Out with the Old in with the New Essay

Education is the single most important factor in not only an individual’s life and their outcome for success, but also the outcome of future success in America. In order for our country to be successful we must invest in our future generations and the training they will need once they move on to their future endeavors. Although America spends vast amounts of money each year on education, money is not always the answer. We must improve the performance in our classrooms by making sure we have the strongest faculty possible. Teachers being given the luxury of tenure are hurting student performance and the performance of America. Tenure is not only allowing teachers to keep their jobs secure based off experience rather than performance, but also it is this job protection that makes the removal of poorly performing teachers so difficult and costly. In a result, most schools end up retaining their bad teachers. Teachers having tenure is a very controversial issue in today’s society. There are many pros and cons to this subject, but it is crucial that we have the strongest faculty we can in order to have a bright and prosperous future for this country. Teacher’s tenure is a form of job protection that public school teachers receive after 1-7 years on the job. It was created in the early 1920s in order to protect teachers from losing their jobs to younger less expensive teachers. According to Time U. S. magazine, â€Å"Roughly 2. 3 million public school teachers in the U. S. have tenure†(Stephey). With all the budget cuts that have happened, many talented, energetic and young teachers are being fired in order for other teachers to keep their job. Teacher’s job security should be based on performance in the classroom rather than years a teacher’s been teaching. Teacher’s tenure is one of the most controversial issues in education today. Many people argue that it protects teachers from being fired for personal or political reasons, and prevents the firing of experienced teachers to hire less expensive new teachers. Before tenure was in place, teachers would be fired if a new political party took office or even if the principle wanted to make room for a teacher friend. Tenure adds stability for the community around it because teachers with long careers are known and trusted throughout the community. Proponents also say that eliminating teacher tenure would discourage people from entering the teaching profession. Many people would decide to invest their talent in a more securable profession rather than risking their future on what could be a future pink slip. Having less talent in the teaching field would greatly impact education in a negative way. It would reduce innovation in teaching because many teachers’ lesson plans would become skewed towards the standardized tests in order to keep their jobs. Standardized test should not be the reason a teacher loses his or her job, but no teacher should have the luxury of having guaranteed job security. According to the pro-education reform documentary â€Å"Waiting for Superman,† only one out of 1000 teachers is fired for performance-related reasons each year. Teachers with tenure are the older and more experienced teachers. Although they may have experience, their age may be a downfall in their teaching tactics. The older a teacher is, the less energy they have for holding the attention of the class. Especially in the technological age, teachers must be not only energetic and relatable to their students, but they must also be computer savvy. Every classroom now a days has either a computerized white board, projector, or even a class set of laptops. The future of education relies on technology and many teachers that hold tenure have not grown up around such technology. This restricts them on their ability to utilize technology in order to relate to their students. With the high school drop out rate increasing each year, teachers must be well equipped with skills of not only the Internet, but also power points, online lectures, and also online tutoring that all their students may have access to. Society has risen the new generation of students to live off technology. Hardly ever do students look something up in a book rather than resorting to Google to find their answer. In a result, teachers that are younger with less experience in the classroom, tend to have more experience with the technological tactics of learning that many present day students prefer. Relating to the students learning habits is crucial for their future success in higher education. Firing a teacher with tenure is a very long and difficult process. It may take up to a year before the courts become involved before a teacher may lose their tenure. Teacher tenure requires schools to make long-term spending commitments and prevents districts from being fiscally flexible. Teacher employment contracts generally lack provisions for declining enrollment and economic turmoil. As a high school student, I saw many first hand accounts on the effects of tenure. Although it does affect teachers the most, the community around the school may be affected as well. While I was in high school, our school experienced many of our most talented young teachers being â€Å"pink slipped†. Many of the teachers being fired were the most respected around the campus, being favored by the student body by the way they could relate, and teach a subject with such interest. The majority of the school was outraged that many of the younger teachers were being fired rather than the uninteresting older teachers that did not get through to their students as well. The issue began to enter the classrooms affecting the learning of the students. The problem resulted in an organized â€Å"walk out† were the majority of my school walked out of their classrooms in an attempt to save the jobs of their favorite teachers. Although teachers tenure may create stability in a community, fair job protection, and an attractable job profession, tenure must either be eliminated completely, or much more difficult to acquire. Teachers in the K-12 must be held to the same requirements as a college professor in order to acquire tenure. Acquiring a tenure in college requires not only participation in the classroom for a certain amount of years, but also contributions to their given field and accomplishments they make in their long career. Teachings in the K-12 are usually held to the standard of working for two to seven years and then being rewarded job security. By being able to acquire tenure so easily, the education system as a whole suffers. With less talented teachers having secure jobs, students do not learn as efficiently which contributes to the lack of college degrees in America. Education as a whole is the most important issue for America’s success. In education, learning does not start with the student, but instead the tools they are given to succeed. We must either eliminate tenure, or raise the difficulty of acquiring such job security for the betterment of our future leaders.

It's Business Ethics term paper. Company report in particular Assignment

It's Business Ethics term paper. Company report in particular - Assignment Example These do not necessarily have to be the areas that the company enjoys high revenues. There is no limit as to the scope of a business’ corporate social responsibility and investment. What is of great debate is the involvement of the business in the corporate social responsibility. Shaw (2011) defines corporate social responsibility as an inbuilt, self-regulation mechanism that allows a business to monitor and ensure and it actively complies with the laws of the country, ethical standards, and the international norms. It stresses the importance of the company taking responsibility for its actions, encouraging the need for positive impact through involvement in the environment, consumers, employees of the business, communities surrounding the business, stakeholders of the company, and the public in general (Schwartz, 2011). Business ethics indicates how businesses examine the ethical problems that arise in the business environment, applying in the aspects of business conduct. Cor porate social investment is allocation of a part of a business’ budget into corporate social responsibility activities, which are not necessarily supposed to bring any revenue to the company (Arnold 2002). 2. Wal-mart Stores Company was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. As of 2012, it is the world’s third largest public corporation, operating chains of department stores and warehouses across the globe. The company owns 8500 stores around the globe in 15 countries that are registered under 15 different names. It has over two million employees, making it the world’s biggest private employer, and it is the world’s most valuable company (Halepete et al., 2006). Although Wal-Mart has been severally accuse of paying its employees’ salaries below the wage rate, taking customers from neighbourhood stores and hurting its neighbouring communities, and its predatory pricing, in the recent past, it has undergone a major transformation and focused to commit itself on progressive policies aimed towards corporate social responsibility. Recently, as a way of showing its corporate responsibility and concern to its customers, decided to reduce unhealthy salt levels, fats and sugars in most of its packaged food. To encourage healthy living through eating and feeding, the company lowered prices on healthy products such as fruits and vegetables (Halepete et al., 2006). Concern for community does not have to take the form of capital investment or resource allocation, it can do this by the product and services it offers to the masses. Secure products that are of high quality and of correct amount indicates a company’s dedication to corporate social responsibility through care and concern for the people (Werther & Chandler, 2011). The company does not only focus on promoting healthy living among its customers, but also has concern for the environment, a plan evident from its energy minimization plan. Its environmental concern measures include ef ficient use of energy by reducing greenhouse gas emission. This, the company is not shy of spending $500 million a year to increase its fuel efficiency. The pledge by the company’s management is to decrease greenhouse gasses emission by 20% in a period of seven years. It also pledged to reduce its energy use in the stores, by 30% in the same period, cutting its solid waste emission by 25% from the U.S. stores and clubs in a span of three years. It does not only gain good

The Value of Subprime Mortgage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The Value of Subprime Mortgage - Essay Example ot address prime mortgages, prime mortgages â€Å"are typically made to borrowers who have a strong credit history and can demonstrate a capacity to repay their loans...†2 On the other hand the term â€Å"subprime† is generally classified as mortgages or loans made to borrowers with an undesirable or elevated credit history or loan to borrowers with desirable credit history that â€Å"exceeded the property value†3 In such a case the borrower is typically charged with a higher interest rate and â€Å"up-front and continuing cost†4 in order to balance the risk associated with the likelihood of delinquencies or even foreclosure.5 In the article Prime Mortgages -Think Twice the writer, Michael Challiner points out that the subprime market accounts for over 4000 types of subprime mortgages. Furthermore, Challiener emphasized that the subprime â€Å"mortgages are extremely complex, higher fees tend to be charges, the amount lent compared to the value is likely to be lower and the interest higher than in the rest of the mortgage market.†6 The rapid growth of subprime mortgage loans began in the late 1990s.7 The growth was a result of the three pieces of federal regulations. First in 1980, Congress enacted the â€Å"Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (DIDMCA) of 1980" under Title V which preempted the interest rate cap.8 Two years later in 1982 the Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act (AMTPA) was enacted which provided for flexibility in the use of â€Å"interest rates and balloon payments.†9 By 1986 another law emerged this time the Tax Reform Act (TRA) which â€Å"prohibited the deduction of interest on consumer loans, yet allowed interests on mortgages for a primary residence as well as one additional home.†10 As such, the late 1990s regulations show the emergence of the subprime market into the â€Å"wider capital markets as it rapidly secured a place in both the home purchase and home equity mortgage market.†11 This paper examines the

Marks and Spencer Group PLC Performance Review Case Study

Marks and Spencer Group PLC Performance Review - Case Study Example The stock of the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is one of the FTSE 100 Index. Over the last thirty years, Marks & Spencer Group PLC has been the leading clothing company in the United Kingdom. The company operates more than 300 stores. The range and quality of its fashionable and functional clothes combined with better customer service has been attributed to the company’s success. In the past, the position of the company was strong in the United Kingdom market that it refused to make payments using credit cards from their clients (Markets.investorschronicle.co.uk, 2014). The company also felt no reason of conducting advertisements. Weight of Debt Financing The funding Strategy of Mark and Spencer Group is to make sure that the mix of financing sources offers a cost effectiveness and flexibility to match the company’s requirements. Operating subsidiaries of the company are financed through bank borrowing, finance leases, medium term notes, and facilities of committed bank. The objective is to make sure that the company has appropriate income in managing the financial obligations and to achieve the objective of the business. Additionally, its objective is to ensure that the company has a reasonable amount of source based on the maturity and the investors. The company has a committed syndicated revolving debt of 1.325 billion pounds that is meant to mature in 2017. The company has a single financial covenant which is the ration of the depreciation, earnings before interest and tax, rent payable, and the amortization plus the payable rent.

CIS273 Week 1 123 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CIS273 Week 1 123 - Assignment Example a) Standardizing HTML ensures that web pages are accessible to all sorts of internet users including the visually impaired. While designing a website, developers need to acknowledge that there are web users with disabilities such as poor eyesight. Other issues to be identified are choice of language and conditions for use. The issues provide developer with the knowledge of user circumstances hence accounting for them. b) Further stipulates that with combination of factors put forward by the W3C, the issues can be broadly divided into cultural, social and technological. Language and symbols considerations are for cultural issues, social differences are found in age, gender are even economics while technology is with computer related issues. a) The selected website uses java script based on character set utf-8. The HTML DOCTYPE reveals that the version used in the site is 4.01. The comment tags used in the source code are of this type, â€Å"†. Furthermore, the marked header elements contain the main subject of the webpage which in this case is definition. b) The website is also preferably designed for internet explorer. The fact that the used comment tag is and does not employ â€Å"---â€Å" is proof enough that the comment syntax used is SGML. a) With respect to the e-Activity comments are at the beginning of the selected source code. The comments basically talk about the language used in the website which in the selected case is English. The essence of the comment is that during editing of the source code the web designer will tell the exact place to make changes. b) Adding a comment into a web page requires something like HTML Comment Box which offers one of the easiest ways to add a comment to a web page of a website. Furthermore Disqus Comment Box could also be used. Comments are necessary for code explanation, for

Reading Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Reading Summary - Essay Example to identify changing customers’ requirements, identify adjacencies that may complement its existing products and in general, developed new products that anticipate customers’ needs. The networked solution generates pool of creative ideas that are tested for their relevance and undergo comprehensive R&D, marketing research, marketing and other functions before they are launched. It has given P&G significant competitive advantage in the market. ‘Tapping the World’s Innovation Hot Spots’ informs one about the different ways firms innovate in order to meet their strategic goals. The authors have broadly identified five major models of innovations that are used by firms: focused factory; brute force; Hollywood; large-scale ecosystem; and system integration. Focused factory model concentrates on few tasks or fields using talent pool to innovate. Brute force utilizes large number of ideas to develop highly useful and creative products. Firms forge alliances with universities and academia to tap new ideas. Hollywood model helps create special place like Silicon Valley where smart entrepreneurs gather and thrash out new ideas for innovation. Large-scale ecosystem is developed as response to emergencies or external environment like economic breakdown. Initiatives are often taken by national governments that give incentives to domestic agencies. System integration refers to services including R&D facilities and infrastructure that may be used by other firms to align their corporate strategies with models of innovation that best complement their competencies or requirements. The article is important as it expands on firm’s innovation

An analysis of factors leading to failure of small businesses in The Dissertation

An analysis of factors leading to failure of small businesses in The Amur Region, Far East Russia - Dissertation Example This publication is important in outlining the background of the Russian policies for small businesses as well as the current business landscape in the country. For instance, there is the discourse devoted on how the business and entrepreneurship climate are currently difficult as demonstrated by the small number of small firms, the low levels of fixed capital investment as well as the capital flight that supposedly exceeded an estimated $15 billion annually. (p. 73) With this OECD (2002) report, several general factors are clearly identified that led to the successes and failures of small enterprises in Russia. In investigating the Amur experience, the corpus of literature of the regional business landscape is essential in depicting the dynamics of setting up and running businesses from policy standpoint as well as from cases of entrepreneurial outcomes. A World Bank research group argued that local government policies are crucial in the growth of small enterprises and that the â₠¬Å"regional data on small enterprises per thousand residents is considered an adequate proxy for local government support for small businesses.† (De Melo, Ofer and World Bank 1999, p10) Several regional cases were identified, compared and assessed. The outcome is an extensive investigation on policy differences, policy reforms, among other economic and political variables that were effectively linked to business performances. Extensive discussion of universal policy areas that cover small-sized businesses are also available in the publication, OECD Studies on SMEs and Entrepreneurship High-Growth Enterprises: What Governments Can Do to Make a Difference. Specific indicators on entrepreneurship that have been derived by OECD from qualitative information on laws and regulations, among other related sources could be adopted by this study at it provided clear roadmap in effectively surveying national and local administrations. These indicators and the methodologies employed to ide ntify them are contained in the OECD’s report called Measuring Innovation (2010). More recent research covering Vladimir Putin’s regime include Ganske’s (2008) book on Russia’s political economy. This work cited the economic reforms that are currently in place as well as several important factors that make small firms fail such as adverse local regulations (licensing, certification, tax inspections, fire inspections and sanitary inspections) and tax policies. (p16) This latter point was further expounded by Sakwa (2004), who argued that although Putin sought to tackle the bureaucratization of the economic landscape and that so far only two large cities have demonstrated some semblance of business dynamism, Moscow and St. Petersburg. (p. 206) Fish (2005) devoted much of his work on documenting the challenges of the effect of bureaucracy on small businesses. The research done by Dana et al. is an excellent resource on current business statistics in Russia s ince it contains critical examination of the data, particularly the numbers, which according to the authors tend to be inflated. One of the reasons given for this argument is that small business owners often â€Å"force onto de facto employees the status of individual entrepreneurs for tax purposes.†