Alice Munro the Found Boat Essay Example for Free

Alice Munro the Found Boat Essay At the end of Bell Street, McKay Street, Mayo Street, there was the Flood. It was the Wawanash River, which every spring overflowed its banks. Some springs, say one in every five, it covered the roads on that side of town and washed over the fields, creating a shallow choppy take. Light reflected off the water made every- thing bright and cold, as it is in a lakeside town, and woke or revived in people certain vague hopes of disaster. Mostly during the late afternoon and early evening, there were people straggling out to took at it, and discuss whether it was still rising, and whether this time it might invade the town. In general, those under fifteen and over sixty-five were most certain that it would. Eva and Carol rode out on their bicycles. They left the road-it was the end of Mayo Street, past any houses- and rode right into a field, over a wire fence entirely flattened by the weight of the winters snow. They coasted a little way before the long grass stopped them, then left their bicycles lying down and went to the water. We have to find a log and ride on it, Eva said. Jesus, well freeze our legs off. Jesus, well freeze our legs off said one of the boys who were there too at the waters edge. He spoke in a sour whine, the way boys imitated girls although it was nothing like the way girls talked. These boys-there were three of them- were all in the same class as Eva and Carol at school and were known to them by name (their names being Frank, Bud and Clayton), but Eva and Carol, who had seen and recognized them from the road, had not spoken to them or looked at them or, even yet, given any sign o f knowing they were there. The boys seemed to be trying to make a raft, from lumber they had salvaged from the water. Eva and Carol took off their shoes and socks and waded in. The water was so cold it sent pain up their legs, like blue electric sparks shooting through their veins, but they went on, putting their skirts high, tight behind and bunched so they could hold them in front. Look at the fat-assed ducks in wading. Fat-assed f****. Eva and Carol, of course, gave no sign of hearing this. They laid hold of a log and climbed on, taking a couple of boards floating in the water for addles. There were always things floating around in the Flood-branches, fence-rails, logs, road signs, old lumber; sometimes boilers, washtubs, pots and pans, or even a car seat or stuffed chair, as if somewhere the Flood had got into a dump. They paddled away from shore, heading out into the cold take. The water was perfectly clear, they could see the brown grass swimming along the bottom. Suppose it was the sea, thought Eva. S he thought of drowned cities and countries. Atlantis. Suppose they were riding in a Viking boat-Viking boats on the Atlantic were more frail and narrow than this log on the Flood-and they had miles of clear sea beneath them, then a spired city, intact as a jewel irretrievable on the ocean floor. This is a Viking boat, she said. I am the carving on the front. She stuck her chest out and stretched her neck, trying to make a curve, and she made a face, putting out her tongue. Then she turned and for the first time took notice of the boys. Hey, you sucks! she yelled at them. You’d be scared to come out here, this water is ten feet deep! Liar, they answered without interest, and she was. They steered the log around a row of trees, avoiding floating barbed wire, and got into a little bay created by a natural hollow of the land. Where the bay was now, there would be a pond full of frogs later in the spring, and by the middle of summer there would be no water visible at all, just a low tangle of reeds and bushes, green, to show that mu d was still wet around their roots. Larger bushes, willows, grew around the steep bank of this pond and were still partly out of the water. Eva and Carol let the log ride in. They saw a place where something was caught. It was a boat, or part of one. An old rowboat with most of one side ripped out, the board that had been the seat just dangling. It was pushed up among the branches, lying on what would have been its side, if it had a side, the prow caught high. Their idea came to them without consultation, at the same time: You guys! Hey, you guys! We found you a boat! Stop building your stupid raft and come and took at the boat! What surprised them in the first place was that the boys really did come, scrambling overland, half running, half sliding down the bank, wanting to see. Hey, where? Where is it, I dont see no boat. What surprised them in the second place was that when the boys did actually see what boat was meant, this old flood-smashed wreck held up in the branches, they did not understand that they had been footed, that a joke had been played on them. They did not show a moments disappointment, but seemed as pleased at the discovery as if the boat had been whole and new. They were already barefoot, because they had been wading in the water to get lumber, and they waded in here without a stop, surrounding the boat and appraising it and paying no attention even of an insulting kind to Eva and Carol who bobbed up and down on their log. Eva and Carol had to call to them. How do you think you’re going to get it off.? It wont float anyway. What makes you think it will float? Itll sink. Glub-blub-blub, you’ll all be drownded. The boys did not answer, because they were too busy walking around the boat, pulling at it in a testing way to see how it could be got off with the least possible damage. Frank, who was the most literate, talkative and inept of the three, began referring to the boat as she, an affectation which Eva and Carol acknowledged with fish-mouths of contempt. Shes caught two places. You got to be careful not to tear a hole in her bottom. Shes heavier than youd think. It was Clayton who climbed up and freed the boat, and Bud, a tall fat boy, who got the weight of it on his back to turn it into the water so that they could half float, half carry it to shore. All this took some time. Eva and Carol abandoned their log and waded out of the water. They walked overland to get their shoes and socks and bicycles. They did not need to come back this way but they came. They stood at the top of the hill, leaning on their bicycles. They did not go on home, but they did not sit down and frankly watch, either. They stood more or less facing each other, but glancing down at the water and at the boys struggling with the boat, as if they had just halted for a moment out of curiosity, and staying longer than they intended, to see what came of this unpromising project. About nine oclock, or when it was nearly dark-dark to people inside the houses, but not quite dark outside-they all returned to town, going along Mayo Street in a sort of procession. Frank and Bud and Clayton came carrying the boat, upside-down, and Eva and Carol walked behind, wheeling their bicycles. The boys’ heads were almost hidden in the darkness of the overturned boat, with its smell of soaked wood, cold swampy water. The girls could took ahead and see the street lights in their tin reflectors, a necklace of lights climbing Mayo Street, reaching all the way up to the standpipe. They turned onto Burns Street heading for Clayton’s house, the nearest house belonging to any of them. nis was not the way home for Eva or for Carol either, but they followed along. The boys were perhaps too busy carrying the boat to tell them to go away. Some younger children were still out playing, playing hopscotch on the sidewalk though they could hardly see. At this time of year the bare sidewalk was still such a novelty and delight. These children cleared out of the way and watched the boat 90 by with unwilling respect; they shouted questions after it, wanting to know where it came from and what was going to be done with it. No one answered them. Eva and Carol as well as the boys refused to answer or even took at them. The five of them entered Clayton’s yard. Me boys shifted weight, as if they were going to put the boat down. You better take it round to the back where nobody can see it, Carol said. That was the first thing any of them had said since they came into town. The boys said nothing but went on, following a mud path between Clayton’s house and a leaning board fence. They let the boat down in the back yard. Its a stolen boat, you know, said Eva, mainly for the effect. It mustve belonged to somebody. You stole it. You was the ones who stole it then, Bud said, short of breath. It was you seen it first. -It was you took it. It was all of us then. If one of us gets in trouble then all of us does. Are you going to tell anybody on them? said Carol as she and Eva rode home, along the streets which were dark between the lights now and potholed from winter. â€Å"It’s up to you. I won’t if you won’t. † â€Å"I won’t if you won’t† They rode in silence, relinquishing something, but not discontented. The board fence in Clayton’s back yard had every so often a post which sup, ported it, or tried to, and it was on these posts that Eva and Carol spent several evenings sitting, jauntily but not very comfortably. Or else they just leaned against the fence while the boys worked on the boat. During the first couple of evenings neighborhood children attracted by the sound of hammering tried to get into the yard to see what was going on, but Eva and Carol blocked their way. Who said you could come in here? Just us can come in this yard. These evenings were getting longer, the air milder. Skipping was starting on the sidewalks. Further along the street there was a row of hard maples that had been tapped. Children drank the sap as fast as it could drip into the buckets. The old man and woman who owned the trees, and who hoped to make syrup, came running out of the house making noises as if they were trying to scare away crows. Finally, every spring, the old man would come out on his porch and fire his shot- gun into the air, and then the thieving would stop. None of those working on the boat bothered about stealing sap, though all had done so last year. The lumber to repair the boat was picked up here and there, along back lanes. At this time of year things were lying around-old boards and branches, sodden mitts, spoons Hung out with the dishwater, lids of pudding pots that had been set in the snow to cool, all the debris that can sift through and survive winter. The tools came from Clayton’s cellar-left over, presumably, from the time when his father was alive- and though they had nobody to advise them the boys seemed to figure out more or less the manner in which boats are built, or rebuilt. Frank was the one who showed up with diagrams from books and Popular Mechanics magazines. Clayton looked at these diagrams and listened to Frank read the instructions and then went ahead and decided in his own way what was to be done. Bud was best at sawing. Eva and Carol watched everything from the fence and offered criticism and thought up names. Me names for the boat that they thought of were: Water Lily, Sea Horse, Flood Queen, and Caro-Eve, after them because they had found it. The boys did not say which, if any, of these names they found satisfactory. The boat had to be tarred. Clayton heated up a pot of tar on the kitchen stove and brought it out and painted slowly, his thorough way, sitting astride the overturned boat. The other boys were sawing a board to make a new seat. As Clayton worked, the tar cooled and thickened so that finally he could not move the brush any more. He turned to Eva and held out the pot and said, You ran go in and heat this on the stove. Eva took the pot and went up the back steps. The kitchen seemed black after outside, but it must be light enough to see in, because there was Claytons mother standing at the ironing board, ironing. She did that for a living, took in wash and ironing. Please may I put the tar pot on the stove? said Eva, who had been brought up to talk politely to parents, even wash-and-iron ladies, and who for some reason especially wanted to make a good impression on Claytons mother. You’ll have to poke up the fire then, said Clayton’s mother, as if she doubted whether Eva would know how to do that. But Eva could see now, and she picked up the lid with the stove-lifter, and took the poker and poked up a flame. She stirred the tar as it softened. She felt privileged. Then and later. Before she went to sleep a picture of Clayton came to her mind; she saw him sitting astride the boat, tar painting, with such concentration, delicacy, absorption. She thought of him speaking to her, out of his isolation, in such an ordinary peaceful taking-for- granted voice. On the twenty-fourth of May, a school holiday in the middle of the week, the boat was carried out of town, a long way now, off the road over fields and fences that had been repaired, to where the river flowed between its normal banks. Eva and Carol, as well as the boys, took turns carrying it. It was launched in the water from a cow-trampled spot between willow bushes that were fresh out in leaf. The boys went first. They yelled with triumph when the boat did float, when it rode amazingly down the river current. The boat was painted black, and green inside, with yellow seats, and a strip of yellow all the way around the outside. There was no name on it, after all. The boys could not imagine that it needed any name to keep it separate from the other boats in the world. Eva and Carol ran along the bank, carrying bags full of peanut butter-and- jam sandwiches, pickles, bananas, chocolate cake, potato chips, graham crackers stuck together with corn syrup and five bottles of pop to be cooled in the river water. The bottles bumped against their legs. They yelled for a turn. If they dont let us theyre bastards, Carol said, and they yelled together, We found it! We found it! The boys did not answer, but after a while they brought the boat in, and Carol and Eva came crashing, panting down the bank. Does it leak? It dont leak yet. We forgot a bailing can, waited Carol, but nevertheless she got in, with Eva, and Frank pushed them off, crying, Heres to a Watery Grave! And the thing about being in a boat was that it was not solidly bobbing, like a log, but was cupped in the water, so that riding in it was not like being on some- thing in the water, but like being in the water itself. Soon they were ll going out in the boat in mixed-up turns, two boys and a girt, two girls and a boy, a girl and a boy, until things were so confused it was impossible to tell whose turn came next, and nobody cared anyway. They went down the river-those who werent riding, running along the bank to keep up. They passed under two bridges, one iron, one ceme nt. Once they saw a big carp just resting, it seemed to smile at them, in the bridge-shaded water. They did not know how far they had gone on the river, but things had changed- the water had got shallower, and the land flatter. Across an open field they saw a building that looked like a house, abandoned. They dragged the boat up on the bank and tied it and set out across the field. Thats the old station, Frank said. Thats Pedder Station. The others had heard this name but he was the one who knew, because his father was the station agent in town. He said that this was a station on a branch line that had been tom up, and that there had been a sawmill here, but a long time ago. Inside the station it was dark, cool. All the windows were broken. Glass lay in shards and in fairly big pieces on the door. They walked around finding the larger pieces of glass and tramping on them, smashing them, it was like cracking ice on puddles. Some partitions were still in place, you could see where the ticket window had been. There was a bench lying on its side. People had been here, it looked as if people came here all the time, though it was so far from anywhere. Beer bottles and pop bottles were lying around, also cigarette packages, gum and candy wrappers, the paper from a loaf of bread. The walls were covered with dim and fresh pencil and chalk writings and carved with knives.

Safeguarding the Welfare and Innocence of a Child

Safeguarding the Welfare and Innocence of a Child Childhood experiences differ from person to person in many ways. One’s personal experience of childhood is likely to affect their understanding of childhood and their ideal vision of childhood. When I reminisce about childhood, the ideal vision of children frolicking around the park, having fun and carefree days comes to mind. As described by Rousseau, childhood is a brief period of sanctuary before encountering the perils and hardships of adulthood. This line by Rousseau: Why fill with bitterness the fleeting early days of childhood, days which will no more return for them than for you? encapsulates my ideal vision of childhood, a time of pure innocence that will never be recaptured and should be the best time of our lives (Hutchison Charlesworth 2000; Wood 2003). Brought up in Singapore as the youngest child in a family of four, my childhood experience was built upon an â€Å"Asian construction of childhood† with beliefs and ideas of Asian cultural influence. However , being the youngest child made me the perpetual â€Å"baby† of the family, with constant protection and showering of care. Coupled with the media’s constant representation of the innocent child through various movies and images, my view of childhood is inevitably skewed towards this image. The image of innocence recognizes a child’s vulnerability and immaturity, reflecting the need to provide care and protection in order to preserve the physical and spiritual purity of the child. James Prout (1990) recognized that while childhood innocence is a socially constructed phenomenon, biological immaturity is a fact of childhood. Therefore in this image, childhood is viewed separately from adulthood, with the responsibility of the young and innocent firmly in the hands of adults. It is further supported by the code of ethics in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), where adults are in a position of power, with the expectation of making decisions in the best interests of the child due to their innocence and perceived incapability of making the right decisions. In my experience of childhood, my brother and I were kept on constant adult supervision without the need or option to make any decisions. Everything was taken care of by Linda, our domestic worker fr om the Philippines and she was tasked to follow instructions and daily routines set out for us by my parents. Rousseau noted that children are born into an original natural state of essential goodness. However, their closeness with nature and natural goodness is being threatened or degraded by culture. In my infant years, protecting us from the ‘corruption’ of society was exactly what my parents wanted by limiting our exposure to sources of corruption such as violence in music, television and games. Postman (1983) highlighted a shift away from child innocence due to the myriad of media universally available to children. In recent years, the proliferation of technology and wider exposure to the Internet further deepened my view of the need to protect a child’s innocence. With more children playing games on internet-ready devices like the iPads, the ‘corruption’ of society slowly creeping into a child’s environment even without stepping out of h ome. While the image of innocence seem ideal at the infant stage to protect their innocence, upon further consideration, critics highlighted that continual treatment of a child in this view may hamper their development. . This is where I feel the limiting of experience and of opportunity may be critical and damaging for the child. As highlighted by Woodrow (1999), maintaining this focus as a child matures will deny them agency and inhibits the potential development of skills required to handle challenges in the future. With adults perceived as having power and responsibility over and for children, this raises another debatable point of whether they are always acting in the best interest of the child. In this construct of childhood innocence, Hutchison and Charlesworth (2000) argue that childhood becomes sentimentalized, while Docket (1998) feels that this nostalgic view stops us taking children seriously. Upon reflecting on my initial understanding and experience of the image of innocence, perhaps childhood consists of transitional phases consisting of multiple definitional perspectives. A transition into the frame of child development is a solution to progressively give a child more agency and Piaget’s view on childhood encapsulates it. Piaget noted the conception of childhood as certain transition stages of their lives at about 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years, where a child will develop from immaturity to rationality, increasing their ability to understand their surroundings and have new capabilities to undertake certain tasks. The child is now viewed in the image of an embryo adult, seen as ‘human becomings’ rather than ‘human beings’ in preparation for the future (Hutchison Charlesworth 2000). At the early stages, as the child is positioned as less knowing, it is the responsibility of parents to use their own knowledge or resources to groom and nurture the abilities of their children at home. Upon attending school, the child is subjected to a politically influenced curriculum designed by teachers, which pushes them to achieve results and judged on standardized tests (Woodrow 1999). In relating my childhood experience in this perspective, grooming a child to undertake certain tasks is a challenge and very much depends on whether the agentic child is willing to accept it. At the age of 7, I was enrolled for swimming lessons but strongly refused to do so due to my immaturity and lack of understanding about it. However, after carefully explaining to me the importance of swimming as a life skill 2 years later, the increase in rationality and readiness led me to acquire new capabilities. In other instances, I was coerced to accompany my older brother in attending other courses beyond my will, and such scenarios depict images of a tyrannical adult as opposed to loving guides. Therefore, the adult must take special considerat ion when faced with such situations, as it may result in the poor emotional connection between children and adults as noted by Hoffman (2000) within this construct of childhood. In addition to this, the adult will have to constantly ensure a child’s needs for emotional stability, security, confidence, self-esteem are met. These images are never stable or unitary and their meanings are contestable. It is easy to over-simplify and homogenize the idea of childhood, and the children who go through that phase of life, ignoring cultural influence that children experience which differentially produce conceptions of childhood (Woodrow 1999). Everyone’s childhood is a unique phase of life. The only commonality is how one’s childhood is a determining factor of how their life shapes out to be, and the way it will influence childhood for their kids. To a child, what matters most is parents, as they will learn everything from them. The underlying idea of childhood is complex, and the role that adults play is rather confusing. The UN CRC states that all children have a right to speak freely and to be listened to by adults over decisions that affect them. While we recognize that a child has the right to be heard, and that they should have a say in their plans for the future, just to how much extent should they be given that freedom? By putting power and responsibility in the hands of children, does this confuse the role of adults and their responsibilities of shaping childhood? How will this affect an adult’s role in making decisions in the best interest of the child? On the topic of best interest of a child, an adult should act in the best interest of the child, but what’s best for the child may not exactly be in the same view in the eyes of the child. Also, an adult may not always act in the best interest of the child but rather, the most convenient option. How then are we going to police what’s right and what’s wrong. There can be guidelines in place but whether it’s enforced in the compounds of a home is something beyond our control. At the end of the day, there’s no single correct way of raising a child, as there are way too many variables to consider. Each child is different, each parents has their own views on how to raise a child. We are unclear who is in charge of childhood: teachers, parents, politicians, or children themselves? Alongside listening to children, the real question we need to be asking, as parents, educators, employers and politicians, is: have we created a society that has destroyed the childhood we want for our children?

B/M Ratio Essay -- Research Analysis

We can see from regression I of Panel A and B that B/M is highly significant relative to the future returns, which are consistent with the B/M effect theory. The B/M effect for NOA/P^NOAï ¹ ¤1 data also cannot be rejected for the ambiguous t-statistic. Similarly, the enterprise B/M ratio is confirmed by regression II. The testing results for one factor model of financial leverage (ND/M) presents that the financial leverage is not significantly relative to future returns, or even negatively relative to future returns. It is an anomalous phenomenon that the leverage (financial risk) reduces the expected returns, but it may be explained by the negative association between leverage and operating risk. Actually, these results are also consistent with also correlation analysis in Table 2. When NOA/P^NOA≠§1, leverage is positively and insignificantly relative to the NOA/P^NOA. However, when NOA/P^NOAï ¹ ¤1, leverage is negatively relative to NOA/P^NOA. Regression V shows the leverage coefficient under controlling for operating risk (enterprise B/M ratio). For full sample tests, the coefficient is insignificant which means we cannot get any reliable conclusions from this result. And for NOA/P^NOA ≠§1, the coefficient is insignificantly positive, for NOA/P^NOAï ¹ ¤1, the coefficient is significantly negative. If we split the ND/M ratio into financial liabilities/market value and financial assets/ market value like in regression VII, FA/P coefficients are significantly positive in all of three panels, but the FL/P negatively or insignificantly relative to future returns. It indicates that the high future return premium is awarded for the high operating risk rather than financial risk. As the financial leverage is insignificant in some regressions, we u... ...returns, and this association is even insignificant for most NOA/P^NOA portfolios. The only exception is in the highest two NOA/P^NOA portfolios, highest ND/M portfolios give higher returns than lowest ND/M portfolios. Similarly with US evidence, the findings in UK evidence suggest that the UK FTSE 350 stock returns are inconsistent with PRT’s equation 2. In Panel B of table 4, we use similar methods with Panel A to spilt the year-firm observations into 10 portfolios, and sort these observations into five groups by B/M ratio rather than leverage ratio. According to PRT equation 1, if NOA/P^NOA >1, a higher leverage ratio will lead to a higher B/M ratio; if (NOA )/P^NOA 1, a higher return the higher B/M ratio.

How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation :: American America History

How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation James Watt made many contributions to this country during the Industrial Revolution. He made numerous improvements on the Newcome steam engine, invented the term horse power, and designed the Sun and Planet wheel. He contributed most of his life to make others' lives easier and for them to prosper and grow. In 1763 John Anderson asked Watt to repair one of his steam engines which was an early version of a Newcome steam engine. This engine wasted a lot of time and fuel so it was economically inefficient. The reasons for the inefficiency was the cylinder had to be heated when steam was admitted and then slowly cooled down again to condense the steam. This process wasted a lot of time, energy, and steam. As he was wandering through Glasgow Green he struck upon an idea that would revolutionize the steam engine. This idea was "that in order to make the best use of the steam it was necessary that first, that the cylinder should always remain as hot as the steam which entered it; secondly that when the steam was condensed, the water of which it is composed, and injection itself, should be cooled down to a 100 degrees, or lower where it is possible." This method did not work at first, but in 1765 he discovered "that if a communication were opened between a cylinder containing steam and another vessel, which was exhausted of air and other fluids, the steam, as an elastic fluid would immediately rush into the empty vessel, and continue to do so until it had established an equilibrium. If that vessel were kept dry and cool by an injection, or otherwise, more steam would continue to enter until the whole was condensed." He fixed the problem of water and air coming out of the exhausted vessel by adding a pump to extract both air and water. This is Watt's great contribution to the Newcome steam engine which would now run faster, cleaner, safer, and more economically efficient. This made the steam engine a useful economical source of power which for over a hundred years stayed exactly the same without alteration. Watt charged his customers a price for using his steam engines. To justify this he compared his machine to a horse. Watt calculated that a horse exerted a pull of 180 lbs., therefore, when he made a machine, he described its power in relation to a horse. How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation :: American America History How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation James Watt made many contributions to this country during the Industrial Revolution. He made numerous improvements on the Newcome steam engine, invented the term horse power, and designed the Sun and Planet wheel. He contributed most of his life to make others' lives easier and for them to prosper and grow. In 1763 John Anderson asked Watt to repair one of his steam engines which was an early version of a Newcome steam engine. This engine wasted a lot of time and fuel so it was economically inefficient. The reasons for the inefficiency was the cylinder had to be heated when steam was admitted and then slowly cooled down again to condense the steam. This process wasted a lot of time, energy, and steam. As he was wandering through Glasgow Green he struck upon an idea that would revolutionize the steam engine. This idea was "that in order to make the best use of the steam it was necessary that first, that the cylinder should always remain as hot as the steam which entered it; secondly that when the steam was condensed, the water of which it is composed, and injection itself, should be cooled down to a 100 degrees, or lower where it is possible." This method did not work at first, but in 1765 he discovered "that if a communication were opened between a cylinder containing steam and another vessel, which was exhausted of air and other fluids, the steam, as an elastic fluid would immediately rush into the empty vessel, and continue to do so until it had established an equilibrium. If that vessel were kept dry and cool by an injection, or otherwise, more steam would continue to enter until the whole was condensed." He fixed the problem of water and air coming out of the exhausted vessel by adding a pump to extract both air and water. This is Watt's great contribution to the Newcome steam engine which would now run faster, cleaner, safer, and more economically efficient. This made the steam engine a useful economical source of power which for over a hundred years stayed exactly the same without alteration. Watt charged his customers a price for using his steam engines. To justify this he compared his machine to a horse. Watt calculated that a horse exerted a pull of 180 lbs., therefore, when he made a machine, he described its power in relation to a horse.

Defending the poem

During the time that Phillip Sydney wrote, the appeal of poetry was starting to lose its footing for several speculative reasons.   First, in the 16th century, a few learned individuals were beginning to explore prose, the essay form.   Also, some poets were using the elevated language and verse of poetry to compete and even jest with one another in ways that the general public could not understand.   Finally, the original intent of poetry had been lost – that being a valuable type of oral history, originally in song form.   Many simply saw poetry as a useless art.   For this reason, Sydney writes his Apology for Poetry.The diction of the essay suggests a satirical wit about Sydney which has raised a few eyebrows as to the intent of the work.   Is Sydney defending or indicting poetry, an art form to which he had dedicated much of his life?   Sydney’s essays seem to point to a defense, as the title suggest, with a nice dose of self-deprecating humor tossed in to give it that edge of doubt. Similar essay: Plato's Attack on PoetryFirst, Sydney is moved by the loquacious John Pietro Pugliano to consider the self-love to which people afford themselves and their own activities.   This lecture on horses spawns in Sydney, the recognition that he could, and should, give the same admiration to poetry: â€Å"And yet I must say that, as I have just cause to make a pitiful defense of poor poetry, which from almost the highest estimation of learning is fallen to be the laughing-stock of children, so have I need to bring some more available proofs†¦.†He begins his defense by taking the reader on a walk through history whereby he points out that all great civilizations have a rich basis of poetry.   He compares poetry as â€Å"the  first light-giver to ignorance† and the â€Å"first nurse, whose milk by little and little enabled them to feed afterwards of tougher knowledge.†Ã‚   To insult poetry and poets, he says, is to slap the face of those that hav e given them life.In making this proof he gives several examples.   He argues that the Italians such as Dante Boccaccio and Petrarch used language in a way that aided them in their quest to be a â€Å"treasure-house of science† as did the Englishmen Gower and Chaucer you developed art and beauty through poetry.   He goes on to note that that the revered philosophy of the Greeks were first words from the pens of poets and cites Empedocles, Parmenides, Pythagoras, Phocylcides and others as proof of this assertion.   This did so notably show itself, that the philosophers of Greece durst not a long time appear to the world but under the masks of poets.   He even notes that ignorant and barbaric people had one shred of decency, that being the poetry of their songs.   Sydney concludes this argument by noting that â€Å"So that truly neither philosopher nor historiographer could at the first have entered into the gates of popular judgments, if they had not taken a great p assport of poetry.†From there, Sydney moves to give his definition of poetry which he calls an art of imitation   Poesy, therefore, is an art of imitation,†¦that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting, or figuring forth; to speak metaphorically, a speaking picture, with this end,—to teach and delight.†Ã‚   He gives three distinct divisions of this end goal.   The first is to glorify God.   He gives Biblical support for this claim: â€Å"Such were David in his Psalms; Solomon in his Song of Songs, in his Ecclesiastes and Proverbs; Moses and Deborah in their Hymns; and the writer of Job†¦.† The second classification is to deal with philosophical matters â€Å"either moral, as Tyrtà ¦us, Phocylides, and Cato; or natural, as Lucretius and Virgil’s Georgics; or astronomical, as Manilius and Pontanus; or historical, as Lucan; which who mislike, the fault is in their judgment quite out of taste, and not in the sweet food of sweetly utte red knowledge.†Ã‚   He is quick to note that even if these great thinkers are false, they are still gaining knowledge.Finally, his third distinction is the men who make imitations of individuals and themes that should be imitated.   Sydney asks that the reader ponder whether the perfect lover, constant friend, valiant man or just prince could ever exist other than in poetry.   In Sydney’s words, â€Å"These verses allows for people to read and to aspire.   For these third be they which most properly do imitate to teach and delight; and to imitate borrow nothing of what is, hath been, or shall be; but range, only reined with learned discretion, into the divine consideration of what may be and should be.†Sydney ends this portion of his defense of poetry by noting that â€Å"So that the ending end of all earthly learning being virtuous action, those skills that most serve to bring forth that have a most just title to be princes over all the rest; wherein, if we can show, the poet is worthy to have it before any other competitors.†Ã‚   To him, the poet is an indispensable part of the creation of history, art, beauty and mankind.In his next section, Sydney compares the poet to the historian and the philosopher.   Here he notes that the poet is the perfect blend of both – thus continuing to truly defend poetry.   He notes that the historian can show people the true and exact picture, but questions whether that is really what the people want to see.   Then he notes that philosophers deal in such abstractions that nobody can really understand what they are saying.   Sydney argues that â€Å"the philosopher teacheth, but he teacheth obscurely, so as the learned only can understand him; that is to say, he teacheth them that are already taught†Ã‚   and that, likewise, â€Å"the best of the historian is subject to the poet.†Ã‚   Thus, he places the position of the poet over them both.Next, Sydney takes a witty look at what types of poetry could be found lacking with some of these individuals.   He proposes that they dislike the pastoral for its simple country views, but satirically counters that â€Å"sometimes, under the pretty tales of wolves and sheep, can include the whole considerations of wrong-doing and patience.†Ã‚   He similarly examines lyric, iambic, comic, satiric, and heroic poetry, finding in each a reason for their prevalence.Sydney continues his satiric swat at these â€Å"poet haters† by intending to discover why, exactly, they hate poetry.   He decides that they seek praise by insulting others and wittily offers that the best way to do this is actually through poetry.   His insulters offer four arguments against poetry which Sydney humorously defends, as if they were not much to deal with in the first place.   They are:o  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   that there being many other more fruitful knowledge, a man might better spend his time in them than in thi s.o  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   that it [poetry]is the mother of lies.o  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   that it is the nurse of abuse, infecting us with many pestilent desireso  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   that Plato banished them out of his CommonwealthSydney categorically addresses each.To the first he says that â€Å"no learning is so good as that which teacheth and moveth to virtue,† and poetry leads to both.   To the second argument he asserts that â€Å"they [historians, philosophers, doctors, etc] should be the principal liars,† noting the frequent mistakes made in medicine, astronomy and the like.   To the third argument, he argues that many other things abuse equally, or more so, than poetry. He asks the following series of rhetorical questions in response:Doth not knowledge of law, whose end is to even and right all things, being abused, grow the crooked fosterer of horrible injuries? Doth not, to go in the highest, God’s word abused breed heresy, and his name abus ed become blasphemy?These lines show that any good institution can be abused and can be used to abuse.   It is the people that abuse, not the poetry.   Finally, he allows that he has great reverence for Plato, but notes that philosophers naturally hate poets and that banishing Plato from the commonwealth may not have been such a bad thing after all.Sydney ends his defense of poetry by showing the nay-sayers what will happen in a world without poetry:But if—fie of such a but!—you be born so near the dull-making cataract of Nilus,   that you cannot hear the planet-like music of poetry; if you have so earth-creeping a mind that it cannot lift itself up to look to the sky of poetry, or rather, by a certain rustical disdain, will become such a mome, as to be a Momus of poetry; then, though I will not wish unto you the ass’ ears of Midas, nor to be driven by a         poet’s verses, as Bubonax was, to hang himself; nor to be rimed to death, as is sa id to be done in Ireland; yet thus much curse I must send you in the behalf of all poets:—that while you live in love, and never get favor for lacking skill of a sonnet; and when you die, your memory die from the earth for want of an epitaph.Even though Sydney uses satirical wit, humor and even a bit of self-deprecation, he is still adamantly defending the art of poetry now and throughout time.

Education Policies

Education is so important in any given society. For this reason, it forms a major part of any government’s plans. The plans that any government wishes to implement as regards their education system is determined by existing policies. Factors which influence formulation of policies form the subject of this discussion. For orderly presentation, the essay is divided into three chapters namely the introduction, the main body and conclusion.The introduction gives definitions of key terms used in the essay as well as conceptual frame work, the main body outlines and discusses major factors which influenced education policies in African countries after achieving their independence and lastly the conclusion draws a summary of the essay. 1. 1 Statement of essay purpose This essay aims at discussing the factors which influenced education policies in African countries after their achievement of independence.The essay will outline these factors and later give a detailed discussion of each factor. 1. 2 Definitions of terms In order to make this discussion meaningful, it is imperative that definitions of key terms that are involved are done. The key terms involved in the discussion are education, policy and independence. The definitions of the terms are as given below EducationAccording to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Culture Organisation (1975:1), education is defined as â€Å"organised and sustained communication designed to bring about learning† Thus education in this context involves a lifelong process by which an individual is incorporated into the group and made capable of behaving in the ways expected by the society for an individual of a particular age, sex or status. Education can take place formally, non formally and informally. However, in this context the emphasis is on formal education. PolicyA policy is defined as a deliberate plan of action which is put in place to guide decisions and achieve intended outcomes. Policies differ fro m rules or laws. Rules or laws are established to compel or prohibit certain behaviours while policies guide actions towards desired goals. This discussion, however, focuses on education policies. Bartlett and Burton (2012:134), define an education policy as the â€Å"rafts of laws and initiatives that determine the shape and functioning of educational systems at both national and local levels. Therefore, education policies give direction to the functioning of an education system.Independence This is defined as the freedom from being governed or ruled by another country. African countries in this discussion acquired the freedom to rule themselves from colonial mast 1. 3 Conceptual Framework Blackmore (1999), states that there are three models of policy making namely popular participation, decree and delegation models. This discussion will refer to these three models in outlining and discussing the factors which influenced education policies in African countries after achieving thei r independence. These models are discussed in detail below. (a) Popular Participation Policy making model(b) In this model, everybody is given an opportunity to contribute to the formulation of policies. People in African countries were given opportunities to make suggestions on changes to make to the education system. For example, Zambia’s educational reforms of 1977. (c) Decree Policy Making Model In this model, the head of state makes pronouncements on the direction to be followed in a given education system. (d) Delegation Policy Making Model This involves appointing a commission to review the education system of a given country. For example the Onide Commission was appointed to review the education system of Kenya in 1963.Policies are made with respect to the findings of the commission. CHAPTER TWO 2. 0 Main Body This chapter outlines and discusses the major factors that influenced education policies in African countries after achieving independence. These factors are as given and discussed below. Education for Economic Development The consideration given to education as an important vehicle for economic development is one of the factors which influenced education policies in African countries after achieving independence. Investment in formal education was considered as an essential precondition for economic growth.African countries learnt lessons from developed countries that a high basic platform of education was a catalyst to rapid economic development. There was a belief among developing countries that the modernisation, industrialisation and wealth of developed countries were the direct consequence of their educational systems. Coombs (1970) argues that during the 1960s education in developing countries was regarded as a sort of intellectual yeast which would ferment and transform pre industrial societies by promoting knowledge, skills and attitudes which were favourable to economic and social development.Therefore, education policies in Afri can countries after the achievement of independence were directed at promoting education pro vision expansion in order to achieve meaningful development. In fact an argument is advanced by Anderson (1965), that analysis of evidence from major developed countries such as Britain, France, United States of America and Russia that in general terms, a thresh hold male literacy rate of 40 percent was required before there be any significant take off of economic development.To this end, African countries directed their policies on education after attaining independence towards increased access to education in order to reach the required thresh hold of literacy. Therefore, in the 1950s and 1960s, demand and plans for investment in formal education by African countries increased. Education was regarded to be a principal weapon in achieving economic growth. To this end rapid quantitative expansion of the education system became the order of the day in newly independent African countries. Man power ShortagesAfter attaining independence, African countries were confronted with shortage of manpower in various sectors of the economy. As a result of this scenario, they experienced economic stagnation. Man power shortages were heavily felt in technical and managerial fields. Thus, education policies in most African countries were directed towards resolving the man power shortages experienced. This situation was evident from what obtained in Kenya. As Eshiwani (1993:26), observes ‘’at independence in 1963, Kenya found herself with a high shortage of skilled manpower to run the economy.In order to solve this problem, a commission was appointed to advise the government on the formulation and interpretation of national educational policies. † Therefore, it can be stated that man power planning in newly independent countries of Africa gave a direction to the formulation of education policies. Consequently, the governments of newly independent countries of Africa saw it paramount to expand the education systems of their countries in order to produce more graduates from the education system that would fill the manpower gaps which were experienced in various sectors of the economy.Most technical and managerial jobs at independence in most African countries were occupied by foreigners. Therefore, the aim of most African governments was to decolonise the education systems, produce more output from secondary and higher education so that manpower to participate in national development could be realised. Fafunwa (1974), Contends that education development in African countries like Nigeria was treated as a national emergency for the reason of curbing manpower shortages in crucial areas of the economy.In order to meet the requirements of manpower in various sectors of the economy, the policies of African countries after independence were directed at increasing school enrolments, especially at the post primary level. Rapid expansion of secondary and h igher education was considered as a pre requisite for sustainable economic growth. Enhancing education as a basic human right Newly independent African countries were confronted with a task of providing to every child their basic, essential right to education.The kind education that was to be provided was supposed to be relevant to the child in his or her African setting. For this reason, most newly African countries had massive capital and recurrent budgets towards the financing of primary education for all. The provision of education especially at elementary level to citizens of newly independent African countries was prompted by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights in which education is enshrined as a basic human right. As Bishop (1989:1), postulates, â€Å"Everyone has the right to education.Education shall be free at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally a vailable and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. †Therefore, from the foregoing, newly independent African countries were compelled to provide education especially primary education on the grounds of human justice and equity. The newly independent African countries were supposed to consider primary education as the birth right of every child.This was due to the fact that education was seen as an effective way to give all children regardless of sex or family background an equal start in life. Furthermore, the leadership of newly independent African countries considered education to be the great equaliser that would help to narrow the wide disparities which were apparent in conditions of living in rural and urban communities. Before the attainment of independence, education in most African countries was a preserve for the elite.In order to correct this, African leaders made radical changes to their education systems to make them more accomm odative to everyone. As Carmody (1994:23), contends â€Å"As in most African countries, from the early days Africa’s leaders viewed education as a powerful, often the most powerful vehicle for social transformation. Thus, as the UNIP government assumed power, among its immediate priorities were the elimination of racial segregation in schools and expansion of education provision. Tuition and boarding fees were abolished.† A point was also made by Bishop (1989), which in the days of the 1950s and 1960s massive expansion of education provision was regarded as the best means available for rooting out old prejudices and socio economic injustices. Therefore, education was regarded as basic human right which everyone needed to enjoy as provided in the foregoing arguments. In the pursuit of providing universal primary education, newly African countries set for themselves benchmarks. For example, the Addis Ababa conference on the development of education in Africa held in 1961 recommended that primary education was to be universal, compulsory and free by 1980.The conference further recommended that secondary education was to be provided to 30 percent of the children who completed primary school. Similarly, the conference of Arab states which met in Tripoli in 1966 also set 1980 as the target date for achieving universal primary education. To this end, it can be argued that one of the factors that influenced the formulation of education policies of African countries after achieving independence was related to the consideration that education was a basic human right which every citizen of a given country was supposed to enjoy.Hence, massive investment in the provision of education was undertaken by African countries after attaining independence in order to promote the achievement of universal primary education. As Court and Kinyanjui (1978:14), comment on the provision of Universal Primary Education in Tanzania. â€Å"President Nyerere had the choice of e xpanding the number of classes at grades V to VII so that those children entering primary education received seven years of schooling instead of four†.It can be concluded from the foregoing statement that the decision was arrived at because it enabled finances to be spent on the provision of 7 years of education to one child which helped him or her to become a useful member of society. African countries aimed at improving the access to education by increasing the number of school places which was facilitated by expanding already existing schools as well as construction of new schools in different parts of their countries. Promotion of ModernisationAfrican countries formulated their education policies with respect to the purpose of attaining modernisation. In order to influence modernisation in their countries, there was massive investment in education. This was a result of the belief that schooling would assist in the inculcation of modern ideas and attitudes. Bishop (1989), p ostulate that evidence seemed to indicate that schooling influenced the development of modern traits and ideas. To this end, schooling had some impact on modernisation. This was manifestated in higher levels of modernity among urban people and lower modernity among rural people.Consequently, many African leaders in newly independent countries felt modernisation of attitudes and behaviours was an important pre requisite for their countries’ development. According to Carmody (1994), education should socialise a nation’s population into modern values, attitudes and personalities. For this reason there was more emphasis on the expansion of education systems in newly independent African countries in order to enhance the access levels. Increased access to education meant increased modernity levels within a given country.In studies which were conducted be Inkeles and Smith (1974), indicate that education was the single most variable for modernisation. The studies indicate tha t each year of schooling improved a person’s score on their modernity scale by about 2 points. Education was also very effective in the development of positive attitudes and values. For this reason, formulation of education policies in newly independent African countries was influenced by the idea of modernisation. Modernisation was to be attained by every citizen in the newly independent African countries through education.Ensuring Citizens’ Political Participation The citizens’ participation in political affairs of their countries could be seen as one of the major factors which influenced education policies in African countries after achieving independence. Political participation of citizens of a particular country was linked to the notion of modernisation. This was due to the fact that knowledge was regarded as power. For this reason, many political leaders of African drafted educational policies which were responsive to the promotion of political participat ion of citizens in nation matters.This was highly evident in the content of education which was offered to the citizens . Again this could only be realised through the wide spread of education in African countries which most leaders promoted through the expansion of the education system. Cowan (1965), stressed that any political principle which governed education policy in independent African countries was supposed to regard as a top priority the provision of an education that would establish the most vigorous form of self government and independence.Therefore, extending schooling to a larger population would make more people politically and socially conscious and more active in the process of nation building. Thus, if equal political rights were to be enjoyed by everyone then everyone ought to have at least an adequate primary school education to participate more fully in the political process of their country. Promotion of Social Equality and Removal of Divisions The attainment of social equality is among the major factors which influenced education policies in African countries after achieving independence.Education was regarded as an instrument of social equality which was critical in the upbringing of social responsibility. Therefore, education policies which were put in place by African countries after attainment of independence were directed towards the promotion of social equality within their countries. Consequently, more and more school places were created in most parts of African countries to bring about the issue of equality within their countries in the provision of education services.Equality in the provision of education was called for as it ensured that child was provided with varied and challenging opportunities for collective activities and corporate social services. Furthermore, Eshiwani (1993), points out that the promotion of social equality in the formulation of education policies in African countries after achieving independence helped y oung people to acquire positive attitudes of mutual respect which enabled them to live together in harmony and to make a positive contribution to the national life.This contribution to national life was not supposed to be extended to every part of the country, hence the need of social equality in the provision of education. Respect and Development of Cultural Heritage The formulation of education policies in African countries after achieving independence was influenced by the need for promoting respect and development of cultural heritage. Education policies were directed towards the promotion of respect, fostering and developing the rich cultures which African countries have.For this reason, policy formulation as regards this situation was clearly addressed in the content of education which African countries were to provide to their people. The content of education was adapted to the culture of the people in any particular African country. In support of this assertion, Eshiwani (19 93), states that the commission which was assigned to review Kenya’s education system in 1963 recommended that Kenyan schools were to respect the cultural traditions of the people of the country, both as expressed in social institutions and relationships.Similarly, Damachi et al (1978), reports that education policies in African countries after attainment of independence were influenced by the need to enhance every aspect of human development which included the promotion of cultural heritage. Consequently, African countries were to state clearly their language of instruction in their education system both at lower and higher levels. This was done with the sole aim of promoting the preservation of cultural heritage and national unity.To this end the education policies which most African countries drafted after the attainment of independence were geared towards learners understanding of past and present cultural values and their valid place in contemporary society. Education fo r Self Reliance The education policies of African countries were influenced by the need for the curriculum offered to respond to the attainment of self reliance. Thus the recipients of such education were supposed to engage themselves in self employing activities.The curriculum of African countries emphasized practical subjects in order to ensure the acquisition of self reliance by learners. It was realised that the kind of education which was offered in some countries in Africa was too bookish and academic. The education system in most African countries separated manual work from learning. Thus theory was separated from practice. This situation further alienated young people from their societies. Therefore, education reforms in most African countries were inevitable so as reverse this trend.As Bishop (1989:116), reports â€Å"By the mid 1950s it was being argued once again that schooling should be reformed principally through curriculum reform to include more practical and vocatio nal studies’’ Similarly, Carmody (1994), reports that Zambia’s First National Development Plan pointed to the need for increasingly relating secondary education to the needs of the country by diversifying the secondary school syllabus into technical and commercial fields and giving a new place to agriculture. Therefore, it can be pointed out that education policies in African countries were supposed to address the concept of self reliance.Academic schooling was to be placed side by side with technical and vocational training in African countries. Improvement of Education Efficiency The education policies of most African countries after achieving independence were influenced by the need of improving the efficiency of the education systems. In education systems of African countries, it was felt that there was no correlation between inputs and out puts as well as between costs and returns. Education policies were centred on the need of making the systems of educati on to be more efficient.That is, the education systems were supposed to achieve their output at the lowest cost and also get the greatest return for a given cost. According to Bishop (1989), most education systems in African countries after achieving independence were inefficient, particularly at secondary and higher levels. The inputs such as expenditure per student or teacher training did not seem to have the effects on test scores which educators anticipated. Therefore, education policies were designed in a manner that would make the education systems in newly independent African countries to be more efficient.Additionally, education in many African countries was dysfunctional. It relied heavily on rote learning and led to an inappropriate reverence for paper qualifications. Furthermore, most curricular in African countries were irrelevant to pupils’ future lives and created an imbalance with many school leavers unemployed. Consequently, African countries formulated polici es which were aimed at addressing the challenges which were faced in education systems. Education as a means of fostering international consciousness Education policies in African countries were influenced by the need to foster international consciousness in learners.Education policies as complimented by the content of education provided to learners was supposed to ensure that positive attitudes towards other countries as well as the international community were upheld. This was emphasized because no country existed as an island. Each country depended on others for its prosperity. Therefore, it was essential that learners were provided with education that would instil international consciousness for the purpose of promoting cooperation among countries.CHAPTER THREE. 3.0 CONCLUSIONEducation policies in African countries after their achievement of independence were influenced by a number of factors. Some of the major factors which influenced education policies in African countries inc luded manpower shortages, recognition of education as a basic human right, consideration of education as a tool for development, modernisation, improving education efficiency, need for citizens’ political participation, and promotion of international consciousness among learners as well as self reliance.Changes in education policies were inevitable due to the fact that African countries experienced change in government. A change in government is associated with an ideological shift, thus aspects of the education system in a given country will be in a continual state of reformation. Hence, changes occurred in education aspects such as content, teaching methodologies, assessment and structure.

Case Study Analysis Rough Draft

The Situation In early April the 15 candidates were hired to work for the Operations Supervisor by one of the new recruiters. At this time the recruiter had six months experience at this job and no previous recruitments done for the company. The recruiter was not working with another recruiter that had more experience at the time to help with this process. Once the 15 candidates where hired he scheduled a new hire orientation to be held on June 15th as to make sure the new hires would be ready for work in July. A little over a month after the 15 candidates were hired the Operations Supervisor contacted the recruiter about all the information, paperwork and other necessities that needed to be done such as drug test, physicals, etc†¦. The recruiter gave assurance to the Operations Supervisor that everything would be handled by the time the orientation would be held on June 15th. The recruiter waited until after Memorial Day to check the records for the new hires to see if their applications were complete and if they had done the mandatory drug screenings and most had not been done. The recruiter then checked for the paperwork that would need to be given to the new hires in around 20 days and there were only three manuals all of which were missing pages making none of them complete. Once this was all the seen the recruiter went on a walk to clear his head and then returned to the office. He went to check on the scheduling of the conference room where the new hire orientation is to be held since he saw that one of the employees from technology services was setting up computer terminals. The schedule showed that the conference room was booked for the whole month for training seminars on the new database implementation that was going to occur. The recruiter is not sure what to do at this point since everything appears to be going wrong and the new hires would not be able to have orientation on time nor will they be able to start by July. Analysis 1: Correcting the problem At this time the recruiter is not sure what to do in order to fix all the problems that have arisen since there is such little time left to the deadline he had set. The wisest decision would be to separate the problems and then take them on one at a time. As far as the conference room situation goes the recruiter can speak with the person that is going to be holding the seminars to see at what times they are to be held. If there are some gaps in between the seminars it can be seen if the scheduling of the orientation would be affected or not. Also if there is a particular day that the seminars would not be taking place the orientation can be rescheduled for that day. The new hires that have not completed all the necessary paperwork or drug tests would be the next point issue to handle. The files would need to be reviewed to see who is missing what paperwork or tests so that they can be contacted accordingly and be given a deadline to complete it all or they will not be hired. In doing this it allows for the follow to seem more personal since the records are being looked at individually and also puts a sense of urgency in the new hire to get it all done. This would also allow the recruiter to contact the new hires with the date of the orientation if it has changed or just to give a reminder of the date if it has not changed. The final problem of the orientation manuals not being complete is next problem to work on. From the three manuals that the recruiter does have he should review each to see what pages are missing from one and see if they are available in one of the others. If all three manuals together can make one complete manual then copies can be run off of all three accordingly to be pieced together to make one manual. Once there is one complete manual then other copies can be made. If the manuals cannot be pieced together to make one then the recruiter would need to contact his or her supervisor to see how to obtain new manuals and the time frame that it would take to get them in. This would allow him to see if the orientation would need to be rescheduled or not due to the time it will take to get manuals for all the new hires. From this point on continued follow up of all the new hires paperwork and drug tests would need to be done to make sure that they will be done before the orientation is held. Following up of the conference room schedule would also need to be done to make sure that there is nothing else newly scheduled that may have interference with the orientation. The final detail that would need to be followed up on is the status of the operations manuals being ready by the date of the orientation, such as checking with who is making them and if they are running behind or if everything is on schedule. Analysis II Proper Procedure There are many different aspects that would need to be revised in order to make sure that issues like this can be avoided in the future. Proper supervision of procedures is one the major aspects that would need to be looked at first. Since the recruiter was new and it was the first recruitment they had done another more experienced recruiter could have shadowed the process to make sure that everything is done correctly. Shadowing would allow for the new recruiter to put to the test their training and if there are points that are not done right it can be caught early. This makes for better teamwork as well as a confidence building situation for the new recruiter. During the hiring process the new hires should be given deadlines to have all of their applications and other necessary paperwork completed in order to continue processing them as a new hire. The same should also be done with the drug testing, rather than giving them till the orientation date they should have a date within 30 days to complete it so that if they don’t they can be given a little more time or there would still be ample time to hire a replacement if needed. With these deadlines in place it has the employees take the time needed to get the tasks done but also does not give them excess time to procrastinate on the getting them done. As far as the orientation paperwork situation goes the recruiter would need to check how many are available right after hiring the employees to make sure that there would be enough. With this being done early then the recruiter would be able to contact the Operations Supervisor with plenty of time to let them know that they are short on the manuals necessary for the orientation. Checking this also allows the recruiter to stay on top of ordering the manuals so that there will always be some in supply as and would only need to order more to replace the ones that are going to be used. Conclusion The best solution that was presents was from the second analysis. This solution sets the goals of the company to not only train their employees better but also to promote teamwork in order to increase accuracy in the way that jobs are done. With the shadowing being done the more experienced recruiter could have had the newer recruiter set up the deadlines for the new hires, as well as how, where and when to check on the paperwork that is needed for the orientation. The communication on how often to check the scheduling log for the conference rooms could have also been brought up. The better the training and teamwork the better the situation turns out. Case Study Analysis Rough Draft The Situation In early April the 15 candidates were hired to work for the Operations Supervisor by one of the new recruiters. At this time the recruiter had six months experience at this job and no previous recruitments done for the company. The recruiter was not working with another recruiter that had more experience at the time to help with this process. Once the 15 candidates where hired he scheduled a new hire orientation to be held on June 15th as to make sure the new hires would be ready for work in July. A little over a month after the 15 candidates were hired the Operations Supervisor contacted the recruiter about all the information, paperwork and other necessities that needed to be done such as drug test, physicals, etc†¦. The recruiter gave assurance to the Operations Supervisor that everything would be handled by the time the orientation would be held on June 15th. The recruiter waited until after Memorial Day to check the records for the new hires to see if their applications were complete and if they had done the mandatory drug screenings and most had not been done. The recruiter then checked for the paperwork that would need to be given to the new hires in around 20 days and there were only three manuals all of which were missing pages making none of them complete. Once this was all the seen the recruiter went on a walk to clear his head and then returned to the office. He went to check on the scheduling of the conference room where the new hire orientation is to be held since he saw that one of the employees from technology services was setting up computer terminals. The schedule showed that the conference room was booked for the whole month for training seminars on the new database implementation that was going to occur. The recruiter is not sure what to do at this point since everything appears to be going wrong and the new hires would not be able to have orientation on time nor will they be able to start by July. Analysis 1: Correcting the problem At this time the recruiter is not sure what to do in order to fix all the problems that have arisen since there is such little time left to the deadline he had set. The wisest decision would be to separate the problems and then take them on one at a time. As far as the conference room situation goes the recruiter can speak with the person that is going to be holding the seminars to see at what times they are to be held. If there are some gaps in between the seminars it can be seen if the scheduling of the orientation would be affected or not. Also if there is a particular day that the seminars would not be taking place the orientation can be rescheduled for that day. The new hires that have not completed all the necessary paperwork or drug tests would be the next point issue to handle. The files would need to be reviewed to see who is missing what paperwork or tests so that they can be contacted accordingly and be given a deadline to complete it all or they will not be hired. In doing this it allows for the follow to seem more personal since the records are being looked at individually and also puts a sense of urgency in the new hire to get it all done. This would also allow the recruiter to contact the new hires with the date of the orientation if it has changed or just to give a reminder of the date if it has not changed. The final problem of the orientation manuals not being complete is next problem to work on. From the three manuals that the recruiter does have he should review each to see what pages are missing from one and see if they are available in one of the others. If all three manuals together can make one complete manual then copies can be run off of all three accordingly to be pieced together to make one manual. Once there is one complete manual then other copies can be made. If the manuals cannot be pieced together to make one then the recruiter would need to contact his or her supervisor to see how to obtain new manuals and the time frame that it would take to get them in. This would allow him to see if the orientation would need to be rescheduled or not due to the time it will take to get manuals for all the new hires. From this point on continued follow up of all the new hires paperwork and drug tests would need to be done to make sure that they will be done before the orientation is held. Following up of the conference room schedule would also need to be done to make sure that there is nothing else newly scheduled that may have interference with the orientation. The final detail that would need to be followed up on is the status of the operations manuals being ready by the date of the orientation, such as checking with who is making them and if they are running behind or if everything is on schedule. Analysis II Proper Procedure There are many different aspects that would need to be revised in order to make sure that issues like this can be avoided in the future. Proper supervision of procedures is one the major aspects that would need to be looked at first. Since the recruiter was new and it was the first recruitment they had done another more experienced recruiter could have shadowed the process to make sure that everything is done correctly. Shadowing would allow for the new recruiter to put to the test their training and if there are points that are not done right it can be caught early. This makes for better teamwork as well as a confidence building situation for the new recruiter. During the hiring process the new hires should be given deadlines to have all of their applications and other necessary paperwork completed in order to continue processing them as a new hire. The same should also be done with the drug testing, rather than giving them till the orientation date they should have a date within 30 days to complete it so that if they don’t they can be given a little more time or there would still be ample time to hire a replacement if needed. With these deadlines in place it has the employees take the time needed to get the tasks done but also does not give them excess time to procrastinate on the getting them done. As far as the orientation paperwork situation goes the recruiter would need to check how many are available right after hiring the employees to make sure that there would be enough. With this being done early then the recruiter would be able to contact the Operations Supervisor with plenty of time to let them know that they are short on the manuals necessary for the orientation. Checking this also allows the recruiter to stay on top of ordering the manuals so that there will always be some in supply as and would only need to order more to replace the ones that are going to be used. Conclusion The best solution that was presents was from the second analysis. This solution sets the goals of the company to not only train their employees better but also to promote teamwork in order to increase accuracy in the way that jobs are done. With the shadowing being done the more experienced recruiter could have had the newer recruiter set up the deadlines for the new hires, as well as how, where and when to check on the paperwork that is needed for the orientation. The communication on how often to check the scheduling log for the conference rooms could have also been brought up. The better the training and teamwork the better the situation turns out.