LONDON (Reuters) - Annual consumer price inflation eased to a one-year low in March, while retail price inflation turned negative for the first time in nearly 50 years, official data showed on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics said consumer prices rose by 0.2 percent in March, taking the annual rate down to 2.9 percent from 3.2 percent in February.
Retail price inflation, used as a benchmark for many wage deals, was flat on the month and fell to -0.4 percent year-on-year, the first negative annual reading since March 1960.
The figures were broadly in line with consensus and support the Bank of England's view that inflationary pressures, which have proved surprisingly resilient in recent months, will subside over the course of the year.
The main downward effects on consumer prices last month came from household costs, particularly a fall in gas bills. Food and drink also exerted some downward pressure, as did transport costs as petrol prices rose less steeply than last year.
The biggest downward impact on the RPI measure came from falling house prices and lower mortgage costs following the Bank of England's recent interest rate cuts.
The central bank cut interest rates to a record low of 0.5 percent in March.
The housing component of the RPI index fell 10.3 percent on the year, the biggest fall since the series began in June 1948.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKTRE53K1E020090421
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, February 04, 2008
Iron Man Super Bowl Advertisement
The new Iron Man television spot which premiered during the Super Bowl has everyone talking. It certainly got me pumped to see the film, although, a lot of people seem to be questioning the overtly CG animated sequence towards the end (yes, it did look somewhat like a video game cut scene). But I’m pretty sure this is just unfinished early effects work. If you haven’t already, check out the television spot below. Please comment and tell me what you thought!
Signal bars - what are they for?
There's an icon in the corner of every mobile phone's screen that we are all familiar with. But do we really know what those signal bars mean?
That question was raised for me by this blogger, who also links to an interesting discussion thread on the matter here. Various people pitch in, some with knowledge of working in the handset or network operator industry. They give a suite of reasons that the bars are not much use, including:
There are no industry standards for what 'one bar', 'two bars', etc means
Some phones estimate signal quality when idle, only measuring it properly when you try to call, which is misleading
Under the CDMA protocol used in North America, bar represent signal strength, but not a variable dubbed EC/I0, which is the portion of that signal that is usable
Interesting points. But if we want to improve things, the technical details are not really important. We need to decide what we want to know about our signal first.
At the moment, phone manufacturers give us little idea of what to expect. But people still read a lot of information into signal bars. It's not unusual to hear people boast "I've got five bars" when a friend struggles to connect. I often hear people comparing signal strength on parts of London's metro network where the tunnels are not deep enough to completely block signals.
But really, most of us have no idea what those bars mean. I think we need to rethink them, with an indicator directly related to what you can do with the signal you have.
How about using these four categories:
No signal
Text messaging only
Poor call quality likely
No problems
I'll admit that's not perfect. For example, an indication of how much bandwidth you have for data transfer could be useful. Can anyone else think of a better way of representing signal strength and what you can do with it?
Tom Simonite, online technology reporter
Labels: cellphones
That question was raised for me by this blogger, who also links to an interesting discussion thread on the matter here. Various people pitch in, some with knowledge of working in the handset or network operator industry. They give a suite of reasons that the bars are not much use, including:
There are no industry standards for what 'one bar', 'two bars', etc means
Some phones estimate signal quality when idle, only measuring it properly when you try to call, which is misleading
Under the CDMA protocol used in North America, bar represent signal strength, but not a variable dubbed EC/I0, which is the portion of that signal that is usable
Interesting points. But if we want to improve things, the technical details are not really important. We need to decide what we want to know about our signal first.
At the moment, phone manufacturers give us little idea of what to expect. But people still read a lot of information into signal bars. It's not unusual to hear people boast "I've got five bars" when a friend struggles to connect. I often hear people comparing signal strength on parts of London's metro network where the tunnels are not deep enough to completely block signals.
But really, most of us have no idea what those bars mean. I think we need to rethink them, with an indicator directly related to what you can do with the signal you have.
How about using these four categories:
No signal
Text messaging only
Poor call quality likely
No problems
I'll admit that's not perfect. For example, an indication of how much bandwidth you have for data transfer could be useful. Can anyone else think of a better way of representing signal strength and what you can do with it?
Tom Simonite, online technology reporter
Labels: cellphones
12 Website FAQs We Suspect Aren't Asked That Frequently
By Conrad Schickedanz
It's hard for us to tell whether there are a lot of clueless people frequently asking dumb questions out there, or clueless web designers trying to predict what questions might get frequently asked by the type of clueless people they expect to visit their site.
#12.Meet-an-inmate.com
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Do you recommend looking for a mate through your service?"
Ladies, do websites like Lavalife and Match.com lack the threat of impending violence you look for in a dating site? The guys you'll meet at meet-an-inmate.com are going to be in great shape, and totally committed to you, as evidenced by the life-sized tattoo of your face they'll add right between the eagle and swastika on their back!
In their official answer, meet-an-inmate.com discourages the prison relationships that people so frequently ask about, but they're much more reserved than you might expect, using phrases like: "too many obstacles" and "the odds of everything working out are slim." Plus, rapists and murderers are usually so clingy.
#11.Playboy Enterprises
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Would Playboy sell so well if it didn't have naked women in it?"
If this question was on a Blockbuster Video, we're sure the back of the box would tell you that the hypothetical people frequently asking it also loved asking:
* Whether Miller High Life would sell so well without alcohol in it;
* Whether Scrabble would be popular if the wooden squares featured binary digits; and
* Whether people would buy as many Powerball tickets if the grand prize was a Git-R-Done baseball cap and an issue of Playboy with no naked women in it.
The answer they provide, "Probably not. We'll never know," has the unmistakable ring of willful ignorance, like Carl Everett claiming that he doesn't believe in dinosaurs because he's never met one. Come on Playboy editors, we know that when you graduated from journalism school, writing for a titty magazine wasn't one of your stated career goals, but it's time to face up to the truth.
#10.Disney Cruise Lines
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Is it true that children must be toilet-trained in order to enter the pools?" And "What are the swimming pools for kids?"
This one-two punch of obtuseness assumes such a lack of familiarity with pool etiquette and the very concept of what a children's pool is, that we're not sure anyone who asks it would be able to figure out how to board a boat, let along procreate.
Disney helpfully answers the first question by informing parents that, yes it is indeed true that you're not supposed to let your kid crap in the pool, but they do it in an almost apologetic way, pointing out that "the United States Public Health Service requires" it. Hey, the folks at Disney would let your kid crap in the pool to his heart's content, but it's out of their hands thanks to the floater-Nazis over at the USPHS.
They do point parents with incontinent children to "the fountain play area near the Mickey Pool." It'll be the one that looks less like a fountain, and more like a stew of poop-tinted diaper stuffing and bemulleted children.
#9.World Of Warcraft
Alleged Frequent Question:
"What classes are available in World of Warcraft? Are there any non-combat or 'pacifist' classes that can gain levels from healing wounds, curing disease, "buffing," or by providing any other type of assistance to other players?"
You know how people who graduate from an Ivy League college are really quick to ask you where you went to school, and then will sit quietly until you ask them back? Most FAQs work in a similar way, except companies don't even have to bother baiting you into asking the questions they're after since they get to write your question for you. So you end up asking things like, "can I be a pacifist in World of Warcraft" that make you sound like a total pussy.
Then they get to answer you with grizzled one-word answers (in this case "No.") like you're an asshole for having asked the question in the first place.
#8.Aeroflot Russian Airlines
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Is it possible apropos of epidemic of the bird’s flu to transport shell parakeets by Aeroflot from Moscow to Kaliningrad? The parrots will be bought in Moscow. The reference for export is available; also, there is a sanction of the main veterinary of Kaliningrad. What documents are required else?"
At first, we were pretty certain that Aeroflot had inadvertently translated a Russian SAT question, in which case the obvious answer is: "D) It all depends on how many parakeets I can fit in my pants." (Incidentally, this is the correct answer on every Russian SAT question). But then we conducted a random search of Expedia, and found that flying from Moscow to Kaliningrad costs $149 on Aeroflot vs. $1,713 on the only other airline that flies the route. That's a $1,500 difference that enough people are apparently willing to pay to stay the fuck off of an Aeroflot flight.
So while we're still pretty certain that this particular question has never been asked in quite the same grammatically convoluted way, we have little doubt that rampant parakeet smuggling and a little bird flu is the least of your worries if you decide to fly Aeroflot.
#7.Iams Pet Food
Alleged Frequent Question:
"When I give my Labrador treats, she hides them in a corner and "covers" them with air. Why?"
Right away this begs the question as to just how many times you have to ask a subsidiary of a mega-corporation like Proctor & Gamble an apparently obscure question for it to be considered "frequently asked".
We're not even sure what it means to "cover" something with air. Are they pretending to cover it up with dirt? Are they blowing on it?
Also, isn't anything that's not under water or in outer space already "covered" with air? This is obviously one of those questions that only serves to spawn more questions. Apparently Iams is just as puzzled because when this bizarre mystery is presented on the FAQ page, their only response is to provide a link to a page with no further information about the behavior.
#6.Dr. Demento
Alleged Frequent Question:
"I can't find your show anywhere around here! What gives?"
Perhaps this question earned legitimate frequent status when it was phoned in daily by Weird Al Yankovic, the recipient of significant airplay from DJ Dr. Demento during the 1980s.
If Al had dug around on the website he would have discovered that "what gives" is that he doesn't live in one of the EIGHT markets that still broadcast Dr. Demento weekly, including: Albany, Oregon and North Clinton, Iowa. But the real reason we're suspicious of this question's frequency is the simple fact that we've never heard the phrase "What gives?" used outside of a Hardy Boys novel.
#5.Cosmopolitan Magazine
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Someone called me saying he/she was from Cosmo, but asked me a lot of very personal questions. What gives?"
First of all, we're surprised you even know what Cosmo is since you're very clearly an adolescent boy from the year 1954.
While having long since disappeared from actual use, the phrase "What gives?" is apparently enjoying a healthy resurgence in the FAQ section of various websites, presumably because it makes the hypothetical user sound peeved in an adorably anachronistic way, where as a more common phrase like "What the fuck?!?" might come off as genuinely angry. Using such a stupid phrase is also helpful in distracting readers from the fact that perverts are using your brand to sexually harass your clientele.
#4.American Idol
Alleged Frequent Question:
"I couldn't get through to the lines or all I get is a fast busy signal when I call - why?"
The real question is how someone who apparently doesn't understand how telephones work managed to get through to a real person at the Fox network to ask this FAQ in the first place.
#3.Bazooka Joe Bubblegum
Alleged Frequent Question:
"What should I do with my gum when I am finished?"
We actually really hope this one is frequently asked, or that it has been asked at least once. We want to believe that there's a guy who was chewing Bazooka Joe, wrote this question to the company, and then continued to diligently chew the gum until receiving the company’s response. Their proposed solution is to wrap it in paper and throw it away, which we're sure was a bit of a letdown for our hypothetical, inquisitive gum-chewer, but they make the recommendation with lots of exclamation points, so at least they were enthusiastic about the whole thing.
#2.Wrigley
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Is it OK for my dog to chew/eat sugarfree gum?"
Obviously not as dogs can’t read the Bazooka Joe website and would have no idea how to properly dispose of it. That, and sugar-free gum is apparently toxic to dogs. Oh, and dogs don't fucking chew gum.
#1.Coca-Cola Bottling Company
Alleged Frequent Question:
"There is a message making the rounds on the Internet that says that carbonated soft drinks can be used for a variety of household purposes, such as removing rusty bolts and cleaning greasy clothes. Is this true, and does it mean soft drinks are unhealthy?"
We're sure a variant on this question is frequently asked of them, namely, "Is it true that Coke has the alien-blood-like ability to dissolve human teeth and metal?" Coca-Cola tries to pull a fast one by rephrasing the question so that it's asking about whether Coca-Cola is as incredibly useful at removing rusty bolts and cleaning greasy clothes as we'd all heard.
Coke responds by stating: "The message you cite also mentions that baking a ham basted with Coca-Cola produces a delicious gravy -- and that is definitely true!" Well, no need to read any further about that other household cleaner mumbo-jumbo, we got hams to bake!
It's hard for us to tell whether there are a lot of clueless people frequently asking dumb questions out there, or clueless web designers trying to predict what questions might get frequently asked by the type of clueless people they expect to visit their site.
#12.Meet-an-inmate.com
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Do you recommend looking for a mate through your service?"
Ladies, do websites like Lavalife and Match.com lack the threat of impending violence you look for in a dating site? The guys you'll meet at meet-an-inmate.com are going to be in great shape, and totally committed to you, as evidenced by the life-sized tattoo of your face they'll add right between the eagle and swastika on their back!
In their official answer, meet-an-inmate.com discourages the prison relationships that people so frequently ask about, but they're much more reserved than you might expect, using phrases like: "too many obstacles" and "the odds of everything working out are slim." Plus, rapists and murderers are usually so clingy.
#11.Playboy Enterprises
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Would Playboy sell so well if it didn't have naked women in it?"
If this question was on a Blockbuster Video, we're sure the back of the box would tell you that the hypothetical people frequently asking it also loved asking:
* Whether Miller High Life would sell so well without alcohol in it;
* Whether Scrabble would be popular if the wooden squares featured binary digits; and
* Whether people would buy as many Powerball tickets if the grand prize was a Git-R-Done baseball cap and an issue of Playboy with no naked women in it.
The answer they provide, "Probably not. We'll never know," has the unmistakable ring of willful ignorance, like Carl Everett claiming that he doesn't believe in dinosaurs because he's never met one. Come on Playboy editors, we know that when you graduated from journalism school, writing for a titty magazine wasn't one of your stated career goals, but it's time to face up to the truth.
#10.Disney Cruise Lines
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Is it true that children must be toilet-trained in order to enter the pools?" And "What are the swimming pools for kids?"
This one-two punch of obtuseness assumes such a lack of familiarity with pool etiquette and the very concept of what a children's pool is, that we're not sure anyone who asks it would be able to figure out how to board a boat, let along procreate.
Disney helpfully answers the first question by informing parents that, yes it is indeed true that you're not supposed to let your kid crap in the pool, but they do it in an almost apologetic way, pointing out that "the United States Public Health Service requires" it. Hey, the folks at Disney would let your kid crap in the pool to his heart's content, but it's out of their hands thanks to the floater-Nazis over at the USPHS.
They do point parents with incontinent children to "the fountain play area near the Mickey Pool." It'll be the one that looks less like a fountain, and more like a stew of poop-tinted diaper stuffing and bemulleted children.
#9.World Of Warcraft
Alleged Frequent Question:
"What classes are available in World of Warcraft? Are there any non-combat or 'pacifist' classes that can gain levels from healing wounds, curing disease, "buffing," or by providing any other type of assistance to other players?"
You know how people who graduate from an Ivy League college are really quick to ask you where you went to school, and then will sit quietly until you ask them back? Most FAQs work in a similar way, except companies don't even have to bother baiting you into asking the questions they're after since they get to write your question for you. So you end up asking things like, "can I be a pacifist in World of Warcraft" that make you sound like a total pussy.
Then they get to answer you with grizzled one-word answers (in this case "No.") like you're an asshole for having asked the question in the first place.
#8.Aeroflot Russian Airlines
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Is it possible apropos of epidemic of the bird’s flu to transport shell parakeets by Aeroflot from Moscow to Kaliningrad? The parrots will be bought in Moscow. The reference for export is available; also, there is a sanction of the main veterinary of Kaliningrad. What documents are required else?"
At first, we were pretty certain that Aeroflot had inadvertently translated a Russian SAT question, in which case the obvious answer is: "D) It all depends on how many parakeets I can fit in my pants." (Incidentally, this is the correct answer on every Russian SAT question). But then we conducted a random search of Expedia, and found that flying from Moscow to Kaliningrad costs $149 on Aeroflot vs. $1,713 on the only other airline that flies the route. That's a $1,500 difference that enough people are apparently willing to pay to stay the fuck off of an Aeroflot flight.
So while we're still pretty certain that this particular question has never been asked in quite the same grammatically convoluted way, we have little doubt that rampant parakeet smuggling and a little bird flu is the least of your worries if you decide to fly Aeroflot.
#7.Iams Pet Food
Alleged Frequent Question:
"When I give my Labrador treats, she hides them in a corner and "covers" them with air. Why?"
Right away this begs the question as to just how many times you have to ask a subsidiary of a mega-corporation like Proctor & Gamble an apparently obscure question for it to be considered "frequently asked".
We're not even sure what it means to "cover" something with air. Are they pretending to cover it up with dirt? Are they blowing on it?
Also, isn't anything that's not under water or in outer space already "covered" with air? This is obviously one of those questions that only serves to spawn more questions. Apparently Iams is just as puzzled because when this bizarre mystery is presented on the FAQ page, their only response is to provide a link to a page with no further information about the behavior.
#6.Dr. Demento
Alleged Frequent Question:
"I can't find your show anywhere around here! What gives?"
Perhaps this question earned legitimate frequent status when it was phoned in daily by Weird Al Yankovic, the recipient of significant airplay from DJ Dr. Demento during the 1980s.
If Al had dug around on the website he would have discovered that "what gives" is that he doesn't live in one of the EIGHT markets that still broadcast Dr. Demento weekly, including: Albany, Oregon and North Clinton, Iowa. But the real reason we're suspicious of this question's frequency is the simple fact that we've never heard the phrase "What gives?" used outside of a Hardy Boys novel.
#5.Cosmopolitan Magazine
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Someone called me saying he/she was from Cosmo, but asked me a lot of very personal questions. What gives?"
First of all, we're surprised you even know what Cosmo is since you're very clearly an adolescent boy from the year 1954.
While having long since disappeared from actual use, the phrase "What gives?" is apparently enjoying a healthy resurgence in the FAQ section of various websites, presumably because it makes the hypothetical user sound peeved in an adorably anachronistic way, where as a more common phrase like "What the fuck?!?" might come off as genuinely angry. Using such a stupid phrase is also helpful in distracting readers from the fact that perverts are using your brand to sexually harass your clientele.
#4.American Idol
Alleged Frequent Question:
"I couldn't get through to the lines or all I get is a fast busy signal when I call - why?"
The real question is how someone who apparently doesn't understand how telephones work managed to get through to a real person at the Fox network to ask this FAQ in the first place.
#3.Bazooka Joe Bubblegum
Alleged Frequent Question:
"What should I do with my gum when I am finished?"
We actually really hope this one is frequently asked, or that it has been asked at least once. We want to believe that there's a guy who was chewing Bazooka Joe, wrote this question to the company, and then continued to diligently chew the gum until receiving the company’s response. Their proposed solution is to wrap it in paper and throw it away, which we're sure was a bit of a letdown for our hypothetical, inquisitive gum-chewer, but they make the recommendation with lots of exclamation points, so at least they were enthusiastic about the whole thing.
#2.Wrigley
Alleged Frequent Question:
"Is it OK for my dog to chew/eat sugarfree gum?"
Obviously not as dogs can’t read the Bazooka Joe website and would have no idea how to properly dispose of it. That, and sugar-free gum is apparently toxic to dogs. Oh, and dogs don't fucking chew gum.
#1.Coca-Cola Bottling Company
Alleged Frequent Question:
"There is a message making the rounds on the Internet that says that carbonated soft drinks can be used for a variety of household purposes, such as removing rusty bolts and cleaning greasy clothes. Is this true, and does it mean soft drinks are unhealthy?"
We're sure a variant on this question is frequently asked of them, namely, "Is it true that Coke has the alien-blood-like ability to dissolve human teeth and metal?" Coca-Cola tries to pull a fast one by rephrasing the question so that it's asking about whether Coca-Cola is as incredibly useful at removing rusty bolts and cleaning greasy clothes as we'd all heard.
Coke responds by stating: "The message you cite also mentions that baking a ham basted with Coca-Cola produces a delicious gravy -- and that is definitely true!" Well, no need to read any further about that other household cleaner mumbo-jumbo, we got hams to bake!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Strategies
There are many different strategies that research has shown are effective in literature-based instruction. These include modeling, cooperative learning, scaffolding of instruction, self-initiated reading and writing, student choices, using different modes of reading, activation of prior knowledge, and student responses to literature.
The purpose of my research is to show under what circumstances the instructional strategy is appropriate and why.
“A common and effective strategy for helping students develop their higher order thinking skills is scaffolding. My own first exposure to scaffolding in education came when I was attending a high school where there was some construction in progress. The workers had erected a series of temporary structures (called scaffolding), which permitted the workers to carry out their work in high places. When the work was finished, the scaffolding was removed. The term scaffolding has been developed as a useful metaphor for an effective method for helping students develop their thinking skills. The teacher, the textual materials, or other students provide temporary support (like scaffolding in the construction industry) to help students bridge the gap between their current abilities and the intended goal. Scaffolds can be tools, such as written guidelines or cue cards, or techniques, such as modeling or prompting by the teacher. Like the physical structures supporting construction around my high school, instructional scaffolding is temporary and adjustable. As students demonstrate greater proficiency on their own, the scaffolding is gradually removed.” (1)
Good ways to introduce a strategy to students include demonstrating or explaining a prompt, modeling the skill, or thinking aloud while performing a task that applies the strategy. Various writers have developed prompts that are useful for particular thinking skills, such as summarizing, asking questions to promote reading comprehension, solving difficult problems in mathematics, and planning a composition.
The next step is for the student to practice the strategy while the teacher manages the level of difficulty. For example, to teach a five-step thinking strategy, the teacher might try any of the following methods:
Begin by modeling all but the final step in the application of the strategy, and then gradually requiring the student to perform more of these steps.
1. Ask the student to name each step for the teacher to model.
2. Provide cue cards to prompt the student to perform each step.
3. Start with easy problems to which the strategy can be applied and then move to more difficult problems.
The idea is to provide the support necessary to enable the student to meet with continuous success.
The third step is to vary the context in which the student can practice the strategy. Three basic contexts are (1) teacher-led practice, (2) reciprocal teaching, and (3) small group sessions. An important component of these practice sessions is the opportunity for the students to verbalize what they are doing. It is more likely that students will generalize strategies if they are able to label the steps; this will enable them to encode the information about the strategy in a more meaningful manner and thereby enable the learner to retrieve it more easily for later applications. In addition, verbalizing the information often exposes misconceptions and enables the students to expand the limits of their understanding of the process. In addition to varying the audience with whom the learner practices a strategy, it is useful to vary the content of the problems, so that the learner masters a general thinking strategy rather than a mere algorithm for solving a specific type of problem.
The fourth step is to provide feedback. This feedback can come from the teacher and from other students; but it is also useful to enable the students to give feedback to themselves by realizing that a strategy has been effective. One good way to stimulate self-reinforcement is to have the students use checklists to evaluate their own performance. Another possibility is to provide expert models; for example, after asking a set of questions about a reading passage, the student could compare this set to those developed by the textbook author or by the teacher.
Modern research continues to find that scaffolding is an effective teaching strategy. Two recent studies regarding the use of inscriptions for teaching scientific inquiry and experimentation (external representations – graphs, tables, etc.) found that the use of external representations, representational scaffolds, can serve as an effective strategy for teaching these scientific skills. In one study the instructional goal was to teach fourth graders valid experimentation skills. During the first part of the study a teacher-specified table of variables was the scaffold provided. Students had to select the appropriate variable related to their experiment. The results of this part of the study led to the conclusion that the “… use of the pre-developed table representation may have helped students abstract the overall structure of the experiment and thus aided their understanding of the design…” (Toth, Results and Discussion section, para. 1). The teacher designed table helped focus the learners’ thinking on only those items that were important for the task. Additionally through the use of the table it became obvious to the students if they had omitted an important variable from their experiment. This helped the students learn what things must be considered when designing an experiment (Toth, n.d.).
In the second study, “… the effects of two different external representations (evidence mapping vs. prose writing)…” were evaluated in research with ninth grade students (Toth, n.d., Representational scaffolding while coordinating data with theories section, para. 1). Students used either a software tool or prose writing to record their thinking during a problem-based-learning activity in which they had to find a solution to a scientific challenge. The software tool provided epistemological categories linked with unique shapes. The students that used the software had to categorize the information they were evaluating by selecting the appropriate shape and entering the information into the shape. The students in the prose writing group just documented their thinking by writing. One finding of the study was that the students who used the software tool correctly categorized more of the information as hypothesis and data than those students in the prose writing groups. The correct categorization of information was attributed to “…the effect of the mapping representation that scaffolded students’ categorization efforts” (Toth,). Eva Toth concluded from the research that the use of , “…teacher-developed table representations was found to scaffold students’ progress of inquiry by making the variables of an experiment salient and by perceptually constraining the students’ attention to abstract the characteristics of correct experimentation” (Toth). She also concluded that the evidence mapping, which used the software tool that scaffolded students’ thinking and categorization efforts, was a “…successful instructional methodology to teach how to categorize and label scientific information and to teach students how to evaluate hypotheses based on empirical data.” (Toth). The study also found that the use of explicit rubrics supported the scaffolding effect.
One of the primary benefits of scaffolding instruction is that it engages the learner. The learner does not passively listen to information presented instead through teacher prompting the learner builds on prior knowledge and forms new knowledge. In working with students who have low self-esteem and learning disabilities, it provides an opportunity to give positive feedback to the students by saying things like “…look what you have just figured out!” This gives them more of a can do versus a “this is too hard” attitude. This leads into another advantage of scaffolding in that if done properly, scaffolding instruction motivates the student so that they want to learn.
Another benefit of this type of instruction is that it can minimize the level of frustration of the learner. This is extremely important with many special needs students, who can become frustrated very easily then shut down and refuse to participate in further learning during that particular setting.
Scaffolded instruction is possibly one of the most important (and most frequently neglected) techniques teachers can use when working with students at computers. By using scaffolded instruction at the computer, teachers can help students develop thinking and study skills while they are studying the subject matter that is the focus of the unit of instruction.
As the conclusion it is useful to show where we can use this strategy.
1. The teacher does it - The teacher models how to perform a new or difficult task, such as how to use a graphic organizer. For example, the teacher may have a partially completed graphic organizer on an overhead transparency and "think aloud" as he or she describes how the graphic organizer illustrates the relationships among the information contained on it.
2. The class does it - The teacher and students work together to perform the task. For example, the students may suggest information to be added to the graphic organizer. As the teacher writes the suggestions on the transparency, students fill in their own copies of the organizer.
3. The group does it - Students work with a partner or a small cooperative group to complete a graphic organizer (i.e., either a partially completed or a blank one).
4. The individual does it - This is the independent practice stage where individual students can demonstrate their task mastery (e.g., successfully completing a graphic organizer to demonstrate appropriate relationships among information) and receive the necessary practice to help them to perform the task automatically and quickly.
1. http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy12/edpsy12scaffold.htm
2. Toth, E. E. (no date). Representational scaffolding during scientific inquiry: interpretive and expressive use of inscriptions in classroom learning. Retrieved October 19, 2002, from http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~ircs/cogsci2000/PRCDNGS/SPRCDNGS/posters/toth.pdf
3. http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/cai/Cai3/cai3scaffold.htm
The purpose of my research is to show under what circumstances the instructional strategy is appropriate and why.
“A common and effective strategy for helping students develop their higher order thinking skills is scaffolding. My own first exposure to scaffolding in education came when I was attending a high school where there was some construction in progress. The workers had erected a series of temporary structures (called scaffolding), which permitted the workers to carry out their work in high places. When the work was finished, the scaffolding was removed. The term scaffolding has been developed as a useful metaphor for an effective method for helping students develop their thinking skills. The teacher, the textual materials, or other students provide temporary support (like scaffolding in the construction industry) to help students bridge the gap between their current abilities and the intended goal. Scaffolds can be tools, such as written guidelines or cue cards, or techniques, such as modeling or prompting by the teacher. Like the physical structures supporting construction around my high school, instructional scaffolding is temporary and adjustable. As students demonstrate greater proficiency on their own, the scaffolding is gradually removed.” (1)
Good ways to introduce a strategy to students include demonstrating or explaining a prompt, modeling the skill, or thinking aloud while performing a task that applies the strategy. Various writers have developed prompts that are useful for particular thinking skills, such as summarizing, asking questions to promote reading comprehension, solving difficult problems in mathematics, and planning a composition.
The next step is for the student to practice the strategy while the teacher manages the level of difficulty. For example, to teach a five-step thinking strategy, the teacher might try any of the following methods:
Begin by modeling all but the final step in the application of the strategy, and then gradually requiring the student to perform more of these steps.
1. Ask the student to name each step for the teacher to model.
2. Provide cue cards to prompt the student to perform each step.
3. Start with easy problems to which the strategy can be applied and then move to more difficult problems.
The idea is to provide the support necessary to enable the student to meet with continuous success.
The third step is to vary the context in which the student can practice the strategy. Three basic contexts are (1) teacher-led practice, (2) reciprocal teaching, and (3) small group sessions. An important component of these practice sessions is the opportunity for the students to verbalize what they are doing. It is more likely that students will generalize strategies if they are able to label the steps; this will enable them to encode the information about the strategy in a more meaningful manner and thereby enable the learner to retrieve it more easily for later applications. In addition, verbalizing the information often exposes misconceptions and enables the students to expand the limits of their understanding of the process. In addition to varying the audience with whom the learner practices a strategy, it is useful to vary the content of the problems, so that the learner masters a general thinking strategy rather than a mere algorithm for solving a specific type of problem.
The fourth step is to provide feedback. This feedback can come from the teacher and from other students; but it is also useful to enable the students to give feedback to themselves by realizing that a strategy has been effective. One good way to stimulate self-reinforcement is to have the students use checklists to evaluate their own performance. Another possibility is to provide expert models; for example, after asking a set of questions about a reading passage, the student could compare this set to those developed by the textbook author or by the teacher.
Modern research continues to find that scaffolding is an effective teaching strategy. Two recent studies regarding the use of inscriptions for teaching scientific inquiry and experimentation (external representations – graphs, tables, etc.) found that the use of external representations, representational scaffolds, can serve as an effective strategy for teaching these scientific skills. In one study the instructional goal was to teach fourth graders valid experimentation skills. During the first part of the study a teacher-specified table of variables was the scaffold provided. Students had to select the appropriate variable related to their experiment. The results of this part of the study led to the conclusion that the “… use of the pre-developed table representation may have helped students abstract the overall structure of the experiment and thus aided their understanding of the design…” (Toth, Results and Discussion section, para. 1). The teacher designed table helped focus the learners’ thinking on only those items that were important for the task. Additionally through the use of the table it became obvious to the students if they had omitted an important variable from their experiment. This helped the students learn what things must be considered when designing an experiment (Toth, n.d.).
In the second study, “… the effects of two different external representations (evidence mapping vs. prose writing)…” were evaluated in research with ninth grade students (Toth, n.d., Representational scaffolding while coordinating data with theories section, para. 1). Students used either a software tool or prose writing to record their thinking during a problem-based-learning activity in which they had to find a solution to a scientific challenge. The software tool provided epistemological categories linked with unique shapes. The students that used the software had to categorize the information they were evaluating by selecting the appropriate shape and entering the information into the shape. The students in the prose writing group just documented their thinking by writing. One finding of the study was that the students who used the software tool correctly categorized more of the information as hypothesis and data than those students in the prose writing groups. The correct categorization of information was attributed to “…the effect of the mapping representation that scaffolded students’ categorization efforts” (Toth,). Eva Toth concluded from the research that the use of , “…teacher-developed table representations was found to scaffold students’ progress of inquiry by making the variables of an experiment salient and by perceptually constraining the students’ attention to abstract the characteristics of correct experimentation” (Toth). She also concluded that the evidence mapping, which used the software tool that scaffolded students’ thinking and categorization efforts, was a “…successful instructional methodology to teach how to categorize and label scientific information and to teach students how to evaluate hypotheses based on empirical data.” (Toth). The study also found that the use of explicit rubrics supported the scaffolding effect.
One of the primary benefits of scaffolding instruction is that it engages the learner. The learner does not passively listen to information presented instead through teacher prompting the learner builds on prior knowledge and forms new knowledge. In working with students who have low self-esteem and learning disabilities, it provides an opportunity to give positive feedback to the students by saying things like “…look what you have just figured out!” This gives them more of a can do versus a “this is too hard” attitude. This leads into another advantage of scaffolding in that if done properly, scaffolding instruction motivates the student so that they want to learn.
Another benefit of this type of instruction is that it can minimize the level of frustration of the learner. This is extremely important with many special needs students, who can become frustrated very easily then shut down and refuse to participate in further learning during that particular setting.
Scaffolded instruction is possibly one of the most important (and most frequently neglected) techniques teachers can use when working with students at computers. By using scaffolded instruction at the computer, teachers can help students develop thinking and study skills while they are studying the subject matter that is the focus of the unit of instruction.
As the conclusion it is useful to show where we can use this strategy.
1. The teacher does it - The teacher models how to perform a new or difficult task, such as how to use a graphic organizer. For example, the teacher may have a partially completed graphic organizer on an overhead transparency and "think aloud" as he or she describes how the graphic organizer illustrates the relationships among the information contained on it.
2. The class does it - The teacher and students work together to perform the task. For example, the students may suggest information to be added to the graphic organizer. As the teacher writes the suggestions on the transparency, students fill in their own copies of the organizer.
3. The group does it - Students work with a partner or a small cooperative group to complete a graphic organizer (i.e., either a partially completed or a blank one).
4. The individual does it - This is the independent practice stage where individual students can demonstrate their task mastery (e.g., successfully completing a graphic organizer to demonstrate appropriate relationships among information) and receive the necessary practice to help them to perform the task automatically and quickly.
1. http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy12/edpsy12scaffold.htm
2. Toth, E. E. (no date). Representational scaffolding during scientific inquiry: interpretive and expressive use of inscriptions in classroom learning. Retrieved October 19, 2002, from http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~ircs/cogsci2000/PRCDNGS/SPRCDNGS/posters/toth.pdf
3. http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/cai/Cai3/cai3scaffold.htm
Sunday, December 16, 2007
In the pre-globalization era, western labour enjoyed near-monopoly access to western capital
In the pre-globalization era, western labour enjoyed near-monopoly access to western capital. That is to say, western capital was immobile, and had to treat with western labour because it had nowhere else to go. We are now beginning to have, for the first time in human history, a truly global economy, where almost anything can be produced anywhere in the world, and then sold anywhere. (Lloyd,B & Thurow,L).With globalization, when the dismantling of barriers to world trade gave western capital access to vast amounts of low- cost labor in countries that were previously closed off.
Cheap labour, plus the opportunity to exploit new global markets, has brought a profit bonanza to western companies. But it has not been reflected in higher wages for employees at home because companies are no longer in thrall to employees at home. Instead, the gains have been split between capitalists, who have enjoyed higher returns; executives, whose emoluments go up with profits; and poor workers in the developing world, who have gained from the growth in jobs and rising wages that would once have gone to the west.
This is not quite how globalization was supposed to work out.
Although the demand for labour has indeed fallen significantly in both he USA and EU in recent decades; there is the shift from natural resource-based industries into those dominated by brain power. But if we are now moving to a world dominated by the knowledge industries, the key assets become the brainpower of individuals and you cannot own individual human beings that will change what we mean by capitalism. What will capitalism mean when you cannot own the key
asset? Is there a model in investment banks, law firms, consultancy companies? They are capitalist business firms but they do not operate in the same way as ICI, orGeneral Motors.( H. Battu , C.R. Belfield , P.J. Sloane)
According to the principle of comparative advantage, rich countries with their skilled workforces would specialize in turning out advanced products while the poor countries with their unskilled labor would specialize in low-technology goods. Yes, there could be job losses in the rich countries among unskilled factory workers, but western workers overall would gain from the opening of new markets for their products and from cheaper imports.
On the other hand. the countries will move towards higher end products. For example in 50 s Japan use to manufacture clothing and garments for American market. As the Japanese economy developed it started churning out silicon chips and the made forage into automobiles and electronics. Today Japan is the second largest market in the world and it outsource most of its clothing and garments requirements from China, Japanese owned factories in Taiwan and Korea are producing chips for Japanese electronics. Today some of the biggest names in electronics in American markets are Japanese. What started as a Akio Morita revolutionary Walkman today blossomed into Play Station 3, next generation gaming console.(Kendra) As globalization stepped in more and more
countries opened their door to free economy this change led to the emergence of new players like
China, India, Philippines, Russia and South Africa .Among these China emerged as the leader in
manufacturing section while India is excelling in information technology. India today is considered one of the most employer-friendly countries for outsourcing because in India educational system churns out almost 3 million College graduates every year and they earn approximately one-tenth to one-fifth the salaries of their Western European or American counterparts (Kendra)
In addition, the idea that only low-skilled factory workers have anything to fear from globalization has turned out to be a myth. The former Soviet bloc already has many highly educated workers (the Soviets, remember, beat the Americans into space) and the less developed countries are pouring investment into higher education. \"Indonesia, Brazil, China, India - names the country - have more than doubled university student enrolments in the 1980s and 1990s,\" Freeman says. China is investing particularly heavily in science and engineering and \"by 2010 it will graduate more PhDs in science and engineering than the US\". (4)
Tom Peters puts it in one of his presentation (Tom Peters 2004) when I was young, my mum use to tell me finish your food, people in India and China are dying of hunger. Today I tell my daughter finish your homework, people in India and China are looking for your job .
So globalization is not just about a few blue-collar factory workers in the west losing their jobs and everyone else being better off. Because of plummeting telecom charges, all kinds of middle-class, white-collar jobs once thought of as non-tradable – not just in telemarketing and call centers but in accountancy, medical diagnostics and information technology - have started moving to the developing world. (4)
Today Young peoples sitting in their offices in India and Beijing are answering average Western s insurance queries, planning their taxes, helping them fixing their computers, providing information regarding their credit card accounts and helping them in planning their debts. The surge doesn t last there it hasnow started threatening the white collar jobs which was once considered western birth right. So what will be the future for Europe and American jobs market, will it be as doomed as the candidates in the presidential race made to believe us or we have to dig deeper to find the real truth. (Kendra)
The median wage for men in the United States in 2006 was $16.66 an hour; jobs paying less than two-thirds of the median wage for men paid $11.11 or less per hour. Some 44 million workers in the USA about one of every three hold low-wage jobs paying less than $11.11. That is bad news, and worse than most people realize. Clouding the picture further, most low-wage jobs don\'t offer employment benefits like paid sick days, health insurance, or retirement accounts. They also tend to have inflexible or unpredictable scheduling requirements, and provide little opportunity for career advancement
While low-wage workers haven\'t seen much of a raise since 1979, the economy and worker productivity have grown substantially. For several decades before 1980, productivity growth and wages rose together in other words, U.S. workers were productive and shared in the gains from their productivity. In the last few decades, workers have continued to be increasingly productive, but they have seen little payoff in wages for their hard work. Between 1973 and 2006, productivity increased by 83 percent, while the median wage increased by only 13 percent. (6)
We have many more entry-level jobs than we have entry-level workers that is, workers who are new to the labor market and too few jobs that provide a middle-class standard of living. It turns out that in the U.S. labor market today it\'s not possible for everyone to be middle class, no matter how hard they work. Plus, it is getting harder to climb that ladder.
The only way to restore the middle class is to improve the labor market with a mix of new ideas and strategies for improving low-wage work. Our economy and our nation will be stronger for us all when we do.
According to sociologist such as Dennis Gilbert of Cornell University the middle class is divided into only two groups: the upper middle and lower middle class .As mentioned above the upper middle class, according to Gilbert as well as Thompson & Hickey constitutes roughly 15% of the population. The lower middle class is the second most populous according to both models the most populous class constituting roughly one third of the population, the same percentage as the working class. (3)
The lower middle class.. these are the people in technical and lower-level management positions who work for those in the middle class as lower managers, craftspeople and the like. They enjoy a reasonably comfortable standard of living although it is constantly threatened by taxes and inflation. Generally, they have a high school educational and perhaps some college or apprenticeship education. Brain K.William, Stay C. Sawyer and Carl M.Wahlstrom, Marriages, Familities & Intimate Relationships,2006 (Adapted from Dennis Gilbert 1997; and Joseph Khal 1993). (1)
Everyday, middle class families carry higher risks that a job loss or a medical problem will push them over the edge. Although plenty of families make it, a growing number who worked just as hard and followed the rules just as carefully find themselves in a financial nightmare. The security of middle-class life has disappeared.
The new reality is millions of families whose grip on the good life can be shaken loose in an instant.
So, as we see, the situation can be changed to some extend, but not much , this means that Tomkin s state that in any case a middle-class worker is a looser is completely realistic and true due to the facts of today s life. And there are an overall tone of the text, we are all losers and no one wants to admit this.
If the middle-class is loser, there may also be a winner like capitalists , who have enjoyed higher returns; executives, whose emoluments go up with profits. Graef S. Crystal (1991) reveals that In the last 20 years the pay of American workers has gone nowhere, while American CEOs have increased their own pay more than 400 per cent The CEOs are indeed the big winners with benefit packages often reaching $100 million or more; plus, the satisfaction of having an even bigger market
share.(Butts,D,1997)There are a number of companies in the USA where the workforce have found that their wages have been reduced across the board by 20-30 per cent. At the same time, overall the
real wages of CEOs went up 30 per cent last year, while the real wages of the workforce went down.
If I were a head of the company and had a responsibility for negotiating on my company s behalf with the employees over salary rises I would do definitely make negotiations with the employees through their managers or supervisors. . It seems to me, it is better to use team-reward system. Workers do not always work autonomously. Many tasks require group work, with skills diffused through teams and across the workplace; and organisational cultures (e.g. those associated with high-performance management) may depend on the average workforce skill level. Furthermore, firms may deliberately cultivate a team dynamic , with information-sharing, co-training, monitoring, and support so as to exploit these spillovers. Idson (1995), As organizations are moving into team-based management systems, the implementation of team reward systems is on the rise. A team reward system is a system in which a group members pay is at least partly contingent on the
performance of their group or team. Team rewards should create increased cohesiveness and cooperation as well as reinforce individual performance when they are used. Organizations using team reward systems begin to look at team reward systems as ways to motivate employees to make larger, more significant contributions to the organization. (5)
If implemented and used correctly, team reward systems have the potential to be an extremely helpful tool for organizations who are using a team-based system of management. There are many variables that must be analyzed and considered as the transition to team reward systems occurs. Team reward systems have great potential to grow and foster cohesiveness and cooperation within a team as well as enable the employees within an organization to find intrinsic motivation and self-fulfillment within the workplace.
There are many possible reasons to support the implementation of team reward systems. The most fundamental reason is that the organization structure is team-based management. Also, team reward systems promote team productivity and increase cooperation among team members. Some organizations use team reward systems because they give employees an opportunity to see more directly the rewards for their hard work. Others continue to use more long term reward systems in addition to team rewards, such as gain sharing or profit-sharing.
There are certain guidelines to consider when using team reward systems. First, the team leader and/or management should be able to communicate well with other group members in order to explain the process of team reward systems and be as fair and consistent as possible as group members adjust to the change. It is also important for team leaders to consider the size of the reward, frequency of payout, and allocation procedures that the organization will be using.
As a head of the company I have to identify issues and the objectives that will drive the negotiation, need to learn more about the employees objectives and the road map that the employee\'s negotiator will likely follow in attaining those objectives.
One of the most difficult tasks during a negotiation is to confine the discussion to what is important while avoiding irrelevant subjects. One of the best ways to promote productive and efficient discussion is to establish an agenda for both sides to follow.
As a conclusion we can say that a way out for western middle class poverty definitely exists. A lot depends, of course, from the political, economical and social factors. But if to take an ideal situation, when all those factors do not influence the situation, a lot depends on the politics of the management stuff of this or that company. Capitalists are people who know how to make money. The only things to be in need are chip working staff, good equipment. This is really true; nowadays it is much more beneficial for a capitalist to organize a part of the business in such countries as Russia, India, Chine, etc. This is clear for everyone, and do not need any additional confirmation, that for one and the same work US workers get definite sum of money, and Russian workers will get twice or trice less, and they will be happy of this. The living level is the main difference. Reach people sometimes do not take into account that they also should raise the living level of their native workers, I mean, the workers of the country they live in. So, the situation with the western workers leaves much to be desired. The people who can make the situation better, do not want to do anything, this contradicts with their becoming richer and richer. The main problem for a head of the company is how to raise salaries and wages for the workers and not to lose with money. From my point of view the best solution is negotiations and team reward system. This will change the situation for the better and also will give the workers to feel as one community, one body. They will be interested in work and as a reward, their salaries will grow.
Cheap labour, plus the opportunity to exploit new global markets, has brought a profit bonanza to western companies. But it has not been reflected in higher wages for employees at home because companies are no longer in thrall to employees at home. Instead, the gains have been split between capitalists, who have enjoyed higher returns; executives, whose emoluments go up with profits; and poor workers in the developing world, who have gained from the growth in jobs and rising wages that would once have gone to the west.
This is not quite how globalization was supposed to work out.
Although the demand for labour has indeed fallen significantly in both he USA and EU in recent decades; there is the shift from natural resource-based industries into those dominated by brain power. But if we are now moving to a world dominated by the knowledge industries, the key assets become the brainpower of individuals and you cannot own individual human beings that will change what we mean by capitalism. What will capitalism mean when you cannot own the key
asset? Is there a model in investment banks, law firms, consultancy companies? They are capitalist business firms but they do not operate in the same way as ICI, orGeneral Motors.( H. Battu , C.R. Belfield , P.J. Sloane)
According to the principle of comparative advantage, rich countries with their skilled workforces would specialize in turning out advanced products while the poor countries with their unskilled labor would specialize in low-technology goods. Yes, there could be job losses in the rich countries among unskilled factory workers, but western workers overall would gain from the opening of new markets for their products and from cheaper imports.
On the other hand. the countries will move towards higher end products. For example in 50 s Japan use to manufacture clothing and garments for American market. As the Japanese economy developed it started churning out silicon chips and the made forage into automobiles and electronics. Today Japan is the second largest market in the world and it outsource most of its clothing and garments requirements from China, Japanese owned factories in Taiwan and Korea are producing chips for Japanese electronics. Today some of the biggest names in electronics in American markets are Japanese. What started as a Akio Morita revolutionary Walkman today blossomed into Play Station 3, next generation gaming console.(Kendra) As globalization stepped in more and more
countries opened their door to free economy this change led to the emergence of new players like
China, India, Philippines, Russia and South Africa .Among these China emerged as the leader in
manufacturing section while India is excelling in information technology. India today is considered one of the most employer-friendly countries for outsourcing because in India educational system churns out almost 3 million College graduates every year and they earn approximately one-tenth to one-fifth the salaries of their Western European or American counterparts (Kendra)
In addition, the idea that only low-skilled factory workers have anything to fear from globalization has turned out to be a myth. The former Soviet bloc already has many highly educated workers (the Soviets, remember, beat the Americans into space) and the less developed countries are pouring investment into higher education. \"Indonesia, Brazil, China, India - names the country - have more than doubled university student enrolments in the 1980s and 1990s,\" Freeman says. China is investing particularly heavily in science and engineering and \"by 2010 it will graduate more PhDs in science and engineering than the US\". (4)
Tom Peters puts it in one of his presentation (Tom Peters 2004) when I was young, my mum use to tell me finish your food, people in India and China are dying of hunger. Today I tell my daughter finish your homework, people in India and China are looking for your job .
So globalization is not just about a few blue-collar factory workers in the west losing their jobs and everyone else being better off. Because of plummeting telecom charges, all kinds of middle-class, white-collar jobs once thought of as non-tradable – not just in telemarketing and call centers but in accountancy, medical diagnostics and information technology - have started moving to the developing world. (4)
Today Young peoples sitting in their offices in India and Beijing are answering average Western s insurance queries, planning their taxes, helping them fixing their computers, providing information regarding their credit card accounts and helping them in planning their debts. The surge doesn t last there it hasnow started threatening the white collar jobs which was once considered western birth right. So what will be the future for Europe and American jobs market, will it be as doomed as the candidates in the presidential race made to believe us or we have to dig deeper to find the real truth. (Kendra)
The median wage for men in the United States in 2006 was $16.66 an hour; jobs paying less than two-thirds of the median wage for men paid $11.11 or less per hour. Some 44 million workers in the USA about one of every three hold low-wage jobs paying less than $11.11. That is bad news, and worse than most people realize. Clouding the picture further, most low-wage jobs don\'t offer employment benefits like paid sick days, health insurance, or retirement accounts. They also tend to have inflexible or unpredictable scheduling requirements, and provide little opportunity for career advancement
While low-wage workers haven\'t seen much of a raise since 1979, the economy and worker productivity have grown substantially. For several decades before 1980, productivity growth and wages rose together in other words, U.S. workers were productive and shared in the gains from their productivity. In the last few decades, workers have continued to be increasingly productive, but they have seen little payoff in wages for their hard work. Between 1973 and 2006, productivity increased by 83 percent, while the median wage increased by only 13 percent. (6)
We have many more entry-level jobs than we have entry-level workers that is, workers who are new to the labor market and too few jobs that provide a middle-class standard of living. It turns out that in the U.S. labor market today it\'s not possible for everyone to be middle class, no matter how hard they work. Plus, it is getting harder to climb that ladder.
The only way to restore the middle class is to improve the labor market with a mix of new ideas and strategies for improving low-wage work. Our economy and our nation will be stronger for us all when we do.
According to sociologist such as Dennis Gilbert of Cornell University the middle class is divided into only two groups: the upper middle and lower middle class .As mentioned above the upper middle class, according to Gilbert as well as Thompson & Hickey constitutes roughly 15% of the population. The lower middle class is the second most populous according to both models the most populous class constituting roughly one third of the population, the same percentage as the working class. (3)
The lower middle class.. these are the people in technical and lower-level management positions who work for those in the middle class as lower managers, craftspeople and the like. They enjoy a reasonably comfortable standard of living although it is constantly threatened by taxes and inflation. Generally, they have a high school educational and perhaps some college or apprenticeship education. Brain K.William, Stay C. Sawyer and Carl M.Wahlstrom, Marriages, Familities & Intimate Relationships,2006 (Adapted from Dennis Gilbert 1997; and Joseph Khal 1993). (1)
Everyday, middle class families carry higher risks that a job loss or a medical problem will push them over the edge. Although plenty of families make it, a growing number who worked just as hard and followed the rules just as carefully find themselves in a financial nightmare. The security of middle-class life has disappeared.
The new reality is millions of families whose grip on the good life can be shaken loose in an instant.
So, as we see, the situation can be changed to some extend, but not much , this means that Tomkin s state that in any case a middle-class worker is a looser is completely realistic and true due to the facts of today s life. And there are an overall tone of the text, we are all losers and no one wants to admit this.
If the middle-class is loser, there may also be a winner like capitalists , who have enjoyed higher returns; executives, whose emoluments go up with profits. Graef S. Crystal (1991) reveals that In the last 20 years the pay of American workers has gone nowhere, while American CEOs have increased their own pay more than 400 per cent The CEOs are indeed the big winners with benefit packages often reaching $100 million or more; plus, the satisfaction of having an even bigger market
share.(Butts,D,1997)There are a number of companies in the USA where the workforce have found that their wages have been reduced across the board by 20-30 per cent. At the same time, overall the
real wages of CEOs went up 30 per cent last year, while the real wages of the workforce went down.
If I were a head of the company and had a responsibility for negotiating on my company s behalf with the employees over salary rises I would do definitely make negotiations with the employees through their managers or supervisors. . It seems to me, it is better to use team-reward system. Workers do not always work autonomously. Many tasks require group work, with skills diffused through teams and across the workplace; and organisational cultures (e.g. those associated with high-performance management) may depend on the average workforce skill level. Furthermore, firms may deliberately cultivate a team dynamic , with information-sharing, co-training, monitoring, and support so as to exploit these spillovers. Idson (1995), As organizations are moving into team-based management systems, the implementation of team reward systems is on the rise. A team reward system is a system in which a group members pay is at least partly contingent on the
performance of their group or team. Team rewards should create increased cohesiveness and cooperation as well as reinforce individual performance when they are used. Organizations using team reward systems begin to look at team reward systems as ways to motivate employees to make larger, more significant contributions to the organization. (5)
If implemented and used correctly, team reward systems have the potential to be an extremely helpful tool for organizations who are using a team-based system of management. There are many variables that must be analyzed and considered as the transition to team reward systems occurs. Team reward systems have great potential to grow and foster cohesiveness and cooperation within a team as well as enable the employees within an organization to find intrinsic motivation and self-fulfillment within the workplace.
There are many possible reasons to support the implementation of team reward systems. The most fundamental reason is that the organization structure is team-based management. Also, team reward systems promote team productivity and increase cooperation among team members. Some organizations use team reward systems because they give employees an opportunity to see more directly the rewards for their hard work. Others continue to use more long term reward systems in addition to team rewards, such as gain sharing or profit-sharing.
There are certain guidelines to consider when using team reward systems. First, the team leader and/or management should be able to communicate well with other group members in order to explain the process of team reward systems and be as fair and consistent as possible as group members adjust to the change. It is also important for team leaders to consider the size of the reward, frequency of payout, and allocation procedures that the organization will be using.
As a head of the company I have to identify issues and the objectives that will drive the negotiation, need to learn more about the employees objectives and the road map that the employee\'s negotiator will likely follow in attaining those objectives.
One of the most difficult tasks during a negotiation is to confine the discussion to what is important while avoiding irrelevant subjects. One of the best ways to promote productive and efficient discussion is to establish an agenda for both sides to follow.
As a conclusion we can say that a way out for western middle class poverty definitely exists. A lot depends, of course, from the political, economical and social factors. But if to take an ideal situation, when all those factors do not influence the situation, a lot depends on the politics of the management stuff of this or that company. Capitalists are people who know how to make money. The only things to be in need are chip working staff, good equipment. This is really true; nowadays it is much more beneficial for a capitalist to organize a part of the business in such countries as Russia, India, Chine, etc. This is clear for everyone, and do not need any additional confirmation, that for one and the same work US workers get definite sum of money, and Russian workers will get twice or trice less, and they will be happy of this. The living level is the main difference. Reach people sometimes do not take into account that they also should raise the living level of their native workers, I mean, the workers of the country they live in. So, the situation with the western workers leaves much to be desired. The people who can make the situation better, do not want to do anything, this contradicts with their becoming richer and richer. The main problem for a head of the company is how to raise salaries and wages for the workers and not to lose with money. From my point of view the best solution is negotiations and team reward system. This will change the situation for the better and also will give the workers to feel as one community, one body. They will be interested in work and as a reward, their salaries will grow.
Like other professions, the field of accountancy has come to recognize that the younger generation of employees are more concerned about balancing their private and professional lives than older workers. Accordingly, accounting organizations headed by the AICPA and accounting firms across the US are teaming up with businesses to develop programs designed to help both employers and employees address lifestyle issues that face dual professional families. Changing workforce demographics is shaping the future of the accounting profession. Statistics show that the number of people and dual-career families entering the labour pool is increasing. What many people don’t realise, however, is that an accounting and finance degree is neither necessary nor sufficient to become a professional accountant. (Of course the reverse also holds: career opportunities for accounting and finance graduates are not restricted to the accounting profession!). These pages were written to provide some basic background information on the accounting profession, together with the transition from university student to professionally qualified accountant.
The image of accountants as dull, middle-aged men dressed in grey suits is fast disappearing. The accounting profession is associated with high salaries and a bewildering array of career opportunities including traditional auditing and assurance work, management consulting, corporate finance, IT consulting, tax planning, human resources (HR) and insolvency. In addition, the leaders of many top companies are qualified accountants.
Do you ever think where the accounter may work? There is a world of possibility for an accounter. They work in business, sports, the arts, government, education, the non-profit sector - the choice is really great! Accounting opens doors in every kind of business coast to coast. You could work for a large, international accounting firm or a small, local accounting firm, a corporation or small business, a government agency or non-profit organization, or a college or university. Accounting is also an excellent foundation for starting your own practice or company.
If you work for an accounting firm, as an accounter you may deal with clients in a wide range of industries. For example, you could be assigned to a client in the music industry, examining the company’s financial records, providing tax advice or developing a computer system to track the sale of CDs.
If you work directly for a company, you could be involved in everything from advising on how to increase profits to analysing future financing needs. If you work in government you might find yourself testifying on the impact of pending tax legislation. You can even use your accounting expertise to instruct students or conduct research.
Accounting requires a diverse array of skills, aptitudes, and technologies. You should have strong problem-solving abilities, excellent oral and written communication skills, and technical know-how. One day you may be preparing a financial report on the computer; the next you may be presenting your findings on video.
As for the skills an accounter must have it is at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting, or a bachelor’s degree in another subject with a master’s degree in accounting. In addition to accounting and business courses, one should take classes in communications, the humanities, the sciences, economics, and computer applications. So it seems really promising. Another fortune in this profession is that an accounter doesn’t work with the words, language and that long process of persuading people. It is nearly impossible to overstate the benefits of being able to write well. It is even more important to be able to write well than to speak well, at least until you reach very senior levels of an organization or are interacting regularly with the public directly as a representative of a company. Written communication has a central role in the success of an organization and the ability to express yourself only adequately is simply not, well, adequate. And if you cannot communicate well in writing you’re going to have a very tough time making a successful career from your first job. Even if this handicap doesn’t inhibit you in an entry-level position, you will run into a wall on your first promotion. The importance of effective writing in the workplace cannot be over-emphasized. Clear communication not only frees the employee to perform their tasks efficiently, it bolsters self-confidence and enhances the creative process in the entire staff. People know they are starting on solid ground and have confidence that their efforts will not be wasted or unappreciated. Clear communication shows respect for entire staff and enables excellence in business. My future career doesn’t require writing at all. I will write often of course, but this will be numbers, not letters and words, so this is a technical writing. An accounter usually calculates, so the documents I will write are just forms for filling. So the only language I will require, analyzing data/information/statistics is numbers mixed with formal English phrases. For sure I will persuade a lot of people with the most knockdown argument – numbers. My speech will be full of numbers, as that of any successful accounter, who is concise and respectful person in glasses and in the expensive suit in front of the computer in comfortable office.
Works used:
1. Blumstein Philip, Carssow W., Groves Kathryn, The Honoring of Accounts. NY: Sociologist, 2001.
2. Rest F., Choosing the profession. Cambridge University Press. 1999.
The image of accountants as dull, middle-aged men dressed in grey suits is fast disappearing. The accounting profession is associated with high salaries and a bewildering array of career opportunities including traditional auditing and assurance work, management consulting, corporate finance, IT consulting, tax planning, human resources (HR) and insolvency. In addition, the leaders of many top companies are qualified accountants.
Do you ever think where the accounter may work? There is a world of possibility for an accounter. They work in business, sports, the arts, government, education, the non-profit sector - the choice is really great! Accounting opens doors in every kind of business coast to coast. You could work for a large, international accounting firm or a small, local accounting firm, a corporation or small business, a government agency or non-profit organization, or a college or university. Accounting is also an excellent foundation for starting your own practice or company.
If you work for an accounting firm, as an accounter you may deal with clients in a wide range of industries. For example, you could be assigned to a client in the music industry, examining the company’s financial records, providing tax advice or developing a computer system to track the sale of CDs.
If you work directly for a company, you could be involved in everything from advising on how to increase profits to analysing future financing needs. If you work in government you might find yourself testifying on the impact of pending tax legislation. You can even use your accounting expertise to instruct students or conduct research.
Accounting requires a diverse array of skills, aptitudes, and technologies. You should have strong problem-solving abilities, excellent oral and written communication skills, and technical know-how. One day you may be preparing a financial report on the computer; the next you may be presenting your findings on video.
As for the skills an accounter must have it is at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting, or a bachelor’s degree in another subject with a master’s degree in accounting. In addition to accounting and business courses, one should take classes in communications, the humanities, the sciences, economics, and computer applications. So it seems really promising. Another fortune in this profession is that an accounter doesn’t work with the words, language and that long process of persuading people. It is nearly impossible to overstate the benefits of being able to write well. It is even more important to be able to write well than to speak well, at least until you reach very senior levels of an organization or are interacting regularly with the public directly as a representative of a company. Written communication has a central role in the success of an organization and the ability to express yourself only adequately is simply not, well, adequate. And if you cannot communicate well in writing you’re going to have a very tough time making a successful career from your first job. Even if this handicap doesn’t inhibit you in an entry-level position, you will run into a wall on your first promotion. The importance of effective writing in the workplace cannot be over-emphasized. Clear communication not only frees the employee to perform their tasks efficiently, it bolsters self-confidence and enhances the creative process in the entire staff. People know they are starting on solid ground and have confidence that their efforts will not be wasted or unappreciated. Clear communication shows respect for entire staff and enables excellence in business. My future career doesn’t require writing at all. I will write often of course, but this will be numbers, not letters and words, so this is a technical writing. An accounter usually calculates, so the documents I will write are just forms for filling. So the only language I will require, analyzing data/information/statistics is numbers mixed with formal English phrases. For sure I will persuade a lot of people with the most knockdown argument – numbers. My speech will be full of numbers, as that of any successful accounter, who is concise and respectful person in glasses and in the expensive suit in front of the computer in comfortable office.
Works used:
1. Blumstein Philip, Carssow W., Groves Kathryn, The Honoring of Accounts. NY: Sociologist, 2001.
2. Rest F., Choosing the profession. Cambridge University Press. 1999.
In narrowing representations of American culture through visual art to a manageable topic for a conversation there is a focus on art that records and represents individuals and groups of people or movements within our culture that to the majority of Americans are invisible and marginalized. While it seems oxymoronic to think of visual art as a representation of something invisible, a whole range of American art includes marginalized, disenfranchised, and often invisible people, groups, and events in our culture.
On the “invisibility” chart, if invisibility can be measured by degrees, sharecroppers are the least visible of the individuals, groups, and events that I have chosen to feature in my unit. No one speaks more poignantly of the invisibility of a subculture of society than James Agee speaks of sharecroppers in his documentary Let Us Now Praise Famous Men:
And some there be which have no memorial: who perished as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. (Agee, 13)
Agee and photographer Walker Evans lived with two sharecropping families, the Gudgers and the Ricketts, in Alabama in the summer of l936 and crafted a photographic and written record of sharecroppers’ daily lives. Their publication, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, including Walker Evans’s black-and-white photographs and Agee’s riveting descriptions of the families with whom they lived, is a memorial to this aggregate of humanity that struggled and toiled from dawn to sunset, and sometimes past, to eek subsistence from the earth. Evans’s photos are witness enough to the grueling toil, the poverty, and the resignation in the eyes and body language of every subject he photographed. With Agee’s richly descriptive text piled on, it is almost more than a person can bear. Agee writes:
If I could do it, I’d do no writing at all here. It would be photographs: the rest would be fragments of cloth, bits of cotton, lumps of earth, records of speech, pieces of wood and iron, phials of odors, plates of food and of excrement. Booksellers would consider it quite a novelty; critics would murmur, yes, but is it art; and I could trust a majority of you to use it as you would a parlor game. A piece of the body torn out by the roots might be more to the point. As it is, though, I’ll do what little I can in writing. Only it will be very little. I’m not capable of it, and if I were, you would not go near it at all. For if you did, you would hardly be able to bear to live. (Agee, 14)
If these marginalized, disenfranchised people are remembered anywhere, it is in the pages of this documentary that was such a condemnation of humanity, that allowed people to live this way, that Esquire Magazine, who commissioned the collaboration, declined to publish the results.
Each family, the Gudgers and the Ricketts, tended a vegetable garden, but their daily labor, while Agee and Evans lived with them, was picking cotton for the men who owned the land. One of the photographs that I will make into a slide is of Fred Ricketts poised, in his raggedy clothes, before a cotton field; slung over his shoulder is the long slender bag that he will drag up and down the rows behind him as he fills it with one hundred pounds of cotton. Another photo that I will make into a slide is of eight-year-old Pearl Gudger, dragging the long, slender bag and leaning into the row, bent to pluck the cotton from the open burrs whose gores are stiff with sharp points that will prick even the deftest fingertips.
Students can find, on the Internet, a wealth of photographs of sharecroppers laboring in the fields, leaning into the cotton plants, and dragging the bags along behind them. What cannot be conveyed in photographs is the sun beating down, intolerably on the heads and backs of the pickers. An excerpt that is an effective complement to these two photos is Agee’s description of the physical torture of it:
Meanwhile, too, you are working in a land of sunlight and heat, which are special to just such country at just that time of year: sunlight that stands and stacks itself upon you with the serene weight of deep sea water, and heat that makes the jointed and muscled and fine-structured body glow like one indiscriminate oil; and this brilliant weight of heat is piled upon you more and more heavily in hour after hour so that it can seem you are a diving bell whose strained seams must at any moment burst, and the eyes are marked in stinging sweat, and the head, if your health is a little unstable, is gently roaring, like a private blow torch, . . . (Cawelti, 67)
Agee describes, in his chapter, “Money,” the rigidly structured economic arrangements that the sharecroppers have with their landlords, that leave no opening for escape.
Gudger has no home, no land, no mule; none of the more important farming implements. He must get all these of his landlord. Boles, [his landlord], for his share of the corn and cotton, also advances him rations money during four months of the year, March through June, and his fertilizer.
Gudger pays him back with his labor and with the labor of his family. At the end of the season he pays him back further: with half his corn; with half his cotton; with half his cottonseed. Out of his own half of these crops he also pays him back the rations money, plus interest, and his share of the fertilizer, plus interest, and such other debts, plus interest, as he may have incurred. What is left, once doctors’ bills and other debts have been deducted, is his year’s earnings.
Works cited:
1. Agee, James, and Walker Evans. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
2. Bakhtin, M. M. The Dialogic Imagination. Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: U of Texas P, 1991.
3. Cash, W. J. The Mind of the South. New York: Knopf, 1990.
4. Cawelti, John G. Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture. 1976. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1997.
5. Cripps, Thomas. Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era. New York: Oxford UP, 1993.
On the “invisibility” chart, if invisibility can be measured by degrees, sharecroppers are the least visible of the individuals, groups, and events that I have chosen to feature in my unit. No one speaks more poignantly of the invisibility of a subculture of society than James Agee speaks of sharecroppers in his documentary Let Us Now Praise Famous Men:
And some there be which have no memorial: who perished as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. (Agee, 13)
Agee and photographer Walker Evans lived with two sharecropping families, the Gudgers and the Ricketts, in Alabama in the summer of l936 and crafted a photographic and written record of sharecroppers’ daily lives. Their publication, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, including Walker Evans’s black-and-white photographs and Agee’s riveting descriptions of the families with whom they lived, is a memorial to this aggregate of humanity that struggled and toiled from dawn to sunset, and sometimes past, to eek subsistence from the earth. Evans’s photos are witness enough to the grueling toil, the poverty, and the resignation in the eyes and body language of every subject he photographed. With Agee’s richly descriptive text piled on, it is almost more than a person can bear. Agee writes:
If I could do it, I’d do no writing at all here. It would be photographs: the rest would be fragments of cloth, bits of cotton, lumps of earth, records of speech, pieces of wood and iron, phials of odors, plates of food and of excrement. Booksellers would consider it quite a novelty; critics would murmur, yes, but is it art; and I could trust a majority of you to use it as you would a parlor game. A piece of the body torn out by the roots might be more to the point. As it is, though, I’ll do what little I can in writing. Only it will be very little. I’m not capable of it, and if I were, you would not go near it at all. For if you did, you would hardly be able to bear to live. (Agee, 14)
If these marginalized, disenfranchised people are remembered anywhere, it is in the pages of this documentary that was such a condemnation of humanity, that allowed people to live this way, that Esquire Magazine, who commissioned the collaboration, declined to publish the results.
Each family, the Gudgers and the Ricketts, tended a vegetable garden, but their daily labor, while Agee and Evans lived with them, was picking cotton for the men who owned the land. One of the photographs that I will make into a slide is of Fred Ricketts poised, in his raggedy clothes, before a cotton field; slung over his shoulder is the long slender bag that he will drag up and down the rows behind him as he fills it with one hundred pounds of cotton. Another photo that I will make into a slide is of eight-year-old Pearl Gudger, dragging the long, slender bag and leaning into the row, bent to pluck the cotton from the open burrs whose gores are stiff with sharp points that will prick even the deftest fingertips.
Students can find, on the Internet, a wealth of photographs of sharecroppers laboring in the fields, leaning into the cotton plants, and dragging the bags along behind them. What cannot be conveyed in photographs is the sun beating down, intolerably on the heads and backs of the pickers. An excerpt that is an effective complement to these two photos is Agee’s description of the physical torture of it:
Meanwhile, too, you are working in a land of sunlight and heat, which are special to just such country at just that time of year: sunlight that stands and stacks itself upon you with the serene weight of deep sea water, and heat that makes the jointed and muscled and fine-structured body glow like one indiscriminate oil; and this brilliant weight of heat is piled upon you more and more heavily in hour after hour so that it can seem you are a diving bell whose strained seams must at any moment burst, and the eyes are marked in stinging sweat, and the head, if your health is a little unstable, is gently roaring, like a private blow torch, . . . (Cawelti, 67)
Agee describes, in his chapter, “Money,” the rigidly structured economic arrangements that the sharecroppers have with their landlords, that leave no opening for escape.
Gudger has no home, no land, no mule; none of the more important farming implements. He must get all these of his landlord. Boles, [his landlord], for his share of the corn and cotton, also advances him rations money during four months of the year, March through June, and his fertilizer.
Gudger pays him back with his labor and with the labor of his family. At the end of the season he pays him back further: with half his corn; with half his cotton; with half his cottonseed. Out of his own half of these crops he also pays him back the rations money, plus interest, and his share of the fertilizer, plus interest, and such other debts, plus interest, as he may have incurred. What is left, once doctors’ bills and other debts have been deducted, is his year’s earnings.
Works cited:
1. Agee, James, and Walker Evans. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
2. Bakhtin, M. M. The Dialogic Imagination. Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: U of Texas P, 1991.
3. Cash, W. J. The Mind of the South. New York: Knopf, 1990.
4. Cawelti, John G. Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture. 1976. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1997.
5. Cripps, Thomas. Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era. New York: Oxford UP, 1993.
HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
“In prohibiting in absolute terms torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Article 3 of the ECHR enshrines one of the fundamental values of democratic societies. This provision admits no exceptions to this fundamental value, irrespective of the circumstances and the victim’s behavior, and no derogation from it is permissible. In its first judgment under this provision, the Court held that in assessing the severity of the punishment or treatment endured by a person, regard should be had to the victim’s personal characteristics, such as their age, sex and state of health.
The case of E and Others v. UK (2002) concerned children who had suffered serious ill treatment (sexual and/or physical abuse) over a considerable period of time at the hands of their mother’s partner, despite being referred to and monitored by social services. The Court held that there had been a violation of Articles 3 and 13 (the right to an effective remedy). This judgment, as well as other subsequent judgments illustrate that the positive obligation to protect children under Article 3 extends beyond imposing criminal sanctions for such ill-treatment and requires States to take reasonable steps to prevent ill treatment of which the authorities had or ought to have knowledge.” (1)
Under the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights has observed that:
“Article 3 enshrines one of the most fundamental values of democratic societies. Even in the most difficult circumstances, such as the fight against terrorism and organised crime, the Convention prohibits in absolute terms torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Unlike most of the substantive clauses of the Convention and of Protocols Nos. 1 and 4, Article 3 makes no provision for exceptions and no derogation from it is permissible under Article 15(2), even in the event of a public emergency threatening the life of the nation.” (2)
The entire nature of the prohibition on inhuman treatment and its applicability in all circumstances is obvious also from international humanitarian law (IHL), which clearly gives to understand that torture, corporal punishment and other measures which lead to physical suffering are prohibited even in times of armed conflict. The specific reference to the prohibition of corporal punishment in conflict is remarcable.
Several consequences flow from the absolute nature of the prohibition which may be worth emphasising in the context of the present case.
First, the absolute nature of the prohibition means that severe, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is inadmissible no matter what are the circumstances of the particular case, including specifically the victim’s behaviour. Even the most deviating behaviour on the part of individuals cannot justify, or affect the understanding of what constitutes, such treatment or punishment. “As the European Court notes:
“[...] Article 3 prohibits in absolute terms torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and […] its guarantees apply irrespective of the reprehensible nature of the conduct of the person in question […].”” (3)
Second, there can be no justification for inhuman or degrading punishment on the basis of the protection of other human rights, or for reasons of public order or prevention or repression of crime. Specifically, as held by the European Court in Tyrer in relation to the judicial corporal punishment of a juvenile by birching, the fact that a particular punishment may be believed to a have a deterrent effect is irrelevant. The Court observed
“[…] a punishment does not lose its degrading character just because it is believed to be, or actually is, an effective deterrent or aid to crime control. Above all, as the Court must emphasise, it is never permissible to have recourse to punishments which are contrary to Article 3, whatever their deterrent effect may be.”(1)
Third, according to general principles of international law, condition of the internal law do not affect the characterisation of measures as severe or degrading, and cannot justify the imposition of such measures. The fact that a certain kind of treatment or punishment is definitely permitted or provided for by domestic legislation is extraneous so far as that treatment or punishment violates the prohibition under international law of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
We can say for sure that human rights are not at all dangerous for democracy. “To argue that they constitute such a danger would be grossly to distort the purpose and effect of an instrument which came into being largely to protect democracy against the perceived totalitarian threat of the cold war years and which is founded upon the twin principles of democracy and the rule of law.” (5)
There are in addition Convention rights which are absolute in nature and in respect of which no humiliation is possible under Article 15 of the Convention. Therefore, Article 3 prohibiting torture, and inhuman or degrading treatment enshrines one of the most fundamental values of democratic society. “While the Strasbourg Court is well aware of the immense difficulties faced by States in
protecting their communities from terrorist violence, even in these circumstances the Convention prohibits torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, irrespective of the victim's conduct. The prohibition provided for in Article 3 against ill-treatment applies equally in expulsion cases. Where substantial grounds have been shown for believing that an individual would face a real risk of being subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 if removed to a particular receiving State, the responsibility of the Contracting (holding) State to safeguard him or her against such treatment may be engaged in the event of expulsion.” (1)
In the case of Soering v UK [1989] 11 EHRR 439 where the UK wished to extradite a man to the US the European Court of Human Rights found that it would be contrary to the spirit and intent of the Convention to knowingly give up a person to another state where “substantial grounds have been shown for believing that the person concerned, if extradited, faces a real risk of being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the requesting country”.(6)
Sources:
1. Tyrer v. United Kingdom (Appl. No. 5856/72), Judgment of 25 February 1978, Series A, No. 26, para. 31. See also the Human Rights Committee, in its Concluding observations on Israel, UN Doc. CCPR/C/79/Add 93 (1998), para. 19, condemning guidelines authorising ‘moderate physical pressure’ to obtain information considered crucial to the protection of life.
2. http://hei.unige.ch/~clapham/hrdoc/docs/echrsoeringcase.txt
3. www.icj.dk/documents/Speech2006Lawandterrorism.doc
4. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldjudgmt/jd040617/ullah-1.htm
5. http://www.workers-party.org/wpstory.asp?sn=770
6. http://www.lawindexpro.co.uk/demo/cs051212.php
The case of E and Others v. UK (2002) concerned children who had suffered serious ill treatment (sexual and/or physical abuse) over a considerable period of time at the hands of their mother’s partner, despite being referred to and monitored by social services. The Court held that there had been a violation of Articles 3 and 13 (the right to an effective remedy). This judgment, as well as other subsequent judgments illustrate that the positive obligation to protect children under Article 3 extends beyond imposing criminal sanctions for such ill-treatment and requires States to take reasonable steps to prevent ill treatment of which the authorities had or ought to have knowledge.” (1)
Under the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights has observed that:
“Article 3 enshrines one of the most fundamental values of democratic societies. Even in the most difficult circumstances, such as the fight against terrorism and organised crime, the Convention prohibits in absolute terms torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Unlike most of the substantive clauses of the Convention and of Protocols Nos. 1 and 4, Article 3 makes no provision for exceptions and no derogation from it is permissible under Article 15(2), even in the event of a public emergency threatening the life of the nation.” (2)
The entire nature of the prohibition on inhuman treatment and its applicability in all circumstances is obvious also from international humanitarian law (IHL), which clearly gives to understand that torture, corporal punishment and other measures which lead to physical suffering are prohibited even in times of armed conflict. The specific reference to the prohibition of corporal punishment in conflict is remarcable.
Several consequences flow from the absolute nature of the prohibition which may be worth emphasising in the context of the present case.
First, the absolute nature of the prohibition means that severe, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is inadmissible no matter what are the circumstances of the particular case, including specifically the victim’s behaviour. Even the most deviating behaviour on the part of individuals cannot justify, or affect the understanding of what constitutes, such treatment or punishment. “As the European Court notes:
“[...] Article 3 prohibits in absolute terms torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and […] its guarantees apply irrespective of the reprehensible nature of the conduct of the person in question […].”” (3)
Second, there can be no justification for inhuman or degrading punishment on the basis of the protection of other human rights, or for reasons of public order or prevention or repression of crime. Specifically, as held by the European Court in Tyrer in relation to the judicial corporal punishment of a juvenile by birching, the fact that a particular punishment may be believed to a have a deterrent effect is irrelevant. The Court observed
“[…] a punishment does not lose its degrading character just because it is believed to be, or actually is, an effective deterrent or aid to crime control. Above all, as the Court must emphasise, it is never permissible to have recourse to punishments which are contrary to Article 3, whatever their deterrent effect may be.”(1)
Third, according to general principles of international law, condition of the internal law do not affect the characterisation of measures as severe or degrading, and cannot justify the imposition of such measures. The fact that a certain kind of treatment or punishment is definitely permitted or provided for by domestic legislation is extraneous so far as that treatment or punishment violates the prohibition under international law of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
We can say for sure that human rights are not at all dangerous for democracy. “To argue that they constitute such a danger would be grossly to distort the purpose and effect of an instrument which came into being largely to protect democracy against the perceived totalitarian threat of the cold war years and which is founded upon the twin principles of democracy and the rule of law.” (5)
There are in addition Convention rights which are absolute in nature and in respect of which no humiliation is possible under Article 15 of the Convention. Therefore, Article 3 prohibiting torture, and inhuman or degrading treatment enshrines one of the most fundamental values of democratic society. “While the Strasbourg Court is well aware of the immense difficulties faced by States in
protecting their communities from terrorist violence, even in these circumstances the Convention prohibits torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, irrespective of the victim's conduct. The prohibition provided for in Article 3 against ill-treatment applies equally in expulsion cases. Where substantial grounds have been shown for believing that an individual would face a real risk of being subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 if removed to a particular receiving State, the responsibility of the Contracting (holding) State to safeguard him or her against such treatment may be engaged in the event of expulsion.” (1)
In the case of Soering v UK [1989] 11 EHRR 439 where the UK wished to extradite a man to the US the European Court of Human Rights found that it would be contrary to the spirit and intent of the Convention to knowingly give up a person to another state where “substantial grounds have been shown for believing that the person concerned, if extradited, faces a real risk of being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the requesting country”.(6)
Sources:
1. Tyrer v. United Kingdom (Appl. No. 5856/72), Judgment of 25 February 1978, Series A, No. 26, para. 31. See also the Human Rights Committee, in its Concluding observations on Israel, UN Doc. CCPR/C/79/Add 93 (1998), para. 19, condemning guidelines authorising ‘moderate physical pressure’ to obtain information considered crucial to the protection of life.
2. http://hei.unige.ch/~clapham/hrdoc/docs/echrsoeringcase.txt
3. www.icj.dk/documents/Speech2006Lawandterrorism.doc
4. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldjudgmt/jd040617/ullah-1.htm
5. http://www.workers-party.org/wpstory.asp?sn=770
6. http://www.lawindexpro.co.uk/demo/cs051212.php
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