanding skills. They lack the proper way to read a expository text in the required way; this means the absence of learning skills and tools cause them to lag behind in comparison with those students who know and use reading and learning skills. Ex ternally, some students face the problems of complex and ambiguous written material. In many academic books, the language used to teach students a particular topic is so roughly written that many students hardly understand the connections and relationships with the words and context and between the words and meaning of text. This situation further challenges the students and makes them hard to comprehend the expository text and other complex written material. Proof DiCecco & Gleason (2002) carries out research work using graphic organizers to attain relational knowledge from expository text. In which, the majority results suggest that the students using graphic organizers have performed better and this use of methodology help students with learning disabilities to recall of relational knowledge. Point two In addition, students with learning disabilities are not active learners rather they tend to be passive learners; and at the same time, they lack the necessary skills such as organ izing and processing written and oral information (Bos & Vaughn, 1994). Some are God-gifted but others are not. Organizing and processing oral and written information challenges more to those students who are not God-gifted in processing and understanding information; this problem not only severely affects the academic performance of the students but also severely damages their personality . Proof DiCecco & Gleason (2002) also highlight this sight of the story in their research work. They signify that students who suffer from learning disabilities and at the same time they do not make efforts to improve their learning skills, such students do not perform better than students having developed their learning skills with the use of graphic organizers. For instance, in the same research, they maintain that students with

Business Law, Sparkle Solutions, Dalton and Empire Finance Case Study

Business Law, Sparkle Solutions, Dalton and Empire Finance - Case Study Example Finally, the paper will also incorporate the amendments that are to be made in the Irish legal system pertaining to the bail system (Quinn 2009). It is imperative to understand the case before understanding the necessary bail system amendments as well as liability under which the defender is held. In this case, a contract the finance Empire Company sued a contract cleaning company, Sparkles Solutions because of Sparkle Solutions employee Dalton, who stole a large amount of money from Empire Finance office. Despite that Dalton has been caught by the police due to the criminal charges and has been suspended by the Sparkle Solutions, the Empire Company intends to sue them to recover their financial loss of  Ã¢â€š ¬25,000 because of the burglary (Ireland, Great Britain 2010). The finance company which is the Empire Company in this case can report their complaint against the Sparkle Solutions to the District court, before a judge without a jury. It is suggested because they need their money back and for that they can just file a case against the contract company Sparkles Solution and offend them of their irresponsibility towards their employee or may be about their involvement in the burglary act. The Sparkle Solutions Company can appeal to the Central Criminal Court before the jury as they have taken initiatives on their employee Dalton’s act of burglary by firing him and sending him to the jail for his crime. This way they can defend themselves from the offences of the finance company, before the jury and the judge. In California, a person named Alan S. Lewis who was 51 was accused of burglary, and grand theft in the sale annuities and he was charged with the $300,000 by 12 clients for the fraud and the burglary issues. The court threw 29 felony charges on him and misdemeanor against him. He spent minimum of four months

My Online Personal Presence Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

My Online Personal Presence - Assignment Example   The knowledge that I have gained over the years while studying at the University of Salford would greatly aid me in this task.   In addition, I would also study the literature that is available online regarding the topic. The topics posted would be written in simple English so that they can be easily understood by everyone. Furthermore, I would try and avoid using technical terms as much as possible to ensure that individuals who are not related to the field of BIT could also understand the topic with ease. With each post, the topics would get more and more advanced and would eventually discuss work that is currently being carried out in the field of BIT. Once an article is written it would then be scanned using certain SEO tools that would help detect the number of keywords used and help determine the rank that it would achieve.   Once a satisfactory rank is obtained I would post the article on the blog and publicize it using all the social media profiles I had refined earli er on. Visitors that would read my blogs would also be given the option to post comments and their opinions of what they think about the content of the blog.   The comments would act as feedbacks and would help me spot the areas I am weak in.The basic idea of writing a blog is basically to help me demonstrate my learning and research skills that I have developed over time. The demonstration of these skills would help figure an individual out the level of understanding of BIT I have developed with time.... Once I obtain my master’s degree I would try and gain entry into public service where I would have a chance to work for the betterment of the community. Using the knowledge that I develop during my years as a student I would develop policies that would help in the implementation of public programs and would also aid in the efficient management of employees. Module where I have achieved success: Of all the modules that I have studied so far at the university I have had a great deal of success with Dynamic Web Development and Advanced Web Design modules. One of the main reasons why these modules came so easily to me is because prior to my studies at University of Salford I worked as websites designer. Skills that I learnt there greatly helped me with my understanding of the course and the lectures being given by my tutors. Areas of interest: One of my greatest interests has been regarding social media websites. I have always maintained an account on some of the top social networ king websites over the past few years. Through these websites I have been able to reach a number of individuals and learnt how to optimize my profiles. Through the use of social networking websites I would be able to increase my online prominence and be able to promote various websites and blogs that would relate to my background and would provide vital information about my qualifications and skills. Online identity that requires amendment: Currently I have a number of accounts on various social media websites. The most prominent and frequently social networking websites that I use are Facebook, twitter, Google+ and YouTube. The first task that I was carrying out is that i had

Book Review for Principles of Curriculum Construction Essay

Book Review for Principles of Curriculum Construction - Essay Example makes serious note of this, and, as powerful examples of his approach in this book, Gardner describes an education that illuminates the theory of evolution, the music of Mozart, and the lessons of the Holocaust, for instance. Within this book, Gardner envisions an education that preserves the strengths of a traditional humane education while at the same time fully preparing younger generations for the many challenges that will face them in the future. This book is truly one of great intelligence and efficiency, and there are many different issues within it that need to be discussed in order to be able to actually gain a proper and knowledgeable understanding on the book and the purpose of the book overall. The aim of this paper is to show the reasoning and purpose behind the book, as well as the key and significant issues that are dealt within the book. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Howard Gardner is a man whose work around multiple intelligences has had an incredibly profound impact on thinking and practice in education, and although his theory of multiple intelligences has not yet been readily accepted within academic psychology, it has however met with a strongly positive response from many educations, and as well it has truly been embraced by a range of educational theorists and, significantly, applied by teachers and policymakers to the problems of schooling. In this particular book of his, Gardner makes several points in particular quite major, such as the fact of how he believes that there is much more information that students need to know compared to the amount that they are presently receiving. The way in which Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences has been translated into policy and practice has really been quite varied, and although Gardner certainly did not initially spell out the actual implications of his theory for educators in any detail, but subsequently, he has worked by looking more closely at what the theory

Human resources. Recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Human resources. Recruitment - Essay Example 12). She pointed out that there are three recruitment stages. These stages include the efforts by the organization to extend to the applicant populace to influence a little segment of them to become applicants. Another phase includes the efforts of the company to convince applicants to continue to be engrossed in the organization and to carry on following the job opportunity in anticipation of the organization determining whether to propose to them a position. Another phase is the attempts to influence people to accept job offers. Barber (1998) characterizes these phases as producing applicants, sustaining applicant standing, and controlling job preference. This study will examine what kind of competence does Norrona as a company searching for their new employees. The study will also explore the challenges in meeting the standards and qualifications of each position in the company. The second part of the study will evaluate the challenges of the demands of the candidate's competence in Norrona. Norrona is a small-medium business that was started by the managers grandfather in 1947. The company distributes catering equipment (range includes, cutlery, china, glassware, tableware, bar products, utensils, fryers, ranges, burners, grills, fridges, ware washing, furniture. At present, they are one of the largest company in Norways, their head office is in Stavenger also have other branches in Oslo, Kristiansand, Harstad and Bodo. The HR concept defined earlier will be related to various HR alternate approaches. One of these approaches is the recruitment and selection of the employees. These approaches are two important human resource activities and typically the first steps done in hiring employees. Usually, the initial operations of an organization are made of informal recruitment and selection processes. However, as the organization becomes more mature, the need for a well-established human resource practice becomes realized. This is where the concept of HRP becomes integrated. Through the HRP, formal recruitment and selection processes have been established and practiced; with this integration, organization are able to attract more suitable applicants for specific jobs. According to Cummings (2001), the introduction of more formal human resource recruitment and selection practices resulted to a more extensive use of private and government employment agencies, referrals as well as newspaper advertisements for offering job opportunities. This turnout was confirmed by more recent researches (Burnes, 1996); this finding was even correlated to the continuous growth of several organizations. For selection procedures, interview was the most common technique used by organizations. However, so as to screen the applicants more effectively with fewer errors, multiple selection techniques had also been employed. Barbeschi (2002) concluded that in both large and small firms, employees are selected through one on one interviews. In addition to this technique, some organizations even use panel interviews and written examinations in selecting employees. I. Since Norrona is one of the biggest companies in Norway, it intends to employ more workers every year. Being one of the companies with the most number of branches, this number is considerably accurate for the operations of

Health care Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health care Concepts - Essay Example It also provides us with the constraints faced by our health care arrangement. Week 4- Rising Costs of Health Care: The rising costs present us with some of the challenges that are faced by the health care arrangement. It helps identify these areas that would need further research and improvements to make the arrangement more efficient. It also shows the goals of the US health care arrangement. Pharmaceutical Industry: Presents us with some knowledge on the industry where drugs are developed, produced and marketed. It presents us with the process that a drug has to go through before it is licensed as a medication. Health care Reform topic provides us with a rubric for discussing the health care policy creation and the changes on the policies. It presents the policies that have been developed on matters affecting the health care arrangement. Health care Reform topic two, introduces us to the debates surrounding the health care arrangement and issues on access, fairness, quality and sustainability of the health care arrangement. Medicare/ Medicaid: In this week we are introduced to the concepts of Medicaid which is a government program that provides health care related services. These are rather separate programs but all fall under the section of health and human services. We are introduced to the services that are provided by these programs. Medical Ethics: This topic introduces the students to the code of ethics that ranges from: compassion, human dignity, and support in the health care, education, improvements in the community, responsibilities of the medical practitioners and the aspects of professionalism and upholding honesty in the health care arrangement. Alternative Medicine: We are introduced to a broad range of approaches, therapies, healing processes and those that are not commonly used and unacceptable in the health care arrangement. Health Care Literacy: In this topic we are introduced to the currency of success essential in

Flexural Test For Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer Coursework

Flexural Test For Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer - Coursework Example After that a flexural test will be done using a three point bending method. The main objective of this experiment is to expand the knowledge about the GFRP and its behaviour. Glass fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester (GFRP) were subjected to water immersion tests to know the results of the water absorption on the mechanical properties. 20 specimens with 10cm long of GFRP were used to this experiment, measuring their weight under different types of water and temperatures. Salt water and normal water was under 20c and 60c temperatures. The weight of these specimens was taken during a different time periods. The weight of the GFRP specimens was increased slightly in both types of water for a few days until it was stable. After that a flexural test (three point bending test) was done on these GFRP specimens. (H Dhakal, Z Zhang, M Richardson, 2006) Equipment 1: Water absorption test The absorption of water for the Glass fibre-reinforced polyester (GFRP) remains the key mechanism for de grading mechanical property in this experiment. A water bath machine as in the figure (ten) and two cups of glass as on the figure (eleven) were used in this experiment. The water bath has 6oc water and the two cups were at 20c water temperature. The weights of one single specimen from each group were taken in a different time periods.     ... Group 1 and 2 were in two jars marked with A and B as on the figure (thirteen). Jar A was containing fresh water and jar B was containing salt water. The 2 jars were inside a water bath machine at 60c water temperature. Group 3 and 4 were in two cups of glass marked with A and B as on figure (eleven). Cup A was containing fresh water at 20c and cup B was containing salt water at 20c as well. Every group has five specimens. The weights of one single specimen from each group were taken in a different time periods using a sensitive scale as on figure (fourteen). At the first day the weight was taken every hour for 6 hours. After that the weight was taken once every day until the weight is settled. At the end the flexural test was done for all the specimens and every specimen has its own flexural graph. Figure thirteen: jars at 60c temperature Figure fourteen: sensitive scale Results and Discussion: Water absorption test Water absorption test were conducted by immersing the GFRP specimen s in de-ionised water and salt water. The water bath machine at 60c was containing 2 groups, group 1 was in A jar containing a normal water and group 2 was in B jar containing a salt water. Groups 3 and 4 were at 20c in a glass cups group 3 was in A glass cup containing a normal water and group 4 was in B glass cup containing a salt water. The immersion for the specimens into the water was totally for 144hr. after immersion for 1hr, one specimen from each group were taken out of the water and all surface water was removed with a clean soft dry cloth. The specimens were weighed regularly at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 24, 48, 72, up to 144hr. ( H Dhakal, Z Zhang ,M Richardson ,2006) After immersion the GFRP specimens into the water for a week at ambient temperature at 60c and 20c, all

Magnetic Tape Essay Example for Free

Magnetic Tape Essay Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders. A device that stores computer data on magnetic tape is a tape drivOver years, magnetic tape can suffer from deterioration called sticky-shed syndrome. Caused by absorption of moisture into the binder of the tape, it can render the tape unusable. Merits: Capacity * One of the key advantages of magnetic tape is its capacity for holding data. Magnetic tape was the first medium able to hold a feature-length movie on a small, inexpensive device, thus enabling the home video market of the 1980s. In addition, compact cassettes can hold music on both sides, giving them a 90-minute total playing time, which is even greater than most CDs. Editing * Magnetic tape is also easy to edit using a traditional linear-editing system. This can involve duplicating a portion of a tape to a master reel, or physically cutting the tape and attaching the desired portions together with glue, splicing cement or adhesive tape. Editing in this manner requires no special computer equipment and may be less expensive and/or easier to learn than nonlinear digital editing. DEMERITS: Generation Loss * One of the disadvantages of magnetic tape is generation loss, which refers to the fact that each successive copy of a tape loses quality compared to the original. This can make it difficult to use magnetic tape for editing-intensive projects, or when extremely high fidelity is important. Digital media, on the other hand, can be copied and reproduced indefinitely with no visible or audible difference between the original and any of its copies. Durability * Another problem with magnetic tape is its tendency to stretch out over time, causing the quality of the data to deteriorate. On old video tapes, this generally appears in the form of poor audio, and picture data can eventually suffer as well. Over time magnetic tape acquires a layer of magnetic debris from recording and playback heads, which may need to be cleaned periodically to continue functioning. Mechanical Complexity * The mechanical complexity needed to use magnetic tape is another disadvantage of the medium. Items like cassette and VHS tapes include two separate reels, as well as a mechanism for exposing a small portion of the tape inside a player or recording device. Reel-to-reel tape players use multiple motors and moving parts, each of which is susceptible to mechanical failure. In the realm of digital media, flash-based memory uses no moving parts, thus eliminating this problem. Advantages and Disadvantages of a USB Flash Drive February 27, 2012 Advantages and disadvantages Advantages Compared to hard drives, flash drives use little power, have no fragile moving parts, and for most capacities are small and light. Data stored on flash drives is impervious to mechanical shock, magnetic fields, scratches and dust. These properties make them suitable for transporting data from place to place and keeping the data readily at hand. Flash drives also store data densely compared to many removable media. In mid-2009, 256 GB drives became available, with the ability to hold many times more data than a DVD or even a Blu-ray disc,[2] Most personal computers support USB as of 2010. Flash drives implement the USB mass storage device class so that most modern operating systems can read and write to them without installing device drivers. The flash drives present a simple block-structured logical unit to the host operating system, hiding the individual complex implementation details of the various underlying flash memory devices. The operating system can use any file system or block addressing scheme. Some computers can boot up from flash drives. Specially manufactured flash drives are available that have a tough rubber or metal casing designed to be waterproof and virtually â€Å"unbreakable†. These flash drives retain their memory after being submerged in water, and even through a machine wash. Leaving such a flash drive out to dry completely before allowing current to run through it has been known to result in a working drive with no future problems. Channel Five‘s Gadget Show cooked one of these flash drives with propane, froze it with dry ice, submerged it in various acidic liquids, ran over it with a jeep and fired it against a wall with a mortar. A company specializing in recovering lost data from computer drives managed to recover all the data on the drive.[42] All data on the other removable storage devices tested, using optical or magnetic technologies, were destroyed. Disadvantages Main article: Flash memory#Limitations Like all flash memory devices, flash drives can sustain only a limited number of write and erase cycles before the drive fails.[43][unreliable source?][44] This should be a consideration when using a flash drive to run application software or an operating system. To address this, as well as space limitations, some developers have produced special versions of operating systems (such as Linux in Live USB)[45] or commonplace applications (such as Mozilla Firefox) designed to run from flash drives. These are typically optimized for size and configured to place temporary or intermediate files in the computer’s main RAM rather than store them temporarily on the flash drive. Most USB flash drives no longer include a write-protect mechanism, although a small number have a switch on the housing of the drive itself to keep the host computer from writing or modifying data on the drive. Write-protection makes a device suitable for repairing virus-contaminated host computers without risk o f infecting the USB flash drive itself. A write-locked SD card in a USB flash card reader adapter is an effective way to avoid any writes on the flash medium. The SD card as a WORM device has an essentially unlimited life. A drawback to the small size is that they are easily misplaced, left behind, or otherwise lost. This is a particular problem if the data they contain are sensitive (see data security). As a consequence, some manufacturers have added encryption hardware to their drives—although software encryption systems which can be used in conjunction with any mass storage medium achieve the same thing. Most drives can be attached to keychains, necklaces and lanyards. The USB plug is usually fitted with a removable and easily lost protective cap, or is retractable. USB flash drives are more expensive per unit of storage than large hard drives, but are less expensive in capacities of a few tens of gigabytes as of 2011 Maximum available capacity is increasing with time, but is less than larger hard drives. This balance is changing, but the rate of change is slowing.. Most USB based flash technology integrates a printed circuit board with a metal tip which is simply soldered on. As a result the stress point is where the two pieces join. Some manufacturers quality control does not ensure a proper solder temp further weakening the stress point. Since many Flash Drives stick out from a users laptop or PC they are likely to be bumped repeatedly in their life time and may break at the stress point. Most of the time a break at the stress point results in permanent damage to the printed circuit board where the joint is torn from the circuit. However, some manufacturers produce discreet flash drives that do not stick out and others use a solid metal uni-body that has no easily discernible stress point.

Influence of Asias Economy on Australia

Influence of Asias Economy on Australia People call 21st century an Asian Century because of Asia’s rise, which leads to a huge change in global power and opulence to Asia or more precisely, move to Asia after peculiar centuries. The inferences for Australians and Australia are intensive, and also they will effect on every part of both external and domestic policy. It is considered to be perilous to extrapolate from the trends that are current. But comparative growth rates of economic, investment and trade patterns, defense capacities, population futures, and impact in worldwide decision making platforms all are directing towards one direction. Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister of Australia implied the economic numbers last September while declaring the White Paper commissioning on Australia in the Asian Century, are humbly spectacular. Advancement done by Japan and after that by Asian Tigers i.e. Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong, or by Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia recently, have been laid in the dark by the vivid performance of India and China. In the last twenty years, these two giant countries have already gained the 40% of the world’s population and also they have enhanced their economic size nine times, while China doubles its economy after every eight years and India after eleven years. They both together have grown their economy in the last two decades and capture almost the fifth part out of tenth of the world’s economy, and further after two decades it can be seen that they will project their economy from fifth to third. China now is the second largest economy of the world and now on its way to become the first in the coming twenty years, or even may be earlier. At the same time, India is trying to exceed the US economy by the mid-century if they are successful in acquiring the power terms. If we talk about per capita term then neither India nor China will be rich enough because of the fact of their tension and internal problem. However, it cannot change the simple truth of a big wealth shift. The growth of economic has been followed by prominent escalations in the military expenses by both India and China, this is 2010 news, after US the China is ranked in second number while India at ninth after France, UK, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Russia. In this modern age, one cannot think about the war between the world’s main powers, power is all about the political influence or its about perception, or it can be defined in terms of military capability, and it can be seen from this context that India and China are making absolute progress in this military weight. The white paper will focus devastatingly on domestic policy settings that how we should gear or take maximum benefit of the great opportunities, especially economic opportunities, from management of macroeconomic, to trade, innovation or industry, training and education, infrastructure, immigration, business regulation, arts and the environment. This paper will mainly focus on the main challenges for Australian foreign policy. In the Asian Century, there are many challenges that are posed for Australia. First is to abstain from the zero sum game option in the terms with US and China; second to maintain a healthy relations with India; third to establish a good relationship with Indonesia; fourth to take part in the establishment of security cooperation and regional economic mechanisms in which Australia is seen as the effective and relevant player. In considering not only the extent but also the nature of foreign policy challenges, also having the capability to perform something in favor of them, it could be profitable to say somewhat in more general manner about the national interest of Australian and the weaknesses and strengths. To every other country the foreign policy primary role is to advance and protect the national interests, and it can be defined firstly by security interest at one hand and on the other hand it can be trade and economic interests; there is nothing more important for any country to guard the country form attack or threat or to enhance the quality of living and income of its people. This idea is based on the fact that there are many problems in the modern world that oblige not just bilateral or unilateral but supportive multilateral act to solve the problem. It can be terrorism, piracy to climate change, mass massacre crimes, from health plagues to unstructured population streams; this is what has been said by Kofi Annan â€Å"Problems without passports†, or international problems or worldwide public problems. Each problem is beyond the capacity of any state to solve, however huge and powerful it is. The ability of any country to follow national interests, in all the dimensions that have been explained above, is its strength promotional by the weakness. Being Self-evident are the Australian strength limits: it will not or will never become the superpower. It is best at middle power, never expected to have military, political or economic influence to force our will on others, and finally dependent on the capacity to admire. But if the Australia plays at middle level diplomacy with the like countries of same characteristics it is possible to generate a healthy relation with the other countries and thus creating a good return in any field. Australia on the other hand is the 12th largest economy, and by landmass it comes at sixth and in maritime zone it comes in third place; it is multicultural country of the world; it shows inimitable viewpoint linking Asia Pacific geography and European history. Individual and peacekeepers of Australia while working in worldwide establishments, both nongovernmental and official, have greatly an exceptional reputation; also as a security alliance with US, we also obey or show strong commitments globally and regionally. The ties between China and US are sound at the moment, enduring some acute connections in 2010 on amount of challenging deeds by China against territorial issues on water over the China Sea towards south, and recently the tension that has been created by the support of US to Chen Guangchen. But still many thinks about this issue that how US will react on the China’s acceleration of Economic Growth. One of the most dangerous or discussed issue of all times in the region is the ill use of nuclear weapons, Washington on the other hand is fully convinced with the performance of Beijing to compel North Korea. In practice by working all the way, and its entailments for how long can we manage our defense carriage and future expenses, in such a way that provides us more comfortable independent security against different ugly possibilities without indulging in such a tension? Australia on the other hand is not interested any more on China’s investment and trade and it can be seen that the relationship is ended with tears, and also with the passage of time Australia has sad that they are not keen in assembling anything from China creating the Cold War strategy. Australia has shown its keens interest in developing a healthy ties with US or South East Asian neighbors. The importance or upswing of India is as important as China, but policymakers have not noticed that. Trade capacities between West and South Asia and East Asia particularly now far offset those over the pacific and they are increasing vividly. China’s growth has been fueled by Gulf oil, and also between the two giants a bilateral trade. There is nothing especial that can alarm Australia, and many among these are happy with this development. Importance of South East Asia in the geographic hub is important due to the fact that it links the South West and North West, same is the case with Australia it also plays a significant role in this action. Australians are now recognizing the importance of Indian economic potential is almost same as that of China. For Australian, India has become a very big market for the natural resources such as gold, coal and copper in general and also the educational services. It can be said that India is the fourth biggest market for export destination of services and goods after Japan, Korea and China and now have the caliber to become the second. In terms of diplomatic, the relations with India are amiable though they are narrow during the Cold War due to some strategies, or due to personality conflict between the PM Menzies and Nehru also they have worked together on different general issues from decades. Australia has a strong tie with India on security issues, too. Indians have strong relation with Australians and consider Australia a perfect place for excursion. But the relation between India and Australia is not as healthy as it should be. There have been seen some episodic disturbance from Indian side. The good place to start with is with the economic relationship, if the bilateral investment and trade ties are to take at some level then there is a need to be an integration of economic with the help of trade agreement which Australia is discussing with the three great partners Japan, Korea and China and it launched an agreement with India. One of the main concerns of the Australian Public policy is that why still Indonesia has not gained the level of understanding and attentions from the leaders than other Asian countries have gained, though it deserves. Mostly people forget about the importance of Indonesia as it comes in number four in the world in area, and it is also the largest Islamic country and the most effective and potential player in ASEAN. The Indonesia in progressing day by day and this cannot be denied that its economy is increasing incredibly and it plays a significant and thoughtful role in both global and regional affairs. There are number of factors that lack the relationship between Australia and Indonesia. One of the factors is the stereotype perception about Indonesia that it is not changed, still some thought as the military dominance, undemocratic, authoritarian, there exist terrorist and a culture that is unknown to Australia. The point is that this concept of stereotype is now obsolete and there in Indonesia there is a proper democratic transformation. There are various factors and issues that are arising over the last number of years, make it authoritative that they are trying to work as hard as they can to implement the policy making architecture, security cooperation and regional economic mechanisms that truly work. There has been seen three basic differences between the Indo Pacific and Asia Pacific, cooperation and dialogue, there is no platform for security that bring all together, another key platform of APEC which plays a significant role in trade facilitation, even if it has not complete the hopes and not lived that much excluding India; there is another platform or forum named as East Asia Summit for policy issues like economic, security and socio political also it excludes the countries like Russia and US. Australia indeed is hopeful and can meet the challenges in foreign policy, but still it needs to be quick and show more reflexes, because things happens, incidents occur, sometimes there have made a misjudgments, peace can be turned into the war, we can see that these things happened in the past and still can be happened again.

Critical Social Work Theoretical Frameworks Social Work Essay

Critical Social Work Theoretical Frameworks Social Work Essay Introduction The essay shall explore and analyse the theoretical underpinnings and key elements of critical social work. The account shall then describe assessment in social work practice contexts and consider how critical social work theories like Marxism, Feminism, Radical Social work and Post Modernism have shaped practice. A range of values ranging from personal, professional, institutional, organisational or agency, political, religious and cultural inevitably feature and must be dealt with in practice. Over and above this lies the social justice, emancipatory agenda vehicle by anti-oppressive approaches. Empathy is required and the social worker must be in the clients shoes (Egan, 1998). Theoretical bases and approaches enable practitioners to cross social divides and be with the client in a supportive way in an accountable and ethical manner. Vast energy must be invested to dispel and challenge both the personal and the structural dominant forces of oppressive practices. The author shall a ttempt to demonstrate how theories have shaped the response approaches to service delivery and contributed to professional practice. Critical Social Work Theoretical Frameworks The emergence of Socialism, Marxism, Liberalism and Conservativism shaped the emerging social professions at the turn of the twentieth century totally and reshaped the manner in which life was understood. How the social, political, economic shaped that reality became core in conceptualising reality and the way humans reacted to the world around them. In most cases socially constructed realities could be explained through the material realities if one was to look at the world through a Marxist perspective. The 1960-70s interpretation of social problems, described as the rediscovery of poverty. Marxist principles understood the world as socially divided by class, rendering some classes more susceptible to poverty than others as economically determined by having no control of the means of production. Marxist theory locates class struggle as a means of redressing this kind of socio-economic imbalance and the inequality The core elements in this phase were modes of production and power, t he equality that came with the package and the desire for change, social change could only be achieved through class struggle. The human position could thus be understood as driven and controlled by the external, in this case the poor as the oppressed group desired change. Social works role involves working with peoples lives, social problems centred on poverty and disadvantage and the core business involves establishing balance, social stability and social justice. Intervention without challenging social exclusion, inequality and poverty has proved to be insufficient yet traditional social work pathologised the individual. At the early phases social work was more about maintaining public order and suppressing civil unrest and class struggle rather than getting down to the core issues of poverty alleviation and challenging the sources and reasons for the differences that affected the people. Norms of behaviour and lifestyle for the people were determined by the eligibility criteria as the beneficiary elements of philanthropic interventions more than rights driven determinants. Radical social work emerged to instil that it was in fact a political activity. Social work should be about supporting those in need, challenging inequality and social change, not social control dealing with material realities. With radical social work emerged the community element in social work, conscious raising approach, gradual incremental change in the process and oppositional activism. As the profession developed critical social work begins to understand oppressive forces and work to reconstruct power imbalances (Thompson, 2007; Dominelli, 1988; Braye and Preston-Shoot Radical social work had been too minimalistic and was criticised for over focussing on class and paying no attention to other forms of inequalities. Bhatti- Sinclair (2011) argues that social workers remain committed to human rights, ethics and values and continuously seek a sharper understanding of how to apply theoretical concepts found in universal humanitarian principles, professional ethics and national law, policy and procedure. (xii) Inclusivity and citizenship are the main targets in critical social work practice as opposed to viewing people as collective groups (Glaister, 2008). Anti-oppressive practice thereby pursues social justice and challenges practice discrimination and oppression bluntly. Engagement with social reality must involve critiquing of social systems and structures, and set platforms for social change and difference. The approach has an ethical commitment to social justice by exposing inequalities and challenging unequal power dynamics in society. The manner in which society functions has structures that can either oppress or liberate some social groups. As the practitioner works, there is undoubtedly the challenge of professionally compliant. Social Work Practice Approaches Critical social work practice at all times engages with how other people on the other social, cultural, religious divide are understood by us. Understanding diversity and how personal views and values are located must be a constant reflective professional commitment. Personal or societal perceptions are shaped over time or driven by historical and socio-political realities/environments must be understood. Where stereotypes have been shaped over time in individuals; a professional operational base must be adopted. Braye, S Preston-Shoot, M (2003) challenge hypocritical professionalism by arguing that personal values and attitudes will always be there, the issue is that they should not affect effective service delivery. This is the heart of critical social work practice; being able to transcend the personal and being a professional. Social work can challenge or maintain status quo and that social workers are invested with power to care and control. In the context of what shall be discussed later about assessments, Braye Preston-Shoot (2003) state that, Preparation for and review of practice requires workers to understand themselves, their relationship with and impact on others, and their strengths and weaknesses in relation to maintaining a professional role (2003:135). Respect is necessary both when working with service users and fellow colleagues. As explored in Thompsons model PCS, Social work must explore the personal, cultural and structural dimensions of discrimination, and how these come together, and can be challenged in different ways (Dominelli, 2009). Social work must not reinforce oppression, discrimination or any inequality. Social work can reinforce patriarchal and other oppressive systems and power relations. There are social realities that social work either challenges reinforce, statistically ethnic minority groups generally experience higher rates of unemployment, live in poorer housing, have poorer health, lower levels of academic achievement, higher rates of exclusions from schools and are over-represented in prison statistics. Families who are from black and ethnic minority groups are more likely to be referred to childrens social work services, receive support services later, and children are more likely to go into the care system. There are other forms of prejudice, inequality and discrimination which can intersect, and these can affect people in many different ways. In light of these objective realities, what could be the drivers of such realities? What ideas are generated about the social group and how could this impact on a practitioners judgement when dealing with an individual from BME groups. The same applies when working with Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children, awareness of professional responsibility and a social justice approach when conducting an age assessment must be the practice base. The Human rights and child rights must be appropriately accorded without discrimination. Another example is that of mother blaming in a child protection cases. Feminist theory has challenged this gendered approach to problem solving where the female is mostly at the centre of the problem yet ignores the men from the social causal matrix. As a result of critical social work a shift has developed where the whole domestic environment and people must be part of the issue at hand. If all are not challenged this practice reinforces the interests of some groups over others and oppresses women. Assessment Process Middleton (1997) describes assessment as part of the planning agenda involving gathering and interpreting information in order to understand a person and their circumstances. It involves making judgements based on information. (Middleton, 1997:5). The process here involves respect for the individuals values, their core identity and judgements are made without being judgemental. Selective and stereotypical considerations must be avoided, labelling and categorising people and overlooking their individuality and can allow elements of discrimination to permeate the process which must otherwise not be affected by individual values and perspectives. As argued by Clifford (1998) it is important that social workers check their individual biases and ensure that these do not affect the manner in which they undertake assessments. In direct link with critical social work, assessments must be informed by critical theory to enhance a balanced, just and anti-oppressive assessment process. Personal views held by the social worker must not occupy any space in the assessment process for the sake of justice, fair access to services anti-discriminatory practice. Parker and Bradley (2005) argue that a balanced approach of an assessment involves wisdom, skills, appreciation of diversity and systematically applied knowledge in direct practice. Service users must feel that they benefit from the assessment process for it to be effective (Addock, 2001) and the social worker and family members must collectively contribute to the process. This involvement enriches the process and eliminates subjective approaches to the assessment. Social work practice and critical approaches intersect; the worker must be conscious of their personal beliefs and values and strike a responsible, ethical and professional balance in the manner the assessment and intervention is conducted and be honest and explicit with service users. (Parker Bradley, 2005: 7). Extensive knowledge of the service users environmental and living systems and the wider systems that impinge on them must be key determinants in assessments (Parker Bradley 2005:13) .Service user involvement is empowering and demonstrates citizenship and self driven responsibility as human worth. Understanding power dynamics in assessments Power relations inherent in the social work process must be carefully managed and ensure a balanced contributory approach whereby an exchange model would can adopted to acknowledge that the service users are experts of their situations. Service users and social workers exchange ideas, information and ways forward to make a difference and find alternative ways of approaching as collective partners (Parker Bradley, 2005:14). In terms of skills this involves actively listening to service users being available for them, a professional and non-judgemental or non directive approach, straight and honest talk and social justice pursuit. (Parker Bradley, 2005). Child centred assessments must be informed by child development theories, ecological approaches, ensuring equality of opportunity, involvement of families and an interagency approach ensures collective creative interventions. When working with unaccompanied asylum seeking children for example, Culturegrams help in analysing the impact of culture in the lives of those individuals and families being assessed (Parker Bradley, 2005:50-53). This can be very useful when working with BME groups as well as refugees and asylum seekers in a broader context. Values of the families and individuals are explored and these help shape the nature of the intervention where the individual shapes the course of the intervention as opposed to it being driven by the powerful professionals. Multiculturalism and social work Multiculturalism is a 21st Century challenge as citizenship recognition and integration a modern society characteristic. Critical multiculturalism suggests that social workers need to intellectually engage with the issues of difference and citizenship, in a manner that detaches practice from monoculturalist norms (Powell, 2001:146). Social workers are practically challenged to interrogate the value assumptions of their approach and assess principles and values they use in practice. If social workers are to avoid narrative repression, they need to be capable of challenging discursive hierarchies of meaning in their practice. (Powell, 2001:146). This becomes the reflexive component in the intervention. This involves challenging the very systems that they use and lobby for the change in structural elements that could be oppressing the very people they would be working with. Feminist social work engages in redressing gender inequalities, this could be the mother blaming attitude that it challenges. Critical social work engages a need for awareness by practitioners, a transformation of cultural attitudes around race relations, gay rights and the relationship between sexuality, culture and power and of the need for anti-discriminatory practice (Powell, 2001:149). In order to meet the professional demands of the profession, social workers must seek guidance and close the gap between personal values and professional practice. This must make constant reference to human rights, equality, discrimination and racism (Bhatti- Sinclair, 2011). Fook (2000) argues that expert critical social workers are able to create critical knowledge which challenges and resists all forms of domination. Anti-racist practice Dominelli (2008) points out that anti-racist practice beyond that presented in Thompsons (2007) PCS model by emphasising on its interactional nature. For Dominelli (2008) racism is a multidimensional form of oppression over and above discrimination Institutional and Cultural racism are structurally associated and viewed as less evil than the personal racism which society frowns upon, yet the is no better racism. If practitioners hand over responsibility of BME issues to BME staff this may be problematic as it may result in a lack of obligation by white social workers to anti-racist practice and reinforce difference. Institutional practices must be professionally compliant (Bhatti- Sinclair, 2011:128) at their own level. Treatment of black families/children hits them every day and there are challenges that the social workers have to deal with in the face of these ingrained stereotypical views of the good white family and the bad black family. Dominelli (2008) argues that challenging how white people perceive black families is only possible within positive trusting relationships. Nomadic settlers fall into the same category where as the minority ethnic groups where stereotypical assumptions exist that can influence the social work process. To work with individuals on the autistic spectrum requires knowledge and understanding of autism. Knowledge of the conditions characteristics, the basic understanding of the triad of impairments is necessary for use in the social work process. The individuals must not be viewed as unwilling to engage due their limited social interaction skills but must be understood and appropriate communication systems used. For example, instead of talking through an assessment; picture boards, games of their interest, familiar environments and using their preferred mode of communication would help to involve them, engage them and remove a possible stereotypical view that they cannot make decisions. If this process does not involve them, the likelihood is that anti-oppressive practice would have been failed. Good practice recognises individuality and this permeates through the social work process. Assessment process in practice The authors work experience with a forty year old autistic man in Coventry stands as a unique example of the complexity of service user involvement and creativity aimed at raising the level of positive outcomes in reviewing a care plan. The only established access point for his contributions was when he was away from home, on the bus. During any travel by bus, he livened up and opened up, expressed his views about the service he was receiving and it was the best time to evaluate the support care plan, conversationally in a bus. Working around the individuals world helped the social care provider to reach out to the very important needs that an office based assessment could not achieve. The bus environment had no powerful/powerless unequal binary dynamic in it. It was his comfort zone. Failure to recognise individual likes, obsessions and sensory issues in autistic individuals can hinders the social work process. Effective assessments can only be achievable when the service user is lo cated at the centre of the process by use of approaches that promote social change and justice. Challenging discrimination in practice Children are often described as vulnerable, innocent, in need of protection and lacking experience. If not carefully approached the child may be sidelined from the assessment process and overshadowed by adult ideas. If it is around abuse in the home, it is the childs experience and not the adults experience that must take precedence with the child as the expert. The Lamming Report emphasised the need to see the world through the eyes of the child. The role of the social worker in practice is to challenge discrimination, exclusion of socially excluded groups like children. Children have been looked at as subjects and the critical approach locates them as able to shape and voice. Failure to recognise children and the social workers relatively powerful position practitioners reinforce oppression. The critical practitioner engages service users to facilitate the telling of their stories in the assessment process. Law is used to counter oppressive practice and sets out operational parameters for professionals to deal with racism and be aware that discrimination is unlawful (Race relations Act 1976 Equality Act 2006, Bhatti- Sinclair, 2011).To overcome the practice challenge, social workers have looked up to anti-racist advocates for guidance on methods and models which respond ethically, effectively and efficiently to daily challenges and dilemmas (Bhatti- Sinclair, 2011). Training and existing regulatory bodies like the HCPC enable practice to be justice based by requiring professionalism by the workforce through compliance and guidance. The Professional capabilities Framework requires the worker to Recognise and manage the impact on people of the power invested in your role (PCF 33) and standards of proficiency calls on the need to recognise the power dynamics in relationships with service users and carers and be able to manage those dynamics appropriately (SoPS 2.8). Formalised assessments aid in injecting consistency Crisp et al (2005) argues that the absence of a formalised assessment framework results in subjective assessments. Professionally trained and skilled workers enhance a fair assessment. Assessments must not just look at behaviour, but also the cause of the behaviour in a holistic way in order to make correct judgements and this is achieved through service user participation in the process. Milner Byrne, (2002) postulate that the assess ment there is need for mapping before planning the assessment journey. This involves knowing the child, engaging them and drawing their strengths in order to shape appropriate support (Dominelli Payne, 2002). Involvement Effective anti-racist, anti-oppressive practice must be drawn from practice intelligence, applied research and service users involvement. Empowering practice has an involvement and integration component as opposed to exclusion practice approaches by lack of appropriate language and culture awareness (Bhatti- Sinclair, 2011).Structurally, well planned and coordinated assessments and interventions involve the service user and must respond sensitively to their needs. Awareness of our own prejudices and past experiences and ideas must be non-threatening to clients (Lindsay, 2010) .Interactive polarisation between the social worker and client can undermine social work effectiveness whereupon families and individuals are pathologised either as unreachable or resistant. Positive communication enhances the relationship building (Kaprowska 2010:5) which is the key to an accurate assessment. Individuals with disabilities often argue that social workers assessments of them emphasise more on impairment and less on being seen as human, instead assessments must explore their individual abilities. In addition when working with individuals who use minority languages it can become a barrier for an accurate assessment hence the need to plan assessments for these individuals with full awareness of this key communication element in order to ensure the service users involvement. This could be necessitated by translators or minority language speaking social workers. Similarly, when working with the elderly, assessments must detect abilities and not reinforce ageist stereotypes, shared power and agreed direction principle. Conclusion The concept of critical practice locates the social worker as an active participant in a process of interpreting and understanding relationships and communication that must cut across difference. Over and above assumptions, prejudices, personal beliefs, structural frameworks; the critical practitioner must be reflexive and engaged in an empowering way whilst being aware of personal and socio-cultural origins and belief systems and challenging all forms of oppression. Appropriate skills and knowledge must be incorporated for the social work process to be effective.