College Interview Essay

Most college interview questions are meant to help you and the interviewer find out if the college is a good match for you. Rarely will you get a question that puts you on the spot or tries to make you feel stupid. Remember, the college is trying to make a good impression too. Use the interview to show off your personality in ways that aren’t possible on the application. 1. Tell me about yourself. Im Romualda Heredia who really love silence place. Because of that people called me a very quiet person. That’s make me unique because of my silence,people got make mistakes in judging me. They think that I can’t do that and can’t do this but one day they are often surprise of my excellency. So im a typical mysterious person. This question seems easier than it is. How do you reduce your whole life to a few sentences? And it’s hard to avoid commonplace answers like â€Å"I’m friendly† or â€Å"I’m a good student. † Of course you want to demonstrate that you’re friendly and studious, but try also to say something memorable here that really makes you different from other college applicants. Can you hold your breath longer than anyone in your school? Do you have a huge collection of Pez dispensers? Do you have unusual cravings for sushi? â€Å"Tell me about yourself. † It seems like such an easy question. In some ways, it is. After all, if there’s one subject you truly know something about, it’s yourself. The challenge, however, is that knowing yourself and articulating your identity in a few sentences are very different things. Before setting foot in the interview room, make sure you put some thought into what it is that makes you unique. Certain characteristics are desirable, but they are not unique. The majority of students applying to selective colleges can make claims such as these: â€Å"I’m hard working. † â€Å"I’m responsible. † â€Å"I’m friendly. † â€Å"I’m a good student. † â€Å"I’m loyal. † Granted, all of these answers point to important and positive character traits. Of course colleges want students who are hard working, responsible, and friendly. That’s a no-brainer. And ideally your application and interview answers will convey the fact that you are a friendly and hard-working student. These answers, however, are all predictable. Nearly every applicant could give the same answers. If we go back to the initial question — â€Å"Tell me about yourself† — we need to recognize that the answers any applicant can give do not successfully define what characteristics make you special. The interview is your best opportunity to convey your unique personality and passions, so you want to answer questions in ways that show that you are you, not a clone of a thousand other applicants. So, when asked to tell about yourself, don’t spend too much time on the predictable answers. Show the interviewer who you are. What are your passions? My passion are writing and reading novels. I like those two because it comforts me a lot whenever im alone. What are your quirks? My quirks are Why do your friends really like you? They like me when I told them funny quote or stories in serious manner. They are always convinced of my seriouseness but in the end,,it is something that makes them laugh . What makes you laugh? I laugh when nobody laugh at my jokes. I don’t know why but im used to it. What makes you angry? Im angy most of the time when I met some irritating and annoying person. I don’t like those kind of person because its not in my attitude. Did you teach your dog to play the piano? Do you make a killer wild strawberry pie? Do you do your best thinking when on a 100-mile bike ride? Do you read books late at night with a flashlight? Do you have unusual cravings for oysters? Have you ever successfully started a fire with sticks and a shoelace? Were you ever sprayed by a skunk taking out the compost in the evening? You are almost guaranteed to be asked to tell about yourself, and your interviewer truly is interested in getting to know you. Your answers need to take the question seriously and you need to answer sincerely, but make sure you are actually painting a colorful and detailed portrait of yourself, not a simple line sketch. Be specific when answering this, and show that you’ve done your research. Also, avoid answers like â€Å"I want to make a lot of money† or â€Å"Graduates of your college get good job placement. † You want to highlight your intellectual interests, not your materialistic desires. What specifically about the college distinguishes it from other schools you’re considering? 2†³Why are you interested in our college? † Like many of the most common interview questions, this one seems like a no-brainer. After all, if you are interviewing at a school, you have presumably done some research and know why you are interested in the place. Nevertheless, some answers to this question are better than others. Your answer should show that you have specific and admirable reasons for attending the college. The following answers are not likely to impress your interviewer: â€Å"Your college is prestigious. † â€Å"I’ll make lots of money with a degree from your college. † â€Å"All my friends are going to your college. † â€Å"Your college is convenient and close to home. † â€Å"My counselor told me to apply. † â€Å"You’re my safetly school. † The interviewer is hoping that you are interested in the college for reasons other than peer pressure or convenience. Similarly, if you say you applied entirely because of a parent or counselor’s recommendation, you’ll be suggesting that you lack initiative and have few thoughts of your own. When it comes to prestige and earning potential, the issue is a bit more fuzzy. After all, name recognition and your future salary are both important. The interviewer most likely is hoping that you find the college prestigious. That said, you don’t want to come across as someone who is more concerned with material gain and prestige than with pursuing your passions and getting a high quality education. Many students choose a college based on sports. If you love nothing more than playing soccer, you’re likely to look at colleges that have strong soccer teams. During the interview, however, keep in mind that students who are interested in nothing except sports often fail to graduate. Any answer you give about athletics should be balanced with academics. What you most need to do when answering this question is show the interviewer that you know the college’s distinctive features well. Don’t simply say that you want to go to the college to get a good education. Be specific. Let the interviewer know that you were drawn to the college’s innovative first-year program, its emphasis on experiential learning, its Honors Program, or its international focus. Also feel free to mention the school’s wonderful hiking trails, its quirky traditions, or its amazing lilacs. Whatever you say, be specific. Before you set foot in the interview room, make sure you have done your research and identified several features of the college that you find particularly appealing, and make sure at least one of those features is academic in nature. 3. What can I tell you about our college? You can almost guarantee that your interviewer will provide an opportunity for you to ask questions. Make sure you have some, and make sure your questions are thoughtful and specific to the particular college. Avoid questions like â€Å"when is the application deadline? † or â€Å"how many majors do you have? † This information is both uninteresting and readily available on the school’s webpage. Come up with some probing and focused questions: â€Å"What would graduates of your college say was the most valuable thing about their four years here? † â€Å"I read that you offer a major in interdisciplinary studies. Could you tell me more about that? † 4. Who in your life has most influenced you? There are other variations of this question: Who’s your hero? What historical or fictional character would you most like to be like? This can be an awkward question if you haven’t thought about it, so spend a few minutes considering how you would answer. Identify a few real, historical, and fictional characters you admire, and be prepared to articulate WHY you admire them. Myself — In truth, you probably are the person who is most responsible for your success. You may, in fact, be self-reliant with no real heroes. However, if you answer this question with yourself you will sound self-absorbed and selfish. Colleges want to admit students who help each other out and work as a community. They don’t want solitary egotists. A Friend — For good or bad, your close friends have a huge influence on your decisions and behavior. Whatever your answer, bring the influential person to life for your interviewer. Avoid vague generalities. Provide colorful, entertaining, and specific examples of how the person has influenced you. 5. Why do you want to major in ______________ ? Realize that you don’t need to have decided upon a major when you apply to college, and your interviewer will not be disappointed if you say you have many interests and you need to take more classes before choosing a major. However, if you have identified a potential major, be prepared to explain why. Avoid saying that you want to major in something because you’ll make a lot of money — your passion for a subject will make you a good college student, not your greed. Read more tips on this question†¦ Make sure you are ready to explain why you are interested in a particular field. What experiences or high school courses piqued your interest? At some large universities it is possible that you will need to pick a field of study when you apply. For example, some of the California public universities are trying to balance enrollments within different programs. And if you are applying to a business or engineering school within a larger university, you will often need a specialized application for that school. 6†³Tell me about a challenge that you overcame. † The question isn’t a difficult one as long as you’ve put a couple of minutes of thought into it before your interview. The main danger with the question is being unable to think of an appropriate challenge during the interview. Realize that you can draw from many different kinds of â€Å"challenges† when you answer this question. You don’t need to have lived a life of adversity or oppression to have a meaningful challenge to discuss. So your first step is to figure out what challenge you want to share with your interviewer. You would be wise to shy away from anything that is too personal — you don’t want your interviewer to feel uncomfortable. But an appropriate challenge can come in many forms: An academic challenge — Perhaps you found chemistry or English particularly difficult? A challenge at work — Did you have a boss or co-worker who was difficult to work with? An athletic challenge — Did you have to work hard to improve your skills? Did you have a competition that was especially demanding? A personal tragedy — Did you lose someone close to you and have a hard time getting over the loss? A personal goal — Did you set a goal for yourself that was difficult to accomplish? An ethical dilemma — Were you put in a position where none of your options were attractive? Keep in mind the purpose of this type of question. The interviewer isn’t necessarily interested in hearing about some horror story from your past. Rather, the question is designed to help the interviewer discover what type of problem solver you are. College is all about developing critical thinking and problem solving skills, so the interviewer wants to see that you have promise in these areas. When confronted with a challenge, how do you respond? 7†³What do you do in your free time? † The interviewer might ask this question in one of many ways: What do you do for fun? What do you do when you’re not in school? What do you do on your weekends? This is not a trick question, and many kinds of answers will do well. The interviewer is simply trying to get to know you better. College is about much more than academic classes, and the admissions folks want to know how you keep yourself busy when you’re not doing schoolwork. The most attractive students are those who do interesting things in their spare time. So, when you answer the question, make sure you actually sound like you do interesting things in your spare time. Answers like these will not impress: I like hangin’ with my friends. (Do you actually do anything with those friends, or do you just take up space on our little planet? ) I do Facebook in all my free time. (This is true for many students, but too much online time is a major source of poor academic performance in college) I like partying. (Another activity that, if a abused, has caused many students to fail out of college) I watch lots of TV. (Many of us watch too much TV; don’t highlight that fact during your interview) I don’t have any free time. (This answer is true for some highly involved students, but it is an evasive answer; what would you do if you did have free time? ) I’ve been reading all of the Greek classics. (Good for you, but really? Colleges like good scholars, but they also want students who occasionally take their heads out of their books) The best answer to this question will show that you have passions outside of the classroom. The question allows you to show that you are well rounded. Within reason, it doesn’t much matter what you do in your free time as long as you do something. Do you love working on cars? Playing a pick-up game of soccer? Hiking in the neighboring mountains? Experimenting in the kitchen? Building rockets? Playing word games with your younger brother? Painting sunsets? Surfing? Your transcript will show that you are a good student. Your answer to this question will show that you are also someone who has diverse interests that will enrich the campus community. 8†³What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now? † This interview question can come in many flavors: What do you want to do with your life? What are your goals? What is your dream job? What do you want to do with your college degree? However your interviewer phrases the question, the goal is similar. The college admissions folks want to see if you have thought about your future. A lot of students don’t succeed in college for the simple reason that they don’t have a clear sense of why college is important to them and their goals. This interview question is subtly asking you to show how college fits into your long-term planning. Realize that you definitely do not need to know what you want to be doing ten years from now. College is a time of exploration and discovery. Many prospective college students have not yet been introduced to the fields that will define their future careers. The majority of students will change majors before they graduate. Many students will have careers that aren’t directly connected to their undergraduate majors. That said, you don’t want to evade the question. Answers such as these may be accurate, but they won’t impress anybody: â€Å"I don’t know. † True enough, but keep on reading to see a better way to present your uncertainty. â€Å"I’m not sure what I’ll be doing, but I want to be making lots of money. † This answer suggests that you have no academic interests, but you have strong materialistic desires. Such attitudes aren’t very attractive to a college that is trying to enroll an interesting and engaged group of students. â€Å"I want to be working for a big company. † Try to focus more. What type of company? Why? A vague answer isn’t going to create a strong impression. â€Å"I hope I’ll be married with kids. † That’s fine, but the interviewer isn’t really asking about your personal life (in fact, it wouldn’t be appropriate for an interviewer to ask about your future plans for family and marriage). Keep focused on career goals that are connected to your college education. So, if asked about your future goals, be honest but also answer in a way that shows you have actually thought about the relationship between college and your future. Here are a couple ways to approach the question: â€Å"I want to major in aeronautical engineering and work for NASA. † If you know what you want to do, an interview question about your future is easy to answer. However, be sure to elaborate and explain why you want to pursue a certain career path. What got you interested in the field? What do you hope to accomplish in this career? â€Å"I don’t know what I will be doing, but I know I want to work with people. In college I’m interested in taking classes in sociology and psychology to learn what some of the options are. † An answer such as this shows your uncertainty, but it shows that you know yourself, you’ve thought about the future, and you are eager to explore new fields of study. Again, the interviewer is not expecting you to know what you will be doing in ten years. If you can see yourself in five different careers, say so. You will have successfully answered this question if you do more than shrug your shoulders or evade the question. Show that you are excited about the future and that college plays a role in that future. 9†³Does your high school record accurately reflect your effort and ability? † This interview question provides you with an opportunity to explain a bad grade or weak spot in your academic record. Nearly all highly selective colleges have holistic admissions, so the admissions officers want to get to know you as a person, not just as a list of grades and test scores. Your interviewer knows that you are human and that extenuating circumstances can sometimes affect your academic performance. That said, you don’t want to sound like a whiner or grade grubber. If you have mostly A’s, don’t feel that you need to come up with an excuse for that one B+. Also, make sure you’re not blaming others for your own academic performance. The admissions folks won’t be impressed if you complain about an unreasonable teacher who doesn’t give out easy A’s. The following responses are all poor ways to answer the question: â€Å"I’m very good at math, but my teacher didn’t like me. That’s why I got a C+. † Really? This response suggests that you aren’t mature enough to own up to the grade you earned. Was your math teacher really that biased and unprofessional? And if so, why didn’t you address the unethical behavior with school officials? Even if your teacher didn’t like you, this isn’t something you want to highlight in your interview. Are you unlikable? â€Å"I worked really hard, so I don’t know why my grades weren’t higher. † This response makes you sound clueless. Students who don’t understand the low grades they earned are risky prospects for a college to admit. Successful students know what went wrong, and they work to address the problems. â€Å"I would have put more effort into my classes, but I was too busy with my job and sports. † While this response may be honest, it will not create a good impression. It’s wonderful that you are busy with work and athletics, but successful college students have strong time management skills and they give academics top priority. â€Å"I didn’t have to work hard to get all those A’s. † Shhh. Sure, we all had classes that were easy A’s, but don’t draw attention to this fact during your interview. So, how should you answer a question about the relationship between your record, your effort and your ability? In general, take ownership of your grades and justify low grades only if you have truly extenuating circumstances. The responses below would all be appropriate: â€Å"My parents got divorced at the beginning of my sophomore year, and I’m afraid I was too distracted to put in my best effort at school. † Fair enough. Big upheavals at home — divorce, death, abuse, frequent moves — can certainly make it difficult to devote 100% of your effort to academics. If a large domestic issue did affect your grades, your interviewer will want to know about it. Ideally, however, your academic record shows that the dip in grades was short-lived. If your grades never recovered, the admissions officers will wonder if you have gotten your act together enough to do well in college. â€Å"I had gallbladder surgery in 9th grade and was on a lot of pain medications. † Serious illness or surgery can certainly disrupt your academic efforts, and it is worth mentioning this type of disruption if it had a negative impact on your grades. Here, as with the response above, your record should show that the dip in grades was temporary. Make sure you are talking about serious health issues. Your interviewer will not be impressed if you try to blame that weak semester on the sniffles. â€Å"Yes, my record does reflect my effort. I didn’t work as hard as I should have in 9th grade, but by 10th grade I had figured out how to be a successful student. † The honesty of this response is refreshing. Some students figure out how to succeed later than others. There is nothing wrong with this. In general, colleges will be pleased to see that your grades have trended upwards throughout high school. A downward trend will raise red flags. Again, don’t be tempted to explain every little aberration in your academic record. The interviewer is really looking to see if you had any major extenuating circumstances that affected your grades. If you come across as the type of student who goes on a rant complaining about a single B+, you’re going to sound like an annoying whiner. 10. â€Å"Recommend a Good Book to Me. † The question can come in many different forms: â€Å"What’s the last book you read? â€Å"; â€Å"Tell me about a good book you’ve read recently†;†What’s your favorite book? Why? â€Å"; â€Å"What types of books do you like to read? â€Å"; â€Å"Tell me about a good book you read for pleasure. † Whatever the form of the question, the interviewer is trying to learn a few things by asking about your reading habits and book preferences: Do you read for pleasure. Active readers are people who are intellectually curious. They are also people who are likely to have better reading comprehension and writing skills than non-readers. Students who read a lot in high school are more likely to succeed in college than students who don’t. Do you know how to talk about books. A lot of your college course work will involve discussing and writing about what you have read. This interview question helps figure out if you are up for the challenge. Your interests. You are likely to get asked about your interests and passions in another interview question, but books are one more way to approach the topic. If you have a love of novels about Cold War espionage, that information helps the interviewer get to know you better. A book recommendation. An interview is a two-way conversation, and your interviewer may actually want to learn about some good books he or she isn’t familiar with. Don’t try to second guess this question too much by recommending a book simply because it has historical or cultural significance. You’ll sound insincere if you state that Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is your favorite book when in truth your much prefer Stephen King novels. Nearly any work of fiction or nonfiction can work for this question as long as you have things to say about it and it is at an appropriate reading-level for a college-bound student. There are, however, a few types of works that might be weaker choices than others. In general, avoid works such as these:Works that were obviously assigned in class. Part of this question is to see what you read outside of class. If you name To Kill a Mockingbird or Hamlet, you’ll sound as if you’ve never read anything but assigned books. Juvenile fiction. You don’t need to hide your love of Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Redwall books, but these works are also loved by kids much younger than you. You’d do better to recommend a book that is more in line with a college-level reader. Works chosen simply to impress. James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake isn’t anyone’s favorite book, and you’ll sound insincere if you recommend a challenging book in an effort to make yourself look smart. The issue gets a little more fuzzy with works like Harry Potter and Twilight. Certainly plenty of adults (like me) devoured all of the Harry Potter books, and you’ll even find college courses on Harry Potter. You certainly don’t need to hide the fact that you were addicted to popular series such as these. That said, so many people love these books (including much younger readers) that they make for a rather predictable and uninteresting answer to the interviewer’s question. So what is the ideal book? Try to come up with something that fits these general guidelines: Pick a book that you sincerely love and that you are comfortable talking about. Pick a book with enough substance to it so that you can explain why you like the book. Pick a book that is at an appropriate reading level; something that is a huge hit among fourth-graders is probably not your best choice. Pick a book that gives the interviewer a window into your interests and passions. This last point is important — the interviewer wants to get to know you better. This interview question isn’t so much about the book you choose as it is about you. Make sure you are able to articulate why you are recommending the book. Why did the book speak to you more than other books? What about the book did you find so compelling? How did the book engage issues that you are passionate about? How did the book open your mind or create new understanding? 11=†If you could do one thing in high school differently, what would it be? † This interview question is a bit trickier than most. You’ll want to make sure you don’t wallow in regret or draw attention to really bad decisions you’ve made. You have a tough balancing act to negotiate with a question like this. The best interviews are ones in which the interviewer feels like he or she has really gotten to know you. If all of your answers are calculated and safe, you’ll end up making a tepid impression at best. At the same time, providing too much information is also a danger, and this interview question can easily lead to TMI. In general, you’d probably be wise to avoid answers related to topics such as these: Your relationships. It wouldn’t be surprising if your biggest regret from high school was a disastrous relationship. However, if you answer the interview question with details about that nasty boyfriend or girlfriend, you’ll be introducing a lot of negativity into your interview. This type of response can easily sound immature, ungenerous, and spiteful. Steer clear. A class you hated. Do you really regret taking that class with that jerk of a teacher? Fine, but keep it to yourself. The best students can navigate all kinds of classroom environments, and your interviewer won’t be impressed if you start bad-mouthing your teachers. Your problems with drugs or alcohol. If you got messed up with drugs or alcohol in college, hopefully you do wish that you could go back and do things differently. That said, the college interview is not the best place to address this issue. While your interviewer may be impressed with your ability to confront your substance abuse, he or she may also feel uneasy about admitting a student who abused alcohol or drugs. Your interviewer may question your judgment or feel that you represent too great of a risk to the college. After all, colleges have enough problems with substance abuse without admitting students who have a proven track record of abuse. The best answers to this interview question will put a positive spin on it. A strong answer doesn’t express regret about a bad decision; instead, it presents regret over not seizing all the opportunities available to you. For example, the following would make good responses: You wish you had taken calculus instead of an easier math class. You wish you had looked for a more challenging job than the local burger joint. You wish you had discovered earlier in high school that you really enjoy theater. You wish you had worked harder in your freshmen year (some students are late bloomers, and your interviewer won’t hold this against you) A more personal response is also appropriate as long as it presents you in a positive light. Perhaps you wish you had spent more time with your grandmother before she came down with cancer, or perhaps you wish you had helped your brother more when he was struggling in school. Think carefully about this question before you set foot in the interview room. It’s not a difficult question, but it does have the ability to go astray if you draw attention to an action that reveals foolishness or poor judgment. +===The majority of college interviewers aren’t looking to trick you or put you on the spot. The interview is a way for you and a representative from the college to get to know each other. The interview helps you and the college figure out if you’re a good match. Try to relax and be yourself, and the interview should be a pleasant experience. The 20 questions below are meant to supplement my original 12 college interview questions. Also be sure to check out these 10 college interview mistakes. 1. What did you do this summer? This is an easy question that an interviewer might use to get the conversation rolling. The biggest danger here is if you haven’t done anything productive in the summer. â€Å"I played a lot of video games† isn’t a good answer. Even if you didn’t have a job or take classes, try to think of something you have done that was a learning experience. 2. What do you do best? There are lots of ways to ask this question, but the bottom line is that the interviewer wants you to identify what you see as your greatest talent. There’s nothing wrong with identifying something that isn’t central to your college application. Even if you were first violin in the all-state orchestra or the starting quarterback, you can identify your best talent as making a mean cherry pie or carving animal figurines out of soap. The interview can be an opportunity to show a side of yourself that isn’t obvious on the written application. 3. What do you hope to do after graduation? Lots of high school students have no idea what they want to do in the future, and that’s okay. Still, you should formulate an answer to this question. If you’re not sure what your career goals are, say so, but provide a few possibilities. 4. Why do you want to go to college? This question is so broad and seemingly obvious that it can catch you by surprise. Why college? Steer clear of materialistic responses (â€Å"I want to get a good job and make a lot of money†). Instead, focus on what it is that you plan to study. Chances are your particular career goals aren’t possible without a college education. 5. How do you define success? Here again you want to avoid sounding too materialistic. Hopefully success means making a contribution to the world, not just your wallet. 6. Who do you most admire? This question really isn’t so much about who you admire but why you admire someone. The interviewer wants to see what character traits you most value in other people. 7. What is your biggest weakness? This is a common question, and it’s always a tough one to answer. It can be dangerous to be too honest (â€Å"I put off all my papers until an hour before they are due†), but evasive answers that actually present a strength often won’t satisfy the interviewer (â€Å"My greatest weakness is that I have too many interests and I work too hard†). Try to be honest here without damning yourself. The interviewer is trying to see how self-aware you are. 8. Tell me about your family. When you interview for college, an easy question like this can help get the conversation rolling. Try to be specific in your description of your family. Identify some of their funny quirks or obsessions. In general,however, keep the representation positive — you want to present yourself as a generous person, not someone who is hyper-critical. 9. What makes you special? Or the interview might ask, â€Å"What makes you unique? † It’s a more difficult question than it might at first appear. Playing a sport or getting good grades is something that many students do, so such accomplishments aren’t necessarily â€Å"special† or â€Å"unique. † Try to get beyond your accomplishments and think about what really makes you you. 10. What can our college offer you that another college can’t? This question is a little different than one asking why you want to go to a specific college. Do your research and look for the truly unique features of the college for which you are interviewing. Does it have unusual academic offerings? Does it have a distinctive first-year program? Are there co-curricular or internship opportunities that can’t be found at other schools?

Bailout Plan

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, enacted on October 3, 2008, is a law that gives the United States Secretary of the Treasury authority to spend $700 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities from the banks. The law aims to purchase these so-called bad assets and hopefully restore confidence to the credit market. The law is more commonly known as the â€Å"bailout† since it intends to rescue the major financial institutions of the US from the subprime mortgage crisis that had reached its tipping point by September 2008.The idea was originally conceived by President George W.  Bush and Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury. Although it is already approved, the plan met several criticism. The main criticism is its effect on the general economy of the United States. For one, the bailout would mean an increase in the US budget for 2009 which already stands at $3. 1 trillion. This would also mean that the annual budget deficit of the US would further increase a nd may exceed $1 trillion. The bailout is also criticized because it implies that the mistake made by the banks would now be shouldered by American taxpayers.Majority of surveys conducted showed that the American public opposed the bailout saying that it was wrong for the government to use taxpayer's money to save the banks which caused the problem in the first place. It is interesting to note that the proposal was not only opposed by the public but also by economists and investors. Another problem of the law is the assumption that the securities bought by the government may increase in value sometime in the future and could be sold for a profit.This is a rather big assumption since there is in fact no assurance that it come true. While the bailout may have helped investor confidence and temporarily stop the decline of the US economy, its true effect will likely be felt sometime in the near future. The bailout is still a short-term solution to a possible long-term problem. If the US economy intends to recover from this crisis, it should study the alternatives proposed and see if it is feasible to implement them.

Book Review Bachelor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Book Review Bachelor - Essay Example Thus, Crossing the Border is generally acknowledged by scholars as a fundamental book that chronicles the history of Buxton, one of the most successful all-black settlements in nineteenth-century Canada. In her work, Sharon A. Roger Hepburn traces the evolution of educational institutions, businesses, and political structures in Buxton in the mid-1800s and the focus of the author is on the degree to which black settlers achieved autonomy and the control over their lives in a hostile white environment. The author undertakes an important study of Buxton, Ontario, through a comprehensive study of the manuscripts, newspapers, census records, deeds, maps, and other materials and she is effective in recreating a detailed story of the Black Canadian community through the lives of individual people. According to the author, the Black Canadian community, roughly twelve miles south Chatham, close to the shores of Lake Erie in Raleigh Township, Kent Country, espoused freedom and hope for the fu ture and accepted blacks who were single, married, and widowed; young and old; male and female; freeborn and fugitive. "This study chronicles Buxton from its conception and founding through its first decade. A group of individuals, united in their determination to build a heaven for those fleeing slavery and repressive legal statutes, formed themselves into a community that offered social and economic opportunity. Overcoming initial opposition from neighboring whites and backed by the Presbyterian Church of Canada and philanthropic Canadians of both races, Buxton grew steadily in population and stature." (Hepburn, 1) Therefore, Hepburn provides a convincing account of the Black Canadian community settlement in Buxton, Ontario, and she is effective in explaining why Buxton succeeded when other settlements failed. A careful reading of Crossing the border: A free Black community in Canada by Sharon A. Roger Hepburn confirms that the author eloquently traces the development of Buxton from its conception and founding, and her main focus is to give an explanation for its status as the 'most successful all-black community established in Canada before the U.S. Civil War.' In her attempt to establish the point that the Black Canadian community was the most successful all-black community established in Canada, the author compares this community with similar communities in Canad

Fukushima nuclear plant incident in 2011 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fukushima nuclear plant incident in 2011 - Essay Example This is the largest nuclear catastrophe recorded in the world after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and it is believed to have released approximately 10 to 30% of radiation material of what Chernobyl incident emitted (Povinec, Hirose and Aoyama 2013, p. 9). In the event of the tsunami, the backup power equipment that was meant to cool the reactors was destroyed and this caused fuel melting, hydrogen outburst, and radioactive gases. This radioactive release at the Fukushima plant forced the neighborhoods up to 25 miles estimated at more than 100,000 residents were all evacuated away from the plant. The subsequent lack of AC power in Units 1 to three prohibited the valves and pumps from working normally which was necessary to eliminate heat and pressure that occurred due to radioactive decay from the nuclear fuel within the reactor hubs. The fuel rods therefore, overheated and in combination with the steam, huge quantities of hydrogen were generated causing an explosion. This is the explos ion that prevented the plant workers from cooling the reactors and the radioactivity spread rapidly (Elliott 2012, p.7). The Pollutant Source and Pathway The source of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster is directly related to the earthquake of a 9.0 magnitude that hit Japan in 2011. This earthquake caused damage to the external power supply and the backup diesel emergency generators were flooded leading them to fail. After the failure of the diesel backup generators, the reactor operators initiated the emergency battery power but they run out after 8 hours of operation. The enduring heat therefore, could not be carried out and this led to fuel failure. Fuel failure occurs because of mechanical, chemical or even thermal failures when there is too much heat in the valves (Brook, 2011). The nuclear power plant workers had now to focus on managing the core while the heat was building up to allow the fuel cladding to keep going as much as possible. In reality, the reactor is made up of several independent and different cooling systems that operate to ensure smooth flow. These cooling systems include the reactor water clean-up mechanism, the decay heat exclusion, the core isolating cooling system, and also standby cooling mechanism among others. It is evident some of these cooling system failed and caused damage to the core and therefore, the disaster occurred (Elliott 2012, p.7). When the workers lost most of the cooling systems because of loss of power, they had to come up with other means of eliminating the heat. However, in a situation where the heat production is greater than its removal, the pressure immediately keeps rising as the boiling water builds steam. The operators now focused on keeping the temperature below 1200Â °C, while also maintaining a manageable level of the pressure. Maintaining a manageable pressure level is necessary to get rid of steam and this is done by pressure relief valves that are contained in the reactor (Elliott 2012, p.7). The process of maintaining pressure requires venting or emitting steam to keep the levels in a steady rate. It is important to note that steam and other gases eliminated are radioactive fission materials, which are in small quantities. In this case, when the workers at Fukushima nuclear plant were emitting steam, some form of radioactive emissions were released into the

Democracy in the Arab world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Democracy in the Arab world - Essay Example In the present world, the nature of democracy varies from state to state. Not all democratic states are actually democratic in nature. We can take example of the Arab world countries where the kings and the presidents hold the actual powers and the governments hardly take any step according to the desire of the public. â€Å"Presidents and kings remain too powerful, untrammeled by the limits imposed by effective parliaments and independent judiciaries† (Ottaway). The governments do not take into account the suggestions given by the citizens while developing or implementing any kind of law. There is a great desire of democracy on part of the citizens of the Arab countries but the dilemma is that in Arab countries, there are no social movements, labor unions, or widely supported political parties, which act as the foundations for development and implementation of a proper democratic system in any particular state. Without the establishment of publicly supported political parties, the real form of democracy can never be enjoyed in the Arab countries. There is hardly a true democratic state in the current Arab world. In the Arab countries, people have no awareness about the basic elements and benefits of democracy due to which they are not given importance during the process of any constitutional development and their suggestions regarding any political or constitutional matter are generally suppressed by the governments of their states. It is due to the continuous struggle of the western governments that people belonging to the Arab countries are becoming more and more aware of democracy. Today majority of people belonging to Jordan, Palestine, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, and some other Arab countries view democracy as the best form of government. There are enough Arab people belonging to different countries who want a western style democracy to progress in their countries (Hill). They

Key Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Key Strategies - Essay Example The simple logic supporting the need for ethical guidelines is that actions in business are the result of decisions by human beings, and human beings tend to seek justification for their actions beyond the rule of value for money. As Hill writes, "top management determines quality priorities, establishes the systems of quality, management and the procedures to be followed, provides resources and leads by example" (Hill 1991, 23). The quality guidelines are crucial to ensure that the service is provided using a consistent process which is described in the quality documents. ISO standards followed by Canbide provide a standard of quality assurance for firms only involved in final inspection and testing of products. Firms using this standard are basically performing the inspection function of the product that would normally be done by the customer when the product is received. For Canbide, Total Quality Management is a strategic approach to quality which permeates the entire organizatio n (Slack 2003). Basic behavioral science principles and practices are the foundation of excellence through quality programs. The rational for these programs is to motivate workers and increase service quality, e.g. providing clear objectives, participation in decision-making and positive feedback on performance, are established principles which have widespread use in different applications. Thus, the development of these programs demonstrates a sensible application of established theories in a relatively new field. Within CERG, quality control during the process should involve the use of control charts, which will be discussed in some detail shortly. The number and location of inspections should reflect both the probability of faults or defectives occurring and the consequences of such occurrences, as well as the cost of conducting inspection. Frequently, technical considerations determine the position and number of inspection operations, but nevertheless, within certain limitations, operations management is usually able to design the inspection procedure (Eboch, 1998). Having looked at the way in which customer relationship management and employee relationship management (ERM) has evolved, it is clear that there is a role assumed by people responsible for projects at various stages of development, connected with business units, as part of defining and producing a project plan. ERM involved in the business to the point at which the project manager and the team take over responsibility for the implementation phases leading to the hand-over of the finished project. Taking into account the nature of CERG, output and process quality control will be integral part of TQM. Inspection of items between operations should be undertaken, not only to ensure that faulty or defective items do not proceed to the subsequent operations, but also in order to predict when the process is likely to produce defective items so that necessary preventive adjustments can be made. Well-defined procedures should be established for the selection

A relationship between being a victim of cyber-bullying and adolescent Essay

A relationship between being a victim of cyber-bullying and adolescent emotional well-being - Essay Example Cyberbullying is an exceptional bullying that has increased a significant amount of attention in the recent past. There is much literature concerning online harassment and cyberbullying; most of these studies have concentrated on the prevalence cyberbullying behaviors among school students. Few of them have established a relationship between self-esteem and cyberbullying. Which seems to be a key contributor of criminal behavior and academic performance and other behaviors associated with the adolescent development (Hinduja & Patchini, 2010a). Hinduja & Patchini defines self-esteem as â€Å"a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the self.†( Hinduja & Patchini, pg. 1. It can also be said to â€Å"an internal representation of social acceptance and rejection, and a psychological gauge monitoring the degree to which a person is included vs. excluded by others.† (Hinduja & Patchini 2010, pg.1). From these two views self-esteem is a perception about ones belief, and it is affected by an individual participation in the social world. In practice, cyberbullying behaviors are often the same as relational, psychological and indirect forms of traditional bullying. For example, harassment, rumor spreading, exclusion and threatening. However, there are a number of characteristics that distinguish the two forms. First, cyberbullies always remain anonymous, but research has shown that most victims always know who is bullying them within the social cycle. Second, the absence of regulatory institutions that manage cyberspace interactions makes it hard for the bullies to be found. According to Tokunaga (2010), more than 97% of the youth are able to reach one another through internet. Computer and other electronic technology have been at the center of evolution of human behavior. As oppose to the benefits that come along with technology, the youth has taken the advantage of it and are now

Assignment 2 - Business Scenario Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

2 - Business Scenario - Assignment Example Apple became a Global compact signatory after realizing the brand and reputation toward being a participant of the compact principles. Moreover, interest grew due to the rigorous enforcing in its standards and taking proper action directed by regulatory mandates of the UN in those companies that were futile in meeting the standards of the mandate2. The principals center on areas of labor, human rights, the environment and issues pertaining to corruption. Apple fights to follow the principles to the latter, hence embraces and promotes within our global share of the market place the statutory mandate of these principles. Our company has encouraged the invention of environmental friendly products to our customers. Moreover, in the realization of the tenth principle Apple works tirelessly against the norm of all forms of corruption, for instance bribery and fraud among others. Developing technology in order to enhance protection of the environment is a fundamental issue in the drive of p romoting principle nine (9) in the UN global compact device. Apple devices less pollutant devices that are unlikely to pose adverse effects the environment. Our industry utilizes the process of recycling resources due to the sustainable usage of resources while handling the wastes in a satisfactory manner. Due to the success of these processes applied in my company, I propose favorable recommendations to the Local Network companies. Firstly, the network companies can utilize a variety of a number of cleaner processes that ensure no harm to the environment. The companies can implement corporate policies on the use of environmental safe products. Designing technologies for the long-term and sustainability, by reconstructing company research and development is a vital means of accomplishing the compliance with principle 9 and 10. Stakeholders are an essential part of any organization as they enhance the production of resources. Therefore, Network firms must engage the stakeholders in e very decision pertaining to the compliance of the two principles. Engagement of stakeholders is achievable through directing information to them. These details are those that cover on the environment aspect of performance and the advantages of using such technologies in the market. The use of ‘Environmental Technology Assessment’ (EnTA) plays a significant role in ensuring environmental safety. It entails to provide Network firms with a structured approach in assessing the consequences of technology to the environment, and therefore, offers a blueprint on the inventions that companies can manufacture. Network companies must communicate with partners and competitors to ensure the availability of best technologies to the entire industry. Many firms work with contractors when offering tenders in the early stages of production, hence these firms must promote tenders that stipulate least environmental danger. Corruption is a vile to the Network industry. In order to battle c orruption I recommend a number of strategies that were in the application at Apple Company, in the process of implementing the h10th principle. An internal assessment of the network organization and establishment of anti-corruption policies within the firm is the first step to curb corruption. The policies should cut across all the administration and employees without bias while stretching to the entire firm’

Chinese movie street angle Zhou Xuan Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Chinese street angle Zhou Xuan - Movie Review Example is seen when Xiao Hong entertains the guests by singing indirectly about her disturbed life as it can be seen in her sorrowful and slightly angered face (1 min 52 sec). She seems vulnerable as she sings of a woman who has fled her home after losing her dear parents. This outlines a quote from the book The International Film musical â€Å"female performers as protagonist and for spectatorial attraction". Xiao Hong is the central character in this film, as her singing has boosted spectatorial attraction; thus improving the film. From this movie, Xiao Hong character is presented as impish teenager in love. From her life story, she is characterized as a loving girl. The character of love is clear in the film where Xiao Hong recalls of how she longed to see her parents and her hometown. Because of the war, she lost her loving parents. She expresses her sorrow and love for her parents to the audience by telling them about her torments at nights when she wakes up at night and finds no parents, only the moonlight. She is left to work for her living by entertaining guests in the form of singing. Evidently the song of seasons poetically talks about Xiao Hong life before and after the war. Moreover, Xiao Hong is characterized as broken hearted when she starts singing; â€Å"maiden sits by the window embroidering a pair of mandarin ducks†. Anciently, mandarin ducks symbolized people in love, and there was a heartless blow that tore the ducks apart. When the war broke, and she fled her home, she was separated f rom her life and her lover. She recalls how she would sew winter clothes and take to her lover (2 min 40 sec). She is characterized in this movie as shy but brave. This is seen when she starts fondling her hair and biting her cloth before telling her story , and at the same time brave and wise enough to entertain and also tell her story, that even if she was exiled taken from her home, she could still find lovely scenery in â€Å"the south of the river†. Moreover as a

The Main Characters of Pride and Prejudice Essay Example for Free

The Main Characters of Pride and Prejudice Essay Most people have seen the movie played by Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen or read the book, pride and prejudice, wrote by Jane Austen. We may be moved by Darcy and Elizabeth’s love. Though there are full of hardships, they have a happy ending. Then I will introduce the difficult but beautiful love between them and give a analysis to this couple one aspect by one aspect. Firstly, the family backgrounds of Darcy and Elizabeth is the basic things that we should know. Darcy is a noble descent and he inherits an enormous amount o f property. It is said that â€Å"his annual income is assessed at ten thousand pounds. †? So he never worries about his own food, clothing, shelter and transportation. He dislikes making friends with common people; he is a self-willed man and he likes to dominate his close friends. But he is a fine, tall person with handsome features. However, compared with Darcy, Elizabeth’s family is really poor, though they live a better life than the ordinary people. There are five daughters in this family. Unlike other sisters, Elizabeth likes reading, and she is â€Å"the apple of her father’s eye†.? And it is the same reason that she looks things in a different way and makes her so unique. Secondly, it is the turn for me to introduce the characteristics of Darcy and Elizabeth. Different from Bingley, Darcy is not talkative in front of the strangers. He only asks the familiar women to have a dance, because he can not speak sugared words to the strange women. People who do not know about him will consider him as a pride man. Actually, pride is not his characteristic. It is the education he has received that he is superior to the people. That is the reason why he has a proud and hypercritical character. There is no doubt that the proud and hypercritical character depends on a lot of property, noble social status and strong power. Events force Darcy to modify identification of social desirability and social status.? For the reason that he is fastidious,he has only a good friend, Bingley. It is not difficult to understand he must be particular about his wife. The woman who can make him fall in love must be not only beautiful, but also special, well-educated and knowledgeable. †? Elizabeth lives in a society of stationary characters in its conditions and outlook. Generations are born, and die and are succeeded by their descents, living in the same places and doing the same things. There is so little change of ideas: democracy has not yet raised her horrid head money is a potential problem; courtship has its own drama. People around her are almost all foolish, passive and reposeful, though there are a few exceptions. Her father, Mr. Bennet is a country gentleman in whom irony is the most salient quality and who by wit, quick common sense and appreciation of character makes some amends for the selfish indifference, which is the ground of his character. † With no doubt, Elizabeth is her father’s daughter in taste and intellect, As well as in possessing a strong critical judgment, though there is indeed some likeness in her character with her mother’s warm feeling, hasty judgments are common to both; Mrs. Bennet’s feelings, impulsiveness, judgments and speeches are generally wrong, and Elizabeth’s are generally right; but there is as much likeness between mother and daughter as may exist between a lively and sensible woman and a lively fool. In a word, in her character, to a large extent, there is a mixture of her father and mother. â€Å"Capability for judgment is one of the charming, strong points of Elizabeth. †? She has more quickness of observation and is capable of both complex impressions and complex ideas. Her sensibility and intelligence rarely fail her in her reading of human minds, observing life and drawing out her correct first impression. Her first impression about Darcy’s house is accurate and authenticated and of figures like Mrs. Collins, Lady Catherine is right. However, her first impression is wrong. It is partly owing to Darcy’s own deportment, his proud manner and insulting proposals, partly to her too quick response and partly to her guilt of credulity—she puts too much confidence in Wickham’s entirely false, slanderous remarks. Human life is a complicated thing, this is one of the reasons we can find. Thirdly, I will show Darcy’s pride and Elizabeth’s prejudice clearly. Let Darcy be the first one to be introduced. One reflection of Darcys proud behavior is at the very beginning at the ball in Merton. In just a couple of hours people begin to dislike him. Mr. Darcy soon draws the attention of the room by his fine, tall person with handsome features. The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man till his manners gives disgust for he was discovered to be proud. The other reflection of Darcys pride is his first proposal scene. After months of struggle and consideration, Darcy chooses to open his heart to Elizabeth and tells her all his love. However, â€Å"Darcy neglects the proper words on a proposal occasion though his feeling is more of tenderness rather than pride. †? His honest confession of all his thoughts doesnt win him the pleasure of marriage; instead, it arouses the argument involving Janes happiness and Darcys responsibility in Wickhams case. When he treats his door keeper’s son, Wickham, he is also so arrogant. He says nothing or says â€Å"hello† in front of the girls at the sight of Wickham who has not seen for a long time. It is the result that he is above meeting Wickham. However, the girls may regard him insolent and rude. At the same time, when Elizabeth refers to Wickham at party, Darcy does not make any explanation. He does not speak it out the facts that Wickham is not kind because he believes that people will find it out on themselves. Of course,he will not communicate with Kerens who like to flatter. â€Å"He goes away with no word when he meets Kerens. ? Now it is the time for Elizabeth. The first time that they meet is at the party. When Bingley introduces him to Elizabeth, he only says that she is not so beautiful to attract my attention and he will not dance with other women.. he must know that Elizabeth can hear it when he is saying that. Darcy is proud enough to speak it out without care and it is easy to find out he is quite a pride man. In fact, Darcy is attracted by Elizabeth’s beautiful eyes at the first sight of her. When he answers Bingley, he has fallen in love with Elizabeth. However, he can reject Bingley’s advice in an impolite way, which is talked to her friends as a joke by Elizabeth. Then Mrs. Bennett lets her oldest daughter riding a horse to Bingley’s home in order to attract Bingley’s attention. The oldest daughter gets a cold, so she must stay at Bingley’s house for a few days. When Elizabeth visits her sister on foot, she comes across with Darcy. During those days, Darcy has realized that he loves Elizabeth. But he does things still arrogantly instead of baring his heart to her. When he extremely wants to ask Elizabeth to have a dance, he says thatâ€Å" he will give her an opportunity to have a dance with him. †? It is too rude for a woman to accept it. It is just like charity and no woman wants to dance with him after hearing that. Finally, the development of relationships between Darcy and Elizabeth will be told in details. At first, there are something unhappy between Darcy and Elizabeth. When Elizabeth visits the Kerens, Elizabeth meets Darcy’s cousin ,Colonel Fitzwilliam,she knows hat from him it is Darcy who has prevented Bingley from marrying Jane and privately hinks Jane does not lose heart to Bingley who, he thinks, could get little benefit and happiness from the bonnet. So Darcy covers up that Jane has gone to London to have a visit to Miss Bingley. But Darcy does not know that Jane is a girl who is not good at expressing her feelings. He could not imagine that his self-opinionated action has made great hurt to Bingley and Jane. It h as a vivid and incisive description of his pride in this novel when Darcy decides to propose marriage to Elizabeth; it is also the climax of the novel to describe Darcy’s character. After thinking clearly, Darcy makes an offer of marriage to Elizabeth in a special way. He says thatâ€Å" Elizabeth is born in a poor family and it is her honor to marry him. †? He thinks that Elizabeth should accept it and repay him for his precious love. He guesses that Elizabeth would love him and accept happily just as Bingley should not marry Jane. But they are all his private thoughts. She repulses his offer of marriage, which really gives a hit to Darcy’s pride. However, it is a good opportunity for Darcy to introspect what is wrong and also foreshadows their happy ending. Then Mr. Darcy helps Mr. Bingley and Jane eliminates their misunderstanding; He also solves Lydia’s scandal and rescues her and the entire Bennet family from disgrace. Finally, they have a happy ending. It is the turning point of their relationships. I have introduced Darcy and Elizabeth’s beautiful love story and also witness a couple from strangers to from a family. Their love tells us that marriage is not only based on the property and social status, but also built on the adoring each other and respecting each other.

Why Developing Your Own Leadership Skills Is Important

Why Developing Your Own Leadership Skills Is Important Developing leadership skills is important for me because given the circumstances that I have shifted to the field of Business Administration from a technical background that does not require having control over some one or to manage or interact extensively with others. Now I seek the future prospects of becoming a manager in an organization and therefore during my tenure of Masters Degree I need to develop leadership skills that would allow me to be a successful in my future endeavors. Not all leaders are managers but all effective managers have to be leaders. It is my self assessment that I am not a born leader and if you are not a born leader then there is only one option for you to develop your skills to become one. My personal values, vision and mission My mission is to develop a good balance between different skills that would help me become an effective leader i.e. problem solving skills, decision Making, planning, and managing my power and influence. Having a strong influence; in my opinion is very essential. If you have the ability to convince others with their manner of speech and action, then the possibilities of success are limitless. I want to be successful and professional. I believe in being authentic, words should match with actions and building trust with others. I believe is having success by hard work, even though most of the times I do not feel like it but it is under my conscious that without hard work there is a thin chance of success. Challenges/problems I want to address Being a leader involves an extensive interaction with people and developing essential skills to have an influence over them which is something that I have never been through so it is a primary challenge for me. I am used to solving problems haphazardly which seems to work for me but in the broader aspect I have to streamline the process and learn to deal with complex situations in a professional manner. Another challenge for me is to make decision under emotional stress; I always have to cope with the after effects of such decisions. I also need to figure out a leader icon that I should follow or maybe develop myself into one for the fact that I believe that what works for someone else might probably NOT work for me, every individual is unique and there is only the hit and trial method available to find the best fit. Measures of success My measures of success will ultimately be the fact of achievement of my goal of becoming an effective manager. But there needs to be milestones set to reach my final goal which would be how much my belief, morals and ethics match with my practices. I will measure my success with how satisfied I am with my performance at work and how satisfied I am with my actions with other people around me. Current assessment of yourself as a leader My current strengths and weaknesses as a leader My current strengths include good technical skills that come as a part of my current experience. If we talk about emotional intelligence, Self-Awareness is something I am quite confident about. In any situation I have a full understanding of my mood, emotions and I have the habit of visualizing scenarios prior to my actions. Self-Regulation is something I am not so proud about because my emotional grip becomes lose at times of anger, consciously I am fully aware of my situation but I`ll just do it anywaysà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ So this would count as my weakness. I have the habit of solving problems with my analytical instincts mostly that comes with experience. I am only hoping that I am correct which a weakness is in fact but at the same time I am never without a reason for my actions which is a plus. I am motivated by the fact of wanting to be someone who is known and not someone who is an unknown entity. I like to remain social and have a sense of empathy for the people around me, I have good listening skills for that matter that allows me to understand the emotional makeup of other people and I am able to treat people accordingly. Building networks with others is something I find hard to do as I normally do not find a common ground; I cannot persuade others nor have a very strong influence unless I am closely related. My greatest weakness by far is that I do not feel confident enough of myself for tasks that are new or have potentially high level of difficulty. The feeling of what if I`m not able to also haunts me in situations or tasks known to me. May be because I am a little too much aware of my weaknesses. I dont like to take initiatives unless I am very much sure of what I am standing up for. In a team I am rather willing to take part as a supportive entity rather than a leading one. Insights from my Management Behavior Traits Influence Behavior wise I see myself as both as Job centered and Consideration. As said in my strengths I am friendly and I want people to trust me and respecting. Although it is only my self assessment as I have never been in the scenario of practicing my leadership, I see myself as both. When it comes to work, I would want the job to be done, it makes me uneasy to have a task at my hand and it is not complete or seems like it might not be completed in time. The factor of weakness here about my self confidence comes into play. If I am able to counter this weakness, I can take my part as a leading entity in a team. Challenges and opportunities for improvement Challenges and opportunities for improvement are my weaknesses themselves. Coming over your weakness is itself a challenge and eliminating your weakness or figuring out an encounter for the weakness is an opportunity for ones betterment and growth with an increased chance of success. I would consider my weakness of confidence to be the greatest of all because once I am past that point they only task ahead would be to stretch my arm and grab my milestones for success. Feedback I have had from the class, work and other arenas I am not very sure about the signals I get from work, class or other arenas that would help me evaluate myself of being a potential leader. People seem to trust me once I have proven my abilities to them like for example being a multimedia artist; I had to prove my skills at various occasions. Once I had performed the task people would give allot of attention to what I had to say and would follow my advice. But this I think is pretty obvious because once I have proved then there is no point of thinking that I was influential or maybe I do not consider it very influential. I am considered opinion leader in the areas where my expertise lie. I have been given feedback may times about being trustworthy and helpful by my colleagues and this helps me a little with my confidence problem but becomes a problem again as I feel a sense of responsibility on my shoulders bearing the trust of others that I would not want to break. Leadership Development Plan Objectives of my plan Following are the key objectives of my Leadership Development Plan Identify critical areas of my personal characteristics that are required for grooming and essential to work on for becoming an effective leader. Identifying main obstacles in the way to achieve my ultimate goal and defining a plan to encounter those obstacles. Determining what traits and behavior specific actions needed to be worked upon for an effective execution of plan Defining what methods will be used for learning and improving my skills. Outlining a guideline that would act as a source of evaluation for every step I take towards my goal and letting me know how much distance I have covered and what is still there to cover. What inspires me about my plan/why am I willing to change My source of inspiration is that I want to be successful as an effective leader and this plan will help me define what needs to be done to reach my desired state. It is of great importance to me because I have decided to take a turn in my life; from a technical field limited to a narrow scope to the field of management that would open up a new horizon for me. I was determined to make this change with better prospects in the long run. It was a big decision for me and almost a blind leap, but if I do not develop the essential skills and train myself to be effective in the field of management, it will be of no good and I will only regret having to take a sharp turn from a fast moving lane. Behavior-specific actions I plan to take I will strengthen my communication and behavior according to values. I believe that there is nothing compared to an authentic leader, people admire and are inspired by leaders that behave consistently according to values, and in particular, the value of integrity. Opening myself up to others and influence people through my ideas and my behavior, rather than through the use of my position power or simply by the demonstration of my skill. I will show trust in the people and work on the consideration factor even further. I am not very good at showing enthusiasm for individual and group accomplishment. So I will try to learn how to react and praise positively. To supplement my employee centered behavior I have to learn to step aside and let others do their jobs, make people feel needed, important, and powerful so they can accomplish their objectives. Ensure that I have the right people in the right jobs to match their abilities and maximize success. Opening myself to accept changes and also learning to identify positive and productive changes and involve people at all levels of the organization in implementing a change initiative. I would help people around me to find a perfect fit between their skills and satisfaction level and giving them the authority to make the changes they need to be successful. Actively engage my role in teaching others and devote time to coach others to develop and improve performance. Anticipated resistance from self and others Bringing a change always attracts a sufficient amount of resistance from within self and people around. The behavior specific actions I plan to take highlight three factors clearly that I am looking forward to bring changes, autonomy and delegation, mentoring. Following my idea for behavior development, given a mechanistic situation I will have to face a lot of resistance for the first two. Even in a different scenario people are not always willing for changes and being delegated. Personally I would not feel any resistance with mentoring, I always like to share my knowledge with others and it helps build rapport. But when it comes to delegation and bringing about changes I feel resistance because at the moment I am not able to be much of an influence and not open to ideas I feel attached with. Developing a delegation skill will require to fight with my nature of getting the job done even if I have to get my own hands dirty. How I will monitor and evaluate results I will monitor my result based on the feedback from the people around me and keeping my plan as a reference checklist for what milestones I have covered and which ones still remain. And ultimately it comes down to how satisfied I am with my performance regardless of what stages I have checked out with respect to my behavior, traits and skill. Satisfaction will most definitely come along with these aspects but unless I am not satisfied, it will not really matter. Sources for learning Development of leaders tends either to be purely conceptual or purely applied. Little academic work connects the theory of leadership development to the interventions used in leadership development programs and initiatives. For a starting point I will first need to grab hold of concept of leadership and its implications and dependencies. I will have to study about successful leaders lifestyle, their values and ideas; match them with my own to see where I stand and what steps to take myself further. Another important source of learning would be the results of my actions and choices I make during my tenure of leadership development.

Having a Second Father: My Grandpa :: Personal Narrative Writing

Having a Second Father: My Grandpa It has been five years since I have spoken to my father. I was three years old when my parents got a divorce. Both my mom and dad remarried, however my dad didn’t waste any time in doing so. After he was married, I felt that I wasn’t a part of his new life. We had our problems like any relationship between children and parents, but most of the problems resulted from interference from his new wife. We would disagree on many things because of his wife. Her inputs and thoughts that she voiced oh so well became overwhelming. I know that it is easy to disagree with a parent at any time, however it is even more so when the parent is remarried with a new life and family. Since the day that he got married our relationship drifted downhill. I thought he was so strong and would always stand up for what he believed in and wanted. He used to think that I was his world. I soon realized that wasn’t true. His wife you could say â€Å"wore the pants’ in his new family.† He should have made decisions that concerned our relationship and me but he didn’t. I never dreamed the day would come when someone would come between one of my parents and I, at most a spouse of one of my parents. I was in his life long before she and his new family came into it. I felt that I was being treated unfairly. I was supposed to be daddy’s little girl just as most girls dream about. I always thought that I would come first. The life with my mom was the exact opposite. I came first and still do in her life. She was remarried and that didn’t change the fact that I was number one on her list. I look at the days and memories with my dad and notice that somewhere along the way he got sidetracked of what was important to him. I know my thoughts seem childish, but I was hurt and felt that I had been treated unfairly. All I could think was: â€Å"What had I done to make him not love me†. As a young child, everyone wants to fit in with his or her friends.

Essay --

Asa Philip Randolph was a multi-dimensional man that fit into the categorizes of veteran, civil rights activist, and a intrepid leader that fought for overall labor equality for African American men. Although he was strong in his political stance he also faced the challenges of other prominent figures undermining his proactive methods which in turn deferred his results of acceptance in America. However this did not affect his advocacy for the mistreated and ignored masses. Throughout his adult life he achieved great changes in respect to unionization, work forces and was a voice of the people. Randolph believed in integration and as a result disagreed with the separated beliefs of Black Power advocates and considered violence an unethical and immoral strategy. He also did not see the problem of African American people in America as one that could be solved through isolation because it was seen as the symptom of a social illness, which in a conflict theorist perspective, is caused by an unfairly distributed amount of resources, wealth and power. As a result Randolph's views were shared in a magazine called the MESSENGER, which was founded in 1917, and according to the book A. Philip Randolph and the Struggle for Civil RIghts by Cornelius Bynum, it was considered "the only magazine of scientific radicalism published by Negroes." He co-edited the magazine with Chandler Owen, a fellow socialist who came to be Randolph's closest friend. Each were aware that many did not support their partnership but they disregarded these discriminations because they were confident that society would change with the organization of worker unions. Randolph and Owen outlined the purpose of their socialist publication in an early editorial that d... ...n the Vanguard by Andrew Edmund Kersten, this budget resorted to have the government spend $185 billion over 10 years to fight against poverty, because according to Randolph at the convention floor of the AFL-CIO the labor movement had been the only safe place for ignored, burdened and poor people. It was this ideal that kept his spirit strong through the enduring years when he was the voice for this issue. Asa Philip Randolph’s accomplishments show the immovable strength during his battle for full human rights of African Americans and other people of the nation. Since 1911 Randolph has led the movement for equal human rights within his political advances, was a role model who made something out of nothing and made a name for himself by using his struggle as motivation. He did not take no for an answer but took the initiative to change and make things better.

The Accidental Tourist :: essays research papers

In what ways is Macon the Accidental Tourist?The logo on the front of all Macon's travel guides is a picture of a winged armchair and Macon's wife Sarah believed that this was not only the logo for The Accidental Tourist books, but for Macon himself. Julian describes metaphor of the winged armchair as "while armchair travelers dream of going places, travelling armchairs dream of staying put", and Macon does his best to help his readers feel as if they have never left home. He advises them on the best places to eat and stay, the places that are most like those in America. However, inventing these methods and systems to make it feel as if he never left home is not a chore for Macon. He does not invent the systems to help other people, but himself.Sarah is correct in claiming that the winged armchair is Macon's logo, because it does represent him - he wants to stay home, but is being moved around all over the world, and has to do his best to make it seem like home. In reality , Macon is the Accidental Tourist and the book is more a documentation of the systems he uses to get through life than a 'guide' book. The Accidental Tourist books are less travel guides and more 'instructional guides for life', telling the reader how to live with minimum discomfort, without opening up and hiding within your own cocoon oblivious to the rest of the world. This is exactly how Macon lives every day of his life, and not just those when he is travelling. He lives his entire life trying to package himself so that nothing will change him, nothing will upset him and nothing can harm him. His books reflect this clearly and this is why Sarah considers his books so similar to himself. The books are about Macon - The Accidental Tourist.Above all, Macon wants to control everything. He likes for nothing to be left to chance. When travelling, he only takes what he can carry on to the plane, to eliminate the risk of lost luggage, as well as taking his own travel sized soap powder so that he can clean his clothes without having to worry about foreign laundries and their detergents. His aim is to control his life - to make sure that nothing can ever go wrong, to make sure that nothing can break through his protective 'cocoon'.

Atelophobia: fear of imperfection Essay

Atelo means not being good enough and phobo means fear. Atelophobia: fear of imperfection. While a great number of us aim to be perfectionists, some of us take it too far. This could lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is definition of person making their life perfect. If they couldn’t achieve the absolute best, it may cause them to stress. However, people who have a type of behaviour that only draws in disappointment and compromised social relationship are known to have Atelophobia. People with this disorder aim to make everything as flawless as possible. Atelophobia often ruins friendships and relationship, and can often cause conflicts between families; they fear that they won’t be good enough for them. They usually set themselves high standards that are impossible to achieve. These people who have this fear are mostly worried about disappointing others. Victims of Atelophobia can develop this fear by several reasons; media is one of the reasons. Targets usually look up to celebrities. They look at photo-shopped pictures of them and want to be similar to them. Among 7–13th school years, 47% said they wanted to lose weight because of magazine pictures. It could be based on looks, weight, talent etc. It could lead the society to think it’s normal. If everyone had similar thoughts then, people who do not reach to society’s standards would be labelled as ‘different’. A fear of being unique or divergent to others; Unusophobia. Atelophobia victims could also develop this disorder owing to this fact that they wanted to fit in the ‘crowd’. Lastly, Atelophobia could’ve been developed by bullying. Bullying could involve their family or friends. Their childhood could have an experience of people listing harshly of their faults and weaknesses. They could have parents who were too demanding or set unrealistic expectations they could never meet. As a student, it’s highly likely to experience bullying than adults;  statistics proves it. It’s no different for Celebrity, Demi Lovato. At age four, she would look into mirror at herself thinking, â€Å"I was fat† (MTV). The star also explained how her feelings of low self worth lead to her shedding a huge amount of weight at the age of just twelve years old but it did not make her feel better. She stated a group of girls first started to taunt her how she never has straight hair just like the others and it had eventually led on to her other weaknesses. She had then got taken into rehab after her mother finding out she self-harmed herself.

Death Penalty Argument Essay

Argue in favour or against this proposal The death penalty isn’t always the best way to deal with serious crimes, but it also depends on what you would class as a serious crime. The death penalty was abolished in 1965 for murder and in 1998 for all circumstances, we have managed to deal with most murders with executing them now so why do we need to bring it back? The death penalty puts innocent lives at risk. Many people have been executed but months, or even years, later have found out to be innocent or that there was no way they could have committed the crime. The death penalty also costs a lot of money. It is estimated that it costs $9 million per year in America for the death penalty alone. If they were to get rid of it they would save over $2.3 million. However the public need to be kept safe and if a dangerous criminal got onto the streets, after he has served his sentence, they would be terrified of what he could do next because nothing is stopping him committing more crimes. The death penalty goes against almost every religion. A human life is very valuable and those against the death penalty believe that even the worst murderers should not be deprived of the value of their lives. They believe that the value of the offender’s life cannot be destroyed by the offender’s bad conduct – even if they have killed someone. Mentally ill people are executed. Many mentally ill people are unable to to participate in their trials and appear unengaged, cold and unfeeling before the jury. Some have been forcibly medicated in order to make them competent to be executed.

How the character of Stephen is portrayed by Faulks in Birdsong Essay

At the beginning of Birdsong, the Azaires are first introduced on the first page, followed by Stephen, who happens to be another important, if not the main character in the whole of the story. As a reader, we would assume that the Azaire family and Stephen and some connection, either already, or as we read later into the novel. Within the opening pages of the novel, it becomes apparent that Stephen as a clear view of what is right and what is wrong. Faulks, by including this so early on the novel, makes us wonder whether Stephen may be faced with a decision of right and wrong, and if so, would he recognise it as either. In the first chapter, we learn that Stephen is a young English man, the age of Twenty and has come to France to learn more about manufacturing process at Monsieur Azaires factory. As a reader, this portrays Stephen as an intelligent young man, who is willing to learn more, no matter how far he has to travel. We also learn that Stephen a hugely wealthy man, but neither is he much poorer than other people in the village; ‘Stephen Wray fords metal trunk had been sent ahead and was waiting t at the foot of the bed.’ If Stephen was of a higher class, he would have had his trunk emptied and clothes hung for him, yet he hasn’t, so we assume that he is of a middle class standard. He also isn’t a man of huge class and much effort put into his clothing; ‘..and hung his spare suit in the giant carved wardrobe.’ The description of the wardrobe in this sentence shows that Stephen isn’t used to such luxury nor a lot of space for himself. The room in which Stephen is given in the novel, portrays what kind of man Stephen is, as I feel was included purposely by Faulks; ‘The room was simple, but had been decorated with some care. This makes us as a reader, think that Stephen may spend a lot of time in his room, as that may be where he feels most comfortable. The sound of birds is also very prominent in the novel, and the first mention is when Stephen has gotten’ settled into his room. I feel that the bird mentioning’s may be apparent when something quite important happens in the novel. Faulks presents Stephen as a character who is more practical in his appearance, rather than pride of it. ‘Stephen washed perfunctorily’ backs up this observation of Stephen. When empting his pockets before leaving his room he takes out a knife, as described by Faulks as; ‘a knife with a scrupulously sharpened blade.’ The description of the blade, as a reader makes me wonder in the ‘sharpened blade’ was sharpened already, as protection on his journey or whether something serious may happen in his stay at the Azaires. This gives some sense of anticipation as to what may happen, and how serious it may be. As we continue the novel, Stephen gets lost around the house, searched for the dining room and stumbles across the kitchen. Here we learn that although Stephen as a higher role than the maids in the Azaires house, he is also only a visitor and his brushed aside by them, making the following quote, an oxymoron. ‘†This way, Monsieur. Dinner is served.† Said the maid, squeezing past him in the doorway. When Stephen finally reaches the dining room, he is welcomed by Madam Azaire by her presence of standing up to show him his seat. It appears strange to a reader, that the lady of the family would welcome Stephen and Monsieur Azaire himself, but we take this as a simple welcoming, one of which a character like Stephen is probably used to. It becomes quickly apparent that he has an interest in Madam Azaire, when he doesn’t here Monsieur Azaire fully; ‘Azaire mutted an introduction of which Stephen heard only the words, ‘my wife’.’ We also see that he has a lot of respect for her straight away, by his movement of bowing his head towards her. We also find out that he doesn’t reveal much about himself unless encouraged to do so. We find this out when Grà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½goire questions how old Stephen is. Stephen also doesn’t feel himself extremely intelligent towards Monsieur Azaire when asked about his knowledge about textiles. When he replies, he says ‘A little’, causing us to wonder whether he actually knows a lot more than we think, but doesn’t wish to boast about it. After dinner, Stephen heads back up to his room, where we learn that the notebook he had previously taken out of his pocket was indeed a small diary of events in his life. As he is opening the notebook, he hears an owl in the gardens, making the reader assume that the events that have just happened, will affect the future in some-way or another. As he opens his notebook, we find out that the book is already ‘half full with inky writing.’ By this, Faulks makes the reader think that a lot has happened in Stephens’s life already that may be important in the rest of the novel. We also learn that Stephen isn’t a tidy, structured man as in his notebook, he can go days, even weeks between logged something in it, as the dates in it are very scattered. We learn that Stephen is very intelligent whilst learning about what his notebook is about, when we are told that Stephen writes in code in his notebook, derived from his knowledge of Greek and Latin in his Grammar Sc hool. ‘He laughed softly to himself as he wrote.’ makes the reader assume that he enjoys a sense of secrecy in his life, and in his notebook, allowing us to think whether he will use his ‘spy’ like qualities and secrecy later on the novel in a more, hands on and practical situation. We also learn he has an openness and problems with anger, which thanks to his notebook, has kept this hidden from anyone he may know. We may see both these qualities that Stephen processes later on the novel, which leads the reader to want to read more of it, a technique perfected by Faulks in order to enthral and attract the reader’s attention to read on. He also has a slight problem, as Faulks refers to it as, ‘not to trust his responses and wait and watchful.’ This would also make a reader want to learn more about Stephen and see how Faulks develops him throughout the novel, as we want to see whether if in any circumstance, he could ‘not to trust’ hi mself and do what was right, rather than what he wants, which we later find out, is not the case. Throughout the novel, the reader entices the reader with snippets of Stephen live in England and he is constantly complimented on how well he understands French and the work at the factory. ‘I was brought up by my grandparents. Then in an institution until I was taken away by a man I’d never met before.’ The information he gives up about himself, is only when he is prompted to release such information, by question asked by the children, Lisette and Grà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½goire. Grà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½goire asks about Stephen age and Lisette asks about his child life at home. He also doesn’t seem to mind not talking about it, as when addressed to end the topic, he does so, making the reader think that maybe he either has something to hide, or he is just extremely secretive. Knowing so little about Stephen in the first couple of pages of the novel entices the reader to read on and also invokes sympathy towards the character. Stephen is an ambiguous character and doesn’t reveal great aspects of his life; he rarely mentions England at all whilst staying with Azaires and only touches upon small details of his childhood, but there also becomes apparent that there is another side to Stephen that the reader doesn’t know yet. When there’s an outbreak of violence in the factory, he lashes out and punches a man for insulting Isabelle, Madam Azaire, who it also becomes apparent, he has strong feelings for. It becomes clear that Stephen doesn’t know his own strength and why he usually tries to keep that side of him, under wraps for anyone to observe. We also know that, later on in the novel, Stephen gets blackmailed by Lisette, as she wants him to ‘do things’ to her, like he does to Madam Azaire, as I will talk about in a moment or two. She tries to force him to make her ‘happy’ and when forcing his hand around her body, Stephen ‘felt a reflex feeling of desire.’ This paints an almost perverted picture of Stephen, which I feel Faulks did on purpose, to make any empathy that we feel for Stephens’s character, fade a little, making us feel uncomfortable about whether what we know about Stephen currently, to be true. His relationship with Isabelle, Madam Azaire is also one that shows another side to Stephens’s character, a side of love and trust, excitement and fear. Stephen, one day, talks to Isabelle alone in the garden, when she is pruning some unchecked roses, to which she greets him with ‘Monsieur.’ This in itself shows she has great respect for Stephen and see’s him as one of their class and not someone, who is of course, of a lower class than themselves. Their conversation, at first, consisting of; ‘Allow me.’ and ‘Let me.’ shows their relationship blossoming already, with the idea that not one person is on control all the time; they share responsibility, which may become important later on in the novel. As the novel progresses through this scene, Stephen takes great pleasure in noticing the small details in Isabelle’s appearance, almost coming across to the reader as slightly creepy, if not frightening, but the character sees this as a normal, observational thing that he does. He compliments her on her age and beauty, respected in return by Isabelle, who appears, none affected by his effort to brighten her mood. After a, what a reader may call, an awkward moment between Stephen and Isabelle, when he tries to talk about the sounds he heard from her room, it appears that Isabelle has some feelings towards Stephen in return in the following quote; ‘Madam Azaire watched his tall figure retreat across the grass to the house. She turned back to her roses, shaking her head as though in defiance of some unwanted feeling.’ From this moment, the pair embark on a sexual affair, taking place in the ‘red room’, a room in the Azaires household that appears to not be used often. By doing this, Stephen goes against everything he tries to deny himself of. He loses control of his feelings, his reactions he is unable to control and in doing so, he falls in love with Isabelle, who the reader is constantly reminded of during meaningful and loving scenes between the two, is married to the owner of the house, Monsieur Azaire. There are many sides to the character of Stephen, many of them the reader probably doesn’t feel they know yet. The novel, so far enlightens the reader to know about some of his past, some of his present and drops subtle, war related clues to possibly indicate something about his future. The mention of birds is a constant reminder of something important and we also find out that Stephen is afraid of birds and is therefore a subtle reminder that everything he does when the birds are mentioned, is an act of terrible consequences, in the Azaires household, so far.

Environmental Taxes in the Uk

Environmental Taxes in the UK| BEA2002 Group Report Assignment| Ben Dance, Liwei Rao, Qi Gao, Nellie Ho and Ahmed Mujtaba| 1. Introduction 1. 0 We have been commissioned by the government to write a report on how the current UK tax system encourages taxpayers to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. In the first part of the report we will look at three elements of the UK system and outline how they encourage environmentally friendly behaviour and in the second part we will compare these elements to measures in place in Sweden. 2.Key Elements of the UK Tax System 2. 1 Climate Change Levy 2. 1. 1CCL is a tax on the supply of energy to businesses in the commercial, agricultural and industrial sectors. The tax, introduced in April 2001, works by charging for each unit of energy used therefore the more energy used the more tax a business has to pay. It’s an arbitrary way of trying to get businesses to reduce the energy they use and the emissions they produce. The charge per unit of energy varies depending on the commodity used and the pollution that the commodity produces.For example, electricity has a higher rate of charge (0. 509 pence per kilowatt hour) compared to gas (0. 177 pence per kilowatt hour) because it is more damaging to the environment (HMRC, 2013). 2. 1. 2 The government claims the CCL has had a significant impact on reducing the emissions produced by the UK. However, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has an alternate view that the reductions are due to other measures already in place. They believe that the CCL rates are not significant enough to influence behaviour (CIOT, 2009).Another argument suggests that businesses are just passing on the tax by increasing their prices leaving the incidence of the tax with the consumers. If we look at the tax revenues from CCL, we can see that it has never reached its annual target of ? 1 bn, suggesting the tax is ineffective (Annie Reece, 2012). 2. 1. 3 In support of the governme nt claims, there is clear evidence that the annual emissions are on the down – carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by 15. 9% from 1990 to 2010 (Department of Energy & Climate Change, 2013).It may not be clear whether this is down to CCL but you cannot argue that companies are now far more aware of their emissions. 2. 2 Landfill Tax 2. 2. 1 The UK government introduced the landfill tax in October 1996 in order to meet its obligations under the 1999 EU landfill directive. Before 1996, the municipal waste in UK was growing at an average rate of 3% per annum up to 21. 63 million tonnes in 1995/96 (European Commission, 2001). However, even after this introduction the UK remained as one of the biggest producers of waste in Europe.To combat this, the Treasury implemented a radically increasing rate of landfill tax (CIOT, 2009). There are two types of landfill wastes which are taxed at two different rates. The first type is the normal (active) waste which is taxed at ? 64/tonne a nd will most likely rise to ? 80/tonne in 2014; the other type is known as inert waste, such as rock and bricks, which is taxed at ? 2. 5/tonne. 2. 2. 2 The general incentive of the landfill tax is to encourage more sustainable waste management and to alter businesses and customers’ behaviour by producing less waste.However, the tax has not been as effective as expected. The disposal of inert waste has declined but the same cannot be said for active waste. A possible reason for this could be that, although the tax rate of inert waste is much lower than active in absolute value, it is higher in percentage value which means the tax burden on an inert waste producer is heavier than on an active waste producer (European Commission, 2001). Also, the active waste is more likely to be weighed at the disposal stage rather than collection stage, which may result in less incentive for individuals to reduce their waste.The revenue from the landfill tax is only a small proportion of the total tax revenue to the HMRC, so the large increase of this tax reflects the determination of government to change waste behaviour rather than raising tax revenue. 2. 3 Fuel Tax 2. 3. 1 In the UK there is a fuel tax  that is applied to all Hydrocarbon fuels, including unleaded petrol, diesel, LPG, biodiesel, bioethanol and other fuels that are used in cars. The rate of the fuel duty is usually set during the budget preparation and it consists of an additional tax that is applied to the petrol before it is sold.Currently the tax levied on the most commonly used petrol and diesel prices are 85p and 85. 93p respectively. Thus, the total price for the petrol and diesel is around 136. 26p and 143. 27p respectively as well (BBC Business, 2012). 2. 3. 2 Such taxes are levied by the government to reduce the excessive usage of the fossil fuels and in this case oil. Petrol and diesel are both extracted from the crude oil and are the most commonly used fuels around the world. The government hopes that the tax will reduce usage because it is directly passed onto the consumers.Thus, not only would this measure rake in millions for the government, it would also reduce the carbon footprint which is a concern for the countries like UK. 2. 3. 3 As a result of this 527 million fewer litres of petrol and diesel were sold in the UK last year, as individuals and companies chose to drive less, according to Edmund King, president of the Automobile Association. The government has faced a lot of criticism from some groups about the tax and praise from others such as various environmental group and agencies (BBC Business, 2012). . 3. 4 In particular, â€Å"a review by Lord Heseltine into governments continued support for low and ultra-low carbon vehicles† was deemed helpful by SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt. 2. 3. 5 Separately, changes to capital allowance and tax relief rules, as well as the car fuel benefit charge, should help â€Å"green the UK's business fleet†, according to Mike Moore, automotive analyst with Deloitte, a consultancy. He also added â€Å"This means that businesses should seriously consider the carbon footprint of their fleet in order to control costs. (D Martin, 2012). 3. 0 Comparison with Sweden 3. 1 Climate Change Tax 3. 1. 1 In Sweden, there is a variety green taxes related to climate change. Sweden was the first country in Europe to introduce a green tax in 1991 when they brought in the Energy and Carbon Dioxide Tax (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 2000). This introduction, ten years ahead of the UK, shows that the Swedish government was much more aware of the damage their behaviour was causing than the UK government. 3. 1. The Swedish Energy and Carbon Dioxide Tax works by charging the user for the amount of CO2 produced unlike the UK CCL which charges in respect of the source of energy. Both have the same impact on behaviour as they both encourage taxpayers to reduce the amount of energy they use and the em issions they produce. Over the years, there has been a significant increase on the tax rate to continue the fight against climate change. The increase has been so great that Sweden now has the highest carbon tax rate worldwide (Government Commission of Measures against Climate Change, 2000). . 1. 3 Unlike we found in the UK, it has had a huge impact on individual and business behaviour. There has been a 9% reduction in gas emissions in the past decade even though economy has grown 44%. At present, the general CO2 tax rate amounts to more than 100 EUR/tone; this is a much larger burden than the UK’s CCL rate (Swedish National Energy Administration, 2000). This may explain why the Swedish Tax has changed the behaviour so much more. 3. 1. 4 In the UK, we found that it is not clear which tax is causing the reduction in emissions.However, in Sweden the CO2 tax has contributed significantly to reducing fossil fuel consumption, particularly the situation for the household, service s ectors and district heating production, where the full CO2 tax rate is applied (Developing Green Taxation – Summary of a Government Assignment Report 5390, 2004). 3. 2 Landfill Tax 3. 2. 1 The current landfill tax in Sweden, which was introduced in January 2000, is very similar to the tax in the UK in that it aims to prevent the increase of waste generated.However, Sweden also uses their tax to try and encourage the use of the waste to generate energy while minimizing health and environmental effects to humans (European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2009). The tax rate started off at â‚ ¬26/tonne and has increased to â‚ ¬47/tonne (? 40) (Scottish Government Rural Environment Research, 2008). This is lower than the rate in the UK (? 64/tonne) which suggests that waste management is not as big an issue in Sweden when compared to the UK. 3. 2. 2 Before 2000, landfill only went down by 2% p. . but after the implementation, it began to decrease by 1 3. 6% p. a. between 1999 and 2006. At the same time, recycling in the country increased by 4. 6% p. a (European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2012). In 2009, revenue from landfill tax was only 15% of that in 2000, which proves that the tax has provided a good incentive in Sweden to reduce waste; unlike the UK where the tax has been arguably ineffective (European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2012). 3. 2. Sweden has also successfully implemented schemes which divert landfill to recycling or to waste-to-energy power plants, where it is burned as fuel. According to the most recent figures from Eurostat, only 1% of waste from Swedish households ends up in landfill. This is much lower than the same figure for the UK of 48% which suggests the recycling schemes in place in the UK are not effective (Care2, 2012). The beverage industry in Sweden has a return rate of over 90% on glass and plastic bottles which shows the tax affects businesse s behaviour as well as households (Scottish Government Rural and Environment Research, 2008). 3. . 4 From this comparison, it seems apparent that the UK could learn from Sweden and change people’s behaviour more effectively by implementing and encouraging a better recycling scheme rather than penalizing people through taxes. 3. 3 Fuel Tax 3. 3. 1 The fuel tax in Sweden comprises of an energy tax  and a carbon tax. A tax is placed on top of the price of petrol in the same way that the UK government do. The total tax (including  value added tax) has been 6. 875 kr (about ? 0. 6913) per litre since January 1, 201. This rate is lower than the tax in the UK which again suggests that the consumption of fuel is less of an issue. . 3. 2 The energy tax contains excises on motor vehicle fuels, the average proportion being 3. 4 points in EU. Sweden is the country has second highest percentage (4. 9 points) among the EU member states. This tax is similar to the vehicle road tax in th e UK. 3. 3. 4 There is a significant difference in the revenues of fuel tax in the UK and Sweden. In the UK, the proportion of the revenue of fuel tax amounts to more than 90% of the total energy taxes revenue, while the percentage for Sweden is only slightly above 50 %.The tax revenues on natural gas and electricity are the main reasons that result to this different situation. Sweden collects the most revenues from electricity and natural gas taxes (about 30 %). In contrast, the United Kingdom only receives negligible revenues on related items (less than 2 %) (Taxation trends in the European Union, 2009). 3. 3. 5 As is well known, Sweden has a high international profile in environmental policy all over the world. The revenue from environmentally related taxes is however not particularly high in this country.On the other hand, the revenue from green taxes in Sweden has been steady rather than decline in recent years, which is in contrast to the trend in many other countries (Swedish Tax Policy: Recent Trends and Future Challenges, 2010). Bibliography CIOT, 2009. Green Tax Report. [online]. Available at: [Accessed 28 January 2013]. HMRC, 2013. Climate Change Levy Rates from April 2012. [online]. Available at: [Accessed 28 January 2013]. Annie Reece, 2012. Landfill Tax Revenue Set to Increase. [online]. Available at: [Accessed 28 January 2013]. Department of Energy & Climate Change, 2013. GHG Inventory summary Factsheet. [online]. Available at: [Accessed 28 January 2013]. European Commission, 2001.Study on the Economic and Environmental Implications of the Use of Environmental Taxes and Charges in the European Union and its Member States. [online]. Available at: [Accessed 27 January 2013] BBC Business, 2012. Fuel duty rise cancelled by chancellor. [online] Available at: [Accessed 11 February 2013]. BBC Business, 2012. Budget 2012: Fuel duty increase gets go-ahead. [online] Available at: [Accessed 10 February 2013].D Martin, 2012. We're the fuel tax capita l of Europe: British motorists pay up to 60% duty and VAT on petrol – the highest figure in the EU. [online] Available at: [Accessed 11 February 2013]. Care2, 2012. The Environment and Wildlife Cause. [online. ] Available at: [Accessed 5 February 2013]. European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2009. Fact Sheet for Sweden. [online. ] Available at: