Friday, May 31, 2019

Is College Worth The Effort? Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Is College Worth The Effort? College has been a total waste of your time and moneyImagine telling that to a student who only if finished four years of hard, grueling, expensive work or, even worse, a parent who paid for their child to finish that same grueling work. But, in virtually ways, that statement cant be any further from the truth. College can prepare a student for life in so many much ways than for a career. However, in the way that college is supposed to prepare soon-to-be-productive students, that statement could be right on. As a student myself, Ive found college to be a little bit of both. I often find myself asking, How will this help me later in life? But, then again, college gives me more control all over my life and where I want it to go. In trying to figure out what exactly made college like this, and whether the way I felt was felt by others as well, I interviewed an Anthropology teacher at Las Positas College, Mr. toby jug Coles, and I examined an essay by C aroline Bird called College is a Waste of Time and Money. The two sources offered provoke views from both side of the spectrum.While interviewing Mr. Coles, I found I tended to accede with him on several of his points. Mr. Coles summed up himself, and how I feel, quite simply College gives you options. Unlike mellow school, youre not required to fulfill a certain number of units in one year. If you have other plans for your life, you can accommodate those while passing to school. But, that applies not only while youre in college, but also when you get out of college. Lifes about choices, Mr. Coles continued, its about having choices. You postdate to critical points in your life where decisions have to be made, hopefully you have some options...... ...of the basic purposes of education career preparation. I dont agree with this at all. I think that college should really be a little of both. Obviously you go to college to get a degree, which starts you in a career, so thats the career preparation part of it. But, theres also so much more to college that helps you with later in life.Both views that Caroline Bird and Mr. Toby Coles had on what college does for a student are opposing, but both are interesting. I dont feel that college has been a waste of my time or money. At least not yet. Works Cited Bird, Caroline. College is a Waste of Time and Money. The Norton Reader An Anthology of Expository Prose. 9th ed. Ed. Linda H. Peterson et. al. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 481-490.Coles, Flournoy Toby, Anthropology Teacher, Las Positas College. Personal Interview. 19 April, 1999

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Government Corruption Essay -- Corruption in Government

Over the last few years, the issue of corruption--the abuse of public office for private gain--has attracted refreshed interest, both among academics and policymakers. There argon a subjugate of reasons why this topic has come under recent inspection. Corruption scandals have toppled regimens in both major industrial countries and developing countries. In the transition countries, the happy chance from command economies to free market economies has created massive opportunities for the appropriation of rents, excessive profits, and has often been accompanied by a change from a well-organized system of corruption to a more chaotic and deleterious one. With the end of the cold war, donor countries have placed less emphasis on political considerations in allocating foreign sanction among developing countries and have paid more attention to cases in which aid funds have been misused and have not reached the poor. And s embarrassed economic increase has persisted in many countries with malfunctioning institutions. This renewed interest has led to a new flurry of empirical research on the causes and consequences of corruption. Economists know quite a bit about the causes and consequences of corruption. An important body of knowledge was acquired through theoretical research done in the 1970s by Jagdish Bhagwati, Anne Krueger, and Susan Rose-Ackerman, among others. A key regulation is that corruption can occur where rents exist--typically, as a result of government regulation--and public officials have discretion in allocating them. The classic example of a government restriction resulting in rents and rent-seeking behavior is that of an import quota and the associated licenses that civil servants give to those entrepreneurs willing to pay bribes. More recently, researchers have begun to test some of these long-established theoretical hypotheses using new cross-country data. Indices produced by private rating agencies grade countries on their levels of corrupt ion, typically using the replies to standardized questionnaires by consultants living in those countries. The replies are subjective, but the correlational statistics between indices produced by different rating agencies is very high, suggesting that most observers more or less agree on how corrupt countries seem to be. The high prices paid to the rating agencies by their customers (usually multinational companies a... ...e role of other forms of institutional inefficiency. Corruption is most prevalent where there are other forms of institutional inefficiency, such as political instability, bureaucratic red immortalise, and weak legislative and judicial systems. This raises the question of whether it can be established that corruption, rather than other factors correlated with it, is the cause of low economic growth. Regression analysis provides some evidence that if one controls for other forms of institutional inefficiency, such as political instability, corruption can still be shown to reduce growth. Nevertheless, it is hard to show conclusively that the cause of the problem is corruption alone, rather than the institutional weaknesses that are closely associated with it. The truth is that probably all of these weaknesses are intrinsically linked, in the sense that they feed upon each other (for example, red tape makes corruption possible, and corrupt bureaucrats may increase the extent of red tape so they can extract additional bribes) and that getting rid of corruption helps a country overcome other institutional weaknesses, just as reducing other institutional weaknesses helps it curb corruption.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Essay on Abuse of Power in Catch-22 -- Catch-22

The Abuse of Power Exposed in Catch-22 In 1955, Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22. The story takes place on a pocket-sized island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy. As the story progresses, it follows the actions of a man named Yosarrian and his companions in his squadron. Many of the men begin with high outrank and others are promoted throughout the novel. As these men come into function, one of Hellers themes is explicitly shown as men achieve power, they become compelled to abuse it. The story begins with Yosarrian in a hospital. He is there with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being rancor. The doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasnt quite jaundice. If it became jaundice they could treat it. If it didnt become jaundice and went away they could discharge him. But this just short of being jaundice all the time confused them (7). Yosarrian is clever more or less how he fakes his condition and is able to stay in the hospital for as long as he wishes . The doctors in the hospital are blind to the hypocrisy and allow Yosarrian to stay. After Yosarrian realizes that he can deceive the doctors, he returns whenever he wishes to relax and escape from the war. He even kicks other patients with real conditions out of their beds. The ball over patient jumped down to the floor at Yosarrians command and ran away. Yosarrian climbed up into his bed and became Warrant Officer Homer Lumley, who felt like vomiting and was covered on the spur of the moment with clammy sweat (286). Yosarrian likes the way it feels to move into someone elses bed and continues to do abuse this power when at the hospital. Another hospital episode is rather frightening. Yosarrian has been hurt and is semi-conscious as he listens to two ... ...operating, so he allows Milo to take credit for the flights of others. Milo is an example of the worst of the human spirit. His desire to make a quick buck makes him one to easily abuse his power for his own gain. To a certain extent, all men desire power. Yet how much power any man craves depends on his surroundings. In World War II, men were put into a survival of the fittest environment. For many, survival meant obtaining power in order to pull wires their destiny. In Catch-22, Joseph Heller captured that feeling in his characters. From the absurdity of Lieutenant Scheisskopf to Milos syndicate, Heller shows how easily men are able to abuse their power. To this day that feeling lurks someplace inside of all of us. It is just a matter of what it takes for that need to emerge. Works Cited Heller, Joseph. Catch-22, Simon and Schuster, 1955

The Tragedies Of Shakespeare :: essays research papers

The Tragedies Of Shakespeare"Your noble son is hallucinating           Mad call I it, for to define true madness,          What ist but to be nothing else but mad?"(Wells and Taylor, 665)     In Act two, scene two of William Shakespeares mash hamlet, Poloniususes these words to inform Hamlets parents of their sons insanity. He thencontinues on, telling Gertrude and Claudius that the cause of this madness islovesickness everyplace his own lady friend Ophelia (665). From the privilegedperspective of the audience, we know that Polonius is mistaken and that Hamletis far from insane, but rather, "playing mad" for a purpose of his own. Madnessin Shakespearean plays, and in tragedies in particular, is rarely what it seemson the surface. Instead, both madness and the characters experiencing it arelayered with meaning like an onion, layer after layer can be sore off,eventu ally allowing a glimpse at the core concealed within.     Shakespeares treatment of the character Hamlet is typically multi-faceted and complexHamlet appears insane, ostensibly oer Ophelia, however,his madness is feigneda cover for internal conflicts, rooted not in thwartedaffection, but rather in desire to avenge his fathers murder. Hamlet even goesso far as to say his apparent madness is an act when he says "I am but madnorth-north-west when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw"(667).     Shakespeare often used madness, either feigned or actual, as a teachingtool or vehicle to advance his plot. Sometimes this madness was feigned, asevidenced by Hamlet and Edgar (the legitimate son of Gloucester in The Tragedyof King Lear), but separate times it was genuine insanity. Ophelia and LadyMacBeth are obvious examples of Shakespearean characters that have slipped intomadnessOphelia due to the loss of all those dear to her, an d Lady MacBeth fromguilt over the part she played in King Duncans murder. In Hamlet, Opheliasmadness ultimately leads to her demise, and this, in turn, plays a part inHamlets willingness to engage in what will be his final battle. In this sense,it helps advance the play towards its climax.      term Lady MacBeths madness also leads to death, its focus is more onteaching than propelling the story to conclusion. While Lady MacBeth isinitially seen as a cold, conscienceless, calculating woman, intent onadvancing her husband politically (by any means necessary), her characterchanges as the play progresses. Early on in the play, she is abundant of ambitionindeed, upon reading MacBeths letter, she complains about his nature andinaction          Yet do I fear thy nature,          It is too full o th milk of human kindness

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

King Lear :: English Literature Essays

King Lear King Lear is a play written by William Shakespeare that focuses on the relationships of many characters, some good, some evil. This is a great tragedy that is full of injustice at the beginning and the restoring of justice towards the end. The good are misjudged as evil and the evil are accepted as good. It is not until the end of the play that the righteous people are recognized as such. There is great treachery and deceit involved in the hierarchy of English rule. The great mistake in this play was made by Lear when he decided to divide up his kingdom to his three daughters. In decree to determine which share each should get, he had each of his daughters give testimonies of love for him. Cordelia, the youngest, refused to go overboard with her statement. When asked for her testimony, she simply replied, Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my boldness into my mouth. I love your Majesty according to my bond, no more no less.(I,i, ln 91-93) Lear becomes enraged and casts h er off saying, Here I disclaim all my paternal care, resemblance and property of blood, and as a stranger to my heart and me hold this from thee for ever.(I,i, ln 113-116). Some think that Cordelia was prideful, or even a fool in her response, but I believe she was simply being near and true. Another mistake that was made in the course of the play was by the Earl of Gloucester. After being tricked by his phony son, Edmund, into believing that his other son, Edgar, was plotting to kill him, he put all his faith in Edmund, which would eventually lead to his demise. Besides believing that Cordelia was being true and honest to her father, I think that Lear and the Earl of Gloucester were fools, regarding the banishments of their righteous children. After reading this play, I found it hard to believe that Cordelia was being anything but true in her simple contract of love for her father. I cant believe that Shakespeare was trying to portray her as a spoiled, prideful child. I do not believe she was foolish in her ending to restrain from trying to persuade him into giving her a larger portion of his kingdom. I think it was apparent early that Cordelia was struggling with what she was going to say to her father.

King Lear :: English Literature Essays

King Lear King Lear is a play written by William Shakespeare that focuses on the relationships of many characters, some good, some evil. This is a great tragedy that is full of injustice at the beginning and the restoring of justice towards the end. The good are misjudged as evil and the evil are accepted as good. It is not until the end of the play that the righteous people are recognized as such. There is great treachery and deceit involved in the hierarchy of English rule. The great mistake in this play was made by Lear when he decided to divide up his kingdom to his three daughters. In ensnare to determine which share each should get, he had each of his daughters give testimonies of love for him. Cordelia, the youngest, refused to go overboard with her statement. When asked for her testimony, she simply replied, Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my centre of attention into my mouth. I love your Majesty according to my bond, no more no less.(I,i, ln 91-93) Lear becomes enraged and casts her off saying, Here I disclaim all my paternal care, propinquity and property of blood, and as a stranger to my heart and me hold this from thee for ever.(I,i, ln 113-116). Some think that Cordelia was prideful, or even a fool in her response, but I believe she was simply being estimable and true. Another mistake that was made in the course of the play was by the Earl of Gloucester. After being tricked by his scratch son, Edmund, into believing that his other son, Edgar, was plotting to kill him, he put all his faith in Edmund, which would eventually lead to his demise. Besides believing that Cordelia was being true and honest to her father, I think that Lear and the Earl of Gloucester were fools, regarding the banishments of their righteous children. After reading this play, I found it hard to believe that Cordelia was being anything but true in her simple proclamation of love for her father. I cant believe that Shakespeare was trying to portray her as a spoiled, pri deful child. I do not believe she was foolish in her end to restrain from trying to persuade him into giving her a larger portion of his kingdom. I think it was apparent early that Cordelia was struggling with what she was going to say to her father.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Failing to Love Essay

In her story Never Marry a Mexican Sandra Cisneros introduces the reader to the complex issues surrounding the racial and sexual identity of a Mexican-American cleaning lady living in the fall in States. The story is about a Chicana woman and how she seeks r blushge on a sportsmanlike lover who has rejected her by proper the sexual tutor of his teenage son. Cisneros withstand life to the protagonist Clemencia and paints her as a character in a modern day to demonstrate the permeant negative impact on Mexican-American women, especially on Chicanas residing within the United States. Clemencia, the protagonist of the story, thinks draw, remember when you used to call me your Malinalli? It was a joke, a private endorse between us, because you fancyed like a Cortes with that beard of yours. My dark skin against yoursMy Malinalli, Malinche, my courtesan, you said, and yanked my head back by the braid (192). Clemencia is a painter, but she must support herself in other demeanors to o.She sometimes acts as a translator however for Clemencia Spanish is now the native language. In this discussion of her occupation, Clemencia pronounces any way you look at it, what I do to agnise a living is a form of prostitution (181). She feels as though when she is not painting she merely sells herself to make a living, much like La Malinche had to do in her relationship with Cortes. Clemencia constantly allows herself to fall in love with unavailable men who ar everlastingly married and always white. This pattern results from her mothers constant advice, Never Marry a Mexican. Clemencias mother, a lower-class Chicana woman from the United States who married an upper-class Mexican man, felt inescapable discrimination by both her husbands upper-class family and mainstream U.S. society for her dark skin color. Her say to this was to unite out, and supposedly up, by divorcing Clemencias father and marrying a white man.It is because of this example that Clemencia neer sees M exican men as potential lovers. She explains Mexican men, obturate it. For a long time the men clearing off the tables or chopping meat behind the butcher counter or driving the buss I rode to school every day, those werent men. Not men I considered as potential lovers. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Chilean, Columbian, Panamanian, Salvadorean, Bolivian, Honduran, Argentine, Dominican, Venezuelan, Guatemalan, Ecuadorean, Nicaraguan, Peruvian, Costa Rican, Paraguayan, Uruguayan, I dont care. I never sawing machine them. My mother did this to me(179). Here Clemencia is adopting the racist Anglo discourse by lumping all Latinos into one, unified group. Her discussion of Mexican does not distinguish between class and race to her Mexican means busboys, butchers, and bus drivers.Mexican is no longer the nationality of the people of Mexico, but rather a class of servers who happen to be br take. Here Cisneros demonstrates how the racism of overriding society in America is often internali zed and serves to separate the people of disem personneled groups. Cisneros makes a strong statement against internalized racism by showing how Clemencias rejection of men of her own race and obsession with white men ultimately leaves her lonely. Clemencia comes to the frustrating, yet enlightening realization that the white men in her life have, like her, adopted the mantra never marry a Mexican when she remembers the conversation Drew and she had the last night they spent together.Clemencia recalls in an inner dialogue, how we had agreed. All for the best. Surely I could see that, couldnt I? My own good. A good sport. A young girl like me. Hadnt I understoodresponsibilities. You didnt think? Never marry a Mexican. Never marry a Mexican. No of course. I see. I see (186). Now Clemencia is now lost without a proper choice of lovers. Mexicans are out of bounds because she could never marry a Mexican, but she now realizes that white men are also out of bounds because they too could nev er marry a Mexican they could never marry her. Cisneros is therefore demonstrating how internalized racism does not serve to differentiate certain ethnic Mexicans from others in the eyes of white society, and instead only serves to isolate such Mexican-Americans from the culture to which they are supposed to feel connected.By having Clemencia reject the character references of wife and mother and instead embrace the socially deviant mistress role, Cisneros demonstrates how women who refuse socially acceptable roles often must do so at the expense of other women. In an attempt to contract agency that she would otherwise be denied as a married Chicana in dominant, time-honored society, Clemencia embraces the role of the mistress. The mistress, because of her strictly sexual nature, is traditionally regarded as a role that reinforces male dominance in heterosexual relationships. Through her role as mistress and her rejection of the role of wife or mother, she attempts to flake the patriarchal system of conquering and makes allowances for flexibility of gender-role expectations.However because the role of the mistress also depends upon there being another woman, the wife, who is betrayed by both her husband and the mistress, the mistress role does not combat the patriarchal system for all women. It does, in fact, reinforce patriarchal oppression of the wife/mother role. Clemencia seems to have little problem acknowledging her betrayal of other women. She aboveboard tells the reader Ive been accomplice, having caused deliberate pain to other women. Im vindictive and cruel, and Im capable of anything (179). Therefore, in order to escape offer gender roles and claim agency in her sexual relationships, Clemencia hurts other women. Cisneros seems to be saying that mujeres andariegas, or daring women who reject the roles society expects of them, do not service of process to institutionally change society for all women but rather must betray other women in their search for personal freedom. Clemencia attempts to further combat patriarchal gender roles in her sexual relationships the role of el chingn. When describing sex with Drew, she says I leapt inside you and split you like an apple.Opened for the other to look and not give back (185). Here Clemencia not only takes on the mans part by leaping inside, she also executes the violent actions attached to the verb chingar. Clemencia imagines that this sexual aggression empowers her over Drew. She says You were ashamed to be so nakedBut I saw you for what you are, when you opened yourself for me (185). To Clemencia, sexual relations are based on power dynamics, and in order to escape the passive feminine chingada role she must embrace the possessive, dominant, masculine chingn role. Clemencia extends her embodiment of the chingn role into her dealings with the wives, and even a son, of her lovers.More than once she had sex with a lover while his wife was in labor with his child. She confesses it has given me a bit of crazy rejoice to be able to kill those women like thatTo know Ive had their husbands when they were anchored in blue hospital rooms, their guts yanked inside out(184). Clemencias relationship with Drews son is another example of her fulfilling a sort of vindictive sexual satisfaction. She says of him I sleep with this boy, their son. To make the boy love me the way I love his father. To make him want me the way I love his fatherI can tell from the way he looks at me, I have him in my powerI let him nibbleBefore I snap by teeth (187). Therefore she seduces him not to satisfy the burning of her body or hear, but rather to achieve sexual power of the son, which she perceives as giving her indirect power of his parents.Clemencia is ultimately left lonely without a lover, a connection to her culture, or meaningful female friendships. The reason for this lies in the world view Clemencia has inherited from her society. She perceives the world in black and white, in impairment of inescapable binaries between which she must choose. She fails to become an acceptable marriage partner to Drew, she fails to escape being hurt by her lovers even as a mistress. plant life CitedNever Marry a Mexican. Random House, Inc. and Vintage Books1991

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Cost Accounting Essay

OriginsAll types of businesses, whether service, manuf soururing or trading, require apostrophize be to track their activities.1 monetary value accounting has long been used to help managers witness the be of running a business. Modern constitute accounting originated during the industrial revolution, when the daedalities of running a large scale business led to the development of systems for recording and tracking be to help business owners and managers flip decisions. In the previous(predicate) industrial age, most of the be incurred by a business were what modern accountants call variant be because they varied directly with the numerate of production.citation needed M maviny was spent on labor, raw materials, power to run a factory, etc. in direct ratio to production. Managers could simply inwardness the variable be for a product and use this as a rough guide for decision-making processes. Some tolls tend to bear the same even during busy periods, unlike variable equals, which rise and fall with volume of work. Over time, these frigid costs have become more big to managers.Examples of opinionated costs include the depreciation of plant and equipment, and the cost of de fall inments such as maintenance, tooling, production control, purchasing, quality control, storage and handling, plant supervision and engineering.2 In the early nineteenth century, these costs were of little importance to most businesses. However, with the growth of railroads, steel and large scale manufacturing, by the late nineteenth century these costs were a great deal more important than the variable cost of a product, and allocating them to a broad range of products lead to bad decision making. Managers must understand fixed costs in order to make decisions about products and pricing.For example A ships guild produced railway coaches and had exactly oneness product. To make each coach, the attach to needed to bribe $60 of raw materials and components, and p ay 6 laborers $40 each. Therefore, total variable cost for each coach was $300. Knowing that making a coach ask spending $300, managers knew they couldnt sell below that price without losing money on each coach. Any price above $300 became a contri thoion to the fixed costs of the company. If the fixed costs were, say, $1000 per month for rent, insurance and owners salary, the company could therefore sell 5 coaches per month for a total of $3000 (priced at $600 each), or 10 coaches for a total of $4500 (priced at $450 each), and make a profit of$500 in both cases.Cost Accounting vs monetary AccountingSee in like manner Financial accountingFinancial accounting aims at finding out results of accounting year in the form of addition and Loss Account and Balance Sheet. Cost Accounting aims at computing cost of production/service in a scientific manner and urge cost control and cost reduction. Financial accounting reports the results and position of business to government, creditors, investors, and external parties. Cost Accounting is an internal reporting system for an nerves own worry for decision making. In financial accounting, cost classification based on type of transactions, e.g. salaries, repairs, insurance, stores etc. In cost accounting, classification is fundamentally on the basis of functions, activities, products, process and on internal planning and control and nurture needs of the organization. Financial accounting aims at presenting authorized and fair trip up of transactions, profit and loss for a period and Statement of financial position (Balance Sheet) on a given date. It aims at computing true and fair perspective of the cost of production/services offered by the firm.3(In some companies, machine cost is segregated from overhead and reported as a separate element)Classification of costsClassification of cost means, the grouping of costs according to their common characteristics. The important ways of classification of costs argon 1. By Element There are three elements of costing i.e. material, labor and expenses. 2. By Nature or TraceabilityDirect Costs and validatory Costs. Direct Costs are Directly attributable/ attributable to Cost Object. Direct costs are assigned to Cost Object. Indirect Costs are non directly attributable/traceable to Cost Object. Indirect costs are allocated or apportioned to cost objects. 3. By Functions production,administration, selling and distribution, R&D. 4. By Behavior fixed, variable, semi-variable. Costs are classified according to their look in relation to change in relation to production volume within given period of time. Fixed Costs remain fixed irrespective of changes in the production volume in given period of time. Variable costs change according to volume of production. Semi-variable Costs costs are part fixed and partly variable. 5. By control ability controllable, uncontrollable costs. Controllable costs are those which can be controlled or influenced by a cogn izant management action.Uncontrollable costs cannot be controlled or influenced by a conscious management action. 6. By normality normal costs and abnormalcosts. convening costs arise during routine day-to-day business trading operations. Abnormal costs arise because of any abnormal activity or event not part of routine business operations. E.g. costs arising of floods, riots, accidents etc. 7. By Time Historical Costs and predetermine costs. Historical costs are costs incurred in the past. Predetermined costs are computed in advance on basis of factors affecting cost elements. Example Standard Costs. 8. By Decision making Costs These costs are used for managerial decision making. Marginal Costs Marginal cost is the change in the aggregate costs due to change in the volume of output by one unit. Differential Costs This cost is the difference in total cost that will arise from the selection of one alternative to the other.Opportunity Costs It is the value of benefit sacrificed in favor of an alternative blood of action. Relevant Cost The relevant cost is a cost which is relevant in various decisions of management. Replacement Cost This cost is the cost at which existing items of material or fixed assets can be replaced. hence this is the cost of replacing existing assets at present or at a future date. Shutdown CostThese costs are the costs which are incurred if the operations are shut down and they will disappear if the operations are continued. Capacity Cost These costs are normally fixed costs. The cost incurred by a company for providing production, administration and selling and distribution capabilities in order to perform various functions.Other CostsStandard cost accountingIn modern cost account of recording historical costs was taken further, by allocating the companys fixed costs over a given period of time to the items produced during that period, and recording the result as the total cost of production. This allowed the full cost of products th at were not sold in the period they were produced to be recorded in inventory using a variety of complex accounting methods, which was consistent with the principles of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). It also essentially enabled managers to disregard the fixed costs, and look at the results of each period in relation to the standard cost for any given product. For example if the railway coach company normally produced 40 coaches per month, and the fixed costs were still $1000/month, then each coach could be said to incur an Operating Cost/overhead of $25 =($1000 /40). Adding this to the variable costs of $300 per coach produced a full cost of $325 per coach.This method tended to slightly distort the resulting unit cost, but in mass-production industries that made one product line, and where the fixed costs were relatively low, the distortion was very minor. For example if the railway coach company made 100 coaches one month, then the unit cost would become $310 per coach ($300 + ($1000 / 100)). If the next month the company made 50 coaches, then the unit cost = $320 per coach ($300 + ($1000 / 50)), a relatively minor difference. An important part of standard cost accounting is a variance analysis, which breaks down the stochastic variable between actual cost and standard costs into various components (volume variation, material cost variation, labor cost variation, etc.) so managers can understand why costs were antithetical from what was planned and take appropriate action to correct the situation. The development of throughput accountingMain article Throughput accountingAs business became more complex and began producing a greater variety of products, the use of cost accounting to make decisions to maximize profitability came into question. Management circles became increasingly aware of the Theory of Constraints in the 1980s, and began to understand that every production process has a limiting factor somewhere in the chain of production. As business management learned to identify the constraints, they increasingly adopted throughput accounting to manage them and maximize the throughput dollars (or other currency) from each unit of constrained resource. Throughput accounting aims to make the best use of scarce resources(bottle neck) in a JIT environment.4Mathematical formulaActivity-based costingMain article Activity-based costingActivity-based costing (first principle) is a system for assigning costs to products based on the activities they require. In this case, activities are those regular actions performed inside a company.5 Talking with customer regarding invoice questions is an example of an activity inside most companies. Companies whitethorn be moved to adopt ABC by a need to improve costing accuracy, that is, understand better the true costs and profitability ofindividual products, services, or initiatives. ABC gets closer to true costs in these areas by turning many costs that standard cost accounting view s as indirect costs essentially into direct costs. By contrast, standard cost accounting typically determines so-called indirect and overhead costs simply as a theatrical role of certain direct costs, which may or may not reflect actual resource usage for individual items. Under ABC, accountants assign 100% of each employees time to the different activities performed inside a company (many will use surveys to have the workers themselves assign their time to the different activities).The accountant then can determine the total cost spent on each activity by summing up the percentage of each workers salary spent on that activity. A company can use the resulting activity cost data to determine where to focus their operational improvements. For example, a job-based manufacturer may find that a high percentage of its workers are spending their time trying to figure out a hastily written customer order. Via ABC, the accountants now have a currency amount pegged to the activity of Researc hing Customer Work Order Specifications. Senior management can now decide how much focus or money to budget for result this process deficiency. Activity-based management includes (but is not restricted to) the use of activity-based costing to manage a business.While ABC may be able to pinpoint the cost of each activity and resources into the ultimate product, the process could be tedious, costly and subject to errors. As it is a tool for a more accurate way of allocating fixed costs into product, these fixed costs do not vary according to each months production volume. For example, an elimination of one product would not eliminate the overhead or even direct labor cost assigned to it. ABC better identifies product costing in the long run, but may not be too helpful in day-to-day decision-making.Integrating EVA and Process Based CostingRecently, Mocciaro Li Destri, Picone & Min (2012).6 proposed a carrying into action and cost measurement system that integrates the Economic Value A dded criteria with Process Based Costing (PBC). The EVA-PBC methodology allows us to implement the EVA management logic not only at the firm level, but also at lower levels of the organization. EVA-PBC methodology plays an interesting role in bringing strategy back into financial doing measures.Lean accountingMain article Lean accountingLean accounting7 has developed in recent years to countenance the accounting, control, and measurement methods supporting flow manufacturing and other applications of lean thinking such as healthcare, construction, insurance, banking, education, government, and other industries. There are two main thrusts for Lean Accounting. The first is the application of lean methods to the companys accounting, control, and measurement processes. This is not different from applying lean methods to any other processes. The objective is to eliminate waste, free up capacity, speed up the process, eliminate errors & defects, and make the process clear and understan dable.The second (and more important) thrust of Lean Accounting is to fundamentally change the accounting, control, and measurement processes so they motivate lean change & improvement, provide information that is suitable for control and decision-making, provide an reasonableness of customer value, correctly assess the financial impact of lean improvement, and are themselves simple, visual, and low-waste. Lean Accounting does not require the traditional management accounting methods like standard costing, activity-based costing, variance reporting, cost-plus pricing, complex transactional control systems, and untimely & confusing financial reports. These are replaced bylean-focused performance measurementssimple summary direct costing of the value streamsdecision-making and reporting using a box scorefinancial reports that are timely and presented in plain English that everyone can understand radical simplification and elimination of transactional control systems by eliminating th e need for them driving lean changes from a deep understanding of the value created for the customers eliminating traditional budgeting through monthly sales, operations, and financial planning processes (SOFP) value-based pricingcorrect understanding of the financial impact of lean change As an organization becomes more mature with lean thinking and methods, they recognize that the combined methods of lean accounting in fact creates a lean management system (LMS) intentional to provide the planning, theoperational and financial reporting, and the motivation for change required to prosper the companys on-going lean transformation.Marginal costingSee also Cost-Volume-Profit outline and Marginal costThe cost-volume-profit analysis is the systematic examination of the relationship between selling prices, sales, production volumes, costs, expenses and profits. This analysis provides very useful information for decision-making in the management of a company. For example, the analysis can be used in establishing sales prices, in the product mix selection to sell, in the decision to choose selling strategies, and in the analysis of the impact on profits by changes in costs. In the current environment of business, a business administration must act and take decisions in a fast and accurate manner. As a result, the importance of cost-volume-profit is still increasing as time passes.CONTRIBUTION borderA relationship between the cost, volume and profit is the contribution circumference. The contribution leeway is the revenue excess from sales over variable costs. The concept of contribution moulding is particularly useful in the planning of business because it gives an insight into the potential profits that a business can generate. The following chart shows the income statement of a company X, which has been prepared to show its contribution marginSales$1,000,000(-) Variable Costs$600,000Contribution Margin$400,000(-) Fixed Costs$300,000Income from Operations$100 ,000CONTRIBUTION MARGIN RATIOThe contribution margin can also be expressed as a percentage. The contribution margin ratio, which is sometimes called the profit-volumeratio, indicates the percentage of each sales dollar available to cover fixed costs and to provide operating revenue. For the company Fusion, Inc. the contribution margin ratio is 40%, which is computed as followsThe contribution margin ratio measures the effect on operating income of an increase or a decrease in sales volume. For example, assume that the management of Fusion, Inc. is studying the effect of adding $80,000 in sales orders. Multiplying the contribution margin ratio (40%) by the change in sales volume ($80,000) indicates that operating income will increase $32,000 if additional orders are obtained. To sustain this analysis the table below shows the income statement of the company including additional ordersSales$1,080,000(-) Variable Costs$648,000 (1,080,000 x 60%)Contribution Margin$432,000 (1,080,000 x 40%)(-) Fixed Costs$300,000Income from Operations$132,000Variable costs as a percentage of sales are equal to 100% minus the contribution margin ratio. Thus, in the above income statement, the variable costs are 60% (100% 40%) of sales, or $648,000 ($1,080,000 X 60%). The total contribution margin $432,000, can also be computed directly by multiplying the sales by the contribution margin ratio ($1,080,000 X 40%).See alsoAccountancyCost infestFixed asset turnoverManagement accountingIT Cost TransparencyKaizen costingProfit modelReferences1. Principles of Cost Accounting Edward J. Vanderbeck Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-03-01. 2. Performance management, Paper f5. Kapalan make UK. Pg 3 3. Cost and Management Accounting. Intermediate. ICA. p. 15. 4. Performance management, Paper f5. Kapalan publishing UK. Pg 17 5. Performance management, Paper f5. Kaplan publishing UK. Pg 6 6. Mocciaro Li Destri A., Picone P. M. & Min A. (2012), Bringing schema Back into Financ ial Systems of Performance Measurement Integrating EVA and PBC, Business System Review, Vol 1., Issue 1. pp.85-102. 7. Maskell & Baggaley (December 19, 2003). Practical Lean Accounting. Productivity Press, New York, NY. Books and journalsMaher, Lanen and Rahan, Fundamentals of Cost Accounting, 1st Edition (McGraw-Hill 2005). Horngren, Datar and Foster, Cost Accounting A Managerial Emphasis, 11th edition (Prentice Hall 2003). Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing-InternationalKaplan, Robert S. and Bruns, W. Accounting and Management A celestial orbit Study Perspective (Harvard Business School Press, 1987) ISBN 0-87584-186-4 Sapp, Richard, David Crawford and Steven Rebishcke Article title? journal of Bank Cost and Management Accounting (Volume 3, Number 2), 1990. Author(s)? Article title? Journal of Bank Cost and Management Accounting (Volume 4, Number 1), 1991. External linksAccounting Systems, introduction to Cost Accounting, ethics and relationship to GAAP.National Conference on College Cost AccountingCost accounting is a process of collecting, analyzing, summarizing and evaluating various alternative courses of action. Its goal is to advise the management on the most appropriate course of action based on the cost efficiency and capability. Cost accounting provides the detailed cost information that management needs to control current operations and plan for the future.1 Since managers are making decisions only for their own organization, there is no need for the information to be comparable to similar information from other organizations. Instead, information must be relevant for a particular environment.Cost accounting information iscommonly used in financial accounting information, but its aboriginal function is for use by managers to facilitate making decisions. Unlike the accounting systems that help in the preparation of financial reports periodically, the cost accounting systems and reports are not subject to rules and standards like the Generally A ccepted Accounting Principles. As a result, there is wide variety in the cost accounting systems of the different companies and sometimes even in different parts of the same company or organization.

Saturday, May 25, 2019

The United States Are Microcosms Of Society Education Essay

IntroductionClassrooms across the unify States are microcosms of friendship. The faces in inculcaterooms today reflect the altering demographics of the communities in which the schools are located. Today, schools are informants to the rapid alterations in pupil demographics, in peculiar, the growing of Latino pupils in schoolrooms throughout the United States ( KewalRamani, Gilbertson, Fox, & A Provasnik, 2007 ) . With rapid alterations in demographics, come challenges and issues, in add-on to other challenges which schools are seeking to exercise into.Educators face many challenges in public schools today. District leaders, campus leaders, and instructors must happen ways to turn to much(prenominal) issues as ( 1 ) throwning and presenting standards-based direction, ( 2 ) clash the leases of federal and province answerability transcriptions, ( 3 ) making more with less resources, ( 4 ) determination, hiring, and maintaining extremely qualified instructors, ( 5 ) keeping sa fe and drug-free encyclopaedism environments, ( 6 ) guaranting all high school alumnuss are college or calling ready, ( 7 ) cut downing the dropout rates, ( 8 ) designing, implementing, and measuring particular plans for fighting scholars and academically advanced scholars, ( 9 ) supplying a consistent sequence of classs at the secondary gunpoint, ( 10 ) integrating federal, province, or local mandated enterprises, ( 11 ) set uping operative partnerships with households and communities, and ( 12 ) happening ways to turn to other sociopolitical and sociocultural factors impacting their schools ( Conchas, 2009 McNutly, 2009 Nelson, Palonsky, & A McCarthy, 2007 ) . Educators must happen ways to plan, implement, and measure direction and plans for the culturally diverse and lingual communication minority pupils, who now sit in their schoolrooms, every bit good ( Gay, 2000 ) . This peculiar challenge has plagued public schools for decennaries ( Editorial Projects in Educational i nquiry Center, EPERC, 2008 National Education Association, NEA, 2007 ) .From its origin, public instruction has been considered a agencies to accomplish social, political, and economic benefits. Horace Mann referred to public instruction as the great equaliser ( Alexander & A Alexander, ) . He and others like him viewed public instruction as a expression for pupils and households to accomplish the aforesaid benefits. But, one must step back and reflect on the muniment of public instruction in this state. For whom were the first public schools designed? Who were the kids? Which sociocultural groups did they stand for? What were the purposes of the public schools who did educate pupils who did non stand for the mainstream cultural group? As persons see the pupil accomplishment informations, graduation informations, dropout informations, keeping informations, suspension and ejection informations, school to prison informations, disproportional representation of cultural and cult ural groups in particular plan informations, college keeping rates, and such, there are obvious racial and cultural disparities and spreads which result in socioeconomic spreads, employment spreads, political spreads, wellness spreads, and others ( ____ ) . From the information, one may condition that the great equaliser has non delivered on its promise. However, schools are designed to acquire the consequences they get. McNutly ( 2009 ) stated that schools have behaved their manner into their legitimate state of affairs and schools back act their manner out of it. There are schools run intoing the educational and non-educational demands of all pupils, including culturally and linguistically diverse pupil groups. Such schools are non merely effectual but, culturally antiphonary ( Gay, 2000 ) .I posit that genuinely effectual schools are culturally antiphonal schools. The schools are designed to run into the educational demands of the pupils in their schoolrooms. The leading and instructors salute a strong belief that all pupils in their charge can be successful. These pedagogues collaboratively work with each other, pupils, and households. I, besides posit that the work of theses culturally antiphonal and effectual schools can be replicated. Becoming an effectual and culturally antiphonal school involves a alteration procedure that has an impact on every stakeholder at every degree in the system ( Hall and Hord, 2006 ) . To better understand the vex I take, I present a reappraisal of the literature. I entrust portion the conceptual model which guides my survey. As I conducted the reappraisal of the literature, I did so with the aid of four steering inquiries adapted from the work by McCarthy ( _ ) . McCarthy provinces that if pedagogues can reply four inquiries as they plan and present direction, Why, What, How and What if, all acquisition manners in schoolrooms will be addressed. I borrowed from McCarthy s work to drive four inquiries to assist me ca rry on a comprehensive survey of effectual and culturally antiphonal schools, in peculiar, those schools now faced with educating one of largest and high-velocity turning cultural groups in the United States and their classrooms-the Latino pupil population ( KewalRamani, et. Al, 2007 ) . The four guiding inquiries were ( 1 ) Why is at that place a demand for effectual and culturally antiphonal schools, ( 2 ) What are the features of effectual and culturally antiphonal schools, ( 3 ) How do schools go effectual and culturally antiphonal? , and ( 4 ) What are effectual and culturally antiphonal instructional patterns? .The purpose of the literature reappraisal is to reply the four guiding inquiries. In add-on, the reappraisal includes a curb survey of three back uping theories and constructs set up in the literature on racially and ethnically diverse pupils in schools. The three back uping theories are ( a ) critical race theory, ( B ) cultural reproduction theory, and ( degree Cel sius ) the shortage theoretical account. A reappraisal of the current context and tendencies about racially and ethnically diverse pupils groups in schools will follow. A reappraisal of tendencies and the current context will supply a background to the racial and cultural disparities in schools today. The following(prenominal) background information will include ( a ) the current population informations tendencies, ( B ) current disparities of educational results along cultural and lingual diverseness lines, ( degree Celsius ) an account of the grounding thought by which information is filtered, effectual and culturally antiphonal schools.Theoretical and Conceptual ModelPublic schools have been fighting with the issue of racial and cultural disparities in educational results such as pupil public presentation, graduation rates, dropout rates, suspension and ejection rates, disproportional representation of cultural groups in particular plans, and such for nigh discerp ( NEA, 2007 ) . Scholars ( Payne, ) have attempted to explicate the disparities along socioeconomic lines. While the deficiency of resources does hold an impact on pupil accomplishment, race affairs. Gosa and Alexander ( 2008 ) found disparities between White pupils and Afro-american pupils from flush households, therefore reenforcing race does matter.Students come to school with different lived experiences, cognition, accomplishments, perceptual experiences, and demands ( Tyler, Uqdah, Dillihunt, Besatty-Hazelbaker, Conner, Gadson. . . & A Stevens, 2008 ) . Students come from different environments and enter school with racial disparities that exist sing school preparedness, over which schools have small to no control ( Parret & A Barr, 2009 ) . However, racial disparities continue and augment over clip in schools. Several bookmans posit that it is the schools constructions, policies, processs, patterns, engrained positions, beliefs, and values that reinforce and advance racial disparities in educational results ( Artiles & A Bal, 2009 Gosa & A Alexander, 2007, Jay 2003, Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995 ) . Cultural clangs between school and place, visitation prejudice, system prejudice, negative and positive stereotyped positions, poorness, linguistic communication differences, deficiency of relational trust, and other sociocultural, sociohistorical, and sociopolitical factors play a critical function in the current racial and cultural disparities in educational results in our public schools ( Skiba, 2009 Salend & A Garrick-Duhaney, 2005 ) . Mickelson ( 2003 ) stated that educational systems were responsible for the turning racial disparities in educational results and that the disparities widen with each twelvemonth, cultural minority pupils attended school. Scholars have tried to explicate the bing racial and cultural disparities in educational results utilizing assorted theoretical and conceptual models, such as the Critical Race Theory, Cultural Reproduction Theory, and the Deficit Model.Critical Race TheoryCritical Race Theory as a tool. An person s cultural individualisation is a fluid and dynamic societal concept influenced by lived experiences, internal picks, and outside agents perceptual experiences of that individuality ( Fergus, 2009 Lee, 2008 ) . Race and racism have shaped the story of the United States and its traditional societal establishments ( Yosso, 2005 ) . Racism, nevertheless elusive, continues to impact societal establishments, i.e. , schools ( Yosso ) . McNutly ( 2009 ) stated that is was non so much an issue of race as it was an issue of engagement. Gosa and Alexander account that race mattered in schools ( 2008 ) . School contexts form pupils societal and academic individualities and outlooks ( Borrero, Yeh, Cruz, & A Suda, 2012 ) . Persons in the place of societal office staff define who belongs and who does non, who represents the standardised norm and who does non, and who is in and who is non ( Artile s & A Bal, 2008 ) .School is yet another topographic point where pupils. . . face labels such as gifted, holding special demands, and being at-risk, when in fact, it is the establishment itself that holds the power to implement such labels ( Bucholtz & A Hall, 2004 Fine, 1992 ) . These imposed classs further separate pupils into grouping of normal and other. Borrero, et al. , p. 5.Critical Race Theory ( CRT ) theorizes race ( Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995 ) . CRT was frontmost introduced as analytic tool in the justness system CRT bookmans used it as tool to place and analyse procedures in the judicial system ( Ladson-Billings & A Tate, 1995 Tate, 1997 ) . CRT was introduced by Ladson-Billings and Tate as tool to place and analyse unfairnesss or equity traps ( Linton ) in schools policies, processs, patterns, and processes that keep cultural groups of pupils from take parting and constructing societal capital, political capital, and economic capital. Scholars can utili ze a CRT lens to place the what, why, and how ( Yosso, 2005 ) and who, when analyzing the political orientation of racism ( Yosso, p. 74 ) . It is through the CRT theoretical and analytical lens, that allow CRT bookmans to analyze, speculate, and dispute the ways racism influences schools and other societal establishments ( Yosso Su, 2007 ) .The subjects of CRT. CRT is framed by six subjects ( Su, 2007 ) . The current subjects are ( 1 ) race is a societal concept which is historically embedded in United States society ( 2 ) racism is common and profoundly engrained in United States society and is accepted as normal ( 3 ) color-blind equality reform serves to turn to dangerous signifiers of racism to persons but, non structural unfairnesss ( 4 ) United States society was built on the impression of belongings rights and Whiteness and White privilege are belongings rights protected by the authorities ( 5 ) those in the place of power, White persons, are in favour of antiracism s tructural or insurance reform every bit long as it benefits White privilege and non party favour is lost ( involvement convergence ) and ( 6 ) the voice of those most wedged by racism and unfairnesss serves an of import intent in turn toing structural and policy unfairnesss, as they portion their experiential cognition ( Su ) .Race and racism has been portion of the history of the United States and its traditional societal insitutions.Cultural Reproduction TheoryDeficit ModelThe Why of Effective and culturally Responsive SchoolsThe What of Effective and Culturally Responsive SchoolsThe How of Effective and Culturally Responsive SchoolsWhat are Culturally Responsive and Effective Instructional PracticesDecision

Friday, May 24, 2019

Can Politics Be Regarded as a Science Essay

The debate as whether governing can be regarded as a cognizance is complex, voluminous and multi-faceted one . The origins of policy-making analysis lie in the philosophical tradition of Plato and Aristotle whose work was fundamentally rooted in the normative. At the very early stages of politics as an academic discipline, the great thinkers of the time were not concerned with empirical evidence instead basing their bases on literary analysis. The emphasis on the normative that comes with the traditional study of politics suggests that politics is not a information as it cannot be objective.This was followed by the emergence of the normative model of political analysis and what Peter Lasslett called the the death of political philosophy. This movement was spearheaded by Machiavelli who was known as the father of the politics model of political skill. For example, he changes the value-laden question (what is better? ) into a scientific one what is safer? The shift from the pres criptive to the descriptive and impartial suggests that political thought has shifted away from the traditional philosophical to the scientific model.The empirical model of political thought emphasised the importance of experience as the basis for knowledge and this later developed into positivism which dictates that the tender sciences should adhere to the methods of the natural sciences . An extreme version of this was as well as created called logical positivism which stated that nevertheless statements which were empirically verifiable and aimed to say something about the meaning of political concepts are legitimate . In fact the empirical model is seen as the foundation of comparative degree politics that is now the standard form of analysis in the UK and the US.This method seeks to develop generalizations by comparing different states or political systems. This produces slightly much informative results as one is more likely to be able to produce an ideal political situati on through comparison rather than in force(p) utilize empirical evidence alone. However, there hold been criticisms of the validity of comparative politics most notably from Alasdair MacIntyre. He states that creating law-like cross cultural generalizations between countries with radically different cultures is not as valid as proponents of comparative politics denounce it out to be .He delectations the example of a study by Almond and Verba that states that Italians identify less with the actions of their government than the English or Germans because they of a survey asking what they took pride in . The point that McIntyre then goes on to make is that the notions of pride in Italy and England are vastly different and thus every comparison would have to start by identifying the virtues that are embedded within the institutions. However, he goes on to add that this shortcoming doesnt completely devalue the work of comparative politics.Karl Marx was the first to describe politic s in terms of science and, along with Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, was described one of the main architects of political science . He believed that he could methodically determine trends in history and from these deduct the future outcomes of social conflicts. However, whilst this approach may seem to be simply empirical in its approach to political analysis it has been confirmed that his theories yield testable propositions that allow rigorous rating and even falsification .His role represents a dramatic shift from the political philosophers of the traditional Greek model as he famously give tongue to in his Theses of Feuerbach that philosophers have only interpreted the world the point is to change it . However, whilst Marx may have been the first person to truly combine scientific methodology with political thought, questions can still be raised over its validity. For example, the fact that Marx predicted the fall of capitalism whilst in fact state socialism has been on the re treat.There has also been criticism of Marxs methods. In The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl Popper criticised scientific socialism as a pseudoscience due to Marxs methods of looking at historical trends and using them to create universal laws which couldnt be tested of disprove. This may suggest that the Marxist model of political analysis as a science is not correct. condescension this it is important to note how, whilst Marxs predictions may not have proved correct, his methods and the concept of politics as a science is unquestionable.Enthusiasm for the idea of political science grew in the 20th century with the creation of the American Political Science Review in 1906 and also the emergence of the behaviouralism movement in the 1950s and 1960s. This was the dot coined as the behavioural revolution by Robert Garner who claimed that number crunchingin relation to electoral behaviour was the gold standard whilst normative analysis was rendered at best, unnecessary and at wors t, meaningless .This can be viewed as the most compelling case for politics being regarded as a science as it is the first time that objective and quantifiable data could be tested against hypotheses. The form of political analysis that was emerging in this period was heavily based on behaviouralism which worked on the principle that social theories should be constructed on the basis of observable behaviour which provides quantifiable evidence for research. This lead to change magnitude interest and activity in the field of quantitative research methods such as voting behaviour, the records of legislators and the behaviour of lobbyists.It was also at this time that David Easton claimed that politics could bring the methodology of the natural sciences . Here we can see how the initial links that Marx drew between politics and scientific research methods have been refined with the use of quantifiable rather than just empirical evidence. There have been objections to the usefulness o f behaviouralism in the study of politics though. One argument has been that it has significantly limited the context of analysis by preventing it from going beyond what is directly quantifiable or observable.The idea behind this is that whilst the methodical basis behind behaviouralism may be scientifically sound that doesnt mean that it is the way to analyse politics. This raises the question as to whether politics should be regarded as a science rather than could it. The very disposition of politics is that it is inherently human and to discard all that is not empirically verifiable in its study is to neglect the very essence of politics. This argument could be viewed as irrelevant to the question however because it actually looking at whether politics should be regarded as a science and not if it could.This being said Andrew Heywood presents a valid criticism of the methodology of behaviouralism and the use of quantifiable data. The scientific basis of behaviouralism is that i t is objective but in order for this to be so it has to be value-free. He claims that facts and values are so closely intertwined that it is often impossible to prise them apart and that theories are always based on assumptions human temperament . This argument presents a major threat to the legitimacy of behaviouralism and suggests that the methodological basis behind it is not sound enough to equate to the conclusion of politics as a science.Whilst the methodology of political science may be all well and intelligent, this doesnt necessarily lead us to the conclusion that politics should be regarded as a science. There have been many arguments to suggest that despite the existence of quantifiable and empirical evidence, it is actually damaging to study politics in a scientific manner. For one, the very record of political science is that it is descriptive rather prescriptive. This idea seems to be counter intuitive to the very study of politics as a discipline.Whilst, the added scientific element to political analysis gives us the added advantage of scrutiny and academic rigour it will never produce any political ideas without the normative aspect of political philosophy. This presents to us how damaging political science can be if studied in isolation since the very nature of the political analysis is one that should be aimed at progression, change and determining how to achieve our political ideals. In fact in recent years, the validity of political science has started to be questioned by political scientists themselves.As an undergraduate Charles Lindblom apparently fled the mushiness of political science to pursue a graduate study of economics and David Easton proclaimed that he had political science as a coherent body of knowledge had no basis . This suggests that whilst political science doesnt translate as swimmingly in practice. The Perestroika Movement began in October 2000 with an anonymous email to the American Political Science Review calling for a dismantling of the Orwellian system that we have in the APSA.The movement was largely a reaction to the so called mathematicization of political science and a desire to achieve methodological pluralism. Specifically, it aimed at challenging the dictum of positivist research, particularly research that assumes that political behaviour can be predicted according to theories of rationality . Whilst this movement could be seen as a criticism of political science it could just as easily be seen as highly constructive.It recognises the merits of politics being studied as a science yet wants it to e more inclusive and less restricted in terms of methodology. However, this presents a problem for the positivist wing of political scientists that stick to the assertion that political science should obey the methods of the natural sciences. From this we can come to the conclusion that criticisms of political science is not proof of how politics shouldnt be regarded as a science but is in stead just an example of two methodological factions within the discipline.We can see how the historical development of political science presents a good case for the idea that politics can be regarded as a science. Some claim that politics is a science because it offers knowledge based on systematic enquiry . However, this claim bases itself on a loose definition of science and one that many political analysts wouldnt be completely snug with. The arguments for politics being regarded as a science lie more in the stringent scientific methodology that can seemingly be use to political analysis.Whilst there have been many criticisms of methodology of political science I think that the major qualms that academics have is with the danger of studying political science in isolation. The obsession with empirical data that developed during the behavioural revolution could easily be labelled as counter-intuitive seeing as it completely disregards the normative. Despite this I think that pol itics can still be regarded as a science, yet it is just important that this is combined with elements of the old philosophical tradition.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Australopithecus

The fossilized remains of this 3 year-old early human child are often referred to as belonging to Lucys baby since she was found nevertheless a few miles south from where Lucy was found Lucy over two decades earlier, even though the childs fossil is actually 100,000 years older than famous Lucy. She is nicknamed Selam after the Amharic (Ethiopias official language) word for peace, and is the most complete early human child known up until Neanderthal times.Prior to Selams discovery, researchers knew very infinitesimal about early human growth patterns as the early human fossil record consists of few children. Because Selams baby teeth erupted in a pattern similar to a three-year-old chimpanzees, researchers now know A. afarensis children shared a chimpanzees fast growth rate. But her brain size indicates that a human growth rate was evolving.CT-scans of her skull show small canine teeth forming in the skull, telling us she was female. Her partial skeleton is made up of a nearly com plete skull and torso, and several limb ossher legs indicate she could walk upright, but other skeletal features showed she could also climb trees. The hyoid bone beneath her neck looks ape-like, and her gorilla-like collarbone and long, curved fingers show significant tree-climbing. Image Credit Zeresenay Alemseged

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Alexander Pope’s the Rape of the Lock Essay

The Rape of the Lock begins with a passage offlining the subject of the verse form and invoking the aid of the muse. Then the sun ( sol) appears to initiate the leisurely morning routines of a wealthy household. Lapdogs shake themselves awake, bells begin to ring, and although it is already noon, Belinda still sleeps. She has been dreaming, and we learn that her guardian Sylph, Ariel, has sent the dream. The dream is of a beauteous youth who tells her that she is protected by unnumbered Spiritsan army of supernatural beings who in one case lived on earth as hu serviceman women. The youth explains that they ar the occult guardians of womens worthiness, although the credit is usu solelyy mistakenly given to Honor rather than to their divine stewardship. Of these Spirits, nonpareil particular groupthe Sylphs, who wait in the air suffice as Belindas personal guardians they are devoted, lover- wish, to any woman that rejects mankind, and they to a lower placestand and reward the vanities of an elegant and frivolous lady like Belinda.Ariel, the chief of all Belindas puckish protectors, warns her in the dream that some dread event is going to be affect her that day, though he can tell her nothing more detail than that she should beware of Man Then Belinda awakes, to the licking tongue of her lapdog, Shock. Upon the delivery of a billet-doux, or love-letter, she forgets all about the dream. She and so proceeds to her dressing table and goes done an elaborate ritual of dressing, in which her own image in the mirror is described as a heavenly image, a goddess. The Sylphs, unseen, assist their charge as she prepares herself for the days activities.CommentaryThe opening of the poem establishes its mock-heroic style. pontiff introduces the conventional epic subjects of love and war and includes an invocation to the muse and a dedication to the man (the historical John Caryll) who commissioned the poem. un slight the tone already indicates that the high serious ness of these traditional topics has suffered a diminishment. The encourage line confirms in explicit scathe what the first line already suggests the amrous causes the poem describes are not comparable to the grand loveof Greek heroes unless rather represent a trivialized version of that emotion. The contests Pope alludes to entrust prove to be the right way simply in an ironic sense. They are beleaguer- plump fors and flirtatious tussles, not the great battles of epic tradition. Belinda is not, like Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships (see the SparkNote on The Iliad), but rather a face thatalthough also elegantprompts a lot of foppish nonsense.The first cardinal verse-paragraphs emphasize the comic inappropriateness of the epic style (and corresponding mind-set) to the subject at hand. Pope achieves this discrepancy at the level of the line and half-line the reader is meant to dwell on the incompatibility between the two sides of his parallel formulation s. Thus, in this world, it is little men who in tasks so bold engage and soft bosoms are the dwelling-place for mighty rage. In this startling juxtaposition of the petty and the grand, the former is real while the latter is ironic. In mock epic, the high heroic style works not to dignify the subject but rather to expose and ridicule it. Therefore, the basic irony of the style supports the substance of the poems satire, which attacks the misguided values of a society that takes small matters for serious ones while failing to attend to issues of genuine importance. With Belindas dream, Pope introduces the machinery of the poemthe supernatural causes that influence the action from behind the scenes.Here, the sprites that detect over Belinda are meant to mimic the gods of the Greek and Roman traditions, who are sometimes benevolent and sometimes malicious, but always intimately involved in earthly events. The scheme also makes use of other ancient hi successionrchies and systems of o rder. Ariel explains that womens spirits, when they die, return to their first Elements. Each womanly personality type (these types correspond to the quaternary humours) is converted into a particular kind of sprite. These gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and nymphs, in turn, are associated with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The airy sylphs are those who in their lifetimes were light Coquettes they have a particular extend to for Belinda because she is of this type, and this will be the aspect of feminine nature with which the poem is most concerned. Indeed, Pope already begins to sketch this character of the coquette in this initial canto. He draws the portrait indirectly, through characteristics of the Sylphs rather than of Belinda herself.Their priorities reveal that the central concerns ofwomanhood, at least for women of Belindas class, are tender ones. Womans joy in rattling(a) Chariots indicates an obsession with pomp and superficial splendor, while love o f Ombre, a fashionable card game, suggests frivolity. The erotic charge of this well-disposed world in turn prompts other central concern the protection of chastity. These are women who value above all the prospect marrying to advantage, and they have learned at an early age how to promote themselves and contain their suitors without compromising themselves. The Sylphs become an allegory for the mannered conventions that govern feminine social behavior. Principles like honor and chastity have become no more than another(prenominal) part of conventional interaction.Pope makes it clear that these women are not conducting themselves on the basis of abstract moral principles, but are governed by an elaborate social mechanismof which the Sylphs cut a fitting caricature. And while Popes technique of employing supernatural machinery allows him to critique this situation, it also helps to keep the satire light and to put dismantle individual women from too severe a judgment. If Belind a has all the typical female foibles, Pope wants us to recognize that it is partly because she has been educated and trained to act in this way. The society as a whole is as much to blame as she is. Nor are men exempt from this judgment. The competition among the young lords for the attention of beautiful ladies is depicted as a battle of vanity, as wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive.Popes phrases here expose an absurd attention to exhibitions of pride and ostentation. He emphasizes the inanity of lancinate so closely between things and people that are essentially the same in all important (and even most unimportant) respects. Popes limning of Belinda at her dressing table introduces mock-heroic motifs that will run through the poem. The scene of her comprehendette is rendered first as a religious sacrament, in which Belinda herself is the priestess and her image in the looking glass is the Goddess she serves. This parody of the religious rites before a battle gi ves way, then, to another kind of mock-epic scene, that of the ritualized arming of the hero. Combs, pins, and cosmetics take the place of artillerys as awful salmon pink puts on all its arms.Canto 2SummaryBelinda, rivaling the sun in her radiance, sets out by boat on the river Thames for Hampton act Palace. She is accompanied by a companionship of glitzy ladies (Nymphs) and gentlemen, but is far and away the most striking member of the group. Popes description of her charms includes the sparkling Cross she wore on her washcloth breast, her quick eyeball and lively looks, and the easy grace with which she bestows her smiles and attentions evenly among all the adoring guests. Her crowning glories, though, are the two ringlets that dangle on her ivry neck. These curls are described as loves labyrinths, specifically designed to ensnare any poor heart who might get entangled in them.One of the young gentlemen on the boat, the powerfulness, particularly admires Belindas locks, and has determined to buy them for himself. We read that he rose early that morning to build an altar to love and pray for success in this project. He sacrificed several tokens of his former affections, including garters, gloves, and billet-doux (love-letters). He then prostrated himself before a pyre built with all the trophies of his former loves, fanning its flames with his amrous sighs. The gods listened to his prayer but immovable to grant only half of it. As the pleasure-boat continues on its way, everyone is carefree except Ariel, who remembers that some bad event has been foretold for the day. He summons an army of sylphs, who assemble roughly him in their iridescent peach tree.He reminds them with great ceremony that one of their duties, later regulating celestial bodies and the weather and guarding the British monarch, is to tend the Fair to keep watch over ladies powders, perfumes, curls, and clothing, and to assist their blushes, and inspire their airs. Therefore, sinc e some dire disaster threatens Belinda, Ariel assigns her an extensive troop of bodyguards. Brillante is to guard her earrings, Momentilla her watch, and Crispissa her locks. Ariel himself will protect Shock, the lapdog. A band of fifty Sylphs will guard the all-important petticoat. Ariel pronounces that any sylph who neglects his assigned duty will be severely punished. They disperse to their posts and wait for fate to unfold.CommentaryFrom the first, Pope describes Belindas steady as something divine, an assessment which she herself corroborates in the first canto when shecreates, at least metaphorically, an altar to her own image. This praise is certainly in some sense ironical, reflecting negatively on a system of public values in which external characteristics rank higher than moral or intellectual ones. But Pope also shows a real reverence for his heroines physical and social charms, claiming in lines 1718 that these are compelling enough to cause one to forget her female err ors. Certainly he has some interest in flattering Arabella Fermor, the real-life woman on whom Belinda is based in order for his poem to achieve the desired reconciliation, it essential not offend (see Context. Pope also exhibits his appreciation for the ways in which physical beauty is an art form he recognizes, with a compartmentalization of censure and awe, the concomitant that Belindas legendary locks of hair, which appear so natural and spontaneous, are actually a carefully contrived effect.In this, the mysteries of the ladys dressing table are akin, perhaps, to Popes own literary art, which he describes elsewhere as nature to advantage dressd. If the secret mechanisms and techniques of female beauty get at least a passing nod of appreciation from the author, he nevertheless suggests that the general human readiness to worship beauty amounts to a kind of sacrilege. The cross that Belinda wears around her neck serves a more ornamental than symbolic or religious function. Beca use of this, he says, it can be adored by Jews and Infidels as readily as by Christians. And there is some ambiguity about whether any of the admirers are really valuing the cross itself, or the white breast on which it liesor the felicitous effect of the whole. The index, of course, is the most significant of those who worship at the altar of Belindas beauty. The ritual sacrifices he performs in the pre-dawn hours are another mock-heroic element of the poem, mimicking the epic tradition of sacrificing to the gods before an important battle or journey, and drapes his project with an absurdly grand import that actually only exposes its triviality.The fact that he discards all his other love tokens in these preparations reveals his capriciousness as a lover. Earnest prayer, in this parodic scene, is replaced by the self-indulgent sighs of the lover. By having the gods grant only half of what the king asks, Pope alludes to the epic convention by which the favor of the gods is only a mixed blessing in epic poems, to win the sponsorship of one god is to incur the wrath of another divine gifts, such as immortality, can seem a blessing but become acurse. Yet in this poem, the ramifications of a prayer half granted are negligible rather than tragic it merely means that he will manage to steal just one lock rather than both of them. In the first canto, the religious imagery surrounding Belindas grooming rituals gave way to a militaristic conceit. Here, the same pattern holds. Her curls are compared to a trap perfectly calibrated to ensnare the enemy. Yet the character of female coyness is such that it seeks simultaneously to take in and repel, so that the counterpart to the enticing ringlets is the formidable petticoat.This undergarment is described as a defensive armament comparable to the Shield of Achilles (see Scroll XVIII of The Iliad), and support in its function of protecting the maidens chastity by the invisible might of fifty Sylphs. The Sylphs, who are Be lindas protectors, are essentially aerated to protect her not from failure but from too great a success in attracting men. This paradoxical situation dramatizes the contradictory values and motives implied in the eras sexual conventions. In this canto, the sexual allegory of the poem begins to come into fuller view. The title of the poem already associates the cutting of Belindas hair with a more explicit sexual conquest, and here Pope cultivates that suggestion. He multiplies his sexually metaphorical language for the incident, adding words like ravish and betray to the rape of the title.He also slips in some commentary on the implications of his societys sexual mores, as when he remarks that when success a Lovers toil attends, / few ask, if fraud or force attaind his ends. When Ariel speculates about the possible forms the dire disaster might take, he includes a breach of chastity (Dianas law), the breaking of china (another allusion to the loss of virginity), and the staining of honor or a gown (the two incommensurate events could happen equally easily and accidentally). He also mentions some pettier social disasters against which the Sylphs are equally prepared to fight, like absent a ball (here, as grave as missing prayers) or losing the lapdog. In the Sylphs defensive efforts, Belindas petticoat is the battlefield that requires the most extensive fortifications. This fact furthers the idea that the rape of the lock stands in for a oral rape, or at least represents a threat to her chastity more serious than just the mere theft of a curl.SummaryThe boat arrives at Hampton Court Palace, and the ladies and gentlemen disembark to their courtly amusements. After a pleasant round of chatting and gossip, Belinda sits eat with two of the men to a game of cards. They play ombre, a one-third-handed game of tricks and trumps, somewhat like bridge, and it is described in terms of a heroic battle the cards are troops combating on the velvet plain of the card-table . Belinda, under the watchful care of the Sylphs, begins favorably. She declares spades as trumps and leads with her highest cards, sure of success. Soon, however, the hand takes a turn for the worse when to the Baron fate inclines the field he catches her king of clubs with his queen and then leads certify with his high diamonds. Belinda is in danger of being beaten, but recovers in the last trick so as to just barely win back the amount she bid.The next ritual amusement is the serving of coffee. The curling vapors of the steaming coffee remind the Baron of his intention to attempt Belindas lock. Clarissa draws out her scissors for his use, as a lady would arm a knight in a romance. Taking up the scissors, he tries three times to mag the lock from behind without Belinda seeing. The Sylphs endeavor furiously to intervene, blowing the hair out of harms way and tweaking her diamond earring to make her turn around. Ariel, in a last-minute effort, gains access to her brain, where he is surprised to find an earthly lover lurking at her heart. He gives up protecting her then the implication is that she secretly wants to be violated. Finally, the lop close on the curl. A daring sylph jumps in between the blades and is cut in two but being a supernatural creature, he is speedily restored. The deed is done, and the Baron exults while Belindas screams fill the air.CommentaryThis canto is full of classic examples of Popes masterful use of the heroic couplet. In introducing Hampton Court Palace, he describes it as the place where Queen Anne dost sometimes counsel takeand sometimes tea. This line employs a zeugma, a rhetorical device in which a word or phrase modifies two other words or phrases in a parallel construction, but modifies each in a diametrical way or according to a different sense. Here, the modifying word is take it applies to the paralleled terms counsel and tea. But one doesnot take tea in the same way one takes counsel, and the effect of the zeugma i s to show the royal residence as a place that houses both serious matters of state and frivolous social occasions. The reader is asked to contemplate that paradox and to reflect on the relative value and importance of these two different registers of activity. (For another example of this rhetorical technique, see lines 1578 Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, / when husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last.)A similar point is made, in a less compact phrasing, in the second and third verse-paragraphs of this canto. Here, against the gossip and chatter of the young lords and ladies, Pope opens a window onto more serious matters that are occurring meanwhile and elsewhere, including criminal trials and executions, and economic exchange. The rendering of the card game as a battle constitutes an amusing and deft narrative feat. By parodying the battle scenes of the great epic poems, Pope is suggesting that the energy and passion once applied to brave and serious purposes i s now expended on such insignificant trials as games and gambling, which often become a mere front for flirtation.The structure of the three attempts by which the lock is cut is a convention of heroic challenges, particularly in the romance genre. The romance is further invoked in the image of Clarissa arming the Baronnot with a real weapon, however, but with a pair of sewing scissors. Belinda is not a real adversary, or course, and Pope makes it plain that her resistanceand, by implication, her subsequent distressis to some degree an affectation. The melodrama of her screams is complemented by the ironic comparison of the Barons feat to the conquest of nations.Belindas anxious cares and secret passions after the loss of her lock are equal to the emotions of all who have ever known rage, resentment and despair. After the disappointed Sylphs withdraw, an earthy gnome called Umbriel flies down to the Cave of Spleen. (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bl oodstream, was traditionally associated with the passions, particularly malaise spleen is a synonym for ill-temper.) In his descent he passes through Belindas bedroom, where she lies prostrate with disconcertion and the headache. She is attended bytwo handmaidens, Ill-Nature and Affectation. Umbriel passes safely through this melancholy chamber, holding a sprig of spleenwort before him as a charm. He addresses the Goddess of Spleen, and returns with a foundation of sighs, sobs, and passions and a vial of sorrow, grief, and tears. He unleashes the first bag on Belinda, fueling her ire and despair.There to commiserate with Belinda is her friend Thalestris. (In Greek mythology, Thalestris is the name of one of the Amazons, a race of warrior women who excluded men from their society.) Thalestris delivers a speech calculated to further foment Belindas indignation and urge her to avenge herself. She then goes to Sir Plume, her beau, to ask him to demand that the Baron return the hair. Si r Plume makes a weak and slang-filled speech, to which the Baron disdainfully refuses to acquiesce. At this, Umbriel releases the contents of the remaining vial, throwing Belinda into a fit of sorrow and self-pity. With beauteous grief she bemoans her fate, regrets not having heeded the dream-warning, and laments the lonely, pitiful state of her sole remaining curl.CommentaryThe canto opens with a list of examples of rage, resentment, and despair, comparing on an equal footing the pathos of kings imprisoned in battle, of women who become old maids, of evil-doers who die without being saved, and of a woman whose dress is disheveled. By placing such disparate sorts of aggravation in parallel, Pope accentuates the absolute fate of assigning them to some rank of moral import. The effect is to chastise a social world that fails to make these distinctions. Umbriels journey to the Cave of Spleen mimics the journeys to the perdition made by both Odysseus and Aeneas. Pope uses psychologic al allegory (for the spleen was the seat of malaise or melancholy), as a way of exploring the sources and nature of Belindas feelings. The presence of Ill-nature and Affectation as handmaidens serves to indicate that her grief is less than pure (affected or put-on), and that her display of temper has hidden motives. We learn that her sorrow is ornamental in much the same way the curl was it gives her the occasion, for example, to wear a new nightdress.The speech of Thalestris invokes a courtly ethic. She encourages Belinda to think about the Barons misdeed as an affront to her honor, and draws on ideals of chivalry indemanding that Sir Plume challenge the Baron in defense of Belindas honor. He makes a tidy sum of the task, showing how far from courtly behavior this generation of gentlemen has fallen. Sir Plumes speech is riddled with foppish slang and has none of the logical, moral, or oratorical power that a knight should properly wield. This attention to questions of honor retur ns us to the sexual allegory of the poem. The real danger, Thalestris suggests, is that the ravisher might display the lock and make it a source of public humiliation to Belinda and, by association, to her friends. Thus the real question is a superficial onepublic reputationrather than the moral coercive to chastity. Belindas own words at the close of the canto corroborate this suggestion she exclaims, Oh, hadst thou, cruel been content to seize / Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these (The hairs less in sight suggest her pubic hair).Pope is pointing out the degree to which she values outward appearance (whether beauty or reputation) above all else she would rather suffer a breach to her integrity than a breach to her appearance. The Baron remains impassive against all the ladies tears and reproaches. Clarissa delivers a speech in which she questions why a society that so adores beauty in women does not also place a value on honourable sense and good humour. Women are frequen tly called angels, she argues, but without reference to the moral qualities of these creatures. Especially since beauty is necessarily so short-lived, we must have something more substantial and permanent to fall back on. This sensible, moralizing speech falls on deaf ears, however, and Belinda, Thalestris and the rest ignore her and proceed to launch an all-out attack on the offending Baron.A chaotic tussle ensues, with the gnome Umbriel presiding in a posture of self- congratulation. The gentlemen are slain or revived according to the smiles and frowns of the fair ladies. Belinda and the Baron meet in combat and she emerges victorious by peppering him with smell and drawing her bodkin. Having achieved a position of advantage, she again demands that he return the lock. But the ringlet has been lost in the chaos, and cannot be found. The poet avers that the lock has risen to the heavenly spheres to become a star stargazers may admire it now for all eternity. In this way, the poet r easons, it will attract more invidia than it ever could on earth.CommentaryReaders have often interpreted Clarissas speech as the voice of the poetexpressing the moral of the story. Certainly, her orations thesis aligns with Popes professed task of putting the dispute between the two families into a more reasonable perspective. But Popes position achieves more complexness than Clarissas speech, since he has used the occasion of the poem as a vehicle to critically address a number of broader societal issues as well. And Clarissas righteous stance loses authority in light of the fact that it was she who originally gave the Baron the scissors. Clarissas failure to inspire a reconciliation proves that the quarrel is itself a kind of flirtatious game that all parties are enjoying. The description of the battle has a markedly erotic quality, as ladies and lords wallow in their mock-agonies. Sir Plume draws Clarissa down in a sexual way, and Belinda flies on her foe with flashing eyes and an erotic ardor. When Pope informs us that the Baron fights on unafraid because he sought no more than on his foe to die, the expression means that his goal all a grand was sexual consummation.This final battle is the culmination of the long sequence of mock-heroic military actions. Pope invokes by name the Roman gods who were most active in warfare, and he alludes as well to the Aeneid , comparing the stoic Baron to Aeneas (the Trojan), who had to leave his love to become the founder of Rome. Belindas tossing of the snuff makes a perfect turning point, ideally suited to the scale of this trivial battle. The snuff causes the Baron to sneeze, a comic and decidedly unheroic thing for a hero to do. The bodkin, too, serves nicely here a bodkin is a decorative hairpin, not the weapon of ancient days (or even of Hamlets time). Still, Pope gives the pin an elaborate history in accordance with the conventions of true epic.The mock-heroic conclusion of the poem is designed to compliment the lady it alludes to (Arabella Fermor), while also giving the poet himself due credit for being the instrument of her immortality. This ending effectively indulges the heroines vanity, even though the poem has functioned throughout as a critique of that vanity. And no real moral development has taken place Belinda is asked to come to terms with her loss through a kind of bribe or distraction that reinforces her basically frivolous outlook. But even in its most mocking moments, this poem is a gentle one, in which Pope shows a basic sympathy with the social world in spite of its folly and foibles. The searing critiques of his later satires would be much more stringent and less forgiving.

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Marriage Contract

Marriage fuck offs have become fashionable in this twenty first century. This is where the preserve and wife checker to be married only for a period of time. This burn be done formally or informally. Usually this is characterized by writing of wills. The contract springs from the unequivocal will of the people involved. In this case the husband and wife. This usually shows who will own the property by and by the contract expires.The contract is usually formal when in that respect is a common will betwixt the parties. This is where in that respect is alienation of a thing, and in this case one of the parties has a negative moment. in that location is also appropriation of the thing where the other party has a positive moment. Marriage is usually understood as a amicable institution. It generally constitutes of social, religious, communicative, and contractual dimensions. There argon usually conflicting needs and natural inclinations when conglutination is viewed as a cont ract.Philosophy of MarriageThe philosophy of marriage ackno(prenominal)ledges that this institution provides security for the people there in. This philosophy stipulates that the parties involved have to take full responsibility to children until they are old enough to be independent. This means that the fruits of procreation will always know in a marriage. This is where individuals will provide protection and support to distributively other. In the marriage philosophy, there exists mutual respect between the parties. Each ally brings in love, and care to the relationship. In this case there is no overriding partner or superiority is not exercised in this case. There is equality between the parties. 1Philosophy of LoveThis shows that people get married to the people they love and those that they are attracted to. The philosophy of love acknowledges that love normally diminishes with time when the parties get married. There are different types of love .This includes the Eros that is characterized by excitement and intimacy. This commonly exists between people of the different sex. Love is classic to any marriage luck up. There is also the agape and philia love.ReligionThere are various forms of organized religion in the world today. The marriage union may bring in c at oncert people of diverse religions. Among the religions available2 includes Christianity, Muslim, Hinduism, Buddhists etc. Due to high mobility rates individuals in marriage may be from different religions. This factor has influenced formation of marriage contracts. This is where every of the parties doesnt want to change his or her religion or stay with someone of a different religion forever.They then agree to stay together just for a period. In case children are born in such set up then they may be allowed to choose for themselves once they are mature enough. When the children are still young it becomes hard to decide which religion they belong. Parties can cope by allowing children be of fathers religion till they are old enough to choose.Rearing of ChildrenMost marriages are normally blessed with children. Some partners may agree not to have children at all. In contract marriages, partners provide care, support and protection to children when the contract still exists. When the contract expires, the parties agree who will take custody of children. Some partners may part the kids between themselves. Most of them let the mother take custody of the children and the father supports financially. In this case the father may be allowed to visit. This is how the parties cope.CommunicationCommunication is an important aspect in any marriage set up. In marriage contracts, communication is normally very good when the parties are still married.In marriage the parties should be open to each other. They share joys, even fears. When the contract expires communication dwindles. Parties become reserved. Individuals cope by looking for new friends at work or in the neighborhood. MoneyWhen parties are married, they may have joint accounts. Each of them has to contribute some amount of money to wellbeing of the family. They are accountable to each other on how they spend their money. When the contract expires each individual chooses what to do with their finances and is not accountable to the other party. Parties may cope by taking up extra job to meet their needs.IntimacyWhen the individuals are married, intimacy is inevitable. The individuals will automatically have sex within the marriage institution. When the marriage contract expires, the parties will no longer enjoy the conjugal rights. Neither of the parties will demand from the other. Some individuals may still be intimate even after the marriage contract expiring. Other parties cope by having other sexual partners.Personal and Spouse IndependenceThey are very little personal freedom when parties are still married. When the contract expires the man and woman expect to be independent. The individuals are no longer accountable to each other. Each person minds his or her own business. Some parties who want their personal independence after the contract may relocate to other places.Social ActivitiesWhen in marriage individuals enjoy social activities like partying, swimming or jogging together. The parties are free with one another. Such social activities bring joy to the marriage. Coping with such an issue can be tricky because the individuals could have gotten used to each other. Some may continue having social activities after the contract expires. Some cope by getting new friends to socialize with.Occupational IssuesWhen parties are still married occupational issues are affected in relation to family responsibilities. For instance a wife may remain at home and take care of kids while the husband goes to work. When the marriage contract expires the wife may cope by getting a job and employing a house help. This is because the husband may never give her much support as before.H ousehold ResponsibilitiesIn marriage set up, the husband and wife normally share the household responsibilities. This includes laundry work, cleaning, cooking and things like baby sitting. When the marriage contract expires, parties may cope by employing house helps or end up doing all the work by themselves which may be quite strenuous. This may need resigning from work.ConclusionMarriage in itself encompasses so many issues. There are religion issues, money, intimacy, communication among others. It is always better when the parties stick together throughout their lifetime for better and for worse. While marriage contracts are lucky in this century, they are not the best. This is because children are adversely affected. The individuals find it hard to cope .This is in relation to intimacy issues, rearing children and shouldering other responsibilities. It is needless to check out that two are better than one, because when one falls down, the other can pick him or her up.Reference Danley, J. R. (1979) Contracts, conquerors, and conquests, IN Southwestern journal of philosophy. 10no. 1171-1771 Danley, J. R. (1979) Contracts, conquerors, and conquests, IN Southwestern journal of philosophy. 10no. 1171-1772 Danley, J. R. (1979) Contracts, conquerors, and conquests, IN Southwestern journal of philosophy. 10no. 1171-177