Causes of Teen Pregnancy

Causes of Teen Pregnancy Lack of sex education is the most important but not the only cause of teenage pregnancy. Following are some other teenage pregnancy causes that can not be ignored. First is the psychological factors. The immature and irresponsible behavior arising due to complex teenage psychology is another important cause of teenage pregnancies. Teenagers often go through a number of emotions because of their own transition from childhood and peer pressure. In addition, weak family relationships fail to provide the emotional support that teenagers require.This lack of attention and affection from family resulting in depression forces them to seek love and support from other people, especially members of the opposite sex. The next cause of teen pregnancy is the adolescent sexual behavior. As adolescence marks the onset of sexual maturity, it is but obvious that both the sexes show interest in and explore the much hyped topics of sex, thank to the irresponsible and careless a pproach of mass media. This makes them vulnerable to teenage sex and pregnancy without adequate sex education.Lack of sexual education causes teens to get abortions as they ultimately realize their inability to bear the responsibilities of being a parent at such a young age. The another cause is lack of discipline and control. Factors like alcohol and substance abuse accompanied by unrestricted interaction with the opposite sex can ignite the sparks of lust and passion in youngsters very easily ultimately leading to teenage pregnancy. Nonetheless, at times, parents put too many restrictions of their children, especially girls to protect them from dangers.This overprotection gives rise to frustration and a feeling of not being loved and cared for. Thus, balance is the key to avoid this problem. Moreover, sexual abuse of teenage girls is also one of the most disgraceful causes of teenage pregnancy. Sexual relationships between teenage girls and older men are more likely to end up in t eenage pregnancy as compared to sexual relationships between teenage boys and girls. Last but not least is the socio-economic factors. Childhood environment, lower educational and income levels have also been associated with high rates of teenage pregnancy because of negligence towards birth control methods.

Despairing Companionship Essay

â€Å"Modern Love,† a poetic sequence by George Meredith, describes a skeptical opinion on the idea of modern love. Meredith’s devastating tone, complex similes and metaphors, and dark imagery convey a sad and regretful outlook on the love of this time. â€Å"Modern Love† is riddled with a tone full of regret and heartache, making this modern love seem more like the opposite of love. The speaker says â€Å"she wept with waking eyes† and her â€Å"strange low sobs† were â€Å"strangled mute.† The words describing this woman are full of grief, full of â€Å"vain regret.† Her husband is painfully aware of his wife’s sadness, through her reaction to â€Å"his hand’s light quiver by her head† and her sobs that were â€Å"dreadfully venomous to him.† The speaker’s worried tone shows how much the husband wishes for his wife to be happy, but his actions of loving care and cautiousness do nothing to quell her tears. This makes modern love seem hopeless and full of despair for both the man and his distraught wife. Use of intense simile and metaphor throughout â€Å"Modern Love† also demonstrates a grim view on the concept of modern love. The muffled cries of the wife are called â€Å"little gaping snakes† showing how afraid and vulnerable the husband is to them. The man’s wife has a â€Å"Giant heart of Memory and Tears† which shows the heavy, almost useless organ that the wife carries around within her, empty of love, only able to remember the sadness to which she has been subjected to. Then, the husband and wife are said to be â€Å"like sculpture effigies† in their â€Å"common bed,† lying â€Å"stone-still.† Instead of two lovers talking to each other and loving each other in their bed, a place shared between the two of them, they are â€Å"moveless† and silent. This makes modern love seem empty of joy, empty of companionship, and devoid of love. â€Å"Modern Love† also utilizes imagery to portray the sadness and tension of modern love. The wife is described as lying â€Å"stone-still.† They are both â€Å"moveless† as they look back through their â€Å"dead black years.† Their life is described as â€Å"black,† which provides the image of nothingness, as if there is no memory worth seeing. Their modern love provides no light with which their lives might be made happy. They are seen as â€Å"sculptured effigies,† wishing for the â€Å"sword that severs all.† Instead of wishing for a good relationship or positive time together, they want something to end their marriage, to end the one thing that ties them together. This modern love is not love at all, but a forced binding between two people who want nothing of it. The poetic sequence â€Å"Modern Love† by George Meredith conveys a dark and regretful view of modern love through heartbreaking tone, deep similes and metaphors, and intense imagery.

The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 17

â€Å"Her name's Ulma,† a voice said, and Elena looked down to find Lakshmi holding back the curtains of the litter with a hand over her head. â€Å"Everybody knows Old Drohzne and his slaves. He beats 'em until they pass out and then expects 'em to pick up his rickshaw and go on carrying a load. He kills five or six a year.† â€Å"He didn't kill this one,† Elena murmured. â€Å"He got what he deserved.† She squeezed Ulma's hand. She was vastly relieved when the litter stopped and Damon himself appeared, just as she was about to start bargaining with one of the litter bearers to carry Ulma in their arms to the doctor. Without regard for his clothing, Damon still somehow managed to convey disinterest even as he picked up the woman – Ulma – and nodded to Elena to follow him. Lakshmi skipped around him and took the lead into an intricately patterned stone courtyard and then down a crooked hallway with some solid, respectable-looking doors. Finally, she knocked on one and a wizened man with a huge head and the faintest remnant of a wispy beard opened the door cautiously. â€Å"I don't keep any ketterris here! No hexen, no zemeral! And I don't do love spells!† Then, peering short-sightedly, he seemed to focus on the little group. â€Å"Lakshmi?† he said. â€Å"We've brought a woman who needs help,† Elena said shortly. â€Å"She's pregnant, too. You're a doctor, aren't you? A healer?† â€Å"A healer of some limited ability. Come in, come in.† The doctor was hurrying into a back room. They all followed him, Damon still carrying Ulma. Once she arrived, Elena saw that the healer was in the corner of what looked like a crowded wizard's sanctuary, with quite a bit of voodoo and witch doctor thrown in. Elena, Meredith, and Bonnie glanced at one another nervously, but then Elena heard water splashing and realized that the doctor was in the corner because there was a basin of water there, and the healer was washing his hands thoroughly, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows and making a lot of frothy bubbles. He might call himself a â€Å"healer,† yet he did understand basic hygiene, she thought. Damon had put Ulma onto what looked like a clean white-sheeted examining table. The doctor nodded to him. Then, tch-tching, he pulled out a tray of instruments and set Lakshmi about fetching cloths to clean the cuts and staunch the profuse bleeding. He also opened various drawers to pull out strong-smelling bags and stood on a ladder to pull down clumps of herbs that were strung from the ceiling. Finally he opened a small box and took a pinch of snuff, himself. â€Å"Please hurry,† Elena said. â€Å"She's lost a lot of blood.† â€Å"And you've lost not a little,† the man said. â€Å"My name is Kephar Meggar – and this would be Master Drohzne's slave, yes?† He peered at them, looking somehow as if he were wearing glasses, which he wasn't. â€Å"And you would be slaves, too?† He stared at the single rope Elena was still wearing, and then at Bonnie and Meredith, each wearing the same. â€Å"Yes, but – † Elena stopped. Some infiltrator she was. She'd very nearly said â€Å"But not really; it's just to satisfy convention. She settled for saying, â€Å"But our master is very different from hers.† They were very different, she thought. Damon didn't have a broken neck, for one thing. And for another, no matter how vicious and deadly he might be, he would never strike a woman, much less do something like this to one. He seemed to have some kind of internal block against it – except when he was possessed by Shinichi, and couldn't control his own muscles. â€Å"And yet Drohzne allowed you to bring this woman to a healer?† The little man looked doubtful. â€Å"No, he wouldn't have let us, I'm sure,† Elena said flatly. â€Å"But please – she's bleeding and she's going to have a baby†¦.† Dr. Meggar's eyebrows went up and down. But without asking anyone to leave while he treated her, he pulled out an old-fashioned stethoscope and listened carefully to Ulma's heart and lungs. He smelled her breath, and then gently palpated her abdomen below Elena's bloody camisole, all with a professional air, before tipping to her lips a brown bottle, from which she drank a few sips, then sank back, her eyes fluttering closed. â€Å"Now,† the little man said, â€Å"she's resting comfortably. She'll need quite a bit of stitching of course, and you could use a few stitches yourself, but that's as your master says, I suppose.† Dr. Meggar said the word master with a definite implication of dislike. â€Å"But I can almost promise you that she won't die. About her babe I don't know. It may come out marked as a result of this business – striped birthmarks, perhaps – or it may be perfectly all right. But with food and rest† – Dr. Meggar's eyebrows went up and down again, as if the doctor would have liked to say this to Master Drohzne's face – â€Å"she should recover.† â€Å"Take care of Elena first, then,† Damon said. â€Å"No, no!† Elena said, pushing the doctor away. He seemed like a nice man, but obviously around here, masters were masters – and Damon was more masterful and intimidating than most. But not, at this moment, to Elena. She didn't care about herself right now. She'd made a promise – the doctor's words meant that she might be able to keep it. That was what she cared about. Up and down, up and down. Dr. Meggar's eyebrows looked like two caterpillars on one elastic string. One lagged a little behind the other. Clearly, the behavior he was seeing was abnormal, even liable to be punished by serious means. But Elena only noticed him peripherally, the way she was noticing Damon. â€Å"Help her,† she said vehemently – and watched the doctor's eyebrows shoot up as if they were aimed for the ceiling. She'd let her aura escape. Not completely, thank God, but a blast had definitely discharged, like a flash of sheet lightning in the room. And the doctor, who wasn't a vampire, but just an ordinary citizen, had noticed it. Lakshmi had noticed it; even Ulma stirred on the examining table uneasily. I'm going to have to be a whole lot more careful, Elena thought. She cast a quick look at Damon, who was about to explode, himself – she could tell. Too many emotions, too much blood in the room, and the adrenaline of killing still pulsing in his bloodstream. How did she know all that? Because Damon wasn't perfectly in control, either, she realized. She was sensing things directly from his mind. Best to get him out of here quickly. â€Å"We'll wait outside,† she said, catching his arm, to Dr. Meggar's obvious shock. Slaves, even beautiful ones, didn't act that way. â€Å"Go and wait in the courtyard then,† the doctor said, carefully controlling his face and speaking to the air in between Damon and Elena. â€Å"Lakshmi, give them some bandages so they can staunch the young girl's bleeding. Then come back; you can help me.† â€Å"Just one question,† he added as Elena and the others were walking out of the room. â€Å"How did you know that this woman is pregnant? What sort of spell can tell you that?† â€Å"No spell,† Elena said simply. â€Å"Any woman watching her should have known.† She saw Bonnie flash her an injured look, but Meredith remained inscrutable. â€Å"That horrible slaver – Drogsie – or whatever – was whipping her from the front,† Elena said. â€Å"And look at those gashes.† She winced, looking over two stripes that crossed Ulma's sternum. â€Å"In that case, any woman would be trying to protect her breasts, but this one was trying to cover her belly. That meant she was pregnant, and far along enough to be sure about it, too.† Dr. Meggar's eyebrows drew down and together – and then he looked up at Elena as if peering over glasses. Then he nodded slowly. â€Å"You take some bandages and stop your own bleeding,† he said – to Elena, not to Damon. Apparently, slave or not, she had won some kind of respect from him. On the other hand, Elena seemed to have lost stature with Damon – or at least, he'd cut his mind off from hers quite deliberately, leaving her with a blank wall to stare at. In the doctor's waiting room, he waved an imperious hand at Bonnie and Meredith. â€Å"Wait here in this room,† he said – no, he ordered. â€Å"Don't leave it until the doctor comes out. Don't let anyone in the front door – lock it now, and keep it locked. Good. Elena is coming with me into the kitchen – that's the back door. I do not want to be disturbed by anyone unless an angry mob is threatening the house with arson, do you understand? Both of you?† Elena could see Bonnie about to blurt out, â€Å"But Elena's still bleeding!† and Meredith was with her eyes and brows calling council on whether or not they needed to hold an immediate velociraptor sisterhood rebellion. They all knew Plan A for this: Bonnie would throw herself into Damon's arms, passionately weeping or passionately kissing him, whichever best fit the situation, while Elena and Meredith came at him from the sides and did – well, whatever had to be done. Elena, with one flash of her own eyes, had categorically nixed this. Damon was angry, yes, but she could sense that it was more with Drohzne than with her. The blood had agitated him, yes, but he was used to controlling himself in bloody situations. And she needed help with her wounds, which had begun to hurt seriously, ever since she'd heard that the woman she had rescued would live, and might even have her baby. But if Damon had something on his mind, she wanted to know what it was – now. With one last comforting glance at Bonnie, Elena followed Damon through the kitchen door. It had a lock on it. Damon looked at it and opened his mouth; Elena locked it. Then she looked up at her â€Å"master.† He was standing by the kitchen sink, methodically pumping water, with one hand clenched against his forehead. His hair hung over his eyes, getting splashed, getting wet. He didn't seem to care. â€Å"Damon?† Elena said uncertainly. â€Å"Are you†¦all right?† He didn't answer. Damon? she tried telepathically. I let you get hurt. I'm fast enough. I could have killed that bastard Drohzne with one blast of Power. But I never imagined you'd get hurt. His telepathic voice was at once filled with the darkest kind of menace imaginable and a strange, almost gentle, calm. As if he were trying to keep all the ferocity and anger locked away from her. I couldn't even tell him – I couldn't even send words to him to tell him what he was. I couldn't think. He was a telepath; he would have heard me. But I didn't have any words. I could only scream – in my mind. Elena felt a bit light-headed – a little more light-headed than she'd already been feeling. Damon was feeling this anguish – for her? He wasn't angry about her flagrantly breaking rules in front of crowds, maybe breaking their cover? He didn't mind looking bedraggled? â€Å"Damon,† she said. He'd surprised her into speaking out loud. â€Å"It – it – doesn't matter. It's not your fault. You would never even have let me do it – † â€Å"But I should have known you wouldn't ask! I thought you were going to attack him, to jump on his shoulders and throttle him, and I was ready to help you do that, to take him down like two wolves taking down a big buck. But you're not a sword, Elena. Whatever you think, you're a shield. I should have known that you would take the next blow yourself. And because of me, you got – † His eye drifted to her cheekbone and he winced. Then he seemed to get a grip on himself. â€Å"The water is cold, but it's pure. We need to clean those slashes and stop that bleeding now.† â€Å"I don't suppose there's any Black Magic around,† Elena said, half jokingly. This was going to hurt. Damon, however, immediately began opening cupboards. â€Å"Here,† he said after checking only three, triumphantly coming up with a half-full bottle of Black Magic. â€Å"Lots of doctors keep this as a medicine and anesthetic. Don't worry; I'll pay him well.† â€Å"Then I think you should have some, too,† Elena said boldly. â€Å"Come on, it'll do us both good. And it won't be the first time.† She knew that the last sentence would clinch it with Damon. It would be a way of getting back something that Shinichi had taken from him. I'll get the whole of his memories back from Shinichi somehow, Elena decided, doing her best to screen her thoughts from Damon with white noise. I don't know how to do it, and I don't know when I'll get the chance, but I swear I will. I swear. Damon had filled two goblets with the rich, heady-smelling wine and was handing one to Elena. â€Å"Just sip at first,† he said, helpless but to fall into the role of instructor. â€Å"This is a good year.† Elena sipped, then simply gulped. She was thirsty and Clarion Loess Black Magic wine didn't have any alcohol – as such – in it. It certainly didn't taste like regular wine. It tasted like remarkably refreshing effervescent spring water that was flavored with sweet, deep, velvety grapes. Damon, she noticed, had forgotten to sip as well, and when he offered her a second glass to match his, she accepted willingly. His aura sure had calmed down a lot, she thought, as he picked up a wet cloth and began, gently, to clean the cut that almost exactly followed the line of her cheekbone. It had been the one to stop bleeding first, but now he needed to get the blood flowing again, to cleanse it. With two glasses of Black Magic on top of no food since breakfast, Elena found herself relaxing against the back of the chair, letting her head drop back a little, and shutting her eyes. She lost track of time, as he stroked the cut smoothly. And she lost strict control of her aura. When she opened her eyes it was in response to no sound, no visual stimulus. It was a blaze in Damon's aura, one of sudden determination. â€Å"Damon?† He was standing over her. His darkness had flared out behind him like a shadow, tall and wide and almost mesmerizing. Definitely almost frightening. â€Å"Damon?† she said again, uncertainly. â€Å"We're not doing this right,† he said, and her thoughts flashed at once to her disobedience as a slave, and Bonnie and Meredith's less serious infractions. But his voice was like dark velvet, and her body responded to it more accurately than her mind. It shivered. â€Å"How†¦do we do it right?† she asked, and then she made the mistake of opening her eyes. She found that he was stooping over her as she sat on the chair, stroking – no, just touching – her hair so softly that she hadn't even felt it. â€Å"Vampires know how to take care of wounds,† he said confidently, and his great eyes that seemed to hold their own universe of stars caught and held her. â€Å"We can clean them. We can start them bleeding again – or stop them.† I've felt like this before, Elena thought. He's talked to me like this before, too, even if he doesn't remember. And I – I was too frightened. But that was before†¦ Before the motel. The night when he'd told her to run, and she hadn't. The night that Shinichi had taken, just as he'd taken the first time they'd shared Black Magic together. â€Å"Show me,† whispered Elena. And she knew that something else in her mind was whispering too, whispering different words. Words that she would never have said if she had for a moment thought of herself as a slave. Whispering, I'm yours†¦ That was when she felt his mouth lightly brush her mouth. And then she just thought, Oh! and Oh, Damon†¦until he moved to gently touch her cheek with his silky soft tongue, manipulating chemicals first to make cleansing blood flow, and finally when the impurities had all been so softly swept away, to stop the blood and to heal the wound. She could feel his Power now, the dark Power that he had used in a thousand fights, to inflict hundreds of mortal wounds, being held tightly in check to concentrate on this simple, homely task, to heal the mark of a whiplash on a girl's cheek. Elena thought it was like being stroked with the petals of that Black Magic rose, its cool smooth petals gently sweeping away the pain, until she shivered in delight. And then it stopped. Elena knew that she'd once again had too much wine. But this time she didn't feel sick. The deceptively light drink had gone to her head, making her tipsy. Everything had taken on an unreal, dreamlike quality. â€Å"It will finish healing well now,† Damon said, again touching her hair so softly that she could barely feel it. But this time she did feel it, because she sent out fingers of Power to meet the sensation and enjoy every moment of it. And once again he kissed her – so lightly – his lips barely brushing hers. When her head fell back, though, he didn't follow, even when, disappointed, she tried to put pressure on the back of his neck. He simply waited until Elena thought things out†¦slowly. We shouldn't be kissing. Meredith and Bonnie are right next door. How do I get myself in situations like this? But Damon isn't even trying to kiss†¦and we're supposed to be – oh! Her other wounds. They really hurt now. What cruel person had thought up a whip like that, Elena thought, with a razor-thin lash that cut so deeply it didn't even hurt at first – or not that much†¦but got worse and worse over time? And kept bleeding†¦we're supposed to be stopping the bleeding until the doctor can see me†¦. But her next wound, the one that burned like fire now, was diagonally across her collarbone. And the third was near her knee†¦. Damon started to get up, to get another cloth from the sink and cleanse the cut with water. Elena held him back. â€Å"No.† â€Å"No? Are you sure?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"All I want to do is cleanse it†¦.† â€Å"I know.† She did know. His mind was open to hers, all its turbulent power running clear and tranquilly. She didn't know why it had opened to her like this, but it had. â€Å"But let me advise you, don't go donating your blood to some dying vampire; don't let anyone sample it. It's worse than Black Magic – â€Å" â€Å"Worse?† She knew he was complimenting her, but she didn't understand. â€Å"The more you drink, the more you want to drink,† Damon answered, and for a moment Elena saw the turbulence she had caused in those calm waters. â€Å"And the more you drink, the more Power you can absorb,† he added seriously. Elena realized that she had never even thought of this as a problem, but it was. She remembered the agony it had been to try to absorb her own aura before she had learned how to keep it moving with her bloodstream. â€Å"Don't worry,† he added, still serious. â€Å"I know who you're thinking about.† He made a move again to get a cloth. But without knowing it, he had said too much, presumed too far. â€Å"You know who I'm thinking about?† Elena said softly, and she was surprised at how dangerous her own voice could sound, like the soft padding of heavy tigress feet. â€Å"Without asking me?† Damon tried to finesse his way out. â€Å"Well, I assumed†¦.† â€Å"No one knows what I'm thinking about,† Elena said. â€Å"Until I tell them.† She moved and made him kneel to look at her, questioningly. Hungrily. Then, just as it was she who had made him kneel, it was she who drew him to her wound.

Networking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Networking - Assignment Example mentioned as follows: Advantages of a Local Area Network File Sharing Files can be sent from one computer on a network to any other computer connected in the same network. There is no longer any need to copy data on a piece of paper and then type it again into the other computer system, neither is there any need to copy the data on a retractable flash drive and then physically bring the flash drive to the second system to transfer the file to it. All these methods of file transfer become obsolete once LAN enables file transferring. Another basic method via which file sharing becomes really handy is when data is being stored and arranged on one system (in this scenario Sally’s Computer system), but is needed for reference at another computer within the premises (John’s Computer System). Transferring of files over the network enable timely data management and significantly reduce the chance of data entry and manipulating errors. Streaming of Media Transferring of digital media such as image files, digital videos or audio files becomes very easy within a network. This becomes particularly handy when a main set of big LCD screen or High Fi speakers are connected to one main central room and a file from any computer over the network can be sent to it and played. With particular reference to the current business of photography the image files photographed by John can be managed across the network and can even by displayed via one central projector if required. Internet Connection Sharing A single broadband internet connection can be shared over the Local Area Network. This means that all the computers connected to a network can get connected to the internet via a single connection only and separate internet connections are not required for each one of them. This way,... This paper approves that a single computer system is designated as a server in the network of computers. It is the computer system from where the administrator monitors the overall activities of the network. This computer system is just as vulnerable to fault as is any other computer system over the network. However if any fault does occur in this system, the entire network gets affected by it. Sometimes, if the fault is severe, the entire network may come to a halt because of it. For networks containing larger number of nodes it is often a good practice to made redundant systems supportive of critical network services. Wireless Networking is the most trending phenomenon in the world of networks nowadays. Instead of having physically linked computers as its nodes a wireless network connects computing devices to itself using radio waves which are as low as the frequency of the harmless microwaves. This report makes a conclusion that computing Devices are being equipped with the ability to get connected to a wireless network nowadays. If a wireless network is installed more and more computing devices can get connected to it. This would eliminate the necessity of each device getting connected to the network only via network cables. Wireless networks are easily scalable. Unlike the LAN they do not need to be equipped with more hardware cables and infrastructure setup in order to cope up with increasing area requirements. For wireless networks only the installation of access points at farther locations is required and thus expands the range of the wireless network. The need for embedding specific installations and applications is addressed flexibly by wireless networks as their configurations can easily be changed as and when require.

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Film Analysis Report of the Mask - Movie Review Example The film also stars Dennis Burkley and Laura Dern in supporting roles. The film won the Academy Award for the best makeup. The stars of the film Cher and Eric Stoltz were selected as nominees for Golden Globe awards for their excellent performances. The film also paved the way for the actress Cher to win the best actress award in the Cannes Festival of 1985. Mask is definitely a star studded film and all the actors fantastically portray their assigned roles above the average mark of performance. Rocky Dennis played by Stoltz and Rusty, mother of Rocky Dennis who is an addict and member of a reckless biker family played by Cher, are amazing and outstanding in profound strength of character depiction and emotional exuberance. Both these characters have done complete justification to the characters of a boy suffering from Ionitis and his mother who is protective about her son, an addict and leads a reckless life herself but at the same time wants him to receive a normal healthy life like any other mortal, is superbly represented in the silver screen at length through the fineness of the performance and precision of the cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs and insight of the learned director Peter Bogdanovich. The setting of the film Mask can be considered as mixed with a proper blend of indoor and outdoor backgrounds. Though the major course of the film takes place indoors in school, camp for the junior blind and maternal home of the Rocky Dennis, there are considerable portion of the plot and events which occur outside too. At the outset of the film, the audiences are introduced with the protagonist of the film, Rocky Dennis who stays with his mother and his maternal grandparents. Due to his skull deformities, there are also numbers of tumours which occur on his face and audiences are made well aware about the adversities Rocky Dennis is ought to face for his deformities. He is received by his extended biker family, the boy friend of his mom,

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Healthy diet - Research Paper Example a mode of regulating our meal intake in regards to quality, time and type of meal with an objective of managing our weight improving out health (11). There is always a common misconception that dieting is only important in instances where a person wants to lose weight. The perception is based on that; over-weight people suffer from obesity which is considered unhealthy. In addition, dieting is mostly considered by over-weight people or people with obesity. However, Spencer & Mosley assert that unhealthy dieting is of the same effect to obese people as it has on thin people (56). Moreover, thin people are likely to suffer from effects of unhealthy dieting that obese people. Willet points out that thin people require effective dieting more that fat people due to the consideration that their metabolism rate is significantly affected (44). The relationship between human health and dieting is significant. Regardless of the weight factor, a person should be able to exercise good dieting. There are numerous merits of good dieting and many demerits of bad dieting not influenced by the weight factor. Consequently, a healthy diet is a medical strategy that improves the general health of a person. Additionally, following a healthy diet is important for both fat and slim people. It depends on the kind of food, and the best time for meals. Jaminet & Jaminet assert that good dieting is consumption of meals that rhymes with our body weight and requirement (17). The authors further point out that a healthy diet should be created in regards to time (Jaminet & Jaminet 17). Most importantly, food selection determines the appropriateness of a healthy diet. The same argument is supported by Willet, who point out that a healthy diet should comprise of a food selection and time for food consumption (34). Depending on the health demand of a person, they should be provided with a specific diet. For instance, a slim person may be required to increase their body mass thus increasing

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Stress From Life Events - Essay Example These habits are what majorly lead to some of the illnesses associated with stress for example smoking as a habit leading to lung or throat cancers. With the current stress rating levels, one would require significant social support as a way of coping with the stress. Without this, it is possible for an individual to have constantly negative thoughts about the problems they are facing or pains they are undergoing. The thoughts on the long run develop such problems as headaches and or extreme migraines. A total count reading of 451 from Rahe’s assessment would probably indicate chronic stress. From scientific studies, chronic stress results in a boost in the catecholamine and suppressor T cells levels that lead to the lowering of the immune system. With a suppressed immune system, the body system is vulnerable to opportunistic infections such as viral and bacterial attacks. With these attacks probability of getting ill is substantially high. Development of ulcers is one of the few indicators that an individual is undergoing stress. Stress alters the concentration levels of the acids in the gut leading to peptic ulcers. This is possible as stress changes the way one’s body functions. Stress that usually affects the brain has its effects felt directly in the stomach as the brain, and the stomach are linked via exchange of chemicals and messages in the brain-gut- axis. With ulcers, uptake of food is usually hampered lowering the immune system of the body got from the foods. Being an asthmatic breathing difficulties are likely to be met. However, these can easily be checked if appropriate medical guidelines are followed. Stress causes the release of histamine in the blood among other chemicals. Histamine leads to allergic symptoms and it gets worse with high levels of histamine in the bloodstream. In asthmatics, it causes broncho- constriction, making breathing impossible. An asthmatic attack is thus probable. When having stress, the body ensures sugars are

Marketing- CRM (customer relationship management) Case Study

Marketing- CRM (customer relationship management) - Case Study Example A feasible generalized definition of CRM is that it is information enabled relationship marketing. This definition, however, doesn't de-link CRM with technology because information management in the modern business world is completely technology enabled. The expected output of CRM is development of positive relationship with key customers or customer segments that improves shareholder value of an organization. In the modern context, CRM is an effective methodology of IT enabled execution of relationship marketing strategies to develop long term & profitable relationships with customers. As per Kaplan and Norton (2000), no strategy is complete without a strategy map. Looking into CRM, the strategic framework of CRM need to be very clearly defined before the implementation begins. The strategic framework of CRM is not established as a standalone framework rather finds its roots deep into the organizational strategic framework starting from the board room. ... The strategic framework of CRM is not established as a standalone framework rather finds its roots deep into the organizational strategic framework starting from the board room. The business strategies of an organization form the foundation of customer strategies, whereby the former is formed at the CEO & board level comprising of business objectives comprising of strategies & directions pertaining to organization wide competencies and the latter is formed at the marketing department level that use the business strategies to target market segments & customers. The root of strategies can be established using the Balanced Scorecard mechanism developed by Kaplan & Norton as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Balanced Scorecard strategic framework (Kaplan and Norton. 1996) First of all, the organization needs to have clearly defined Vision & Mission statements pertaining to CRM. The next step is to define the strategic business goals of the organization that is in line with these statements. These goals should be focussed towards achieving unique positioning of the company in the markets & in the perspective of the customers. For example, some companies may like to establish an image that they offer low cost products & services whereas others may like to achieve an image of offering premium & high profile products & services at premium costs. Similarly, some companies may like to establish large market segments comprising of multi-domain areas whereas some may focus on thin market segments comprising of niche areas. Whatever be the positioning defined for the organization, the leadership team may like to establish corresponding CRM goals and then expand them into key CRM

Sonys Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sonys Marketing Strategies - Essay Example It has also developed a direct-marketing solution named eBridge[TM] to help marketers gain insights into the target audience and thus assess the effectiveness of campaigns. Sony has also developed a strong product portfolio and also concentrates on product diversification to increase its reach to the end-users and is also attempting to integrate its whole portfolio of devices in a networked home-entertainment system to make them more useful for the consumers. It is also trying to strengthen its existing strong brand image and trying to consolidate its market position by market development as well as mergers and acquisitions. Adding to this, Sony's creativity to make inventions, creativity in product planning and production as well as creativity in marketing has enabled it to gain an edge over its competitors. The market is dynamic and is characterised by unpredictable patterns in terms of customer perception, competitive strategies adding to this the political, economic, social and technological (PEST) elements of the market environment change continuous; hence

Strategic Management and Strategic Planning Essay

Strategic Management and Strategic Planning - Essay Example The aim of the paper is to analyze and evaluate how the Gillette Company responded to just such a set of circumstances and introduce change management into practice. The Gillette Company is a leading division of Proctor and Gambler specialized in personal care and household products. In this company, creative management consists of new ideas, new directions, new methods, and new modes of operation (Gillette Home Page 2008). Innovative management is much the same as the second element of creative and innovative activities--better results. Innovative management is involved with those innovation processes that implement creative ideas and move successfully in new directions. "The concepts "planned change" and "managed change" refer to changes that are deliberately shaped by the organization members (managers, consultants, groups). What distinguishes between the two concepts is the type of people they refer to (Hage, 1999). "Planned change" usually refers to how experts, outside or inside the organization, can help the organization cope with difficulties, and to plan and implement desired changes" (Levy and Merry 1986, p. 3). The Gillette Company op erates in turbulent environment marked by increased competition. The need for change is caused by new economic and social conditions, technological improvements and innovations implemented by direct competitors of Gillette. In order to remain competitive, Gillette has to respond to market changes and meet demands and expectations of diverse customers. The aim of change process is to restructure the company and introduce technological innovations and IT into everyday practice. These changes will cover organizational structure, climate, morale and culture (Mclagan 2002; Gillette Home Page. 2008). Strategic Planning Defined Strategic planning has many definitions. It basically answers the question of what will be done. Strategic planning is a leadership instrument and a process. It begins with establishing organizational aims and purposes, followed by formulation of ways and means to achieve those purposes, and provides direction for implementation of operational or tactical planning (Senior 2001). Strategic planning is a process for setting future direction, a means to reduce risk, and a vehicle for training managers. It is also a process for making strategic decisions, a way to develop consensus among top managers, and a means to develop a written long-range plan. Another definition of strategic planning is "that element of a manager's job and of the organization's function that deals with the contrivance of change, rather than the simple reaction to it" (Senior 2001, p. 54). Strategic planning involves those choices related to overall organizational purpose, oriented towards the future. Strategic pla nning/thinking entails operational (tactical) planning--the planning of those actions to be taken to put strategies into effect. This type of planning answers the question of how to get the job done. It often consists of specific objectives accompanied by short narrative action plans (Gillette Home Page 2008). Strategic management may have two diametrically opposed definitions. One is that it is the overall encompassing effort for total management of an

Compare and contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Compare and contrast - Essay Example But a closer look at what poverty really is may make some people begin to change their minds, and hopefully their responses, to people who can’t manage to simply blend in with the working crowd. Two articles help to make the case regarding poverty from two different viewpoints. One of the prime concerns of poverty has to do with the living conditions one is forced to endure as a result of having few options and no extra cash. Mackey (2007) describes this condition as being one of fear of your fellow neighbors as housewives, attempting to get money orders to pay their rent, found it necessary to develop elaborate schemes in order to keep their money safely tucked away where the robbers on the street between the check cashing place and the post office would not be able to steal it. Another situation she describes is a one in which a woman can’t even get the safety light in the hallway outside her apartment fixed despite the fact that there has been a murder just outside her front door and her children are afraid to come home through the blood that is still soaked into the carpet. The article by Parker (1971) describes similar conditions of being trapped in a house that is falling apart around her and there is nothing she can do about it or to help her children escape from it in any positive way. In both situations, the lack of cash is only a small part of the problem. Larger issues exist in the way that society treats these individuals, either shunting them to the bottom of the ‘to do’ list for repairs and maintenance or forgetting about them altogether and leaving them to rot away with the house and the rest of the garbage. However, while both articles seem to agree that the problem of poverty goes well beyond the issue of available cash on hand, they seem to take a different stance regarding the role of money in making one poverty-stricken. Speaking from the outside looking in, Mackey (2007) indicates that poverty is less a

Genocide in Bosnia Essay Example for Free

Genocide in Bosnia Essay The Bosnian genocide is often referred to as the hidden genocide, yet it had catastrophic effects on humanity. Over 100,000 people were killed and it displaced millions of people. The genocide occurred between 1992 and 1995. The Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was made up of six nations under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. Once Tito passed away in 1990, there was a power vacuum, and politicians began a nationalistic campaign pitting Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks against each other. Hence, the beginning of an â€Å"ethnic cleansing† war (Campbell, 2003 p. 511). Once Milosevic was the President of Republic of Serbia, he encouraged formation of violent uprisings by Serb nationals. Milosevic was interested in creating an ethnically pure Serb nation. Milosevic’s ambition worried the nations in the federal government; hence Croatia and Slovenia declared themselves independent from the republic. However, Croatia was not allowed to leave because it had 12% of the Serbian population. Hence Croatia became a battlefield between 1991- 1996. Bosnia-Herzegovina watched the horrors in Croatia as they worried about themselves being the next victim. Bosnia-Herzegovina held a referendum in 1992 and declared itself free from the republic. The Serbs in Bosnia were not happy about it, and they began fighting with the support of the Yugoslavian National Army. Bosnia and Croatia lacked weapons to defend themselves because the UN had enacted an embargo, thus they were victims of an endless cycle of violence, displacement and death (Schott, 2011 p.19). Serbian plan of attack entailed the following steps; concentration, decapitation, separation, evacuation ad liquidation. During concentration stage, Serbian soldiers would warn Serbians to leave the town they were about to attack and surround the city with artillery fire. The second stage involved execution of the town’s leaders, military and intelligence. On the third stage, Serbian soldiers would separate women, children and old people from â€Å"fighting group†. Women, children and old people would be taken to concentration camps, while the young people were executed. This brings me to the subject of this essay. Women were targeted in specific ways when compa red to men. Unlike, the young male soldiers who were executed, women lived longer to and experience  untold suffering under the Serb soldiers. Women were interchangeably used by soldiers as sexual trophies (Lentin, 1997). This essay analyses the genocide on a gendered frame, so as to shine light on the awful atrocities women faced in the hands of Serbian militia. From a gender frame, sexual violence in war cannot be reduced to psychological attributes of the perpetrators. Genocidal rape has to be analyzed in terms of social structures. Rape in Bosnia was systematic, since it was planned. Bosnian genocide is the only genocide that women bodies were used as a battlefield. This genocide trampled upon all women rights. The Serbian militants lacked respect and sympathy for women. The Yugoslav army, Bosnian Serb forces and Chetniks came up with a sexual violence campaign against Croats and Muslim women. They killed, imprisoned, terrorized and raped women in the hope that they would leave and never come back. The attack on women was not an accident. It was premeditated as a lot of soldiers took part in sexual violence campaign. Th eir commanders were aware of what was going on, and they turned a blind eye. The attackers used the Ram Brana plan of attack (1991). The plan said that successful attacks should be the one carried out on the enemy’s weakest point. The weakest point during wars is usually women and children. By attacking the weakest point, they were able to spread panic and fear in the population hence Croats and Bosnians could only run away for safety (Abreu, 2005 p.5). Since this was an â€Å"ethnic cleansing war†, the Serbian armed forces believed that sexual violence against women was an act of tainting the bloods of the Croats and Bosnians (Allen, 1996 p. 23). Culture and religion played a big part in this war; hence the attackers believed that they were annihilating their culture through sexual violence. The Serbians waged a psychological warfare on their enemies, such that they believed that by raping women, impregnating them and forcefully aborting their fetuses they were cleansing them. The Serbian armed forces also carried out sexual assaults against m en. Serbia, Bosnia and almost all Balkan nations are lawfully heterosexual nations. Hence by raping men, they were degrading them or feminizing them and making them powerless. By raping their victims, the victims were gendered as feminine or attached with feminine qualities of vulnerability. Apart from the psychological effects of sexual violence on women, women faced a lot of physical suffering in the â€Å"rape camps†. The Serbian forces had created rape camps as a substitute for  concentration camps, so that they would use them to sexually violate women. In fact the Serbian forces had a modus operandi for sexually assaulting women (Abreu, 2005 p.11). The modus operandi was characterized by three patterns; public rape of children and women in their villages, sporadic rape of women and children in concentration camps and lastly rape in death/ rape camps. During the three stages women were subjected to all kinds of violence. Women went through gang rapes, sexual mutilations, forced impregnation and childbirth, sexual abuse with foreign objects and family me mbers were forced to rape their women. The extreme sexual violence was meant to defile, destroy the community and to make them leave. It is obvious that the war was motivated by nationalistic intentions, but the way the war was carried out, misogyny is another probable cause of the war. Most atrocities that took place in Bosnia genocide have been termed as â€Å"femicidal† (Turpin 1998 p. 67). Bosnians and Croats have traditional cultures. Women are supposed to be pure, and when they are not pure they are ostracized from the society. After the genocide, women who were victim of sexual violence were avoided. The tainted women were no longer acceptable by their friends and families, and this was the goal of the Serbian perpetrators. This justifies the fact that misogyny could have been another reason for the war. In a gendered frame analysis, it is clear that there was feminization of the genocide (MacKinnon, 2006 p.18). In genocide, women are usually seen as universal victims. Sexual violence against women is seen as a mortal sin against motherhood. The notion of ‘combat’ and battlefields are constructs of masculinity. The Serbian armed forces believed that through sexual violence campaign, they would turn their victims powerless (Femininity) analysis of war is often carried out from a masculine point of view. However, Bosnia genocide is gendered, as it represents women as victims, sexual objects, symbolic of their nation and repositories of their families. The Serbs militia believed that by defiling the women, they would be defiling the nations (Bosnia and Croatia) Collins (1996) attempts to explain genocidal rape from a feminist perspective, he says that women are the ones who hold families and the community. Their physical and emotional destruction through rape is a symbol of destruction of the social and cultural stability of a nation. The sexual violence involved heightened sadism, for instance forceful rape with family members. The sexual violence  aimed at destroying the victims emotionally, destroying the community and imposing restrictions on women so as to control births. The sexual genocide did not only target the individual victim, but it targeted the group too. Rape as a genocide strategy destroys women’s role as mothers and caregivers, hence the pivotal source of the life to the community is destroyed. According to Mc Kinnon (2006, 187), sexual campaign was used by the Serbian military as a tool for political campaign, soldiers were to rape under orders. The sexual violence campaign was characterized by forced rape and forced impregnation. After the Croatian and muslim women were sexually abuse, they were denied abortions so that they would give birth to â€Å"Serb† babies. Forced impregnation was seen as a way of destroying the maternal community as they gave birth to the child of the enemy ( Allen, 1996 p.76). The rapists violated the rights of women through forceful procreation, which is a deliberate and a sadist act. The children of the rapists often stigmatized or abandoned as they brought negative memories to their mothers. The forced pregnancies on rape victims were seen as a way of preventing births among the Croats and Muslims. The perpetrators of rape believed that they were producing â€Å"Little Chetniks†. From a feminist perspective, the act of forced imp regnation is like imposing a social death on the victims. The women were tortured, and they did not want those children. It turned Croatian and Muslim women as gestating beings for the enemy. Stories from the war show a lot of women who recounted how they were raped repeatedly until they were pregnant, and the women wanted nothing to do with the children. Another explanation of forced rape is the fact that rape was used as a tool of biological warfare. Forced rape and impregnation meets the requirement of biological warfare according to international law (Seifet, 1996 p.42). MacKinnon also analyzes Bosnian rape by comparing it with pornography. In the 1990s, pornography was very common in Yugoslavia. When porn is common in a society, the whole population learns to dehumanize women and inflict sexual assault. Pornographic materials provided the need motivation and materials for Serbian forces. In the rape camps, women were ordered to perform for men; in fact some rapes were filmed and sold as pornographic products since they could not be differentiated from actual pornography. The films were even released in the media so as to amass popularity for Bosnian war. The dialogue s in the pornography were used to  implicate Croatian soldiers. According to MacKinnon (2006), sexual violence was used so consciously and cynically in a way that destroyed people. Once pornography was released, more Serbian forces were encouraged to continually assault women. Genocidal rape in Bosnia was seen as an ethno marker. Ethnic markers are things such as dressing, lifestyle and language. The Serbians, Croats and Bosnians had almost similar ethnic markers. Since they were a part of Yugoslavia republic, the ethnic lines had been blurred. Rape was used by the Serbs to act as a moral ethno marker, as it separated them from the Croats and Muslims. They felt that it created cultural superiority of the Serbians. In fact Serbian law was amended to include ethnic rape, and they believed that the differences in ethnicity aggravated the crime. The mass rapes occurred in places where Serbs were a minority when compared to the size of Croats and Muslims (Allen, 1996 p.19). This was a way of asserting their superiority in the region. Sexual violence was also used to socialize new military recruits. Rape isolated the new recruits from the community and prepared them for battlefield. In Bosnia, sexual violence perpetrated by new recruits occurred in front of other soldiers and the victims even know their perpetrators. The Bosnian war was used by the Serbs to renegotiate their relationship with the other Balkan nations. Rape was seen as a way of establishing new boundaries, as they felt that they were the superior ethnic group. From a gender based analysis it is evident that the legal framework did not address the sexual violence against women in Bosnia well (MacKinnon, 2006 p.89). The law blamed the genocide on ethnicity, and disregarded the fact that it was sex based. The Serb military attack on women was premeditated and executed in three stages. The creation of rape camps shows that the intent was sexually based, in as much as it was ethnically motivated. Failure by the law to acknowledge this is a huge set back on women rights. The law perpetuates patriarchy in legal constructs in violation of women rights. Failure to acknowledge it also prevents the law from addressing the genocidal rape adequately. The law is ignoring the existence and horrifying effects of genocidal sexual terrorism to women (Abreu, 2005 p. 16). This is quite cowardly as the law uses ethnicity to cover the severe harm that women suffered in the hands of Serbian militants. The law enables the perpetrators to hide under ethnic crimes, yet they committed more inhumane atrocities. The law usually acknowledges sexual  crimes, but sexual crimes during genocides were only termed as other inhumane acts. This is blatant sex discrimination propagated by the law. In conclusion, analyzing genocide on a gender framed perspective gives various explanations and perspectives on the violence against women in Bosnia. The sexual violence against women in Bosnia genocide is distinct. Many women can recount the horror they went through in the hands of the Serbian perpetrators. The violence against women was planned as a war strategy. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) should recognize genocidal sex terrorism, rather than hiding it under ethnic-based persecutions (Campbell, 2003 p.509). Serbian militants reduced women as a means of achieving their goals for the genocide. Addressing this problem will help the victim feel like they have achieved some semblance of justice, though nothing can compare to what they went through. Genocide sexual terrorism should be acknowledged by the law, and the legal elements regarding it should be outlined. Using a gender frame to analyze genocide helps us learn about the psychological and soc ial reasons for rape during genocides, rather than just saying that they were raped because they belonged to the enemy’s side. References Abreu, Veronica. (2005) Women’s Bodies as Battlefields In The Former Yugoslavia: An Argument For The Prosecution Of Sexual Terrorism As Genocide And For The Recognition of Genocidal Sexual Terrorism As A Violation Of Jusc Cogens Under International Law. The Georgetown Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. V1:1 Allen, B (1996) Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Campbell, K., 2003, â€Å"Rape as a ‘Crime Against Humanity’: Trauma, Law and Justice in the ICTY†, Journal of Human Rights, 2(4): 507–515. Caringella, S., (2008) Addressing Rape Reform in Law and Practice, New York: Columbia University Press. Jones, Adam (2006) Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York City: Routledge, 2006. MacKinnon, C., (2006) Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Ringelheim, J.M. (1997) Genocide and gender: a split memory in R. Lentin (editor ) Gender and Catastrophe. London: Zed Books. Schott, R. (2011), â€Å"War Rape, Natality and Genocide†, Journal of Genocide Research, 13(1/2): 5-21. Seifert, R., (1996), â€Å"The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars†, Womens Studies International Forum, 19(1/2): 35–43. Turpin, J. (1998) Many faces: women confronting war in L.A. Lorentzen and J. Turpin (editors) The Women and War Reader. New York: New York University Press.

The Impact Of Implicit Followership

The Impact Of Implicit Followership Gap on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Quality: A Followership Approach We are often enamoured with heroic leadership, attracted to individuals known for their character, who meet challenges and overcome adversity with their charisma (1-SAF article). But we often forget, without followersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Napolean would have been just a man with grandiose ambitions (Lee, 1991, p. 2). While leadership has been viewed as a reciprocal relationship between leaders and followers rather than purely leader-centric, (Hollander, xxxx or 12-SAF article), the huge academic literature on leadership has focused mainly on the leaders characteristics, selection, development, and their contributions to organisational success (for review, see Avolio, Walumbwa Weber, 2009). In the words of Lord, Brown and Freiberg, the follower remains an under-explored source of variance in understanding leadership processes(p. 167, 11, -SAF article). Followers are integral to the leadership process (Marion Uhl-Bien, 2001). Yet, their influence is often either downplayed or neglected. The emphasis on leaders over followers has resulted in companies spending 80 percent of their time and research efforts focusing on the 20 percent within organizations, while spending barely 20 percent of their time and energy with the other 80 percent (Uken, in Riggio et al., 2008 book). Consider the huge resources allocated for leadership development that stand in stark contrast to the absence of plans for followership training. The 2003 United States Training Industry Study revealed 85% of U.S. companies offer leadership training to their employees (Gavin, 2003). The financial costs of leadership training alone is approximately US$6,000 to US$7,500 per participant annually (Delahoussaye, 2001). For large corporations, the amount can add up to millions of dollars (Brown, Eager, Lawrence, 2005). In addition, most training budgets support only 20 percent (leaders) in the organization, overlooking the training needs of the other 80 percent (followers). Moreover, many leaders in organizations have followership roles too. Managers at different points in their careers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ play both roles, though seldom equally well (Kelley, 1988, p. 142). Organizations must recognise a good leader or a good follower requires both leadership and followership, and should aim to develop both in its employees. Research objectives This study aims to examine LMX quality from a followership approach. This study would be the first to examine the followership expectation gap in LMX quality. How do Implicit Followership Theories (IFTs) impacts the leader-member exchange (LMX) quality in a dyadic relationship? How does the followership expectation gap, or the gap between leaders IFT and the actual followers behaviour, affect the leader-member exchange (LMX) quality? The Followership Approach Follower-centric approaches to leadership (Meindl, 1995, p. 330) considers how followers view their leaders and their leaders behaviours. Nonetheless, they are still primarily leader-centric (Shamir, Pillai, Bligh, Uhl-Bien, 2007). On the other hand, followership approach or follower-based approach (Graen Uhl-Bien, 1995, p. 223) considers how followers view their own behaviours and roles when engaging with leaders (Uhl-Bien Pillai, 2007). Followership explores how followers behaviours are related to organizational outcomes, e.g. leadership, and the follower becomes the primary focus. Thus, with its focus on the less celebrated role of followers, the followership approach helps reverse the lens (Shamir, 2007) in leadership research. The traditional perspective of the passive follower, characterised by the attributes of conformity and docility, has been increasingly replaced by the active follower, who is courageous to shape the outcome of leadership in todays organizational context (SAF article). Good followership involves subordinates who can think independently, send supervisors honest and truthful massages, and implement difficult decisions (Lundin, Lancaster, Gardner, 1990). In the contemporary context where team work, knowledge workers, and shared leadership is emphasized, good followership skills have never been more important. Indeed, having exemplary, courageous, and star followers is regarded as a precondition for organizational success (Chaleff, 2003; Kelley, 1992). Leader-Member Exchange Unlike leadership theories that contend that leaders have a predominant leadership style and tend to treat all their followers in a similar fashion, the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory (Dansereau, Graen, Haga, 1975) states that leaders form unique exchange relationships of different quality with each of their followers. Here, the dyadic relationship is seen as reciprocal.The role of the follower is informally negotiated between followers and their leaders over time (Graen Uhl-Bien, 1995). Regarding the development of the relationship, leader-follower relationships are thought to be initiated through an initial offer from the leader, which then is potentially reciprocated by the follower (Graen, 2003). After this initial phase, in which the follower can prove him- or herself, the relationship continues with a reciprocation of contributions, that is, a reciprocation of positive actions that foster the relationship by fulfilling the other partys needs. Put differently, depending on the leaders perception of the followers contribution, the leader will feel more or less indebted to reciprocate with an own contribution until he or she perceives an equilibrium of contributions. At this stage, the follower perceives the contribution of the leader and has to decide whether he or she needs to adjust his or her own contribution, etc. As long as either of the parties still perceives that an equilibrium of contributions is not reached, the relationship is still dynamic, that is, i t can either deteriorate (when a party perceives the other to contribute less than him- or herself and thus also lowers his or her own contributions), or it can thrive (when a party perceives the other to contribute more than him- or herself and thus also increases his or her own contributions). Indeed, relationships are found to be more satisfying and thus stable when a party perceives the contributions to be almost equal or the other party to contribute more (Buunk, Doosje, Jans, Hopstaken, 1993). Contrary, a lack of reciprocation by the other party will lead people to experience negative feelings, especially when they feel that they themselves have contributed a lot to the relationship (Walster, Walster, Berscheid, 1978). Summarizing, the stability of a relationship depends on perceived reciprocation of ones own contributions by the other (Blau, 1964; Burgess Huston, 1979) and the relationship can be considered stable when both parties perceive each other as contributing an ap proximately equal amount. Leadership effectiveness is related to the quality of the dyadic relationship between the leader and follower (van Breukelen, Schyns, LeBlanc, 2006). A high quality exchange relationship is characterized by mutual trust, respect, and liking (Dansereau et al., 1975). The quality of dyadic relationship has been found to be positively related to organizational outcomes (Ilies, Nahrgang, Morgeson, 2007). Specifically, followers in high quality LMX relationships work harder (Basu Green, 1997), perform better (Vecchio Norris, 1996), experience more satisfaction with the leader (Schriesheim Gardiner, 1992), experience more job satisfaction (Scandura Graen, 1984), and are less motivated to leave the team or organization (Vecchio Norris, 1996). Implicit Followership Theories Leaders and followers alike rely on implicit theories to process social information and make social judgements (Lord and Maher, 1991). Implicit Follower Theories (IFTs) help to advance our understanding of leadership by placing the focus on followers and examining leaders cognitions (Avolio et al., 2009). IFTs are cognitive schemas which represent the traits and behaviors that characterize followers (Rosenberg Jones, 1972). Just like Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs) are used to understand how leaders are viewed, IFTs can be used to understand how followers are perceived. IFTs are most accurately represented by Followership Prototype and Antiprototype (Sy, 2010). Followership Prototype is defined as industry, enthusiasm, and good citizen, while Followership Antiprototype is defined as conformity, insubordination, and incompetence. It is noteworthy to mention Engle and Lord (1997) proposed leaders develop prototypes of effective followers, called Implicit Performance Theories, and then compare follower performance to this prototype (cf. Borman, 1987; Sanders, 1999; Wernimont, 1971). Thes comparison process leads to the labelling of followers as either effectively or ineffectively contributing to relationship. However, IPTs are restricted to followers performance, whereas the cognitive schemata for IFTs include a diverse set of attributes that would reflect on the overall quality of the relationship (e.g., being honest, enthusiastic, or trustworthy). IFTs are broader than Implicit Performance Theories and therefore better capture the range of behaviours and characteristics that followers may be expected to contribute to the LMX relationship. IFT and LMX IFTs serve as benchmarks from which individuals interpret, understand, and respond to followers, and predispose individuals to judge and respond to followers in a particular way (Engle Lord, 1997). Indeed, leaders have different follower-schemas that predispose them to interpret events differently, which results different behaviors toward the followers (Goodwin et al., 2000). This is expected as implicit theories affect judgments and behaviors as they operate on the levels of conscious and unconscious information processing (van Gils et al., 2010). Leaders who have more positive IFTs may behave differently towards followers than leaders who have more negative IFTs (McGregor, 1960). Differences in leaders behaviors towards followers, as a function of their IFTs should impact leader-follower interpersonal outcomes such as liking for leaders and followers, relationship quality, etc. Individuals engage in a matching process of comparing their IFTs with a follower and based on the degree of congruence, individuals form an impression of followers that subsequently shapes their behaviors towards followers. Leaders with proactive constructions of followership may become very frustrated by followers who act consistent with passive constructions; leaders with passive constructions may view proactive followers as pushy, insubordinate and disrespectful Passive followers may find it difficult to work with leaders who have a proactive construction of followership; proactive followers may find authoritarian leaders old school and highly ineffective IFT and Followership Expectation Gap If the process of comparison between actual behaviour and implicit leadership theory exists for leaders, it thus seems only plausible to assume that there is an equivalent implicit theory for the follower. Indeed, Van Gil posits, from the leaders perspective, a match between perceived follower behaviour and leaders IFTs will lead the leader to evaluate the LMX quality more favourably. From the followers perspective, a match between own behaviour and IFT will lead to the perception of higher own contribution to the relationship. The followership expectation gap is the difference between IFT and actual follower behavior. According to Saltz (2004), When a followers behavior match the leaders IFT, the leader is likely to be satisfied with the follower. This minimizes the leadership expectation gap. t is expected that leaders are likely to develop commitment to the organization the leader represents. However, if the followers characteristics contradict the leaders expectations, the leaders are likely to experience dissatisfaction and this will undermine commitment to the organization (Saltz, 2004). Sy (2010) found leaders Followership Prototype was positively related to follower outcomes, namely liking for leaders, relationship quality with leaders, trust in leaders, and job satisfaction, while leaders Followership Antiprototype was negatively related to all follower outcomes. Hypotheses Leaders Followership Prototype would be expected to be positively related to LMX quality. Conversely, leaders Followership Antiprototype would be expected to be negatively related to LMX quality. In addition, the followership expectation gap would be expected to be negatively related to the LMX quality. Measures Participants would consist of middle Implicit Followership Theories would be assessed using Sys IFT scale. The IFT scale consists of 18 items measures six dimensions of Followership Prototype and Antiprototype. Followership Prototype consists of Industry, Enthusiasm, and Good Citizen, while Followership Antiprototype consist of Conformity, Insubordination, and Incompetence. Each dimension consists of three items. Leaders would be asked to rate how characteristic each item was for a follower. Responses would be measured with a five-point Likert scale, ranging from not at all characteristic to extremely characteristic. The scale has a Cronbachs ÃŽÂ ± of .70. To measure the quality of relationship between leaders and their subordinates, the Liden and Maslyns (1998) multi-dimensional model of leader-member exchange (LMX-MDM) scale was used. The LMX-MDM scale comprises of 12 items, and incorporates the dimensions of affect, loyalty, contribution and professional respect, with each dimension consisting of three items. Responses were measured using a five-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The Cronbachs ÃŽÂ ± for the scale was .90. The actual followers behaviour (AB) would be measured using the same scale for IFT. Leaders would be asked to rate the extent the items in the IFT scale truly describe the behaviour they see in their followers. Responses would be measured with a five-point Likert scale, ranging from not at all true to very true. Information on gender, age, work experience (in years), duration of leader-follower relationship (in years), job position and highest academic qualification would be obtained. To ensure response to the items measuring IFT does not affect the response to the items measuring the actual behaviour, the order of the questionnaires would be IFT, LMX then AB. Followership expectation gap would be obtained by computing the squared difference between the IFT score and actual follower behaviour score. LMX quality would be obtained by adding up all the LMX dimensions. The association between leadership expectation gap and LMX quality would be examined using Simple Regression Analysis. The effect of duration of leader-follower relationship would be controlled all analysis, as it is known to have a moderating effect on LMX (Graen Uhl-Bien, 1995). Reflections IFTs may advance our understanding of Leader Member Exchange (LMX) theory by illuminating how congruence in leaders and followers ILTs and IFTs may account for relationship quality, i.e., leaders and followers both have ILTs and IFTs that function as interpretation frameworks from which relationship quality is judged (van Gils et al., 2010).

Child Friendly School Policies In Kenya Education Essay

Child Friendly School Policies In Kenya Education Essay The purpose of this essay is to explore what Child Friendly School policies could learn from Comparative and International Research. Reference to CFSs in Kenya will be made with emphasis on the background of CFSs, current practices and emerging critics, success stories, problems and pitfalls and what CIR can do to subjugate some of these challenges. I will start by examining the rationale for exploring CFSs, based on literature and my professional experience. Following this background will be literature surrounding the concepts of CIR and CFSs in relation to global agendas, exploring how CFSs came into existence and the driving forces behind it. I then go on to focus on a case study of CFS in Kenya, discussing the role of CIR in the Kenyas CFS, arguing that CIR is used as a political tool in creating educational policy, rather than a research method or an intellectual inquiry. I will further critically analyze challenges facing CFSs and how knowledge on CIR can contribute more effect ively to successful implementation of CFS policies. A conclusion based on the literature and authors experience will then be drawn. Throughout the essay, I build a case in favour of CIR arguing that CIR stimulates critical reflections about our educational systems by investigating commonalities and differences across national borders. Background and Rationale Comparative and international education is one of the main fields of education with many benefits, judged by the volume of studies reported in the literature. Central to this is that many countries around the world have formulated some of their educational policies based on knowledge and research from CIR. With the current wave of globalization, researchers and experts, especially in the field of education, are always trying to find ways of streamlining their educational policies with the global trends. According to Giddens (1990:64), globalization is the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distance localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. Global forces therefore have an impact on shaping local practices at grass root levels. In order to do this tactically and critically, comparative and internal research remains cutting edge in informing people about the realities, the challenges and the possible effects of uncritical transfer of ideas. One of the key developments in education has been the prioritisation of basic education as opposed to adult education or higher education. In Africa, this would be probably because, as Oketch (2004) points out, basic education yields higher rates of returns compared to higher education. This has subsequently influenced government and non-governmental organizations to focus more on improving the quality of basic education. Child-friendly schools (CFSs) in Kenya is an example of a initiative sponsored by UNICEF with the aim of not just providing children right to education but the right to the right education. In other words, CFSs are more concerned with the quality of basic education in addition to its access. The emergence of CFSs in Kenya was catapulted by the forces of agendas 1 and 2 of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) which emphasizes on the provision of basic education. The World Education Forum (2000) agreed on six Education For All (EFA) goals. The sixth goal concerned Educa tion quality, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognised and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. The term quality in education is dynamic because of the social, political and economic context at which it is used. Milligan (2011:276) adds that quality has, thus, been placed as an integral cog in the educational development machine although how educational quality is defined is a matter of great contention. Because of differences in contexts, it is imperative that knowledge of comparative and international research be used in designing policies and pedagogy in CFSs that fit that particular context. Furthermore, with the fear that some countries may lag behind as others move forward, countries from sub-Sahara Africa are now engaging in various practices in order to achieve these educational goals, a race against the 2015 set deadline for attainment of EFA goals. As the clock ticks towards the year 2015, priority goals in education may change for post-2015 and the worry is further elevated. One of the efforts the government of Kenya is doing to improve the quality of education is by integrating CFS model into the basic education system. Two major questions arise here: First, how is CFS realistic considering myriad challenges facing the FPE policy in Kenya? Secondly, if integrating CFS model into basic education will help in improving the quality of education, what lessons can CFS policies learn from CIR? It is against this background that the purpose of this essay hinges. Literature Review In this section, I will look at the concepts of Comparative and International Research (CIR) and Child Friendly School (CFS) based on the literature and merge them with the global forces that influenced the emergence of CFS with an attempt to unveil the voices behind the introduction of CFS in Kenya. In addition, I will use an example of PRISM experience in Kenya to reinforce the understanding of the role of international bodies in promoting quality through well strategized and executed projects, arguing that lessons from PRISM experience can be used as insights to successful implementation of CFS policies. Concepts of Comparative and International Research (CIR) and Child Friendly School (CFS) CIR is a fusion of two broad areas of research: Comparative Research and International Research. To understand its full meaning, it is important we define the two areas of research separately. In his definition of comparative research, Mills et al (year) argue that: Comparative research is a broad term that includes both quantitative and qualitative comparison of social entities. Social entities may be based on many lines, such as geographical or political ones in the form of cross-national or regional comparisons. (p. 621) A similar perception was echoed by Noah and Eckstein (1969:127), who described comparative education as an intersection of the social sciences, education and cross-national study [which] attempts to use cross-national data to test propositions about the relationship between education and society and between teaching practices and learning outcomes. In light of this definition, comparative research in the context of education can be defined as a study of two or more entities or events (Crossley Watson, 2003) with the underlying goal of searching for similarity and variance. Cross-national or regional comparisons may include comparing educational policies, pedagogy, educational leadership and so on. According to Mills et al (2006: 621), the search for variance places more emphasis on context and difference in order to understand specificities. International education, on the other hand, can be defined as the application of descriptions, analyses and insights learned in one or more nations to the problems of developing educational systems and institutions in other countries (Wilson 2000a: 116). Thus, international research is concerned with research carried out across two or more countries, often with the purpose of comparing responses between them. This might be done in order to devise strategies that work well across both or all these cultures or to suggest local adjustments to a global strategy There is a close relationship between comparative and international education. Epstein (1994: 918) points out, that international educators use findings derived from comparative education to understand better the processes they examine, and thus, to enhance their ability to make policy. We can therefore draw from the above two definitions that CIR in education as a method of comparing both qualitative and quantitative entities in education across different countries, societies or cultures with the aim of identifying similarities and differences. It is however important to note that not all international research is comparative, and not all comparative research is international or cross-national. According to UNICEF (2007), a child-friendly school is both a child seeking school and a child-centred school: It is child seeking because it actively identifying excluded children to get them enrolled in school. It is a child-centred school because it acts in the best interests of the child leading to the realization of the childs full potential, is concerned about the whole child: her health, nutritional status, and well-being and concerned about what happens to children before they enter school and after they leave school. A CFS system recognizes and respects childrens right and responsibilities; it provides the enabling environment to realize childrens right not only in schools, but also in childrens home and their communities. These include children from conflict zones, street children and children with disabilities. The Child-Friendly Schools model (see fig 1) is based on simple, rights-based concepts that would have all schools be: Rights Based School: CFS proactively seeks out-of-school children and encourages them to enrol, irrespective of gender, race, ability, social status, etc. Gender Sensitive School: CFS promotes equality and equity in enrolment and achievement among girls and boys. Safe and Protective School: CFS ensures that all children can learn in a safe and inclusive environment. Community Engaged School: CFS encourages partnership among schools, communities, parents and children in all aspects of the education process. Academically Effective School: CFS provides children with relevant knowledge and skills for surviving and thriving in life. Health Promoting School: CFS promotes the physical and emotional health of children by meeting key nutritional and health care needs within schools. (UNICEF, 2007) Fig 1: Model of the Child-Friendly School Source: UNICEF, Global Education Strategy, 2007 The CFS model provides a framework for planning (and monitoring the effectiveness of) strategies for increasing access to quality basic education with the specific focus on the development of strategies to include those children hitherto excluded from education (UNICEF, Global Education Strategy, 2007). It is important to note that there is no one-way to make a school child-friendly. The model may differ from country to country depending on the context. International and Local Pressures and their influences to formation of CFS in Kenya Education in sub-Sahara Africa, and indeed in Kenya, is crafted from both influences by global trends in education and the legacies of colonialism. Chisholm and Leyenderker (2008) observe that: Since 1990, the goals and purpose of education in sub-Sahara Africa has been reshaped by four interconnected developments: globalisation, the changed focus of international aid agencies towards development assistance, the adaptation of sub-Sahara African countries to the new world order with its new political emphases, and the spilling over of new pedagogical ideas from the USA and Europe into sub-Sahara Africa. (p 198) Kenya is a signatory to a number of conventions in education, including the Convention to the Rights of the Child (1989), the World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien, 1990), the Dakar accord and the Millenium Development Goals (2000). In achievement of education development goals, Kenya is bound to, among other things, quality education by MDGs. The Jomtien call for access for access, equity, quality and democracy in education appeared to promise both social and economic development (Chisholm and Leyenderker, 2008). Social and economic development, and continues to be believed, requires educational change and educational change is necessary for social and economic development (ibid:). Educational change, in turn, is perceived to depend on, amongst other things, the input from relevant development assistance projects. These projects, in the arena of education, are typically formulated with reference to internationally negotiated development agendas (like the MDGs) and priority (Crossley Watson, 2003). An example of these projects in Kenya is CFSs which are supported by United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF). The Education Section of UNICEFs Programme Division introduced the Child Friendly Schools (CFS) framework for schools that serve the whole child in 1999 (Chabbott, 2004). Rationale for introducing CFS framework in Kenya The increased reliance of foreign aid to support education reform in Kenya has been accompanied by a transition, from understanding education as a human right and the general good to viewing it primarily in terms of its contribution to national growth and well-being through the development of the knowledge and skills societies are deemed to need (Arnove Torres 2007:359). Occasional voices continue insisting that education is liberating, that learning is inherently developmental (ibid: 359). With the global concern that Sub-sahara Africa countries may not achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015 unless the progress is accelerated (Carceles et al., 2001; Bennel, 2002), Kenya responded by introducing Free Primary Education (FPE) policy in 2003 with both local and global pressure. The rationale behind introducing FPE was (apart from the pressure from global and international agendas) to alleviate poverty attributed to lack of literacy skills. The success story behind implementation of FPE policy is the increased enrolment at primary schools by nearly 50%, from 5.9 million in 2003 to 9.38 million pupils according to the Kenya Economic Survey 2011. However, there are myriad challenges facing the implementation of FPE policy: there are not enough textbooks, classrooms are overcrowded and the infrastructure in many schools is inadequate for the numbers of pupils attending. Many of the schools do not have sanitation facilities. The teacher-pupil ratio is quite high: acc ording to UNESCO there are more than 40 pupils per teacher, on average. All of these factors militate against the provision of quality teaching. There is no magic wand for fixing this problem of quality in education. In response to this CFS were introduced in Kenya. According to UNICEF (2006:1): The challenge in education is not simply to get children into school, but also to improve the overall quality of schooling and address threats to participation. If both quality and access are tackled, children who are enrolled in primary school are likely to continue, complete the full cycle, and achieve expected learning outcomes and successfully transition to secondary school. The CFS framework (see appendix 3) aims at promoting child-seeking, child-centred, gender-sensitive, inclusive, community-involved, protective and healthy approaches to schooling and out-of-school education with a general goal of improving the quality of learning. Since CFSs are concerned with the quality of learning, it is important we look at the meaning of quality. The national examinations to obtain the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) at the end of primary cycle and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) at the end of secondary cycle are designed to evaluate the extent to which the primary and secondary graduates master the curriculum content. In other words, the national test scores are used as the indicators of quality. The limitation of this indicator is that it does not take into account the context at which learning takes place i.e. the learning environment, learners unique characteristics etc. There are many definitions of quality but one of the descriptions of quality which emphasizes on the context was by Tikly (2011:10) who argued that: A good quality education is one that enables all learners to realise the capabilities they require to become economically productive, develop sustainable livelihoods, contribute to peaceful and democratic societies and enhance wellbeing. The learning outcomes that are required vary according to context but at the end of the basic education cycle must include threshold levels of literacy and numeracy and life skills including awareness and prevention of disease. In his description, Tikly believes that a good quality education arises from interactions between three overlapping environments, namely the policy, the school and the home/community environments. In his perception of quality education, Tikly puts context into consideration i.e. needs of the learner, cultural and political contexts. In addition, he emphasizes on the relevance of what is taught and learned and how it fits the nature of particular learners in question. This encourages policy makers to take cognisance of changing national development needs, the kinds of schools that different learners attend and the forms of educational disadvantage faced by different groups of learners when considering policy options'(ibid:11). The fact that CFS emphasizes on learner-centered pedagogy and puts the child at the centre or focal point in the learning process raises the idea of what is regarded as valuable knowledge and how this knowledge is acquired in this particular context. This leads us to the inquiry on the school of thought or paradigm behind introducing a contextualized CFS framework. CFS as an approach to education is premised on constructivism, a theory of knowledge arguing that humans generate knowledge and meaning from interaction between ideas and real experiences. According to constructivists, the notions of reality and truth are socially constructed and in different context with the understanding that knowledge is subjective and embedded in multiple realities. Thus, quality of learning should be viewed in the context in which it is occurs. Towards Quality Basic Education In Kenya: Developing Research Capacity and Evaluation Before we acknowledge the contribution of CFS in providing quality education to the children at Primary school level, it will be prudent to review some of other contributions that has been made by international organizations in collaborations with the local government in promoting quality of education at grassroot levels in building research capacity. Kenya has had a history of benefiting from international assistance in its education sector. One of the programmes is the Primary Schools Management (PRISM), an initiative of DfID through the Ministry of Education, which places a lot of emphasis on participatory approaches and emphasis on mobilising community support, resource management and utilisation, supporting learning of pupils and developing action plans. It targeted teacher training and management and the impact of this is overall effectiveness of an education system which has a direct bearing on quality of education. According to Otieno Colclough (2009:26), PRISM is regarded as one of donor-funded programmes which had most positive impact on quality of basic education and CFS can learn from it. As Crossley et al ()notes, the main objective of PRISM was to improve the quality of primary education through the training and support of head teachers in practical management skills. Borrowing from the PRISM experience it is worthy learning that well planned and organized CFSs policies involving community participation at grass root level could help amplify local voices and lead to successful implementation of educational policies not only in Kenya but also other parts of African contexts. Challenges in implementing CFS in Kenya In this section I will explore common challenges associated with the CFSs with an aim of illuminating and critiquing the gap between policy and practice in CFSs. Access and Quality Dilemma: Which one should be first priority? As I mentioned earlier, one of the role of CFS in Kenya is to improve the quality of learning. But the access to education is still a challenge in Kenya and there is fear that Kenya will not have achieved EFA goals 1 and 2 by the year 2015. As we near the 2015 set deadline for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, at a time when hopes should be high, universal access to primary education in Kenya seems to be slipping away. Many comparative researchers argue that different countries have different educational problems and it is the countrys obligation to identify what should be the priority and why. Aksoy (2008: 218) observes that: While developed countries are mainly engaged in activities to increase the quality of education, or they practice and seek new techniques and methods of learning and teaching, developing countries struggle to provide equal opportunities for education, trying to increase the rate of participation of all citizens in basic education, which is actually compulsory. To deal with its educational problems, each country works out countrywide or local solutions, depending on the nature of the problem. The tone of such statement is more closely allied to the question of priority. Priority in one country may not be a priority in another. In Kenya, the major problem basic education is facing is of access while higher education is facing the problem of quality. CFS focus more on quality, but in the Kenyan context, access to education is still a problem in basic education even after the introduction of FPE. The CFS concept of quality can however suit very well in some small state commonwealth countries which have almost universal access to basic education. It has been noted that small sates have now shifted education priorities towards focus in school effectiveness, quality and inclusion (Crossley, 2002) after ensuring that all children have accessed basic education and CFSs in Kenya should learn from small states that the priority should now be on access to basic education before shifting to quality. Atomizing the child: is child-centred the solution to quality CFS? A key feature of a right-based, CFS system is that it is linked tightly to the child-centred learning process. CFS advocates for child-centred learning where a child is treated as a single entity or an atom in learning processes. The idea of atomizing a child has its drawbacks derived from child-centred learning. First, there is an oversight on early year development behaviour of the child. Psychologists believe children undergo various levels of development and their learning behaviours are different at each level. For instant, Vygotskys (1978) concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) implies that a child cannot ordinary create ZPD by himself; he needs the more expert individual to bridge the gap between his current development level and his proximal level of development. Secondly, a child-friendly, democratic learning environment may not work successful in overcrowded classrooms and school with limited resources like it is the case in Kenya. Thirdly, child-centred learning weakens the role of the teacher. The idea that a child must be active in construction of knowledge is often understood to imply a diminishing role for the teacher in learning process who now becomes a coach or a facilitator. A call for paradigm renovation, from an exclusively child-centred learning to a combination of both child-centred learning and teacher-centred learning approach is important so that the weakness of one method is complemented by the other method. What Lessons can Kenya learn from other Countries in Implementing CFS? A Review on the Contribution of Comparative Research King (2007) emphasizes the need to explore the tension between the national and the international policy agendas in Kenya in order to make informed decisions when crafting educational policies. Clearly, this is a view that acknowledges the contribution of CIR researchers in bridging theories, policies and practices with both local and global minds (Crossley, 2000) in trying to identify betters grounds to critically reflect and determine appropriate course of action. Apparently, the term that is commonly used in Kenya and indeed many Africa countries in the initial processes of designing an educational policy is benchmarking. Essentially, this is usually a comparative study which is carried out locally and/or internationally in trying to compare different models of policy framework with the aim of critical adaption or adoption. Lessons are well learnt when a comparisons are made, and this underscores the strength and significance of comparative research. Moreover, since problems transcend national borders, it is prudent to seek possible solutions from a similar experience in another country, and this explains why international research is important. Kenya can learn from other countries that are either progressing or failing to implement CFS policies because lessons can either identify opportunities or gaps, based on comparative analysis. In these respect therefore, I have identified two key elements of CIR which could help implementation of CFS. The first element is on identification of the gap between policy and practice. Documenting the emerging good practices and lessons learned within the regions is useful in informing evidence based programming and advocacy to enable us to achieve better results. For example, a Global Evaluation Report published by UNICEF in 2009 on comparative studies of how to six countries (Guyana, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand) with different experiences implementing CFS, demonstrated the following: CFSs in varying contexts successfully apply the three key principles of CFS models-inclusiveness, child-centredness and democratic participation. Schools operating in very different national contexts, with different levels of resources and serving populations with different needs have succeeded in being child-centred, promoting democratic participation, and being inclusive. Schools that had high levels of family and community participation and use of child-centred pedagogical approaches had stronger conditions for learning, that is, students felt safer, supported and engaged, and believed that the adults in the school supported the inclusion and success of each student. (UNESCO, 2009) Kenya can use this success report to assist in providing a broader perspective on the ways in which CFSs can contribute to quality in the countrys unique context. The caution should however be that any steps taken should have hindsight of the current context in the country to avoid uncritical transfer of practice which may end up opening a Pandoras box. Secondly, through CIR, studies of educational systems that share similar problems can provide information for learning possible consequences. A recent comparative evaluation research conducted by UNESCO in Nigeria, Gunaya, Thailand and the Philippines on CFS pedagogy gave different findings. While teachers in Nigeria and Guyana mainly focused on meeting basic instructional material needs (textbooks, paper), many teachers in Thailand and the Philippines focused on having greater access to information and communication technology (UNESCO 2009). Kenya experiences the same challenge as Nigeria and Gunaya, and data from these countries can be used to learn how they coping with inadequate basic instructional material. The caution here should be, that common problems may prevail in different countries, but common model cannot be applied because each country has different culture/context (Crossley Watson, 2003:39). This provides invaluable information of what to adopt, modify or avoid. Conclusion It is worthy reiterating Crossley'(2003) emphasis that context matters and different countries have different needs and priorities even if they are faced with the same challenges. The value of CIR is studying foreign systems of education in order to become better fitted to study and understand our own (Sadler 1900, reprinted 1964:310) and CIR can be used as a lense to focus on adaptable or adoptable practices. UNICEF repeatedly emphasises that CFS is a pathway to educational quality rather than a blueprint and that it is counterproductive to regard the CFS model as rigid, with a present number of defining characteristics or key components (2009c, Ch. 1, p. 9). Thus, the essay sought to present an overview in favour of the contribution of CIR by highlighting what CFS policies in the Kenyan context could learn from CIR. As such, the essay acknowledges the role of CIR in stimulating critical thinking and reflections about CFSs system by evaluating its success and failures, strengths and weaknesses. This critical reflection facilitates self evaluation in our own context and the basis for determining appropriate courses of action. The essay also hints that CIR helps us understand global agendas and how they shape educational development projects from organizations and development agencies.