Friday, September 6, 2019
The Status Of E-Commerce Essay Example for Free
The Status Of E-Commerce Essay Introduction            This chapter present the findings of the survey completed. The survey was conducted through the distribution of questionnaires. Such instrument contained three parts with a total of 21 questions. Each part dealt with a distinct subject matter which is vital and relevant to the aims of this research. All questions are centered on online shopping through Chinese websites and the attitudes and beliefs of people that influence their choices. The discussion will follow the flow of the questionnaire beginning with demographical questions.            A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed. However, only 221 were considered valid. The remaining 29 were either never returned or invalid due to the incomplete answers or information. Demographics of the Sample            Determining the demographic characteristics of the respondents is a vital element of any research. Such demographic information allows the researcher to create a profile of the sample. Furthermore, demographic characteristics may influence certain responses from the sample which may then lead to vital information for the research.            Of the 221 respondents, 125 were male and 96 were female. These figures are conducive to the study as the sample is not dominated by either gender. The ages of the respondents were varied. However, the greatest number of respondents placed their age between 19 and 29. 82 responded that they were between 19 and 29 while 63 responded that they were between 30 and 39. Shown below are the graphs of such findings: It was also determined that most of the respondents held undergraduate degrees. 82 members of the sample placed their educational background at the undergraduate postgraduate level. Likewise, only 18 of the respondents said that they did not finish high school. The graph below shows the breakdown of the sample based on educational background: The following question dealt with the monthly income of the members of the sample. 31.67% of the sample placed their income in the 2000 to 4000 RMB bracket while 25.34% said that the income was in the range of 4000 to 6000 RMB. Only 19 respondents placed their income to be less than 2000 RMB a month. The following chart provides an illustration of such findings: With such demographic information provided, a profile of the sample can then be created. Based on the given demographic data, it can be assumed that majority of the sample is made up of professionals who hold jobs that provide sufficient or more than sufficient income. Also, these individuals are well-educated which would mean that they are up-to-date with the present trends and technologies. The monthly income is highly relevant for it is a determinant of the dispensable income that is used purchase goods and services that are offered through e-commerce websites. The age of the respondents is likewise vital for people between the ages of 18 and 39 have been identified as the most likely to make online purchases. (Pew Internet, 2008)            The demographic profile of the sample reflects the widely acknowledged belief that online shoppers are younger, better educated, and high income earners. As Pew Internet (2008) stated, â€Å"Some expected demographic factors account for some of the differences between online shoppers and other internet users. Online purchasers tend to be younger, better educated, and higher-income than those who have not bought a product over the internet.†Internet Usage and Online Shopping            The next segment of the survey aimed to gather data on the respondents’ internet usage and online shopping. The survey reveals that most of the respondents are seasoned users of the internet. As the graph below would show, most of the member of the sample have been using the internet for more than 3 years. Specifically, all of the respondents have used the internet with almost 78% of them acknowledging that they have used the internet for more than three years.  Not only are the respondents seasoned users of the internet, they are frequent users as well. Question 6 aimed to gather information as to how often the respondents used the internet. Out of 221 responses, 104 indicated that they use the internet daily while 75 answered that they accessed the worldwide web weekly. The responses show that the internet is an integral part of the everyday life of the respondents. For the majority of them, not a week goes by without them accessing the internet. Such data is graphically shown below: Respondents were likewise asked to state whether they have ever made an online purchase. 155 said yes while 66 said that they have yet to complete an online transaction. This means that 70 percent of the respondents have had experience using e-commerce websites. Thus, the information that they would share will be extremely valuable for their opinions would be based on actual experiences. Also, another question in the survey asked those respondents who have made an online purchase to indicate when their last online transaction was. 95 out of the 155 who said yes answered that their last online purchase was a month ago. This figure represents 61% of the total number of respondents who have made an online purchase. Provided below is the graph of the said data: What such data indicates is that online shopping has yet to become a habit for the respondents. Despite their frequent use of the internet, actual online purchases do not occur that often. This likewise shows that online shopping is not the primary purpose of internet usage.  Such finding is further strengthened by the information shown in the following graph. The answers to question 8 indicate that the respondents use the internet for reasons other than online shopping. 45% of the responses show that the participants only have occasional use of the internet to look for products or items to buy. These figures strengthen the earlier assertion made. They indicate that people have yet to fully utilize the internet for online shopping. The responses to question 8 are summarized below: It is evident that online shopping has yet to become a habit for the Chinese. Although they are habitual users of the internet, online shopping is not their primary purpose for accessing the worldwide web.            Having established the frequency of online shopping among the respondents, it is vital to determine how much they like online shopping. Question 10 in the survey specifically dealt with this matter. The responses gathered reveal that the respondents are not very akin to online shopping. 70 respondents rated that they only somewhat like online shopping and only 6 responded that they liked online shopping very much. Also, 34% of the respondents acknowledged that they were not so much fond of online shopping.  The graph below provides a detailed view of the responses: These responses reveal that there is hesitation on the part of the respondents about online shopping. Although they did not clearly reject the idea of purchasing products through e-commerce websites, the majority of them were uncertain as to how much they liked online shopping. There are reasons as to why such hesitation exists. It is critical that such reasons be explored as analyzing such information is vital to the achievement of the objectives of this research.            In question 11, respondents were asked to state the reasons why they purchase online. They were required to rate the given reasons on the basis of importance on a scale of 1 to 8 with options given a rating of 1 being the most important. Respondents were given 8 options and were given the freedom to pick and rate as many reasons as they want. To determine which reason was deemed as the most important reason for shopping online, the researcher devised a scoring scheme. A rating of 1 was given a score of 8. The score decreases as the level increases. Based on this scheme, if an option is given a rating of 8, it will gain a score of 1. The following table summarizes the point system: RATING GIVEN EQUIVALENT NUMBER OF POINTS 1 (Most Important) 8 2 7 3 6 4 5 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 (Least Important) 1 Based on the given point system, the score of each option were determined. This involved multiplying the number of responses for a given option at a given level/rating by the corresponding score/points. The sum of scores of a given option at the different levels is the total score of the said option. This process determined the option that was given the highest rating. The total score determines how important the respondents perceived the reason to be. Such method revealed that the most important reason why the respondents shopped online was the convenience of online shopping. Convenience received a score of 1087. This score was far greater than the rest since the next highest score was 793. This is the score accumulated by the reason that people shop online for items that are not available in local shops. The reason that had the lowest score is curiosity, which only garnered 57 points. The graph below summarizes the results of the said question: It is clear that the people shop online primarily because they find it convenient. Since online shopping does not require them to physically be at the shop, they can make purchases from anywhere and from any store online.            Another important factor that the questionnaire dealt with was the products that consumers commonly purchase from e-commerce websites. The 12th question in the survey aimed to gather such data. Respondents were asked to identify the products or services that they usually buy online. They were free to choose as many products or services as they want. The responses to the said question are summarized in the following graph: From the graph above, it can be seen that two types of products are commonly purchased online. Books and accessories were chosen 132 and 122 times respectively. It must be noted that these were the only two choices which had more than 100 respondents. The product that had the least number of responses was second hand goods, which was picked by only 28 respondents. This result is critical for auction sites which are the common sources of second hand goods. However, elaborating on such finding is beyond the coverage of this research.            Just as the respondents were asked to name the reasons why they choose to shop online, they were likewise asked to state the probable reasons why they would not purchase products or services offered through the internet. The results of question 13, which deals with this subject are vital for it will help explain the hesitation of respondents with online shopping as revealed in the discussion of the 10th question of the survey. (see page 8 of this section) Respondents were given 16 different reasons as to why they would not shop online. They were asked to rate their choice in terms of importance with options given a rating of 1 as the most important reason why they would choose not to complete online purchases. Furthermore, they were allowed to pick and rate as many options as they want. Since this question involves ratings, the results will be evaluated using the same methodology that this researcher utilized for question 11 of the survey. The same point system will be used. Although respondents had 13 different ratings to choose from, only ratings 1 to 8 received at least one response. Therefore, the researcher decided not to include ratings 9 to 13 in the evaluation and the same point system earlier described will utilized. The results of the evaluation, specifically the total points for each of the options given are graphed below: It is evident from the graph that the respondents were hesitant about shopping online because of the uncertainty with the quality of products that are sold in e-commerce websites. Such reason received a score of 1,243, the highest score among the given choices. The results also indicate that part of the reason why people refuse to shop online is their uncertainty over the security and privacy of the personal information they are required to give out when making online purchases. The following choices and their corresponding scores refer to security issues associated with online purchases: I worry about people may misuse my personal details 882 I do not trust online payment systems 862 I worry about someone may steal my credit card details online 714 I feel unsafe to provide personal information online 649 I do not trust e-commerce companies 574 These options obtained 5 out of the top 7 scores. Such finding is highly significant for it pinpoints a critical concern regarding online shopping, the security of personal and financial information. Furthermore, this result reveals the need to address such security concerns in order to better ensure the safety of online shoppers.            Another question that the respondents were asked to answer was whether they have had a bad experience with online shopping. This was succeeded by a question asking those who have had bad experiences to describe such. Of the 221 responses, 83% said that they have yet to have a bad experience with online shopping. The 17% or 38 respondents who declared that they have had a bad experience with online shopping were asked to describe their experience. The results of such question and the preceding question are shown below: Question 15: Please you briefly describe the experience           No response when I required the vender to replace the goods. 19 Network outage issues. 4 Vendor delayed refund when I return the goods. 15 The results indicate that online shoppers commonly have trouble after the sale has been made. Dealing with the vendors after the sale has been completed is the problem that often arises that thereby leads to the online shopper having a bad experience. The results of question 15 are indicative of this finding since 34 out of the 38 responses named vendor-related issues.            The same respondents who said that they have had a bad experience with online shopping were asked, in question 16, to indicate what such bad experience led them to do. It is important to note that not one of the 38 respondents said that the experience led them to stop shopping from the Chinese e-commerce websites completely. Instead, 21 out of the 38 respondents said that their bad experience made them more careful in dealing with and completing online transactions with Chinese e-commerce websites. Such finding indicates that bad experiences with vendors do not deter people from continuing to shop online. Instead, such bad experiences only heighten the shoppers’ awareness of the risks or possible issues that they need to look out for when shopping from such websites. Preferred Payment method = Security            Questions 17 and 18 focused on the payment method preferred and the reason why they preferred such method. The results of question 17 show that payment on delivery was the most preferred payment method by online shoppers as 117 of the 221 respondents chose it. Paypal was the second most preferred method with 56 responses. Respondents indicated that their choice of payment method is influenced primarily by the security that such payment method. 218 out of 221 respondents cited â€Å"Most Secured†as their reason for picking the payment method they prefer. Payment on delivery is indeed the most secure method since the shopper need not worry about paying for the item and not receiving it. It is the most guaranteed method since it does not put the shopper’s money at risk.       In the next question, the respondents were asked to determine how relevant certain factors are to their confidence in Chinese e-commerce websites. For each given factor, the respondents were asked to state how much they agree or disagree with the statement. The table below summarizes the responses to the said question: The table reveals several critical findings. First, it shows that most people are wary of the information contained in websites. In other words, the respondents are uncertain of the website’s contents. Product quality is also a major concern of online shoppers. This finding is consistent with the results of earlier questions in the survey.            The final two questions in the survey dealt with the respondent’s opinion on security and trust issues with regards to e-commerce websites and the relevant steps that they believe should be taken to address such critical issue. All of the respondents agree that the trust issues of Chinese e-commerce sites should be addressed and tackled. All 221 respondents stated that tackling such issues is important for the improvement and development of Chinese e-commerce websites.            The last question of the survey asked the respondents to give their recommendations as to how the trust issues of Chinese e-commerce websites should be addressed. They were likewise asked to determine the rank of their reasons from 1 to 10 with 1 being the most important and 10 being the least important reason. The table below presents the summary of results for the said question: From the data gathered, it is apparent that people see the need for e-commerce laws in China to be established. Furthermore, most of the recommendations that the respondents chose or cited are related to the laws that govern e-commerce in China. Thus, it is evident that they believe that protecting the welfare of online consumers is the duty of the Chinese government. Among the ten recommendations listed, the two that were picked as most important on more occasions are those that concern government duty in the process. Summary            The discussion has shown that Chinese internet users, although seasoned and experienced users of the internet, are not keen on making online purchases. Based on the data gathered, it is evident that their hesitation to purchase goods online is rooted in their concerns over the security of their information and on the possibility that the websites are fraudulent. Furthermore, the survey revealed that trust is a very critical issue to internet users. Finally, the survey showed that Chinese online shoppers believe that it is the China’s government’s duty to protect the welfare of online shoppers through the establishment of relevant laws and policies. References Pew Internet. Online Shopping: Internet users like the convenience but worry about the security of their financial information. Feb. 2008. Retrieved online 18 Aug 2008 from: http://www.pewinternet.org.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Fight Against Crimes And The Effect On Community Criminology Essay
Fight Against Crimes And The Effect On Community Criminology Essay To aid in the fight against crimes, community policing is a philosophy that has re-defined the police roles ,from that of serve and protect by responding to incidents and addressing criminal problems so they would be viewed as member of society who can help those in trouble and as well as persons who can be trusted. Todays police force has been focus on crime prevention through the diligent implementation of a strong neighborhood watch program. Community policing programs policies have remained active in almost all police departments in the united states. Although we might come to know such methods of policing by several different names such as neighborhood watch, block watch etc. We have acknowledged those communities who have successfully reduced and prevented crime to re-occur in their neighborhoods. These communities have successfully demonstrated that police departments can be more successful at crime analysis and problem analysis (S.A.R.A), fighting Methamphetamine usage, addressing property theft problem properties through collaborations with local institutions and neighborhoods by allocating police resources to aid communities in reducing crime and criminal disorder. These are successful community policing policies that implemented the problem solving processes to address the public safety issues in their communities. Successful Strategies to Combat Methamphetamine (Phoenix, Arizona) Public safety concerns such the production, distribution, and use of methamphetamine lead to drug use ,larceny, prostitution and theft have become chronic problems for the Arizona police agencies .To combat the ever increasing production ,use of meth(methamphetamine) in 1998, the COPS Office began funding state and local law enforcement agencies though the valley(cops). The initial grant went to Phoenix, AZ along with grants awarded to five other cities ;( Dallas, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Salt Lake City, Utah; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Little Rock, Arkansas) . The COPS grant aided the phoenix to enforcement in creating advanced technological problem solving strategies such as aggressive advertising campaigns targeted to all students in the state. These campaigns included the use of television ads, radio campaigns, YOU TUBE, face book, my space, twitter and other popular social web medias. The COPS grant allowed the phoenix police department to invest in community events and increased the participations of students, teachers, parents and local businesses. The City of Phoenix is committed to working with schools, law enforcement, neighborhoods and other local governments on the crystal meth issue, with the goal of making our community even safer (phoenix.gov). The grant allowed for the creation of a Crystal Meth Task Force. By targeting a specific problem such as the production, distribution, and use of methamphetamine (meth). The city of phoenix was able to pass legislation that allowed neighborhoods to take their communities back from drugs. By educating the community to identify and attacking the causes and conditions that lead to meth use and delinquency, finding truant kids, and work in the shop and recreational facilities the kids use. Resulting in widely accepted zero tolerance for meth consumption. Local and state partnerships were a key component in the successful funding of the meth campaigns. Also the Creation of policies addressing tough prosecution policies, increase public awareness though training and community involvement and an increased police involvement in the communities. The Phoenix department serves as successful community policing program that developed solutions to better deal with the local meth problems Developing Police collaboration in the Native American Community (Scottsdale, Arizona) The city of Scottsdale, though the collaborations with the Scottsdale Police Department and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Police Department , established a goal to provide the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community with Indian officers within their social ranks and aided in changing the restrictive social system of the Native American community. To successfully accomplish this goal the Scottsdale Police Department along with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Tribal Council selected young native American Indians between 16 and 20 years of age from different reservations and created the Community United in Finding Criminals (C.U.F.F.) Crime Stoppers Program. They trained them in become effective participant in the fields of drug and law enforcement and community service. The Indian participants would successfully complete a 10-week course which offered training by experienced Scottsdale police officers on crime deterrence policies. The successful implementation of this community progr am also served to deter delinquency, drug trafficking, car theft and a decrease of petty crimes which involved the Native American Community. Established in 1994, the Salt River Police Department was the first in Indian Country Law Enforcement to begin a CRIME STOPPERS PROGRAM. The program allows individuals with information about any unsolved crime to call the program 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, remain anonymous and receive cash rewards of up to $1000 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of persons who have committed a crime. Since inception, several homicides, narcotics and drug trafficking cases have been solved.(Salt River Police Department) Through the Indian community, officer aided training programs increased public awareness and the development of successful community policing strategies by local police and tribal government there exist a positive impact on the quality of life in the salt river Indian community. Shield of Confidence (Littleton, Colorado) To prevent home burglaries, a shield of confidence program established by the Littleton Police Department .The Littleton Police Department (LPD) identified and increased in burglaries and robberies of residents in predominantly Hispanic apartment communities as a significant criminal problem. The CMPD will demonstrate how the process used to respond to this problem has been successfully replicated in five additional predominantly Hispanic apartment communities. The Littleton Police Department (LPD) will discuss how it has reduced crime in areas where problem properties exist. Partnering with property owners and the City Housing Department, the LPD identified properties having the highest number of calls for service. Littleton Police Department (LPD) community program focused on its use of the SARA model and community policing -related resources to rehabilitate high crime areas. This community program allowed the property owners to identify and track incidents of home burglary. The Littleton Police Department (LPD) goal of the community intervention program was to establish a data base that ready available to the community and the burglary victims .The (LPD)used the data base to conducting home security checks and assist residents by make home improvements to deter future break-ins. The communities also establish a burglary deterrent program (Shield of Confidence) that certified homes after recommended changes from the (LPD) had been made by the home owner. This type of security check program has been used by residential building companies, business owners and one local insurance agencys to offers additional insurance premium discounts to program participants. Littleton Police Department (LPD) through information provided in Active community Problem-Oriented Policing programs attempts to actively address the needs of all crime victims through partnerships between law enforcement, community groups, businesses, and citizens. These communities have successfully demonstrated that police departments can be more successful at fighting crime through collaborations with local institutions and neighborhoods by allocating police resources to aid communities in reducing crime .These are successful community policing policies that implemented the problem solving processes to address the public safety issues in their communities. In having successful community policing policies ,these communities we able to promote local organizational strategies, which supported the police relationships and the success in establishing partnerships and implementing the problem-solving techniques, to address the communities public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and an increasing fear of becoming a victim of crime These police agencies are great examples of successful community policing program implementation: each employed the SARA model and demanded active participation from its citizens, police department and community religion based community members which included local private business no/ charities, government agencies and the local news media. There must always be an ongoing effort to reduce crime while improving the quality of life for its residents. By working with citizens, partnering with the local high school, and involving students, these type of programs become instrumental in increasing the quality of life by ultimately reducing and preventing crime in the neighborhoods. These police law agencies used problem-solving models to greatly enhance their community projects likelihood of success. Community Policing programs benefit not only police agencies that wish to adopt such policies but it also reduces their work load creates safer work environments, and allows police officers t o focus more on addressing specific types of crimes and enhance the quality of services being provided to a community and increased the necessity of the community to develop solutions to problems and increase trust in police.
The Rise Of Secularization In 19th Century
The Rise Of Secularization In 19th Century The secularization of 19th century England was multicausal. Various factors contributed to this process. Among them were post-effects of The Enlightenment namely humanistic philosophy that manifested itself with the spread of deism and Enlightenment aesthetics. Other factors included science and natural theology. Natural theology was the attempt of the church to stave off secularization, but in fact hastened the process. Clearly science was more responsible for the secularization of nineteenth century England than Enlightenment humanistic philosophy. This essay will explore the watershed of natural theology and its demise in nineteenth century England. Recognizing the intellectual context and environment that existed at the turn of the 19th century helps illuminate why humanistic causes contributed to Englands secularization. There was, as Thomas Kuhn states, a paradigm shift in society. The industrial revolution led to massive urbanization that often occupied previously religious building for commerce and industry. Cathedrals, abbeys, and churches gradually became merely additional spots in a city and no longer the city centres or primary places of gathering. There was a shift from superstitions and spiritual explanations for different phenomena to physical and reason-based explanations especially between the 17th century before 1660 and the Enlightenment of the 18th century. (155) For example, before this paradigm shift people dealt with the insane via exorcism because their insanity was attributed to Satan. (Brook 1993, 155) Afterwards, new medical elites deemed these practices madness and attributed insanity to non-spiritual ca uses. Among these events specific groups formed, which were led by this appeal of rationality over conventional religion such as the aesthetes and deists. The aesthetes, such as Irish author Oscar Wilde, deists and other groups resented bourgeois society particularly the rigid conservatism, oppressive hypocrisy and suppression of intellectualism of the church. Historians of Victorian intellectual life such as David J. DeLaura have recognized that numerous Victorian atheists and agnostics left the Christian church because they believed Christianity was becoming immoral. The loss of religious faith in such representative early Victorian agnostics as F. W. Newman (John Henry Newmans brother), and J. A. Froude was not due to the usually suggested reasons of the rise of evolutionary theory in geology and biology. The dominant factor was a growing repugnance toward the ethical implications of what each had been taught to believe as essential Christianity the doctrines: Original Sin, Reprobation, Baptismal Regeneration, Vicarious Atonement, and Eternal Punishment. (DeLaura 1969, 13). Murphys journal article The Ethical Revolt Against Christian Orthodoxy in Early Victorian England (1955) in The American Historical Review explains how it was predominantly ethical rejections of Christian Doctrine that led to the secularization of 19th century England. He presents case studies of three individuals F. W. Newman (1805-97), J. A. Froude (1818-94), and Mary Anne Evans (1819-1880). Murphy explains that contrary to the popular views, that once Darwin and Lyell demonstrated that neither the origin of the earth nor the origin of man according to Genesis was congruent with scientific discovery that the majority of thinking people became agnostic or atheist, secularization occurred during the Victorian age predominantly due to conflicts between orthodox dogma and meliorist ethical bias of the times. (Murphy 1955, 801) Murphy argues that science did provide important ammunition once the attack on orthodoxy had begun, but it did not produce the attack. The records of these three people leave no trace of having read Lyell and they all had left the church 10-20 years before Origin of Species was published. Newman grows up in a Christian home but later writes a book Phases of Faith where he describes that he is disturbed by the dominant Christian doctrines believing them to be unethical. Newman finds through critical reasoning that the sacrifice of Christ serving as atonement was not logical because attacking the infinite strength of Christ was evading not satisfying justice as Christ was not really harmed. (Murphy 1955, 803) Murphy explains that Froude did not waste time on fine points of science or Biblical scholarship, but came straight to the main point: the intolerable ethical primitiveness of the vicari-ous-atonement principle (808) Froude states the atonement principles claim that the guilt of a mans sin be transferred, even voluntarily, to an innocent Christ is a perversion of justice. Furthermore to then state that a mans sin is a loss that God suffe rs by which He would need satisfaction that needed to be paid, without it mattering by whom, is an insult to Gods persona. Finally, Evans deviates from the faith because she believes that it is unethical and untrue that religious faith is a necessary prerequisite to attaining moral excellence. In an article entitled Evangelical Teaching: Dr. Cumming (Westminster Review, October 1855) she writes about Dr. Cumming, a self-righteous admired London preacher to be teaching Christian doctrine found to be subversive of true moral development and therefore positively noxious. (Evans 1855, 1) Thus, these case studies demonstrate how the secularization of 19th century England occurred due to meliorist rejections of ethical issues found in church doctrine. However, what even more greatly contributed to the secularization of nineteenth century England was the development of science. Science was viewed as a vehicle of social and intellectual liberation. (Brooke 1993, 155) Natural Theology attempted to make theological claims about the existence of God by observing nature and drawing conclusions via the design argument instead of making claims based on Gods own self-revelation via scripture. The design argument is proposed by Paley in his work Natural Theology (1802) There cannot be design without a designer; contrivance without a contriver; order without choice; arrangement, without anything capable of arranging. (12) Paley believes nature is a mechanism, and hence was intelligently designed. He made this connection because he was writing while England was experiencing the Industrial Revolution. American Philosopher Alston in Perceiving God defines natural theology as the enterprise of providing support for religious beliefs by starting from premises that neither are nor presuppose any religious beliefs (Alston, 1991b, p.289) Natural theology as defence of Christian theology proves fatal. Swiss theologian Barth rejects Natural Theology. He states that this belief causes a bifurcation of knowledge of God into natural knowledge of God and revealed knowledge of the triune God, which is scientifically theologically intolerable. Barth argues that unless rational structure [is] bound up with the actual content of the knowledge of God it [becomes] a distorting abstraction.(Torrance, 1970, 128). American philosopher Platinga views Natural Theology as an attempt to prove or demonstrate the existence of God. This is a problem because it supposes that belief in God rests upon evidential basis. Hence belief in God is not a basic belief and self-evident. Belief in God necessitates being grounded on a more basic belief, but doing this gives the more basic belief greater epistemic status than belief in God. Platinga argues that belief in God is itself basic and does not need justification with references to other beliefs. Natural theology provided deists and atheists new ammunition to establish their own arguments. If God could be explained exclusively with empirical evidence, then His non-existence could also be explained exclusively with empirical evidence if that evidence could be attributed to another origin. Lyell in his Principles of Geology (1830) argues for uniformitarianism stating that the same physical and geological forces observed in the present have been active over a colossal span of time in the past. Darwin in On the Origin of Species (1859) poses a similar argument along with counter-teleological arguments of natural selection, presenting directionality within nature without implying progression or purpose. (McGrath 2010, 36) Biologist Thomas Huxley and Physicist John Tyndall make significant contributions in delegitimizing natural theology and using science to secularize England. Huxley debates and rebukes Oxford bishop Wilberforce when Wilberforce denounces Darwins evolution theory in their debate of 1860 at the British Association meeting at Oxford. This was but one of many events concerning the clergys lost domination of intellectual life in Britain. When the British Association for the Advancement of Science was founded in 1830 clerics composed 30% of its total members. During the period 1831-1865 forty-one clergy were in association. Then in the period 1866-1900 only three remained. (Brooke 1993, 50) Between 1660 and 1793 the scientific world established more than 70 official scientific societies (and almost as many private ones) in urban centres as far removed as St. Petersburg and Philadelphia. (Brooke 1993, 152) Huxley and his colleagues use the conflict thesis of science vs. religion to attack t he Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. Drapers History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1874) and Whites History of the Warfare of Science and Theology in Christendom (1896) made the Conflict thesis well know arguing that it is the nature of science religion to be in opposition. Draper in his work states, The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive force of the human intellect on one side, and the compression arising from [traditional] faith and human interests on the other. (Draper 1874, vi) Northwestern University History Professor Heyck argues that Victorian scientists wanted nothing less than to move science from the periphery to the centre of English life (Heyck 1982, 87) Tyndall in 1874 gave a speech in Belfast, a very religious city, before the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He argues that science holds greater authority than religion or non-rationalist explanations. In his attack on religion Tyndall upholds rationalism, consistency and scepticism. Thus, at the close of the 19th century, the concept was cemented into the English psyche that science and religion were in grave conflict and that, as such, science needed to be divorced from religion or non-rationality. Natural theology had been warped into a new breed of naturalistic science where the observations of nature provided evidence for an evolutionary origin not needing a religious explanation. Although post-effects of the enlightenment clearly did contribute to the secularization of 19th century England, they were not as significant as the contributions of science. Secularization in England had to do with changing society so that it was no longer under the control or influence of religion. The argument that meliorist objections to the ethical components of Christian Doctrine were the driving force that disempowered the church does not hold. Issues regarding ethics did decrease the membership of churches, but it did not disempower the church like science did. Science through the rise and fall of natural theology gave birth to a whole new generation of figures such as Huxley and Darwin who undermined the role of the church in society. Ethical grievances marginalized specific groups of people such as the aesthetes from the church but it did not remove the churchs influence over society to the same degree that scientific development did. The demise of natural theology led to a series of publications and conferences that took away the churchs predominant role in the field of science and society. Post enlightenment effects such as questions on ethics acted as a catalyst for secularization, but it did not lead to significantly greater removal of church influence. The enlightenment and science are inextricably linked but the effects science and natural theology had on removing church influence and supremacy in Victorian England caused greater paradigm shifts in society than ethical conflicts as evinced by the sources. Thus, it is clear that science to a far greater extent led to the secularization of nineteenth century England. The evidence demonstrates that Natural Theology did not strengthen but instead weakened the church. By attempting to demonstrate Gods existence and presence by empirical analysis exclusively theologians provided a platform for a new emergence of deism and atheism. Lyell, Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndall acted as catalysts to this process as they used the premises of Natural Theology to draw new conclusions about the origins the earth and living organisms. Draper and White towards the end of the nineteenth century concluded that science and religion had become enemies in their conflict thesis undermining religious activity as non-rational. Post effects of the enlightenment, such as the meliorist objections to the ethics of church doctrine and the emergence of new anti-religious groups such as the aesthetes did contribute to Englands secularization but to a lesser extent. Hence, s cience was the predominant factor in the secularization of England in the 19th century. Word Count: 2054 The above essay is all my own work: the source of all material used in its compilation has been duly cited and all help received is acknowledged. The essay does not substantially duplicate material previously or simultaneously submitted to academic staff at any academic institution. Jesse Alvarez
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Myth of Rape Culture in America Essay -- Rape Culture Essays
â€Å"Rape is as American as apple pie,†says blogger Jessica Valenti. She and other feminists describe our society as a â€Å"rape culture†where violence against women is almost invisible. According to feminists, films, magazines, fashion, books, music, and humor cooperate in conveying the message that women are there to be used, abused and exploited.(Kitchens, 2015) Rape culture, which was coined as a culture during the second wave of feminism during the early 1970’s and was, according to the encyclopedia of rape, â€Å"often used by feminists to describe contemporary American culture as a whole.†Rape culture, by definition though, is â€Å"a culture in which rape and other sexual violence (usually against women and gender diverse peoples ) are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media condone, normalize, excuse, or encourage sexualized violence†(qtd. in University Of Michigan Women’s Center). At its earliest beginnings, rape culture was an epidemic without a name. However, today, in 21st century America, one must wonder, why is this even still an issue? Furthermore, one must deliberately consider just why rape culture only applies to women as victims of sexual violence instead of people of sexual violence. Men, for example, are not regarded as victims, ever. Apparently, men cannot be sexu ally assaulted. Rape culture allows for â€Å"gender diverse peoples†but they’re certainly not talking about men. Unless of course, those men just happen to dress as women and are raped because they are mistaken for women. But you see, therein another can of worms is opened, because it specifically relates to women and people who look like women. Sounds a bit ridiculous to me. I can’t remember a time when rape was ever a parlor joke in... ...Time.com Web. 23 Nov 2015 http://time.com/30545/its-time-to-end-rape-culture-hysteria/ Morber, Jenny. â€Å"What Science Says About Arousal During Rape.†Popsci.com. Popular Science, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/science-arousal-during-rape â€Å"R., K†. â€Å"Prison Rape: A Silent Epidemic.†Torture and abuse 3.3 (2001): 16-18. PSJ. Safety and Justice, 1 Oct. 2001. Web. 21 Nov. 2015. http://www.safetyandjustice.org/node/492 United States of America. U.S. Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice and Centers For Disease Control & Prevention. Who Are the Victims? RAINN. RAINN, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015 http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims/ â€Å"Women’s Center.†Womens Center. The University of Michigan, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Private life of a Baseball player :: Athletics Sports Essays
Private life of a Baseball player American Baseball is so popular that lots of good player from other country have dream to become a member of Major league. So do the players from my country. Some players started playing in big teams such as LA Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers. Other players started from minor league. MLB is not anymore game for only American people. Fans from all over around the world want to watch ball game through broadcasting. In America, there are a few baseball players who came from South Korea, and they are doing well in MLB teams. Since baseball became so popular sports and international business, players got paid lots of money, and the reporters wants to disclose their private life of famous players in order to sell more and more issues of newspapers. Sometimes, they are trying to dig out something embarrassed stuff about certain player by tailing after them. Such a behavior of reporters can be the cause of an accident between baseball players and reporters such a s arguing, or fighting. What I am going to write down and argue about is an accident which was happened between reporter of sports news paper and a baseball player. To summarize what and how that accident happened, one of those players, who called Byunghyun, Kim, had been distressed because he could not do well as one of pitcher. After the season was finished, he came back to South Korea as his hometown. What he needed was just a rest, refreshing his mind and concentrating on his training. Except few people, he tried not to let anybody notice that he came back to his country. Because he knew that he would get bothered by lots of reporters with bunch of questions about what he did during season and what he is going to do for next season. While he was staying, he tried to get some rests and train by working out with his friend in health clinic center. Unfortunately, there was the reporter who knew the fact which Mr. Kim came back and rest a while by training. The reporter started to follow him without any permission and tried to catch something interesting story for newspaper article so that he could became the famous reporter. On the way go back from health center to home, that paparazzo took couple of pictures from the behind of Mr.
Monday, September 2, 2019
Open Polytechnic Nz Operations Management Assignment 1 T3 2012
| 71232 Operations Management| Assignment 1| | Matt Hinkley 3319696| 12/10/2012| | Contents Question 1: Operations management role2 Question 2: Types of production4 Question 3: Environmental factors5 Question 4: Strategic options [case provided]6 Case question 1 (customers)6 Case question 2 (competitors)6 Case question 3 (strategic decisions)6 Case question 4 (expansion issues)7 Question 5: Measures of quality8 Question 6: Types of quality management9 Works Cited10 Figures Figure 1: Company structure2 Tables Table 1: Quality characteristic measurements8Part A: Nature of operations management Question 1: Operations management role I would imagine that my role would be to ensure the profitable and reliable running of services. A bus service is a continuous service which runs to a schedule on a predetermined route. Our customers base their movements around our schedule and will expect us to adhere to those times. Figure 1 below is an indication of the simplified assumed structure of the company essay writers world reviews. I have not allowed for maintenance workshops and such like and have assumed that these functions are outsourced to suppliers.Figure [ 1 ]: Company structure The interactions between the departments are on a two way information route and feedback is gathered from the customer by the frontline staff. This could also include the drivers or ticket staff. The long term strategies of the company would be managed by the CEO and their senior team which would then be fed down to the operations manager for the day to day management to deliver these goals. Operations would see to the efficient running of the services and provide any early warning signs in their reports to the senior management.An interface with the customer would also be recommended by way of an occasional MBWA (management by walking about) style. This enables a personal interaction with both the staff and the customer. Close relations with suppliers should be kept with the finance side of the relationship being managed by the accounts department. Maintaining this degree of separation enables the ‘good cop bad cop’ kind of relations which can be of great benefit when bills come due. Question 2: Types of production The bus company is a transportation operation, as it transports people. It works as a mass services production process type.This is demonstrated in the fact that it has many customer transactions, involving limited contact time and little customisation (Nigel Slack, 2011). It does not store stock but you could argue that resources are stored in the form of bus spares and fuel should they have their own depot rather than outsourcing these items. The customers are queued in as much as the wait to be picked up on the route but they are not defined in a customer list or database. Question 3: Environmental factors As with any business there are more than one company vying for the limited number of consumers.Running busses you will have very little s cope to be better than your competition so you need to be very careful how you do it. There will be a couple main reasons why your customer chooses you which will be price, route, condition of vehicle and convenience. Breaking the four task environments down and assuming that there is a counter to each of the factors, we can reduce the impact as follows: Competitors: You could be cheaper or more regular than the competition, perhaps have newer buses which don’t smoke so badly as the others.Try to offer services on the routes which the competitors would struggle to compete on. Customers: The customer is king (or Queen). The most effective way to encourage New Zealand customers is by price. Kiwis love a bargain (Edmunds, 2012). Be it the one day special or concessions for demographic or regular users. But your price will not matter if the route is in the wrong place so location is a major factor when looking for the target customer. I’d probably hit high density student areas, they have low income and require transport regularly.Suppliers: The suppliers in this case would be our vehicle manufacturers, stationary suppliers and most probably land to operate from. You can enter into long term contracts with the suppliers and bulk order to reduce costs. But as with every business we are our suppliers’ customer so shop around. The only restraint is location. Buses are easy to buy direct from Japan with parts sourced just as easily. Suppliers will cause your variable costs to change and as such will have a greater impact on your margin which needs to be passed on to your customer.Building good solid relationships is imperative. Labour market: â€Å"The central bank expects unemployment of 7. 1 percent in the March 2013 year, falling to 5. 9 percent in 2014 and 4. 9 percent in 2015, according to forecasts in the MPS. That's more pessimistic than the 6. 4 percent, 5. 3 percent and 4. 9 percent forecasts in September†(BusinessDesk. co. nz, 20 12). With unemployment predicted to be falling and the labour market choosing to head to Australia in droves it makes the pickings slim.A business like the bus company will require skilled trades people to service the busses unless it out sources this and clerical people to administer the day to day operations. This is on top of the drivers and management team. Labour is a large cost for the company and retention is a big cost reducer, by keeping training and trained staff within the organisation. I fly to PNG where I work on a mine site, every time I get into a conversation with the bus driver taking me between international and domestic they ask if I can get them a job as a driver on the mine site.Question 4: Strategic options [case provided] Case question 1 (customers) Currently the customer base for HollyRock is teens and school aged youths. They have been referred to in the article as â€Å"Young people†. There may be some parents who also attend the restaurant but I wou ld assume from the way the article reads this would be in accompaniment of younger people. Case question 2 (competitors) From the article we can see that there are two possible current competitors in the area.These are the pizzeria which serves similar food to HolyRock in as much as Pizza and Robb’s restaurant which opens Friday evenings also. Although neither of these are competing for the same demographic as HolyRocks but they do have similarities in goods and services. It is also mentioned in the article that fast food chains had had difficulty in the past gaining approval to operate but, in time these may be able to move into the area. Case question 3 (strategic decisions) To fully answer this question we should look at the details for each component: 1.Structural. a. Location: Large old house in the middle of a retail area 15mins walk from the schools. b. Capacity: Ample parking and facility to seat 75. c. Technology: Low to mid technology level. 2. Infrastructure d. Wor k-force: 3 staff, cook, counter staff e. Quality Management: Nothing is mentioned regarding the Quality Management but I would assume this would be handled on a customer feedback system. f. Organisation design: A flat structure with an owner manager. Compact enough to manage easily and able to adapt to its target audience easily. . Policies and procedures: There was no mention of policies. Procedures are simple with food orders being taken with the issue of a number, empties and waste is collected on a continuous service system. Events seem to managed by the customer with a board in place for bands to volunteer to play. The initial concept was for the local young people to have somewhere safe to be able to gather and ‘Hang out’. The structure of the business would support the initial concept in that it is simple to manage and adapt to the needs of the client.It has furniture that is moveable to accommodate the groups at the time and the venue offers enough space to cate r for the needs of the customer. If the organisation were to grow past the current system then other changes would need to be brought into place which would then mean tighter management would be needed which would most likely mean a change in infrastructure. I would therefore say that the decisions do support each other and that of the overall strategy of HolyRocks. Case question 4 (expansion issues)The proposed enhancements would step completely outside of the current company structure. Although the base idea is similar in so much as it is a supply of food to customers the demographic is vastly separated. Some of the issues to consider are as follows: * Direct completion with Robb’s restaurant. An already well-established lunch and breakfast coffee time shop. * Is the location right for the stay at home mum? We note that it’s close to the high school, but there is no mention of other facilities which would attract the new client base. * Interior decor.Do rock posters and picnic tables attract stay at home mums looking for a coffee, a chat and some finger food? * With younger children coming onto the premises are there implications to the high school kids being turned off the idea of it being a ‘Hang out’? * Suppliers for the different food types will possibly differ, so more contracts need to be administered and accounts. * Extra equipment will be needed for coffee production and the storage and display of finger foods. As these are generally uncooked foods they need to be stored separately from the other food types.Different skills/personalities of staff required. Although there may be more intricate details regarding food, health and hygiene legislation the main points to consider are the local competition and the site suitability for the operation. It may be worth considering the option but at another location and sponsoring the new location with some brand attachment. Part B: Quality management Question 5: Measures of quality Us ing the table system as shown in the set text, the quality characteristics which we can measure would be the following: Quality characteristic| Variable| Attribute|Functionality| Number of meals served| Was the food acceptable| Appearance| Number of seats and layout| Were they clean in a timely manner| Reliability| Bands playing or meals delivered on time| Were there any complaints| Durability| Is the venue keeping up with the times| Are the trends of the young people being followed| Recovery| Meals rectified or bands removed| Did the customer feel the staff acted accordingly and timely| Contact| The extent that customers feel well treated by staff (1 to 5 scale)| Did the customers feel that the staff were helpful (yes or no)| Table [ 1 ]: Quality characteristic measurementsWe could easily apply functionality, appearance and contact to this business with contact being our quantitative measure. Functionality would be measured on the number of meals served against the number returned due to poor quality. Appearance would be a general measure by the management as to the tidiness of the venue throughout the shift. Contact could be measured through a quick and easy 2 question tick slip with the customer at the end of their visit. This could be a voluntary measure as people with high opinions are certain to leave feedback if it is made easy for them. Question 6: Types of quality managementThere are a range of available approaches such as TQM, Six Sigma and ISO 9000. Briefly each of the systems are as follows. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response to continuous feedback. TQM requirements may be defined separately for a particular organization or may be in adherence to established standards. TQM can be applied to any type of organization; it originated in the manufacturing sector and has since been adapted for use in almost every type of organization, TQM is based on uality management from the customer's point of view (Rouse, Total-Quality-Management, 2005). Six Sigma is a management philosophy developed by Motorola that emphasizes setting extremely high objectives, collecting data, and analyzing results to a fine degree as a way to reduce defects in products and services. The Greek letter sigma is sometimes used to denote variation from a standard. The philosophy behind Six Sigma is that if you measure how many defects are in a process, you can figure out how to systematically eliminate them and get as close to perfection as possible.In order for a company to achieve Six Sigma, it cannot produce more than 3. 4 defects per million opportunities, where an opportunity is defined as a chance for nonconformance (Rouse, Six-Sigma, 2006). ISO 9000 is a series of standards, developed and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), that define, establish, and mainta in an effective quality assurance system for manufacturing and service industries. The ISO 9000 standard is the most widely known and has perhaps had the most impact of the 13,000 standards published by the ISO.It serves many different industries and organizations as a guide to quality products, service, and management (Rouse, ISO-9000, 2005). From the three approaches above only two would lend themselves to our diner environment, these are the TQM and the ISO-9000 approaches. The Six Sigma philosophy is extremely complex to implement and can take years to show any real savings from a financial perspective. It is also not appropriate to our scenario as it better suits mass production or production line businesses. Of the two which are left I would use the TQM approach.It has a far better management system and would suit this small close knit workforce. The customer feedback would be available as to monitor the results and give indicators to the improvement strategy. The ISO-9000 sys tem is a more formal and managerially implemented system which would detract from the empowerment of the employees in this case, although there may well be some standards within the ISO-9000 that could be used in the TQM structure. Works Cited BusinessDesk. co. nz. (2012, December 6). NZ official unemployment rate overstates labour market woes, RBNZ says. Retrieved December 10, 2012, from www. sharechat. co. nz:
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Effect of Education on the Development of China Essay
Education has had powerful effects on the development in many aspects during the past centuries. This trend, has begun to manifest that education is playing a significant role in economics, societies and environment around the world. Education can promote economic growth and global movement. It can influence the population in fertility and mortality, stimulate the development of the poor segments and promote peace and stability of the society. As for environment, the development of education can solve environmental problems by raising individual awareness, but could also lead to a threat to the environment. A large amount of researches have shown that the increase of the number of girls benefited from education has led to a country’s per capita economic growth (Smith, 1999). Also, according to Brown (2008), a loss of education will lead to a wider gap between the rich and the poor that may increase instability sources in societies. This essay will analyze how education has influenced countries’ development in economics, societies and environment more specifically. In addition, some suggestions will also be conducted to encourage more progress in the development of countries. As seen in a large amount of researches, education has a prominent positive effect on promoting economic growth. For instance, according to Goujon (2008), tertiary education for younger people can lead to more powerful effects than that on old people. However, an inverse case happens in secondary education. That means government should focus on completing the universal primary education and decide which kind of education can strictly prove country’s economic growth. Although the effects of the productivity are not always positive, education, especially for women, is going to be a vital part in achieving a sustainable development (Goujon, 2008). UNESCO (2006) states that education can have positive effects on agricultural productivity, the status of women and controlling the population. In developing countries, the economic development always depends on the agriculture. Similarity, the productivity of agriculture always depends on the farmers’ education level. In conclusion, education could lead to great improvement in workforce which promotes a country’s economic. Not only in China but in other countries, the development of education plays a significant role in countries’ economic movement. That means a great change of relationship between economy and education is promoted around the world due to the trends of global economic development. According to Goh and Gopinathan (2008), in Singapore, the transformation of education system is a strong fundamental to improve its competitiveness in South Asia. Children can choose different kinds of schools to obtain education in Singapore, such as English-speaking schools and Chinese-speaking schools. Students have the opportunity to study in different cultures and learn different skills. As a result, Singapore has a great increase in economy because of a large number of skilled and high-educated workforces. Similarly, in China, the government has used major tertiary transformation in education (Li, Whalley, Zhan, Zhao, 2008). This change leads to a huge impact on economy and also the education structure all over the world. The Chinese government is aiming at upgrading the quality of skilled labour and pulling up the productive ability. In fact, after China’s higher education transformation, other countries begin to look for an appropriate structure for their local education. This exactly illustrates that a closer relationship between economy and education is promoted by the governments worldwide. However, not all the countries are willing to invest in reforming the local education. Different attitudes towards education have resulted in countries’ economics development becoming depolarized. Some countries do not take notice of their education systems, most of which are developing countries. Their governments have not recognized the significance of education and the effects that education could have on their economic development. For example, Mauritius is a small island which is much smaller than Tanzania. However, the GDP in Mauritius was $ 12,800 while in Tanzania was $ 700 in 2006 (Bloom, Canning, Chan, 2006). The main reason why this great gap exists is that the attitudes to higher education are very different. While Mauritius was focusing on the quality and quantity of higher education, Tanzania was still facing the low student-to-staff ratios because of its needless high costs in higher education. In fact, this was a vicious circle in Tanzania. Bloom (2006) shows that although the government has invested a lot of money to build universities, such as UDSM, the social economic problems were aggravated. Due to the economic problems, government had to reduce the investment to universities. In that case, fixing the relationship between education and economy is so difficult for Tanzania government. In contrast, Mauritius government has already built an optimum circle and the country’s economy is rapidly growing. Education has also had significant impacts on the development of many countries in population in several ways. On the one hand, it could reduce fertility, that is to say, as levels of female education rise, fertility will fall. Brown (2008) states that for reaching substantial reductions in fertility, the single best lever may be the expansion of women’s secondary education. Education and careers have become important factors for women marrying later and having fewer children because education provides females with more employment prospects and opportunities. A good illustration of this is that many girls have been drawn and benefited by the school lunch program in the US since 1946. On the other hand, it can promote children’s health and reduce mortality due to mothers’ better education. It has been reported by UNICEF (2008) that there is an essential connection between under-5 mortality rates and mothers’ education attainment. For example, the stimulation of education has brought about considerable variation in Islamic World that Organization of the Islamic Conference countries account for 11 of the 16 highest rates of under-five mortality in the world. Also, attending schools helps children fight back with various diseases, for instance, AIDS. Schools inform and educate students before they are infected with the disease about the lifestyles that accelerate its propagation. All of this explains that education actually affects the development of a country by reducing the mortality of its population. Table 1: Average annual reduction rates in OIC countries on The popularity of basic education is playing a vital part in fostering popularity of the approach to the hardest to-reach segments of society. Universal primary education is available to more children in poor families nowadays via several ways. Firstly, through the efforts of implementing educational plans, some progress has been made, especially to the poorest segments of society. For example, Education for All plan, has aimed to promote education by providing financial support to countries which have meaningful plans for universal primary education. This plan was developed by the World Bank which is an important source of financial and other kinds of assistance to developing countries around the world. Owing to this plan, the figure of children’s accomplishment of primary school has risen from 78% in 2000 to 83% by 2005. Furthermore, according to Brown (2008), some third world countries have established Girls Advisory Committees, such as Ethiopia, which largely encourages the registration rates rising in the rural areas. These groups sent representatives to persuade parents in impoverishment to keep their children in school and some countries like Bangladesh and Brazil, provide scholarships or stipends to the parents and help the poor obtain a basic education. Therefore, universal education is stimulating the development of the poor segments by both applying educational plans and founding relevant committees. Also, education can promote peace and stability in a country. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen who encourages education popularity focuses, â€Å"Illiteracy and innumeracy are a greater threat to humanity than terrorism.†That means a loss of education widens the gap between the rich and the poor and then leads to the integrated world staying in an unstable position eventually. Evidence has shown that education contributes to narrowing the gap that helps build a more stable and harmonious society. An example of this is that with fast increasing number of enrolments since 1999 in China, the gap in access between urban and rural areas is gradually diminishing (Li, Whalley. Zhan and Zhao, 2008). The admission rates of universities in rural China have increased a lot and graduates in poor families have the opportunities to attain hopeful prospects. Plan (2008) has reported that education benefits people’s employment and makes more resources available to them. This avoids hunger, illness and other unequal factors increasing the danger of the destruction of world’s structure. Education no doubt reduces the social burden and promotes stability in the development of countries. Education definitely can help solve environmental problems, and this can be demonstrated in the aspect of improving individual awareness of the environmental affairs. For instance, through being educated, people will know that their surroundings can be dangerous for living if there aren’t enough steps to be done for a better environment and then they will have a sense of responsibility for the health of their common hometown in their own. According to Dobson (2003), education for sustainable development make great effects on the quality, structure and health of environment by teaching and encouraging pupils to take active parts in democratic and other decision-making processes that can be seen as the commitment of the citizens. So by raising individual sense of responsibility, it proves the effects of education on the environment. In addition, education passes on scientific ways to deal with the environmental problems, which can help produce most environmental efficiency of individuals. The macro environmental achievement needs every citizen’s efforts, so emphasizing environmental education, especially the education for sustainable development, can be a key factor for a better prospect of the environment. However, education sometimes can make a threat to environment. Sustainable development, which is defined as â€Å"the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†(World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), logically, can be promoted by education. From what has been said above, education can cause a lower fertility and a slower population growth and the resistance to the overpopulation can facilitate the progress of sustainability. Therefore, most people believe that education can certainly become an essential tool for sustainable development. Actually, the truth is dramatically the opposite that greater threat to sustainability will be done with the higher education people obtain. It could be caused by the reason: â€Å"Unfortunately, the most educated nations leave the deepest ecological footprints, meaning they have the highest per-capita rates of consumption. This consumption drives resource extraction and manufacturing around the world.†( McKeown, 2006: pp12) When people receive more education, they may just have the capability to change the nature and not develop the earth appropriately. The United States, known as its high level of education, is also known as the biggest threat to the environment, which is a typical case that demonstrates the relationship between education and sustainability. This can be a very controversial point and create challenges to make sure that there is no growing demand for goods and resources while raising the level of the education. In conclusion, to analyze how education could affect the development of countries, this essay obtains the key ideas in mainly three aspects. Education can promote the economic growth and movement globally. Then it can help control the population, stimulate the development of the poor segments and promote peace and stability of the society. As for environment, developing education can help solve environmental problems by raising individual awareness, but may also cause a threat to the environment somehow. Furthermore, the essay advocates raising the level of education among the poor segment of the society, because a loss of which may be origin of threats to the stability of societies. It’s also expected for the developing countries to find a suitable structure of the education system instead of the radical one that just for the needs ahead. Another prediction is that countries could increase the public needs for more sustainable production and consumption patterns through a higher-level education. Although we can see that some progress has been made, there’s still a long way to go. Governments should pay more attention both on basic education and tertiary education in order to provide us a necessary study environment. The government ought to develop more powerful policies to ensure more enrolment so that the quality of a country’s development can be improved. Overall, education has had great effects on the development of countries and will continue influence the economics, societies and environment in a long term. Therefore maturer educational steps ought to be taken in order to conduct much more progress. (Words: 2095) Reference Bloom, D. Canning, D. Chan, K. (2006) Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa. Washington D.C. Harvard University. Brown, L. (2008) Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Earth Policy Institute. Dobson,A.P.(2003) ‘Citizenship, Education and the Environment’. In Citizenship and the Environment. Oxford University Press:2003+p.174-207 Goh, C.H., Gopinathan, S. (2008) ‘The Development of Education in Singapore since 1965’. In Lee, Sing Kong Goh, Choor Boon Fredrikson, and Birger (ed) Toward a Better Future: Education and Training for Economic Development in Singapore since 1965. The World Bank: 2008. p. 12-38 Li, Y. Whalley, J. Zhan, S, and Zhao, X. (2008) China’s Higher Education Transformation and Its Global Implications NBER Working Paper No. W13849 [online]. Available form: http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/1066 [06/12/10] Lutz W, Goujon, A & KC S (2008). Education: The Key to Development. Options (Summer 2008): 12 – 15. [online] Available form: www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/INF/OPT/Summer08/opt-08sum.pdf.[06/12/10] Plan (2008) Paying the Price [online], Available from: http:// www.plan.org.au/mediacentre/publications/ research/ paying_the_price [07/12/2010] UNESCO (2006) Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, pp. 12 – 14 UNICEF (2005) Investing in the Children in the Islamic World, http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Investing_Children_Islamic_World_full_E.Pdf [07/12/2010] Yu-Shu Peng,Shing-Shiun Lin(2009)’National Culture, Economic Development, Population Growth and Environmental performance: The Mediating Role of education’.Journal of Business Ethics.Dordrecht: Dec 2009.Vol. 90,iss.2:p.203-216
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