The Impact of E Commerce on Small Business Essays - E-commerce

The Impact of E Commerce on Small Business Impact of E-Commerce on Small Firms have factor that has influenced the processes of adoption and use of e-commerce in both small and medium enterprises and industries. Small scales firms that have adopted and have used e-commerce have taken into account not only the technological part and organisational aspects of implementation but also the strong user's o the web sites with their own skills, attitude towards work, enthusiasm and fear of technology. Whereas on the other side of the story, the majority number of consumers have to pace with and effectively use the services offered through internet by enterprises. Thus to carry out a successful relationship and transactions between consumers and firms, they not only have to exchange money and products but also information and mutual trust. E-commerce has been simply defined as a use of electronic range of networks to simplify, resolve, improve and pace up the various stages and processes of business like buying and selling and delivery of goods and services. E-commerce's prime driver is Internet which presents an hierarchical framework. The use of websites for small scales enterprises can create a major impact and global presence when compared to other Medias. The web are defined with no geographical boundaries or national boundaries but rather by the coverage of computer networks which offers widened access to different markets for small scales and micro enterprises. Small scale industries find more competitive markets and intense pressures with their limited resources and manpower and mainly of weaker market power. Due to this SME'S had to undergo pressure to co operate more into networks to spread information, develop costs and risks. Small scale industries are amongst the last ones to benefit from the new technology and are happily excited about the widened opportunities increased through internet and E-commerce. Internet Web Spending includes capital and operation incurred expenses to build and support new systems of web based. Small enterprises sell both to businesses and consumers though a majority share is been sold to consumers than businesses. Internet offers an access to wide range of goods and services that small scale industries are interested in and help them in their competitive field. It includes tools that small firms can use to enhance and flourish their businesses, reach new customers and maximize customer relationships. The basics must haves in internet usage of SME'S should be email, specialized industry/ professional information and product information. Email is to contact the same for urther relationship and to resolve any query. Professional information should be displayed as to stand out in the competitive market and showcase the goodwill of the enterprise and product information does creates an impact of the benefits it offers compared to other products and services. The final frontier is to reach the customers through the media created by Ecommerce. They are as follows: Creating a web site - The main state is the creation of a web site. The web site creation is a tedious process as it involves of thinking process and building up a website, its content, designing, security measures, all take in a lot of engineering. Once the website is created, we are ready to do business. Banner exchange/ showcasing advertisements on other websites - Once the web site creation part is completed, the focus comes on the advertising part which makes it to publicize the website on other websites and social sites for example, google ads, facebook ads, and etc. These are useful as they have a far reaching impact on state and national as well as global level. They are so effective that they can dig out customers from any corner of the earth, given that technology is available. Management tools for web sites - After the completion of the website, the management tools take in place such as that of the server, security and antivirus measures and many more. These are essential part of the tools and parts of the web site management. Visitors counting - There is a space on the website which when visited by a person, displays his visit number and the total number of members who have visited. This informs us the number of times the web site has been visited and successful of the

Short Story Advice

Short Story Advice Short Story Advice

What Is Net Worth Complete Guide

What Is Net Worth Complete Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’ve ever analyzed your personal finances, you may have come across the term â€Å"net worth.† Simply put, your net worth is what you have minus what you owe. While net worth is a useful way to evaluate your financial situation, it also has some major flaws. Let’s define the concept of net worth, and then look at some key adjustments you can make to assess your finances and plan for the future even better. What Is Net Worth? A Hard Definition You just read a simple definition of net worth: what you have minus what you owe. Let’s rename â€Å"what you have† as assets and â€Å"what you owe† as liabilities. Let’s say your major asset is a $10 lemonade stand. Your major liability? The $4 you owe to your mom for sugar and lemons. Overall, your net worth is $6. Not bad for a 7-year-old budding entrepreneur. Twenty-five years later, your assets and liabilities probably look a little different. You lost the lemonade stand, but you collected other assets, like a savings and checking account, a car, a sweet road bike, and several rare Beanie Babies that you had the foresight to save. While you’ve paid off that $4 debt to mom, you’ve amassed some other liabilities: namely a hefty car loan and an even heftier student loan. Your net worth is the total value of all your assets minus the total value of all your liabilities. Using this example, let’s break down the steps to calculating your net worth. Calculating Net Worth: An Example Considering our 32-year-old friend who, sadly, did not grow up to run a lemonade stand empire (let’s call him Joe) we can list out all his assets and liabilities. Next to each one, we assign their current market worth. All of Joe’s assets together add up to $27,000. Again, these values represent the current market worth; who knows what the volatile Beanie Baby market is going to look like tomorrow? His liabilities total $35,000. The chart below shows the breakdown of Joe’s assets and liabilities beside their current values. Assets Current Market Worth Liabilities Current Market Worth Checking account $2,000 Car loan $5,000 Savings account $6,500 Student loan $30,000 Car $15,000 Road bike $1,000 Beanie Babies $2,500 Total: $27,000 $35,000 Net worth = assets - liabilities = $27,000 - $35,000 = - $8,000 After subtracting his liabilities from his assets, Joe is left with a negative net worth totaling $8,000 in debt. While ending up with a negative net worth isn’t ideal, it’s not actually unusual or even necessarily a bad thing, especially at certain points in life. In fact, Joe looks like he’s in a pretty good financial spot, especially if he keeps making consistent payments toward his car and student loans. So how can you calculate your own net worth? Read on for each step of the process. How to Calculate Your Net Worth: 6 Steps To calculate your own net worth, you need to go through the same process as Joe. There are six steps: Step 1: List Out All of Your Assets These could be tangible things like houses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, land, pleasure yachts, baseball cards, rare coin collections, Basquiat paintings, fur stoles, gemstone-encrusted goblets...you know, the usual. They could also be intangibles, like stocks or other investments. Step 2: Determine Current Market Worth Once you’ve identified your assets, determine their current market worth. Don’t value your car at the amount for which you bought it, for example. Instead, find out what you could sell it for now. Step 3: List All Your Liabilities These could be student loans, personal loans, car loans, mortgages, or credit card debt that you amassed paying for all those pleasure yachts. Step 4: Determine Your Debts As you did with your assets, assign the amount of money that you currently owe to each liability. Step 5: Subtract Assets from Liabilities Figuring out your net worth is a simple subtraction problem: total value of assets minus total value of liabilities. Then you have your net worth! If you end up with a negative net worth like our friend Joe, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Lots of recent graduates, for instance, will be in this position thanks to ever-growing student loans. Your net worth doesn’t account for changes in your earning and spending over time, which is one of its major limitations. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of net worth in more detail below, so if you’re only interested in the hard definition of net worth, you should stop reading here. If you want to know how to make a more realistic assessment of your finances in both the short and long term, though, then you should keep scrolling. Before getting deeper into net worth, a quick note about my background in finance and economics. My Background in Finance and Economics I’ve invested my higher educational life to studying the ins and outs of economics. At Harvard, I got my Bachelor’s in Math, Master’s in Statistics, and Ph.D. in Economics. Eager to put theory to good use, I started a personal finance circle in my community to help struggling neighbors get on the path to financial independence. Along the way, I’ve deftly managed my business PrepScholar’s cash flow and my own personal finances. For many of us, school teaches us a lot about critical thinking, but very little about how to manage our money. With my background, I sincerely hope to assist others in developing solid financial planning skills. Now that you know a little about me, let’s return to the topic at hand: net worth, why it’s a useful metric for understanding your personal finances, and where it falls short. Why Is Net Worth Useful? 2 Main Reasons Calculating your net worth is a traditional approach to measuring your financial standing. It’s relatively easy to calculate, and it shows you the balance between your assets and your debts. If you calculate your net worth several times throughout the year, then it also suggests a pattern in your financial worth. Let’s take a closer look at the two main uses for this framework of net worth. Reason #1: Net Worth Reveals Your Current Financial Standing Net worth gives you a big picture view of your financial profile at a specific point in time. It makes you take stock of what you have and what you owe. If you were to sell off everything you owned and put it all toward paying off what you owe, you’d have your net worth left over- whether it’s cash in your pocket or remaining debt. Realistically, you’re probably not going to trade in all of your earthly positions, move into a log cabin, and pull a Henry David Thoreau, but you do know what your safety net looks like if you were to experience a big financial change, like getting laid off. Calculating net worth gets you to identify your assets and liabilities, connect the dots between them, and understand your financial standing at a particular moment in time. Reason #2: Net Worth Shows Patterns Over Time A one-time calculation of net worth only tells you about the present, but comparing your net worth over time reveals patterns in your earning, saving, and spending. If you were to determine your net worth three times over a year, then you could see how it changes. Imagine your net worth as a see-saw with assets at one end and liabilities at the other. If the see-saw tilts down toward debts, then you can consider ways to level it off over time, perhaps by reducing your monthly spending. If it’s starting on the upswing toward assets, then you can strategize about how to keep that progress going. By calculating your net worth several times over a set period, you can identify patterns in your finances. As a result, you can think about lifestyle changes that would help you yield a higher net worth the next time you sit down with your calculator. All that being said, there are also some major flaws in the concept of net worth. It contains some big blind spots, and it’s important to know what these are so you don’t miss the forest for the trees. Read on to learn how net worth paints the big picture, but overlooks some of its most important details. How Is Net Worth Limited? 3 Major Flaws The idea of net worth misses a few major parts of your life. When it talks about assets and liabilities, for instance, it misses a pretty major one: you! Net worth completely overlooks all the money that you’re making and spending now and in the future. By focusing solely on assets and liabilities, it fails to take into account the human element. Net worth also doesn’t distinguish between types of assets. Some assets get more valuable over time, while others are like a slowly sinking pleasure yacht. Let’s take a closer look at net worth’s three major flaws, and then discuss some excellent ways to fix them. Flaw #1: Net Worth Misses One Huge Asset Don’t take it personally, but net worth completely overlooks you as an asset. It focuses on things that you possess, but it ignores your labor income now and in the future. Let’s say you make $30K a year. If you maintain that income, then you’ll bring in $300K over the next ten years. Realistically, you’ll probably bring in even more as your skills, experience, and earning potential grow over time. Net worth overlooks all of this income. Consider a second example. Alex has $10k saved and no debt. Britney, though, is $100K in debt. According to the traditional net worth definition, Britney is in a way worse financial position than Alex. However, Alex makes $20K a year, while Britney, who’s in debt because she went to medical school, just got a guaranteed $200K per year job! It’s Britney, ultimately, who’s in the superior financial position. The traditional net worth formula, though, doesn’t show it. For many people, especially those in their 20s and 30s, labor income is their primary asset and thus the most important metric when analyzing personal finances. I don’t have a wide array of tangible assets, like a collection of antique motorcycles or Renaissance art. My human capital is, by far, the most relevant asset when assessing my financial standing. If I only used the traditional equation of net worth to measure my finances, I would be overlooking my most important asset. Flaw #2: Net Worth Doesn’t Include Baseline Spending Just as net worth ignores you as an asset, it also overlooks you as a liability (no offense). Your basic consumption- groceries, shopping, climbing gym membership- accounts for major drains on your budget. If you need $20k of baseline spending per year, then you’ll be spending $200k over ten years. Like your income, your basic consumption has a huge influence on your finances. Net worth takes into account big liabilities, like mortgages, student loans, and credit card debts, but it doesn’t acknowledge smaller ones that add up over time. It doesn’t incorporate your baseline spending, which might be a much more relevant metric to lots of people than, say, a bulky mortgage on a farmhouse in upstate New York. Flaw #3: Net Worth Doesn’t Distinguish Between Types of Assets Finally, net worth is a static measure that doesn’t account for the fluctuating values of your assets. Let’s say you have a $20K yacht and $20K in a stock index. When calculating your net worth, these two assets look exactly the same. If you sold everything off that day, both would give you $20K each in your pocket. If you’re trying to make a realistic and forward-thinking assessment of your finances, though, should these two assets really be considered on an equal level? I would answer with a hard no. The boat costs $4K a year to maintain. Your investment is likely to get $1K or more in returns. Since it’s sapping money and losing value over time, the boat is a consumption asset. The investment, on the other hand, is a productive asset. Distinguishing between consumption and productive assets is one way to fix this flaw in the net worth system. Read on for a full breakdown of how to calculate net worth in a way that’s more realistic and useful for your long-term planning. How to Calculate Your Net Worth Better Now that I’ve exposed net worth’s flaws, let’s talk solutions. There are two main adjustments you can make to improve this assessment, the â€Å"Total Net Asset† fix and the â€Å"Productive Net Worth† fix. Let’s look at both in more detail. Fix #1: Total Net Asset Fix As you read above, the standard analysis overlooks you completely. It doesn’t account for the two largest levers to improve yourself: increasing your earning power and decreasing your spending habit, two important topics that I’ll explore in other articles. To fix this oversight, you should estimate the next 10 years of your earnings and baseline spending. Ten years is long enough to give you a good idea of your finances, while short enough that you can make a realistic prediction. If you make somewhere in the range of $40K a year, then you could estimate that your income over the next ten years will add up to $400K. If your annual baseline spending adds up to $20K, then you’ll be spending at least $200K over the next decade. Of course, changes in your income and spending will happen; that’s the whole point. This long-term projection lets you take control of your personal and professional choices, because it reveals just how much a raise in salary or cut in spending could affect your long-term net worth. The Total Net Asset fix gives you better insight into your finances, and it lets you think in a more forward-thinking way about your choices. You can play around with a few estimates to see how changes, both small and big, could increase your worth over time. Fix #2: Productive Net Worth Fix The second solution, which I’m calling the Productive Net Worth fix, helps distinguish between productive assets that gain value over time and consumption assets that lose value over time. I would suggest a somewhat radical departure from the traditional net worth equation. Instead of counting all of your assets, only count your productive assets. These might be money in your bank accounts, cash, stocks, and any investment properties. The consumption assets you’d leave out include a house, car, or boat. The way you use these consumption assets on a day-to-day basis (to live, drive, or throw lavish pirate-themed parties, respectively) is their primary value. Since they both cost money and depreciate over time, they should be left out of the net worth equation. (Side note: you might wonder if a house should be counted as a productive asset. Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, gives a convincing argument on the house-as-liability side. According to Kiyosaki, a liability is â€Å"anything that takes money out of your pocket.† Because of all the upkeep and repairs they require, houses can often be considered a consumption, rather than a productive, asset.) Now that we’ve gone over both adjustments, the Total Net Asset and Productive Net Worth fix, let’s put both of them together to see how you can make the most realistic assessment of your financial worth both now and in the years to come. Measuring Net Worth: A More Realistic Assessment Let’s bid farewell to Joe and consider a new exemplar, Stacy. Stacy has a $20K car, $10K in savings, a $5K student loan, and a $1K personal loan. Here’s her list of assets and liabilities alongside their current market values: Assets Current Market Value Liabilities Current Market Value Car $20,000 Student loan $5,000 Savings $10,000 Personal loan $1,000 Total: $30,000 $6,000 Using the traditional calculation, Stacy has a net worth of $24,000 ($30K - $6K). Based purely on the hard definition of net worth, Stacy could theoretically raise her net worth by upgrading her car. Since we now know that a car is a consumption asset that both costs money and loses value over time, this approach would be a questionable one. The traditional definition of net worth is trying to lead Stacy astray! Let’s fix that. Using our Productive Net Worth fix, let’s eliminate the car completely from our assessment. Then we’ll apply the Total Net Asset fix and add in Stacy’s projected income and baseline spending over the next ten years. We estimate that her income will be $300K, and her spending will add up to $200K. Assets Current Market Value Liabilities Current Market Value Savings $10,000 Student loan $5,000 Projected income $300,000 Personal loan $1,000 Projected baseline spending $200,000 Total: $310,000 $206,000 Stacy’s new net worth over 10 years is $104K. Rather than giving her a one time balance of her assets and liabilities, this â€Å"fixed† net worth assessment helps Stacy figure out her finances over the long-term while incorporating her most important asset and liability, her own labor income and spending. With this estimate, Stacy can begin to think more realistically about her long-term value and how to improve her position. What can she do to yield a net worth higher than $104K over the next ten years? Some strategies for increasing net worth over the long-term are all fodder for another article, but a few key ones include, Improving her earning potential through education and skills training, Making cuts to baseline costs, Eliminating debts, and Avoiding the purchase of consumption assets. Sorry, Stacy, but you probably shouldn’t buy that state-of-the-art Jetski with your current balance of $24K; it’s only going to eat away at your long-term net worth. In closing, let’s review the key points you need to remember about net worth, its traditional definition, and the adjustments you can make to get an even more realistic assessment of your long-term financial profile. Calculating Your Net Worth: What You Need to Remember The concept of net worth helps you balance your assets and debts and evaluate your financial standing. The traditional formula has you simply subtract the sum of your debts from the sum of your assets. While this approach has some uses, it’s not nuanced enough to truly help individuals with their personal finances. Nor does it apply to lots of people whose primary asset is their own labor income. In fact, the net worth formula is a vestige of corporate accounting and much more relevant to businesses than to you or me. By making a few adjustments- namely, by estimating future cash flow and distinguishing between consumption and productive assets- we can make the net worth formula work much better for us. Then we can use this analysis to inform our financial choices. Rather than solely looking at little-picture changes, like cutting out morning lattes at Starbucks, we can focus on big-picture changes that have a great long-term effect, e.g. increasing our earning potential with a new degree, paying off high-interest credit card debt, and resisting the urge to buy a boat. With a couple key fixes to the traditional formula of net worth, we can look outside the present moment and gain a long-term idea of our economic worth. The result? Smart financial choices now that will benefit us substantially in years to come.

International Business and Global Strategy Coursework

International Business and Global Strategy - Coursework Example Electrolux gains the position of the world leader through the process of continuous innovation rendered in the products and processes of production. The activity of spontaneous innovation is practiced in the company however keeping an eye on changing consumer needs. Electrolux group operates based on popular brands like Electrolux, Eureka, AEG and Frigidaire. A current estimate released in 2010 reflects that the group recorded total sales of electronic products amounting to 106 billion in Swedish currency and a total number of human resources of 52,000 people (Electrolux, 2011). Company’s mission statement The mission of Electrolux as a company working on innovation and consumer needs is to help make life easier, enjoyable and innovative through the production of specialised products dedicated to such ends. The company in regards to its internal environment focuses on rendering respect and honour to the issues pertaining to workplace diversity and also in making the work envir onment bind on ethical regulations. Integrity being rated high on the company’s mission and value statement the company also works in creating a safer and sustainable work environment for its people. The above aspects help in enhancing the motivation of the people to work more productively in the innovative and empowered work atmosphere. Electrolux in addition to the above aspects also works in rendering both financial and infrastructural help to the larger social communities both regional and international and also in regards to helping the employees for their financial and other needs (Electrolux-a, n.d.). Company’s business-level and corporate-level strategy Business Level Strategy Speaking on Electrolux’s strategy at the business or tactical level it is worth mentioning that the company conducts a large amount of market research along different global regions to understand the changes in the level of consumer needs. This practice helps the company in designi ng its products accordingly to help meet local, regional and international consumer tastes. Again the company working on the aspect of innovation also focuses in keeping the cost of manufacturing of the products low to help gain competitive advantage. Thus the business strategy focuses on production of around 55 percent of its different products in such regions of the world having large availability of resources thus helping in keeping the costs of manufacturing low. Corporate Level Strategy The Corporate Level strategy of the company renders a bird’s eye view to the strategic activities carried out by the company in the tactical level. The management body of the company works to render salient characteristics to the product mix of the company by enhancing the parameters of innovation thus helping the consumers save on energy consumption. Innovative designs are rendered to the products by the company to help carve out a premium brand amidst the other international electronic brands in the global marketplace. Strategies like acquiring and consolidating other small electronic companies in different regions also

Tort law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Tort law - Essay Example Therefore, duty is an essential element in to establish negligence. The claimant must prove that the defendant had failed to carry out the minimum standard of care in performing his duty. It is also important to prove that the claim for damages had arisen out of that failure to perform such duty. In addition, it has to be proved that the defendant was duty bound to exercise care towards the claimant2. In order, to establish a duty of care, three requirements have to be fulfilled. First, some foreseeable damage should have been caused to the claimant. Second, there should be a closer relationship between the claimant and the defendant that establishes a duty of care. Third, such relationship should be just and reasonable in imposing a duty on the defendant3. The doctrine of duty of care was first developed in Donoghue v Stevenson4. Since then this concept remained unchanged, until the 1970 case of Dorset Yacht v Home Office. In that case, it was held that a duty of care was present, if the damage was predictable5. In Donoghue v Stevenson, the plaintiff’s friend ordered a ginger beer. After she had consumed a portion of the drink, she noticed the remains of a rotten and decomposed snail in the beer. Donoghue fell ill on account of having consumed the contaminated beer, and brought a suit against the defendant, who was the manufacturer of the ginger beer6. Their Lordships opined that the plaintiff had legal grounds for her claim under the existing law. This decision was a landmark decision and became a legal principle in countries following common law. This decision constitutes the basis for the modern legal principles relating to product liability of manufacturers. This principle has been established as tort of negligence in tort law, and applies to all civil wrongs and claims7. In Capro v Dickman an economic loss transpired, on account of the negligent statement made by the defendant.

The Anarchiste in Walden Two by Skinner Essay -- Psychology

In this time we must fully realize the true origins of our society, not the so called â€Å"party line† they feed us. True, while few of us find sanctuary in hidden places, what place is there for we strangelings? Is absolute equality truly a good idea? In our new world, our Walden Two, we are taught from an early age to behave, to conform. From our glass cages at birth, to our debuts at age seven, to our eventual marriages, all we do is in the name of a peaceful, simple existence. We are taught that anger is not allowed, faith in God is not allowed, anything harmful is forbidden! I ask of you, is this truly a life, much less, a life worth living? Now life was not always like this. Life used to be full of emotions, both dark and light. Pain and suffering were not to be avoided, but embraced. Can we really create true art through the same emotions again and again? Can we have unique lives if, like our sheep, we only follow what the prior generation and the one ere that tells us what is and what is not? Shall we continue to spread out our message, this ‘true’ message of peace and simplicity? In our origins we survived alongside the old ways; we meant to keep ourselves separate. We were taught how to survive, how to function as the Waldenites taught us, alongside the supposedly troubled outside world. Our world knows not the beauty any longer that the old one held. We are base, functional creatures, only doing what we are told to in hopes of reward, in a hope of praise. However, if that is not given, do we really care? Is there a point in keeping our society as such, much less spreading this tale of peace and love and harmony? How this worked, none of us know. Did we slowly overtake the old ways? Did Frazier’s... ...on of the Anarchiste, we believe that man must feel pain, must know himself before others, must know his own pain and suffering to truly live. To reason out all of this jumbled mess; their utopia, their dreamland, is in essence flawed. The basis they reasoned from, while, in essence true, was poorly executed. The only end that a utopia can come to is disaster. Espicially in this, their Walden, where the individual is ignored and distroyed in favour of the greater good. Is this greater good, this ease of living worth the sacrafice of small bits of oneself? We, the Anarchiste stand by the fact that no, it is not, nor shall it ever be so. Pain and suffering are the basis of life, they are the measure by which we know we are truly alive, and more so, above the sheep in our pasture, the cattle in our dairy. Rebel, refuse, this drab non-life! Viva la Anarchiste! The Anarchiste in Walden Two by Skinner Essay -- Psychology In this time we must fully realize the true origins of our society, not the so called â€Å"party line† they feed us. True, while few of us find sanctuary in hidden places, what place is there for we strangelings? Is absolute equality truly a good idea? In our new world, our Walden Two, we are taught from an early age to behave, to conform. From our glass cages at birth, to our debuts at age seven, to our eventual marriages, all we do is in the name of a peaceful, simple existence. We are taught that anger is not allowed, faith in God is not allowed, anything harmful is forbidden! I ask of you, is this truly a life, much less, a life worth living? Now life was not always like this. Life used to be full of emotions, both dark and light. Pain and suffering were not to be avoided, but embraced. Can we really create true art through the same emotions again and again? Can we have unique lives if, like our sheep, we only follow what the prior generation and the one ere that tells us what is and what is not? Shall we continue to spread out our message, this ‘true’ message of peace and simplicity? In our origins we survived alongside the old ways; we meant to keep ourselves separate. We were taught how to survive, how to function as the Waldenites taught us, alongside the supposedly troubled outside world. Our world knows not the beauty any longer that the old one held. We are base, functional creatures, only doing what we are told to in hopes of reward, in a hope of praise. However, if that is not given, do we really care? Is there a point in keeping our society as such, much less spreading this tale of peace and love and harmony? How this worked, none of us know. Did we slowly overtake the old ways? Did Frazier’s... ...on of the Anarchiste, we believe that man must feel pain, must know himself before others, must know his own pain and suffering to truly live. To reason out all of this jumbled mess; their utopia, their dreamland, is in essence flawed. The basis they reasoned from, while, in essence true, was poorly executed. The only end that a utopia can come to is disaster. Espicially in this, their Walden, where the individual is ignored and distroyed in favour of the greater good. Is this greater good, this ease of living worth the sacrafice of small bits of oneself? We, the Anarchiste stand by the fact that no, it is not, nor shall it ever be so. Pain and suffering are the basis of life, they are the measure by which we know we are truly alive, and more so, above the sheep in our pasture, the cattle in our dairy. Rebel, refuse, this drab non-life! Viva la Anarchiste!

Factors Affecting Hidden Curriculum Essay

The concept of hidden curriculum stems from the ideas of John Dewey (1859-1952), notably his concept of â€Å"collateral learning† (Combleth, 1984). The hidden curriculum comprises values, modes of behavior, beliefs, and skills that students learn at school but which are not taught through official channels (Combleth, 1984; Myles, 2001). Researchers and theorists have identified both positive and negative effects of hidden curriculum, ranging from more success in the working world due to competitive environments at school (Wren, 1999), to reinforcing the socioeconomic status into which the students were born (Anyon, 1980), to undermining intellectual development (Combleth, 1984). Because these effects are so pronounced, attention must be paid to recognizing those elements of the learning environment which impact hidden curriculum. This paper examines eight of these factors: teacher expectations, definitions of acceptable classroom behavior, teacher questioning techniques, school culture, segmentation of the school day, tracking, curricular inconsistencies, and gender bias. Teachers’ expectations of their students, in terms of critical thinking skills, undoubtedly play a role in hidden curriculum. Anyon (1980) examined five fifth grade classes in schools of varying demographics. She found that, in schools comprised of students from working-class families, teachers expected nothing more than rote memorization of facts. In schools serving students from middle-class families, teachers expected students to be able to re-explain concepts in their own words. Teachers working with students from upper-class families, however, emphasized critical thinking. Anyon (1984) concluded her study by remarking that the different expectations in these schools reinforce the expectations of the social class into which these children were born. Different teachers have different rules regarding what constitutes acceptable classroom behavior, and these guidelines affect hidden curriculum. In her study, Anyon (1984) also considered classroom behavior. She found that students from upper-class schools were generally allowed to make their own decisions about how best to accomplish their work: they could leave the room when they needed to, they were allowed to get any supplies they needed for themselves, and they were encouraged to ask questions. Through their guidelines for classroom behavior, teachers in these schools emphasized that students were in charge of their own destiny and must decide for themselves their best course of action (Anyon, 1984). One of the negative consequences of the hidden curriculum noted by Wren (1999) and Combleth (1984) is that students often blindly accept what is being taught in the official curriculum. Some students, then, are not learning how to question what is being taught, how to look for inconsistencies in theories, and how to think for themselves. This consequence can result from how teachers ask questions. Questions that require one-word answers would tend to place value on rote memorization of facts and the acceptance of the teacher and textbook as â€Å"authority. † Questions that require short answers responses or questions framed as â€Å"why do you think†¦Ã¢â‚¬  would encourage students to think for themselves and engage with the material in a meaningful way. Wren (1999) remarked that school culture has a powerful influence on the hidden curriculum. For the purposes of his study, he defined culture as the values and symbols that have an effect on students’ and educators’ perceptions of the school environment (p. 593). This culture is manifest in the traditions and rituals of the school that are passed down from generation to generation: pep rallies, graduation ceremonies, the school motto, school policies, yearbooks, school newspapers, and faculty handbooks, to name but a few. Wren did not examine the effect of school culture on hidden curriculum; rather, he encouraged educators to take note of the presence, or absence, of traditions in their own school and encouraged them to appraise the meanings they imparted on the school community. Loporchio (2007) provided an interesting perspective on the yearbook process in particular, mentioning many elements that affect hidden curriculum: the socialization process between teachers and students outside of the classroom, representations of the entire student body or just a select few individuals, and extracurricular activities and their value. Combleth (1984) mentioned the segmentation of the school day – with supposedly separate subjects being assigned fixed time periods – as one of the factors affecting hidden curriculum. Though Combleth did not expand on this comment, one could argue that separating subjects as they are traditionally done leads to a compartmentalization of knowledge. Skills and ideas learned in one class are not necessarily used in another. Though this manner of scheduling is convenient, students are not encouraged to draw links between what they learn in different classes, for example links between historical events and trends in literature. In his book devoted to the subject of tracking and the hidden curriculum, Rosenbaum (1976) argued that tracking is the element that most strongly affects hidden curriculum. Based on their placement in various tracks, students create friends, become involved in extracurricular activities, participate in different types of field trips, and are perceived differently by staff and students. In the same vein, Combleth (1984) claimed that schools, even though purporting to provide equal opportunity for all students, actually convey the message that some students are more equal than others through their tracking procedures. Curricular inconsistencies can also contribute to hidden curriculum. Combleth (1984) gave an example of a hypothetical text book that highlights freedom of speech as a defining characteristic of political democracy and yet ignores or disparages activities of modern dissenters (p. 30). This text book sends conflicting messages to the students: Is freedom of speech and the resultant ability to take issue with prevailing hegemonies a value to be lauded or to be denigrated? Chapman (n. d. ) provided many examples of behaviors and objects that reveal gender bias in education: dividing students by gender; praising girls for being neat and quiet; praising boys for thinking independently; regarding assertive behavior from girls as disruptive; using textbooks with gender bias, and interacting with students differently based on their gender, to name but a few. In all of these instances, teachers and administrators send the message that girls and boys are treated differently, that certain behaviors are not appropriate for girls (or boys), and that girls are unequal to boys. The socialization process is thereby reinforcing gender stereotypes that society at large has striven to eliminate. These eight factors affecting hidden curriculum touch on different elements of the educational system ranging from classroom experiences and interactions between students and teachers to how administrators set up school scheduling and policy. Teachers and administrators must examine the hidden curriculum particular to their school. Are students being encouraged to live up to their potential? Are societal biases related to gender and socioeconomic status being questioned or reinforced? Are students being prepared for the work environments of their future?