Should young children use computers in early childhood programs Essay

Should young children use computers in early childhood programs - Essay Example They follow these directions and learn a variety of things like dancing, gaming, communications skill etc. The increased use of computers increases the communication power of children. Most preschools have the facility of computers. They teach children and direct them the ways to use it themselves. Computers help children to communicate in a social environment. While using computer children develop two sorts of interactions. One is the children-computer interaction and the second is children-children interaction. Children-Computer interaction is developed when a kid involves himself in understanding the directions of the computer, when a child is developing the understanding the lines of the software and establishing the grasp on the hardware. And the Children-Children interaction is developed when the kid works in an environment where other children are also using the computer. The child works on the computer and connects his computer to the computer of his fellow to ask about his/h er daily routine or to seek any help from him/her. Preschool kids can use the computers easily with great proficiency when an appropriate software in accordance to the age of the child is installed. (Mayesky. 2002) Computers are effective for young children when this small box is changed to a ‘coaching machine’. Computers used by young children should be equipped with the elements which prove to be beneficial for them like joystick to handle directions effectively, gaming software, mathematics problem solving games, puzzles, and other entities. Computers increase the sense of control in these children. Computer is an excellent medium for conversation for disabled and mentally retarded children. These children can interact with the outer world using this amazing device. Handicapped kids can learn the essential basic skills using computers. They can learn the knowledge of computer from their early ages and can further

How the Macroeconomic Environment Affects Human Resource Essay Example for Free

How the Macroeconomic Environment Affects Human Resource Essay A microenvironment is simply a small environment within the operations of a business in which there are specialized features that make environment different from other business environments. In essence, it is the nearby and surrounding factors that affect and determine this environment. These factors affect the ability of the company in terms of service provision. As a matter of fact, it affects the supplies of the company, marketing strategies, marketing intermediaries, public relations and general company operations. Generally, a business microenvironment refers to the factors or elements within a particular organization and its immediate area of operations that in one way or another, has an effect on the performance of the company as well as the decision making processes of the company or business. CITATION Cal14 l 1033 (Monroe 2014)These elements are among the general public, since they form the bulk of the market, the channels of distribution among others. At the end of the day, this environment is of much importance to the success of a business. This paper gives an in-depth analysis of the microenvironments and macro environments of supermarkets as well as mobile companies thereby giving the empirical and theoretical relationships between the performance and of these business organizations as compared to their environments. The best strategy of analyzing the microenvironment of a business organization is through the SWOT technique in which one analyzes the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats within the company. CITATION Sub07 l 1033 (Subrata Ghatak 2007)The Strengths of a Company greatly determine the success of business organizations. The strength of a business organization can be measured in terms of; technological advancements, economies of scale as well as the availability of resources. The technology of a mobile company determines the amount of their sales. For instance, high levels of technology for a mobile company would reduce the cost of production that a company incurs. Decrease in cost of production simply implies that the company makes super normal profits, that is, profits greater than zero. Technology therefore plays a very key role. Economies of Scale have the same effect as well. Economies of scale simply imply to the company’s or supermarket’s market base. Companies that enjoy economies of scale lower their cost of production, thereby increasing their profit margins. Resource availability is also equally important. As a matter of fact, the importance of availability of resources to any business organization can never be underestimated. Resource availability is could imply human, natural or financial resource. All these are the drivers of the business, both in a mobile company as well as for supermarkets. CIT ATION Arv l 1033 (Arvil Van Adams n.d.)The weaknesses within an organization also determine its level of performance to a very large extent. What matters at the end of the day is how the supermarket or mobile company in question addresses the weakness that it faces in terms of operation. The most common weaknesses in either of these two enterprises are in terms of the prices, globalization and marketing. For mobile companies for instance, it is very difficult to come up with price floors owing to the products they produce. Generally, mobile phones are relatively expensive. As such, they are not the easiest products to market. Globalization on the other hand, is important since it determines the market base and network of a business. Most mobile companies have done tremendously well in this particular area. CITATION Sub07 l 1033 (Subrata Ghatak 2007)Opportunities and Threats play a very crucial role in the microenvironment of a business organization. They either make or break the org anization. The opportunities of supermarkets and mobile companies most of the time come as a result of collaboration. For instance, supermarkets can collaborate with the companies that they sell their products. It is through such strategies that supermarkets can easily give their clients discounts and offers. Discounts and offers are simply marketing strategies in which business organizations attract their customers. Mobile companies, on the other hand, can take advantage of their opportunities through collaboration with other electronic companies. For instance, they could collaborate with network service providers and as such use this platform to market their products. It is very important therefore, for a company to take advantage of whatsoever opportunity that comes their way. CITATION Les12 l 1033 (Leslie Hamilton 2012)A threat is another factor that is prevalent in the microeconomic environment of a business. There are various forms of threats that can affect the performance of a business. Threats may result from social, political or economic sources. However, common threats that mobile companies and supermarkets face are in relation to risks and uncertainties. Risks and uncertainties face almost every business and they could be in terms of price fluctuations, the risk of a technology becoming obsolete, market variations and so on. Competition is another threat that mobile companies as well as supermarkets have to deal with. It is a challenge that also comes an opportunity. Competition encourages organizations to come up with more advanced forms of technology for instance of mobile companies. Supermarkets, on the other hand, experience a lot of competition due to the homogeneity of products. CITATION Les12 l 1033 (Leslie Hamilton 2012)The next part of the paper gives an insight on the macroeconomic market. This market environment deals with broader economic issues such as inflation, unemployment, national income and GDP. The Pestel model is the best analy sis to use so as to examine this economic environment. The Pestel assessment basically deals with the political environment, the environmental environment, the social, technological, economic and finally the legal environment that surrounds an organization. Basically, a macro environment defines the conditions that exist in the whole economy as opposed to particular sections or regions in the economy. As such, this environment follows up the trends in the GDP market, monetary policies, fiscal policies, level of spending as well as employment. CITATION Dee06 l 1033 (Deepashree 2006) The political environment generally deals with the political factors that affect the performance of a business. Political factors, more often than not, come with policies. The fiscal and monetary policies for instance, affect businesses to a great deal. This depends on whether they are expansionary or contractionary. The government of a country has control of most businesses. Another way through which pol itical factors affect businesses is through the political environment of a country, that is, whether the political temperatures are favorable for investment. Political instabilities in a country greatly discourage investment. This affects both mobile companies and supermarkets since it raises the question of globalization. With high political temperatures, it becomes very difficult to explore global markets. CITATION Arv l 1033 (Arvil Van Adams n.d.)The environment, on its own affects the performance of a business. The environment of a business is basically determined by the climatic conditions. The climate, or weather, in this case, will mostly affect a supermarket. As a matter of fact, there are goods whose demand rises with temperature. Such goods are among electronic fans. Supermarkets are bound to experience increase in sale of such product in the hot weather. On the other hand, there are other products such as umbrellas whose demand is bound to increase with the onset of cold weather. As such, though to a small extent, environmental factors play a role as factors in the macroeconomic environment. CITATION Sub07 l 1033 (Subrata Ghatak 2007)Social and cultural factors have a major effect as elements in the macroeconomic environment. This segment affects the performance of a business through the traditions, customs and beliefs of a society. It also deals with the issue of aging. Aging has an indirect effect on the demand and supply of a commodity. For the working population, when they age, they are paid handsomely in terms of pension. As a result, most of them might tend to spend more on luxury goods. This is how mobile companies get to benefit. The general consumption for this proportion of population increases and as such, this also affects supermarkets. The beliefs and attitudes of a population also determine the consumption pattern through tastes and preferences. CITATION Cal14 l 1033 (Monroe 2014)Technological factors affect the operations and performa nce of a business to a very large extent. Technology has a direct effect on production costs. This is because high levels of technology imply less production costs. The relationship between technology and consumption is quite simple. Technology is a major factor of production, both for mobile companies and supermarkets. There is low demand of human resource with high levels of technology. This makes production relatively cheaper. The total cost of production reduces as well. The end result of this is that the profit margin increases. Technology may also become obsolete and this has a negative impact on the performance of the business. CITATION Les12 l 1033 (Leslie Hamilton 2012)Economic factors are the other factors that are prevalent in the macro environment of a business. Under this umbrella lie major issues to do with inflation, unemployment, GDP, Per Capita Income and many others. These factors generally create an economic environment and have the same effect on mobile companies and supermarkets depending on their degree of severity. A highly inflated economy means that the general price level of goods be it in supermarkets or from mobile phone companies. As a result, such an economy does not encourage investment by either of the two enterprises. CITATION Dee06 l 1033 (Deepashree 2006)Legal factors; these are legislations that affect the performance of a business. The quota system, for instance, is a legislation that affects the amount of imports. Narrowing down to mobile companies, they are affected by government policies to a very great extent. This is because their transactions mainly involve importation and exportation of products. Most governments have extremely stringent laws and regulations. Governments are often very strict especially with the quality of goods they import. Moreover, with respect to supermarkets, governments may have very strict regulations with regard to importation so as to promote local industries. Such issues affect the performa nce of companies to a very great extent. Taxes, which are stipulated by the government, are other pieces of legislation that both mobile companies and supermarkets have to come to terms with. From the above analysis, we can conclude that both the macro environment and the microenvironment have on the performance of a business, both positively. CITATION Arv l 1033 (Arvil Van Adams n.d.) References l 1033 Arvil Van Adams, ‎Robert S. Goldfarb, ‎Terence Kelly. How the Macroeconomic Environment Affects Human Resource. n.d. Deepashree. Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Environment. Tata McGraw Hill Education, 2006. Leslie Hamilton, ‎Philip Webster. International Business Environment. Oxford University Press, 2012. Monroe, Calvin. An Analysis of the UK Mobile Environment. GRIN Verlag, 2014. Subrata Ghatak, ‎Nige Healey, ‎Peter Jackson. The Macroecoomic Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Source document

A Study Of Macintosh Operating System Computer Science Essay

A Study Of Macintosh Operating System Computer Science Essay Mac OS, which is the abbreviation for Macintosh Operating System, is one of the operating systems available in the market nowadays. Unlike Windows, Mac OS is a graphical user interface-based (GUI) operating system specially designed only for Macintosh computers. It was the first operating system in the world developed by Apple Incorporation in 1984 (Mac OS, n.d.). Although the existence of Windows had grabbed the computer users first choice from Mac OS, the latter is publicly known as the biggest rival of the former. This situation can be seen as the population of Mac users gradually increases day by day. By using Mac OS, users can experience several advantages. First of all, Mac OS appears to be more user-friendly and it is suitable for all new computer learners in different stage due to its high reputation on GUI (Parsons Oja, 2008). Instead of Windows complex command-line operating system, Mac users can produce a command with just a point and click GUI (Parsons Oja, ). Moreover, Mac OS is much more secure compare to other operating systems. This is because most of the viruses and adware are Window-based, and they will not run on Mac (Daniels, n.d.). The main purpose of hackers or cyberpunks creating a virus is to spread them as fast as possible to obtain the users information; therefore, designing a virus for Mac will not benefit the virus writers since the population of Windows users is higher than Mac (Daniels, n.d.). Besides PowerPC microprocessor produced by IBM, Macintosh computers can also support Intel microprocessor after the release of Mac OS X. This feature allows Macintosh to switch between Mac OS and Windows with the help of dual boot utility (Parsons Oja, 2008). In addition, virtual machine technologies also enable Macintosh computers to run both Mac OS X and Windows at the same time (Parsons Oja, 2008). Although the performance speed of the computer might be slowed down, this is helpful when Mac users want to run some programs that are only supported by Windows. However, there are also some disadvantages using Mac OS. The limitation of programs seems to be the biggest problem faced by the Mac users (Parsons Oja, 2008). Mac users may find it troublesome when most of the programs and software especially games available in Windows are not supported by Mac OS (Daniels, n.d.). Besides, the price of Macintosh computers is also one of the factors that make the computer users not to purchase it. Furthermore, Mac OS uses resource forks. Resource fork is a companion file used by Mac OS to store information of a data such as file type, icon and so on (Parsons Oja, 2008). The existence of resource forks has made the file transfer from Mac to other platforms such as Windows more difficult (Parsons Oja, 2008). In order to solve this problem, the assist of resource editor such as ResEdit is needed to convert it to other platforms readable version data fork (Resource fork, n.d.). History and Background System 1.0 GUI.jpg MAC_OS_X_GUI.jpg Desktop of System 1.0 Desktop of Mac OS X In 1984, Apple Inc. introduced their first Macintosh computer system which was bundled with a newly released operating system. The operating system was formerly known as System software instead of Macintosh Operating System. Its original design was partly based on Lisa operating system which was designed for Apples Lisa computer system (History of Mac OS, n.d.). One of the founders of System was Jeff Raskin (History of Mac OS, n.d.). By then, Mac computers were powered by Motorola 68000 microprocessor. As time goes by, System has undergone revolution. This revolution has separated the operating system into two families the Mac OS Classic family and the Mac OS X family. The first version of Mac OS, which was called System, was in the Classic family. The Mac OS Classic family was actually based on Apples original code (Mac OS, n.d.). That time, it was only compatible with Apples computers powered by Motorola 68000 microprocessor. The Classic family was popular and unique compared to the other operating systems available because it uses graphical user interface (GUI) instead of command line interface which was used in MS-DOS. This provides a user-friendly interface for the users, which made the Apples computers easier to use. For the first few version of System which is System 1 to System 4, they only can run an application at a time (Par Web Solutions, 2005). Only until System 5 was released, the system can finally do multitasking, ie. ability to run more than 1 application at the same time. However, this was not officialized and widely used until System 6 was released. In 1991, System 7 was released. There were a few significant events that occurred. Firstly, System 7.1.2 was used to run in the first Apple computer powered by PowerPC processor. The whole operating system had to be rewritten in order to run properly on PowerMac computers. Later, the operating system had finally changed its name from System to Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS). Mac OS 9 is the final version in the Classic Mac OS family. .MacOsXfamily.png In 1999, the first version of Mac OS X from the Mac OS X family was released Mac OS X Server 1.0. Only in March 2001, the Mac OS X 10.0: Cheetah for desktop was released. X, which is the Roman numeral for number 10, can be read as ten or axe. Mac OS X, unlike the previous versions from the classic family, is based on Unix operating system (Mac OS history, n.d.). However, this version was criticized for its slow performance. Soon, the later version had solved this problem and further enhanced its performance. The part that distinguished Mac OS X from other operating systems would be the name made for the every version. All the versions in the Mac OS X family were named after the cat family. They are Cheetah(10.0), Puma(10.1), Jaguar(10.2), Panther(10.3), Tiger(10.4), Leopard(10.5) and followed by the latest version Snow Leopard(10.6). In 2006, Apples Macintosh computers powered by Intel processor were introduced with the upgraded version of Tiger. Then, Mac computers can run on both processor, ie. PowerPC and Intel. Later, Mac computers brought in the dual boot camp and Virtual PC software which allow Intel-Mac users to run more than 1 operating system on the same computer. Soon, Leopard had become the last version that can still run on Mac computers with both processors because the latest version, Snow Leopard, is designed only to run on Intel-Mac computers. Objectives Upon completing this assignment, we hope: To understand in details the history and background of Mac OS To find out what people know about Mac OS To compare Mac OS with the other operating systems available in the market To determine the population of MAC OSs users To obtain feedback from the MAC OSs users about their operating systems performance Methods of Execution In order to obtain our objectives, the methods that we take are: To do researches and gather information from the Web, text books and magazines. To find out what the users themselves and the others know about Mac OS, we have divided our survey into two parts the first part will be for non-Mac users and the second part will be for Mac users only. This survey will be conducted in HELP University College compound. We are aiming students as our main target and might include some of the lecturers, too. To make sure our survey result is structured, we will only get around thirty respondents for each part. Because the amount of Macs users here are limited and the data obtained is insufficient, we decide to post our survey online instead of passing the surveys around. The result will be recorded and converted into tables and graphs to make the data more interesting and understandable. After doing so, the tables and graphs will be analyzed and analysis will be produced. Description on Excel Worksheets In this assignment, we are required to do a survey to gather responses from various groups of people on our topic Mac OS. After that, the results will be recorded and analysis will be produced. To make the data more understandable and interesting, we have created three Excel worksheets and two relevant charts to represent the data. The first worksheet is to find out what the public know about Mac OS. We have targeted 2 groups of people, ie. college students and lecturers. A six-question quiz is set to meet our requirements. After that, we have created a bar chart to represent the data. The second worksheet is to determine whether the public know about the advantages and disadvantages of Mac OS. In this worksheet, no charts will be created. The last worksheet is to check out what the Mac users themselves think of their operating system. In the questionnaire, we have some questions that require the users to rate the performance of their OS and what they dislike about their OS. The results are then converted in to a pie chart. Analysis After completing the survey, we have finally collected enough responses for us to analyze the data. In our first Excel worksheet, we have set a six-question quiz in our questionnaire to find out how much the public know about Mac OS. As the quiz is considered very general, we expect most of the respondents to score at least five out of six. However, it turns out that most people scored four out of six. These results show that most respondents have only little knowledge on Mac OS. According to our chart, only 5% of the students and 30% of the lecturers got excellent scores. Most of them get four or five out of six while a few of them get only three out of six. In our second Excel worksheet, we ask the respondents to give us the advantages and disadvantages of Mac OS. We have set two multiple answers questions for the respondents. After analyzing the results, we have found out that most people are aware of the advantages and disadvantages of Mac OS as we have gotten a lot of correct responses from them. The correct responses that we received are three times more than the wrong responses that we received. In our last worksheet, we get responses from the Mac OSs users only. At this part, we have asked the users to rate their OSs performance and what it is that they dislike about their OS. According to the results we have analyzed, 70% of them say that their OSs performance is excellent while 30% of them say it is average and none of them say it is bad. The users, who say their OSs performance is excellent, have nothing they dislike about their OS while the ones, who rated Average, dislike their OS for only two reasons, ie. have to convert projects from their computer to the format that are compatible with the school computer system and there are too little Mac users outside. From this, we can say that almost all of them do not have problems with the OSs performance. Excel Spreadsheets What public generally know about Mac OS To find this out, a 6-question quiz is set in our questionnaire. Occupation Pass Average Excellent Total % in Pass % in Average % in Excellent College students 3 16 1 20 15% 80% 5% College Lecturers 1 6 3 10 10% 60% 30% Total 30 Note: Scoring 3 out of 6 will be considered Pass Scoring 4 or 5 out of six will be considered Average Scoring 6 out of 6 will be considered Excellent Do public know about the advantages and disadvantages of Mac OS? Excel Worksheets Sample Questions: In what aspects Mac OS is better than Windows? a. Less virus attack b. Faster boot time c. Easier to troubleshoot problems d. Can run more applications e. Can run more graphical-based programs f. It is cheaper Which are the disadvantages of the Mac OS? A. Less reliable B. Limited Selection of software C. Uses resource fork D. Low security Total Correct Responses 109 Total Wrong Responses 16 Total 125 Occupation a b c d e f A B C D College Students 17 14 12 4 13 0 7 15 8 1 College Lecturers 4 4 5 2 7 3 0 9 1 0 Total 21 18 17 20 24 9 6 3 7 1 Excel Worksheets What Mac OSs Users Themselves Think of the Performance of Their OS Excellent Average Bad Total Responses % in Excellent % in Average % in Bad Responses 14 6 0 20 70.00% 30.00% 0.00% What they do not like about their OS Reasons Excellent Average Compatibility Issue 0 4 Too Little Users 0 2 Other reasons 0 0 Conclusion After completing this assignment, we have obtained most of our objectives. After doing researches on the history and background of Macintosh operating system, we have finally understood more about our topic which is Macintosh operating system. The population of Mac OSs users are few times lesser than the Windows users in HELP. Next, we have also found out that most of the people in HELP do not know much about the operating system. Their knowledge on the general background on Mac OS is just in the average range. Our survey results have shown that most people are aware of the pros and cons of the OS and the reason that stops them from using it might be the price of the OS. For Mac users, the only aspects that are bothering them are that they have to convert their projects into the format that can be read in the colleges computers and there are too little Mac users around here; nevertheless, they are satisfied with the overall performance of the OS.

Drought Essays -- Environment, Agricultural Field

Introduction: Drought is the most significant factor restricting plant production on majority of agricultural field of the world (Tas&Tas, 2007). During drought stress, improper adjustment of photosystem II and thermodynamic damages disrupt the flow of electrons and lead to production of free radicals. Oxidative damages results from incomplete detoxification of reactive oxygen species. Damages caused by oxidative stress includes; inactivation of enzymes, lipid peroxidation, protein degradation and destruction of DNA strands, reduction in chlorophyll content and pigments color (Friso et al., 2004, Gechev et al., 2006; Baruah et al., 2009). Detoxification of reactive oxygen species in plants, includes enzymatic mechanisms (such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalse (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POX), glutathione reductase (GR) and mono dehydro ascorbate reductase (MDAR) as well as non-enzymatic mechanisms (such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, carotenoids and ascorbic acid, AA) (Friso et al., 2004, Ramachandra Reddi et al., 2004). In enzymatic antioxidant systems, catalase (EC1.11.1.6) is an oxidoreductase located in peroxysomes and considered as an important enzyme to counter hydrogen peroxide produced in stress conditions so that at drought stress conditions new isomorphs of it are released and the rate of former isomorphs increases (Srivalli et al, 2003 and Khana-chopra and Selote, 2007). Peroxidase )EC1.11.1.6( as another enzymatic antioxidant systems, is an oxidoreductase that has one homogeneous –b as a prostatic group and catalysis oxidation of the proton giver compounds with H2O2 and consequently cause H2O2 to breakdown (Jiang and Zhang, 2004). In most studies under drought condition increase in ... ...ion of hydrogen superoxide hydrogen and peroxide occurs and causes disruptions in activity of some scavenger enzymes of reactive oxygen species like catalase in drought stress. This issue leads to increase of lipids peroxidation and finally damages chlorophyll and cell membrane. The plant to alleviate the adverse effects of oxidative stress caused by drought stress increases the activity of some involved enzymes in removing reactive oxygen species, like peroxidase, by stimulation of gene expression. This condition can be seen more in resistant lines. The stress-resistant lines having these traits reduce damaging effects of oxidative stress through degradation and inactivation of reactive oxygen species and because of more stability of cell membrane and chlorophyll under these conditions, access to high yield is probable due to sustaining photosynthetic capacity.

The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship: The American Dream

I have always been fascinated by the concept of the â€Å"American Dream†. Even if, nowadays, this concept is more and more criticize because some people believe that the structure of American society doesn’t follow anymore the idealistic goal of the â€Å"American Dream†, providing example such as inequality in class or race which suggest that the â€Å"American Dream† is not attainable for all. But to me the term â€Å"American Dream† stays unchanged: all people can succeed through hard work, and all people have the potential to live happy and successful lives. And in my mind, the entrepreneurship is one of the most famous way to achieve this â€Å"American Dream†. Steven BUYERS who is the founder and owner of EnergyLogic –a fast-growing company in Northern Colorado, appears to me as a very good example of this â€Å"American Dream† which is about hope and the potential for change. In fact, I feel this at the same time through the very innovative and sustainable development oriented concept of his company, and the take of initiative he seems able to show without having a precise idea of where it will lead him. In this paper, I’m going to discuss two major topics which seems relevant to me given Steven BUYERS’ experience, they are: the self-made man and the capacity to see opportunity. Self-made man The first thing I would like to precise is about the vision I have of a self-made man. Obviously when I use this term I’m not saying that Steven BUYERS is the only one responsible of the success of his company, because it would mean that nobody have accompanied him in this project and it wouldn’t be fair not to think about his employees or his wife who has apparently plays a huge role in his success. But I rather mean that he had managed to create and manage a success business starting from like nothing. The concept of the self-made man is necessarily connected with the â€Å"American dream† that I have mentioned before. The self-made man comes from unpromising circumstances, is not born into privilege and wealth, and manages to become a great success in life by his own efforts. The story of the self-made man embodies the goal of every man: â€Å"to become the captain of his own destiny. Actually this is really close to the reasons that people become entrepreneurs and starts their own firms, that is to say: â€Å"be their own boss, pursue their own ideas and pursue financial rewards. † A self-made man is anyone who attains far greater success which was not predictable. The background that Steven BUYERS told us about isn’t exactly what we can call a â€Å"predestinated background†. Indeed, he went through many different jobs and life’s experiences (from the army to a bookstore) before he found his way which tends to prove us that he is one of whose are able to create their own greatness. Finally I would say that being a self-made man, as being an entrepreneurship, is the result of a difference in your character and a willingness to do whatever it takes to be the best and achieve your dreams, just as the concessions made by Steven BUYERS at the beginning of his project. Capacity to see opportunity â€Å"An opportunity is a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service or business. † When we know that homes represent 20% of the energy use in USA –whereas transport â€Å"only† represents 27%, it appears logical to focus on this problem. But at the time that Steven BUYERS started his business, that is to say in 1998, nobody cared about saving energy. He came with this really simple question: â€Å"How to be more efficient with houses’ energy? †, and his project was to provide people with a solution. As far as the opportunity recognition is concerned, Steven BUYERS has done a really good job. Indeed, he identified a product/service that people need and are willing to buy. Everybody isn’t able to see opportunity, because opportunity isn’t just an idea you come with thinking it could work. And this is a crucial point which will determine if the business is going to work, or not. An opportunity has to perform four essential qualities: attractive, durable, timely and anchored to a product. That was the case for Steven’s idea. It was attractive because it allows people to save money; it was durable because it lasts a life-time; it was timely because sustainable development was beginning to develop; and finally it was anchored to a product because it deals with houses and isolation. What is even more impressive in this recognition of opportunity is that Steven BUYERS hasn’t done any real market study or business plan before launching his company. To me the way to identify an opportunity which fit the best to Steven BUYERS is the personal characteristics of entrepreneur. This capacity to see opportunity is an essential trait in my mind which is related to creativity. To conclude I would cite the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson: â€Å"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. † Being an entrepreneur means being able to go where nobody else went before you, being able to take risks, being able to see opportunities where nobody has looked before you†¦ In my mind there is different ways to succeed in your job. Steven BUYERS succeed by seeing opportunities and managing his own success story as many self-made men have done before him. But no matter what is your background as far as you take your chance to develop successfully your business idea. Unfortunately, nowadays, entrepreneurs are more and more assimilated to capitalism and all the unfairness it can raise. As a result, famous self-made men such as Rockefeller are not as well-recognized as they were in the past –and sometimes even criticized. So we can wonder if the â€Å"American Dream† is still an example to follow or a goal to reach for the majority of American people.

Response Paper to “Against School” by John Gato

Against School Response In â€Å"Against School,† John Gato explains that there’s something wrong with the education system along with the process of schooling. In my response, I understand where he’s coming from. I’ve been contemplating myself as to how my twelve years of education had been. I personally agree to his arguments against the education system and public education. I believe what Gato is saying that the educational system and schooling has an issue involving the control and predictability of children.First, Gato contemplates about schooling and the boredom involved. I agree that, in his view, there’s boredom involved in teaching. He states that during his time teaching, he asked the teachers why they felt bored, and they put the blame on the children. However, I don’t believe this one bit. I believe that individuals who take responsibility are not to be solely blamed. I think everyone involved in this kind of situation share the responsibilities for who’s bored.In this situation, it’s possible to say both the students and teachers are to blame for boredom, and no one is solely to take responsibility for that. From his standpoint, Gato believes that the education system controls the will of students. According to Gato, the true intentions of mandatory education are to turn children into servants. Gato refers to Alexander Inglis’s view of mandatory education. Within these concepts are six basic functions, and most of these functions are what control is in the education system.A few functions, for example, are the diagnostic and directive functions and the differentiating function. Respectively, one function states that the school evaluates each student’s â€Å"proper social roles† by logging evidence into cumulative records known as your â€Å"permanent record† while in the other function, children are sorted to each role after evaluation and trained in a systematic m anner. Another thing to point out is the predictability involved with the system of education.Alexander Inglis’s view of mandatory education has a basic function that represents this predictability. According to Inglis, this basic function of modern schooling is considered the integrating function, which intends to make children as the same as possible. I believe this can relate to the school uniforms that some schools still do. Personally, I don’t prefer to be as â€Å"alike† because I believe that everyone is naturally different in their wn way, so restricting the freedom for people with coerced conformity wouldn’t be entirely human. To recap, Gato focuses on the system of education and schooling involving with the controla and predictability of children that are being taught. I thought that going to schools meant that I would have to be educated in a social, organized way, but he gave me a perspective that I have not put a lot of thought into. Children are neither to blame nor the teachers. Sometimes the system of education is not what people think it is.