Western Culture. Wal-Mart in Germany and Carrefour in South Korea Essay

Western Culture. Wal-Mart in Germany and Carrefour in South Korea - Essay Example However these multinational corporations through the imposition of their own culture on the international societies fail to gain a wider acceptance in such markets. Thus in the subsequent period Wal-Mart and Carrefour both had to gain retreat from international markets like Germany and South Korea respectively. (Culture at Wal-Mart, p.68; Jung-a, 2006). Wal-Mart in Germany The retail giant, Wal-Mart based in Arkansas in United States had expanded its operations to gain access to international markets like Germany. However during 2006 the multinational retail company unfortunately had to wind up its operations from the country owing to a cultural conflict. The problem with Wal-Mart operating in Germany was that it failed to adjust its operational practices based on the existing culture of the German society. The sales staffs at Wal-Mart were trained to gain nearness to the customer by pitching sales standing at a ten-foot distance to them. These people endeavored to maintain eye conta cts with the customers while demonstrating their product and shared greetings and smile with them. However the German people not used to such cultural paradigms misunderstood them, which created the main problem. Further the staffs at Wal-Mart also helped the food and grocery marketers with their stuffed bags. These practices were dramatically assumed to be erroneous by the German population to which the management of the company paid little attention. German people who came face to face with operation staffs at Wal-Mart busy in conducting gossips and romances totally shunned such relationships for which they started developing a negative attitude towards the company. However the management of Wal-Mart did little to change the operational practices and in rendering training to the staff in behave in a likely manner with the customers. They only recruited German managers to help reduce the cultural gap. However unfortunately such action taken by the company in gaining customer attent ion also failed to generate any positive responses. The company, which was also surpassed by the German retailers in terms of sales and revenue gradually, quit its operations from the country during 2006 (Culture at Wal-Mart, p.68). Carrefour in South Korea

Hawaiin Punch Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hawaiin Punch - Case Study Example The marketing division plans on using social media so as to change from child centered focus to the actual purchaser (mothers). The company plans to reach to the Hispanic mothers, African American mothers as well as the multicultural and urban children. Through social media, the company can market its innovated brands. The new brands developed by the company were inspired by Hispanic flavors which also attracted the non Hispanic households. Since the new flavors were solely sold through the finished goods network, social media can be employed to increase their awareness on the end users as well as well as the indirect users. Currently the Company’s sales stand at $66, 262,410 realized through analog and print media. Through employment of social media, the soft drink company can later on evaluate the impact of social media from its sales volume. Social media advertising has the advantage of causing longer shelf time effect at lower costs. The company incurs extra allowances on payment of shelf space on new flavors with varied package sizes to the retailers. The allowance prices for the juice drink aisle and juice ranged from $15,000 to $250,000 per SKU for supermarket space. The amounts rise to $2.8 million allowance-cost per SKU for a national supermarket distribution shelf space. Based on the U.S per capita beverage consumption, the carbonated soft drinks consumption in 2004 were a solid 52.3 gallons which constitutes 28.7% market share. In 2004, the Hawaiian Punch producing Company made a profit of $66,262,410 which was majorly realized through analog and print advertising. Currently the product has a 94% brand recognition in the USA which is an exemplary figure in reference to its market share. In 2004, the company incurred 78% expense in cost of goods sold which was significantly contributed by its huge advertisement costs. The company has bears an enormous task in evaluating its brand equity, its direct consumers and trade consumers.

Media Essays Media Fiction Fact

Media Essays Media Fiction Fact Media Fiction Fact ‘Media portrayals of law, be they fiction or fact, are inevitably distortions of reality’. Discuss with reference to the module’s readings and, if relevant, illustrate with specific examples drawn from the seminars Introduction ‘I think we can say that the public’s attitude to the criminal justice system is greatly, probably dominantly, affected and influenced by what they read in newspapers, hear on radio, watch on television and, now of course, see on the internet. In other words the media’. As the noted legal journalist, Marcel Berlins explains, the media has become a powerful and significant source of legal information and a means by which individual perceptions about the law are formed and shaped. The concern however, is that the media is also capable of persuading people to adopt and endorse notions about the legal system that are based on ‘misconceptions, false facts or prejudice’. By using various images and sounds the media is able to influence the public’s reaction to legal issues, and convince the public to accept the media’s distorted perspective. The question then becomes whether all media representations are a distortion of reality or whether the media is also capable of accurately portraying the law. Information and representations become distorted when they are presented in a manner that is misleading and inconsistent with their original form. The case of Caesar Barber is a clear illustration of media’s ability to present the law in a manner that falls within the definition of distortion. Caesar Barber commenced a class action lawsuit against various fast food restaurants for failing to inform the public about the harmful risks associated with the consumption of fast food. Although, the aim of the lawsuit was to raise public awareness and attempt to make large corporations legally accountable for their ‘pervasive deceptions’, the media, in an attempt to attract readers, used various tactics to undermine the importance and socio-legal implications of the case. Various newspapers and reputable journalists used catchy phrases, humorous pictures and witty headlines to give the story an entertainment quality and create market value. According to some commentators, the media must resort to these theatrical antics and dramatic techniques in order to retain its ‘mass appeal’. As Margaret Thornton notes, the media are forced to present distorted images of the legal system in order to secure ratings and retain its power and influence over the public: ‘Accurate portrayals, such as the American TV series, Paper Chase, which was located in a law school, have had to be withdrawn because of their unpopularity. Similarly, the exploration and explication of legal doctrine are considered to be too dull and complex for popular media’. Thus, as a business, the media responds to market pressures by employing various tactics to attract consumers including using misleading headlines and false images to incite emotional responses. It is precisely because the media picks and chooses what to focus on, that they inevitably misrepresent the law and blur the line between fact and fiction. Events are defined as being fictitious if they are untrue, imaginary or based on a false belief. Although the term ‘fiction’ is usually equated with the imagination, fictitious events can include real people and experiences, but are primarily viewed as a form of entertainment. In contrast, a fact is usually equated with truth and reality and is defined in law as ‘a thing that is indisputably the case’ or ‘the truth about events as opposed to interpretation’. The distinction between fact and fiction is fading as reality is becoming more fictionalized through the media’s use of narrative devices such as metaphors. It is the media’s ability to present their version of the story in a realistic manner that makes it difficult for the public to discern the truth. Although there is strong support for the argument that ‘media portrayals of the law, be they fiction or fact, are inevitably distortions of reality’, the real issue is whether this is indeed a cause for concern. Many media critics are concerned that the media will inevitably undermine the public’s confidence in the judiciary, lawyers and the legal system. This anxiety is founded on the idea that the media is the chief or sole source of legal information, and that audiences are incapable of resisting media influences in formulating their opinions about the law. The aim of this paper therefore, will be to explore the relationship between the media and the law, and examine the ways in which the media distorts the law through representations of reality based on fact and fiction. The last part of the paper will be devoted to examining whether or not the media’s ability to misrepresent the law is indeed as problematic and worrisome as it first appears. Relationship between the media and the law The media and the law are inextricably linked in a number of ways. Firstly, the media is the subject of legal discourse. Lawyers, judges and policy makers are constantly involved in the regulation of different forms of media such as the radio, television, newspapers, and the internet. Media regulation has become an important legal issue and attempts have been made to develop rules restricting media content and to determine who should have control over the production of media forms. Secondly, the law and media are connected through media communications about the law and legal events. Whether it is an advertisement for a law firm, a reality courtroom programme, a newspaper article on a current legal event, or an internet blog on a controversial legal issue, the media is a constant source of legal information. Although the law is probably most visible in highly institutionalized places such as the courts, law firms and police stations, it is also present through media representations of crime and justice. It is through media portrayals of law that the relationship between the law and media manifests itself. As Sheila Brown states, ‘By depicting the processes of law and justice within the dramatic conventions of reality TV, courtroom soap opera, the voyeurism of human interest, and the aesthetics of visuality, media culture and the law sometimes appear to become indivisible domains’. The relationship between the media and the law is further strengthened by the fact that both are present in our everyday lived experience. A common sense approach to understanding the concept of the ‘everyday life’ suggests that it is ‘the routine act of conducting one’s day-to-day existence’. Based on this view, the everyday is simply a representation of individual experiences that impact on the formation of one’s opinions and identity. Since the everyday life is interwoven into human experience it is both patently obvious and hidden because it is often ‘taken-for-granted’. As Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns note, quoting from Schutz and Luckmann’s Structures of the Life World, ‘The world of everyday life is consequently man’s fundamental and paramount reality†¦It is the unexamined ground of everything given in my experience†¦the taken-for-granted frame in which all the problems which I must overcome are placed’. The law is representative of the everyday life because it is an integral part of our daily routine and plays a significant role in various aspects of our life such as our family, career, community and education. From filing for divorce, to claiming sexual harassment in the workplace, or to suffering an injury at the hands of a drunk driver we encounter the law on a daily basis in its various shapes and forms. It is precisely because the law is an integral part of our every day experience that it becomes a dominant source of knowledge that ‘helps shape experiences, interpretations, and understandings of social life’. However, because the law is a component of one’s daily routine and habits, people are generally unaware of the law’s influence over their daily experiences and conceptions of social life. The same principle can be said to apply to the media. Like the law, the media penetrates our daily lives, helps formulate our understanding of social reality, and its influence and power in shaping individual perceptions of the world is frequently ignored. Thus, the media are often viewed as both entertainers and an ‘agents of socialization’ who play a significant role in shaping the public’s understanding of the law and legal processes. As a dominant source of legal information, the media is often viewed as the primary means by which the law is able to become a part of the everyday life. The media educates the public about lawyers, judges and criminals and provides its own perspective on what the law is and how it works. It is the media’s ability to ‘teach us about ‘the law’’ that has led legal scholars to critically examine the relationship between the media and the law. The concern is that the media’s use of sensationalized headlines not only misinforms the public by presenting distorted images of legal reality but also undermines the public’s confidence in the legal system. Media distorts legal reality On January 25, 2007, one of the BBC news headlines read, ‘Risk of suffering crime ‘rises’: The risk of becoming a victim of crime in England and Wales is rising for the first time since 1995, figures suggest’. Anyone reading this headline would automatically be under the impression that, according to official figures, crime is on the rise and is a serious issue in England. The problem with this headline and other newspaper reports about crime is that it does not accurately reflect the reality of criminal behaviour. Statistical evidence produced and gathered by the Home Office indicates that contrary to the BBC report, ‘violent crime has fallen or remained stable since 1995’. Furthermore, any rises in crime can be attributed to procedural disparities arising from the number of crimes reported and recorded by the police in any particular year. Although the text of the BBC article makes reference to these findings, noting that the increase in crime is still lower than the total percent recorded in 1995, this information is contained further down in the text of the article. Thus, the large number of readers who merely skim newspaper headlines will be misled into thinking that the general level of crime in England is increasing. This suggests that what the media chooses to focus on can give rise to public misconceptions about the criminal justice system. The question then is if the media has such a large impact on people’s perceptions about the law, then why do they insist on distorting representations of crime? People generally use their spare time to engage in activities that are both relaxing and fun and that help them unwind from the stresses of everyday life. During these leisurely moments, people generally watch television, listen to the radio, surf the internet, or read the newspaper. In this way, the media is often viewed as a pastime, as both a source of entertainment and a means by which one is able to distract oneself from the complexities of life. As McQuail states, ‘The media are often sought out precisely as an alternative to and an escape from reality’. What people seem to forget during their leisurely pursuits is that the media is still a business, whose primary goal is to sell the product of entertainment and information to its consumers. The media is subject to various market pressures and as such its principle objective is to generate profits by using a variety of techniques to attract consumers. Since the media’s principle objective is to sell its product, the media is not focused on representing a true pattern of what is going on in the world. As was seen with the BBC news headline, the media use various marketing tools such as sensationalized headlines to attract its audience. Events are only reported in the media if they resonate with the public and attract viewers. As is noted by McQuail, â€Å"The simple fact that the mass media are generally oriented to the interest of their audiences as ‘consumers’ of information and entertainment can easily account for most of the evidence of reality distortion†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. A clear example of media distortion is the fact that the press only concentrates on a small number of criminal offences which include serious crimes such as murder and sexual assault or celebrity crimes. As is noted by Thornton, ‘The dramatic potential of criminal litigation is overwhelmingly preferred, in which everything is biased and distorted for dramatic effect. Within the crime show genre itself, violent crimes are disproportionately over represented’. Although these types of cases matter, they often leave the viewer with misconceptions regarding the general level of crime. The recent British Crime Survey indicates that in 2006/2007 the total number of domestic burglary crimes reported by the police was 292.3 thousand compared to the 19.2 thousand reports of crime that constitute serious violence against the person such as homicide or serious wounding. Although the threat of being a victim of burglary is higher than that of homicide, the media tend to focus its reports on violent crimes because the seriousness of these types of offences triggers an emotional response in the viewer thereby increasing media productivity and profits. This type of slanted reporting leads the public to grossly overestimate the amount of serious violent crimes, in relation to all other crimes. As Berlins notes in his lecture, ‘I suppose what I’m saying is that the media, in its totality, does probably irreversibly convey a distorted view of the state of crime and punishment, that therefore in turn, the public, which takes much of its information as well as its attitudes from the media, holds misguided views on the subject’. Thus, while the media only reports that which will give rise to public emotion, the public, who view the media as a primary source of legal information, uses these reports to formulate their own views about the criminal justice system. The danger is that this type of reporting will erode the public’s confidence in the legal system. As Garapon notes, ‘by placing us under the jurisdiction of the emotions, the media are in fact distancing us from the jurisdiction of the law’. Public confidence in the legal system and the judiciary is an important issue. A lack of confidence in state institutions, and in particular the court system, may lead to a form of vigilante justice. For instance, when Sarah Payne, an eight-year old girl, was sexually assaulted and murdered, the News of the World’s tabloid made a plea for the public endorsement of a law that would allow the public access to a sex offender registry. After the tabloid ran this report, vigilante groups began attacking the homes of families they mistakenly believed were pedophiles. Thus, if the public, through media portrayals, is under the impression that violent crime is on the rise or that the courts and police are not doing enough to keep criminals out of society, then they may attempt to take justice into their own hands. A regular pattern across all research in this area suggests that the majority of the public does not have confidence in the courts particularly in relation to sentencing. Mike Hough and Julian Roberts conducted a study on the sentencing trends in Britain and found that ‘judgesreceived significantly more negative evaluations than any othergroup of criminal justice professionals. The public systematicallyunder-estimate the severity of sentencing patterns, and thisis significantly related to attitudes to sentencers’. This lack of confidence appears to emanate from a significant lack of knowledge about how the system works and the levels of sentencing. Since public opinion about the legal system is influenced by media reports about crime, it would follow that the public’s ignorance about the judiciary and sentencing is substantially based on media representations which are largely inaccurate. However, not all media portrayals of the law are entirely unfounded or inaccurate. As Berlins notes, ‘I don’t want to give the impression that most people get most of their information and opinions from bad fiction on the telly. After all, television also gives us some very good, informative, sober documentaries’. However, Berlins goes on to state that while there are accurately depicted representations of crime and justice in the media, viewers tend to not be interested in these shows and they are usually ‘withdrawn because of their unpopularity’. The Media distorts the law regardless if they represent the facts or fictions The issue then is whether the media is incapable of producing legal narratives that are based on facts and not fiction. Recently, the L.A. Times, a predominant American newspaper, released the story of Mychal Bell’s guilty plea in the ‘Jena Six’ case. In the ‘Jena Six’ case, six black teenagers, including Mychal Bell, were accused of assaulting Justin Baker, a white teenager, at their highschool in Jena, Louisiana. The media claimed that the assault resulted from a racially-motivated incident at the highschool, where three white students hung nooses from a tree that black students were allegedly prohibited from sitting under. Mychal Bell was the only member of the ‘Jena Six’ group who was charged with attempted murder. Bell’s charges were subsequently reduced and after pleading guilty to a second-degree battery charge he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The public viewed Bell’s prosecution as being ‘excessive and racially discriminatory’ particularly in comparison to the way white offenders were treated in similar offences. The L.A. Times’ coverage of Bell’s guilty plea sensationalized the issue of racism while at the same time omitting relevant facts relating to Bell’s sentence. Although the L.A. Times story appears to set out the true facts of the story in relation to Bell’s sentence, they overlook the fact that Bell had a previous criminal record. Previous convictions on an offenders record is considered an aggravating factor that the court will take into account when determining an appropriate sentence. Thus, as one commentator notes, the L.A. Times, in addressing the issue of whether the sentence was excessive and racially-motivated, should have noted that information concerning Bell’s previous convictions was a factor in the sentencing decision: This is a story about whether a criminal prosecution of young black males for a violent crime was too harsh. Any responsible story addressing that topic would fully describe the perpetrators’ criminal histories especially histories of similar behavior. This information is absolutely vital to assessing whether his treatment at the hands of law enforcement was unnecessarily harsh and by not mentioning his priors, the paper implies to most rational readers that he has no criminal history at all. Assuming the aim of the L.A. Times report was simply to inform readers of recent developments in the ‘Jena Six’ case, this example demonstrates that by focusing on certain facts, at the exclusion of others, the media is able to create a fictional reality which substantiates its own hasty judgments. A local reporter in Jena, Louisiana, commented on the media’s coverage of ‘Jena Six’ and highlighted several myths reported by the media noting: ‘The media got most of the basics wrong. In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism. Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice’. Among the number of facts the media neglected to report was that evidence given by both witnesses and defendants showed that the noose incident, which took place three months prior to the assault of Justin Baker, was not only a prank against a group of white not black students, but was also unrelated to the attack. Thus, the media, by picking which facts to report and by drawing unsubstantiated correlations between various facts, have presented a distorted picture of this case. Although, the facts presented by the media in the Jena Six case are in and of themselves true, the manner in which they are presented leads to a blurring of the line between fact and fiction. It is for these reasons that the media is generally charged with presenting a ‘flawed and distorted version of the law’. As Richard Nobles and David Schiff note, ‘the media misreads law for its own purposes. This misreading has the capacity to generate what, within the media itself, are described as ‘crises of confidence in the administration of justice’. Distinguishing between fact and fiction has become a difficult task for media consumers. Fictional events are becoming more realistic through various television programs that dramatize the law and the judicial system such as Ally McBeal and People’s Court (UK). These television shows impose a conceptual ‘reality’ that viewers can identify with. How then is it possible for a viewer of these types of programmes to be able to distinguish between fact and fiction when the real object of these shows is to provide neither? According to J. Street, the distinction between fact and fiction is not one that can be discerned by simply watching these shows but is rather a skill that must be learned. The idea that the line between fact and fiction is becoming more and more difficult to discern is not something that is recent or that has emerged with the introduction of reality TV. The media has always used various tools to impose a certain amount of ‘fictionalization’ on ‘real’ issues. In addition to using sensationalized headlines and twisting facts by playing on words, the media also uses metaphors as ‘an expression of categories of reality’. Metaphors are used in media crime reporting in order to present complex legal issues in a clear and straightforward manner that makes them more ‘real’ and easy for an audience to relate to. Metaphors such as ‘justice is blind’, ‘war on terror’, ‘cold-blooded murderer’, ‘lawyers are leeches’ and ‘if it doesn’t fit you must acquit’ are used by the media to represent a particular angle on a legal story by relating that perspective to human experience. For example, the metaphor ‘lawyers are leeches’ will impress upon anyone who has had a negative experience with a lawyer or who has had to pay an excessive amount for legal representation. The media is able, through the use of these metaphors to paint a certain picture for the viewer that they are able to connect with because the ‘values and emotions’ attached to these metaphors resonate with the everyday. As Brown notes, ‘What gives such metaphors their resonance is not actually their ‘distortion’ of reality; it is their proximity to experience’. Metaphors, however, can also distort representations of the truth in crime reporting. For example, the metaphor ‘justice is blind’ is used to signify the fact that the judiciary is an impartial and independent body whose job is to apply the law equally and fairly to all persons regardless of class, race or gender. However, what is lost in this metaphor is that justice is not always adversarial and can be achieved through alternative methods to dispute resolution such as mediation and negotiation. Nevertheless, even if the media generates a fictional story, by using metaphors ‘taken from the real world’ the media is able to connect with the public. As a result, metaphors do not necessarily have to be accurate in order for the media to be able to unite with the public through common experience. Another way the media is able to connect with the public in disseminating information about the law is by turning ‘readers or viewers into judges, providing them with all the material necessary for them to make the judgments themselves’. The facts, legal issues and judgments surrounding court-room type shows are introduced to the viewer as the media sees it and as such, there is no room for mediation, argument or debate. The media trial is presented in a story-like fashion like any good novelist, the media tailors the sequence of events and uses characters, imagery, and symbolism to guide its viewers into reaching a pre-determined judgment. By setting the stage and employing various theatrical tools, the media falsely leads its viewers into believing that the outcome of the media trial corresponds with their own opinions about the law and justice. Although the media is able to provide instantaneous justice, by compressing the complexities of a legal proceeding into a 30 minute clip, the media ignores the fact that ‘a trial is an extremely complex and sophisticated device’ and that just and fair decisions are reached only through careful consideration of all the facts, evidence and testimony. Thus, media trials have the ability to undermine the role of the judiciary and the public’s faith in the legal system, by impressing upon its viewers the belief that justice is easily ascertained without deliberation. Garapon elaborates on this point stating, ‘The trial is able to control the way in which the facts are presented, proved and interpreted. On the television, however, a ‘construction of reality’ is implicit and thus directly experienced and thus escapes both examination and discussion’. Hence, as Garapon further notes in ‘preferring seduction to reasoned argument’, the media are able to display a version of the truth ‘at the expense of truth itself’. Although the media’s main role is to entertain, the media is viewed by the public as a major distributor of legal information. Since the media uses various dramatic techniques to relate information regarding the law to its viewers, the public is generally unaware that the media simply has no regard for whether or not the information they are relaying is true or accurate. It is in this way that the distinction between fact and fiction becomes harder for the public to discern. The public adopts the media’s conception of legal reality and as a result views the law in a negative light and loses confidence in the criminal justice system. This is not to suggest that all media content is based on false assumptions or inaccurate facts, but more often then not accounts of the law are misapprehensions of the truth. Is there a valid reason for concern over distorted media portrayals of the law? All research in respect of the effect media has on popular conceptions of the law suggests that media portrayals of the law, whether they are based on fact or fiction, present a distorted version of legal reality. As noted earlier, the media’s power to distort the law and present fictions as legal truths causes anxiety in the legal community. Again, the concern is that media misrepresentations about the law may destroy the public’s faith in the legal system. The administration of justice and the independence of the judiciary are important values that safeguard the fundamental rights of every individual in society. Without these principles, justice, fairness and equality would cease to exist and society would revert back to a state of war where everyone fends for themselves. The media, as the voice of public opinion, ought to be troubled by the role they play and the influence they have in undermining the public’s confidence in the legal system. This is particularly so when examining the media’s power over the public from an effects-based approach. The effects model suggests that media users are like sponges in that they simply absorb media content without any reflection or analysis. This is disconcerting given that some researchers have suggested that information from the media and other sources are absorbed into the mind and filed into ‘bins’ and that when making ‘heuristic judgments’, people extract the information from these bins and ‘often fail to consider that the information extracted could be from fictitious sources’. Based on this approach, individuals who have not learned to decipher between fact and fiction, are in danger of formulating erroneous beliefs about the law that are based on stereotypes, half-truths and clichà ©s. On the other hand, it can be argued that because viewers and readers are generally ‘media-savvy’ they are cognizant of the media’s power to mislead and as such do not rely on media generated content about the law when making value judgments about the legal system. As Lieve Gies notes, ‘Most individuals are sufficiently ‘media-savvy’ to be aware that newspapers and television cannot always be regarded as the most reliable or authoritative sources of knowledge. People are capable of detecting the media’s deceptions and distortions, which means that they are not prepared to put all their eggs in the media’s basket’. Thus, instead of ‘simply absorbing the televised message like a sponge’, viewers and readers are able to ‘decode’ media communications and attach entirely new and different meanings to the media text. The idea that media users are capable of scrutinizing media content and are actively engaged in the construction of their own reality is based on the active audience approach to understanding media effects on the law. According to the active audience approach, media users are not merely cultural ‘dopes’ who submit to the media’s power without reflection and examination. A concern raised by advocates of the active audience approach is that media effects studies overlook the fact that audiences are able to maintain their own independence and views when engaging the media. Instead, research in this area generally starts from the presumption that ‘the media is to blame’. As is noted by David Gauntlett, ‘The problem with much media effects research, however, is that researchers have jumped straight to the second stage investigating the media and its possible ‘effects’ without even bothering with the first one, namely checking whether any notable suspects have in fact been affected’. Stuart Hall’s analysis of the media further suggests that any content received by viewers and readers through various media forms is hollow and meaningless until the viewer or reader ‘deciphers the text and assigns meaning to it’. Hall’s reception analysis model suggests that readers and viewers consciously refuse to give into media influences and instead attach their own set of values to the information being conveyed through media texts. However, as Gies points out, ‘The potential blind spot in reception analysis is that it may still end up giving the media too much preponderance and ignore other influential sources of knowledge’. Nevertheless, the thrust of the argument in both the active audience approach and the reception analysis model is that the media’s powers to shape one’s understanding of the law will vary depending on the meaning that one attaches to media messages which is dependent on one’s cultural perspective one’s class, race and gender. As is noted by Gies, ‘In constructionist analyses of media culture, it is the socio-cultural background of people, and not the media products they consume, which is seen as a more reliable predictor of how they construct social meaning’. For instance, in Canada, the majority of the images presented on the television depict a Western conception of reality. Since Canada is an ethically and culturally diverse country there are many citizens who have differing cultural perspectives and identities. It is therefore dif

Response to Movie Ethnic Notions Essay -- ethnic Notions Film Movie Es

Response to Movie "Ethnic Notions" The movie 'Ethnic Notions' describes different ways in which African-Americans were presented during the 19th and 20th centuries. It traces and presents the evolution of the rooted stereotypes which have created prejudice towards African-Americans. This documentary movie is narrated to take the spectator back to the antebellum roots of African-American stereotypical names such as boy, girl, auntie, uncle, Sprinkling Sambo, Mammy Yams, the Salt and Pepper Shakers, etc. It does so by presenting us with multiple dehumanized characters and cartons portraying African-Americans as carefree Sambos, faithful Mammies, savage Brutes, and wide-eyed Pickaninnies. These representations of African-Americans roll across the screen in popular songs, children's rhymes, household artifacts and advertisements. These various ways to depict the African ?American society through countless decades rooted stereotypes in the American society. I think that many of these still prevail in the contemporary socie ty, decades after the civil rights movement occurred. The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...

Ethics. Cultural relativism and Divine command theory Essay

Ethics Introduction            Societies have different beliefs that are considered as the basis of their existence. They are the morals that govern the behaviour patterns and as far as the community is concerned, they also serve as the grounds of what is right and what is wrong. In philosophy, there are certain theories that have been formulated to describe extensively on the ethical virtues that the community upholds. They justify morality and immorality. The theories include; relativism, utilitarianism, divine command theory, deontology and virtue theory. This paper will focus on the five ethic theories by describing them and major solely on one theory that supersedes the others and justifying the reasons why it is commonly considered. Relativism            Cultural relativism is the descriptive view that different groups of people or cultures, have different ways of evaluating what is right and what is wrong. In different cultures, even when we would anticipate to agree on some issues of morality, diversity is evident (Ruth, 2010). Ethical relativism, an action is right or wrong depending on the moral norms that are practised in a society. Cultural relativism describes the way people actually behave, while ethical relativism describes the fact that a society learns from the previous generation, how to behave, think and feel. A well -known evidence of cultural relativism is the way people behave around the world. For instance, eating beef is moral in USA while it is immoral in India, or killing new born females is moral in China and India whereas it is immoral in USA. Ethical relativism argues that the ethics of a society evolve with time and change to fit circumstances. This paper will focus on the five ethic theorie s by describing them and major solely on one theory that supersedes the others and justifying the reasons why it is commonly considered.            Utilitarianism states that an action being morally right or wrong is dependant wholly on its consequences. An action is right if the outcome is best and wrong if the outcome is bad. In this theory, an action is right if it promotes the happiness of the performer of the action and everyone affected by it (Boylan, 2009). An action is wrong if it brings the reverse of happiness, that is, pain and sadness. This theory makes it possible for the right thing to be done from a bad motive. The utilitarianism theory is often associated with John Stuart Mill, a philosopher who stated that â€Å"actions are right to the degree that they tend to promote the greatest good for the greatest number. Divine command theory            Divine command theory views that moral obligation consists in obedience to God’s commands. An act is moral if God commands us to do it and it is immoral if God prohibits us from doing it (Brown, 2001). Therefore to say that it is good to tell the truth is semantically equivalent to saying that God commands us to tell the truth. Similarly, to say that it is evil to steal is the same as saying that God prohibits us from stealing. The divine command theory is however wildly improbable for reasons demonstrated by the Euthyphic dilemma. As it states, â€Å"is an action morally good because God commands it or does God command it because it is morally good?† By saying that God commands an action because it morally good, threatens the independence of God. It means that the unprejudiced ground of morality is outside of God, and He is indebted to adhere to his standard, and thus He is not sovereign.The characteristic Christian rejoinder to the Euthyphro Dilemma is to ground goodness in God’s nature. Therefore, it is God’s nature to do good and He never acts divergent to His nature and also, the ground of morality is not some peripheral ordinary to which God must observe.            Deontological ethics can also be referred to as duty-based ethics. It arbitrates morality by scrutinising the nature of actions and the agents will instead of the goals achieved. For deontology, whether a situation is right or wrong depends on the action that resulted in the situation for example, a deontologist would argue that it is wrong to lie to a murderer about the location of a victim. As long as we are following our duties, we are behaving morally and vice versa. In order to make the correct moral choices, we must understand what our moral duties are and what correct rules exist to regulate those duties. Deontological theories have been named as formalist due to their central principle lying in the conformity of an action to some rule or law.            The first philosopher to define deontological principles was Immanuel Rant, who held that nothing is good deprived of experiences with the exception of a good will, which is one that wills to act in concurrence with the moral law and out of respect for that law, rather than out of natural dispositions. The important thing is whether the person is expressing good moral virtues or not. The issues whether the intention is right, the correct rule is being followed or whether the consequences of the action are good, are not relevant. A virtue atheist is likely to advise you to act in the same way as a virtuous person in the given situation. The character of a person is the outcome of his or her character traits which can either be good, bad or somewhere in the middle. Virtues are the admirable character traits while the opposites of virtues.            Ethical relativism indorses right and wrong rooted in an individual’s culture and not an individual’s beliefs whereas virtue ethics acquaints a person’s character as indication of inherent goodness, rather than gauging the results of actions executed by that person. It supports the theory that a bad person can have good actions. The motives of an action regulates the value or goodness of that person in spite of the outcome of the actionEthical relativism discards absolute moral values because of a lack of proof. People’s behaviour finds provision from where and how they live, unlike the virtue theory where people’s behaviour finds provision from their character traits and goodness.            According to utilitarian theory, the one thing that brands an act morally right or wrong is whether or not the consequences are beneficial. On the other hand, virtue ethics is of the impression that a morally right act in some state calls for a moral choice is what a virtuous person would do in that state. For example, if a person is sick and goes to the hospital for treatment, the doctor is morally right to kill the patient and give his organs to other patients who need them to survive. This, is in accordance to utilitarian theory. However, this is wrong because it is taking away someone’s right to live for the motive of making other people happy.            Even though deontology and utilitarianism are categorised as â€Å"ethics of conduct,† they differ in their ethical theory. Deontology indorses an action based on a moral law or code, while for utilitarianism an action that gives the best consequences or happiness to the action is right. Virtue ethics is categorised as â€Å"ethics of character† and it is focused on how people should be instead of the actions people should perform (Moore, 2009). Virtue ethics should be the ethical motivation in a person’s life. He or she should use levelheadedness abilities to regulate their duties based on virtues and also the universal rules and schemes that guarantee justice and fairness for everyone. Listening to one’s intuition in order to determine the greatest good as well as the virtues that will best serve the society is the best way to ensure this justice and fairness. A human being should not have right over another person’s life becaus e everyone is equal. References Ruth Benedict, Martin T.K 2010.. Patterns of Cultures. The Eagle publishers Boylan, M. (2009). Basic Ethics (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Brown, C. (2001). Ethical Theories Compared. Delaine publishers Moore, B. N., & Parker, R. (2009). Critical Thinking (9th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Source document

Compare a product(beer) in two different brand Essay

Introduction In order to understand the purpose and significance of the integrated communication process, it is useful to compare to brand within the same product category. This report seeks to provide an understanding of the effectiveness on campaign strategies. In doing so, a critique of the contrasting creative strategy and communication objectives will be attained. An insight on target market and market partitioning approach comes into the scope of this report. Product Category The product category chosen is food/drink product, especially on beer product. The following two brands are both from foreign market, with high reputation in Asian and Europe respectively. Our Tiger Beer campaign was â€Å"Discover the tiger† sourced from The Face (February 2003) (See Appendix A). The competing brand for comparison will be the â€Å"Reassuringly Expensive† campaign from Stella Artois done by BBDO, which was an award-winning ad on several advertising ceremony. (See Appendix B) Communication Objectives Since Tiger Beer is unfamiliar to Western market, the objective here mainly focuses on brand awareness to the target customer. Encouraging consumers who have never try our brand to try it by using a creative headline. In this sense, our brand is informing target customers the existence of our brand, try to penetrate into the Western market. We aimed to change the target market’s image of Asian brand and move consumers through to purchase. In fact, Asian beer brand are rarely advertised on Western countries magazines, Tiger Beer wish to differentiate itself from other foreign competitors through the message â€Å"Discover the tiger†. Which achieve a high awareness by leaving a question mark to most of the reader. The communication objectives for Stella Artois include brand attitude and brand recognition. As this beer has been on the market for a long time, advertising has moved from brand awareness to brand recognition, it wants consumers to associate the brand with their lifestyle. Stella Artois’s objective is to ensure its premium beer position in the market by matching the good quality beer with â€Å"well quality people†. Since they well understand their target market’s need, the campaign theme is to form a positive attitude towards the brand. As you can see in the ad, the communication message is aim directly to a specific group and the idea is outstanding amount competitors. In more situation, potential buyers become aware of more than one brand in a given product category (Rossiter 1997). Therefore, Stella Artois has used an effective visual message on this campaign to evoke viewers ’emotion and increase the percentage of consumers in the target market who associate specific features or lifestyle with their brand. Target market Based on the communication objective, it is clear that two advertisements have distinctly different target markets. From the Tiger Beer advertisement, we can infer that the target market is comprised of young male between the ages of 18-25, due to the fact that the advertisement was advertised in The Face. This magazine has a readership comprised predominantly of young male between this age group. This group of people may have already heard of Tiger Beer, and are looking for more confirmation from reference group. They are likely to try new thing, social connections and quality of the beer are important factors in the decision-making process. In a certain extent, this group is favourable brand switchers. Their awareness may change over time and causes less-frequent purchase of our brand, unless we can provide a moderately favourable attitude towards the brand (Rossiter 1997). While Stella Artois was aimed at brand recognition, they have an established customer basis, which can be described as brand loyal (Rossiter 1997). They  have strong favourable attitude toward our brand, they look forward to purchasing a premium lager, which delivers quality and satisfaction. Stella Artois is simply about quality, not price; drinkers will pay a premium price for Stella Artois due to its commitment to quality. Certainly, Stella Artois is affordable to them as they are in middle or high-income group. From the above, the following table summarises and contrasts the target markets characteristics. Tiger Beer Stella Artois Age 18-25 25 or above Social status Middle income classAsian backgrounds Higher incomeHigher education level Purchase behaviour Brand switching Brand loyalty Lifestyle Young irreverentSocial activities Quality lifestyleStyle society Factors influenceDecision-making Reference groupFinancial statusCulture/social class SituationEmotionPast decision Market Positioning It is obvious that both company have differentiated their brands from others in the minds of the target market. It would be significant, as a link needs to be established between the brand benefits and the target consumer to create a positive brand image in relation to competing brands. Both of the ads have positioning strategies that focus on the consumer rather than the competitor. Ø Repositioning Tiger Beer adopts this strategy due to the recent acceptance by Western  countries and targeting it to a new market segment. Since they have previously built up a good reputation in Asian countries with value, quality and taste. Tiger Beer has chosen to direct it’s advertising to younger who prefer adventure. Moreover, it was positioned itself as a mystery Asian flavour instead of sportive and excitement image with their sport sponsorship campaign. (Belch & Belch 2001) Ø Positioning by product attributes and image Stella Artois is positioned on the basis of particular characteristics that differentiate it from its competitors. The slogan â€Å"Reassuringly Expensive† has been used since the 80’s. The key benefit stressed here is the quality, prestige image and value, which is the basic category need for a premium beer. Such elements are usually started at the top of the partitions; Stella Artois was well planned for it’s customers to evaluate these elements in their decision-making process. Creative Strategies & Tactics This involves several elements to bring out the central message for the advertiser to achieve their desire outcome. The stronger the idea, the more effective the ad can communicate to consumers. As both of the companies have adjusted the communication objective to fit for target market, we can see that both companies have effective use their budget to shift away from traditional beer advertising. Ø Advertising Appeals Both of the ads are using an emotional appear as a basis. For the Tiger Beer, we see an Asian woman in the centre of the picture. The woman looks straight at the reader of the ad and holding a small kerosene lamp, burning. Next to her is a rickshaw with a bottle of Tiger Beer in the seat. The street was extremely dark and silent with some Chinese glim at the end of the street. The advertisement tries to attract the reader with the notion of the mystical and strange. (See appendix A) Stella Artois uses a remainder advertising approach on their latest campaign. The campaign background is luxurious, elegant furniture such as a designer chair or a piano, which is being damaged with an opened cap putting on it. The ad appears to be simple but hard to understand, unless viewers of the ad have some ideas on the brand. For the target market point of view, it was highly associated with the Stella Artois brand image. And leave a strong curiosity to the viewer. (See appendix B) Ø Headlines and Visual elements The Tiger Beer using a question in Chinese at the top right hand corner to enhance the Asian feeling. The meaning of that heading is: â€Å"Do you have gut?† Which implies that Tiger Beer is an Asian mystery to western countries, try this beer if you are brave enough. It hopes to generate an answer of â€Å"Yes, I do, I will try the beer.† Secondly, there is a sub-heading at the bottom of the ad: â€Å"Discover the tiger†. So what is the connotation of this advertisement? Firstly, it tells the reader that when he or she drinks this beer, they will â€Å"discover the tiger†. There are several connotative meanings represented in it. It depends on the view the reader takes. For example, we can assume that the woman represents the tiger. She is the one to appear strong, to control the situation. The black hair and black lipstick and dark eyes give her a mystical and dangerous appearance. Moreover, the content of appeal are of sexual nature, which is effective in gauging the attention of its target market. Stella Artois continues to use the â€Å"Reassuringly Expensive† as sub-heading at the bottom of the ad. The wording is small as for the conclusion after reading the visual elements. Which encourage the target customer to believe that Stella Artois is a good quality beer, it is worthwhile to open up the bottle on the edge of the furniture immediately without looking for the bottle opener. This slogan can build up a resonance with the target audience and has adopted across all of its advertising to reinforce the perception that this is a premium beer. The overall picture was simple and clear, nothing else. It would be enough to convey a sense of premium quality. (Paul  Messaris 1997) Ø Advertising Media Both advertisements were found in fashion magazines. As magazines have narrow exposure levels, niche magazine such as The Face and I-D have directly targeted to the intended audience. Generally, an effective communication campaign relies on budget. Tiger Beer has trade-off between reach and frequency. In this case, what Tiger Beer doing is reaching a few people a lot of times. Tiger Beer has used several advertising appeal and spent the same budget in only one media, such as magazine; therefore, a much smaller number of people will be exposed to the advertising, but they will be exposed very frequently. In contrast, Stella Artois scattering their budget across a number of different media. According to a research in UK, it allocates the largest slice of spent on TV commercial, followed by magazine and billboard. The reason is that Stella Artois use other communication channels such as magazine to make to campaign stronger and gives the overall communicate program a greater synergy. (AdNews 28/2) Bibliography 1. Rossiter, John & Larry Percy, Advertising, Communications & Promotions Management, 1997, McGraw-Hill. 2. George E. Belch & Micheal A. Belch, Advertising and Promotion, An Integrated Marketing Communication Perspective, 2001, Fifth edition, McGraw-Hill. 3. Paul Messaris, Visual Persuasion, The role of image in advertising. 1997, Sage Publications. 4. AdNews 28 February 2003 5. Asia Pacific Breweries LTD (Annual Report 2001) http://www.apb.com.sg/report/01-brews.html 6. Tiger Beer Corporation www.tigerbeer.com/main 7. Stella Artois Homepage www.stellaartois.co.uk

Free Essays on The England Invasion Of 1066

The England Invasion of 1066 and the Significance In the year 1066 AD a dispute over the succession to the English throne occurred, because of a very unique situation. Edward the Confessor the King of England (1042-1066) died without any children to claim his throne. Moreover, because of this unique incident three people made claim to the English throne. This would cause a historical event, in 1066AD, the Norman Invasion and conquest of England. Earl Harold Godwinson made a claim to the throne. One reason was Harold and Edward became brothers-in-law when the king married Harold's sister. Harold's powerful position, as an earl and his relationship to Edward and his support among his peers made him an understandable successor to the throne. His claim was also, strengthened when the dying Edward supposedly expressed that he had chosen Edward as the next King. In addition; the Witan a council of royal advisors, unanimously selected Harold as King. His coronation took place the same day as Edward was buried. It is said part of the reason why the Witan quickness in choosing Harold was because of a fear that another invasion from Norway would occur. Which lead to the second rival of a second possible claim. Harold Hardrada, King of Norway ruled Norway jointly with his nephew Magnus until 1047 when Magnus died. In 1042 AD, Magnus had made a deal with Harthacut the Danish ruler of England. Since neither ruler had a male heir, both promised their kingdom to the other if either died without a child. Harthacut died but Magnus was never able to pursue his claim to the English throne because he was too busy battling for the rule of Denmark. Edward became the Anglo-Saxon King of England. After his death and since Magnus was already dead Hardrada alleging that he, as Magnus’s successor, was the rightful ruler of England. Hardrada immediately prepared to invade England and destroy the illegitimacy of Harold, when he heard of the coronation o... Free Essays on The England Invasion Of 1066 Free Essays on The England Invasion Of 1066 The England Invasion of 1066 and the Significance In the year 1066 AD a dispute over the succession to the English throne occurred, because of a very unique situation. Edward the Confessor the King of England (1042-1066) died without any children to claim his throne. Moreover, because of this unique incident three people made claim to the English throne. This would cause a historical event, in 1066AD, the Norman Invasion and conquest of England. Earl Harold Godwinson made a claim to the throne. One reason was Harold and Edward became brothers-in-law when the king married Harold's sister. Harold's powerful position, as an earl and his relationship to Edward and his support among his peers made him an understandable successor to the throne. His claim was also, strengthened when the dying Edward supposedly expressed that he had chosen Edward as the next King. In addition; the Witan a council of royal advisors, unanimously selected Harold as King. His coronation took place the same day as Edward was buried. It is said part of the reason why the Witan quickness in choosing Harold was because of a fear that another invasion from Norway would occur. Which lead to the second rival of a second possible claim. Harold Hardrada, King of Norway ruled Norway jointly with his nephew Magnus until 1047 when Magnus died. In 1042 AD, Magnus had made a deal with Harthacut the Danish ruler of England. Since neither ruler had a male heir, both promised their kingdom to the other if either died without a child. Harthacut died but Magnus was never able to pursue his claim to the English throne because he was too busy battling for the rule of Denmark. Edward became the Anglo-Saxon King of England. After his death and since Magnus was already dead Hardrada alleging that he, as Magnus’s successor, was the rightful ruler of England. Hardrada immediately prepared to invade England and destroy the illegitimacy of Harold, when he heard of the coronation o...

Tristate tornado essays

Tristate tornado essays The tri-state tornado of 1925 was the hugest and most devastating tornado in U.S. history. Its speed, size, power, and duration enabled it to amass the greatest fatalities and injuries ever, almost doubling its next closest competitor. The 18th of March was just another spring day, and many people thought the storm was just another spring storm, but it was far from that. The great F5 twister started its journey near Ellington, Missouri it then passed through Annapolis MO, where 90% of the town was destroyed. Moving east, the twister crossed the Mississippi just 75 miles south of St. Louis. Had the twister passed through St. Louis its power would have only been amplified as would the number of fatalities. The twister proceeded to Gorham, Illinois where almost the entire town was destroyed, with 34 people taking the big ride in the sky, literally and figuratively. The tornados next stop was Murphysboro where it recorded the largest death toll within a single city at 234 dead. 50% of the towns population was left either dead or injured. The estimated damage there was around 10 million. Im not sure what ten million in those days would equate to now but it would have to be at least a billion. The next stop of this amazing phenomena was Desoto, Illinois, population 600. In two minutes 24 homes were obliterated and 69 people were killed. The sheer force of the tornados winds drove a 2x4 through a steel railroad car, and carried a huge grain bin one-quarter of a mile (Watson, 2002). Still traveling eastward, West Frankfort, a small mining community was where the tornado did some of its last major damage. Most of the men in the town were 500 feet underground mining and minding their own business. It was the power outage that forced the hardworking men above ground only to find total devastation. Their homes were d ...

Raining Death and Destruction

Raining Death and Destruction Raining Death and Destruction Raining Death and Destruction By Maeve Maddox This week I received an email that contained the phrase â€Å"reigning death and destruction on innocent people.† Naturally, I was moved to do a web search to see if other writers were misspelling the phrase â€Å"raining death and destruction.† Here is some evidence that some are: INCORRECT: Civil liberties are suppressed for our own good, and patriotism means going along with lawless governments, reigning death and destruction on defenseless nations for imperial, not noble, reasons.- Political commentary blog. CORRECT : Civil liberties are suppressed for our own good, and patriotism means going along with lawless governments, raining death and destruction on defenseless nations for imperial, not noble, reasons. INCORRECT: The FSA, however, have developed a different role for their Gunship, the Princeton class is an artillery emplacement on the water, its large turret reigning death and destruction from afar along with a healthy dose of rockets to boot.- UK gaming site. CORRECT : The FSA, however, have developed a different role for their Gunship, the Princeton class is an artillery emplacement on the water, its large turret raining death and destruction from afar along with a healthy dose of rockets to boot. INCORRECT: The name refers to the Lords passing over the Jewish children while reigning death and destruction on the Egyptians for Pharaohs refusal to free the Jews.- Feature article in The Washington Post. CORRECT : The name refers to the Lords passing over the Jewish children while raining death and destruction on the Egyptians for Pharaohs refusal to free the Jews The misspelling occurs with the similar idioms â€Å"raining blows† and â€Å"raining punches†: INCORRECT: A man has been told he is lucky not to be going to prison after reigning blows on his mother’s partner in their own home.- The Plymouth Herald (UK). CORRECT : A man has been told he is lucky not to be going to prison after raining blows on his mother’s partner in their own home. INCORRECT: A.J. Ferrer lived up to his nick name â€Å"The Pitbull† when he stormed out of his corner at the bell and began  reigning punches  from every angle.- Mixed martial arts site. CORRECT: A.J. Ferrer lived up to his nick name â€Å"The Pitbull† when he stormed out of his corner at the bell and began  raining punches  from every angle. In these idioms, the metaphor is that of a heavy rain pelting down on someone or something beneath. Reigning, on the other hand, is from the verb reign: â€Å"to exercise authority or hold sway in the manner of a monarch.† The participle form is used with the meaning ruling or predominant. Here are examples of reigning used correctly: The reigning dynasty  of Uaxactun was not always housed in the same location. The  reigning philosophy of the Enlightenment, we are told, was that of Locke and his disciples in England and on the Continent. We have never had a World Championship where  the reigning champion could defend the title. In conclusion, death, destruction, blows, punches, insults, volcanic ash, and other such unpleasantries rain on their recipients. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Passed vs Past20 Rules About Subject-Verb Agreement5 Tips to Understand Hyphenated Words

American Revoloutinary Way in New Jersey and how New Jersey's Research Paper

American Revoloutinary Way in New Jersey and how New Jersey's Geographic Location play a huge role in the war - Research Paper Example New Jersey also called the crossroads of the American Revolution for it is located at the central position of the new nation and acted as the military capital. However, it was not all of the people of the New Jersey who vividly advocated foe independence. The British was joined by African slaves who were promised freedom, for example, colonel Tye who was a slave after escaping and joining the British army which lead to regular raids against the people of New Jersey. During this time of American Revolution, the New Jersey community was made up of extremely diverse cultural groups of who were not equally distributed over the colony’s land surface. These social groups were difficult for the British to unite them, since every social group occupied different and distinct area. Additionally, the culture defined the way of life which affected the people activities and also the landscapes made by man that can be identified by means of their traits and characteristics complexes this ma de completely governing the colony very difficult for the British since every group had a different form of dwelling preferred by various groups in New Jersey this made New Jersey difficult to unite it war since it would cripple the British in the Americans economy hence an able to support the fight (Fischer, pp 45 262). New Jersey also was an important area which was used to disrupt British supply units. George Washington used forts on the Delaware River where he could mount an attack British supply troop as they sailed to Philadelphia. It was organized that men in whale boats crossed the Hudson and then raided New York city and long island and then captured the shipping that were to be taken to sandy hook where they used New Yolk harbor as the staging area. Additionally, ships that were located at Southern Jersey port raided British ships at the entrance point. Jersey also provided iron products for

BUSINESS LAW High School Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BUSINESS LAW High School - Case Study Example 1550). Since this is an offer to sell, the sellers consent is clearly manifested by making the said offer. All that is left for a binding contract is the consent of buyer. A definite and seasonable expression of acceptance or a written confirmation which is sent within a reasonable time operates as an acceptance even though it states terms additional to or different from those offered or agreed upon, unless acceptance is expressly made conditional on assent to the additional or different terms (Alabama Civil Code, Sec.7-2-206). Since there is a valid offer to sell and a valid acceptance there arises a valid contract. This contract is enforceable against Glory Pieces as there is the written document attesting to its acceptance of the offer. Hence the Statute of Frauds requirement has been complied with. Therefore, my client hereby demands the specific performance of the obligation of the seller which is to deliver the goods of 500 handblown crystal goblets from Hungary at the cost of $50 per goblet. Here the offer to buy was clearly stated.

The reasons for the failure of EBay to set its base in Japan Case Study

The reasons for the failure of EBay to set its base in Japan - Case Study Example The reasons for the failure of EBay to set its base in Japan Method: The information used while preparing the report was collected from the case study paper titled â€Å"EBay in Japan: strategic and cultural missteps† written by Indu Perepu and Sachin Govind in 2008. Findings: EBay, a powerful on line trading company for consumer merchandise, enters Japan in 2007 in a partnership with Yahoo to make easy the transnational bidding system. A Japanese website called Sekaiomon was also launched to facilitate shipping and clearance. Previously in 2000 EBay had entered the Japanese market in alliance with NEC Corporation to form EBay Japan. It failed to garner many takers (managed to get only 3% share of the total online market value in Japan) even after waiving off its online transaction fees, and was nowhere near the Yahoo auctions, the number one online bidding website in Japan at that time. After repeated unsuccessful attempts to better its position, eBay finally decided to close it portal in Japan on 31st 2002, and decided instead to concentrate on other Asian markets like, India, China, Philippines and Taiwan. In was only in 2006 after Yahoo shut down its auction websites in US and Canada, and went into an alliance with EBay in these 2 countries, did the latter come into an agreement with Yahoo to re-enter the Japanese market in 2007, though the analysts even then did not predict a bright future for EBay in Japan. Analysis/ Discussion: From the case study it is clear that there are two main reasons for the failure of EBay in Japan.

Order vs. Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Order vs. Justice - Essay Example Hence, it is significant to re-assess the alternatives regularly. Bull envisions elements of war, transnational loyalties, and conflict posing a challenge to the stability of the international society. In effect, war can cause anarchy in the international relations. Similarly, transnational loyalties and conflicts can affect the degree of interaction among the states with shared interests and values. Bull points out that common rules and institutions should govern and guide countries in their pursuit of the international order. States have an obligation to respect the claims of independence of other nations. Respect for the nations’ independence is a fundamental principle for the formation of the international societies (1977). According to Bull, shared rules and institutions should inform the dealings among nations with an international agenda. The pillars of the international relations order encompass diplomacy, balance of power, and international law. It is important for the nations to embrace communication, enforcement, adaptation, and safeguarding of mutually shared and understood law. In my opinion, policy and regime change can affect the international relation order. Although shared rules, as well, as the institutions exist to preserve the order, policy can result in the different interpretation global relations. Notably, Bull does not take into account the role th e justice plays in the international relation

Treating Juvenile as adults Affects the Community Essay

Treating Juvenile as adults Affects the Community - Essay Example First, the safety of the New York community deteriorates significantly when courts treat children as adults for their alleged crimes (Schneiderman, 2015). Study findings released by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice in 2006 found out that public safety was at risk when courts tried youths as adults, and especially when these youths were found guilty and jailed (Jordan, 2014). Trying and ruling juvenile as grownups threatens the welfare and security of these children. In New York, delinquents tried as adults were discovered to be more prone to breaking the law again or behaving violently. This means New York youths tried this way were more likely to go back to jail at substantially higher rates than those tried as juveniles. The release of such youths back into the new York community after serving their term endangers the community. Secondly, the community suffers a reduction in white-collar employees or applicants as previously convicted youths do not quality for white-collar jobs with a criminal record (Goidel et al., 2006). Youths tried as adults are forced to carry this mark for life, which makes it hard for them to build their lives academically, professionally, and even socially. The physical and often psychological health of such youths is ruined practically. The outcome of a lifelong criminal record can include substantial limits to higher learning and employment, likely deportation, and the deprivation of housing privileges (Schneiderman, 2015). New York’s economy suffers from this outcome as such people do not contribute as much to the community’s progress as they ought to or would. Thirdly, ethnic groups, neighborhoods, or communities from which youths tried as adults come from will be affected by such trying more than others will (Jordan, 2014). This is because law enforcement is more probable to target such communities on statistical and legal basis and proof. Eventually, the treatment

Is Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia Associated with Autism Spectrum Research Paper

Is Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders - Research Paper Example The two articles have a similar hypothesis. Both articles are trying to investigate whether neonatal jaundice is also known as neonatal/infant hyperbilirubinemia might be related to Autism Related Disorders (ARDs). The first article, Pediatrics, retrieved from the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics employs the case-control cohort study while the second article, retrieved from online publications uses retrospective case-control design. Therefore, this paper will examine how each investigation in each article was conducted. It will address the strengths and weaknesses the two approaches. The paper will conclude with suggestions on how I would design an ideal study to investigate the hypothesis. The research objective with regard to both journal articles was to investigate the association between neonatal hyperbilirubinemia/jaundice and autism spectrum disorders. As stated earlier, the investigations carried out in the journal article of paediatrics employed case-control cohort study. A large, population-based case control study, was carried out within an integrated health plan with extensive computerized data resources involving prospectively laboratory collected results and diagnoses (Pediatrics Digest as cited in Lisa et al., 2005). Case and control subjects were identified from the cohort of infants who were born at a northern California Kaiser Permanente (KP) facility between January 1995 and December 1998 and remained KP members for more than two years after birth (n=73 291) (Pediatrics Digest as cited in Lisa et al., 2005). Case subjects (n=393) were defined as children for whom an ASD diagnosis, i.e., Asperger’s syndrome or pervasive development disorder were recorded in KP outpatients clinical databases at any time between January 1995 and December 1998†¦All the children were between the 4 and 7 years old at the time the database was  scanned. 5 control subjects per case subject, were randomly selected from the cohort of children who did not have the diagnosis of ASD recorded in the clinical database.

Treating Juvenile as adults Affects the Community Essay

Treating Juvenile as adults Affects the Community - Essay Example First, the safety of the New York community deteriorates significantly when courts treat children as adults for their alleged crimes (Schneiderman, 2015). Study findings released by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice in 2006 found out that public safety was at risk when courts tried youths as adults, and especially when these youths were found guilty and jailed (Jordan, 2014). Trying and ruling juvenile as grownups threatens the welfare and security of these children. In New York, delinquents tried as adults were discovered to be more prone to breaking the law again or behaving violently. This means New York youths tried this way were more likely to go back to jail at substantially higher rates than those tried as juveniles. The release of such youths back into the new York community after serving their term endangers the community. Secondly, the community suffers a reduction in white-collar employees or applicants as previously convicted youths do not quality for white-collar jobs with a criminal record (Goidel et al., 2006). Youths tried as adults are forced to carry this mark for life, which makes it hard for them to build their lives academically, professionally, and even socially. The physical and often psychological health of such youths is ruined practically. The outcome of a lifelong criminal record can include substantial limits to higher learning and employment, likely deportation, and the deprivation of housing privileges (Schneiderman, 2015). New York’s economy suffers from this outcome as such people do not contribute as much to the community’s progress as they ought to or would. Thirdly, ethnic groups, neighborhoods, or communities from which youths tried as adults come from will be affected by such trying more than others will (Jordan, 2014). This is because law enforcement is more probable to target such communities on statistical and legal basis and proof. Eventually, the treatment

Hot-Button Issue Paper Essay Example for Free

Hot-Button Issue Paper Essay Nowadays one of most concerning topic in today’s media is sex and violence. Determining what’s â€Å"too much† for children is not an easy task, because every parent has their personal preferences about such matters. But determining the actual effects of media violence on children gives rise a problem in itself, as it’s quite tricky to actually determine what â€Å"violent media† means to the children (Cutler, 2002). There were many children friendly shows back in the days, shows that taught some useful lessons to the children in a non-violent manner. Shows like Ducktales or Darkwing Duck are examples of such shows that children not only could enjoy, but also learn some valuable lessons from. Even vintage video games like Super Mario was just a fun seeking game that children could enjoy and parents didn’t have to worry about their effects on their children too. But if we look at the TV shows, movies and games in the present, it’s quite obvious that the use of excessive violence has crawled its’ way into almost every form of media. Another problem is the increase of usage of sexual acts in the media. There are open discussions of sex and enactments of sexual activities in almost all the TV shows and movies. In the past, TV shows mostly showed two persons getting into bed and the next scene took us to the next day. There were no enactments of sexual activities in the shows. But today, almost every show on every premium channels show fully nude persons or even the acts of having sex. The media industries have been strongly resisting such arguments that the usage of scenes containing sex, violence, and drug usage in TV, music, radio and movies is directly related to the increasing cases of negative behavior buildups in the society, (Anderson, 2002). Canceling such shows is the only way to get rid of sex from the TV. But doing so creates the possibility that children will grow up without the knowledge of sex. They might grow up and have to face the big bad world without anyone to properly guide them into making the right decisions. So it’s essential for them to learn the correct decisions at an early age, so  that they don’t make any decision that could destroy their life forever. You might be able to control the TV shows on their usage of sex and violence; but what about other for ms of media such as magazines, internet, books, music, and movies? Nowadays media has an array of methods to attract peoples’ eyes. They can target audiences of any age or group by tempting their senses. Teenagers are often attracted by violent acts, and by using this they can easily influence them. It doesn’t matter if it’s TV or the movies or the internet, violence is everywhere and trying to shut down all of them is simply not possible. Imagine yourself in a scenario where you’re changing through channels on the TV and you can’t find any shows with violence, shooting or sexual scenes. What would you do in that case, keep on watching the TV or turn it off and do something else? Doing the later would cause the viewer ratings of TV networks to go down and thus giving them the impression that they need to show more violence and sexual acts to attract the audiences. There’s no point in denying that sex and violence attract people or â€Å"sell†, so to say. Although almost 60-70 persons out of 100 say that there’s excess use of sex and violence on TV, they have to firstly watch such usage to find that out. Imagine a show that you watch on a regular basis, and you’d realize by yourself that sex and violence sell. Not a single person can be found who hasn’t seen or doesn’t know of a show that uses violence or sexual references, at the very least. Just as a children mig ht want to smoke if they see their parents smoke, they also might have the inclination towards committing crime if they see their favorite TV character commit a crime. Recently several methods have been developed to control or even block specific shows at specific times. A parental control, that gives the parents the power to block certain TV shows, is offered by every cable provider. But still, it’s the parent that must decide whether to block or not. The V-chip is a recent controlling method developed to restrict sex and violence scenes from being showed on the TV and it’s done by incorporating a small chip in the TV. But to some extent, this seems to be violating the first amendment. What someone wants to watch on their TV is their personal choice; why should they be restrained from watching something they want? It’s understandable that children shouldn’t be exposed to such shows that negatively impact their sense of judgment, but what about someone who’s an adult and willing to watch those shows? Whether you allow play in  shows containing sex and violence in your household premises is a decision that you should make, not the government. If there are children in the house, the parents should be responsible for keeping them away from shows that contain sex or violence. Another point is that most of these shows are aired at nighttime, and it’s safe to assume that children should be in the bed by that time. If kids are staying up at nights to see such shows, it’s not the networks’ fault that they are airing these shows, but it’s the parents’ fault that they can’t fulfill their responsibilities as a parent. On average, a child in the USA watches almost 28 hours of TV shows per week. Also, by the age of eleven, before finishing elementary school, a child views about 8000 murders on these TV shows. And the most terrifying fact is that in almost 75% of the cases shown in the TV, the criminal is shown to get away without being caught and feeling no remorse for their violent acts. This creates a false impression on children about violence. They often get an impractical idea about the acts of violence. Some of them feel no affect of violence whatsoever and even think that it’s cool, while other few become scared of everything around them. In 2009, the National Organization of Women reported that the most violent shows that were being aired were- Alias of ABC, Law Order: SVU of NBC and WWE: Smackdown of CW (NOW, 2009). When children watch TV shows that show someone committing a crime and getting away with it, it creates an impression on their mind that even they can get away without suffering the consequences of their actions. It’s also possible to link violent movies to several cases of assault, robbery and other anti social behaviors. People, particularly teenagers, often confuse things they watch on TV or movies with reality. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine shooters, are a perfect example of such delusional cases. They tried to dup licate scenes from the movies The Matrix and Basketball Diaries and even dressed up in trench coats and armed themselves with guns to depict those scenes. But just watching violence on TV and movies is not the entire story, there are several other factors that shape the thoughts of persons. Information obtained from several social research studies prove that what a child learns from what he/she watches is greatly affected by his/her surrounding environment (Anderson, 2002). For instance, if a child grows up seeing domestic violence in his/her household, he/she is more likely to think that these acts of violence is acceptable in the society. He/she would  be more prone to act according to what he/she saw when growing up, thus giving him/her a completely false sense of what’s acceptable and what’s not. To those who are mentally handicapped, these effects are much more severe. Since they often have problems differentiating what’s right and what’s wrong, exposure to these sexual acts and violence change the way they think about the world and often clouds their judgments. Watching people commit crimes in the media might give them the impression that it’s okay to do such acts. In one of her studies, Sue Bailey declared that people would of ten enact scenes they saw in the media, even if those scenes were to contain violence or sexual exploitation (Anderson, 2002). This is in fact the main reason why we see so many copycat criminals nowadays. This reminds us of the Banduras theory of modeling (Sparks, 2013). Children often idolize these TV and movie characters and watching their idols beat someone, sell drugs, and committing crimes makes them want to do the same. The act of violence and their rate varies in every society, but what’s alarming is that the USA has a horrifying rate of killings and suicides in the 15 year age group. In 1995, the combined death toll of children among 26 countries was at 2872. Out of these 2872 deaths, 1446 were in the USA alone and compared with the other 25 countries; this rate was almost 5 times higher. A child’s personality also plays an important role in their vulnerability to these violent acts. From an early age, some children might have the tendency to be temperamental. Watching violent acts in the media might increase their tendency to act violently. Furthermore, prolonged exposure to acts of violence increases their chance to act according to what they see in the media. Showing sexual acts and violence in TV can, in many ways, negatively impact the society. But the most argued point is the belief that a persons’ behavior is affected by what they watch. But this seems likely only if someone was to watch only these type of shows at all times. Watching such acts on TV or movies once or twice is not going to affect someone’s personality or turn them into violent sexual offenders. Moreover, the choices someone make is their and theirs’ only to make. No one else can be blamed for their personal faults. To conclude all this discussion, today’s TV can’t be compared with the TV from 30 years ago. Today’s shows cover a more wide range of topics, represent different cultures and languages and they’re targeted for every age group. The increase in sexual scenes and acts  of violence in the media reflects the change our society has undergone in the past years. This change can’t be denied and sooner or later society has to accept that these shows are a part of this change. So rather than demanding to stop this change, it’s practical to demand that these shows should be aired at a certain t ime, thus enabling the viewers to choose what they see and what they allow their children to see. References Anderson, C. A. (2002). Violent Video Games and Hostile Expectations. Retrieved from http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/02BApspb.pdf Bandura, A. (2006). Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-learning.html Cutler, Maggie: Research on the Effects of Media Violence on Children Is Inconclusive. Is Media Violence a Problem? James D. Torr, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press 2002 National Organization of Women. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.now.org/organization/conference/resolutions/2009.html Sparks, G. G. (2013). Media Effects Research (14th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook.

Definition Of Parental Involvement

Definition Of Parental Involvement 2.0 Introduction Research is made in order to inform people with new knowledge or discovery. Jancowicz (2000:159) knowledge does not exist in a vacuum and you work only has value in relation to other peoples work. Thus for a research to be credible, it should be supported by other works that have spoken about the same topic; therein the importance of the literature review which Hart (1998) defines as: The selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfill certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed. The ability to carry out a literature review is an important skill for any researcher. It will provide the latter with a context in which to place the research with respect to what has already been researched about the topic whereby the researcher will get an up to date account and discussion of the research findings about the particular topic. 2.1 Parental Involvement 2.1.1 Definition of Parental Involvement Parental involvement is believed to be an important strategy in the advancement of the quality of education. Parental involvement as such may be defined in different ways. According to Althoff (2010) parental involvement refers to the amount of participation a parent has when it comes to schooling and her childs life. (Abdullah, Seedee, Alzaidiyeen, Al-Shabatat, Alzeydeen, Al-Awabdeh, 2011) define parental involvement as the activities occurring between a parent and a child or between a parent and teachers at school that may contribute to the childs educational outcomes and development. NCLB (2001) described parental involvement as regular participation of parents, a two-way process, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities including: Assisting their childs learning; (b) Being actively involved in their childs education at school; (c) Serving as full partners in their childs education and being included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; and (d) The carrying out of other activities such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA Section 9101(32). Liontos (1992) mentions recent beliefs about parents and families that schools should consider when involving themselves in the education to their children: 1) All families have strengths, 2) parents can learn new techniques, 3) parents have important perspectives about their children, 4) most parents really care about their children, 5) cultural differences are both valid and valuable, and 6) many family forms exist and are legitimate (pp. 30-31). 2.1.2 Family Involvement Regardless of how they are able to demonstrate their investment, the notion that families play a very important role in creating a school that provides a nurturing and safe environment for their children is becoming widely accepted (Epstein et al., 1997). Families provide the social, cultural, and emotional supports that youth need to function well in school. Schools provide opportunities for childrens positive interactions with significant adults and other adolescents to enhance their home experiences and to support their continued development and related learning (Comer Haynes, 1991). According to Davies (1991) parental involvement shifts from parent focus to family focus, family to community agencies, school to home/neighborhood setting, eager parents to hard-to reach families, teachers/administrators agendas to family priorities, and deficit view of urban families to emphasis on inherent strengths of families. He further explains that even though non-traditional families are much more common nowadays than they were in the 1950s, alternative family structures are effective and should be recognised by the school. The paradigm Changing Definitions of Parental involvement according to Davies(1991) is as follows: from Parent Focus to Family Focus; from school to home or neighbourhood setting; from eager parents to hard to reach families; from teacher/administrator agenda to family priorities; from deficit view of urban families to emphasis on inherent strengths of families. Davies (1991) mentioned that non-traditional family units are getting more common, but the alternative family structures are effective and should be recognised as they do impact in the education and performance of students. 2.1.3 Types of parental involvement Fan and Chen (2001) in their meta-analysis found that researchers commonly conceptualised parental involvement as having multiple dimensions. Research conducted over a number of years have proved that there are numerous types of parenting practices associated with positive school-related academic and social competencies. These are: (a) parental participation in school-related activities, for instance monitoring homework and attending parent-teacher association meetings (Desimone, 1999; Keith et al., 1993; Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch Darling, 1992); (b) parental encouragement of positive school behaviors (Atkinson Forehand, 1979; Barth, 1979; Kelley, 1952; Schumaker, Hovell, Sherman, 1977; Seginer, 1983); and (c) parental expectations for achievement and attainment (Ainley, Foreman, Sheret,1991; Fan Chen, 2001; Scott-Jones, 1995; Seginer). Similarly, Epstein (2001) has distinguished six types of parental involvement namely: parenting; communication; volunteering; home tutoring; involvement in decision-making; and, collaboration with the community. Epsteins model presents family, school and community as overlapping spheres of influence, the congruence of which is of considerable importance for the optimal development of children. 2.2 The effect of parental involvement on childrens achievements It is generally believed that the parents do play an important role in the education of their children and there is now an extensive research literature indicating that parental involvement is advantageous for children of all ages (Cox 2005; Desforges and Abouchaar 2003; Eccles and Harold 1993; Epstein 2001). Research has shown that one of the most promising ways to increase students achievement is to involve their families (Chavkin, 1993; Henderson Berla, 1994). Herbert Walberg (1984) found that family participation in education was twice as predictive of academic learning as family socioeconomic status. Establishing partnerships with families has many benefits for schools and families, but Epstein says, the main reason to create such partnerships is to help all youngsters succeed in school and in later life (1995, p. 701). When parents participate in their childrens schooling, students may experience more academic and social success. Epstein (2001) suggests that parents who are informed and involved in their childrens school can positively impact their childs attitude and performance. Drawing a causal link between parental involvement and student achievement is challenging; much of the research on parent involvement and student performance is therefore correlational (Scott Stein Thorkildsen, 1999). Although the impact of parental involvement is dependent on a number of contextual variables, there are many advantages attributed to parental involvement. Involvement at home, especially parents discussing school activities and helping children plan their programs, has the strongest impact on academic achievement (Sui-Chu Willms, 1996; VanVoorhis, 2003). Researchers have also found that parent-child discussion about school helps improve academic achievement and reduce problematic behavior (Epstein Sheldon, 2002; McNeal, 1999; Sheldon Epstein, 2005). McLaughlin and Shields (1986), for example, reported that parents can contribute to improved student achievement through their involvement in (a) the selection of appropriate reading materials, (b) targeting educational services, and (c) the use of particular pedagogical strategies. Clark (1983) found a correlation between achievement in reading and mathematics and the number of books at home. Parent involvement is absolutely essential to student achievement in school and in life say (Campbell Glasgow, 2010). The overwhelming studies and research indicate that there are indeed positive academic outcomes stemming from parental involvement with benefits beginning in the early childhood throughout adolescence and beyond (Henderson Mapp, 2002; Patrikakou, Weisberg, Redding, Walberg, 2005). Buchmann and Dalton (2002) suggest a possible linkage between differences in institutional contexts of educational system and variation in the effect of parental involvement on childrens educational outcomes while examining variation across 12 countries in the effect of mothers and peers attitudes toward academic performance on educational aspiration among middle-school (lower secondary school) students. The comparisons across 12 countries indicate significant variation in the influence of parental attitude on childrens educational aspiration across countries with different structural features of educational system. 2.3 Factors affecting Students Academic Achievements The students performance or academic achievement plays an important role in producing the good quality school leavers who will become good manpower for any country. There are actually numerous factors that affect the performance and achievement of students. Parents influence their childrens academic achievement (Spera, 2005). High family socioeconomic status, positive parenting practices, positive aspects of parents personality, and high marital quality are associated with school success (Harold, Aitken, Shelton, 2007; Heaven Newbury, 2004; Robertson Reynolds, 2010). Children whose parents who actively promote learning in the home more positively engage in relationships outside the home and in learning (Marchant, Paulson, Rothlisberg, 2001), perhaps because these parents help children approach learning environments more positively. The premise that home environment risks, such as negative parenting (Clark, Dogan, Akbar, 2003), a chaotic household (Brown Low, 2008), parents low educational attainment or income level (Davis-Kean, 2005), and single-parent family structure (Zill, 1996), are correlates of poor academic functioning is also well supported. According to a report on Monitoring Learning Achievement (1999) the Determinants of childs performance were identified to be as follows: Socio-economic status of the childs family had a very strong impact on achievement at school. (b) Parental education level and parents opinion about education were decisive factors affecting performance of the children at school. (c) The child who had access to learning through technology and through materials at home was more likely to do better at school. (d) Pupils who had a positive attitude to school and teachers as well as those who used English to communicate performed better on the tests. (e) Children who had more experienced teachers at school and who were more frequently assessed became better learners. 2.3.1 Student Demographics and Students Achievement Students from ethnic minority backgrounds and low income families are more at risk for poor school outcomes and are becoming an increasing share of the student population. Many studies have linked the educational disadvantage of minority students to a combination of out-of-school factors, many of which center on family characteristics, such as poverty and parents education. Linn (2005) says that prior achievement or other relevant characteristics of the student body may help to explain current levels of achievement while (Carlson, 2002; Ponisciak Bryk, 2005) point out that when large scale assessments are used as the sole measure of accountability, the characteristics of the schools clientele are confounded with change that is directly attributable to the effectiveness of the school producing biased estimates of school effects. Children coming from middle-class family may have a head start given their higher social position and income may lead to better quality housing, more availability of books and study facilities at home such as their own room, internet access facility as well as the ability to afford private tuition. According to the University of Mauritius study on private tuition (1989), children from better off families take more tuition than students from poor families and they tend to perform better. A better measure of a schools effect on student achievement should account for the nature of students in the schools as well as the characteristics of the schools themselves. For example the correlation according to Sirin (2005) between socio-economic status and achievement tends to be approximately 0.30 at the student level. When aggregated to the school level, the correlation between socio-economic and academic achievement is approximately 0.60 (Sirin, 2005), though that correlation has been estimated to be even higher (0.73) in an earlier meta-analysis (White, 1982). 2.3.2 School Leadership and Students Achievement Studies have revealed that strong leaders are critical to successful learning environments (Briggs Wohlstetter, 2003; Hallinger, Bickman, Davis, 1996; Haycock, Jerald, Huang, 2001; Jesse, Davis, Pokorny, 2004; McGee, 2004; Muijs, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, Russ, 2004; Murphy, 2004; Scribner Scribner, 2001; Snipes, 2004; Yau, 2002). There are different characteristics of strong leaders that have been mentioned in the literature: Leaders have a clear vision for their schools that is continuously communicated to school staff and parents (Cole-Henderson, 2000; EdSource, 2006; Jesse et al., 2004); they have high expectations for all students (Cole-Henderson, 2000; EdSource, 2006; McGee, 2004; Scribner et al., 2001); and they are able to translate their vision and expectations into concrete goals for teachers by aligning curriculum with state standards and standardized tests (EdSource, 2006; Education Trust, 2003). 2.3.3 School Systems and Students Achievement In many countries, including Mauritius to some extent, school systems are tracked where students are assigned to different school types based on their prior performance. These tracks range from purely academic tracks to vocational tracks and prepare students for different educational and labor market destinations (Marks, Cresswell, Ainley, 2006; Reyes, 2010). In general most secondary school systems maintain a distinction between academic and vocational education. The specifics may be different from place to place, but in most countries academic education prepares students for college or for a university whereas vocational education prepares them for immediate entry into the labor market (Shavit, Blossfeld 1993). Schools may be involved in the socio-economic inequalities in education in a number of ways. Wealthy families can afford a superior education for their children by sending them to fee-paying private schools. In countries with tracked school systems, the allocation of stude nts to the more academic school tracks may be biased towards students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. 2.3.5 Parental Involvement and Students Achievement Studies on the influence of parenting on school outcomes have mainly focused on specific parental practices such as involvement in their childs education, mostly in relation to academic achievement and rarely in relation to school dropout (McNeal, 1999; Rumherger, 1995). Studies conducted among specific grades and subject areas support the contention that parental involvement can influence students academic achievement regardless of the students age or subject. For example, Stegelin (2003), Wirtz Schumacher (2003), and Hertz-Lazarowitz Horovitz (2002) focused on early childhood education and literacy, noting a link between families who engage in literacy activities at home and their childrens success with reading and writing. Henderson and Berla (1994) say that the most accurate predictor of a students achievement in school is not income or social status but the extent to which that students family is able to create a home environment that encourages learning; express high but not unrealistic expectations for their childrens achievement and future careers and become involved in their childrens education at school and in the community. There exists an extensive research literature indicating that Parental Involvement is advantageous for children. This includes home-based Parental involvement such as listening to children read and supervision of homework as well as school-based Parental Involvement such as attending parent education workshops and parent-teacher meetings. The effectiveness of both home-based and school-based Parental Involvement in facilitating academic achievement has been reported by several reviews and meta-analyses of the literature (Fan and Chen 2001; Henderson and Mapp 2002; Jeynes 2005, 2007; Pomerantz, Moorman, and Litwack 2007). Mariaye (2008) has found that higher levels of education of parents are often related to better provision of financial resources, thus leading to achievement of children. 2.4 Barriers to parental involvement Though there is much importance attached to parental involvement it is still being ignored in many schools. Lazar and Slostad (1999) believe that parents are willing to get involved in the education of their children, but the negative perceptions of parents persist because teacher education programs do not educate teachers to work with parents. Foster and Loven (1992) also shared that the major explanation for this, according to researchers, is the fact that very little attention is given to preparing teachers to work with parents and other adults (Lazar, 1999, p. 207). According to Lazar and Slostad, (1999) the way parents viewed their roles was shaped by the circumstances and norms of particular cultures and their beliefs about their own effectiveness as teachers or tutors. Epstein (1991) found out that teachers had doubts whether they could motivate parents to become more involved even though they thought that parental involvement would improve students achievement. Teachers lack the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to collaborate with families leading to a weak school-family partnership (De Acosta, 1996; Epstein Dauber, 1991; Foster Loven, 1992; Greenwood Hickman, 1991; Midkiff Lawler-Prince, 1992; Williams,1992). Major barriers to parental involvement in schools include the school environment, school culture, time constraint, changing demographics and employment patterns, and the lack of teacher preparation in involving parents in their childrens schooling (New Skills for Schools, 1997; National PTA, 1997). 2.5 Overcoming barriers to parental involvement Strategies for overcoming barriers to parental involvement in schools include overcoming time and resource constraints, providing information and training to parents and school staff, restructuring schools to support family involvement, bridging school-family differences, getting external supports for partnerships, meeting families basic needs, providing flexible times and places for parental involvement, and helping staff communication with parents (The U.S. Department of Education, 2004; Family Involvement in Childrens Education October 1997). The various barriers to Parental involvement can be categorised by adapting Epsteins (2001) framework of overlapping spheres of influence focused on the three areas of family, school and community. 2.5.1 Parents beliefs about Parental Involvement Parents beliefs about various issues can act as barriers to effective parental involvement. Firstly, the way that parents view their role in the education of their children is crucial. Parents who believe that their role is only to get children to school, which then takes over responsibility for their education, will not be willing to be actively involved in either school-based or home-based parental involvement. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1997) reported that this attitude is more prevalent in some communities and national cultures than others, but that there is considerable variation within these. For example, Clark (1983), in his research on high achieving students from low-income black families, found that what distinguished the parents of these students from others at the school was that they believed that they should be involved in their childrens education, by both supporting their learning at home and interacting constructively with schools. Clark found that parents of high a chieving students had a greater belief than the other parents that they could effectively help their children to do better at school. 2.5.2 Parents perceptions of invitations for involvement One other potential barrier to parental involvement is parents perceptions of the level of explicit and implicit invitations for involvement. According to Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1997) when parents think that Parental Involvement is not valued by teachers or schools they are less likely to get involved. Thus, parents perceptions of invitations from schools are considered crucial in developing effective parental involvement. Epstein (2001) has found that parents are most effectively involved when teachers actively encourage them to get involved. Eccles and Harold (1993) believe that teachers with positive, facilitating attitudes toward involving parents encourage more parents to become involved and increase the effectiveness of parental involvement. When parents perceive that teachers are not open to involve them, there tends to be a major barrier to parental involvement. Similarly, when schools are welcoming to parents and make it clear that they value parental involvement, the s chools develop more effective parental involvement than schools that do not appear inviting to parents. Secondary schools are often seen by parents as large bureaucratic organisations which are not welcoming to parents, which is considered to be one of the reasons why there is a tendency for higher levels of parental involvement in primary than secondary schools (Eccles and Harold 1993). 2.5.3 Parents Level of Education Parents level of education will influence their views on whether they have sufficient skills and knowledge to engage in different aspects of parental involvement (Green et al. 2007). For example, parents who have not completed secondary school themselves may be diffident about helping their children with homework once the latter get to secondary school. Also, parents who do not have a university degree may feel in some ways inferior to teachers who they know are better qualified than them and therefore be reluctant to work closely with the teachers. In general, children of parents with higher levels of education perform better, on average, on assessments of student achievement. 2.5.4 Parent current life status Family circumstances can be major barriers to parental involvement. For example, single parents and those with young families or large families may find it difficult to get involved in education of their children because of their responsibilities. Parents work situations can also be a factor. When parents are unemployed money could be an issue as they may not be able to afford a car or to pay babysitters in order to get to school meetings. For parents with jobs, whether both parents work and the kind of jobs they have may be issues. When both parents work they will have less time to devote for both home-based and school-based parental involvement. Similarly while some jobs allow little flexibility for taking time off for school-based parental involvement, other jobs may leave parents too tired at the end of the day to help children with homework (Catsambis 2001; Green et al. 2007). 2.5.5 Class, ethnicity and gender There exist also barriers regarding to class, ethnicity and gender of parents that account for the difference between rhetoric and reality in parental involvement. Reay (1998) suggests that it is those parents who possess cultural capital which matches that generally valued by schools. In contrast, working-class parents, although they possess their own undervalued cultural capital, are aware of the difference between the cultural capital they possess and that of teachers. Reay (1998) concludes that, for working-class families, home-school relationships are about separateness, whereas for middle-class families they are about interconnectedness, and this difference shapes their respective attitudes towards parental involvement. The barriers related to ethnicity and culture also play an important role. According to a report by Koki and Lee (1998) some of the issues involved in parental involvement for parents in New Zealand who have come from the Pacific Islands. They make the point that it is impossible to understand these issues outside of the context of the history of Pacific education and cultural tradition, but the reality is that parental involvement programmes typically pay scant regard to these issues. 2.5.6 Learning difficulties and disabilities The performance of at school can be both a barrier or facilitating factor for parental involvement. According to Eccles and Harold (1993) when children are struggling with their school work, due to learning difficulties or disabilities, then parents are generally more inclined to be active in parental involvement activities. Many authorities on special needs education consider that involving parents is an essential aspect of effective education for children with disabilities or learning difficulties (Hornby 1995; Seligman 2000). The involvement of parents is required for the process of implementing individual education programmes and this facilitates parental involvement for many parents whose children have learning difficulties or disabilities. But this is not always the case as there are many possible areas for disagreement between schools and parents of children with learning difficulties or disabilities, which can then act as barriers to effective parental involvement. For instan ce, when parents consider that their children can achieve more academically or when teachers want more support from parents in backing up at home what children are working on at school (Seligman 2000). 2.6 Strategies to involve parents To achieve more parental involvement, the school or teachers can help to adjust to parents work schedules, interests, and special abilities to involve them in their childs education 2.6.1 Parenting Parents can be involved in their childs schooling in many ways. One way teachers can get these parents involved is by providing them information about parenting practices. Parents with children with behavior problems are interested in learning about specialised reinforcement and discipline techniques that can be applied in their home. Research has shown that students who are disruptive in schools are also disruptive at home (Walker et al., 1995). Teachers can be useful by providing suggestions on how to teach specific skills at home. Parents who learn new parenting skills and teach their child at home are making positive contributions to their childs education. 2.6.2 Communication Encouraging parents to communicate with the school about important information about their child is another way parents can be involved. Darch, Craig, Miao, Yu, Shippen, and Peggy(2004) recommend that teachers ask parents to discuss their childs behaviour at home, his or her attitudes about school and learning, and whether there are home problems impacting the childs behavior at school. It is helpful if teachers ask parents about their expectations about their childs performance. 2.6.3 Volunteering Darch et al.,(2004) also suggest that one role that some parents can play is to provide instructional or management support in the classroom. For example, parents can be tutors for their own child or other students in the classroom. Also, parents can serve by grading papers, participating in field trips, and reading to groups of students. The advantages of including parents in these activities are many. Parents visibility in the classroom can be helpful in managing children. Also, if parents can provide instructional support, the improved learning performances of students will have a positive impact on their classroom behavior. 2.6.4 Instruction According to Darch et al, (2004) parents can also be involved in their childs school program by providing instructional and management support in their homes. Teachers may ask parents to allocate time for their childs homework, provide instructional support for academic assignments, and carry out home-based reinforcement programs. For parents to effectively take this role, they must be willing to participate and must have skills to implement home-based programs. However, as Hoover-Demsey and Sandler (1997) point out, many parents do not see the importance of taking an active role in their childs education. Thus, teachers must provide parents with clear guidelines on how they can be helpful at home and, if necessary, information on how to implement instructional and management strategies at home. An advantage of these activities is that the child is provided extra instruction at home that leads to more successful learning and motivation in the classroom. 2.6.5 School-Wide Involvement Teachers can suggest to parents that they be involved in school-wide activities. (Darch et al., 2004). The goal is to link parents to activities beyond their childs classroom: parents can be involved in PTA meetings, school-wide parent advisory councils, volunteer to work in the school office, and participate on a school-wide discipline committee. The advantages of linking parents into school wide activities are obvious. The presence of parents throughout the school is related to higher levels of student achievement and decreases school-wide disruptive behaviors. Parents involved with school-wide activities become more supportive of teachers and school policy. 2.7 How do schools involve parents? According to Hanke (2006) lack of parental involvement is due to lack of helpful information to parents. Emails, phone, letters, newsletters and personal contacts can be made by schools to reach out to parents. If schools communicate with parents regularly and consistently using the various means, the gap between school and parental involvement will be reduced. Based on the recent report on the Commonwealth conference on education (2012) the technology is available for ICT to be the foundation for change in education provisioning: from the classroom to the ministerial committee room; from the way teachers relate to their students, to the increasing of parental involvement in schools. Students expectations and achievement will increase if involvement are identified by Epstein and associate (1997): parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. Reenay and Vivian (2007) have explained that even though the invention of new technologies has made it easier for schools to reach out to parents (through emails, cell phones and internet websites), the use of traditional methods in communication has been found to be an effective way for schools to communicate with parents, but this has been limited in use b