Individual Experience Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Individual Experience - Research Paper Example TDSB is run by a Director of Education: Chris Spencer and a Board of Trustees comprising of 22 members who are publicly elected to ensure that concerns voiced by the community and the students are dealt with. This board ensures that all students have a comfortable learning environment that best brings out their abilities and utilizes their full potential. The board also comprises of a body of executive officers that diligently serve students, staff and the community enhance academic performance and supervise the learning process among others. The good employer-employee relationship supported at TDSB lured me to apply for internship to work at the school office Support Department. My role was to help the secondary school office assistant to do administrative work which dealt with IPRC documentation, student attendance, report cards, records and data bases, payroll records, accounting records, student registration and student transportation. I was also supposed to provide secretarial s upport services and ensure there was a strategy in place for handling medical emergencies and general student absenteeism. Conversely, under the supervision of the elementary school secretary I was at times in charge of the reception which entailed receiving incoming calls, welcoming guests and ensuring there is a smooth raptor between the students, parents, the community and TDSB staff. This was geared towards ensuring all the services provided by the school office support department were customer focused. TDSB holds the lives of future generations into its hands therefore it has a very delicate responsibility of ensuring the talent of each student is appropriately nurtured and not ignored. However, to be able to fully understand the role played by TDSB in building a holistic community it is important to know its mission, vision, goals and objectives. TDSB focuses and fully utilizes the support provided by the community to ensure each student obtains the required skills, abilities and knowledge to bring out their full potential as students and later as adults. This goes hand in hand with its mission that stipulates the need for, â€Å"all students to reach high levels of achievement and to acquire the knowledge, skills and values they need to become responsible members of a democratic society† (http://www.tdsb.on.ca). TDSB is able to put into practice its mission statement by valuing each student, fostering a public education system that is strong, establishing a long-lasting and productive partnership between the schools, community and students, harnessing diversity and uniqueness in the community and within the students. It also enhances efficiency and skills of the staff, a safe, respectful and positive learning experience to effectively nurture the talents of all students, accountability, equity, accessibility and innovation. The above imply that TDSB uses a focused framework for strategy selection and design. This is because the school board only focuses on a specific age group of students that only reside in Toronto by implementing a low-cost advantage within that narrowly defined market. In order to achieve its objectives the board of trustees, executives and the director of education have formulated a prospector strategy typology that enables the board to implement ideas that are congruent with external factors including the community. With such a strategy typology TDSB is able to be innovative, discover new

Founding Brothers Essay Example for Free

Founding Brothers Essay The book, Founding Brothers, tells about the struggles of the American leaders after the revolution to establish a new government and the events that occurred during this time. Famous Americans such as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams along with their opposite points of view about the Constitution are given equal focus. The author brings to light the amazing ability of the colonies to come together, bring about change and break away from England to establish a nation built on democracy. This story is one that every American will have a stake in, as it forms the backbone of our national history. The author of Founding Brothers is Joseph Ellis, who has degrees from Yale and the College of William and Mary. His writing centers on American history, and he won the National Book Award in 1997 for his work American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. One of his other works is titled Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams (Ellis, 2000, title page). Ellis goes right into the details of the debate that was fueling between the two sides in reference to the new American Constitution. He talks about James Madison who, with Alexander Hamilton, wrote the Federalist Papers. Madison was pushing for compromise on the Constitutional question and was doing his best to create a middle ground (2000, p. 52-53). Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and many of the others were already seeing a small example of the legacy they were creating, but didn’t fully understand it yet. The author points this out by saying: Men make history, and the leading members of the revolutionary generation realized they were doing so, but they can never know the history they are making (2000, p. 4). Ellis also points out how important that the decade in which the Constitution was written was to American history. According to him, these ten years of dealing with many of the issues that face the nation set the stage for future events to come, such as the Civil War (200, p. 9-10). During the debate of the Constitutional convention, slavery was a major obstacle and one that would not be settled completely here. The debate that took place in 1790 between those for and against slavery shows not only the struggle to create a new nation but also the fact that these leaders were considering what would happen as the nation grew and changed (200, p. 88). Another major aspect of this time period that the author addresses is the presidency of George Washington and the political divide that began to form among the nation’s leaders. Throughout his role as the first president, Washington was seen as an immortal figure that was beloved and respected. When he decided to retire as president in 1796, he left a strict warning for those he was leaving in charge: to avoid breaking apart and political parties in taking sides against each other. He wanted the nation to be united as one, and also to have its leaders be united as well (Ellis, 2000, p. 128-129). The author gives the reader an interesting view of these major characters by providing behind the scenes details that is often opposite to the stereotypes they are seen as now. For instance, Ellis goes into detail about George Washingtons character during his time as president. For instance, the author says: First, it is crucial to recognize that Washingtons extraordinary reputation rested less on his prudent exercise of power than on his dramatic flair and surrendering it. He was, in fact, a veritable virtuoso of exits (2000, p. 129-130). Along with relevant details about Washingtons health and personality, the reader sees a different side of this famous individual. Throughout the entire novel, Ellis organizes the book in a way that makes it easy to follow the events that occurred right after the revolution up to the time when the Constitution was being written. He provides personal quotations and references from those involved that gives the reader a deeper understanding of how they felt and what they were thinking when living through this time. He also provides the reader with enough information on the historical events that were going on in the country that helped to frame the interactions of the founding fathers. Founding Brothers adds to other his storable writing of this time by giving an inside view of not only the events but also the people who helped to create America during the revolutionary period. He makes it clear how certain obstacles, such as slavery, were not completely agreed upon or settled and how this affected the nation later on in its history. Ellis is able to explain both the short-term view of the founding fathers and the long-term view of the Constitution that they were trying to take. The debates and compromises that made up the writing of the Constitution and the establishment of a new government are laid out to support these points. As a history book, this novel will give the reader a good understanding of what was going on behind the scenes as the nation was born. Its clear explanations and interesting takes on the first leaders will hold the readers attention throughout the book. It is a valuable addition to the many writings that have been done on the revolutionary war and the writing of the Constitution. References Ellis, Joseph. (2000). Founding Brothers. New York: Vintage Books.

Somali Piracy Culture Essay example -- Somalia Pirates

Somalia is one of the poorest nations in the world whose economy depends largely on their fishing industry. However, powerful nations have ruined the country’s fishing industry by using huge offshore fishing vessels and by illegally dumping waste material into the Somali coastline. The UN Security Council, the European Union, and NATO largely supported these acts through resolutions. Being confronted by these powerful institutions, a powerless nation, such as Somalia, does not have an array of resources to battle this exploitation. To make their voice be heard, a Somali Pirate culture developed in the past twenty years. It consists of hijacking vessels and demanding a ransom. While their actions did not attract much attention in the beginning, publicity and awareness of this issue has steadily increased. The purpose of this paper is to show that the Somali pirate culture has reached a point, where they successfully influence the global economy, which has consequences in countr ies around the world. By controlling international trade routes, Somali pirates uphold this power. These efforts by the Somali pirates exhibit their disparity and signify that they will not allow the piracy of their own resources without retaliation. To draw attention to their dire situation, the Somali pirate culture developed over two decades ago, raiding fishing and commercial boats and ships in order to demand ransom from other countries. Though their methods may not be of the most legit methods, their efforts have been effective. Somalia’s coastline extends to just under two thousand miles, allowing control to most of where the Gulf of Aden empties out into the Indian Ocean, and creates a choke point. â€Å"Equipped with small skiffs, firearms, grapnels and ... ... very reason this culture has been initiated, they continue to fight the war against the Somali pirates. Works Cited Agence France Presse. (2009, April 15). Inquirer.net. Retrieved January 12, 2011, from Inquirer.net: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20090415-199432/Facts-and-figures-Somalia-piracy Reuters. (2009, April 15). Reuters. Retrieved January 12, 2011, from Reuters.com: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE53E2JR20090415?pageNumber=2 Thakurta, S. (2008, October 10). Somalia piracy: The world can't afford to ignore . Retrieved January 12, 2011, from Merinews: http://www.merinews.com/article/somalia-piracy-the-world-cant-afford-to-ignore/144093.shtml Wright, R. (2011, January 16). Financial Times. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from FT.com: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/658138a6-219b-11e0-9e3b-00144feab49a.html#axzz1BKVMULD0

Write About the Way in Which Hosseini Uses Setting in

Write about the way the significance of the way in which Hosseini uses setting in ‘The Kite Runner’. Focus on two or three. Hosseini uses setting in the kite runner in various ways. It is a tool in showcasing the social division between Hazara and Pashtuns in Kabul and is also used to dramatise and add tension to the story. An example of Hosseini adding tension through setting is Amir and Baba’s car journey from Kabul to Jalalabad. It is narrated by Amir in the present tense, as if he is there telling us what’s happening at that moment as opposed to the past tense narrative style that the remainder of the book is told in. The scene begins with ‘ We pulled up to the check point’ we are only limited to Amir’s view at the time, whilst Amir usually adds his thoughts for example just before Hassan gets raped, after his harelip has been fixed he says ‘†¦which was ironic. Because that was the winter Hassan stopped smiling’ there is no reflection of the past in this scene. There is no sense of omniscience and the reader feels for the first time that Amir is vulnerable and that he is real. The scene continues with ‘Feet crushed gravel’ by using the word ‘feet’ instead of some ones feet or the Russian soldiers feet, Hosseini makes it impersonal and threatening, as if the feet do not belong to a human being with emotions. It also allows the reader to understand how Amir was feeling at the time, he knows that the feet belonged to the Russian soldier but he doesn’t tell us and by only including information he knew at the time we turn into Amir and we feel his fear. The people in the car are clearly on edge, Hosseini shows us this through ‘a flicker of a lighter’, in order to hear it in the truck Amir and the other passengers must have been very quiet and listening out for anything threatening. The word ‘flicker’ is gentle and emphasises how still and alert they must have been. The deathly silence is broken by a ‘shrill cackling’ that scares Amir. There is an eerie quality to this, the word ‘cackling’ is usually associated with witches in children’s books, and although this should be very cliched- the evil character having an evil laugh- Hosseini ets up the scene in such a way that you feel frightened for Amir. The laughing man then starts singing an ‘old Afghan wedding song’ and this is when his identity is revealed ‘†¦with a thick Russian accent’. This adds to the eeriness as there is a conflict of expectations- its more unsettling that the Russian soldie r is singing and laughing rather than if he had been beating someone. When the door of the truck is opened and the three men peer in, Amir describes ‘a bone coloured moon’ hanging in the sky. The word ‘bone’ intensifies the feeling of danger and death, Hosseini could of used ‘white’ or any other adjective to describe the moon but by associating the moon with bone he warns the reader that something bad is about to take place. The moon is also used later on, to show Baba’s bravery and nobility when he stands up to the Russian soldier ‘he eclipsed the moonlight’. Baba is shown to be fearless, he is larger than the moon and he shields them from it and everything else. Amir uses his direct thoughts when he describes how he had believed the Russian soldier has shot Baba ‘It’s done, then. I’m eighteen and alone†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ in doing this not only does it allow the reader to sympathise with Amir and connect with him but its highlights how dangerous the situation is, Amir cant even protest against what’s happening, the calm way in which he thinks it through ‘where do I bury him? Where do I go after? I find is quite disturbing. I feel that it lacks emotion and for me I wonder if this is a fabrication by Amir -the writer. He knows that Baba didn’t die, but he presents it in this way to sensationalise the story. Another use of setting in the story is to show the great divisions of society in Kabul, Hosseini uses Baba’s house and Ali’s hut to show the social structure in Kabul. Baba and Amir who were Pashtuns and Sunni Muslims were the affluent upper class and were respected whilst the Hassan and Ali as Hazaras and Shia Muslims were servants. The two houses are also used to show the different father-son relationship between Hassan and Ali and Baba and Amir. Baba’s house is described as being very grand; the entire paragraph dedicated to it oozes wealth and prosperity. Hosseini uses superlative adjectives to describe the house ‘prettiest house in all of Kabul†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Everything about the house is luxurious and beautiful, there are great descriptions of tapestries and ‘marble floors and wide windows’. Even the smells in the house are rich ‘perpetually smelled of tobacco and cinnamon’, the word ‘perpetually’ hints that Baba’s wealth was continuous, it would never end, as if Amir believed that he would always live in this luxury. The house is very formal ‘poplar trees lined the driveway’ and ‘rosebushes’ flanked the entryway. However throughout this beautiful description there are some cracks and some uneasiness. In particular the ‘wrought- iron gates’ that give the house a prison like feel, and also the mention of Rahim Khan ‘ I’m in his arms, but it’s Rahim Khan’s pinky my fingers are curled around’ this suggests that within the opulence there are some badly hidden issues. In contrast Ali’s hut is introduced to the reader by the heading ‘the Wall of Ailing Corn’ the corn that ‘never really took’ as if there is also something wrong with the hut. Whilst Baba’s house is given a detailed description Amir’s description of Ali’s hut is brief, perhaps because he doesn’t think its significant or maybe because he doesn’t remember it much, he admits himself ‘in the eighteen years that I lived in that house, I stepped into Hassan and Ali’s quarters only a handful of times†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ He remembers it as ‘sparse, clean, dimly lit†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ it is simple and modest and reflects the character of it inhabitants. There is nothing extraneous and nothing excessive unlike Baba’s house with the mahogany table that could easily seat ‘thirty guests’ or the ‘two acres of backyard’. He also describes a ‘loquat tree’ that gave shade to the house; this differs to the ‘poplar trees’ and ‘rosebushes’ of Baba’s house. Loquat trees are local trees in Kabul whilst rosebushes are foreign, they also have purpose they produce fruit unlike Baba’s trees that are purely decoration. It is ironic that the smallest thing that Baba owns he shares and is associated with Ali ‘Baba and Ali had planted a small vegetable garden’. It is also significant that Amir describes his house as ‘Baba’s estate’ or Baba’s house. He doesn’t claim it, but when he describes Hassan and Ali’s ouse, not only does he call it a’ home’ rather than a ‘house’ but he says that its their home. The hut signifies the close relationship between Ali and Hassan; they don’t have fancy tapestries or tables that get in the way of each other. There is always something between Ba ba and Amir, even the house divides them ‘upstairs was my bedroom, Baba’s room and his study†¦. ’ Baba constantly shuts Amir out of his study ‘â€Å"Go on now,† he would say, â€Å"This is grown-ups time†. ’ Hassan and Ali slept in the same room with ‘two mattresses on opposite sides of the room’- they were always together. Ali’s hut also shows Amir’s attitude towards Hazaras and shows that the social division between Hazaras and Pashtuns is one that affects the younger generation too. He calls Hassan’s home a ‘mud hut’ and although he says it’s modest, it’s evident that he doesn’t think much of it. However the ironic thing is that Hassan and Ali’s hut fits with Kabul whilst Baba’s estate stands out not only because it’s pretty but because the vast majority of Kabul do not live like that a fact Amir is only aware of when he is much older.

Misunderstood Adolescents

Stereotypes of a group of people can affect the way society views them, and change society’s expectations of them. And with enough exposure to a certain type of stereotype, society may come to view the stereotypes more of the reality, rather than it being a â€Å"chosen representation,† which can cause a misunderstanding between people. The public’s perception of today’s teenagers, stereotypes them in such a way that portrays teenagers as â€Å"bad. † Teenagers are believed to be obnoxious and ignorant (moody, insecure, argumentative, impulsive, etc. because of how society sees the majority of teenagers. People believe that teens are rebellious, immature, and trouble for their parents. People tend to think teens are violent, reckless, and lazy. Many people do believe that strict eye should be kept around teenagers, especially those who tend to create problems or those who misbehaves. However we all do realize and know that not all teenagers are like that. Some may fall into the mentioned criteria, while others do not. I do understand, there are teenagers whose overall, general idea during their adolescence, is to have fun and â€Å"explore† during their younger years (like how many people say to enjoy your teenage years), but there are also teenagers who focus on more serious aspects of life. We cannot classify teenagers as adults when in reality, there are some who act like children, but at the same time, we cannot and or shouldn’t classify them as children either for the few of those who do act like adults. In my opinion, society bases their stereotypes on the teens they come into contact with as well as the ones that stand out from the rest. These portrayals trigger the â€Å"involuntary response† that all teenagers must be that way—a false assumption of both parents and teenagers. The negative stereotypes not only affect how adults see teenagers, but they also influence how teenagers see themselves. Knowing the feeling that the majority of the world doesn’t respect or understand teenagers does little when trying to encourage a positive sense of self-worth in themself. Believing in a stereotype has its disadvantages. I believe that it is in partly because of the misinterpretation and hugely overstated way teenagers are depicted through he media (in movies, television, etc. ) First of all, nobody likes being judged because of a stereotype. Nobody wants to be known as someone their not. Adults insist on stereotyping teenagers because they often act in stereotypical ways. For example, making generalizations that adults think they are no good and will do bad things just because they don't agree with them on a particular issue. Teenagers want their voice heard and with these stereotypes, however nobody’ willing to listen to their perspective or side of the story. So teenagers appear to be rebellious, when they get stubborn in attempting to get their point of view across. These stereotypes about teenagers are so common that, now teens do re-question about themself, in general, if they are bad. A personal experience that I had with how people viewed me in comparison with other teenagers on school campus, was just recently when I was a new student to Mclane High School. Coming from Clovis Unified, and knowing what I hear about McLane, I already knew that McLane wasn’t the best school or was in the best neighborhood as well. I would often hear stories about how students would ditch their classes and not even come to school, probably like come to school every other school days. And sadly, some not even able to graduate with their high school diploma. My first day on the McLane campus, I was especially shocked when I met up with a counselor and was ask if I was â€Å"planning to drop out of school, or attend college. † Obviously, I wanted to go to college, but knowing about how some of the students in McLane aren’t eligible to go to college, I took that more of a concerned question rather than a put-down comment. It’s true that teenage is characterized by having mood swings and or abrupt behavior due to â€Å"hormonal† changes, but yet it is the same for every teen in the world. Teenagers are more intelligent and skilled than what society â€Å"assumes† they are. During our adolescence, it is simply more of a phase transition into adulthood, where there are various reasons why we do and act the way we do, to be able to understand us, society should let teenagers themselves explain the stories behind the stories that people assume about them, and let people listen. Stereotyping teenagers (and or for any other group of people) doesn’t seem unjust, but yet it happens in society. Groups are misunderstood because people aren’t willing to listen to what one another has to say about their view, which causes confusion or we just start to assume based on what we know only (which is only one side of the full story).