Tuesday, March 10, 2020

The Prevalence of School Violence

The Prevalence of School Violence As teachers, parents, and students prepare for school each day, we hope that fears of school violence is not their major concern. Sadly, violence of one sort or another is part of many schools today. In a study of the class of 2000, CBS News found that, while 96 percent of students felt safe in school, 53 percent said that a shooting was possible in their school. 22 percent of students knew classmates who regularly carried weapons to campus. Are student perceptions accurate? How common is school violence? Are children safe at school? How can parents and teachers ensure safety for everyone? Rates of School Violence According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there was an average of 47 violent deaths at schools from the 1992/1993 school year through 2015/2016. Thats over a thousand deaths in under 25 years. The following information comes from the NCES commissioned a survey of Principals in 1,234 regular public elementary, middle, and high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the 1996/1997 school year. The good news is that 43 percent of public schools reported no crime, and 90 percent reported no serious violent crimes. Still they found violence and crime to be far too common in the school setting. 57 percent of public elementary and secondary school principals stated that one or more incidents of crime or violence were reported to the police.10 percent of all public schools had one or more serious violent crimes (murder, rape, sexual battery, suicide, physical attack or fight with a weapon, or robbery).The most reported crime was physical attacks or fights without a weapon.Most of the serious violent crimes occurred in middle and high schools.A greater percentage of violent crimes occurred in city schools and in large schools with over 1000 students. When asked about their personal experiences, a quarter of students surveyed in 1999s Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher reported having been a victim of a violent crime in or around the school. Scarier still, one in eight students had at some time carried a weapon to school. These statistics indicated increases from the previous 1993 survey. Even so, teachers, students, and law enforcement officials all revealed that their overall perceptions were that violence was decreasing. How do we address this complacency and make our schools safer in fact as well as in feeling? Combating School Violence School violence is everyones problem to solve. The community, administrators, teachers, parents, and students must come together and make schools safe. What forms of prevention and punishment are schools relying on? Some schools have a low security system in place, meaning that they have no guards or metal detectors, but they do control access to school buildings. Others rely on moderate security, which means either employing a full-time guard with no metal detectors or controlled access to the buildings, or a part-time guard with controlled access to the buildings. Still others have stringent security which means they have a full-time guard, use metal detectors, and control who has access to the campus. Almost no schools have no security measures at all. One correlation is that the schools with the highest security are the ones that have the highest instances of crime. But what about the other schools? Neither Columbine, Sandy Hook, or Stoneman-Douglas were considered high risk schools. Schools across the country have instituted violence prevention programs and zero tolerance policies. One step schools take to increase security levels is issuing name badges which must be worn at all times. This may not stop students from causing violence, but it allows teachers and administrators have to more easily identify the students who cause disruptions. Furthermore, badges could prevent outsiders from invading a campus. What Can Parents Do? They can pay attention to subtle and overt changes in their children. Many times there are warning signs well in advance of violence. They can watch for these and report them to guidance counselors. Some examples include: Sudden lack of interestObsessions with violent or hateful games or videosDepression and mood swingsWriting that shows despair and isolationLack of anger management skillsTalking about death or bringing weapons to schoolViolence towards animals What Can Teachers Do? Worries about school violence should not hamper the job educators must perform. Remain aware of the possibility that violence could erupt anywhere. Strive to work together to create a safe academic environment. Teachers are in a tough situation, because if they step in physically to address violence or fights, they may themselves be targeted by defensive or abusive students or parents. Still, teachers are often in the best position to prevent classroom violence. Similar to parents, watch for the above warnings signsTalk to parents about concerns they might haveRemember to keep the lines of communication open with students and parentsBring concerns to guidance counselors and administrationBe consistent in enforcing classroom and school policiesCreate a prejudice-free classroom policy from the first day, and enforce itTeach anger management skills as the need arisesModel healthy behavior and responsesCreate a plan to handle emergency situations with your students What Can Students Do? Look out for and take care of each otherRespect others and their feelingsRefuse to succumb to negative peer pressure, especially when violence is involvedReport any knowledge of weapons on campusTell your teachers about suspicious behaviors of other studentsWalk away from confrontations Resources and Further Reading Binns, Katherine, and Dana Markow. â€Å"The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 1999: Violence in Americas Public Schools- Five Years Later.† Institute of Education Sciences, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 30 Apr. 1999.Center for the Study and Prevention of ViolenceNational Center for Education StatisticsNational Crime Prevention CouncilNational School Safety CenterOffice of Safe and Healthy StudentsSafe Supportive Learning

Sunday, February 23, 2020

In Praise of Margins Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

In Praise of Margins - Essay Example The major weaknesses of this study are concentrated on the different examples of margins. As Ian Frazier notes, margins include both activities and places. Therefore, margins could include visiting a park, dancing studio, and visiting a friend’s place; and activities such as playing football or any sport, listening to music, watching movies, reading, dancing, and hiking, among others. Therefore, whether it is activities or places, margins are of value, as they provide individuals with an opportunity to be themselves and care less about the things in the outside world. It is therefore, important that an individual has margins, including activities and places, owing to the many positive outcomes that margins hold for an individual. A major example of margins in Frazier’s essay is the woods. As a child, Frazier and his friends spent most of their time in the woods. At this place, they together, had fun with each other and felt more comfortable. In the woods, Frazier and hi s friends would escape from the real world. They engaged in activities such as making forts and shooting frogs with slingshots. They also engaged in the activities of crushing ice and climbing trees. Here, they created their own little world where they did as they wished without fear of judgment. Frazier believes that the things that he and his friends did in the woods were marginal. However, these were important, as they served a purpose in his future. As an adult Frazier still visits the woods.

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Accounting questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Accounting questions - Essay Example In Pakistan, the rules and regulations applying to published financial statements under Companies’ Ordinance 1984 include, release of quarterly financial statements by management after review of the same by an external audit firm (Ashraf & Ghani, 2005). Financial reporting in Pakistan takes formats in accordance with the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). Other statutory requirements under the SECP include usefulness of statements to users by being understandable, relevant, faithfully represented, prudent, complete, neutral, and within the proper period. The change I would suggest to these regulations would include recognition of materiality and aggregation in presenting similar class items separately in the financial statements. This principle acknowledges substance over form and is closely linked to faithful representation of financial reports. This change would ensure that the auditors recognize the presentation of prepaid cards as revenue in accordance with their substance, which reflects economic reality. I tend to agree with the numerous accusations leveled against the auditors by the company’s management. First, the auditors had suddenly changed their view on recognition of prepaid cards as revenue for the financial period based on sale and not usage. The auditors had given a clean report of their audit, and still went ahead to suggest a different revenue recognition policy. The issue with meeting time deadlines by the auditors also violated SECP regulations on timely presentation of financial reports (Ibrahim, 2006). Regulations governing the corporate sector stipulate that the auditors should be free of any conflict of interest to give an unbiased and very independent opinion (Ibrahim, 2006). The replacement of auditors under SECP directives mandates the commission to appoint new auditors, which is a way of enhancing

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Decision of Allowing the Procurement of Used Items Essay Example for Free

Decision of Allowing the Procurement of Used Items Essay Discussing the pros on the decision of allowing the procurement of used items in public sector (PPA 2011): * It is economical; This is because of the liquidity crisis and improvements in product quality control hence some governments are opting for secondhand purchases. The current update in this regard is that, According to BBC News (Feb’2009) the Indonesian military is currently negotiating with the US Army to purchase secondhand F-16 fighter jets in a bid to modernize its air power military capability. Mark you Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and one of the dynamic emerging markets in the world. The country is also a member of the elite G-20 major economies. Quality control especially technically aircraft never get old as such because they are meet international standards and principles that govern air transport. * It is affordable to procure at low cost of acquisition, in case of emergencies circumstances to rescue situations especially those of public interest, the * government should allow procurement of used equipment under exceptional circumstances to serve people, that are evaluated on case by case basis procurement in the need The Bank understands that the decision between the outright purchase and lease arrangements depend on the economic loss and benefits, however, given the potential risk associated with used equipment, the government should consider leasing as the preferred alternative only in emergency. * It helps and is the way to go if the government is to fulfill its obligations as far as capital intensive investments are concerned. â€Å"Purchasing secondhand machines suited Tanzania at the moment because many countries were applying the same strategy on costly machines such as planes, train engines and ships. * Equipment may be available immediately, that result to shorten procurement process of acquiring used equipment, compared to the time  required for the acquisition of new equipment because it involves ordering which took sometimes up to delivery period. Discuss the cons on the decision of allowing the procurement of used items in public sector (PPA 2011) * May lead to procure poor quality items that do not meet intended purpose that is performance requirements of the goods, and minimum standards for age, residual economic life, and quality of materials. That might result in massive economic losses this is refer to the economic life cycle of goods procured. Since they will not be expected to originate from Tanzania, it will be difficult to get authenticated record of the time they had been used and condition at the time of sale. * Failure of getting loans from world Bank at deficit circumstances, this is according to World Bank Procurement Manual Draft (2001)- Procurement of brand new Goods policy, which explain that it the Bank’s general Policy is to finance the procurement of new goods only. Borrower’s procurement should be to the new. * Procurement of used goods does not correspond to the principles of value for money, since the experience in the country has shown there were no credible personnel to undertake such kind of purchasing with evidence of quality of such used items together with its residual value, relevant to the cost of purchase/money spend on buying. * Creation of a fertile ground for rampant corruption because the government/institutions functionaries might use this loophole to buy junk equipment through underhand methods thus causes great losses to the taxpayers. * Higher running expenses, It is cost fully in case of running expenses such as maintenance and service for used item than for brand new equipment, when government institutions decides to purchase used items, will result to incur a lot of money spending on frequently buying costly spare parts and  maintenance as a result to high total cost of operation hence less productivity. Summary: The decision of allowing the procurement of used items in public sector have their respective advantages and disadvantages to the national economy and general social welfare issues as follows. The advantages of procurement of used items are; it is economical, It is affordable due to low cost of acquisition, Used equipment may be available immediately, procurement of more items for the same budget, improves transparency and integrity. The disadvantages are Lack of competitive bidding, failure of getting loans from world Bank, May lead to procure poor quality, does not correspond to the principles of value for money, Creation of a fertile ground for rampant corruption, and Higher running expenses.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Film Analysis :: essays research papers

Film Assignment I have this opinion that America â€Å"a land of opportunity† and also a â€Å"rat race.† Why I say both of them? First, it is because, for me, America is a land of opportunity. Everybody has the opportunity to work as long as they have the willing to work, the work ethic. It’s just not everybody has the willing to work because the government will support those people who are unemployed. Like foreign students for example. The INS gives foreign students the â€Å"practical training† permit, so they can use it for working in the US after they finish their school. Even though it’s only a one-year permit, at least they have the opportunity to look for a company who is willing to be their sponsor for applying for the H-1 visa. Like in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. When George Bailey got bankrupt, he has another chance to make everything back to normal if he wanted to. However, when we look at the â€Å"individual social mobility, it makes Amer ica a â€Å"rat race† country. Since America is known as a land of opportunity, which will lead into a â€Å"rat race† because people may want to accomplish or fulfil their goal. Everybody is trying to get the highest position in his or her job. Everybody is trying to make higher profit in his or her life. They will do anything to get into that â€Å"position† even though they have to do something illegal, something bad, something deceitful, corruption. Everybody is competing and just thinks about him or her self. Like in the Glengarry Glen Ross, everybody is trying to keep his job there. They have to make the highest profit or they will lose their job, and that makes some of the officers rob the office. It’s a beautiful life is a kind of family movie that has a happy ending. When I watched it, I got so depressed in the middle of the movie because everything happens is just like a tragedy. That is the basic story after all. George Bailey has been dealt a savage blow and is contemplating suicide at his lowest ebb. It takes an apprentice angel to put it all in perspective and remind him that joy in life should never be eclipsed by any setback. After all how many of us can empathize with a penny pinching self centered old grouch versus a good man faced with letting his family and friends down.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

The Dilemma of Cloning

Our era is considered to be the period of discoveries focusing mostly in the spheres of technical and medical research. Some scientists even dare to call our century, as well as the end of the previous one, the new scientific revolution. Many prominent scientists and researchers gave their lives in order to be heard, in order to keep to their words and defend their views on the newly discovered essence of many things – our planet, Solar system and of course, the complexities of being a human. More so, many scientists and experts have been intrigued by the mysterious nature of human beings and out of curiosity numerous studies have been conducted as an attempt to reveal and discover new fascinating things about human beings. Other experts would go beyond the norm to see the extent of the limitations of humans as living beings. One of the most controversial and most anticipated researches on humans is cloning which is the process of creating of a duplicate genetic copy of another. In an effort to further studies about human cloning, scientists have ventured into animal cloning. â€Å"Now that a cloned cat is a reality, pet owners may wonder when they will be able to duplicate their own kitty or pooch† (Wood 1). Nowadays, people are not scrutinized or criticized based on their scientific views because the present society is far more democratic and liberal compared to previous years. However, relatively recent events connected with the research of cloning have proved that investigation in the cell domain may lead to the whole range of medical, ethical, religious and even political disputes. Present day medical science had made an extensive and significant undertaking that extended the boundaries of human knowledge but breaking the limitations can either enrich mankind with new useful knowledge or yield visible harmful effects and destructive consequences. Stem cells themselves would not have caused such a thunderstorm of critique if not for the source of their extraction. The point is that scientists believe that stem cells taken from living organisms have the highest transformational potential and can better serve as the precursors for the whole variety of cells in the living body of an animal. However, the very idea that these cells are extracted from living embryos, some people considers this a form of a murderous act. In fact, not all the people are aware of the real situation regarding embryonic cell research. It is not a secret that stem cells are taken from surplus embryos, which are more likely not going to be useful for particular purposes in the future. In the article â€Å"Where on the Web Register to Clone Your Pet† by Christina Wood, it stated that the cost of pet cloning is about $895 and up and after there is an annual fee of $100 per year. More so, people interested in cloning their pets have to pay a vet to collect the pet’s skin sample. Obviously, clones do not come cheap. â€Å"The cost, when the technology is perfected, could start at nearly $20,000† (Wood 1). It is important to stress that any science or research should be primarily useful to mankind for the present time and in the succeeding years. Animal cloning and stem cell research should be developed only if it does not harm mankind and if it generates positive changes, or at least reduces all negative effects to a minimum. According to Wood, â€Å"hundreds of people already store pet DNA with GSC† disregarding the fact that there are many stray cats and dogs in animal shelters that need to be adopted. This situation shows that people would rather pay thousands of dollars to replicate the genes of their pets (take note that pet when cloned will not be a carbon copy of the original pet which contradicts the definition of cloning) instead of caring for real animals that are in need of love and care. Furthermore, people should not forget about ethical and moral aspects of pet cloning and possible dangers of this scientific endeavor. According to ethical principles cloning is not accepted in certain countries and is restricted by some government. Although some scientists may accept the risks in order to benefit and stand up for further rapid development of stem cell research, there is no guarantee that casualties can be reduced to zero. Every science is worthy of attention and further development of it should benefit the whole of mankind. Therefore, the first and foremost objective of cloning and stem cell research should be the promotion and delivery of advantages to mankind where everyone can benefit from it.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Astroworld Concert Review - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1063 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/06/14 Category Art Essay Level High school Tags: Concert Review Did you like this example? This semester I went to a Travis Scott concert in Dallas which was a part of his Astroworld Tour. Astroworld is the name of Scotts third studio album and is undeniably his most successful to date. The album is rich in catchy beats and is a testament to excellent production. The album shows a refined Scott, still heavily using auto tune, utilizing featuring artists to help elevate his performance and music, rather than falling into the background short of his features. Scott has been a very public figure ever since his rise to success in the early 2010s and has had to endure a lot of scrutiny. His first studio album, Rodeo, let a lot of fans down despite all the hype surrounding the album. Scott was too reliant on the featuring artists on the album and consequently was rather indistinguishable. Until the release of Astroworld, Scott has been rather shallow and predictable lyrically. However, that changed with the release of Astroworld, which featured songs with lyrics containing Scotts ideas on subjects such as the effect of wealth and fame on people. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Astroworld Concert Review" essay for you Create order Stop trying to be God, provides the most involved vocal track from Scott. With wistful harmonica lines, church organs and gorgeously spacey beats, switching and blurring seamlessly. The song has kind of a meditative feeling, curated by Kid Cudis humming and then concluded by James Blakes beautiful vocals. The lyrics reflect on Scotts ideas that wealth, success and all the materialistic things that come with it are not a reliable source of happiness and dont come with love. The song also includes a clear warning to those at the top. Stop trying to be God / Thats not who you are / Thats not your job. Here Scott tells people not to think too highly of themselves. Perhaps hes also telling himself to stop pursuing his desire to be a God among the public, rather focus on his family and take care of them. Palm trees, oceans, fresh air that can break your heart, the comfort of wealthiness is not a reliable source of happiness, and the materialistic things that come with wealth can lead to yo ur downfall. Now, enough about Travis Scott, lets talk about me and my musical background. My parents have undeniably had the most influence on my taste in music. My father nurtured my interest in music by introducing me to a wide variety of artists and teaching me how to play guitar, then enrolling me in classical guitar classes when he had taught me everything he knew. In primary school I joined a garage band and played bass. The band mainly played covers, and rock songs were a requirement. We experimented with composing songs, so I know how rigorous and challenging the process of piecing together a successful song is. In my teens I started exploring other musical genres. I got really into RB, Jazz, Soul, and a few other genres that share certain qualities with Rock and Roll. However, a genre that I had never really paid attention to and is different from Rock is Hip Hop and Rap. I started listening to it daily and it quickly became one of my favorite types of music to listen to. The artists I became fan of were artists such as Nas, Kanye West, Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar. Travis Scott, however had never been on my radar until he published Astroworld. Prior to the Travis Scotts concert in Dallas I had never attended a concert of the same magnitude. However, my expectations for the concert were mixed. Musically, I was expecting mediocrity at best since Scott relies heavily on autotune. I knew, however, that Scotts concerts are considered to have an electric atmosphere, where the crowd sings and dances throughout the concert. In that aspect I had high expectations. The concert was held at the American Airlines Center, which is a multi-purpose arena. Walking into the arena, it was packed with people, everyone anxiously waiting to get to their seats or on to the concert floor. Most of the attendees were dressed rather casually in street wear, however many of whom were wearing expensive street wear brands such as, Supreme, Bape, Palace, Off-White, and Anti-Social Social Club. A very common trend among the concert goers were expensive shoes, such as Balenciagas, Guccis, Jordans and Yeezys. Expensive streetwear is an immensely common theme in the Hip Hop and Rap community and is a big part of the culture. Another thing noticeable at the concert was alcohol consumption and drug use. You could smell the odor of marijuana smoke, which is not a pleasant one. These values I do not share, I do not spend money on overly expensive clothes and do not condone drug use. The difference in values between me and other concert goers didnt matter, and even though t he values of the attendees of this concert were different from a classical concert, there was no brawling or fighting. Everyone was there for the same purpose, listen to a great artist perform and enjoy the show. During the concert my mixed and mediocre expectations were exceeded, and I felt almost foolish to not have had higher expectations towards Scott. I was extremely impressed how he managed the crowd and even let them participate. He allowed a fan to come on stage and sing the lyrics to a song with him. The concert was not just a performance, also an extremely well thought out and planned show. The visual stimuli to the songs, whether it was Scott riding a rollercoaster on stage or beautiful visuals on a massive screen behind the rapper, were impressive to say the least. They elevated the concert and made everyone feel more involved in the concert. Overall the concert was a great success. Travis Scott is not only a great artist in the studio, but also a performer, who puts great effort into making his concerts as enjoyable as possible for every concert goer. It surprised me how much care was put into every aspect of the show. That is maybe due to the public image of Hip Hop and Rap artists being lesser artists in comparison to artists of other genres. This concert showed me that it doesnt matter what genre an artist belongs, he will always take pride in his work and try to improve upon each project from the last.