Multiculturalism in Early Childhood Education Essay

Introduction In recent times, early childhood education is becoming more diverse. Early childhood providers are required to attempt many challenging tasks. One of the most difficult of these is providing our children with diverse, multicultural experiences. (Ogletree & Larke, 2010) Since the beginning of times, young children have been raised by their families, extended families, clans and communities. Even today, most childcare homes and many early childhood programs tend to be fairly consistent and quite similar to the child’s home background. Parents tend to choose childcare and early childhood programs based on whether the programs match their own views of education and discipline. (Tarman & Tarman, 2011) Programs nowadays are expected to provide the children with experiences outside of their groups, offering opportunities to teach them to be tolerant, respectful and accepting of differences. (Derman-Sparks, 1989) Bennet (1995) described multicultural education â€Å"as an approach to teaching and learning that is based upon democratic beliefs and seeks to foster cultural pluralism within culturally diverse societies and an interdependent world.† In Singapore, where we have a culturally diverse population, it is essential to be sensitive towards each other’s cultural practices, beliefs and views. Thus, the reason to include multicultural education into the early childhood education system deems as important. The logical reason being that brain research has proved that the â€Å"prime time† for emotional and social development in children is from birth to twelve years of age. (Abdullah, 2009) Issues in Including Multicultural Education in Early Childhood Education There are several issues that do not allow multicultural education to permeate the early childhood programs in Singapore. Curriculum The curriculum of a center shows the process in which learning outcomes will be achieved. Therefore, including the goals and objectives of multicultural education into the center’s curriculum is essential. It has to be infused throughout the curriculum. Good early childhood pedagogy reflects and empowers the diverse cultural backgrounds of the children and families with whom they work. (Robinson & Jones, 2006) Including children’s identity into the daily programming and planning of the early childhood curriculum is considered necessary for developing their self-esteem as well as cultivating  their appreciation for diversity that exists more widely in our society. (Abdullah, 2009) In Singapore, multicultural education is not a mainstream issue. With Singaporeans being more aware of issues and events through globalization and internet, it is truly essential that multicultural education is included in schools. Quah (as cited in Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) has discussed the expanded ethnic and religious awareness strain among Singapore in recent years. Recent cases such as the wearing of the Muslim head-dress in government schools drummed up a buzz around the diverse ethnic groups in Singapore and resuscitated ethnic strains. These cases show that government policies need to be re-evaluated painstakingly so as to safeguard cultural harmony and maintain respect for cultural diversity. Thus, gaining support from the Government to deal with this issue indepth is significant. Language Development Usually the educational system in most countries applies the national language as the medium of instruction. However, multiculturalism and the distinguishment of the important role of language in studying makes it compulsory for differing qualities of dialect, abilities and correspondence styles to be recognized, esteemed and utilized within all early childhood services. The procurement for children to study the majority language whilst maintaining their first language ought to be underpinned and energized. This obviously is to propose bilingualism or in any event underpin for the home dialect as a strategy even at the unanticipated youth level. (Abdullah, 2009) Research has demonstrated that there can just be favourable circumstances to the child other than ensuring and regarding home dialect. (Hakuta, 1986) This primary issue and challenge for the procurement of bilingual training is one of human assets. Relatively few countries will have the personnel who themselves are bilingual or multilingual. Consequently, children with languages other than the national language to look, maintain and to develop  and broaden their language and concept development within early childhood services.(Vuckovic, 2008) All children have the chance to listen to, utilise and study the majority language in a steady environment where assets, materials and individuals are utilized to scaffold their learning in a majority language. Early Childhood Education Staff Staff working in childcare centers and early childhood education programs has the ability to create an impact on the children’s developing attitudes towards cultural diversity more than any other person in the child’s life. This is an undeniable fact. It is crucial that staff go through appropriate training or staff advancement programs, which include the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes for such an avocation. Teacher must take the steps necessary to better themselves as teachers in multicultural education settings. With the changing face of today’s classrooms, there is a growing need to address multiculturalism an diversity awareness. (Riskowski & Olbricht, 2010) Training courses for early childhood educators might as well have components in both content and conveyance that address diversity of cultures. (Verma, 2003) Pre-service preparation in the form of actual scenarios where teachers are set in multicultural or classrooms made up of cultures different from their own are particularly adequate in getting them to re-look at their existing convictions and biases.(Jacobson, 2003) This type of learning emphatically influences teachers’ manners towards teaching in diverse settings. Pre-service learning has the potential of enabling teacher candidates to stand up to challenging issues of social inequities and to start the deconstruction of lifelong attitudes and the development of socially just educators. (Baldwin, Buchanan & Rudisill, 2007) Issues Affecting Child as a Learner Children need an education, which allows them to take their place in this multicultural society. A child as young as two and three years are familiar with human distinctions and this mindfulness is connected with the improvement of specific disposition. An essential socialization as well as  preferences and habit pattern in the early years of life leaves a preserving impact on the individual. .(Jacobson, 2003) These findings feature the importance of bringing social values and attitudes to children’s attention during this critical developmental period. Using this evidence, it becomes clear that early childhood community needs to address the needs of multicultural children and their unique families. These children include biological, multiracial and multi-ethnic children in blended homes, foster homes, adoptive homes and a variety of biological homes. In the early years, the child’s family assumes the leading role in socialising the child to the conduct, beliefs, convictions and plans held inside their culture. (Garbarino, 1992) With the rise in the amount of working parents and children partaking in group programs from an early age, preschools have likewise turned into compelling socialisation force. (Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) Young children who live in a multicultural community experience social differences firsthand; it is part of their world. Then again, other children who live in a monocultural group frequently have challenges comprehending and tolerating an environment that is not the same as theirs. Knowing increasingly about the noteworthiness of children’s voyages between home and school and the impacts of these adventures, teachers can help these children unite the universes of home and school and all different worlds that they might experience in theirdaily lives. (Vuckovic, 2008) Pressures from mass media likewise push an impact on children to fit in with a uniform set of necessitites, dialect, method of articulation inshort, a whole way of life. They are exposed to a ‘counter culture’, which declines and demoralizes articulation from expressing their culture of origin. Regularly, this brings about immense pressures for the children, with parents demanding adherence to the old customs, with traditions practised in the home and frequently in activities outside the home. The consequence is that by and large, parents get estranged from their children who are attempting to comprehend and adapt to their transitory sub-culture, yet endeavouring to make a successful modification into another society, which  secretively and frequently unintentionally denies them this right.( Lin & Bates, 2010) Misconceptions in Teachers The most common issue is misconceptions in multiculturalism. Educators are unsure of their own ability to define what their role is in teaching culture. Teachers need the knowledge, skills and positive attitudes to know what to teach and how to teach. (Berthelsen, & Karuppiah, 2011) Teachers need to teach in a way that will meet the needs of all of their students. It may not be easy and may require more attention, time and effort. An issue teachers face is that pre-service teachers are leaving their courses unassuming to educate in today’s diverse classrooms. The dominant parts of them are leaving courses after just having one or two essential modules on educating in a multicultural setting. They are not ready for interacting with different cultures than the shielded ones that a large portion of them live in. (Lin & Bates, 2010) They are not ready for the distinctive needs controlled by today’s multicultural student population. They end up being not as qualified in this area as they should be. One reason for this could be that teachers express that students oppose multicultural education. (Atwater, Freeman, Bulter & Morris, 2010) Why is this the case? Everyone holds his or her beliefs about things. The zone of multicultural instruction is no distinctive. One of the first things that a teacher must do is to analyse herself. She ought to perceive how the conclusions, convictions and viewpoints that she holds influence the curriculum that she is planning to teach. Whether purposeful or not, a teacher’s comtemplations, recognitions, inclinations and sentiments can likely be depicted to her students. (Nichols & Dong, 2011) A â€Å"tourist approch† towards multiculturalism where cultures are only taught through celebrations, food and traditional clothing is a very common sighting in Singapore. (Berthelsen & Karrupiah, 2011) It is both disparaging and trivializing and does not give a genuine comprehension of different societies.(Derman-Sparks, 1989) Teacher need to comprehend their own particular convictions about cultures and differing qualities so as to  execute multicultural education programs viably with young children. Teachers should take the steps important to better themselves as instructors in multicultural settings. This is no feat that can be accomplished overnight. Multicultural Education in Singapore Singapore is a multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-religious society. Our population comprises mainly Chinese, Malays, Indians and others. Multicultural education is not a mainstream issue in Singapore. While the government has been capable to keep up peace and congruity through its political, social and financial strategies and unique days, it does not manage the issue in profundity. As Singaporeans are presently for the most part more mindful of issues and occasions around the world through globalization and the web, it has become progressively critical for Singapore to think about multicultural education in schools. In the meantime as empowering differences through conservation of the social personality of the racial and ethnic aggregations in the nation, the government has likewise attempted to work towards building social union around diverse assemblies, which offered ascent to the trademark ‘unity in diversity’. (Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) For multicultural ed ucation to be viable, it must be taught in the early years of education and strengthened in the later stages. Since children’s attitudes to their and other social assemblies start to structure in the early years, early childhood educators can impact the improvement of uplifting demeanor towards others, as well as consolidating an educational program concentrate on tolerance wand cross-cultural understandings of others. Early childhood educators, however, cannot adopt a â€Å"tourist approach† to multiculturalism which generalizes other societies and transforms the multicultural educational module into a â€Å"tourist curriculum†. ‘Tourist curriculum† which educates about cultures through festivals and antiquities of society, for example, food and traditional clothing, is both disparaging and trivializing and does not give a genuine comprehension of other cultures. Teachers need to understand their own beliefs about culture and diversity in order to implement multicultural education programs effectively with young children. (Berthelsen & Karuupiah, 2011) A survey was done by Berthelsen & Karuppiah(2011) to find out their understandings of multicultural education and their perceptions of its  importance in early childhood education. This was conducted in Singapore among a variety of teachers workingin private and public kindergartens and childcare centers. The participants came from different ethnic groups in Singapore. Perceptions about multiculturalism and children’s learning In this case study, they found that most teachers had restricted comprehension of multiculturalism. They saw multiculturalism as just regarding race and in the connection of Singapore.  About 60% of the participants expressed that multicultural education implied having information of one;s culture and additionally other cultures. They believed that this learning is sufficient and would immediately carry individuals out of diverse societies together. Another 40% showed that children learn prejudices, dispositions, convictions and qualities from the adults around them, parents and teachers. They communicated convictions that schools assume a paramount part in educating children about diverse cultures. Beliefs about teaching for multiculturalism The same group of teachers were asked their beliefs about teaching for multiculturalism. Twenty of them thought directing a multicultural program implied examining distinctive cultures regarding their food, clothing, celebrations, traditions and so forth. This brings it back to the â€Å"tourist approach† that Derman-Sparks(1989) implied when educating about multiculturalism. They did not go past a tourist point of view in advancing an ‘anti-bias’ approach to educating and researching the distinctive cultures. Thirteen others said preschool centers should treat kids of diverse cultures similarly and decently. Sixteen teachers thought individuals might as well put stock in multicultural education and be supportive of it. The greater part of teachers who had constructive encounters in multicultural situations or with multicultural individuals were likewise more agreeable than others without such encounters in examining multicultural issues. A few teachers had reservations about talking over  Ã¢â‚¬Å"delicate† issues, for example race or religion. Professional learning needs about multiculturalism Based on the survey done by Berthelsen & Karuppiah(2011), the teachers comprehended that they needed to understand more about multicultural education. They agreed that teachers needed knowledge, skills and positive attitudes to know what to teach and how to teach. However, the teachers did not explicitly discuss the vitality of individual reflection to comprehend their own particular prejudices, demeanor, convictions and qualities, and how these could influence their educating and learning. There were no critical or elaborated ideas on the challenges and opportunities to implement multicultural education programs. Recommendations James A. Banks, a specialist in multicultural education, has developed the five dimensions of multicultural education. He realised that in his work, numerous teachers considered multicultural education as simply content integration, meaning utilizing samples, information and data from diverse cultures. (Ogltree & larke, 2010) The five dimensions are content integration, knowledge constructions, equity pedagogy, prejudice reduction and empowering school culture and social structure. He desired for teachers to have the skills and knowledge and racial attitudes needed to work with people from diverse groups and to use a wide variety of strategies that cater to a wider range of students. (Banks, 2002) Content Integration Teachers should use several different approaches to integrate content about racial, ethnic and cultural groups into the curriculum. One of the most popular is the Contributions Approach. When this approach is used, teachers insert isolated facts about ethnic and cultural group heroes and heroines into the curriculum without changing the structure of their lesson plans and units. Knowledge Construction It helps students to understand how knowledge is constructed and how it reflects the experiences, values, and perspectives of its creators. In this approach, the structure, assumptions, and perspectives of the curriculum are  changed so that the concepts, events, and issues taught are viewed from the perspectives and experiences of a range of racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. The center of the curriculum no longer focuses on mainstream and dominant groups, but on an event, issue, or concept that is viewed from many different perspectives and points of view. This is done while at the same time helping students to understand the nation’s common heritage and traditions. Teachers should help students to understand that while they live in a diverse nation, all citizens of a nation-state share many cultural traditions, values, and political ideals that cement the nation. Multicultural education seeks to actualize the idea of e pluribus unum, i.e. to create a society that recogn izes and respects the cultures of its diverse peoples united within a framework of democratic values that are shared by all. (Banks, 2002) Prejudice Reduction According to Banks, this dimension is important in creating a â€Å"more positive racial and ethnic attitudes.† Basically, this dimension is the aspect of education where the teacher helps to lessen the amount of prejudice within students. Equity Pedagogy Teachers change their methods to enable kids from diverse racial groups and both genders to achieve. Empowering School Culture and Social Structure James Banks talks about looking not just at individual classrooms, but at the total school culture to see how to make it more equitable and using the other four dimensions to create a safe and healthy educational environment for all. James Banks’ five dimensions support that a child’s racial attitudes can change but education must start early and that early childhood programs are the perfect place to start multicultural education. (Vuckovic, 2008) Teachers As such, how can we make this a better transition for both teachers and the children? Sheets(as cited in Nichols & Dong, 2011) said, â€Å"all teachers can begin and most evolve into culturally competent educators; however, it is  important to become conscious that the ardous journey from novice to expert requires hard work, relentless commitment, and a high investment of time and energy†. Two evident approaches for joining multicultural education with teacher education programs are infusion versus segregation, and culture-specific versus culture-general. (Melnick & Zeichner, 1997) Ladson-Billings (as cited in Berthelsen & Karuppiah,2011), proposed a basic structure for breaking down teacher preparation programs. She argued that, paying little mind to prospective teachers; race, ethnicity or backgrounds; the educational module should include a target on comprehending the way of pre-service teacher relationships and the cultural bases of the educational program, educating and society. The education of teachers should boost self-reflection on values and beliefs about cultural difference and advocate the studying approaches, which allow for teacher inclusion that is dymanic, significant and ethno-linguistically appropriate. The plans of Melnick and Zeichner (1997) and Ladson-Billings (as cited in Berthelsen & Karuppiah, 2011) could be connected to teacher education programs for early childhood education in Singapore. Such programs might investigate how preschool educators characterize and conceptualize multicultural education; fuse investigations of the history of race relationships; and use careful investigations and field encounters to provide teachers with chances to gain greater knowledge, skills and understandings of their own culture as well as of other cultural and language groups in their society. In particular, they should learn how to advance suitable programs for young children that consolidate encounters to permit children to comprehend cultural differences and encourage relationships between children of distinctive cultural backgrounds. Environment There is a need for physical environment where children are well versed to reflect the cultures represented by the children working within it. For example, pictures, books, art, music, activities, cooking and recognition of certain significant days important to each culture can reflect this orientation. (Jacobson, 2003) There is a need to advocate in children, knowledge of the similarities and contrasts in cultures, underscoring the  likeness while encouraging an inspirational demeanor towards and delight in the differences. This could be attained through celebrating various holidays, enjoying reading material, folklore, music, art, games and introducing foods of various cultures. There is a need for a social or racial match between some educating staff and children in schools to be accomplished. This shows how the administration and teachers work together to decrease racial stereotypes and prejudices in the school and increase democratic attitudes, values and behaviours. The support from management is definitely essential. (Banks, 2002) Conclusion Multiculturalism is worthwhile undertaking in early childhood education based on our country’s population. It prepares children for the challenges of the globalized world. To attain the above, early childhood settings need to plan an environment, which puts forth diversity positively through resources, and materials that do not sustain stereotypes. It is also essential that a multicultural education, from pre-school onwards permeates the whole curriculum. It is inadequate to commit a component regularly reputed to be ‘ethnic studies’ to a corner of the syllabus or to a half hour period for every week. Most desirable is that interpersonal relations ought to be passed on by long-term and rational modeling and that knowledge gained ought to be by first-hand experience. Important implications need to be addressed before infusing it into the early childhood curriculum and equal collaboration between children, teachers, parents, administrators, employers and the wider community is essential. (Vuckovic, 2008) References Abdullah, A. C. (2009) Multicultural education in early childhood: Issues and challenges. Journal of International Coopeation in Education, 12(1) Atwater, M., Freeman, T., Butler, M., Morris, J. (2010). A case study of science teacher candidates’ understandings and actions related to the culturally responsive teaching of â€Å"other† students. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education. 5. 287-318. Baldwin. S. C., Buchanan, A. M., & Rudisill, M. e. (2007). What teacher candidates learned about diversity, social justice, and themselves from service-learning experiences. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(4), 315-327. Bennett, C. (2003). Comprehensive multicultural education: Theory and practice. (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn Bacon. Berthelsen, D., & Karuppiah, N. (2011). Multiculturaleducation: The understandings of preschool teachers in Singapore. Australian Journal of Early Childhood Education. 36(4). Derman-Sparks, L. (1989). Anti-bias curriculum: Tools for empowering young children. Washington, D.C: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Garbarino, J. (1992). Children and families in the social environment (2nd ed.). New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of language: The debate on bilingualism. New York: Basic Books. Jacobson, T. (2003). Confronting our discomfort: Clearing the way for anti-bias in early childhood. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Lin, M., & Bates, A. B. (2010). Home visits: How do they affect teachers’ beliefs about teaching and diversity? Early Childhood Education Journal, 38, 179-185. Melnick, S., & Zeichner, K. (1997). Teacher education for cultural diversity. Enhancing the capacity of teacher education for institutions to address diversity issues. In J. King, E. Hollins, & W. Hayman (Eds.), Meeting the challenge of diversity in teacher preparation (pp. 23-39). New York: Teachers College Press. Nichols, M. E., & Dong, E. (2011). Meeting the needs for today’s multicultural classroom: A review of literature. The Journal of Multiculturalism in Education, 7(1). Ogletree, Q., & Larke, P. J. (2010). Implementing multicultural practices in early childhood Education. National Forum of Multicultural Issues Journal, 7(1). Quah, J. S. T. (2000). Government policies and nation-building & searching for Singapore’s national values. Singapore: South East Printing. Riskowski, J. & Olbricht, G. (2010). Student views of diversity: A multicultural mathematics activity. Viewing transformation during the middle school years. Multicultural Education. 2-12. Sheets, R. (2009). What is diversity pedagogy?. Multicultural Education. 11-17. Tarman, I., & Tarman, B. (2011). Developing effective multicultural practices: A case study of exploring a teacher’s understanding and practices. The Journal of International Social Research, 4(17). Verma, G. K. (2003). Ethnic diversity and multicultural education: Cross-cutting issues and concepts. Proceedings of The International Conference on Globalization and Multicultural Perspectives in Education, Penang, Malaysia, 3-4 Dec. 2003. Vuckovic, A. (2008). Making the multicultural learning environment flourish: The importance of the child-teacher relationship in educating young children about diversity. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 33(1).

Divorce (effects of divorce) Essay

Is marriage no more than the result of voluntary agreements between two private individuals? Is the lack of detail concerning marriage arrangements causing all the divorce debates? Does divorce cause problems or solve them? Why is marriage such a religious experience and divorce such a legal experience? Why do marriages take place under the eyes of God while divorces take place under the eyes of the law? I believe that it was because of my parents’ divorce that I have chosen to tackle such a controversial topic. In many ways, I am in search of my own opinion. My parents divorced through the no-fault system. My dad decided it was time to move on to another life I guess. The no-fault divorce is a form of divorce granted without blame being sought or established. Sometimes, I try to think of how my life would have turned out if they were still together. I wonder if life would be any better. However, there are other days when I thank God for putting me through such troubling times; without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. What troubles me with marriage/divorce issues is that one is dealt with while the other lies on the floor. Today, we discuss marriage, and we discuss divorce, but never both at the same time. Should we push premarital counseling, or should we make divorce harder? Why must we discuss one or the other and not both? There are so many questions concerning marriage and divorce, and that is why I’m writing to you. I hope to answer some questions you may have. Though you may not form an opinion about no-fault divorce, you should finish this article with a little satisfaction, knowing that you’ve seen both sides of the issue. There are many people who have spoken out about no-fault divorce and family relationships, but I will focus on two. In â€Å"The Divorce Debate,† Maggie Gallagher, a scholar at the Institute for American Values, tries to answer the question: â€Å"What, if anything, can we do about the fact that at least half of our marriages fail?† In another article, â€Å"The Making of a Divorce Culture,† Barbara Dafoe Whitehead discusses the idea that, â€Å"Divorce has  become an American way of life only as a result of recent and revolutionary change.† I was very turned-off by Gallagher’s article. First, it starts off with what the author thinks should be a shared assumption; the assumption stated that divorce is harmful for children. Not everyone believes that. She goes on by asking, â€Å"What†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦can we do?† Gallagher continues with her article by putting down other states because of their divorce stipulations. She says that they are not working. Yes, she did back that statement up with information from Judith Wallerstein’s book, Second Chance, and statistics from the Journal of Marriage and Family, but they were buried  between the many instances in which she shared the views of her opposition. The way she recognized the reasoning behind the â€Å"speedy spouse disposal† or â€Å"delayed backlash† was a nice touch. Unfortunately, Gallagher was so involved with trying to show the other side of things, she forgot to give the reasoning behind her own ideas. Through the entire article, she used negative words or phrases to express her feelings on divorce; they include: harmful, delayed backlash, speedy spouse removal, eliminating, marital wrongdoing, dissolve a marriage, bitter conflict, unhappy marriages, bleak times, punishments, messy and irrelevant, and torment. However, she never once suggested a solution for the problem of divorce. How can one argue with the ideas of others, if that person has no argument of their own? After reading the article, I was pretty confident that the author had not personally been through a divorce of her own. This alone, caused me to question her. I felt that a more personal article involving some of her own experiences would have been more convincing. I realized that she was writing with a logical approach, but I believe an emotional one would have been better. Divorce is a topic that touches every person in so many different ways. If the article would have reached to the heart, it would have been more persuasive. Though I am unhappy with the way the topic was approached, I am sure that the  essay was not quickly written. Their was a lot of research involved in this article. Gallagher explained how different states came up with different solutions for divorce. She discussed the no-fault divorce and the waiting period before a divorce. Her statistic was a great bonus. Divorce is certainly a great topic for debate as we head into the new millennium. There are many assumptions made about divorce, both shared and unshared. Some people believe that divorce is always a bad thing, no matter what the situation. Others believe it’s a matter of what is best for the children (if there are any). Gallagher challenges the assumption that â€Å"no-fault [will]†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.remake divorce into a kinder, gentler institution. Whitehead’s article was more impressive. In the second paragraph of the article, Whitehead uses a set of statistics to point out how â€Å"divorce [has] moved from the margins to the mainstream of American life in the space of three decades.† However, statistics are not her only form of support. In her fifth paragraph, she starts to explain the new ideas that have come along with the revolution. She begins to explain how people today believe that there is a â€Å"moral obligation to look after oneself.† She elaborates on the statement through several of the following paragraphs. Whitehead discusses â€Å"divorce as the working out of an inner life experience.† In paragraph sixteen, she writes about no-fault divorce. Around paragraph 22, divorce is looked at as a cause for some the economical changes in society. She ends her article with this statement: â€Å"Divorce in America is not unique, but what we have made of divorce is uniquely American.† The essay made several assumptions. One assumption she expanded on was one that discussed how society is becoming more in-tune with the idea of self-gratification. Though not everyone may agree, I do. More and more people are worrying about themselves and what will happen to them in specific situations, rather than worrying about what will happen to everyone involved. One of the more recognizable assumptions made was one discussing how divorce has hurt children. This seems to be an assumption shared by many. Children of broken homes are deeply affected by divorce. The main question I want to pursue is this: â€Å"Is no-fault divorce an easy way out, or is a healthy way of resolving difficult marriages?† In the article â€Å"Abolish No-Fault Divorce?,† Representative Dalman expresses her position when she states, â€Å"Two people take the vows of marriage, but under no-fault divorce laws, only one can dissolve the commitment. It’s easier to end a marriage than it is to break a contract for buying a household appliance. Disposable marriage cheapens the commitment and degrades our vows of fidelity and lifelong love.† Divorce rates across the nation have soared since the implementation of no-fault divorce standards in the early 1970s. (Ager 1) Dalman continues her argument by following with, â€Å"Prevention is the best solution to any problem. While an educational program can’t prevent all divorce, it does lay the groundwork for stronger unions. Families educated about problem-solving skills have a better chance for successful relationships.† Ager has a different view. She says, â€Å"Human relationships are fragile and prone to disease. Not all marriages deserve to be saved, and I’d argue that divorce has redeemed more human spirits than it has doomed.† She then goes on to ask: â€Å"†¦.what about encouraging women to become financially self-sufficient before they become mothers? What about keeping better track of dead-beat dads? What about government-financed day care? What about training husbands and wives to enter divorce, for the sake of their children, not as a war but as a creative project for change?† These are all very good questions that must be considered when forming opinions on the no-fault divorce debate. One section of Ager’s article really caught my eye. It is as follows: â€Å"Even now, in households were divorce is taboo, children grow up learning the ways of love from moms and dads who never embrace, who rarely laugh together, who fail to demonstrate that arguments can end with compromise and forgiveness. These moms and dads become role models for bitterness, resignation or both. This is good for the kids? This teaches them commitment? No wonder commitment gets a bad rap, promising dullness and ache. Can mandated premarital counseling†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.help keep two people happily together until death? Chances are slim†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Premarital counseling can’t  hurt,  but it won’t train couples for marriage’s surprises any more than a flight attendant’s routine safety speech will prepare passengers for terror in the air. You gotta live it to know it.† Not only do individuals have opinions, but each state has come up with some ideas of their own. In â€Å"States Put Minor Speed Bumps In Divorce Path: No-Fault Backlash,† Ann Tyson discusses the decisions of some states. Several states require mandatory parenting classes and plans. In Iowa, for instance, it is required that parents take classes so that they may better understand the practical and emotional impact of divorce on children. In Michigan, it may be required to submit detailed parenting plans that cover issues such as visitation, discipline, and education. (Tyson 1-2) Delaying divorce is another topic discussed in Tyson’s article. Bills in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Idaho have required that marriage counseling and long waiting periods take place before divorce. In some states it is required to take a series of one-hour counseling sessions before divorce, while in other states, a one-year waiting period has been put into effect. (Tyson 2) Maybe the smart choice is strengthening marriage bonds. Tom McMillen, director of the Rocky Mountain Family Council in Denver, Colorado, said, â€Å"Marriage is not just a lifestyle choice, it’s a critical institution that allows our culture to move forward.† Some states such as Minnesota and Michigan agree with McMillen and have instituted premarital counseling, rather than pre-divorce counseling. We have to decide what is more important to our society. Research shows that divorced women suffer a drop in income ranging on average from 30 percent to 70 percent. More than half of all female-headed households with children live in poverty, compared with only 10 percent of all other families with children. Medical experts say that men who divorce are to experience greater health problems and higher rates of suicide than married men. Are these things devastating to our society, or do we need to look at the other side  of things? Without no-fault divorce, many people may become trapped in abusive relationships. There may be an increase in desertion. One spouse may be lead to use bribes or threats to win the consent of the other to end marriage, thus creating the return of blackmail under the old fault-based system. (Tyson 1-3) Maybe the topic isn’t the narrow one we perceive it to be. Maybe the topic evolves more around family itself. Midge Decter does an excellent job of discussing family in her article, â€Å"The Madness of the American Family.† She explains how a family compares with a rock, and not the Garden of Eden. A rock, can be far from a comfortable place to be. â€Å"But,† she says, â€Å"living on a rock keeps you out of the swamps†¦..The most dangerous of these swamps is a place of limitless and willfully defined individual freedom. The land of limitless freedom, as so many among us are now beginning to discover, turns out to be nothing other than the deep muck and mire of Self.† She continues, â€Å"The only escape from the swamp of Self is the instinctual and lifelong engagement in the fate of others.† Decter discusses how being in a family may not make you happy, but it makes you human. She goes on: â€Å"Together, marriage and parenthood are the rock on which human existence stands†¦.[and] No matter how ardently a young man and woman believe they wish to spend their lives with one another, and no matter how enthusiastically they greet the knowledge that they are to have a baby, they do not undertake either of these things in full knowledge of the commitment they are undertaking†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦they do not know that they are embarked upon a long, long, and sometimes arduous and even unpleasant journey.† (Decter 1-19) Marriage, family, and divorce, are three controversial topics that each person must deal with in their lifetime. The great thing about them is that we are each allowed to have our own opinions about them. Maybe you haven’t picked sides, and maybe you haven’t heard enough to make a stand, but hopefully this article has got you thinking. I myself have not yet chosen a position on the topic. No-fault divorce has such a complicated base. Each marital problem causes rise to newfound solutions concerning divorce. Every person comes up with their own opinions. Each state has its laws, its bills,  and its proposals to solve the problems concerning marriage and divorce. The nation finds such problems floating above its head, waiting for someone, or something, to take hold and decrease its power to control the people within it. Nevertheless, Dector reminds us not to get frustrated about such topics when she says, â€Å"All this should be a very simple matter; God knows, it’s been going on long enough. So why have we fallen into such a state of confusion?†

The Tempest and Solibo Magnificent Comparative Literature Essay

The Tempest and Solibo Magnificent Comparative Literature - Essay Example To this plan, Stephano accedes with utmost pleasantness. â€Å"Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen--save our graces!—and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys† (Stephano cited in Shakespeare). Stephano particularly approves of the presence of noise making spirits on the island for they would play music for him when he would become the king. The characters discussed above see that island as a place where they would be free to exercise any rights they would want to. Despite the fact that colonial impulse is represented by numerous characters in the play, there is just one representative of the truly colonized, i.e. Caliban. Caliban offers Stephano to kill Prospero in order to gain control and power, yet for him, it means nothing more than the change of a ruler! Every one makes plans but no one succeeds. â€Å"I am afraid our eyes are bigger than our bellies, and that we have more curiosity than capacity; for we grasp at all, but catc h nothing but wind† (Montaigne 1). On the other hand, in Solibo Magnificent, colonial impulse is represented by the police who exercise a series of undue abuse on the suspects of Solibo’s fatal collapse, and there is no one to keep a check on their investigation. Colonialism may not necessarily be exercised over state, it can also be exercised over people, like it is done in the case of Solibo Magnificent. The excessive colonialism of police can be estimated from the fact that they beat Doudou Menar to death, who had been considerate enough to be the first to make the police aware of Solibo’s assassination. â€Å"They manhandle Congo without pity. Jambette and Diab-Anba-Feuilles twist his arms behind his back, slam him onto a chair, face under a lamp's incandescence† (Chamoiseau 139) The difference between the colonialism discussed in The Tempest and that in Solibo Magnificent is that the former offers rule over land while the latter offers rule over publi c. Slavery: In The Tempst, Ariel plays the role of a slave to Prospero. He has been slave to Prospero ever since he was rescued by him after he was caged in a tree by Sycorax. Throughout the play, Prospero uses Ariel to play the magic tricks on various characters that form part of the story. It is the Ariel who originally sets storm in the sea so that all of the people in it find their way to the island. Ariel is not let free until the end of the story when Prospero plans to leave with his siblings. Even then, Prospero instructs Ariel to look after the seas and make sure that the waters stay calm. Slavery has been a common element both in The Tempest and Solibo Magnificent, though the latter has mixed slavery with racism unlike the former. â€Å"Their African Purity had seemed a defect in the middle of our mixed population, and one said â€Å"Congo† with as much disdain as â€Å"Negro†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Chamoiseau 142). Also, slave in The Tempest enjoys all privileges wi thin the limits imposed by his master unlike Solibo Magnificent, in which slavery is associated with Africans or African Americans as is done in the most traditional settings. People who look like Africans are commonly stereotyped as slaves in the literature. â€Å"In this society education and money and cultured Frenchness matter, but Negro blood is like an ineradicable commonness, a mark of slave ancestry†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Naipaul 205). Language: There is a great difference of the language in which The

Key Characteristics That Define a Leader and How Leadership Can Essay - 1

Key Characteristics That Define a Leader and How Leadership Can Motivate Employees - Essay Example The paper tells that presence of motivating and inspiring leaders elicits responses from followers that work to the advantage of every stakeholder involved. Gandhi, Abraham Lincon, and Napolean are examples of great leadership that led their nations forward. There is, however, considerable debate as to what constitutes inspiring and motivating leadership. The usual suspects are personality traits, which are further subdivided into five traits, nurturing, and training, environment and heredity. Some of the key ingredients necessary for leadership in the new age are the vision and the ability to handle new situations and adapt aptly. Furthermore, the presence of charisma and a good feel elicits positive responses necessary to bring about change. While one may have the personality traits, he must also understand what motivates employees and subjects and how their motivation can be aligned with the goals of the organization. The ability to empathize with the employees is one of the key f actors that determine the quality and success of leaders. While we shall discuss what motivates employees in detail, a key motivating factor is the kind of work they are doing. This is where the leadership’s role to identify what is best for each individual employee comes into play. Leadership is different to management and the differentiating factor is the role of charisma. Leadership and management are two completely different phenomena and most individuals do not exceed at both simultaneously. Organizations today need to breed leadership rather than waiting for a leader to come along. It is also important that while nurturing leadership, management skills and tactics are kept intact. The importance of vision and a clear sense of direction into the long-term goals of the organization cannot be underplayed at any stage. This is what differentiates the functional leaders from the visionary leaders.

Team Performance Measurement in the Health Care Services Essay

Team Performance Measurement in the Health Care Services - Essay Example These periodic performance assessments are deemed important in every line of work, even more so in jobs that deal with life and death situations, as methods of bringing care to the sick and injured can be improved by taking the outcomes of previous performance assessments into consideration (Sundar, Sundar, Pawlowski, Blum, Feinstein, & Pratt, 2007). By creating clear and realistic goals based on the attainability of meeting or exceeding previous goals, patients and members of the community can get an assurance that the services being given by health care personnel in health facilities can either remain as satisfactory as before or become even better. Thus, it is important that there is a proper monitoring of the performance of teams and their members to maintain quality services to all stakeholders. However, while monitoring of performance measures and keeping track of goals sounds fairly simple, doing the actual thing can be daunting and even labor-intensive. It can be expected that some problems and challenges could arise during the evaluation itself, such as questioning the reliability of performance measures as well as the accuracy of goals which depend on quantitative characteristics and could bring challenges in the appropriate assessment of a team’s performance (Zeiss, 2002). Self-monitoring for each member normally does not pose a problem, even among team members that have other ancillary functions apart from their specific job functions, but when it comes to feedback from other members of the team, interpersonal problems between the evaluated party and the evaluating party could affect the outcomes of total scoring such as supervisory and peer evaluations, which could lead to resentments with each other if not addressed promptly (Reader, Flin, Mearns, & Cuthberts on, 2009; Shi, 2010).

Motivational theory in Management and Administration Essay

Motivational theory in Management and Administration - Essay Example Maslow tries to emphasize that administrate theories are there to fulfill the needs of society. This in essence has been monumental because it fits Maslow’s hierarchal needs. For instance, serving the needs of the citizens that demand a better job manifests itself in Public Administration. When citizens see an incentive in public administration, they are likely to buy in the whole policy process. When basic needs are met as Maslow describes it, people are going to become interested.Douglas McGregor proposed two motivational theories by which managers perceive employees and their motivation. Each theory assumes that management's role is to effectively organize resources. Theory X states to control the lazy and unmotivated individuals while Theory Y is to reward hard working motivation individuals within an organization. Although many organizations find it useful to consider the two extremes of the spectrum that McGregor identified, many also accept that there is also a group of individuals that lie in between.Motivational theory is compatible with government efficiency because of various reasons. First and foremost is the fact that people are highly going to be motivated if they see their needs are being met and the government will continue to invest in them. This is crucial in public policies such as Cash for Clunkers or FAFSA programs. In order to ensure that the public buys into this programs, their needs must be met. Public policy also must be aggressive in facilitating individuals.

The Eye Above the Well Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Eye Above the Well - Movie Review Example His ability to enjoy the beauty and creation bestowed by the Almighty, amidst misery labels him a paradoxical happy-go-lucky, go-getter fatalist! The documentary film is a figurative description of the Third World countries. The film is set in the Indian state of Kerala and the story essentially brings to the forefront, the trauma and horrifying experiences that the Third Worlds countries have been undergoing. The man suspended from the tree, above a well is the representative of these countries and the well represents the profound misery they have been subject to. However, what is refreshingly different is the man's attempt to reach out and taste the drop of honey on a blade of grass. This is symbolic of the attempt of the Third World and the citizens of these countries, who, amidst poverty, hunger, illiteracy, disease and ignorance try to attain the innocent bliss of living each day and of enjoying God's creation, nature, beauty and the very meaning of life. They search and find happiness in the little things that their lives offer, without fretting. The film also brings to light the cultural richness and heritage of one such country-India.

Sony strategic management and leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Sony strategic management and leadership - Essay Example According to Sony’s C.E.O, the company’s mission is to challenge the designers, producers and engineers in order to improve their software and hardware and eventually advance its differentiation process towards its competition (Badawy, 2009). Sony has renowned heritage of creativeness and innovativeness. Sony boasts of having products in the electronic, games, entertainment, and still participate in the provision of financial service sectors (Flugge, 2008). In this regard, this essay will delve on a critical analysis of Sony’s strategic management and leadership. More so, it will analyze Sony’s marketing advantage with supportive evidence. (1) - Sony corporation success Traditionally, Sony was known as a great innovator that managed to transform the entire categories of electronics with unique products like the PlayStation game console and Walkman music player. More so, Sony was in a position to command premium prices for its top-quality products (Gao, Men g, Steve, 2008). Therefore, Sony did not only the electronic industry but it also changed the world because Sony brought about smaller portable devices to the market, which is contrary to the old electronic devices that were bulky and inefficient. Sony has tremendously grown in market share and profitability (Ajami, 2006). Numerous evidence portrays this growth, for instance in the year 2006, Sony topped a Harris poll as the best brand which was the seventh time consecutively, while dell and coca- cola took the second and third positions. In 2004, Forbes ranked Sony as the 72nd largest company in the world. Recently, in January 2013, Sony scooped the So-net Entertainment Corporation award. According to Interbrand Top 100 Global Brand 2011, Sony emerged position thirty-six among other a hundred brands (Anonymous 2012). Prior to successful market share, Sony boasts of diverse and effective employees who in the year 2011 they were ranging at 168,200. On February 25, 2013, Sony sold a 6 .0% stake of a 55.8%-owned subsidiary (Minato-Ku, 2013). Factors that have contributed to Sony’s success Sony’s main contributor to its success is its unique variety of brands that match up the latest modern world. The company manufactures television screens and projector, cameras, home theatre systems, computer hardware, mobile phones, and car entertainment devices (Plunkett, 2008). Additionally, Sony manufactures home recording devices, storage media, and charging devices (Nargundkar, 2006). Ideally, Sony has further divided some of its products into other sub categories especially for the television products. This has made the company able to service its market through the innovation of tailor made products that suit their various clients. These customers include households, offices, and public gatherings. Hence, Sony’s success comes from due to the ability of the company to produce products that are able to meet the needs of their customers without financial constraints as their quality dictates the price (Ferrell & Hartline, 2011). Moreover, Sony also uses strategic marketing skills to the improvement in sales capacity. These marketing strategies include market mix, online marketing among many others. Ideally, Sony has managed to use its favorable public rapport to maintain significant relations with its employees, consumers and other relevant stakeholders (Shajahan, 2004). The use of its

R v Hayter [2005] Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

R v Hayter [2005] - Essay Example When another co – accused is implicated in a confession, then that person has no opportunity to challenge it. Moreover, the maker may have an ulterior motive in implicating that person (McGourlay, 2006, p. 133). In this case, Hayter’s appeal failed, as the House of Lords ruled that the jury was empowered to decide the guilt of Ryan on the basis of his out of court statement, and thereafter to use this finding of guilt as evidence against Hayter. It was opined by their Lordships that there was no justification for not using the guilt of Ryan as a fact evidentially against Hayter (Taylor, 2012, p. 120). In R v Hayter, the first defendant, approached the second defendant Hayter, in order to get her husband killed. The second defendant Hayter, thereupon, hired the third defendant Ryan, to execute her husband (House of Lords, Session 2004 – 2005, 2005). All the defendants were convicted of murder by the jury. In his appeal, Hayter contended that the judge had erred in law by directing the jury that if they convicted Ryan of murder, then they could employ their finding that Ryan was the murderer, as evidence in the case against Hayter. The latter also relied on the ground that the judge had erred in law by not withdrawing the case from the jury, when the Crown’s case was closed (Regina v Hayter, 2005). The court ruled that in a joint trial involving defendants for a joint offence, the jury could use their findings of one of the defendants’ guilt, which was entirely founded on that defendant’s out of court statement, as a fact with regard to another defendant in that case. However, the jury had to be sufficiently certain regarding the veracity of such evidence. While admitting such evidence, the main consideration is whether it is relevant in the sense that it either disproves or establishes a fact in issue. It will also have to be ascertained whether such evidence has a probative

Natives and the Justice System Essay Example for Free

Natives and the Justice System Essay The Angus viewed the relationship between Aboriginal people and the Europeans in various ways. The Europeans in the particular context appeared to be superior since they had instigated many activities during the fur trade. An interaction between the particular cultures existed. It saw the union of marriage arise between a young girl of Ojibwa origin and a certain Scottish fur trader. She resided on the shores of the Georgian Bay. The union derived various benefits to her community but the marriage life of Ikwe was marked with isolation and destitution. The Scottish people did not approve the union. Various values and customs often contradicted and drove the relationship that existed between the Scottish trader and Ikwe. The Europeans had at that time embraced and adopted oppression with slavery and forced trade being the mode of operation. The marriage was not perceived well since there was no unity at that time between the European settlers and the Africans. Any collaboration between the Aboriginal people and the European settlers was viewed negatively by the indigenous people who resided in that particular community. The white settlers and traders ruled the lands at that time and treaties were a rare occurrence. Marriage between a trader and an aboriginal girl had various perceptions and it was evident that no form of collaboration would exist between the two families there by dismantling the very basic principles of marriage and family. From Angus perspective, various elements stayed hidden between the Aboriginal people’s relationship with the Europeans. The tension that existed between the people superseded the benefits that the community derived from the Europeans. The local traditions feared for the life of Ikwe since she would adopt new ways and forget the customs within which she was bread. Angus did not view Aboriginal people to be equal to the Europeans. According to him the Europeans were more superior. In the movie, the aboriginals were offered less attention by the government compared to the Europeans. The Europeans were given priority in the public offices1. The others were perceived and treated as inferior and irrelevant. The aboriginals had low paying jobs and others were enslaved by the Europeans. This explains why the Europeans opposed the marriage between Ikwe and the trader. Ikwe was an aboriginal and they were regarded as inferior and less intelligent compared to the Europeans. The aboriginals were seen as workers and employees of the Europeans and they criticized the marriage especially the Scottish trader for stooping too low to marry an aboriginal. This clearly depicts that the European society was considered to be superior and more appreciated compared to the other people. In the film, the aboriginals were alienated and separated from the Europeans. They had separate residential areas where the Europeans leaved under better and conducive areas compared to the aboriginals. The aboriginals have restricted movement and they mainly staid in shanties where the living conditions were very poor and high level of poverty and insecurity. In the places of work, the Europeans were considered for the bigger positions and responsibilities. Only Europeans took the leadership positions and the aboriginals were treated as minorities whose rights were ever infringed. In the video, Angus views the aboriginal people as inferior to the Europeans. They are alienated and treated as minorities with no rights. The Europeans considered themselves superior and more intelligent1 References   Milward, David. Aboriginal Justice and the Charter: Realizing a Culturally Sensitive Interpretation of Legal Rights. UBC Press, 2012. Ikwe. Directed by Norma Bailey. 1986. Source document

Reasons For Dominance Of One Party Rule Politics Essay

Reasons For Dominance Of One Party Rule Politics Essay Various authors and political analysts have criticized the one-party-system in Africa and its impact on democracy and development of the dark continent. There have been debates over the past as to whether single-state party system is the way to go for Africa, with civil societies, international organizations and local African scholars deeming the practice as barbaric, undemocratic and a system that will destroy Africa. There are several reasons why the one-party rule tendency was dominant among African countries. Consolidation among ethnicities Many African countries have experienced serious threats to their national cohesion, post-independence and ethnic clashes caused by internal disputes regarding imperative resources like land, minerals, water and power. After gaining independence, most African countries transpired into the single-party system, argued as the ideal way to bring the people together before engaging in power struggles brought about by multi-partism. Aknirade.S (2000) claims that the one-party system ensured stability within a democracy.She asserts that multi-partism and democratization is accompanied by struggle for power and division in the people among political partys lines. The jostle for the limited power will cause upheaval in the national cohesion. A single-party system ensures consolidation in the political arena and ensures that conflicts and chaos which could lead to war and mass destruction are avoided. She argues that former Tanzanian President Nyereres move to adopt single-party system was a mo ve, meant to solve the tension existing between tribes as a result of social divisions, but misinterpreted as a move out of ignorance. She further adds that the African states were observing and following suit of the European systems of governance, where legitimacy of the state was ensured before allowing competitive parties to play part. Elite fragmentation in the governance is according to her, a major cause of disruption among African states. Wars, chaos and violence A single-state system appeals unity, strength and brings about communalism and multi-party systems will bring about division among ethnic groups and economic disintegration of certain areas in a country according to many African leaders Another argument why the single-party system is suitable for the African people is the disputes brought about by elections. As trivial as it may seem, African economies have been marred with problems arising from poll violence. This is an outcome related to multi-partism where political leaders break the rules of the game to ensure a win driven by self-aggrandizement, and greed for power. It has been reported in very few cases where political leaders accept defeat during election and inciting their supporters to act. Hameso.S (2002) critiques the attitude among African leaders claiming that when changes seem eminent, political protagonists refuse to accept the outcome as fair. A recent case involved Kenya during the 2007-2008 elections, where alleged rigging caused tribes to kill other tribes. The post election violence was caused simply because the politics were tribal based. Two major tribes had their candidates as the major runners, and when one was defeated, the losing contender cried foul sparking up ethnic wars among different tribes in the country. The result was the death of thousands the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people (BBC April 13, 2008). These Kenyans claimed to kill in the name of democracy, the same democracy brought about by multi-partism.The situation was ironically solved by the power-sharing agreement between the two main candidates, insinuating a thirst for power among the leaders, a case also observed in Zimbabwe,2008(Peta.B February 4,2009). The political problem in this case is deeply rooted in the minds of Kenyans, which runs deep along tribal lines, and how to change the perception of the people is still a hard task, and its indeed a sad case. This is blamed on the exemption of some tribes in the nation building so competitive politics is definitely ethnic based. Another unfortunate incident brought about by the struggle for power in multi-party states was the arrests and unrests in Senegal in 1988, where riots and chaos erupted after Abdou Diof was re-elected as President (Brooke.J March 6, 1988).Some people argue that the only way such problems can be avoided is by reverting to the good old system of single-party rule. Illiteracy and ignorance among Africans Otite.J (September 2009) states that there exists a positive correlation between education and peace. In a continent where the literacy and comprehension level is high, then democracy is exercised better and the people know the need to decentralize power in the government and advocate peacefully for that move. When a large population of a country is illiterate, the people are unaware of what rights are entitled to them and are taken advantage of, by the corrupt and selfish leaders who can destroy the country beyond repair. The case was so during the single-party ruling system and Africans did not know about the good governance of a country and believed what their leaders conveyed to them. Democracy according to some leaders is an alien concept, derived from the West, and that illiteracy and a miniscule middle class will make it impossible in Africa .The context of that statement is true to some extent. Africa has the highest percentage of illiteracy in the world and percentage was higher in the post-colonialism days African intellectuals however dismiss the above comment of illiteracy by saying such skepticism, is a major cause of the downfall and through empowerment and knowledge, the situation can be changed. A Guinean journalist, Siradiou Diallo disagrees and is quoted to say that These are only politicians formulas and slogans designed to abuse and dupe public opinion. The question as to whether Africans can overcome this illiteracy and take control of their own destiny is doubted when the development is slow-paced and the educational, political and economic situation is terrible compared to the other continents. (Brooke .J March 6, 1988) The lack of democratic thinking ways in Africans has encouraged manipulation and exploitation by these leaders who managed to convince the people that single-party rule was the ideal system of rule. Fragile media and a deceptive civil society The medias role in promoting democracy and transparency in issues governing a country is indisputably important in every society. The press has a right and the freedom to articulately inform the public about the happenings, regarding national issues and also inform the public about their democratic rights. They have the power to reveal atrocities and misuse of power being conducted by any government body regardless of status and position. Basically the medias role is to inform, educate and empower the people. Through the media, people are well-versed on certain happenings and can call for action to change the situation. These media privileges definitely clash, with any government that has a single-party system because democracy is limited to some extent. In those post-colonial times, the existing media was inactive and in some countries non-existent. The existing media houses were government owned and controlled and any information that portrayed the government in any negative way was discarded. Harsh legal laws were in place to deal with the perpetrators and discourage any form of unauthorized reporting. Sadly in the present day, some media houses are still controlled by the government. The media according to Hameso.S (2002) had to operate under strict controls placed by the single-party states. The media was also monopolized with one broadcast house available in most countries e.g. in Kenya, Voice of Kenya was a government owned and controlled broadcasting house. The adversial relationship between the media and the government can be traced back to the dictatorship rules after colonialism, where media was stifled and media people tortured and jailed for oppressing the government. The information had to be approved by the government, before being conveyed to the people, undermining the basic function of media i.e. democratizing communication. Therefore the African people lacked a channel through which they could air their grievances and the acts of government were kept secret and out of the open. Another significant contributor to the system was the illusive civil society. It is common to find lobby groups in any country fighting for human rights and good governance. Civil societies did exist back then but their impact was not felt like the medias. Hameso.S (2002) argues that civil societies are perceived to be the groups distinct from the state yet they interact with the state and influence the state. He views association as the thin line between being independent and involved with the state. The civil societies are supposed to fight for the rights of the common good, yet during despotic rules, most civil societies were accused of being absorbed into the selfish needs of the government. The descent and composition of these groups was first of all ambivalent, with the question on, who represented these groups, being raised. These civil societies dealt with complex issues regarding governance and with most of Africas population being illiterate, eyebrows were raised on whether the societies actually represented the issues of the common good or if their interests were based on the elite few, or if they were being driven by the one-party governments (Hameso.S,2002). These civil societies and media are supposed to act as watchdogs to the government and play a significant role in bringing about democracy. The lack of power and manipulation by the governments of these groups during post-colonial times provided the opportunity for the communist leaders to establish the single-party states without external pressure. The value dilemma According to Hameso.S (2002) the single-party system was further fueled by the notion that conformance of the western values and systems including the multi-party system was unorthodox and objectionable. Adoption of the system would lead to weakening of community ties and bring about confusion of interests among Africans. Africans believed that the adoption of the multi-party system would show that they did not believe in their own values, beliefs and opinions and instead chose to blindly follow the traditions of the West, who had earlier on robbed them of their national pride during colonial times and oppressed them for decades. It was feared that the imposition of Western-Style ruling, anomalies would occur including conflicts. The consequences are further proved after the adoption of multi-partism, where leaders call for a return to the single-party states, wherever violence occurs, and blaming multipartism as the focal cause for power struggles. Poor governance When the colonialists left, African states were left in weak conditions, with the power to rule left in the hands of a few who had learnt from the colonialists. Even these few individuals did not have the proper tools and skills to govern a nation and lacked knowledge on how to institutionalize and consolidate the pre-existing national institutions. The leaders did not have an idea on how to allow fragmentation of other independent parties and maintain the political balance and economic stability as well. This responsibility was hard since the people expected change .The governments were not properly institutionalized with the African leaders constantly seeking help from other Western countries in terms of aid, economic and political advice.Stambuli.K.P (2002) described this as a post-colonial African design of government who used democracy as an excuse to employ the same divide and rule policy that the colonial powers used. They tightened their grip around power and filled the Afric an people with false hope and mediocre ideologies of transforming the countries. The leaders postured themselves as powerhouses, with no opposition or an enlightened nation to oppose them, ensuring their tyrannical rules subsisted for decades. Power transition. The challenges involved in transitioning a single-party state to a multi-party one, encourage the people to maintain the existing conditions. The frail economics and fear of uprisings is also another validation to the previous dominance of these systems of governance. Transfer of power in many states brought about violence and this discouraged the people to challenge the ruling parties fearing the situation would get worse and could paralyze development completely. According to Aringo.P.O (October, 2004) says the transition in some countries e.g. Kenya was faced with oppression with the opposition parties being treated as enemies. It is a common trend where the opposition party members are arrested and implicated with crimes they didnt even commit as a way of silencing them. Cases of alleged murders of key front members of opposition members were not unheard of, and people were not willing to risk their lives in the name of democracy.Assasinations and ethnic genocides were crimes com mitted just to stifle the other side. Leaders disregarded the opposition parties in broad daylight, for example in Kenya, President Kenyatta referred to the opposition party members as snakes. Why the single party system failed It is obvious that a revolution has taken place over the past half-century with only Eritrea existing as a single-state party. The political metamorphosis has led to the existence of opposition parties in many countries, and some have even taken over, the preceding single-state parties. Neuberger.B (n.d) argues that the system is not the solution for African countries because a partys long term stay in power does not necessarily amount to success. He claims that parties in some African countries have been in power for decades yet their portfolios have no significant improvement, to prove their long stay and service to the people. He claims that cruel, selfish minded regimes have survived for decades and in some cases some regimes keen on change and reforms have been overthrown within a short time of their ruling, hinting the fact that maybe people are susceptible to change and do not want to change the status-quo, in fear of worse future repercussions .He suggests three criteria that can be used to determine if one-party states are necessary in the African continent;stability,economic development and nation-building, with regard to factors of democracy and human rights. Neuberger.B (n.d) seeks to establish if the existence of a single-party state affects the performance of the nation, by challenging the people to use the three criteria to rate their countrys development, and hints that very few countries could meet the requirements of the named criteria. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth is a great strong critic of the single-party state, claims that the former governing system is the root cause of all troubles facing the continent. He attributes all the developmental problems being faced as consequences of the rulings in the post-independence era, characterized by single-party systems. He is quoted to say that Nothing has done more to destroy Africa ,than one party rule and military dictatorship(Ghana News Agency November 10,2007).He claims the military coups brought about by the single party governments, not only caused the democratic destruction of the African people but caused economic downfalls in the then sensitive growing economy. He further claims that single-state parties curtailed the efforts of productivity and development that enabled a golden age of sycophancy, and resulted in a one-man rule and bred mediocrity (GNA November 10, 2007) He says that the prime cause of all these problems was as a result of these systems that brought about corruption, oppression and ethnicity tension between tribes and nations, leading to wars. He further adds that these financial problems led to the dependency of foreign aid, like a drug, and brought about massive economical problems that will take years to solve, claiming that the greatest regret is not that the problem was brought about by non-Africans, but was self-imposed. The downfall of the single-party system can be attributed to certain things. Gentili.M.A (2005) presented a report at a global forum in Seoul and claimed that one of the contributing factors to the failure of the single-party system was the economic liberalisation of the 80s.The governments had failed to deliver what they had promised and the common people felt betrayed, leading to political democratization. The people felt that through competitive politics and opposing parties, the government would feel pressured to perform. By the end of the 80s structural adjustment in the economies was prevalent, and the interference and control of the single-party government was noted as a root cause of the economic challenges being faced. This was a crucial field and Africans felt the need to protect their own futures by developing their countries through economic stabilization and privatisation.This could only be done through abolishing the system and so began the democratization process. This progression was characterized by establishment of new-fangled norms and poli cies, institution building and good governance. The existence of multi-partism was the first step towards achieving these developmental goals, through free and fair elections and promotion of the media and civil societies as watchdogs. Another reason leading to the failure of the one-party rule was the failure of political and socio-economic development ,and a good example is Ghana which was the first African country to gain independence in 1957.Mariam.A (January 25, 2010)verifies that President Kwame Nkrumah established a one-party system rule adopting socialist ideologies. Within a year of his rule, he had already transformed himself into a power-hungry despot, by establishing a fiery rule where his actions were unopposed, conferring to himself all the powers, whether constitutional or judicial. He opposed any criticism and laid down callous labour laws, by declaring strikes illegal. He was known for making unlawful arrests for any one suspected of sedition and his irrational economic plans of the state. Ghana was at the time a large exporter of cocoa and was the most successful countries in Africa, but due to Nkrumahs power misuse, Ghanas economy failed miserably making it one of the poorest countries in the con tinent. The downhill performance of the economy prompted the coup de tat which saw him being overthrown. Countries such as Tanzania also abolished the one-party system after the repercussions impacted their economy. The Ujamaa system of collectivized farming also led to a plunge in the agriculture production in Tanzania. He also claims that the one-party system has failed miserably in increasing national unity and preventing clashes as civil wars, genocides and corruption are rampant since pre-colonial times.Mariam.A (January 25, 2010) further claims that these dictatorships are the root cause of African problems of famine, corruption, economic under-development, political unrest and over-dependence on foreign aid. He claims that the social, political and economic ills facing Africa will be solved if the people are wise enough to realize the games posed by these political leaders. He claims that the leaders re-brand themselves by joining new parties but still have the same selfish intentions. Africans must be empowered to in an open, and informed multiparty process. He claims that the argument of Africa not being tailored to handle the Western system of multi-partism as layered sophistry and paralogism of African leaders who are obviously power-hungry. Pan-Africanism and pressure from the international bodies led to the dissolution of these systems. These leaders practically, destroyed the economic status of their countries and in sought help from the international bodies such as IMF, World Bank and other organizations. Democracy was a pre-requisite to the granting of these aids to most countries, and to salvage the situation, many leaders complied with this demand. Though many economies resisted at first, the situation became worse when the aid reductions were implemented, placing these leaders in a dilemma. The donors advocated for privatization which could be better managed through a multi-party system. Stambuli.K.P (2002) in his paper claims that these auspices influenced African states to end the restrictive trade laws and motioned the process of privatization, which ultimately led to the abolishing of the one-party system. Conclusion It is clearly evident that the invasion of multi-partism has not compelled the changes that the people expected. The single party system way of operation is still being observed in many countries up to the present day. The conversion of the party systems in Africa over the years has verified beyond a shadow of doubt, that the reasons why African countries are still to revive themselves is not because of the previous non-existence of opposition parties, but within the leaders themselves. In a continent where the leaders openly commit iniquities against people and declare themselves unsurmountable, getting rid of these leaders will be the first step towards practicing democracy. The African people should be empowered and education spread to all corners of the struggling continent and help eradicate this virus of incompetent leaders that has been eating into the core of the continents own existence.

Portugal :: essays research papers

The republic of Portugal is located in the southwestern part of Europe, situated in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, bordered by Spain on the north and east and by the Atlantic Ocean on the south and west. The Azores and Madeira Islands in the Atlantic are independent regions of Portugal, considered integral parts of the republic. Portugal administers one overseas territory, Macau (Macao) in eastern Asia near Hong Kong. Macau is scheduled to return to Chinese administration in 1999. The total area of metropolitan Portugal, including the Azores (2247 sq. km./868 sq. mi.) and the Madeira Islands (794 sq. km./307 sq. mi.), is 92,345 sq. km. (35,655 sq.mi.). The capital and the largest city is Lisbon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Climate varies in Portugal according to the altitude in which you are located. Low temperatures occur only in the comparatively low regions of the south. The mean annual temperature north of the Douro River is about 10 C (about 50 F). Between Tajo and Douro the temperature is about 16 C (about 60 F). The temperatures in the valley of the Guadiana are at about 18 C (about 65 F). Rainfall is very heavy, especially in the north.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Minerals are the most valuable natural resources in Portugal. Much of these resources were developed until after World War 2 (1939-1945). Some of the mineral resources are coal, copper, gold, iron ore, kaolin, tin, and wolframite, which is Acosta 2 source of tungsten. The most sufficient trees are the evergreen oak, cork, poplar, and olive. Portugal is also a home of many kinds of wild animals. some of these wild animals include the wolf, lynx, wildcat, fox, wild boar, wild goat, deer, and hare. Portugal also has big waterpower resources in its rivers and mountain streams.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Portuguese are a combination of several ethnic elements, principally Iberians, Romans, Visigoths, and later Moors. The people still live for the most part, in rural villages. The population of Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira Islands, is 9,931,045. The overall population density is 108 people per sq. km. (280 per sq. mi.). Mainland Portugal is divided into 18 districts for administrative causes: Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragnca, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Porto, Portalegre, Santarà ©m, Setà ºbal, Viana do Castelo, Villa Real, and Viseu. The Azores and the Madeira Islands each constitute an autonomous region.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Roman Catholicism is the faith of more than 94 percent of the Portuguese people. The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and some Protestant churches have been established. The official language of the country is Portuguese.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Portuguese culture is closely related to the Spanish culture and has been influenced by the three primary cultures from which

How committed is Canada, with respect to environmental security in the

In Canada, concerns involving environmental security are not the top priority. But due to recent research, Canada must be more strongly committed to environmental security due to increasing environmental problems internationally. There are many ways Canada can stay committed to environmental security, for example, increased funding to Canada’s Department of National Defence’s Environment Department. Also to stay committed to increased access and support to Voluntary Environmental Programs across Canada. Finally to completely stay up to world standards in environmental security, Canada must implement an effective environmental planning system. Throughout the essay, the topic at hand will be if Canada is able to implement these actions to make the nation more environmentally stable and explain that environmental security should be a main means of concern in Canada. Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) created the Environment Department on 1983. What motivated the DND to do so was that there was an outrageous amount of environmental issues emerging in 1983 within Canada. The Environment Department started with energy conservation, then forestry and vegetation concerns, and on to storage tanks and sewage treatment facilities. Over time, the department realized that one of their main concerns was sites contaminated by prior military practices, such as disposal of chemicals or ammunition. There is a policy in place for site closures and to ensure that the pollution of these sites is diminished. The policy is the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and it governs issues such as the acquisition of a new base or the closure of a facility. Many sites have been found across Canada and are under control but sadly the Environment ... ...meet all eight steps in the environmental planning system. Therefore once these eight pieces of criteria are met, Canada will be strongly committed to environmental security. In conclusion, the steps needed to make Canada more committed to environmental security are in place. It is up to the Canadian government and also the Canadian population to realize what is available and help our nation when it comes to environmental security. Whether it be increased funding to the DND’s Environment Department or increased accessibility and support to Canadian VEPs. And most importantly, meeting the eight steps of the environmental planning system. The information and resources are all there for Canada, the federal, provincial and local governments must now use these resources to improve the environmental security across the true north strong and free, the land we call home.

Copious Imagery within the Tragedy Othello :: Othello essays

Copious Imagery within the Tragedy Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚   In the Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello there resides imagery of all types, sizes and shapes. Let us look at the playwright’s offering in this area.    In the essay â€Å"Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello† Robert B. Heilman discusses the significance of imagery within this play:    Reiterative language is particularly prone to acquire a continuity of its own and to become â€Å"an independent part of the plot† whose effect we can attempt to gauge. It may create â€Å"mood† or â€Å"atmosphere†: the pervasiveness of images of injury, pain, and torture in Othello has a very strong impact that is not wholly determined by who uses the images. But most of all the â€Å"system of imagery† introduces thoughts, ideas, themes – elements of the meaning that is the author’s final organization of all his materials. (333)    The vulgar imagery of Othello’s ancient dominates the opening of the play. Francis Ferguson in â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other† describes the types of imagery used by the antagonist when he â€Å"slips his mask aside† while awakening Brabantio:    Iago is letting loose the wicked passion inside him, as he does from time to time throughout the play, when he slips his mask aside. At such moments he always resorts to this imagery of money-bags, treachery, and animal lust and violence. So he expresses his own faithless, envious spirit, and, by the same token, his vision of the populous city of Venice – Iago’s â€Å"world,† as it has been called. . . .(132)    Standing outside the senator’s home late at night, Iago uses imagery within a lie to arouse the occupant: â€Å" Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves! / Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!† When the senator appears at the window, the ancient continues with coarse imagery of animal lust: â€Å"Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is topping your white ewe,† and â€Å"you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans.†    After Brabantio and his search party have reached the Moor, he quiets their passions with imagery from nature: â€Å"Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.† The senator, thinking that his daughter has been â€Å"enchanted† by the Moor, employs related imagery in his confrontation with the general: â€Å"If she in chains of magic were not bound,† â€Å"foul charms,† â€Å"drugs or minerals / That weaken motion,† â€Å"practiser of arts inhibited,† â€Å"prison,† â€Å"bond-slaves and pagans.

Kohlberg’s Moral Judgment Model

The focus of Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Judgment Model is to investigate and assess how the concept or consciousness about morality arises and what constitutes this perception about morality. He provides six stages of development which explains how a child obtains and develops his own idea of moral action. When a child experiences a dilemma in which he or she must be able to come up with a particular decision and actualize it, Kohlberg tells that the child’s judgment could be explain through his model. The first three stages are crucial for the reason that the child’s response is dependent on his or her initial orientation on morality. The first stage explains that a child’s response might be based on the idea of obedience and punishment. The child would act in such a way that he or she obeys what the immediate authority imposes to him or her (e. g. rules set in the house or in the school). The right action for the child would be if he or she is able to follow the rules which would also make him or her free from any form of punishment. The child would assert that he or she must not such and such acts to prevent being punished. The second stage is when the child realizes that his or her actions, whatever they are, have equivalent consequences. If he or she would act like this for the benefit or harm of others he or she might think that the same thing would be done for or against him or her. In short, his or her actions would be based on how he or she perceives the result of his or her actions which is still directed towards his or her own interests. The third stage explains that the child in this period learns that it is not all about him or her or not always geared towards his or her own satisfaction. In this stage, the child becomes conscious about how others perceive him or her. Thus, his or her actions are not just dependent on what he or she likes but also on how others would see him or her as a moral person. The child would think that â€Å"I ought not to tell a lie because others will see me as a bad person for doing so. † In short, the concept of conventional morality starts at this point.

Asylum Seekers †a Contemporary Social Issues in Australian Society Essay

The Oxford English Dictionary defines asylum as the shelter afforded by a country to someone who has had to leave their country of origin due to danger from political or other reasons (Oxford English Dictionary 2012). Structuralism, according to Babbie (2006), is a theory supporting the establishment of communities of different cultures. This paper will discuss the concept of asylum seekers in Australia as part of multiculturalism within the global population flow and critically examine the roles and values of the Australian people towards â€Å"uninvited immigrants† and the policies in relation to the recent influx of asylum seekers. Specifically, this paper will first give an overview of Australians and asylum seekers, then discuss the history of asylum seekers coming to Australia and review the effectiveness of current policies in addressing the issues surrounding admission of asylum seekers. The paper will also examine the arguments and issues surrounding the policies for, and attitudes towards asylum seekers, as viewed through the lens of structural functionalism. Finally the paper will conclude with an overview of Australia’s current multicultural strategy for asylum seekers and what the future holds as globalisation increases. As the complex issues surrounding asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly challenged, constant changes due to globalisation and population flow affect Australia’s political, economical and social stance towards those seeking asylum (Jupp, 2007). The broader field of population flows and multiculturalism is the topic within which the issue of asylum seekers looking for entry into a multicultural Australia is contextualised. The Settlement Council of Australia (SOCA) is the main organisation nationally representing the settlement service division and has a close working relationship with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. SOCA states that a refugee is a victim of oppression who fits the description of a refugee as set out in the 1951 agreement concerning the Status of Refugees, of which Australia is a participant, whereas an asylum seeker has already sought protection from the government under international law and is awaiting a decision on their status. (SOCA, 2012). The current view of multiculturalism, and the approach to asylum seekers amongst Australians today, is still mixed (McMaster, 2001). It is difficult for some to accept what they perceive as outsiders queue jumping in to the system to obtain status. Multiculturalism is a vital element of the settlement procedure, assisting in establishing the best environment for settlement to occur (SOCA, 2012). To understand the desperation faced by asylum seekers is hard, and we can only draw from media coverage or second-hand knowledge, if not personally experienced (Suter, 2001). Most will have fled from their homeland due to tyranny, warfare, or horrendous abuses of their human rights. As argued by Suter (2001), Australia has reacted with obstinacy over recent years with the growing arrival of asylum seekers from countries, such as Afghanistan in 2001, where the refugees were refused entry to Australia forced to relocate to Indonesia as the boat had initially foundered in Indonesian waters. International condemnation did nothing to soften the government’s stance and interestingly, most Australians, according to surveys at the time, supported the government’s hard line. The fear of invasion still seems pervasive amongst many (Suter 2001). The humanitarian element of protection is superseded by a fact that another person is attempting to get into the country and must be assessed. As SOCA states, the reinstatement of processing migrants off-shore will have a large impact psychologically on people who are vulnerable with a bleak and uncertain outlook surrounding their status in Australia. For those arriving by boat separation from their families is traumatic and the restoration of devastated families is a main element in settling successfully. Asylum seekers will need continued support from the community during difficult times of change while establishing a safer and more protected life (SOCA, 2012). It is significant that multiculturalism is a policy that recognises, and endorses, cultural diversity, not non-racism (Van Krieken, Habibis, Smith, Hutchins, Haralambos, & Holborn 2006). Australia has received immigrants for many years, as Jupp (2007) discusses, emigrants from Europe arrived in 1788, opening the way for 160,000 convicts. The Immigration Restriction Act, introduced in 1901 named the ‘White Australia Policy’, was to prevent the admission of non- Europeans into Australia. As the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship state, Australia assesses claims made by asylum seekers under the Migrations Act 1988 and Migration Regulations 1994. There is also an independent review process for people who arrive by sea know as â€Å"irregular maritime arrivals† and asylum is granted on individual circumstances after thorough background checks, which in some cases take years. Whilst waiting for their status to be recognised, asylum seekers are required to remain in detention centres (Commonwealth, 2012). The statistics published by the Department of Immigration show that when the Refugees Convention was set up in 1951 around 1. 5 million immigrants existed worldwide. Towards the close of 2010 that figure had risen to 43. 7 million, comprising many refugees, some 15 million with over 838,000 seekers of asylum and 27million relocated from their country of origin (Commonwealth, 2012). Whilst it is difficult to account for exactly why people are displaced, a large number may be foreign students and people looking for changes in lifestyle, due to globalisation and easier forms of transport (Xu, 2007). There are still many people from war torn countries escaping from oppressive and deadly regimes looking for an improved lifestyle for their relatives and loved ones. (Lusher & Haslam, 2007). Australia is a socially diverse country, which has grown to accept and embrace differing cultures. Race and racism were a fundamental part of the national Australian community, as in the case of the Aboriginal Australians, to be rid of those considered racially disagreeable, those who were not â€Å"white†. As Lusher and Haslam (2007) discuss, historically up to the First World War, the admission of Europeans to Australia was virtually unobstructed, so there was no motive to assess immigrants entering due to persecution in their country of origin. The Second World War saw the admission of many Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany with Australia assisting in an international aid scheme. Following on from the ever-increasing influx of refugees, Australia was one of the first to sign the United Nations document on the Status of Refugees in 1951 (Jupp, 2007). From then on, Australia accepted some refugees, and rejected others. Australia’s policy on refugees has consistently formed part of its immigration policy. The first major modern controversy, which sets the scene for today’s issues, was in 1977 when a boat carrying Vietnamese refugees arrived off the coast of Darwin. The media then used labels, such as â€Å"queue jumpers† and â€Å"Boat people†, names that hold to this day (Jupp, 2007). Historical incidents such as this give a background to the treatment of asylum seekers today and what some might see as Australia’s contemptuous and cold-hearted management towards them. The numbers of refugees and asylum seekers is growing annually, as statistics from the Refugee Council of Australia show: five people arrived by boat during 1975 to 1976 compared to 4,730 on 89 boats during 2010 to 2011 (Refugee Council, 2012). Yon (2000) asserts that many Australians of â€Å"old† – or white – descent still do not identify with the multiculturalism’s view of the â€Å"new† Australia. These fundamental ideas not only marginalise ethnic cultures, but also are destructive as they produce a situation whereby â€Å"old† Australians position themselves as being on the outside of a multicultural Australia. To assert that the legitimacy of the current Australian policy on asylum seekers is being questioned is understandable when viewed from a structural functionalism perspective. People with different cultural beliefs and values come together, particularly in the strained circumstances of asylum seeking; one party running for fear of their lives and Australian Immigration viewing this flight as another invasion (McMaster, 2001). Many, according to Tepperman and Blain (2006), believe that Australia’s multicultural policy should be restructured to accommodate the rapid advances in globalisation bringing together more ethnic cultures and be in line with assimilation of ethnic cultures whilst working towards a common goal. Current policies in Australia to assist asylum seekers are not effective in this age of globalisation, and should be focused on as a matter of urgency (Lusher & Haslam 2007). On July 21, 2012 in The Australian, Cameron Stewart discusses that the government’s current policy on refugees and asylum seekers which has, until recently, been the one of the basic key stones of Australia’s commitment to human rights and is now in danger of collapse. The ineffectiveness of the current policy is highlighted by the inability of the government to prevent people smugglers bringing more boats to Australian shores, hence more and more people are arriving. But, the government continued to maintain a policy, initiated in 1996 by the Howard government, which set a cap on the intake allowed each year and which is currently much lower than the influx of new refugees to these shores (Stewart, 2012). The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (Article 13) declares people should be able to leave their place of origin with a right to decent health care, food, housing and a right to the safekeeping in areas of welfare such as unemployment, illness of death of a family member (Article 25). The UDHR also states (Article 2) that no one should be discriminated against based on of his or her viewpoint politically, or his or her status internationally (UDHR 2012, cited Xu, Q 2007). The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) advised Australia in April 2010 to seek out better options than the detention of asylum seekers who arrive by boat. The UNHRC is still in discussion with the Australian government on the best way to reduce the deferment of the mounting claims for asylum and compulsory detention, whilst concentrating on the wellbeing and health of asylum seekers in Australia (UNHRC, 2012). The theory of structural functionalism, argues that each of us is born, into set communal structures that have fixed behavioural expectations, which people generally do not contravene (Van Krieken et al, 2006). Social issues are approached scientifically assessing changes in urban growth, population flow to explain the structures underpinning society. As Bessant and Watts (2007) assert, structural functionalists focus on statistics of given situations, which are then used to describe the progress of and structure of social development and may help to create the basis of a policy on multiculturalism. Babbie (2010) posits that it is pertinent to understand how a person who once fitted in to a different society with different roles and functions may have difficulties initially, or if ever, adapting to the structure and function which makes up Australian contemporary society. It is therefore useful using the structural perspective, to assess the asylum seekers who may appear disruptive when placed for months in detention centres, as people who are displaced from their â€Å"norm† and are reacting against that displacement. Structural functionalism would be looking to understand why problems are occurring and what could be done to effectively integrate the asylum seekers into the Australian larger society, taking into account the adjustments that would be needed for those people to assimilate (Babbie 2010). According to Xu (2007), using the welfare benefit system is crucial for helping the acculturation and settlement of all immigrants. Yet as Xu (2007) notes, resentment amongst many Australian citizens is building towards asylum seekers as they often take low-paid jobs, out of necessity, which contributes to employment issues and a sense of insecurity for many indigenous and natural born workers. As a result, over the last 20 years Australia has moved its policy on immigration to focus more on assimilating asylum seekers and refugees with discussions about multiculturalism, and how that affects the native Australians, and less on the welfare of the immigrants arriving, sometimes under dire circumstances (Xu, 2007). In conclusion the analysis in this paper of the social issue of asylum seekers admitted into Australia suggest that many factors may disrupt feelings amongst native Australians, and unless handled sensitively the deep rooted fear of invasion, which still endures for many, will not go away (Jupp, 2007). Multiculturalism does not have the legitimacy it was trying to assume and marginalisation of asylum seekers still exists. As Bessant and Watts (2007) show when viewed through the paradigm of the structural functionalism theory, the current Australian policies on the treatment of asylum seekers create maladaptation and malignancies. An irrefutable fact exists, asserts Jupp (2007), which is globalisation. More people daily are coming to and from Australia and continually communicating with other countries and cultures. The frenetic pace of globalisation and the ensuing and inevitable cultural change in the form of assimilation is inevitable (Xu, 2007). The emphasis, according to Xu (2007) should be on a tactical approach that creates a long-term solution to prioritise the management and protection of asylum seekers across Australia, and adapting current policies on immigration to ensure that migrants skirting around current arrangements make no gain. The focus therefore should be on Australian observance of its international responsibilities concentrating on an improved policy for immigration, encouraging a reasonable and managed humanitarian programme which minimises fear and anxiety across all sectors yet creates an adhesive force for change.