Uniforms in schools today Essay Example for Free

Uniforms in schools today Essay Students wearing uniforms prevents violence in todays schools. Uniforms are equal and give students a sense of security because everyone is the same. Students need to be able to go to school to learn, that should be the sole purpose of going to school. These days most schools dont have dress codes and students wear whatever they want. These kinds of clothing can be distracting and disrespectful to the students. Girls wear revealing shirts and tank tops, guys wear pants that fall down, and they also wear distracting types of shirts with violence or vulgar language on them. Uniforms are a lot more respectable and a lot more mature, and they wont be a distraction to the students and the teachers. Now, some people would say that uniforms are a little too formal. There are many different kinds of uniforms however. Private schools such as catholic schools have more formal uniforms with collared shirts and plaid skirts for the girls. For the boys collared shirts, ties and cargo pants. Students these days really take advantage of the dress code, they wear whatever they want and a lot of them get in trouble for it. Many students are sent home during school hours because their clothing is inappropriate. These students waste valuable learning time, and distract other students from learning as well as the teacher. Disrupting the class can be prevented if students wear uniforms. Uniforms could solve the problem that every school faces, the problem of dealing with students who break the rules of the dress code. Unfortunately, there are many other problems in the schools these days but uniforms are a good place to start. Uniforms come in many different shapes and styles. No one uniform is alike. Many uniforms are similar to the schools colors, but most are not as formal as you would think. Uniforms are made for one purpose only, to make students equal. Students dont understand the importance of a good education. Some people disagree with uniforms because they believe in freedom of speech. They believe that they have the right to wear whatever they want to. People like to express themselves by the way of wearing their own style. Students express themselves in many different ways, but the most popular way that they express themselves is wearing what they want. Lots of students have different opinions on the situation, some agree and some disagree. My sister  goes to a Catholic school and she wears a uniform everyday. She enjoys the strict atmosphere of the school and she loves wearing a uniform. In her opinion, its saves money and you dont have to worry about what to wear everyday. Now some people would say that uniforms are expensive and you only wear them for a few years, plus there are different kinds of uniforms for different seasons. Plus people grow and you cant return them after wearing them. You can resell them but you can never get your money completely back. However, most people who go to private schools are rich, so they dont really care about spending money on uniforms every few years. Education gives you the ability to learn. It gives you a broad aspect of what life would be like after high school and college. A lot of people strive for a higher education, college. They believe that having a higher education will make them succeed in life more than just having a high school education. This may be true, but it isnt exactly a proven fact. Some people just arent made to go to college. Some do just fine with a high school degree. Everyone is different, it just depends how motivated you are and how far you want your education to go. The most important thing is an education, it shows how much you really want to learn by how far you go. Uniforms can do a lot of good in schools, it can prevent violence and keep students on track in school. Uniforms are not distracting and everyone is equal, no one can judge anyone if they are all wearing the same thing.

Customer Requirements And Product Characteristics

Customer Requirements And Product Characteristics One of the main roles of any manufacturing plant is to produce product that caters to the demands of the market, and the best way to understand the market needs is to distinguish what is important to the customer/consumer. This understanding of the customer gives the manufacturer a competitive edge, as he knows more or less what the needs of the customer is, when he sells his product in the market. This competitive edge can be distinguished into various factors, for e.g. Quality, Speed, Dependability, Cost, and so on. A particular way of distinguishing which factor gives us more competitive edge is to distinguish between what Prof Terry Hill calls as â€Å"order winners† and â€Å"order qualifiers†. (Pycraft et al 1997) [Online] But before we dive into categorising the various competitive factors into order winners and order qualifiers, it will be helpful if we knew where the products lie in the Puttick Grid. The Puttick Grid, devised by the Warwick Manufacturing Group, defines product market position with respect to the complexity of the product and the level of uncertainty in the market. A point to note about the Puttick Grid is that over a period of time, product tends to move around in the grid and hence may change after a period of time. The Specialist DBPs have a very erratic demand profile, they are basically manufactured either one by one, or if they is more demand they probably in batches of 10. There is a peak in demand during the spring and summer seasons as a lot of people get back to riding their bikes after the winter, and hence become desirable during these seasons amongst the people who own vintage bikes. Also since these are vintage bikes, they dont mind spending a bit for getting replacement parts. The Aftermarket DBPs have a rather subdued demand as compared to the Specialist DBPs. Since these are DBP that are no longer in standard productions, there are a lot of organisations that have come out with their own version of the DBP and hence the customer has more choice. So, in such a case, the customer will go by brand image, price and the quality of the product. The Original Equipment DBPs on the other hand, will have a very stable demand that will be known to Friction Materials well in advance. Quality and price become very important for such a product and hence they become more of a commodity. Hence according to the above discussion, the products have been placed in the Puttick Grid as shown below in Figure 1.1.1 Super Value Product Responsive/Jobbing/Fashion Specialist DBP Consumer Durables Commodities Original Equipment DBP Now that we have an understanding of where the product lies with respect to the Puttick Grid, we can distinguish which competitive factor is an order winner and which is an order qualifier. Characteristic Aftermarket DBP Specialist DBP Design Brand Name 60 60 Price 40 40 Speed (Lead Time) Q Dependability (Availability) QQ Q Quality (Fit to purpose) Q QQ Table 1.1.1: Order Winners and Qualifiers. (Adopted for Hill 2000) [Note: Order Winners are marked out of 100. Q: Order Qualifier; QQ: Order Looser.] Characteristics Original Equipment DBP Design 40 Brand Name 10 Price 40 Speed (Lead Time) 10 Dependability (Availability) QQ Quality (Fit to purpose) QQ Table 1.1.2: Order Winners and Qualifiers. (Adopted for Hill 2000) [Note: Order Winners are marked out of 100. Q: Order Qualifier; QQ: Order Looser.] 1.1.1 Design The links between design, operations and markets are the very essence of the business. The way that these integrate, therefore, is fundamental to sound strategy development and implementation. Both design and operations aim is to provide products according to the technical and business specifications. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of Aftermarket DBPs, the dimensions of the DBP are calculated from the equivalent OE component and then some changes are made so as to avoid patent infringement. So in this case, the design of the DBP is not very important as it is only reverse engineered from an existing product. In case of Specialist DBPs, the dimensions are taken from records if they exist or taken from existing component and then designed as a made-to-order item. So in this case too, not much work goes into the design of the DBP as they are already available to the manufacturer. Hence, design of the DBP does not give the product any competitive edge over other competitor products. In case of Original Equipment Manufacturer, initially specifications will be given by the motorcycle manufacturer. But if Friction is selected as the preferred OE for DBP, it will be expected to design the brakes to meet the requirements given by the manufacturer. Hence, if not initially, over a period of time the designing of brakes for the OE product range will become the one of biggest competitive edge that the company could get in winning the order. 1.1.2 Brand Name Through a variety of activities, companies try to establish a brand name for their products in the market. Where this has been achieved and maintained, companies will win orders partly due to the image that has been created in the market. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of Aftermarket DBPs and the Specialist DBPs, the brand name, â€Å"Stop-Rite†, play a major role in winning orders for the company. Since these parts are no longer in standard production by the OEM, there is a lot of competition in the market to win orders for these products. And hence the brand image, which Friction Materials Ltd has maintained for the last 20 years, becomes the biggest competitive edge in the market to win orders. In case of the OE DBPs, initially Friction Materials is trying to win orders and hence it does not have a brand name in the OE market as of now. But as they start to win orders and establish them in the market, their brand name will start to help them win orders and hence, as time will progress, brand name will become an order winner. 1.1.3 Price In many markets, particularly in the growth, maturity and saturation phases of the product life cycle, price becomes a very important order winner. When there is a range of products to choose from, price comparisons with alternatives becomes an integral part of the customers evaluation of the product and hence price plays a very important part in winning orders. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of the Aftermarket and the Specialist DBPs, since there are a lot of alternatives in the market, price eventually become one of the main reasons why the customer chooses to buy the product, as if there are two products meeting his criteria, they are bound to buy the cheaper product. Hence they become an order winner. In case of the OE DBPs, since the manufacturer is going to buy the product in bulk, he is going to want to buy them from a manufacturer who is able to produce them in the cheapest possible way and who also meets their requirements. Hence price in this case becomes one of the biggest factors for choice. 1.1.4 Speed (Lead Time) and Dependability (Availability) A company may be able to qualify for an order/win an order based on how quickly they are able to supply the product or if the product is already available for delivery/purchasing for the customer. Hence is it very important that the Operations Lead Time must be able to match the Customer Lead Time. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of the Aftermarkets DBPs, the ability to deliver the DBP faster than others may affect the spares stores to make an order to the manufacturer. This is possible if the lead time for the product is less and hence lead time becomes an order qualifier. With respect to the customers, the product being available on the store self become an order qualifier, i.e. they consider the product as a possible buy. But in case the product is not available on the shelf, means that even though their product is better than the competition, they will lose an order and hence this becomes an order looser. Similarly, in case of the Specialist DBPs, since these are mostly made-to-order items, the lead time does not give an influential competitive edge over the competition. But at the same time, availability/delivery of the product has to be on time and this becomes an important factor that the customer will take into consideration when he/she is looking to buy a DBP for his/her Vintage Motorbike. Hence availability of the product on time becomes an order qualifier in this case. In case of the OE products, the motorcycle manufacturer will be looking for a manufacturer who can produce the parts and deliver them in the shortest possible time. Hence speed or lead time becomes an order winner. Also, being a local supplier to the local motorcycle industry will give them a competitive edge over other outside competitors as they will be able to respond to the demand much quicker. But, in addition to this, being able to deliver the products on time is going to be a very important factor. So important that initially, some late deliveries may lead to the manufacturer going to an alternate supplier as you are not able to meet his demands on time. Hence dependability becomes an order looser. 1.1.5 Quality Quality or Quality Conformance can be defined as ability of a manufacturer to manufacture products according to the customers requirements. (Slack et al 2002) In case of the Aftermarkets and Specialist DBPs, no one is going to consider buying the product unless you are certain that the DBP is fit to use on their particular motorcycle model. Hence for both these product ranges, quality becomes an order qualifier. That is, only if the DBP is fit to use on a particular customers motorcycle, they will consider buying that DBP. In case of the OE products, since now they are trying to become suppliers of OE products for the first time, quality has to be bang on target. It has to meet all the customer requirements. Any lapse of quality may lead to a halt in the manufacturers assembly line and this is going to cost them a lot of money. Hence any lapse in quality of the OE suppliers part will give a bad impression and hence may lead to the supplier losing the order. Hence quality for the OE product range becomes an order looser. 1.2 Implications on Operations The Polar diagram (above) shows all the competitive factors for all the product range and their relevant importance for winning orders. Hence, in a way, the diagram also helps understand where Operations should concentrate more so that they will be able to produce more products that will be able to win the orders in the market. From the above diagram, we see that for all the three product ranges, Price, Quality and Dependability are the common performance objective that can help give them competitive edge in the market. Hence operations has to focus more on reducing the cost of the product and at the same time try to keep quality at a good level and always deliver the goods on time. Also, we see Brand Name is very important for the Aftermarket and Specialist market. But if operations is able to maintain price, quality and dependability; it will maintain and perhaps even built up the brand name of the product. Also, by concentrating on dependability, operations is going to keep the lead time (speed) of the product to as low as possible to meet the delivery times and hence speed is also taken care of. Hence by concentrating more on price, quality and dependability, operations will be able to cover all the order qualifier and winner factors of all the 3 product ranges. 2 Manufacturing Strategy for the OE product 2.1 Framework Hill, T. (2009) breaks down the process of developing an operation/manufacturing strategy into 5 simple objectives. 2.1.1 Defining the Corporate Objectives The recent future Corporate Objective of Friction Materials is to try and break into the OE product sector. This will help them isolate the financial burden that they have to carry due to the ever decreasing prices because of cheap Far Eastern Aftermarket DBP available in the market. Hence another Corporate Objective is to make them more stable financially by entering a highly profitable and long term contract product range. Other general corporate objective like Profit and Growth and ROI also apply to Friction Materials Ltd. 2.1.2 Defining the Market Strategies to meet these objectives As said in the Corporate Objectives, Friction Material Ltd. is now trying to enter the Original Equipment product market. Volumes initially (during sampling stage) will be low, to the order of 300. But once their samples get approved, they will start producing these products in very high volumes, to the order of about 3000 DBP/week. Keeping these facts in mind, the Marketing Strategy for the OE product range is to produce and deliver high quality low cost DBP on time, every time. 2.1.3 How do products win orders in the market place? As mentioned in Section 1, the major factors that win orders for the OE product is Price, Quality and Dependability (in terms of delivery). Once Friction Materials becomes the choice for OEM for DBPs, they will have to design the brakes themselves and hence Design also becomes an important order winner. 2.1.4 Establishing the most appropriate mode to manufacture these sets of products Process Choice We are in process of getting samples accepted for the new OE product range. Currently we are manufacturing only the Spares and Specialist product ranges and this is done in a batch process flow layout. This is ok for these ranges as they are in small quantities of about 300 DBP/week. But the new OE product range is going to require about 3000 DBP/week. Hence the Batch layout will not suffice to meet this quantity demand. The most appropriate process choice for such a huge demand is the Mass Layout or the Continuous Layout. But the continuous layout calls for a bigger investment in terms of the money involved. Since Friction Materials is only starting to try to establish itself in the OE market, it would not be wise to tie up a lot of the Companies money into something that might not work out to the magnitude expected. Hence the Mass Layout seems to be a more sensible choice. 2.1.5 Provide the manufacturing infrastructure required to support production Providing the infrastructure to support production of the new OE product is going to involve some amount of trade off in the sense of a balance between the various competitive factors that will affect the ability of the product to win orders. For instance, from the polar diagram (Sector 1.2) we see that dependability and cost of product play a very important role in helping the product win orders. In order to always deliver the product on time, we must always have enough stock with us to meet the demand. This can mean that we make-to-stock the product. But if we have a lot of inventory, it means that we have a lot of money held up as inventory and this may lead to increase in the price of the product to help insulate this cost. But this increase of cost may lead to loss of an order. Hence what amount of inventory would be sufficient to always meet customer demands and not hold a lot of money in inventory would be the trade off that we will be keen to look for. This process of trade o ff balance will help the manufacturing/operations to align itself with the corporate strategy. (Slack et al 2002) 2.2 Analysis of Current Operations System Before we can start formulating and making changes to the production system, we must first define what the current system is. We can do this with the help of various tools. We are going to use the SWOT analysis tool to do the same. Once we know where the current production capabilities are, we will be able to make decision taking into account the current scenario. 2.2.1 SWOT Analysis Strengths Weakness The brand name â€Å"Stop Rite† Established producer of aftermarket DBPs in the UK and Western Europe Competency in making the brake pad mixture * Good liquidity and turnover * Bad production planning system even though a MRP system is in place for the same Opportunities Threats OE market will lead to more opportunity in the EU market. OE market will help insulate the competition and market share because of the Far Eastern Competition * Growing to a medium scale company will help in being capable of handling more customers * Competition for cheaper Far Eastern Competition Table 2.2.1: SWOT Analysis Tool The brand name â€Å"Stop-Rite† is one of the main strengths of Friction Materials Ltd. This is what is helping them win orders in the Specialist market and the aftermarket market. This brand name that they have, they have been able to establish it because of being one of the main trusted DBP manufacturer in the UK and Western Europe market. This is also one of the strengths that they should exploit. They have a competency in creating their own mixture for the DBPs, which helps keep the cost of the product down. Also, as we can see from the financials, their Quick Ratio is about 1.03 and their Current Ratio is about 1.8, both of which are very near the acceptable values and hence the company is doing very well financially. And as they say â€Å"Cash is King†, this is their main strength. But even though they are strong in these areas, their production planning system is not very good, or up to industry standards. Even though they have a MRP II system in place, the Planning Controller has to fire fight situation that should not arise because of the system. This shows one of the two situations, either the Planning Controller is not familiar with the system or there is something wrong with their planning system. This can cause a lot of problems if they are to start production for about 3000DBP/week for the OE product. Opportunity wise, the OE product can help gain more market share in the Western European market and hence improve their brand name even further. Also, since this will be a more steady market, this will help insulate some of the market share loss due to the cheaper Far Eastern Competitor products in the Spares market. This will help the company grow financially which is always the main aim of any organisation. Once the organisation has more market share and money, they can easily transition to a medium scale company and hence cater to more customers. The only threat that the company faces is due to the Far Eastern products. They are almost as good as their DBPs, but they are far cheaper than Frictions DBPs and hence this sometimes leads to loss of market share. Entry to the OE product market will help them to insulate this loss. Now that we are clear on where the organisation current strengths and weakness lie, we can develop our manufacturing strategy to complement the strengths and negate the weakness of the organisation. 2.3 Elements of Manufacturing Strategy Miltenburg (2005) divides manufacturing strategy in six main sub-systems and terms them as Manufacturing Levers to reflect the concept that each sub-system can be adjusted to align according to market demands and corporate mission. 2.3.1 Sourcing Current list of all the suppliers to Friction Materials Ltd. are largely UK based. This is good as this help in decreasing the manufacturing lead time of the component. Since currently, their production demands are very low, to the order of 300DBPs/week; they were unable to convince their suppliers to deliver Just-in-Time. But now since they are looking to produce to the order of about 3000DBPs/week; they should be able to convince the suppliers to deliver Just-in-Time. Along with this, they should bring the list down in number and probably sign long term contracts with their most reliable supplier as the demand for the OE market is very stable and this long term contracts will help with the demand and also improve relations with their suppliers. But care should be taken when such contracts are framed, so that if the supplier does not make the delivery, then Friction Materials is free to buy that demand from another supplier. (Quinn and Hilmer 1995) In terms of the product range, since making DBPs is their main expertise, I feel that they should continue to produce all their existing product range so that they do not lose their current market share and customer base. The level of vertical integration should be kept to a minimum and Friction Materials should concentrate on its main competency of making the DBPs. Smaller parts of the product like the packing materials should be bought from an external vendor. 2.3.2 Process Technology Hill (2009) uses a profiling method to help decide what kind of production process is good for a particular type of product depend on the profile of the product. We will use this profiling approach to decide the type of process that we will implement for the OE range of product. Relevant Aspects Characteristics of Process Choice Product Job Batch Line Type Special Standard Range Wide Narrow Order Size Small Large Level of Change High Low Rate of NPD High Low Order-Winner Del. Speed Price Process Technology G.P. Dedicated Flexibility High Low Volumes Low High Key Tasks Meet Spec. Cost Investment Low High Table 2.3.2.1: Hills Profiling Approach (Source: Hill and Hill 2009) For the OE product range, we know the following: The order volume is going to be very high; hence the product is going to be standardised. Since the product is standardised, it is logical to have machinery dedicated to the product so that it can churn out more product and help meet the high demand. This in turn will decrease the flexibility of the process, but that is a trade-off that has to be taken to meet the high demand. We are going to produce only a certain types of DBPs, hence range is very narrow. The variations in the design of the DBPs are going to be minimal. New designs will only be developed when there is a requirement for it, hence the rate for new product development is also low. Order-winner for the OE product as discussed above is a balance between delivery speed and cost. Hence the key task for the process is bringing the cost of the product down. Hence we see from the above table, most of the profile of the OE product fits the Line Process choice. Hence in our case, for the OE product range, it is advisable that we go for a Line process. Currently, the Spares and Vintage DBPs are being produced in a Batch Equipment Paced Line Flow. They are currently running operations with 3 machining centres, each consisting of a pair of inter linked CNC machines with magazine feed. But even with a demand of only 300 DBPs/week compared to a demand of 3000 DBPs/week, the 3 machining centres are running at full capacity and often require overtime to meet the demand. Hence it is only logical for Friction Materials to in some new machining centres for the new OE production line that will be mainly be used for OE production, as they will find it very difficult to cope up with the demand with the existing infrastructure available. In fact, Friction Materials should look to start to invest into some of the other machines that they require for the production of DBPs to help cope up with this new OE demand. It is also advisable to make this new investments into the shop floor as the OE market is a profitable market which has a very stable demand and this demand will be there for quite a few years and hence this investment can be easi ly recovered during the life cycles of not OE product, but probably two or three OE products. The current manufacturing process layout should be adopted for the OE production also. The process has been setup taking into consideration the capacity of the mixer, setup time on the presses and stock levels and hence they are designed to give the whole process a flow. But setting up a completely new production line demands a lot of capital being invested and it will take quite some time before you will be able to break even for this investment. Hence the logical thing to do for Friction would be to invest in some new machining centres, so that they would be able to able to cope with the demand. But these new machining centres should be dedicated to only for the OE products. And over time, with increasing profits from the OE business, they can keep adding more machining centres to create a separate line for the OE product. 2.3.3 Production Planning and Control The production of DBPs has been broken down majorly into two process; namely Pressing and Finishing. The Pressing team takes care of making the brake pads; the Finishing team takes care of machining the DBPs to ensure consistency of the physical dimensions of the pad. Since both these processes are independent of each other, they are connected to each other with some decoupling or WIP inventory (Miltenburg). In our case, the baking process is the decoupling process. The two bin system can be used for inventory control for raw materials. In this system, the buffer stock in kept in the second bin and the current stock in kept in the first bin. Once the first bin is emptied and the buffer stock is brought into use, the purchase team should place orders to the respective material supplier for replenishing the material. For quality control, the organisation is already running on Statistical Process Control charts for the Spares and Specialist market. But this is acceptable for these products as their production volumes are not very large. The OE volumes are going to be very huge and hence SPC may not be the right choice for quality control. SPC looks at maintaining the quality of the products that the processes inside the organisation. Since OE is such a big market and where it is always important to â€Å"get things right the first time, every time†; it is better that Friction Materials looks into implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM not only looks into the quality of parts being produced inside the organisation, but it takes the whole supply chain into account and sees to it that not only are the part being produced are up to quality standards, but also parts entering into the system are of optimum quality as it is unlikely to product good quality parts out of sub-standard part s. (GE Systems). Also in TQM, each worker becomes responsible for keeping the quality of their output up to standard. Hence this virtually removes the requirement of a quality control team in the organisation. 2.3.4 Human Resources The major machines, that require training in the whole manufacturing process at Friction Materials, are the press machines and the machining centres. The current workforce employed at Friction Materials is very well trained and are flexible enough to work on any process within their block. But we see that there is considerable time that goes into the setup of the presses when there is a need to change the design of the pad. So the employees can be further trained in how they can reduce the set up time for the presses. Regular maintenance is being carried out at Friction Materials by the current

John Steinbeck Outline Essay -- essays research papers

John Steinbeck Outline I. John Steinbeck used his personal experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. II. John Steinbeck’s Life A) Family 1. His dad served as the county treasurer. 2. His mom was a school teacher. 3. He was one four children and was the only boy. B) Childhood and Adolescence 1.Born on February 27, 1902 2.Began telling stories as a child 3. Sent short stories to magazines under a false name 4. He was interested in biology, the study of human life 5. Large guy, advantage because he excelled in track and basketball 6. Wrote for the school paper 7. Was the president of his senior class C) Young Adult Life 1. Worked his was through college at Stanford University but never graduated 2. He moved to New York and got a job as a free-lance writer but failed, he then  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   moved back to California. 3. His first book was Cup of Gold but did not attract much attention 4. The novel Tortilla Flat was Steinbeck’s first success. 5. As His reputation as an author began to rise, his personal life took a Plunge. He got divorced but got remarried but that also ended in divorce D) Jobs 1. Worked on nearby ranches, he became acquainted with a migrant worker 2. Sales clerk, farm laborer, ranch hand, factory worker, construction laborer, and a caretaker III. Common settings and Issues A) Settings 1. The Red Pony- set in Salinas, CA in between two mountains, rural setting, on a ranch 2. The Pearl- se...

Close reading of the Poem Casey at the Bat :: essays research papers

1) Poetics: a. & b. Rhyme/ Rhythm A/14 A/14 B/14 B/14 C/14 C/14 D/14 D/14 E/14 E/14 D/14 D/14 F/14 F/14 G/14 G/14 H/14 H/14 D/14 D/14 I/14 I/14 D/14 D/14 J/14 J/14 K/14 K/14 L/14 L/14 M/14 M/14 N/14 N/14 O/14 O/14 P/14 P/14 Q/14 Q/14 R/14 R/14 S/14 S/14 T/14 T/14 U/14 U/14 V/14 V/14 W/14 W/14 c. No Real Meter d. Title: The title is linked to the figurative meaning because it shows the hope the team has of Casey. e. 4 lines per stanza f. 13 Stanzas with 4 lines each g. No italics h. No Bold i. There are quotes on lines 32, 35, 40, and 41 that just explain what people are saying literally j. The tone is reminiscing 2. Literal Meaning The Mudville team was predicted to lose They were losing without much time left Two players named Cooney and Barrows are out at first The crowed went quiet A few people in the crowed leave The rest stay with hope for the losing team The crowed thinks Casey is the last hope The team is gaining hope and confidence in Casey But before Casey was Flynn and jimmy Blake After casey came Lulu and the next player wasn?t very good There was a loosing feeling about There was no hope that Casey would ever get to bat Flynn hits a single every one is shocked Even though Blake wasn?t liked he hit the ball hard After the dust lifted the other team saw what happened Jimmy was on second and Flynn on third The crowed went wild The roar was so loud it was heard from far It Rang off the mountain and in the flat lands Because Casey was now at bat Casey seemed calm as he stepped up to bat He was very proud and showed a smile He tipped his hat as a response to the cheers Every one knew that is was Casey at bat The whole crowds eyes were on Casey as he rubbed his hands in the dirt They crowed watched as he wiped his hands on his shirt The pitcher rubbed the ball against his hip Casey sneered at the pitcher The ball was pitched Casey stood proudly watching the ball The ball sped past Casey Casey said ?that ain?t my style? and the umpire said ?strike one? The crowed roarded Like the roar of the ocean A person from the crowed exclaims Kill the umpire And the might have if Casey didn?t raise his hand Casey?s face showed a Christian like smile He quieted the crowed and let the game go on He signaled to the pitcher and the ball was thrown But Casey didn?t swing taking a second strike The crowed is unhappy with the call Casey looked at the crowed sternly and they were silenced His face grew stern and cold and his muscles tight Casey would swing at the next pitch Casey sneered and clinched his teeth He hit his bat against the plate The pitcher held the ball and let go

Public Private Lives and Emersons Clairvoyant Solution :: Education Teachers Teaching Essays

Public Private Lives and Emerson's Clairvoyant Solution My intelligence was sparked when exceptional people opened doors in my mind I didn't know needed light. And while my parents played a part in this I remember more strongly the hand that my teachers played in expanding my mind. Generally there are certain aspects of school that a student remembers but always there is a teacher. For me there were several, and I know I was lucky. I do remember some of the lessons, a few specific classes, but what I remember more is how they acted as people and not just as teachers. I recall the way they taught me silently through the examples they set in their lives. Teachers, by the sheer nobility of their positions, have this responsibility whether they desire it or not. The historical nature of teachers was to educate with an enormous focus on the morality of the students. Education often came directly from the bibles of the students and the religious doctrine the church had decreed. Teacher's primary goals were to create good and moral citizens. Churches many times were the origin of the school doctrine. Horace Mann states that one of the three most essential elements of being a teacher is "the ability to manage and govern a schoolroom and to mold moral character" (Spring, 127). Emma Willard was of a similar opinion. Spring writes, "Willard believed that development of character was the first aim of education and placed a great deal of emphasis on that and on moral virtues" (Spring, 126). At this time moral education was held superior to the "standard", non-moral education of a child. These "standard" subjects were taught only second to religion, which in turn produced a very narrow education and a narrow view of the world. The strict view of morality forced the teacher, the classroom's 'moral example', to fulfill all of the scrupulous principles society demanded. Teaching was in the past, as it is in the present, a public position that leaves educators with limited security of privacy. This is easily exemplified through the boarding of teachers with the families of their students. The teacher would live for designated amounts of time with families in the communities. Is there any less private manner for a teacher to live their life? Teachers were constantly under the eye of scrutiny. Since that time many laws limiting the aspects of a teacher's life have been abolished.

Funding Hs Sports

State and Federal Aid Brian Alday, Moises Duran, Nuris Finkenthal, and Eric Rossi Grand Canyon University: EDA 535- Public School Finance November 28, 2012 In the last few years our nation has been faced with enormous budget constraints. Nearly every state has either reduced education funding or has maintained funding at a certain level due to the economic downturn of the nation. School districts have needed to find ways to do more with less, especially in the Sunnyside Unified School District. Most of the funding in our district goes toward technology.Although technology is a big part of our 21st Century goals, over funding for one area has been detrimental for our athletic programs. This poses a problem because athletics can be an incentive for students and can encourage them to keep up academically to stay eligible to play. Another important aspect of sports is that it teaches valuable life skills such as adversity, teamwork, integrity, honesty, and responsibility. Sports also bui ld school spirit for both athletes and non-athletes. For these reasons it is important that we keep high school athletics going for students and schools.To improve athletic funding, as an administrator reaching out to local businesses, implementing fundraising campaigns, and organizing booster clubs would be best to financially support the athletic programs at the school. As an administrator it is important to be aware of the schools demographics as well as the school communities needs. The Sunnyside Unified School District has a large number of low-income families, single parent families, and families in which parents have to work two or three jobs to support their families.Asking parents to pay more money for their children to participate in sports is out of the question (even though our district has the lowest participation fees in the state). An avenue that could help raise money for athletics would be to find local businesses around the community to help support athletic progra ms. â€Å"High schools and other educational institutes everywhere are seeking corporate sponsorship because of district budget cuts, program budgets cuts, and state funding cuts (King, 2006; Pennington, 2004). † As administrator it would be behoove of them to arket their school and create partnerships with local businesses to fund athletic programs. Collaboration between corporate businesses and schools may help build newfound support within the community for its students, its schools, and its programs. With this type of partnership schools can focus on improving academics and athletics, while proving to be beneficial for the local business. Local business can use their donations as tax deductions and will demonstrate their invested philanthropic efforts in the community.The daunting reality is that fundraising and schools alone can’t always support athletic programs, â€Å"so schools have turned to nontraditional sources, like sponsorship† (King, 2006; Licktei g, 2003). Support within our community is a must in order for our students to succeed. High schools can use corporate sponsorship to keep their athletic programs afloat and for growth. Although coaches are to develop students’ athletic abilities, they oftentimes turn to players to help them in fundraising efforts.Coaches have to find different ways of fundraising, whether it’s through car washes, cookie dough sales or value cards, these fundraising endeavors help their teams pay for better equipment and gear that will give their team a winning edge. In a perfect world each program would be able to self-sustain expenses for their own equipment, but unfortunately that is not the case for the staff at Desert View. The traditional way of using capital funds is for each sport receives capital monies every 3 years.This is not nearly enough to sustain yearly tournament fees, uniforms, equipment and out of town trips to play other elite teams in the state. Fundraising is not a n easy task especially if the players and parents do not buy into what the coach is trying to do. As an administrator a plan would be proposed for all athletic teams to fundraise together, this would eliminate competition between athletic teams within one school site and there would be less conflict of teams selling the same items for their teams.Also all monies would be deposited into one athletic account, which is then distributed evenly to all athletic programs. All athletic programs would be mandated to attend and participate in all fundraising events. To help plan and carry out these events, a Jag Booster club would be created and comprised of parents from each sports team. The booster club would meet once or twice a month to: go over budget plans, create new fundraising ideas, set schedules for different teams to host the snack bar for up-coming athletic events, etc.The Jag Booster club would help alleviate all the pressures from the coach and athletic director by taking on th ese fundraising roles. The booster club would also oversee any special requests by coaches who ask for more funds for certain equipment and/or for trips. The ultimate decisions will be based upon the discretion of booster club to what will be in the best interest for the entire athletic program. Not only will it get more parental involvement within our schools, but it will also bring our sports programs together to build one common goal of raising funds for all of the athletics.In conclusion, though our school district is facing many budgetary constraints, implementing local business sponsorships, creating fundraising campaigns, and building an overall team booster club, our athletic programs will be able to become more effective in the way we raise funds for not only one program, but all programs, thus allowing coaches to concentrate on coaching, students to concentrate on being student-athletes and achieving excellenceReferences Pennington, B. (2004, Oct. 18). Reading, writing and corporate Sponsorships. New York Times, p. 1 Lickteig, Melissa. (2003). Brand-name schools: The deceptive lure of corporate-school partnerships. The Educational Forum, 68, no. 1, p. 44-51. King, David. (2006, November 30). In hunt for revenue, high schools turn to advertising. San Antonio Express News, 2006. Retrieved February 22, 2007, from Lexis Nexis Academic Database.

Walt Disney World

Case Study: Walt Disney World Question 1: Suppose competing attractions, such as Sea World and Universal Studios, lower their prices of adminission. How should WDW respond? The issue of competitive price is close to the supply and demand one. As long as people willing to pay whatever the price parks set, especially WDW, why would they change? WDW provides such a high-quality offer than it is impossible to lower his prices; it could try to keep them steady. Even if the company decides to lower prices, it should do it in a significant way in order to attract more customers.For instance a $5 reduction in the price of admission would provoke any major changes. They would probably have to drop price below their competitors to make true gain. Besides, from a branding stand point, lowering prices sends a mixed message to consumers (adults with purchasing power) : indeed in customers mind, it would signal something goes wrong. Actually the price is an essential part of firms positioning and it would be difficult for WDW to position itself as the premiere theme park with lower prices than competitors; it is also un-strategic to re-position.WDW strategy has not to do with the credo â€Å"cheapest always win†. The corporation has to play on differentiation and keep playing its leadership positioning; it means making your product unique in some ways to maintain your competitiveness. The following paragraph deal with all WDW differentiation factors. WDW uniqueness criteria -Marketing: WDW propose a complete offer for adults and/or children (families). The variety of this offer (several theme parks such as EPCOT or Animal Kingdom, other activities such as golf or wildlife, several hostels and prices segments†¦) makes customers able to customize their vacations.WDW provides multi-experience. -Communication: the firm must keep using a multi-channel and multi-media strategy to spread its marketing messages including as many new technologies as possible. -Innovation & Ideas generation: WDW must preserve theâ€Å"environnement for supportive conficts† it created through its meetings: Gong Show, Charettes with architects and theme park designers, Movie Development meetings. – Common sense & Discipline: This is the practical part of WDW uniqueness because necessary to test ideas, especially from a fiscal and financial point of view. Indeed ood ideas need time that is the reason why WDW creative process goes against quick actions and audience research. -Creativity: As M. Eisner said â€Å"Together conflict & common sense yield creativity†. We can add that WDW culture of diversity and fun take parts in the creative process: diverse point of views and individualism lead to frictions, conflicts, debates that are essential to get great solutions. -Facilities and Employees: in facts, WDW employees competent, well-trained and friendly. That is a crucially important factor because most of them are directly in contact with customers.No need to justify how essential the sense of contact is in business. Furthermore, all the attractions in theme parks are totally safe; all the facilities (hostels, restaurants included) are clean, linked each other (monorail, boats†¦) and electrically connected.. We notice also that WDW is technologically competent: it is a leader in product development, equipments design and maintenance, industrial engineering†¦for instance WDW design and manage perfectly attractions waiting lines: customers are sensitive about the time they have to use rides. All these aspects are visible for customers Branding Image: all the previous criteria are parts of the branding image; WDW brand is the amount of thousands and thousands small actions (â€Å"pointillist painting†). In particular Mickey and Disney characters, the castle are the symbol that contains all the stories the company created, the dreams and thoughts it suggest to children. Thus, if competitors lower their p rices, WDW should not change its prices and by the same time keep guarding its brand trough all the strategic decisions especially for marketing: WDW messages should be focused on the quality of the product.Question 2: How can WDW utilize customer information better to increase its volume of business? First and foremost, we should have in mind the term â€Å"forecasts† when we deal with customer information topics. Indeed WDW, due to his forecasts department, accumulates data on consumer’s attendance but also consumer’s behavior. All the other departments of the firm (like Labor Management, Maintenance, Finance, Park Theme Design) have access to this precious information which will be used for a set of management decisions to increase volumes and profits.That information can be predicted daily, weekly, monthly or for several years (till five years). In order to understand how customer information is utilized, a look at the forecasting process is necessary; 1- Wh at are the data sources? There are 3 main sources: -The guests in theme parks, hostels, restaurants†¦this is the more direct source. -The employees. For this category we could say that it has nothing to do with consumer information.Actually it has for at least two reasons: first employees can be directly in contact with guests and their recommendations are precious; secondly we could see each employee as a consumer into the firm and improve their working environnement leads to improve final customer satisfaction. – The travel industry professionals because they have their own data bases. 2- How WDW get them? Through surveys (questionnaires, interviews, focus group techniques†¦). All kind of topics could be dealt with but the two most important are customers experiences future Travel Plan. 3- How WDW process these data?Thanks to such models as judgmental, economic, moving-average models, regression analysis, monthly forecasting mode. Each model take into account a ce rtain number of variables like gross domestic product, cross-exchange rates, airline specials†¦ 4- Forecasts This is a major step in the decision- making process. All these consumer information and their analysis by models enable WDW to forecast consumer behavior (attendance in particular). Thus WDW can manage demand taking proper decisions about the capacity planning, the number of required employees, the due quantity of food and beverage†¦Question 3: What weaknesses or limitations do you see in WDW strategy? Ops Strat s WDW strategy is coherente but we can observe some accurate failures especially in operations strategy. Let’s remind the operations process framework and colour in blue the specific â€Å"failing fields†: Product Design Process Design Location/ Layout Cap. planning/Forecasts Work Organization Operations execution Of course other fields like merchandising or Facilities development are concerned. In the following paragraphs we focused on all of those black points. Prices of admissionFirstly, we can put forward the fact that WDW does not compete on prices (especially price of admission). From a positioning point of view it is logical: WDW is a leader in entertainment industry and bet on quality, innovation and uniqueness. But in time of global economical crisis, customers may desire a lower cost product; and there are serious competitors able to propose such offer: Sea World, Universal Studios†¦Of course children are attracted by WDW and can convinced relatives but the final decision remains to adults who get the purchasing power. Hotel development strategyThen we should notice the expanding strategy for WDW hostels: it does not deal with short term demands. Long term demand is not so much reliable when economy is disrupted. Thus Disney occupancy rates above 90% much of the year which is not sufficient anymore. Synergies & organization -Another point is the fact that WDW meet some difficulties to create synergies because of its top management. It is a problem of hierarchy, organization, authority delegation and culture. Actually the main problem could be that it is hard to delegate autonomy, to create empowerment among the group. We should notice that the hierarchy reorganization tends to create duplications (cf: example of a person running movies in Italy reporting to two executives): several hierarchical levels are added. Actually WDW is a hybrid structure; it is in time of mutation or transition.Profits & Losses – WDW experienced losses in home-video earnings because of strategic decisions that lengthen the release cycle for certain animated movie classics. It could be a problem of product development (cf: The product Development Funnel and especially Products Design step) or process engineering. The consumer products department also knew difficulties. Actually it is a matter of merchandising, especially concerning licensed-characters. This problem deals directly with consumer behavior (in-store purchases, on-line purchases†¦). -Concerning the Interactive media division, Disney experienced huge losses (source: Disney Fiscal Year Results). Actually the group invested in self-published video games (video games that are published by their author) and it needs more times to be profitable. -It goes the same for Internet (Go. com, Disney. com, ESPN. com†¦).It is s a crucial business field but investments cost a lot. To conclude we could qualify WDW weaknesses and limitations as mainly cyclical strategic problems . They are not structural even though it could deal with the organization (organization chart) and we can afford to say that those difficulties are temporary. The only structural change that has affected deeply the company concerned consumers attitude. â€Å"Disney still knows how to sweep people off their feet†, better than anyone else but the corporation needs to take into account new habits and expectations. Walt Disney World Case Study: Walt Disney World Question 1: Suppose competing attractions, such as Sea World and Universal Studios, lower their prices of adminission. How should WDW respond? The issue of competitive price is close to the supply and demand one. As long as people willing to pay whatever the price parks set, especially WDW, why would they change? WDW provides such a high-quality offer than it is impossible to lower his prices; it could try to keep them steady. Even if the company decides to lower prices, it should do it in a significant way in order to attract more customers.For instance a $5 reduction in the price of admission would provoke any major changes. They would probably have to drop price below their competitors to make true gain. Besides, from a branding stand point, lowering prices sends a mixed message to consumers (adults with purchasing power) : indeed in customers mind, it would signal something goes wrong. Actually the price is an essential part of firms positioning and it would be difficult for WDW to position itself as the premiere theme park with lower prices than competitors; it is also un-strategic to re-position.WDW strategy has not to do with the credo â€Å"cheapest always win†. The corporation has to play on differentiation and keep playing its leadership positioning; it means making your product unique in some ways to maintain your competitiveness. The following paragraph deal with all WDW differentiation factors. WDW uniqueness criteria -Marketing: WDW propose a complete offer for adults and/or children (families). The variety of this offer (several theme parks such as EPCOT or Animal Kingdom, other activities such as golf or wildlife, several hostels and prices segments†¦) makes customers able to customize their vacations.WDW provides multi-experience. -Communication: the firm must keep using a multi-channel and multi-media strategy to spread its marketing messages including as many new technologies as possible. -Innovation & Ideas generation: WDW must preserve theâ€Å"environnement for supportive conficts† it created through its meetings: Gong Show, Charettes with architects and theme park designers, Movie Development meetings. – Common sense & Discipline: This is the practical part of WDW uniqueness because necessary to test ideas, especially from a fiscal and financial point of view. Indeed ood ideas need time that is the reason why WDW creative process goes against quick actions and audience research. -Creativity: As M. Eisner said â€Å"Together conflict & common sense yield creativity†. We can add that WDW culture of diversity and fun take parts in the creative process: diverse point of views and individualism lead to frictions, conflicts, debates that are essential to get great solutions. -Facilities and Employees: in facts, WDW employees competent, well-trained and friendly. That is a crucially important factor because most of them are directly in contact with customers.No need to justify how essential the sense of contact is in business. Furthermore, all the attractions in theme parks are totally safe; all the facilities (hostels, restaurants included) are clean, linked each other (monorail, boats†¦) and electrically connected.. We notice also that WDW is technologically competent: it is a leader in product development, equipments design and maintenance, industrial engineering†¦for instance WDW design and manage perfectly attractions waiting lines: customers are sensitive about the time they have to use rides. All these aspects are visible for customers Branding Image: all the previous criteria are parts of the branding image; WDW brand is the amount of thousands and thousands small actions (â€Å"pointillist painting†). In particular Mickey and Disney characters, the castle are the symbol that contains all the stories the company created, the dreams and thoughts it suggest to children. Thus, if competitors lower their p rices, WDW should not change its prices and by the same time keep guarding its brand trough all the strategic decisions especially for marketing: WDW messages should be focused on the quality of the product.Question 2: How can WDW utilize customer information better to increase its volume of business? First and foremost, we should have in mind the term â€Å"forecasts† when we deal with customer information topics. Indeed WDW, due to his forecasts department, accumulates data on consumer’s attendance but also consumer’s behavior. All the other departments of the firm (like Labor Management, Maintenance, Finance, Park Theme Design) have access to this precious information which will be used for a set of management decisions to increase volumes and profits.That information can be predicted daily, weekly, monthly or for several years (till five years). In order to understand how customer information is utilized, a look at the forecasting process is necessary; 1- Wh at are the data sources? There are 3 main sources: -The guests in theme parks, hostels, restaurants†¦this is the more direct source. -The employees. For this category we could say that it has nothing to do with consumer information.Actually it has for at least two reasons: first employees can be directly in contact with guests and their recommendations are precious; secondly we could see each employee as a consumer into the firm and improve their working environnement leads to improve final customer satisfaction. – The travel industry professionals because they have their own data bases. 2- How WDW get them? Through surveys (questionnaires, interviews, focus group techniques†¦). All kind of topics could be dealt with but the two most important are customers experiences future Travel Plan. 3- How WDW process these data?Thanks to such models as judgmental, economic, moving-average models, regression analysis, monthly forecasting mode. Each model take into account a ce rtain number of variables like gross domestic product, cross-exchange rates, airline specials†¦ 4- Forecasts This is a major step in the decision- making process. All these consumer information and their analysis by models enable WDW to forecast consumer behavior (attendance in particular). Thus WDW can manage demand taking proper decisions about the capacity planning, the number of required employees, the due quantity of food and beverage†¦Question 3: What weaknesses or limitations do you see in WDW strategy? Ops Strat s WDW strategy is coherente but we can observe some accurate failures especially in operations strategy. Let’s remind the operations process framework and colour in blue the specific â€Å"failing fields†: Product Design Process Design Location/ Layout Cap. planning/Forecasts Work Organization Operations execution Of course other fields like merchandising or Facilities development are concerned. In the following paragraphs we focused on all of those black points. Prices of admissionFirstly, we can put forward the fact that WDW does not compete on prices (especially price of admission). From a positioning point of view it is logical: WDW is a leader in entertainment industry and bet on quality, innovation and uniqueness. But in time of global economical crisis, customers may desire a lower cost product; and there are serious competitors able to propose such offer: Sea World, Universal Studios†¦Of course children are attracted by WDW and can convinced relatives but the final decision remains to adults who get the purchasing power. Hotel development strategyThen we should notice the expanding strategy for WDW hostels: it does not deal with short term demands. Long term demand is not so much reliable when economy is disrupted. Thus Disney occupancy rates above 90% much of the year which is not sufficient anymore. Synergies & organization -Another point is the fact that WDW meet some difficulties to create synergies because of its top management. It is a problem of hierarchy, organization, authority delegation and culture. Actually the main problem could be that it is hard to delegate autonomy, to create empowerment among the group. We should notice that the hierarchy reorganization tends to create duplications (cf: example of a person running movies in Italy reporting to two executives): several hierarchical levels are added. Actually WDW is a hybrid structure; it is in time of mutation or transition.Profits & Losses – WDW experienced losses in home-video earnings because of strategic decisions that lengthen the release cycle for certain animated movie classics. It could be a problem of product development (cf: The product Development Funnel and especially Products Design step) or process engineering. The consumer products department also knew difficulties. Actually it is a matter of merchandising, especially concerning licensed-characters. This problem deals directly with consumer behavior (in-store purchases, on-line purchases†¦). -Concerning the Interactive media division, Disney experienced huge losses (source: Disney Fiscal Year Results). Actually the group invested in self-published video games (video games that are published by their author) and it needs more times to be profitable. -It goes the same for Internet (Go. com, Disney. com, ESPN. com†¦).It is s a crucial business field but investments cost a lot. To conclude we could qualify WDW weaknesses and limitations as mainly cyclical strategic problems . They are not structural even though it could deal with the organization (organization chart) and we can afford to say that those difficulties are temporary. The only structural change that has affected deeply the company concerned consumers attitude. â€Å"Disney still knows how to sweep people off their feet†, better than anyone else but the corporation needs to take into account new habits and expectations.