Last hurrah-Character :: essays research papers

Edwin O'Connor's novel The Last Hurrah presents a view of the difficult and hard life of the Irish-American community in Boston of the 1950's. The author uses a number of characterizations to produce themes that relate to the political and social considerations of this era. With a narrative style that holds the reader's interest, O'Connor leads you through the streets and alleys of the old city, giving you a brief look at old-time city politics. He does this through Frank Skeffington who is the main character. One of the characters O’Connor used to make his point is John Gorman. John Gorman is quiet and somber. Gorman's dedication to social structures and concern for religion and the family differ from the ideas represented by the candidate and the corrupt political leader. When talking with Gorman at a party, Molly Riordan presents her view of Frank Skeffington, and is met with Gorman's skeptical response. Molly says, â€Å"He's the best of them all, John, God love him. There's not a night goes by I don't say a little prayer for him.†(O’Connor 85). Gorman's response is a simple non-committal comment about the party and skeptically attempts to avoid demonstrating any commitment to Molly's remarks.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although Gorman and Skeffington have a close association, there is no determination of any loyalty that exists from Gorman's view. He is not dedicated to the cause of Skeffington's election, although that is a primary aspect of many of his interactions. Gorman's odd sense of humor also adds to his presentation of disbelief in regard s to Skeffington. When discussing the topic of campaign issues that came up between Skeffington and his nephew, the nephew acknowledges that the topic did come up whenever they were together. Gorham's response, intended to bring up religious symbolism as well as humor, which was, â€Å" Ah well, that's natural enough, If you met the Pope, you'd talk about religion. (O’ Connor 192). O'Connor's book is powerful because of its complexity of levels. There is a defined consideration for the plot and characterizations, but O'Connor does not stop at this.

Kurt Vonnegut Essay

Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse – Five appeared on the list of Time magazine’s 100 all time best English language novels since 1923. Written in 1969, this novel is considered a classic and is also known as one of his best works. Slaughterhouse -Five spans the different time periods of the life of Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist. Vonnegut witnessed the Bombing of Dresden in World War II, and this novel portrays the aftermath of the war. Vonnegut uses time travel as the plot device to portray human conditions from an unusual perspective. He was a prisoner in the Battle of Bulge in December 1944; in Dresden, Germany as a battalion scout. In all likelihood, the bombing of Dresden saved him from being sent to the Auschwitz gas chambers. Vonnegut was among the few survivors that were taken as prisoners to a slaughterhouse during the war and he worked in a meat-locker under this slaughterhouse, making diet supplements for pregnant women . The title refers to the slaughterhouse where Billy stayed as the prisoner of war. Vonnegut combines science fiction elements along with human conditions in the aftermath of the Dresden bombing, to drive the point. Slaughterhouse-Five is the story of a man Billy Pilgrim who has â€Å"come unstuck in time†. This term refers to his surviving a plane crash where he suffers a minor brain damage. Vonnegut has created a satire on fatalism. He believes that no matter how distressing the situation of a man is; he has the power to create his own reality through the sheer power of imagination. Billy Pilgrim experiences different time periods of his life especially his experiences of the World War II. The seemingly random happening of his life structures the thematic elements of the novel in an unraveling order. The novel examines many events in Billy’s life. This includes the death of his wife, his capture by the Nazis in World War II, and the unfortunate bombing of Dresden, which also became the inspiration of this book. The major theme comprises of the narrative that depicts Billy’s difficult times in Dresden, the secondary theme that runs through is his easy and affluent life as an optometrist in the city of Illium, New York, which is a fictional stand-in for Troy, New York, the city of Schenectady, New York. This is the place where Vonnegut has based most of his novels. The fiction runs parallel to the story of Vonnegut’s own transition from the depressing years of 1930’s, which was also the time period when ‘The Great Depression’ occurred, to a well to do existence that followed. The satirical essence of the novel is portrayed by the repetitive phrase, â€Å"so it goes† which Vonnegut uses to describe death and dying; whether it is of man, animal or the bubbles of champagne. He uses it to downplay the fact of ‘mortality’; making it sound humorous and routine. Some would say that his writings are creepy, but the fact is that he wrote beautiful, bizarre and horrifying novels replete with dark humor, and that set him apart as a unique writer. In Slaughterhouse –Five he uses words and phrases such as, â€Å"mustard gas† and â€Å"roses† to describe the rotting smell of a corpse, and the breath of an alcoholic. This novel explores the idea of fate, freewill and illogical nature of human beings. In the first chapter the narrator apologizes about the fact that the novel is so â€Å"short and jumbled and jangled† and then goes on to explain the fact that there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. The satirical tone and the dark humor is the alibi, which he uses to describe the horrific aftermath of bombings and war in general. There are three themes that he uses in Slaughterhouse –Five. The first and foremost theme is the- War. He writes about the contrasts of war; which is love, beauty, humanity, innocence, humor etc. In Slaughterhouse –Five just like his many previous novels, he says that war is bad for us and it is better to love one another and live in peace, than have wars. However, she doesn’t use love as the contrast of war, since Billy Pilgrim was not shown as a man who is madly in love with his wife. Yet he chose to depict it in a light yet effective manner. An interesting contrast Vonnegut uses in his novels are differences between the characteristics of men and women. Men are shown as cruel and ready to he engage in war any time, and the females are the shields, playing the shock absorber’s effect capably, as they are always engaged in trying to dissuade men from getting into wars. Women in Vonnegut’s novels are more humane, loving and have strong wills. The most compelling theme is that we as people are like bugs trapped in an amber and there are no â€Å"whys â€Å" to it. In a sequence in the novel, when Billy is trapped in Tralfamadorin Flying Saucer he asks, â€Å"Why me? † â€Å"†¦. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is . Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? † Billy was asked, and he recalls that he in fact had a paperweight in his office, which was a blob of polished amber with three ladybugs trapped inside it. Billy answers in affirmation and he is told: â€Å" Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why. † (ibid pg. 76-77). This extraterrestrial experience of Billy is symbolic of the fact that we are physically stuck in this world with no choice over our circumstances. In Vonnegut’s novels there are no set themes or plot that follows the story of heroes, heroines or villains. As Ernest W. Ranly says that all the characters in Vonnegut’s books are â€Å"comic, pathetic pieces, juggled about by some inexplicable faith, like puppets. † (Riley, 1974, pg. 54). Vonnegut himself says in his book Hocus Pocus that if there is no one to take the blame for the bad happenings in the book, it can only mean that the villain is God Himself; â€Å" or Herself or Itself or Whatever† (Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus, 1990). Another significant theme is that there is no soldier, only man. Being a soldier is a myth as a soldier is just a puppet of war used to do as the war demands. He doesn’t remain a human being anymore. Vonnegut expresses this thought most noticeably in this extract from the novel from the time when Billy was imprisoned in Dresden. When the three fools found the communal kitchen, whose main job was to make lunch for workers in the slaughterhouse, everybody had been waiting for them impatiently. She was a war widow. So it goes. She asked Gluck if he wasn’t awfully young to be in the army. He admitted he was. She asked Billy Pilgrim what he was supposed to be. Billy said he didn’t know. He was trying to keep warm. â€Å"All the real soldier are dead. † She said. It was true. So it goes. (Vonnegut 1969. Pg. 159). Another obvious theme is that death is inevitable. It also goes on to explain that life goes on, no matter what happens and who dies. The phrase â€Å"so it goes† occurs one hundred and six times throughout the novel; it happens every time someone dies, to take away the seriousness of death and impart a humorous quality to its inevitable graveness. This book has different meanings for different people, as everyone would be likely to interpret its subtle messages in their own way. The point that Vonnegut wanted to make was that no matter what happens , we should retain our humanity.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”: A Comparison Introduction

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† has received wide praise for its accurate depiction of madness and the symptoms attributed to mental breakdowns (Shumaker 1985). While these symptoms may seem obvious from today’s psychological perspective, Gilman was writing at the close of the 19th century when the discipline of psychology was still emerging out of a rudimentary psychiatric approach to treating the mentally ill.Though doctors have attempted to write about the treatment of insanity since ancient Greece, the history of madness has most often been characterized by a series of popular images, images that may have stunted the development of a medical model of mental illness: as a wild irrationality, an imaginative and corrupt gothic horror, a violent cruelty that must be confined in asylums, and lastly as a mere nervous disorder.The critic Annette Kolodny suggests that contemporary readers of Gilman’s story most likely learned how to foll ow her fictional representation of mental breakdown by reading the earlier stories of Edgar Allen Poe (Shumaker 1985), and indeed we can locate these strata of historical representations in both â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Poe’s â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher.†But where Poe’s depictions seem to confirm negative – and thus not therapeutically useful – stereotypes of madness, Gilman tempers her representations through the emerging psychological model, which allowed her to articulate a new image anticipating the 20th century hope of curing mental diseases through psychological expression. Background Gilman’s story depicts the mental collapse of a late 19th century housewife undergoing the Rest Cure, who grows increasingly obsessed with a disturbing wallpaper pattern.It has been suggested that contemporary readers would have read the story as either a Poe-like study of madness, yet most modern critics focus on a feminist reading in which the wallpaper intentionally represents the â€Å"oppressive patriarchal social system† (Thrailkill 2002). Jane Thrailkill, in her essay about the psychological implications of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† argues that this feminist reading may actually block the work done by the story to shift 19th century medical conventions surrounding mental illness (Thrailkill 2002).Gilman stated that everything she wrote was for a purpose beyond mere literary entertainment, and that â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† was written in order to highlight the dangers of certain medical practices, particularly to convince Weir Mitchell to change the method of his Rest Cure for nervous ailments (which Gilman herself had unsuccessfully undergone) (Shumaker 1985, Thrailkill 2002).In Gilman’s words, the story was, â€Å"†¦intended†¦ to save people from going crazy, and it worked† (Thrailkill 2002). Like Gilman, Poe may also have suffered from mental illness, but following the concerns of his historical moment, Poe seems to have been more interested in the construction of aesthetic effects instead of how those effects might change social and scientific perspectives.The only mention of a cure in Poe’s tale is the â€Å"vague hope† that reading a book will relieve excitement (Poe 2003). Nonetheless, Gilman’s methods of representing madness clearly derive from Poe; they both use an â€Å"inspired manic voice,† unnamed narrators, nervous characters with no diagnosable illness, a rebellious foregrounding of the imagination, and a haunting mood with rational design that has been considered Poe’s signature style (Davison 2004).Published sixty years earlier, Poe’s â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† in particular seems to anticipate â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† in its manor setting and mad characterizations, and thus can serve as an opening point from which to trace the 19th century trans itions in cultural and scientific representations of madness that culminate in Gilman’s tale. Analysis In â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher,† an unnamed narrator, visiting his old friend Roderick Usher, attempts to describe Roderick’s madness through both external and internal signs of irrationality.Most immediately, Roderick’s hair is described as â€Å"wild† and of â€Å"Arabesque expression,† which the narrator is unable to connect â€Å"with any simple idea of humanity† (Poe 2003). Similarly, Roderick’s manner strikes the narrator with â€Å"an incoherence – an inconsistency,† and his voice is compared to that of â€Å"the lost drunkard, or the irreclaimable eater of opium† (Poe 2003), all of which mark his social difference as not understandable.After the entombment of his sister, Roderick’s external madness intensifies: he roams with â€Å"unequal, and objectless step,† has a â€Å"m ore ghastly hue† of face, a â€Å"species of mad hilarity in his eyes,† a â€Å"restrained hysteria in his whole demeanor,† and speaks in a â€Å"gibbering murmur† (Poe 2003). But all of these are, as the narrator puts it, â€Å"the mere inexplicable vagaries of madness† (Poe 2003). When it comes to representing the internal process of mental breakdown, Poe (at least in this story) still only describes Roderick’s irrationality from an external and stereotypical position.Roderick describes his condition as a â€Å"deplorable folly† that will force him to â€Å"abandon life and reason,† he is â€Å"enchained by certain superstitious impressions,† and suffers from â€Å"melancholy† and â€Å"hypochondria† (two terms associated with earlier misunderstandings of madness) (Poe 2003). The only time we see the irrational thought process represented is in Roderick’s monologue about entombing his sister alive, which uses dashes, italics, and capitalization to indicate a nervous desperation, as in Poe’s â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†.In contrast, Gilman drops almost all of these external and stereotypical descriptions of madness in her story, focusing instead on a faithful rendition of irrational thought processes, in particular the narrator’s growing obsession with the yellow wallpaper. Early in the story, the narrator declares that she’s fond of her room, â€Å"all but that horrid wallpaper,† but within a few pages this statement is turned around; the narrator becomes fond of the room â€Å"perhaps because of the wallpaper.It dwells in my mind so† (236). The wallpaper gradually takes over the narrator’s thought process, breaking into other observations without transition, as when the narrator looks out her window and sees â€Å"a lovely country, full of great elms and velvet meadows. This wallpaper has a kind of sub-pattern†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (235 ). Eventually she â€Å"follows that pattern about by the hour† until there are few passages in the text that are not about the wallpaper (238).As her obsession grows, the narrator becomes paranoid that her husband and stepsister are â€Å"secretly effected by it,† and she’s thus â€Å"determined that nobody shall find [the pattern] out but myself† (239). Despite her original loathing of the wallpaper pattern, by the end of the story the narrator’s obsession is so consuming that she claims, â€Å"I don’t want to leave until I have found it out† (240). Instead of being directly told that the narrator is enchained by her impressions like Roderick Usher, we are more realistically shown those irrational impressions at work in the  mind.Another method for representing irrationality is to cast it against a more rational perspective, which both these stories do. Poe’s narrator, for instance, claims to rationally explain away the oth erwise inexplicable events of â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† while documenting Roderick’s breakdown (Gruesser 2004). The house’s peculiar atmosphere â€Å"must have been a dream;† his nervousness is â€Å"due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture;† the storm is â€Å"merely an electrical phenomena† (Poe 2003).And yet the uncertainty of events displayed in this narrative unreliability suggests that the narrator might himself be going mad. After describing Roderick’s wild appearance, the narrator says, â€Å"it was no wonder that his condition terrified – that it effected me,† and begins to feel â€Å"the wild influences of [Roderick’s] own fantastic yet impressive superstitions† (Poe 2003). This inability to rely on his own perceptions causes the narrator to flee aghast when the house collapses, where a more rational or unaffected person might first summon the servants or police (Gruess er 2004).According to John Gruesser, the challenge in Poe’s use of unreliability is that he sets reason in opposition to the supernatural, straddling the Gothic/Fantastic genre where supernatural events are more likely than their rational explanations. This supernatural possibility seems to lessen the question of whether madmen are always delusional or can speak the truth, which becomes central for Gilman’s story. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† also uses a rational perspective in the character of her husband and physician John, who is â€Å"practical in the extreme.He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition† (235). Not only does John explain away the unsettling nature of the house as a draught, but he also attempts to explain away the narrator’s mental illness, calling it â€Å"a temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency† (234). As we will see, this explanation of madness as merely nerves will beco me a large concern for 19th century discussions on mental illness, and as such comes off as far more scientifically realistic than explaining madness through the supernatural.Gilman also has her narrator attempt to rationalize her own madness, beginning the story with her claim of being â€Å"ordinary people,† and continuing this attempt to rationalize even through her mental deterioration: â€Å"it is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight. Just this nervous weakness I suppose† (238). While this use of unreliable explanations is similar to Poe’s, it reads as more realistic because Gilman frames her story in a way that denies the Gothic discourse of supernatural explanations.Despite its eventual medical ineffectuality, the label of â€Å"nerves† is one of the clearest literary representations of madness attempting to explain or deny its mental character. â€Å"True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; † claims the narrator of Poe’s â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† â€Å"but why will you say that I am mad? † (Poe 2003). The Usher family madness in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† is likewise coded; Roderick attempts to pass off their â€Å"constitutional and†¦ family evil† as a â€Å"mere nervous affection† (Poe 2003).He has an excessive â€Å"nervous agitation†¦ and acute bodily illness,† and â€Å"a morbid acuteness of the senses† that makes most food, garments, odors, light, and sounds intolerable (Poe 2003). Madeline is diagnosed with a â€Å"settled apathy, a gradual wasting away,† because whatever is actually wrong with her â€Å"long baffled the skill of her physicians† (Poe 2003). Whether or not these characters are actually mad, one gets the feeling that the word â€Å"nerves† is used by Poe to explain or make legible the Usher family condition for the mid-19th century reader, ind icating that it may be a biological rather than moral or supernatural disorder.The narrator in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† also articulates her condition as nervousness, but within the late-19th century occlusion of madness as merely nerves, this term seems to indicate less an explanation as much as an excuse or denial of any deeper mental problem. As the narrator says in what is easily read as a flippant tone, â€Å"I never used to be so sensitive, I think it is due to this nervous condition,† and â€Å"of course it is only nervousness† that causes her actions to require a greater effort (235).Though her husband has told the narrator that her nervous case is not serious, she expresses a new dissatisfaction with this diagnoses; â€Å"these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing† (236). This almost ironic but clearly critical representation of nervous disorders marks a break from Poe’s story, but even more importantly indicates the struggle Gilm an went through in her own life against the American medical industry’s changing view of mental illnesses.Though â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† was written to specifically address the Rest Cure, as Thrailkill suggests, the story helped shift the medical paradigm from looking at the patient’s body to listening to their words (Thrailkill 2003). The story is permeated with this desire to talk beyond the traditional psychiatric model: not only is the narrator forbidden to write, but her physician husband only sees her physical improvements of â€Å"flesh and color,† paternally dismissing any of her objections (240).To write, however, is the one thing the narrator consistently feels would make her well; it is a relief to â€Å"say what I feel and think†. Thrailkill offers a reading that Gilman’s narrator at first emulates Mitchell’s physiological approach in looking at the wallpaper, which then shifts to the articulation of a narrative surrou nding the woman in the paper, essentially equating the narrator to a medical text (Thrailkill 2003).We do not need to stretch so far however, as the story is already framed as a diary or journal, that is, it claims to be the expression of a person’s actual experience. Though the narrator has difficulty writing, she continues to write, honestly detailing the thoughts, feelings, and visions attending her mental breakdown in a manner that anticipates the 20th century psychological recognition that madness contains a truthful lucidity (Davison 2004).A mentally unstable person’s journal thus represents exactly the kind of â€Å"irrelevant story† that can cure, and which any sympathetic reader can understand as a valid psychological experience of someone who is no longer seen as socially other or â€Å"mad, bad, and dangerous. † Consequently, while Poe’s â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† comes off as simply an entertaining story about some ste reotypical madmen, Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is ultimately a psychologically real portrayal of the subjective experience of someone going mad.

Domestic Violence In The Book Of David Social Work Essays

Domestic Violence In The Book Of David Social Work Essays Domestic Violence In The Book Of David Social Work Essay Domestic Violence In The Book Of David Social Work Essay 1. In the Book of David by Richard Gelles, there were four state of affairss in which David s instance fell through the clefts of the societal public assistance system. The first cleft was household saving. They did more to maintain the household together than to assist the kid instances like his happens because of household saving policies. The societal workers and tribunal system interpreted sensible attempts to intend perfectly all attempts. The societal workers had to make whatever possible to set childs back, even when it meant seting the kid s life in danger. Furthermore, Gelles was seeking to convey that household saving policies did more excessively wounded kids than assist them. Harmonizing to Gelles the basic defect in the kid public assistance system is that it has two contradictory ends: protecting kids and continuing households . The 2nd cleft in the instance dealt with two anon. calls saying David was being abused. However, they were overlooked and he remained wit h his parents. The calls were made to the CANT Hotline stating David Edwards was pale and scraggy and had acquired a chipped cubitus. The company besides stated that the parents were violent and how an older kid was removed from the place because of physical maltreatment. Furthermore, there were no place visits, no follow-up, or any monitoring of David Edwards. About six hebdomads subsequently, another call was made to the Hotline stating that David was neglecting . Furthermore, it was suggested that picket and skinny or an hurt to the cubitus did non connote he was in pending danger. Besides, the beginning of an anon. company is normally considered the least dependable of all beginnings. The 3rd cleft in the instance was because of David s physician Mr. Tanner. The first two visits after David was born were instead good. He seemed healthy and he was deriving weight like normal. However, the 3rd visit there was important intuitions of an unhealthy babe. David was less than twelve lbs which means he lost a whole lb which is unusual at this phase. It is normally considered a failure to boom which is a signifier of disregard. However, Dr. Tanner thought possibly the weight recorded in the 2nd visit was an mistake. In add-on, Darlene s depression was a noteworthy early warning mark every bit good. She would state Dr. Tanner how she felt trapped at place all twenty-four hours with David. However, he did non hold adequate information to justify an intercession. As the visits continued, David s weight fluctuated which was non normal for a babe. During the 8th visit, Dr. Tanner observed a contusion that was little on the upper arm of David but nil else on his organic structure. The following month he noticed new Markss. They were little every bit good and David now has some little broken blood vass on his left forearm. Darlene had no accounts to where they came from. Last, although Dr. Tanner was concerned and scheduled a visit in two hebdomads he suggested they wer e normal bumps and contusions that childs get. The last and the worst cleft in this instance were non sing past behaviour of the Edwards household. After the anon. calls, a instance worker was assigned to David Edwards. The social worker assigned to his instance was non trained really good and were likely the chief cause of David s decease. The first social worker was Justine Peters who was assigned to the instance three yearss after the 2nd anon. call. She was cognizant that the Edwards household was an unfastened instance and had cognition of Marie. However, harmonizing to Gelles, she claimed she did non desire any information to interfere with an nonsubjective probe . This determination was critical on her portion because she was go forthing out the construct of past behaviour. Not to reference, she had some concern about David but neer told Dr. Tanner about Marie so he was unaware of the history of maltreatment in the Edwards household. Finally, after everything that Justine k nows, she did non believe David should be taken away from his parents. 2. The exclusive intent of reuniting the household is to assist maintain the kid place with the household instead than traveling them to further places. It is really debatable to reunite them after a suspected or documented incident of maltreatment for many grounds. There are so many instances because the definition of maltreatment and disregard are so obscure that every small thing can be considered maltreatment or disregard. Therefore, the kids and their households who need aids are non being recognized or taken attention of. False claims are go forthing bureaus with limited resources and kids being overlooked because they are non acquiring to their instance quick sufficiency or at all. In add-on, the instance worker needs to come up with a sensible attempt to offer household services. However, with the immense instance tonss, the social worker can and will non run into their agenda assignments. For this, the kid and the parents do non acquire the aid they need. Therefore, being ab le to better the preparation of kid public assistance social workers should be put in drama. Another job is that the kid public assistance system is household focused instead than child focussed. Since the childs are so immature and can non state us what happened or support themselves, the rights of the parents have greater weight. It is besides hard to protect kids from those opprobrious parents. Not everyone wants to alter the manner they are. These parents may non even think they did anything incorrect. For this, they may be hesitating to any sort of remedy and be even more violent for non being able to see their kid. On the other manus, they may seek to alter themselves but backsliding and travel into the same form. No social worker or individual in the universe can do person alteration when they do nt desire to. I wholly agree with Gelles that reuniting households is debatable every bit good as protecting kids from their opprobrious parents. Bing able to seek to reunite is a good thought in itself but non everyone is unfastened to alter. Abusive behaviour can be something that is from the yesteryear or something familial and for this it can non be changed. In the instance of Marie and Edward, Darlene abused Marie and she still continued to make it to Edward. Darlene was non receptive to alter and nil was traveling to alter her behaviour. Yes, doing the attempt is ever a good thing to reunite the household. However, if there are no alterations or any nexus of a opportunity for alteration so the kid should non be with the parents. The kid public assistance system needs to be more child-centered instead than family-centered. If it was, kids could be available for acceptance much earlier in their lives when they need to be loved and nurtured before they been hurt or go on to be hurt. 3. There are five phases of alteration a individual can travel through. The first phase consists of a individual non seeing their behaviours as a job and for that they do non necessitate to alter. The 2nd phase is where the individual or individuals recognize that yes there is a job and see altering but do non yet do it. The 3rd phase is where they decide to alter their behaviours and take small stairss to fix for the 4th phase. That is where the individual has changed and put actions to their ideas in the 2nd phase. They are now taking to partake in new activities every bit good as developing new accomplishments and attacks. The 5th phase is when the individual has clearly engaged in their new behaviour for awhile and is committed to keep it. Harmonizing to Gelles, many social workers say they do all they can to supply their aid but the households do non look to alter. This is because they are non developing a technique to fit the alteration with the hazard rating. This is why Gelles says that intercessions can work merely if they are matched to a client s phase of alteration . If the social worker is unsure of the alteration in behaviours during the rating they will neer detect anything. For illustration, when one of the social workers in David s instance was seeking to supply services to the household Edward would maintain refusing and stating they were non traveling to take David off. However, they ever gave in which would do them portion of the 2nd phase where the individual recognizes a jobs and considers to alter. Nevertheless, the household neer goes beyond that phase and makes any attempt or stairss to really make something. 4. Child maltreatment and disregard are non limited to a certain faith or race or ethnicity or economic position. Child maltreatment and neglect happens to any type of child hapless or rich, black or white. One of the most of import actions of a province authorities is how it cares for its kids. Furthermore, Virginia high spots parental outreach and instruction every bit good as protection for abused kids. Furthermore, there are five types of maltreatment that are recognized by Virginia: physical, sexual, emotional, neglect and substance-exposed neonates. Virginia takes on many actions to care for the kid every bit good as the household involved in any of these behaviours. The province of Virginia is both household and kid focused for many grounds. First off there is CPS who identify and supply services to protect the kids and continue the households and forestall farther ill-treatment. They besides maintain a database of all the kids and households that were provided services for. This is good for the kids, because it helps the kid from acquiring farther maltreated. In add-on, since the household is in the database already, if they have another kid they can be watched over and evaluated unlike the David and Marie instances. Besides for kids they have acceptance and Foster attention bureaus. Virginia has many types of acceptance and each of them the parent s rights are terminated. This is really good for the kid because they wo nt be abused any longer by the parents. The parent would besides non be able to happen them and seek to ache them. On the other manus, if they are non put into an acceptance bureau, Virginia has two types of licensed residential installations for kids. The first type is the kid lovingness establishments where kids can populate but the financess are through parents or legal defenders. Opposed to that, there are the kids s residential installations. They provide 24 hr attention of the kids placed there through household ratings. Therefore, the legal defender or parents sign off on this through a comprehensive service act. Last, the concluding service they have for kids is services for older young person. This fundamentally assists childs who were in surrogate attention from ages fourteen to 21 to develop the necessary accomplishments to be independent outside Foster attention. It to boot gives instruction chances such as college grants and tuition payments. Second, there are the family-oriented services by the province of Virginia. The Virginia Child and Family Services Plan is a program dedicated to maintaining the household together. Virginia made this program to increase lasting household relationships for the kids. The footing of the service besides centers on holding the kid achieve their greatest prospective. The households that are involved get encouraged to give support to their kids. The Virginia kid and household service is household focused in every manner. They want to maintain the kids with their households every bit good as aid the household to desire to alter and be better for their kids. Virginia besides has household battle plans which keep the household every bit involved as possible in the kid or kids s lives. The major end is to do the parents spouses to the system. The parents should be involved in everything that trades with their kids in order to continue the households. The kids should cognize who their parents a re and see how much they are seeking to be in their lives as they grow up. Some people can see this as a good plan because it could perchance cut down the figure of households that have their kid removed from their place. Furthermore, it besides decreases the sum of clip of a kid be out of the place at such a immature age. Last, Virginia has a promoting safe and stable households plan. The intent of this plan is to forestall unneeded separation of kids and their households from their places. Another end to this program is to better services and attention towards the household and give the kid a lasting place with their parents or any other lasting life agreement through acceptance and so on. All in all, the province of Virginia is both family-focused every bit good as child-centered. They have plans that fit both thoughts and the plans seem as if they are really successful. Even with the family-focused plans, if they do non see a alteration they will make something for the kid instead than go on and go on until they see a alteration so that the kid can remain with the household. I feel that Virginia is in a good way with the plans they have made. 5. The intent of mandated coverage is to fundamentally place suspected maltreatment and disregard in kids every bit shortly as possible. As a consequence, they can be protected from extra hurt. Mandated newsmans play an extremely critical function in forestalling future injury to a kid. This is because kid protective services can non move until a study is made and sent. Additionally, some provinces think that since childs come in contact with so many grownups that they all should be a mandated newsman. However, in other provinces such as Virginia, it is a more confined list of people. Some of these people are: 1 ) instructors or anyone employed in a public or private school 2 ) societal workers 3 ) nurses 4 ) probation officers 5 ) mental wellness professionals 6 ) any individual licensed to pattern medicate 7 ) jurisprudence enforcement officers 8 ) infirmary occupants or housemans 9 ) professional staff individuals employed by a private organisation responsible for the attention, d etention and control of kids and in conclusion 10 ) any individual over 18 that has had preparation by societal services to acknowledge and describe kid maltreatment and disregard. Harmonizing to the Virginia Welfare web site there is a procedure that takes topographic point when a compulsory newsman studies a suspected instance of kid maltreatment or disregard. In the province of Virginia, the studies are made to the local section of societal services or to the kid maltreatment hotline. This province makes it clear that the studies should be made instantly after the first intuition. Either manner even if it could perchance be incorrect, a subdivision of the Virginia codification protects newsmans liability. However, they are non protected if it is proven they had a malicious purpose for describing a certain individual and kid. After the study is made, the staff of kid protective services reads it and determined whether is meets the legal definition of kid maltreatment or disregard. Consequently, if it does run into the legal definition so CPS has the power and duty to execute an probe or household rating. Last, the individual who does the coverage must supply as much information as possible to CPS. They are required to provide the name, reference or location of the individual who is suspected of being abused. The newsman must besides give every bit much information as perchance on the opprobrious state of affairs. Furthermore, there are legal effects in the province of Virginia for the failure to describe suspected maltreatment of a kid. They can be charged with a misdemeanour and be fined if they are found guilty. The mulct is up to five-hundred dollars for the first incident on a individual. However, the monetary value ranges from a hundred to one-thousand dollars for any undermentioned incidents. It is besides stated that if you unsure whether to describe or non, you should speak to societal services or the maltreatment hotline for counsel and aid. Last, it is non mentioned if there was anyone in particular who is exempt from describing child ill-treatment. The province of Virginia lists a clear cut list of people who can describe and anyone out of that list is exempt. 6. Harmonizing to the book Sentinals are people who are lawfully responsible for placing instances of suspected kid maltreatment and disregard and describing them to province bureaus for probe . It is highly time-consuming, dearly-won, requires tonss of engineering and preparation. The bad portion is that resources are finite and half the instances will non be looked at and those childs will maintain acquiring abused. Besides, the professionals who are supposed to be identifying instances are non making so for many grounds. Most of the clip, they believes that the evident was non sufficient plenty to do a study. They besides said that they would experience uncomfortable coming in contact with the household after they file an maltreatment study. Third off, registering a study and traveling for interviews would do them look bad every bit good as take up excessively much of their clip. Not to advert, they feared cases would come in their way if their study turned false even in good re ligion. Last, all of this means that the coverage of kid maltreatment is highly underreported. I agree with this chiefly because the definitions of what people consider maltreatment and disregard are really bleary. Everyone thinks they are so clear cut that any small grade on a kid could be abuse. Consequently, every bit much as there is underreporting of kid maltreatment, there are over coverage every bit good. Childs are childs and fall down all the clip. It is really hard to turn out instances if it s knowing or it was nt. Not to advert, there are many false coverage and hyperbole in some instances that are non every bit bad as 1s that are being overlooked. Compulsory coverage can come from reasonably much anyone a kid comes in contact with. Therefore, non everyone knows how to find what maltreatment is and what is non. This is a major job and compulsory coverage should merely non be extended to a batch of people in the kid s life. I would non state to get rid of it chiefly because the parents are non traveling to turn themselves in. However, physicians and professionals sh ould truly acquire their act together and thing of the kids instead than themselves. Possibly they should hold categories on kid maltreatment and how people of their sort are turning the other cheek and aching guiltless kids because of their deficiency of lovingness.

Creating an Effective Tardy Policy

Creating an Effective Tardy Policy As a teacher, you are sure to face the issue of students who are tardy to class. The most effective way to stop tardies is through the implementation of a school-wide tardy policy that is strictly enforced. While many schools do have this, many more do not. If you are lucky enough to teach in a school with a system that is strictly enforced than congratulations- that is awesome. You will simply need to make sure that you follow through as required by the policy. If you are not quite as lucky, you will need to create a system that is easy to enforce yet effective against tardies. Following are some methods that teachers have used which you might want to consider as you create your own tardy policy. Realize, however, that you must create an effective, enforceable policy or you will eventually be faced with a tardy problem in your classroom. Tardy Cards Tardy Cards are basically cards given to each student with space for a specific number of free tardies. For example, a student might be allowed three per semester. When the student is late, the teacher marks off one of the spots. Once the tardy card is full, then you would follow your own discipline plan or the schools tardy policy (e.g., write a referral, send to detention, etc.). On the other hand, if the student gets through a semester without any tardies, then you would create a reward. For example, you might give this student a homework pass. While this system is most effective when implemented schoolwide, it can be effective for the individual teacher if strictly enforced. On Time Quizzes These are unannounced quizzes that take place as soon as the bell rings. Students who are tardy would receive a zero. They should be very short, typically five questions. If you choose to use these, make sure that your administration allows this. You can choose to have the quizzes count as a single grade over the course of the semester or possibly as extra credit. However, make sure that you announce the system in the very beginning and that you start using them right away. There is a chance that a teacher could start using these to specifically punish one or a few students- not giving them unless those students are tardy. To be fair make sure that you randomly place them on your lesson plan calendar and give them on those days. You can increase the quantity if you find that tardies are becoming more of a problem over the year. Detention for Tardy Students This option makes logical sense- if a student is tardy then they owe you that time. You would want to give your students a certain number of chances (1-3) before instituting this. However, there are some considerations here: Some students might have no transportation other than the school bus. Further, you do have an additional commitment on your part. Finally, realize that some students who are tardy might be those who are not necessarily the best-behaved. You will be required to spend extra time with them after school. Locking Students Out This is not a recommended means for dealing with tardies. You must consider your liability for student safety. If something happens to a student while locked out of your class, it would still be your responsibility. Since in many areas tardies do not excuse students from work, you will have to get them their make-up work which would, in the end, require more of your time. Tardiness is a problem that needs to be dealt with head-on. As a teacher, do not allow students to get by with being tardy early in the year or the problem will escalate. Talk with your fellow teachers and find out what works for them. Each school has a different atmosphere and what works with one group of students might not be as effective with another. Try one of the listed methods or another method and if it is not working do not be afraid to switch. However, just remember that your tardy policy is only as effective as you are in enforcing it.

Organizational Change, Values and Leadership Research Paper

Organizational Change, Values and Leadership - Research Paper Example Organizational change is often necessary to improve the performance of an organization or part of the organization (McNamara, n.d). Organizational values are acceptable beliefs, principles, and practices that govern behavior and actions of employees in an organization (The Teal Trust, n.d; Sources of Insight, 2007). On the hand, leadership is a scenario in which one individual exercises influence over the roles and operations of other individuals with the aim of achieving a common goal (Northouse, 2009). A strong connection exists between organizational change, values, and leadership. Vision and leadership are essential for successful change while change should be considered a core organizational value (Durant, 1999). Current Organizational Issues Organizations face certain issues that may pose challenges to their operations. Change is one of the current issues encountered in organizations. In the event that these organizational changes are encountered, there is need for the companie s to strive to adapt their employees to the new organizational requirements. A change in the organization’s policy, vision, or mission may cause certain challenges to the employees, who in turn must be ready to execute the changes. An organizational change may often lead to a difference in opinions among the employees of the organization. ... Similarly, effective leadership is an essential management tool in enhancing organizational effectiveness. The managers mobilize others to get things done in an organization. They need to acquire skills for peoples’ management through effective training. Literature Review The management of organizations is charged with the responsibility of detecting and responding to these changes accordingly and in good time. The changes affect the organizational objectives as well as the way employees deal with each other (Mowat, 2002). Addressing the issue of change is one of the difficult and yet most important tasks of the managers of an organization (Stichler, 2011). Management of change requires an earlier mitigation of the possible change patterns that are likely to be encountered. These changes can be caused by company growth, diversification leading to introduction of new products, acquisition of modern technology, or entry into new market (Sadler, 1998). It has also been noted that the real task in the management of change is not developing a new idea; the task lies in the implementation of change (Fishman, 1997). The managers have to ensure that the employees adapt to the observed changes and the new strategies to be adopted. Stichler (2011) further asserts that the greatest failure in the management of an organization is to avoid addressing the issues of organizational change with the assumptions that the employees will adapt willingly to the changes. The people constitute the organization and thus change often begins among the people (Brown & Gray, 1995). Values are fundamental beliefs upon which the strength of an organization is built (Business Improvement Architects, 2012). Individuals in

The Pros and Cons of In-House Versus Outsourced R&D Activity for Essay

The Pros and Cons of In-House Versus Outsourced R&D Activity for Technology Firms - Essay Example R & D is the basis behind the creation of new inventions in technology firms, and it is an ongoing process that does not stop as companies are always looking to better the products they have on the market so as to avoid being overtaken by the competition. When dealing with R & D, there are two ways that a company can go about matters; one is through doing these activities in-house while the other is outsourcing these activities to other companies. In-house refers to doing these R & D activities internally (that is, within the company) through company employees while outsourcing refers to contracting out the activities to another company who then sell back their progress and discoveries to the company in the form of services rendered. Though outsourcing has become quite popular among companies over the years there are still some organizations that prefer to keep all their activities in-house, and both (that is, outsourcing and in-house) have pros and cons that a company needs to look at before determining which is one would best suit their company (Krugman, 2006). In terms of outsourcing, there are a couple of Pros that should be taken into consideration, the first being the avoidance of various regulations that may prove to be burdens ome to the company and are present in the country but not in others. These can regulations can refer to issues involving the workers where having the R & D performed in-house would mean that the organization has to concede to extra costs that are demanded by the various labor unions, for example, which may prove to be costly on the overall expenditure or may working conditions that may take a while to set up thus eating into much valued time in the process (Gordon etal 2009)The process of outsourcing allows a company to circumvent all these issues as they are no longer responsible for the workers performing the R & D activities and therefore do not have to deal with such regulations. Another Pro is the cost saving implications that outsourcing provides as in most cases it is much cheaper to outsource activities to another firm than to perform these activities in-house (Koulopoulos, 2006) This can be due to a number of reasons including the tax differences between the countries where by the taxes in the countries where the outsourced companies are based are not as high as those found locally and therefore, they are able to charge less than it would cost to set up the activities here. These savings on money can be used in other sectors of the company that may need it meaning that the company does not have to struggle for means of acquiring this finances thus churning out a win-win situation for all. In terms of Cons with regard to outsourcing, the major one would be the weakened ability of the company to protect its information from its rivals as a result of outsourcing these activities to a foreign based firm. Ensuring that any essential discoveries made remains strictly within the company’s database and is not leaked out to any of its competitors may be difficult as the company will not have a choice but to trust the company that they have outsourced their R & D activities to and hope that they are not susceptible to leakage as the issue