“Fools Tell All They Know” or The Wisdom of Feste in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Almost all of Shakespeare's plays have a clown character. Clowns were popular and amusing, and were simple characters that the lower class audience members could relate to, amidst all the royal people plays were populated with. But the clowns in Shakespeare's plays served a dual purpose. Not only were they sources of comedy, but also sources of truth. Wisdom and advice are imparted through the lines of these figures of fun. The clowns reflected the true nature or intentions of the other, more â€Å"noble characters. They also foreshadow coming events. One of the most striking examples of this type of clown is the character of Feste in Twelfth Night. Feste dispenses advice and exposes truths to most of the major characters of the play. Though he is only a fool, he seems to be the only character in the play that truly has his wits about him. Feste mirrors each of the main characters, revealing facets of their respective dispositions. He often shares knowledge about other characters of which they were not aware. For example, Feste is most closely related to Olivia. She is his patron and calls upon him to amuse her. But Feste does not entertain in the standard way of a clown. He realizes that Olivia is not in control of her emotions when it comes to love, and that she lacks control over her subordinates. He says, in an aside, â€Å"Wit, an't be thy will, put me into good fooling! Those wits that think they have thee do very oft prove fools And I that am sure I lack thee may pass for a wise man. For what say Quinapalus? -‘Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.†' (1.5.29-31) Feste knows what is going on with Olivia's predicament with Orsino, but still plays the fool. He expresses his feelings of apprehension for Olivia and her supposed wisdom. Feste thinks Olivia's actions are silly, and is not afraid to tell her so in indirect ways. When Olivia gets tired of Feste's obscure advice, she tells her attendants to take away the fool, and Feste returns, â€Å"The lady bade take the fool away, therefore I say again/take her away . . . I wear not motley in my brain/good madonna give me leave to prove you a fool† (1.5.45-6, 49-51). He continues by asking Olivia why she mourns for the loss of her brother. If she believes his souls to be in heaven, as she does, then there is no reason for sorrow. Feste uses a sort of quirky pragmatism to try and show Olivia how silly she is being, but is does not work, because Olivia refuses to think of his advice as anything but the ramblings of a fool. Though Feste does seem, in some ways, to be very educated no one takes his suggestions seriously. Feste is the only character in the play that crosses into every world. He is privy to the secrets of Countess Olivia, he sings to and foretells the fate of Orsino, he guides Viola and Sebastian, Feste also ventures into the tavern world of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian and Maria. Olivia bids him to enter this world by asking him to look after her kinsman, Sir Toby, who is a â€Å"drowned man,† that is to say, drowned with drink. Feste takes a lighter view of Sir Toby stat of mind by saying he is mad with drink claiming, â€Å"He is but mad yet, Madonna, and the fool shall look to the madman. In the context of the play, Sir Toby plays more the part of the classic fool than Feste. He is merely a comic figure with no more depth to him than that of the stock drunkard. Feste is the genius of the play, but is not noble, and so does not really fit in anywhere. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew treat Feste as both a friend and a servant, paying him to sing, but requesting his company and help i n their practical jokes. Feste reveals his foreknowledge about events to come in his song to Sir Toby, O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O stay and hear, your true love's coming That can sing both high and low Trip no further pretty sweeting Journey's end in Lover's meeting Every wise man's son doth know.† (2.3.36-40) Feste reveals to these two drunkards the plot of the entire play. Of course, they do not understand and simply praise Feste's singing ability, but, nevertheless, he has revealed his wisdom and knowledge about the other characters. Later in the play, they request that Feste dress up as a wise man to fool Malvolio into thinking he has lost his wits. Feste humbly obliges and does so, playing the part willingly and well. Shakespeare's characters love to disguise themselves; this theme is often important to the plot of his comedies, but in this case, the disguise takes an ironic turn. Feste, in dressing up as a wise man, reveals his true nature instead of concealing it. Though this scene is meant to be played for bald comedic value, the audience gets a glimpse of the true nature of the clown. Truly, though, Feste does not seem very interested in the torment of Malvolio, and ultimately provides him with means to resolve his unfair predicament. â€Å"Look then to be well edified when the f ool delivers the madman,† Feste says as he reads the letter that leads to Malvolio's release from captivity. Feste is also aware of the fate that will befall Orsino. He is welcome3d to the music-loving court at Orsino's home, perhaps because he belongs to Olivia, and in this way, at least, Orsino can feel he has some sort of relationship with her. Feste quickly sees through Orsino's melancholy and wishes, Now the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal. I would have men of such constancy put to sea, that their business might be everything, and their intent everywhere, for that's it that always makes a good voyage of nothing.† (2.4.72-6) Feste knows exactly what Orsino is feeling, how his relationship with Olivia is shaping up, and what his final result will be. Orsino is fickle and shallow and Feste knows it. When Orsino and Feste meet again later in the play, Feste is resentful of his patronage, wishing â€Å"the worse for his friends,† then calling Orsino his friend (5.1.10,22). Clearly, like the audience, Feste does not care for the Duke Orsino. Feste reveals his wisdom most clearly in his conversations with Viola. Though he refers to her as â€Å"sir,† he does so in a sarcastic way, as if he knows her secret. Viola also forces Feste to consider his own circumstances, and he meditates, â€Å"A sentence is but a chev'ril glove to a good wit-how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward,† and Viola counters with, â€Å"Nay, that's certain. They that dally nicely with words may quickly make them wanton,† (3.1.10-14). Since Feste is an actor, Shakespeare is playing with the meaning of these lines in one of his favorite ways, by reminding the audience they are watching a play. These two are certainly the most charming characters of the play and their dialogue reveals as much. Both know a little about the other's true nature, and are not afraid to share their knowledge with each other. Feste prefers Viola (as Cesario) to Orsino as a suitor for his mistress, and so tries to help win her, and mistakenly, Sebastian, to Olivia's favor. Feste seems to grow tired of his fool's role in the play. By Act three he declares, â€Å"Words are grown so false, I am lost to make reason with them,† (3.1.22-3). He has an air of resignation in his lines towards the end of the play, ultimately leading up to his final epilogue. This song chronicles his life, in a melancholy way, ending with, † But that's all one, our play is done/ And we'll strive to please you every day.† Feste's final words are riddled with melancholy; he is doomed to always play the fool, to never be free of the constraints of the play. As a fool, Feste has all the necessary qualities: singing, impersonation, joke-telling. But, as a character, he is much more than a jester. He is the key to Twelfth Night. He gives the play depth and substance that other comedies do not contain. He weaves all the worlds of the play together with witty words and melancholy ballads. Feste is the binding element in an otherwise contrived and ordinary play.

Ball bounce higher when it is warmed up Essay

Prediction I predict that for this experiment the higher the temperature, the more the ball will bounce. I put this down to the temperature is raised, the particles inside will gain energy therefore the higher the ball will bounce. Equipment For this experiment I will use the following equipment to do this experiment: – 1. Beaker 2. Bunsen burner 3. Splints 4. Tripod 5. Gauze 6. Thermometer 7. Squash Ball 8. Paper Towels 9. Meter Ruler 10. Tongs 11. Stop Clock 12. Safety goggles. Method Choose one yellow spot squash ball. This will be used throughout the experiment to ensure that the ball is made of the same rubber and same size. The experiment will be carried out on the hard floor tiles of the science laboratory. The area will be clean to ensure there are no irregularities on the surface. The ball will be heated to the required temperature by placing it in a beaker of heated water for one minute. To ensure the human body does not affect the temperature, tongs will handle it. Temp (? C) Temp (Kelvin). Results I am going to work out pressure and predicted hang time using the following formulas. This is how to work out pressure; P1 is Pressure 1, which is always 1. T1 is Time 1 and T2 is Time 2. This number changes as you work out To work out predicted hang time you use this formula. In this formula P1, P2 etc are Predicted hang time. This number changes as you work out   Temp (Kelvin) Pressure Predicted Hang time Actual Hang time. Analysis From my graph I can see that the predicted hang time and the actual hang time differ greatly from 293 Kelvin onwards, the real hang time increases quite dramatically where as the predicted hang time escalates only a bit. From doing this experiment I have found out that when pressure is increased by raising the temperature inside a squash ball, the particles gain more energy and can reform more quickly from its impact on the surface. My actual hang time results show this. My prediction was correct in the sense that my theory of the particles gaining energy worked. My predicted hang times unfortunately were not correct. They were not a good match to my actual hang time results; I put this down to another variable. The other variable I believe is elasticity of the squash ball’s material. I believe that if the ball has high elasticity then the deformation (formed by the impact of the ball hitting the surface) of the ball will be bigger and because it is bigger it will reform more quickly and bounce higher. The energy at the start of the ‘dropping’ process gravitational potential energy, but as the ball speed increases this changes to kinetic energy. When the ball reaches impact, kinetic energy changes to elastic potential energy and a bit of thermal and sound energy. This thermal and sound energy remain at a low constant throughout the rest of the balls ‘bounce back’. When the ball reforms it bounces up and gravitational energy increases to its previous level. Evaluation I think I conducted my experiment to a high standard and there were no major anomalous results (except the hang time and predicted hang time results). Each result had an average difference of 7. 9 between the next one, this average was brought down drastically by the 2. 8 difference between the first two results (38. 4 and 41. 2). If I were to make any improvements to the method and equipment of this experiment I would: – 1. Change the way the ball was dried as I think a more sophisticated way could be used to prevent human error. 2. Use a different way of timing the balls impact to the ground; a touch sensitive timer mat would work well. 3. I would try different surfaces on which the ball lands on, this could be thought of as another variable I could develop. If I were to do this experiment I would change the temperatures to smaller differences i. e. 273 Kelvin, 278 Kelvin etc. to see if I could find an ideal temperature that had a good enough ‘bounce’ to help develop work into elasticity of the balls material. If I were to develop this experiment further I would test elasticity. To test this I would experiment with a range of different squash balls. I would cut them into equal narrow pieces and use a Newton spring to test how much the piece of squash ball could hold and how long it would take to reform back to its original shape, for this I would use a Newton spring and stop clock. All in all I think I conducted myself well on this experiment and have learned a lot. Emma Dovaston 11GG Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

Application of Moral Values Essay

There are several moral values we’ve learned throughout the whole event. Hardworking is one of the moral values that we’ve learned. The end of this event is the result of our hard work. We’ve also faced several issues and problems on the road to the success of the event. For example, some of our sponsors suddenly declined to be our sponsors, so we have to find alternative solution to overcome the problem we had. Apart from that, we’ve also work endlessly before the day of the event to finish up our preparation as soon as possible. Of course the outcome of the event must be credited to all of our team members as all of us played a part in the preparation of the event. Apart from that, we’ve also learned to be responsible from this event as some of us have provided the wrong information for our sponsors and clients. This has caused them to withdraw their sponsorship few days before the start of the event and people that responsible for providing the wrong information has also admitted and also finds new sponsors to overcome the problem that he/she had caused. Not only that, all of us has also worked as a team to do our corresponding tasks to complete this event. Throughout this event, we’ve learned to be responsible of our action. Not only that, we’ve also learned to be polite towards one another. We have been polite to customers that are buying stuff from our booth as well as our teammates that are also to do their jobs. As this event requires more sponsors, we’ve also learned to communicate with new people and meeting new faces by being polite to them. Apart from that, we are also building up our college’s reputation as we represent the â€Å"face† of our Sunway College with our way of communicating with other people. Furthermore, we’ve also learn to be aggressive through the experience of hosting this event. By being aggressive, we’ve managed to thrive in this society by taking the first steps to communicate with other people and learned how to make a business deal with a certain company as this event requires sponsors to be able to make our event into a big scale event. On the process of doing this event, we’ve also discovered several competitors hat is fighting over our sponsorship, and to defeat our competitors, we’ve learned to be aggressive than our competitors. Lastly, we’ve also learned that teamwork plays an important part during the preparation of this event. As we’re preparing for the event, we’ve learned that all of us must communicate with each other to have a perfect planning. We’ve learned to look out for each other as all of us will get tired at some point; we’ve also learned to be tolerant among each other. Without teamwork, this event wouldn’t be so successful.

Use of Torture to Gain Intelligence Research Paper

Use of Torture to Gain Intelligence - Research Paper Example There are various reasons for torture. They include punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation or coercion. Mostly the torture proves to be deliberately fatal, however, most of the time this is not the case and killing and injuring the victim is not the sole purpose. According to research, torture is not a very good way of obtaining information and actionable intelligence. This is because after a person received physical or psychological punishment, the mind breaks down as a result of which the information is subject to inaccuracies in memory recall. It was until the development of Humanism in the 17th century, deliberately painful methods of execution for severe crimes was taken as granted as part of justice. Torture was sanctioned by some states previously. In the 21st century, most of the countries have prohibited torture under the international and domestic laws. Under the UN convention and declaration of human rights, it is unacceptable and is conside red the violation of human rights. One of the most controversial aspects of the global ‘war on terror’ was the use of torture during interrogations. The United States of America administration for combating the threat of global terrorism developed several new methods. This happened after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. The detention and interrogation of the suspected terrorists have been the central to the United States struggle against global terrorism (Walton, 2008). According to the international laws of warfare, the same rules of lawful combatants were not applicable for detained terrorists since they were not fighting as lawful combatants. However, some policymakers of the US argued that the use of torture should be legalized to gain intelligence under certain extreme circumstances. During the Algerian war of Independence (1954-1962), the French armed forces along with the Algerian National Liberation Front (FNL) made use of torture.

The HIV Pandemic in the Black Community of Missouri Research Paper

The HIV Pandemic in the Black Community of Missouri - Research Paper Example In Missouri, HIV has been a thorn in the flesh for the community. St. Louis, the biggest metropolis in the state has one of the highest rates of HIV cases in the United States. KMOV, St. Louis leading Health Newspaper reported that more than five thousand people in the greater St. Louis area live with HIV with African Americans being the most affected social group. In 2010, 300 new cases of HIV sufficed. According to the State Health Department, over 75 percent of the cases affected African Americans. African American women were most hurt with 86 percent of the new cases victims being women (KMOV, 2011). This paper explores the problem of HIV in Missouri with emphasis on how HIV affects African Americans. The last section of the paper suggests the solution that offers solutions for the problem of HIV. According to Medicine Net, an online-based medical consultant, HIV is a virus that enters a group of specific immune system’s cells and kills them. With time, it makes the body to incapable of defending itself adequately from opportunistic infections. After about five years, the body stops manufacturing white cells. The white cells facilitate the body defense mechanism against diseases. With low white cell count, opportunistic infections certainly affect the body thereby affecting the body’s immune system. After a long period of incubation that can sometimes extend to ten years, the HIV causes AIDS. AIDS has no known symptoms because it works with opportunistic infections. The clinical manifestation of AIDS is a collection of opportunistic diseases. While some of the AIDS manifestations are severe such as TB, others are less severe and comparatively harmless like a common cold. There is no known cure for HIV although continued medical research has reduced the deaths ca used by HIV (Medicine Net Inc, 2012). Lyon & DAngelo (2006),  documents some of the most common causes of HIV.

Is speech recoding necessaryfor reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is speech recoding necessaryfor reading - Essay Example Triumphant readers can be carved up with the help of tutors specialized in psycholinguistics. The tutors need to adopt sophisticated and analytical approach with respect to their training to read. What is the basic framework that help these tutors build up an advanced perceptive of the cognitive growth that happens as a child enter into the process of reading? The cognitive psychological domains listed with the framework may prove to be important to develop reading acquisition. However, it is important for every teacher to assess the development of every child with respect to the cognitive domains. Different children may hold diverse talents, backgrounds and weakness. Therefore, it forms a necessity to provide the instructions knowing their mode of grasping. To find out the reading instruction requirement of a child, the teacher needs to conduct ongoing evaluation. Is their any special group who require special attention and instructions to develop reading skills? What are the tactics induced to help these groups to emerge as successful readers. Children with reading disability or complete deafness need more attention compared to the normal group. How can speech recording help this group? Children with attention disorder and hyperactivity disorders also require more attention to learn the basic process of reading. You may find ideas, techniques and successful instructions to help develop winning readers from these categories also. According to certain researchers, reading is a habitual process, which does not require much psychological effort. However, we need to find out how this habitual process is connected with speech coding. According to experts, there are two vital components necessary for reading comprehension. The initial one forms the capability to transform wording to speech, so called the decoding. The next vital component forms the capability to comprehend verbal language referred as the

Rene Descartes The Method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Rene Descartes The Method - Essay Example Four years earlier, before Descartes wrote and tried to publish The Method, Galileo was tried (persecuted) by the so-called Inquisition of the Catholic Church for his treatise on the solar system and the planetary movement, and was forced to retract all of his assumptions and theories. Galileo was teaching Copernicanism, and Descartes' book was Copernican in nature. It was one of the reasons why Descartes tried not to publish this treatise on reasoning, so as not to suffer the same fate as Galileo's. Nevertheless, the controversy and the many interpretations forced Descartes to make the move - let the world know of what should reason be all about. Descartes explains reason or reasoning as an application of what one thinks, or that which comes of his intellect or mind. It is not only important that you have a "rigorous" mind, Descartes argues, but that you know how to apply it in everyday life. Most thinking of today is influenced by Descartes' way of reasoning. Descartes deals on metaphysics, but also on the scientific way. The Method is divided into six parts, as follows: first touching the topic on the Sciences; in the second, the rules of the Method; the third, certain of the rules of Morals which he has deduced from this Method; in the fourth, the reasonings by which he establishes the existence of God and of the Human Soul; in the fifth, the order of the Physical questions which he has investigated, and in the last what Descartes believes to be required in order to have greater advancement in the investigation of Nature, or the experiments. Each of the chapters in The Method, relies on the reasonings, and so explained by the Author with logic and proofs prevalent in his times of reasoned thinking. Philosophers and thinkers dominated this era of world history. They wanted to dominate the world through reason, so that almost every aspect of man's endeavor at that time was influenced by it. The time is known as the age of enlightenment which refers to the enlightenment of the eighteenth century, down to 17th century, in European and American philosophy. It advocates reason as a means to establishing an authoritative system of aesthetics, ethics, government, and logic. Thinkers argued that some kind of systematic thinking as the Newtonian kinematics could be applied to all forms of human activity. This influenced almost every major activity or movement all throughout Europe and other areas of the world including the United States. It was during this time when the solar system was truly discovered. Descartes' theory or conce pt on skepticism and inquiry into the nature of "knowledge" was a 'product' of the enlightenment. Main target of the thinkers of the movement was religion, particularly the Catholic Church. In turn they were regarded as radicals. There were opposing thinkers however, and one of them was Edmund Burke who is known as the father of modern conservatism. Burke opposed the implementation of governing based on abstract ideas. He espoused liberal conservatism, supported organic reform, and openly attacked metaphysics. Descartes published a short work which was metaphysical rather than scientific. The Discourse on Method is best known as the source of the famous quotation "cogito ergo sum", "I think, therefore I am." In the first chapter, Descartes says: "For to

Discussion on Guibert of Nogent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Discussion on Guibert of Nogent - Essay Example ...but when reason returns, I repent that I have yielded to the lust of my heart when my soul with unwilling heaviness sinks on a dunghill for its bed (Bland, 1)." There is a deep seated desire to know the will of God and to know him, rather the person should empty himself and come to know his Creator. Reading through the monk's memoirs, he sees that the culture around him is submerged in wealth and sin. And all that learning is of no use it the person does not open his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. "...Unless Christ shall open to him the doors of learning with the key of knowledge, without doubt every teacher shall spend himself in vain on dull ears. Therefore, let every wise man be foolish to claim anything as his own but sin (Bland 2)." Everything is associated with the holy feasts and the days they fall on as a symbol of some divine meaning of why things occurred. "Now the feast of the Blessed Martin was close at hand, in fact the next day (Bland 14)." A person suffers a fate or misfortune because divine intervention has decided to punish the individual for his or her wrong doings-"the man who tries to please a treacherous foe in fear of being bitten, by the just judgment of heaven gets hurt by him and everyone else (Bland 14)." Heaven's decision in the matter is seen as fair and just. The air of Christianity is soaked to the brim with guilt and punishment, justice and retribution although there are numerous times in Guibert's writings where he mentions the mercies of the Lord and his mother's help in our daily lives. The prevailing feature of Christianity in Guibert's time as Guibert saw them was either a person knew the Christian faith and lived by its rules or they didn't and hence committed sacrilegious acts by their very nature of being ignorant in matters of what constitutes as holy and requiring reverence. "And since such words may not be uttered by a Christian's lips, and must cause pious ears to shudder with detestation, we suppress them. Although he praised the Jews , by the Jews he was regarded as a madman and whilst approving their religion in word, he actually practiced ours (Bland 16)." Even profanity was considered as intolerable to ears that were sensitive to them and considered such speech as not characteristic with the Christian faith and contrary to the Christian life. And when man could not do much to intervene or stop the particular person from carrying on with their blasphemies, we see through Guibert that heaven itself takes care of the problem :"When the Virgin Mother, Que en of all, could no longer endure the blasphemies of this corrupt man, as he was entering from a royal expedition, on approaching the city, there appeared a great band of his friends the devils and he coming home with his hair disordered and out of his wits, repulsed his wife and lay with that old woman and that night fell ill of a mortal disease (Bland 17)." Furthermore, there resounds in the 1100s the echo of what beauty is to the individual, the abbot asks us to be more concerned with the beauty of the soul than the appearance of the body. Bland depicts how Guibert of Nogent asks God to infuse beauty with

Strategic Marketing - The Drucker Assignment Essay

Strategic Marketing - The Drucker Assignment - Essay Example The three components have been brought together so that a managerial environment can be created (Drucker, 2001). The three components can be considered to be the main theme of the book. Peter Drucker was highly interested in the role played by the people in the organizations. His book â€Å"The Essential Drucker† deals with various management topics. The book comprises a selection of pieces from Drucker’s many books in a period of sixty years (Drucker, 2001). The Most Enlightening Chapter Topic The most enlightening topic for me is 'know your strengths and values'. This chapter topic has been chosen from the second chapter named â€Å"The individual†. This chapter teaches an individual about identification of the person’s strengths as well as values. By recognizing the strengths and the values, the person is capable of knowing where he/she belongs. According to Peter Drucker, people need to be flexible and thus stay mentally alive so that they can expand t hemselves in dimensions where they are capable of making the greatest involvement and where their productivity tends to be higher (Drucker, 2001). The people need to learn how and why they need to alter their occupation. Comprehension of the strengths and the values enables the person to seek out where the person belongs. The person will be capable of finding a place to work where he/she will be able to take the greatest advantage of the strengths, without getting into a conflict with his/her values (Drucker, 2001). Reason behind the Choice of the Chapter Topic The chapter is of greater significance for the people searching for jobs. Drucker mentions the fact that people in the workforce need to manage themselves. The people need to position themselves in a way so that they can make a significant contribution. This concept is related to the notion of motivation (Drucker, 2001). The chapter reveals the fact that for the purpose of managing himself/herself a person must be motivated t o learn and to improve. It mentions that be it internal motivation or external motivation the person needs to be aware of his/her strengths and weaknesses. It has further been mentioned that instead of altering oneself, it is quite significant to train to enhance the way the person performs. Once the person knows himself/herself inherently, it is vital to focus upon the duties that fit his/her strong attributes and he/she must not choose the one that does not compliment him/her (Drucker, 2001). . The chapter has been of significance as it places greater emphasis upon the motivational aspects which are considered to be factors leading to success. Most of the people are of the view that they are well aware of their strengths. However, many a times they are found to be wrong in their judgment and are only aware of what they are good at. It becomes quite difficult for the individual to build performances based upon their weaknesses (Drucker, 2001). Drucker had introduced feedback analys is where a person pens down his/her decisions, whenever he/she makes a key action and what is expected from that decision. Peter Drucker states that the result obtained after a year tends to be quite impressive. The feedback analysis identifies numerous actions that can be taken in order to improve the individual performances. It states that it is vital to concentrate upon the strengths (Drucker, 2001). A

Executive Level Financial Report Research Paper for RenDi Corporation

Executive Level Financial Report for RenDi Corporation - Research Paper Example Results from the analysis of data, shows clearly that Southwest Airlines has made greater strides to becoming a market force in the aviation industry by keeping at par with average industry ratios (Mazzeo, 2003). The fact that the company’s ratios are not so high above industry average however means that entrusting it with a five year long commitment would not be advisable. It can therefore be concluded that the prospects of the company in its current state with effect from the year 2009 is neutral. This means that the performance of the company is neither below average nor above average. Based on this, the major recommendation that is put across is for RenDi Corporation to enter into a short term commitment of a maximum period of three years with Southwest Airlines. 2.0 Overview of Southwest Airline as an aviation company From a humble beginning in 1971 where Southwest Airline operated with only three (3) Boeing 737 aircrafts in Texas, the company has today grown to be a majo r force in the air transport industry. It is refreshing to note that the company currently operates a total of five hundred and fifty (550) Boeing 737 aircrafts with other standby aircrafts for emergency service delivery. By a random and non-itemized evaluation, it would be true to argue that the company has made a lot of important progress that are worth commending. One important area that continues to be a major competitive advantage of the company over key competitors has to do with the corporate attention that the company gives to customers. Such customer satisfaction culture has continued to build a paradigm around the company whereby customers who have tried other competitors become convinced of the quest to keep doing business with Southwest Airlines because of the customer satisfaction they guarantee. Another major area of competitive advantage has to do with the corporate responsibility of the company, which has been directed at keeping a safe and green environment. This pa rticular vision of the company is kept alive by the use of environmental friendly sources of fuel. One of such sources of fuel has been identified to include renewable synthetic diesel fuel, which has lately proven to be very effective and efficient in the air transport business. To RenDi Corporation, the latter is an opportunity to establish firm business lines and linkages with Southwest Airlines and thus this comprehensive research report to test the authenticity of the performance rate of the company. 3.0 An evaluation of Southwest Airline's financial performance for the period 2009, 2010, & 2011 3.1 Profitability Within the period of 2009 to 2011, Southwest Airline has given different and varying indications of its ability to generate income and subsequently maintain growth. First, it can be seen that the company responses sharply to prevailing global economic trend. This is because unlike 2008 where the net income of the company was US$179 million, this dropped to a woeful US$ 99 million by the end of 2009 when the global economic crunch was at its peak (Southwest One Report, 2010, p. 7). In 2010 and 2011, the profit of the company in terms of net income increased steadily over 2009 but not earlier years like 2006 and 2007 mainly because the recessionary recovery were not completely over. In the year 2011 for instance, the profit of th

INndividual Assignment 5 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

INndividual Assignment 5 - Article Example Products and services can be spread to others through status posts and pictures, thus the advertising companies get the benefit of passive advertising at a very low cost (88). For example, in the global social networking website Facebook, large companies took the advantage of both interacting with their consumers as well as getting their feedback and photos of the product to gain a wider range of audience. The more people â€Å"like† their pages, it is correlated with many people becoming more aware of their products, which spells as a success in their advertising campaign in Facebook. Using this network in advertising products can be an effective strategy in the promotion of new products and showcasing best-selling items to others, which is why many companies were already on this bandwagon of advertising by making their own product page known among network users. Many companies created their own pages in the social networking giant, and a blog post in 2010 shows which companies and products gained the most number of â€Å"likes† among its users (Porterfield). The blog explains the successful marketing strategies of the top 10 Facebook product pages, two of which, Red Bull Page (ranked number 1) and The Twilight Saga Page (ranked number 9) would be discussed here. First is how Red Bull was able to gain top rank in 2010 for number of â€Å"likes†, which was accomplished by numerous interactive links in the page such as games and video-uploads, as well as the use of attention-grabbing images for fans to â€Å"like† their page (Porterfield). The company did not use too many texts, but rather focused on creative advertising so as to grab the attention of social networking users. Because Red Bull removed the complexities of too much reading and instead used interactive and creative strategies of gaining the interest of interne t citizens, they were able to gain many fans and rank number one in the list. Red Bull as an energy beverage is not a

Defects of Consent Essay Example for Free

Defects of Consent Essay A defect of consent is a situation where a party’s declaration does not reflect his actual intent. This difference between declaration and intent may be caused by other parties,in order to make someone to form a contract with themselves. Fraud and Duress are this kind of defects. Roughly,fraud is deceiving someone by hiding certain facts or giving them a wrong impression/information in order to make them form a contract and duress is scaring or threatening someone to make them form a contract. If there is a difference between declaration and intent,which unintentionally resulted from the declarant,we can say there is an error. In some cases,both parties are mistaken about contract. Such defects are called â€Å"Collective Error†. In these situations,contract is formed by parties’ true intent,not according to their false statements. Error In the TCO article 30,the law states that â€Å"A party acting under an essential error when entering into a contract is not bound by it. † Interpreting this article,we can deduce that essentiality is a key concept,since unessential errors will not affect validity of the contract. Some aspects of essential error are specified in TCO,but law does not limit cases of essential error with those articles. Unwritten states of essential error are determined by the rules of good faith. Error may occur in several ways: Error in declaration In the TCO article 31 the law sets forth: An error is deemed particularly essential in the following cases 1-Where a party intended to conclude a contract different from that to which he consented. A wants to sell 100 kilos of olive oil to B,but during the formation of the contract, A inadvertently states that he wants to buy 100 kilos of olive oil and B agrees the offer. -Where a party has concluded a contract relating to a subject matter other than the subject matter he intended. A wants to buy E branded good,but during the formation of the contract he states he wants to buy F branded good by mistake and is not aware of it. 3-Where a party declared his intent to conclude the contract other than the whom he intended to. A wants to s end an offer via mail to B,but he writes a different adress and mail goes to C. C accepts the offer. 4-Where a party took a specific person into consideration as the other party in entering a contract but declared his intent to another. A is a nanny who wants to raise B’s child C,but during the formation of the contract she stated the name of B’s mentally deficient child D. A is mistaken about someone’s identity,not someone’s qualifications. Otherwise it would be error in motive,which shouldn’t be confused. 5- Where a party has promised to make a significantly greater performance or has accepted a promise of a significantly lesser consideration than he actually intended. Error in calculation of a simple nature do not affect the validity of the contract;but they should be corrected. A good should have 10. 000 dollars written on its label but accidently 1000 dollars is writtenon label. A buys the good for 1000 dollars. Error of Agents The law states in TCO article 33 that â€Å"Where an offer to enter into a contract has been incorrectly communicated by a Messenger,translator or other agents or by any means,the provisions governing error are applicable†. Error of agents are counted as error in declaration. Mistranslation,misinforming,changes in the text during telegraphing†¦ are examples of such errors. Error by Considering a Demeanour as Consent When a party’s action is considered as an offer or acceptance by another party,and the other party is right to consider this as such and forms the contract,contract will be valid. However mistaken party can put forward that he is mistaken and benefit from the provision of error in declaration. Texts signed without reading If a party signs a text without reading ,and is right to think that the text suits his intent,outcome is determined by the other party’s knowledge about this intent. If the other party knows or has to know that text does not suit signer’s intent,contract will not have been formed and thus there will not be any need for provisions of error. On the other hand,if the other party does not know or have to know the signer’s intent,contract will be formed,but signing party by proving that the error is essential,can benefit from provisions of error in declaration. Signature in Blank One of the parties agree to sign in blank first,then allow other party to constitute the contract. If this contract formed later on has contents which do not suit signing party’s actual intent,he can benefit from provisions of error. Error in Motive Error in motive is caused by an error in the formation of intent. On principle,error in motive is not essential. If there are conditions prescribed by the law,there is an essential error in motive. In TCO article 32,the law sets forth that â€Å"Error in motive is not deemed as essential unless the mistaken party deems the motive as necessary basis for the contract and it is valid regarding the business affairs in good faith. Yet this rule is not applicable unless the other party is aware of this motive† According to this article,error in motive is essential if the party deems this motive as necessary basis for the contact. This means the party is mistaken about a subject or qualifications of someone which affected his decision to form the contract. Error in material qualification,error in fact,error in legal status are examples of such mistakes. A wants to buy sculpor B’s statue but in fact the statue is a replica. In this situation there is error in material qualification. A thinks he is assigned to a job in another city,so he rents a house in that city. He made an error in fact. A purchases a land to build a house,but does not know construction is forbidden on this site. He is mistaken about land’s legal status. Also if other party is or has to be aware of the motive,error is deemed as essential. This should be determined in the present case. Avoidability In TCO art. 30 the law stipulates that â€Å"A party acting under an essential error when entering into a contract is not bound by it. † However this is limited by TCO art. 39. The contract will be valid if the mistaken party does not abolish the contract in a year,beginning from the moment he realises his error. Good Faith Rules in Error Right to avoid is also limited by the law. The law states in TCO art. 34 that â€Å"A person may not advance error in a manner in violation of good faith. In particular, the contract is considered to be concluded in a way that the party acting in error intended, in case the other party declares his consent to be bound by that contract. † Violation of good faith mentioned in the first subsection may be like this: A person learns that he made an essential error about a contract which he concluded years ago. He wants to use his right to avoid just to damage other party. In that case he will not be able to benefit from provisions of error since it is a violation of good faith. Second subsection of this provision is particularly important. I wish to give a case in this point,in order to better explain it: A wants to buy a kilo of fruit for 2 Liras,but he is mistaken and accepts B’s offer to buy a kilo for 3 Liras. Then A states his mistake to B,B immediately says he is ready to sell it for 2 Liras. In this situation A cannot put forward that he wants to nullify the contract,since he made an essential error. The contract is formed. Error by Negligence According to TCO art. 35 â€Å"A party acting in error is liable for any loss arising from the nullity of the agreement where the error is attributable to his own negligence. However, there is no compensation if the other party knew or should have known of the error. In the interests of equity, the Court may, not exceeding the benefit of standart performance, award further damages to the injured party. † The first subsection is about responsibility of parties’ actions before the formation of the contract (culpa in contrahendo). Even a slightest negligence in error results in culpa in contrahendo,and in such situations damages will be compensated. According to the second sentence of this subsection,there will not be any compensations if the other party knew or should have known of the error. But this provision is not applicable to error of declaration,since if the other party knew or should have known the error in declaration,contract is formed according to the declarant’s real intent. Yet if a party knows or has to know other party made an error in motive,mistaken party will not have to compensate any damages even if he abolishes the contract. Amount of the damage that will be compensated,is the damage that would not exist if the contract would not be formed. This kind of damage is â€Å"negative damage†. Benefit of the standart performance is named as â€Å"positive damage†. According to the second subsection,judge may decide further damages. This â€Å"further damage† is compensation of positive damage. Amount of positive damage that must be compensated may be some of the positive damage or all of the positive damage,determined by equity,but cannot exceed positive damage.

Economy Of The Kingdom Of Thailand

Economy Of The Kingdom Of Thailand Chapter 1: Introduction. The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. Thailand is the worlds 50th largest country in terms of total area with a surface area of approximately 513,000 km2 (198,000 sq miters), and the 21st most-populous country, with approximately 64 million people. About 75% of the population is ethnically Thai, 14% is of Chinese origin, and 3% is ethnically Malay; the rest belong to minority groups including Mons, Khmers and various hill tribes. There are approximately 2.2 million legal and illegal migrants in Thailand. Thailand has also attracted a small number of expatriates from developed countries. The countrys official language is Thai. As for the Thai economy, it is export-dependent, with exports of goods and services equivalent to over 70% of GDP in 2008. Thailands recovery from the 1997-1998 Asian financial crises (which brought a double-digit drop in GDP) relied largely on external demand from the United States and other foreign markets. From 2001-2006, the administration of former Prime Minister Thaksin embraced a dual track economic policy that combined domestic stimulus programs with Thailands traditional promotion of open markets and foreign investment. Real GDP growth strengthened sharply from 2.2% in 2001 to 7.1% in 2003 and 6.3% in 2004. In 2005-2007, economic expansion moderated, averaging 4.5% to 5.0% real GDP growth, due to domestic political uncertainty, rising violence in Thailands four southernmost provinces, and repercussions from the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Thailands economy in 2007 relied heavily on resilient export growth (at a 17.3% annual rate), particularly in the automobile , petrochemicals, and electronics sectors. Persistent political uncertainty and the global financial crisis in 2008 weakened Thailands economic growth by reducing domestic and international demand for both its goods and services (including tourism). Due to minimum exposure to toxic assets, Thai banks have limited direct impact from the global financial crisis. Nonetheless, Thai economic growth slowed to 2.6% in 2008, with fourth quarter growth dropping below zero. In 2009, the contraction continued. First quarter GDP was down by 7.1% year-on-year. To offset weak external demand and to shore up confidence, the Abhisit administration introduced two stimulus packages worth $43.4 billion. The government projected that the Thai economy would be down 3.5% for the year but would see positive growth of 2.5% in 2010. Roughly 40% of Thailands labor force is employed in agriculture (data based on Bank of Thailand.) Rice is the countrys most important crop; Thailand is the largest exporter in the world rice market. Other agricultural commodities produced in significant amounts include fish and fishery products, tapioca, rubber, corn, and sugar. Exports of processed foods such as canned tuna, canned pineapples, and frozen shrimp are also significant. As for the old and familiar neighboring country of Thailand, China is the second largest export market and third-largest supplier after Japan. These two neighboring countries had never been encroached to each other; the very well relationship remained in peace and stable. Two developing countries are rising with the same pace, but also compete economically. China has one of the worlds oldest civilizations and has the oldest continuous civilization. It has archaeological evidence dating back over 5,000 years. China was the largest and most advanced civilization for much of recorded history and is viewed as the source of many major inventions. It has also one of the worlds oldest written language systems. Historically, Chinas cultural sphere has extended across East Asia as a whole, with Chinese religion, customs, and writing systems being adapted to varying degrees by neighbors such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The Peoples Republic of China has a land area of about 9.6 million sq km with approximately 1.5 billion population size, and is the third-largest country in the world, next only to Russia and Canada. Because of Chinas unstable situation in the 70s of last century, since then a lot of Chinese population was flowing to some other countries for a better shelter; and definitely Thailand was a very sweet one. At that time over 30,000 populations crossed the border of Thailand. They are now part of 14% of Chinese origin. At the beginning of 80s, the reform and open-up policy were implemented. Since then, a huge amount of cheap Chinese products were exported to oversea countries. Nowadays, therere still over half of the daily products were made in China. Not only the products were exported, but also labor migrants have left China and settled throughout Southeast Asia, seeking better opportunities in difficult times and creating burgeoning and long-standing communities. Now, China is one of the largest producers and consumers of agricultural products. Over 40% of Chinas labor force is engaged in agriculture, even though only 10% of the land is suitable for cultivation and agriculture contributes only 13% of Chinas GDP. Chinas cropland area is only 75% of the U.S. total, but China still produces about 30% more crops and livestock than the United States because of intensive cultivation, China is among the worlds largest producers of rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, vegetables, tea, and pork. Major non-food crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds. China hopes to further increase agricultural production through improved plant stocks, fertilizers, and technology. Incomes for Chinese farmers are stagnating, leading to an increasing wealth gap between the cities and countryside. Government policies that continue to emphasize grain self-sufficiency and the fact that farmers do not ownand cannot buy or sellthe land they work have contributed to this sit uation. In addition, inadequate port facilities and lack of warehousing and cold storage facilities impede both domestic and international agricultural trade. China is now one of the most important markets for U.S. exports: in 2008, U.S. exports to China totaled $71.5 billion, a 9.5% increase of $16.2 billion from 2007. U.S. agricultural exports have increased dramatically, totaling $12.2 billion in 2009 and thus making China our fourth-largest agricultural export market. Leading categories include: soybeans ($7.3 billion), cotton ($1.6 billion), and hides and skins ($859 million). Export growth continues to be a major driver of Chinas rapid economic growth. Here comes our conflict: As the neighbor of supper sized China, Thailand faced double challenge. First of all, by import cheap but quality Chinese products the lessened GPD is shown and China is recently steadily replacing Thailands first place on exporting rice. Secondly more and more skilled Chinese labor forces are into Thailand, the local unemployment is facing the challenge. What is going to be the aftermath and what we can do about these becomes the very serious problem for Thailand. Chapter 2: Situation of the problem. As we know, Thailand is a very popular country, not only by tourism but also by the minds. Thai people are very conscientious and friendly, may that be the reason why so many western populations would like to move to Thailand for the rest of their lives. Under the capitalism system, Thailand has a GDP worth 8.5 trillion Baht (on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis), or USD 627 billion (PPP). This classifies Thailand as the 2nd largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. Despite this, Thailand ranks midway in the wealth spread in Southeast Asia as it is the 4th richest nation according to GDP per capita, after Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia. Most of Thailands labor force is working in agriculture. However, the relative contribution of agriculture to GDP has declined while exports of goods and services have increased. Tourism revenues are on the rise. With the instability surrounding the recent coup and the military rule, however, the GDP growth of Thailand has settled at arou nd 4-5% from previous highs of 5-7% under the previous civilian administration, as investor and consumer confidence has been degraded somewhat due to political uncertainty. Chinese economic history is quite fancy and interesting. This strong nation had gone through a lot. Even for the modern Chinese economy is still a long story to tell. The economic history of modern China began with the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Following the Qing, China underwent a period of instability and disrupted economic activity. Under the Nanjing decade (1927-1937), China advanced several industries, in particular those related to the military, in an effort to catch up with the west and prepare for war with Japan. The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the following Chinese civil war caused the collapse of the Republic of China and formation of the Peoples Republic of China. The new ruler of China, Mao Zedong, initially promised to develop a socialist alliance with Petit Bourgeois, workers, and nationalist Bourgeois, but enacted collectivization upon consolidation of this regime. Collectivization resulted in the success of the first five-year plan, but Maos second five-year plan, which included the Great Leap forward, did not meet with the same success. A new party faction who supported private plots eventually challenged Maos economic policy. Unwilling to give up power, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, which led to the collapse of the Chinese economy. Following Maos death, one of the most senior officials who had advocated private plots in the early 1960s, Deng Xiaoping initiated gradual market reforms that abolished the communes and collectivized industries of Mao, replacing them with the free-market system. Dengs reforms vastly improved the standard of living of the Chinese people, the competitiveness of the Chinese economy, and caused China to become one of the fastest growing and most important economies in the world. It also led to one of the most rapid industrializations in world history. For this achievement he is sometimes known as The Venerated Deng. As a result of Dengs reforms, China is widely regarded as a returning superpower. 1992 Deng Xiaopings Southern Tour at the beginning of the year massively boosted foreign direct investment inflows into coastal areas and started a wave of government investment in Shanghai. Record trade and GDP growth and inflation followed. 1993 Zhu Rongji appointed to rein in the overheating economy, this time more selectively than in 1989-91. Growth rates subsided gradually in subsequent years, producing a so-called soft landing. During the 1990s, living standards continued to rise, as evidenced by the proliferation of consumer durables, especially among the urban population. Continuing FDI inflows helped boost foreign exchange reserves to record heights in the late 1990s. Especially after the publication of the 1998 GDP figures, economists, both in China and abroad, have raised serious doubts about the quality of Chinas national accounts, which appeared in the late 1990s to overstate economic growth and are now suspected of understating growth. This may be because the statistical system tends to overestimate output at the trough of the cycle and underestimate output at the peak. However, the countrys first production census discovered at the end of 2005 that GDP has recently been grossly underestimated as a result of a failure to take into account the rapid growth of the services sector. As a result, growth rates for 2003-2005 are now recorded at around 10% per year in real terms. Despite efforts to cool the overheating economy, the officially recorded GDP growth rate was 11.4% in 2007. In 2008 the global economic crisis began to reduce Chinas growth rate. In the face of forecasts that this might drop below the rate at which school leavers can be absorbed by the growing economy (7%-8%) the government decided to pump RMB 4 trillion into the economy in the form of an economic stimulus package consisting largely of investment in fixed infrastructure and human capital. In 2009 Chinas GDP growth rate, though lower than the double-digit average of recent years, has held up well, rising from 6.1% year-on-year in the first quarter to 7.7% in the first three quarters of the year. This means that year-on-year GDP growth was around 9% in the second quarter. A similar rate of growth (9%) is expected in the final quarter, ensuring a rate of over 8% for 2009 as a whole. In Chinese GDP, more than 40% are expected from the export of products; there are over 50% daily products all over the world are MADE IN CHINA. The reason why Chinese products are so competitive is because they are very cheap and quality. How come the Chinese products are so cheap? Compare with the GDP chinas API (annual premium income) is very low, because 1/5 worlds population is in China, and this is also the reason why the Chinese products are so cheap; labor force are paid only a little bit of money. In the contrast, Thailand may not have an impressive GDP, but the API is much higher than China. In the structure of Thailands GDP over 70% are exporting, but its not only products also services; which means tourism is still the major income for Thailand. However the amount of products exporting in Thailand is steadily deteriorated. Former merit of Thai export; Rubber and Rice is now slowly losing its first place. As for human resource exporting; in China therere more than two million graduates will be unemployed every year. Most of them are staying home and doing job hunting, some may find-out a better way by crossing the border to oversea countries. These graduates are fully skilled and they are eager for job, so they may take some unwanted jobs in oversea countries. Nonetheless, potentially they are increasing the unemployment rate in Thailand as well. Chapter 3: Thailand Economical Crises. Thailand is a member of AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area), which is purpose of Increase ASEANs competitive edge as a production base in the world market through the elimination, within ASEAN, of tariffs and non-tariff barriers. Unlike the EU, AFTA does not apply a common external tariff on imported goods. Each ASEAN member may impose tariffs on goods entering from outside ASEAN based on its national schedules. However, for goods originating within ASEAN, ASEAN members are to apply a tariff rate of 0 to 5 percent (the more recent members of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, aka. CMLV countries, were given additional time to implement the reduced tariff rates). This is known as the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme. ASEAN members have the option of excluding products from the CEPT in three cases: 1.) Temporary exclusions; 2.) Sensitive agricultural products; 3.) General exceptions. Temporary exclusions refer to products for which tariffs will ultimately be lowered to 0-5%, but which are being protected temporarily by a delay in tariff reductions. Sensitive agricultural products include commodities such as rice. ASEAN members have until 2010 to reduce the tariff levels to 0-5%. The AFTA was formed in 1992, after that Thailand economy was increasing rapidly, but in 1997 Thailand suffered the Dom Yam Goon crisis. It was beginning in July 1997, and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. The crisis started in Thailand with the financial collapse of the Thai baht caused by the decision of the Thai government to float the baht, cutting its peg to the USD, after exhaustive efforts to support it in the face of a severe financial overextension that was in part real estate driven. At the time, Thailand had acquired a burden of foreign debt that made the country effectively bankrupt even before the collapse of its currency. As the crisis spread, most of Southeast Asia and Japan saw slumping currencies, devalued stock markets and other asset prices, and a precipitous rise in private debt. Such was the scope and the severity of the collapses involved that outside intervention, considered by many as a new kind of colonialism, and became urgently needed. Since the countries melting down were among not only the richest in their region, but in the world, and since hundreds of billions of dollars were at stake, any response to the crisis had to be cooperative and international, in this case through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF created a series of bailouts (rescue packages) for the most affected economies to enable affected nations to avoid default, tying the packages to reforms that were intended to make the restored Asian currency, banking, and financial systems as much like those of the United States and Europe as possible. In other words, the IMFs support was conditional on a series of drastic economic reforms influenced by neoliberal economic principles called a structural adjustment package (SAP). The SAPs called on crisis-struck nations to cut back o n government spending to reduce deficits, allow insolvent banks and financial institutions to fail, and aggressively raise interest rates. The reasoning was that these steps would restore confidence in the nations fiscal solvency, penalize insolvent companies, and protect currency values. Above all, it was stipulated that IMF-funded capital had to be administered rationally in the future, with no favored parties receiving funds by preference. There were to be adequate government controls set up to supervise all financial activities, ones that were to be independent, in theory, of private interest. Insolvent institutions had to be closed, and insolvency itself had to be clearly defined. In short, exactly the same kinds of financial institutions found in the United States and Europe had to be created in Asia, as a condition for IMF support. In addition, financial systems had to become transparent, that is, provide the kind of reliable financial information used in the West to make sou nd financial decisions. However, the greatest criticism of the IMFs role in the crisis was targeted towards its response. As country after country fell into crisis, many local businesses and governments that had taken out loans in US dollars, which suddenly became much more expensive relative to the local currency which formed their earned income, found themselves unable to pay their creditors. The dynamics of the situation were closely similar to that of the Latin American debt crisis. The effects of the SAPs were mixed and their impact controversial. Critics, however, noted the contractionary nature of these policies, arguing that in a recession, the traditional Keynesian response was to increase government spending, prop up major companies, and lower interest rates. The reasoning was that by stimulating the economy and staving off recession, governments could restore confidence while preventing economic loss. They pointed out that the U.S. government had pursued expansionary policies, such as lowering in terest rates, increasing government spending, and cutting taxes, when the United States itself entered a recession in 2001, and arguably the same in the fiscal and monetary policies during the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis. Although such reforms were, in most cases, long needed, the countries most involved ended up undergoing an almost complete political and financial restructuring. They suffered permanent currency devaluations, massive numbers of bankruptcies, and collapses of whole sectors of once-booming economies, real estate busts, high unemployment, and social unrest. For most of the countries involved, IMF intervention has been roundly criticized. The role of the International Monetary Fund was so controversial during the crisis that many locals called the financial crisis the IMF crisis. Many commentators in retrospect criticized the IMF for encouraging the developing economies of Asia down the path of fast track capitalism, meaning liberalization of the financial sector (elimination of restrictions on capital flows); maintenance of high domestic interest rates to attract portfolio investment and bank capital; and pegging of the national currency to the dollar to reassure foreign investors again st currency risk. Unfortunately, 2008 is another hard year, but its not only for Thailand or Asia, its the global economic crisis. The Global Financial Crisis has been called by leading economists the worst financial crisis since the one related to the Great Depression of the 1930s. It contributed to the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in the trillions of U.S. dollars, substantial financial commitments incurred by governments, and a significant decline in economic activity. Many causes have been proposed, with varying weight assigned by experts. Both market-based and regulatory solutions have been implemented or are under consideration, while significant risks remain for the world economy. The collapse of a global housing bubble, which peaked in the U.S. in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to housing prices to plummet thereafter, damaging financial institutions globally. Questions regarding bank solvency, declines in credit availability, and damaged investor confidence had an impact on global stock markets, which suffered large losses during 2008. Economies worldwide slowed in late 2008 and early 2009 as credit tightened and international trade declined. Critics argued that credit rating agencies and investors failed to accurately price the risk involved with mortgage-related financial products, and that governments did not adjust their regulatory practices to address 21st century financial markets. Governments and central banks responded with unprecedented fiscal stimulus, monetary policy expansion, and institutional bailouts. 2008 is a very tough year for Thailand. Not only is the Global Economic Crisis threatening Thai economy, but also the 2008 flu. The flu directly affected Thai tourism, which is the backbone of Thai economy. However, even the crises are monsters; Thailand is still standing in a very firm place of exporting rice, rubber and tourism. Not only today, but also after decades. Chapter 4: Compete from China. Not only Chinese daily products the only stuff competitive from China, but also foods, heavy industry, mineral materials and so on. In Thailand, Chinese food is one kind of high class treat. Its quite expensive and health. The most famous one could be the Chinese vegetarian. Vegetarianism is only practiced by a relatively small fraction of the population. Most Chinese vegetarians are Buddhists, following the Buddhist teachings about minimizing suffering. This is also one major reason why the Chinese vegetarian food is quite popular in Thailand. Chinese vegetarian dishes often contain large varieties of vegetables (e.g. Bok Choy, shiitake mushroom, sprouts, corn) and some imitation meat. Such imitation meat is created mostly with soy protein and/or wheat gluten to imitate the texture, taste, and appearance of duck, chicken, or pork. Imitation seafood items, made from other vegetable substances such as konjac, are also available. As for the Chinese industry export, Chinas machinery manufacturing industry can provide complete sets of large advanced equipment, including large gas turbines, large pump storage groups, and nuclear power sets, ultra-high voltage direct-current transmission and transformer equipment, complete sets of large metallurgical, fertilizer and petro-chemical equipment, urban light rail transport equipment, and new papermaking and textile machinery. Machinery and transportation equipment have been the mainstay products of Chinese exports, as Chinas leading export sector for successive 11 years from 1996 to 2006. In 2006, the export value of machinery and transportation equipments reached 425 billion US dollars, 28.3 percent more than 2005. Thermal, hydro and nuclear power industries are the fastest growing of all industrial sectors. At the end of 2004, the installed capacity of generators totaled 440 million kW, and the total generated electricity came to 2,187 billion kwh, ranking second in the world. Power grid construction has entered its fastest ever development; main power grids now cover all the cities and most rural areas, with 501-kv grids beginning to replace 220-kv grids for inter-province and inter-region transmission and exchange operations. An international advanced control automation system with computers as the mainstay has been universally adopted, and has proved practical. Now Chinas power industry has entered a new era featuring large generating units, large power plants, large power grids, ultra-high voltage and automation. There are several countries such as Thailand requesting Chinas help and investment for the industrial sector. China is the third largest country all over the world, and so as the Chinese mineral resource. China is rich in mineral resources, and all the worlds known minerals can be found here. To date, geologists have confirmed reserves of 153 different minerals, putting China third in the world in total reserves. The reserves of the major mineral resources, such as coal, iron, copper, aluminum, stibium, molybdenum, managese, tin, lead, zinc and mercury, are in the worlds front rank. Chinas coal reserves total 1,007.1 billion tons, mainly distributed in north China, with Shanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region taking the lead. Chinas 46.35 billion tons of iron ore are mainly distributed in northeast, north and southwest China. The country also abounds in petroleum, natural gas, oil shale, phosphorus and sulphur. Petroleum reserves are mainly found in the northwest, northeast and north China, as well as in the continental shelves of east China. The national reserves of rare ea rth metals far exceed the combined total for the rest of the world. Rubber and rice used to be Thailands advantaged exports. However for the last 10 years, China is chasing Thailands heel. Rubber is an important industry for economy all around the world. Its price is usually influenced by the worlds oil price which is feature in changing in rubber price. China, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia (rubber garden about 200 hectares, output about 3 million tons) are the most importance producer and exporter for rubber market of the world. The amount of rubber they have produced account for 70%-80% of total world amount on average. Because the rubber is an important industrial crop in these countries, the rubber price has been going up due to increasing in demand for the rubber. These result in an expansion in production area which produces effect on the higher level of rubber output. The information released by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the output of crude rubber is about 3.2 to 3.3 million tons in 2007 more than previous year and the annual growth is about 5%. This satisfying outcome was caused by the assistance of Chinese government in giving the better breed to the farmer. Most of rubber outputs are profuse in the second and the third quarter in each year, particularly in the southern part of China which is the largest source of domestic rubber production, because that period is humid season in Southern China. There might be a little decreasing in rubber price in that period because of the increasing in supply of rubber. Since the Chinese currency continued appreciation and the demand for rubber was increase, the export price was going up to 2.10 U.S. dollar per kilogram in March on 2007. Why does the price increase in international rubber market? There are two possible reasons. The first one is because some of the primary countries (Thailand and Indonesia) in producing rubber were affected by unfavorable weather, so the output was negatively affected. The second explanation is derived from the increasing demand for rubber in American and China itself, because the price of rubber was going up for a while, so the price was not expected to increase so much in the near future. On October 2008, the domestic price of rubber was going down so rapidly. It decreased to 8 RMB per kilogram in 20 days time. However before that, the purchasing price of fresh rubber is around 15RMB per kilogram and the cost of production is about 5 RMB per kilogram. The loss of the rubber profit is about 100% at that time. The cooperative of Chinese rubber farmers express that Thailand is the foremast partner of commerce in China because of the economic crisis from the U.S, so the exporter was very careful in it. Chinese Ministry of Agriculture adopts the countermeasures which analyze the tendency of international market in the future and establish the solving measures. It has made a commitment with financial institutions to extend the loan repayment period for rubber farmers. This hopefully enables the farmers could reduce their burden associated with rubber production. In addition, the Rubber Association of Asia wants to resolve the problem of lower the price of rubber. They decid ed to stop the production for six month so as to reduce the amount of rubber output and this enhanced the price level. They also suggested Chinese government to add the financial aid but dont interpose the price of rubber. If the price continue going down, the farmer may choose chopping the rubber trees to replant other crops and many farmers had already started to chop the rubber tree and sealing it. Furthermore, the farmers confronted with immense pressure from synthetic rubber, many rubber gardens change to replant other crops. Many other Chinese resources and products are also very much competitive, especially for Thailand. Thailand doesnt have many resources to use, thus if Thailand still want to improve the GDP they will have to import goods from China. Why China? The reason is not only the cheap price, but also the very convenient geographical location. Chapter 5: Solution of Thai-na Intersect. There are several solutions for avoid the incoming challenge and further crises. One of the most important progresses for the Thai-na trading is the China-Thailand FTA. The China-Thailand FTA was signed in June 2003 and came into effect four months later in October 2003. It is an early harvest agreement on farm trade alone, whereby both countries opened their agricultural markets before the broader China-ASEAN FTA comes into force in 2010. Under the deal, tariffs for 188 types of fruits and vegetables were cut to zero overnight. The China-Thailand FTA has had very strong impacts in Thailand, amply documented by NGOs, farmers groups, academics and the press. Many Thai garlic, longan and other fruit and vegetable producers, especially in the North, lost their livelihoods because they could not compete against the cheap flood of Chinese imports. In fact, despite government reassurances, only Thai cassava exports went up. Investigations showed that Thai produce entering China was left to rot at point of entry, by local warehouse operators, so that it could not actually be commercialized. Cheap Chinese fruits and vegetables, in the meanwhile, were criticized by Thai people for their high pesticide residue levels. But this actually led the two governments to adopt joint private food safety standards (Thai-China GAP), providing yet another boost to corporate farming and further concentration. In all, the China-Thailand FTA has not benefited small farmers on either side of the border. It has only been favorable for businessmen who control the trade and are able to use it to expand their contract farming operations, such as Thailands (ethnic Chinese-owned) Charoen Pokphand Group. After the formation of the FTA, Thailands exports to China are likely to continue to grow over the remainder as massive stimulus spending by Beijing is showing clear signs of

Cultures: The Case Of Genital Mutilation

Cultures: The Case Of Genital Mutilation This article explained the reasoning and differing views on female genital mutilation. The article describes in detail the three types of female genital mutilation, or FGM. The first is called clitoridectomy, in which part of the clitoris or the whole clitoris is removed. The bleeding caused by this procedure is usually stopped by either applying direct pressure or stitching the wound. The second type of genital cutting is call excision. In this procedure, both the clitoris and the labia minora are removed, and the bleeding after the procedure is stopped by stitching up the wound. The third and most extreme method of genital cutting is called infibulation. In this method, the entire clitoris and labia minora are removed, and incisions are made into the labia majora. The raw surfaces of the labia majora are then either stitched together or made to be held together until they heal together. The newly formed skin covers the urethra and the majority of the vaginal opening. Infibulation i s not used as frequently as the clitoridectomy or excision, but it is still used on rare occasion. No matter which form of genital cutting is used, there have been many extensive and sometimes chronic health problems associated with female genital mutilation. These include chronic and repeated infections, difficulties in urination and menstruation, pain during intercourse, infertility, and obstruction during childbirth, causing painful tearing and excess bleeding. Most of these are caused most by the infibulation method, as it obstructs the most. However, major complications can still arise from the other two methods as well. These complications are generally ignored in cultures where female genital mutilation is accepted as a cultural norm. This practice is seen as a cultural norm in such countries as Africa and the Middle East. The World Health Organization states that between 85 and 115 million women worldwide have undergone genital cutting. Most of these instances have occurred in regions of Africa or the Middle East, although there are now beginning to be small numbers of cases reported in countries such as Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It seems that the conclusion being argued for in this article is that the mutilation of female genitalia is wrong, regardless of any persuasion cultural or otherwise. This article makes reference to several cases that argue for the ethical soundness of female genital mutilation, and it refutes each of these as invalid arguments. The first of these arguments states that it is morally wrong to criticize the practices of another country unless we are prepared to equally criticize similar practices in our own country, and states that the United States is guilty of doing this. While it may be true that the United States can tend to be oblivious to the plight of other countries in some respects, body image is not one of them. American women are all too aware of what it means to feel pressure to adapt to the right or ideal body image, because of the heavy influence the Western culture feels from the media to look a certain way. The tacit influence the media has on the Western culture is that if you do not look like the women on the television screen, you are a failure. It is untrue for this argument to state that the United States is not critical of themselves in the same way. Therefore, this argument is not valid. The second argument states that it is morally impermissible to criticize the practices of another culture until their own culture is completely free of all evil and immoral practices. This argument is, to put it plainly, ridiculous; how can it be morally permissible to ignore a cry for help just because the one who hears the call is not perfect? This would make helping anybody at any time completely immoral. For example, a doctor would not be able to help a patient if he engaged in a morally questionable activity at any time in the near past. This goes directly against the Hippocratic Oath that the doctor takes that explicitly states that he is to help people. This argument is also invalid. The third argument says that female genital mutilation is equal in morality to dieting and body shaping in the Western culture. However, there are several basic differences between the two practices. The first difference is that while dieting and body shaping is completely voluntary, genital mutilation is an involuntary procedure. The father makes the decision about whether or not to make is daughter participate in genital mutilation. The girl is then held down by several grown women while the procedure is performed so she doesnt jerk away. Dieting and body shaping are completely by choice, regardless of the pressure one may feel from the media or their peers. Another difference is that genital mutilation cannot be undone. Dieting, on the other hand, is very easily reversed. A third difference is that genital mutilation is mostly performed in unsafe and unsanitary conditions that children should not be exposed to, and dieting is not. A fourth difference is that female genital mutilat ion causes extreme health risks, not limited to death. Dieting only causes problems like this when taken to extremes, such as anorexia and bulimia. These are both reversible and treatable. A fifth difference is that female genital mutilation is usually performed on girls much too young to know the difference, or even give consent. (Even if she were old enough, consent would be irrelevant anyway.) Dieting, on the other hand, is something young adults and adults partake in. All of these differences illustrated are more than enough to prove that dieting and genital mutilation are not even close to being related in any sense. Therefore, this argument is also invalid. The fourth argument states that female genital mutilation involves the loss of a function that is not vitally essential to the lives of those losing it, and that the Western culture attaches far too much significance to it. To imply that genital cutting is depriving a woman of sexual pleasure is to say that she is merely a sexual being, and that is degrading to women. There is no difference between genital cutting and leading a life of celibacy. While the outcome of genital cutting and celibacy may be the same, we cannot say that the two are equal. Celibacy can be ended at any time, if the individual so chooses. That is the fundamental difference: choice. Female genital mutilation is not optional, voluntary, or reversible. Therefore, this argument is invalid because the premises do not match the outcome. ENTRY 2 Sex Consequences: World Population Growth vs. Reproductive Rights by Margaret P. Battin This article addresses the issue of world population growth while also explaining how the human race can have children within the carrying capacity of the land and the environment around them, thus proving more responsible. The conflict in the article is that human can reproduce at a rate that strips the land of vital, life sustaining resources by overpopulating it. This can be dangerous and life threatening to the human race as a whole. Land is a finite resource and can only sustain and support a certain number of people. Anything beyond that number could be fatal. According to the author, Battin, our current world population is 5.8 billion people. The growth rate of the population is that it doubles once roughly every 40 years. At this rate, the population is set to hit 12.5 billion by the end of the century. Another 40 years later, and the population will be at 25 billion, and then 50 billion, 100 billion, and so on. However, the land cannot sustain this many people, so the population will never actually hit this extreme. The population will shrink in size again due starvation or other natural causes before it ever gets that high. Now the problem is, how to keep that from happening? Thomas Malthus th eorized that the population needs to be controlled; while he did not advocate direct population control, he thought perhaps the morality and common sense of the population would serve as a sort of birth control. However, he knew that the reality was the population would still go through stages of overpopulation and starvation. Therefore he said that population control must be exerted from an outside source to keep the human population from dooming themselves to extinction. The feminist group, on the other hand, believes that the controlling of the population growth equates to controlling people. Also, they are convinced that contraceptive programs are tested exclusively by first world male doctors, and they test their programs on less privileged third world women. As one feminist movement states, population control is racist, sexist, and classist. It also states that the contraception programs try to force the values of a first world, well-off group of people onto the less privileged. There is a conclusion to help settle this dispute, which will be explored in detail. The solution that the author argues for is that everybody in the world, male and female, should use a form of super effective, easily reversible automatic birth control, or contraception. There are two major types already on the market for women. These are the intrauteral Copper T380A, and the subdermal Norplant. For men, nothing is readily on the market; however, there are several automatic contraceptive options for men being tested for use on humans. If everyone used a form of automatic background birth control, pregnancy would be a choice rather than a chance. The argument for this type of logic is that in the United States, roughly 50% of all pregnancies are not planned. Also, half of these unplanned pregnancies are aborted. This is generally due to the fact that the parents are simply not prepared for a pregnancy, including and especially pregnancies that occur because of failed birth control. These pregnancies would most likely be welcomed at a later time, when the parents were more prepared and ready for a pregnancy and to start a family. Granting the individual the ability to choose when they wanted a pregnancy to occur would put much more power in the hands of the individual to help control the population growth. Generally speaking, parents would not choose to have as many children or pregnancies as they would if they left it to chance. Also, women would not fall prey to agreeing to something in the heat of the moment, or being coerced into agreeing to bear a child. A pregnancy would not occur as a result of rape, or because of a m isuse or nonuse of a birth control method. This opens a whole new world to women; instead of making the option to be pregnant a negative choice to a positive choice. Instead of risking getting pregnant, a woman would be able to choose when to allow her body to become pregnant. There would also be a degree of reproductive freedom for men as well. They would not have to worry about accidentally causing a pregnancy, and then having to be responsible for the child that they helped create. They would be completely free. While they could still be tricked by a woman who had her device removed without his knowledge, there is much less risk than if the woman forgot accidentally or purposely to use her birth control or misused it. However, the woman still holds the majority of control over the result of the contraception in the intercourse. The logic used here is that if everyone used background contraception, then everyone would be free to make the decision on whether or not to become pregnant or not. Everyone has the right to choose whether or not they want to be pregnant. Background contraception grants that choice. Therefore, all humans should be made to install automatic contraception. While this is a valid argument, I am not sure I agree with it. While this would indeed solve the reproduction growth crisis, it would also take away human free will. Many people may not be receptive to this type of control, not to mention that these types of automatic contraception are not particularly inexpensive. It would not make sense to initiate a population growth control based on these two factors alone. As Battin points out, the initiation of this type of control has an almost fascist sound. Forcing everyone into the same type of contraception would pose as a major threat to free will, and would cause some dire consequences to occur for those enforcing it. ENTRY 3 Womens Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Re-Vision of Human Rights by Charlotte Bunch For centuries, there has been a distinction between human rights and womens rights. This distinction is disconcerting; because of it, numerous heinous crimes have been committed against women, including mutilation, starvation, and murder. Technically, because there is a distinction, womens rights are not classified as human rights. Since women are humans, why are womens rights not viewed as human rights? Does this make women less human than men? Surely this cannot be so. While it is obvious that women are no less human than men, they are sometimes treated as such a lower life form. Even in situations that men and women are both treated unfairly, it is the male that is seen as mistreated, and the female almost fades into background noise. In a male-predominate culture, women are seen as not as important, and are often treated as lesser to the male, even in their suffering. While the concept of human rights is one that is widely internationally known and accepted, womens rights are not as commonly accepted as humane or even right. However, it has been theorized that the universality of human rights can be used as a tie to help bridge the gap between human rights and womens rights. In 1948, the Declaration of Human Rights was set forth. This outlines the guidelines of the basic rights we as human beings have. In that Declaration, Eleanor Roosevelt fought to add Article 2, which says that all people have the right to everything enclosed in the Declaration, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status. The addition of not discriminating against gender was meant to begin to fix the issue of womens subordination. There are four approaches that the author, Bunch, speaks about, which she believes to be an effective way to bridge the gap, so to speak, between human rights and womens rights. While these approaches can apply to several areas of life, she writes that they are particularly helpful in drawing a connection between human rights and womens rights. They also demonstrate how violence toward women is a violation of basic human rights. The first approach that Bunch speaks about is to take into account the specific needs of women as civil and political rights, while also calling to attention the particularly heinous tortures women suffer through simply because of the fact that they are female. One instance where this has been done is when the Womens Task Force of Amnesty International took a stand to launch a campaign for women who are held as political prisoners and are sexually abused, which causes them to not be able to care for their children and thus causing a violation of human rights on the children. This directly links a violation of womens rights to a violation of human rights. This is a valid and sound argument; it shows a clear, direct correlation between the two premises that a violation of womens rights causes a violation of human rights and therefore, it is wrong. The second approach is to regard womens rights as socioeconomic rights. This is in regards to food, employment, shelter, and health care. This is the view taken by those who would view human rights as too individualized, and take womens rights as a purely economic issue. In other words, human rights do not have meaning without an economic definition. This helps to galvanize women into protecting themselves from workplace violence, and from being taken advantage of by employers. Women cannot be targeted as cheap, easily exploited employment, because this would violate their human rights. This is also a valid argument. The third approach is to view womens rights through a legal scope. There have been new legal guidelines set in place to guard against gender discrimination, and this has added a new dimension to the womens rights debate. The specific laws that state the legal issues behind gender discrimination and violence against women are one major example of this third approach. These laws have made it possible for women to be able to fight for their rights to be treated fairly, as human beings, rather than a lower life form to males. The most important international form of this law is called the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which has been stated to be essentially an international bill of rights for women and a framework for womens participation in the development processà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦[which] spells out internationally accepted principles and standards for achieving equality between women and men. This Convention has been accepted by 104 countries, as of January 1990. This means that all countries that have agreed to and accepted the Convention must adhere to and abide by the laws stated within it, and a report must be submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, proving their compliance to the Convention. However, the Convention never actually directly addresses the issue of violence against women. This is its one shortcoming; it does, however, clearly state a human rights outline for women within it. If all governments accepted this Convention, this would be a great way to start heading in the right direction toward men and women being treated equally. This is a valid and sound argument The fourth and final approach that Bunch explains is to view human rights through feminist lenses, so to speak. What this means is that we are to view human rights in such a way that more thoroughly examines how human rights affect this lives of women in depth, and then asking how human rights can be more responsive and sensitive to women. While the other three approaches merely had a feminist taint, this approach is the most blatantly feminist; it clearly takes a stance that purely centered around women, and waits for no one to tell them if their approach is an accurate human rights issue or not. The danger in approaching the issue with this narrow scope is that it rules out too much reason. While it may be a valid argument, in my opinion, it has not been thought through thoroughly enough and is simply ignoring some of the basic rules of logic.

My Philosophy of Education :: Teaching Philosophy Education School Essays

My Philosophy of Education I believe that the Foreign Language classroom should be one that not only teaches how to speak a language, but also how to survive in the growing, and very diverse communities that we live in and that our students live in. Students should learn about the culture that corresponds to the language that they are learning, and teachers should promote diversity and acceptance among all ethnic groups, including the people of the target language. Students should be in a classroom where they feel comfortable enough to experiment with the new language. I think that a teacher should always be responsive to their students, and should never be reprimanded for trying to answer or ask a question. I also believe that students should be exposed to a variety of different interpersonal, interpretative, and presentational communication activities. I believe students should also have a say in what they would like to learn in the foreign language classroom. There should be a wide selection and variety of authentic materials in every classroom. This could mean anything from Spanish story books, Spanish music, Spanish and Latin American Art hung on the walls, menus, greeting cards, etc. Students should feel immersed in the culture and the language, and teachers should use these materials as well as the textbook. However, the textbook should not be the only material used in teaching the language. If possible, from time to time, studen ts should take trips to authentic cultural events or restaurants. I think that every teacher should give their students a purpose for doing their assignments. These purposes should not just include getting a grade. Students can do so much, such as organizing a cultural dance at their school, singing holiday carols in the target language around the school, putting on a play based on authentic Hispanic folk tales. Finally, I believe that being a good teacher means teaching his or her students the best way possible and making sure that every students gets the most out of the class. Every lesson and every unit should be written with the five C's in mind: Communication, Connections, Culture, Comparisons, and Communities. My Philosophy of Education :: Teaching Philosophy Education School Essays My Philosophy of Education I believe that the Foreign Language classroom should be one that not only teaches how to speak a language, but also how to survive in the growing, and very diverse communities that we live in and that our students live in. Students should learn about the culture that corresponds to the language that they are learning, and teachers should promote diversity and acceptance among all ethnic groups, including the people of the target language. Students should be in a classroom where they feel comfortable enough to experiment with the new language. I think that a teacher should always be responsive to their students, and should never be reprimanded for trying to answer or ask a question. I also believe that students should be exposed to a variety of different interpersonal, interpretative, and presentational communication activities. I believe students should also have a say in what they would like to learn in the foreign language classroom. There should be a wide selection and variety of authentic materials in every classroom. This could mean anything from Spanish story books, Spanish music, Spanish and Latin American Art hung on the walls, menus, greeting cards, etc. Students should feel immersed in the culture and the language, and teachers should use these materials as well as the textbook. However, the textbook should not be the only material used in teaching the language. If possible, from time to time, studen ts should take trips to authentic cultural events or restaurants. I think that every teacher should give their students a purpose for doing their assignments. These purposes should not just include getting a grade. Students can do so much, such as organizing a cultural dance at their school, singing holiday carols in the target language around the school, putting on a play based on authentic Hispanic folk tales. Finally, I believe that being a good teacher means teaching his or her students the best way possible and making sure that every students gets the most out of the class. Every lesson and every unit should be written with the five C's in mind: Communication, Connections, Culture, Comparisons, and Communities.