Fast Food Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Essay Market and environmental analysis of McDonalds Corp – 2003. Market and environmental analysis is an essential part of an organization’s External Analysis. The main objectives of a market analysis are; a)To determine how attractive a market is. b)To understand the dynamics of the market and amend strategies accordingly. Here we apply the dimensions of a Market Analysis to McDonalds corp. 1)Emerging submarkets; McDonalds failed to recognize the changing trend in customer’s preferences to better tasting, fresher food. This trend led to new sub markets emerging for tastier, fresher and fast food perceived as healthier. A few of the smaller/privately owned competitors (Cosi and Quizno’s) were able to operate in niche markets selling gourmet sandwiches and salads. The emergence of smaller restaurants offering easy access to exotic foods such as sushi and burritos created a more specialized niche market. 2)Size and Growth; With the emergence of these sub-markets and niche markets, McDonalds started losing market share. It now had to share its fast-food mass market with these newly created markets. Even though these restaurant chains were small in size, their growth opportunities presented a potential threat to McDonalds. They operated on service that was better than McDonalds at the same time providing better tasting food, which led to an increase in its sales. This sector was in the early stages of growth where as McDonalds was past the maturity stage. 3)Profitability; McDonalds profitability can be gauged by using Porters 5 factor model. a)Intensity of competition among existing customers was relatively high. Direct competitors like Wendy’s and Chik-Fil-A were able to out perform. McDonalds based on service quality by providing quicker service. In comparison McDonalds had a large number of franchises, but will falling service time. b)Threat of new entrants: Other market niches like quizo’s, cosi and small restaurants offering exotic foods also provided a high degree of competition to McDonalds by offering food that appealed to changing customer preferences. The only barrier to entry that McDonalds used was to open a large number of franchises and offer an inexpensive menu; this is however changing as franchisees are leaving McDonalds, lowering the barriers to entry. c)Substitute products would include fast food options available in leading supermarkets, and cafe’s offering exotic foods like sushi. d)Bargaining power of customers. Customers are the main source of income for McDonalds. Customers were not happy with the menu offered at McDonalds and hence took their custom to other restaurants, leading to a drop in sales. e)Bargaining power of suppliers: McDonalds aimed to keep their menu prices low (source more details about suppliers) 4)Cost structure McDonalds strategic focus was on cost and service. In order to raise service quality new kitchens were installed. However, this installation was done for some franchises that did not need it and where the new additions did not help improve business. In order to keep the price of its burgers low, it asked the franchises to sell at a loss. Example: Promoting a $1 burger when the cost to make it was $1. 07. This lack in foresight resulted in rising costs to franchise owners who responded by leaving McDonalds and going over to competitors. This snowballed into falling investor confidence resulting in falling equity. Another cost issue was investing in too many takeovers which it couldn’t handle at the same time as improving service quality and revamping the menu. 5)Distribution Systems McDonalds distribution system was the large and growing number of franchises. However not many of the franchises were posting profits and as per Exhibit 1, more than 500 would have to be closed. One of McDonalds strengths is its distribution system, where in customers come in and have the same experience that they have at any other store. However, this can also be a weakness as providing a consistent experience soon becomes ordinary. 6)Market Trends. The fast food casual market was quickly breaking up into fragments. With the rising immigrant population customers now had a choice of items. McDonalds realize this too late and try to counter this effect by introducing new burgers. However, the testing of the new menu does not gauge strongly enough the changing customer preferences and this poor planning led to its failure. Internally changing trends were also blindsided. Franchisees who were the closest to customers were not included in decision making and were thus disgruntled. Here was the need to change the management style from top-down to bottom-up. This would have solved some of the issues plaguing McDonalds, by providing data on what customers want and what products would have a greater chance of success. 7)Key success Factors McDonalds did have some strengths or key success factors; a)Large number of franchises that led to economies of scale. This however contrasted to the ‘small is beautiful’ concept of the niche markets. b)Complete training for franchisees to begin and run their own McDonalds proved to be a good team building exercise. c)Cost of food was low due to economies of scale and economies of size. Moreover, McDonalds was able to negotiate a reasonable price for high quality food products. McDonalds failed to realize the changing trends in the casual fast food markets, as a result of which, a large part of the market share was taken over by existing brands like Wendy’s and new players like Panera bread co. The company also failed to acknowledge competition from the niche markets serving gourmet and exotic foods. This lack in analysis led to lowering of entry barriers for new entrants, loss of market share to competitors (Wendy’s, Chick-Fil-A. ), disgruntled franchisees, and a drop in sales leading to a fall in equity value. Environmental Analysis 1)Political: 2)Economic: 3)Socio-Cultural: There are three cultural forces that influence marketers: a) persistence of cultural values, b) subcultures and c) shifts in secondary cultural values. Of the three, secondary cultural values carry the largest influence on the fast-food market. When the market is interested in convenience, they are more likely to buy fast food; if the markets secondary values shift and become interested in fitness and health, they will be less likely to buy fast food. (Monash university, 2006) The case shows this shift to gourmet and healthier foods. 4)Technological: McDonalds had begun to notice the importance of technology. The organization was looking at new technological solutions like ERP to improve their supply chain (Newman, 2002) 5)Environmental: 6)Legal: References: Monash university, 2006, Briohny’s Report, Language and Learning Online, Retrieved on 06 May 2008. http://www. monash. edu. au/lls/llonline/writing/business-economics/marketing/3. 3. 2. xml Newman, K, 2002. McDonalds seeks closer electronic relations, iStart. com:Technology in business, www. istart. co. nz, retrieved on 06 May 2008. http://www. istart. co. nz/index/HM20/PC0/PVC197/EX245/AR22537.

Relationship Between Family Poverty and Child Development

Relationship Between Family Poverty and Child Development How is family poverty related to childhood development? It is well documented that family poverty has a negative effect on childhood development (Horgan, 2007) but the many variations in how family poverty is related to childhood development via various pathways is of great importance to parents, health and education professionals as they work to improve the outcomes for children; â€Å"maximising the opportunities open to them – improving their life chances and changing the odds in their favour.† Every child matters. When considering how family poverty is related to childhood development, it is firstly important to define poverty. Engle Black note that this is a difficult task and question whether it should be ‘defined in economic terms, or as part of a broader social disadvantage’. In economic terms, the UK government, the European Union and many other countries use 60 per cent of median household income as the poverty ‘threshold’. (Poverty and Social Exclusion poverty.ac.uk) although by their own admission ‘without validation from direct measures of people’s living standards, is essentially arbitrary’. Sen describes poverty as ‘capability deprivation’ and argues that we should take a more ‘activity-oriented view of human beings’. These activities can vary from ‘physical ones as being well nourished, being adequately clothed and sheltered, avoiding preventable morbidity, and so forth, to more complex social achievements such as taking part in the life of the community, being able to appear in public without shame.’ As a result of this, when considering how family poverty is related to childhood development this essay will consider both direct economic effects and also the effects of broader social disadvantage. Similarly it is also difficult to define ‘childhood development’. Indeed Engle et al note that ‘there are no globally accepted indicators for child development’ They do however concede that ‘child development is often measured through individual assessments of developmental changes in multiple domains (eg, cognitive, language and social-emotional)’. One measure of cognition is academic achievement and this is used by various studies as a measure of child outcome (CITE). One of the main reasons for family poverty can be the family unit itself. Fiori (2005) states that â€Å"Economic theory predicts that the two-parent family is among the best-functioning forms of capitalist society because it allows for the provision of household services by one partner and economic resources by the other, and as such it is an efficient system for maximising utility and the human capital of children† Consequently, supporting evidence has found that children from a lone parent family generally have a poorer academic outcome but do not fare poorer psychologically (Mclanahan and Sandefur, 1994). The reason for this is often attributed to the ‘pathology of matriarchy’ hypothesis (Moynihan) which suggests that the absence of a father is destructive to children, particularly boys, because children will lack the economic resources, role models, discipline, structure and guidance that a father provides. The effects of family structure on family poverty and subsequently child outcome is of high importance, with marriage emerging high on the U.S. policy agenda in recent years as a tool for improving child outcomes (Nock) and marriage allowance in the UK allowing a person to reduce their spouses’ tax bill if one partner earns an income below the personal allowance limit (CITE), again alleviating financial stresses which can have a negative effect on child outcome. Hann et al (2003) found that when controlling for income, single-mother families were not significantly different from two-parent families for child outcome. This suggests that it is family poverty itself (that typically results from family disruption) that is the major explanation for children’s lower attainments. Direct effects of family poverty affect childhood development by increasing risk factors, limiting protective factors and reducing opportunities for stimulation and enrichment. Children from low-income families are more likely to receive insufficient nutrition and also be overweight, two factors commonly associated with food insecurity (Cook). The amount of families in the UK struggling to buy basic items such as food is increasing. The Trussel Trust reported that their 445 foodbanks fed 913,138 people nationwide from 2013-2014 and of those helped, 330,205 were children.’ A lack of a balanced diet can affect childrens development both directly and indirectly. Innis has shown that fatty acids such as those found in certain types of fish and nuts assist healthy brain development and reductions in these fatty acids is associated with cognitive and behavioural impairments; the effect of family poverty on childhood development via a poor diet is a very real possibility even in a country such as the United Kingdom. Another direct effect of poverty is the fact that parents in low-income families often have lower levels education and this has a negative impact on their ability to provide a positive, intellectually stimulating environment for their children (Coleman). Hart Todd found that children from professional families that were strongly associated with higher parent education levels and higher family income were spoken to more than children from working class or welfare recipient families and so had a larger cumulative vocabulary. By the age of just three, Hart Todd observed â€Å"the cumulative vocabulary for children in the professional families was about 1,100 words. For children from working class families, the observed cumulative vocabulary was about 750 words and for children from welfare-recipient families it was just above 500 words†. Hart Todd conclude that the most important element of a child’s language development is quantity of conversation and thus it is easy to see how in a ‘traditional’ two-parent family (as previously mentioned) the division of responsibilities allows for increased time to talk to children. Hart Todd also found that children from professional families heard a higher ratio of encouragements to discouragements than their working class and welfare-supported counterparts. Henderlong Lepper found that encouragement is beneficial to the intrinsic motivation of a child (provided it is perceived as sincere) and this will also have a positive effect on child development. Baumrind (1971) defined three parenting types: permissive: parents who are more responsive than demanding; authoritarian: parents who are demanding and directive, but not responsive, and authoritative: parents who are both demanding and responsive. Hoff et al found that in all cultures parents with lower socio-economic-status (SES) are more likely to use ‘authoritarian’ parenting styles than those in higher SES brackets. They are also less likely to be nurturant or to supervise their children adequately, and more likely to use inconsistent, erratic and harsh discipline (Elder et al., 1985); adversely affecting child development. As well as the direct effects of family poverty on child development, as suggested by Engle and Black it is also important to consider moderated effects of poverty and how these can vary across characteristics of families and children. Whilst considering how family poverty affects childhood development, it is important to fully consider the many varying reasons as to why a family may be experiencing poverty. Some of the varying reasons found by Hobcraft for family poverty include: non-traditional structures; lone parents and parents in reconstituted families, households where no adult is in employment or are in poorly paid employment, households headed by a teenage parent, households that include a sick or disabled child, have a child or children under five or have a large number of children. Given this, it is quite understandable that families can find themselves in a state of poverty through no fault of their own. However, their background will affect how they deal with this experience of poverty and more importantly how this poverty will affect the development of any children. Parents of children who are poorly educated or have poor decision making skills could find it more difficult to protect their children from the effects of poverty than families who are better educated, with rational decision making skill and in a similar situation. Cooper Stewart demonstrate using the Family Investment Model that parents who are better educated or have more money are able to financially invest in their children more, either because they have more disposable income or because they choose to forgo other expenses for the sake of purchasing their children educationally enhancing materials such as books. This is supported by the findings of Davis-Kean who found that family income and education had a positive impact on parental educational expectations and resultantly reading (which is strongly correlated to child achievement), with children reading more for pleasure and having more books in the house. Similarly the work of Bradley, Whiteside and Mundfrom that found that children living in poverty who were showing early signs of resilience compared with other children also living in poverty received ‘more responsive, accepting, stimulating and organised care’. Another way that family characteristics moderate the link between family poverty and child development is via social selection. Conger Donnellan consider poverty as â€Å"a constellation of outcomes that are potentially influenced by individual differences in traits such as intelligence and personality† that subsequently affects childhood development. Mayer (1997) proposed that â€Å"parental characteristics that employers value and are willing to pay for, such as skills, diligence, honesty, good health, and reliability, also improve children’s life chances, independent of their effect on parents’ income. Children of parents with these attributes do well even when their parents do not have much income†. These characteristics can be passed on either genetically or through nurture and can act as a ‘buffer’ to the damaging effects of poverty on childhood development. This is supported by the work of Davis-Kean who found a significant correlation between parental warmth (how nurturing parents are towards their children involving desirable traits such as positive feelings, praise, responding) and child achievement (although interestingly, only within African American families as opposed to European American families in this study). Alongside the direct and moderated effects of poverty on childhood development it is also necessary to consider the mediated effects of family poverty on childhood development. As demonstrated by Engle Black, in mediated models it is through disruptions in family function that the effects of poverty are felt and result in negative effects on childhood development. Conger Donnellan reviewed seven papers that have applied the Family Stress Model (FSM) across a widely varying demographics. The FSM overwhelmingly supports the view that poverty leads to family stress and this has a negative impact on parental mental health and increasing the likelihood of parents using harsh authoritarian parenting styles. There is strong evidence for parental mental health impacting on child behaviour. The work of Weissman et al (2006) who found that the children of mothers who remained depressed were far more likely to develop their own symptoms and diagnosis than children of parents who went into remission. This is similarly supported by Galler et al who found that postpartum maternal mental anxiety (PPMHA) was a significant predictor of lower exam scores at eleven to twelve years of age. Importantly, Galler et al found that background variables such as young maternal age at the time of her first pregnancy, more children in the home, less maternal education, and fewer home conveniences (all indicators of family poverty) were closely correlated with PPMHA, but crucially they found that PPMHA was still a significant predictor of lower exam scores even when all these background variables were controlled for. Ram and Hou suggest that lone parents—usually mothers—must spend longer hours outside the home working to offset the economic losses they have suffered from the marital breakup and consequently do not spend enough time with their children. More importantly however, when considering mediated effects of poverty, they also found that depression and lower levels of psychological well-being occur more often amongst these parents and also negatively influences the quality of parenting and children’s behavioral problems, explaining why children in disrupted families experience severe emotional and behavioral problems. Interestingly however, Ram and Hou found that parental depression and low levels of psychological well-being have almost no effect on cognitive development; highlighting the many varying elements of childhood development. Finally as noted by Engle and Black it is important to consider transactional models, where the effects of poverty interact between families and children. As previously noted, families can moderate and mediate the effects of poverty on children, similarly the children’s characteristics can have a similar effect. Whilst typical family structure can positively affect family poverty and childhood development, evidence also suggests that the quality of family relations can also play a large part in childhood development. Children whose parents often argue (independent of divorce) score worse on measures of academic achievement, behavior problems, psychological well-being, and adult relationship quality; they are also more likely to form families early and outside of marriage (Musick Meier). One of these reasons is low levels of parental education. Belsky (2013) has subsequently found a correlation between childhood obesity and intelligence in children as young as three; highlighting the relationship between poverty and child development. Evans et al found that families experiencing poverty are more likely to face chaotic living conditions than are their middle- and upper-income counterparts. Chaos is characterised by â€Å"high levels of ambient stimulation (e.g., noise, crowding), minimal structure and routine,and considerable unpredictability and confusion in daily activities.† Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that the most basic needs: physiological (food, shelter etc) and safety (security of body, employment, family etc) love and belonging (friendship, family intimacy etc) and esteem (self esteem, confidence, respect of others etc) must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the growth need of ‘self actualisation’. Childhood development can be largely grouped into two categories: psychopathology e.g. internalising (emotional problems) and externalising (behavioural problems; and academic achievement). References Horgan, G. (2007). The impact of poverty on young childrens experience of school. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Engle, P. L., Black, M. M. (2008). The effect of poverty on child development and educational outcomes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1136(1), 243-256. Sen, A. (1992). The political economy of targeting. Washington, DC: World Bank. Engle, P. L., Black, M. M., Behrman, J. R., De Mello, M. C., Gertler, P. J., Kapiriri, L., International Child Development Steering Group. (2007). Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than 200 million children in the developing world. The Lancet, 369(9557), 229-242. Broadhead, P. (2007). A Vision for Universal Pre-School Education-by Edward Zigler, Walter S. Gilliam and Stephanie M. Jones. British Journal of Educational Studies, 55(2), 227-229. Cook, J. T., Frank, D. A., Levenson, S. M., Neault, N. B., Heeren, T. C., Black, M. M., Chilton, M. (2006). Child food insecurity increases risks posed by household food insecurity to young childrens health. The Journal of nutrition, 136(4), 1073-1076. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological review,50(4), 370. Belsky, D. W., Caspi, A., Goldman-Mellor, S., Meier, M. H., Ramrakha, S., Poulton, R., Moffitt, T. E. (2013). Is obesity associated with a decline in intelligence quotient during the first half of the life course?. American journal of epidemiology, 178(9), 1461-1468. Trussell Trust Foodbanks Use Tops One Million. (2015). Retrieved May 24, 2015, from http://www.trusselltrust.org/stats Innis, S. M. (2007). Dietary (n-3) fatty acids and brain development. The Journal of nutrition, 137(4), 855-859. Flouri, E. (2005). Fathering and child outcomes. John Wiley Sons. McLanahan, S., Sandefur, G. (2009). Growing up with a single parent: What hurts, what helps. Harvard University Press. Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. 1965. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor Nock, S. L. (2005). Marriage as a public issue. The Future of Children, 15(2), 13-32. Marriage Allowance https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance-guide Musick, K., Meier, A. (2010). Are both parents always better than one? Parental conflict and young adult well-being. Social Science Research, 39(5), 814-830. Han, W. J., Huang, C. C., Garfinkel, I. (2003). The Importance of Family Structure and Family Income on Familys Educational Expenditure and Childrens College Attendance Empirical Evidence from Taiwan. Journal of Family Issues, 24(6), 753-786. Henderlong, J., Lepper, M. R. (2002). The effects of praise on childrens intrinsic motivation: a review and synthesis. Psychological bulletin, 128(5), 774. Conger, R. D., Donnellan, M. B. (2007). An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 58, 175-199. Bradley, R. H., Whiteside, L., Mundfrom, D. J., Casey, P. H., Kelleher, K. J., Pope, S. K. (1994). Early indications of resilience and their relation to experiences in the home environments of low birthweight, premature children living in poverty. Child development, 65(2), 346-360. Cooper, K., Stewart, K. (2013). Does Money Affect Childrens Outcomes?: A Systematic Review. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Shipler, D. K. (2008). The working poor: Invisible in America. Vintage. Chicago. Mayer S. 1997. What Money Can’t Buy: Family Income and Children’s Life Chances. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press Weissman, M. M., Pilowsky, D. J., Wickramaratne, P. J., Talati, A., Wisniewski, S. R., Fava, M., Rush, A. J. (2006). Remissions in maternal depression and child psychopathology: a STAR* D-child report. Jama, 295(12), 1389-1398. Galler, J. R., Ramsey, F. C., Harrison, R. H., Taylor, J., Cumberbatch, G., Forde, V. (2004). Postpartum maternal moods and infant size predict performance on a national high school entrance examination. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(6), 1064-1075. Evans, G. W., Gonnella, C., Marcynyszyn, L. A., Gentile, L., Salpekar, N. (2005). The role of chaos in poverty and childrens socioemotional adjustment.Psychological Science, 16(7), 560-565. Ram, B., Hou, F. (2003). Changes in family structure and child outcomes: Roles of economic and familial resources. Policy Studies Journal, 31(3), 309-330. Hyde, J. S., Elseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Quest, N. M., Goldsmith, H. H., Biesanz, J. C. (2004). Childrens temperament and behavior problems predict their employed mothers work functioning. Child Development, 75(2), 580-594.

A Dictatorial Education :: Free Essays Online

A Dictatorial Education My secondary schooling was quite similar to some of the insights in Jonathan Kozol's The Night is Dark and I am Far From Home. I attended Cardinal Spellman High School, a Catholic secondary school in the Bronx, NY. Spellman required girls to wear a uniform skirt and boys to wear beige or blue pants with a tie and a white shirt. A blue school sweater was worn by all and boys were required to be clean shaven everyday for school- uniformity was obviously essential to my education. The teaching ethic at Spellman was one of the teacher exerting supreme authority over their students. Students were not encouraged to express their own opinions or feelings but were taught rather to accept the teacher or textbook's opinions as gospel. Once while interpreting a poem I was told that my interpretation was false because it was contrary to my teacher's. I did not understand why or how there could be only one interpretation of a particular poem. Extreme authority over students also extended outside of the classroom. Teachers were not willing to listen to reasons why a student was late but rather assumed that the cause of their lateness was because of some activity which broke school regulations. After feeling sick one morning I decided to go to the nurse before going to homeroom. As a result I was marked absent eventhough I was obviously present. When I explained the situation to my dean I was told that eventhough I was having an asthma attack that I should have first gone up the flight of stairs to my homeroom, asked permission to go to the nurse, get a pass, and then finally go to the nurse. I could not believe my dean when she told me this and when I asked why I was threatened with another day of JUG if I did not calm down. JUG, (Justice Under God), ithe Catholic school version of detention. Throughout my schooling students were poisoned with the notion that if they decided to put forth an opinion or did not shave one day for class that they should be punished harshly under God. What happened to the gentle, loving and forgiving God that I learned about in sixth period religion class? Is using the name of God in such a fashion positive reinforcement of his loving nature which we are drilled with every day for four years?

Misleading Perfume and Cologne Advertising Essay -- Advertising Market

Misleading Perfume and Cologne Advertising You sit down to watch one of your favorite TV shows one night and you see it, one of those perfume commercials. On the screen you see a beautiful woman walking up a flight of stairs in an elegant dress with diamonds hanging from her ears and neck. Her face is a picture of perfection, with a slight hint of a beautiful smile. Entering on the left of the screen is a man in a black tuxedo he; wraps his arms around her and kisses her passionately on the lips. They both look at the screen and smile. On the bottom of the screen is a small bottle marked with a label of a recognizable perfume company. Now coming back into reality from the mesmerizing commercial, consider what affect this perfume has to most of the typical consumers of this product. A consumer may wear the perfume while at a nightclub in order to attract some attention from members of the opposite sex. However relying on only the fragrance to make them attractive to others may not achieve the desired effect. Ev en though smell can be a very powerful sense, it does not affect desirability as much as we would like to think. In fact advertisers usually spend millions of dollars in order for these commercials to create ideal images for the perfume or cologne’s effect. Most cologne or perfume commercials are misleading because they try to portray an image that their scent, and their scent alone, will create effects that are often unrealistic. Some common ploys cologne and perfume company’s use are: that their product will make one feel good about themselves, make one look gorgeous and make one desirable to members of the opposite sex. Take for example the advertisements for Axe body spray, in whic... .... These commercials often portray unrealistic situations and reactions, which may mislead the consumer into believing the product will have an affect beyond the sense of smell. The most awful smelling scents could be the top selling cologne or perfume if advertised in a way to catch the attention of the audience. A recent cologne ad did a set of commercials utilizing this statement, â€Å"scent is one of the strongest ties to memory how do you want to be remembered?† This sentence is evidence that the advertisers are trying to make you think that if you buy their product you will be remembered any time that someone smells anything similar to that product. Most perfume and cologne ads rely on half-truths As far as shopping for fragrances I might suggest that you go with a scent that you yourself enjoy and don’t rely on others to enforce your opinion with false advertising.

A Feminist Rhetorical Tradition of Women Fighting For Their Right to Sp

The country is crying out for liberty and equality. Every man and woman has the right to express his/her opinions,† echoes Mariah S. Stewart, the first African-American female to speak amongst a mixed race and gender crowd. Since the very moment men dictated women to act as children, seen and not heard, fervent female voices refused the patriarchal oppression aimed at quelling the efforts of their female gender’s. With a social order firmly placed in position and accepted in large by those in political and social power, women activists continued to work towards impeding the subjection, which denounced them as the weaker, unintellectual, unspiritual, less virtuous and inarticulate sex. While some of these women used the power of Christianity as a vehicle to assert their concerns of women’s lack of freedom, they simultaneously chastised men for condemning their gender as less righteous, which was essentially against God’s order. The prevalence of womenâ€℠¢s activist roots contextualizes women in a cultural manifestation of societal change. By tracing a synopsis of some of the key figures in the anti-slavery agenda, woman’s war on race and sexism, woman’s fight for equality in religiosity and ministerial vocation, and more exclusively, the women’s rights movement, we can identify in a historical tradition of rhetoric the preeminence of the female voice and her passionate declaration for individual rights to freedom and happiness Recognized as a contemporary, as well as contributor, to the leading philosophers, Plato, Socrates, Xenophon and Aristophanes of the Common Era, historians regard Aspasia of Miletus as a key figure in political and rhetorical theory. In Cheryl Glenn’s essay, â€Å"Sex, Lies and Manuscript: Refiguring Aspasia in the... ...ignificant to the women’s movement, but also to contemporary scholarship where women’s voices are often marginalized and silenced over their male counterparts. Challenging the â€Å"contemporary academic and cultural scene† forces women to regain their place in western rhetorical history while also urging women to be aware of the importance in writing themselves into history (Glenn 181). Willard speaks of the action women must take in order to persevere over female hardship; she states, â€Å"The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.† With these words, it is important to consider that change is not met by stagnation of a voice, but instead it is initiated by passionate women who within their voices can reach a majority of opposing listeners fearlessly and demand with great articulation that change must persist.

The Iceman

This 1936 painting entitled â€Å"The Iceman† done by Jacob Lawrence was completed sometime during the Harlem Renaissance. The painting is a typical portrait of and an honest reflection of daily life in 1930s Harlem, New York. It can easily represent any urban city during this time period. The artist uses the painting to show the connection, or lack thereof, between the neighborhood’s residents, as they seem to go about their daily routines without the social interaction that allied people during times of struggle.Lawrence employs symbolism and imagery to show how the neighborhood lacked connection. On first glance of the painting, three residents are noticed, all in their own apartments, being sold ice by the iceman standing on the street, and his helper. As the apartments are all in such close proximity of one another, one would believe that the residents would be interacting with each other. But at a closer glance, it is seen that they are all minding their own busin ess. This is strange for the era. It is well known that during the 1930s, segregation and racism were at their worst.In the north, tensions were high between the black and white classes due to the increased number of African-Americans migrating to larger cities. In the minds of the whites, the blacks were â€Å"taking over†. In most cases, when tragic or intense situations like this occur, it is typical for people to ban together and tread through the problems as a whole community – except in this case. Whether or not these people were real Harlem residents, it is quite unlikely that this separation of community would have really happened.Community is defined as â€Å"an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location†, with â€Å"interacting† being the keyword. The characters made up in this painting include the iceman and his helper with the pushcart, a window washer, a woman possibly ironing or cooking, a man trying to hold onto his dog, and a darkened figure in an alley. Though these people appear to be financially on the poorer side, they still go about their lives separately, and with the ease of daily routine. It would be expected that at least two of these characters would be interacting with each other, for the sake of survival.Surprisingly, though, none of the residents are looking at each other, and they seem not to even notice the person living next to them. It is possible that Lawrence used this imagery after witnessing a lack of connection within a community such as this one. He might have wanted to influence Harlem residents to unify during these times of segregation. Jacob Lawrence used subtle symbolism to convey the neighborhood’s physical lack of connection. It is not immediately seen, but if one were to be inside the painting at the scene, there would be tangible evidence of the lack of connection – the fire ladder.It doesn’t seem to have any initial importance, oth er than being a source of escape, but in taking a closer look, it can easily be a symbol of disconnect within the community. Most fire escape ladders are constructed so that when they are necessary to be used, they can be pushed downward and the ladder will reach all the way to the ground. In this painting, the ladder does not reach the ground, making it more difficult for its users to escape. The ladder not connecting to the ground can be paralleled with the residents not connecting with one another.Tragedy has proven time and time again to be a unifier of worlds when people seem to be at their most distant, especially for African-Americans in the 1930s, except in the case of â€Å"The Iceman†, in which the community remained separated, even though their lives overlapped. Jacob Lawrence seemed to want to bring about a wave of pride in his people by painting this and using artistic elements to influence his audience. He put forth the use of subtle symbolism and imagery to rev eal a lack of connection within this Harlem neighborhood.

ELL Families and Schools Essay

The American education system has been faced with a grave challenge of ensuring that students from minority language groups have to read and write well in the English language. Being English literate has become an important aspect for the realization of academic success in the American schools which has an impact on the accessibility to the educational and economical opportunities that are to be found within the United States. This challenge has been compounded by the fact that there has been a growth in the diversity of the ever-increasing language-minority students. This paper shall examine the interaction between the families of English Language Learners and the schools touching on the social-cultural influences and bilingualism and home language use. The paper shall further analyze the parental and community resources for English acquisition in the Seattle area. Background: The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) has been steadily increasing which has become a significant challenge to the education system in the United States. According to statistics, in 1979, the number of language minority students was estimated to be six million and by 1999, the number had shot to an estimated fourteen million. In a survey done to establish how such students fared in the county, it was observed that less than 20% could score above the standard gauge as established by the respective states. Whereas only 10 percent of those who spoke English were found to drop out of school at high school level, the scenario was even worse for language minority students whose percentage was slightly more than 30 for those who could speak English and slightly more than 50 for those who could speak English with some difficulties (August and Shanahan, 2006). For the language-minority students who have difficulties in reading and writing English in a proficient manner, they have a limited participation in the American schools, workplaces and the society in general. Such individual usually faces an uphill task in competing for the employment opportunities and accessing power. The impacts of the inadequacy in the proficiency of the English language is not only a detriment to the self through self impoverishment but also impacts negatively on the nation through reduction of the country’s potential in terms of economy, innovativeness, quality of life and increased productivity (August and Shanahan, 2006). Socio-cultural influences on ELLs: The English language Learners (ELLs) can not be regarded as a single group as they exhibit variations when critical factors are put into consideration as opposed to the common feature that they are all learners of the English language. Socio-cultural factors play an important factor in the analysis of these learners. Such factors include the prior academic schooling; literacy levels in the homes; socio-economic status of the families; and the cultural influences in regard to the native language and the country of origin (Carrigg, 2006). In prior academic schooling, there are variations in what is regarded as elementary or primary education whereby it may refer to â€Å"k-8, k-6, 1-6, or 1-5 grades† (Carrigg, 2006, para 3). The location of the schooling [whether urban or rural] is also important in the analysis on the performance of the student. Literacy in homes is a critical element in determining academic excellence in students. Vocabulary is first acquired in the homes and with educated parents; his becomes critical to the school going children. The socio-economic status of the family is also an important aspect in language acquisition. Poverty stricken homes have very little support if any to the academic language. There are also cultural barriers but their influences on language acquisition are not serious. What should however be noted id the fact that culture and the native language has a more pronounced impact on the older student compared to a younger one (Carrigg, 2006). Bilingualism and home language use: Most parents of the English language learners avoid speaking their first language believing that this would help their children in the development of proficiency in the English language. This is regarded as a generalized fallacy and that the parents who engage in this deny an important aspect to the children in their developmental process. The knowledge of the first language is crucial for the children’s maintenance of family relationships and cultural identity of the children (van Broekhuizen, 2010). The parents generally assume that learning two languages is a difficult task and could impede the development of language. They believe that the child will be unable to develop mastery of either language when exposed to the bilingualism thus would lack proficiency compared to those who learn just a single language. They also hold the belief that the two languages would confuse the child and they would have to speak the English language with an accent. This is however not true as it has been established that close to 50 percent of children around the globe can learn more than two languages becoming fluent and proficient in both languages (van Broekhuizen, 2010). In fact some studies have suggested that bilinguals in some instances have outperformed their monolingual counterparts when it comes to performance of more complex issues (Brainy-Child. com, 2010) Parental and community resources for English acquisition in the Seattle area: The Seattle Public Schools are engaged in an effort to ensure that students who graduate from the schools are ready for the colleges through the implementation of a Strategic Plan which was to be conducted in a creative and relentless manner. The plan was committed to engaging all the families in what was dubbed as School-Family Partnership Plan. The family engagement has been defined as efficient involvement of family members or any other caring adult individuals in the education of the children via academic support; advocacy; and partnership in the school system. The family engagements are implemented to ensure that students graduate when they are fully ready for either college, careers or life (Seattle Public Schools, 2010). To accomplish the mission of family engagement in the education system, various positions have been created to enhance the process. These positions include the director for family engagement, family engagement coordinators, and family engagement teams. The District parent/Family Advisory Committee has also been established to provide leadership, professional development, childcare, and transportation among other services that many be required. There are other components that have been established under the new plan to promote the engagement of parents in the education system (Seattle Public Schools, 2010). How to improve school partnerships with the ELL Families: Since the parents are the child’s primary teachers, it is important for programs that serve the English Language Learners to form a collaborative relationship between the parents and the teachers. In this regard, parents need to be provided with opportunities to participate in the child’s education. It is the duty of the teachers to â€Å"share information with parents about the standards, curriculum, and instructional methods that are used in their child’s class and help parents understand the results of various placement and achievement assessment measures that are used in the classroom† (Coltrane, 2010, para 9). It is vital for the home and school to work together to ensure that the students’ abilities are well nurtured and developed. Conclusion: The importance of the relationship between the families and school especially in English Language Learners’ schools can not be ignored. In fact such relationships are crucial in the development of language proficiency amongst the learners in a more comprehensive manner. ELL schools should therefore be encouraged to establish sound relationships with the families of learners to ensure academic success. Reference: August, D. and Shanahan, T. , (2006). Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Retrieved on 24th July 2010 from; http://www. cal. org/projects/archive/nlpreports/executive_summary. pdf Brainy-Child. com, (2010). The Impact of Bilingualism on Overall Language Development and Academic Success. Retrieved on 24th July 2010 from; http://www. brainy-child. com/article/bilingual. shtml. Carrigg, F. , (2006). Teaching ELLs in the Content Areas. Retrieved on 24th July 2010 from; http://www. state. nj. us/education/njpep/pd/iel/powerpt/TeachingELLsin_ContentAreas. ppt. Coltrane, B. (2010). Working With Young English Language Learners: Some Considerations. Eric Digest. Retrieved on 24th July 2010 from; http://www. ericdigests. org/2004-2/young. html. Seattle Public Schools, (2010). Seattle Public Schools: School Family Partnerships District Plan 2009-2010. Retrieved on 24th July 2010 from; http://www. seattleschools. org/area/fam/documents/SFP%20District%20Pl