In Defense of Traditional Marriage By R. Anderson Essay

In Defense of Traditional Marriage By R. Anderson - Essay Example Anderson in his article about traditional marriages argues that a marriage should still be viewed in the traditional sense of it being a reunion between a man and woman for the purpose of procreation as is indicated in the constitution (Anderson, 2013). His argument therefore dispels the gay activists’ attempts to have this wording changed in the formal documents simply because they have already been accorded the right to get married. The article further ascertains that this definition of marriage has been in existence way before there was any evidence of same sex marriages and hence cannot be changed now. Furthermore, the moment the federal government will change this definition; it will mean that it will be on the road to changing other things as well and being cornered to allow enforcement of other untraditional issues in the marriage institution such as allowing polygamy and the likes. Anderson stands with his word that simply because the gays were allowed to get married i n the states that they have does not allow them the power to demand a change of the traditional institutional definition of marriage (Anderson, 2013). They should be glad with what they have been accorded and remain silent on the issue and let traditions remain as they have always been. The argument by Anderson leans more towards deductive reasoning where he starts by stating the general rules and laws of marriages that have always been and moves to focusing on the sole aspect of procreation. This argument is based on only one major point and a few others that are not too strong to support the traditional marriages or even provide enough reason to avoid the definition of marriage being changed in the constitution despite it being an age old definition whose changes will open up a Pandora’s box of other issues related to modern marriages. The argument of

Describe a time when you experience a classroom as a community. How Essay

Describe a time when you experience a classroom as a community. How did the teacher create it How did it feel to belong to this - Essay Example The place was like a community to me as the bringing together of people with different backgrounds and ideologies was really worthwhile. The teacher ensured that the students in the classroom were able to interact with each other and probably learn more from the older group. This act by the teacher exposed the flaws of the education system where students are put in the same class with students of their peer group. The teacher created this community in such a way that the students were given the opportunity to acquire skills that would make them integrate easily into the society. The teacher made the students to have a deep sense of belonging as that act gave the students the opportunity to interact socially with other members of the academic community (Koch 28-31). It is true that schools shelter students from the opportunities of enlightening that exposure to wider social, ethnic and mixed age groupings might afford them as they would be restricted to the knowledge that is within th e school. The teacher made us aware in the classroom that the real lessons of life are not learnt within the walls of a school, but in the community or the society as the case may be. The teacher adequately prepared us for the challenges of a larger community and the society as a whole.

Defining Reflective Practice And Identifying Advantages And Implications Nursing Essay

Defining Reflective Practice And Identifying Advantages And Implications Nursing Essay The ability to become reflective in practice has become a necessary skill for health professionals. The implementation of reflective practice is now found in many of the other allied health care disciplines including the Radiography profession. UK health practitioners are expected to meet a continuing professional development standard (CPD), and reflection is a strategy that facilitates meeting this standard for registration (Driscoll and Teh, 2001). This is to ensure that health professionals are continuing with their daily learning and improving their practice. Reflective practice plays a big part in healthcare today and is becoming increasingly noticed. This assignment aims to address the definition of reflective practice, advantages and disadvantages associated, implications of reflective practice and how to improve reflection within healthcare. What is reflective practice? Reflective practice is advocated in healthcare as a learning process that encourages self evaluation with subsequent professional development planning (Zuzelo, 2009). Reflective practice has been identified as one of the key ways in which we can learn from our experiences. Reflective practice can mean taking our experiences as an initial point for our learning and developing practice (Jasper, 2003). Jasper (2003) summarises reflective practice as having the following three components: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Things (experiences) that happened to the person. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The reflective processes that enable to person to learn to learn from those experiences. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The actions that result from the new perspectives that are taken. Reflection is part of reflective practice and is a skill that is developed. It can be seen as a way of adjusting to life as a qualified healthcare professional and enhancing the development of a professional identity (Atwal Jones, 2009). Reflection re-examines the individual experiences or feelings, and the outcome of this is allowing the practitioner to develop a new perception and an appreciation of how the experiences encountered in practice can add to professional knowledge (Boud et al, 1985). Reflective practice permits the review of everyday practice to develop the additional knowledge, skills and competencies required to enhance care delivery. Reflection can be described as a process of reasoned thinking. It helps the practitioner to critically assess self, and their approach to practice (Fleming, 2006). There are different interpretations of reflection and reflective practice documented. However, there are two well known basic forms of reflection. Schà ¶n (1987) identifies two types of reflection that can be applied in healthcare, Reflection-in-action and Reflection-on-action. Reflection-in-action means examining your own behaviour and that of others while in a situation (Schon, 1995; Schon, 1987).   It can be termed as coming across situations and problems which may require thought and problem solving in the midst of practice. It can also be described as thinking whilst doing (Millinkovic and Field, 2005). Reflection-on-action is possibly the most common form of reflection. It involves revisiting experiences and critically analysing them to help improve skills and to improve future practice. The aim of reflection is to value strengths and to develop diverse, more effective ways of acting in the future (Somerville and Keeling, 2004). Reflective practice is seen as more than just a thoughtful process. It has the potential to be turned into a learning situation where future practices can be changed as a result of the process (Jarvis, 1992). Advantages of reflection Reflective practice is an essential component of continuing professional development (CPD) and is required by all regulatory bodies of healthcare professionals in order to maintain registration (Atwal Jones, 2009). However, Driscoll (2006) notes that reflective practice is regularly represented as a choice for health professionals, whether to be reflective or not to be reflective, about their clinical practice. Driscoll (2006) also notes that if there is such a commitment to reflection, it can help improve practice and transform healthcare. It has been argued that reflection on clinical work may be essential to the development of our clinical knowledge (Benner, 2001). Atwal and Jones (2009) suggest reflective practice can build up better levels of self-awareness about themselves as practitioners and as individuals, leading to opportunities for professional and personal development. There are benefits and barriers of incorporating reflection into the NHS and imaging professional prac tice. The benefits of reflective practice are: Reflection enables health professionals to share knowledge with others, to help practice and assists practitioners in making sense of challenging and complex situations (Chapman et al, 2008). This helps to optimise work practice and improve interprofessional relationships. Reflection allows an objective to look at our practice in order to improve the quality of our performance at work. It also allows practice to be critiqued, enabling enhancement in the development of areas needed to be improved, identifying learning needs (Stewart et al, 2000) and taking responsibility for continuing professional development (Griffin 2003). Reflection helps practitioners develop a questioning attitude and the skills needed to constantly update knowledge and skills (Westberg and Hilliard, 2001). Reflective practice helps recognise the strengths and weaknesses, enhancing development and helps apply the skill of reflection to CPD cycle. Reflection can assist the practitioner to observe the aspects of their practice, encourage professional development, personal growth and evaluation of skills ( Chapman et al,2008) Reflection helps practitioners make sense of challenging and complicated practice, and acts as a reminder that there is no end to learning (Zuzelo, 2009) Disadvantages of reflection There are known barriers which prevent practitioners being able to reflect effectively. Smythe (2004) questions whether there is any time to think and be reflective because of the busy work environment that practitioners are involved in. Barriers to reflection are: Lack of motivation to partake in reflection or reflective practices from staff or fellow colleagues. The culture of organisation. Some organisations may not promote reflective practice because it may not highly be favoured in the department, or there may not be any interest in reflection (Workforce Support, 2010). Some staff may not know how to undertake reflective practice because they may have not been taught how to undertake it and how to reflect in such a manner, and may be apprehensive about documenting experiences and emotions (Workforce Support, 2010). Some practitioners are rooted in the preconception that reflection is too difficult and that reflection is a taught skill (White, 2003). There is lack of time to undertake reflective practice as imaging departments today have an increase in workload and if the department is relatively busy, there is a lack of time to undertake reflection, as reflection does require some quality time (Johns and Freshwater, 2005). Radiography is largely scientific and technical therefore reflection does not need to play a role in the profession (Hall and Davis, 1999). However Radiography has evolved through the years and the work is becoming increasingly more patient centered. Reflection may be seen as something often used in response to a negative outcome (White, 2003). Implication of reflective practice in regards to service delivery and management. Service delivery is a vital component on improvement of health services. The World Health Organisation (2010) summarises that effective service delivery depends on key resources such as motivated staff, information and equipment, and these have to be well managed. Imaging departments need to make sure that these key components are in place, in order to deliver the best possible care, and making sure they exceed the requirements of the patient. It can be suggested that reflective practice is identified as an important strategy for enhanced care delivery and continuing professional development.The Health Professions Council standards of proficiency for Radiographers (HPC 2007/09) state that CPD contributes to the quality of practice and service delivery and stresses the value of reflection on practice and the need to record the outcome of such reflection. It is suggested that by supporting reflective practice in healthcare departments, issues of the quality of own service delivery can be raised. Reflection will also help develop service delivery and provide a service in the best possible way, and will allow the department to think about actions that are being undertaken that should not be, and actions that are not being taken that should be (E-training resources, 2010). Reflective practice may become an opportunity for innovation and change within the department. If reflective practice is to be supported in departments, the department would need to make sure that all staff are participating in reflective practice and making sure that staff are benefiting from this, and learning from their practice. Some staff members may find it difficult to engage in reflective practices, therefore it is essential that the department help assist with the reflective processes to make sure all staff are actively participating (Workforce Support, 2010).The service head would have to make sure that the staff in the department are undertaking some form of reflection and can build way s to help implement some reflective practice activities within the department for all staff to engage in. Implementing these practices will help shape the management of the department. Examples of reflection documented Many journals have been written that propose the use of reflective assignments and journaling as tools to improve reflection and thinking skills in healthcare (Chapman et al, 2008). Forms of reflection can be very useful in understanding how practitioners can improve both their professional practice and the organisation in which they work in (Workforce Support, 2010). Reflective practice can be made formal through such processes and underpins the process of continuing professional development (CPD) (White, 2003). Pee et al (2003) states that journal writing is a technique for individuals to express their experiences and to use the reflective and analytical, or critical thinking process for learning. Reflective journals are an ideal way to be actively involved in learning (Millinkovic Field, 2005) and can be implemented to allow practitioners to write down events in practice and their thoughts and actions on daily situations, and how this may impinge on their future practice (William s Wessel, 2004). Reflective clinical journals also present a method in which health care professionals may write about clinical learning experiences and reflect on them (Millinkovic and Field, 2005). Practitioners can progress their skills in reflective thinking and writing, which will allow the practitioners to become self- directed in their learning (Chapman et al, 2008). This is also in agreement with Kennison and Misselwitz (2002) as they state that reflective journals can be considered a helpful tool of reflection, as it can help develop the health care professionals writing skills, reflect on their practice, discover reactions and bring new meanings to past experiences. Reflective workplace diaries can also be used to promote reflective practice. Workplace diaries can be used to note down events that occurred within a clinical setting for example a critical incident or a patient interaction (Chapman et al, 2008). It is a daily record of day by day personal experiences and obs ervations and from these thoughts, ideas and feelings can be expressed. From this, questions such as what happened and why? How do I feel about it? What can I learn from it? Can be asked, and this will allow the practitioner to reflect on their topic in a deeper more thought processed structure. Chapman et al (2008) stresses that it is also important that when using the reflective diary, the health practitioner has to be able to reflect, are willing to reflect and to make changes from this reflection. A review of the diary will help practitioners progression of reflective writing, and more levels of critical reflection can be undertaken. Ways to improve reflection Reflection can be improved in a number of ways to help benefit the practitioner. Appraisals can be implemented within the department, for all health practitioners to take part in. The appraisals will encompass the practitioner to talk about their practice and how they are using their skills, and to reflect on the work that they are undertaking, taking note of any improvements that can be made to better the practice. An increase in knowledge can be demonstrated through reflective practice with the focus of reflective reports including involvement in audits and research (Snaith and Hardy, 2007). Snaith and Hardy (2007) also write that reviewing local practice initiatives among many other possible activities may help improve reflection. Continuing professional Development (CPD) essential to the enhancement of clinical skills (Chapman et al, 2008) and is mandatory to the HPC in order to retain registration. Imaging departments can implement ways for practitioners to engage in CPD activit ies that are accessible to all practitioners. CPD will help keep professionals up to date and will also help practitioners engage in ways in which they can reflect in the activity undertaken, which will enhance their reflective and thinking skills. This will benefit to lifelong learning (Chapman et al, 2008). Reflection can be incorporated into a CPD as a means to enhance and maintain reflective practice in a clinical setting. The Society and College of Radiographers CPD tool offers some direction to practitioners that want to present reflective evidence of their increasing knowledge base and a framework of how it may be planned (Kelly, 2005). Tutorials can be implemented in the department for practitioners that want to become involved in reflective practice, the different ways to reflect, and some frame works that are used for reflecting. Not many practitioners are aware of how to reflect on practice (Workforce Support, 2010). There are different ways of reflecting and by making th ese ways become known to practitioners, it can help decide which framework is best suited for their learning, and can undertake better reflection on their work. Conclusion Although experience is at the centre of learning in imaging departments, reflection is fundamental to deeper learning from experience. Reflective practice is becoming an essential skill that is incorporated into clinical practice and continuing professional development (CPD) and it is therefore important that the imaging department understand the role and the potential of reflection. The adoption of a reflective approach to clinical work is important since it is an effective means of highlighting best practice, whilst furthering professional development. Different ways to reflect in practice can be approached and adopted that will benefit future practice of the professional and how it implements their daily work lives; however, there are evident barriers to reflection within an imaging department. This includes time because of the busy environment a hospital encompasses and lack of motivation if the vast majority of health care practitioners are not undertaking it. Imaging department s have to implement ways in which the practitioners can reflect in their practice to enhance patient care and promote effective service delivery. Reflection can be a powerful mover in the process of learning, which can lead to change and the development on a professional and personal level and various measures have to be taken into account to achieve this.

Barbie - A Complex American Icon Essay examples -- American Culture E

As a young girl, I was not very interested in playing with baby dolls. I preferred playing with my many stuffed animals or the only doll I did like—Barbie. With my animals, usually I was rescuing them from some horrible disaster such as a flood or a forest fire. I was their heroic savior and benevolent protector. But with Barbie this was decidedly not the case. Sometimes my Barbie did normal Barbie things, such as get dressed up for an exciting date with Ken or go shopping with her little sister, Skipper. More often, however, I subjected Barbie to strange, sadistic acts of my imagination. Frequently Barbie, in her pink dune buggy, would have tragic head-on collisions with my brother’s dump truck, or the brakes would suddenly go out on her pink Barbie scooter, sending her careening off a steep mountain cliff. Barbie also had the unfortunate tendency to be sucked from her Barbie plane by her lovely long blonde hair while flying at 30,000 feet. Since in every other way I w as a normal child, psychoanalysts might interpret my play patterns with Barbie as childlike manifestation of women’s frustrations at the disparate images popular culture presents for women. Most women I know also experience this love/hate feeling towards Barbie and the mixed messages she represents, especially when their daughters start begging for Barbies of their own. While mothers do not want to encourage the unrealistic beauty expectations that Barbie represents, they also fondly remember Barbie as their own favorite toy. These many women, and their daughters, have made Barbie the most successful toy for girls since 1959, despite Barbie’s many contradictions. Barbie embodies American popular culture’s attempt to respond to women’s changing roles in the era since... ... â€Å"Barbie is a Million-Dollar Doll,† The Saturday Evening Post, December 12, 1964, 72. 23 Douglas, 24. 24 â€Å"All’s Swell at Mattel,† Time, October 26, 1962, 90. 25 â€Å"It’s not the Doll it’s the Clothes,† Business Week, December 16, 1961, 48. 26 Cleo Shupp, â€Å"Little Girls are too Sexy too Soon,† Saturday Evening Post, June 29, 1963, 12. 27 Zinsser, 73. 28 â€Å"The Barbie-Doll Set,† Nation, April 27, 1964, 407. 29 Donovan Bess, â€Å"The Menace of the Barbie Dolls,† Ramparts, January 25, 1969, 25. 30 quoted in Bess, 26. 31 Letty Pogrebin, â€Å"Toys: Bad News/Good News,† Ms., December 1975, 60. 32 Douglas, 27. 33 Douglas, 25. 34 â€Å"Zeitgeist Barbie,† Harper’s Magazine, August 1990, 20. 35 Helen Cordes, â€Å"What a Doll!,† Utne Reader, March/April 1992, 46. 36 taken from December 2004 Toys R Us, Wal Mart, Target, and K-Mart advertisements.

Harley Davidson †Strategies Essay

Harley Davidson Company is a largest factory-sponsored motorcycle club in the world. It has a wide range of vision and mission that makes Harley-Davidson apart from the competition and why their brand strength is legendary. The United States customers for example, have come to trust the name Harley-Davidson, which gives the company a competitive advantage over their competitors. The company strives to improve growth and increase demand for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Today the Harley Davidson Company takes the leading position in the business world, when demand exceeds supply this allows them to increase the prices of productions and stock. They have become a force to be reckoned with in the motorcycle industry, while continuing to maintain existence through either booming or recessive markets. The external matrix indicates that the Harley-Davidson company is above average when it comes to being perceptive and responsive in regards to opportunities and threats. Based on the weighted score of 3.  58, the major and minor strengths dominate the weak opportunities and threats. Besides from advantage of the company to the rest of the competitors, Harley-Davidson’s company looking at the other companies as a whole competitor, the hybrid expansion could generate a great deal more revenues (Datamonitor, 2006, p. 14). The competitive matrix indicates that Harley-Davidson holds a strong position among its competitors. Through brand image, customer loyalty, and a relatively stable financial position, the company can work towards growth in the global markets. One avenue is to purchase the 20 million shares of stock that the company has been authorized to buy back. Harley Davidson’s opportunity to buy back their shares is their opportunity to tell the world that they are still a financially stable company. This answer the question on how can Harley-Davidson improve its 2005 stock performance. Harley-Davidson, Inc TOWS Matrix The Matrix would give the best strategies in which Harley –Davidson Company motivates the customer heart and becoming a great tool of the company’s success as well. Under this matrix strategies developed were as follows with coded letter; Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), Threats (T), Strengths & Opportunities ( SO) strategy, Weaknesses & Opportunities(WO) strategy, Strength & Threats (ST) Strategies, and Weaknesses & Threats (WT) Strategies. Under which noted that the strengths were comprises with at least factual description namely, 1. Brand Loyalty 2. Commanding Market share in heavy weight segment 3. Offering Cross Segments 4. Extensive Distribution Network 5. Strong Operating Performance and 6. Customers Loyalty. Furthermore, it is also noted from the list, the three listed weaknesses: Weak European business performance, Rising dealer inventory and decline in value of pre-owned vehicles and the SEC inquiry over production plants. While on the other hand, there are three opportunities offered by the company namely; SEC inquiry over production plants, Improvement in efficiency and Chinese Market. Plus other thing the company has to dealt with and made some direct action complied is the list of threats the company cannot avoid to tackle it efficiently. The threats were Intense Competition, Increase in raw material cost and Regulatory Issues. With such matrix strategies of the company, other new strategies can be developing that also of great used in the new company. From there, we can design a Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT) strategies, SPACE, BCG, IE, Grand Strategy, and QSPM matrices that’s is also valuable to use in order to improve the business progress and development. Conclusions The company’s current strategies appeared to following, the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT) strategies, that is, in addition to the previous existing strategies which are SWOT originated. Thus it gives the company big booms of success. That is, based on the financial and analytical data, Harley Davidson is a strong financial organization that has been in business for over 100 years and if they continue in the way they are working, they could remain in business another 100 years. The underlying grand strategy or strategy theme of the company is that, company uses an aggressive strategy, because it would be in the upper right, aggressive quadrant. The Explanation to this would be graphing the change of FSIS in the plane of CAIS versus FSES, the result would be increasing change of FSIS was found. Hence with these amazing results, the  Company gained the financial strength & industry strength (FSIS) increasing as the financial Strength positively overcome as well as the industry strength also positively reached. Stating the immediate and future strategy recommendations for the company will be , taking into accounts that competitor continuously becoming at large and introduces more vivid product assurance , the company can still compete more effectively if the continuous studies about how to gain trust among customers and also continuous seeking more effective strategies that will fits the need of the customers. Thus for sure the more the company blooms up to the highest level among the rest of the competitors. Providing a selection rationale and financial justification about the company’s financial strength will be Harley-Davidson, Inc has developed strategies in line with their aspirations to grow within a Global Market. The company prides itself on having brand recognition and customer loyalty. In the terms of generating revenues, the company has dominated the domestic market versus their competitor’s ability. Harley-Davidson is comprised of four segments (Datamonitor, 2006, p.  28). This enables them to focus on different targeted customers. The segments consist of standard, performance, touring and customized motorcycles (Datamonitor, 2006, p. 28). Other strengths include strong operating performance and distribution network. Harley products are sold by over 1,300 dealers globally (Datamonitor, 2006, p. 29). The ability to market and promote a brand name product to people all over the world, through various networking capabilities, provides the company will a stronger market position. The strong operating performance can be based upon the growth of the company. Looking at revenues from 2003 to 2005, the company has increased funds by almost 14. 5 percent within two years (Income Statement: Forbes. Com). According to the quarterly reports on Forbes, it appears that for 2006, the company will exceed the previous years’ revenues. Therefore, the company is continually growing and making their presence known in the industry.

Blackness and The Black Experience

The experience of being black, like the experience of having any other skin color, is left wide open to the personal viewpoint of the individual. Still, with the black race, there is a legacy of being forcibly removed from their homeland and enslaved, and this legacy probably affects the outlook of every black person in some way. In the ancient world, an individual with â€Å"black† skin was not considered inferior. The Greeks, for example, did not regard skin color as an impediment to coordination in social order. They instead judged a man based on his integrity, his word, and his ability. â€Å"What is blackness? † â€Å"What is the black experience? Blackness is defined as the property of being black in color, but that is a raw definition that has no context in human experience. While the ancients seemed to have little or no problem with color, the idea of race difference has been a struggle for modern societies everywhere. Scholar W. E. B. Du Bois calls it â€Å"the problem of the twentieth century. † Du Bois contends that the supposed ugliness exists fundamentally in the psyches of the cutting edge spectators. What that means to me is that, whatever prejudices may exist in the minds of leaders then translates to the attitudes, and more critically the laws, of everyday citizens. In England color turned into the premise of segregation. In the United States, the institution of slavery was the central argument in a states’ rights debate that erupted into the bloodiest war of the 19th century. Even after the Civil War, racial segregation, violence, the KKK, and the struggle for equality marred the next one hundred years. How black people perceive their own â€Å"blackness† today, as opposed to 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, is sure to be different. Blackness must have a completely different meaning in 2013. In fact, the very word â€Å"black† is no longer used as often, having been replaced with â€Å"African-American. † The idea of â€Å"blackness† must have made drastic leaps for the better when this country elected a black president. This is a sharp contrast to the self-image blacks had during the years of slavery (in this country and others, including their own native continent). As the decades pass, one would hope that the legacy of slavery, mistreatment, bigotry, and inequality has waned, and become a historical acknowledgement rather than an influencing factor in the psyche of modern individual blacks in the world. I believe that this trend will continue. In dealing with the black people I know, I don’t hear them talking about being mistreated or discriminated against as much as what I’ve read about in our country’s history. Black people seemed to be more present in prestigious jobs and government positions. At least in America, black people are being given more and more opportunity, and society continues to try and fulfill its promise of equality and equal protection. If this continues, I hope that the idea of â€Å"blackness† is one of promise, hope and pride, and not despair.