ART5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

ART5 - Essay Example â€Å"In the nineteenth century â€Å"Oriental Studies" was an area of academic study. But the West had to create the East in order for this study to take place.†(Orientalism, para.24) According to Occidentals, Orientalism is an indicative of the power that West has over Orient, as its colony. In a way, Occidentals were creating the image of Orient as it was suitable to them. Edward Said disagrees with this opinion, and this fact is the basis of discussion between Said and other scholars. As an example of Eastern culture I have considered the country of Turkey. There are countless tours to this country, since it is still one of the most attractive places to visit by westerners. Turkey is rich in historical places and places of interest. Searching through the sites offering tours to this country I have chosen a few most popular sights to see there. St. Nicholas church in Myra is one of the first places tourists are offered to visit. According to the legend, St. Nicolas was a bishop there in the 4th century; he was famous for his miracles and known for his kindness. One of the main attractions of Myra is the amphitheatre and the plethora of rock-cut tombs carved in the cliff above the theatre. One of the places that every tourist should visit in traditional Turkish bath called Hamam. Going to Hamam is traditional among Turkish men and women; if one would like to feel a real spirit of this country visiting Hamam is essential. Instanbul is the city full of places of interest and historical monuments. Among them is Hagia Sofia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom. Nothing remains of the original Hagia Sofia built in the 4th century by Constantine the Great, it was destroyed twice and was rebuilt in its present form between 532 and 537. Hagia Sofia is one of the greatest examples of Byzantine architecture, rich with mosaic and marble

Stranger than fiction Essay Example for Free

Stranger than fiction Essay In the film ‘Stranger than fiction’ by Mark Fortster, the director portrays the issue of time and how it has affected the protagonist who is Harold Crick. Harold Crick is an IRS agent who lives a ‘life of solitude’ and monotony. Harold Crick lives a calculated life timed to perfection by his wrist watch. This lasted for 12 years until one regular Wednesday when he hears the voice of Karen Eiffel narrating his life. The issue of time pays such a vital role in stranger than fiction and is shown right at the start of the film but is most notably noticed when his wrist watch shuts down and leads to his ‘imminent death’. During the opening scene of the film we are introduced to Harold Crick who is described as a man of ‘infinite numbers’ and ‘endless calculations’ but also shows the importance of time. The director uses an extreme wide shot of earth zooming onto Harold’s wrist watch to portray the idea of the issue of time. The opening scene sets the scene throughout the movie. The significance of the extreme wide shot zooming onto Harold’s wrist watch is that it acts as Harold’s companion and is seen as his way to make the most out of his time. This shows how the issue of time is affecting Harold’s life even though he doesn’t know it his mundane lifestyle is only breached when the announces in a 3rd person omniscience view that his ‘seeming innocuous decision would lead to his imminent death’ when he starts to live his life to the fullest before in time he dies. The wrist watch is a very important motif throughout the movie. The wrist watch is given a persona and quote ‘his wristwatch thought it made his neck look fat but said nothing’. The wristwatch could be seen as Harold’s self-conscious but also portrays the issue of time throughout the movie. This is evident from the start of the film that it is important because of the extreme wide shot zooming onto the watch which suggests this. The watch is portrayed as the issue of time for Harold which he has relied on for 12 years but ironically cause his death. Throughout the film the director uses a narrator to portray Harold Crick’s life in a 3rd person omniscience view. This is important because it gives us an understanding of Harold’s life but also helps Harold leave his mundane lifestyle and live his life by playing guitar and dating Ana Pascal. The narrator, Karen Eiffel is known for killing her main characters so the issue of time. Because of this Harold has to try find Karen Eiffel and try to stop her from killing him. This issue of time helps Harold try new stuff and helps him have a better social life by staying with Dave and dating Ana which helps him find a new man hidden inside of him. The narrator sparks a revival in his life which he does not time every second but lives his life. During the movie ‘Stranger than Fiction’ by Mark Forster the use of extreme wide shots, motifs and a narrator helps to portray the idea of the issue of time. At the end of the movie Karen Eiffel says to Professor Jules Hilbert â€Å"A man that knows he is going to die and dies willingly, isn’t that the kind of man you want to live† shows that the issue of time didn’t shape the man, the man shaped the issue of time. The Book Thief During the novel ‘The Book Thief ‘by Markus Zusak, the Author portrays the power of words through a 10 year old girl. This girl is Leisel Meiminger a girl living in Nazi Germany who has a love of words. Leisel saw a lot as a 10 year old. She saw her brother die right I front of her, her mother abandoned her and she fell in love with words and learnt the power of words. That year she also met her foster parents Hans and Rosa Huberman. For Leisel her next 4 years are the most important of her life where she reads 14 books, her family hides a Jew and Molching, Germany gets bombed. Leisel as she gets older use words for good and bad. During her first months on Himmel Street her papa taught her how to read and write. These midnight lessons helped her to understand words. The words that she first fell in love with were the words of the fuhrer. This is shown during Leisel’s dream on the train quote â€Å"She was listening contentedly to the torrent of words that as spilling from his mouth. His sentences glowed in the light†. This dream shows how positively she views the fuhrer and shows how he had miss used words by using propaganda and now Leisel was in favor of Hitler. As Leisel matures she learns how Hitler had misused the power of words and she announces ‘’ I hate Hitler’’ this quote shows how her opinion has changed. During the bombings in 1943 Leisel learns how words can be used to calm others down. Whilst in the bomb shelter she reads her books which consequently calms everyone down which make them forget they are getting bombed. Even though she uses words for good she also uses them for bad. Her mama 2, Rosa Huberman to makes ends meet she does the washing and ironing for the rich people living in Molching. Whilst delivering and picking up washing she falls in love with the mayor’s wife’s library here she reads. This is not a relationship based on speaking it is a relationship based on words. On the day there last washing and ironing client fired them (The mayor) Leisel fires a torrent of words at the mayor’s wife â€Å"It’s about time†¦ that you do your own stinking washing anyway. It’s about time you faced the fact that your son is dead. He got killed† These words shows that even good people can misuse the power of words. Even though she did use them poorly she helped Ilsa Hermann sort her life out and get over the death of her son. The ideas of the power of words portrayed by Markus Zusak is still important today because they can still hurt people or heal people. Today people use words to gain power over people. Some are for good like the pope or your school principle but some are for bad like Mussolini or Hitler. Words are as powerful now as they were then but people now have more words and more ways of distributing there evil ways with words but in society there are still people like Leisel doing good with words. In the Novel ‘’The Book Thief’’ the author Markus Zusak portrays the idea of the power of words through a 10 year old girl living Nazi Germany named Leisel Meiminger. Leisel learns that words can be used for good and evil. She says â€Å"I have loved words and I have hated them but I hope I have made them right†

Hemispheric Specialization: Effects of Drugs on the Brain

Hemispheric Specialization: Effects of Drugs on the Brain NANA KOFI BONSU AKUFFO LANCASTER UNIVERSITY INTRODUCTION The human body is divided into many parts called organs. All of the parts are controlled by an organ called the brain, which is located in the head. The brain weighs about 2.75 pounds. The brain is made up of many cells, and I the centre of the body. The brain sends messages to all the other parts of the body (â€Å"The Human Brain.† 123HelpMe.com. 19 Feb 2015). The human brain is seen to be in a spherical form. A hemisphere is half of a sphere, so this means, the brain divided into two parts or hemispheres. There is the right and the left. These hemispheres appear to be identical, but closer examination reveals that they are highly specialized regions that serve different functions. The left hemisphere enables our ability to express ourselves in language. In over 95% of right-handed people the left hemisphere is dominant for speech. The figure is somewhat lower for left hander’s, approximately 70%, but still highly significant. The left hemisphere is better than the right at recognizing sequences of words and letters. It controls our logic, our reasoning, and our analytical thought processes. It can focus on details, however it has difficulty comprehending the whole picture. The perceptual functions of the right hemisphere are more specialized for the analysis of space and geometrical shapes and forms, elements that are all present at the same time (not so sequential like language). The right hemisphere is the creative half, it can see the whole out of parts, that is allowing us to connect puzzle parts together. The right hemisphere also plays an important role in the comprehension of emotion. However, the control of drug intake from childhood stages to late adulthood increases gradually in life. Even for medical purposes, the intake of drugs may not just help a patient recover but can also have other negative side effects that later on in life reveal themselves. Drugs affect brain pathways involving reward, that is, the dopamine system in the reward pathway. Within seconds to minutes of entering the human body, drugs cause dramatic changes to synapses in the brain. LITERATURE REVIEW Hemispheric specialization refers to the study of cognitive functions, dividing them up by the hemisphere of the brain responsible for them (www.ask.com/ science/define-hemispheric-specialization). Cognitive function refers to a person’s ability to process thoughts.  Cognition  primarily refers to things like memory, the ability to learn new information, speech, and reading comprehension. In most healthy individuals the  brain  is capable of learning new skills in each of these areas, especially in early childhood, and of developing personal and individual thoughts about the world. The brain has two halves orhemispheres. The two sides look like mirror images. This is calledbilateral symmetry. The wordbilateralmeans two-sided, while symmetrymeans the two sides look the same. So bilateral symmetry refers to the fact that the brain consists of two halves that are nearly mirror images of each other. Some function locations vary depending on the dominant hand of the patient. In general terms, literary functions are focused in the left hemisphere, particularly in right-handed people, while creative and figurative functions center in the right hemisphere. Also well-known is that the brain isâ€Å"cross-wired†, with theleft hemisphere controlling movement on theright side of the body, and theright hemispherecontrolling theleft side of the body. Most, but not all, of the different structures, lobes and organs of the brain have a left and right hemisphere element, andcommunication between the hemispheresis achieved by means of a thick bundle of nerve tissues known as thecorpus callosum, which effectively makes a full brain out of two half-brains. HANDEDNESS AND LANGUAGE PROCESSING It was the French physiologistPaul Brocain the 1860s (as well as his less well-known countryman and near contemporary,Marc Dax, almost 30 years earlier) who noted that, at least in general terms, a person’s handedness tends to indicate aspecialized hemisphere on the brains opposite side, so that a right-handed person probably has a left-hemispherelanguage specialization, andvice versa. Indeed, for almost a century, until theWada test(a technique involving the anaesthetizing of one side of the brain using a drug such as sodium amytal or sodium amobarbital) was introduced in the 1960s, a person’s handedness was just about the only clue an operatingneurosurgeonhad about which hemisphere of a patient’s brain was probably the one specialized for language. Following Brocas findings, it was initially assumed thathandedness and the hemispheric dominance of speech processing were inextricably and intimately connected. However, it soon became apparent, even to Broca, thatexceptions and mismatches existed, and that perhaps the association wasnot as fixedas he had initially thought. Although the incidence of right-hemisphere language dominancedoesincrease more or less linearly with the degree of left-handedness, it turns out to be not quite as simple as that. In fact, after the work of Springer Deutsch, Damasio Damasio, and others in the 1990s, we now know that, although about 95% of right-handersdo haveleft-hemisphere dominance for language functions, only around19% of left-handershave right-hemisphere language dominance, with another20%or so processing language functions inboth hemispheres(the incidence of language distribution inambidextrous peopleis broadly similar to that found in left-handed people). Other studies report percentages for left-handers of 70%, 15% and 15% (rather than 61%, 19% and 20%), but the finding all suggest that, perhaps unexpectedly, some60% 70% of left-handers process language in the left hemisphere, just like right-handers. Indeed, around 93% of all people have left hemisphere language dominance (http://www.rightleftrightwrong.com/brain.html). One half-brain is not â€Å"logical† and the other â€Å"intuitive,† nor is one more â€Å"analytical† and the other more â€Å"creative.† Both halves play important roles in logical and intuitive thinking, in analytical and creative thinking, and so forth. All of the popular distinctions involve complex functions, which are accomplished by multiple processes, some of which may operate better in the left hemisphere and some of which may operate better in the right hemisphere, but the overall functions cannot be said to be entirely the province of one or the other hemisphere. And far from having separate lives, the two halves work together. They are not isolated systems that compete or engage in some kind of cerebral tug-of-war; one is not an undisciplined child, the other a spoilsport that throws schoolyard tantrums. Rather, as we have stressed, the brain is a single, marvelously complicated, and deeply integrated system. Like those of a well-maintained bicycle, the parts of the brain do have different functions but, like the parts of a bike, they are designed to work together. Finally, as we discussed earlier, there is solid evidence that none of us relies primarily on one or the other hemisphere. We all use all of our brains; none of us are truly â€Å"left-brained† or â€Å"right-brained.† DRUG ADDICTION A drug is, in broadcast terms, a chemical substance that has biological effects on human beings and animals. In  pharmacology, a drug is a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.  Pharmaceutical drugs  may be used for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for  chronic disorders. Recreational drugs  are chemical substances that affect the  central nervous system, such as  opioids  or  hallucinogens. Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are the most widely consumed psychotropic drugs worldwide. They may be used for effects on  perception,consciousness,  personality, and  behavior. Many recreational drugs are also medicinal. Some drugs can cause  addiction  and habituationand all drugs have  side effects. Many drugs are illegal for recreational purposes and international treaties such as the single convention on narcotic drugs  exist for the purpose of legally prohibiting certain substances (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug).

The Canadian Governing System is not Fair or Democratic Essay -- essay

There are Canadian citizens who thought that the Canadian government we have is perfect, citizens who believed that every aspect of the government was truly democratic, and citizens who believe that government could do no wrong. Truly this group of believers has been living a lie. In our Canadian system of government, large aspects within are far from democratic and need to be changed. Liberal-minded people will cry out for a change in order for government to serve the people better, and on the other hand the more conservative thinkers will argue that no change is needed because our government is efficient and considerate. However, our voting system, our Senate, and the power vested to the Prime Minister are far from democratic, do not meet the actual needs of the people and definitely need to be addressed. Canada itself claims to be democratic, yet the Canadian Senate is appointed to office by the current Prime Minister rather than elected by the citizens. The original purpose of the Senate was to give fair representation between provinces and to the citizens. Having failed its purpose, clearly there are issues within the Senate that need to be addressed. Because of the Prime Minister appointing the Senators, they will now serve the Prime Ministers needs rather than the people who they should have been listening to. As if this were not enough of a show of power for the Prime Minister, the Senators cannot be lawfully kicked out of office until the age of seventy-five. An example of Senate idiosyncrasy in Canadian government is Ross Fitzpatrick, who was appointed to office by former Prime Minister Jean Chretien of the Liberals in June 1990. His official opponent, Preston Manning, rightfully questioned the circumstances regardin... ...e a lot of parties are going to be running for office. However, for the fringe parties this creates a major advantage for them. With the load of political parties in the House of Commons, there would be a wider range of interests for people but there would be a lot of indecision and coalitions. It is cold hard fact that Canadian government is not entirely democratic. The question remains of how to deal with this. Canadian government, as effective as it currently is, has major factors in their system that have a negative effect on Canadians. Our current voting system favors the higher-populated provinces and creates a tyranny of the majority. Our Senate is distinctly undemocratic as it is an assigned position. Our head of State, the Prime Minister, holds too much power. Unless we resolve these issues, our government will remain far from a perfect governing system.

Alcoholism and Public Health Law Essay

Alcohol consumption poses a threat for many public health harms. Impaired driving is one of the largest contributors to motor vehicle crashes (Burris, Grunwald, Anderson, &ump; Filippoli, 2011). In the United States each year roughly 13,400 people die and an additional 255,500 are injured in motor vehicle crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver according to Burris et al., 2011. In 2006, these crashes accounted for almost a third of all U.S. traffic-related deaths (Burris et al., 2011). Alcohol is the most commonly abused substance in the United States according to Pandrea, Happel, Amedee, Bagby, &ump; Nelson, 2010, and studies show that reducing alcohol consumption can lead to public health improvements such as decreased incidence of â€Å"liver cirrhosis, delirium tremens, male suicide, criminality, hospitalizations, alcohol-related disease mortality, workplace injuries, STDs, IPV, rape, robbery, and severe violence towards children† (Jernigan). Public heath deals with m any other issues that cause burdens to individuals and society alike such as obesity and gun use. Over the past several months, headlines in the news have been echoing â€Å"Chocolate Milk Removed from School Lunches,† and â€Å"Senate Considers Federal Tax on Soda.† While the removal of chocolate milk from school menus has actually happened in certain school districts across the country, federal tax on sodas has only been a proposal at this point. However, both echoes resounding through the news originated from escalating research that America’s twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity are due to diets high in sugar. The end result is that the actions taken to fight obesity have not been classified as either effective, uncertain, or harmful consistently through studies and research because there are too many variables like genetics, other sugar-loaded beverages and foods on the shelf, lack of exercise, abundance of video games, and the lifestyle one is accustomed that contribute to obesity as well. But even with the slightest inclination eliminating chocolate milk or federal tax on soda will eliminate sugar from obese population’s diet and thereby reduce weight, support groups and supporting research seem to load up the band wagons. Alcohol abuse is certainly an epidemic, and the domino effect of negativity it can cause in one’s life and surroundings creates a dismal forecast into the future of American public health somewhat similar to the obesity epidemic. Obesity and alcohol consumption act as a comparison between two similar, yet contradictory issues, much like public health and  public health law. High-risk drinking results in many consequences for public health and unlike obesity and soda tax, a multitude of systematic literature reviews conducted by highly-regarded scholars and published by credible organizations or peer-reviewed journals prove taxes that increase the price of alcohol effectively reduce overall alcohol consumption. Although ways to reduce alcohol consumption are not made glamorous in the news like many other trending public health epidemics, alcohol abuse is one of the few conflicts public health epidemiologists and economists have derived a bullet proof plan of action to effecti vely reduce its harmful effects. This manuscript serves as an evidence brief summarizing the problem, the law, the evidence, and the bottom line pertaining to the effect of increasing tax levels on alcohol use, and to prove why understanding public health law and policy is essential in bridging the gap between proven studies performed by public health professionals and the legislators and lobbyists who can implement the findings. Using the current state of obesity as an example was merely to cast light on the standstill alcohol abuse is undergoing, which ultimately resides in the poor connection between public health research and public health law. However, it is worth noting that other strategies exist to control alcohol abuse besides trying to impose what some may call a â€Å"sin tax,† such as comprehensive prevention programs: 1) Offer and promote social, recreational, extracurricular, and public service alcohol-free options; 2) Create a social, academic, and residential environment that supports health-p romoting norms; 3) Limit alcohol availability both on and off campus; 4) Restrict marketing and promotion of alcoholic beverages both on and off campus; and 5) Develop and enforce policies and laws at the campus, local, state and federal levels (The Demand for Alcohol: The Differential Response to Price, 2005). The elements of a comprehensive prevention program limit some of the damage caused by alcohol abuse but the epidemic flows forward. Numerous epidemiological studies have demonstrated that alcohol use disorders (AUDs) such as alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are widespread in the general population of the United States, with approximately 8.5 percent of adults having had an AUD in 2007 (Falk, Yi, &ump; Hiller-Sturmhofel, 2008). Moreover, many people suffering from AUDs also suffer from one or more other psychiatric disorders, including other drug use disorders (DUDs), mood  disorders like major depression, anxiety disorders, or personality disorders like antisocial personality disorder (Falk et al., 2008). Falk et al., 2008, also reported the prevalence of alcohol use and AUDs is much higher among people with drug use and DUDs, respectively, than vice versa. This reflects the fact that alcohol is much more widely used than other drugs may be a gateway to the use of illegal or mo re potent drugs (Falk et al., 2008). Falk et al., 2008, reported that their results showed a dose-response relationship between the two classes of substances, with rates of drug use, weekly drug use, and DUDs increasing â€Å"monotonically with increasing levels of alcohol consumption and the presence of AUDs.† The descriptive study by Falk et al., 2008, not only portrays the grim effects of alcohol abuse but is also just one of the many credible reviews providing prevalence estimates providing health care policymakers and treatment planners with a â€Å"comprehensive assessment of the state of the use, co-use, and co-morbidity of alcohol and other drugs in the United States.† The flow of abuse and effects unfortunately does not have a dam, and floods further along into public health. Justice, Lynn, &ump; Fiellin, 2010, have shown that past and present alcohol consumption directly influences HIV progression and survival by altering timing of, adherence, and response to medication designed to minimize levels of HIV in the body like antiretroviral treatment (ART). Alcohol use also influences patient outcomes by increasing the risk for HIV and antiretroviral associated co morbidities, including liver disease, cardiovascular and cerebral vascular disease, pulmonary disease, bone disease, and cancer (Justice et al., 2010). Those with HIV have a lower tolerance for alcohol, according to Justice et al., 2010, yet preserve intense levels of consumption as they age and the growing effects of past and current alcohol consumption is likely to increase because patients with HIV infection are expected to live 20 to 30 years with ART. Lamentably, alcohol is a terror that looms around society and affects the weak and strong alike. Strong populations mostly include college and university students, who likely do not have HIV or AUDs or DUDs while pursuing a higher education. However, 25 percent of students report academic problems caused by alcohol use according to The Demand for Alcohol: The Differential Response to Price, 2005. Students who practice high-risk drinking are at risk for a host of problems, including: 1) A decline in academic performance  due to poor grades, missed classes, and falling behind that may lead to academic probation or dropping out of school; 2) Engaging in unprotected sex; 3) Increased risk of perpetrating or being a victim of violence, including sexual assault, hazing, vandalism, and fights; 4) Health problems related to alcohol use; and 5) Injury, arrest or death due to drinking and driving, or other alcohol-related causes (The Demand for Alcohol: The Differential Response to Price, 2005). Much like concrete cracking and eventually more and more cracks ensuing, are the secondary effects alcohol abuse has on campuses. Firstly, drinking undermines the goal institutions of higher education set forth, since heavy drinking leads to a decline in academic performance. Furthermore, heavy drinking can affect the campus as a whole through reducing retention rates, increasing expenses due to damage from vandalism, and branding the institution as a party school. The â€Å"party school† image may attract students who choose to be in high-risk settings, increasing the likelihood of alcohol-related incidents on campus (The Demand for Alcohol: The Differential Response to Price, 2005). Students who do not drink may also experience negative consequences of alcohol use by their peers according to The Demand for Alcohol: The Differential Response to Price, 2005. Effects may include study or sleep interruption, taking care of a drunken friend, having an unwanted sexual advance, hav ing property damaged, and being a victim of violence including physical or sexual assault. Over three-quarters of students living on campus have experienced at least one of the negative secondary effects of alcohol use at their school (The Demand for Alcohol: The Differential Response to Price, 2005). Perhaps a creative genius health professional strategizes a prevention program that eliminates alcohol consumption, only a short duration of time will pass and the marketing departments of major breweries will promote their brand in a way to pull the public right back into the flow of intake. Or maybe no successful prevention program forms, but raising the excise taxes on alcohol is being accelerated by legislature efforts in order to reduce alcohol consumption and abuse. In this case, consistent industry political donations and lobbying aimed at keeping alcohol excise taxes from increasing are in place for these companies profiting from their unhealthy product. The primary problem this brief sought out to analyze is alcohol abuse and the extensive list of problems discussed in detail above it  causes. The problem paves the way to the law. And given the circumstances that stricter law enforcement and prevention strategies have only resolved a minute fraction of the problem, the law is the answer as it offers a glass ceiling. No federal tax increases have been implemented since 1991 and many states, although legislative efforts have been accelerating across the country, have failed to increase the tax. However, tax law in the epidemic of alcohol abuse, is the solution with most opportunity for proving effective. Burris et al., 2011, define tax law as a mechanism for reducing consumption of unhealthy products. The same news that reported the removal of chocolate milk from selected school districts has reported increased taxes on cigarettes, so it is simple to understand that both the federal government and the states have used taxes as a means of increasing the cost of products associated with health risks in the past. Taxes can be levied upon the production and or sale of alcohol and are often described as excise taxes Burris et al., 2011, have reported. According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, almost every state taxes the sale or production of beer, liquor and wine (Burris et al., 2011). Nevertheless, increasing alcohol tax is not as straightforward and effortless as simply applying the definiton of tax law to the problem and stepping away. State readiness to act on alco hol tax research findings marks the beginning of constructing the bridge that will essentially connect public health to public health law. Many key factors are subject to broad consensus among members of the Coordinating panel and other participating experts (Tremper &ump; Mosher, 2005). Components that are most important are the budget deficit or other substantial need for the state to raise taxes, the strength of the advocates/coalition that would introduce research findings, and the availability of funds that can be used for legislative advocacy. Items of decreasing importance are existence and efficacy of a lobbyist for the issue, well-positioned champion in both houses of the legislature, and the political strength of the alcohol industry and its allies. Other factors include support of the governor, permissibility of earmarking, high proportion of nondrinkers, high proportion of evangelicals and/or fundamentalists, and support of major media (Tremper &ump; Mosher, 2005). Discussion of the former findings serve as a starting point for analyzing the conclusions of specific literature reviews that increasing alcohol taxes  improves public health and that various factors affect the likelihood that research findings will influence alcohol tax policy. After the preliminary analysis, possibly the most important finding to extract is the consent among alcohol tax advocates, legislative process experts, advocates who have successfully used research findings to influence tobacco tax policy, and other interested parties in regard to state tax policy, and whether a state needs to raise taxes for financial reasons. Tremper &ump; Mosher, 2005, have stated that in practical terms reflecting political realities, if a state is not facing a budget deficit, raising alcohol taxes to achieve public health benefits is highly unlikely. Continuing strain on state budgets has a high likelihood of continuing; therefore, raising taxes is going to be on most states’ legislative agenda for the projected future. Another important finding that bodes well for alcohol tax to appear on legislative agendas is that alcohol taxes are low by several measures and in some states have not been raised for decades, which means that inflation has reduced them t o a fraction of their previous level (Tremper &ump; Mosher, 2005). For example, had the beer tax merely kept up with inflation, it would be more than three times today’s rate of $18 per barrel; the liquor tax would be more than five times its current rate of $13.50 per proof gallon (Alcohol Taxes on the Federal Front, 2005). As prices rise, the relative importance of the taxes falls, unless Congress raises them according to the website Alcohol Taxes on the Federal Front. The website further foes on to state statistics indicating beer and wine taxes have been raised only once in the past 55 years, liquor taxes only twice and as a result, tax revenues that accounted for 12 percent of the sales of alcohol in 1980 now amount to only 7 percent of total sales. The result is a de facto subsidy on drinking and extra profits for alcohol manufacturers at the expense of taxpayers (Alcohol Taxes on the Federal Front, 2005). CONCLUSION: The beer industry has long opposed raising taxes on its products, even maintaining that they should be lowered. However, lower beer taxes would only add to the deficit, cater to a prosperous industry, reward and encourage heavy drinking, and attract more young drinkers, fueling increased alcohol problems and increasing public costs. The best interests of consumers, young people, the U.S. Treasury, and the public health and safety  of America would be better served by raising, not lowering beer taxes. (Alcohol Taxes on the Federal Front, 2005)

Guidance and Counselling Thesis

Comprehensive Guidance Programs That Work II Norman Gysbers and Patricia Henderson A Model Comprehensive Guidance Program Chapter 1 Norman C. Gysbers The Comprehensive Guidance Program Model described in this chapter had its genesis in the early 1970s. In 1972, the staff of a federally funded project at the University of Missouri-Columbia conducted a national conference on guidance and developed a manual to be used by state guidance leaders as a guide to developing their own manuals for state and local school district use. The manual was published in early 1974 and provided the original description of the Comprehensive Guidance Program Model. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the position orientation to guidance dominated professional training and practice in our schools. The focus was on a position (counselor) and a process (counseling), not on a program (guidance). Administratively, guidance, with its position orientation, was included in pupil personnel services along with other such services as attendance, social work, psychological, psychiatric, speech and hearing, nursing, and medical (Eckerson & Smith, 1966). The position orientation had its beginnings when guidance was first introduced in the schools as vocational guidance. As early as 1910, vocational counselors had been appointed in the elementary and secondary schools of Boston, and by 1915 a central office Department of Vocational Guidance had been established with a director, Susan J. Ginn. The vocational counselors in Boston were teachers who took on the work with no financial return and often no relief from other duties (Ginn, 1924). What were the duties of vocational counselors? The Duties of a Vocational Counselor: 1. To be the representative of the Department of Vocational Guidance in the district; 2. To attend all meetings of counselors called by the director of Vocational Guidance; 3. To be responsible for all material sent out to the school by the Vocational Guidance Department; 4. To gather and keep on file occupational information; 5. To arrange with the local branch librarians about shelves of books bearing upon educational and vocational guidance; 6. To arrange for some lessons in occupations in connection with classes in Oral English and Vocational Civics, or wherever principal and counselor deem it wise; 7. To recommend that teachers show the relationship of their work to occupational problems; 8. To interview pupils in grades 6 and above who are failing, attempt to find the reason, and suggest remedy. 9. To make use of the cumulative record card when advising children; 10. To consult records of intelligence tests when advising children; 11. To make a careful study with grade 7 and grade 8 of the bulletin â€Å"A Guide to the Choice of Secondary School†; 12. To urge children to remain in school; 13. To recommend conferences with parents of children who are failing or leaving school; 14. To interview and check cards of all children leaving school, making clear to them the requirements for obtaining working certificates; 15. To be responsible for the filling in of Blank 249 and communicate with recommendations to the Department of Vocational Guidance when children are in need of employment. (Ginn, 1924, pp. 5-7) As more and more positions titled vocational counselor were filled in schools across the country, concern was expressed about the lack of centralization, the lack of a unified program. In a review of the Boston system, Brewer (1922) stated that work was â€Å"commendable and promising† (p. 36). At the same time, however, he expressed concern about the lack of effective centralization: In most schools two or more teachers are allowed part-time for counseling individuals, but there seems to be no committee of cooperation between the several schools, and no attempt to supervise the work. It is well done or indifferently done, apparently according to the interest and enthusiasm of the individual principal or counselor. p. 35) Myers (1923) made the same point when he stated that â€Å"a centralized, unified program of vocational guidance for the entire school of a city is essential to the most effective work† (p. 139). The lack of a centralized and unified program of guidance in the schools to define and focus the work of vocational counselors presented a serious problem. If there was no agreed-upon, centralized structure to organize and direct the work of building-level vocational counselors, then â€Å"other duties as assigned† could become a problem. As early as 1923 this problem was recognized by Myers (1923). Another tendency dangerous to the cause of vocational guidance is the tendency to load the vocational counselor with so many duties foreign to the office that little real counseling can be done. The principal, and often the counselor himself, has a very indefinite idea of the proper duties of this new office. The counselor’s time is more free from definite assignments with groups or classes of pupils than is that of the ordinary teacher. If well chosen he has administrative ability. It is perfectly natural, therefore, for the principal to assign one administrative duty after another to the counselor until he becomes practically assistant principal, with little time for the real work of a counselor. (p. 141) During the 1920s and 1930s, as formal education was being shaped and reshaped as to its role in society, a broader mission for education emerged. Added to the educational mission was a vocational mission. How did education respond to these additional tasks and challenges? One response was to add pupil personnel work to the education system. What was pupil personnel work? According to Myers (1935), â€Å"pupil personnel work is a sort of handmaiden of organized education. It is concerned primarily with bringing the pupils of the community into the educational environment of the schools in such condition and under circumstances as will enable them to obtain the maximum of the desired development† (p. 804). In his article, Myers (1935) contrasted pupil personnel work and personnel work in industry. He then listed eight activities he would include in pupil personnel work and the personnel who would be involved, including attendance officers, visiting teachers, school nurses, school physicians, as well as vocational counselors. In his discussion of all the activities involved in pupil personnel work and the personnel involved, he stated that â€Å"Probably no activity in the entire list suffers so much from lack of a coordinated programs as does guidance, and especially the counseling part of it† (p. 807). In the late 1920s, in response to the lack of an organized approach to guidance, the services model of guidance was initiated to guide the work of individuals designated as counselors. Various services were identified as necessary to provide to students, including the individual inventory service, information service, counseling service, placement service, and follow-up service (Smith, 1951). By this time too, the traditional way of describing guidance as having three aspects – vocational, educational, and personal-social – was well established. Vocational guidance, instead of being guidance, had become only one part of guidance. By the 1940s and 1950s, guidance was firmly established as a part of pupil personnel services with its emphasis on the position of counselor. Beginning in the 1960s, but particularly in the 1970s, the concept of guidance for development emerged. During this period, the call came to re-orient guidance from what had become an ancillary set of services delivered by a person in a position (the counselor) to a comprehensive, developmental program. The call for reorientation came from diverse sources, including a renewed interest in vocational-career guidance (and its theoretical base, career development), a renewed interest in developmental guidance, concern about the efficacy of the prevailing approach to guidance in the school, and concern about accountability and evaluation. The work of putting comprehensive guidance programs into place in the schools continued in the 1980s. Increasingly, sophisticated models began to be translated into practical, workable programs to be implemented in the schools. As we near the close of the 1990s, comprehensive guidance programs are rapidly encompassing the position orientation to guidance. Comprehensive guidance programs are becoming the major way of organizing and managing guidance in the schools across the country. This chapter begins with a brief review of traditional organizational patterns for guidance. Next, the development of a Comprehensive Guidance Program Model that had its genesis in the early 1970s is presented. The content of the model is described, ollowed by a presentation of the structure of the program, the processes used in the program, and the time allocations of staff required to carry out the program. Finally, there is discussion of the program resources required for the model if it is to function effectively. Traditional Organizational Patterns By the 1960s, the evolution of guidance in the schools had reached a peak. The guidance provisions of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-864) caused the nu mber of secondary counselors in schools to increase substantially. Later, due to an expansion of the guidance provisions of the act, elementary guidance was supported and as a result, the number of elementary counselors in schools increased rapidly. Counselors put their expertise to work in schools where three traditional organizational patterns for guidance were prevalent, often under the administrative structure called pupil personnel services or student services; the services model, the process model, or the duties model. In many schools, combinations of these three approaches were used. Services The ervices model had its origins in the 1920s and consists of organizing the activities of counselors around major services including assessment, information, counseling, placement and follow-up. Although the activities that are usually listed under each of these services are important and useful, it is a limited model for three reasons. First, it is primarily oriented to secondary schools. Second, it does not lend itself easily to the identification of student outcomes. And third, it does not specify how the time of counselors should be allocated. Processes The process model had its origins in the 1940s. It emphasizes the clinical and therapeutic aspects of counseling, particularly the processes of counseling, consulting, and coordinating. This model is appealing because it is equally applicable to elementary and secondary counselors. However, the process model has some of the same limitations as the services model: It does not lend itself easily to the identification of student outcomes and it does not specify allocations of counselor time. Duties Often, instead of describing some organizational pattern such as the services model or the process model, counselor duties are simply listed (duties model). Sometimes these lists contain as many as 20-30 duties and the last duty is often â€Å"and perform other duties as assigned from time to time. † Although equally applicable to elementary school and secondary school counselors, student outcomes are difficult to identify and counselor time is almost impossible to allocate effectively. Position Oriented Rather Than Program Focused One result of these traditional organizational patterns has been to emphasize the position of the counselor, not the program of guidance. Over the years, as guidance evolved in the schools, it became position oriented rather than program focused. As a result, guidance was an ancillary support service in the eyes of many people. This pattern placed counselors mainly in a remedial-reactive role – a role that is not seen as mainstream in education. What was worse, this pattern reinforced the practice of counselors performing many administrative-clerical duties because these duties could be defended as being â€Å"of service to somebody. † Because of the lack of an adequate organization framework, guidance had become an undefined program. Guidance had become the add-on profession, while counselors were seen as the â€Å"you-might-as-well† group (â€Å"While you are oing this task, you might as well do this one too†). Because of the absence of a clear organizational framework for guidance, it was easy to assign counselors new duties. Counselors had flexible schedules. And, since time was not a consideration, why worry about removing current duties when new ones were added? Origin of the Comprehensive Gu idance Program Model In October of 1969, the University of Missouri-Columbia conducted a national conference on career guidance, counseling and placement that led to regional conferences held across the country during the spring of 1970. Then in 1971, the University of Missouri-Columbia was awarded a U. S. Office of Education grant under the direction of Norman C. Gysbers to assist each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in developing models or guides for implementing career guidance, counseling and placement programs in their local schools. Project staff in Missouri conducted a national conference in St. Louis in January of 1972 and developed a manual (Gysbers & Moore, 1974) to be used by the states as they developed their own guides. The manual that was published in February of 1974 provided the first description of an organizational framework for the Comprehensive Guidance Program Model that was to be refined in later work (Gysbers, 1978; Gysbers & Henderson, 1994; Gysbers & Moore, 1981; Hargens & Gysbers, 1984). The original organizational framework for the Comprehensive Guidance Program Model contained three interrelated categories of functions, and on-call functions. The curriculum-based category brought together those guidance activities which took place primarily in the context of regularly scheduled courses of study in an educational setting. These activities were a part of regular school subjects or were organized around special topics in the form of units, mini courses, or modules. They were based on need statements and translated into goals and objectives and activities necessary for the development of all students. Typical topics focused on self-understanding, interpersonal relationships, decision making, and information about the education, work, and leisure worlds. School counselors were involved directly with students through class instruction, group processes, or individual discussions. In other instances, school counselors worked directly and cooperatively with teachers, providing resources and consultation. Individual facilitation functions included those systematic activities of the comprehensive guidance program designed to assist students in monitoring and understanding their development in regard to their personal, educational, and occupational goals, values, abilities, aptitudes, and interests. School counselors served in the capacity of â€Å"advisers,† â€Å"learner managers,† or â€Å"development specialists. Personalized contact and involvement were stressed instead of superficial contact with each student once a year to fill out a schedule. The functions in this category provided for the accountability needed in an educational setting to ensure that students’ uniqueness remained intact and that educational resources were used to facilitate their life career development. On-call functions focused on direct, immediate responses to stu dents needs such as information seeking, crisis counseling, and teacher/parent/specialist consultation. In addition, on-call functions were supportive of the curriculum-based and individual facilitation functions. Adjunct guidance staff (peers, paraprofessionals, and volunteers/support staff) aided school counselors in carrying out on-call functions. Peers were involved in tutorial programs, orientation activities, ombudsman centers, and (with special training) cross-age counseling and leadership in informal dialogue centers. Paraprofessionals and volunteers provided meaningful services in placement and followup activities, community liaison, career information centers, and club leadership activities. The 1974 version of the model focused on the importance of counselor time usage by featuring â€Å"time distribution wheels† to show how counselors’ time could be distributed to carry out a developmental guidance program. A chart was provided to show how counselors’ time could be distributed across a typical school week using the three categories as organizers. REFINEMENTS TO THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDANCE PROGRAM MODEL In 1978, Gysbers described refinements that had been made to the model since 1974. By 1978, the focus was on a total comprehensive, developmental guidance program. It included the following elements: definition, rationale, assumptions, content model, and process model. The content model described the knowledge and skills that students would acquire with the help of activities in the guidance program. The process model grouped the guidance activities and processes used in the program into four interrelated categories: curriculum-based processes, individual-development processes, on-call responsive processes, and systems support processes. It is interesting to note the changes that had been made between 1974 and 1978 in the model. The concepts of definition, rationale, and assumptions had been added. The model itself was now organized into two parts. The first part listed the content to be learned by students, while the second part organized into four categories the guidance activities and processes needed in a program. The category of individual facilitation was changed to individual development, the word responsive was added to on-call, and a new category – systems support – was added. Also in 1978, Gysbers described seven steps required to â€Å"remodel a guidance program while living in it†: 1. Decide you want to change. 2. Form work groups. . Assess current programs. 4. Select program model. 5. Compare current program with program model. 6. Establish transition timetable. 7. Evaluate. Between 1978 and 1981, further refinements were made in the model. These refinements appeared in Improving Guidance Programs by Gysbers and Moore (1981). By then, the basic structure of the model was est ablished. The terms â€Å"content model† and â€Å"process model† had been dropped. Also, the steps for remodeling a guidance program, first delineated in 1978, formed the basis for the organization the chapters in Improving Guidance Programs and were described in detail. Between 1981 and 1988, the model was being used by state departments of education and local school districts with increasing frequency. During these years, two school districts in particular became involved: St. Joseph School District, St. Joseph, Missouri and Northside Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas. Hargens and Gysbers (1984), writing in The School Counselor, presented a case study of how the model was implemented in the St. Joseph School District. The work in the Northside Independent School District became the basis for much of the most recent description of the model (Gysbers & Henderson, 1994). As the 1980s progressed, a number of states and a number of additional school districts across the country began to adapt the model to fit their needs. In 1988, the first edition of Gysbers and Henderson’s book Developing and Managing Your School Guidance Program was published by the American Association for Counseling and Development, AACD (now the American Counseling Association, ACA). Using the framework of the model presented in 1981, Gysbers and Henderson expanded and extended the model substantially. Building upon the experiences of a number of local school districts and states and with particular emphasis on the experiences of the Northside Independent School District, the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation phases of the model were elaborated upon in much more detail. Sample forms, procedures, and methods, particularly those from Northside, were used extensively to illustrate the model and its implementation. The second edition of the book Developing and Managing Your School Guidance Program by Gysbers and Henderson was published in 1994. DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDANCE PROGRAM MODEL Conceptual Foundation The perspective of human development that serves as the foundation for the model and as a basis for identifying the guidance knowledge, skills, and attitudes (competencies) that students need to master is called life career development. Life career development is defined as self-development over a person’s life span through the integration of the roles, setting, and events in a person’s life. The word life in the definition indicates that the focus of this conception of human development is on the total person – the human career. The word career identifies and relates the many often varied roles that individuals assume (student, worker, consumer, citizen, parent); the settings in which individuals find themselves (home, school, community); and the events that occur over their lifetimes (entry job, marriage, divorce, retirement). The word development is used to indicate that individuals are always in the process of becoming. When used in sequence, the words life career development bring these separate meaning words together, but at the same time a greater meaning evolves. Life career development describes total individuals – unique individuals, with their own lifestyles (Gysbers & Moore, 1974, 1975, 1981). The meaning of the word career in the phrase life career development differs substantially from the usual definition of the term. Career focuses on all aspects of life as interrelated parts of the whole person. The term career, when viewed from this broad perspective, is not a synonym for occupation. People have careers; the marketplace has occupations. Unfortunately, too many people use the word career when they hould use the word occupation. All people have careers – their lives are their careers. Finally, the words, life career development do not delineate and describe only one part of human growth and development. Although it is useful to focus at times on different areas (e. g. , physical, emotional, and intellectual), it is also necessary to integrate these areas. Life career development is an organizing and integrating concept f or understanding and facilitating human development. Wolfe and Kolb (1980) summed up the life view of career development as follows: Career development involves one’s whole life, not just occupation. As such, it concerns the whole person, needs and wants, capacities and potentials, excitements and anxieties, insights and blind spots, warts and all. More than that, it concerns his/her life. The environment pressures and constraints, the bonds that tie him/her to significant others, responsibilities to children and aging parents, the total structure of one’s circumstances are also factors that must be understood and reckoned with, in these terms, career development and personal development converge. Self and circumstances – evolving, changing, unfolding in mutual interaction – constitute the focus and the drama of career development. (pp. 1-2) COMPREHENSIVE GUIDANCE PROGRAM MODEL ELEMENTS The model program (see Figure 1. 1) consists of three elements: content, organizational framework, and resources. CONTENT There are many examples today of content (student knowledge and skills) for guidance. The content is generally organized around areas or domains such as career, educational, and personal-social. Most often, the content is stated in a student competency format. For purposes of this chapter, the three domains of human development that are featured in the life career development concept are presented here: self-knowledge and interpersonal skills; life roles, setting and events; and life career planning (Gysbers & Henderson, 1994; Gysbers & Moore, 1974, 1981). Student competencies are generated from these domains to provide example program content for the model. Self-knowledge and Interpersonal Skills In the self-knowledge and interpersonal skills domain of life career development, the focus is on helping students understand themselves and others. The main concepts of this domain focus on students’ awareness and acceptance of themselves, their awareness and acceptance of others, and their development of interpersonal skills. Within this domain, students begin to develop an awareness of their interpersonal characteristics – interests, aspirations, and abilities. Students learn techniques for self-appraisal and the analysis of their personal characteristics in terms of a real-ideal self-continuum. They begin to formulate plans for self-improvement in such areas as physical and mental health. Individuals become knowledgeable about the interactive relationship of self and environment in such a way that they develop personal standards and a sense of purpose in life. Students learn how to create and maintain relationships and develop skills that allow for beneficial interaction within those relationships. They can use self-knowledge in life career planning. They have positive interpersonal relations and are self-directed in that they accept responsibility for their own behavior. See Figure 1. 1 Below The model program consists of three elements: content, organizational framework, and resources. Comprehensive Guidance Program Elements Content Organizational Framework, Activities, Time Resources COMPETENCIES †¢ †¢ †¢ Student Competencies Grouped by domains STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS †¢ Definition †¢ Assumptions †¢ Rational PROGRAM COMPONENTS SAMPLE PROCESSES Guidance Curriculum Structured Groups Classroom presentations Individual Planning Advisement Assessment Placement & Follow-up †¢ Responsive Services Individual counseling Small group counseling Consultation Referral System Support Management activities Consultation Community outreach Public relations †¢ †¢ RESOURCES †¢ Human †¢ Financial †¢ Political SUGGESTED DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL COUNSELOR TIME Elementary School 35-45% 5-10% 30-40% 10-15% Middle/Junior School 25-35% 15-25% 30-40% 10-15% High School 15-25% 25-35% 25-35% 15-20% Guidance Curriculum Individual Planning Responsive Services System Support Life Roles, Settings, and Events The emphasis in this domain of lif e career development is on the interrelatedness of various life roles (learner, citizen, consumer), settings (home, school, work, and community), and events (job entry, marriage, retirement) in which students participate over the life span. Emphasis is given to the knowledge and understanding of the sociological, psychological, and economic dimensions and structure of their worlds. As students explore the different aspects of their roles, they learn how stereotypes affect their own lives and others’ lives. The implications of futuristic concerns is examined and related to their current lives. Students learn the potential impact of change in modern society and the necessity of being able to project themselves into the future. In this way, they begin to predict the future, foresee alternatives they may choose, and plan to meet the requirements of the life career alternatives they may choose. As a result of learning about the multiple options and dimensions of their worlds, students understand the reciprocal influences of life roles, settings, and events, and they can consider various lifestyle patterns. Life Career Planning The life career planning domain in life career development is designed to help students understand that decision making and planning are important tasks in everyday life and to recognize the need for life career planning. Students learn about the many occupations and industries in the work world and of their groupings according to occupational requirements and characteristics, as well as learning about their own personal skills, interests, values, and aspirations. Emphasis is placed on students’ learning of various rights and responsibilities associated with their involvement in a life career. The central focus of this domain is on the mastery of decision-making skills as a part of life career planning. Students develop skills in this area by learning the elements of the decision-making process. They develop skills in gathering information from relevant sources, both external and internal, and learn to use the collected information in making informed and reasoned decisions. A major aspect of this process involves the appraisal of personal values as they may relate to prospective plans and decisions. Students engage in planning activities and begin to understand that they can influence their future by applying such skill. They accept responsibility for making their own choices, for managing their own resources, and for directing the future course of their own lives. ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK The model program (see Figure 1. 1) contains seven components organized around two major categories: structural components and program components (Gysbers & Henderson, 1994; Gysbers & Moore, 1981). The three structural components describe the student focus of the program and how the program connects to other educational programs (definition), offer reasons why the program is important and needed (rational), and provide the premises upon which the program rests (assumptions). The four program components delineate the major activities and the roles and responsibilities of personnel involved in carrying out the guidance program. These four program elements are as follows: guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support. Structural Components Definition The program definition includes the mission statement of the guidance program and its centrality within the school district’s total educational program. It delineates the competencies that individuals will possess as a result of their involvement in the program, summarizes the components, and identifies the program’s clientele. Rational The rationale discusses the importance of guidance as an equal partner in the educational system and provides reasons why students need to acquire the competencies that will accrue as a result of their involvement in a comprehensive guidance program. Included are conclusions drawn from student and community needs assessments and statements of the goals of the local school district. Assumptions Assumptions are the principles that shape and guide the program. They include statements regarding the contributions that school counselors and guidance programs make to students’ development, the premises that undergird the comprehensiveness and the balanced nature of the program, and the relationships between the guidance program and the other educational programs. Program Components An examination of the needs of students, the variety of guidance methods, techniques, and resources available, and the increases expectations of policy-makers and consumers indicates that a new structure for guidance programs in the schools is needed. The position orientation organized around the traditional services (information, assessment, counseling, placement, and follow-up) and three aspects (educational, personal-social, and vocational) of guidance is no longer adequate to carry the needed guidance activities in today’s schools. When cast as a position and organized around services, guidance is often seen as ancillary and only supportive to instruction, rather than equal and complementary. The â€Å"three aspects† view of guidance frequently has resulted in fragmented and eventoriented activities and, in some instances, the creation of separate kinds of counselors. For example, educational guidance is stressed by academic-college counselors, personalsocial guidance becomes the territory of mental health counselors, and vocational guidance is the focus of vocational counselors. If the traditional structures for guidance in the schools are no longer adequate, what structure is needed? One way to answer this question is to ask and answer the following questions: Are all students in need of specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are the instructional province of guidance programs? Do all students need assistance with their personal, educational, and occupational plans? Do some students require special assistance in dealing with developmental problems and immediate crises? Do educational programs in the school and the staff involved require support that can be best supplied by school counselors? An affirmative answer to these four questions implies a structure that is different from the traditional position model. A review of the variety of guidance methods, techniques, and resources available today and an understanding of the expectations of national and state policy-makers and consumers of guidance also suggests the needs for a different model. The structure suggested by an affirmative answer to the four questions and by a review of the literature is a program model of guidance techniques, methods, and resources organized around four interactive program components: guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support (Gysbers & Henderson, 1994; Gysbers & Moore, 1981). The curriculum component was chosen because a curriculum provides a vehicle to impart guidance content to all students in a systematic way. Individual planning was included as a part of the model because of the increasing need for all students to systematically plan, monitor, and manager their development and to consider and take action on their next steps personally, educationally, and occupationally. The responsive services component was included because of the need to respond to the direct, immediate concerns of students, whether these concerns involve crisis counseling, referral, or consultation with parents, teachers, or other specialists. Finally, the system support component was included because, if the other guidance processes are to be effective, a variety of support activities such as staff development, research, and curriculum development are required. Also, system support encompasses the need for the guidance program to provide appropriate support to other programs in including assuming â€Å"fair share† responsibilities in operating the school. These components, then, serve as organizers for the many guidance methods, techniques, and resources required in a comprehensive guidance program. In addition, they also serve as a check on the comprehensiveness of the program. A program is not comprehensive unless counselors are providing activities to students, parents, and staff in all four program components. Guidance Curriculum This model of guidance is based on the assumption that guidance programs include content that all students should learn in a systematic, sequential way. In order for this to happen, counselors must be involved in teaching, team teaching, or serving as a resource for those who teach a guidance curriculum. This is not a new idea; the notion of guidance curriculum has deep, historical roots. What is new however, is the array of guidance and counseling techniques, methods, and resources currently available that work best as part of a curriculum. Also new is the concept that a comprehensive guidance program has an organized and sequential curriculum. The guidance curriculum typically consists of student competencies (organized by domain) and structured activities presented systematically through such strategies as the following: †¢ Classroom Activities Counselors teach, team teach, or support the teaching of guidance curriculum learning activities or unites in classrooms. Teachers also may teach such units. The guidance curriculum is not limited to being part of only one or two subjects but should be included in as many subjects as possible throughout the total school curriculum. These activities may be conducted in the classroom, guidance center, or other school facilities. †¢ Group Activities Counselors organize large-group sessions such as career days and educational/college/vocational days. Other members of the guidance team, including teachers and administrators, may be involved in organizing and conducting such sessions. Although counselors’ responsibilities include organizing and implementing the guidance curriculum, the cooperation and support of the entire faculty are necessary for its successful implementation. Individual Planning Concern for individual student development in a complex society has been a cornerstone of the guidance movement since the days of Frank Parsons. In recent years the concern for individual student development has intensified as society has become more complex. This concern is manifested in many ways, but perhaps is expressed most succinctly in a frequently stated guidance goal: â€Å"Helping all students become the persons they are capable of becoming. † To accomplish the purposes of this component of the Model, activities and procedures are provided to assist students in understanding and periodically monitoring their development. Students come to terms with their goals, values, abilities, aptitudes, and interests (competencies) so they can continue to progress educationally and occupationally. Counselors become â€Å"person-development-and-placement specialists. † Individual planning consists of activities that help students to plan, monitor, and manage their own learning and their personal and career development. The focus is on assisting students, in close collaboration with parents, to develop, analyze, and evaluate their educational, occupational, and personal goals and plans. Individual planning is implemented through such strategies as: †¢ Individual Appraisal Counselors assist students to assess and interpret their abilities, interests, skills, and achievement. The use of test information and other data about students is an important part of helping them develop immediate and long-range goals and plans. †¢ Individual Advisement Counselors assist students to use self-appraisal information along with personal-social, educational, career, and labor market information to help them plan and realize their personal, educational, and occupational goals. †¢ Placement Counselors and other educational personnel assist students to make the transition from school to work or to additional education and training. Responsive Services Problems relating to academic learning, personal identity issues, drugs, and peer and family relationships are increasingly a part of the educational scene. Crisis counseling, diagnostic and remediation activities, and consultation and referral must continue to be included as an ongoing part of a comprehensive guidance program. In addition, a continuing need exists for the guidance program to respond to the immediate information-seeking needs of students, parents, and teachers. The responsive services component organizes guidance techniques and methods to respond to these concerns and needs as they occur; it is supportive of the guidance curriculum and individual planning components as well. Responsive services consist of activities to meet the immediate needs and concerns of students, teachers, and parents, whether these needs or concerns require counseling, consultation, referral, or information. Although counselors have special training and possess skills to respond to immediate needs and concerns, the cooperation and support of the entire faculty are necessary for this component’s successful implementation. Responsive services are implemented through such strategies as: †¢ Consultation Counselors consult with parents, teachers, other educators, and community agencies regarding strategies to help students deal with and resolve personal, educational, and career concerns. †¢ Personal Counseling Counseling is provided on a small-group and individual basis for students who have problems or difficulties dealing with relationships, personal concerns, or normal developmental tasks. The focus is on assisting students to identify problems and causes, alternatives, possible consequences, and to take action when appropriate. †¢ Crisis Counseling Counseling and support are provided to students or their families facing emergency situations. Such counseling is normally short term and temporary in nature. When necessary, appropriate referral sources are used. †¢ Referral Counselors use other professional resources of the school and community to refer students when appropriate. These referral sources may include: mental health agencies employment and training programs vocational rehabilitation juvenile services social services special school programs (special or compensatory education) The responsive services component also provides for small-group counseling. Small groups of students with similar concerns can be helped by intensive small-group counseling. All students may not need such assistance, but it is available in a comprehensive program. Adjunct guidance staff—peers, paraprofessionals, volunteers—can aid counselors in carrying out their responsive activities. Peers can be involved in tutorial programs, orientation activities, ombudsman functions and, with special training, cross-age counseling and leadership in informal dialog. Paraprofessionals and volunteers can provide assistance in such areas as placement, follow-up, and community-school-home liaison activities. System Support The administration and management of a comprehensive guidance program require an ongoing support system. That is why system support is a major program component. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked or only minimally appreciated. And yet, the system support component is as important as the other three components. Without continuing support, the other three components of the guidance program are ineffective. This component is implemented and carried out through such activities as the following: †¢ Research and Development Guidance program evaluation, follow-up studies, and the continued development and updating of guidance learning activities are some examples of the research and development work of counselors. †¢ Staff/Community Public Relations The orientation of staff and the community to the comprehensive guidance program through the use of newsletters, local media, and school and community presentations are examples of public relations work. †¢ Professional Development Counselors must regularly update their professional knowledge and skills. This may include participation in school inservice training, attendance at professional meetings, completion of postgraduate course work, and contributions to the professional literature. †¢ Committee/Advisory Boards Serving on departmental curriculum committees and community committees or advisory boards are examples of activities in this area. †¢ Community Outreach Included in this area are activities designed to help counselors become knowledgeable about community resources, employment opportunities, and the local labor market. This may involve counselors visiting local businesses and industries and social services agencies. Program Management and Operations This area includes the planning and management tasks needed to support the activities of a comprehensive guidance program. Also included in the system support component are activities that support programs other than guidance. These activities may include counselors being involved in helping interpret student test re sults to teachers, parents, and administrators, serving on departmental curriculum committees (helping interpret student needs data for curriculum revision), and working with school administrators (helping interpret student needs and behaviors). Care must be taken, however, to watch the time given to these duties because the primary focus for counselors is their work in the first three components of the comprehensive guidance program. It is important to realize that if the guidance program is well run, focusing heavily on the first three components, it will provide substantial support for other programs and personnel in the school and the community. Program Time Counselors’ professional time is a critical element in the Model. How should professional certified counselors spend their time? How should this time be spread across the total program? In this Model, the four program components provide the structure for making judgments about appropriate allocations of counselors’ time. One criterion to be used in making such judgments is the concept of program balance. The assumption is that counselor time should be spread across all program components, but particularly the first three. Another criterion is that different grade levels require different allocations of counselor time across the program components. For example, at the elementary level, more counselor time is spent working in the curriculum with less time spent in individual planning. In the high school, these time allocations are reversed. How counselors in a school district or school building plan and allocate their time depends on the needs of their students and their community. Once chosen, time allocations are not fixed forever. The purpose for making them is to provide direction to the program and to the administrators and counselors involved. Since the Model is a â€Å"100 percent program,† 100 % of counselors’ time must be spread across the four program components. Time allocations are changed as new needs arise, but nothing new can be added unless something else is removed. The assumption is that professional counselors spend 100 % of their time on task, implementing the guidance program. What are some suggested percentages? As an example, the state of Missouri (Starr & Gysbers, 1997) has adopted suggested percentages of counselor time to be spent on each program component. These suggested percentages were recommended by Missouri counselors and administrators who had participated in the field-testing of the Missouri adaptation of the Comprehensive Guidance Program Model: Percent ES M/JH HS Guidance Curriculum 35-45 25-35 15-25 Individual Planning 05-10 15-25 25-35 Responsive Services 30-40 30-40 25-35 System Support 10-15 10-15 15-20 Resources Human Human resources for the guidance program include such individuals as counselors, teachers, administrators, parents, students, community members, and business and labor personnel. All have roles to play in the guidance program. While counselors are the main providers of guidance and counseling services and coordinators of the program, the involvement, cooperation, and support of teachers and administrators is necessary for the program to be successful. The involvement, cooperation, and support of parents, community members, and business and labor personnel also is critical. A SchoolCommunity Advisory Committee is recommended to bring together the talent and energy of school and community personnel. The School-Community Advisory Committee acts as a liaison between the school and community and provides recommendations concerning the needs of students and the community. A primary duty of this committee is to advise those involved in the guidance program. The committee is not a policy- or decision-making body; rather, it is a source of advice, counsel, and support and is a communication link between those involved in the guidance program and the school and community. The committee is a permanent part of the guidance program. A community person should be the chairperson. The use and involvement of an advisory committee will vary according to the program and the community. It is important, however, that membership be more than in name only. Members will be particularly helpful in developing and implementing the public relations plan for the community. Financial The financial resources of a comprehensive guidance program are crucial to its success. Examples of financial resources include budget, material, equipment, and facilities. The Model highlights the need for these resources through its focus on the physical space and equipment required to conduct a comprehensive program in a school district. To make the guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support components function effectively, adequate guidance facilities are required. Traditionally, guidance facilities have consisted of an office or suite of offices designed primarily to provide one-to-one counseling or consultation assistance. Such arrangements have frequently included reception or waiting areas that serve as browsing rooms where students have access to displays or files of educational and occupational information. Also, this space has typically been placed in the administrative wing of the school so that the counseling staff can be near the records and the administration. The need for individual offices is obvious because of the continuing need to carry on individual counseling sessions. A need also exists, however, to open up guidance facilities and make them more accessible to all students, teachers, parents, and community members. One way to make guidance facilities more usable and accessible is to reorganize traditional space into a guidance center. A guidance center brings together available guidance information and resources and makes them easily accessible to students. The center is used for such activities as group sessions, student self-exploration, and personalized research and planning. At the high school level, students receive assistance in areas such as occupational planning, job entry and placement, financial aid information and postsecondary educational opportunities. At the elementary school level, students and their parents receive information about the school, the community, and parenting skills; they also read books about personal growth and development. An area for play therapy can be provided in the guidance center. Although the center is available for use to school staff and community members, it is student centered, and many of the center activities are student planned as well as student directed. At the same time, the center is a valuable resource for teachers in their program planning and implementation. Employers, too, will find the center useful when seeking part-time or full-time workers. Clearly, the impact of the center on school and community can be substantial. If community members and parents are involved in the planning and implementation of the center and its activities, their interest could provide an impetus for the involvement of other community members. When parents and community members become involved in programs housed in the center, they experience the guidance program firsthand. Through these experiences, new support for the program may develop. The guidance center is furnished as comfortably as possible for all users. Provision is made for group as well as individual activities. Coordinating the operation of the guidance center is the responsibility of the guidance staff, but all school staff can be involved. It is recommended that at least one paraprofessional be a part of the staff to ensure that clerical tasks are carried out in a consistent and ongoing manner. Political Education is not simply influenced by politics, it is politics. The mobilization of political resources is key to a successful guidance program. Full endorsement of the guidance program by the Board of Education as a â€Å"program of studies of the district† is one example of mobilizing political resources. Another example is a clear and concise school district policy statement that highlights the integral and central nature of the school district’s comprehensive guidance program to other programs in the school district. Putting It All Together What does the Program Model look like when all of the Model’s elements are brought together? Figure 1 (see page 12) presents the Model on one page so that the three program elements can be seen in relationship to each other. Notice that the three program elements (program content, program structure, processes, and time, and program resources) represent the â€Å"means† of the program. Without these means in place, it is impossible to achieve the full results of the program and to fully evaluate the impact of the program on the students, the school, and the community. Some Final Thoughts The Program Model, by definition, leads to guidance activities and structured group experiences for all students. It de-emphasizes administrative and clerical tasks, one-toone counseling only, and limited accountability. It is proactive rather than reactive. Counselors are busy and unavailable for unrelated administrative and clerical duties because they have a guidance program to implement. Counselors are expected to do personal and crisis counseling as well as provide structured activities to all students. To fully implement the Program Model it is important that the program be as follows: 1. Understood as student-development oriented, not school maintenance-administrativeoriented. 2. Operated as a 100 % program; the four program components constitute the total program; there are no add-ons. 3. Started the first day of school and ended on the last day of school; not started in the middle of October with an ending time in April so that administrative, nonguidance tasks can be completed. . Understood as program focused, not position focused. 5. Understood as education-based, not agency or clinic based. References Brewer, J. M. (1922). The vocational guidance movement: Its problems and possibilities. New York: The Macmillan Company. Eckerson, L. O. , & Smith, H. M. (1966). Scope of pupil personnel services. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office. Ginn, S. J. (19 24). Vocational guidance in Boston Public Schools. The Vocational Guidance Magazine, 3, 3-7. Gysbers, N. C. (1978). Remodeling your guidance program while living in it. Texas Personnel and Guidance Association Journal, 6, 53-61. Gysbers, N. C. , & Henderson, P. (1994). Developing and managing your school guidance program (2nd ed. ). Alexandria, VA: American Association for Counseling and Development. Gysbers, N. C. , & Moore, E. J. (1974). Career guidance, counseling and placement: Elements of an illustrative program guide (A life career development perspective). Columbia, MO: University of Missouri, Columbia. Gysbers, N. C. , & Moore, E. J. (1975). Beyond career development—life career development. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 53, 647-652. Gysbers, N. C. , & Moore, E. J. (1981). Improving guidance programs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Hargens, M. , & Gysbers, N. C. (1984). How to remodel a guidance program while living in it: A case study. The School Counselor, 30, 119-125. Myers, G. E. (1923). Critical review of present developments in vocational guidance with special reference to future prospects. The Vocational Guidance Magazine, 2 (6), 139-142. Myers, G. E. (1935). Coordinated guidance: Some suggestions for a program of pupil personnel work. Occupations, 13 (9), 804-807. Smith G. E. (1951). Principles and practices of the guidance program. New York: The Macmillan Company. Starr, M. F. , & Gysbers, N. C. (1997). Missouri comprehensive guidance: A model for program development, implementation and evaluation (1997 Rev. ). Jefferson City: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Wolfe, D. M. , & Kolb, D. A. (1980). Career Development, personal growth, and experimental learning. In J. W. Springer (Ed. ), Issues in career and human resource development (pp. 1-56). Madison, WI: American Society for Training and Development.

The relative valuation model Essays

The relative valuation model Essays The relative valuation model Essay The relative valuation model Essay The purpose of this report is to undertake a firm valuation for Woolworths, using discounted cash flow model and the relative valuation model. This report provides information obtained through a conduct of Free Cash Flow to Firm Discount Valuation Model for Woolworths Limited (WOW), estimating the firm’s current share value. The report will then identify 3 key drivers of the firm’s value in this model; tests are performed in the report to identify the sensitivity of share value in the model to changes in specific variables. In the second section of this report, companies, with similar beta and Earnings per Share Growth as Woolworths’, are analysed and compared, using Relative Valuation as another valuation method to estimate the WOW’s current value. Finally, this report will conduct a regression analysis to justify the result achieved in the Relative Valuation. About Woolworths Woolworths Limited is the largest food retailer in Australia with principal operations in supermarkets within Australia and in New Zealand. WOW and its main rival, COLES Supermarket, take up around 79% of the total grocery market. WOW also has other operations, which include liquor, petrol, general merchandise and consumer electronics. Woolworths has a market capitalisation of $29,927 million, its shares are currently trading at $24. 63 per share. (Market Cap and share price are acquired from FinAnalysis on 16 September 2011) Discounted Cash Flow Valuation Model (DCF) Discounted Cash Flow Valuation Model is used to evaluate the potential for investment by discounting back the firm’s future free cash flows. The DCF model used in this report is Free Cash Flow to Equity Valuation Model (FCFE). Risk free rate: 3. 64%. The Australia 3-Year Government Bond yield on 16 September 2011 is used as a proxy for the risk free rate for this valuation. Firstly, Australia has SP highest credit rating of AAA, also a Fitch credit rating of AA+. These ratings denote expectations of Australia having very low to lowest default risk, very strong to exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments, where this capacity is not significantly to highly unlikely vulnerable to foreseeable events. Secondly, using Australian-dollar-denoted rate is an easier approach than using USD-denoted rate, where assumptions, for such as exchange rates, may deviate the valuation result from the true value. Thus, we believe that this is a comparable figure to represent the return demanded from a theoretically absolute risk-free investment over this valuation period. Levered Beta: 0. 71 throughout the 3-year high growth period. This is found on FinAnalysis on 16 September 2011. It was calculated by adjusting the industry’s beta based on WOW’s financial leverage. For stable growth period, ? =0. 8 is chosen, as WOW’s beta will approach to one when the firm is approaching to stable stage, which acknowledges the increased stability of WOW by the end of the high growth period. Price sensitivity to change in stable growth rate, 1st key driver of the firm value: One of the key drivers of the firm value is the assumption for the stable growth rate. In our initial valuation, we assume that the firm’s stable growth rate will be approaching to Australian GDP growth rate as the firm achieves stability. As presented, the estimated share value of WOW will increase as the stable growth rate increases. Price sensitivity to change in cost of equity during stable growth stage, 2nd key driver of the firm value: Another key driver of the value in the process of valuation is the cost of equity during stable growth stage. We initially assumed that the cost of equity will be 7. 64% as the beta of the firm will move towards one when the firm approaches stability. The estimated share price of the firm will decrease as the cost of equity during stable growth increases. Price sensitivity to change in length of high growth, 3rd key driver of the firm value: In the last scenario, the assumption of length of high growth period has changed from the initial 3 years to 5 years. This could happen due to the recent financial breakdown, which would significantly slow down the growth of the firm. Should 5-year high growth be used, Australian 5-Year Government Bond rate of 3. 81% is chosen as the risk free rate for the model, as a result of which, the Cost of Equity during high growth and stable growth stages will change as presented below. Other factors stay constant, the estimated share price of WOW will be $26. 80, under which circumstances, the firm is undervalued given the current share price is $24. 63 on 16 September 2011. PS ratio is believed to be uniformly measured as all financial figures for the comparable firms are obtained from the current financial year at FinAnalysis. As these comparable firms are from different markets that have different accounting rules, Price to Sales (PS) ratio is chosen as the multiple to evaluate these comparable firms. Besides that, a similar financial leverage across these comparable firms gives us more of the reason to use PS ratio as the multiple.

Protecting Women From Abuse †Canadian Law Essay

Protecting Women From Abuse – Canadian Law Essay Free Online Research Papers Protecting Women From Abuse Canadian Law Essay Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, discrimination against women and violence towards women is illegal. It states that women have the right to seek help and to obtain legal protection to keep themselves and their children safe. Abuse is defined as â€Å"misuse; to address something rudely.† However, the laws do not adequately and effectively protect women against abuse. Canadian laws need to be enforced and improved immediately to better women’s role in society. Laws on women abuse must firstly be properly funded and enforced by police to diminish the number of women in violent relationships. Also, to successfully protect women from abuse, it is critical that the penalty and punishment for committing this crime is sterner. Simply too many men aren’t being sentenced appropriately considering the unfixable damage that they have caused to the women victims and their families. Firstly, women who are battered or abused sexually, emotionally, physically or verbally feel guilty, ashamed, blamed, intimidated, and live everyday in fear. This might explain why â€Å"the province is failing 75% of abused women, who never turn to the police to begin with.† (Changing the Way we Prosecute Spousal Abuse, p.1). The majority of women do not turn to the police because â€Å"they are forced to choose between putting up with relentless physical abuse and being cast adrift without the basics of life.† (Zosky, p.2). Activist Punam Khosla fought against abuse saying: â€Å"Women are not victims by nature. We become victims because we do not have the resources or access to the power that we need in order to protect ourselves and take care of our lives.† (Khosla, 2002). This underlines some of the basic problems in the laws on women abuse. Therefore, some of the most important steps that need to be taken quickly to facilitate the transition of leaving an abused home for single women or mothers are: tougher restraining orders, giving victims emergency cell phones, more community and local support, shelters, more available lawyers, second-stage housing, women’s centers and crisis lines. The government is aware that these are critical steps, yet funding is not being provided. If these resources were established and funded, perhaps victims would never consider the option of staying in an abusive relationship because they now believe â€Å"the laws are so bad that we think it is better to stay with the partner because that was at least you know where he is.† (Jaffe, 1999). Abuse affects children, who absorb the values that their parents pass onto them; and in turn they pass those values onto their children. Crime rates amongst minors are becoming more and more common. Although it is rightfully argued by many that children who grow up in an abusive domestic environment do not abuse in the future, sixty percent of children who witness violence suffer from psychological or post traumatic stress. (Boys, 1999). In addition, one can not argue that the primary examples children follow or acknowledge are not the ones a parent expresses. Therefore if we want our future generations to live with moral and caring virtues, the Canadian Justice System must enforce laws now to better tomorrow and the day after. These children see their mothers assaulted with wine bottles, dragged by their hair, kicked, slammed to the floor, pummeled with fists, jacked with brooms, chocked, hit and raped. (Armstrong, p.3). Police officers need to do a better job of collecting diligent evidence that can be used in trials (such as photographs, video tapes, 911 phone calls, etc.) Ideally we should have a special domestic violence police squad and team of prosecutors. This would intensify the research and investigation process in domestic and women abuse, allow police to provide women with facilitated arrests and gather information which would allocate a much higher conviction rate. Some might argue that women abuse only occurs in the minority of relationships, however two women a week are murdered every week by an inmate partner, and at least 1 in 8 women will be assaulted by the man with whom she is living. Spousal abuse is present amongst all cultures, races, occupations and income levels. Others also assert the belief that it is the woman’s fault for not standing up for her rights and leaving her abusive husband or boyfriend. However, statistics show that women who leave have a 75% greater risk of being killed by the partner than those who stay. (Hart, 1988). It also goes unnoticed that 50% of homeless women are on the streets without life necessities because they have left a life of battery. To leave a life of fear and battery any woman should never have to lead a new life of disregard and hopelessness. When women are being abused daily for months or years by someone whom they love, when they are afraid of loosing their children, financial supp ort, home, family and well-being it is abhorrent to expect them to get up one morning and leave. Secondly, the punishment men receive for abusing their wives and girlfriends’ everyday is usually a fine or a mere six months in jail. One calls this type of consequence a tap on the hand; a small reprimand. The lack of severe punishment often results in the women being forced to change their identity, their life. It can also nurture a man who now doesn’t merely hit his wife when she speaks of politics, refuses to follow instructions, but an angry man determined to hurt, or kill his wife or girlfriend. For example, â€Å"thirty two percent of men charged in one week were already facing domestic violence charges or had similar convictions, in more than fifty percent cases involving the same victim, usually a woman.† (Armstrong, p.4). If men were dealt with properly and more severely on the first arrest and conviction, sub sequentially the number of men charged with domestic abuse per week would diminish by thirty two percent. Under the Domestic Violence Protection Act, the abuser would be left with a â€Å"serious social stigma† and would be immediately put in jail for up to two years. (Flaherty, 2000). For ex: Arlene was killed by her husband although she had a restraining order against him. Later, the jury said: â€Å"We are faced with the reality of the violence occurring to women and children in our society. Until we, as a country, stand up and declare a ‘zero-tolerance’ this problem will not only continue, but in this jury’s opinion, will escalade. It is our belief that every person has an equal right to be protected from abuse.† Also, individuals charged should be restricted to being granted bail because this gives them the freedom to repeating behaviors that led them to be convicted in the first place. One could argue that in certain cases the abuser ‘lost control’ or acted in the ‘heat of passion’ but abuse is abuse and if an abuser is determined to kill a woman, the only thing we can do to successfully stop him is put him in jail, said Toronto Police Officer Green. However, because of the lack of evidence and lenient punishment, these men who are determined to kill a woman are not faced with the obligation of going to jail. In conclusion, the laws on abuse do not protect women from abuse. They are simply not enforced to the degree which they need to be and do not receive proper funding. They leave women alone, confused and victimized. The consequence or punishment that the abuser receives needs to be deeply intensified and taken more seriously because more than often men walk away with a restraining order that will not hold him back if he is determined to hurt his wife, or girlfriend. If these milestones are tackled immediately and the issue of women’s abuse is embarked upon than women will have more resources when leaving a violent relationship, will have access to more direct funding for education, job opportunity and legal aid. One now can hope that the issue of women abuse has become so significant in our everyday life that it can no longer be swept away, that it must be dealt with immediately, so that a neighbor, teacher, dentist, family member, loved one, mother, sister or even daughter can live life in control, instead of being controlled. Research Papers on Protecting Women From Abuse - Canadian Law EssayThe Fifth Horseman19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraCapital PunishmentPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andComparison: Letter from Birmingham and Crito