Cyclermate

CYCLERMATE REPORT I. Introduction of Cyclermate Lewis Llewellyn and Dai Armstrong were the first two men who made a plan of opening their own company after being redundant as the consequence of the closure of their town’s steel works in South Wales. Both of them belonged to the local cycle touring club and since then, they had become close friends.With the idea of making a traditional upright cycle in sharp of the 1940’s and 1950’s, Cyclermate Ltd has been established and quickly gained success and attracted a number of attentions of customers owing to its high quality hand – made products and word – of – mouth reputation. Over the next 15 years, the company had still expanded and continued to be successful when persuading many small cycle shops in Wales and England to display or at least to keep a stock of brochures of its products.Everything seems to work quite smoothly until 2010, when Cyclermate has faced a lot of issues in terms of finan ce, human resource and operation. To be specific, the demand among buyers in this field continues to fall even price of each Cyclermate’s product has been reduced; the quality of its products are no longer as good as it was in the past which illustrated by the increase of complaints from customers about its quality and fault and the bank manager has expressed concern about the overdraft which will cost Cyclermate a big trouble if it does not solve these problems immediately.These are just some of the obstacles which the company has faced so in this essay, I will analyze more clearly about its difficulty and recommend some positive solutions for Cyclermate which it can follows to handle these issues. II. Cyclermate analysis 1. SWOT analysis First of all, in order to have a wide vision about this company, I have used SWOT as a tool to identify and analyze the situation of Cyclermate at the moment. As regards internal factors, one of the strength of this company which makes it d ifferent compared to the other companies is unique products.As far as I am concerned, with the development of technology, many cycle shops nowadays use a modern production chain to dispose and assemble materials. Nonetheless, the cost for this activity is quite high and most of the products will be the same. When it comes to Cyclermate, almost processes have been settled by hand; thus, staffs can easily add their creation into products and attract customers by the wide range of style of its bicycle.Furthermore, by using traditional method, Cyclermate have brought some new things to the market making buyers feel more interesting, especially when products have been sold in the market are quite common and familiar. When it comes to the weaknesses, as almost Cyclermate’s products have been made by hand so mistakes and faults are inevitable. That is to say, besides the price paying for materials, it also has to spend some more for fixing service.Moreover, with the lack of employee s and capital, Cyclermate has struggled in operating the company and consequently, it normally has to face the insufficient production selling in the market. As regards external factors, a huge opportunity for Cyclermate at the very first is that it produces an unfamiliar product so Cyclermate can avoid big competitors and has a chance to dominate the market. Besides, according to Mr. Llewellyn, there is still strong growths to come in the cycle market as more and more people abandon their cars; hence, this is a good chance for this company to reach to its customers.One of the most striking features which should be considered here is the economic crisis occurring in 2008 resulted in the threat of total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments, and downturns in stock markets around the world. In many areas, the housing market also suffered, resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. The crisis played a significant ro le in the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in trillions of US dollars, and a downturn in economic activity.As the consequence, people will have to think about a solution to save money and one possible way at this time is reduce the usage of petrol; in another word, reduce using gas transportation and change to physical vehicle such as bicycle. So if Cyclermate can attracts customers and creates a habit of using bicycle among them, it definitely will success in the future. The only threat of Cyclermate which I want to mention here is the appearance of some competitors in this major for example Halfords which gained success at the moment even there are many cycle shops are closing – outpriced.At the very first, Cyclermate was one of the first company entering this field so it did not have to pay much attention about how to deal with the others competitors. Nevertheless, when the time passed by, many companies have noticed about this potential mar ket so it is time for Cyclermate to try their best to gain trust of customers if they do not want to lose the market to their rivals. 2. Current issues of Cyclermate a. Finance problem After having an overlook about the situation of Cyclermate, the next part of my essay will come closer to all the issues which Cyclermate has met.Firstly, this company has to deal with a huge trouble which comes from finance. As I mentioned before, Cyclermate had to reduce the cost of its product to maintain sales, costs are rising and the overdraft is increase year by year which push the company on the edge of bankruptcy. Besides, according to Ms. Barry the budget for the coming year will further decline and possible trading losses as the consequence of a decline in sales. Moreover, based on the profit statement for the last five years, it is clearly that the finance issue of this company is in danger.To illustrated, the profit retained of the company had decreased significantly compared to the last 4 year (from ? 42734 in 9/30/2009 to ? 12724 in 9/30/2010) and it did not even pay the dividends for shareholder and the cash on hand of Cyclermate in 30/9/2010 was just ? 657; put it in another words, the liquidity of this company was too low and if there was something happen for example the banks did not believe Cyclermate anymore and they wanted their money back, it could not have enough cash to pay for its creditors and had to mortgage its non-current assets; hence, this company will not have enough machine or capital to run its business.In order to help the company overcome this problem, there are some solutions which I am considered will be possible. First, according to the financial statement, even the direct sales units sold was lower than shop sales price, the profit which Cyclermate received from direct sale was much more higher. To be specific, in 9/30/2006, even there were just 743 units sold by direct sales, compared to 1010 units by shop sales, the revenue from the for mer was much more higher ( 743Ãâ€"650 – 1010Ãâ€"390 = â‚ ¬89050).That is to say, by reducing the products sold in shop, Cyclermate can saves and gains more money. Furthermore, in order to maintain the connection which suppliers after reducing the quantity, Cyclermate can negotiate with these suppliers and offer some extra interest rate or commission so that its supplier will still remain display and sell the product of this company. Another solution is that Dai Armstrong should allow Lewis Llewellyn to retire. The reason is that Lewis Llewellyn himself does not willing to work anymore and he usually find his work increasingly tiring and stressful.Besides, although he is one of the first 2 men who established Cyclermate as well as the shareholder of the company, he himself thinks that this company should close down or should be sold for the others UK firms. If employees in Cyclermate know what he is thinking, will they want to work for its workplace anymore; and even they still work for this company, no one can guarantee that they will put 100% of their mind on working. So let Lewis Llewellyn go seem to be the right choice at this time.However, Dai Armstrong must negotiate with Lewis about his share in the company because if he wants his money back; I believe that the capital of Cyclermate will not meet the standard to run its business. In my opinion, the negotiation will success as these two men has a strong relationship and has worked with each other for such a long time so if everything is ok, Cyclermate will save a lot of money for the next coming year. b. Human resources problem There are a number of problems with the human resource of Cyclermate. First of all, it does not have enough staffs to run the business smoothly after expanding.For instance, Dai Armstrong is the chairman of the company and normally, he must takes in charge of operating and controlling the activity of Cyclermate and distributes a particular job for his employees. Nonethe less, owing to the insufficient workforce, Dai himself still makes all the frames, using the original jigs constructed in his garage all those years ago and the inevitable thing is that he is finding it hard to keep up this level of production, both because of the physical demands of the task, and because of his other duties as factory manager and business director; as regards package, it is usually taken by anyone who has spare time.That is to say, it cannot guarantee the productivity of the firm, especially in rush time, when the staffs cannot even meet the quantity requirement of their main duty so how can they handle another. Moreover, at the moment, the company does not have as much skillful staffs as possible in order to maintain the productivity of Cyclermate and Gwyneth Morgan is one of typically example. She usually deals with internal and external enquiries, ata entry, and other routine tasks which is classify as paper work; however the main responsibility of her job is pu rchasing and help company avoiding disruption from stockouts; hence, the work cannot meet the efficiency as expected or Ffred Gregory who is 18 years old and quite new to the process, often has to work overtime to ensure that orders are met on time so that training him has further slowed production recently. Of course, Cyclermate still has some professional employees like Idris Pugh who was recruited from a local cycle repair shop.He is a perfectionist in terms of wheel manufacture and never cause for any complaints but sometimes, the work were late for appointment owing to his old-age and bad healthy. As far as solutions are concerned, I have found out some possible ones which Cyclermate can applies. At the very first, it should re-train the staffs in the company in order to meet the requirement of their field. This train can be hold by the boss himself or skillful employees of Cyclermate so that they can not only save a bundle of money for the company but also have more time to ch at and understand each other, especially newcomers.Moreover, after enrolling in this course, employees should be guaranteed to understand their job clearly and easily to combat with the task given. Another thing which can be done is recruit some new employees for Cyclermate. This is kind of positive way at this time as a new and professional staffs can help the company find out a new and creative way to complete the task and maintain the requirement quantity and quality of the company. However, I do not highly recommend this solution as the finance issue of the company is in danger and it is hard for Cyclermate to hire some new employees at this time. c. Operation problemThe very last problem of Cyclermate which I want to mention here is Operation ones. First of all, the leader of the company does not have a clear distribution for each staff which leads to the unstable in their job and costs a low productivity for such a long time. To be illustrated, Dai Armstrong has to take charge of many different responsibilities included the chairman of Cyclermate, the worker who makes all the frames of products and even a packaged man. With a bunch of workloads which have been handled like that, how can this man has time to think about a new strategy, a new plan to improve the current situation of the company?And the others workers, with a number of things have been done in a short time, how can they guarantee that no mistake will be made, not mention about some majors are not their professional field. Besides, as far as I concerned, before establishing Cyclermate, Lewis was just on his way up from apprentice to be chief mill engineer while Dai had progressed from â€Å"office boy† to a senior marketing post. That is to say, with this current position, how can they have enough management skills to lead the other in the company?Last but not least, the problem even come from the top manager of the company which is Lewis and Dai who share management of the business, though by nature of their differing roles, Lewis tends to focus more on production issues and Dai on external relations. Like people have said â€Å" 1 dat khong the co 2 vua†, with a different role like that, they cannot guide their employees to a single task which is break the basic rules of a corporation; consequently, Cyclermate’s staffs do not know what to concentrate on and lack of clear vision about the goal of what they have to do.When it comes to the solution, I believe that there are some ways which can help Cyclermate improve the current situation of this company. Firstly, Dai Armstrong has to set down a clear distribution for each position in the company. He has to reduce the multi – responsibility among his workers so that they can focus 100% on their current job and maintain the productivity of each process.Secondly, as I mentioned above, If Cyclermate accepts the retirement of Lewis Llewellyn, it can concentrates deeply on a single task at the mom ent for example maintain the productivity or improve the quality of its products, etc which is clear so that employees will know what they have to do to meet the goal of the company. Lastly, in order to save money, save materials and still supply enough products to meet the need of customers, Cyclermate itself should considers to apply JIT method on produce the products.This method was described by Henry Ford in his book as a production model in which items are created to meet demand, not created in surplus or in advance of need. I absolutely think that this solution will fit the Cyclermate’s situation well, especially when it has a huge issue with finance; Thus, by calculating an exact figure of materials has been and should be used, this company can avoid the waste associated with overproduction, waiting and excess inventory. In order to support for this method, I highly recommend the company to use Kanban cards to make JIT become more efficiency. As far as I oncerned, this Kanban card is like a label which contained a number of information about products such as name, number of units and a variety of other news that clearly conveys what must be done. By applying this card in manufacturing, especially in the situation of Cyclermate when the work of each staffs does not fix, it will help employees to control and identify which should be done next by analyze the color of Kanban cards for instance the white or green Kanban cards mean that a product do not have to manufacture yet, the yellow ones mean that employees should start producing a goods immediately, etc.III. Recommendation After analyzing the case study about Cyclermate, I want to note down briefly about some potential routes which this company can follow to reach to the market. First of all, as far as I am concerned, Cyclermate has a good supplied channel who ready to advertise and sell the product of the company and Word of Mouth method seems to bring a positive chance for it to attract custom ers.That is to say, developing this supplied channel can help Cyclermate increase its image on the eyes of customers and there are many others retailers which have not been asked about selling Cyclermate’s products so this a one of a best way for this company to expand its business. Another striking feature here is that it can focus on direct sale to sell its product to buyers. This method can help the company reduce the price paid for middleman and furthermore, Cyclermate can take this chance as an opportunity to interact with customers in order to understand and identify what they really want and need.Lastly, with the significant develop of technology, marketing is now become more and more important within any corporation around the world to approach and attract buyers. However, this way seems to be forgotten by Cyclermate indicated in the meeting’s report that the marketing activity of this company in recent year is quite rare. As the consequence, Cyclermate can spe nd some of the money saved from firing Lewis Llewellyn and profit retained to improve this activity to rise up its status and advertise a great hand-made bicycle to customers. IV. ConclusionCyclermate Ltd, in my opinion, is a brave company as it does not follow the trend of current market but identifying and having its own idea to manufacture a unique product, even in a harsh time like this. However, it has met a number of issues when trying to operate its business which I have mentioned above. In the future, there will be a lot of difficulties which this company has to handle. Having said that, with all the ideas and solutions which I have noted down in my essay, I strongly believe that it is possible for Cyclermate to recover and strengthen as it did in the past.

Earth and Yuri Gagarin

In my presentation I will tell you about the first cosmonaut. The purpose of this presentation to know more about the life of Yuri Gagarin and his exploits. Also explains how Gagarin prepared to fly into space, the process of this important event and what happened with the first cosmonaut after he made his flight. And in the presentation contains different photos of Gagarin with his family and friends. Career in the Soviet space program It was on the 12th of April, 1961, when the first flight by man into cosmic space took place. Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut in the world, he was a 27 years old Air Force pilot at that time. The space ship flew at the speed of 300 miles a minute. That’s six times faster than man ever travelled before. His flight lasted 108 minutes, but a circuit round the Earth took 89 minutes. It was a brilliant achievement on the part of our scientists and technologists, and on the part of Gagarin who risked his life to achieve a victory for his country. This is what Yuri Gagarin said at this press conference: â€Å"On my flight around the Earth was clearly seen: the continents, island and seas. Flying over the land I could clearly see the big squares of fields and it was possible to distinguish which was meadow and which was forest I could not see as well as from an airplane. I saw for the first time with my own eyes the Earth’s shape. I must say that the view of the horizon is very beautiful. You can see the noticeable change from the light surface of the Earth in to completely black sky in which you can see the stars. It is very gradual and lovely. In space the shines ten times more brightly than on the Earth. The stars can be seen very well. I felt excellent as I entered space. Everything was easier to do when weightlessness . My legs and arms weighed nothing. Objects swam in the cabin. During this state of weightlessness I ate and drank and everything was the same as on the Earth. The passage back from weightlessness to the force of gravity happened smoothly. Arms and legs feel the same as during weightlessness, but now they have weight. When I returned to the Earth I was full of joy. † Death and legacy After the flight Gagarin became a worldwide celebrity. He went around the globe with press conference and everywhere people were impressed by his charming smile, inelegance and simplicity. In 1962, he began serving as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. Unfortunately, he tragically died during a training flight on an airplane. But he is remembered throughout Russia forever. American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin left one of Gagarin's medals on the moon as a tribute. Moreover in Russia there are a lot of streets, squares, schools and colleges bear his name.

Challenges of Youths in Our Contemporary World

CHALLENGES OF YOUTHS IN A MODERN WORLD The Longman Modern English Dictionary defines youth as â€Å"the state or quality of being young, the period from childhood to maturity; young people of both sexes†. A youth is characterized by features such as youngness, restlessness, strength, independence, curiosity; search fro greatness, vigor good, health etc. Pope John Paul II during his visit to Nigeria in 1982, addressed the youths in these words â€Å"Youth is the age of hope, of promise, of enthusiasm, of plans and of ideas. Youth does not want to give up in the face of difficulties†¦ Youth believes in a better world and is determined to do something to help bring it about†. ROLE OF THE YOUTH IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD The youth has great strength, vigour, good health etc. These features should be channeled towards the propagation of the gospel. Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, for such belongs the kingdom of God (Lk. 18:16). In the church, the youths have the responsibility of evangelizing. It is their duty to witness Christ to their peers and to the remotest areas where Christ has not been preached. Anthony Aja, quoting the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II wrote: â€Å"The Church needs your energies, your enthusiasm; your youthful ideas in order to make the Gospel of life penetrate the fabric of the society†. â€Å"Besides, the Pope re-emphasized the part that youth can play in the call to evangelize the world as he addressed them in these words. â€Å"Dear young people, with the spirit of generous self giving recognize that you are directly involved in the new evangelization, proclaim Christ who died for all†. Where are our Youths today? Out there in search of worldly pleasure or working for the Lord. (Ref. to the past). To be good evangelizer, witnessing must be accompanied by good example, being like Christ in all ramification. The bible recorded many dynamic youths worthy of emulation. Two of such youths will be considered in this text. They are Joseph and David. Joseph had an encounter with God. He reverenced God. The fear of God was in his heart. Portipher’s household prospered because of the presence of Joseph. How about you? He hated sin. He successfully resisted the temptation from his master’s wife. To the sin-laden wife of his master Portipha, he asked, â€Å"how can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God†? (Gen. 39:9). To escape the wrath that might befall him as a result of this great sin, he ran and fled from this great evil, sin of fornication. Godless youth would take advantage of this immoral opportunity and yield to the temptation. It takes a heart that has been washed by the Blood of The Lamb, a youth who has experienced the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, a sanctified person and Holy Ghost filled to overcome such temptation. For the bible says â€Å"for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world†. Titus 2:11-12. David the son of Jesse, the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse, rose and worked marvels for god right from his youth. He killed a lion, a bear and conquered the veteran warrior Goliath. He overcame the evil spirits that tormented Saul by his anointed fingers on the musical instruments. He was able to do all these exploits for God because of his personal knowledge of God and the power of the Holy Ghost that was upon him. Through the youngest of Jesse’ sons, his fear of the lord and his close relationship with God, made him to do the chosen one of God. †Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came mighty upon David from that day forward (1Samuel 16:13). Above all learn from Jesus Christ, who from childhood went about doing the father’ business, â€Å"I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other citizens also, for I was sent for this purpose? Make yourself available for noble use. Challenges Facing the Youth Today The general state of youth reveals spirituals, social and psychological crises and confusion. They are being affected by the effects and influence of the society, peer groups, parental neglect and the evil one. Many of our youths blindly follow the dictates of the secularization of Western culture. The effects of secularism on most people have even made them argue that churches should accepts the society’s new directions. To them, if the society accept the society’s new directions. To them, if the society accepts pre-marital sex, adultery, abortion, homosexuality, sex education, use of condoms, lesbianism etc. hey cannot see why the church has to keep calling them sins. The youth sees the youth state as a period of fun and freedom. However, they forget to recognize that this stage is important and transitory – a stage between childhood and adulthood. Mistakes youth make at his stage in life could be detrimental bearing with it a lifetime consequences. For example, Youths who take to armed robbery, prostitution, drug trafficking, political thruggery, and a ll manner of violent practices carry over such nefarious activities from their youthful stage into adulthood. At adulthood they become a problem to themselves, the society and invariably their children who may take after them. What a wasted life! In fact, they are unable to build a worthwhile foundation on which to rest their future. Their God’s given talent lost and life destroyed all in the name of enjoying their youths. In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he admonished Timothy in these words: Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue Righteous, faith, love and peace, Along with those who call on the Lord Out of a pure heart† 2Tim:22 The youthful stage when properly managed can lead to disaster. All youths should heed to Paul’s admonition to timothy. Flee from all evil desires and run after righteous. Many of our youths are compromising with worldly ideals. Compromise with the world brings corruption. It destroys the child of God’s testimony and makes his light grow dim. Learn from David and Joseph, the way to upright living. The youth is being influenced and challenged today in the following areas: 1. INFLUENCE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY Modern technology had led to the invention of personal computer, the satellite, Digital television, the internet, mobile phone (GSM). These devices had in no small measure made the world a global village. However, the challenges facing our youths (Christian youth) is how to use them without abusing them. The truth is that these devices rather then being used for the advancement of knowledge which is capable of making the world a better place have become powerful tools in the hands of Satan for the perversion of morals. For example, the computer has both simplified and speeded up the operation in many fields of human endeavor – data storage, medicine, architecture, music and broadcasting industry. These are interactive computer software for learning of virtually any subject. The mobile telephone has made communication easy. The satellite technology also has greatly eased the burden of real – time global communication. The internet is a great source of information, Books; encyclopedias on any subject, theses, revise, online news, libraries are now available on the internet. Various school activities which were manually carried out in the past, such as purchasing of admission forms, payment of school fees, access to course outlines, result etc are now done online. Sources of information and different educational operations are now available on the internet. However, one must not lose sight of the evil associated with these devices (internet, GSM and computer). Many (including children, youth and even older people) are introduced to do world of deceit, indecency, immorality crime, sexual perversions, violence and many other vices through the use of these inventions of modern technology. The computer and the internet have more damaging influence on the youth. Youths spend long hours watching digital videos (DVD) or playing violent, even bloody and demonic computer games. Some youths spend hours or the whole night browsing forbidden site on the internet thereby getting exposed to inappropriate materials, such as pornographic and erotica because some youth get initiated into Satanism, Spiritism and other esoteric region. The TV and internet have taking over the place of the bible and prayers in a good number of homes. Youth treasure their wide exploration of the internet in place of reading their books and other intellectual activities. This a leading to a dramatic decline in the academic performance of the youth and a high rate of unproductively of the youth in all spheres of life. Wise parents should rise up to this challenge, and set up corrective measures to arrest this trend of self – destruction of the youth. 2. THE FILM INDUSTRY Many youths spend long hours watching the television denying themselves of meaningful activities that will promote heathy living and advancement in life. The danger of the film industry today is that it present a distorted African culture which negages godly virtues. For example, pre-marital sex is against God an abominable thing in African culture, but the film industry today presents it as the norm and what must follow or be part of a relationship. Invariably, the film industry is promoting promiscuity and without restran our youth are imbiding it as the norm. Similarly, traditional idol worship and allegiance to the devil which have been overtaken by Christainity is gradually being brought to light and encourage by the film producers. What about movies dominated with violent operations?. This negates God peaceful co-existence among men. Parents must therefore rise up to control what their children watch on the television. 3. NEGLECING OF HARD WORK Many youths want to go the easy way of life. No work but wants to be rich. They wish for success in life without paying the price of diligence. You need to see the coutless number of youths at the cyber cafe, browsing the internet looking for innocent preys to devour of thir hard earn money. Some Pentecostal pastors are not left out in the craze for prosperity through miracle galore at the expense of diligent labour. 4. SEARCH FOR GREENER PASTURE Many youths run the risk of searching for illegal means to go out of this country for better life. Experiences of those who attempted leaving this country reveal the agony many had to go though traveling through waste land to cross over to their â€Å"promised land†. In the process many had lost their lives and their sense of value of life. Those who made it to their dreamed land are out their doing menial jobs and worst still are out into crimes of various degrees. 5. Domestic Problems Many youth are confronted with Domestic problems ranging from hostility from parents, strife between their fathers and mothers, parents inability to provide the basic necessities of life. Youths from such homes run away from home, get involved in all forms of crimes such as 419, armed robbery, thuggery, prostitution or hired assassions. Parents should wake up to their responsibilities and make sustainable plans for their children. 6. INDECENT DRESSING AMONG YOUTHS We have been wonderfully made by God. Praise the Lord! Let us trace our dressing to the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they realized that they are naked. They sewed fig leaves together to make themselves aprons (Gen3:7). This covered only a part of their bodies. This is fact was not proper clothing and so the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them. This implies that the lord God covered their nakedness. Therefore, any clothing that does not cover the body fully is an indecent cloth. Let us also consider the demoniac in St. Luke’s gospel Chapter 8 ;26-35). The demon possessed man was naked. The bible described him as â€Å"a man from the city who had demon; for a long time he had worn no clothes, and lived not in a house but among tombs’. With encounter with Christ Jesus, he was delivered from the legion of evil spirit, he was clothed and he was in his right mind† (Luke 8:35). This implies that only people who are not in their right mind would go about without clothes not big enough to cover their nakedness. The modern day christains especially youths are without estrain imbiding and embracing worldly principles, values, culture and customs without making refence to the word of God. The bible says: â€Å"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is inworld, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world†. I John2:15. Unholy attitudes or worldliness has become the culture of the church. Some church members tell you what you wear does not matte, after all religion is in the heart. However, they forget that there is a link between the state of man’s heart and the outward appearance. In fact, one’s outlook is greatly influenced by the condition of the heart. It is not uncommon today to find different kinds of immodest and indecent dressed worn by the majority of young people and some older people in the society, even in the church of God. These ladies wear transparent and body hugged clothes under the guise of fashion and civilization. In fact, you see girls of cheap and easy virtue wearing provocative or seductive apparels that partially expose sensitive reas of their bodies such as breast, navels, abdomen and thighs, such youth are not left out in their heavy make-ups. Their make-ups are so excessive and outrageous that the girls are not less than masquerades and cannot but be mistaken for prostitutes. Why would a Christain woman or lady imitate Jezbel? â€Å"When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it and she painted her eyes, and adorned he r head and looked out of the window† 2King9:30. Some ladies dress in such way that they stimulate lustful desires in men. The harlot dresses shamefully only to advertise, comete and seduce the opposite sex. They wear revealing clothes which create in men some immoral desires. Mini-skirts are symbolic of those ladies who want to seduce men. Every mini-skirt is a fuel that sets the mind of a man to imagine the most debased thoughts. On the other hand, ladies who are seductively dressed are more likely to be harassed by men. In the actual sense, a lady who is immodestly dressed is simply adverstising herself, telling the male folk that she is available. No wonder, today that the rate at which women are raped is exceedingly alarming. The men folk are not left out of this craze for fashion. They fry their hair (jerry curls or perm0, weave their hair, wear earring, leave their shirits unbuttoned, exposing their beareded chest, have funny styles of hair cut, apply make up just to prove themselves as â€Å"senior guys†. 7. Sexual Immorality/ Fornication Many youths do not see sextual immorality/formation as sin. They see it as a way of expressing their love to a person of the opposite sex. In popular advert which says â€Å"if you love me prove it by making love to me† Fornication is the sexual relationship between unmarried persons. God condemns fornication; Do you not know that your body is a temple of he Holy spirit, who is in you whom you have received from god? You are not your own, you were received with a price. Therefore, honour god with your body (1cor 6:19-20) Anyone who destroy the temple of the Holy spirit which you are will face wrath of God. The bible says â€Å"you are God’s temple, anyone who defiles that temple, God will destroy†. Some youth who engage in fornication (pre-marital sex) tell you they are in search of happiness, pre-marital sex has brought shame, disgrace and to many, unfulfilled destiny and untimely death. According to Ibid: Pre-marital sex has many adverse effects surrounding it. By so doing expose themselves to many risks such as: pregnancy, abortion, death, death, veneral disease, fear, shame, disrespect, sterility, uncompleted career are grievous sins against God, your creator. These are what we risk ourselves for, Just a mere pleasure which does not last. Similarly, punch Newspaper had on one of its publication pointed out that †Pregnancy is just one of the ways one can reap on unpleasant harvest from fornication†¦ It is better to avoid pre-marital sex†. 8. Wild Ambition Youths, no doubt are very ambitious. Being ambitious itself should be commended. But when the ambition becomes obnoxious, wrong signals are elayed. It is not uncommon today to find youhs engage in all manner of nefarious activities that are opposed to Christain virtues in a bid to acquire great wealth, fame and success. They are usually recruited as political thugs, fake drug peddlers, armed robbers, hostage takers, murderers, assassins while others become cultists, prostitutes and so on. Some become involved in dubious and undefiled business. The bible tells us to flee from all appearance of evil. Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any paise, think on these thing (1 Cor10:31. Phil 4:8) Do not get involved in any activity that is contrary to the tenents of God. Anything contrary leads to hellfire. 9. Peer Group Influence Many Youth have been led astray by those they regard as friends. The influences of peers can bring about a positive or a negative change in one’s life. But today, such influences have been found to destroy the lives of those who keep had company. Thomas Martin as reported by Stan Ilo had this to say â€Å"What can be more dangerous to youth than bad company; what more fatal to all moral rectitude and feeling than influence of bad example. Bad company ruins good moral. It will be highly recommended youths can be involved in authentic friendship. John Chidi once classified friendship into 3: 1. Friendship based on unity 2. Friendship based on Sexual pleasure 3. Good griendship Youth should be encouraged to get involved in good friendship I =n which a man and a woman can be close friends without any sexual intercourse whatsoever. 0 Foul Language, noisy Music, Obscene Dance, pornography Music is an ancient means with which God’s people adored, exalted His Holy name and praised his majesty. This is still God’s expectation from us today. However, Christain music of today has assumed a new dimension from what obtains in the bible. Most Christain music today are emotional, sensual and noisy. The musical instrument soun d than the wordings as obtained in worldly music. Such songs do not give any inspiration, and it lacks modesty and moderation. So also is the obscene dance that accompanies the music. Flee from such music and from every apprearance of evil. 11. UNEMPLOYMENT There is a high rate of employment in this country. Many youths who had managed to go through thick and thin to obtain a university degree or other degrees are out there on the streets roaming about in search of anything to do for living. His has been the concern of both youths and their parents. Many parents have lost inetrest in investing into education of their children. This has increased the number of youths without any formal education or vovational training. One sees them in high dense areas/cities milling around motor parks, marj=ket places, in hide outs, practically doing nothing meaningful. Their daily existence depend on how much they can steal, extort from people or just waste away. Some engage in menial jobs that can hardly take care of them, while others become preys in the hand of evil men who take advantage of them by providing debase jpbs such as drug trafficking, prostitution. The self employed are faced with problems of generating power for tjose whose jobs require electricity. The question is, for how long then can we watch the leaders of tomorrow waste away. We all must rise up to this challenge and fight corruption, injustice that have premeated into the whims and caprices of this nation. 12. Marriage Many youths today are faced with the problem of getting a wife or a husband. This could be attributed to a number of factors such as parental influence or control, self, sin and the devil. Youths becomes so obsessed with their inability to be married that they now abadom God. To every man there is a wife and to every woman there is a man. Therefore wait on the Lord, and He will provide. THE WAY FORWARD In handling the problem of our youth and the difficulties confronting them in this perverse generation, parents, churches, society and the youth themselves have specific roles they must perform to bring sanity to our world. Let us reflet on the role of the youth themselves. The youth who desires life and the fruits of happy life must desire God and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Seek first the kingdom of God and all its righteous and all other things will be added unto you (Matt. 6:33). To the youth who had turn away from the Lord, I say â€Å"come back with a repentant heart and the Lord will receive and have you back as his own. Repentance involves: a) Admitting your weakness, being sorry for your weakness b) Renouncing your weakness The Lord tell us in Issaiah, â€Å"come now let us reason together, says the Lord through your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become loke wool† (Is. 1:18) Go for sacramental reconciliation. Having regained your relationship with God, He wants you to live a spotless life even in this era of godlessness. You are to stay unpolluted and unperturbed in the constantly changing world where you dwell. The unchanging God will substain you, for he has said. :For I am the Lord, I change not† (Malachi 3:6). This implies that God’s children have no excuse to allow themselves to be swayed by the rapidly changing world around them. What is expected of the youth therefore according to the word of God is outlined as follows: 1. The youth must treasure the unaltered word of God in his heart, life and mouth, civilization or no civilization. 2. He must constantly and diligently with prayer guard his soul so that he is not overtaken bythe whirlwind of globalization and modernization. . Must be resolved to live a holy life. This involves daring to be different with a resolution not to look back. 4. Depend on the grace of God. Paul tells the Ephesians, â€Å"for it is by Grace you have been saved through Faith and this is not from your selves, it is a gift of God (Eph 2:8) In the sane vein, Jesus tells us in Jn15:16 not to rely on our own strength but yo abide on the Vine 5. Invite the Holy spirit, the sanctifying power of God into your life. It is the spirit that gives life. In all thid fullness, live in the spirit. So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires swhich is contrary to the spirit and the spirit which is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that do not do what you want† (Gal5:16-17) 6. Associate with thos who love and fear God. Meditate on the passage â€Å"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and Idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will live with them and walk amongthem, and I will be their God, and they will be my people† 7. Plunge into unlimited opportunities: The Lord urges us to plunge ourselves into unlimited opportunities that he has set us. Like Joshua, He was to be strong, courageous and to observe the word of God. Joshua did as God commanded and he prospered. Today God is saying to us that he has given us great opportunities to succeed in life and have all our needs met. However, many go through life dejected, defeated, defrauded, dominated and at the end doomed. you are a child of God. For success to come your way, start now. Do not be idle. You can still go back to school and get education; you can re-write your papers and improve on them. Are you unemployed, apply to place no matter how little, or you can create a job yourself. You need not suffer, the sky is the limit. Finally, do not stay away from sacraments (Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation). Heaven is real. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffer the loss of soul.

Domestic Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Domestic Terrorism - Essay Example In the movie, the Klans acts were terrorism. Terrorism means to cause terror. Burning crosses, throwing fire bombs into houses, and murdering civilians without a legal reason amounts to terrorism. The sole purpose of these acts were to drive fear into the Civil Rights activists and the African Americans in Mississippi. The reason for this terrorism was to force a frightened public, white or black, to accept Jim Crow laws in Mississippi. Compared to terrorism today, similarities can be seen. 9/11 was orchestrated by Osama bin Laden to cause fear in Americans by murdering civilians. Middle Eastern suicide bombers in Iraq, Israel, and Palestine kill civilians in an effort to scare the civilian population. These terrorists act to pressure civilians to pressure politicians to withdraw from territory, or other issues on their agenda. There is no difference from a terrorist today and a Ku Klux Klan member that acted in a terroristic way in the Civil Rights era. Terrorism is a crime, but there are differences in defining crime. For example, murder, extortion, kidnapping, and terrorism are crimes. Crime is an illegal activity. Terrorism is definitely a criminal activity. The reason the Civil Rights activist murders, fire burning, and the cross burning was terrorism is the Ku Klux Klans intention. Terrorisms goal is to create fear and panic. Sometimes it succeeds, or other times it has the opposite effect. The Ku Klux Klans terrorism in the Civil Rights era inspired resistance. I do not believe every Ku Klux Klan member was a terrorist. Only the ones who acted in a terroristic manner or committed a terroristic crime were terrorist. For example, Ku Klux Klan members who got together to speak on White Pride, burning crosses on their own property, or how much they hated African Americans are not committing crimes. As disgusting as it is, the First Amendment gives the right to free speech, even hate speech. Burning a cross on your

What do you think of the concept of ungraded writing Essay

What do you think of the concept of ungraded writing - Essay Example According to (Hewitt) â€Å"Your essay’s point of view may be to persuade the reader to share your beliefs on the topic†. I think when I ask my students about the upgraded writing they will respond that this writing is related to pupil with disability in learning. Usually the writing skills of disabled students are of poor quality; hence the students can have the inclination to think upgraded writing as a writing related to disabled student. As per (Zhang)â€Å"Teaching students about writing is an ever present and significant problem. For students with learning disabilities, this problem often presents even greater challenges†. I would convince my students that upgraded writing is a concept applicable to all students. I would explain to them that, all disabled do not have poor skill in writing. I would describe to my pupil that working hard and knowing the writing skills, anyone can practice upgrade writing. According to (Donovan)" It goes without saying that if you don’t ever bother writing, your writing will never get any

Movie The Corporation Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Corporation - Movie Review Example It goes as far as damaging the environment and hurting clients and employees. The corporation is controlling everything and it is pompous, always insisting that it is the number one, or is the best. It feels no shame, refuses to take blame for its actions, and has no compassion. It connects to others merely on the surface, through made-up versions of itself put on by marketing men and public-relations consultants. To sum up, if the image of the corporation as human is a valid one, then the corporation really is a psychopath. Anti-globalization people have an inclination to demonize industry captains. However, per the movie, the problem with firms is not usually on the people who run them. A former Shell big-boss, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, appears in the movie as a humane and compassionate person. At one point, he and his wife welcomed the demonstrators camped on the front lawn of their house and offered them tea. They even apologized for the lack of soy drink for the vegetarians among the demonstrators. Also in this movie, Goodyear's boss, Sam Gibara, was given time to express his viewpoints. Every aspect of the film was neutral so it is apparent that it was given a balanced edit.

Arizona State University Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Arizona State University - Essay Example As the requirement for professionalization in all the fields of organized undertakings is the index of modern business, universities and institutional managements are forced to induct more new courses in campuses with a motive of selling education at a higher price than ethically permissible. From the profit-making angle, most universities are adopting the policy of upsizing the classes inconsiderate of the defects awaiting their students and their own reputation in the future. This essay will focus on the argument that addition of excessive number of students to a classroom eventually damages the morale of students and the quality of the education offered by the university suffers due to the profit-motive ventures of most of the management of educational institutions today. The real impact The pressure imposed by the total system of a formative education that requires them to develop a career demands the students’ hard struggle for excellence. Induction of more names in the r oll means a teaching burden for many teachers. Faculty of many institutions have their grief that the increased class size adds pressure to their job and the quality of student attention suffers when the class is formed with a difference in performance levels of the students. They strongly argue that student outcomes from classroom lectures and practical demonstrations deteriorate easily with the students outnumbering the manageable proportions and also, the result of such forcible conditions before the faculty may force them to deleteriously change the mode of teaching. There have been a number of studies on the impact of classroom size on student performance in which many researchers rule out such possibilities. For instance, the study conducted by Glass and Smith in 1978 â€Å"concluded that if class size decreases, achievements increase for all students† (qtd in Rochester, 27). They believe that formative lectures and academic materials are distributed equally among all t he students irrespective of the size of the classroom and that they retain all essential subject information and material resources equally. However, it can be implicitly suggested that as the level of education goes higher, it becomes tougher for the students to learn the teachings without proper attention of lecturers. When the number of students becomes more, there are chances of classroom management issues related to time and discipline whereby the meritorious ones may face the serious threat of loss of quality education. Considering such spiritual elements involved in the course curriculum and the expectations of students about their achievement at classrooms, the student-teacher ratio must be optimally regulated. The impact of an increasingly high level competition at job markets and the random rearrangement of syllabus for the achievement of required accreditation status by many universities have made education a herculean task for most of the students. In many cases, student s feel annoyed about the sudden changes inside and outside the campuses, as the process of education becomes tougher for them with having to meet new challenges every day. When such conditions perturb the performance of the student with a better learning skill, they gradually become hopeless about their future in classroom filled with underperforming ones. The expectations are always seen high with bright students as their choices are mostly related to professional courses and comprehensive learning. The faculty, on the other hand can be demoralized by such hugely forcible insertion of more students as their lecture goes ineffective for the smarter ones in the classroom, and also for the reason that they lose their productive time meant for spending with top layer performers. When the size of the c

Project Innovation Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Project Innovation Management - Essay Example today; and the advertising channels; it has become difficult for the companies to maintain a name and to sustain it; years of services and good image can be ruined in days. That is why it is very important for the companies to have good and developed research and development department that are constantly not only providing them with innovative idea; but at the same time also helping them to carter to different regions separately. This research is also a study of two same products produced by two different, famous companies. It focus on what were the strategies adopted by the two companies to make the product; how have the worked towards making it different and what are the factors that led one of the product to capture a bigger market share than the other. In our study we are going to focus on Blu-Ray technology that was introduced by Sony and HD DVD that was introduced by Toshiba. We shall focus the differentiating factors; what was the market research and how were the products developed. Sony is one of the oldest and finest company that was introduced to the world in 1946, the core ideas behind Sony belongs to two very component individuals Mr. Masaru Ibuka and Mr. Akio Morita; the two fine men started the company with only 20 men to their service. Initially the name of the company was Totsuko (Tokyo Telecommunication Engineering Cooperation) with the core objective of providing the services of repairing and building electrical goods. The name was later changed to Sony in 1955; the name was originally a sign to represent two aspects of the society that you â€Å"sound† and â€Å"youth†, the sound part is derived from the word ‘sonus’ and the youth is derived from a slang ‘sonny boy’. The reason of changing the name from Totsuko to Sony was to reflect the spirit and true colors of the company (Trex, 2009). To make it easier for the customers to read, say and relate. Sony was the perfect match. Over the years the company has developed products such as

The international transaction for the sale of goods is far too complex Essay

The international transaction for the sale of goods is far too complex to attempt harmonisation of international trade - Essay Example Remarkable profession liberalization and a change from patriotic to open marketplace economies have offered the basis for the evolution of transcontinental business movement while democratic principles and institutions have been gradually strengthened. However, the UK is still facing prodigious challenges such as societal inequalities, monetary instability, meager standards of living and nonappearance of execution of human rights. It is now well documented that procedures of globalization alone will not determination such difficulties and that there is a requisite for improved global cooperation instruments and development strategies to effectively discourse those issues. Certainly, the last era of free market reforms implemented all over Latin America, Caribbean and the UK brought a definite level of development, but were not as fruitful in diminishing the breach between the rich and the unfortunate. The slow outcomes on the societal front and the new collapse of the Argentinean money market have caused countlessly to wonder about the prospect that certain republics would move toward a more patriotic economy, flowing away from the open copious policies imposed during the last decade. We take the place that while fiscal growth provides no immediate solution to inequity; further societal development does entail economic growth. Fortified decentralization and further fiscal integration have been progressively s een as essential steps en route for both economic progression and social expansion in our Hemisphere, and the constructive link between trade program and poverty assuagement has been reputable Similarly, international legal devices developed in multidimensional institutions and relevant to definite cross-border dealings have become progressively important to the expansion of a substantive multinational law. We generally use the term "global law" as denoting to "all types of principles and procedures of non-national

Children after the separation Essay Example for Free

Children after the separation Essay Further his studies of the effects of war on children who were separated from their mothers at an early age was considered to be research done in a crisis situation. Critics argue under these circumstances it would be impossible to conclude how the same children would have reacted out of a war time environment. It was also argued that Bowlby failed to take account in his studies what had happened to the children after the separation. Bowlby was influenced greatly by James Robertsons research on the effects of separation on mother and child through hospitalisation. Robertsons studied children between six months and three years of age who were separated from their mothers due to hospitalisation. Robertson claimed to have established a sequence of behaviour that all children would pass through. This sequence consisted of distress, were children behaved in a disturbed manner. Despair whereby the child seems to lose hope of finding there lost parent. Lastly, the child display detachment type behaviour, refusing anyone to become involved with them. Robertson concluded that separation from their mother was harmful. In 1971 Klein and Stern studied why parents abuse their children. They found evidence in their studies that a high percentage of abused children had been born prematurely. Because these children were put into an incubator and separated from their parents an attachment was unable to develop, resulting in later abuse toward the children. The study concluded that there is a crucial period when attachments not formed adequately would not be able to be re-formed. This is of considerable importance to social work in relation to the modern day understanding of child abuse as further research has shown that many abusers were once abused themselves. Klaus Kennell (1976) two paediatricians put forward the theory that they too believed there was a critical period when attachment took place, this was immediately after birth, when the mother was physiologically pre-disposed to bond with her infant. It was during this time that the strength of the attachment was determined.  The American National Center for Clinical Programs supports Bowlbys notion of motherlove. They propose that a parent who realises they are going to have a long-term relationship with their child will put more into the caregiving and interaction, as opposed to a substitute care giver who may not be so motivated as they see many children come and go and therefore do not build up a caring relationship with children. This idea has implications for fostering as a consequence may be lack of care or favouritism towards other children in their care. John Elisabeth Newson (1986) point out that one function of a parent is to act as a memory store for the children to play back and compare experiences. Children in a care setting without a key adult with whom they have a close relationship with will be unable to build upon past experiences and this may have an impact on their emotional development.  Many studies have looked at whether attachment is instinctive, as Bowlby had believed. Konrad Lorenz (1935) agreed that attachment was instinctive when he put forward his imprinting theory. His observations revealed that newly hatched goslings follow the first thing they saw, this could be a human or other object and there was a brief critical period early in the goslings life when this would occur and was found to be irreversible. Lorenzs believed this was biological, a factor of evolution that ensures the young of all species are able to attach to someone for survival, and was relevant to the way humans form attachments in relation to it being an instinctive behaviour. Critics of his theory (Sluckin 1961 and Bateson 1964) have shown that if a young bird is kept isolated it stays unimprinted beyond Lorenzs critical period and imprinting can take place after the critical period has passed. This casts doubt on Lorenzs claim that imprinting processes are instinctive. Many researchers now believe that imprinting is actually a process of rapid learning (MacFarlane 1975) In contrast to the theory that attachment is instinctive Colin Turnbull and Margaret Mead when studying families in various African tribes concluded that they saw no signs of instinctive love or affection between parents and children. It was quite normal for many children to be left to fend for themselves; many were even killed as they were thought of as burdens by their parents. The researchers came to believe attachment to be a learnt process that we internalise from observing our own mothers behaviour, and if not learnt properly for example through illness or as in the tribes case through a different set of family norms and lifestyles, then no bonding or emotional attachment can occur. In New York in 1943 Goldfarb conducted a study of orphans. Two groups of fifteen orphans were matched for age, sex and social background of their parents. The orphans of group A had been fostered before nine months old. The orphans in group B had spent at least their first three years in an orphanage before they were fostered. Goldfarb visited each child at ages three, six, eight and twelve years and measured their development with regard to intelligence, language skills, social maturity and their ability to form relationships. Goldfarb found that every child in group A did better than those in group B leading to the conclusion that a normal family home is crucial to emotional and cognitive development. Critics of this study argue that the children may not have had the same intelligence to begin with and that the children in Group B did not have the stimulation of a family for as long a period as those children in Group A. Harlow Zimmerman conducted studies on a group of rhesus monkeys. Their studies consisted of isolating young monkeys for three months, six months or twelve months. The researchers concluded that the behaviour of the monkeys who had been isolated for twelve months was proportionately worse than those who had been isolated for three months. The behaviour of all the monkeys who had suffered isolation was seen to be disturbed. The same researchers also placed monkeys in a cage with surrogate mothers, a doll made of wire with a feeding bottle and a doll made of wood and towelling without a feeding bottle. The monkeys spent equal amounts of time with each surrogate mother. The studies showed that the monkeys preferred to cling to the towelling doll even if it meant they did not have a feeding bottle. This led the researchers to believe that warm contact is of critical importance as a need for the monkeys and leads to affectionate responses. Critics of both these studies question the relevance of animal studies to human behaviour. Bowlbys influential theory managed to link together the evolutionary focus of adaptation with the psychodynamic and behavioural importance of social relationships during infancy and childhood. (Hollin 95)  A measure of its influence can be gained from the action of the World Health Organisation in 1955 stating that Permanent damage can be done to the emotional health of babies and children when put into nurseries or sent to child-minders. The WHO report had many consequences and resulted in lots of practices regarding child care and childrens needs being changed. Women were encouraged to stay at home and were made to feel guilty and bad mothers if the went out to work. (Which suited the government at the time, as they needed these vacated jobs for men) Family Allowance payments were also introduced as a further inducement to keep women from going out to work  Maternity wards encouraged siblings to stay with their mother, whilst childrens wards encouraged mothers to stay.  A main influence on social work practice was the idea that a bad home is better that the best institution which resulted in less fostering and removal of children from poor if not dangerous situations at home. Bowlbys findings were influential but controversial and became the starting point for further studies. Some studies began to disagree with Bowlby, Fraiberg in 1974 argued that it was possible to strengthen an attachment; Parents of blind children who did not experience eye contact with their infant felt rejected and consequently were unable to develop a strong attachment to their children. When taught to interpret their childs hand movements, it was found the bond could be strengthened. Interaction was thought to be the important element in developing the attachment.

School Based Management And School Changes Education Essay

School Based Management And School Changes Education Essay Abstract For more than three decades, School-Based Management (SBM) has become a global movement towards the quality of education. The ultimate goal of implementing SBM was to enhance quality of education in general and more particularly for better school improvement and increased student achievement. This article addresses the views of school stakeholders in exploring the association between SBM policy and school changes. The paper is on the basis of mixed-methods research design, combining quantitative and qualitative dimensions of research. The quantitative research design was applied through an empirical survey between February and June 2012, involving 318 respondents from 18 urban and sub-urban schools of Ngada, Flores, Indonesia. In addition to the survey, personal in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted, followed by documentary analyses. Keywords School-based management, school changes, Indonesia, Flores Introduction For more than three decades, School-Based Management (SBM) has become a global movement towards the quality of education. The ultimate goal of implementing SBM was to enhance quality of education in general and more particularly for better school improvements and student achievements. Research in the last twenty years affirm how SBM policy and programs have been evident to be effective for the improvement of schools and student learning outcomes (Bandur Gamage, 2009; Bergman, 1992; Brown Cooper, 2000; Caldwell, 2005; Dempster, 2000; Gamage, 2006, 1998; Kuehn, 1996; Odden Wohlstetter, 1995; ONeil, 1995; Sharpe, 1996). Several studies have also consistently revealed a positive association between higher parental and/or community involvement and improved student achievement resulting from implementing effective SBM (Blank, 2004; Gamage, 1994; Sheldon Voorhis, 2004; Williams, Harold, Robertson, Southworth, 1997). For instance, on the basis of research conducted in the Victorian state schools system, involving 75 interviews, Gamage (1998: 313) found that healthier teaching and learning environments as well as improvement of student achievement could be achieved by the fact that the parents and teachers who are the closest to the students have formed a partnership and both parties are represented in the governing body with accountability. Similarly, Sheldon and Voorhis (2004: 127) affirm that many researchers have supported the idea of how community and parental involvement can improve schools and the quality of education that the children achieved as well as the academic achievement of students. Several researchers also found how school-based management is associated with partnership in school decision-makings (Bandur, 2012; Blank, 2004; Gamage, 1998). For instance, Blank (2004: 62) asserts that schools can promote improvements in student learning by building relationships between schools and diverse community entities. He then clarifies that building partnerships that link school, family, and community is intimately connected to student achievement because linking schools and community resources leads to providing services and support that address various needs of the students. Partnership can also provide learning opportunities that enhance young peoples social, emotional, and physical development as well as academic skills. School changes in this article are related to: (1) how SBM policy has changed the absolute authority figure of school principals for school decision-makings; (2) how SBM policy encourage higher participation of parents and other school communities in schools; (3) how SBM policy change the fashion of financial management in schools; (4) how SBM policy create partnership in decision-making processes; and (5) how SBM has led to better teaching and learning environments. In the study, the general research questions were formulated as what are the results of implementing SBM policies and programs in schools as perceived by the school stakeholders? What is School-Based Management? School-Based Management (SBM) is a generic term in a response to change the centralistic and bureaucratic fashions of public school system toward more decentralized and democratic model. The term was born in mid-1960s in Australia after a public debate at the Australian National University, Canberra to choose a model of public school system that serve better students. Under the SBM scheme, power and authority in decision-making are shifted from governments to individual schools for better school improvement and increased student achievement. Later, the reform has appeared worldwide under various terms site-based management, site-based decision making, school-based decision making, school-based governance, shared decision making, and even school-based initiatives. However, even though these terms represent the widespread education reform agenda, they vary slightly in meaning, particularly to the extent whether authority and responsibility are devolved to school councils or whether th e councils are mandatory or not by laws and regulations. In this sense, similar to the SBM reforms in Chicago, USA and Victoria, Australia, Indonesian SBM model is mandatory, which means that all Indonesian public schools are compulsorily implementing SBM policy and programs on the basis of Law 20/2003 on National Education System and Government Regulation No.66/2010. Based on research conducted in Victoria, the ACT and NSW, and other countries, Gamage (1996: 65) defines SBM as a pragmatic approach to a formal alteration of the bureaucratic model of school administration with a more democratic structure. It identifies the individual school as the primary unit of improvement relying on the redistribution of decision-making authority through which improvements in a school are stimulated and sustained. In this context, the focus on facilitating improvements in the individual school as the key to successful educational reform strategies has a good deal of public appeal and other research support (Gamage Zajda, 2005; Gamage, 2003; Whitty, Power Halpin, 1998; Cheng, 1996; Odden Wohlstetter, 1995). Marburger (1991: 25-26) considers SBM as an approach in which decisions that are traditionally made by a superintendent are now being made by the school council comprising of the principal, teachers, parents, citizens, and the students. Likewise, Anderson (2006: 223) defines SBM as the shifting of decision-making authority from the district office to individual schools. Many scholars also affirm that the movement towards SBM is often assumed as the approach to serve students better by improving the school practices in meeting the diverse expectations of the stakeholders in a changing environment towards increasing student performance and achievements (Cheng Mok, 2007; Anderson, 2006; Caldwell, 2005; Gamage Zajda, 2005; Gamage Sooksomchitra, 2004; Muijs and Harris, et. al, 2004; Sheldon Voorhis, 2004; Blank, 2004; Gamage, 1998, 1994). Gamage (1996: 21-22) has proposed a revised theory of SBM based on twenty years of experience in the Australian SBM systems. In the revised theory, he has devised seven assumptions, on which to base a more realistic application of SBM. The first assumption is that a school council shall consist of all relevant stakeholders such as the principal or the head teacher and the representatives of staff (both teaching and non-teaching), parents, local community, and in the case of secondary schools, students. The representatives of the staff, parents, and students are expected to be elected by the relevant constituencies, whereas the community representatives are to be nominated by the other elected members and the school leader. The second assumption is that the devolution or transfer of both authority and responsibility needs to be affected by a legislative enactment. This approach will transform the former advisory body to a democratic governing body. The third assumption is the heavy reliance on the voluntary participation of the parents, community, and student representatives in the process of policy formulation in governing the school. It is believed that the school stakeholders are motivated and dedicated to developing quality schools because of the genuine transfer of authority and responsibility. The fourth assumption is that the lay councilors, with appropriate induction and training, will acquire sufficient knowledge to function as equal partners. The knowledge and experience of the lay-members who come from fields other than education are relevant and useful to the educational enterprise in order that the needs of contemporary schools are met. The fifth assumption is that because of de-zoning, the schools need to function in an interesting and effective mode that can improve the image of the school in a similar way to the business reputation of a private/public enterprise. Such an image will help attract high levels of school enrolments. The sixth assumption is that SBM would be cost effective because the ownership of the policies and higher levels of commitment leads to minimization of costs and better utilization of limited resources. More resources would also be available as a result of minimizing the size of the educational bureaucracy, as well as drawing on previously untapped resources from the school community. The last assumption is that stricter control needs to be enforced by the centre to ensure accountability for the finances placed at the disposal of the school in conformity with the Ministerial/Departmental Guidelines relating to the operation of school councils. The principal is made accountable to the governing body and through it to the states education authorities, as well as to the school community. Submissions of regular progress reports to the governing body and annual reports to other relevant authorities and the school community are required. Decentralization and SBM in Indonesia Prior to the implementation of School-Based Management (SBM) in Indonesia, its system of education was highly centralized. Bjork (2003: 193) affirms that by the end of the twentieth century, Indonesia was among the most highly centralized nations in the world. However, the real transformation with the concept of decentralization commenced in May 1998, when there was a radical political movement towards decentralization (Aspinall Fealy, 2003; Bangay, 2005; Bjork, 2006; Guess, 2005; Raihani, 2007). In terms of successful movements towards decentralization, Guess (2005: 220) claims that the Indonesian big bang devolution program has been described as one of the fastest and most comprehensive decentralization initiatives ever attempted by any country in the region. The decentralized system led to the implementation of educational decentralization through School-Based Management (SBM) which has been considered as a milestone in developing a better quality of national education (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2004, 2002). For these reasons, on the basis of Law No.25/2000 on National Development Planning (2000-2004), the Indonesian Ministry of National Education, appointed a Komisi Nasional Pendidikan (KNP) or Commission of National Education in February 2001. The KNP worked until December 2001 with responsibilities, among others, to: (1) formulate policy recommendations to have a better quality education; (2) provide inputs to government about educational decentralization. It was expected that the work of this Commission would become a basis from which to comprehensively reform Indonesian education. One of the recommendations of the KNP was to develop educational councils at district level and school councils at school level. Thus, developing educational and school councils was one of the educational decentralization policies, aimed at devolving power and authority from central government to schools, resulting in improvement of democratic principles, community participation, equity, as well as accommodation of diverse local interests and needs (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2001: 26). It was believed that local communities are the ones who will understand their own problems and needs better and decided to provide them greater roles and responsibilities in terms of operational decision making on national education policies. For this purpose, the central government embarked on the formation of education councils and school councils in each district of Western Sumatera, Bali, and Eastern Java. On the basis of these trials, the councils were considered strategic in coping with improving the Indonesian national education. Then, Government issued a set of guidelines in relation to the implementation of SBM in 2002 and later revised in 2004 in order to provide mandatory corporate governing body type school councils described as follows: This concrete one-sidedness requires to be channeled politically to become collective action placed by Educational Council located in the district/city and School Council at the level of educational unit (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2002: 1). Further, the Education Act 20/2003 on National Education System strengthened the formation of school councils. In accordance with the involvement of local communities in achieving better quality education, Article 56 of the Act provides that the community members are required to participate in improving the quality of education. In this case, the educational council and school council represent the community, as stated: Community shall take part in the quality improvement of educational services, which include planning, monitoring, and evaluation of educational programs through the Educational Council and School Council (Education Act 20/2003, Article, 56). The Act defines a school council as an independent body established to provide advice, directions and support for personnel, facilities and equipment, and monitoring of a school (Article 56). On the basis of the Act, Government regulated power and authority vested in the school councils, as well as characteristics and formation, membership and structure of a school council. It is clear that authority is devolved to school councils and the councils are empowered to create better quality education in their schools. How SBM Change Schools Currently, SBM has been evident to be effective for the improvement of schools and student learning outcomes (Bandur Gamage, 2009; Bergman, 1992; Brown Cooper, 2000; Caldwell, 2005; Dempster, 2000; Gamage, 2006, 1998; Kuehn, 1996; Odden Wohlstetter, 1995; ONeil, 1995; Sharpe, 1996). More particularly, Odden and Wohlstetter (1995: 32) identified the conditions that promote improved school performance through SBM. They discovered that school stakeholders in the schools in which SBM has been effectively implemented to improve school performance have the authority over budget, personnel, and curriculum. These successful schools implementing SBM have used their new power and authority to introduce changes that directly affect teaching and learning practices. They also found other conditions, including (1) professional development and training opportunities to strengthen teaching, management, and problem-solving skills of teachers and other stakeholders; (2) adequate information to make informed decisions about student performance, parent and community satisfaction, and school resources; and (3) systematic and creative in communicating with parents and the community. Several studies have also consistently revealed a positive association between higher parental and/or community involvement and improved student achievements resulting from implementing effective SBM (Blank, 2004; Gamage, 1994; Sheldon Voorhis, 2004; Williams, Harold, Robertson, Southworth, 1997). For instance, on the basis of research conducted in the Victorian state schools system, involving 75 interviews, Gamage (1998: 313) reports that healthier teaching and learning environments as well as improvements of student achievements could be achieved by the fact that the parents and teachers who are the closest to the students have formed a partnership and both parties are represented in the governing body with accountability. Similarly, Sheldon and Voorhis (2004: 127) affirm that many researchers have supported the idea of how community and parental involvement can improve schools and the quality of education that the children achieved as well as the academic achievements of student s. Several researchers also found how school-based management is associated with partnership (Bandur, 2012; Blank, 2004; Gamage, 1998). For instance, Blank (2004: 62) asserts that schools can promote improvements in student learning by building relationships between schools and diverse community entities. He then clarifies that building partnerships that link school, family, and community is intimately connected to student achievements because linking schools and community resources leads to providing services and support that address various needs of the students. Partnership can also provide learning opportunities that enhance young peoples social, emotional, and physical development as well as academic skills. Research Design and Methods The research design employed in this study was the mixed-methods design. The design has advantages to attain valid and reliable research outcomes as well as to provide specific techniques and strategies by which the researchers are guided in data collection procedures and data analyses (Creswell, 2005; Creswell Clark, 2007). More particularly, this study employed the concurrent triangulation strategy, which primarily aims at using separate quantitative and qualitative research as a means to offset the weaknesses inherent within one method with the strengths of the other method. In this context, the quantitative and qualitative data collection is concurrent, happening in one phase of the research study. The strategy integrates the results of the two methods during the interpretation phase. In the data collection phase of this study, the empirical survey was conducted concurrently with in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and documentary analyses. As the primary goal of condu cting interviews was to seek clarifications and deeper understanding on the issues emerged in the empirical surveys, the results of quantitative data analysis and qualitative data analysis were combined. Research method is more specific than research design. Research methods are techniques of data collection and analysis, such as a quantitative standardized instrument or a qualitative theme analysis of text data (Creswell, 2005; Creswell Clark, 2007). In this study, the term mixed-methods research means to the research design which has philosophical assumptions to guide the direction of the data collection and analyses. As methods of inquiry, it focuses on collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study. For the purpose of quantitative data collection, questionnaire was employed for obtaining close items and scale items related to the objectives of the study. The close items allow the respondents to choose from two or more fixed alternatives, for example, the dichotomous items which provide two alternatives only: yes or no, while the scale is a set of items to which the respondents respond by indicating degrees of agreement or disagreement (Burns, 1994, p. 349). The questionnaire of the study consisted of two major parts. The first main part is about the demographic information of respondents for the purposes of providing descriptive statistics, including: school location, gender of respondents, ages of respondents and their position in schools. The second part is about respondents perspective on the results of implementing School-Based Management (SBM) policy and programs; general functions of communication in schools; the importance of communication for school improvements and student achievements; communication networks in schools; and styles and strategies of communication of school leaders within the SBM framework. For the purposes of qualitative data collection, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) were used to obtain open-ended information. These techniques of data collection were useful for providing better insight of the research problems. For this reason, the researcher the researcher set up two major steps. The first step dealt wit selected the key informants. Accordingly, fourteen key informants (principals and school council presidents) in seven schools were interviewed personally face to face. In addition, FGDs with seven groups of teachers in the schools were conducted. All interviews were recorded in the digital-tape recording and note-books for checking validity and reliability. Validity and Reliability of the Item Scales Several statisticians (Brace, Kemp, Snelgar, 2006; Manning Munro, 2006) affirm that the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a type of Factor Analysis which is used to explore the possibility of a factor structure underlying the variables. In particular, Manning and Munro (2006) explain the usefulness of PCA to measure the validity of variables. In the context of quantitative research, validity is simply defined as the degree to which it measures what it claims to measure (Manning Munro, 2006; Wiersma Jurs, 2005; Pallant, 2005; Best Kahn, 1998). The results of Principal Component Analysis demonstrate that the factor loadings of all scale items were ranged from .72 to .97 and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) of Sampling Adequacy was statistically significant (Bartletts Test of Sphericity, p = .000) and ranged from .64 to .87. These results clearly indicate a good factorability (Brace, Kemp, Snelgar, 2006, p. 318). Reliability in quantitative research refers to the consistency of the methods, conditions, and results (Manning Munro, 2006; Wiersma Kurs, 2005; Pallant, 2005; Best Kahn, 1998). There are three common ways of testing reliability in quantitative research, namely, test-retest reliability, split-half reliability, and coefficient (Munning Munro, 2006; Pallant, 2005). The test-retest approach is applied when a researcher tests the same set of people on two different occasions and the scores from the first test is correlated with the scores from the second test. In the split-half reliability, a researcher administers questionnaires only once and split the items used to create composite variable into two equivalent halves, followed by creating two composite variables from these two sets and correlate them. For the purpose of this study, the coefficient alpha (also known as Cronbachs alpha) was applied. The values of coefficient alpha above .70 are considered to represent acceptable reliability, above .80 good reliability, and above .90 to represent excellent reliability. The values of coefficient alpha of this instrument ranged from .82 to .95, indicating good and excellent reliability (Manning Munro, 2006, p.25). Results and Discussions Demographic Information In the study, several variables in relation to demographic information were analyzed for providing the general background of respondents. These include location, genders, qualification of formal education, positions in schools, and ages of respondents. The majority of respondents (57%) were located in district town schools of Ngada, while 43% of them were from village schools located in Golewa Sub-district area. Then, the majority of respondents (53%) were male, while 47% of them were female. Meanwhile, most of respondents (39%) graduated from bachelor degrees, while 36% of them graduated from diploma educational institutions. Meanwhile, 25% of respondents had the high school teacher training education or senior high school. The biggest percentage (38%) of respondents in the empirical survey was parents, followed by teachers and school council members (26% and 24% respectively). Other respondents were administrative staff (9%) and principals in seven schools (2%). Most of the respondents (40%, N=318) were between 41 and 50 years old. Twenty-six of them were between 31 and 40 years old, while small percentages of respondents were between 51-60 and 20-30 years old (20% and 14% respectively). Opinion on the Current Practice of SBM Policy In Indonesia, the policy in decentralized education system through School-Based Management (SBM) was actually the initiatives made by the Central government in Jakarta. Fortunately, the initiative was strongly supported by international donor agencies. In Flores, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) provided assistance for school stakeholders in the areas of SBM policies and programs, including the devolution of authority and responsibility from governments to school councils in terms of building new schools, building renovation, library, school text books, school curriculum, school development planning, monitoring anf evaluation, school operational grants, as well as how joyful teaching and learning is linked to active participation of the whole school community members. An analysis was made in this study to find out the overall impression of school stakeholders on the current implementation of SBM policies and programs. As shown in Table 1, all respondents in th e empirical survey perceived the implementation of School-Based Management (SBM) either adequate (5%), good (46%) or excellent (48%). This implies that SBM policies and programs in these schools were applicable. Table 1 Opinion on the current practice of SBM Valid Item Frequency Valid Percent Unsatisfactory Adequate Good Excellent 0 17 147 154 0 5.3 46.2 48.4 Total 318 100.0 An effort was also made to find out whether there was statistically significant difference in terms of the school stakeholders opinion in terms of the implementation of SBM. As presented in Table 2, there was no statistically significant difference (Chi-sq =59, N = 318, p = .74) with the 96% of respondents who are working in schools (teachers, administrative staff and school principals) who either stated good or excellent on the implementation of SBM, compared with 94% of respondents (school council members and parents) who stated the same. Table 2 Opinion on the implementation of SBM by position of respondents in school NewPosition * Opinion on the Implementation of SBM Crosstabulation Opinion on the Implementation of SBM Total Adequate Good Excellent New Position 1* Count 5 56 60 121 % within NewPosition 4.1% 46.3% 49.6% 100.0% 2** Count 12 91 94 197 % within NewPosition 6.1% 46.2% 47.7% 100.0% Total Count 17 147 154 318 % within NewPosition 5.3% 46.2% 48.4% 100.0% * = Teacher, administrative staff, principal ** = School council members and parents Chi-Square Tests Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Pearson Chi-Square .593a 2 .744 Likelihood Ratio .612 2 .736 Linear-by-Linear Association .311 1 .577 N of Valid Cases 318 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6.47. How SBM Change the Authority on School Decision-Makings Since the implementation of SBM, authority in decision-making is vested from governments to school level decision-makers. For this purpose, each Indonesian school has established school councils for decision-making processes. In this research, it was necessary to find out how the school stakeholders considered the authority in decision-making after the implementation of SBM. Table 3 SBM and decision-making authority in school Valid Item Frequency Valid Percent Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 18 166 134 5.7 52.2 42.1 Total 318 100.0 Table 3 shows that the vast majority (94%) of respondents in the empirical survey either agreed (52%) or strongly agreed with the statement: School-Based Management has resulted in the provision of wider authority in school for decision-making. This result implies that as perceived by the respondents, authority for decision-making has been vested in school level since the implementation of SBM. In the history of Indonesian education system prior to the implementation of SBM, school principals were the authority figures in school decision-makings. They worked very closely to the district government officials in relation to the arrangements of new school buildings, school renovation, and even school textbooks for children. In such a practice, parents and other school community members never involved in decision-making processes. These practices were in line with Education Law No.2/1989 on National Education System and Government Regulation No.28/1990. It was regulated that central government has the authority in regard with curriculum, textbooks, school facilities, deployment, and development of staff, while authority in relation to new school buildings and renovations are in the hands of district governments (Article 9, Government Regulation 28/1990). In contrast, under SBM scheme, authority in these areas is not solely vested in school principal, but to the school councils. This requires principals to distribute the authority to school council members. The central government decided on the structure and composition of the councils to represent school communities. However, each school itself was given the authority to decide the size of the council based on their school size. Thus, each school has to elect a school council with a minimum of nine members depending on the size of the school. The membership of a school council should comprise of principal and the representatives of teachers, students, parents, school foundations, local governments, and community. The community representatives should consist of: (1) public figures, (2) educational experts; (3) industries or businesses; (4) professional organization of teachers; representatives of alumni; and (5) representatives of students. Apart from electing and/or nominating a maxi mum of three representatives only from teachers, school foundations, and Advisory Body for the Village Governance (Badan Pertimbangan Desa/BPD), there is no limitation of the total number elected from the representatives of the community members. Opinion on How SBM Creates Higher Participation of School Stakeholders An effort was then made to seek the nature of participation of school stakeholders in school decision-makings as perceived by the school stakeholders. Table 4 SBM and higher participation in school Valid Item Frequency Valid Percent Agree Strongly Agree 196 122 61.6 38.4 Total 318 100.0 Table 4 shows that all respondents (100%) stated either agree (62%) or strongly agree (38%) with the statement: SBM implementation has resulted in increased participation if all stakeholders in school. The result indicates how SBM policy in schools has crea

Puritan Culture :: essays research papers fc

The Puritan pilgrims as a society based many of their practices and customs on religion. Once in America and away from the prejudices they faced in England they were able to freely practice their beliefs as they saw fit. This led to a very strict society in which members were expected to live and behave according the theological rules which they had set for themselves. This strict society also directly influenced the way children were brought up and educated in New England.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since the pilgrims followed the writings and teachings of John Calvin they believed all men have predetermined destinies set for them at birth by God. In order to be â€Å"saved† in the afterlife they must live their lives according to God’s will and in a sense, fulfill his plan for them. Another strong factor as to why their society must be so reformed is the fact that they were in a new world. They must create a â€Å"new† England for themselves and build an uncorrupted society for their people. They saw themselves as â€Å"a ‘saving remnant’ chosen by God to preserve the true faith in America and inspire religious change in England† (Henretta et. al. 53). To achieve these ideals the settlers must instill the same values they held true in their children so that future societies could lead faithful lives in New England.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since the children were highly educated in religion this directly affected the way they behaved. Even the laws of their communities were deeply rooted in religion. The Bible was established as a legal guide and instances where there was no law, local magistrates should rule â€Å"as near the law of God as they can† (Henretta et. al. 54). So, to live properly in this society according to its laws a child must live in a Godly fashion.

The Effects of Poverty on the Lives of Children Essay -- Papers Britai

The Effects of Poverty on the Lives of Children Child poverty is common in the United Kingdom, 21% of all children were classified as poor in 1995. One child in three spends at least one year in poverty over his or her lifetime, and for more than 5% of children, poverty lasts 10 years or more. Most poor children are subject to a number of risk factors in addition to low family income; nonetheless, research shows that poverty has selective, but in some cases quite substantial, effects on child and adolescent well-being. Poor children not only experience material deprivation but also are more likely than non poor children to experience a number of undesirable outcomes including poor health and death, failure in school, out of wedlock births, and violent crime. Child poverty can be reduced by a combination of policies, versions of which are currently in place in the United Kingdom, to help families earn more and supplement earned income with other sources of cash (such as Child Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits). In addition, the effects of poverty can be reduced by programs that provide benefits in the form of goods and services (such as food, housing, and health care) which are vital to children's well-being. Despite the frequently voiced sentiment that few programs work, the United Kingdom has a number of effective programs in place that address the needs of poor children and reduce their numbers, although more can be done. To gather public support, however, interventions to improve conditions for poor children should be consistent with public values that hold society responsible for (a) meeting basic human needs for thos... ...n. Food, shelter, health care, and other necessities are crucial for children's well-being, and extra income can make life more enjoyable. The important question about which there is debate is whether the things that extra money, above a subsistence level of income, would buy make a big difference in child outcomes. The answer to this question is a qualified ?yes.? The qualification reflects the facts that income seems to have a larger, more consistent independent effect on some outcomes (such as school achievement in the early grades) than others (such as teenage childbearing) and that the timing and persistence of poverty are important factors in the size of its impact. These issues are explored further in the ensuing discussion of policies for poor children, which includes recommendations for specific interventions.