Analysis of Factors Influencing Attrition in It Sector Essay Example for Free

Analysis of Factors Influencing Attrition in It Sector Essay With the economy of India booming at an all time high despite the impact of recession, it is an employee’s market. A large number of multiple jobs are being circulated in organizations and across industries, employees take little time to ponder and leave for greener pastures. In the event the employee feels dissatisfied with his job content, colleagues, boss or a general feeling of discontentment, disillusionment or disappointment creeps in him, considering present market conditions he need not think twice but can easily chucks for good. But obviously it is not good for the employers. Organizations spend a major buck in inducting an employee, beginning from the recruitment process to his internalization in the organization. After reaping rich benefits in the organization in terms of learning, growth, development and availing every possible opportunity in that time span he feels he should go. The HR department is left in the hanging as how to fill in the gap between the demand and supply in terms of human resources. But it helps organizations understand why at all attrition takes place. Why at all at the first place did the idea for leaving come in the mind of the employee. And if at all it came, then why the organization was not pro-active enough to have sensed his dissatisfaction. Furthermore why was it not well equipped to have stopped him from leaving? The entire cycle is vicious. Normally no one welcomes change unless it is forced to be applied. Similarly when an employee joins the organization, he really has no intension of leaving. Circumstances and conditions arise which make him think towards cutting ties. If negative conditions continue to exist then he is confirmed to leave. We all know people do crib about money, not good perks and facilities but if they are happy they stay for the sake of that happiness. People also join organizations for their need for socialization. When they form friends at their work stations; they look forward coming to office every morning. People leave because of boredom and disenchantment from everything. They find no other recluse other than leaving towards somewhere else.

Dissertation on Teamwork and Customer Service Quality Essay Example for Free

Dissertation on Teamwork and Customer Service Quality Essay 1.0 INTRODUCTION This chapter includes the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, and scope of the study, significance of the study, limitations of the study and operational definition of terms. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Phil (2002) team working is a group of people who work together towards a shared and meaningful outcomes in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible. He added that a real team does not just happen but an organization has to work at it, create it, maintain and sustain it for the development and provision of quality standards and expectations to the customers. Organizations need teamwork in order to promote innovation and synergy, improve their goal achievement, promote professional development of team members, achieve time reduction targets and get cross-boundary ownership of tasks and problems. Ronald (2004) argues that customer service depends on the expectations of the individual customer. However, all attempts to define customer service tend to focus on the relationships at the buyer/seller interface. He further added that to achieve the customer service levels expected, an organization need to ensure that for each of these two categories: the systems, measurements and the people are in place to respond to each customer group or market. Juran (2000) says that quality is the degree of excellence that is fitness for the purpose. It can also mean the degree in which customer requirements are met. Quality is built at every stage and teams solve problems where everyone is responsible for the quality of the product. A customer is a person or an organization that buys goods or services from the shop, business, etc on a regular basis. Woods et al (2001) assert that customer service quality as the satisfaction of the agreed customer requirements. This means that the total customer service quality is the mobilization of the whole organization to achieve quality, continuously and economically. National curriculum Development Centre is an arm of the Ministry of Education and sports responsible for the Inter-alia development of curricula and related materials for various levels of education. The National curriculum Development Centre was established by NCDC act chapter 135, laws of Uganda Revised Edition 2000 whose history is decree No 7 of 1973. Baale(2010) a curriculum specialist in math for secondary at NCDC, team working is very crucial in the development and review of curriculum that result into the satisfaction of parents, stakeholders, learners, teachers and the general public. He emphasized that team work cannot be avoided when developing curriculum as it includes a panel composed of members from different areas such as subject specialists, practicing teachers, teachers associations, UNEB representative, ESA representative, teacher trainers especially from some Universities and employers or parents. Team work comes when a subject curriculum is being developed. In this case a panel of 18 members from various institutions sits and develops the curriculum. Baseline survey is conducted from parents, teachers and sometimes from learners which result into child based curriculum. Then pilot study of selected teachers from few schools is done and cluster meetings held by teachers who carried out pilot study. The education system preparation trains all teachers about the developed curriculum and NCDC specifies instructional materials to the ministry of education that are purchased and sent to schools where implementation starts. In a period of 5- 10 years the developed curriculum is supposed to be reviewed. Enyutu (2005) stated that available test results from a wide variety of sources had demonstrated prior to the curriculum review that a majority of Ugandan children entering primary school were failing to achieve adequate literacy and numeric standards. Dropout rates were high with only 22% of the 1997 P1 cohort progressing through to P7 in 2003. NAPE test results in 2003 indicated that only approximately 20% of P6 students achieved basic standards of literacy. The combination of these two pieces of information suggested that of the 1997 P1 entry cohort, only 4-5% achieved basic literacy. NAPE testing also revealed very large and unacceptable regional differentials particularly between Kampala and the north of Uganda. Bearing in mind the enormous efforts and the substantial investments in primary education made by the government of Uganda with strong support from its development partners over the past 10 -15 years, these outcomes were disappointing. In all cases the proposals in these related areas have been discussed with senior staff in the Ministry of education and sports departments concerned and with the agencies and development partners directly involved in primary education in Uganda and there has been a very large measure of agreement on the way ahead. Nevertheless, the primary review team did conclude that there were significant flaws in the current primary curriculum and a failure to provide both sufficient time and an adequate syllabus concentration on the achievement of early literacy and numeracy in lower primary grades was by far the most important problem that needed to be addressed. Failure to achieve basic literacy and numeracy in any language in lower primary grades inevitably has a devastating impact on educational quality and student performance in all other subjects. Failure to achieve early literacy was clearly the issue of greatest concern to parents and the wider community that emerged from the primary curriculum review research. It was also perceived to be one of the major causes of drop- outs. National Curriculum Development Centre seems to be using teamwork when executing its functions. It is against this ground that the researcher will investigate how teamwork at NCDC meets customer requirements. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Many organizations are focusing on teamwork as a measure to improve the quality of their services delivered through brainstorming, innovation and creativity. Amidst these efforts results are not achieved due to poor coordination, lack of commitment by top management and limited funds. To address these short comings of teamwork visa-a-vie customer service quality in non profit making institutions one needs to access the level of involvement of all stakeholders in order to achieve overall performance levels (Tony 2005). NAPE (2003) report shows poor performance of children in literacy and numeracy skills in either local languages or in English due to insufficient orientation, training and support provided to teachers before the implementation of the curriculum. School supervision by the district inspectorate outside urban areas was almost everywhere insufficient to ensure good school management, the effective delivery of curriculum and regular teacher attendance. Therefore it is the interest of the researcher to know whether customer service quality is achieved through teamwork. 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purpose of the study will be to examine the impact of team work on customer service quality using National Curriculum Development Centre located at Kyambogo as a case study. 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: The research objectives will be: i. To find out the benefits of using team work in organizations ii. To examine the appropriate team work techniques used in organizations to achieve customer service quality iii. To establish the level of customer service quality at National curriculum Development Centre 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS i. Are there benefits of team work gained by National curriculum Development Centre? ii. What team work techniques does National curriculum Development Centre use to achieve customer service quality? iii. What is the level of customer service quality at National curriculum Development Centre? 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of the study will cover the subject, time, geographical and sample scope. 1.6.1 The subject Scope: The research will be limited to the impact of team work on one hand as the independent variable and customer service quality as the dependent variable. It will also focus on the achievements of team work at NCDC towards the development of curriculum for educational institutions in the country. 1.6.2 The Geographical Scope: The study will be carried out at National Curriculum Development Centre which is located at Kyambogo near Banda Trading centre off Kampala-Jinja road. NCDC will be an ideal case study because its core values include Respect and Team work, availability of well documented data, commitment to quality and Excellence. 1.6.3 The Time Scope The study will consider an operational time frame of a period of 2 years i.e. from the year 2010 to date. 1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: The study is expected to be beneficial in the following ways: i. The study guides planners and policy makers in making factual decisions on serving customers which ensures that all the customers, shareholders and management needs are met satisfactorily. ii. To the academicians, this research gives recommendations for future research and may act as a reference for the entire world regarding contributions of team work on performance of organizations. iii. The study helps the government and customers to identify how team working at NCDC develop curriculum that is relevant to the future career of the learners. 1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS: Team work is working together towards a shared and meaningful out come in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible. Customer service is the satisfaction of agreed customer requirements. Quality is the degree of excellence that is the extent to which something is fit for its purpose. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of what other people have said about the researched problem. The researcher therefore reviews some of the related literature for the better insight of the problem. The chapter includes definition of key terms, impact of team work on customer service quality, benefits of team work in organizations, team work techniques and the level of customer service quality. 2.1 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Team work is a group of people who work together towards a shared and meaningful out come in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible Phil (2002) .He added that real team does not just happen but an organization has to work at it, create it, maintain and sustain it for the development and provision of quality standards and expectations to customers. Ronald (2004) argues that customer service depends on the expectations of each individual customer. However, all attempts to define customer service tend to focus on the relationships at the buyer/seller interface. He further added that to achieve customer service levels expected an organization need to ensure that for each of these categories; the systems, measurement and people are in place to respond to each customer group or market. Michael (1999) stated quality as satisfying customers’ and stakeholders’ needs by means of sufficient mutually agreed deliverables that ,meet all the agreed requirements and specifications every time, on time and in affordable manner. It can also mean meeting the requirements of the deliverables that satisfy the needs which have been identified and agreed upon by customers, stakeholders and contractors. 2.2 IMPACT OF TEAM WORK ON CUSTOMER SERVICE QUALITY According to Baguley (2002), team work has a great impact on customer service quality. He raised the following points; Efficiency: Team working is important if people are to continue to be efficient members of the organization. Efficiency is whereby employee’s performance is improved up to the standards of the organizational goals. Team working helps employees to achieve maximum efficiency in their current jobs. It also helps the organization to meet its targets for developing and keeping people with the right skills to meet future needs. It applies to all levels of employees in an organization that is the strategic level, tactical level and operational level. Improved customer service: Team working involves different members of the organization working together and combining their individual skills and abilities to come up with something that is either a product or a service that will be highly accepted by the customers (Baguley, 2002). Innovation and Creativity: Sometimes teams of employees work together to develop new products or services through contributing and combining their different ideas and skills. This helps organizations to have new services for customers that eventually improve on its performance and create and sustain customers (Baguley, 2002). Allan Woods et al (2001) stated that team working requires meetings of teams, sections or departments to understand clearly who does what and ensure reliability which is the single most important aspect of delivering outstanding customer service. The teams organize themselves to take the advantage of the individual skills team members bring with them, work together as a group in ways that bring out the best results and every member of the team must be accountable to each other for the success of the whole team. Team working makes it possible to define and insist upon the maintenance of the standards on behalf of the customers and clients as most of the times customers do not specify their needs by referring to the teams’ attitudes or reliability standards but complain bitterly when the team falls below their perceived standards. Michiel and Harold (1997) observed that cross functional teams are used in new product development to shorten development cycle times, improve quality and reduce development costs. These goals are attained because the functional areas perform their tasks in groups rather than each functional area performing its task and passing the project off to the next functional area and the key functional groups usually design engineering, manufacturing, quality assurance, purchasing and marketing work on the new product and development simultaneously. Baguley (2002) said that team working involves integrating individual skills like problem solving, communication, inter personal skills, decision-making and functional skills for the desired out comes. He further added that a good executive team provides a model for everybody in the organization that encourages cooperation and commonality of purpose at all levels of the organization. An assembly team, erection team, machine shop team add value by creating tangible out comes or products which are specific and clearly defined by others and such products meet the expectations of customers. Bradfield et al (1998) are of the view that direct competition is one of the factors that make companies form development teams. They further stated that to be effective, production has to provide a means by which an organization can focus its resources to meet the needs of their chosen customers efficiently. First it is important to know where you are starting from, second is the decision on where you wish to go in future and the outcome should be a commitment by the organization to a deliberate policy on which customers to serve with products or offerings. Woods et al (2001) further observed that the essence of team working skills lies in good communication and open approach to people and ideas and that all communication skills should be used in promoting good customer service. They also noted that for any organization to meet the needs of customers there is need for team work to obtain feedback from customers and colleagues (both within and outside the organization) as well as about the need to establish planning cycles. Each cycle of planning and doing should therefore reduce the amount of uncertainties being faced and obtain feedback not simply from planning but by doing. Adair (1990) argues that innovation calls for a special form of creativity which he called team creativity. He said that all organizations are teams or at least they are potentially so. For effective production and marketing of goods and services these days, delivery on time, at the required quality and at a competitive price calls for a high performance team work. But to improve these existing products or to develop new products and services requires a different order of teamwork (team creativity). Organizations that practice team creativity will survive and prosper while those that do not will decline and disappear. All employees need to participate as each person at work has approximately 10,000 million brain cells, together with a full range of mental faculties, analyzing, synthesizing and valuing abilities. In all of us these processes can take place intentionally on a conscious plane of thought and also less intentionally in our un conscious minds, giving us insights, intuitions, brain waves, gut feelings, intimations and the occasional pear of a genuinely new idea. As a general principle people with a â€Å"hands- on† involvement in any product or service providing they have a modicum of interest in their work will tend to have new ideas for doing it better. The important thing from the motivational perspective is the feeling of being really part of the enterprise with a full share of responsibility in developing the quality of the product or service. Developing a quality team takes hard work because development of team skills, time and patience is not something you can decide to have one day, then achieve overnight. The entire organization is part of the same team working toward meeting the requirements of its customers. Whether management, front line or behind the scenes employees, everyones work contributes to the end result. There are also specific work unit teams (departmental) with specific goals and assignments. Teams working together can and should be responsible for identifying problems not previously recognized; finding the root causes of problems; suggesting who should work on problems; solving manpower assignments and scheduling improvements; and providing communication throughout the organization. To be effective, teams in the workplace must develop standards and skills, and then implement ongoing training and coaching to ensure they are put into practice (Anand, 1997).

Examining the Core Concepts of Forensic Nursing

Examining the Core Concepts of Forensic Nursing Nursing is a profession which works on the core concepts of empathy, communication, caring, trust, advocacy, and leadership. Every area of nursing uses these concepts and beyond to provide care to clients at times when they need it the most. Forensic Nursing too uses these concepts; however, it places more concentration on scientific objectivity rather than patient support. This is not to say, that they to provide patient support, but it is the practice that by being objective in evidence collection, they ensure successful results in trauma investigations. Forensic Nursing is defined as the application of forensics with the biopsychosocial interventions of the registered nurse in the scientific investigation and treatment of trauma and/or death related medical-legal issues (Wecht, C.H., Rago, J.T., 2006). It used to be that forensic medical interventions including lifesaving interventions were withheld until a Forensic medical examiner (FME) until they arrived to the emergency department and had collected evidence (Pyrek, K., 2006). Often times, clients were even transferred to other cities which offered forensic clinical services, and even then no interventions could be provided so as not to disturb the forensic evidence (Pyrek, k., 2006). However, If a Forensic Nurse Examiner (FNE) is available at the clinical site, they are able to secure the important forensic evidence requiring timely recovery and preservation without withholding medical interventions, i.e. in sexual assault cases (pyrek, K. 2006). It was in 1991 that the American Society of Forensic Nurses first to recognized and accepted Forensic Nursing as a specialty (Bader, D.M, Gabriel, L.S.,). Then in 1992, 72 primary sexual assault nurse examiners formed the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) (International Association of Forensic Nurses, 2006). The aim of the IAFN was to promote the education of forensic nurses. In 1997 the IAFN went on to develop the Forensic Nursing Code of Ethics and the Scope and Standards of Nursing Practice (Bader, D.M, Gabriel, L.S., 2009). Forensic Nursing is a specialty that is still new and needs to continue developing so forensic nurses can provide the appropriate responses in trauma cases, provide a more holistic care to their clients, and advocate in an unbiased and scientifically objective manner. Where it has been that it is the emergency nurses who have been the first to come in contact with clients involved in trauma cases, emergency nurses are trained in the legal complexities that are characteristic of trauma cases, and who may not consult with the hospital legal team when such cases are presented, before going ahead and providing the necessary interventions that the client needs resulting in loss of critical evidence (pyrek, k., 2006). Forensic nurses can provide appropriate health care response in the event that they are presented with either a victim or a perpetrator of a traumatic case. They are trained in identifying injuries, their patterns, documenting statements and injuries through written and photographic accounts, and collecting and preserving physical evidence. Linda McCracken in the forensic nurses states that health care and the law often become enmeshed during critical moments when patient care supersedes the concern for social justice. (Pyrek, K., 2006). Most nurses and institutions are not trained to recognize the importance of physical evidence, so in the process of providing care to the patient, key physical evidence may be lost i.e. through discardment of victims clothing, or cleansing of the wounds. When most trauma cases are presented to the Emergency department, the Emergency nurse is most often the first person to see and talk to the patient, the first to know the situation, first to deal with the family, first to deal with the patient property, and as result first to deal with the specimen and evidence (pyrek, K., 2006). In these situations, the evidence and the manner and the time in which they are collected, saved, and documented can have an impact on the turn out in the analysis and legal proceedings (Ledray, L., 2010). Forensic nurses provide a more holistic care to their clients by including the forensic aspect within their care plan (Pyrek, k., 2006). A forensic nurse has many of the same role as any other registered nurse such as patient advocacy, however, they also have to fulfill they also work closely with the legal system, so they are active members of the investigation, are liaisons for law enforcement and facility staff, they identify, collect, and preserve the evidence, provide accurate documentation, and act as expert witnesses in courts (Bader, D.M., Gabriel, L.S., 2009). The forensic nurse practice models include sociology, criminology, clinical and criminal investigation, and education (Hammer, R.M., Pagliaro, E.M., 2006). The forensic nurse besides being an advocate for the client, is an advocate for truth and justice, and The first priority of a forensic nurse is to ensure the safety of the living victim and the dead victims body, collecting and preserving evidence from the body, performing a forensic examination with the intention of identifying and collecting evidence that may have transferred from the victim, collect evidence from without bias and without causing physical and psychological stress to the living or dead victim, and documenting all evidence (Bader, D.M., Gabriel, L.S., 2009). They are also responsible for conducting interviews on the victim, suspected victimizer, convicted victimizer; family, friends, and witnesses (Bader, D.M., Gabriel, L.S., 2009).They have to pay attention to collect any physical evidence i.e. dirt, and paint c hips, biological evidence i.e. saliva, and insects, and physical material i.e. fabric (Bader, D.M., Gabriel, L.S., 2009). Lastly the documentation which is perhaps the most important piece of evidence in an investigation should be accurate, descriptive, and without personal judgements. Forensic nurses have to be unbiased and scientifically objective. Forensic nurses dont come only in contact with victims of violence, but also with the victimizers. While many nurses when faced with a suspect or accused of a crime may be more concentrated on finding out why the suspected or accused perpetrator may have committed the act. While the question may be important, forgetting to concentrate on the evidence can be perilous. As forensic nurses they need to concentrate on what they are seeing, and what needs to be collected for the purposes of analysis. According to Janet Baber, MSN, FN, in the beginning forensic nursing was based on helping people in needNow forensic nursing has evolved to where we must compartmentalize our desire to nurture, console any nurse would do that because caring for and protecting human being is instinctive (pyrek, K., 2006). The advocacy component is not unique to forensic nursingthe forensic nurse cannot be get overtly involved in advocacy. This n urse must stay within an objective, scientific framework, because if a nurse allows advocacy to supersede concern about the evidence, he or she will become diverted from the purpose of forensic nursing (Pyrek, K., P. 29, 2006). Concentrating on the evidence will help more in uncovering the truth of the crime and revering justice than being embroiled in emotions of the case and the client. This is what will help the forensic nurse when it comes time for them to provide the evidence in court, where they are going to have prove that they were objective in their evidence collection and that they were not deterred and entangled in the circumstance of the case. In the book forensic nurse, Sharon Crowley, RN, MN, and California forensic examiner says that, What I do as a forensic nurse is going to be dissected in a court, or in a crime lab. Forensic nursing practice is mandated by science, and I dont have a problem with that because I see my advocacy come through science (Pyrek, K., P. 30, 2006). The reason behind the origin of forensic nursing was that forensic pathologists believed that pertinent legal questions were not being addressed, and inspite of resistance the specialty has grown significantly (Hammer, R.M., Pagliaro, E.M., 2006). As forensic nursing continues to grow, there will have to be increased interprofessional collaboration, communication, and sharing of information and knowledge to achieve justice. Currently, there are not many hospitals, clinics, if any, that have a forensic nurse in place, because not many institutions believe that it is necessary to have them, not to mention there is already a poor patient to nurse already. Some challenges that the specialty will face will probably include job opportunities, funding, education and training, professional development mandates, and continuing acknowledgment of importance and respect from other health care colleagues (Pyrek, K., 2006). Forensic nurses have to be self-directed, and be confident in their abili ties. I have been interested in forensic science for a long time, and took a full year course at University of Toronto as an elective about 3 years ago. We were introduced to different areas of forensics, but forensic nursing was not one of them. It was very interesting to research this topic and learn about the roles of forensic nurses. Having had done a placement in long term care, I have heard of many of elder abuse, and realize that the issue is probably not getting the attention it deserves. I like that forensic nurses extend the roles of registered nurses to include the forensic aspect in their care. I realize that it would be very challenging to pursue a career as a forensic nurse, and hope that it will continue to grow. Since its establishment, forensic nursing has gained a lot of attention, and continues to grow. A Forensic Nurse is important because they can provide an appropriate response in trauma cases, the appropriate response being, collecting, preserving and documenting the evidence. A Forensic nurses extends the role of a registered nurse by including the forensic aspect in their care plan. While as nurses we are trained to provide caring for our client is one of our primarily responsibility, in forensic nursing, the evidence and documentation take the priority because without them, it is hard to prove legitimacy in court cases. Lastly, they fufill their roles in a manner that is unbiased and scientifically objective. The whole purpose of forensic nurses is to aid their law enforcement and forensic science colleagues in analyzing the evidence, and to do that, it must be important that they take out their emotions about the victim, victimizer, and case, to collect what they see without bias and utmost objectivity to ensure justice. Forensic nursing is a speciality that face many challenges in its growth mainly in terms of job opportunities, especially in todays clients where institutions hardly are able to keep a good nurse to client ratio, it will probably be hard to establish the need for forensic nurses, however, until there is a high profile case that increases concentration on forensic nursing, they will just have to be more self-directed in their career (pyrek, K., 2006).

American-made Aliens Essay -- essays research papers fc

A recent, nation wide poll shows that 45 percent of Americans today believe Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's) have visited Earth in some form (Rhodes 18). The same poll taken in the 1950's shows that under four percent of the US people believed aliens even exist. What could have caused the American people to go from under four percent believing in the existence of UFO's in the 1950's, to almost half today? This question is easily answered when one opens a TV guide or checks the newspaper when deciding what movie to see on a Friday night. With the mass media hype, the ever-increasing movie production, and the millions spent on new merchandise every year, it is not hard to see how so many Americans today have been fooled into believing Aliens exist. Some time during the first week of July 1947, a local New Mexico rancher, Mac Brazel, was on his way out to check his sheep after a long, hard rain and lightning storm the night before. On his way out to the pasture, he noticed a large amount of unusual debris. As he looked closer, he noticed there was a long gouge several hundred feet in the ground with strange, unrecognizable debris all over the area (Missler 54). Brazel gathered a few of the pieces, took them to his neighbors to ask them what they thought it might be, and eventually decided to drive into Roswell, the local town, and show the pieces to the sheriff. The sheriff, George Wilcox, contacted the Roswell Army air field, and began investigating the matter. It wasn't long after, when the military stepped in, sealed off the area for a few days, and gathered all the debris, flying it to a different air field in Dayton, Ohio. Because of the way the military had covered up the findings, and the secrecy involved, it wasn't long before the press got a hold of the incident, and took off with it. Before a week had passed, almost all the locals of that Roswell town were believing that an alien space craft had crash landed in Mac Brazel's pasture, and that the government was stepping in to cover it up. Hundreds of people began stepping forward, claiming that they saw the wreckage, and that they believed themselves that it was the remains of a crashed alien space craft. Because of how hard the Air Force tried to convince the people it was nothing more than a weather balloon that had crash landed due t... ...int that even if these aliens are from another planet, they would still be under our laws of physics. The fact that so many of the reported sightings break our laws of physics, supports the conclusion that the sightings may be UFO's, but have nothing to do with aliens space crafts, or aliens period. Whether or not aliens do exist far, far away, Americans should realize the chance that they have or are currently visiting our planet are nearly impossible, and hasn't been close to proven in any way. This is something the media and pro-alien activists have worked hard at getting us all to believe in. Works Cited Easterbrook, Greg. (1989, February) "Anybody Out There?" Newsday Reprinted in 1998 SIRS Missler, Chuch, and Mark Eastman. Alien Encounters. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: Koinonia House, 1997 Rhoded, Ron. Alien Obsession. Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 1998 "Space Invaders!" The Kansas City Star. [1997, June] reprinted in 1998 SIRS Unnatural Museum Hall of UFO Mysteries. "Hall of UFO Mysteries. [online] Available: http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/ufo.htm

The Perfect Plan :: Personal Narrative College Essays

The Perfect Plan I had the perfect plan when it came to college. All throughout my childhood I had dreamed about playing soccer at the college level, and rooming with someone I knew well. It was important to me, that I make sure whatever decision I made, I was the happiest I could possibly be. It was now all coming into place, or so I thought. The only thing that I had to wait for was the acceptance letter. Before I get too ahead of myself though, let me explain. I had just finished a weekend at a premier soccer college showcase. College coaches from everywhere came to see the best of the best play. I was there, showing off my skills for all to see. I only wanted one coach to recognize me, and sure enough he did. The Penn State Altoona soccer coach came up to me after I had scored the game-winning goal, and told me if I wanted to play for him, I could. To make matters even better, my best friend told me she wanted to attend Penn State Altoona too. It was perfect. All my worries about leaving home, my family, and my boyfriend seemed to be pushed to the back of my mind. I wouldn’t be alone in college, and that‘s all that mattered. My biggest fear was being a long distance away from home, and I thought that by having my best friend there, I wouldn’t miss the things at home so much. I thought I would keep myself busy with sports and my college material, and I could go back to my dorm where my best friend would always be. I wouldn’t have time to worry about my home life, the life I wasn‘t convinced I was ready to leave behind. Perhaps I should explain to you why I was going to room with my best friend. She had been living at my house for six months because her house was being built, and she didn’t have anywhere to stay. So we spent six months of our lives together, sharing everything. We became inseparable, and truly acted like sisters. I thought I would be happy if we roomed together. This is why rooming with her became so exciting to me. We had already done that, and it didn’t seem like a problem at my house. We received our acceptance letters, and quickly replied stating we wanted to be roommates with each other.

The Wisconsin Graduation Test - A Good Idea :: essays papers

The Wisconsin Graduation Test - A Good Idea What is a test? The Webster’s New American Dictionary defines a test as â€Å"a critical examination or evaluation†. The World Book 2000 Encyclopedia defines testing as â€Å"an attempt to measure a person’s knowledge, intelligence, or other characteristics in a systematic way†. The Wisconsin 2004 freshmen will have to take a graduation test in order to graduate their senior year. They have four chances to pass the graduation examination. This paper will explain how the current requirements for graduating compare to the graduation standardized test. Included are the obstacles that are involved with implementing the test, group and individual opinions concerning the graduation test, and a recent survey of people involved with the test. The graduation requirements at most high schools are similar to the graduation test standards in many content areas. To graduate, a student needs to complete four credits of English, three credits of social studies, two credits of mathematics, and two credits of science. (Misky) The four credits of English include instruction in written and oral communication, grammar and usage of the English language, and literature. (Misky) This is similar to the test, which measures reading, literature, writing, language, media and technology, and research and inquiry. (Wisconsin) The three credits of Social Studies cover instruction in state and local government. (Misky) The test includes geography, history, politics, economics, and behavioral sciences. (Wisconsin) The two credits of math provide instruction in the properties, processes, and symbols of arithmetic, and elements of algebra, geometry, and statistics. (Misky) The test contains mathematical processes, number operations and relations hips, measurement, geometry, statistics and probability, and algebraic relationships. (Wisconsin) The two credits of science incorporate Physical science and Life science. (Misky) The test provides science connections, nature of science, science inquiry, Physical science, Earth and Space science, Life and Environmental science, science applications, and science in personal and social perspectives. (Wisconsin) In most cases the categories are equivalent with each other. The categories that fall short will just have to be propelled or altered to fit the test. The decision to have a graduation test or not met with a great deal of resistance. One of the largest problems was the parents’ perspective on the test. The parents didn’t want their kids to take the test because of the high risk of failure. Another problem group was the legislators.

Drug Abuse Essay

1.0 Topic and Chosen aspect Drug abuse among teenagers is the chosen aspect for this report. Drug abuse is defined as the excessive use of drugs without medicine justification. It is reported that 50% of teenagers have abused a drug of some kind (Teendrugrehabs n.d.). 1.1 Critical evaluation of findings One of the main factors of drug abuse among teenagers is due to peer pressure. Based on statistics 80% of teenagers are affected by peer pressure (Wallace 2011). Wanting to be accepted by their peers, they are willing to do anything. Their desire to be socially accepted will cause them to be influence by their peers. Thus, this will lead them to the abuse of drugs to make things more exciting and not left out. Besides that, it is very hard to say â€Å"NO!† to their peers. Furthermore, another reason for teenagers to be easily involved in drug abuse is due to the easy access to drugs. 54% of the students of private high schools reported that drugs are accessible in their schools while 61% of the public high school students state that their schools are â€Å"drug-infested† (Pahuriray 2012). As drugs can be easily obtained everywhere. 2.0 Processes Various steps were undertaken to attain the sources needed for the report. However, a lot of the sources from the internet is too vague and the statistics are already outdated.