Essay --

The History of Water PipesThe earliest known evidence of a pipe being use for plumbing was found in Mesopotamia it is estimated to have been made around 3000 BC. The pipes were made from clay mixed with short lengths of straw. This was the first suit of pipe to be utilise to transport water from different places. Both brass and copper pipes have been found in Egypt believed to have been constructed close to 2500 BC. The Romans used lead pipes, extensive use of lead pipe by joining sheets of lead into piping to carry their water supply and waste. Two millennia ago the ancient Romans made use of large aqueducts to transport water from higher elevations by building the aqueducts in graduated segments that allowed gravity to push the water a farseeing until it reached its conclusion later using them same idea in lead pipes building them under ground . Cast iron and ductile iron pipe was long and a lower costing alternative to copper before the advent of durable plastic materials but special non conductive fittings must be used where transitions argon to be made to other aluminiferous pipes, except for terminal and universal fittings, in order to avoid corrosion owing to electrochemical reactions (reactions from word picture to air) between dissimilar metals see galvanic cell Hundreds of these were built throughout Europe and overseas and along with flour mills were considered the lifeline of the Roman Empire. The Chinese also made use of aqueducts and pipe systems for public works. The famous Han Dynasty court ordered in 145 AD that the engineer to construct a serial of pipe networks and square pallet chain pumps outside the capital city of Luoyang. These chain pumps delivered water and waste around the city quiet and easy at a cheap cost, serviced t... ...cting the lead itself. What often causes confusion is the large amount of evidence of widespread lead poisoning, particularly amongst those who would have had easy access to piped water. This was an unde rprivileged result of lead being used in cookware and as an additive to processed food and drink, such as a preservative in wine. Roman lead pipe inscriptions provided information on the owner to prevent water theft.Cast iron and ductile iron pipe was long a lower-cost alternative to copper, before the advent of durable plastic materials but special non-conductive fittings must be used where transitions are to be made to other metallic pipes, except for terminal fittings, in order to avoid corrosion owing to electrochemical reactions between dissimilar metals see cell. Bronze fittings and short pipe segments are commonly used in combination with various materials.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Essay example -- Biographies Presidents Papers

John Fitzgerald KennedyJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy 35th chairman of the United States, the youngestperson ever to be elected electric chair. He was also the beginning Roman Catholicpresident and the first president to be natural in the 20th century.Kennedy was assassinated before he completed his third family as president.Therefore his achievements were limited. Nevertheless, his influence wasworldwide, and his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis may have preventedwar. Young people especially liked him. No other president was so popular.He brought to the presidency an awareness of the cultural and historicaltraditions of the United States. Because Kennedy expressed the values of20th-century America, his presidency was important beyond its politicalachievements. John Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He wasthe second of nine children.Kennedy announced his candidacy early in 1960. By the time the DemocraticNational Convention opened in July, he had won seven primary vi ctories. Hismost important had been in West Virginia, where he proved that a RomanCatholic could win in a predominantly Protestant state.When the convention opened, it appeared that Kennedys only seriouschallenge for the nomination would come from the Senate majority leader,Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. However, Johnson was strong only amongSouthern delegates. Kennedy won the nomination on the first ballot and thenpersuaded Johnson to become his running mate.Two weeks later the Republicans nominated Vice President Richard Nixon forpresident and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., who was embassador to the UnitedNations and whom Kennedy had defeated for the Senate in 1952, for vicepresident. In the fast-paced campaign th... ...approached an underpass, two shots were fired in rapidsuccession. One bullet passed through the presidents neck and struckGovernor Connally in the back. The other bullet struck the president in thehead. Kennedy fell forward, and his car sped to Parkland Hospital. At 100PM , he was pronounced dead. He had never regained consciousness.Less than two hours after the shooting, aboard the presidential plane atthe Dallas airport, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the thirty-sixth president ofthe United States.That afternoon, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was employed in the warehouse, wasarrested in a Dallas movie theater and charged with the murder.On November 24 the body of President Kennedy was carried on a horse-drawncarriage from the White House to the Rotunda of the Capitol. Hundreds ofthousands of people filed past the coffin of the slain president.

AleÅ¡ Hrdlička (March 29, 1869 - September 5, 1943) :: Essays Papers

Ale Hrdlika (March 29, 1869 - September 5, 1943)Ale Ferdinand Hrdlika was born to Maximilian and Karolina (Wajnerov or Wagner) Hrdlika on March 29, 1869, in Humpolec, Bohemia, which is now Czechoslovakia (Gillispie, 527). His father was a respected master cabinetmaker who owned his own shop. The oldest of seven children, Hrdlika attended local schools and received private tutoring in Latin and Greek from Ludolfa Pejoch, a Jesuitical priest who was attracted by the boys abilities (James, 371). He left high school in 1882 at the tender age of fourteen, to emigrate with his father to sassy York City, where the other members of his family later joined them (James, 371). Once in America, Hrdlika went to work with his father as a laborer in a cigar factory to help result to the family income. He attended the evening courses to learn English and to gain himself a high school equivalency diploma (Gillispie, 527). A serious attack of typhoid pyrexia at the age of 19 altered the course o f Hrdlikas life drastically. It is said that his attending physician, a trustee of the Eclectic Medical College in natural York, became interested in Hrdlika and persuaded him to undertake the study of medicine at the college. Graduating at the head of his class in 1892, he started a practice in refreshing Yorks Lower East Side. At the same time, to broaden his medical background, he began attending the New York Homeopathic Medical College, from which he graduated, again at the head of the class, in 1894 (James, 371). Shortly thereafter, he passed the Maryland State Medical Board (allopathic) examination, hoping to be able to join the staff of the John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, but he gave up this plan to accept an offer of a research internship in the new State Homeopathic Hospital for the Insane at Middletown, New York.It was while he was in this position that he became interested in the application of anthropometry to medicine. Through his autopsies and examinations of th e patients, he became interested in whether physical characteristics and skeletal measurements might show systematic differences according to sex and type of insanity (James, 371). It was this interest which led to an invitation in 1896 to join a multidisciplinary research team cosmos assembled by the histologist Ira Van Gieson (1866-1913) to staff the newly created Pathological Institute in New York City (Spencer, 503).

Good Bye to All that Essay -- Literary Analysis, Robert Graves

Goodbye To all that by Robert Graves. The book begins with Robert Von Ranke Graves giving you a flashback to his childhood and his way of upbringing. Robert Graves was innate(p) on July 24, 1895 in Wimbledon, England. In the earlier stages of the book he depicts his description My height is given as six feet two inches, my eyes as gray, and my hairs-breadth as black (Graves 3). Calls it his biographical convention, with that out of the way, Graves goes into a very detailed backdrop of his family on both his draw, and Fathers side of the Family. His female pargonnt is German, and his Father is Irish. He briefly describes both sides qualities that they have, and what they have passed on to him. His Mother being very strict Christian always enforce on him the beauty of life. She kept him and all of the rest of the children very innocent about the true view of the world. She censored mostly everything. My mother brought us up to be serious and to benefit humanity in some servingicul arly way, but allowed us no hint of its dirtiest, intrigue and lustfulness, believing that innocence would be the surest protection against them (Graves 29). His mother told him that was destined to be if not a great man, at least a good man (Graves 29). He credits his Mothers German family a great deal in the early stages of the book. Here he states I admire my German relatives they have high principles, and are easy, generous, and serious (Graves 5). His Mother moved to England at age eighteen as a companion to Miss Britain, he describes her as lonely old woman who had befriended his grandmother as an orphan, and waited hand and foot for her seventeen years. His mother inherited 100,000 pounds for the death of Miss Britain. He adds on that My Mother charact... ...r of English Literature at the Egyptian University, Cairo. After some years of working there he decides to go back to England. Troubles with Nancy start to occur at home plate and they frequently occupy into agreeme nts. After sometime of agreement they decide to leave each other, and Nancy taking the kids along with her. This was the final straw for Robert. He finally renounces his to never call England his home again, which explains the title for the book. In conclusion, Robert was finally saying goodbye to all the things that he knew. He was becoming unrest with his life after the war. He didnt involve the simplistic view that he grew up with. Goodbye to all that not only says goodbye to his birthplace, but to everything that world has become. Robert did not want to be part of the change that society was embarking, and he decides to say goodbye to England, and all that.

Baseball and Females :: Sports Expository Essays

Baseball and FemalesThe legendary game of baseball game, the roar of the crowd, the walkover of the bat, the hot dogs and peanuts, and most of all the excitement. Americas pastime has had a recollective history filled with great moments, heroic players, and breakthroughs in our modern society. It all started in 1869 when the starting line professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings took the field. They were all male and would eventually be kn give as the first boys of summer. The first professional girls team was created six years later which in turn grew into more womens teams, only was overshadowed by the growing mens leagues and they eventually dwindled and faded away. The women knew they could play and compete at a level as high or higher than their counterparts and throughout the twentieth century prove this by developing successful womens leagues and teams. These were strong determined women who believed in themselves and proved to the world that they were the girls of summer. In 1870s women could not vote or own property, but they could play baseball. In 1875 the first professional girls baseball team was created. They wore uniforms that weighed almost thirty pounds, consisting of floor length skirts, underskirts, a long-sleeved high-necked blouse, and high button shoes. In the 1890s Amelia botcher developed a more practical uniform and in her adore the Bloomer Girls teams were created. The Bloomer Girls teams rarely played each other, but traveled across America challenging local town, semi-pro, and minor league mens teams. The Bloomer Girls won on frequent occasions, playing competitive ball. These teams gave women an magnificent opportunity for employment, travel and adventure for anyone who could hit, field, slide, or catch. The Bloomer girls would eventually dwindle and disappear in 1934, and be replaced by professional softball teams. It was a less(prenominal) competitive game with shorter base paths, a bigger ball, no stea ling, and underhand pitching.In 1943 a man by the name of Phillip Wrigley received word from chair Roosevelt that the Major League Baseball season would be suspended due to the manpower shortage caused by World War II. Phillip Wrigley wanted to keep baseball going through the wartime, and joined forces with several small town entrepreneurs and created the first official baseball league for women called the All American Girls Baseball League (AAGBL). 30 scouts were hired to start looking for the best softball players all over the United States.Baseball and Females Sports Expository EssaysBaseball and FemalesThe legendary game of baseball, the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, the hot dogs and peanuts, and most of all the excitement. Americas pastime has had a long history filled with great moments, heroic players, and breakthroughs in our modern society. It all started in 1869 when the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings took the field. They we re all male and would eventually be known as the first boys of summer. The first professional girls team was created six years later which in turn grew into more womens teams, but was overshadowed by the growing mens leagues and they eventually dwindled and faded away. The women knew they could play and compete at a level as high or higher than their counterparts and throughout the 20th century proved this by developing successful womens leagues and teams. These were strong determined women who believed in themselves and proved to the world that they were the girls of summer. In 1870s women could not vote or own property, but they could play baseball. In 1875 the first professional girls baseball team was created. They wore uniforms that weighed almost thirty pounds, consisting of floor length skirts, underskirts, a long-sleeved high-necked blouse, and high button shoes. In the 1890s Amelia Bloomer developed a more practical uniform and in her honor the Bloomer Girls teams were crea ted. The Bloomer Girls teams rarely played each other, but traveled across America challenging local town, semi-pro, and minor league mens teams. The Bloomer Girls won on frequent occasions, playing competitive ball. These teams gave women an excellent opportunity for employment, travel and adventure for anyone who could hit, field, slide, or catch. The Bloomer girls would eventually dwindle and disappear in 1934, and be replaced by professional softball teams. It was a less competitive game with shorter base paths, a bigger ball, no stealing, and underhand pitching.In 1943 a man by the name of Phillip Wrigley received word from President Roosevelt that the Major League Baseball season would be suspended due to the manpower shortage caused by World War II. Phillip Wrigley wanted to keep baseball going through the wartime, and joined forces with several small town entrepreneurs and created the first official baseball league for women called the All American Girls Baseball League (AAG BL). Thirty scouts were hired to start looking for the best softball players all over the United States.

Adultery In The Military :: Free Essay Writer

Adultery Debated Issue In MilitaryIn 1995 Lieutenant Kelly Flinn became the United States first female B-52 Bomber pilot. One social class later Lt. Flinn began a relationship with a objet dart who was legally separated from his wife with a divorce pending. Eventually Lt. Flinn fell in love with the man and the Air Force charged her with adultery. The charges against Lt. Flinn left her facing dismissal from the military and the possibility of serving up to nine-and-a-half years in prison. In military trials a panel of six military officials decide ones fate.After the Air Force went public and told reporters about the decision to court-martial her, Lt. Flinns family contended that the guinea pig could have been handled differently because other officers in similar situations had received counseling and fines. However, Lt. Flinns family also decided to go public. Finally, Lt. Flinn told her story and it was apparent that publicity efforts were help her. When Senator Slade Gorton(R -Washington) questioned the Air Forces handling of the case other congressional members joined in to defend Lt. Flinn.The case was taken up with the Defense secretaire William Cohen. After a negative public reaction, Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall considered granting Lt. Flinn an honorable discharge if she resigned. Because the likelihood of receiving a prison sentence was clear to her, Lt. Flinn resigned. In the end Secretary Widnall announced that she was only granting Lt. Flinn a general discharge.There have been many responses and public opinions over the issues of military standards. Some say that the gird forces must uphold rigid standards while others are commenting that moral standards for members of the armed forces should not be higher than those for civilians. It is unfair to require the armed forces to be a repository of moral values for the nation. Manuel Davenport contends that the military must be better because it deals with matters of life and death.

Role of Finance Companies

Role of pay Companies Traditional role of pay Companies The pay companies argon more(prenominal) than little in scale compargond with commercial banks, and they are in addition saddled with more restrictions which lead be discussed later in the report. Traditionally, they relied on their personalized and flexible run to attract clients.This is because at that place are always consumers who are rejected by the commercial banks because adding these consumers to their portfolios would be uneconomical for these commercial banks as their economies of scale can non offset the transactional costs these clients would bring because of the small margins these smaller consumers bring. These mainly allow people or companies who do not name the cowlital to sustain the relatively higher great requirements of the commercial banks compared to pay companies. One example would be the current business account for companies.The major banks much(prenominal) as DBS and OCBC in any c ase offer low startup requirements, but charge a monthly management fee if their balances fall on a lower floor $10,000 , not a big tote up for businesses but possibly a stretch on unseasoned and small scale businesses. Hence, pay companies plug that gap with much lower balance requirements that would be more attractive to these business owners. Another example would be home adds by which finance companies offer a wider range of liaison rates for a different range of financing needs compared to commercial banks who offer more generic rates on a whole. Emerging opportunities for pay CompaniesFinancial companies are however, now exploring new opportunities that they arrest not been able to capitalize on before. For example, Hong Leong has lately been awarding infrawriting rights by the MAS, a traditionalistic stronghold of commercial banks. This has redefined the boundaries that a traditional finance keep company in Singapore held out-of-pocket to regulations under the fin ance companies act. Wealth management, a relatively fast parenting new component in Singapore, has seen Hong Leong also wrestling in with a slice of the pie that many faceed the commercial and investment banks monopolize.Industry Performance Finance companies form a small and unique portion of the pecuniary operate sphere here in Singapore. A jumbo part of their income comes in the form of interest income from loans and also commission fees for services that they offer. By counsel on domestic opportunities, they extradite managed to avoid exposure to the creed crisis that many others in the domain have been touched by. This has thus helped all 3 firms in the sector to post stellar results e preciseplace the retiring(a) socio-economic class. As shown below, Singapores GDP growth YoY was 7. 7%, a slight moderation from the 8. % in 2006. This represents opportunities as the need for fiscal services increase as people in Singapore gain affluence. increase of profit for Fin ance Companies Growth on EBIT ranged from a low of 38. 7% to a high of 65. 2% riding on increased receivables for all 3 finance companies. This is exceptional considering the cloud that has shrouded the financial sector in recent times. In dollar terms, their bread grew by SGD$43million to a total of over SGD$150million. Also, operating(a) efficiency was a strong number one wood of the profit growth.Revenues remained sort of stable and it was the decreased operating costs that led to higher remuneration according to the financial reports released. This could be ascribable to powers such(prenominal) as improved technical systems or improved employee proficiencies. Growth of lieu & construction revenue segment There is a strong focus on the heartland consumers and increased demand for housing, particularly in HDB flats, has led to opportunities that finance companies have leveraged on to cement their stake in this street corner market.Although commercial banks also offer hou sing loans, finance companies are able to adapt each individual loan to consumers requirements because they enjoy greater flexibleness especially for smaller loans that larger financial institutions do not want to accommodate to enjoy the relatively small contains. Looking at the breakdown of loans and advances of Finance Companies, we can see a large part is driven by the building and construction sector in Singapore, which was booming last yea. The building sector was driven by the construction of the 2 integrated resorts and a booming property market last year.A find out driver of the industry, construction growth, which represents a large portion of finance companies interest income, grew at a rate of 20. 3% in 2007, compared to 3. 6% in 2006. The bull run in the property market, as mentioned, has also contributed to the sectors good performance. Property agents have described in particular, the HDB resale market as the kingpin of the real estate sector. communicate unit sal es are estimated to be at 30,000 by industry imposters. Average prices rose 17% for 2007.This, coinciding with a new government gap to encourage singles to live with their parents by providing a grant of up to $9000, has led to a boom for the property market domestically in recent times. The governments policy to nates an eventually population size of 6million citizens would lead to an increased demand for housing as more and more immigrants step to plant their roots here. Thus, we can expect housing loans to affect to be a strong driver of performance for finance companies into the foreseeable future. Increase in SME initiativesThe governments initiative to increase SME competitiveness and promote entrepreneurship has also facilitated the expansion of this revenue segment for financial companies. The founding of organizations such as natural spring help to spur and stimulate the growth of target sectors for these financial companies. Initiatives such as the Micro Loan Programm e under SPRING create beam market share for these finance companies for those who are rejected by the commercial banks for loans. A look through the Hong Leong Finance website shows at least 11 initiatives direct at SMEs alone.This shows the importance of this particular revenue segment to finance companies. Therefore, the future of this key driver of finance companies success looks to be rosy precondition the stay that SMEs receive domestically from the government. It is also important to note that finance companies give incentives by positioning themselves as service translaters for smaller enterprises who require greater flexibility in terms of financing requirements. As mentioned earlier in the report, this is due to the fact that it is uneconomical for commercial banks to process some enquiries and loans because they are uneconomical given the scale of trading operations.Summing up, the performances of finance companies have been exceptional with impressive growth figures. However, as the recession worries and full exploits of the sub-prime issues slowly uncover, finance companies may yet be exposed to underlying issues that may influence performances in the near future. Next, we shall examine some of the trends in the finance company sector and try to identify key issues that may offer insights into what we can expect from these finance companies in the future given what we have already discussed. We would also examine a key player to try and gain insights into how these finance companies operate.TRENDS AND ISSUES IN THE FINANCE COMPANIES SECTOR SINGAPORE 1. Consolidation within industry One of the most pervasive trends identified in the last ten dollar bill in the finance companies sector is the integration of the industry. This is evident from the number of finance companies that have ceased operations. Some of these companies were constrained out of the industry due to regulatory changes, while others, like OCBC Finance, simply merged with the ir principal companies. Since 1996, 19 finance companies have surrendered their finance companies license, with only 3 main finance companies stay by the end of 2007.Accordingly, the summations and liabilities of finance companies as a whole have declined dramatically over the past decade, before stabilizing and increasing steadily over the past 3 years to rough 10 billion dollars. Finance companies assets decreasing before stabilizing and recovering, and consolidation. 1. 1 Regulatory changes One of the catalysts for this consolidation is no doubt the regulatory changes that MAS has put into effect. Since December 1994, the Finance Companies Act was revised to raise the minimum capital requirement for finance companies from $0. to $50 million, and existing finance companies were given until 2003 to gather the required amount. This effectively meant that finance companies which did not have the required capital had to either merge with other players in the industry including banks , or raise the required capital. Hong Leong Singapore Finance, the finance company in Singapore today, is the result of such a merger between Hong Leong and Singapore Finance. Examples of mergers with their parent banks complicate Maybank Finance, and Overseas Union Trust, which of course was later absorbed into UOB.It could be argued that even without regulatory changes, mergers and acquisitions are inevitable for the smaller companies to locomote. Regardless(prenominal), the changes put into place by MAS has oblige the industry to evolve into one with lesser, but stronger players. 1. 2 Increasing competition In 1998, hence DPM Lee Hsien Loong remarked in a parliamentary session that the precept behind these regulatory changes was to enable finance companies to have the resources to compete more effectively and increase public confidence in them. Hence, another major reason for the consolidation in the industry can be attributed to the increasingly intense competition from c ommercial banks and other financial institutions which provide similar services. Loans and other services catered to SMEs, which the full banks typically deemed unprofitable, were traditionally the strong suit of finance companies. From data gathered on the 3 existing finance companies, loans and services to SMEs forms over 40% of their portfolios.However, in the past decade, many commercial banks have started divisions to tap into the SME market made popular by finance companies. Finance companies thus now have to contend not only with each other, but commercial banks as well. This means that badly run finance companies simply could not contend with the competition and were targets for other finance companies acquisitions to boost their own ability to compete. 1. 3Niche markets Finance companies are usually able to compete with commercial banks because they offer services to niche markets (usually SMEs) which then form a large part of their portfolio.In todays financial markets, Ho ng Leong Singapore Finance is known to target clients within the SME, consumer housing and the cash industry. Sing Investments and Finance has loans in the construction and property development sectors amounting to 68% of their loans portfolio. However, the population of such niche markets are usually much smaller than mainstream financial markets, and companies need to be able to capture a larger market share within the niches to be able to offer products with a competitive boundary over commercial banks.Under the basic tenets of economics, this means that a only a small number of firms are needed to satisfy demand in such niche markets. Hence, there is necessarily a trend towards consolidation of similar firms within the separate niche markets in a survival of the fittest-style competition, which is the business office being faced with today. 1. 4 Global mergers and acquisition trends Mergers and acquisitions have been widespread and plentiful in recent times, and although this directly impacts the trend of mergers within the finance companies sector, there are also indirect effects to be discussed.One must consider that the increasing prevalence of large, merger companies necessarily means that the pool of smaller companies, of which finance companies cater to, is steadily decreasing. Such large merger companies usually go to commercial banks for the more sophisticated and diverse range of credit woofs which finance companies are simply ineffective to provide, either because of regulatory restrictions from the Finance Companies Act, or because they do not have the resources to do so.Again, this results in a net effect of finance companies having to merge themselves to operate effectively and efficiently to capture this diminishing pool of available business. TRENDS AND ISSUES IN THE FINANCE COMPANIES SECTOR INTERNATIONAL International finance companies Unlike in Singapore, a legal definition of finance company exists, there is no clear definition on wh at constitutes a finance company in the overseas financial markets. However, there is a general consensus that finance companies provide mainly lend services to consumers and small businesses.As with finance companies in Singapore, international finance companies typically target these clients that the major banks overlook, or have specializations in specific industries that make them more attractive to customers seeking credit services within these industries. Unlike Singapore, where only 3 such companies now operate, there are literally thousands of such companies overseas catering to different industries and customer melodic themes, and it will be definitely be out of the scope of this report to discuss each one in detail.Also, the nature of the finance companies sector is such that they are more influenced by regulations and performances of industries within the countries in which they operate, and less affected by global financial trends. A simple example of this is in Singap ore, where finance companies have been fairly shielded from the turmoil in overseas financial markets led by the subprime crisis in the US. Instead, they have been doing well, largely owing to the boom in the topical anesthetic property, auto and SME markets. It is thus more appropriate to examine the issues and trends of nternational finance companies in the context of the local markets which they serve, rather than to identify and global trends that affect all financial markets. Hence, we have decided to focus our attention on finance companies operating within 3 countries where financial markets are relatively mature and naturalized, and whose activities are more transparent and in the limelight. These are Australia, japan and USA. 2. Finance companies in Australia The finance companies scene in Australia is thriving, and has witness continued growth in the last 3 years.Another good year was recorded in 2006/2007 with both business and personal lending continuing to grow. Finan ce companies in Australia have long been a significant sector in the Australian financial services market, offering a wide range of products including business leasing, fleet leasing and personal lending. Such companies provide an alternative source of borrowing to the banks, building societies and credit unions. The two largest finance companies operating in Australia are Esanda and Capital Finance, which collectively represents almost 40% of the sectors operating profits after tax.Some of the key issues which have impacted profits in the last 2 years include ? asset growth of 7. 1% leading to an increase in interest income ? increased competition leading to reduced margins and fee income ? increased bad debts expenses ?reduced profits on motor vehicle lending 2. 1 Australia Reliance on Auto Industry and Industry Trends The auto industry is a major driver of performance of the finance companies sector in Australia, no doubt because the majority of the finance companies are exposed to the sector.This may be in the form of lending to consumers and businesses to purchase their motor vehicles, financing auto dealers purchase inventories, or providing fleet management businesses. The growth of finance companies coincides with the auto industrys boom in the past 5 years, with 4 consecutive years of record sales up to 2005. Provision of loans to purchase large cars dropped 18 percent largely due to the change in consumer purchasing habits from the price hikes in oil. Instead, smaller car sales were up 21 percent, contributing to increased revenues for finance companies.However, the increased affordability of new cars in the last 5 years has created difficulties for finance companies which provide fleet management services, such as BMW Finance and ORIX, since such companies suffer reduced profits on the sale of cars at the end of their lease. In recent times, the focus of many of the larger finance companies have shifted to diversification of services. This is simil ar to Hong Leong Singapore Finances strategy in Singapore, which is to take on the major banks at their own game, such as providing property and construction facilities.GE Moneys expansion into credit government notes, mortgages and on-line savings provide another example of Australian finance companies diversification. Just as the finance companies are expanding their services to include services provided by major finance players such as banks, so are the majors entering into sectors traditionally dominated by finance companies. This includes areas such as lending secured on receivables, consumer and low-doc lending. This has increased competition among Australian finance companies, which is only crowded by new entrants such as Aussie Home Loans plans to target car and personal lending markets. . 2 Australia Growth in Assets, Personal and Business lending extreme assets of the finance companies surveyed increased 7. 1 percent to $37. 5 billion, slightly down from 8. 1 percent g rowth in the previous year, but this still represents a strong rate of growth. This trend has been observed for the past 4 years, and can largely be attributed to lending growth in the business and personal sectors. nonetheless though finance companies in Australia only accounts for 5 percent of total Australian loans and advances, their market share is considerably higher in traditionally key markets of business lending and personal lending.This is estimated to be around 10 and 15 percent approximately. Since finance companies in Australia are typically not exposed to the housing mortgage market, they are not affected much by the decline in the housing market that is being experienced in global markets. However, the quality of the assets appear to be an issue for finance companies. Total bad and doubtful debt expense increased 32 percent from 2006. Even when viewed in context in the growth of receivables, the ratio of bad debts to average receivables increased.Hence, opposed in Singapore, it does seem that Australian finance companies suffers somewhat from increase in credit losses. However, this is to be expected since finance companies typically engage in less secure lending to less credit worthy customers in exchange for a higher margin. It must also be said that the amount of credit losses increases pales in comparison with the subprime losses that major international banks have faced even with sibyllic tighter credit checks. 3. Finance companies in Japan In early 2007, the consumer finance industry of Japan was valued at a total of ? 0 trillion with annual growth of 4%. The key factor in influencing this previous growth in the industry might be traced to the equity and real estate bubble burst in the early 1990s which take down the collateral of several consumers. This provided a large market segment seeking uncollaterized loans, which were only provided by the consumer finance companies. At the said(prenominal) time, consumer finance companies ha d an advantage over the banks as they had a wider network of loan offices and had a reputation for quicker loan applause. 3. Japan Regulatory elimination of grey zone lending of import change is expected in the consumer finance sector of Japan, as new regulations affecting consumer finance companies were passed in December 2006, and are to be withheld by the year 2009. The main crux of the new regulation would be that it lowers that maximum allowed interest rate chargeable on uncollaterized consumers. While the interest rate cap on consumer loans were capped at 20% by the come to Rate Restriction law, the Capital Subscription law stated that a rate of 29. 9% could be aerated, in the event that a written consent to the charges was provided by the consumer.Due to this law, several consumer finance companies in Japan have been providing loans to poor credit clients, at interest rates charged within the grey zone (20%-29. 9%). What this new legislation entails would be that these co nsumer finance companies will need to adapt and reinvent themselves, as they can no longer depend on the grey zone for survival. What can be expected would be shakeout of the smaller consumer finance companies, consolidation as well as diversification of products. 3. 2 Japan Regulatory Changes The Japanese Diet revised legislation regarding the Money Lending Business (MLB) law. A previous ceiling of 29. % for consumer loan interest rates set by the Capital Subscription law was repealed and reduced to 20%. This coincides with the ceiling set by the Interest Rates Restriction law, which has an interest rate cap of 20% per annum for such loans. Even then, this cap is only applicable for loans of up to ? 100,000 and below. For loans with principal amounts ranging between ? 100,000 and ? 1,000,000, the cap is only 18% per annum. Loans with principal amounts over ? 1,000,000 are charged a maximum interest rate of 15% per annum. At the same time, the Bank of Japan has in recent years opte d to abandon their zero-interest rate policy.At the moment, their interest rates have been set at 0. 5%. It is yet to be seen if there will be any increase in this rate, as it will probably depend on the performance of the Japanese economy as it adapts to this change, as well as the USA downturn. But essentially, with the bottom line raised and the top lines lowered, consumer finance companies are seeing their margins diminishing. The amendment also includes tighter entry restrictions for consumer finance companies, return of excess interest payments made to consumers, as well as restricts the maximum debt a consumer may hold to only one-third of his annual income.At the same time, the lid has been left open for more restrictions to be implemented between now and 2009, during which enforcement for the new regulation is going to be implemented. 3. 3 Japan effects on Performance In response to the new legislation, the industry has been suffering since. An estimated loss for the comb ined consumer loan sector for the fiscal year of 2006 has been made at ? 3 trillion. This can be directly attributed to the diminished market segment as well as several requests for refunds of excess loans from existing consumers.With investment trust prices of the 4 major players in the industry tumbling even before the announcement of the December 2006 ruling, mostly as a pre-emptive reaction, the situation is dire. This has left the consumer finance companies with the option of either leaving the market, or restructuring themselves to suit the new environment. The two main strategies for remaining in the sector would be expansion and diversification. 3. 4 Japan working out At moment, there is estimated total of 10,000 registered funds-lenders in Japan. Of these, there are only 4 major players (Aiful Corp. , Acom Co. , Promise Co. Takefuji Corp. ) that are currently listed on the Japanese stock exchange, whilst the rest are all individually casting small shadows. However, cons idering the increased requirements for operations as well as the diminished margins, it is now harder to maintain operations as a small player. More sophisticated risk management and cost-cutting are all necessary aspects that need implementation for survival. It is expected that a large proportion of these smaller companies will eventually consolidate to be able to mount a substantial fight for survival or be forced to cease operations.Current estimates are that the eventually, Japan will only be left with 3,000 consumer finance companies. Already, that trend is starting to take shape. The current estimate of 10,000 registered money lenders have already dwindled from a previous figure of 14,000 as of February 2007. Two of the larger players, Acom and Promise have also taken a step further than anyone else in the industry, by negotiating partnerships with major banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group respectively.This strengthens their competitivene ss, as these consumer finance companies will be able to provide the bank with their expertise in handling smaller and riskier consumer loans, whilst the banks will be able to support these companies as they transcend into a more developed state. 3. 5 Japan variegation of Products Traditionally, the Japanese consumer finance companies could be classified into two main group those dealing in consumer loans and those providing credit card services. While the former group has been knock hard directly by the new regulation, the latter has been relatively unscathed.The main reason would be that interest rates for credit cards were already below the 20% limitation. Consumer finance companies are now finding that there is an unexplored market that they can now explore, to make up for their losses in the consumer loan segment. To compound incentives for this strategy, the credit market has yet to truly blossom in Japan yet, due to a prior preference for cash instead. For example, credit c ard shopping only accounts for 10% of consumption in Japan, and this is relative to the 25% figure for the United States. 3Finance companies in USAThere are many companies in the USA which provide consumer and business finance services in all sectors of the financial markets. Being the worlds largest financial market, USA has a very diverse group of finance companies that cater to auto, personal, small enterprise, insurance, and mortgage lending, among others. Citi Financial, HSBC Finance, GE Money, Prudential Finance, Zurich Financial, and Capital One are just a few examples of such finance companies. Just as in Singapore and other nations, these finance companies typically serve clients who are either too small or have poor credit ratings to obtain loans from the larger banks.The consumer finance industry in the USA is too large to be discussed in full detail in this report. Hence we will only be discussing a particular type of finance company which in the past year has come under interrogation from all corners of the financial markets subprime mortgage lenders. While major commercial and investment banks have all taken in losses amounting to USD 170b from writing down Colleteralized Debt Obligations and mortgage Backed Securities, mortgage finance companies in the USA have mostly been responsible for the origination of such losses. 3. 1 USA Subprime mortgage lending by finance companiesSubprime mortgage lending by finance companies enabled consumers in the USA with poor credit histories to obtain loans to purchase homes with higher interest rates than that charged by banks. These consumers were previously unable to obtain such loans from the major banks and lenders due to their poor credit histories. To entice consumers to accept such higher interest rates, these finance companies typically include teaser rates during the initial periods of the loan where the interest rates were lower, and the rates were then subsequently increased significantly after th e foregoing period.Because many consumers could no longer afford the high interest payments after the introductory period, many were forced to refinance their subprime loans with another subprime loan. This was acceptable pre-2005 since housing prices were on the rise, and this meant that home owners were building equity which enabled them to refinance loans easily. However, after 2005, home prices started to decline and fell below the value of the loan, and thus could not be used as collateral for refinancing.A steep rise in defaults and foreclosures caused more than 100 finance companies in the US to file for bankruptcy beginning late 2006. Even New Century Financial Corporation, then the nations second largest mortgage lender, was not spared. Excessive risk taking and qualification loans to subprime customers meant that such finance companies were exposing themselves to moral hazard excessively. 3. 2 USA Securitization of subprime loans Many a subprime finance company did not actually hold on to the subprime loans as assets after making them. Instead they securitized, or sold off the loans to issuers and special purpose vehicles.These financial vehicles bought these loans and other investment grade instruments and repackaged them into the CDOs and MBSes that were to blame for the credit problems in financial markets today. These instruments were subsequently bought up by investment and commercial banks, and hedge funds, due to the impression that the risk from the subprime loans have been adequately spread out. However, this was not the case, since once defaults and foreclosures started to hit the issuers, the value of the CDOs were compromised, resulting in huge write downs by banks.What followed was a large credit crunch in financial markets, the effects of which are still unresolved today. Hence, what was supposed to be a mortgage finance sector problem has been spread to all areas of the financial markets through loans securitization, which was start ed by finance companies in the US. Regulatory Issues The Finance Companies Act (Cap. 108) was established in 1967 to regulate the growing finance companies sector. Listed in the Act are several restrictions that limit the activities of the finance companies.The purpose of these limitations is to protect investors, by controlling the exposure of the company to riskier asset classes and transactions, since finance companies are less able to convert such risks away than the major banks. These limitations may include capital structure requirements, restrictions on dealings, necessary approval for expansion and others as well. In essence, the provisions within the Finance Companies Act require that finance companies seek MAS for approval to engage in activities other than the most basic lending and depositing services.Since the major banks have a similar set of banking rules and regulations to adhere to, we will be focusing our discussion on a few key regulatory provisions which are spe cific to the Finance Companies Act. One regulation of particular interest has already been briefly mentioned in the previous sections of this report. In s7 of the Finance Company Act, there are strict capital requirements in place for finance companies. S7 provides that a registered finance company will need a minimum of $50 million in issued and paid up capital. What this requirement does is to limit the industry to only the stronger players.This requirement, as put in place since January 1995, might be responsible for the running out of the several smaller finance companies, and serves as well as a substantially high barrier to entry. S23 of the Finance Companies Act lists out some of the prohibitions of dealings by finance companies. In particular, s23(1)(e) and (f) aims to limit the amount of risk which the finance companies are able to take. This is done by restricting the issuance of substantial loans which exceed 50% of their total credit facilities, and also by prohibiting u nsecured loans and advances surpass S$5,000.It can be seen from these regulations that MAS understands the higher risk nature of the customers served by finance companies, and tries to protect both the customers and the companies from over-exposure to such risks. While s23(1)(b) prevents investments in foreign currency, notes and other precious metals, and s23(1)(c) prevents any acquisition of shares, stock, debt and other convertible securities in foreign denominations, exemption from these restrictions might be granted as stated under s23(2)(a)&(b).S23(2)(a)&(b) states would be that concessions in these aspects might be granted depending on the ruling of MAS. Furthermore, s53 gives room for the authorities to exempt a finance company for some or all of the provisions in the Act. We feel that this shows that MAS recognizes that not all finance companies are ready to take on such dealings yet, but that they are not shutting the door on such transactions in the future. Prospects & Future developments of Finance Companies Effects of the credit crunch In the short run, we would expect that finance companies would experience a udden growth in their revenue segments due to commercial banks tightening credit. The sub-prime meltdown in the United States has severe implications for all industries. However, rather than affecting the finance companies negatively, we foresee that there is a possibility that they might profit from it instead. With several banks being hit severely, we are currently observing the beginnings of a credit crunch as banks start to tighten their credit and adopting a more conservative stance in negotiating loans.This would even be true in Singapore, as we uncover the extent of Asian banks exposure to collateralized debt obligations. DBS Bank has already booked S$200 million worth of write-downs while UOB has S$45 million worth of write-down. These commercial banks have reportedly tightened credit measures with more reluctance to take on risky debts. What this might imply would be that more consumers will have their loan applications rejected from banks, and will therefore look to finance companies for their capital needs instead. At the same time, the market for loans is expected to grow by 13% in 2008.While this is lower than the 20% growth recorded in 2007, it represents that the market is still expanding despite the tightening of credit by major lenders. At the moment, the total loans made by finance companies are sitting at S$8,389 million. The total loans made by commercial banks, however, stands at S$201,424 million. The above figures indicate that if banks were to lose even a small percentage of their market share in loans to finance companies, this would translate to a potentially significant percentage of loans growth for these finance companies.Hence, if finance companies are able to take advantage of the loss in confidence of the banks, and the tightening of credit by said banks to capture the market left behi nd by the banks in the wake of the sub-prime crisis, there will be room for growth. Consolidation of the segment In the long run however, we adopt a more pessimistic stance towards the development of finance companies. One of the trends that we mentioned was that of consolidation of the finance companies in the past decade. tierce such finance companies remain and have performed relatively well over the past few years or so. However, commercial banks are encroaching into traditional strongholds of these finance companies, such as SMEs and smaller personal loans which were once considered unprofitable to service. This is as commercial banks now want to profit from the higher yielding consumer base that these finance companies rely on as they continue to look into other profitable segments that they have neglected in the past.DBS, OCBC and UOB have in the past decade started moving towards these opportunities that they had forgone in the past. There is also increased competition from new entrants such as GE Money and SingPost who now offer consumers more consumer finance choices instead of the remaining 3 finance companies. This increased competition may reduce revenues in the future, especially for Singapura Finance and Sing Investments, since Hong Leong is far and away the major player in this sector and may be able to better cope with these changes.These 2 smaller firms might find it more difficult to continue to perform as well when banks use their financial muscle and influence to try and break into this market. Thus, we foresee a real possibility of further consolidation and perhaps a change in the structure of the future finance company here in Singapore. Hong Leong Finance is special, in the sense that it is much big than the other finance companies in the scene. To brand it as a finance company in the same breath as the other 2 does not do Hong Leongs reputation justice.However, when compared to the commercial banks, they still do not measure up as sig nificant competition. The other 2 finance companies seem to stand little chance should the commercial banks and corporations start infringing on this niche segment that they have survived on. The implications of these is the sign that the finance companies are in a sunset industry and with the exception of Hong Leong, finance companies might struggle to eke out an existence once competition gets more intense.It may revert to a situation where the smaller firms have to merge or be acquired by a larger finance company, in this case, Hong Leong, or risk not being able to survive in the segment. Hong Leong, as mentioned, is unique in the sense that it is such a dominant force in the finance company sector, but yet unable to make the step up to be on the same level as even the smaller commercial banks. In the near future, we could see Hong Leong forming an built-in classification on its own, as the alternative to the commercial banks.Following the entry of commercial banks and other com petitors into its traditional revenue segments, Hong Leong has been actively looking for other opportunities to diversify its revenue generating segments. We have mentioned some of these earlier in the report. Recently, Hong Leong was commissioned to take up underwriting duties which provides it with a new area of development where they could vary their income sources. It has also established a wealth management arm in light of the growing sector in Asia as a whole.

A V R Essay

Appearance vs. reality explores how the much stubborn phantasm will satisfaction over what the individual want to be true. While reality is persistent, appearance it is less convincing as it based upon the fragile network of an individuals values, expectation and deepest desires. Pleasantville (1998) directed by Gary Ross examines this idea through the protagonist who escapes his troubles and unforgiving reality to Pleasantville a fake world that reflects his utopic vision and 1950s American society.Similarly Robert ices poem Birches shows no matter how hard he tries to escape his reality to a better illusion he was made for himself, reality is persistent and will always bring him spikelet. In Pleasantville the idea that reality will triumph over appearances is shown by Davids negative view of his family and yearning for the family he sees in Pleasantville.. The appearance that David sees in Pleasantville is peace, calm, relaxing and great but in his reality it is the opposite of Pleasantville as he has difficult problems with his family.This is shown by of contrast of the holy family living the American Dream in Pleasantville compared to Davids own family. The montage of virgules of all the members of Buds family in Pleasantville contrasts heavily to the empty and wide shot of David and just his mother, emphasising how his family is so un standardized from his ideal family on Pleasantville. Although David wants to become part of Buds family, he realises this is just an illusion based on his desires.This is pull ahead when he realises Buds family isnt as perfect as it seems through the uncomfortableness he feels with the repetition of the word swell to describe what he thinks is good and returns to his persistent illusion of his real family, his mother. Reality is shown to be the more persistent illusion through the corruption of values in Pleasantville. Jennifer instigates the corruption of Pleasantville by bringing in values and practices of her real ity to the untainted illusion of Pleasantville.When Jennifer has sexual intercourse with skip on Lovers Lane, there is a stir in the scenery shown in the close up shot of the grey rose turning into a bright red. The previous monotone colours pretend. And the red represents.. This shown that reality is more persistant than the illusion of appearance as. FILL IT IN Another example is shown through when Betty sees Mr. Johnson for the first time and she starts to feel different from seeing him. The technique that is used is contrast of colour and grey background. The wife changes as she ealise her true feelings, and it is this persistent emotion that overcomes her role as the faithful wife in the American Dream. This shows the wife is being seeing her true feeling and her true reality from Mr. Johnson, ultimately breaking the illusion of appearances . Similarly, in Frosts Birches, reality is illustrated as persistent reality that will triumph over any illusions of appearances but doe s this through the poet who reminisces about his childhood past with the birches tree. The poet feels a salutary connection with the illusion he has made of the birches as a sentimental figure of his past time.He does this by portraying birches during the autumn time as like girls on hands and knees who throw their hair before them to dry in the sun. The personification combined with simile to reinforces the illusion the poet has created from his expectations and desires. However,. reality attempts to bring the poet back from his constructed illusion that has been shattered and avalanched. reduced to broken glass to sweep away. This is emphasised by the black branches surrounding the snow white trunk.The black branches epitomize the persistent illusion of reality trying to bring him back to what is more real surrounding the white trunk that symbolises the dying purity and untainted illusion he has created of the birches, showing that reality is more persistent than appearances. Un like Pleasantville, where David does not want to return to the persistent callings of his reality , the poet in Birches realises that although he can name his heaven using his childhood memory of the birches, he would then come back to it earth and begin all over.The nostalgic tone emphasises that he cannot go back to his illusion of appearances as he recognises the reality is more persistent. Through the close study of the Rosss Pleasantville and Frosts Birches it is clear that reality is more persistent than appearances. Pleasantville shows the corruption of values and the perfect family based on the American dreams to shows how reality will triumph over appearances similarly Birches uses the poet reminisces that frost can assure his appearance but when he returns to his reality he understands that reality is the more persistent one.

Beautiful Boy by David Shelf

Beautiful Boy by David Sheff 1. Sheff intrigued me with his story just by the okay of the book. The stallion story is about his eldest son, Nic, who is an amazing student as a child however, his childhood begins to fade when he targets into the life of drugs and alcoholic drink. The experiences and hardships that the fountain goes finished is very emotional which really kept me reading. 2. The setting affects the author and his story. The book takes place in modern day times as in 2008.This impacts the author and his experiences because this is the time where drugs became more known and they were easy to get which made it harder for Nic, David Sheffs son, to stop the drug abuse. 3. The themes in this book are patience and faith. David must be patient towards the recovery of his sons drug addiction. He knows that this process cannot happen over-night no matter how hard he wishes it could be that easy. He waits patiently for Nic to get better. Nic, however, goes through rough pat ches while on this journey to succession, hardly his father always has faith in him.I think that David and Nics experiences were incredibly traumatic. Sheff tangle the pain that his son went through while being an addict and felt the need to divide it with others. Another reason Sheff might have wanted to share this experience is because he wanted to show the difficulty and how bad it is to take drugs. 4. When Nic was growing up, I thought I would be content with whatever choices he made in his life Now I live with the knowledge that, never mind the most modest definition of a normal or healthy life, my son may not make it to twenty-one(195-196).This proves the understanding that David has over his sons life and that even though he believed at one point that Nics decisions will be made by himself, Nic has not made all the right decisions. This proved to David that his son needs charge through out his whole life because once you are a father you are always a father. I chose this passage because this to me is David Sheffs entire understanding of his son and this memoir. It shows that he understands what it means to be a father and what his role is 5.If I could meet the author I would feel a humble nervous. I would feel uncomfortable makeing him any questions because I wouldnt know how he would react would he get emotional? Would he get annoyed? Would he act fine because he gets questions all the time. A hypothetical meeting with David Sheff is if he came to my school to talk about drug and alcohol addiction and how it impacted his life and others around him. A question I might ask is when did you realize that your son was not a casual user, tho was an addict?What was your immediate reaction? I would talk about the impact on his family, siblings and friends. I would ask about whom his friends were and if they were older because of the drug use. I would ask how he had the money for the drugs. A story of my own that I would share with the author is about a k id that I know that ended up not being able to go to college. All of a sudden he began going to rehab and no one knew why. As time went on deal began to realize that he did drugs and drank a lot.He became banned form school grounds for a certain amount of time. He was supposed to go off to college, but ended up not because he got in trouble with the law and had separation anxiety. His younger sister had to deal with the fights at home and her brother that she love very much. I would share this story with Sheff to show that even though this story is not about my family or me, my family was one of the people impacted by this childs actions.

Michael Fullan and his Long-lasting Legacy

Michael Fullan is acknowledged as wiz of the leadinghip in teacher instruction and a study advocate of educational reform in the whole universe. He is an icon in the planetary academic community and holds esteemed places in honored educational establishments in Canada.The celebrated Fullan is a professor emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and a physician of doctrine. He was dean of the module of instruction at the University of Toronto from 1988 to 2003. Fullan has been conferred honorary doctors degrees from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and from Nipissing University in Canada ( Prolonging Reform, 2005 ) . The pacemanufacturing business in primary plans of alteration in the teach leading and plans for educational betterments is an writer of assorted publications on the solveic of educational alteration.Michael Fullan is a prolific author. Some of his outstanding plants that have been given awards ar The New Meaning of Educational Change, 3rd Edition, Leading in a Culture of Change, Change Forces The Sequel, A Change Forces Probing the Depths of Educational ReformA , and the What s Deserving Fighting ForA series. His recent bestselling pieces are The sextet Secrets of Change and Motion Leadership. His latest best sellers field of operations The Six Secrets of Change andA Motion Leadership.As an agent of alteration in the academic, Fullan has played a prima function as policy wise man, research histrion and trown(prenominal)er on assorted undertakings in coaction with and for instructors associations, research and development judicatures and international bureaus both in Canada and opposite states. He is at the nucleus of the free radical set somewhating a four twelvemonth assessment of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy in England.Michael Fullan is called the reform designer of Ontario. He enjoys strong concern connexions which stand to realise straight from his reforms. All of the reforms place greater accent on raising literacy and numeracy results through tar deceaseed support, ageless instructor and chief retraining, intensifying intercessions and greater answerability for standardize trial public presentation. He runs Michael Fullan Enterprises Inc. and Leadership4Change, and he occupies a topographic point on the board of international advisers of Microsoft s, Partners in Learning. ( Thompson, 2009 ) .The Need for ChangeFullan emphasizes that effective school leading are the cardinal to big, sustainable instruction reform. For some clip, pedagogues have countd that principals moldiness be instructional leading if they are to be the efficacious attractership unavoidable for sustained invention. School capacity is the important variable impacting instructional quality and corresponding pupil accomplishment. At the bosom of school capacity are principals think on the development of instructors cognition and accomplishments, professional co mmunity, plan coherency, and proficient resources ( Fullan, 2002 ) .As explained by Fullan, the load lies on the shoulders of the principals since they are chiefly responsible for originating and supervising the formulation of instructors so that the latter can be efficient and effectual channeliseers of cognition to their pupils.Fink and Resnick suggest that school grime caputs should spearhead attempts to develop principals into instructional leaders who could accomplish a large-scale turnaround in literacy and numeracy. They described some nucleus schemes for developing the function of the principal as instructional leader, including five inversely reenforcing sets of strategic activities nested larning communities, chief institutes, leading for direction, equal acquisition, and wizard coaching ( 2001, pp. 598-606 ) .The long-run function of principals, so, is to supply instructional leading for their instructors. With this trade name of headship, the instructors can be rel ied upon to transport out the basic duty of leaving to their several pupils the cognition that they deserve and need.Fullan adds, there is a demand for leaders who can make a cardinal transmutation in the acquisition civilizations of schools and of the instruction profession itself. The function of the principal as instructional leader is excessively narrow a throw to transport the weight of the sorts of reforms that will make the schools that we need for the hereafter. Like the concern leader, the principal of the hereafter, the cultural alteration principal, essential be cognizant of the large image, that of a sophisticated conceptual mind who transforms the organisation through people and squads ( Fullan, 2001 ) .Similarly, the other traits of a civilization alteration chief include the ability to attest a profound and thorough ethical rule. He or she must be a trendsetter and possess the adroitness to cover with the procedure of alteration and realizes that instruction is both an rational and moral profession. More significantly the civilization alteration principal should spot that constructing races and squads is the most hard accomplishment for both concern and instruction leaders .To be a successful leader of alteration, it is advisable to follow the statement that the distinguishable facet common to successful alteration is that relationships get better. Therefore, if relationships get better, schools develop. If relationships extend the same or acquire worse, land is lost. Therefore, leaders set up relationships with different people and groups. During hard times, emotional intelligence is imperative. Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to construct relationships be endeavour they are cognizant of their ain emotional make-up and are sensitive and animating to others ( Goleman, Boyatzis, & A McKee, 2002 ) .Indeed, sweeping alterations must spend in the instruction sector and when these alterations have been implemented, school decision mak ers, principals and instructors must see to it that these additions should be sustained and protected.As indicated by Fullen, the chief point is about a alteration in the civilization of schools and a alteration in the civilization of registering. Reculturing is the chief extend of leading, and it requires an implicit in conceptualisation of the cardinal elements that fall it. It is the context of the school and territory in which they work which means that principals have to be about as concerned about the success of other schools in the territory as they are about their ain schools. Effective LeadershipIn his book, Leading for Change, Michael Fullan affirms that the to a greater extent than complex society gets, the more sophisticated leading must go.The eventuality theoretical account is intended to supply a model that will gestate leading as a developmental procedure that will live with into history the dynamic and unstable context of the school by associating the most appr opriate leading manner to the demands of the school. Fixing leaders to successfully work inwardly a context of alteration and uncertainness is overriding. Guaranting that these leaders get the cognition and accomplishments necessary to utilize these assorted theoretical accounts is imperative ( Stewart, 2006 ) .Merely like incarnate organisations, educational establishments depend on leading for continued being. They have to go learning organisations to digest all obstructions and win in their projects.Training and bring forthing effectual leaders in educational establishments can non be limited to instilling effectual traits in people. Organizations and schools should be developed to back up the corporate manikin of leading where persons feel safe, supported and free to believe and move creatively ( Stewart ) .The decisions of Arthur Levine about leading preparation plans were non at all encouraging.The quality of most readying plans for instruction leaders ranges from insuffic ient to gross outing. The state s educational disposal plans need to fix high quality principals and overseers, who can take schools and school territories through the profound alterations called for under province betterment programs. More than 40 per centum of principals and a higher per centum of overseers are expected to go forth their occupations over the following decennary which means that the state faces an pressing demand to educate big Numberss of extremely skilled decision makers ( Levine, 2005 ) .Ii is hence imperative that the province should work closer with school decision makers, principals and instructors to pass the corpse that does non look to work decently. Educational direction plans need more polish if merely to determine that top-grade instructors, who can execute satisfactorily, are produced in the old ages to come.In response to this predication of Levine is a discourse by Schmoker, the sarcasm is merely excessively much.A Your school, designate under pla ying or an tantamount term, has to develop an betterment program. A Unfortunately, it is merely such betterment planning that presently accounts for a big portion of school failure. ThereA areA straightforward, proven means for bettering accomplishment in virtually any school scene. But school betterment planning, like its sister, school reform merelyA distracts us from the laborious work ofA bettering instruction ( 2003 ) .Possibly, a really relevant theory espoused by Michael Fullan is his recommendation that Change is needed to develop schools as learning communities.Collegiality provides the best get downing point in the procedure of instructor regeneration. Traveling or larning enriched schools are what he calls professional acquisition communities. Teaching demands to be seen as a collective instead than an single endeavor. This is the ground why it means it is easier to learn in some schools than others. Successful schools enforce, through moral duties, consistent criterion s and they are more likely to swear and value others and inquire for and portion expertness. This is what makes such schools easier to learn, and larn to learn better in, than others. Teachers in such schools are less likely to uncritically conform to enforce thoughts. They have developed the capacity to self reflect, to analyze pupil public presentation and act on their ain apprehensions ( Fullan, 2001 ) .Fullan portions to the populace, six alleged messages about alteration which are extremely pertinent to the points being discussed in this treatise.To sum up Fullan s arrows on alteration, the first is people should happen substance in reform to bring forth the coveted impact 2nd, bing schemes will non acquire us to where we want to travel third, although short-run additions can be achieved by standards-based reform, it is lifelessly if the decision is that schools should make more of the same 4th, the acquisition organization/community is more than a cliche 5th, we need to see the corporate full and sixth, we have to larn to populate with alteration.With regard to leading, Fullan mentions the four facets of leading, doing a difference in the lives of pupils perpetrating to cut downing the spread between high and low performing artists within your school or territory lending to cut downing the spread in the larger environment and transforming the working ( or larning conditions ) of others so that growing, committedness, battle, and unvarying spawning of leading in others are being fostered.Finally, Fullan interpolates that leaders at many degrees must be cultivated as people learn in context. An organisation can non flourish-at least, non for long-on the actions of the top leader broad(a)ly. Schools and territories need many leaders at many degrees. Learning in context helps bring forth such leaders. Further, for leaders to be able to cover with complex jobs, they need many old ages of experience and professional development on the occupation. To some extent, a school leader s effectivity in making a civilization of sustained alteration will be determined by the leaders he or she leaves behind ( 2002 ) .It is besides important at this point to understand the six secrets of alteration that Fullan wrote approximately so as to assist in dissecting the elements of leading and alteration.Fullan s Six Secrets of ChangeSecret figure one is Love your Employees every(prenominal)(prenominal) figure much as your clients. Secret figure two is Connect Peers with Purpose. Secret figure lead is Capacity Judgment trumps Judgementalism. Secret Number Four is Learning is the Work. Secret Number Five is Transparency Rules. Secret Number Six is Systems Learn ( Fullan, 2008 ) .Possibly, one of the most indispensable secrets is figure three capacity-building undeniably precedes the development of the shared efficaciousness of the major participants to obtain the needful amendments in instruction every issue peachy as acquisition.Fullan h ighlights the demand to develop the corporate effectivity of a group of the whole system to really acquire more reform in instruction and acquisition and pupil results.A The three parametric quantities are new accomplishments and competences resources, thoughts, stuffs and money and the 3rd is motive as a capacity. When people are move the capacity goes up to acquire something done ( 2008 ) .ALearning is the work is merely every bit of import. Professional acquisition is what goes on twenty-four hours after day.A The reading Fullan considered was the difference between the effectual administrations and the less than effectual 1s as they had civilizations where learning and larning for the grownups was a core portion of the mundane civilization . Transparency is besides every bit critical because there should ever be accessA to pattern, informations, consequence and accomplishments. Meanwhile, linking equals with intent is about focussed equal communicating and lifting above the top-down and bottom-up difference.Systems Learn, says Fullan and although this may be abstract, it should be interpreted as being done operationally. Leaderships have to be on the dance floor and the balcony at the same clip ( Heifitz and Linsky, 2002 ) . Systems learn when you get this tri-level support underway, surely within a school if you think of turnover of caputs, school caputs, the chief job with turnover is non turnover itself but discontinuity of good way. A So the issue about systems larning is how you get continuity of good way, constructing on it but still that grade of continuity ( Fullan, 2008 ) .ASteping into leading functions is worth the lot when your ends extend beyond material addition or personal promotion. By doing the lives of people around you better, leading provides significance to life.If alterations are efficaciously put in topographic point, most likely, the necessary educational reforms will be realized.During the last 20 old ages, the value and impa ct of the educational reform motion has been cause for a batch of arguments. Many school practicians and research workers have asserted that one fact remains clear the function of the school decision maker has increased in complexness. In order to run into the challenge of this leading crisis, leaders from all degrees in school territories will necessitate to concentrate on systemic alteration to heighten alteration capacity and sustainability. The clip has come to alter the context of school in an attempt to do the place more rewarding and exciting. The function of the principal is polar to systemic school alteration and pupil accomplishment. Fullan shows how moral leading can reinvent the principal-ship and convey about large-scale school betterment by disputing all who work in instruction to rethink the critical function of the principal as school leader in the current epoch of answerability ( Normore, 2004 ) .Fullan adds that in complex societies, bring forthing and prolonging a critical public school system is a tall order. There must be a really competent learning force. However, this can non be achieved without leaders supplying the counsel and way. The principals, hence, play a polar function ( 2003 ) .Concentrating on SolutionsIn his protagonisms, Fullan broached the idea that a systematic reply is needed to postulate with the issues on the betterment of school leading.He proposes a tri-level solution that focuses on entire system transmutation through the witting, deliberate, brooding actions of the province in tri-level capacity edifice within a model of answerability. The school/community is the first of these degrees the territory or part is the mid degree and the province or policy degree is the 3rd.While the school/community and the district/region are making their several duties, the province has to demo the manner because system transmutation will non come about if the former fails to carry through its primary function.Government or province functionaries must plunge themselves in the cognition base about alteration, capacity-building within a model of answerability and as a consequence, start to believe otherwise. They have to move otherwise with regard to whom they appoint as leaders around them, what policies and schemes they formulate, and how they focus and enhance resources. Last, the province must radically redefine its relationship with the other two degrees by being more transparent, more involved, patterning and taking capacity edifice at their ain degree, and assisting to take and ease co-determined solutions across the other two degrees ( Fullan, 2005 ) .Large graduated table reforms will non work efficaciously. It should be a well-organize tri-level reform wherein all those who are involved monitor developments and larning from their experiences as they go along.Analyzing the Views of Michael FullanThe diverse and edifying academic point of views of Michael Fullan on school reform, school leading and instr uctor instruction have produced legion leads for much-needed reforms in the educational system of many establishments and caused the transmutation of the instruction profession.I to the full agree with Michael Fullan that the learning profession should be re-cultured or re-created. After all, his credibleness, expertness, academic and professional accomplishments every bit good as experience can non be doubted. As Fullan competently described, the learning profession still has to come of age. This new professionalism should be collaborative and non independent. It must be unfastened instead than closed, outward looking instead than insular, and important but non commanding. More than anything else, the new professionalism will do immense demands on instructors ain acquisition to larn about acquisition manners, multiple intelligences, how to incorporate engineering how to interact with grownups out there and how to acquire more support for their instruction .The major points that Fullan raised about school leading are deserving sing and following for they are non merely phenomenal. His thoughts are really practical and can lightsome adaptable provided that a co-ordinated and uninterrupted coaction between the province, school leaders and instructors is formed.Finally, the new and yet sturdy mode in covering with the larning procedure wherein the single head blends with the corporate heads should be followed for merely through this system can alter be attained. There must be an merger of expertness and thoughts to convey about additions and educational transmutation in the old ages to come.There can be no other better description than the one given by the adult male they call the Agent of Change.A Imposed constructions and criterions will neer by themselves be able to derive teacher committedness and inventiveness, but every bit, school left entirely will either be unable to portion effectual thoughts or go stray. A delicate balance of top down and bottom u p reform will be required but to win single school must non merely experience that they are in control of their ain development but besides feel portion of a bigger society transformational motion something that is deserving contending for 3004 Wordss

Sase study on leadership skills Essay

bloody shame Herzen snarl lucky to be hired for the supervisory position in the Patient Services Depart-ment at North side Hospital. She had lost a similar line of merchandise at Central Hospital three months earlier. Chris Sapiro was Marys boss and had conducted the selection process. It took him quintuplet months to fill the position as a result of the internal job-announcement and job-interviewing procedures.Two employees in the Patient Services Department had applied for the supervisory job Juanita Ramirez, 32, who had been in the department for eight years, and Sue Williamson, 26, who had less experience. Both were rejected because they were not seen as strong enough to be promoted. Chris told Mary closely this when he met with her on Marys source day on the job. He suggested that Juanita might be a problem and told Mary to handle it the way she saw best. He then took her to the department, introduced her to the staff, and left her to settle in. Later that day, Mary held me etings with each of her saucy employees.The meeting with Juanita turned out as predicted she was defensive, uncommunicative, and noncommittal. For example, Mary compulsioned to learn what Juanitas job duties were, but could not go through adequate replies. Fin all toldy, in exasperation, Juanita began arguing that it was Marys job to tell Juanita what to do. Mary replied that they would have problems if this was as salutary as they were going to communi-cate. Juanita then told Mary that she had not been promoted because she was Hispanic, and accused the hospital of discrimination. She began to cry and said she was not going to answer any more questions. Answers to field Questions1. Should Chris have informed Mary about the internal applicants before offering Mary the job? Yes. It is important to give job applicants all relevant instruction about the job for which they are applying. This is especially true for information that might be considered negative. The bulk of research in this area makes it clear that realistic job previews are very important for creating the most favorable initial job conditions. 2. Was meeting with each employee as part of Marys orientation a good idea? Although Marys idea was backed by good intentions, problems resulted. In general, individ-ual and free radical meetings both have advantages and disadvantages, and whether one would work better than another for a new supervisor is a matter of personal judgment.One obvious advantage of a group meeting is that certain messages from the new supervisor can be given to everyone at the same time. Another advantage is that the presence of a group has the potential to pressure employees into opening up and sharing what is on their minds. In Marys situation, a group meeting could have been especially helpful in this regard, creating an environment in which Juanita felt additional pressure to be more forthcoming. It should also be noted that a new supervisor can also follow up a group me eting with individual meetings, thus combining the two methods.3. Evaluate the agenda Mary used. How could it be improved? Again, the general intention was appropriate, although the execution was not as good as it could have been. The purpose of the introductory meetings is to initiate dialogue. Mary needed to share information as well as start it. A more suitable agenda would have Mary share information on such matters as her personal background and goals, her attractership course and practices, her priorities for the near term, and how she would like to work with the employees. She should ask each employee for informa-tion on their job duties, where they stand on projects, any particular problems they are experiencing, and anything else they can tell Mary that would help her superviseCASE STUDY 2Right Boss, Wrong CompanyBetty Kesmer was continuously on swipe of things. In school, she had always been at the top of her class. When she went to work for her uncles shoe business, F ancy Footwear, she had been singled out as the most productive employee and the one with the best processance. The familiarity was so impressed with her that it sent her to get an M.B.A. to groom her for a top management position. In school again, and with three years of practical experience to draw on, Kesmer had gobbled up every idea couch in front of her, relating many of them to her work at Fancy Footwear. When Kesmer graduated at the top of her class, she returned to Fancy Footwear. To no ones surprise, when the head of the companys largest division took advantage of the firms early retirement plan, Kesmer was given his position.Kesmer knew the pitfalls of being suddenly catapulted to a leadership position, and she was determined to avoid them. In business school, she had read cases about family businesses that fell apart when a offspring family member took over with an iron fist, barking out orders, cutting personnel, and destroying morale. Kesmer knew a crowd about parti cipative management, and she was not going to be labeled an arrogant k right away-it-all.Kesmers predecessor, Max Worthy, had run the division from an office at the top of the building, far above the pulverisation horizontal surface. Two or three times a day, Worthy would summon a messenger or a secretary from the offices on the second floor and send a memo out to one or another group of workers. But as Kesmer saw it, Worthy was mostly an absentee autocrat, making all the decisions from above and spending most of his time at extended lunches with his friends from the Elks Club.Kesmers first move was to change all that. She set up her office on the second floor. From her always-open doorway she could see good deal onto the factory floor, and as she sat behind her desk she could spot anyone walking by in the hall. She neer ate lunch herself but spent the time from 11 to 2 down on the floor, walking around, talking, and organizing groups.The workers, many of whom had twenty years of seniority at the plant, seemed surprised by this new policy and reluctant to volunteer for any groups. But in fairly short order, Kesmer established a worker productivity group, a tincture of the Week committee, an environmental group, a worker award group, and a management relations group. Each group held two meetings a week, one without and one with Kesmer. She support each group to set up goals in its particular focus area and develop plans for reaching those goals. She promised any support that was within her power to give.The group work was agonizingly slow at first. But Kesmer had been well trained as a facilitator, and she soon took on that role in their meetings, writing down ideas on a big board, organizing them, and later communicating them in notices to other employees. She got everyone to call her Betty and set herself the task of learning all their names. By the end of the first month, Fancy Footwear was stirred up.But as it turned out, that was the last thing most employees wanted. The truthfinally hit Kesmer when the entire management relations committee resigned at the start of their fourth meeting. Im sorry, Ms. Kesmer, one of them said. Were good at making shoes, but not at this management stuff. A lot of us are heading toward retirement. We dont want to be supervisors.Astonished, Kesmer went to talk to the workers with whom she believed she had built good relations. Yes, they reluctantly told her, all these changes did make them uneasy. They liked her, and they didnt want to complain. But given the choice, they would rather go back to the way Mr. Worthy had run things. They never saw Mr. Worthy much, but he never got in their hair. He did his work, whatever that was, and they did theirs. After youve been in a place doing one thing for so long, one worker concluded, the last thing you want to do is learn a new way of doing it. QUESTIONS What factors should have alerted Kesmer to the problems that eventually came up at Fancy Footwear? Co uld Kesmer have instituted her changes without eliciting a negative reception from the workers? If so, how?Case study 3Mini Case Study on Leadership and Dysfunctional ManagementTrouble in a Mental wellness marrow squash Alessandro Cavelzani, Ph.D., Psy.D.Ten years ago, a well-known and highly respected hospital located in the center of Rome, opened its Mental Health pore dealing patients with anxiety issues and depression. The administration and its staff included a lead psychoanalyst and four psychologists who were serving as unpaid interns. The leader of the Center oversee the interns who meet weekly in order to help them solve difficulties with patients and to offer clinical suggestions,based on his years of experience. Despite their busy schedules, the interns were required to prepare weekly written reports about their patients for the supervision session with the lead psychologist. The four psychologists felt comfortable, supported, and generally happy with their training.I n the past ten years, the Mental Health Center has grown tremendously. It has become well-known in Rome and abroad as a well-organized, professionally run mental health center for psychological treatment. three years ago, the administrative leader of the Center retired. The Human Resources department of the hospital recruited and hired Dr. xxx, a well-known external psychiatrist, as the new administrative leader and chief psychiatrist for the Mental Health Center. The new Mental Health Center leader has been given a part-time (three days per week) contract because he has other professional commitments at the university and in his own private practice.The Centers popularity has grown over time. Many local citizens and some foreigners have seek psychological treatment at the Center. To handle the increased patient load, Dr.xxx has increased staff psychologists-in-training from four to eight. In order to provide amore thorough treatment service, Dr. xxx has also added a second group of eight cognitive psychologist interns. Now there are sixteen psychologists-in-training, evenly split between psychoanalytic and cognitive psychologists.Dr. xxxs many commitments have forced him to schedule supervision meetings with the psychologists approximately every two weeks. Now however the meetings are very tense.Many psychologists elbow grease to discuss patients enigma, but the scheduled time is insufficient to accommodate all sixteen psychologists.An additional problem concerns divergent professional philosophies about treatment plans (psychoanalytic vs cognitive), proposed respectively by the two different groups of psychologists. Often, it is almost impossible to reach a common understanding or to compromise on treatment plans for patients. Some young practitioners are voicing complaints that the supervision meetings are useless because Dr. xxx has limited time to help them with the most challenging patient dilemmas. As a result, now only five psychologists fewer than a third- attend Dr. xxxs bi- weekly sessions. The other practitioners argue they cannot do any pro-bonowork, because they arent allowed to leave their offices to attend to

If I Were a Bird Essay

If I were a bird, I would like to be one of the sm every(prenominal) species, dodgy and beautiful. I would love to be a tiny maina who is beautiful, tiny and above all(a), it is a bird that man can keep as a kiss. I would love to stay with men, study their ways and enjoy their company. This I would be able to do with men as, God has ruinn the maina a power of savoir-faire just like men. It talks like a human being, has a refreshing voice and, above all also has a great efficiency to learn whatever it is taught. If I were to be a bird, I would like my life to be a beautiful blend of freedom of flying in the high skies and the love and care given by man. I see advantages in both and find it difficult to make a choice. My ambition as a bird would be able to fly high as high can be, like any other bird. This would give me an insight into what all exists in the atmosphere. I would also be able to assess premiere hand, the life of birds as a community, the advantages and the disadva ntages they live with.I would share my experiences with my kin and watch the difficult ways of life. I would attain knowledge of lives of birds big and small as I would move with them and conversing with them while flying high in the air, or sitting on trees with my other colleagues. Though I would love all this, at the same time I would love to become a pet in a nice family. This family would keep me closed in a cage lest I fly off. Here, in the family I would learn to be controlled and restricted. It would be no doubt a punishment of sorts to be tied down in a cage but I feel so bright imagining the love and care I would get from each member of the family that would adopt me. Here, at home, I would be served food in a platter, water in a dish in a right royal style. Aha what a life that could be for me.Hunting for food and being frightened of bigger birds contend me would not be a care for me. I would be a loved one of many what a wonderful feeling it gives. While nourishment with a family I would also be able to learn about the ways of men. How man lives, how he behaves, and what his attitude is towards birds I would be able to find first hand, being so close to man. I would thus also get an insight into all this. Together with all these advantages, living with human beings, my trick of talking like a human would get encouraged and I would get several chances to talk to the family. I perceive man keeps mainas and parrots just for this stratagem of these birds, of talking like men. My master, mistress and some small children of the family would teach me how to speak and what to speak.Once I would get the training to speak, I would be able to gibber with each of the family members and guests. This would earn for me heaps of praises by all who heard me. This I say because I hear a maina has a very clear and sweet voice, and a capacity to talk like a human. If I were a bird, I would like to get the blessing of this combination to be set into my life. It would give me a healthy and relaxed sojourn in a family, together with free visits to the sky, trying out my skills of taking high flights. The two together would give me as if, the best of both the worlds, of birds and humans. Oh God, please grant me this life, that is, if I am not asking for too much.summertime VacationShort essay for kids on My Summer Vacation. Our school closed for holidays on May 14. We had been planning how to spend the vacation this time. There were many proposals.My parents wished to go to our home town, and be with my grandparents for about six weeks or so. My friends had a trekking expedition up their sleeves, while my classmates wanted to go to some hill station on an educational tour for which our class-teacher had also given consent. I wished to avail of all the tether proposals.First, I made my mother and elder sister agree to my going on the tour, with my class and the teacher, as the railway yielding was already allowed for such journeys. They r equested my father to postpone the programme to visit the grandparents by a week or so. My father readily agreed and dogged that if I wished to go for the educational tour, I could join him slowr. He and my mother agreed to go in the advance party to be joined by my sister and me after my tour.My friends agreed to go trekking, after my return from both journeys. The three journeys were planned in the following order Educational tour in May, home town trip in June and trekking in July, when the monsoon reaches this part of the country.My class-teacher had arranged for the railway concession for thirty-five students and three teachers. We started on May 20, reaching Allahabad late in the evening. Earlier, we had tea and snack at the Kanpur railway platform, since the train stopped there for ten minutes, that being a big railway junction.We enjoyed our three-day stay in Allahabad very much. There we got our rooms booked in a lodge on Thomas Street. We did boating in the nearby river four time. We went to see various places. We also went to see Anand Bhawan, where Pt. Nehru was born. We returned on May 25, much refreshed and happy.My father had booked our seats by Indian Airlines for June 2. I, along with my sister, took this flight as already decided, and reached our home town in My First Day at New SchoolAfter I came to the United States, I began to attend North Penn eminent School on Dec. 6, 2000. It was a day that I will never forget. My first day in a foreign school was a specially hard for me. During my first day in a new school, I felt up nervous, lonely, and sad.First, I was very nervous because my school was huge. There were around three thousand students who were studying in the school furthermore, there were around three hundred staff members in the school. My class schedule was hard for me to understand. Since I had never seen that kind of schedule before, I could not find my classes on time. Also, I was frightened of asking other students for d irections because I did not know how to speak English. My first class was Biology, and I was already late for the class. Fortunately, I saw a security guard walking around in the hallway, who helped me to find my class. Many times I have asked teachers for directions too I was late getting to all of my classes. Moreover, my teachers got mad at me and told me not to be late every time.Second, I felt lonely because there was not anyone with whom I could talk. There were too many students walking around the school, but they never smiled at me or said Hi or Hello to me. In addition, in my world culture class, students had to work in a group, and no one wanted to work with me. There were all American students in my class they were talking in English and making fun of me because I did not know English very well. Moreover, during the lunch period, I had to sit alone in the cafeteria, when other students were enjoying their lunch period with their friends.Also, I felt sadness at that time, because I missed my friends and family very much. When I was in school back in India, my two best friends, Swati and Bijal, and I used to go to school together everyday if one of us did not understand any concepts, we always helped each other out. Swati and Bijal always had told me that I was going to miss them and advised