English Legal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English Legal System - Essay Example This discussion highlights that the Court of Appeal declared that the admission policy of JFS was erroneous and highly discriminatory in nature and procedure followed in case of admission of M is highly objectionable. The governing body of JFS and United Synagogue appealed the decision of Court of Appeal in Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that the policy adopted by the governing body in deciding the admission of M was against the natural justice and highly discriminatory in nature. It further held that the decision of JFS in denying the admission to M also violates the basic provisions of Section 1(1) (a) of Race Relations Act 1976. The United Synagogue was ordered to pay 20% of the costs incurred by R in Court of Appeal. However, the United Synagogue was told no to pay the 20%of the costs incurred in High Court which would be paid by JFS.According to the research findings  the Supreme Court strongly felt that the admission procedure for admission of children in United Kingdo m should not be directly discriminatory in nature and hence the justification for the support given to R was proper. The discrimination of people on grounds of ethnicity and racism was also objected by the House of Lords in cases like Mandla v Dowell-Lee (1983).  It also felt that the admission procedure of JFS was not questioned or criticized directly, but the students should not be treated with disadvantage on the grounds of ethnic origin.      

Drinking and driving Essay Example for Free

Drinking and driving Essay On Jan.8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) that became the education-reform bill. The No Child Left Behind is most sweeping education-reform bill since 1965 that made changes to the the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The No Child Left Behind plays a big part in the life’s of students, parents, teachers, and the future of the educational system. â€Å"No longer content to provide access to education for traditionally extended students populations, we are now demanding that these students receive equally good educations. † In other words, administrations are now demanding equality of quality. President Bush thinks that all students are title to high quality education, treated equal, fair, and to be safe while at school. The No Child Left Behind places significant responsibilities on state educational agencies, school districts, principals, and the teachers. â€Å"In 2002 the federal government returned to the force front in potentially historic fashion.† With the passage of No Child Left Behind, supported by bipartism majorities in Congress, the nation committed itself to the achievement of every student in America. The No Child Left Behind in the federal system the United States for every education state and school districts fail to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind Act that will be held accountable, with the opportunity to improve their down fall. Each state makes their own standards for what a child should know and learn for grades, for math and reading the standards should be developed first. Every student should be tested by the standards. All school districts should make adequate yearly progress toward meeting their state standards. Schools that fail need all the support they can get to improve their progress. The school or District shall come up with an idea that’s going to meet all necessary to make higher goals. The No Child Left Behind has a standardize by making sure that all teachers were high. The No CLB Act has In the article (Teacher’s Views on No child left behind) teachers was the no child left behind law â€Å"The federal legislation provides considerable discretion to states that can develop their own academic content standards, choose the tests they will administer, and specify the minimum scores students must obtain to be declared â€Å"proficient†. The no child left behind law increased the attention to many schools that pay to academic achievement and to disadvantage children that make it better. â€Å"As a result, the skills, and knowledge of the subgroups of children that historically have not increased as rapidly under many state tests would suggest. Second, no child left behind has increased the efforts of schools scores, third, adequate yearly progress rules; some states increased the migration of experienced teachers out of school serving high concentrations of low – performing students. No child left behind represents that parents of students who are attending title I schools are given the option to transfer their students to another school in the district for improvement status, If a student requested to be transferred shall be allowed to transfer. The No Child Left Behind, has two new educational options, -supplemental educational services and school choice for title I schools for restricting, improvement, and corrective action by the options depends on parental decisions. Parents will know their student assessments. If the school needs improvement the parent will be informed. Conclusion: The No Child Left Behind Act is great. Every child should have the right to receive an education, and be safe while in school. There so many jobs and opportunities will be required to have a college degree in order for a student to have success in life they need an education. The No Child Left Behind Act helps and gives students the impossible they did not have. The No  Child Left Behind made school districts accountability achievement. ON January 8, 2002 President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Act the reform bill improves student’s goals on the state- wide testing, and The No Child Left Behind has admirable goal of improvement in the educational system. President Bush thinks that no child should be left behind and that all children are entitled to education, treated fair and to be safe. No matter what the student is, their race, where they live, they should be entitled to an equal education. References’ Abernathy, S. (2007). No child left behind and the public schools {electronic resource} / Scott Franklin Abernathy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, c2007. Michigan Press. In 2001 the author researcher at Ann Arbor: University of President George W. Bush’s education reform legislation, the no child left behind act (H.R. 1). Testing and accotability provisions Chubb, J.E. (2009). Learning from no child left behind {electronic resource}: how and why the nation’s most important but The Author research stand ford, California. : hoover institution Murnane, R., Papay, J. (2010). Teacher’s views on no child left behind: support for the principles, concerns about the practices. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(3), 151- 166 Programs, all other Miscellaneous Schools Believes that the school should not be accountable for teaching all children well. The No child left behind is to improve all students’ performance. Put students’ performance in data gives the parents opportunity to see the child’s performance. Students that attend low-performing schools start to develop discipline issues, their want to be transferred to a better – performing school. School that doesn’t need their goals will offer including free tutoring, and after school instruction. Randolph, K., Wilson – Younger, D. (2012). †Is No Child Left Behind Effective For All Students?† Parents don’t think so. Online submission. The author’s researchers Database: ERIC. Since the No child left behind is to discuss the advantage of the core requirements for its implementation. Parents have concerns whether the children are really learning. Zimmer, R., Gill, B., Raquin, Booker, K., Lockwood, J., Department of education, w.c (2007). State and Local Implementation of the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† (N ls-â€Å"nclb†). The author researchers us department of  education. The key component the no child left behind for the parent children that were attending title I school options for corrective action, improvement, failure achieve toward meeting state standards.

Collaborative Working Reflective Essay

Collaborative Working Reflective Essay Throughout this whole assignment I am going to critically appraise others and my own practice as a collaborative worker via personal reflections and experiences of collaborative working, through experience in professional practice. I aim to link service user improvement and collaboration defining the importance of them both. Furthermore, explaining the various leadership models clarifying why they are important and needed throughout a health care team. I will plan to explain and critically evaluate an experience with the intention to promote positive outcomes for the service environment. Additionally then identifying a service improvement plan, in this case designing a 15minute time management nutritional chart for patients with dementia. Service improvement The BW Quality Safety (2007) defines service improvement, stating it is a combined and constant effort from everyone, including healthcare professionals, patients and their families, researchers, payers, etc. The changes need to lead to better patient outcomes, better quality care and better professional development (see appendix 2). The aim of all health care systems strive to provide safe and good quality health care, improve patient experiences, tackle effectiveness and update practice in the light of evidence from research (RCN 2015). Critical analysis of own performance from the Interprofessional capability framework (2009) section OC3/L2, I identified myself as level 2 (see appendix 1). During my district nursing placement, collaborative working is a key when being a nurse in the community. During my placement I interacted with various health professionals across various organisations. I ensured I was knowledgeable about the information I was passing over and I always opted in to interacting with the other professionals to build my confidence. Collaborative working The King Fund (2014) recently released a new policy document about time for change bringing ideas together from all sectors to help change the health care and improve collaborative working. The Royal College of Nursing (2004) states collaboration is diverse, ranging from intra-disciplinary teams on an individual setting to multi-agency working practices. Collaboration covers the process of researching, assessing, planning, implementing and evaluation (Thomas 2014). Critical analysis of my own performance from the Interprofessional Capability Framework (2009) section R2/L2, I identified myself as level 2 (see appendix 1). In multi-disciplinary meetings (MDT), I was co-operative, keen and knowledgeable about the patients. I was eager and asked questions throughout the MDT. I asked question when not understanding and I felt as though the health care professionals valued me as a student because I showed an interested instead of doubting my own knowledge. Weaknesses showed as I felt more nervous to question a doctor if I didnt feel the statement was correct. Nevertheless, opportunities to share and discuss actions with area for improvements are valued within the health care system (RCN 1995). Additionally, critically analysing another Interprofessional Capability (2009) section CAEP1/L2. I identified myself as level 2 (see appendix 1). Through collaborative working I was able to achieve this capability by engaging myself in discussions about cultura l beliefs and awareness, during MDT meetings and general discussion between different sectors, therefore enabling to gain knowledge about the issues within communities of practice. Service user and collaboration The Journal of Nursing Management (2010) cited by Francis (2010, p400) dedication, compassion and effective teamwork contribute to the welfare of patients and should be valued. Both nursing and medical staff are entitled to effective collaboration, one of the core values of Interprofessional working should be about respecting the individuals within the team (Barnes 2012). Collaborative practice between disciplines, patients and family result in the highest quality of care and strengthens health care systems, proposing that Interprofessional education is the way forward to producing a collaborative-practice ready workforce (Goodman 2010). Reflecting on my first placement, collaborative practice was shown poorly within the team and there was little discussion made throughout the team. This made it difficult for crucial information to be passed on effectively. Critically analysing my own performance from the Interprofessional Capability Framework (2009) section CW/L2, I identified myself as level 2 (see appendix 1). Effective communication is one of the primary barriers when working to ensure safe, consistent and excellent patient care (Baird 2012). An area of weakness when I communicate with patients is posture, from self-analysis I have noticed that on some occasions I become awkward and am unsure where to stand or how to sit in front of a patient. Hopefully, through self-realisation I will be able to improve in this area on my future placement. Leadership The NHS health care system is subject to a pressure of change, throughout these changes the health care industrial requires nursing leaders with special attributes, therefore identifying leaders who are able to guide the profession into a positive future (Sofarelli 1998). The frameworks that will be critically analysed are The NHS Leadership framework (2011) and NHS Change Model (2013). The NHS Leadership framework (2011) to bring together leadership principles and best practice guidance. The framework delivers a reliable approach to leadership development for staff in health and care throughout the NHS. The NHS Leadership framework is made up of nine leadership styles (see appendix 3). The leadership behaviours are shown on a four-part scale which range from essential† through proficient and strong to exemplary. The NHS Change Model (2013) has a similar aspect about leadership with slight differences as it has been released more recently (see appendix 4). The leadership framework also encourages staff members at all levels across the NHS to become a leader and the main aim for this framework is to encourage everyone working in the NHS to become a leader of change, pushing for everyone’s opinions to gather a general scope of the main issues in the healthcare. So how do leaders inspire staff to participate? Staff members need to be able to be independent, ensuring they can widen their choice of skills (West Dawson 2012). This will allow greater job satisfaction. Leadership is important when influencing a group of individuals to achieve a specific and obtainable goal. The style of the leader is essential when influencing change and aiming to achieve a high quality of care. Within leadership there are various types of leadership styles which, depending on your personality, determine which style you will obtain. Collective leadership is known as the most popular leadership style used within NHS healthcare. This style is based upon building relationships with the other health service users, the individual is strong and has passion to support and grow the team (Jackson 2007). This type of style influences and motivates other members, facilitating the development of robust, vibrant and reproductive research cultures (Russell Stone 2004).The decisions are made within the whole team based on the organisations values and ideals. Additionally, authoritarian leadership is where all the decisions are made without consenting any of the other staff membe rs, negative reinforcement and punishment is often used to enforce rules. This type of style is used when the individual feels power and generally withdraws from the team. The positive aspect about this style is that in an emergency situation little discussion is made and this then enables tasks to be completed promptly. I felt that during first placement authoritarian leadership style was used mainly. This was due to a lack of staff and high demand from the patients. This style seers to be the best for this kind of situation but it also entails negative points. Critically analysing my own performance throughout placement, I personally feel that I am heading towards becoming a transformational leader, which is very similar to the collective leader. During my first third year placement, I had the chance to lead a small group of team members that were caring for the patients I was in charge of. I needed to make sure I had charisma and confidence, ensuring I motivated the other staff members and allowing me to build relationships with the team. At first I felt embarrassed and unconfident because of my experience compared to others, although after getting to know the team and showing commitment and knowledge, it allowed taking charge easier because I had more respect from the team. SECOND SECTION During placement periods as student nurses, we all experience different experiences and various routines dependant on the ward allocated to us. Throughout this section of the assignment, I am going to discuss a placement ward in which I felt there should be an area of change. The reflective model I have chosen to use is Bortons model (Barton 1970). Bortons model simply puts three simple questions to be asked of the experience to be reflected on; What?, So what?, Now what? The model will be incorporated into the reflection to facilitate critical thoughts, relating theory to practice. In my first year of becoming a nursing student, I was placed on a care of the elderly ward for dementia specialising in Parkinsons, with around roughly 26 medical beds. This ward was very fast paced and constantly hectic. Throughout the placement, I noticed the patients suffering from severe dementia had various nutritional needs. Weight loss is common in individuals suffering from dementia, caused by poor appetite. This could be due to a variety of problems including communication, depression and pain (Alzheimers society, 2013). I noticed that occasionally some patients would not have eaten throughout the whole day or even barely drank fluids due to refusing at meal times; this therefore becomes the patient’s routine because food isnt incorporated into their daily activity. The main issue with this ward was time management due to the high demand of patients and care needed. This sometimes showed to have a damaging effect on various patients that needed more care and time. PDS A cycle plan is to design a time chart which specifies that a minimum of 15 minutes one-to-one time, needs to be spent with a particular patient. This will then hopefully enable the patient to become familiar with you as the care giver during their meal time. It occurred to me when on a dementia ward that the patients often go by familiarity despite their memory. For example, some patients would only consume diet and fluids when their relative was around despite not knowing who they are. Therefore, hopefully with my change of plan being put in place, if a member of staff is allocated specific patients for the day and every meal time the care-giver spends 15 minutes with the patient during the period, the likelihood of the patient consuming even a small amount of food is higher than when the patient was not receiving enough quality time. Additionally to help implement the service improvement, structures known as process mapping and the PDSA cycle (plan, so, study, act) are used. Process mapping enables health professionals to capture the certainty of the patient experiences, following their whole journey to help identify the main problem areas for change. An example of a process map performed is shown in (appendix 5), designing a process map helps to identify the specific problem, which provides clear evidence that a service improvement plan is needed. In this case, a process map was not needed for this service improvement plan. On the other hand the PDSA cycle is used to provisionally trail a change in practice, allowing the team members and patients to assess the impact of the change before implementing it into practice. Plan To firstly initiate my plan of change I introduced it into the multi-disciplinary team meeting. This allowed me to help steer and co-ordinate the intervention as well as review my process with the team. Therefore bringing all of the health care professionals together can then be given a stake in the outcome and we can all work to achieve the goal. Clarke (2008) believes that teams without nurses are guaranteed to fail. Additionally tears led by nurses and therapists, however successful, often lack control; therefore doctors must also be a part of the team. This change of plan has been designed purely through observation during my first year placement. Speaking to various service users and family members I gathered together a concern for the patients nutritional needs. As well as noticing a strain on the staff I thought assembling a change of plan will relieve the team and prevent stress, hopefully bringing collaborative practice together. Additionally when implementing a plan of change there will be controversy. Lewin (1951) designed a force field analysis, a strategic tool used to understand what is needed for change in both corporate and personal environments. For example Kurt Lewin (1951) states directly An issue is health in balance by the interaction of two opposing sets of forces those seeking to promote change, known as the driving forces and those attempting to maintain the status quo (restraining forces). Throughout change there will always be individuals willing to contribute to make a change happen, nevertheless there will be restraining forces that resist. To help with the leadership section for my plan of change, the approach I will use is the transformational style. This will allow me to bring everyone together creating a discussion on everyone’s thoughts and feelings about the plan. It is crucial that the idea set out is agreed by the majority of the individuals, because the plan of change will cost a small amount from the NHS budget, therefore the change needs to be beneficial to the NHS. The Institute for Innovation and Improvement (2013) states currently in the NHS we are facing an unpredictable challenge to improve quality and reduce the cost. Collecting the correct data both quantitative and qualitative at frequent intervals over extended periods allows the health professionals to make an uniformed decision about whether the change is moving the NHS in the correct direction. To enable my plan of change to happen/work I am going to need to ensure I have the involvement of various team members. Therefore allowing the patie nts to get the specified 15minutes one-to-one time, obviously nurses and health care assistants are going to be my main priority. Do To test whether this change of plan is a good idea I am going to perform a pilot study. A pilot study is a methodological introduction, the aim is to develop, adapt and check the possibility of the methods functioning for my service improvement plan (Foster 2013). To test this idea firstly, I discussed the service improvement with members of staff from other wards and family members to gain a general scope of ideas about plan. I performed this because the ward used for my service improvement plan, staff did not work collaboratively therefore I didnt feel as though I would gain a positive outcome. Nevertheless I decided to use questionnaires with the whole team on the ward. This allowed me to collect the positives and negatives together and analyse whether I have achieved the service improvement. Additionally collecting the information will allow me to predict how long the process will take due to the amount of staff members that are for my service improvement. Main source of data has come from surveys and questionnaires using a qualitative research approach. Qualitative research is performed in a realistic setting, generally used from research that is collected through interviews and observation (Cleary 2014). Reflecting on this I am able to look back at the data collected and weigh out the pros and cons of my service improvement. I gained feedback from the patients family members as well as staff on the ward and on other wards. I feel that I have used a variety of sources to gain an accurate and reliable result. Study Merging all of my information/evidence together my main priority was to achieve a summary of the results. I used a matrix framework to bring themes together from the data I collected. This way I could set out the data in various categories to make the research basic. Furthermore with the information, I shared this verbally during multi-disciplinary meetings to put the service improvement plan across a variety of health professionals, gaining a professional feedback. Also discussing the service improvement with family relatives, gaining more of an outside view from individuals that don’t work in the health care. This type of study allowed me to gain precision and feedback from different sectors. Act Unfortunately as I am unable to actually perform this service improvement, therefore I need to look at this service improvement plan hypothetically. Reviewing changes of my service improvement plan I am fully aware that this service improvement plan will only work if the ward works collaboratively. Consequently the ward chosen for this, need to aim to improve their leadership skills and their collaboration between the other sectors. To help implement this plan effectively I am going to firstly introduce this plan into breakfast meal times, allowing me to improve small areas more effectively and then eventually open this plan out to all meals. Overall I believe that allowing 15 minutes one-to-one time, whether that is during all meal times or just breakfast will improve patients nutritional needs, especially for dementia patients it allows time for familiarity for the patients. Conclusion Concluding the whole assignment together prioritising the main issues in this assignment, I feel collaborative practice needs to be used as daily activities within the health care system. It has been clearly shown how essential it is to collaborate in a team and ensure leadership is prioritised. Designing a service improvement plan was a great experience and I now feel confident critiquing services and planning a change, it has helped me realise how much you actually notice during practice placement and the improvements that I, as an individual, can actually make. Overall, l I now hold a greater knowledge about team dynamics, areas of good and bad practice and service user involvement.

Ovids Devaluation of Sympathy in Metamorphoses Essay -- Ovid Metamorp

Ovid's Devaluation of Sympathy in Metamorphoses  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Ovid reveals two similar tales of incest in the Metamorphoses. First, he describes the non-sisterly love Byblis acquires for her twin brother Caunus. Later, he revisits the incestuous love theme with the story of Myrrha who develops a non-filial love for her father, Cinyras. The two accounts hold many similarities and elicit varying reactions. Ovid constantly tugs at our emotions and draws forth alternating feelings of pity and disgust for the matters at hand. "Repetition with a difference" in these two narratives shows how fickle we can be in allotting and denying sympathy, making it seem less valuable. Both tales begin drawing forth a sense of disgust for the situation in general yet arousing pity for each girl's predicament. Ovid clearly labels the love Byblis and Myrrha pursue illegitimate when he summarizes the moral of Byblis' tale stating, "when girls love they should love lawfully" (Mandelbaum 307) and reveals that "to hate a father is / a crime, but love like [Myrrha's] is worse than hate" (338) before describing Myrrha's tale. By presenting the girls as criminals, Ovid leads us to despise them. He then proceeds to draw out sympathy for Byblis and Myrrha as he describes their unsuccessful attempts to overcome these desires. Byblis dreams intimately about Caunus, but "when she's awake, she does not dare / to let her obscene hopes invade her soul" (308). "[Myrrha] strives; she tries; she would subdue / her obscene love," but she cannot (339). Right away, Ovid makes us question if these situations deserve our sympathy. Byblis and Myrrha compel readers to sympathize with their plight as they orally confess their incestuous passions. They use selective lang... ...d leaves us feeling sorry for Myrrha. Ovid tells this tale of forbidden sin twice to show how inconsistent we are in allotting pity. He begins both tales drawing forth our contempt for the matters at hand, then ends both tales with images that arouse our pity. Throughout each story, our emotions sway between pity and disgust. Even though incest disgusts us, we sympathize with Byblis and Myrrha as they seek incestuous loves. Byblis' broken heart arouses our sympathy, yet Myrrha's "fulfilled heart" disgusts us. Ovid devalues our sympathy by showing how unstable we are with our emotions. Works Cited Mandelbaum, Allen, trans. The Metamorphoses of Ovid. By Ovid. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & company, 1993. Crane, Gregory, ed. Perseus Project. 1995. Tufts University. 6 Oct. 1999 <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/text?lookup=ov.+met.+init>      

Essay on the the Secret Book Essay

According to recent studies, self-help books – non-fiction books that offer advice for behavior modification and make explicit promises for positive change – have doubled as a percentage of all book titles since the 1970s. The increasing popularity of self-help books is an indicator of the modern society’s quest to maximize personal happiness through a process of self-discovery. Self-help books are a response to a real and genuine hunger for psychological understanding and self-improvement and are part of the larger market of advice media. Readers buy self-help books seeking self-control – both as a good-faith attempt to increase their self-control and to elicit a temporary sensation that, in fact, the first step toward self-control has already been taken. And of recent years, one of the increasing self-help or spirituality books involve the teachings of New Age-ism. The New Age is a decentralized Western social and spiritual movement that seeks â€Å"Universal Truth† and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. It includes aspects of Occultism, astrology, esotericism, metaphysics, alternative medicine, music, collectivism, sustainability, and nature. New Age spirituality is characterized by an individual approach to spiritual practices and philosophies, and the rejection of religious doctrine and dogma. New Age practices and philosophies sometimes draw inspiration from major world religions: Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism; with particularly strong influences from East Asian religions, Gnosticism, Neopaganism, New Thought, Spiritualism, Theosophy, Universalism, and Western esotericism. New Age spirituality has led to a wide array of literature on the subject and an active niche market: books, music, crafts, and services in alternative medicine are available at New Age stores, fairs, and festivals. And one of the most phenomenal publishing successes in the self-help/New Age teachings is a book called The Secret. ABOUT THE SECRET Product Details The English-language 6. 9 x 5. 7 x 0. 9 inches hardcover book is fairly lightweight at 198 pages. It was first published in November 28, 2006 by Atria Books in Australia. In the United States of America, the book is published by Beyond Words and in United Kingdom by Simon & Schuster UK. Product Description Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it. In this book, you’ll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life — money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You’ll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that’s within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life. The Secret contains wisdom from modern-day teachers — men and women who have used it to achieve health, wealth, and happiness. By applying the knowledge of The Secret, they bring to light compelling stories of eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth, overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as impossible. Content of The Secret 1. Foreword 2. Acknowledgements 3. The Secret Revealed 4. The Secret Made Simple 5. How to Use The Secret 6. Powerful Processes 7. The Secret to Money 8. The Secret to Relationships 9. The Secret to Health 10. The Secret to the World 11. The Secret to You 12. The Secret to Life 13. Biographies The Secret Revealed The first thing you need to know is that The Secret isn’t really a secret. The secret is actually â€Å"The Law of Attraction† that asserts what you think creates what you feel, and these feelings flow from your body as magnetic energy waves over vast distances, which then cause the universe around you to vibrate at the same energy level as your feelings. The idea dates back nearly 3,000 years to early Hindu teachings that â€Å"like attracts like. † The law of attraction, which the author Rhonda Byrne says is the most powerful law in the universe, states that people experience the logical manifestations of their predominant thoughts, feelings, and words. This gives people direct control over their lives. A person’s thoughts (whether conscious or unconscious) and feelings bring about corresponding positive or negative manifestations. Positive thoughts bring about positive manifestations while negative thoughts bring about negative manifestations. The theory is very simple. Because it is an absolute law, the law of attraction will always respond to your thoughts no matter what they are. Thus your thoughts become things. You are the most powerful power in the universe simply because whatever you think about will come to be. You shape the world that exists around you. You shape your own life and destiny through the power of your mind. To quote some of the teachings in this book are â€Å"Thoughts are sending out that magnetic signal that is drawing the parallel back to you. †Thus there is no such thing as accident or coincidence; it is you, the individual, who brings misery on yourself because of your toxic thinking. But the good news, if you can alter your thoughts, and therefore your feelings, you can actually cause the universe around you to vibrate at a positive energy level and the desires of your heart will come to be realized! All you have to do is Ask — Believe — Receive. You just have to visualize what you want, feel good about it, and then ask the universe — and whatever you can imagine can be yours. It is like having the universe as your catalogue and you flip through it and go, ‘Well I’d like to have this experience and I’d like to have that product and I’d like to have a person like that’ †¦ It is you just placing your order with the universe. The law of attraction was the power, the author argues, behind geniuses such as Plato, Newton, Beethoven and Einstein. In this book too, she has also gotten quotes, experiences and support from the who’s who of the self-help industry, including John Gray, author of â€Å"Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus,† and Jack Canfield, who wrote â€Å"Chicken Soup for the Soul. â€Å"Jack Canfield, provides an excellent example of the ask-believe-receive system where he tells us that he visualized earning $100,000 (even writing the desired amount on a bill worth far less and tacking it to the ceiling above his bed) and focused his mental energy only on the goal of attaining the money. He tells us that he had absolutely no idea how he was going to get the money — he simply focused on believing that he would get the money, somehow. But how? For four weeks he had no breakthrough ideas but then, one day in the shower, he remembered that he had written a book and, if it was published (particularly if he sold 400,000 copies and he made a quarter on each) he just might achieve his financial goals. Of course the book was published, and the results were only a few thousand dollars shy of 100,000 dollars. And this is just one of the many testimonials in this book called The Secret. The Story Behind The Secret It is not a secret now that The Secret is a publishing phenomenon of recent years especially for in the non-fiction & self-help category. This small book, with a parchment-brown cover engraved with the image of a red wax seal, debuted in 2006 and since then it has sold over four million copies worldwide and has been translated to 38 different languages. The Secret began as a DVD which came out end of 2004. Rhonda Byrne was a television producer in Australia in 2004 when the death of her father led her to discover ‘the secret’, which is her term for what is commonly known as the law of attraction. Her discovery was mainly caused by the 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. Wattles’s book struck such a chord with Byrne that she plunged into a crash course in Western, Eastern, ancient and modern thought, devouring hundreds of books and articles in just two and a half weeks. Inspired, she flew to the States in July 2005 and began lining up people to interview; the film was finished six months later and she began trying to find an Australian network to air it. The top-rated Nine Network was intrigued by her proposal, but the finished film struck Len Downs, the program manager, as just â€Å"a whole range of talking heads giving their basis of the secret of life. † It eventually ran in Australia just a few weeks ago, and, says Downs, it didn’t do all that well. But armed with the law of attraction, Byrne was confident things would work out. A Web company situated just blocks away from her office in Melbourne had a technology for distributing streaming video over the Internet. In March 2006, her site (http://thesecret. tv) began selling downloads and DVDs, one of which found its way to Cynthia Black, president of the New Age-oriented publishing house Beyond Words saw its potential and by late November the book was in the stores and the rest as they say, is history. PURCHASING THE SECRET The Secret books are available at all major bookstores, online bookstore and through its official website. It is usually placed in the Health, Mind & Body -> Self Help category or Religion & Spirituality -> New Age category. At most of these major bookstores, The Secret books are placed most prominently on the shelves. Due to it being constantly on worldwide bestseller lists for non-fiction books thus the title is prominently displayed in the bookstores should the bookstore have a bestsellers display section. Its average retails price for cash & carry stores are $23. 95 in the United States; ? 12. 00 in United Kingdom; and MYR79. 90 in Malaysia. While its average retail price for online purchases are $14. 00 and ? 12. 00 in United States and United Kingdom respectively. PROMOTING THE SECRET After the phenomenal success of the The Secret DVD, it made sense for it to be turned into a book and what better way for the marketers to embark on promoting the book than playing up the hype of the movie and using the popular internet marketing tool such as the viral video site YouTube. The book was marketed with an online viral video campaign focusing on wealth enhancement. The short video clips showed testimonials from readers of the book and practitioners of â€Å"the secret† claiming that the technique brought them wealth, cured sickness, and brought about a general life-change. The video clips do not disclose what â€Å"the secret† is, where it originated from or how it can be practiced, but rather pointed viewers to the website for both the book and film. Thus hooking the viewers and made them all the more intrigue by the claims made by the author in the book. As for packaging and promotional material, the book also played into the consumers’ senses by trying to showcase that â€Å"the secret† originates from the cosmos. The cover prominently displayed a parchment-brown cover engraved with the image of a red wax seal (see Appendix 1) to indicate it is somewhat a book from the olden days and in the inside pages, the background design are a field of stars, and various shots of the universe thus adding mystique to the claims and the practice. However, the most savvy and most probably the ultimate gambit of the book is to call it ‘The Secret. To quote Mr Donavin Bennes, a buyer who specializes in metaphysics for Borders Books, â€Å"We all want to be in on a secret. But to present it as the secret, that was brilliant. † Thus the name evoke a sense of intrigue to readers who are looking for something magical or perhaps easier tool for them to understand and to fully live their lives. Another smart marketing move made by the publisher was to have it endorsed by well-known and highly popular worldwide celebrities. The book got its first break in the US when Ellen DeGeneres featured it on her show. And when Oprah Winfrey decided to run a show on it, although it was already a big success, the sales ballooned up much more. Oprah Winfrey first featured it on Feb. 8 2007 and according to Nielsen BookScan, the book had sold 18,000 copies the week before. During the week of the show, sales rocketed to 101,000 and when the show did a follow-up on Feb. 16 2007, the sales that week reached 190,000. With the success of the book, the publishers decided to create more spin-off titles, which they call The Secret tools. There are now The Secret to Teen Power (see Appendix 2), The Secret Daily Teachings (see Appendix 3) and The Secret Gratitude Book (see Appendix 4). Not only that, at its official website there are also ‘gifts’ for the readers such as visualization tools, The Secret memory game, wallpapers, ebook and blank checks (see Appendix 5) which goes hand-in-hand with the teachings of the book. THE SECRET S. W. O. T ANALYSIS Strengths 1. The intriguing title. As elaborated above, the title play a major role in inciting readers’ interest in the book. 2. The cover design. Alongside its intriguing title, the odd-shaped book with its olden-days personification invoke a sense of mystery that is definitely eye-catching and surely pique a person’s interest while browsing the shelves at a bookstore. 3. The content is an easy read with its simple language and peppered with inspiring testimonials from many men & women who has experienced the use of the secret plus personal experience & quotations from the the who’s who of the self-help industry. 4. The savvy marketing ideas of the publishers that has created the hype that constantly raise awareness of the book. 5. Endorsement by high-profile & influential personalities that are recognized world-wide certainly helped boosted its sale internationally. 6. Constant high-placing in best-selling charts, most probably due to the savvy marketing ideas of the publisher and as the  long-term effect of the celebrity associated to the book especially Oprah Winfrey. Weaknesses 1. The selling price in Malaysia of RM79. 90 is definitely a setback to potential buyers as the price is rather steep for many people especially for books in the self-help category. 2. The book is not available in paperback form thus some book buyers are not keen on buying hardback cover books due to its steeper price or its slightly heavy weight. 3. The content is not something that is unique and there are many similar teachings that one can get in many other books thus it does lack a little originality. 4. As typical with many New Age teachings, the content of the book has garnered much criticism which try to debunked the book’s teaching as merely hype, mumbo-jumbo or just plain illogical. 5. The book has to complete with many other form of self-help books available that are cheaper, more accessible and from much more renowned authors (Paulo Coelho, Eckhart Tolle, Anthony Robbins) Opportunities 1. Publishers could promote to younger readers especially The Secret for Teens book first and therefore will garner their interest in the main book The Secret. 2. Use the The Secret movie to lure potential readers as there are those who would like to have to book in hand as a way to look back or do revision which is harder to do with the dvd. 3. Offer a cheaper paperback form, thus the book is able to be sold at a cheaper price and therefore garner many more readers. Threats 1. With the easy access to internet, potential readers might decide to check out what the book is about online and thus stumbling on the many critics that the book has garnered. This in turn can make them believe the critics before actually reading the book, thus will result in loss of sales. 2. Like many other things in life, people are apt to stumble upon a new idea for a book or a belief that could help the world, thus there will be brand new books in the future that will probably come with a much more savvy marketing approach and thus will affect the interest of the people about The Secret! THE SECRET CONCLUSION The Secret is a phenomenon and it is likely to become one of the best-selling self-help books of all time. Venture into your local bookstore or look around you while waiting at an airport, and you’re bound to see people reading it and absorbing it. They will not just be people who consult astrologers and who listen to Tony Robbins tapes, but normal, average people like the ones who live next door to you. There are almost 1400 reviews of the book printed at Amazon with an average rating of 3. 5 out of 5. The breakdown of those scores is interesting: fifty-two percent of them are 5-star, thirteen percent are 4-star and twenty-one percent are 1-star. This means that the majority of people, the great majority even, believe in at least some aspects of the book’s premise and teaching. They believe in the law of attraction. The one problem that The Secret poses is that it simplifies and speculates way too much and there are a quite a significant level of moral defects, the lack of scientific backing, and the various philosophical shortcomings, how is it that a significant number of people still believe there’s something to The Law of Attraction? Part of the reason must certainly be the powerful testimonials coming from celebrity figures such as Oprah Winfrey, a woman who attributes her success to her mighty powers of attraction. Of course, that’s a long way from the simple model of Ask-Believe-Receive. In most people’s lives, positive thought leads to success only through the transforming medium of action. But as the author Rhonda said in an interview, she just wants to bring happiness to everybody. That’s the reason it all began. And to her credit, she does bring happiness to many people worldwide and surely there is nothing, in principle, wrong with thinking about what makes you happy.

How Realistic Is Free Trade in the Real World? Essay

Nowadays, virtually almost every country in the world has once engaged in trade activities due to the obvious benefit it can bring. Besides, free trade activities are also being encouraged in all over the world. However, along with these benefits, free trade in fact brings plenty problems, especially for the developing countries. This paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of free trade in developing countries, and provide a pessimistic point of view in the global growth and development in the future. It is nothing but a simple activity that involves two or more countries engaging in the exchange of goods and services. Such exchanges of goods or services can be between two parties or several parties. Based on trade, people in many countries could have a great number of opportunities to select a wide range of products and services originated from every country around the world. Additionally, it improves not only the terms of trade but also the economic health of each country. Most academic economists agree and accept the obvious theory that trade benefits both parties involved in the transaction. Trade is a concept that exists largely due to the differences in the cost of production of some tradable commodity in the various locations (Zaidi, Kadiwala). Nevertheless, a few countries do not believe in the benefits of trade, they keep pursuing conservative policy and isolate itself from global integration such as North Korea. Along with Trade, there is another term which needs to be clarified: â€Å"Free Trade†. According to Athony Carter, Free trade refers to the right to sell goods and services around the world without any hindrance. With free trade the only thing determining the price of items will be  supply and demand factors. As well as goods and services, free trade can also refer to the ability of labor to move freely around the world. The main aim of free trade is to carry out development to improve the human welfare. With free trade, the production will have the lowest cost and the consumption will have the cheapest price. Hence, there are enormous benefits of free trade such as increase in economic growth, competitive advantage, economics of scale, etc. However, along with these benefits, free trade in fact brings plenty problems, especially for the developing countries (M. Suparmoko 2002). Although developing countries have become more integrated significantly into the trade world recently, their integration is still not in right directions, has failed to provide many of the expected benefits. Competing perspectives about the role and impact of trade in developing countries Admittedly, Free trade is an issue of great importance for those in business and consumers around the world. The issue of free trade is a highly contentious one, and both sides of the debate can provide persuasive arguments for their position (Anthony Carter). The existence of free trade around the world is hindered in many different ways. Most countries will have tariffs on at least some imports, and this tax can make these good less competitive. The usual reason why a government will impose this type of tax is that they want to protect local industry or dissuade people from purchasing certain products – the governments also use tariffs to raise funds. Of course there are also a lot of limitations on the free movement of labor (Anthony Carter). Fundamentally, there are three main schools of thought which will approve for the both sides of the debate; Neoclassical approach, Structuralists, and Dependency Theory. This essay will apply the three theories mentioned above in order to demonstrate the two arguments for and against Free trade in developing countries. While Neoclassical theory suggests that all free trade is eventually mutually beneficial to everyone welfare, Dependency Theory advocates argue that free trade is a destructive force and a threat to the Developing World or the Least Developed Countries. Structuralists make their position in the middle ground and acknowledge that while there are gains from free trade to be made for the Least Developed Countries and Developed Countries alike, free trade is potentially harmful to developing economies and needs to be managed appropriately (James Lawrie). Neoclassical Theory: Basically, Neoclassical principals can be traced back to the three models: Adam Smith’s Absolute advantage theory, David Ricardo’s theory of Comparative advantage and Hecksher-Ohlin model as well. Adam Smith explained that all trade is mutually beneficial through Absolute advantage and David Ricardo’s theory of Comparative Advantage. These ideas were effectively built upon by the Hecksher-Ohlin model. The H-O model explains how free trade between nations enhances a populations welfare by allowing a nation to employ its various factors of production (land, labour & capital), more effectively (James Lawrie). According to James Lawrie, The H-O model assumes that through the combination of specialization in the production process and free trade between nations, the participating nations can raise their consumption beyond their domestic Production Possibility Frontier, thus increasing the overall welfare of said nations populations. This happens due to the fact that specialization in goods that a nation has comparative advantage in means that this nation can produce them at a lower opportunity cost than that of its trading partners. According to Neoclassical theory, the LDC’s (least developing countries) should specialized labors intensive goods. Because these countries have high abundance of cheap labour more than other factors endowment. These countries can use labour intensive goods to exchange and traded capital intensives goods from developed countrie, typically Western nations. Both of two countries also mutually benefits from trade. In addition, another supporting argument of the H-O model, for LDC’s adopting free trade, is the predicted effects of Factor Price Equalisation. The costs of the abundant factor within a nation should rise as demand for this factor increases. As a result, the wages for workers will gradually rise, eventually leading to domestic and international equality. H-O model such as the tool to help LDCs to apply export orientated industrialisation (EOI) as a means for development (James Lawrie). Nevertheless, in practice, H-O model has neglected several crucial factors, such as: improved resource allocation† due to the price mechanism, â€Å"access to better technologies, inputs and intermediate goods†, â€Å"economies of scale and scope† and â€Å"greater domestic competition† as benefits of a free and open market place. 2. Dependency Theory In contrast with the Neoclassical theory, Dependency Theory provide a number of convincing arguments against Free trade in developing countries. One bvious criticism is that Neoclassical theory has been built and developed almost entirely by Western economists who have a bias towards every problem from a western point of view. For instance, in the past, the British Empire and its colonies achieved growth through exporting, but the same conditions are not in common nowadays. As well as this, according to this theory, LDC’s and Developing countries do not have access to technological advance originated from Developed countries, typically, Western countries and United States of America. Take Cambodia as an illustration for this point of view, this country has a automobile-making industry, which means they can manufacture automobile; however, these cars are produced under old-fashioned technology. It represents the fact that, they can produce as many cars as they want, but these cars can not keep up to the latest advanced technology prevailing in the world. Besides, there are other several factors which can have negative impact on LDC’s and Devloping countries if they engage in free trade activities. For example, the Developed countries would also benefit from a greater deal of political and economic muscle when negotiating terms of trade (James Lewris). In addition, Dependency Theory finds free trade cause unequal exchange and uneven development, arguing that without extensive state support the dual economy will only widen. MNC’s are of particular concern to Dependency Theory for this reason as they repatriate the profits made by their activities in foreign countries – much like BP drilling for oil in the Niger Delta. Dependency Theory discovers a â€Å"trickle up effect†, which means, money flowing from poor countries to the richer Developed countries. Moreover, Dependency asserts that Developing nations has to suffer from environmental damage caused through such operations and workers from Developing countries endure a lowering of health and safety standards, whereby nations must lower regulations and standards to remain their competitive position (James Lewris). 3. Structuralists theory: After examining the two schools of thought mentioned above, this paper will deliver the last theory, which is considered to be developed in the middle of the two theories. It is not in favor of every benefit coming from free trade, but it is not against entire free trade. It suggests that import substitution industrialization (ISI) is the stepping stone simple manufactured goods; the next step is developed to export orientated industrialization (EOI). It believes that free trade is good but free trade needs to be processed and managed in a proper manner. IV- Why we might be pessimistic about the prospects for global growth and development in the future? According to Wenglert & Rosen (2000), the research shows that people tend to be more pessimistic from their views on the world status. Political and social instability, climate change, frequent financial crises, natural resources exhaustion, between countries and widening income inequalities are significantly serious problems that the world are facing. A number of academic researchers attempt to find out the causes of these concerns in order to establish the most effective solutions. However, the facts and figures originated in every study appear to be far from expectation. First of all, significant problems facing the world today are climate change and alternative energy. High speed of industrialization and urbanization has raised environmental pollution and the degradation of natural resources. Natural disasters are seen more often and more destructive with more floods, less rain due to global climate change which caused by environment pollution. According to World Resources Institutes, in 2000, the world emitted more than 9,000 million tons of CO2 but it is estimated to increase by 57% to over 14,000 million tons by 2025. Air pollution and greenhouse gas make global temperature changes to rise and ice cracking in North Pole together with sea-level rising are disappointing results of global warming. This graph will demonstrate the considerable rise in sea level from 1870 to 2010. Climate change has led to increasing natural disasters in many countries which have killed millions of people and caused huge amounts of economic losses for this decade: earthquake in China, Chile and the most recent case is in Japan, tsunami in Thailand, Indonesia and so on. Simultaneously, the current pattern of unsustainable use of natural resources has seriously threatened the growth prospects in the future. Price of energy products such as oil, gas, coal etc. ecomes higher and higher. It means industrial products, mainly from developed countries, more expensive and people in developing countries fail to afford. Besides, social issues have become increasingly complicated and resulted in a wide range of serious concerns for not only related countries but also the world as a whole. For instance, we should take into account hunger, poverty, health care, and education as major problems. In the twentieth century, the world population has grown drastically (from 1. 6 billion by 1950 to 6 billion by 2000). Most of the increase was in developing and poor countries, creating severe constraints on their growth and development because more people require more provision of primary goods and public services (World Bank, 2010b). Moreover, â€Å"poverty itself is a barrier to development† because of limited capacity of credit and insurance markets (Rodrik, 2009b). Additionally, poverty usually comes together with poor healthcare, limited access to education, widening inequalities of living standards and social, even political instability. Furthermore, economic and financial crisis happens more frequently, threatening global growth and development. Since the early 1990s, the world has witnessed a series of financial and economic crises such as in Thailand, Korea, Turkey, Argentina (Salvatore, International Economics), and most recently in the five high-income EU countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain) in 2010. The reason of the most recent fiscal crisis is attributed to the very high government deficits and debt levels (115% of GDP in Greece in 2009). Severely, the crisis has caused great volatility in global financial and commodity markets. The steep decline in stock markets worldwide have shown market nervousness concerning the uncertainty of developments in Europe. Fortunately, it is reported that developing countries have not been affected much by the crisis as they are still growing with great expansion of industrial production and trade. Lastly, failure of Doha Round is a clear evidence for pessimistic futures of global growth and development. Large countries attempt to persuade developing countries to open their economies but they still want to keep their own benefits and do not want to share their wealth. The conflict benefit between developing countries and developed countries made Doha round stopped. Doha agenda is ill – conceived from the start. V – Conclusion: In brief, the expected result of free trade is very good in theory, but in reality it can be a tragedy of the developing countries. Free trade or globalization can be possible if countries do not establish their overriding goal as protecting themselves, so in fact real free trade may be a myth. In ddition, with many risks and serious issues mentioned above, the global growth and development will encounter a slowdown process or even non-existence in the future if unexpected incidents take place continuously.