Perfect Life And Perfect Families - 1539 Words

Perfect Life and Perfect Families What is a perfect life or perfect family? From an outsider looking in, what does that life look like for you? Is the pressure of comparing your family with others and realizing that you do not measure up to what you see? We all have dreams of what our ideal life would be. Sometimes these are prompted by the â€Å"model† families that we have seen, or perhaps they are the dreams we had of what our own family should be like. Is there such a thing as perfect families or the perfect life? In the movie Juno and American Beauty some of these families try so hard to look picture perfect, however they are far from it. Remember that looks can be deceiving and comparison unfair. In the movie Juno, sixteen year old Juno is the type of girl that beats to her own drum, and doesn’t really care what other people think of her. Juno ends up pregnant from her boyfriend, Paulie Bleeker. So she decides to have the baby and give the baby up for adoption. Ju no finds the perfect couple to adopt her baby. She finds Mark and Vanessa Loring, a yuppie couple living in the suburbs. Juno likes the Loring’s and in some respect has found what looks to be kindred spirits in Mark, with whom she shares a love of grunge music and horror films. Vanessa is a little more uptight and is the one in the relationship seemingly most eager to have a baby. Juno enters a closed adoption contract with the Loring’s. Throughout the film you find out just how imperfect Mark and VanessaShow MoreRelatedMy Life Of A Perfect Family1659 Words   |  7 Pages As a naà ¯ve young girl, the idea of a perfect family comprised a biological mother, father, brother, grandmother, and grandfather. This beautiful family picture seemed nearly impossible for me while growing up considering the sad fact that one of my grandmothers’ rests in peace and the other, along with one of my grandfathers’ resided in another country. Due to that, I mounted all of my admiration on to the only grandparent figure I grew up with, my father’s dad. I held him on a pedestal since IRead More1950s Nostalgia1298 Words   |  6 Pages1950s Nostalgia Real and Imagined Stephanie Coontz is a professor of Family History at the Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington. She is a nationally recognized expert on the family and an award winning writer. In her 1997 book â€Å"The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America’s Changing Families†, Stephanie Coontz wrote an essay entitled â€Å"What We Really Miss about the 1950s†. In Stephanie Coontz’s â€Å"What We Really Miss about the 1950s†, she argues that we asRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Perfect Attendance Means932 Words   |  4 Pagesfeeling of excitement is equate to graduating twelve years of school with consecutive perfect attendance. Accomplished. I could not have graduated any happier knowing that my twelve years of hard work, dedication, and respect was being recognized. What perfect attendance means to me: being a role model for other students and showing my perseverance. My perfect attendance means different things in different a spects of my life, but they are all tied together by the same value. Having the key principles ofRead MoreUtopia is defined as a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social1000 Words   |  4 Pageshave been working for as a society in terms of acceptance. Utopia is imaginary, and is said to be a perfect place, but there is no shared idea of perfection, so society keeps striving for a utopian society that isn’t achievable, and as a society we are lazy. Some people describe utopia as a real, achievable place or mindset, and I disagree with that. Utopia is completely imaginary. There is no perfect world in which everybody thinks or feels the same way about everything, because everyone is stronglyRead MoreFamily and Culture1010 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Family culture is a unique way that a family forms itself in terms of rules, roles, habits, activities, beliefs, and other areas† (â€Å"What is family culture?†, 2002). The perception of family is an aspect of family culture; this includes the interactions within the family and with others. Some of these perceptions can be defined as myths. A myth is a belief about someone or something that is believed to be true, but it is false, made-up, or exaggerated (S. Yu, Lecture). There are both positive andRead MoreLittle Miss Sunshine Film Analysis1455 Words   |  6 PagesAffects The Nation   Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Life is one beauty contest after another.† This quote from Little Miss Sunshine depicts the exact meaning behind the movie.. In the movie, a dysfunctional family helps their daughter, who is not the stereotypical pageant girl, attend a beauty contest, although she was far from a beauty queen.   The movie used visual rhetoric to claim although society has a constant need for perfection and certain cultural stereotypes, it is our imperfections that make us perfect.   Ã‚  Ã‚   First and foremostRead MoreThe Perfect Family Is Not Always The Case For Everyone Essay1045 Words   |  5 Pagesdefinition be given to a phrase that has a different meaning for everyone? When someone thinks of what a perfect family is, chances are it looks like a mother, father, and kids all living together. This ideal scenario is not always the case for everyone. There are many circumstances that people are placed in, which would limit them from being able to fit in this stereotypical connotation. A perfect family is normally defined as a group with two parents and their kids, but for anyone who has grown up missingRead MoreThe Jewelry, By Guy De Maupassant And O Connor913 Words   |  4 PagesLantin sees and experiences change through his life after his wife passes away. In Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to find, the grandmother’s actions cost an entire family’s life. Both stories contains a similar theme but in different ways. D espite their short time frames, Maupassant and O’Connor both reveal a similar didactic medium- nobody is perfect. Maupassant’s short story begins with a description of a young girl who represents the perfect woman. Her gentle nature and manners attractedRead MoreEssay On Irish Insurance1034 Words   |  5 PagesInsurance Company for Life Assurance There are many Insurance Companies in Ireland that offer Life covers. Most people find it difficult choosing a perfect insurer. Before getting into details, let us start off by defining a life assurance. This is a policy that pays your beneficiaries a certain amount in the event you die. It must be within the course of your policy. There are multiple covers a person can choose from. They range from joint covers, single life policies and dual life covers among othersRead MoreWhat Makes You Happy And Don  ¬Ã‚ ¥ T Be Afraid909 Words   |  4 Pageswhat you want and follow the path you want to, for your life. Do what makes you happy and don ´t be afraid, if it is meant to be yours it will be. In this way you might find some troubles and bumps to avoid, but nothing that with a little bit of divine help call â€Å"Faith† cannot fix. These ones were the words a voice in my head told my, when my father left my house. In my childhood, my mom and my dad gave me the most beautiful moments, of my life. Together they taught me to help other ones, to be humble

The American Sign Language Community Essay - 1221 Words

Introduction As part of daily life, we communicate and connect ourselves with certain communities. School, jobs, families, sports, extracurricular activities, and many other communities are just a few we come into contact with. Although these may seem to appear the same, there are specific types of communities such as a discourse community. A discourse community is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field (Webcourses, N.d, Website) that has a share a common set of goals and attempt to achieve these goals (Swales, 1990). According to researcher and educator, John Swales, there are six characteristics that define whether or not a community is considered a discourse community. Following the criteria Swales states is necessary to be a discourse community, I did an in depth research on the American Sign Language community. Through my study, I was able to meet all six characteristics. Literature Review According to Swales, there are two types of communities: speech and discourse. Swales defines a speech community as a group that shares similar linguistic goals, similar language, or both as â€Å"a community sharing knowledge of the rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech† (Swales, 1990). Swales also identifies that speech communities inherit their members, unlike the discourse community that recruits its members (Swales, 1990). Although these two communities may appear to be the same, to be considered aShow MoreRelatedAmerican Sign Language And Numerical Stories1118 Words   |  5 PagesA-Z stories in American Sign Language and numerical stories as well were introduced around the 1940’s (Bauman). Gilbert Eastman stated that A-Z and numerical stories were most likely created as early as the 1900’s at the Ohio School for the Deaf (Bauman). However, with the advanced technology of the 20th century American Sign Language numerical and A-Z stories may be cherished and videorecorded for future generations (American Sign Language Literature). What are A-Z and numerical stories? A-Z storiesRead MoreThe Effects Of Deafness On Deaf Children1669 Words   |  7 Pagesperspective, collectivism, identity, transnationalism, community, and Deaf Space. American Sign Language is a visual-based language that is the primary language used by Deaf individuals. American Sign Language benefits our society due to the language’s visual nature, which produces a creative expression that is otherwise not experienced in oral languages. Research done by Bauman and Murray has shown that â€Å"Deaf individuals who use American Sign Language have more well-developed peripheral vision, a greaterRead MoreChloe Ziff . Professor Gary Rosenblatt. April 13, 2017.991 Words   |  4 PagesProfessor Gary Rosenblatt April 13, 2017 American Sign Language II Seeing Voices By Oliver Sacks Seeing Voices is a profound novel that was written by famous neurologist,  Oliver Sacks in 1989. Seeing Voices is a book that delves into the history of Sign Language and expresses a genuine meaning behind what language truly is.   Oliver Sacks is an engaging and fascinating writer. Being able to explore outside what he is used to, he can expand his knowledge about language. Being knowledgeable on psychiatryRead MoreAsl And The American Sign Language880 Words   |  4 PagesAmerican Sign Language is the interesting, logical, and fun to learn. ASL is the fourth most-used languages in the United States. ASL is used for hearing people to get the messages across to Deaf people and Deaf community. Deaf people use American Sign Language to communicate with their friends, family or their loved one who is deaf. Now parents are teaching their babies to learn ASL. The American Sign Language gives children, their confidence, and self-esteem in their lives. Deaf Community vs. HardRead MoreD eafness Has Been A Negative Label. Being Deaf Is Considered1528 Words   |  7 Pagesperspective, collectivism, identity, transnationalism, community, and Deaf Space. American Sign Language is a visual-based language that is the primary language used by Deaf individuals. American Sign Language benefits our society due to the language’s visual nature, which produces a creative expression that is otherwise not experienced in oral languages. Research done by Bauman and Murray has shown that â€Å"Deaf individuals who use American Sign Language have more well-developed peripheral vision, a greaterRead MoreDeafness And Other Communication Disorders984 Words   |  4 PagesStates (30 million) ... has hearing loss in both ears† (NIDCD 1). The Deaf community will continually experience marginalization because of mass information, obliviousness, and miscommunication. While this may not sound extensive compared to the whole of the population, it is significant enough to warrant attention. While mass misinformation, obliviousness, and miscommunication are three of the major struggles for the Deaf community, there are multiple problems that arise underneath those categories. ForRead MoreThe Importance Of Deaf Culture1445 Words   |  6 Pagesthe hallmarks of Deaf culture such as â€Å"language, heritage art and history†, I began wondering about how the historical significance of each one impacted the modern choices of Deaf individuals (Holcomb 17). Our textbook Introduction to American Deaf Culture makes references to how important American Sign Language is to define the Deaf community which leaves me wondering how strong the foundation of Deaf culture would be if based on heritage rather than on language. Being Jewish I never learned HebrewRead More The Deaf in Society Essay1411 Words   |  6 PagesThe Deaf Community Imagine if you could never experience the sound of your favorite song on the radio. Or you could never hear the voice of a family member wishing you happy birthday. Since these situations are typical we may take them for granted. But these every day scenarios will never be part of a deaf persons life. One out of thousand infants will be born deaf every year, (Deaf Understanding). Most people dont realize the giant impact of the deaf in our society. Deaf persons canRead MoreCulture : The American Culture1014 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout the world there are many different cultures. Culture can can be based on things such as language, religion, and tradition or customs that we were raised in. Culture allows for groups of people to come together with similar interests and backgrounds to come share one common ground. Culture is everywhere we look and is in our everyday lives. I consider myself to be the American culture. My first language is English and I was born and raised in California. Growing up I was raised in a MethodistRead MoreDeaf Americans: Community and Culture1427 Words   |  6 Pagesthe deaf community and carry on the American Deaf culture. There are approximately 35 million people in the United States who are considered deaf or hard of hearing (Culture and Empowerment in the Deaf Community). The majority of these deaf people struggle in the hearing world until they can find a connection to their deafness. They constantly hunger for language and a sense of truly belonging. Once they are exposed to the deaf community, American Sign Language (ASL) as the deaf language and the closeness

Balance Sheet and Sylvan free essay sample

On January 1 2007, Pillar purchased 60% of the common shares of Sylvan for $4,500. On that date, Sylvan had common shares of $1,250 and retained earnings of $3,000. Fair values were equal to carrying values for all Sylvan’s net assets except inventory, capital assets and notes payable. The fair value of inventory was $60 more than book value, the book value of capital assets was $100 greater than fair value and the Notes payable had a fair value of $150 less than book value. Assume that all shares of Sylvan have the same value and no control premium was paid at the date of acquisition. The Consolidated Financial statements will be prepared using IFRS Entity Method. The financial statements for Pillar and Sylvan for the year ended December 31, 2010 were as follows: Balance Sheets December 31, 2010 $000’s PILLAR SYLVAN Cash $680 $435 Accounts receivable 1,755 1,025 Inventory 2,849 1,790 Capital assets—net 3,976 3,000 Investment in Sylvan 4,500 Total assets $13,760 $6,250 Current liabilities $400 $255 Notes payable 5,800 1,185 Common shares 2,000 1,250 Retained earnings 5,560 3,560 Total $13,760 $6,250 Statements of Income and Retained Earnings Year Ended December 31, 2010 PILLAR SYLVAN Sales and all other Income $4,040 $2,710 Cost of sales 1,600 1,140 2,440 1,570 Amortization (480) (310) Other expenses and losses including taxes (500) (210) Net income 1,460 1,050 Additional information: numbers in $000’s 1. Capital assets are to be amortized over an average remaining useful life of 8 years at January 1, 2007 and the notes payable mature on December 31, 2011. Goodwill impairment losses for 2008 and 2010 were $240 and $300 respectively. Straight line amortization is acceptable for all acquisition differentials. 2. At December 31, 2010, Sylvan’s inventory included goods purchased from Pillar for $760. Total purchases from Pillar in 2010 were $1000 all priced at mark-up’s averaging 25% of Pillar’s cost. 3. On December 31, 2009, the inventories of Pillar contained $500 of merchandise purchased from Sylvan. Sylvan earns a gross margin of 30% on all sales to Pillar. During December 2010, Pillar purchased merchandise from Sylvan for $900 and did not pay for$250 of the purchases by December 31, 2010. 40% of the inventory was resold by Pillar before the year end. 4. On July 1, 2010, Sylvan sold a new tract of Land to Pillar for $170. On December 1, 2009, Sylvan had bought the land for $200. The fair market value of the land at July 1, 2010 was $220. 5. On September 30, 2008, Pillar sold Land to Sylvan for $100. The land had a book value of $60 on the date of the sale. 6. On December 1, 2010, Pillar and Sylvan declared and paid dividends of $150 and $100 respectively. 7. Both companies pay taxes at the rate of 40%. Assume all intercompany Transactions are taxed at 40% REQUIRED: Please use a GREEN BOOKLET 1. Prepare a Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2010. (22 Marks) 2. Prepare an independent calculation of ENDING Consolidated Retained Earnings at December 31, 2010. (11 marks) 3. Assume Pillar wishes to use the equity method in their General Ledger, calculate Investment income from Sylvan for the year ending December 31, 2010 (10 Marks) NOTE: This question will help you prepare for the technical question on the midterm. Do more than the question asks so that you are prepared for any possible questions you may be asked: Eg. Prepare a Consolidated Income statement and an independent calculation of Consolidated Net Income attributable to Parent company shareholders Calculate the Investment Income under the equity method: Note the only difference between the equity method used when significant Influence is present and the equity method used in the general ledger of the parent when control is present is the treatment of downstream transactions. According to IAS 28.28 all unrealized intercompany profits are eliminated proportionately between investor and investee. Therefore if investor owns 30% of investee, 30% of all unrealized profits/losses are removed. When control exists the parent eliminates upstream proportionately with NCI and downstream unrealized profits are eliminated 100% from parent. Check figures: At December 31, 2010 Goodwill at acquisition ($3,140) $2,600 Consolidated total Assets $17,615.6 Capital assets $6916 Consolidated Retained Earnings $5331.28 NCI Balance Sheet $2924.32 Consolidated Net Income Entity $2052.1 Attributable to Parent shareholders 1754.78 Attributable to NCI $297.32 Investment account Balance sheet :equity method $4,271.28 Investment income equity method 2010 $354.78(removing 100% downstream)

Declaration Of Independance Essay Example For Students

Declaration Of Independance Essay National Archives and Records Administration The Stylistic Artistryof theDeclaration of Independenceby Stephen E. Lucas The Declaration of Independence is perhaps the most masterfully written state paper of Western civilization. As Moses Coit Tyler noted almost a century ago, no assessment of it can be complete without taking into account its extraordinary merits as a work of political prose style. Although many scholars have recognized those merits, there are surprisingly few sustained studies of the stylistic artistry of the Declaration.(1) This essay seeks to illuminate that artistry by probing the discourse microscopicallyat the level of the sentence, phrase, word, and syllable. By approaching the Declaration in this way, we can shed light both on its literary qualities and on its rhetorical power as a work designed to convince a candid world that the American colonies were justified in seeking to establish themselves as an independent nation.(2) The text of the Declaration can b e divided into five sectionsthe introduction, the preamble, the indictment of George III, the denunciation of the British people, and the conclusion. Because space does not permit us to explicate each section in full detail, we shall select features from each that illustrate the stylistic artistry of the Declaration as a whole.(3)The introduction consists of the first paragrapha single, lengthy, periodic sentence: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.(4)Taken out of context, this sentence is so general it could be used as the introduction to a declaration by any oppressed people. Seen within its original context, however, it is a model of subtlety, nuance, and implication that works on several levels of meaning and allusion to orient readers toward a favorable view of America and to prepare them for the rest of the Declaration. From its magisterial opening phrase, which sets the American Revolution within the whole course of human events, to its assertion that the Laws of Nature and of Natures God entitle America to a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth, to its quest for sanction from the opinions of mankind, the introduction elevates the quarrel with England from a petty political dispute to a major event in the grand sweep of history. It dignifies the Revolution as a contest of principle and implies that the American cause has a special claim to moral legitimacyall without mentioning England or America by name. Rather than defining the Declarations task as one of persuasion, which would doubtless raise the defenses of readers as well as imply that there was more than one publicly credible view of the British-American conflict, the introduction identifies the purpose of the Declaration as simply to declareto announce publicly in explicit termsthe causes impelling America to leave the British empire. This gives the Declaration, at the outset, an aura of philosophical (in the eighteenth-century sense of the term) objectivity that it will seek to maintain throughout. Rather than presenting one side in a public controversy on which good and decent people could differ, the Declaration purports to do no more than a natural philosopher would do in reporting the causes of any physical event. The issue, it implies, is not one of interpretation but of observation. The most important word in the introduction is necessary, which in the eighteenth century carried strongly deterministic overtones. To say an act was necessary implied that it was impelled by fate or determined by the operation of inextricable natural laws and was beyond the control of human agents. Thus Chamberss Cyclopedia defined necessary as that which cannot but be, or cannot be otherwise. The common notion of necessity and impossibility, Jonathan Edwards wrote in Freedom of the Will, implies something that frustrates endeavor or desire. . . . That is necessary in the original and proper sense of the word, which is, or will be, notwithstanding all supposable opposition. Characterizing the Revolution as necessary suggested that it resulted from constraints that operated with lawlike force throughout the material universe and within the sphere of human action. The Revolution was not merely preferable, defensible, or justifiable. It was as inescapable, as inevitable, as unavoidable within the course of human events as the motions of the tides or the changing of the seasons within the course of natural events.(5)Inves ting the Revolution with connotations of necessity was particularly important because, according to the law of nations, recourse to war was lawful only when it became necessaryonly when amicable negotiation had failed and all other alternatives for settling the differences between two states had been exhausted. Nor was the burden of necessity limited to monarchs and established nations. At the start of the English Civil War in 1642, Parliament defended its recourse to military action against Charles I in a lengthy declaration demonstrating the Necessity to take up Arms. Following this tradition, in July 1775 the Continental Congress issued its own Declaration Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Their Taking Up Arms. When, a year later, Congress decided the colonies could no longer retain their liberty within the British empire, it adhered to long-established rhetorical convention by describing independence as a matter of absolute and inescapable necessity.(6) Indeed, the notio n of necessity was so important that in addition to appearing in the introduction of the Declaration, it was invoked twice more at crucial junctures in the rest of the text and appeared frequently in other congressional papers after July 4, 1776.(7)Labeling the Americans one people and the British another was also laden with implication and performed several important strategic functions within the Declaration. First, because two alien peoples cannot be made one, it reinforced the notion that breaking the political bands with England was a necessary step in the course of human events. America and England were already separated by the more basic fact that they had become two different peoples. The gulf between them was much more than political; it was intellectual, social, moral, cultural and, according to the principles of nature, could no more be repaired, as Thomas Paine said, than one could restore to us the time that is past or give to prostitution its former innocence. To try t o perpetuate a purely political connection would be forced and unnatural, repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things.(8)Second, once it is granted that Americans and Englishmen are two distinct peoples, the conflict between them is less likely to be seen as a civil war. The Continental Congress knew America could not withstand Britains military might without foreign assistance. But they also knew America could not receive assistance as long as the colonies were fighting a civil war as part of the British empire. To help the colonies would constitute interference in Great Britains internal affairs. As Samuel Adams explained, no foreign Power can consistently yield Comfort to Rebels, or enter into any kind of Treaty with these Colonies till they declare themselves free and independent. The crucial factor in opening the way for foreign aid was the act of declaring independence. But by defining America and England as two separate peoples, the Declaration reinforced the percep tion that the conflict was not a civil war, thereby, as Congress noted in its debates on independence, making it more consistent with European delicacy for European powers to treat with us, or even to receive an Ambassador.(9)Third, defining the Americans as a separate people in the introduction eased the task of invoking the right of revolution in the preamble. That right, according to eighteenth-century revolutionary principles, could be invoked only in the most dire of circumstanceswhen resistance was absolutely necessary in order to preserve the nation from slavery, misery, and ruinand then only by the Body of the People. If America and Great Britain were seen as one people, Congress could not justify revolution against the British government for the simple reason that the body of the people (of which the Americans would be only one part) did not support the American cause. For America to move against the government in such circumstances would not be a justifiable act of resista nce but a sort of Sedition, Tumult, and War . . . aiming only at the satisfaction of private Lust, without regard to the public Good. By defining the Americans as a separate people, Congress could more readily satisfy the requirement for invoking the right of revolution that the whole Body of Subjects rise up against the government to rescue themselves from the most violent and illegal oppressions.(10)Like the introduction, the next section of the Declarationusually referred to as the preambleis universal in tone and scope. It contains no explicit reference to the British- American conflict, but outlines a general philosophy of government that makes revolution justifiable, even meritorious: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Like the rest of the Declaration, the preamble is brief, free of verbiage, a model of clear, concise, simple statement.(11) It capsulizes in five sentences202words what it took John Locke thousands of words to explain in his Second Treatise of Government. Each word is chosen and placed to achieve maximum impact. Each clause is indispensable to the progression of thought. Each sentence is carefully constructed internally and in relation to what precedes and follows. In its ability to compress complex ideas into a brief, clear statement, the preamble is a paradigm of eighteenth-century Enlightenment prose style, in which purity, simplicity, directness, precision, and, above all, perspicuity were the highest rhetorical and literary virtues. One word follows another with complete inevitability of sound and meaning. Not one word can be moved or replaced without disrupting the balance and harmony of the entire preamble. The stately and dignified tone of the preamblelike that of the introductioncomes partly from what the eighteenth century called Style Periodique, in which, as Hugh Blair explained in his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, the sentences are composed of several members linked together, and hanging upon one another, so that the sense of the whole is not brought out till the close. This, Blair said, is the most pompous, musical, and oratorical manner of composing and gives an air of gravity and dignity to composition. The gravity and dignity of the preamble were reinforced by its conformance with the rhetorical precept that when we aim at dignity or elevation, the sound of each sentence should be made to grow to the last; the longest members of the period, and the fullest and most sonorous words, should be reserved to the conclusion. None of the sentences of the preamble end on a single-syllable word; only one, the second (and least euphonious), ends on a two-syllable word. Of the other four, one ends with a four-syllable word (security), while three end with three-syllable words. Moreover, in each of the three-syllable words the closing syllable is at least a medium- length four-letter syllable, which helps bring the sentences to a full and harmonious close.(12)It is unlikely that any of this was accidental. Thoroughly versed in classical oratory and rhetorical theory as well as in the belletristic treatises of his own time, Thomas Jefferson, draftsman of the Declaration, was a diligent student of rhythm, accent, timing, and cadence in discourse. This can be seen most clearly in his Thoughts on English Prosody, a remarkable twenty-eight-page unpublished essay written in Paris during the fall of 1786. Prompted by a discussion on language with the Marquis de Chastellux at Monticello four years earlier, it was a careful inquiry designed to find out the real circumstance which gives harmony to English prose and laws to those who make it. Using roughly the same s ystem of diacritical notation he had employed in 1776 in his reading draft of the Declaration, Jefferson systematically analyzed the patterns of accentuation in a wide range of English writers, including Milton, Pope, Shakespeare, Addison, Gray, and Garth. Although Thoughts on English Prosody deals with poetry, it displays Jeffersons keen sense of the interplay between sound and sense in language. There can be little doubt that, like many accomplished writers, he consciously composed for the ear as well as for the eyea trait that is nowhere better illustrated than in the eloquent cadences of the preamble in the Declaration of Independence.(13)The preamble also has a powerful sense of structural unity. This is achieved partly by the latent chronological progression of thought, in which the reader is moved from the creation of mankind, to the institution of government, to the throwing off of government when it fails to protect the peoples unalienable rights, to the creation of new gov ernment that will better secure the peoples safety and happiness. This dramatic scenario, with its first act implicitly set in the Garden of Eden (where man was created equal), may, for some readers, have contained mythic overtones of humanitys fall from divine grace. At the very least, it gives an almost archetypal quality to the ideas of the preamble and continues the notion, broached in the introduction, that the American Revolution is a major development in the course of human events. Because of their concern with the philosophy of the Declaration, many modern scholars have dealt with the opening sentence of the preamble out of context, as if Jefferson and the Continental Congress intended it to stand alone. Seen in context, however, it is part of a series of five propositions that build upon one another through the first three sentences of the preamble to establish the right of revolution against tyrannical authority:Proposition 1: All men are created equal. Proposition 2: They all men, from proposition 1 areendowed by their creator with certainunalienable rights. Proposition 3: Among these mans unalienable rights,from proposition 2 are life, liberty,and the pursuit of happiness. Proposition 4: To secure these rights mansunalienable rights, from propositions 2and 3 governments are instituted amongmen. Proposition 5: Whenever any form of government becomesdestructive of these ends securingmans unalienable rights, frompropositions 2-4, it is the right ofthe people to alter or to abolish it. When we look at all five propositions, we see they are meant to be read together and have been meticulously written to achieve a specific rhetorical purpose. The first three lead into the fourth, which in turn leads into the fifth. And it is the fifth, proclaiming the right of revolution when a government becomes destructive of the peoples unalienable rights, that is most crucial in the overall argument of the Declaration. The first four propositions ar e merely preliminary steps designed to give philosophical grounding to the fifth. At first glance, these propositions appear to comprise what was known in the eighteenth century as a soritesa Way of Argument in which a great Number of Propositions are so linked together, that the Predicate of one becomes continually the Subject of the next following, until at last a Conclusion is formed by bringing together the Subject of the First Proposition and the Predicate of the last. In his Elements of Logick, William Duncan provided the following example of a sorites:God is omnipotent. An omnipotent Being can do every thing possible. He that can do every thing possible, can do whateverinvolves not a Contradiction. Therefore God can do whatever involves not aContradiction.(14)Although the section of the preamble we have been considering is not a sorites (because it does not bring together the subject of the first proposition and the predicate of the last), its propositions are written in such a way as to take on the appearance of a logical demonstration. They are so tightly interwoven linguistically that they seem to make up a sequence in which the final propositionasserting the right of revolutionis logically derived from the first four propositions. This is accomplished partly by the mimicry of the form of a sorites and partly by the sheer number of propositions, the accumulation of which is reinforced by the slow, deliberate pace of the text and by the use of that to introduce each proposition. There is also a steplike progression from proposition to proposition, a progression that is accentuated by the skillful use of demonstrative pronouns to make each succeeding proposition appear to be a n inevitable consequence of the preceding proposition. Although the preamble is the best known part of the Declaration today, it attracted considerably less attention in its own time. For most eighteenth-century readers, it was an unobjectionable statement of commonplace political principles. As Jefferson explained years later, the purpose of the Declaration was not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of . . . but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take.(15)Far from being a weakness of the preamble, the lack of new ideas was perhaps its greatest strength. If one overlooks the introductory first paragraph, the Declaration as a whole is structured along the lines of a deductive argument that can easily be put in syllogistic form: Major premise: When government deliberately seeks to reducethe people under absol ute despotism, thepeople have a right, indeed a duty, to alteror abolish that form of government and tocreate new guards for their future security. Minor premise: The government of Great Britain hasdeliberately sought to reduce the Americanpeople under absolute despotism. Conclusion: Therefore the American people have a right,indeed a duty, to abolish their present formof government and to create new guards fortheir future security. As the major premise in this argument, the preamble allowed Jefferson and the Congress to reason from self-evident principles of government accepted by almost all eighteenth-century readers of the Declaration.(16)The key premise, however, was the minor premise. Since virtually everyone agreed the people had a right to overthrow a tyrannical ruler when all other remedies had failed, the crucial question in July 1776 was whether the necessary conditions for revolution existed in the colonies. Congress answered this question with a sustained attack on George III, an attack that makes up almost exactly two-thirds of the text. The indictment of George III begins with a transitional sentence immediately following the preamble: Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. Legalize drugs EssayWhat marks Jeffersons happy talent for composition in this case is the coupling of our sacred Honor with our Lives and our Fortunes to create the eloquent trilogy that closes the Declaration. The concept of honor (and its cognates fame and glory) exerted a powerful hold on the eighteenth-century mind. Writers of all kindsphilosophers, preachers, politicians, playwrights, poetsrepeatedly speculated about the sources of honor and how to achieve it. Virtually every educated man in England or America was schooled in the classical maxim, What is left when honor is lost? Or as Joseph Addison wrote in his Cato, whose sentiments were widely admired throughout the eighteenth century on both sides of the Atlantic: Better to die ten thousand deaths/Than wound my honour. The cult of honor was so strong that in English judicial proceedings a peer of the realm did not answer to bills in chancery or give a verdict upon oath, like an ordinary juryman, but upon his honor.(28)By pledging our sacred Honor in support of the Declaration, Congress made a particularly solemn vow. The pledge also carried a latent message that the revolutionaries, contrary to the claims of their detractors, were men of honor whose motives and actions could not only withstand the closest scrutiny by contemporary persons of quality and merit but would also deserve the approbation of posterity. If the Revolution succeeded, its leaders stood to achieve lasting honor as what Francis Bacon called Liberatores or Salvatores men who compound the long Miseries of Civil Wars, or deliver their Countries from Servitude of Strangers or Tyrants. Historical examples included Augustus Caesar, Henry VII of England, and Henry IV of France. On Bacons five-point scale of supreme honor, such heroes ranked below only Conditores Imperiorum, Founders of States and Commonwealths, such as Romulus, Caesar, and Ottoman, and Lawgivers such as Solon, Lycurgus, and Justinian, also called Second Founders, or Perp etui Principes, because they Govern by their Ordinances after they are gone. Seen in this way, our sacred Honor lifts the motives of Congress above the more immediate concerns of our Lives and our Fortunes and places the revolutionaries in the footsteps of historys most honorable figures. As a result it also unifies the whole text by subtly playing out the notion that the Revolution is a major turn in the broad course of human events.(29)At the same time, the final sentence completes a crucial metamorphosis in the text. Although the Declaration begins in an impersonal, even philosophical voice, it gradually becomes a kind of drama, with its tensions expressed more and more in personal terms. This transformation begins with the appearance of the villain, the present King of Great Britain, who dominates the stage through the first nine grievances, all of which note what He has done without identifying the victim of his evil deeds. Beginning with grievance 10 the king is joined on stag e by the American colonists, who are identified as the victim by some form of first person plural reference: The king has sent swarms of officers to harass our people, has quartered armed troops among us, has imposed taxes on us without our consent, has taken away our charters, abolished our most valuable laws, and altered the Forms of our Governments. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, . . . destroyed the lives of our people, and excited domestic insurrections amongst us. The word our is used twenty-six times from its first appearance in grievance 10 through the last sentence of the Declaration, while us occurs eleven times from its first appearance in grievance 11 through the rest of the grievances.(30)Throughout the grievances action is instigated by the king, as the colonists passively accept blow after blow without wavering in their loyalty. His villainy complete, George III leaves the stage and it is occupied next by the colonists and their British brethren. The heavy use of personal pronouns continues, but by now the colonists have become the instigators of action as they actively seek redress of their grievances. This is marked by a shift in idiom from He has to We have: We have petitioned for redress . . . , We have reminded them . . . , We have appealed to their . . . , and We have conjured them. But they have been deaf to all pleas, so We must . . . hold them as enemies. By the conclusion, only the colonists remain on stage to pronounce their dramatic closing lines: We . . . solemnly publish and declare . . . And to support this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. The persistent use of he and them, us and our, we and they personalizes the British-American conflict and transfigures it from a complex struggle of multifarious origins and diverse motives to a simple moral drama in which a patiently suffering people courageously defend their liberty against a cruel and v icious tyrant. It also reduces the psychic distance between the reader and the text and coaxes the reader into seeing the dispute with Great Britain through the eyes of the revolutionaries. As the drama of the Declaration unfolds, the reader is increasingly solicited to identify with Congress and the good People of these Colonies, to share their sense of victimage, to participate vicariously in their struggle, and ultimately to act with them in their heroic quest for freedom. In this respect, as in others, the Declaration is a work of consummate artistry. From its eloquent introduction to its aphoristic maxims of government, to its relentless accumulation of charges against George III, to its elegiac denunciation of the British people, to its heroic closing sentence, it sustains an almost perfect synthesis of style, form, and content. Its solemn and dignified tone, its graceful and unhurried cadence, its symmetry, energy, and confidence, its combination of logical structure and dram atic appeal, its adroit use of nuance and implication all contribute to its rhetorical power. And all help to explain why the Declaration remains one of the handful of American political documents that, in addition to meeting the immediate needs of the moment, continues to enjoy a lustrous literary reputation. NOTESc 1989 by Stephen E. LucasStephen E. Lucas is professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. The present essay is derived from a more comprehensive study, Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical Document, in Thomas W. Benson, ed., American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism (1989). (1) Moses Coit Tyler, The Literary History of the American Revolution (1897), vol. 1, p. 520. The best known study of the style of the Declaration is Carl Beckers The Literary Qualities of the Declaration, in his The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas (1922), pp. 194-223. Useful also are Robert Ginsberg, The Declaration as Rhetoric, in Robert Ginsberg, ed., A Casebook on the Declaration of Independence (1967), pp. 219-244; Edwin Gittleman, Jeffersons Slave Narrative: The Declaration of Independence as a Literary Text, Early American Literature 8 (1974): 239-256; and James Boyd White, When Words Lose Their Meaning: Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language, Character, and Community (1984), 231 240. Although most books on the Declaration contain a chapter on the style of the document, those chapters are typically historical accounts of the evolution of the text from its drafting by Thomas Jefferson through its approval by the Continental Congress or philosophical speculations about the meaning of its famous passages. (2) As Garry Wills demonstrates in Inventing America: Jeffersons Declaration of Independence (1978), there are two Declarations of Independence the version drafted by Thomas Jefferson and that revised and adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Continental Congress sitting as a committee of the whole. Altogether Congress deleted 630 words from Jeffersons draft and added 146, producing a final text of 1,322 words (excluding the title). Although Jefferson complained that Congress mangled his manuscript and altered it much for the worse, the judgment of posterity, stated well by Becker, is that Congress left the Declaration better than it found it (Declaration of Independence, p. 209). In any event, for better or worse, it was Congresss text that presented Americas case to the world, and it is that text with which we are concerned in this essay. (3) Nothing in this essay should be interpreted to mean that a firm line can be drawn between style and substance in the Declaration or in any other wo rk of political or literary discourse. As Peter Gay has noted, style is form and content woven into the texture of every art and craft. . . . Apart from a few mechanical tricks of rhetoric, manner is indissolubly linked to matter; style shapes and is in turn shaped by, substance (Style in History 1974, p. 3). (4) All quotations from the Declaration follow the text as presented in Julian P. Boyd et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (1950 ), vol. 1, pp. 429-432. (5) Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopedia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1728), vol. 2, p. 621; Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will, ed. Paul Ramsey (1957), p. 149. (6) Declaration of the Lords and Commons to Justify Their Taking Up Arms, August 1642, in John Rushworth, ed., Historical Collections of Private Passages of State, Weighty Matters in Law, Remarkable Proceedings in Five Parliaments (1680-1722), vol. 4, pp. 761-768; Declaration of the Continental Congress Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Their Taking Up Arms, July 1775, in James H. Hutson, ed., A Decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind: Congressional State Papers, 1774-1776 (1975), pp. 89-98. The importance of necessity as a justification for war among nations is evident in the many declarations of war issued by European monarchs throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is discussed in Tavers Twiss, The Law of Nations Considered as Independent Political Communities (1863), pp. 54-55. (7) The first additional invocation of the doctrine of necessity in the Declaration comes immediately after the preamble, when Congress states, Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of Government. The second is at the end of the penultimate section, in which Congress ends its denunciation of the British people by announcing, We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.(8) Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America . . . (1776), pp. 41, 43. (9) Samuel Adams to Joseph Hawley, Apr. 15, 1776, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774 1789, ed. Paul H. Smith (1976 ), vol. 3, p. 528; Thomas Jefferson, Notes of Proceedings in the Continental Congress, Jefferson Papers 1: 312. (10) Jonathan Mayhew, A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Nonresistance to the Higher Powers . . . (1750), p. 45; John, Lord Somers, The Judgment of Whole Kingdoms and Nations, Concerning the Rights, Power and Prerogative of Kings, and the Rights, Privileges and Properties of the People (1710), par. 186; Algernon Sidney, Discourses Concerning Government (1693), p. 181; John Hoadly, ed., The Works of Benjamin Hoadly (1773), vol. 2, p. 36; Pacificus, Pennsylvania Gazette, Sept. 14, 1774. (11) Becker, Declaration of Independence, p. 201. (12) Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783), vol. 1, pp. 206-207, 259. (13) Thoughts on English Prosody was enclosed in an undated letter of ca. October 1786 to the Marquis de Chastellux. The letter is printed in Jefferson Papers 10: 498; the draft of Jeffersons essay, which has not been printed, is with the letter to Chastellux in the Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Julian P. Boyd, The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 100 (1976): 455-462, discusses Thoughts on English Prosody and its relation to Jeffersons reading text of the Declaration. Given the changes made by Congress in some sections of the Declaration, it should be noted that the style of the preamble is distinctly Jeffersonian and was approved by Congress with only two minor changes in wording from Jeffersons fair copy as reported by the Committee of Five. (14) William Duncan, The Elements of Logick (1748), p. 242. See also Isaac Watts, Logick: or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth, 8th ed. (1745), p. 304; Henry Aldrich, A Compendium of Logic, 3d ed. (1790), p. 23. (15) Jefferson to Henry Lee, May 5, 1825, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul Leicester Ford (1892-1899), vol. 10, p. 343. (16) Wilbur Samuel Howell, The Declaration of Independence and Eighteenth-Century Logic, William and Mary Quarterly, 3d Ser. 18 (1961): 463-484, claims Jefferson consciously structured the Declaration as a syllogism with a self-evident major premise to fit the standards for scientific proof advanced in William Duncans Elements of Logick, a leading logical treatise of the eighteenth century. As I argue in a forthcoming essay, however, there is no hard evidence to connect Duncans book with the Declaration. Jefferson may have read Elements of Logick while he was a student at the College of William and Mary, but we are not certain that he did. He owned a copy of it, but we cannot establish whether the edition he owned was purchased before or after 1776. We cannot even say with complete confidence that Jefferson inserted the words self-evident in the Declaration; if he did, it was only as an afterthought in the process of polishing his original draft. Moreover, upon close examination it b ecomes clear that the Declaration does not fit the method of scientific reasoning recommended in Duncans Logick. Its self- evident truths are not self-evident in the rigorous technical sense used by Duncan; it does not provide the definitions of terms that Duncan regards as the crucial first step in syllogistic demonstration; and it does not follow Duncans injunction that both the minor premise and the major premise must be self-evident if a conclusion is to be demonstrated in a single act of reasoning. The syllogism had been part of the intellectual baggage of Western civilization for two thousand years, and the notion of self-evident truth was central to eighteenth-century philosophy. Jefferson could readily have used both without turning to Duncans Logick for instruction. (17) Declaration in John Cowell, Nomothetes. The Interpreter, Concerning the Genuine Signification of Such Obscure Words and Terms Used Either in the Common or Statute Laws of This Realm . . . (1684). For the requirements of legal declarations in various kinds of civil suits during the eighteenth century, see William Selwyn, An Abridgement of the Law of Nisi Prius, 4th ed. (1817). (18) Fact in Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language: In Which the Words are Deduced from Their Origins and Illustrated in Their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers (1755). (19) Oxford English Dictionary (1933), vol. 4, pp. 11-12; Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1771), vol. 4, p. 39; The Annual Register, Or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1772 (1773), p. 57. (20) John Lind, Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress . . . , 5th ed. (1776), p. 123. Because the grievances are not numbered in the Declaration, there has been disagreement over how many there are and how they should be numbered. I have followed Sidney George Fisher, The Twenty-Eight Charges against the King in the Declaration of Independence, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 31 (1907): 257-303. An alternative numbering system is used by Wills, Inventing America, pp. 68-75. (21) Samuel Adams to John Pitts, ca. July 9, 1776, Letters of Delegates 4: 417. The sole congressional paper before the Declaration of Independence to list grievances topically was the 1774 Bill of Rights (Hutson, Decent Respect, pp. 49-57). (22) Thomas Hutchinson, Strictures upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia . . . (1776), p. 16; Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678), p. 601; Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiasticall Politie (1594 1596), vol. 5, sec. 67, p. 178. (23) Between 1764 and 1766 England added twenty-five comptrollers, four surveyors general, and one plantation clerk to its customs service in America. It added seventeen more officials in 1767 with the creation of a Board of Customs Commissioners to reside in Boston. These appointments may also have generated a mild ripple effect, resulting in the hiring of a few lesser employees to help with office chores and customs searches, but there is no way to know, since the records are now lost. See Thomas C. Barrow, Trade and Empire: The British Customs Service in Colonial America, 1660 1775 (1967), pp. 186-187, 220-221. (24) Howard Mumford Jones, The Declaration of Independence: A Critique, in The Declaration of Independence: Two Essays (1976), p. 7; sentence against Richard III in Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et petitiones placita in Parliamento (1783 1832), vol. 6, p. 276. (25) Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, Oct. 12, 1786, Jefferson Papers 10: 451; John Adams to Benjamin Hichborn, May 29, 1776, Letters of Delegates 4: 96; Paine, Common Sense, pp. 40-42. (26) See note 20 for bibliographic information on Linds pamphlet. (27) Becker, Declaration of Independence, p. 197. (28) For the importance of fame and honor to the revolutionaries, see Douglass Adair, Fame and the Founding Fathers, in Fame and the Founding Fathers, ed. Trevor Colbourn (1974), pp. 3-26; Garry Wills, Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment (1984), pp. 109 148; Bruce Miroff, John Adams: Merit, Fame, and Political Leadership, Journal of Politics 48 (1986): 116-132. The quotation about Jeffersons happy talent for composition is from John Adams to Timothy Pickering, Aug. 6, 1822, The Works of John Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (1850), vol. 2, p. 511. The statement about peers of the realm is from Blackstone, Commentaries 1: 40 (29) Francis Bacon, The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall . . . (1625), pp. 313-314. See Adair, Fame and the Founding Fathers, pp. 114-115, for the importance of Bacons essay on honor among the revolutionaries. (30) Cf. Ginsberg, The Declaration as Rhetoric, p. 228. Declaration Page| Exhibit Hall National Archives and Records AdministrationURL: http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/decstyle.htmlemailprotectedLast updated: January 13, 1997

Immigrations Influence on the USA

History Course Work Essays

History Course Work Essays History Course Work Essay History Course Work Essay Question 1: Is Racism Still an Issue in the USA? According to Winant (p.315), racism still remains an issue in America in the twenty-first century. The truth of the matter is, regardless of the fact that we work and live around assorted qualities, our spiritual leaders and closest companions, the general population we welcome into our homes and lives, frequently appear as though we are fortifying a de facto segregation. This cultural and social isolation is not limited to uneducated individuals. Additionally, even in the 21st century, a few individuals still refuse to recognize that there is racial discrimination, which does not help to eliminate the issue. Question 2: What are the Major Changes Women Experienced in the 1920s? Women in America in the 1920s got more access to jobs, the right to vote and started performing new roles in the society. They also challenged the conventional Victorian principles of how women ought to act. Additionally, flappers smoked in broad daylight, danced new moves, and were sexually freed. They wore garments more advantageous for action and quit wearing corsets and long skirts. The divorce rate increased as ladies were not satisfied just to remain at home and endure awful spouses (Smith, p.501). However, it is good to note that most ladies were still housewives and were not as liberated as their men. Question 3: What Would You Say was the General Attitude among Americans towards the Idea of Equality for All Americans at the End of the 1920s? The general attitude among Americans towards the idea of equality for all Americans was greeted with contempt and friction. The whites could not picture them being treated as equals with the blacks. Smith, Andrea. Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Womenof Color Organizing. Women in Culture: An Intersectional Anthology for Gender andWomens Studies. Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. 404. Winant, Howard. The Dark Matter: Race and Racism in the 21st Century. Critical Sociology41.2 (2015): 313-324.

Some questions Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Some questions - Personal Statement Example There have been recent cases of gunshot killings in American schools and universities which proves the fact that America is a violent society. The concept of gangs is also one of the major reasons which are dragging the American youth towards collective violence. Kids and teens feel good when they are in a gang. According to Zimring and Hawkins (A-21), the rate of violent death in United States is four to 18 times higher than in any other country, and the reason for this is extensive use of handguns in muggings and burglary. I am a female member of my society. If I was assigned the male gender at birth, then my life would have been totally different. Though, both sexes bring with them their responsibilities, duties and rights, but the male gender is always given a loose edge in almost every society around the globe, especially in societies where male chauvinism has deepened its roots. If I was a male, I would have received higher education which females are kept deprived of at times. I would have been able to hang out with friends, come late at nights and not being answerable to anybody. After marriage, I would not have to leave my parents house to go live with strangers who have no soft corner for the new arrival. I would have been allowed to work outside and enjoy the freedom. I would have been able to impose upon my subordinates whatever I thought is better. I would have been able to lead my family in my own way without having to look for permissions and consents of other members of the family. I wou ld relax and sleep till late hours without getting calls from my mom to get up and look for household chores. I would not be running after my kids and telling them to clean up the mess! The major advantage of school tracking is that it enables teachers to better decide what level of lessons to give to which group of students, keeping in mind their capabilities. This also enhances the

Career Field Analysis-Top Executive Research Paper

Career Field Analysis-Top Executive - Research Paper Example Fourthly, the executive consults with other executives, staff, and board members on issues that involve general operations. Lastly, negotiate or approve contracts and agreement, and appoint department heads and managers (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Typical Career Path Most positions for top executives are filled via promotion of lower level and experienced managers when openings occur with most promoted from the organization itself. It is possible, in such industries as transportation or retail trade, for those lacking University degrees to become managers by working their way up (Shea, 2010). Upward advancement can be sped up by taking part in training programs within the company to gain more knowledge in operations and policy. The manager can also help their career towards top executive positions by familiarizing themselves with management techniques in programs, which are sponsored by various trade associations and the industry. Executive development programs can also facil itate the promotion of managers to higher executive positions, for managers with experience in fields such as engineering and accounting. Advancement to top executive positions, for instance executive vice president, can occur for general managers if they take up a similar position in other firms or their own firms. Executive officers also often gain board membership at one firm or more or even as chair of the director board. Finally, a top executive may form their own firms or take up independent consultant jobs (Shea, 2010). Trends The career of top executive positions has evolved because of changes in the management structure, age, and size of companies. Compared to 1980, only 20% of companies that were in the Fortune 100 list were still in it in 2010 (Shea, 2010). This highlights the shift to a service economy in the US. The rise of the financial service sector and a corresponding drop in the manufacturing sector is especially striking. There is also a flattening of corporate hi erarchies with significant change in distribution of job responsibility among executive positions between 1980 and 2010Most companies now have 3 tiers, i.e. VP level, EVP level, and CEO. Middle and top tier positions declined by 5% and 6% respectively with lower tier positions expanding by 10%, which supports the idea of corporate hierarchy flattening (Shea, 2010). Salary Information In the American economy, top executives earn among the highest salaries. Salary levels, however, vary with the level of responsibility, location, size, and type of the company, and length of service. In May 2011, the average annual earnings for operations and general managers were $77,200. The median 50% earned from $52,000 and $118,000 (Forbes & Piercy, 2011). Earnings between operations and general executives vary significantly based on specific responsibility. Median earnings per year for industries that had a high representation for operations and general executives in May 2011 were; Computer system s design and related services $117,730 Management of companies and enterprises $99,670 Building equipment contractors $83,080 Depository credit intermediation $76,060 Local government $68,590 Chief executive Earnings ranged around $140, 400 in 2010 with salaries varying by industry and level and type of responsibility. Executives in non-profit sectors ranged from lows of $88,006 and $700,000, as well as dividends, stock options and other

YOUR CHOICE Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

YOUR CHOICE - Assignment Example A president’s removal from office is only possible if there is a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton have both undergone impeachment trial, but retained their seats. I believe it is appropriate because it is a thorough and fair process. Original intent plays a significant role in the interpretation of the constitution and laws of congress Supreme Court. It is necessary because it helps to maintain the representative democracy under the federal Constitution and acts as a system of checks and balances. Judges who digress from the original understanding of a constitutional provision have to use their own prejudice, rationality, and social preference, which may be unfair in some cases. Even so, original intent should not be the most important criterion because decisions depend on interpretation of the constitution. State and federal courts should have the power of judicial review to appraise and nullify laws that the legislative and executive branches of government have passed, but infringe a constitutional

Racism And American History X Analysis Film Studies Essay

Racism And American History X Analysis Film Studies Essay Racism is one of the most revolting things within the vicinity of humanity. In the world today, the globalization process happen around the world and people come together to exchange the culture, information, technology, education and knowledge, however another side of society always try to ignore other people with different color by violent, the unawareness, and their behavior. Recently, 15 Jan 2011 ATHENS (Reuters) Far-right protesters threw stones at a pro-migrant march in Athens on Saturday before being dispersed by bursts of teargas, police said, in the latest sign of tension over the capitals growing immigrant population. Over 1,000 members of anti-racism groups, leftists and immigrants were marching in central Athens to protest against a controversial plan to build a fence at the border with Turkey to stop illegal immigrants from entering Greece. Over 100 members of neo-Nazi groups and about 200 local residents attacked the leftists and other protesters with stones. The poli ce used several rounds of teargas and flash grenades a police official said. According to Time magazine, from 2007 to 2009, in Australia, a series of brutal assaults and robbery happen to Indian students have sparked a wave of violence and protest group in Sydney and Melbourne. Violence is not the only one trouble that Australia concern, beside they are also struggling with a wave of extreme patriotism of a group of young Australia. The risk that the students from South Asian countries are faced not merely small attacks. There are some Neo-Nazi attacks around the world recently. ABOUT THE AMERICAN HISTORY X American History X is an American drama film which was named by Empire magazine in 2008 as one of the greatest movie of all the time (Wiki). The movie was a corporation of many talented people such as: Tony Kaye (the versatile director who won a Grammy Award), the film script was written by David McKenna; John Morrissey is the producer, music by Anne Dudley. This film was distributed by New Line Cinema. It is first debut in 1998. The 2-hour movie got a big number in cross revenue, $23,875,127. (Wiki) However, the movie was got an R because of many violence scenes with fighting, bad language (such as: f**k, what the hell, bullshit, etc . . . during the film). The background of it is Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, USA with a strong actor force. ACTOR/ ACTRESS ROLE Edward Norton Derek Vinyard Edward Furlong Danny Vinyard Beverly DHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_DAngeloHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_DAngeloAngelo Doris Vinyard Avery Brooks   Dr. Robert BobSweeney Stacy Keach   Cameron Alexander Jennifer Lien Davina Vinyard Fairuza Balk Stacey Elliott Gould Murray Ethan Suplee Seth Ryan Guy Torry Lamont William Russ Dennis Vinyard Joseph Cortese Rasmussen Keram Malicki-Sà ¡nchez Chris Giuseppe Andrews Jason Christopher Masterson Daryl Dawson Paul Le Mat McMahon These actors and actress were working really hard to give a very successful movie about Neo-Nazi. Especially, Edward Norton got an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Derek in American History X. (Wiki) SUMMARY The American History X is one of the greatest movies ever. Throughout the movie, the past and present are mixed together. The past was in black and white. And the present was in color. My summary will be arranged by time line. The movie told a story with two main characters: Derek and Danny Vinyard. Their father was a fireman who was working their current city. Mr Vinyard was killed by a black addicted guy while he was fighting a fire in a black neighborhood. After that accident, Derek was frustrated about black communication. Therefore, he joined the D.O.C, a Neo-Nazi gang. Derek was the leader of that group. He used to lead his group to destroy and demolish a shop in the town. Derek also won a game with black group at local basketball court to own the play place. One night, two black teen tried to steal Dereks truck (which is given by his father). Derek used gun to shoot them and killed one of them. Danny looked at the terrible sense. Derek was judged to prison in 3 years. At this time, he met and was friends with a black inmate in the laundry room. And, he realized what he had done were absolutely wrong. He changed his mind and accepted black people. Danny tries to follow Dereks mistakes. Danny joined the Neo-Nazi group. After backing home, Derek tried to pull his younger brother out of the dark marsh (the Neo-Nazi group). After existing of the Neo-Nazi group, the two brothers backed home and threw away all the D.O.C stuffs. In the end of the movie, Danny was killed by a black student before giving his assignment (the assignment is about Dereks incarceration) at the restroom of Dannys school. ANALYSIS In the first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln said that: We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. This lesson can be learned from the American History X which contains the differences in culture origin and the human fear of the unknown. The following paragraph below will discuss main theme of the movie. In the film, the main conflict of the story occurs because of the two different types of culture. Actually, culture can be defined in many ways. However, it can be known in three main ways. Culture is the taste of art and humanities. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture#Cultural_studies). Culture is human knowledge, belief, and behavior. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture#Cultural_studies). Or, it is a set of attitudes, values, goals, and practices. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture#Cultural_studies). Therefore, the different cultures can cause bad affect in communication. For example, Kissing on the cheeks of others is a kind action in western countries. However, in Vietnam, it is consider as an impolite type. During the two-hour of the movie, there are a lot of violence, dark, and terrible scenes. All of the main characters actions come from propaganda. When Derek was a kid, his father used to talk about the black communication. This makes his mind to contain a bad image about the color people in the USA. After the death of his father, he became a Neo-Nazi (his father death was caused by a black addicted guy when he was fighting a fire in the black neighborhood). That is one of the reason Derek joined D.O.C group. The leader of the group scatters thoughts about the color people. One time, Derek led a Neo-Nazi group who were fueled by drugs, beer, tattoos, and heavy metal attacked a small super market in the town. The violent and poignant scene scored a very sad motion for the viewers. The discrimination, racism, prejudice of the Neo-Nazi was built on different culture origin. Their thought is ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the belief that his/her culture is superior to others. In interna tional business, it describes a company or individual so imbued with the belief that what worked at home should work abroad that it ignores societal differences (John, Lee H., and Daniel, 2007, International Business, 11th edition, Pearson, New Jersey Article: Charles Martin in Uganda, pp. 72) In another the scene at the play yard, Derek had a basketball game. Derek was fighting with the black guys to own the yard. During the game, there are many collisions between the black and white. This scene seems to be usual in the real life. The disruption of one group with others happens every day. It can be economic class, color skin, education, or many things else. The difference of opinion between Derek and his family can cause violence, swear worlds, etc. . . . At that point of time, Dereks attitude was totally different from his family. Therefore, he treated his family so badly. He heaped insults on his mother and her boyfriend. He blustered and hit his sister. The dinner was broken like the happiness of the family. The most terrible image of the American History X is the first scene. Derek shot the two black guys who tried to steal his truck in the night. After killing one of them, Derek was smile and satisfies. However, Danny who was standing behind felt wretched because of the Dereks action. It seems the racism is in every cell of Dereks body. The unknown of culture origin that make Derek and Danny cost a very high cost ever. Danny was shot by a black student in the end of the movie. The death of Danny will be the biggest lesson ever in the Derek life. THE CAUSES OF RACISM One of the causes for this event is stereotypes. Through media communication like television, radio, internet, book, movie, etc. which are the potential for mirror to build characteristics of the youth. When a person, especially one that is very young, is joined to stereotypes of a specific group for the first time, then that person will learn and get all knowledge by that way. Moreover, when a negative source is always displaying the perception of the youth about a particular race, then it will influence the thinking and opinions as well. Besides, Unfamiliarity is also the most common cause of racism. People concern what they do not know or understand. When people grow in one race of people, they will have a trend to join in the group of the same race or same color, because they dont know about another race, they afraid of other color skin who maybe effect them or do something harm to them, so they try to avoid, deny, ignore them. Selfishness is another obvious cause of racism. In c ase Australia, Indian students speak their language and they get a trouble with the local students because they dont speak English in public, besides the government also try to give more advantages for the local white skin students than the other skin, so they accidentally raise the racist in their community. Furthermore, the local citizen, especially white skin people, afraid of the position in society, job. They think the color skin people take their job, their money as well as their social position. They just want anything in their country belong to them. Family education is also a reason of racism. When parents and significant others have racism thinking, they almost express and teach it to their children, the child will incorporate those knowledge into their mind, cognitive, intellectual, emotional and frameworks of life. For that reason, children will grow up with the racism in mind and they never forget. Unless such the individual have experiences in living in many conditions living, spending time with many groups of race and understanding the difference of other race, they will change their mind like the content of film American History X below. Those are the 4 main reasons which cause racism. In general, racism is one of the most terrible things that will affect the characteristic of person and change the basic instinct of human. To avoid the happen of racism around the world, we must first solve the basic problems, which are: stereotypes, unfamiliarity, selfishness, and Family education. When we solve the problem, the racism will not appear anymore. CONCLUSION Racism happens in the world because of many reasons which are: stereotypes, unfamiliarity, selfishness, and Family education. They represent and fighting for their values, fear, norms and beliefs. Therefore, the most dangerous thing for mankind is a lack of knowledge. Address knowledge helps us understand the differences in culture, value, as well as beliefs. It is a premise to help us understand the different races of the world.

Capital Punishment and Societys Views Essay -- Death Penalty Capital

Capital Punishment and Society's Views â€Å"The question with which we must deal with is not whether a substantial proportion of American citizens would today, if polled, opine that capital punishment is barbarously cruel, but whether they would find it to be so in light of all information presently available.† -U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall According to the American Society of Criminology, each year there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed in the United States. The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment enforced in the United Sates today. Once a jury has been convicted of a criminal offense, they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase. If the jury recommends the death penalty and the judge agrees, then the criminal will face some form of execution; lethal injection is the most common form used today. Capital punishment is a difficult issue and there are as many different opinions as there are people. In H.L. Mencken’s â€Å"The Penalty of Death†, and Anna Quindlan’s â€Å"Execution†, both sides attempt to persuade the reader to the their viewpoint of capital punishment. However, after reading the two essays, I found Anna Quindlan’s â€Å"Execution† had a stronger argument according to the guidelines in Joseph Trimmer’s â€Å"Writing With A Purpose.† Anna Quindlan had a more classic argument whereas H. L. Mencken’s argument resembled persuasion. Although both authors support the idea of the death penalty, Quindlan is mo...

Traditional Methods of Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is a method of evaluating the behaviour of employees in the work spot, normally both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of job performance. Performance here refers to the degree of accomplishment of the tasks that make up an individual’s job. It indicates how well an individual is fulfilling the job demands. The purpose of performance appraisal is to update the worker on his progress, gauge his behavior and performance, praise good work, and note opportunities for improvement. A poorly conducted appraisal could cause the worker to lose morale, but a constructive performance appraisal can encourage him to go above and beyond the call of duty. People differ in their abilities and their aptitudes. There is always some difference between the quality and quantity of the same work on the same job being done by two different people. Performance appraisals of Employees are necessary to understand each employee’s abilities, competencies and relative merit and worth for the organization. Performance appraisal rates the employees in terms of their performance. The history of performance appraisal can be dated back to the 20th century and then to the second world war when the merit rating was used for the first time. An employer evaluating their employees is a very old concept. Performance appraisals are an indispensable part of performance measurement. Performance appraisal is necessary to measure the performance of the employees and the organization to check the progress towards the desired goals and aims. The latest mantra being followed by organizations across the world being – â€Å"get paid according to what you contribute† – the focus of the organizations is turning to performance management and specifically to individual performance. Performance appraisal helps to rate the performance of the employees and evaluate their contribution towards the organizational goals. If the process of performance appraisals is formal and properly structured, it helps the employees to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities and give direction to the individual’s performance. It helps to align the individual performances with the organizational goals and also review their performance. Performance appraisal systems began as simple methods of income justification. That is, appraisal was used to decide whether or not the salary or wage of an individual employee was justified. The process was firmly linked to material outcomes. If an employee's performance was found to be less than ideal, a cut in pay would follow. On the other hand, if their performance was better than the supervisor expected, a pay rise was in order. Little consideration was given to the developmental possibilities of appraisal, It was felt that a cut in pay, or a rise, should provide the only required impetus for an employee to either improve or continue to perform well.

Work Law Policies

Work Law Policies Introduction Industrial relations and work policies are crucial factors of economic growth and development for a capitalist nation. Australia, being a capitalist nation, is one of the developed countries that have been in labour crisis for a long time. The involved stakeholders have been striving to unveil the best work policies and industrial relations that would bring a lasting solution to the citizens.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Work Law Policies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Unfortunately, the political regimes have ascended into power by using these mysteries as stepping stones, whereby, the ruling government fails to deliver the best policies, thus giving a clear path for the opposition who seem to have what the citizens have yearned for a long time. In 2007, the Rudd-led opposition party had a renowned mantra for campaigning in the federal election of Australia. There was a heated debate in th e entire nation concerning the existing industrial relations and working policies that were seen to have deprived employees of their rights, and had been introduced by the Howard’s ruling government. The public was tried of the working policies and industrial relations and it felt inferior to the government and employers who denied them labour rights as required by the international labour rights. According to the international industrial relations organisation, the work policies and industrial relations must adhere to three factors, which include efficiency, equity, and voice (Wooden â€Å"Industrial Relations Reform† 244). Looking into these factors; firstly, the efficiency of a policy is determined by factors that include streamlined enforcement of regulations, reasonable employees’ benefits, and effective training programs. Secondly, the ability of a policy to enhance equity is determined by its ability to advocate for the rights of employees in relation to living wages and salaries, safety at the workplaces, health insurance, non-discrimination policies, discipline and dismissal policies, and work to family balancing. Finally, the ability of a policy to promote the voice of employees is determined by its position to allow employees to join labour unions at will, participate in the decision-making processes, and enjoy the freedom to air their grievances without the fear of victimisation. These factors form the basis for judging the validity and efficiency of such policies in a country.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This paper compares and contrasts the â€Å"Forward with Fairness† (2005) with â€Å"Work Choices: A New Workplace Relations System† (2005) with regard to their adherence to efficiency, equity, and voice. However, it is important to note that the Forward and Fairness policy was intr oduced as a political agenda aimed at counteracting the Work Choices and thus it seems more efficient though it could not have been implemented without hitches that are discussed in this paper. Work Choices: A New Workplace Relations System In 2005, John Howard, the then Australian Prime minister, together with his political affiliates argued that Work Choices was a modernised and simplified method of regulating work and industrial relations in Australia. Howard’s Work Choices received criticisms that were beyond reasonable doubts, since the majority of Australians felt the need to have workplaces that guaranteed fairness and freedom to employees. The government had failed to ensure that employees had such rights at the workplaces, and the citizens were longing for a change of government in the next federal election (Rudd and Gillard 20). In 2005, the Australians were in full support of the implementation of the Work Choices for it promised better working conditions and hence improved living standards. However, this anticipation did not materialise due to various factors that lied in the relations between the government and employers. The government could not have implemented the policies because of the lobby activists that operated from within and the great influence of employers in the economic growth and development of the country. Hence, the problem was in the poor leadership that considered the interests of a few and ignored the needs of the vast majority. Looking into the components of the Work Choices, the first was â€Å"New protections of minimum wages and conditions† (Wooden â€Å"Implications of Work Choices† 108). Howard and his affiliates promised to look into the needs of Australian employees in relation to protection and wages at the work place (Kramp 52).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Work Law Policies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This clause was supposed to be implemented by setting up an independent body to look into the employees’ wages and salaries in an effort to promote their living standards. The independent body was supposed to set up policies that defined the minimum wages that could be given to different qualification standards in the country (Lye and McDonald 34). Secondly, it was supposed to set up standards for safety net, through which the government would set the minimum set of conditions for employment. Those conditions included maximum working hours in a day for an employee, the right to have an annual leave and its minimum duration, and the right to have a personal leave based on personal affairs such as sickness and parental care leave. Those minimum conditions were passed into law and were implemented by the Fair Pay Commission. The commission noted that all labour agreements concerning the salaries and wages between the employer and the employee should meet those minimum conditions. In additi on, Work Choices stipulated that the maximum number of working hours in a week should not exceed thirty-eight, in excess of which overtime pay must be offered as per the number of excess hours. Concerning the annual leave, the employee has a right to have a payable annual leave of at least four weeks and five weeks for shift workers. However, the Fair Pay Commission noted that an employee has a right to cash out a leave and the employer had no right under the law to force an employee to do so or to refuse to do so if the employer wishes. Concerning the personal leave, an employee has at least ten days of paid personal leave in twelve months that is cumulative, but a compulsory compassionate leave of two days to care for the ill and attending funerals of the loved ones. If the compassionate leave occurs after exhausting the twelve days of both compassionate and personal leave, an employee may be given an additional two unpaid days in the case of an emergency leave. In the case of a p arental leave, an employee has a right to take up to fifty-two days of unpaid leave in the case of birth or adopting a child, but both parents cannot take leave exceeding one week in the case of birth or else three weeks for adopting a child. In the case of casual employees, an eligible employee for this policy should have served for at least twelve months continuously under one employer.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition to the first component of the Work Choices, it also offered for ‘The Protection against Unlawful Termination’ from a workplace. Work Choices promised Australians that it would continue to protect employees against unlawful termination from their working places regardless of the size of businesses where they are employed. However, there were definitions of unlawful termination and according to Work Choice; unlawful termination is the dismissal of an employee from the workplace because of temporary absenteeism at workplace duet o injuries or illness, or willingness to join a trade union. Others include acting on behalf of other employees like in the case of airing their grievances, participating in proceedings that would tarnish the image of an employer, dismissal based on gender, race, disability, or any other form of discrimination, and refusal to negotiate with an employer. In the case of unlawful dismissal, the Work Choices stipulated that employees were e ligible to a compensation of at least $4000. Looking, into the above first component of the Work Choices, it emphasised on all the three factors that a good working policy must adhere to, which include efficiency, equity, and voice. The second influential policy for the Work Choice was the ‘Awards’. The policy stipulated that workers would remain eligible to their awards regardless of their coverage by workplace agreements. In addition, it defined the awarding conditions of an employee under which an employee is fully eligible to receive the award from the employer. Those conditions included long service leaves such as annual and parental leaves, but other conditions that had been included in other jurisdictions were removed and they included superannuation, notice on termination of employment, and jury service. However, under the awards, there were some removable elements from the awarding offer and they included traineeships, independent contractors, and labour hired workers for they served under temporary labour agreements. By considering the above policies of Work Choices, Australians were anxious of attaining a simpler and fairer labour system that would have boosted their living standards. Howard and his affiliates promised to protect the rights of both the employer and the employee by introducing an office of the workplace rights, which would have the mandate of ensuring that the protection of the two parties is guaranteed. This office would also ensure that both the employee and the employer meet their obligations and impose penalties on the offender in the case of breaches of the agreement (Watson 169). In addition, Howard promised that the office of work choices would ensure that both the employees and employers know their rights by offering civic education. However, the new policy would not interfere with the role of the existing Australian Industrial Relations Commission that deals with dispute resolutions at the work place. Work Choic es was believed to concentrate on introducing mechanisms that would boost cooperation between employees and their employers. In so doing, there had to be a transitional stage that is often filled with reluctance and disputes, but it left the issues of dispute resolutions amongst the employees and their employers. This gap could have resulted to minor conflicts that are easily solvable ending up in the industrial courts due to lack of undefined dispute resolution mechanism, which would pose great risks to the employees serving under unfaithful employers. Forward and Fairness Interestingly, forward and fairness is an improvement of Work Choice resulting from the gaps that were left in the drafting and implementing stages of the Work Choices policy. The policy was developed in 2007 under the watch of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard who were members of parliament belonging to the Labour Party that was then the Australian official opposition in Howard’s government. According to Rudd and Gillard (16), Work Choices failed to achieve fairness and flexibility at workplaces and it had resulted in the creation of imbalances in the workplaces for two years that it had been in existence. Howard’s government came under much criticism due to failure to deliver much of its promises that had initially adhered to efficiency, equity, and voice. For instance, under the Australian Workplace Agreements, many employees had lost penalties in cases where employers were found to have unlawfully dismissed them, it failed to emphasise on the payments of overtimes, shift allowances, and other awards that had been promised to the citizens before the introduction of the Work Choices. Forward and Fairness promised Australians that it would reverse the situation once the Labour Party ascended into power after the 2007 federal elections. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard put more emphasis on their ability to introduce fairer and more flexible policies in the Australian industrial relatio ns and a smooth transition from the Work Choices laws. Mr. Howard did not apply a smooth transition mechanism in his introduction for the Work Choices, but instead he did a rapid transition that resulted in the abolition of some labour institutions, thus giving rise to crises in the country’s labour sector. During the transition in 2006, many citizens lost their jobs as employers were afraid of retaining their contracts (Befort 11). The haste transition had adverse effects to the entire implementation process due to reaction from the opposition and the affected citizens. In addition, some employers got an opportunity to act unlawfully by dismissing contractual workers based on expired contracts and as a result, there were numerous disputes in the industrial courts, which overwhelmed the government. This scenario led to the dismissal of cases that lacked enough evidences and in most cases benefiting the unfaithful employers. Therefore, Rudd and Gillard had learnt from the mist akes of their counterparts and opted to apply a transition mechanism that would not allow for negative reaction from the employers, employees, and the public. In addition, the Work Choices also seemed to have created an imbalance between the employer and employees by inflexible pay arrangements. For instance, the pay arrangement did not specify the employees’ pay limit for eligibility, which exposed the employer to financial risks. Hence, they specified the upper limit of eligibility to be $100,000 and above, where employee earning less than that amount was eligible for the awarding system (Ryan 206). According to Cooper (289), after a successful ascension into power, Rudd and Gillard made a smooth transition that took more than twelve months. By 2009, there had been a great change in the manner in which industrial regulations were conducted in Australia. It is interesting to note that in the transition plan, they had considered the need for employers, who were bound to the o ld order of Australian Workplace Arrangement, to be given enough time to adapt to the new system before its complete abolition, which would be effected after twelve months. That period was necessary for both the employees and employers since it was enough to change the mentality and get prepared to comply with new regulations (Cooper 290). In addition, the Labour government under the leadership of Kevin Rudd assured the citizens of Australia that it would ensure that they have strong and fair safety net of balanced industrial relations and effective award protection. In addition, employees would not be in a position to get into working conditions that undermined the safety net, as had been the case in the Howard’s regime. He promised to ensure that collective enterprise bargaining would be his tool for attaining the desired flexibility between the employees and the employers (Baird, Hancock, and Isaac 89). In conclusion, it is evident that Forward with Fairness Policy was an improvement of the Work Choices. Upon the drafting of the Work Choices implementation plan in 2005, Australians were happy to have a promising future in relation to the improvement of the work place relations, but due to poor implementation strategy, this goal never materialised. Hence, judging the Work Choices by the nature of its appearance in the implementation plan, it was valid in the sense that it adhered to efficiency, equity, and voice. On the other hand, Forward with Fairness is a better policy than the Work Choices since it was founded with consideration to the mistakes that had been made in the implementation process of the former policy. Rudd and Gillard had noted that the failure of the Work Choices hinged on poor implementation strategy that did not consider the transition process needed for adaptation to the new industrial policies by both employers and employees. Hence, they adopted the title ‘Forward with Fairness’, and they achieved the desired results . Baird, Marian, Keith Hancock, and Joel Isaac. Work and Employment Relations:  Ã‚  An Era of Change, Sydney: The Federation Press, 2011. Print. Befort, Stephen 2009, Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace  Law and Public Policy into Focus. PDF File. 26 Sep. 2013. www.ilera-directory.org/15thworldcongress/files//Thur_W4_BUDD.pdf. Cooper, Rae. â€Å"Forward Labour with Fairness? Industrial Relations under in 2008.†Ã‚  Journal of industrial relations 51.3 (2009): 285–296. Print. Kramp, Ole. Minimum Wage Legislation in Australia, Germany† GRIN Verlag, 2009. Print. Lye, Jenny, and Ian McDonald. â€Å"The Effectiveness of Incomes Policies, Enterprise Bargaining and Inflation Targeting in Australia.† Australian Economic Papers 43.1 (2007):21-38. Print. Rudd, Kelvin, and Julia Gillard 2007, Forward with Fairness Policy Implementation  Plan.PDF File. 26 Sep. 2013. www.airc.gov.au/kirbyarchives/2009exhibn /documents/070428FWF.pdf‎. R yan, Mathew. â€Å"Workplace Relations Reform, Prosperity, and Fairness.† Australian  Economic Review 38.5 (2009): 201-210. Print. Watson, Ian. â€Å"Minimum Wages and Employment.† The Australian Economic Review  Ã‚  37.1 (2008):166-172. Print. Wooden, Mark. â€Å"Implications of Work Choices Legislation.† Agenda 13.2 (2006): 99- 116. Print. Wooden, Mark. â€Å"Industrial Relations Reform in Australia: Causes, Consequences and Prospects.† The Australian Economic Review 34.8 (2001): 243-262. Print.