Mortgage and Housing Act in the U.S

Introduction It is pointed out that, â€Å"in its preamble to the 1949 Housing Act, Congress declared its goal of ‘a decent home in a suitable living environment for every American family’† (Schwartz 1).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Mortgage and Housing Act in the U.S specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the course of over the last six decades, beginning from the time this legislation was passed, the U.S Federal Government has engaged in assisting to finance the construction as well as rehabilitation of over five million housing units for the families that have a low income, and has also offered rental vouchers to almost two million more families. However, the housing problems in the United States remain severe. For instance, it is reported that in the year 2005, over forty two million families stayed in physically deficient housing, with more than thirty percent of their incomes be ing spent on housing and even some families were homeless (Schwartz 1). Since housing is very costly, its development as well as acquisition mostly relies on borrowed funds. It is reported that â€Å"housing construction, acquisition of existing rental buildings, and the purchase of single-family homes all rely on debt† (Schwartz 51). It is also reported that in the year 2009, the residential mortgages were more than eleven trillion dollars, and this was more than fifty percent of the whole federal government debt (Schwartz 51). Much has been written on the impacts of the US mortgage crisis on the global economy. Financial experts have warned that the impacts of the US housing and financial crises might persist if the necessary policies are not implemented (Kolb 6). As a result, adjustments in the financial institutions have been inevitable. Most mortgage lenders have tightened their lending rates to survive in the changing markets (Bardhan 2). Several financial experts belie ve that the effects of the current US mortgage crisis are far much worse than stated by the government economists.Advertising Looking for research paper on common law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Objectives of the Study The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of the mortgage and Housing Act in the United States of America. In this study, I sought to identify how the Housing Act has achieved its intended objectives. Moreover, my investigation sought to find out how the federal housing program has survived, despite the enormous economic challenges (Krugman 15). Another objective of the study was to assess the level of the current housing crisis in the US. In this regard, a number of the affected sectors were looked at and an evaluation of how the mortgage markets have behaved all through the recession was carried out. Last but not least, the study also sought to analyze the magnitude of the effects of th e housing crisis on the annual revenue collected by the state and the local governments. The research questions for the study included: To what extent have the objectives of the Housing Act in the U.S been met? How have mortgage markets behaved all through the recession (2007- 2008)? What are the effects of housing and financial crises on the government, organizations and households? Why I was Interested in Conducting this Study The Housing Act in the U.S. was enacted with an intention of ensuring that every American has a decent home in a proper living environment. This Act was intended to help ensure that proper housing is affordable to all Americans. However, the housing and financial crises that occurred starting from the year 2007 made this goal to be hard to achieve. The crises had some negative effects on households, organizations and the government. This study sought to understand these effects and the level to which the objectives of the Housing Act have been achieved. Th is study is very important because understanding these effects, and how effective the Housing Act has been, will go a long way in helping to come up with appropriate policies.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Mortgage and Housing Act in the U.S specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Implementation of such policies will serve to prevent the same effects from being felt in the future, and to ensure the objectives of the Housing Act are achieved to the highest level possible. Literature Review It is reported that before the commencement of â€Å"the Great Depression† in the year 1929; funding for buying â€Å"owner-occupied housing was in short supply and expensive†(Schwartz 51). Mortgages usually became due after a period of between two to eleven years, depending on the kind of the lender, â€Å"requiring repayment or re-financing† (Schwartz 51). A large number of lenders had the willingness to engage in covering less than sixty percent of the value of the property, calling for a larger number of borrowers to get â€Å"the second and third mortgages†(Schwartz 51). The difficulty of funding home purchases limited homeownership to the people who were richer and assisted in making rental housing to be the main type of tenure (Schwartz 51). It is reported that the â€Å"Great Depression† affected the homeowners as well as home ownership negatively to a large extent (Schwartz 51). Unemployment became prevalent and several homeowners could not make their monthly payments for the mortgage any longer. This prompted foreclosure on an immense scale. In the course of the year 1933, over fifty percent of the entire home mortgages â€Å"were defaulted and more than 1,000 mortgages were foreclosed every day† (Schwartz 51). Those homeowners who were able to remain current on their mortgage payments evaded foreclosure (Schwartz 1). However, a large number of them were forced to engage in selling their homes when the mortgages they had come due.Advertising Looking for research paper on common law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is reported that â€Å"cash-starved banks, beleaguered by customers withdrawing their deposits, became increasingly reluctant to roll over their mortgages and instead demanded that the borrower pay back the principal in full† (Schwartz 52). In addition, during that time, the total mortgage debt of a homeowner could be more than the actual value of the house and this could leave this person in debt even after the house being sold. This is a problem that appeared again seven and a half decades later, when there was collapsing of the recent housing bubble that caused about twenty percent of the homeowners â€Å"to owe more on their mortgage than their homes were worth† (Schwartz 52) (See Appendix 1). Following increased mortgage closure and collapsing of the whole housing industry, the federal government’s response was to take various measures that completely changed the U.S’s â€Å"housing finance system† and assisted in propelling homeownership à ¢â‚¬Å"within reach of a majority of its households† (Schwartz 52). Such institutions and programs made it possible to have a considerable increase in the nation’s homeownership beginning from the 1940s until the 1960s; setting up a fresh and steady â€Å"system for housing finance† which remained concrete for over four decades (Schwartz 52). The United States’ housing and financial sectors contribute significantly to the growth of the country’s economy. In the early 1990s, the US government took an initiative of enabling more low- income earners to own homes (Marshall 23). The government authorized all the housing stakeholders to reduce their mortgage requirements. In the year 1992, the US government, through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, acquired loans from mortgage banks and mortgage brokers. Following this move, more secondary mortgage markets were created (Marshall 34). At that time, regulations required GSEs to allocate 30 % of all the mortgages purchased as affordable housing loans. However, this requirement was not adhered to and in the year 2007, financial experts noted that the percentage had risen to 55% (Marshall 45). In the years 2007 and 2008, the boom in the housing sector came to an end following the onset of global financial crisis (Francis 12). This crisis and the subsequent recession had great negative effects on the US housing and financial sectors. A dramatic increase in default rates was realized. The increase in the default rates occurred because most of the homeowners were among the worst hit individuals by the recession. Notably, most of the homeowners had no retirement accounts (Parker 67). Because of lack of retirement accounts, these individuals were left with nothing they could use to access mortgages. The affected individuals were left with no other choice but to avoid paying their loans. The crisis affected the US government, organizations, institutions, and households (Bardhan 4). Economists noted that the effects of the crisis were felt by all persons, regardless of whether or not they had participated in the growth of the housing sector (Ellis 78). As a result, most of the gains obtained prior to the recession were reversed. Methodology This research involved use of secondary data. The collection of this data involved considering the existing data. The existing data included the surveys that have been conducted by various researchers as well as the general information on mortgages and the Housing Act. The work presented by other people on the subject was examined and used in this research in order to help answer the research questions and to achieve the objectives of the study. Results and Discussion Basing on the research conducted by some researchers in the past, it was found out that, about forty percent of the people in the United States of America have experienced financial distress in the course of the recession (National Bureau of Economic Research 1). Experts point out that â€Å"spending changes provide one measure of the recession’s impact on households’ well-being† (National Bureau of Economic Research 1). In a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, it was found that about seventy five percent of the respondents pointed out that they had reduced spending, and this was because of the economic crisis. Those that reported having engaged in reducing their spending cited various reasons for the reduction: eighty percent of them cited the need of reducing debt; seventy percent cited a decrease in the level of income; forty five percent cited a change in the status of employment; forty five percent cited a reduction in the value of their homes; and thirty five percent cited stock holdings (National Bureau of Economic Research 1). This is a clear indication that the housing and financial crises have affected the households adversely (National Bureau of Economic Research 1). In considering the effects of t he housing and financial crises on organizations, the existing data on this issue was also used. It was found out that, due to the sharp decline in the value of the â€Å"mortgage-backed† securities, the retail as well as the investment banks were compelled to â€Å"write-down† losses incurred on the securities that they held (Tiller 45). This brought about great losses in the whole banking sector in the last two quarters of the year 2007. The crisis became even more intense in March 2008 when the collapse of Bear Steams occurred. It was found out that, because the crisis made the banks to be afraid of lending money, both households and businesses were not able to borrow (Tiller 45). Therefore, the households put purchases on hold while the businesses engaged in laying-off their workers. It was also found out that, in the last quarter of the year 2008, the banking sector recorded a loss of twenty six billion dollars (Tiller 45). Moreover, the research established that the local governments were less hit by the recession as compared to the state governments. However, there is likelihood that the pressures will mount. It was found out that the local governments witnessed a smaller decline in the tax revenues as compared to the state governments. According to the available information, â€Å"even as national income home prices fell by 27 percent between the end of June 2006 and the end of 2010, property tax collection increased by 31 percent during the same period, reflecting delayed response to home price changes and new tax measures† (Congressional Budget Office 1). However, the declining housing prices will, sooner or later, feed into the local government tax revenues. The research findings indicated that, both the local and state governments reacted in response to the fiscal pressures by bringing down the level of their expenditure by almost 3% in real terms, in the cause of 2008/2009 fiscal year. Moreover, the local governments engaged i n cutting their labor force by approximately two percent within the period between December 2007 and December 2010 (Congressional Budget Office 1). It was also found out that the local government raised the level of some of the taxes, property taxes included, and made their tax base to be wider. This assisted in supporting collection of tax in the initial stages of the crisis (Congressional Budget Office 1). The bursting of the housing bubble began in the year 2006 and there was accelerating of the decline in 2007 and 2008 (Baker 73; Lybeck 120) (see Appendix). The housing prices ceased to go up in the year 2006.These prices then began to go down in 2007 and have, up to now, dropped by approximately 25% from the highest point (Moseley 1). The price reduction implied that homeowners could not be able to refinance any more, where there was resetting of their rates of mortgage This made the delinquencies as well as mortgage defaults to escalate, mainly ‘†among subprime borr owers† (Moseley 1). Beginning from the month of January 2006 up to August 2008, the proportion of mortgages in foreclosure rose by three times, â€Å"and the percentage of mortgages in foreclosure or at least thirty days delinquent more than doubled, from 4.5 percent to 10 percent† (Moseley 1). These rates are found to be the highest beginning from the time of the Great Depression. The peak of the rate of delinquency that occurred previously was 6.8% in the year 1984 and also in the year 2002 (Moseley 1). It has been projected that the worst has not yet happened. The hope that the American people have been having of owning their own homes is turning out to prove to be unrealizable. Conclusion The enactment of the Housing Act in the U.S. was undertaken with an aim of making sure that each and every American citizen has a decent home in a suitable environment. This Act aimed at ensuring that proper housing is affordable to all Americans. However, the housing and financial crises that occurred starting from the year 2007 made this goal hard to achieve. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the mortgage and Housing Act in the United States. This research sought to identify how the Housing Act has achieved its objectives. In achieving the objectives of this research and answering the research questions; the available literature on the topic was reviewed and secondary data was analyzed. It was established that, following the housing and financial crises, a considerable number of households reduced their spending. This was due to various reasons, which include; need of reducing debt, reduction in the income level, change in the employment status, reduction in the value of homes, and stock holdings. It was also found out that, such organizations as banks made big losses. Moreover, both the local and state governments experienced a decrease in the tax revenues. They responded by increasing other taxes, such as property taxes. The housing and financial crises prevented the Housing Act objectives from being achieved to a considerable level. These crises have made it hard for the households to obtain funds from banks. A considerable number of people are struggling to survive and cannot be able to afford proper housing. Policies need to be put in place to ensure these effects brought in by these crises are overcome and also to ensure that, the same cannot happen again in the future in order for all of the Housing Act objectives to be achieved to the highest level possible. Works Cited Baker, Dean. â€Å"The housing bubble and the financial crisis†. Real-world Economics Review, 1.46 (2008):73 – 81. Print. Bardhan, Ashok. â€Å"Housing and financial crisis in the U.S: cause or symptom†. Vikalpa, 32.3 (2009): 1- 7. Print. Congressional Budget Office, 2010. Fiscal Stress Faced by Local Governments. Washington: Congressional Budget Office. Print. Ellis, Luci. The housing meltdown Why did it happ en in the United States? Basel, Switzerland: Bank for International Settlements, 2008. Print. Francis, Andrea. Affordable housing: the continuing search for solutions : proceedings of the National Housing Trust’s 20th anniversary housing symposium. Kingston, Jamaica : Planning Research Dept., National Housing Trust, 1996. Print. Kolb, Robert W.. The financial crisis of our time. New York: Oxford University Press,2011. Print. Krugman, Paul R.. The return of depression economics and the crisis of 2008. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009. Print. Lybeck, Johan A.. A global history of the financial crash of 2007-2010. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print. Marshall, John. The financial crisis in the US: key events, causes, and responses. London: House of Commons Library, 2009. Print. Moseley, Fred. The U.S. economic crisis: causes and solutions, April 2009. Web. National Bureau of Economic Research, The effect of economic crisis on American households, 2012. Web. Parker, John. Turmoil in U.S. credit markets recent actions regarding government sponsored entities, investment banks, and other financial institutions : hearing before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, second session. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2010. Print. Schwartz, F. Alex. Housing Policy in the United States. Oxford: Taylor Francis, 2012. Print. Tiller, Bo. The subprime crisis and the effects on the U.S banking industry, 2011. Web. Appendix Source: Tiller, Bo. The subprime crisis and the effects on the U.S banking industry, 2011. This research paper on Mortgage and Housing Act in the U.S was written and submitted by user Carissa E. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Critical Thinking Case Study

Critical Thinking Case Study Free Online Research Papers This paper will be on the critical thinking case study assignment, â€Å"Critical Thinking Case Study: Let it Pour -My First Assignment as Executive Assistant.† The paper will be sure to use more than one course reference to support proposed solutions. This is an individual assignment to be complete this critical-thinking case study analysis. For use in completing the individual Case Study assignment, The paper will access the following University of Phoenix Materials located on the â€Å"Critical Thinking Case Study: Let it Pour† Case Study Characteristics: Evaluation Form† Preparing Case Study Analysis† Problem Solving Tools and Techniques† Decision Making Steps† Decision Making Worksheet† This paper has chosen Decision Making Worksheet and Problem Solving Tools and Techniques. Identify the problem. The employees are not adhering to the mission statement. There is not written guidelines for the doctors, nurses, insurance coordinators or any one else to follow. Everyone is doing what he or she feels that they should be doing and everyone is all over the place. There is no formality here. There are no rules or regulations to follow. The departments need to get in order to be able to work with one another. The hospital needs more stream lining in order to work effectively. There is no communication between patients, employees and departments. Define criteria, goals, and objectives. There needs to be policies and producers in place for the employees to follow. There needs to be guide lines for the patients to follow. Rules and regulations have to be set up so that the employees have to follow and so do the patients. We need to get the departments in order so they can work effectively and defiantly. We need some sort of patient’s rights bill that will enable the patients to have their beliefs and the hospital would be able to work with them and no step over the boundaries. The employees need to realize their belief and religious orders are set aside when they come to work. The hospital as a whole needs to get people to work under the management set up and they need to start having more respect for the managers. Evaluate effects of the problem. The effects of the problems are people are not getting their work done because no one is paying attention to the mission statement and it is not being enforced too much. The upper management needs to get a hand on the employees and needs to get patients the right help they need. Communication is null, patients are not getting taking care of. The bills are not getting paid on time because people either do not have insurance or the insurance is not being billed properly, which is causing us to loss out on money or profit. The patients are not being taking care of properly and we are losing our clientele because of our reputation is going down hill, We might have to go up on payments if we do not increase our patients or we will have to start having some lay offs. We will not have enough money to pay our bills or our employees salaried; if this happens we might have to close our doors. Identify causes of the problem. Lack of funds, lack of insurance not being billed right. People don’t have insurance. Doctors are working pro bono and we are losing money. Patients are refusing to come in for treatment because of lack of respect for the organization. The employee’s doe not respect each other or the views of the patients. Need for more policies and producers to put in place. Lack of communication threw out the departments. Employees have a lack of respect for each other and the management. Management has to make some decisions biased on certain items and then see if they are right. The hospital needs to be more organized and work together for the good of the common mission statement. Frame alternatives. One alternative is that we need to get enough funding to make sure we can cover our patient’s bills that can not pay and the other items that might not be included in some money we get for our billing the insurance companies. Gets federal grant money to help in getting some other financing. Have options that the doctors and nurses could have if they do not agree with the parents choices. Have steps in place to make sure we will get then money from the insurance company for item render. Give the patients the right information and arm them with the right information. Have patients sign a patient bill of rights. Get more organization in the departments and make the departments start working together and communicating more efficiently and effectively so productivity will be up and the employee’s moral will get a boost. Evaluate impacts of alternatives. By getting more federal funding we will have money to cover our patients that don’t have any money to cover our cost so we will not get in the red on that part. Giving people the right to choose will show the patients we as a hospital respect their wishes and boost the moral of the patients to come back and the we will get more money for each service we supply. Getting the information on for the insurance company will ensure all money is properly sent to the right departments. By organizing the departments and paper work will make the hospital run more smoothly. By giving the patients choices will give them the opportunity for the patients to feel like they are helping in their care. By running a more Effie cent and more effective offices there will be more working of the departments and employees working to gets the mission statement working. Make the decision. Install guidelines for the new policies and producers and put them in place. Give the employees the choice to work on the patients or they can give them to another doctor that may have different beliefs and not mind do the job for the patients and the law. Installing a new billing and member service program that will run off the computer to keep every item at the finger tips so the hospital can see if there are any problems with the billing or people not paying their bills. Make sure all patients receive a patient bill of rights that explains all the inns and out of the policies and producers that affect the hospital and patients. Install a new patient advocate program to help the patients. Implement decision. When implementing each phase of the new guidelines makes sure the employees are a part of it and make sure the employees know the system very well. We would have the employees in put as to the policies and producers. We would ask their option and suggestion and go from there as to be we need to focus on. We would have each manager talk with their departments and start getting each department to work on their part. We would have each department look at their role in the hospital and then of the other departments and see how each one inters acts with one another. We would also take suggestions as to what employees would like to see and how to keep their moral up. We then as a hospital would take our policies and producers and put them in place. We would still need to keep a firm grip on things, but let the employees help out in their own new items. Then we would ask the patients what they might like to see to help them in assisting them in their stay at the hospita l. We would then need to work with the employees as to patients and get everything balanced so we are getting the correct patients in and getting the information to these patients Measure impacts. We would need to measure the new policies and producers from the old to the new. We could use flip and pie charts, surveys, measure how we are doing against the Federal and state standards. We would take polls form the patients as to see how happy they were with the new service. We would poll the employees to see if they are happy and understand their job better. We could have a suggestions box, monthly meetings in the departments, then every other month for the senior staff and then maybe every three months for the board of directors. We could use graphs and charts and other items to locate how far we have come and how far more we have to go. We could look at other hospitals such as our and compare our quality to theirs. We could use the check list, Visualizing, Cause-and-Effect Diagram with Addition of Cards many other forms of charts to check with our associates. In conclusion this paper is trying to figure out how it can get the hospital into a better place for patients and employees. The hospital is trying to work with their employees and teach them how to get along and work with one another while having respect for the patients. The hospital is trying to get everyone on the same level so the hospital can run smooth and get to the patients and take care of them. This paper show’s one of the many method or idea’s which can be used. Hopefully their employees and patients will agree and make it work. Reference: Preparing Case Study Analysis, Decision Making Steps, Decision Making Worksheet, Critical Thinking Case Study: Let it Pour, M GT/350 Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision M50 Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision M Research Papers on Critical Thinking Case StudyThe Fifth HorsemanArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Research Process Part OneMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaLifes What IfsIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseDefinition of Export QuotasThe Project Managment Office System

Research Paper on the Beatles Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

On the Beatles - Research Paper Example In November of 1960, they met the rock and roller Tony Sheridan, and they became friends. The next year, they met again and this time they performed a song together, â€Å"My Bonnie†, which was really, their coming-out song, so to speak, because performing this song brought them to the attention of Brian Epstein. He was a music entrepreneur and he became their manager. Epstein worked on getting them a record deal and label, but they got rejected by almost every British record company (Spitz, 15-20). One day, Epstein persuaded George Martin to listen to a recording the Beatles had done, and after convincing him that they would one day become very famous, he signed them on with Parlophone. They released their first eight albums with Parlophone. In August of 1962, Pete Best left the Beatles and he was replaced by Ringo Starr as the drummer. He also contributed as a vocalist on a number of successful songs. In January 11, 1963, The Beatles released â€Å"My Bonnie† which wa s an instant hit, and Beatlemania began in England (The Beatles, 23-35). After this, there was almost a non-stop series of concerts and tours for about a year. This was the year for the Beatles. Everybody was talking about them, they were everywhere. They got intense media interest. They had TV shows, press interviews, and a weekly radio show. They appeared on ABC’s TV show â€Å"Thank Your Lucky Stars†, they were on BBC’s Here We Go, and many others. They were literally on the show every day. That year, they had four nationwide tours; they would finish one show and leave immediately for another, or even do two shows in one day. Two of the four tours were led by American Stars, but at almost every show during them, the crowd was wild for the Beatles, which made the Beatles to be embarrassed for the American singers (The Beatles, 37-39). The Beatles hit the United States the next year, early 1964. However, weeks before their arrival, the fateful assassination of President John F. Kennedy took place, and the nation was in grief. This was a critical time in American history, and it affected many Americans, many of whom were the youth. The Beatles wanted to be able to reach out to them through their music. In the span of the next few days they flew over Miami, where they spent time with Ed Sullivan again and got to catch up with him. On the 22nd of February, they left America victorious and arrived at Heathrow Airport, where again they were met by thousands of fans. The same year, the Beatles went back again to America for yet another tour, this time much longer. They performed thirty concerts in twenty three cities, attracting thousands of fans, making millions of dollars, and paving the way for other British groups to wow America (Davies, 15-19). The next year, 1965, Beatlemania still continued on and after having attending a premiere of their film, â€Å"Help†, they went back to America to Shea Stadium where they had their biggest co ncert, attended by fifty five thousand fans. After that successful concert, they met with Elvis Presley and after, flew back to the UK (Miles, 24-25). The next year was one that proved to be rough for the Beatles. Lead singer John Lennon was interviewed where he said â€Å"We are bigger than Jesus. Christianity will vanish and shrink; I don’t know what will go first, rock and roll or Christianity.† The British people didn’t say much of it, but the Americans were shocked. It ignited a lot of anger and hostility and the Beatles were

Industrial ergonomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Industrial ergonomics - Essay Example This paper will look at human error, and how it relates and affects ergonomic issues in the workplace. The human body is prone to get fatigued after continuous, vigorous work. This leaves room for errors to inevitably occur, as a result of fatigue. For example, take a person working in the office behind a computer the entire day. The eyes, wrists, and back are strained significantly from constant use and movement. At the end of the day, this person may not be fully productive due to fatigue. The application of ergonomics comes into play in such scenarios. Devices are designed to ensure that a person’s performance is optimal, greatly reducing the chances of human error, which are a result of fatigue. In the scenario provided, special glasses for the eyes, high articulating keyboard for the wrist and adjustable chairs for the back are some of the features that can be adopted to reduce fatigue and human error (Karwowski, 1997). Ergonomics, therefore, ensures that the employees are safe and, that they perform optimally in any organization. This is done by reducing the amount of errors in their output, thus, strengthening their input. This translates to more productivity since employees will work for longer hours with reduced levels of fatigue. This strategy ensures that companies reduce internals costs and improve working capability, thus, boosting the profits to higher margins. It also helps the company save up money which would otherwise go to employees for compensation in key cases of fatigue and human error. It is highly recommended for companies to embrace this and help their employees in maximizing their potential, which will subsequently boost the company’s objectives (Karwowski,

The Malayan Emergency as seen through the eyes of a British soldier Essay

The Malayan Emergency as seen through the eyes of a British soldier - Essay Example They had just built camp, a temporary shelter for the troops and to make it habitable in the midst of the rubber plantation and coconut plantation. Insurgency was active with a band commanded by one Ming Lee. It was their job to neutralize the insurgents and win back the confidence and cooperation of the local community. The entire operation was composed of prongs. First, they were to conduct patrols in all the estates and villages under the battalion’s jurisdiction. They had to surprise the people in the villages, expecting they might encounter CT disguised as villagers. They had to show to the people that they were the authorities and that the CT was the enemy who was trying to destroy the peace and introduce their communist ideology. Patrols helped as General Templer’s strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the people, to convince them to withdraw their support of Communism, and to enlist their cooperation in ending the Emergency. Ming Lee, the elusive insurgent leader could not be easily caught or defeated, and he and his men were always out there having the support from the community, and convincing the people to support their communist ideology. (Miers 144) Apart from continuous patrols in the villages and in the swampy areas where the CT were usually seen getting their daily sustenance from the village folks, the British soldiers were also to execute prong number 2, which was to interrupt the CT food supplies. This required a well planned operation that needed all the support they could get from the inside and outside of their battalion. Prong number 3 consisted of acquiring the services of an informer who could help in neutralizing or killing the CT and its leader. Cutting the CT food supply was one of the strategies as mentioned in General Templer’s strategy and applied by Miers and his battalion. In doing this, they had to identify how Ming Lee and his people were getting their food. The British

The World Wide Interconnectedness Today Education Essay

The World Wide Interconnectedness Today Education Essay The notion of globalisation and citizenship are the two areas that always been debated long time ago. If we look at the idea itself, it is not new and both are the concepts that always compete each other as it involve the among other things arguments about politics, identity, rights, equality, inequality and so on. However, the term globalisation was first used in 1960s which based on the idea of bringing the world together. In other words, it means every person in the world is the citizen of the world, who has the status and rights of citizens but on a global context rather than city or nation state basis. In reality, globalisation has took place long time ago especially in the term of communication which we sometimes fail to see them as a form of globalisation for instances international time zones, adoption of Gregorian calendar, adoption of seven days a week and international telegraphic and signalling codes. However, the idea of globalisation started to rise and increasingly deb ated in the latter part of the twentieth century, when the citizens are urged to think globally and to act locally. It is the mindset that presents globalisation as something new and dominant. It is also inevitable process of development by individual human which emphasises on the free of individual choice. There are a lot of definitions and point of views on globalisation. Giddens (1990, p.64) describes globalisation as the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. This means that what shapes the locals nowadays may be influenced by the occurring events from different part of the world, resulted from the event of globalisation. In this day and age, the information is very easy to spread. If we look back 20 to 30 years ago, this might be so impossible but with the help of information technology and internet, the world is seemed as being at our fingerti ps. I quite agree with how Giddens defines the term globalisation. In my point of view based on what Giddens statements, globalisation is things that change our everyday life which we cannot see because it is a hidden process which the effects mostly can come out in long term. However, I believe that it is inevitable, can affect us positively as well as negatively. Refer back to the definition that Giddens come out, positively, poor and underdeveloped countries has started to open their eyes and slowly they can see how outside world looks like. Rich and developed countries start to see how the unlucky sides of the world and help them to lighten their burden for example in Africa and Palestine. This is good as what shapes humans social relations with others can be the situation that happens miles away from them. Globalisation has significant impacts on educational policies, structures and practices in countries around the world, though these have been differentially experienced. The driving forces of these changes in education have been economic, political, technological as well as cultural. One of the obvious changes is the global citizenship education which lots of countries in the world adopt this in their education policies and practices. In England, Citizenship Education became part of the English primary schools National Curriculum in September 2000. It is then introduced across the curriculum in secondary schools from September 2002 and will include a global dimension (QCA, 2000). The key concepts of global citizenship are said to include the idea of sustainable development, social justice and the concept of interdependence enhanced by globalisation. It also involves of understanding conflict and conflict resolution, human rights as well as responsibilities (Globalisation and Citizens hip edu. Jack demaine). There are lots of critiques on global citizenship education as a new reform of education. However, many beliefs that national citizenship is now being weakened and a new reform of education are necessary to cope with the developing world nowadays. Global citizenship education is said to be concerned with specific issues and underlying values and attitudes. It urged people to think and use their brain by questioning and exploring their own and others values within community and different parts of the world. It encourages people to think and act globally, making them to see themselves as growing up in the global context, no more thinking only in their society and nation state. In fact, there is emphasises on the global dimension to the food they eat, the clothes they wear, other pupils from different parts of the world in their schools and community (Brownie, 2001). Basically, global citizenship curriculum is designed to develop students knowledge and understanding globally. During the participation, their skill of enquiry and communication will be developed and responsible action appropriate prior to their age will be involved. The requirements are to be met in a variety of ways across the curriculum and also will be embedded in teaching methodology and school ethos (Jack Demaine). Skills, knowledge and understanding of the key concepts of global citizenship education can be developed across the secondary curriculum in many subjects areas such as PSHE and citizenship session. In subject areas such as Science, Mathematics, and English, the knowledge and understanding can be developed through the topics, methodology, activities as well as relation to the appropriate concepts. For example given by Demaine (2002), in English, students may compare the reporting of a world issues in different newspapers, and on the Internet, and critically assess the reports for bias and varying points of view. While in Mathematics, concepts such as mean, mode and median can be used to investigate average wages around the world. World trade, the idea of fair trade as well as the impact of global relations on the lives of individuals along a trade route can be explored in subject Geography. In addition Walkington (1999) demonstrates how geography and global citizenship education both have complimentary aims and provides detailed accounts of classroom strategies which have been used by the teachers that have successfully taught global citizenship through subject Geography. She then agrees that students can acquire appropriate useful knowledge, skills and understandings through the enquiry-based, participatory approaches to citizenship education. Gilbert (1996) argues that students appear to be well disposed to discussion around the question of the environment. In global citizenship education module, particular emphasises is given to United Nations Agenda 21, an environmental plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organisations of the UN and national governments. Students can develop awareness on the global issues and deeply understand the concepts. Sustainable development, one of the well-known issues increasingly debate globally is one of the key topics discussed in global citizenship education. Students can be encouraged to explore the local action in response to global issues by investigating local plans and priorities for sustainable development. In this module, they can learn and understand the ideas of sustainable development work and their effect on different aspects of local and national government planning and policy decision. Teachers are encouraged to collaborate in order to help students t o learn how citizens can contribute to local decision that will influence their environment and lifes quality. Additionally, the concept of global citizenship education has been linked with the offer of helping humanity. Students are increasingly aware about the human rights, social justice and global issues such as war and peace. Some secondary schools in certain countries like England have already developed their global citizenship curriculum by becoming involved in long-term projects and school-linking particularly in the EU (Demaine, 2002). They have developed strong citizenship elements within their school ethos, policies and curriculum. Some schools also encourage their students to take part in decision-making on anti-bullying and anti-racism policy. However, there are questions to be answered about the possible effectiveness of school-based citizenship education programme. The effectiveness depends on the teacher and the students, as well as school institutions itself. It is essential to motivate teachers that teach the programme by providing enough professional training and excellent materials for the teaching. For the students, the lesson should be integrated with fun and interesting activity whilst the aims of the teaching still can be achieved at the end. Looking at the differences in developed and underdeveloped countries, global citizenship education takes place mostly in school in develop countries. This education programme still seems strange in underdeveloped countries, making that it only benefits by the rich people in rich countries. People in poor countries still left behind and in my point of view, this idea of global citizenship education only cater certain kind of people, leaving behind the basic intention of globalisation, that is bringing the people around the world together. In my point of view, global citizenship education is a good approach to increasingly interconnected world we live right now. Globalisation is an issue that does really exist and despite the fact that I aware that I hold the view of negative things about it, it may come with positive things too. In fact, I really support the implementation of global citizenship education in most countries as it opens up students mind on the global issues, encourage them to address global issues such environmental and war, as well as preparing themselves for global challenges of the future. Long time ago, education is believed to be concerned mainly in producing people with knowledge and skill and their well-being. Education can only affordable by high class and high status people. Later then, as political systems and boundaries and demarcation lines differentiating one country from the other were identified, it can be clearly seen that there was governments involvement in education through the establishment of the public schools. The reason for such an involvement seen by the government was to have a good grip of its citizens. Having held on its citizens, the government was able to have a common ideology inculcated and transferred to its citizens. The same concepts have been applied to the implementation global citizenship education, but in different perspective obviously. The idea and concept of globalisation is delivered and transferred to the people across the world through education. It was thought as the means to enhance the individuals cohesiveness with others gl obally. Such an effort is expected to bring unity among citizens across the world, for having a common goal in the hearts and minds of its citizens. Looking at how globalisation is so powerful in influencing people in various types of field such as economic and political, it also has its strength in affecting the education across the world. One of the obvious effects of globalisation is the emergence of technology-mediated learning which has revolutionised the teaching and learning process. In the era of information technology, explosion of knowledge and information helps the globalisation in term of education. The invention of computers, internet and technology-mediated learning such as through the use of CD, webpage and so on helps in the spreading of information and knowledge to millions around the world. Compare to 10 to 20 years ago, it is difficult to access knowledge and information from outsides, and more dependable on limited books and journals available in local libraries. Nowadays, through online and digital libraries, people especially researchers and educationalist can get access to information and knowledge from boo ks and research works done in the other parts of the world without having the need to travel to the required places. This certainly important as it make the access to education easier and save so much time to do the work. In addition, through the use of the internet, distant learning is now possible and accessible. People especially students can access knowledge twenty-four hours in a day and learn anytime they want to, without having to attend the lectures in the lecture halls. In fact, in completing this course work, I do not have to travel around the world to see how the process of globalisation takes place. Searching information from online journal articles and books internet has already helped me a lot to make progress in this work. Naturally, any invention and development has its positive and negative sides. Although this scientific and innovative way of learning has made people lives a lot easier and better by getting access to knowledge and information fast and efficient, we still can see the downsides of this situation. People have becoming more isolated from the world they use to share with others. They made people learn in a more personalised way in which the effect can be seen through the cut off interaction with the community and society around them. In fact, it drives them more towards achieving success and material gains for the benefit of individual rather than for society. Fromm (1995) has predicted this effect of the globalisation on human individuals a long time ago and he states that: Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment which must bring him the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions. (Fromm, 1995, p. 67) From the quotes, it is obviously similar to what happen nowadays. People believe that they have developed educationally and economically, and feel confidence that they are being modern enough. They slowly isolate themselves from their society and surroundings. Anything they have done focused and aimed more on gaining maximum profit for them. Another aspect that is missing in the personalised form of learning is the interaction with the teacher and lecturer. Face-to-face interaction during teaching and learning between teacher and students is significant to the students. This is because they can get acquainted with the teacher by physically being present in front of him. In addition, information and knowledge can be more meaningful when they are properly explained by the teacher. Unlike online and distant teaching programme, even though it is easier in terms of accessibility, certain kind of things such as understanding of the knowledge may be difficult to obtain. This might be becaus e of lack of tangible communication where body language, tone of voice, personality, and emotion are absent in virtual learning. Moving along the process of globalisation, education is seen as a tool of human capital development. Economists view education as both consumer and capital good because it offers utility to a consumer and also serves as an input into the production of other goods and services. Human capital theory emphasises how education increases the productivity and efficiency of the workers by increasing the level of cognitive stock of economically productive human capability which is a product of innate abilities and investment in human beings. The provision of formal education is seen as a productive investment in human capital, which the proponents of the theory have considered as equally or even more equally worthwhile than that of physical capital (Olaniyan and Okemakinde, 2008, p. 158). One of the most obvious examples of the application of human capital theory is that there are increasing demands of private education and other factors determining individual demand for education. Many of th e developing nations have realised that the principal mechanism for developing human knowledge is the education system. Therefore, they invest huge sum of money on education not only as attempt to impact knowledge and skills to individuals but also to impart values, ideas, attitudes and aspirations which may be in the nations best developmental interest. Consequently, most countries have put high budgets on education including for development and better quality of education. Many private and international schools are built and they are believed to provide better quality of education rather than standard type of school. Parents that can afford to send their children to such schools choose private and international schools for their children to receive better education, thus providing them with better future and good jobs with higher wages. It is also worth noting that the causal relationship between education and earnings has important implications for public policy. If human capital theorists are correct in arguing that the education is the primary cause of higher earnings, then it obviously make sense to provide better quality of education to low-income groups of society to reduce poverty and the degree of income quality. The next effect of globalisation on education can be seen through the commodity of education especially in higher education. Nowadays, the increasingly popular trend in education is the global trade of higher education in which receives lots of demand across the world. Higher education is seen as a medium for making money for certain organisation. More expensive education is introduced such as private university and international school. It is true that some cases, they provide better quality for learning but the price to be paid is too much. Those comes from rich family can afford the education but what will happen for the middle and low class family who could not afford it? Globalisation emphasises the idea of bringing people together, making the status all people the same but the reality is because of competition among individual people, education is the thing that you have to pay in order to get it. The more money you willing to pay, the higher the quality of education you will g et, that what most of people nowadays believe in. Same goes to the schooling trend which is getting popular now, that is international school. The same concept as the concept of globalisation applies to international school which is bringing the people together across the world. It globalised in terms of content learning and students inside. Students share different cultures and values, but rarely we can see they share the same class and social status. Usually students come from high class and social status as we know the fees to enter this type of school is far too high. The curriculum usually uses International Baccalaureate which is claimed as a prestigious qualification. Here, we can see the proof of inequality of education being rise. It is obvious for most of the cases, education is seen as commodity, a tool for making money, rather than for public good. There are competition to get into schools where the education is considered to be worth the students or their parents money. Moore (2000) argues that investing in education is same like investing in the stock market. People have to wait long enough for the outcomes. Most of us have a mindset that we can get a better job with high income of we attend better schools. In other words, a certified level of education is a commodity, means that it is useful and can be turned into commercial advantage. Increasing in outcome-oriented form of education. Knowledge for its own sake seems to have lost its currency in a world where outcomes have become the goal of tertiary education. (Mondon, 2010) Babalola (2003, cited in Olaniyan and Okemakinde, 2008 2) states that the contribution of education to economic growth and development occurs through its ability to increase productivity of an existing labour force in various ways. In Malaysia for example, the Malaysian government has made many efforts to make Malaysia as a centre of education excellence in the region and to supply the industry with the relevant human resources.

What the Public Should Know about Science :: Argumentative Persuasive Papres

What the Public Should Know about Science The public is uninformed about the role of science in their everyday lives. If the masses are not aware of the positive contributions that have been made through scientific discoveries, they will not be very supportive when funding requests are made. Many of the scientific discoveries completed by scientists today may seem like a waste of time and money since the fruits of their findings may not be realized until years later. In order for the public to accept science as a positive contributor, they must be taught to understand the advancements made by science and the processes necessary to achieve them. The public most also be given an understandable explanation of how these advancements improve their lives. Not all scientific discoveries made by the scientific community were the expected outcome of carefully planned research activities. This position can be validated through an Internet article written by Larry Gedney titled "Unexpected Scientific Discoveries are Often the Most Important." Mr. Gedney feels that it is important to provide the researcher with more leeway on how funding is to be spent. A quote from his article states, " to ask a scientist what his or her next discovery will be is to misinterpret the scientific method." (1) Accidental scientific discoveries have been made throughout the history of mankind. Some clear examples are that of the X-Ray, Penicillin, and the principle of vaccination. In 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen discovered that he could see through his skin to the bones when putting his hand between a barium coated screen and an electrical discharge tube. As most of us know, this discovery has universalized the way that doctors perform their daily routines. Doctors no longer have to depend on their innate ability to feel a patient's arm to determine if it is broken or fractured. They can simply perform an X-Ray of the arm and within minutes have results back that clearly indicate if the bones in the arm are broken or fractured and the severity of the brake. Another example of an unexpected scientific discovery was made by Alexander Fleming, a bacteriologist from Saint Mary's Hospital located in London. In his cluttered laboratory he noticed that a culture dish that had bacteria on it had been inundated with mold, which blew in from an open window. After observing the dish under the microscope, he saw that the bacteria, which were surrounded by the mold, had died.