The Function of Ethics and Financial Services Essay

The Function of Ethics and Financial Services - Essay Example The company was involved in a fraud scheme whereby Gottlieb and Drabinsky received $7, 000, 000 directly or through the company owned by Gottlieb. $ 4, 000, 000 of the total amount was capitalized as the pre-production costs. Gottlieb and Drabinsky operated a kickback scheme with Livent vendors and took the mentioned amount from the company and took into their own pocket. To fully convince the company of the transaction, Gottlieb instructed the two vendors to present an invoice that could not expose their deal. Gottlieb and Drabinsky received the payment for bogus services. In the mid-1990s, it became difficult for the company to attain its financial goals. Gottlieb and Drabinsky enjoyed their financial gain, and in turn, the company had to bear the loss. It became difficult for the company to raise additional capital to sustain its operation. Gottlieb and Drabinsky manipulated the company by directing Livent’s accounting staff to obscure the company’s financial crisis. Some of the manipulations included erasing the accounting records that recorded the liabilities and expenses of the company at the end of each year. The Livent’s accounting staff engaged into an accounting scam of transferring the preproduction costs of existing show to shows that were in production. This transfer manipulated the company to comprehend the cost of the major items used in production. To reduce the costs of preproduction, Livent’s accounting team transferred the costs to fixed asset accounts.... The Livent’s accounting staff engaged into an accounting scam of transferring the preproduction costs of existing show to shows that was in production. This transfer manipulated the company to comprehend the cost of the major items used in production. To reduce the costs of preproduction, Livent’s accounting team transferred the costs to fixed asset accounts. Eventually, the company started debiting salary expenses and operating expenses to long-term fixed assets accounts. Livent transferred the cost of the shows that were currently running to shows that never existed (Knapp & Knapp n.d, p10). In 1996, Gottlieb and Drabinsky conducted a scheme referred as the fraudulent revenue-generating. This fraud involved various multimillion-dollar transactions organized by Gottlieb and Drabinsky. Most transactions involved the rights to produce Show and Ragtime Boat in different U.S. theatres to Texas companies. The contract or agreement of this transaction obligated the need to h ave a non refundable fee. Specifically, the $11.2 million fee paid by the Texas company to Livent was non refundable. However, the Livent’s executives arranged a secret side agreement that guaranteed Texas Company a reasonable rate of return on every large investment they made. Despite the actual growth and earnings that the company achieved, the accounting staff benefited more while the company deteriorated at a high rate. The final Livent Fraud occurred in the late 1997, when Livent opened Ragtime in the Los Angeles Theatre. The company got into an agreement with the theatre of closing the show if the weekly sales fell less than $500, 000. During that period, Livent entered into various transactions purporting to present

Children with Autism and School Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Children with Autism and School - Research Paper Example with autism should be mainstreamed in the general population of students in the school or if they should remain in specialized programs that meet their needs. On one side of the debate, people feel that autistic students in public schools will be distracting, slowing down the progress of the other students. On the other hand, others believe that by being in public school settings and being subjected to students that display proper education behavior, autistic students will be influenced by them to respond in the same way, thus learning some form or other of socialization and communication skills. The biggest controversy about allowing autistic children into public schools is that they do not possess the behavior to be around others, especially in an educational environment. Depending on the kind of autism that a child has, they are usually unable to socialize and communicate with others, oftentimes withdrawing into themselves and being entirely unaware of other people around them; sometimes this includes situations, which can be potentially harmful to the autistic child, as well as others. People are unable to hold the attention of an autistic child for even the smallest bit of time. Due to this lack of attention towards others and being unable to learn the proper techniques to do so, autistic children often have a difficult time in communicating their needs or intentions to others. Their inability to communicate properly can cause disruptions that can effect the attention and learning of other students if they were placed in the general population of students in schools. Furthermore, given their inability to communicate, an autistic child placed in the mainstream of a public school will have great difficulty in paying attention to their lessons, therefore making it almost futile for them to be in that class. Teachers will be unable to accommodate for both autistic and mainstream students; indeed, teachers would need special training to prepare them for teaching

Representation of Genders in the Media

Representation of Genders in the Media Course Diary Entry 1 Liesbet Van Zoonen: Feminist Media Studies (chapter 6, pp 87 104) 1. ABSTRACT The sixth chapter of Van Zoonens book Feminist Media Studies, Spectatorship and the Gaze, provides a compelling introduction to the area of feminist film studies, more specifically, to different issues surrounding the concept of the gaze. Van Zoonen draws on the arguments of Laura Mulveys work, who used psychoanalytic tools in explaining why women are presented in the media as being looked at and men as the ones who act. Van Zoonen stresses the difficulty of the proponents of psychoanalysis to explain the pleasures of female spectatorship, which, nevertheless, can be accounted for by employing different perspectives on media studies. After discussing ideas regarding the male gaze, Van Zoonen turns her attention to the way images of men are presented in popular media, emphasising the fact that, out of fear that their image could be homosexualised, different methods and narrative codes are employed in order to make the objectification of male bodies less evident. Hence, the traditional perception of men being the ones who have the power and women the ones who are looked at is still in place in patriarchal cultures, even though there are signs of trying to put it aside. 2. OUTLINE women are constructed in western popular media as being the passive object of the male gaze, whereas men as being the ones who act; the psychoanalytical paradigm was employed to explain this state of facts a) Laura Mulvey used psychoanalysis in her study of gender media representations as a useful tool in explaining the pleasures of male spectatorship, though failing to explain the independent female pleasure of looking at men scopophilia the deriving of sexual pleasures simply by looking narcissistic identification the desire of men to identify themselves with other men, presented on the screen as flawless characters the film industry is linked to patriarchy, according to Laura Mulvey; both scopophilia and narcissistic identification are achieved by the way filmmakers frame the action, including the objectification of women the male gaze fear of castration the trauma suffered by boys when discovering the physical gender differences is diminished by the way male spectators take control over womens bodies in the film industry one of the problems of the way Mulvey employed psychoanalysis it equates masculinity with being male and femininity with being female b) Mary Ann Doane contends the impossibility of reversing the gender roles (i.e. men becoming feminine and women masculine) no preconditions of voyeurism in women in childhood women do not experience the distancing from their mothers that boys do because of the sexual differences the female spectator can become masculinized by identifying with the male characters in the film or narcissistically identifying with objectified female characters c) criticism of the psychoanalytic paradigm: it reinforces the patriarchal norms by excluding the possibility of women to derive pleasure from viewing media products Women derive pleasure by looking at other women the psychoanalytical paradigm and beyond a) some argue that the bonding between girls and their mothers creates the pre-conditions of finding pleasure in looking at other women b) women have coexisting latent homosexual and manifest heterosexual desires Chodorows theory of female development c) Arbuthnot and Seneca assert that the psychoanalytic theory is concerned with male spectatorship and thus not appropriate to examine female experiences and motivations Women derive pleasure by looking at men a) Christianity repressing the abundance of nude representations of men made the patriarchal order imperceptible, whilst it still is the substratum of most societies b) the female gaze which is masculine by definition looking at the male body is less dangerous than the homosexual gaze c) narrative and visual techniques lessen the degree of subjection of the male body to the gaze of the female spectatorship e.g. staring back at the viewer, looking up or away from the camera, the text accompanying the images personifying male bodies and thus creating characters men presented as active (e.g. signs of physical activity or labour) and in control, just happening to be looked at, not as posing specifically for being viewed by female or male spectators male bodies presented like romantic objects, not sexual ones (e.g. Playgirl) 3. LITERATURE REVIEW The three chapters I have chosen Kaplans (1983), Staceys (1988) and Van Zoonens (1994) which do not offer a comprehensive discussion of the issue of the gaze, draw on the psychoanalytic explanations of the male gaze and attempt to explain which are the pleasures derived by female spectators watching media products. Hence, all authors use Laura Mulveys and Mary Ann Doanes ideas as a starting point for their discussion; Kaplan argues that psychoanalysis is a useful tool [] [, but not] necessarily uncovering essential truths about the human psyche (1983: 23). She further argues that it can explain only the current structural organization of society, which, I would argue, is a Marxist perspective; in her view, cinema is seen as a means of releasing the tensions created by the industrial society and psychoanalysis as a necessary means to understand the causes of these (Kaplan, 1983). Stacey (1988) identifies the gaps in Mulveys line of argument, more precisely the discussion of the male as an erotic object (which Van Zoonen analyses) and of female homosexuality, and exploits the latter to address one of the issues tackled in little depth by Van Zoonen (1994): female homosexual pleasure, which has been ignored by studies within the psychoanalytic framework. Stacey (1988), like Van Zoonen (1994), draws on Mary Ann Doanes idea that womens pleasures are not related to fetishism and voyeurism, as mens are and further acknowledges Mulveys argument according to which women oscillate between male and female identifications. In discussing possibilities for understanding and explaining the female gaze, all three authors argue that the reversal of roles is impossible without losing the specific gender identification; the female spectator becomes masculinized and vice-versa, and thus the structure remains basically unchanged (Kaplan, 1983). Stacey (1988), as does Van Zoonen (1994), rhetorically asks if women necessarily have to occupy feminine positions and men masculine ones. I would suggest that masculine and feminine actually refer to a set of characteristics associated with men and women respectively only because it has traditionally been thought that they occur more often in the specific gender from which their names derive. Hence, they are not intrinsic to men or women. However, there remains the problem that they are in opposition, not on equal terms. Moreover, if these names which refer to gender and sexual roles would be disregarded, I think it would not be a problem for female spectators to adopt an active (masculine) stance anymore. Further discussing the feminine and masculine spectatorships, Stacey (1988) contends that the subjectivities of spectators should be also taken into account, even if their standpoint is seen as masculine. Kaplan notes, drawing on Mary Ann Doanes argument, that if attempting to confer female spectatorship an active role and not masculinizing it, there is the danger of denying pleasure and of disembody[ing] their spectator (Kaplan, 1983: 28). An active main female character nearly always loses her traditional feminine characteristics in so doing [] of kindness, humaneness, motherliness (Kaplan, 1983: 29). The problem with this statement is that all these characteristics of femininity are actually constructed in the same way as concepts like active, sexually desirable etc are. Therefore, Kaplans statement does no justice to the role of the female spectator. The dominant images of women, all male constructs, as Kaplan (1983) emphasizes, are the objects of male fetishism and voyeurism, as all three authors mention. In addition to Van Zoonens (1994) overarching discussion of these Freudian concepts, Kaplan (1983) points at three male gazes in popular media, identified by Laura Mulvey: that of the film-maker, of the film viewer and of male characters in the film. According to this explanation of females position in the film framework, Kaplan argues, the man owns the desire and the woman (1983: 27), whereas female spectators only receive and return the gaze but cannot act upon it (1983: 31). Hence, male and female spectatorships are different in essential respects. All three authors have a feminist standpoint in common from whence they look at the representation of women in popular media. Stacey (1988) is probably the most dedicated of all three to the feminist cause, discussing issues which are taboo for other scholars (feminist or not): the homosexual female spectatorship. The arguments they bring forward overlap, being complementary in the respect that all offer new information. However, they do not discuss each others contribution to the feminist debate mainly because all three (Stacey to a lesser degree) offer an overview of the arguments brought forward by Laura Mulvey and Mary Ann Doane. All three concluded by pointing to the need of further discussing the sources of pleasure for female spectators both in relation to men and to other women. Moreover, the problem of confounding gender identifications with sexuality in film studies has also been stated as being an issue. 4. CROSSCUTTING THEMES The issues concerning the representation of genders in the media is one of the most important areas of concern for feminist scholars because of the many assumptions hidden under what comes across as common-sense. Nevertheless, this is only one of the issues in which feminists are interested. Among the general concern with the resources of conferring women a secondary role in patriarchal societies, feminists address issues of work and employment, and of motherhood. These two themes have several links with those raised by Van Zoonens chapter on the male and female gaze in popular media. One of the most evident crosscutting themes is that of womens passivity and male activity and control. As we have seen in Van Zoonens chapter (1994), female spectatorship is constructed as being passive and to be looked at, whilst male spectators act upon women by looking at their objectified bodies. Witz (1993/1997) asserts that women have traditionally been seen as having the natural duty to do the domestic work, not men, and that feminists struggled to determine the official recognition of this second job women performed. At least since the 18th Century, when the Victorian Domestic Ideology constructed women as passive, men have had the active role in a family, working in order to earn a wage for the household. Women, on the other side, have been seen as confined to the private sphere of life and, thus, as being passive since they did not have an active role in the public sphere, as men did. This way of seeing women as inferior to men has survived until the present day, when women have also acceded to work positions, and it can be easily seen in the structure of the labour market and in the representation of women in the media. The images of women in popular media, as objects of the male gaze, are opposed to representations of motherhood in different cultures. Reynolds notes that the good mother is endlessly patient, forgiving, nurturing and, most important of all, unfailing in her love (1996: 41); this characterization powerfully contrasts with the images of women as sexualized objects or as secondary characters who only disrupt the narrative. For children, mothers are the main characters of their stories and are entirely feminine (whereas the character of a mother in popular media would be either masculinized or it would be the object of the male gaze). Nevertheless, as Reynolds further argues, the problem is that in reality mothering [is] synonymous with subjugation (1996: 42). Moreover, motherhood is linked with psychoanalysis and the way boys suffer a trauma when they discover their difference from their mothers. In conclusion, the chapters I have looked at on different topics written by feminists share the same view that women are currently oppressed in patriarchal cultures. Women share subordination roles in media, at work, in the family etc. However, the hegemony of patriarchy is most evident in media representations of women. References: Kaplan, E. Ann (1983) Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 125-141 Reynolds, Kimberly (1996) Mothers in Madoc-Jones, Beryl Coates, Jennifer An Introduction to Womens Studies, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 38-61 Stacey, Jackie (1988) Desperately Seeking Difference in Gamman, Lorraine Marshment, Margaret (Eds.) The Female Gaze: Women as Viewers of Popular Culture, London: Womens Press, pp. 112-129 Van Zoonen, Liesbet (1994) Feminist Media Studies, London: Sage, pp. 87 -104 Witz, Anne (1993/1997) Women and Work in Robinson, Victoria and Richardson, Diane (Eds.) Introducing Womens Studies, 2nd edition, London: MacMillan, pp.239-58

Violence :: essays research papers

Media Violence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Psychological research has shown three major effects of seeing violence on television. The three major effects that many parents world wide fear are children may become More aggressive and behave in harmful or hazardous to others. Be less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, and children may be more fearful of the world around them. Violent programs on television lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch those programs. Children begin watching television at an early age, sometimes as early as six months, and are ardent viewers by the time they are two or three years old. The general pattern of viewing is one of the steady rise in the number of hours viewed from early childhood to preadolescence and then a sharp drop in viewing during the adolescent years. According to audience rating surveys, the typical American household has the television set on for more than seven hours each day, and children age 2 to 11 spend an average of 28 hours per week viewing. There is a growing concern in this country about teenage violence and how it is connected to the violence seen on the television. The impressionable youth of America somehow fall victim to spending many hours a day watching television and is exposed to violence. Studies show that the average child has witnessed eight thousand murders before they actually finished elementary school. Most of the shows that the younger generations watch contain some vi olence. Several years ago when Power Rangers was first Broadcasted, it had a great effect on the younger population concerning violence. Many children began trying to imitate these so called â€Å"Heroes.† Three out five children, eight-six percent males had a tendency to want to rough house with the other children and or had outbursts of violence. Of course, conditions in society, does not make it easy to pull a child away from the television. Parents work and most families cannot afford to have a parent stay home and watch the children. This situation is understandable and does not necessarily mean that parents do not care for their children. Parents regardless of the situation should try to be as involved as much as possible. Parents should take time out to speak to their children about certain programs they might come across while viewing the television. Parents should also view programs with their children so they can get a better understanding of what their children see when they turn on the television.

Unit 208 Support Children and Young Persons Health and Safety

Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools Unit 208 Support children and young people’s health and safety Written Questions 1. 1 Give examples of how current health and safety legislation, policies and procedures are implemented in your school The Health & Safety Act 1974 – Under this act individuals in any organisation are required to ensure that they report any hazards, follow the schools safety policy, make sure their actions do not harm themselves or others and use any safety equipment that is provided. There are posters that explain the employers and employees responsibilities throughout Longford Park Primary School to remind everyone how to comply with the act. My school complies with the act by ensuring any hazards are reported to Mr Provaker, the caretaker. By having cleaners coming in daily to ensure all areas of the school are clean and tidy. All equipment is stored in a locked cupboard. Fire evacuation procedures are displayed throughout the school in each classroom. Safety equipment is used by staff, for example staf on playground duty wear high visability vests and carry first aid kits. Food Hygiene Legislation 2006 – Covers the safe preparation and storage of food. All of the cooks, kitchen and serving staff at Longford Park Primary School comply with this by holding an up to date food hygiene certificate and having annual re-tests. There are posters in the kitchen reminding staff of good practice – i. e which colour chopping board to use for which food and how to store food in the fridge correctly. Risk Assesment – This is to identify potential hazards to staff and children, the risks are evaluated and steps to minimize the possibility of the situation arising are set out, Theses are done for day to day activities in all areas of the school and for new activities such as school trips. My school complies with this by carrying out risk assessment for activites during lesson planning and recently when all the children at Longford Park Primary School went to the local theatre to watch a pantomime, a through risk assessment was done before hand. COSHH 2 Regulations 2002 – Longford Park Primary School complies with this by keeping all COSHH items in a locked cupboard by the staff toilets. Data Sheets for all the chemicals are displayed on the wall in the cupboard. Al items are stored out of reach of the children and in its original packaging. Protective clothing such as gloves, masks and goggles are provided when nessecary. The key for the cupboard is kept with the caretaker, Mr Provaker. Every Child Matters – This has 5 outcomes: 1 – Be Healthy 2 – Be Safe 3 – Enjoy 4- Postive 5 – Economic Longford Park Primary school promotes these outcomes by promoting healthy eating; the children had a piece of fruit during their morning break, by teaching children how to keep themselves safe from accidents and harm i. e – An assemble to inform about the dangers of fireworks, no running in corridors, how to safely carry scissors. They children do an exercise video called Activate first thing in the morning whilst the register is being taken and a cycling proficiency course is offered to all children in year five. Fire Procedures – Longford Park Primary School has procedures tor evacuationg all areas of the school during a fire, the escape route and assembly points is displayed on an Action Plan in all classrooms, corridors and other areas of the school. The schools fire alarm system is checked weekly and a fire drill is carried out every term, the fire drill is recorded and then evaluated to detertime if it could be done better. Emergency exits are clearly marked, in my classroom the fire exit is the door that leads directly out to the play ground. Health and Safety (First Aid) 1981 – Longford Park Primary School complies with this by keeping well stocked first aid boxes on the teachers desk in each classroom and are carried by playground supervisors. Designated first aiders are appointed and suitably trained with a list of all first aiders on display in the staff room so that all staff know who to refeer to if a child has an accident, all accidents are recorded in the accident book. 1. 1 continued ————————————————- 1. 2 How is health and safety monitored and maintained in your school? (Describe) The Health and Safety representative, Mrs Walker carries out regular checks by walking around the school and outside areas * Weekly staff meetings are used to address and health and safety concerns * Equipment, material and the environment are checked and any hazards are identified and removed * Lunchtime supervisors m onitor health and safety in the dining hall and in the playground looking out for risks and removing or minimising them or reporting them. * Hand washing facilities are available outside every classroom and children wash their hands after being outside. Boxes of tissues on each table help to the the spreading of germs when coughing and sneezing. * All electrical and fire extinguishers are checked annually by a qualified person and a label is stuck on the checked equipment with the date it was tested. Only equipment that has been checked and has a label should be used. * Food hygiene procedures are in place for cooks, kitchen and serving staff. 1. 3 How people in my school are made aware of risks & hazards and encouraged to work safely (Describe) ————————————————- 1. Identify the lines of responsibility and reporting for health and safety in your school. Head Teacher, Mandy Walker or Deputy Head Mina Provarker has ultimate responsibility for Health and Safety in school. The Health and safety officer at Longford Park Primary School is Mr Provarker and is responsible for monitoring Health and Safety by carrying out routine inspections or equipment and premisis and for ensuring everyone is aware of the procedures for reporting and recording hazards. The Caretaker; Mr Provarker is responsible to dealing with and removing any hazards. All staff and students are responsible for reporting health and safety issues such as hazards and accidents. Students would report issues to a suitable member of staff according to the nature of the issue. 3. 1 Outline the importance of taking a balanced approach to risk management Children should learn to be able to take some risks and most activities will carry some element of danger but they should be given the opportunity to assess risks for themselves by exploring and by challenging themselves and by discussing risks and safety. Childrens safety is important but we need to be careful not to be over protective or they may be prevented from assessing risks, exploring and learning, discovering the world around them or recognising their own limitations. If childrens experiences are limited due to an adults anxieties they are more likely to find it difficult to asses and manage risks as they develop and may not feel confident when trying new things. Think of 2 examples of activities in your placement where there is an element of measured risk. How does the risk involved balance with the learning experience? Example 1 Example 2

Public Examination Should Not Be Abolished Essay

While several states are implementing some form of standards-based reform, there is very little empirical evidence to prove that standards, assessment, and high-stakes accountability programs are effective in improving public schools. In many states, such as California, attempts to implement standards-based reform are inconsistently or carelessly aligned with quality research. The following are some of the shortcomings of standards-based reform. 1. Recent reports on the standards-based reform movement in New York suggest that in many schools the careless implementation of standards and assessment may have negative consequences for students. Vague and unclear standards in several subject areas in several states complicate matters and do not serve as concrete standards defining what students should know and be able to do. 3. Top-down standards imposed by the federal or state government are also problematic. They impose content specifications without taking into account the different needs, opportunities to learn, and skills that may be appropriate for specific districts or regions. Table 1: Advantages of SBA compared with external examinations Point Characteristics of SBA Characteristics of Exams Scope Extends the range and diversity of assessment collection opportunities, task types and assessors Much narrower range of assessment opportunities: less diverse assessment; one exam per year Authenticity Assessment done by students’ own teacher; less possibility of cheating as teacher knows student capabilities; assessments more likely to be realistic Removes assessment entirely from teaching and learning; stressful conditions may lead to students not demonstrating real capacities Validity Improves validity through assessing factors that cannot be included in public exam settings Limits validity by limiting scope of assessment, e. g. difficult to assess interaction skills in exam environment Reliability Improves reliability by having more than one assessment by a teacher who is familiar with the student; allows for multiple opportunities for assessor reflection/standardisation Even with double marking, examiners’ judgments can be affected by various factors (task difficulty, topic, interest level, tiredness, etc); little opportunity for assessor reflection / review Fairness Fairness is achieved by following commonly-agreed processes, outcomes and standards; teacher assumptions about students and their oral language levels is made explicit through collaborative sharing and discussion with other teachers Fairness can only be achieved by treating everyone the same, i. e. setting the same task at the same time for all students. Feedback Students can receive constructive feedback immediately after the assessment has finished, hence improving learning The only feedback is usually a grade at the end of the course; no opportunities for interaction with assessor; no chance to ask how to improve Positive washback (beneficial influence on teaching and learning) Ongoing assessment encourages students to work consistently; provides important data for evaluation of teaching and assessment practices in general Examination is purely summative, and does not serve any teaching-related purpose; effects on teaching and learning may even be negative; may encourage teaching to the test and a focus on exam technique, rather than outcomes. Teacher and student empowerment Teachers and students become part of the assessment process; collaboration and sharing of expertise take place within and across schools Teachers play little to no role in assessment of their students and have no opportunity to share their expertise or knowledge of their students; students treated as numbers Professional development Builds teacher assessment skills, which can be transferred to other areas of the curriculum Teachers have no opportunity to build their assessment skills; get little or no feedback on how to improve as teachers