The Food Personalities Of Gender Expectations - 1379 Words

After finishing an initial review of the shows, I identified common themes between the food personalities in terms of gender expectations. From this sample, I identified five culinary personas: homemaker, non-traditional female, craftsman, explorer, and non-traditional male (gastrosexual). Even though these hosts had unique characteristics, the thematic presence of gender division between domestic cooking and professional cooking underlined all the personalities. These identified attributes for the most part do adhere to the traditional femininity and masculinity with some divergent examples. Persona Attributes The traditionally female culinary persona portrays a woman’s culinary authority lies in the domestic kitchen. Although this study†¦show more content†¦The emotion behind Drummond’s cooking was reflected in the rest of women who fit this persona. This emotion and placement in the domestic kitchen displays the traditional feminine characteristics of emotionality and domesticity. While Food Network presented only traditionally feminine personas in their programing, Cooking Channel provided one female food personality who crossed traditional gender lines. Harry Eastwood, British host of Sinful Sweets, explores and travels the United States finding bakeries and confectionaries. As a culinary expert and accomplished chef, she casually discusses technical knowledge of baking and often gives critical suggestions for how the dessert could be better. This professional expertise separates her from the rest of female hosts because her professionalism and absence from the domestic setting draws attention to her greater culinary authority than untrained home cooks. While Eastwood departs from the traditional female attributes, she highlights the attributes associated with traditional masculinity. These personas represent professional culinary authorities whose legitimacy stems from artistic experimentation and technical training. These personas find motivation by sharing culinary knowledge and are associated with traditionally masculine occupations like craftsman or explorer. Like the feminine personalities, the

Alcohol Abuse Rehabilitation Free Essays

string(35) " enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous\." Sojourners Recovery and Becket Springs offer options such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and pharmacological options that do increase the likelihood of remaining abstinent after treatment. Alternative methods of treatment at these centers, such as acupuncture, have not been proven to be effective at promoting abstinence, but may help to ease withdrawal symptoms. In addition to enrolling in a rehabilitation program at a licensed facility, the individual should seek out support from his or her family members, as this will help the individual cope with the enormous stress of giving up alcohol. We will write a custom essay sample on Alcohol Abuse Rehabilitation or any similar topic only for you Order Now Alcohol has a long and storied history in not Just American culture, but in many other world cultures as well. Its use in beverages is believed to have begun almost 10,000 years ago when civilizations in ancient Persia and the Middle East produced a fermented drink from honey and wild yeasts (â€Å"An Alcohol History Timeline,† 2011). Wine, beer and liquor would eventually follow (in that order), as numerous societies enjoyed the intoxicating effects of the drug. During the 19th century in the United States, the average American drank 7 gallons of pure alcohol per year (â€Å"What in America’s History,† 2005). This rampant drinking led to temperance movements and reformers that pushed for local and national prohibition. Groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WEST) would eventually merge with the Anti- Saloon League and form a powerful coalition that elected officials to Congress and put pressure on the government to ratify Prohibition (â€Å"What in America’s History,† 2005). The National Prohibition Act was subsequently enacted in 1920, outlawing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol. The Act was repealed 13 years later in 1933, but the message was clear: the effects of alcohol were seen by many as ungenerous and destructive, and these effects needed to be addressed. Today, the problems of alcohol abuse and alcoholism have become almost epidemic in American society, as recent studies have asserted that 53% of adults in the U. S. Have reported that one or more of their close relatives has a serious problem with drinking (â€Å"Alcohol Stats,† 2013). Each year in the United States alone, nearly 50,000 cases of alcohol overdose are reported, and in 2009, over 30 million people stated they had driven under the influence of alcohol at least once in the previous year (â€Å"Alcohol Stats,† 2013). In 2007, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported over 14,000 alcoholic liver disease deaths and over 23,000 alcohol-induced deaths (not counting accidents and murders) (â€Å"Alcohol Stats,† 2013). The CDC also reported that in 2006, excessive alcohol consumption cost the United States’ economy $223. Billion (â€Å"Excessive Drinking,† 2014). In an effort to combat the dangers of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, numerous in- patient and out-patient treatment centers are available to those that are seeking help for their affliction. This paper takes a look at four of these treatment options in the rater Cincinnati area. These options include Alcoholics Anonymous, Sojourner Recovery Services in Ham ilton, OH, Delbert House in Cincinnati, OH, and Becket Springs in West Chester, OH. The model of treatment that each facility or program employs will be examined, as well as success rates and recidivism. Additionally, this report will look at the efficacy of various models of alcohol treatment and how successful they are for the patient. Ultimately, it will lend advice as to the optimal treatment strategy one should choose when trying to overcome one’s addiction to alcohol. Treatment Review One of the most common and well-known methods of alcohol treatment in the United States is the group-oriented, outpatient design of Alcoholics Anonymous (AAA). At its core, AAA is a 12-step program that utilizes anonymous group meetings to help facilitate the overarching goal of abstinence for each of its members (â€Å"Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Steps,† 2010). The 12 steps are divided into four phases: admitting one has an addiction and needs to abstain; submission of the alcoholic’s will to â€Å"the power of God or a Higher Authority’; making amends to those the individual has armed or wronged in the past; and spreading the message of AAA and its 12 steps to others (â€Å"Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Steps,† 2010). By â€Å"working the steps† and attending the meetings, the individual is purportedly given a plan and support group to help him or her resist the urge to drink alcohol. According to Lee Ann Gaskets, Drop, of University of California-Berkeley, there is controversy on the research into the capability of AAA. Therefore, she provides â€Å"a focused review of the literature on AAA effectiveness† (Gaskets, 2009). Using six criteria to establish a causal link between AAA ND abstinence, Swastikas states that there is some evidence that AAA is an effective course of treatment for someone seeking to quit drinking. She writes, â€Å"rates of abstinence are about twice as high among those who attend AAA, and higher levels of attendance are related to higher rates of abstinence† (Swastikas, 2009). Still, she ultimately concedes that more exhaustive research needs to be completed before judging the effectiveness of AAA. In a separate article entitled â€Å"Exposing the Myth of Alcoholics Anonymous,† freelance technical writer and attendee of â€Å"hundreds of AAA tenting,† Stephen Mohr rejects the notion that AAA is an effective mode of treatment for alcoholics. He writes, â€Å"The truth is that the available evidence strongly suggests that AAA treatment provides very little or no long-term help for active alcoholics. Further, there is ample evidence that long-term repeated exposure to this program is actually dangerous to many alcoholics who would fare better if left on their own† (Mohr, 2009). Mohr cites Ass own statistics when establishing the ineffectiveness of AAA, writing, â€Å"in 1989 AAA reported that, on average, after six months 3 percent of new attendees had left the program and that after one year only 5 to 7 percent remained† (Mohr, 2009). Perhaps more damning, Mohr recounts the findings of Harvard psychiatrist Dry. George Valiant. Beginning in 1983 and then every year for eight years afterward, Dry. Valiant followed up on 100 alcoholic subjects admitted to a clinic in Cambridge, MA, and who were subsequently enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous. You read "Alcohol Abuse Rehabilitation" in category "Papers" He found that only five of the 100 subjects never relapsed back into alcoholic drinking, which was a rate no better than if they had been left to attempt abstinence on their own (Mohr, 2009). Worse yet, he found that three subjects a year died from their drinking habits, despite being enrolled in the 12-step program (Mohr, 2009). And while these findings were from the asses, the fact that AAA has not changed its approach and/or treatment methods in the 80+ years of its existence indicates that they are still pertinent to today. Moreover, these data suggest that AAA is not only ineffective, but the fact that it is so widely regarded as the premier source of alcohol treatment prevents patients from pursuing more useful modes of treatment – ones that could potentially save the alcoholic’s life. The Becket Springs rehabilitation facility in West Chester, OH, is one of the alternatives to AAA that an individual suffering from alcoholism may consider. Becket Springs offers both in- patient and outpatient services to help meet the needs of the patient. The in-patient program’s goal is â€Å"to teach [the individual] the tools of recovery and relapse prevention so that [he or she] can create a life worth living† (Patient Handbook, 2). When the patient is first admitted, he or she is assessed to develop an individual treatment plan. The assessment team and the patient will formulate a set of goals to Ochs on during treatment. The assessment team itself is comprised of a psychiatrist, psychologist, staff nurse, patient care assistant, recreational therapist and social therapist all working together to facilitate the recovery of the patient. Individual treatment includes detoxification (if necessary), medical prescriptions written by a psychiatrist, psychological evaluations with the psychologist, group therapy through â€Å"games, crafts, leisure education, creative expression and relaxation training,† and individual and family therapy provided by a licensed therapist or social worker (Patient Handbook, 2). Becket Springs encourages communication between the patient and family throughout treatment, and designates a daily time period for phone calls in addition to a visitation schedule that allows two hour-long visits per week and a family meal during the weekend. Along these same lines, Sojourner Recovery Services, located in Hamilton, OH, is a non-profit organization that provides in-patient and outpatient substance abuse treatment for those addicted and their families. Sojourners assessment service is a thorough evaluation conducted during a face-to-face session in order to determine the extent of addiction and optimal recovery strategy. The staff at Sojourner takes a holistic approach toward treatment, and offers a diverse array of programs, including: one-on-one counseling, lectures, group therapy, family sessions and discussion groups. The aforementioned staff consists of â€Å"experienced counselors, professionals and volunteers – many of whom are recovering from addiction themselves – that genuinely care about each and every person’s success† (â€Å"Sojourner Recovery,† 2012). Therapy models of recovery include: motivational enhancement to encourage the patient to become receptive to the healing process; â€Å"seeking safety’ to improve coping skills; â€Å"seven challenges† for adolescents seeking recovery; â€Å"stages of change† which helps patients progress through the five stages of recovery; cognitive-behavioral, which utilizes the belief that one’s thoughts cause one’s feelings and behaviors, rather than external people or factors; and acupuncture to help alleviate symptoms and stresses associated with alcohol or drug withdrawal (â€Å"Sojourner Recovery,† 2012). The duration of stay for the in-patient program varies according to the needs of the patient, giving the person as much or as little time as he or she needs. The Delbert House in Cincinnati, OH has a few different branches across the city. The Delbert House located in Clifton, OH, is a non-profit organization focused on intensive inpatient treatment of homeless men dealing with substance abuse – namely, alcohol abuse. According to general manager Chris Weanling, this branch of the Delbert House is a â€Å"shelter-plus-care† operation, which attempts to rid patients of their addictions while helping to reintegrate the individuals as functioning units of society (C. Weanling, personal communication, July 21, 2014). They are encouraged to actively seek out employment and permanent residency. The Delbert House models of treatment include self-help classes, group concussions, one-on-one counseling, AAA meetings, and AN meetings (C. Weanling, personal communication, July 21, 2014). A typical day in the life of a patient starts with a 7:30 a. M. Wake-up call followed with breakfast at 8 a. M. The rest of the morning consists of life-skills classes and chemical dependency education courses. At noon, the patients have lunch, and then attend their various therapy sessions (group and/or individual) in the afternoon. Dinner is served at 5:00 p. M. , and then the patients have some free time before they are required to attend an AAA or AN meeting (C. Weanling, personal communication, July 21, 2014). The Delbert House does not allow patients to use alcohol or any illicit drugs while they are enrolled, and thus each patient is subjected to a random, periodic urinalysis and/or breath-analysis test. In any given month, five or six patients out of 60 will test positive, with the incidences of positive tests fluctuating from season to season and spiking around a holiday(C. Weanling, personal communication, July 21, 2014). The operation is largely state- funded, with tax dollars making it possible for the Delbert House to help the lives of the men it houses (C. Weanling, personal communication, July 21, 2014). Given all the models of alcohol treatment (AAA, group therapy, cognitive behavioral, motivational enhancement, acupuncture, etc. ), Just how effective are they at promoting abstinence within the alcohol abuser? As discussed above, the effectiveness of AAA seems dubious at best, and downright dangerous at worst. This is very unfortunate considering the fact that almost all court-appointed rehabilitation for alcohol offenders in Hamilton County involves AAA or an equivalent 12-step program (â€Å"Treatment Options,† 2009). On the other hand, research on continuous outpatient group therapy seems to indicate its effectiveness. In J. Kim, et al. ‘s article, â€Å"The Effectiveness of Continuous Group Therapy for Outpatients with Alcohol Dependence,† he states that 3, 6 and 12 month abstinence rates of 94 cognitive group therapy subjects â€Å"were 56. 4%, 30. 6%, and 16. 9%,† respectively (Kim et al. , 2011). The same abstinence rates for 83 subjects in a standard outpatient therapy group â€Å"were 28. 6%, 11 . 7% and 5. 2%,† respectively (Kim et al. , 2011). He thus concludes that continuous group therapy for outpatients is a practical and effective means of achieving abstinence. Inpatient group cognitive behavioral therapy (CAB), though, is a little murkier. In their article, â€Å"The Effectiveness of an Inpatient Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program for Alcohol Dependence,† News and Owe evaluated the effectiveness of attendance at an in-patient CAB program aimed at treating alcohol abuse. The study included 37 males and 34 females that attended 42 CAB sessions in three weeks, with News and Owe gathering evidence on one and three-month follow- ups regarding the drinking habits of the subjects. The study data indicated that greater attendance at CAB sessions for inpatients did not result in greater abstinence rates, nor did it correlate with a reduction in the quantity of alcohol consumed from he levels of pre-treatment (News Owe, 2005). Thus, while patients that attended CAB sessions did seem to stand an improved chance of abstinence, News and Owe concluded â€Å"this study was unable to provide full support for the effectiveness of group CAB and cognitive models on problem drinking† (News and Owe, 2005). Another strategy for alcohol recovery is that of acupuncture. Acupuncture is a form of complementary and alternative medicine that uses the penetration of thin needles into specific â€Å"occupants† along the skin of the body (â€Å"Acupuncture† 2014). Choc and Hang reviewed the efficacy of this approach in their article, â€Å"Acupuncture for Alcohol Dependence: A Systematic Review. † After systematically searching nineteen electronic databases for randomized controlled trials, they found eleven studies that involved 1,110 cases. Though they conclude the results were â€Å"equivocal† and that â€Å"more research and well-designed, rigorous and large clinical trials are necessary,† the data they did discover suggest that there is no difference between acupuncture treatment and â€Å"sham treatments† (Choc and Hang, 2009). In a separate study by Karts, Passive, Frederica, Wises and Schneider, thirty-four alcoholics were treated tit acupuncture to assess its effect on withdrawal symptoms. The study was able to conclude that â€Å"acupuncture as an adjunctive treatment to carbonized medication shows promise for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal symptoms† (Karts, Passive, Frederica, Wises, Schneider, 2002). Thus, while acupuncture may not be helpful for an individual hoping to obtain abstinence, it does look to be promising in helping to relieve some of the anguish of going through withdrawal. In addition to models of therapy, most treatment centers also offer medications to help the patient on their road to recovery. Daniel E. Jonas, M. D. , M. P. H. , of University of North Carolina, et al. , completed a recent study that analyzed more than 120 different studies as to the effectiveness of various pharmacological pills on the alcoholic, and found that comparative and oral maltreatment showed the greatest potential for decreasing alcohol ingestion Moons et al. , 2014). Dissimilar, an oral medication available since the asses, did not show adequate evidence to support the notion that it can prevent relapse drinking or improve drinking level outcomes Moons et al. 2014). The article goes on to state that the four most effective medications are commemorates, maltreatment, depreciate and maleness, but cautions that patients should share in the decision-making process with the physician, and medication should be taken in conjunction with other modalities of treatment Moons et al. , 2014). Conclusion Judging by national recovery data, it can require a nearly Herculean effort for an alcoholic to successfully abstai n from alcohol for a long period of time (years). The national average for alcoholics that try to remain abstinent for one year without outside help is around 5% (â€Å"Alcohol Stats,† 2013). Even Alcoholics Anonymous, by its own admission, has a 93% turnover rate in one year. With this in mind, it’s important for anybody that is trying to quit to not try to do so alone. The individual should attempt to enroll in either an inpatient or outpatient program at a local recovery facility. In the Cincinnati area, this could include Sojourner Recovery Services in Hamilton, OH, or Becket Springs in West Chester, OH. Both offer a variety of programs to foster an intrinsic change within the individual, and employs a multitude of treatment models and pharmacological aids that can be blended together for an optimal individual recovery plan. Perhaps most importantly, the person that is trying o recover should actively seek the help from his or her immediate family, if possible. Abstinence from alcohol is very difficult to achieve for an alcoholic, and a strong support system from people close to the affected individual will go a long way to facilitating a successful and long-lasting recovery. How to cite Alcohol Abuse Rehabilitation, Papers

Fayols Management Functions and Its free essay sample

Managers motivate employees, influence individuals or teams as they work, select the most effective communication channel or deal in any way with employee behaviour issues, they are leading. In controlling, managers evaluate how well an organisation is achieving its goals and take action to maintain or improve performance, (Waddell, Devin, Jones, George, 2008, p. 9). Controlling when handled well ensures that the overall direction of individuals and groups are consistent with the short and long term goals of the organisation. It also helps to maintain compliance with essential organisation rules and policies. Fayol (Fayol, 1949, p. 107) stated that controlling purpose was to identify weaknesses and problems such that they can be rectified and reoccurrences prevented. In identifying and addressing issues quickly the organisation can maintain its productivity whilst also maintaining an optimum work environment. The planning and controlling management functions are closely related, as the planning functions establishes goals, while the controlling function nsure that the goal is being worked towards by all parties involved. We will write a custom essay sample on Fayols Management Functions and Its or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Fayol is seen by some as the founding father of management functions (Raymond E. Miles, Charles C. Snow, Alan D. Meyer and Henry J. Coleman, Jr. , 1978, p. 556). While some of his principle and functions are no longer appropriate, his core functions have been adapted to modern organisational management issues. Plan, lead, organise and control, may have stood the test of time (fell, 2000, p. 345) due to their simplicity and malleability to change with demand for modern management thinking. These four principles may be seen as outdated, but his methods still work. If there is good communication, understanding, unity, continuity, flexibility and precision (Fayol, 1945, p 137 Fayols Management Functions and Its free essay sample Fayol’s Management Functions and its Relevance Today According to Henri Fayol, ‘planning, organising, co-ordinating, commanding and controlling’ (Fell 2000, p. 345), are the core functions behind successful management. At present, these functions have been condensed to four: plan, lead, organise and control. There is great debate as to the relevance of these functions in modern management theory. Fells (2000, p. 345) maintains that these functions have ‘stood the test of time’; and are ‘appropriate to contemporary management’. While others such as Henry Mintzberg have said ‘Fayol’s fifty year description of managerial work is no longer of use to us’(Stephen J. Carroll and Dennis J. Gillen, 1987). ‘Management is the planning, organising, leading and controlling of human and other resources to achieve organisational goals effectively and efficiently’ (Waddell, Devin, Jones, George, 2008, p. 519). This definition is from a contemporary text book, which shows the use of Fayol’s functions in modern management teachings. While looking at the management functions shaped by Fayol, some of his functions are no longer seen as useful in modern day management. We will write a custom essay sample on Fayols Management Functions and Its or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Planning is a key process for any organisation, as it allows management to determine suitable goals and the most appropriate course of action in achieving these goals. Planning (Fayol, 1949, p. 43): ‘means both to assess the future and make provisions for it’. Without any form of a plan, an organisation lacks direction and unity, which will hinder the future success of the organisation. Fell (2000, p. 346) highlights ‘Fayol discusses the feature of a good action plan and highlights: unity, continuity, flexibility and precision’. The need for management to have a plan is crucial when dealing with employees and developing strategies to integrate and co-ordinate activities. Organising in an integral part of any organisation, as it structures working relationships in a way that allows employees to work collectively to achieve the organisations goals. (Waddell, Devin, Jones, George, 2008, p. 2) When managers organise, they determine what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made. Organising is as much about lines of responsibility and authority as it is about communication flow and the use of resources. Fayol identifies many key objectives of organising which are crucial in the maintaining a productive environment, these include ‘maximising personal development, cle ar delineation of duties, aligning objective with resources and co-ordinating activities’(Fayol, 1949, p. 3). These four key objectives in particular are vital for the harmonisation and productivity of an organisation. The leading function of the managerial role, ‘expresses a clear vision as well as energises and enables organisational members to understand the role they play in achieving organisational goals’ (Waddell, Devin, Jones, George, 2008, p. 52). While leading isn’t a function from Fayol’s management functions, it has adopted some of his philosophies in particular Fell (2000, p 358) ‘aim at making unity, energy, initiative and loyalty prevail among the personal’. This can be seen in the way of employee incentive schemes such as bonuses and career advancements put in place to reward staff when organisational goals are met. When managers motivate employees, influence individuals or teams as they work, select the most effective communication channel or deal in any way with employee behaviour issues, they are leading. In controlling, ‘managers evaluate how well an organisation is achieving its goals and take action to maintain or improve performance’, (Waddell, Devin, Jones, George, 2008, p. 9). Controlling when handled well ensures that the overall direction of individuals and groups are consistent with the short and long term goals of the organisation. It also helps to maintain compliance with essential organisation rules and policies. Fayol (Fayol, 1949, p. 107) stated that controlling purpose was to ‘identify weaknesses and problems such that they can be rectified and reoccurrences prevented’. In identifying and addressing issues quickly the organisation can maintain its productivity whilst also maintaining an optimum work environment. The planning and controlling management functions are closely related, as the planning functions establishes goals, while the controlling function ensure that the goal is being worked towards by all parties involved. Fayol is seen by some as the ‘founding father of management functions’ (Raymond E. Miles, Charles C. Snow, Alan D. Meyer and Henry J. Coleman, Jr. , 1978, p. 556). While some of his principle and functions are no longer appropriate, his core functions have been adapted to modern organisational management issues. Plan, lead, organise and control, may have ‘stood the test of time’ (fell, 2000, p. 45) due to their simplicity and malleability to change with demand for modern management thinking.

Why They Impeached Andrew Johnson an Example by

Why They Impeached Andrew Johnson What pressing problems were facing the nation in 1865? In 1865 the civil war was going strong during this year, and the government was attempting to enforce laws it passed on slavery, while the South was resisting through armed conflict and the stated desire to leave the union. The loss of Lincoln made the possibility of the North losing very real and it was Johnsons responsibility to continue the policies of the party which elected him, even though he did have some sympathy for the Souths point of view, and had close relationships with important Southern leaders. Need essay sample on "Why They Impeached Andrew Johnson" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Why was Andrew Johnson placed on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln? Although he was a slave holder, Johnson remained loyal to the Union and refused to resign as the U.S. Senator from Tennessee when the state seceded at the outbreak of the Civil War. Lincoln selected Johnson for the Vice President slot in 1864 on the "Union Party." to have a Southern man who owned slaves but supported the union. This was expected to strengthen the South states willingness to cooperate with the Union and reluctantly accept federal jurisdiction. His representation of the Souths interests was expected to get more votes for the Union party in the South since people would feel they had true representation at the federal level. How much do I have to pay someone to write my assignment online? Specialists recommend: Entrust Your Essay Paper To Us And Get A+ What was Andrew Johnson greatest weakness? Johnsons close ties with and support for the South was also his greatest weakness. After the war, a series of bitter political quarrels between President Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policy in the South eventually led to his impeachment. How did he antagonize the northern leaders? Who were they? Radical Republicans wanted to enact a sweeping transformation of southern social and economic life, permanently ending the old planter class system, and favored granting freed slaves full-fledged citizenship including voting rights. The Radicals included such notable figures as Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. Most Radicals came to believe whites in an unrepentant South were seeking to somehow preserve the old slavery system under a new guise. New southern state governments were full of ex-Confederates passing repressive labor laws and punitive Black Codes targeting freed slaves. Representatives sent from the South for the 1865 Congress included the former vice president of the Confederacy and numerous lesser known Rebels, but were denied seats in Congress. In 1866, this Congress enacted a Civil Rights Act in response to southern Black Codes. President Johnson vetoed the Act claiming it was an invasion of states' rights and would cause "discord among the races." Congress overrode the veto by a single vote. This support of states rights over federal law, marked the beginning of an escalating power struggle between the President and Congress that would eventually lead to impeachment. In June of 1866, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing civil liberties for both native-born and naturalized Americans and prohibiting any state from depriving citizens of life, liberty, or property, without due process. Johnson opposed the Amendment on the grounds it did not apply to southerners who were without any representation in Congress angering the Radicals. Radicals swept the elections of November 1866, resulting in a two-thirds anti-Johnson majority in both the House and Senate. With this majority, three consecutive vetoes by Johnson were overridden by Congress in 1867, thus passing the Military Reconstruction Act, Command of the Army Act, and Tenure of Office Act against his wishes. The Tenure of Office Act directly led to impeachment proceedings for Johnson since it required the consent of the Senate for the President to remove an officeholder whose appointment had been originally confirmed by the Senate. Johnson sought to oust Radical sympathizer, Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton in violation of the Act and named General Ulysses S. Grant to replace him. However, the Senate refused to confirm Johnson's action. On February 21, 1868, challenging the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson continued his defiance of Congress and named General Lorenzo Thomas as the new Secretary of War and also ordered the military governors to report directly to him. Define: Impeachment. Impeachment is the first of two stages in a specific process for a legislative body to remove a government official without that official's agreement. It is only the legal statement of charges, parallelling an indictment in criminal law. An official who is impeached faces a second legislative vote (whether by the same body or another), which determines conviction, or failure to convict, on the charges embodied by the impeachment. List the charges against Andrew Johnson. The House of Representatives voted impeachment on a party-line vote of 126 to 47 on the vague grounds of "high crimes and misdemeanors," with the specific charges to be drafted by a special committee. The special committee drafted eleven articles of impeachment which were approved a week later. Articles 1-8 charged President Johnson with illegally removing Stanton from office. Article 9 accused Johnson of violating the Command of the Army Act. The last two charged Johnson with libeling Congress through "inflammatory and scandalous harangues." Discuss the outcome of the trial and why he was not removed. The trial in the Senate began on March 5, 1868, with Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. The prosecution was conducted by seven managers from the House. On March 16, a crucial vote occurred on Article 11 concerning Johnson's overall behavior toward Congress which was one vote shy of the necessary two thirds (36 votes out of a total of 54 Senators) needed for conviction. A young Radical Republican named Edmund G. Ross voted "not guilty," effectively ending the impeachment trial. On May 26, two more ballots produced the same 35-19 result. Thus Johnson's impeachment was not upheld by a single vote and he remained in office. In your opinion, should Andrew Johnson have been impeached? Why? Johnson did violate the law of the land at the time, by suspending and appointing two different replacements for the position of war secretary without congresss approval. The Tenure of Office Law was probably unconstitutional since the war secretary position is a presidential appointee in the first place, and not an elected post. While the Congress has the right to approve of disapprove of the appointment it does not have the right to appoint anyone to that office. Thus their insistence on keeping Stanton was de facto a kind of appointment by them, thus illegal. Johnsons mistake was not to go to the Supreme court to challenge Congress. Instead he chose to fight it out himself, opening up an opportunity for the impeachment proceedings to begin. This distracted him from other things which he could have done as President during that period, and the fact impeachment was not upheld probably led to much hard feelings and gridlock for the remainder of his tenure. References Castel, Albert. The Presidency of Andrew Johnson. Lawrence, Kan.: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1979. Ralph W. Haskins, LeRoy P. Graf, and Paul H. Bergeron et al, eds. The Papers of Andrew Johnson 16 volumes; University of Tennessee Press, (1967-2000).

Free Essays on Getting Past No

Summary of Getting Past You and No By: The summary of (0) Introduction Each of us has to face tough negotiation with an irritable spouse, an ornery boss, a rigid salesperson, or a tricky customer. Under stress, even kind, reasonable people turn into angry, intractable opponents. In order to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement in an efficient and amicable fashion, this book introduces us the strategy of breakthrough negotiation. The breakthrough strategy is counterintuitive: it requires us to do the opposite of what we might naturally do in difficult situations. In addition, the essence of the breakthrough strategy is indirect action. Rather than trying to break down opponent's resistance, we make it easier for him to break through it themselves. In short, breakthrough negotiation is the art of letting the other person have our ways. (1) STEP ONE: Don't React Go To The Balcony The first step we need to do in dealing with a difficult person is not to control his behavior but to control our own. Because when we react-a ct without thinking, we usually neglect our interests. "Going to the balcony" means distancing ourselves from our natural impulses and emotions. From the balcony we can calmly evaluate the conflict, think constructively for both sides, and look for a mutually satisfactory way to resolve the problem. One the balcony, the first thing we need to do is figure out our interests. We also need to identify our BATNA- our Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. The agreement must satisfy our interests better than our BATNA could. Our BATNA should be our measuring stick for evaluating any potential agreement. Often we do not even realize we are reacting, because we are too enmeshed in the situation. Therefore, we need to recognize the tactic. Make a mental note when we detect a possible trick or subtle attack. By naming the game, we are able to neutralize it easily. Once we have named the game and stop our immediate re... Free Essays on Getting Past No Free Essays on Getting Past No Summary of Getting Past You and No By: The summary of (0) Introduction Each of us has to face tough negotiation with an irritable spouse, an ornery boss, a rigid salesperson, or a tricky customer. Under stress, even kind, reasonable people turn into angry, intractable opponents. In order to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement in an efficient and amicable fashion, this book introduces us the strategy of breakthrough negotiation. The breakthrough strategy is counterintuitive: it requires us to do the opposite of what we might naturally do in difficult situations. In addition, the essence of the breakthrough strategy is indirect action. Rather than trying to break down opponent's resistance, we make it easier for him to break through it themselves. In short, breakthrough negotiation is the art of letting the other person have our ways. (1) STEP ONE: Don't React Go To The Balcony The first step we need to do in dealing with a difficult person is not to control his behavior but to control our own. Because when we react-a ct without thinking, we usually neglect our interests. "Going to the balcony" means distancing ourselves from our natural impulses and emotions. From the balcony we can calmly evaluate the conflict, think constructively for both sides, and look for a mutually satisfactory way to resolve the problem. One the balcony, the first thing we need to do is figure out our interests. We also need to identify our BATNA- our Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. The agreement must satisfy our interests better than our BATNA could. Our BATNA should be our measuring stick for evaluating any potential agreement. Often we do not even realize we are reacting, because we are too enmeshed in the situation. Therefore, we need to recognize the tactic. Make a mental note when we detect a possible trick or subtle attack. By naming the game, we are able to neutralize it easily. Once we have named the game and stop our immediate re...

The US Federal Minimum Wage

The US Federal Minimum Wage What is the current U.S. federal minimum wage? The answer to that question can be trickier than you might think.While the current US federal minimum wage was last set at $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009, your age, type of employment, even where you live can alter the legal minimum hourly wage your employer is required to pay. What is the  Federal Minimum Wage Law? The federal minimum wage is established by and regulated under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (the FLSA). In its final form, the act applied to industries whose combined employment represented only about one-fifth of the US labor force. In these industries, it banned oppressive child labor and set the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents, and the maximum workweek at 44 hours. Who Must Pay the Federal Minimum Wage? Today, the minimum wage law (the FLSA) applies to employees of enterprises that do at least $500,000 in business a year. It also applies to employees of smaller firms if the employees are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, such as employees who work in transportation or communications or who regularly use the mails or telephones for interstate communications. It also applies to employees of federal, state or local government agencies, hospitals and schools, and it generally applies to domestic workers. Details of the Federal Minimum Wage The following details apply only to the the federal minimum wage, your state may have its own minimum wage rates and laws. In cases where state minimum wage rates differ with the federal rate, the higher minimum wage rate always applies.Current Federal Minimum Wage: $7.25 per hour (as of July 24, 2009) may vary under the following conditions: Younger Workers: If you are under 20 years of age, you may be paid as little as $4.25 per hour during your first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. Students, Apprentices and the Disabled: Certain full-time students, student learners, apprentices, and workers with disabilities may be paid less than the minimum wage under special certificates issued by the US Department of Labor. Workers Who Earn Tips: Employers who allow workers to keep tips must pay a cash minimum wage of at least $2.13 per hour IF they claim a tip credit against their federal minimum wage obligation of $7.25 per hour. In other words, if your tips plus cash wages do not equal at least $7.25 per hour, your employer must make up the difference. Overtime Pay: Federal law requires payment of at least 1-and-1/2 times your regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Child Labor: An employee must be at least 16 years old to work in most non-farm jobs and at least 18 to work in non-farm jobs declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.Persons 14 and 15 years old are allowed to work before or after school in some non-manufacturing, non-mining and non-hazardous jobs IF: They work no more than - 3 hours on a school day or 18 hours in a school week; 8 hours on a non-school day or 40 hours in a non-school week. Work may not begin before 7 a.m. or end after 7 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when evening hours are extended to 9 p.m. Different rules apply in agricultural employment. Other Special Exemptions: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales employees are exempted from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the FLSA, provided they meet certain tests regarding job duties and responsibilities and are compensated on a salary basis. Minimum Wages in the States By law, states are allowed to establish their own minimum wages and regulations. However, anytime the state minimum wage differs from the federal minimum wage, the higher rate applies. For specifics and updates on the minimum wages and regulations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, see: Minimum Wage Laws in the States from the U.S. Department of Labor. Enforcement of the Federal Minimum Wage Law The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor administers and enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act and, thus, the minimum wage with respect to private employment, State and local government employment, and Federal employees of the Library of Congress, U.S. Postal Service, Postal Rate Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The FLSA is enforced by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for employees of other Executive Branch agencies, and by the U.S. Congress for covered employees of the Legislative Branch.Special rules apply to state and local government employment involving fire protection and law enforcement activities, volunteer services, and compensatory time off instead of cash overtime pay.For information on enforcement of state minimum wages and other state labor laws, see: State Labor Offices/State Laws, from the US Department of Labor. To Report Suspected Violations Suspected violations are abuses of federal or state minimum wage laws should be reported directly to District Office of the U.S. Wage and Hour Division nearest you. For addresses and phone numbers, see: Wage and Hour Division District Office LocationsFederal law prohibits discriminating against or discharging workers who file a complaint or participate in any proceedings under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

British Airways Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

British Airways - Personal Statement Example In writing my report I researched a lot and looked up various data that was available to me. Such resources include Internet websites, publications, newspaper articles, press releases, etc. Because of the researching that I did my research skills improved as I learnt where and how to look for information and make use of it. For the research I mainly depended on the Internet, as I was able to find plenty of reliable information there. I chiefly looked into journal articles and press releases so as to make sure that my findings are accurate and that it would allow me to write a proper, well defined and an accurate report. Along with this, my writing skills improved because of the fact that in the presenting of this report I learnt how to be specific and to the point, plus how to write a report that would be appealing to the reader. I learnt the way data should be put together in order to form an attractive summary of my findings. In order to find out about the problems that the British Airways is facing I searched for the issues that concern the company and how they affect it. These issues were first identified and then looked into in detail. They included fuel crisis, terrorism and SARS. Due to the fuel crisis high expenses befell the British Airways and thus it lead to a rise in the costs. Also, there was the terrorism problem that caused trouble. The September 11 attacks lead to decreased air traffic (Crou, 2002) and thus a loss for the British Airways, because the people were no longer so comfortable with the thought of travelling by planes. Also, there was then the Afghanistan invasion which also affected the number of flights in a given time period. Apart from this, the SARS issue created disturbance too as it also adversely influenced the air traffic as people were not ready to travel to the affected areas. To combat such problems the British Airways undertook a number of steps. It can also consider merging of the company with another airway such as the Iberia. In order to lower the costs of travelling, which have escalated due to high fuel prices, the British Airways is creating low weight planes so that they use lesser fuel. Plus, the company can reduce its flights; at least those that do not give enough profits. Other than this, the company brought up the plan of voluntary redundancy (Porter, 2005). British Airways also tried to solve their problems by means of technology (Dobson, 2007). Not all their solutions were successful, as is reported in my project. The lesson is that whatever way they handle a situation, it should be made sure that crisis management is undertaken appropriately and that the problems are solved instead of being augmented. This can be done by going in depth of the issues and maybe employing experts and professionals who would be able to help with providing a us eful solution. The research that I conducted I order to write this report had no ethical issues involved that required my attention. This was due to the fact

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Marketing - Essay Example Now the organization chosen to accomplish the study is McDonalds. In the external analysis the report will also shed light on the factors such as demographics, customers and also the cultural aspect. In the internal analysis section the study will emphasize on the missions and goals of McDonalds, its past marketing activities, human resources and research and development among the others. Furthermore the report will mainly try to uncover the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats of the company. This will be accomplished with the help of a SWOT analysis. McDonalds Australia: A Brief Overview In the Australian context, the first outlet of the company was opened in the suburbs of Sydney which was known as Yagoona. With the course of time the company has been able to establish 780 stores and employs around 85,000 people across Australia. McDonalds Australia is not a listed company and is privately limited. It is basically a franchisee based venture where the restaurants are mo stly owned and opera rated by individual businessman (McDonalds, n.d.). Industry Analysis McDonalds is a retail food chain restaurant and it belongs to the fast food industry. Hence in order to analyze the industry Porter’s 5 forces model has been used. The analysis is presented below:- Porter’s 5 forces 1. Threat of new Entrants New entrants are described as the companies that are presently not competing within the given industry but has the potential to compete in the industry if chooses to do so. The start up of cost for such kind of business is low and there is easy access to the markets. Furthermore owing to the fact that Australia is politically stable and offers much favourable condition, the threat of a new entrant in this industry is high. 2. Threat of substitutes products Substitute products are characterized by the availability of same category products, which performs the same function as the existing product (DePamphilis, 2011, p.143). McDonalds is special ized in serving various types of Burgers to the customers. Nevertheless in this aspect there are many substitute products such as Pizzas, Sandwiches and other fast foods. Hence the threat of substitutes is also high. 3. Bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of the buyer refers to the capability of consumers to bargain and lessen the price of the commodity or to increase the cost of the company by demanding more quality products and services (Hill and Jones, 2012, p.58). Bargaining power depends on how quickly the buyer identifies other sources. In this context there are not many established players like McDonalds, KFC and Subway among others. Hence the bargaining power of buyers is low. 4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Suppliers are also other organizations which provide raw materials, service to the host organization. The bargaining power refers to the capability of the suppliers to increase the price of the raw materials or to decrease the quality of goods and service wi th the supply of substandard quality materials for low price. There are large numbers of suppliers of raw items for fast food industr

Pros and Cons of Obama Care Essay Example for Free

Pros and Cons of Obama Care Essay The Affordable Care Act withstood many trials on its way toward becoming reality, from epic congressional battles, to a pivotal Supreme Court ruling, to — finally — yesterdays Presidential election. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images Obamas reelection means his health-care reform act has dodged its last bullet, and the age of universal mandates, penalty taxes and tax credits will almost certainly go into effect, although probably not exactly as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2014. What do you need to do to get your business ready? (Read more: Warby Parker CEO: Startups Focused on Health-Care Costs, Immigration Reform) Inc. put the question to health-care policy expert Henry J. Aaron, a senior fellow at Washington think tank Brookings Institution. Aaron offered three key ideas for entrepreneurs facing the enormous changes scheduled for health care during Obamas second term. 1. Weigh the Costs The key decision you will face is whether to sponsor a health-care plan, if you dont already have one, or to drop a policy you may have and leave employees to buy insurance on the exchanges themselves. The pros and cons of either route will depend on the size of your payroll, both in people and dollars. Do you have 50 or fewer employees? Then you arent subject to penalties for not providing an employee plan. On the flip side, helping employees pay for insurance affords tax advantages. If you have fewer than 25 full-timers on your payroll and their average pay is less than $50,000, the law affords you a tax credit of up to 35 percent for providing insurance today, rising to 50 percent in 2014. (Read more: Disaster Loans Soar as Businesses Struggle After Sandy) Theres a calculation to be done, said Aaron, if your employees are below the threshold (which tops out at 400 percent of the poverty line) for getting a federal subsidy to buy insurance on their own. In such a case, it might make sense to drop insurance and add the savings to your employees cash compensation. The question you should ask, Aaron said, is, If my employees are going to be eligible for subsidies, why should I leave that money on the table? If you have more than over 50 on staff, its a different story. If just one employee qualifies for insurance subsidies, and you dont provide insurance, that means tax penalties. 2. Check Your States Approach In theory, you should be able to buy insurance for your employees on the new health-insurance exchanges. However, states differ in how they plan to administer the exchanges. If youre running a small business, what prospects you face depend sensitively on where youre doing business, Aaron said. Some states, like Vermont, will take an active role, making sure a broad range of insurance plans will be available on the exchange. Many others leave it to the federal government to run the exchange for individuals and will leave employer-sponsored plans alone. The complexities are likely to create a mini-boom in the services of insurance brokers. Aaron suggest that you are likely to find them even more necessary than they are now in navigating the explosion in new options and rules. 3. Take Your Time Enrollment in the new health-care exchanges wont begin until October 2013 at the earliest. Legal requirements — and the accompanying fees for disobeying them — wont take effect until January 2014. Washington red tape probably could push those dates out even further into the future. Its a complicated bill, and its not drafted in a way to facilitate implementation, said Aaron. Delays could become inevitable and necessary. That might suit many business owners just fine.

I Miss Feeling Uncomfortable :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

I Miss Feeling Uncomfortable Going overseas was indeed one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It has had a lasting impact, an impact I feel every day of my life. After living in Swansea, Wales last year, I had grown accustomed to biking along the Atlantic Coast Bay to class everyday, hiking amongst sheep-littered cliffs, more green than I could imagine, and walking the beach, just a quarter-mile from my dorm, on moonlit nights, contemplating the world and my place in it. However, I had also grown accustomed to days on end without seeing the sun, days without talking to anyone, and daily drenchings from riding an old, rusty bike in the rain, which never seemed to stop. Living such a life, completely out of my comfort zone, not knowing a soul, and not being oriented to my new community, I began to feel very depressed. I questioned why I had come and what I was doing there. I missed my friends, my boyfriend, Dagwood's sandwiches, and driving a car down Kirkwood. I missed feeling comfortable. And the furthe r I sank in this depression, the more compassionate and understanding of the human experience I became. I can now see how someone's emotional state truly affects their outlook on life and how they interact with others on a daily basis. Before this, I honestly had no concept of why people were ever rude, mean, and inconsiderate. Sure, we have all had our bad days, and this can influence how we treat others, but I had never had bad months. And in realizing this, through being depressed from being out of my comfort zone, my capacity for compassion and understanding has grown tremendously. When someone commits an injustice to another human being, instead of so quickly judging them, I slow down and ask, "What is it in their life that is causing them to behave in this way? Where are the feelings stemming from? They must be facing some unhappiness in their life." I can relate on a level I had not known before. This has translated into my job at the Shalom Community Center, and into my dail y life in my interactions with people. It has really affected how I see the world and deepened my understanding of the human experience tremendously. After the first few months of isolation and depression, things did pick up! I began to make new friends who I still keep in contact with, from all over Britain and other exchange students from North America.

Interview Reflection Paper Essay

I did my interview with a relative who we’ll just call â€Å"Sarah† for the remainder of this paper for confidential reasons. Sarah has been struggling with her addiction since the age of 28. She started experimenting with drugs in her late teens. First it was marijuana, all of her friends and even family members were smoking the drug. By the time she reached her earl y 20’s Sarah started experimenting with cocaine which eventually lead to her addiction to crack cocaine. By the time Sarah was addicted to crack cocaine she was already married and a mother of 4, one boy and three girls. Her son was 8 years old and the girls were ages 6, 5, and 3 years old. Her husband was not nor ever was a drug user. He loved her and their children dearly and was trying anything and everything to get Sarah the help that she needed, but at the time Sarah had no interest in receiving any kind of help even after she found out she was pregnant again. Sarah didn’t believe she ha d a problem at the time, however she admitted using the drug multiple times during her pregnancy. Sarah delivered her baby boy in January of 1993. Sarah stated that she tried quitting the drug during her pregnancy and also after she had her baby but struggled, meanwhile her husband was also struggling trying to work and take care of 5 children now. Sarah also stated that on a number of occasions she wouldn’t come home because she was at the â€Å"crack house† with her friends. It got to the point where her husband wouldn’t give her any more money because he knew what she was going to do with it. When Sarah’s funds were cut off she started stealing to support her habit. Sarah admitted to steeling from grocery stores, department stores and even family members including her own husband, she also admitted to prostituting herself for money and/or drugs. This resulted to her being arrested multiple times between 1994 and 1997. In this time frame she also had 2 more children, both boys one born in 1995 and the other 1997. This is when she realized that she had hit rock bottom, she was facing jail time for h er crimes, had 7 children that she did not spend time with and a husband who has just about gave up on her. Sarah was on the verge of losing everything she had left. On October 16th 1997 she was incarcerated for past crimes she had committed, she was sentenced to 1 year in jail and 2 years of probation. During Sarah’s incarceration she went through her detox phase, during the detox phase she was experiencing cravings, anxiety, irritability,  insomnia and depression, she even had thoughts of suicide throughout this process. This process lasted for several months. Sarah stated that this was the hardest part of her incarceration. Looking back Sarah is thankful for having to serve the time because that helped her through her first steps of becoming sober. Part of her probation was her being required to meet with case worker and also having to take random drug test through a program called ZCI for 2 years. As of October 16th 1997 Sarah has remained sober. She now looks back and thinks about everything she put her family through and feels horrible. â€Å"Don’t get me wrong, it is an everyday struggle. I’ve thought about using several times throughout my sobriety, but that’s part of the struggle. I then look back at all the hurt and pain I caused everyone including myself and that’s what keeps me sober†. During this interview Sarah was very emotional, and remorseful. We took 4 breaks within an hour timeframe for her to compose herself. At first I was a little bit sketchy on doing this interview but at the end of the day I am thankful for having to do it because I got on a more personal level with Sarah. Even though I’ve known her all my life I feel like this brought us a little closer, and now she knows that she has someone else to come to if she ever finds herself struggling with her sobriety or any other trials she may be facing. If I was Sarah’s worker I would put her through detoxification process, followed by cognitive behavioral therapy as well as some type of motivational therapy. I would also recommend her to find some type of suppor t system to help her live a drug free productive life.

Teaching Students with Diverse Abilities

Teaching students whose first language is not English is often a challenging task. This essay will focus on a few effective teaching and learning strategies for teaching business studies to second-language learners (ESL learners) in the context of the mainstream classroom. Studies reveal that the negative effects of wrong beliefs about learning are significant (Sawir 2005). However, it has also been suggested that it is possible to intervene in relation to beliefs about learning (Sawir 2005). Hence a clear understanding of belief issues is of paramount importance for teachers. Care should be taken to give speaking and listening skills the appropriate status and these should be backed by comprehensive practical programs (Sawir 2005). Having oral presentations and listening tasks as part of the business studies assessment program can help develop these skills. Krashen and Terrel (1983) suggest using language to transmit messages rather than teaching it explicitly for conscious learning. They use the expression the ‘natural approach’ and claim it is based on the theory that language acquisition occurs when students receive clear instructions in acquiring language proficiency (Webster and Hasari 2009). Therefore, the business studies teacher can introduce new words and concepts within the subject content thereby improving student vocabulary. Four key strategies were considered by the majority of teachers in a study by Facella et al. (2005) as being effective in teaching second-language learners. These included gestures and visual cues; repetition and opportunities for practicing skills; use of objects, real props and hands on materials; and multi-sensory approaches. Thus, giving students real life business case studies to discuss and evaluate is an effective strategy. Taking students out to real businesses and letting them see first-hand how a business operates can also be useful. Rice et al. (2004) argue that the use of visuals and demonstrations are often the primary source of information for ESL learners and suggests the use of outcome-based objectives against which students can assess their own progress. They also advocate the modulation of lesson objectives to each student’s level of language acquisition. The belief is that repeating demonstrations and instructions facilitate student learning. Hence, teachers should endeavour to demonstrate procedures, provide illustrations and diagrams before students commence research projects, as opposed to providing students with only written instructions. In addition, when forming groups, members should ideally be bilingual, strong in commerce and business studies and be willing to work with limited-English proficient students (Sutman et al. 1993). Sheltered instruction is another effective strategy for teaching second-language students. It refers to a research-based instructional framework that provides clear and accessible content and academic language to ESL learners (Hansen-Thomas 2008). Features of sheltered instruction include use of cooperative learning activities with appropriately designed heterogeneous grouping of students, a focus on academic language as well as key content vocabulary, careful use of the student's first language as a tool to provide comprehensibility, use of hands-on activities using authentic materials, demonstrations, and modeling and explicit teaching and implementation of learning strategies (Hansen-Thomas 2008). Sheltered classes can be team-taught by an ESL teacher and a content-area teacher or taught by a content-area specialist trained in sheltered instruction. ESL mentoring is another effective strategy to help teachers of second-language students. It is â€Å"a means of fostering stronger connections among the teaching staff, leading to a more positive and cohesive learning environment for students† (Brewster and Railsback 2001). One of the goals of the ESL mentor is to assist the teacher in learning how the school identifies ESL students. Furthermore, a teacher needs to know some basic background information such as where the student is from, how long the student has been in the country and the student's stage of language development. The guidance of an ESL mentor can help a teacher understand his/her ESL students quickly and prevent possible problems later in the year (Mittica 2003). The ESL mentor can also provide training on accommodations and alternate forms of assessment. The ESL mentor can assist the teacher to set achievable goals for ESL students at the beginning of the semester. In teaching ESL students, success is not always measured on a report card. Therefore, teachers have to be guided to observe his/her ESL students closely by focusing on issues such as the progress demonstrated by the student over time and by observing to see if the student is more comfortable participating in class and asking questions (Mittica 2003). Above all, ESL mentors can provide a â€Å"vision of students as capable individuals for whom limited English proficiency does not signify a lack of academic skills and does not represent an incurable situation† (Walqui, 1999 in Mittica, 2003). ESL mentors can guide mainstream teachers in discovering his/her students' strengths and to celebrate multicultural education (Mittica 2003). By fully involving mainstream classroom teachers in the education of ESL students, these students will be more likely to achieve success a nd adjust to their lives in a new country (Mittica 2003). (ii)  Teachers need to work in partnership with parents and the wider community to help educate students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This essay will discuss some strategies for developing such partnerships. Several researchers have documented the challenges associated with school, family, and community partnerships. Rubin and Abrego (2004) suggests that parents are not involved with their children's learning because of cultural and communication barriers, confusion with education jargon, feelings of inferiority, inhibition, inadequacy, or failure, lack of understanding of the school system, staff's lack of appreciation of the student's culture or language and parents' previous negative experiences or feelings toward schools. Other researchers who examined the success factors in school-parents-community relationship found an open and trusting communication between teachers and parents as critical (Obeidat and Al-Hassan 2009). Parents and schools should communicate regularly and clearly about information important to student success (NCPIE). This can be accomplished through newsletters, handbooks, parent-teacher conferences, open houses, as well as home visits, and email. Translations should be made available, if needed, to ensure non-English speaking parents are fully informed. Researchers believe that personal contact whether by telephone or in person is usually the best way to promote two-way communication (NCPIE). Schools can also form partnerships with community and faith-based organizations to engage families from diverse cultural backgrounds who often do not feel comfortable in school (NCPIE). Conferences, meetings and informal get-togethers can take place outside the school building, such as at a faith-based or community center. Once again Interpreters should be provided as needed. Attitude is another potential success factor for developing partnerships with parents. A survey of more than 400 parents of high school students in the USA revealed that their attitudes toward their children's schools were positively influenced by the efforts the school made to promote partnerships with them (Obeidat & Al-Hassan 2009). Parents are more likely to come to the school if school personnel encourage them to be volunteers and participate in decision making (Sanders et al. 1999). School factors, specifically those that are relational in nature, have a significant impact on parents' involvement. When school staff engage in a caring and trusting relationship with parents and view parents as partners in the education of their children it enhance parents' desire to be involved and influence how they participate in their children's educational development. Schools should create an environment that welcomes participation (NCPIE). Signs that greet families warmly at the school door, the central office, and the classroom should be in the languages spoken by the community. A school-based family resource center providing information, links to social services, and opportunities for informal meetings with staff and other families also contributes to a family-friendly atmosphere (NCPIE). Schools should also provide professional development opportunities for teachers and other staff in the cultural and community values and practices that are common to their students and their families (NCPIE). Strengthening the school-family partnership with professional development for all school staff as well as parents and other family members is an essential investment that can help foster lasting partnerships with parents and the community at large (NCPIE). In their 1997 study, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler identified two key factors influencing parental involvement. They were an inviting climate at school, which refers to the frequency that schools actually invite parents to be involved in their children's schools and parents' perceptions of being welcome at school. Epstein (1995) identified six general types of activities that can help parents, schools, and communities come together to support children's education: parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. Epstein (1995) says that partnership programs should draw on each of these elements and that programs should take into account the unique character of the local community and the needs of its students and families. Martin et al. (1999) in their studies identified key characteristics of effective partnerships between schools, parents and the community these included; inclusiveness, recognizing social as well as academic goals, raising expectations through education achievement, involving local people in decision-making and democratic participation and active citizenship. Hence, schools need to focus on developing these areas to grow positive relationships. The use of service learning can be a useful strategy for this purpose. Serve learning is more than just community service. It involves a blending of service activities with the academic curriculum in order to address real community needs while students learn through active engagement (Lynass 2005). The service needs to be closely linked to the curriculum as possible with an emphasis on students applying the skills they are learning (Lynass 2005). Service learning will benefit students, teachers and the community concurrently. It allows teachers and students to connect with and benefit their surrounding communities while integrating this learning back into their curriculum (Lynass 2005). In conclusion, it is essential for schools to develop strong relationships with parents and the community to successfully educate students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This essay has identified a few strategies to develop such partnerships.

Free Essays on Popul Vuh

The Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh are Hunahpu and Xpalanque, the sons and nephew of two other ill-fated twins.The story begins long before their illustrious appearance. It tells of the three other creations before this one. Each previous world was destroyed because of grave faults in their characters. The older twins, Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, were ballplayers called down to Xibalba by the Lords of Death because they were making too much noise with their ball playing. The lords challenge the twins to a game which they have no intention of losing. They defeat the twins by cheating and then sacrifice them. One head was buried under the ball court and the other was hung from the calabash tree as a warning not to offend the Lords of Xibalba. The daughter of one of the lords is fascinated by this head on the tree and goes for a closer look. The head tells her to stretch out her hand and he spits into her palm, magically impregnating her. Learning of her condition, the lords order her s acrifice but she convinces the executioner to release her and she escapes to the Middle world where she seeks out her mother-in-law. After initial skepticism, the mother-in-law takes her in and she gives birth to the Hero Twins.The twins do not know of their identity; instead they believe that they are farmers and after many adventures, they find out that they are ballplayers. They retrieve their father's gear which the grandmother had hidden and take up ball playing. Surely enough, they disturb the lords and are called to answer for their indiscretion, but unlike their ancestors, they outwit the lords. The first trial was to keep a torch and two cigars lit all night in the Dark House. They trick the lords by putting fire flies on the tips of the cigars and passing off a macaw tail as the flame of the torch. The following day the twins play ball against the lords and allow themselves to lose. That night, they have a second challenge and the following days an... Free Essays on Popul Vuh Free Essays on Popul Vuh The Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh are Hunahpu and Xpalanque, the sons and nephew of two other ill-fated twins.The story begins long before their illustrious appearance. It tells of the three other creations before this one. Each previous world was destroyed because of grave faults in their characters. The older twins, Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, were ballplayers called down to Xibalba by the Lords of Death because they were making too much noise with their ball playing. The lords challenge the twins to a game which they have no intention of losing. They defeat the twins by cheating and then sacrifice them. One head was buried under the ball court and the other was hung from the calabash tree as a warning not to offend the Lords of Xibalba. The daughter of one of the lords is fascinated by this head on the tree and goes for a closer look. The head tells her to stretch out her hand and he spits into her palm, magically impregnating her. Learning of her condition, the lords order her s acrifice but she convinces the executioner to release her and she escapes to the Middle world where she seeks out her mother-in-law. After initial skepticism, the mother-in-law takes her in and she gives birth to the Hero Twins.The twins do not know of their identity; instead they believe that they are farmers and after many adventures, they find out that they are ballplayers. They retrieve their father's gear which the grandmother had hidden and take up ball playing. Surely enough, they disturb the lords and are called to answer for their indiscretion, but unlike their ancestors, they outwit the lords. The first trial was to keep a torch and two cigars lit all night in the Dark House. They trick the lords by putting fire flies on the tips of the cigars and passing off a macaw tail as the flame of the torch. The following day the twins play ball against the lords and allow themselves to lose. That night, they have a second challenge and the following days an...

Indifference Curve Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indifference Curve - Essay Example The list of indifference curves associated with different utility level is called an Indifference Map. The rational consumer prefers the higher or right most, Indifference curve, since they represent combinations of goods providing higher utility levels. The slope of the indifference curve is called the marginal rate of substitution. It is the rate at which consumers are willing to give up one good in exchange for more of the other good. For most goods the marginal rate of substitution is not constant so their indifference curves are curved. Indifference curves are typically assumed to have the following features: Today's Economy is market driven where customer is the king. The market price is determined by forces of 'Demand and Supply'. To excel in the market, the firms must asses the demand of the customer. Consumer theory uses indifference curves and budget constraints to produce consumer demand curves. A budget constraint shows the consumer's purchase opportunities as every combination of two goods that can be bought at given prices using a given amount of income. Consumer's optimal combination of goods to consume is the amount that maximizes his utility subject to his/her budget constraint.

Cloud Security and Privacy Issues Research Paper - 1

Cloud Security and Privacy Issues - Research Paper Example As a result of this technology, computing efficiency has been increased by offering centralized storage of data. On the whole, cloud computing security is thus the application of all the sets of policies and controls in order to protect data and this should not be confused with the available security software’s that are cloud based. Without cloud computing the web server will run as a single computer or a group of owned computers hence they will be powerful enough to serve a given amount of request per minute and with a certain amount of latency per request. This paper critically presents an elaborate discussion on cloud security and privacy issues from a wide perspective. Security and Privacy With the intention to make sure that data is secure and that its privacy is well maintained, cloud providers focus on the following areas. The first area is data protection. In order to be considered protected, data from one client are correctly separated from that of the other (Brandau & Tempest, 189). In that sense; data must be securely stored, and must be capable to move steadily from one point to the other. Identity management is the other area of consideration. Every business is entitled to a private system of identity management in order to manage access to computing resources and information. Companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are the pioneer in using cloud computing technology. Just like any form of technology, cloud security contains reasonable share of confronts ranging from government intervention in foreign countries and attacks from hackers and they have been able to rise up from these challenges by securing and encrypting their servers through the SLL technologies and upgrading of their firewalls. With the support of stable operating systems like UNIX Google has been able to secure its E-mail system. With the flexibility and fixing of the security loopholes, cloud computing technology has proven to be a great success. Discussion: Cloud Secu rity and Privacy Issues In the event when an organization adapts to cloud computing technology, it implies that the organization users will be using one server power. In one way or the other, this greatly helps in conserving the computer power and diverse applications can be offered for the users and managed under the cloud server (Chakraborty, Remireddy, Raghu & Rao, 10). This is a clear implication that the client does not require going to the extent of downloading and installing the application on the computer system, but all the procedures will be stored and managed under the cloud server. With reference to different statistics, cloud computing model guarantees ease and on require network entree to a distributed pool of resources that are configurable (Brandau & Tempest, 184). For example; servers, networks, storage device application, and service can swiftly process with negligible management effort. By means of cloud computing, all this work is accomplished without the awarene ss of the end user on the physical location of the system that is delivering him with the service (John & Grier, 2). For this reason the phrase cloud computing is related with processing work from an identified static place. The Cloud Computing Architecture A more detailed module of the computing architecture is known as the back end and the front end. While the front end is the section that the customers or computer users can observe and it comprises the nodes and applications on the system. These are the elements which allow the user to achieve access to the internet through the end user interface from his personal system.

Guadalcanal Battle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Guadalcanal Battle - Essay Example After the victory at ‘Battle of Midway’ American forces started planning for recapturing of Pacific Islands from Japanese. The first event in this direction was the Guadalcanal battle. The use of islands, like Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida in Southern Solomon by Japanese forces was proving a major threat to supply routes between USA, Australia and New Zealand. The battle began for the sole purpose of ensuring safety for these routes.There was difference of opinion in Japan over the importance of this island. While many army officers thought it better to manage the existing and over-stretched empire, the other faction wanted further territorial expansion. This could be a reason for the Japanese lacking the will to counter allied attacks at Guadalcanal. Leading the attack on August 07, 1942, allied forces expected stiff resistance from Japanese army, but the tactical combined approach by allied forces took the other side by complete surprise and they did not find any res istance from Japanese. This boosted the will of allied forces to head for all-out victory. Although the rough climate and weather caused communication and operational problems for Americans, there was no fighting on the island for almost 24 hours, after the attack. However, the following days   witnessed severe fighting as Japanese cruiser force attack eventually threw the Allied forces out of the reach of the crucial Guadalcanal airfield.Such disarray within Japanese forces was the major element for American victory.... The rough terrain faced by Japanese was another factor for the American victory, as Japanese forces were down with fatigue and could not prove their mettle in counter-offensive attacks. Such disarray within Japanese forces was the major element for American victory. (The Battle of Guadalcanal) Lessons learnt The lessons from this battle have relevance to current defense preparations by the US. Various defense studies have reinforced the fact that America cannot afford to neglect events in the Pacific region, if the country has to safeguard its economic and security interests. With China increasing its military might and economic hold on world trade, the importance of Pacific region is still high on the American defense agenda. The challenges posed by many nations towards ‘anti-access’ or ‘area –denial’ strategies for Americans still pose threats to the country’s security. These causes lead to the battle of Guadalcanal, forcing Americans to reca pture strategic Pacific islands from Japan, during world war. They are important even today. (Holzer) Logistics of the area remains a challenge, irrespective of the development of modern weaponry with latest technology. Supply routes are vulnerable even today. The time and distance involved with any military operations in the area has relevance even today, as the forces need to access the rough vast terrain of the region. The lessons learnt by marines and sailors during Guadalcanal battle have been relevant for all the following campaigns in Pacific region. The policy changes for Asia-pacific, including military strategies have been influenced by such lessons, being relevant for Marine and Naval Corps in 2012, as well. (Holzer) Examples of intelligence failures Command and control

Managing a Telecom Project Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Managing a Telecom Project - Term Paper Example The company requires updating the cloud systems, integrating billing operations to the existing financial systems and provision of training to the staff of the company in a way that the new services can be utilized successfully and proficiently (IBM, 2014). There are certain requirements of the company regarding the completion of the project i-e the project should be completed within six (6) months of its inception. Moreover, the project has to be managed by a team of seven (7) members. The document presents a project management methodology to be adopted in order to achieve the project objectives along with its selection rationale. The document further discusses utilization of the agile project management for project deliverables. The document contains a description of the human resources required to complete the project, along with their qualifications and experience. In order to identify the scope of the project, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is developed in the document. The document provides details of the WBS in which each activity / task identified in the WBS for the project is assigned human resources, cost and time. Moreover, in order to monitor the progress of the project, the monitoring and controlling processes of the project management are utilized and the same is presented in the document. In order to deliver a defect free project, an appropriate quality plan is included in the document – a project management report of managing the new teleco m service based on the cloud technology. It is pertinent to specify that a project plan containing the Gantt chart is developed to support the theories presented in this document. Currently, there are two (2) major project management standards include: the Project in Controlled Environment (PRINCE2) and Project Management for Professionals (PMP), Project Management Institute (PMI). However, in

Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius

Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Introduction STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The absence of youth in the Mauritian political system is quite alarming but still no statement is being made about it. The total number of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% are aged from 18-29 years old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at present our National Assembly does not have a single member in the above age group (p.10 ). There is no available data about the voting frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor are there disaggregated statistics about the voting behaviour of males and females. Data on neither the formal nor informal political engagement of youth could be obtained at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It becomes hence clear that there is a lack of research on this issue either because of an unrealised phenomenon or a taken for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an unimportant one. However, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of t he UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World Youth Report 2003, p. 271): â€Å"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifetime; it is condemned to bleed to death.† The only hint that could be obtained about the topic in the Mauritian Context is a mini research which appeared as an article on one page (p.9) in L Express Newspaper 04th August 2009 entitled: â€Å"Jeune et Politique: LImpossible Alliance†. The mini-research was carried out by Dr. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. â€Å"En labsence dà ©tudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens†, she has conducted a mini-research using a focus group of 10 youth at UoM and she has distributed 30 questionnaires among youngsters (15- 27 years old). However, she adds that â€Å"cette à ©tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mà ©rite de constituer un petit barometre de là ©tat desprit de la jeunesse.† At this stage, following the ontological assumptions are made: Why are these young people absent from politics? Is it because of a change in lifecycle? Have they become disengaged? If, so to what extent are they disengaged? Why have they become disengaged? Have they found other forms of political participation with social change? Are they not being given adequate political space? On taking the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the research are given to these questions. (Source: G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20) HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH Young people do not have time for politics because of a change in lifecycle. Young people have found some other forms of political participation. Young people have negative attitudes towards politics and politicians. Young people are disengaged because politicians do not care about their needs and demands. Politicians/elders are not giving political space to young people. At this point, the aims and objectives become clearer. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The double objectives of the research are to: To know young peoples desires and needs concerning society. Identify measures to introduce some changes in youth towards politics and vice versa. In order to reach these main objectives, the research aims to: Explore the level of formal political participation among young people. Explore the level of informal political participation among young people. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the disengagement of the young people about politics and try to find convenient actions to apply. ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS The next step which follows as can be seen in the diagram is the theoretical assumptions which help in verifying the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the research. The theoretical framework is also the base of the research which establishes working definitions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the methodology can be found throughout the whole dissertation while Chapter 3 has been devoted mainly to the methods used to extract information. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I also come up with some recommendations. A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF YOUTH AND POLITICS IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES The vast majority of reading on youth participation in politics shows that there has been a steady decline in youth political participation in many democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003; ONeill 2007). In almost every election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are continuously declining(Putnam 2000; Kimberlee 2002; Gauthier 2003; Pammett and Leduc 2003). Youth membership of political parties is also dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfrican countries have a majority of youth population, African parliaments have less than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In fact, research such as Putnam (2000), Kimberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007)provide clear indication that the more recent generations are less likely to engage in politics than were previous generations of the same age. The ‘generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will never reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies indicate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow older, and that consequently the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive generation of political participants (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, all these have to be tested. Hence, most important is to identify working definitions of terms on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms ‘Youth and ‘Politics have to be established. PARAMETER OF THE TERM ‘YOUTH USED Both the first and second Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) define youth as persons aged â€Å"between 14 and 29 living in the Republic of Mauritius†. Thus for the purpose of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old. ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICS The definition of politics is confined to what Randall (1987) identified as forms of political participation which are as follows: → Voting Voting is sometimes understood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. Marsh and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) find it as a unique type of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very often and is very much biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. → Other Conventional Forms Of Participation According to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their candidates, membership of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) find that women participate less men when it comes to this form of participation. → Less Conventional Politics Randall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on direct tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women ‘come into their own and their participation is as significant as that of men. These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the exploratory purpose of the research. While Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was purposely chosen since it also deals about womens participation for each form. Hence with the ‘gender variable, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To explain the identified disengagement of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have classified under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research: Social change; Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people. EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICS A. Social Change ONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a new form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialising and they are unlike traditional social networks that require face-to-face contact. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the attractiveness of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to divert from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct voluntary services. However in a study conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested. B. Adults attitudes and actions Conventional ‘wisdom dictates that young people are ‘less knowledgeable, ‘ignorant, ‘apathetic, ‘indifferent, ‘alienated, ‘disaffected and ‘disinterested when it comes to politics (Eden et al. 2002; OToole et al. 2003; Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the view that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and even boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth only want to have fun and politics appear dull to them. Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the right to participate in protest marches when such activities take place during class hours. C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young People Pammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as ‘out of touch, ‘untrustworthy, ‘self-interested, ‘irrelevant and ‘power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003; Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Bennett, 1997). They are very critical and quickly recognize when politicians lie or when they try to speak on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image problem (Edwards, 2001). Many young people feel that they are not heard by politicians and that they ultimately cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002; Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002; O Toole et al. 2003; Keeter 2003; Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their daily lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and large percentage of young people believe that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997). Youth have fewer resources for political participation because of ‘lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more preoccupied with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974; Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live. After having established the body of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variables of the research which could at the same time be presented as some ‘unique traits of the Mauritian Politics. TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH A. Gender Imbalance From Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observed that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elected while in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the General Elections were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded only 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as best-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has increased from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% goal set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror representation, group representation and interest representation and Chiroro (2005) highlighted t hat Mauritius totally fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 General Elections is yet to be known. B. Ethinicised Politics In Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 additional seats allocated to the Best Losers among the non-elected. The latter seats are allocated on the basis of ethnic membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Thai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the minority groups (Addison et al 1993). Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not only according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This might be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant. C. Youth Political Engagement/Disengagement TABLE 1: CALCULATED AVERAGE AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUS ELECTION 11TH SEPTEMBER 2000 ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005 MPs 2005 BY 28th FEBRUARY 2010 MEAN AGE 47 49 Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5). MODAL AGE 39 51 MEDIAN AGE 47 51 % OF YOUTH AS DEFINED AS PER THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY (2 à · 66) ÃŽ § 100 = 3.03% (2 d.p) 0% To be able to acquire this data, I have gathered and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elections could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the above table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it becomes necessary to gather primary data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to: → Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. → Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. → Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. → Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current situation of the topic in the Mauritian context. → Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of further testing in future research. → To fill in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology. A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS STAGE 1: OBSERVATION It is well known that in Mauritius the SU is much linked to political parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students Union (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on 19th October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an opportunity to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics. PLANNING THE OBSERVATION A. Type of Observation TYPE OF OBSERVATION WHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATION REASON Non participant Everything that could be seen, heard and felt. Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some information was not easily disclosed to me. Thus everything that could be seen, heard and felt was noted down. Moreover, 2 interviews were carried out with people involved in the campaign. B. Instruments Used For Observation INSTRUMENTS USED PURPOSE/S Diary To write fresh, valid, reliable and vivid data on the spot. Camera Photographs were taken in case particular aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they could be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible. Myself Human Intrument Since the senses have to be used in observation and the researcher exerts some sort of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process. STAGE 2: INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVES For the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all. It is to be noted that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous. INTERVIEWEES OBJECTIVES 1 Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed). In order, not to be gender biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a gender comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this particular setting. Unstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities. 2 Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign). 3 Naveena Ramyad (female) former member in the MMM Youth Wing[5] and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010. Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a ‘key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was found to be most convenient. 4 Devanand Ritoo the current Minister of Youth and Sports. Structured questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as: 1. An senior politician, 2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party, 3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports. PLANNING THE INTERVIEWS The interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape recorder was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, body languages and tones. Hence face validity could be checked out on the spot. Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of mostly all Mauritians. This was done with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to talk as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My role as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered. However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The lacunas are: It was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but why the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use. STAGE 3: QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD AND ITS OBJECTIVES Concepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and statements in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this ‘disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, some questions related to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from subjective to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main advantage of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings. For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A copy of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6. THE TYPES OF QUESTION USED Since each question/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question found to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questions: OPEN-ENDED QUESTION CLOSED-ENDED QUESTION Likert-type Dichotomous Partially closed question Multiple choice Ranking THE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH Only concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus ‘gender was used as variable for all questions while the ‘ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature. The survey does not intend to compare younger and mature youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy which has already been established in the previous chapter. DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODS: A. What does this Sample Frame represent? Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the sample. The reasons for this were that: → All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. → The students also come from all over the island and thus the sample englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy â€Å"residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds† but this should not be confused with the variable being used. → Since the students of UoM were observed during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the sample, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations. The sampling frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 faculties, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to fill in questionnaires in each faculty. B. Sample Size The sample size set for the survey was as follows: MALE FEMALE FOE 35 35 FOA 35 35 FSSH 35 35 FLM 35 35 FOS 35 35 TOTAL 175 175 350 Since some questionnaires were rejected due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is reduced to the following: MALE FEMALE FOE 31 34 FOA 35 33 FSSH 33 35 FLM 35 34 FOS 34 35 TOTAL 168 171 339 Hence the sample size considered for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings. C. Sampling Methods A combination of probability sampling (cluster sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons. 1) Quota Sampling Quota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 questionnaires were filled through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows: → Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, → The faculty to which they belong, → Sex, → Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, → If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately. Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and collected by myself. This exercise was done with several objectives: → It avoids the loss of questionnaires by respondents. → Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. → A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, clarity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). → Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be observed on the site of research. → It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one. 2) Cluster/ Area Sampling: With a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be tiresome and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started undertaking the quota sampling Cluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 questionnaires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. Permission was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAI Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Introduction STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The absence of youth in the Mauritian political system is quite alarming but still no statement is being made about it. The total number of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% are aged from 18-29 years old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at present our National Assembly does not have a single member in the above age group (p.10 ). There is no available data about the voting frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor are there disaggregated statistics about the voting behaviour of males and females. Data on neither the formal nor informal political engagement of youth could be obtained at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It becomes hence clear that there is a lack of research on this issue either because of an unrealised phenomenon or a taken for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an unimportant one. However, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of t he UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World Youth Report 2003, p. 271): â€Å"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifetime; it is condemned to bleed to death.† The only hint that could be obtained about the topic in the Mauritian Context is a mini research which appeared as an article on one page (p.9) in L Express Newspaper 04th August 2009 entitled: â€Å"Jeune et Politique: LImpossible Alliance†. The mini-research was carried out by Dr. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. â€Å"En labsence dà ©tudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens†, she has conducted a mini-research using a focus group of 10 youth at UoM and she has distributed 30 questionnaires among youngsters (15- 27 years old). However, she adds that â€Å"cette à ©tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mà ©rite de constituer un petit barometre de là ©tat desprit de la jeunesse.† At this stage, following the ontological assumptions are made: Why are these young people absent from politics? Is it because of a change in lifecycle? Have they become disengaged? If, so to what extent are they disengaged? Why have they become disengaged? Have they found other forms of political participation with social change? Are they not being given adequate political space? On taking the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the research are given to these questions. (Source: G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20) HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH Young people do not have time for politics because of a change in lifecycle. Young people have found some other forms of political participation. Young people have negative attitudes towards politics and politicians. Young people are disengaged because politicians do not care about their needs and demands. Politicians/elders are not giving political space to young people. At this point, the aims and objectives become clearer. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The double objectives of the research are to: To know young peoples desires and needs concerning society. Identify measures to introduce some changes in youth towards politics and vice versa. In order to reach these main objectives, the research aims to: Explore the level of formal political participation among young people. Explore the level of informal political participation among young people. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the disengagement of the young people about politics and try to find convenient actions to apply. ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS The next step which follows as can be seen in the diagram is the theoretical assumptions which help in verifying the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the research. The theoretical framework is also the base of the research which establishes working definitions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the methodology can be found throughout the whole dissertation while Chapter 3 has been devoted mainly to the methods used to extract information. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I also come up with some recommendations. A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF YOUTH AND POLITICS IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES The vast majority of reading on youth participation in politics shows that there has been a steady decline in youth political participation in many democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003; ONeill 2007). In almost every election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are continuously declining(Putnam 2000; Kimberlee 2002; Gauthier 2003; Pammett and Leduc 2003). Youth membership of political parties is also dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfrican countries have a majority of youth population, African parliaments have less than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In fact, research such as Putnam (2000), Kimberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007)provide clear indication that the more recent generations are less likely to engage in politics than were previous generations of the same age. The ‘generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will never reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies indicate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow older, and that consequently the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive generation of political participants (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, all these have to be tested. Hence, most important is to identify working definitions of terms on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms ‘Youth and ‘Politics have to be established. PARAMETER OF THE TERM ‘YOUTH USED Both the first and second Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) define youth as persons aged â€Å"between 14 and 29 living in the Republic of Mauritius†. Thus for the purpose of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old. ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICS The definition of politics is confined to what Randall (1987) identified as forms of political participation which are as follows: → Voting Voting is sometimes understood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. Marsh and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) find it as a unique type of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very often and is very much biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. → Other Conventional Forms Of Participation According to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their candidates, membership of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) find that women participate less men when it comes to this form of participation. → Less Conventional Politics Randall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on direct tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women ‘come into their own and their participation is as significant as that of men. These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the exploratory purpose of the research. While Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was purposely chosen since it also deals about womens participation for each form. Hence with the ‘gender variable, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To explain the identified disengagement of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have classified under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research: Social change; Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people. EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICS A. Social Change ONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a new form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialising and they are unlike traditional social networks that require face-to-face contact. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the attractiveness of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to divert from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct voluntary services. However in a study conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested. B. Adults attitudes and actions Conventional ‘wisdom dictates that young people are ‘less knowledgeable, ‘ignorant, ‘apathetic, ‘indifferent, ‘alienated, ‘disaffected and ‘disinterested when it comes to politics (Eden et al. 2002; OToole et al. 2003; Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the view that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and even boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth only want to have fun and politics appear dull to them. Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the right to participate in protest marches when such activities take place during class hours. C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young People Pammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as ‘out of touch, ‘untrustworthy, ‘self-interested, ‘irrelevant and ‘power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003; Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Bennett, 1997). They are very critical and quickly recognize when politicians lie or when they try to speak on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image problem (Edwards, 2001). Many young people feel that they are not heard by politicians and that they ultimately cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002; Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002; O Toole et al. 2003; Keeter 2003; Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their daily lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and large percentage of young people believe that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997). Youth have fewer resources for political participation because of ‘lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more preoccupied with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974; Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live. After having established the body of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variables of the research which could at the same time be presented as some ‘unique traits of the Mauritian Politics. TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH A. Gender Imbalance From Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observed that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elected while in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the General Elections were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded only 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as best-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has increased from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% goal set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror representation, group representation and interest representation and Chiroro (2005) highlighted t hat Mauritius totally fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 General Elections is yet to be known. B. Ethinicised Politics In Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 additional seats allocated to the Best Losers among the non-elected. The latter seats are allocated on the basis of ethnic membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Thai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the minority groups (Addison et al 1993). Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not only according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This might be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant. C. Youth Political Engagement/Disengagement TABLE 1: CALCULATED AVERAGE AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUS ELECTION 11TH SEPTEMBER 2000 ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005 MPs 2005 BY 28th FEBRUARY 2010 MEAN AGE 47 49 Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5). MODAL AGE 39 51 MEDIAN AGE 47 51 % OF YOUTH AS DEFINED AS PER THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY (2 à · 66) ÃŽ § 100 = 3.03% (2 d.p) 0% To be able to acquire this data, I have gathered and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elections could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the above table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it becomes necessary to gather primary data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to: → Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. → Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. → Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. → Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current situation of the topic in the Mauritian context. → Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of further testing in future research. → To fill in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology. A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS STAGE 1: OBSERVATION It is well known that in Mauritius the SU is much linked to political parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students Union (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on 19th October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an opportunity to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics. PLANNING THE OBSERVATION A. Type of Observation TYPE OF OBSERVATION WHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATION REASON Non participant Everything that could be seen, heard and felt. Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some information was not easily disclosed to me. Thus everything that could be seen, heard and felt was noted down. Moreover, 2 interviews were carried out with people involved in the campaign. B. Instruments Used For Observation INSTRUMENTS USED PURPOSE/S Diary To write fresh, valid, reliable and vivid data on the spot. Camera Photographs were taken in case particular aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they could be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible. Myself Human Intrument Since the senses have to be used in observation and the researcher exerts some sort of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process. STAGE 2: INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVES For the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all. It is to be noted that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous. INTERVIEWEES OBJECTIVES 1 Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed). In order, not to be gender biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a gender comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this particular setting. Unstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities. 2 Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign). 3 Naveena Ramyad (female) former member in the MMM Youth Wing[5] and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010. Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a ‘key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was found to be most convenient. 4 Devanand Ritoo the current Minister of Youth and Sports. Structured questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as: 1. An senior politician, 2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party, 3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports. PLANNING THE INTERVIEWS The interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape recorder was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, body languages and tones. Hence face validity could be checked out on the spot. Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of mostly all Mauritians. This was done with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to talk as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My role as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered. However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The lacunas are: It was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but why the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use. STAGE 3: QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD AND ITS OBJECTIVES Concepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and statements in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this ‘disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, some questions related to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from subjective to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main advantage of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings. For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A copy of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6. THE TYPES OF QUESTION USED Since each question/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question found to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questions: OPEN-ENDED QUESTION CLOSED-ENDED QUESTION Likert-type Dichotomous Partially closed question Multiple choice Ranking THE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH Only concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus ‘gender was used as variable for all questions while the ‘ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature. The survey does not intend to compare younger and mature youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy which has already been established in the previous chapter. DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODS: A. What does this Sample Frame represent? Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the sample. The reasons for this were that: → All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. → The students also come from all over the island and thus the sample englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy â€Å"residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds† but this should not be confused with the variable being used. → Since the students of UoM were observed during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the sample, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations. The sampling frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 faculties, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to fill in questionnaires in each faculty. B. Sample Size The sample size set for the survey was as follows: MALE FEMALE FOE 35 35 FOA 35 35 FSSH 35 35 FLM 35 35 FOS 35 35 TOTAL 175 175 350 Since some questionnaires were rejected due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is reduced to the following: MALE FEMALE FOE 31 34 FOA 35 33 FSSH 33 35 FLM 35 34 FOS 34 35 TOTAL 168 171 339 Hence the sample size considered for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings. C. Sampling Methods A combination of probability sampling (cluster sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons. 1) Quota Sampling Quota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 questionnaires were filled through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows: → Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, → The faculty to which they belong, → Sex, → Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, → If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately. Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and collected by myself. This exercise was done with several objectives: → It avoids the loss of questionnaires by respondents. → Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. → A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, clarity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). → Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be observed on the site of research. → It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one. 2) Cluster/ Area Sampling: With a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be tiresome and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started undertaking the quota sampling Cluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 questionnaires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. Permission was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAI