On Education in Modern India Essay Example for Free

On Education in Modern India Essay As I was sat down, trying to ‘learn’ chemistry one Friday evening, I began thinking on our education system due to which I had to study in such a poor way; it’s a pity, that I have started hating the subject, or all subjects for that matter, the more the examinations approached. To that end, I wrote a poem later – my debut poem, with which I’d like to introduce the topic; her it goes: â€Å"Education† for Progress You take a pot and fill it with water, the ocean still remains, You make the pot bigger, to douse the house’s flames And you make it even bigger, till you wash all of hell. But as men march on in time’s way, so do the forces grow, That bar the door of wisdom, till it maketh a man (a) crow; And once, but out the feathers come, than you just lo: For cells have formed where ere was Eden, And into the Saharan sands hath Plato been driven; Till now, had man’s asininity been aeon ridden? You look across many a book or any common mind, And surprised you may well be, to find: The fountain remains flowing as ever, waiting for Its very first drinker. But heads of men are now sore, And they allow not the thirsty to have a pour, But Indian crabs as they are, they pull him back onto shore. They set for education a Hammurabi’s code, And state it on an Economist’s ode: not the fountain Whose drink all doth desire, but a mere factory by the road That gives not many the bliss which they hope, but pain; Agony from not just failing to educate the self, But excruciation seeing others that too need help. The birth of a boy sees many a new colour: Businessman, engineer, NRI or a doctor. The scholar of yore is seen no more As machines of the line’s grown stronger than before. The student of the day is not the knowledge seeker, But a piece of iron thrown in the hands of a ‘caster’; That moulds and melts him not into the Being, But a mercantile golem that lives to seek a living. To commend its superiors enjoying the beauteous Nature, Whilst it toils in turmoil on these pans of fire: Institutes that teach not to analyze and wonder, But to gobble, espouse, vomit and then†¦just wander. So, do we just give tests and go on becoming another mechanical product of this degree-machine, or relieve ourselves of this blunder? We find that today, education has reached such a stage, that the difference between the educated and the uneducated, is but a degree (or no degree), however the other may know; which reminds me of what a teacher of mine once said: â€Å"†¦You may wonder at the fact, that I have said Euclid and Aristotle together. You see, in the ancient world, the gift we had got, was the scholar, not the B.Tech, M.A., or B.Sc. (Hons). Thus, you get the same Pythagoras, who devised the theorem, AC2 = BC2 + AB2, giving the theory of transmigration of souls – two very different subjects, philosophy and mathematics, but the very same person.† Indeed, today we do lack such people, for the very fact that, India today is not the divine land where knowledge is respected – the land where the greatest university of the time exists, but a machine designed ages ago, to churn out Indian Civil Service workers, extended beyond into independent India by mistake (rather ignorance and lack of understanding), and united with the pre-ancient Indian processes of rote-learning, to make another machine, completely satisfactory in its ability and purpose of creating doctors and engineers, who work completely like a machine, with no interest in finding new methods or discovering new techniques or findings, but just working as per the age old methods engineered earlier, or today, but certainly by foreigners. The primary cause I believe, which has led to this is the method of education provided by society on him, from day one onwards – the very same day the student sees school that is. But first, let us have a look at the ‘ideal’ student, as society – the Indian society – views him. Is it not a boy, well in attire, i.e. in a neat and clean uniform, sitting in front of the table, with a book in front of him, learning what is written in the book, by-heart, writing down all that he has learnt, and at the end of the year, coming out with flying colours in his report-card? To those who find no problem with this, my question is â€Å"Why the farce?† Why the farce of such a false scene that has been idolized, to kill even the Einstein’s that our country has created? Is it that we have been so much into this claptrap of the rote-learner being the ideal, that we form this leucoma, to fail seeing through this farcical non-sense? Now, let us have a look at the true side of this story – the story that many of us have to go through, especially the ‘hopeless’ and the ‘fools’. As the young mind enters the nursery, he is forced to accept what he is told – a good method to teach language the fast way, but, the real problem occurs, when this process is extended into subjects which require full understanding, like mathematics. The student learns that two plus two is four, rarely because two objects and two objects come in to make a number o objects we call four, but rather because it makes four, be all and end all. And practicing thus, he goes on to learn tables, least understanding, what fives times three actually means. Thus, this process of forced learning create a feeling of boredom and the people who become successful, hence, are those who can accept these facts easily, little realizing the beauty that lies behind of the subject that lies beyond it, or the logic of why they are doing such, and at times, even, what they are actually doing, as an interview I carried out on standard three and four students, indicated – they knew very well, that eight into nine is seventy-two, without even the basic knowledge of why it is not seventy-one or seventy-three for that matter; it was seventy-two because they had learnt it to be seventy two PERIOD! It reminds me of Einstein’s â€Å"Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us, that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens.†(Translated from German) Worse still happens, when we try to extend this method into higher education, especially in the science and arts streams. Speaking of science, wherein I fit, the last blow on the camel’s back comes, when we are forced to accept theory and practical as two different ‘papers’, rarely finding the link lying between them. The only aim the students form now, is to get marks by properly doing what lay in front of us, finding the ‘correct’ answer, and finally, getting the marks. After that, there is nothing more to discover, and in some experiments, they don’t even figure out what physical quantity they are measuring. Some of us again, like a very good engineer, try understanding the things, from what is written in theory, which we have learnt by reading the book – thus, we tend to believe the book at each stage, even at the cost of manipulating the results of our experiments; little do we thus learn, that the value of ‘g’ which we got as 7.9 – 8.1 is actually the correct one, and not 9.81. Thus, we even fail to realize our foolishness. Computer Science is in fact, the only exception to this rule, as in it, we know why we are doing something, clearly, at least to the level of gates, which is generally considered the base of computing – at least as far as the programmer is concerned; which is perfectly acceptable. But as far as the other subjects are concerned, it is a different story altogether. Thus, this rote-learning that most of us have to go through in many subjects, in many schools, and in many standards is the sole cause of this problem. What intensifies this, are the many competitive examinations that we, the high school students, try to prepare ourselves for. In the process, we blindly accept some facts and play as much as we can with them, to tackle the problems that would be given in the exams. Thus, we slowly and painfully, kill the scientist, which lies within someone. But what truly wait, is not more criticism, but a solution to all this; of course, it is only my thought, which I believe can work, but it is a thought that comes from first0hand experiences and realizations. So, let us begin to address this from day one. The child enters the school, knowing nothing; what he especially does not know, is the beauty of knowledge and to him, school is a dreadful place (courtesy the stories that society teaches him). Hence, this can easily break him; thus, we must first break this breaker, by allowing him to play and interact with the other students and the teachers, as time progresses, to get a firm grip on him. As the bond slowly develops, we can introduce him or her to alphabets first those of his mother-tongue, and then that of English – however, both these languages must be taught simultaneously, or at least in the same class – nursery. Thus, we must teach the child, with a caring attitude, having no concern for teaching him this much or that much, as specified by the syllabus, we can form a proper child, who is ready to learn. And as he progresses to higher subjects like mathematics, science and higher English/Bengali/Hindi, it can be taught slowly and in a manner wherein the child learns by experimentation. For example, tables can be taught, not through the usual boring and strict way of mugging up the tables up to 9, but by making him himself realize, that when two is added five times, it gives ten and making him do the exercise a number of times fully understanding how these follow, as tables. This done, the student formed would be one, who is ready to experiment, loving the subject, fully understanding what he does. At the end of the day, a student who does this, would really want to learn it faster and would do so. Going on to English, comprehension and grammar exercises and short stories can be taught, in a way that makes him realize what the content of the story is, and make him develop a reading habit; reading classes can be organized, so as to develop his reading skills, and full scale discussion of the topics, with debates, speeches, etc. can be taken in order to develop his skills in public speaking, understanding the language, etc. As for science, â€Å"everything around us is science and can be understood if tried to† can be the key to the success in this path. The children can be taught to thus observe the phenomenon around, to learn form what he sees around him and only at this stage, remember (not blindly accept) that something he sees, like wet clothes drying up when it is kept in the sun, etc.; to this note, I remember a personal experience that I cherished: in class two, when we were being taught birds, we were asked to collect feathers of birds that had fallen, in order to study them, match them to find whom they belonged to, and even discuss on them. The experience of that class, as I still remember, was the most entertaining, enthralling and enriching one ever in my life. But sad it is, that few teachers are so innovative enough to draw our full attention, and let our interest in the subject rise to such an extent, where we learn so nicely that we remember those classes for our entire life. Coming back, this process can go on thus, and as for value education, classes should be based on yearly assessment of thoughts, not as in maintaining a diary, but as a class-work. Shifting up to the high school level, children from class six onwards can be allowed to go to the practical labs, to freely experiment with the instruments upon the teachers’ instructions, observing, making systematic recordings, and last but not the least, themselves inferring from the data they find, so as to find patterns in Nature. This can be nicely done in physics, if not chemistry – at least with organic chemicals the students can experiment, as for harsh ones, the teacher can perform the experiment, making the students infer from them. Thus, an ‘experimentative’ approach and curious nature would be instilled into the child’s young mind, as he passes through this elementary level of science, giving rise to the birth of the scientist within him. He should also be given full freedom to talk on the subject in the class, alone with the teacher, in word or in writing, so as to fully clear his/her doubts, and understand the subject deeper than ever. In a line, the student should not learn the laws, but derive them out of his activities. Moving on to class nine, the first six months can be classes of revision of whatever he or she had learnt in the junior classes. Later, new topics can be introduced, and in a very similar manner, he must be taught these. Hence, the final student that would be formed would not be the marks-seeker, but a true knowledge-seeker – thus at least the scientist. As for arts, students can be introduced to philosophy at an elementary level itself, not in the form of boring lectures, but by making them philosophize on everyday happenings, historical events, problems and solutions, etc.; thus he’d not need to learn philosophy, but develop a taste for finding philosophy in everyday life. Hence, when he/she will read texts of great authors, he’d immediately find the essence of it all. The same goes for commercial applications and economics, where he can be made to realize the truth behind all the business policies – through stories, and even experiments in the form of mock business sessions (even on very small imaginary ones, like buying a product of Rs. 2), to make the students understand the principles behind the complex business policies. He should also be given the proper mathematical background required behind this, as in pure statistics and some of pure and applied mathematics, and if a student is found interested more in some subject, which is not in his syllabus, he can well be taught the lesson after school. This method I believe,, will surely create not only a true student, but also a complete human being. As for the so-called ‘boring’ subjects of history and geography, it is the method of teaching alone, that makes all the difference. History can be taught by first drawing the interest of the student. Ancient history is a good place to start this practice, by making history an extension of literature and logic combined. He can be †¦ taught to learn not the whats alone, but taught more importantly the whys and hence, the deeper hows!

Advantage And Disadvantages Of Dividend Payout Policy Finance Essay

Advantage And Disadvantages Of Dividend Payout Policy Finance Essay When a company has a surplus of profit, it can be used either pay back the shareholders or reinvest into the business. The way that company pay back to shareholders is call dividend payout. In the recent years, the number of companies paying dividends has declined. For example, the PSEG Company in the United State, the payout ratio was about 67% in 2004 and fallen to 45% by 2007.Shows in the graph below: (http://www.pseg.com/index.jsp) This essay will mainly discuss the advantage and disadvantage about the dividend-paying. What are dividends? Dividends are payment made by corporation to the shareholders. Dividends come from the profit earned by company. There are two ways where company spends the surplus of profit, one is to reinvest to the business and the other is to pay back to the shareholders as dividends. The companies who pay dividends are usually taking no benefit if the reinvest the surplus profit back into the business, under this condition dividends are chosen to pay to th e shareholders, which is call payout. The forms of dividends are variable. The most common one will be the made by cash, which is the most common method of sharing corporate profits with the shareholders of the company. The second one is the stock dividends that is paid in form of additional share and it is counted by proportion, for example, if the shareholder owns 100 shares of the stock with 5% stock dividends, the shareholder can gain 5 more shares. Others like property dividends are taken as dividends payout as well. Advantage of dividend payout policy There is certain amount of people of the rightist position state that company pays a high dividend payout is important for investors for the reasons that paying dividends can convince the shareholders about the companys financial well-being. The higher rate of dividends payout shows better the company operating as well as larger number of profit, which might attracts the investors. Dividends are also attractive for the investors who want to get the stable current income easily. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There is also a natural clientele of investors, such as the elderly, who looking to their stock portfolios for a steady source of cash to live onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (P456, Richard, 2008). In principle, the shareholders could sell a part of the shares to gain money even if the company does not pay dividends, but it is more convenience for the investors to get the money if companies pay the dividends by checks. In this case, the payout policy of cash dividends will reduce the cost of transaction as well as the inconvenience for the shareholders selling the shares. In addition, the long-term stable dividends payouts could help the company less affected by the changes of the dividends. Those companies with long history of stable dividends will be less influenced if the dividends decrease, but will be positively affected when dividends payout increases or even dividends stay the same level. Furthermore, companies without a dividend history are generally viewed favorably when they declare new dividends. The dividends announcement has resulted in a 4% rise of the stock price according to the dividend initiations studied by Healy and Palepu (P448, Richard, 2008). Many companies have taken the dividends paid back to shareholders as payout policy. For example Microsoft, the largest software company in the entire world, has announced their first dividends payout in 2003. The amount of the money has been divided into two forms of dividends, one was one-time dividends and the other was stock dividends paid quarterly installments by a unit as per share. (P457, Richard, 2008). Disadvantage of dividend payout policy Firstly, the radical state that dividends payout can be heavier than capitals gain when taxation of dividends is larger than the capital gains. Under this condition, company should put the spare profit back into the business by repurchase shares. It makes sense for the reasons that the capital gains have a tax advantage. When companies use the money to repurchase the share, the income will be larger because with the lower rate of tax on capital earnings, comparing to dividends payouts to shareholders with higher rate of tax on dividends. In the banking industries, a part of banks have stopped paying dividends to shareholders in 2009, according to the Capital Report. In the meanwhile, there are 202 firms have cut their dividends and 74 of which paid none at all (Web1). Secondly, the level of dividends payout can reflect the information about the confidence of the management from the company in the future, which will have an influence to the stock price. Generally, companies that pay dividends are sending a message to the market that their earnings are real which will result in the investors comfort about their investment. On the other hand, once the companies decide to cut the dividend it is also sending the information that they cannot maintain the dividends. However, the company might be able to cheat on their operation by overstating the earning to attract investors, but it is risky in the long term because the actual condition of the company will not have sufficient money to pay the dividends. The consequence will be costly if the companies choose a high dividend without getting enough profit. Most managers will not change the dividends without consideration about the operation of company, but they will increase the dividends only if they are c onfident it can be maintained. Thirdly, the consideration of a dividend policy might be irrelevant because investors have the ability to create their own dividends. It means that investors can be able to make their own à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"dividendà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ by adjust the investment into different areas. For example, the investors who prefer a stable income are more likely to put their money into the bonds with the stable interest rates. In the case, the stock with dividends pay back will lose the advantage because of the flexible value. Investors who have invested to the bonds will not pay attention to the dividend policy of a particular company. Conclusion: Taking the dividend payout policy can attract certain amount of investors, and it is convenience for those investors who require stable and simple income. But dividends sometimes have tax disadvantage if the tax rate of dividend is higher than capital gains. And dividends are usually more flexible, comparing to the interest rates of bonds. It is important for a company to think whether to take the dividend payout policy by considering the assets, earnings, investments opportunities, market value and other factors about the company.

Router Comparison :: essays research papers

Connecting remote offices or home PC’s to the Internet and corporate networks can be troublesome, requiring a balance of bandwidth limitations, security concerns and firewall functionality. Simple setup is also a necessity, so less-experienced users can easily get these fairly complex systems up and running. In addition, the cost of communication hardware and software must be kept to a minimum to meet tight budgets. The routers also offer firewall protection for security, productivity and operational purposes. Though these aren't heavy-duty firewalls like those that cost upwards of $10,000, they do offer the most common protocol-filtering mechanisms. All three routers offer browser-based installation and management, and operate as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers. This feature automatically supplies the workstation with an IP address and gateway setup information upon booting-eliminating the arduous task of manually assigning IP parameters to workstations during setup. Most of the devices support the same protocols: TCP/IP; Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP); HTTP; Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP); Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) and Network Address Translator (NAT). These protocols allow users to connect to any standards-compliant ISP (via PPP) and authenticate using either CHAP or PAP authentication protocols. Once connected, these routers can share a single IP address among many workstations using the NAT protocol, saving the cost of extra IP addresses. However, each router was different in very important ways that you must consider before buying. Ramp Networks WebRamp 310i I had this router up and running within minutes, and configuring five workstations took little more effort than simply powering them up. It allowed me to easily configure all attributes, from ISP information to security, using a Web browser. The WebRamp offers NAT, Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunneling via Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), and packet filtering based on protocol and port number. It was the only router to support the IPX protocol, allowing the workgroup to access NetWare servers when connecting directly to the corporate office. Another unique feature is the WebRamp 310i's POTS interface, which allows data calls to be pre-empted on incoming or outgoing telephone voice calls. This enables workgroup members to use the same phone lines as the router and save on the cost of extra phone lines. The router is equipped with two built-in 56K V.90 modems and has an external 230Kb per second RS-232 port. The WebRamp 310i's 47.59Kbps performance put it slightly behind the ProxyServer's 49.83Kbps throughput. The router has a built-in four-port 10BaseT hub for building an instant Ethernet network.

Mutual Funds Essay -- essays research papers

Mutual funds are an easy, convenient way to invest, without having to worry about choosing individual stocks. A mutual fund can be defined as a single portfolio of stocks, bonds, and/or cash managed by an investment company on behalf of many investors. The investment company manages the fund, and sells shares in the fund to individual investors. When one invests in a mutual fund, they become a part-owner of a large investment portfolio, along with all the other shareholders of the fund. The fund manager invests the contributions when shares are purchased, along with money from the other shareholders. Every day, the fund manager counts up the value of all the fund's holdings, figures out how many shares have been purchased by shareholders, and then calculates the net asset value(NAV) of the mutual fund, which is the price of a single share of the fund on that day. If the fund manager is doing a good job, the NAV of the fund will usually get bigger and the shares will be worth more. There are a couple of ways that a mutual fund can make money in its portfolio. A fund can receive dividends from the stocks that it owns. Also, the fund might have money in the bank that earns interest, or it might receive interest payments from bonds that it owns. At the end of the year, a fund makes another kind of distribution, this time from the profits they might make by selling stocks or bonds that have gone up in price. Unfortunately, funds don't always make money. For example, the fund manager could have made some investments that didn't work out, sold some investments for less than the original purchase price, and there may be some capital losses. Most mutual funds invest in stocks, and these are called "equity funds." Some funds specialize in investing in large-cap stocks, others in small-cap stocks, and mid-cap stocks. Large-cap stocks have market caps of billions of dollars, and are the best-known companies in the U.S. Small-cap stocks are worth several hundred million dollars, and are newer, up-and-coming firms. Mid-caps are somewhere in between. There are also bond funds that purchase bonds issued by corporations, municipal governments, or the federal government agencies. You can invest in tax-free bond funds, just as you can buy tax-free bonds, and the interest you earn is exempt from federal a... ...nd some of the advantages and disadvantages mentioned earlier I found a fund that was interesting. The Domini fund only invests in companies that are part of the Domini Social Index. The index excludes companies that derive more than 2% of sales from military weapons, sell any alcohol or tobacco or own interest in nuclear power plants. The remaining large-cap stocks are then evaluated according to other social criteria: diversity, employee relations, the environment and the product. For example, a company may give a lot of money to community organizations but may be rabidly polluting the environment. In a situation like this, the analyst will carefully consider the pros and cons before including the company in the index and in the fund. Investment requirements were also a factor for considering this fund and the Domini fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,000. However, the company can waive the minimum investment to a mere $25 each month. The fund has been around sinc e 1991 and has had an average annual return of 20.61% for the last 8 years. It returned 32.99% in 1998 (while the S&P500 returned 28.58%). It invests 25.85% of its assets in technology and is no load.

Weapons of the American Civil War Essays -- History Weapons Historical

Weapons of the American Civil War Amongst the most lasting of factors stemming from the Civil War are the weapons that were developed. Before the Civil War, the weapons used were highly unreliable, and were not advanced enough to provide the needed defense for a young nation such as our own. Innovative minds created many interesting ways to demolish their enemies without ever having to fire a shot or go into full combat through different types of bombs that were in disguise. Among the advancements in the Civil War were the torpedo, the carbine rifle, the minie` ball, several models of rifle-muskets, rocket launchers, rocket bombs, "Greek Fire," and a wide array of other secret weapons. Torpedoes were quite possibly the most destructive weapons created in the Civil War times. There is a great number of models of torpedoes that come from the Civil War; ranging all the way from models that were anchored to the ocean floor to drifting torpedoes that hung beneath driftwood and moved with the current. The first torpedoes from the south were simple powder filled tin cans with trigger attachments. The torpedoes were later developed to have a thin brass cap with a beeswax solution. If pressure was placed on the cap, then the torpedo would explode. The same structure was used in the development of landmines, the "sub-terra booby traps" as they were so affectionately named by the Union officers. Though in the early stages of development, these primitive looking war machines could destroy a fleet. The Carbine Rifle was a small, easy breechloading rifle. This abnormality made this rifle capable of firing much faster than its predecessors were able to. The Carbine was most effective when using the tactic of riding up, dismounting, and concentrating rapid carbine fire on the enemy. The Carbine rifles developed from single-shot "Burnside" models, named after Ambrose E. Burnside, into repeating rifles dubbed "Henry's". Three French army officers would share the credit for the bullet that caused nearly ninety percent of the soldier casualties in the Civil War. Captain Henri-Gustave Delvigne, Colonel Louis-Etienne de Thouvenin, and Captain Claude-Etienne Minie` were the men which developed this masterpiece. This bullet was designed after discovering that when a standard bullet was put down the barrel of a rifle and was pounded with the ramrod,... ... firing again. Since the gun could fire six hundred rounds of ammunition per minute, each barrel fired one hundred rounds per minute. Coehorn Mortars and Armstrong Rifles were used as projectile attack alternatives when a garrison needed a powerful blow to be delivered. The projectiles used in the Coehorn Mortars ranged form a weight of seventeen pounds, all the way up to 24 pounds. Named after Dutch engineer Baron van Coehorn, this mortar was a light seige weapon used mostly in trench warfare, and was carried by four men. The Armstrong Rifle, on the other hand was quite a large piece of equipment weighing over seven tons. The Civil War did very much for our nation, one key aspect of which was the development and advancement of our nation's defense mechanisms. The United States advanced leaps and bounds in the development of new weapons, and improvements on weapons that previously existed. This is merely a small display of all of the improvements the United States made during the Civil War; a war of bloody conflict and spite. Without these weapons, the war may not have ended just as it did, and we would also not have the advanced weapons systems that we have today.

Overfishing: When Humans Exhaust the Oceans Essay

The ocean is one of the major sources of food for human beings. This is not surprising, considering that oceans cover 75% of the Earth’s surface. The Pacific Ocean, for one, is home to well-known edible fish species such as salmon, herring, snapper, sardines and tuna. Furthermore, about 250 new species of fish are described every year (Heemstra, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity and South Africa Marine & Coastal Management, 1). However, overfishing is currently regarded as the biggest threat to the ocean’s ecosystem. Fishing at a much faster pace than nature’s ability to replenish fish has resulted in long-term economic and ecological consequences. Major fishing industries in various parts of the world have collapsed, resulting in massive unemployment (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 11). In addition, the extinction of a certain fish species would certainly spell the loss of other marine life that feed on it. Indeed, if left unchecked, overfishing could turn fish into a rare and expensive delicacy. Before World War II, fishing was associated with cotton nets, hand lines and coastal vessels with short ranges. Fishing capacity was often determined by factors such as the individual fisherman’s eyesight, experience and fish-finding capability. Despite the rudimentary technology, most fish populations survived. The balance between the number of fish populations and people’s ability to catch fish was maintained (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 11). But after the war, military innovations were applied to fishing equipment. Fiberglass was used to create lighter and cheaper hulls, larger and lighter nets were woven out of synthetic line and diesel engines and other electronic gear were appended to fishing boats to increase their speed and efficiency in locating productive fishing grounds. These were soon followed with advances in processing, transport and marketing of fish. As a result, the availability of fish increased in some countries (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 11). Rising human populations and affluence, especially in the United States, Japan and Western Europe, was another factor behind the boom of the fishing industry after World War II. During this period, fish was viewed as a cheap and inexhaustible source of protein. Thus, governments and entrepreneurs invested heavily in fishing vessels and infrastructure. Warnings of environmentalists regarding the dangers of overfishing went unheeded – the ocean was supposedly too vast and too deep for its resources to be limited (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 12). At present, it appears that nature is already exacting its revenge. Many fisheries around the world now require larger fleets to be able to come up with their usual catch (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 12). In addition, some species of fish and other marine life have already become extinct, resulting in the loss of livelihood for many fishermen. Overfishing, once largely-ignored, is now recognized as a grave threat. Fishing is no longer the local affair that it used to be. It is currently a global enterprise that not only generates billions of dollars in private income, but also serves as the economic lifeblood of several countries. According to the 1997 statistics of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), fish and shellfish landings worldwide increased from 16. 3 million metric tons in 1950 to 91. million metric tons in 1995. Meanwhile, the United States and several other countries extended the jurisdiction of their respective fishing industries by about 200 nautical miles offshore between 1950 and 1976 (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 12). This resulted in landings having an annual average growth rate of 5%, peaking at 86. 4 million metric tons in 1989 (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 13). World landings since 1950 were composed mostly of pelagic (open ocean) species such as tuna, mackerel and sardines. In 1994, they accounted for at least 60% of the world’s total catch. Pelagic species constitute about 59% of the catch in the Pacific Ocean. In the Indian Ocean, on the other hand, they make up at least 50% (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 13). Demersal fishes (species that live in the ocean bottom) are also an important part of the world’s fishing industry. In 1993, it accounted for about 50% of the world’s total landings – pelagic species made up only 40%. Given the enormous amount of catch from the world’s oceans between the 1950s and the 1990s, it is inevitable that the percentage of fish landings that are traded internationally rose from 20% to 33% from 1980 to 1993. Much of this cut is from Third World countries, which earned $15 billion in 1990 from fish exports alone (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 14). Humans consume about 60% of the world’s total fish landings in the form of processed fish meal and fish oil. This is because the percentage of catch distributed fresh decreased from almost 50% to 20% from 1950 to 1982. Freezing innovations, however, increased fourfold the percentage of fish marketed frozen – from 5% to 22% (Iudicello, Weber and Wieland, 14). Environmental experts argued that the unsustainable nature of fishing since the end of World War II proved to be conducive to the emergence of overfishing. The oceans are said to be â€Å"among the world’s greatest commons – (owned) by everyone and by no one† (Hollander, 56). Ships and sailors, for instance, are traditionally regarded as the bearers of the privilege to enjoy the â€Å"freedom of the seas† (Hollander, 56). Meanwhile, fish – a natural and mobile ocean resource – was always considered as common property that can be taken freely (Hollander, 56). Thus, those who are engaged in commercial fishing will not think twice about overexploiting the ocean’s fish stocks, as long as their own catch is maximized. As long as the catch was plentiful, people always assumed that the fishes in the ocean were unlimited. Furthermore, fishing was an industry that has been thriving for centuries – there was therefore no apparent need to think about its sustainability. The inhabitants of the New England coast, for example, were traditionally known for living off fisheries that caught cod, flounder and haddock. As of 2004, about 200 million people around the world are directly employed in fisheries (Hollander, 56). Poor government planning exacerbates the problem of overfishing. In First World countries, fishing is a state-subsidized industry. Tens of billions of dollars worth of state assistance has prompted those in the fishing industry to further expand their fleet rather than devise sustainable means of catching fish. In addition, economic and cultural differences among competitors in large international fisheries almost always result in the race as to who ends up with the biggest catch (Hollander, 57). Fishers in the world’s poorest countries are also responsible for the worsening of overfishing. Coastal dwellers in the poorest developing countries often have to compete with each other for the small stocks of fish available in their locality. In order to increase their catch, some fishers use cyanide or blow up coral reefs with dynamite. As coral reefs are the habitats of fishes, dynamite fishing diminishes and eventually destroys fish stocks (Hollander, 61). Being on the edge of starvation, fishers in the poorest nations cannot be blamed if they happened to disregard long-term management. The immediate need to catch fish for food and livelihood often traps them in the vicious cycle of resource overexploitation. But once the sea is already depleted, so is their source of food and livelihood. Thus, something must be done to about overfishing (Hollander, 62). Overfishing is not without serious economic and ecological costs. It has resulted in the near-extinction of the world’s most important fish species, including the Atlantic halibut, Atlantic bluefin tuna, Atlantic swordfish, North Sea herring, Grand Banks cod, Argentinean hake and the Australian Murray River cod. Overfishing has likewise severely depleted the number of other forms of marine life, such as seals, dolphins, whales, sharks and sea turtles. Furthermore, catches in the overfished areas of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans have declined since attaining their peak in 1989 (Diamond, 480). In the northwest Mediterranean, a study revealed that the removal of fish increases the population of sea urchins. A rise in the sea urchin population, in turn, reduces edible fleshy algae and produces crusts of inedible, coral-like algae. This may result in death to other marine life due to starvation. This experiment just goes to show that overfishing has indirect but very detrimental ecosystem effects (Hollander, 59). Another very negative effect of overfishing is the destruction of livelihoods that are based on fishing. It must be noted that the fishing industry is also composed of other supporting and distributing services like fish handlers and boat builders. Thus, overfishing will push countless fishing families into poverty (Environmental Cares Organization, 250). The collapse of the cod industry in Newfoundland, Canada in 1992 led to the loss of about 40,000 jobs (Greenpeace International, n. pag. ). Because the ocean is one of the major sources of food for human beings, common sense dictates that it must be taken cared of. While there is nothing wrong with fishing, it must allow nature to fully replenish the fish that has been caught. It must not be forgotten that the loss of fish is also the loss of survival for humankind. Thus, steps must be done in order to immediately address the problem of overfishing.

Comm Reflective Essay

Section 1 My Learning Journey†¦ in COMM101: Principles of Responsible Commerce Initially, before I learn this course, I have always thought that a â€Å"responsible commerce† is only important to balance the economic cycle. In my initial essay regarding â€Å"responsible commerce†, I mentioned about child labor being one of the biggest issue of irresponsible commerce, I thought the reason of it being such a big issue was because it would affect the whole economical cycle.And I did not realize that responsible commerce would involve different kinds of principles of ethics and elements in business, Through this subject I have learned that ethical principles and standards in business define acceptable conduct in businesses which underpin how management makes decisions. Business ethics reflects the philosophy of business, one of whose aims is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company. However, behaving ethically is not quite the same thing as behaving lawfully , because ethics are about what is right and what is wrong; while law is about what is lawful and what is unlawful.What is unethical does not mean it is unlawful, for example, if a driver sees a car crash while he was driving, ethically, he should have stopped his car to see if there is any help that he could provide to the victim, but, still, it does not violate the law if he does not stop to help. It is the same in business. It would be ethical to take up partial responsibility to take care of the unfortunate after earning so much profit from the people; but not taking up the responsibility does not cause them to violate the law either.Another thing that I have learned about ethics is that there are different principles to define what is right or wrong. I would consider myself as a utilitarian because I have always thought that whether a matter is right or wrong depends on its consequence. If a person tells a lie, so that he would not hurt somebody’s feelings, he is ethical ly right. However, Kant’s theory is in contrast with utilitarianism. Kant’s theory judges a matter regardless of whether the consequence is good or bad, the action, for instance, lying is wrong, and then it is ethically wrong.In the commercial world, Kant’s theory gives organizations firm rules to follow in moral decision-makings. To Kantians, â€Å"morality must be based on the categorical imperative because morality is such that you are commanded by it, and is such that you cannot opt out of it or claim that it does not apply to you. † (California State University) Corporations use Kant’s categorical imperatives to command unconditionally on what is right for their employees to do and what is wrong to do.Kant’s theory had also taught me â€Å"humanity as an end, never as merely a means†, which means a person has his own inner worth and shall not be used by anyone for his or her benefits. (Shaw et. al. , 2009) But in my opinion, this principle is fairly difficult to obey because, in reality, everyone is using each other as a means to benefit himself in order to survive. For example, at a private college, a lecturer is hired to teach students who have paid tuition fees to the college. The college is using the lecturer as a means to generate income.On the other hand, lecturer is also using the college as a means to generate income for himself when he receives salary after teaching the students. This example has taught me that the application of ethical theories is not constant and evolves from time to time. Like corporate responsibilities, they, too, evolve from time to time. In 1962, Milton Friedman argued that ‘there is only one responsibility of business, which is to use its resources and engage in profitable activities as long as it stays within the rules of the game’.He emphasized that when a business is increasing profits, it is being socially responsible and it is believed to be an â€Å"invi sible hand† to create more employment opportunities, new goods and services for customers, profits for shareholders, and economic growth. Nonetheless, according to Friedman, business managers who maximize profits are also acting moral responsibility because they have an obligation as employees to serve their employers bona fide in the best interest of the company.However, in 2010, a professor at Melbourne Business School, Doctor Geoff Lewis, claimed that Friedman’s view was outdated because the argument was set in the mid-nineties to preach against socialism. Lewis argued that in the twenty-first century, where most economy has been capitalized, it is not enough for a business to be solely responsible for increasing its profits. Lewis says that ‘forty years ago social responsibility may have been seen as an act of, as Friedman described it, â€Å"hypocritical window dressing† – but in today's world we think in terms of sustainability and of business playing a central role in our market-driven society’.In addition, Niall FitzGerald (2010) also opposes with Friedman’s statement where being socially responsible is against the company’s best interest as it imposes costs on the shareholders, because being socially responsible does not conflict the profitability of a business. A major part of the commercial world today has already been capitalized so that corporations could enjoy free competition with each other, while consumers would have better choices of products. I believe that is what every one of us would think of.However, through learning COMM101, I have realized that capitalism is good, but a market shall not be over capitalized. Capitalism centered upon individual self-interest and competitiveness. (Shaw et. al. , 2009) Competition without regulations in the marketplace would lead to alienation of the weaker competitors in the market and, hence, breeds oligopolies in the market. This would not be a good thing to happen in the poorer countries, where the local corporations may not be as strong as the foreign ones, and would most probably be isolated by the consumers, while the local market might be taken over by the foreign investors.In order to protect these local corporations, this is when the government should regulate the market by adding certain principles of socialism to encourage co-cooperativeness between foreign and local corporations. Another topic that I have learned in this course is globalization. Globalization has been promoted all around the world. Usually, globalization is seen as an irresistible and benign force for delivering economic prosperity to people throughout the world, the rich foreign investors and traders and people in poor countries. However, it is also blamed as a source of all contemporary ills. International Labour Organisation) I have always thought that globalization only affects individuals in the commercial world. However, the phenomenon of global ization brings an impact to the world not only in economics but also the culture and social welfare of the countries. At many times, people like me tend to be more concerned about the economic and political impacts of the globalization and overlooked its impact on cultural and social welfare. Some feel globalization entails a deterioration of moral standards; a decline of religious scruples; a cultural breakdown. Kilgour, 2000) No doubt what concerns us the most is the â€Å"cultural homogenization† that globalization could generate, challenging our community and our unique identity, culture and traditions. Some even feel that globalization will turn people into spiritless robots. (Kilgour, 2000) But the fact is spiritual activities and experiences are deeply personal, it is difficult to see how globalization would influence them one way or another. (Kilgour, 2000) Overall, my journey of learning this subject has been quite fruitful. It has helped me to learn the world better .I have also learned about what kind of ethics principles to use in order to regulate one’s morality in the commercial world, and it has helped me to develop a better mindset. Section 2 Case Study Lara Stone's Calvin Klein Jeans ad banned in Australia for being ‘Suggestive of Violence and Rape' During this semester, while I was doing my assignment for another course, I have come across this case that had attracted negative media attention. This case is about a Calvin Klein Jeans advertising campaign for its Fall 2010 Collection, starring supermodel–Lara Stone, posing with three male models in the controversial image.Not only the image was being criticized that it was demeaning to women, the advertising campaign had been banned in Australia after the country's Advertising Standards Bureau decided that it was ‘suggestive of violence and rape'. (Abraham, 2010) Advertising is an important social phenomenon. Not only has it stimulated consumption, economic activ ity models, life-styles and a certain value orientation; Advertising acts as a mean for companies to achieve business objectives to sell goods or services. It provides a medium to deliver information to consumers, in a way that would maximize the effectiveness of the message.Once the advertising message has been delivered to the consumers, it is up to the individuals to interpret the message, based upon previous experiences and pre-existing beliefs that differ vastly between cultures. Nonetheless, advertising also mirrors the society, because elements in effective advertisements combine with the individual cultures and societies. (Next Step Marketing, 2012) The Calvin Klein Jeans case caught my attention because of its abuse of the element of sexuality in their ad campaign which caused objections from the audience.Tom Reichert, professor and head of the department of advertising and public relations in the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication claimed that advertise rs use sex to promote the products because it can be very effective, because it attracts attention and people are hard wired to notice sexually relevant information. (Sorrow, 2012) Reichert said this upward trend in erotic ads is a reflection of society. Today, it takes more explicitness to grab our attention and arouse us than before. Back in the early 1900s, exposed arms and ankles of female models generated the same level of arousal as partially nude models do today. Sorrow, 2012) In Kant’s theory, using women, as sex objects in advertisements to directly appeal to person's emotional core, the advertisement taps into the primal desire of human beings to have children. It bypasses the moral constraints, which the society has ingrained into its members, mirrored as one of Kant's categorical imperatives, that prohibits using people, in this case women, as a means to achieve an end. It is these two internal opposing forces that trouble people when they are confronted with such advertisement.In reality, the women in such advertisements are most probably treated fairly and not exploited, but the internal battle between our basic instincts and moral intuitions do not consider this. We struggle with the primal sexual desire, against our moral intuitions that we should treat women as human beings with equality of rights rather than viewing them as objects to satisfy some internal, primal lust. In the Calvin Klein Jeans advertisement, it is represented by the four men having the power to sexually manipulate the woman; while it is not true in reality.In society, this would represent a regression in the form of moral degradation if women are not treated with equality and are unfairly taken advantage of. The concept of the Calvin Klein Jeans advertising campaign have also gone against the Rawl's Justice of Fairness, in which women, who were unfairly treated in the past, be given more compensation in society now. The act of portraying women as sex objects is an un civilized act, and it harkens back to a time where social liberties and rights were not as developed as they are today.Nonetheless, the use of sex in advertising can also negatively affect children. It was discovered that children watch more than thirteen-hundred hours of television annually, which resulted in exposure to more than twenty-thousand of commercials. † When advertisers use sex in their ads as a technique to increase sales, it can become misleading to children that sex is associated with products, while sexual activities can be exposed to public, instead of sex with love, which is a very personal matter that should be kept behind the door.The use of sexuality may indirectly cause to increase sexual activity among the young, which would lead to more unwanted pregnancies, more STDs and more children with self-esteem issues over body images. (Centrella, et. Al. ) References 1. Abraham, Mail Online, Lara Stone's Calvin Klein Jeans ad banned in Australia for being †˜suggestive of violence and rape' (2010), ;http://www. dailymail. co. uk/femail/article-1322815/Lara-Stone-Calvin-Klein-Jeans-ad-banned-Australia-suggestive-rape. html? printingPage=true;, viewed 20 September 2012 2. California State University, Kantian Ethics lt;http://www. csus. edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/Kantian%20Ethics. htm; , viewed 27 October 2012 3. Centralla et al. , Are governments doing enough to prevent the global expansion of the sex industry? ;http://www. feministezine. com/feminist/international/Globalization-Sex-and-Profits. html; viewed 26 October 2012 4. FitzGerald KBE and Cormack, The Role of Business: An Agenda for Action (2010) ;http://www. hks. harvard. edu/m-rcbg/CSRI/publications/report_12_CGI%20Role%20of%20Business%20in%20Society%20Report%20FINAL%2010-03-06. df; viewed 20 September 2012 5. Kilgour, Spiritual and Ethical Impacts of Globalisation (2000), ;http://www. david-kilgour. com/secstate/spiritglobe. htm; viewed 23 October 2012 6. Lewis, The Social Re sponsibility of Business is to Increase Profits (2010) ;http://www. mbs. edu/go/centres-of-excellence/2010-debate/asia-pacific-centre-for-leadership-for-social-impact/news-and-links/net-impact/the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to-increase-profits; viewed 20 September 2012 7.Next Step Marketing, Does Advertising shape society, or merely mirror societal trends? http://www. nextstepmarketing. com. au/articles/advertising/does-advertising-shape-or-mirror-society/ viewed 20 October 2012 8. Shaw, et al. , Moral Issues in Business, 1st Edition (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd, 2009) 9. Sorrow, Magazine trends study finds increase in advertisements using sex (2012) ;http://news. uga. edu/releases/article/magazine-trends-study-finds-increase-in-advertisements-using-sex/; viewed 28 October 2012