Category: Uncategorized

Name:

Professor:

Course:

Date:

Essay 1

The life of every individual is marked by some significant experiences that alter their points of view and sometimes, the person’s whole life. Many young people live sheltered lives and have not encountered challenges, especially while still under the care of their parents and guardians. Life-changing events should be an opportunity for people to learn lessons and grow to become better. I experienced one such event while in high school when my best friend got in a fatal car crash that eventually claimed her life. The horrific experience haunts me to this day, and it has encouraged me to make better choices in every area of my life.

Anna was my first friend when I moved to a new school during my sophomore high school year. Moving to a new school is quite a challenging experience, but it was inevitable for my family and me. I accepted the change and hoped my new school would be as great as the old one. My mom dropped me off on the first day, and I asked for directions to my new class. When I got there, Anna was the only other person in the room and we started talking. She was really friendly, and I immediately felt good about the school. We became fast friends for the following school years and looked forward to many more until tragedy struck.

In our senior year, Anna had a boyfriend from a nearby college. I was worried about her because the college boy was not a good influence on her. He would take her to parties around his campus, even though she never readily agreed. However, she would do anything to please him. One night, he was drunk, and when Anna asked to go home, he got angry and got in the driver’s seat. She was too scared to speak up, and they drove off at high speed. The next morning, I remember my mom telling me we had to go to the hospital, I could take a day off from school.

When I first heard the news, I was confused, but I also did not realize how serious Anna’s condition was. I hastily left for the hospital, where I met Anna’s family in the waiting room. The whole place was pristine white, with vases of lovely flowers strewn over the tables. There was also a distinct hospital smell, a smell of cleanliness but also of emptiness. Nurses and doctors hurried about helping the sick. Anna’s mom led me to her, and I was not prepared for what I saw.

Anna lay swathed in bandages, and the visible parts of her skin were purple. The monitor was beeping softly. She was hooked on various machines as she was in a coma. I was horrified to see her like that, I initially thought she might have broken an arm and would soon get better. Her family was heartbroken because the doctors all appeared discouraged. Sadly, Anna died after three days. Her death has been the most traumatic event of my life. It also taught me that every day choices can cost one their life, and people must be vigilant on their decisions.

Introduction

The life of prominent personalities remains one of the most comprehensive topics focussed on in the field of sociology. This can be accredited to the fact that various prominent personalities played a comprehensive role in bringing about social change in the society. Worth noting is the fact that the traditional society was filled with various societal matter that hundred societal progress. As an example, the traditional society had a less regard for women in the society as evident by the fact that women were discriminated highly. Nonetheless, the emergence of prominent personalities led to mutual change of the society in terms of such matters. The societal progresses that have been made by the society are credited to prominent personalities who improvised different strategies aimed at streamlining the society for the better. Ellen Gates Starr occurs as one of the prominent personalities who made significant contributions in influencing societal change and progress (Hamington, 2010).

Early life

Born by the close of the year 1859 in Laona, Illinois, Ellen Gates Starr remains as one of the prominent personalities who made a significant contribution towards mutual change of the society for the better. She was enrolled for formal schooling across various Illinois country schools, but by the close of the year 1877, she joined Rockford Female Seminary where she met various seminarians including Addams Jane, whom they grew to become good friends. In fact, the friendship between Ellen and Addams had a significant influence on their lives (Cady & Webber, 2006). Worth noting is the fact that Ellen’s education in Rockford Female Seminary was filled with a wider array of challenges such as lack of tuition fee because she came from an ample family background. Nevertheless, Ellen struggled and created magnitude of opportunities that enhanced her life.

Essence of Ellen in the field of sociology

As previously connoted herein, Ellen as one of the most prominent personalities made significant contributions in the field of sociology. In fact, she made significant contributions towards mutual societal development. There are various ways in which Ellen made significant contributions to the field of sociology. More importantly, Ellen made efforts to enlighten the society on pertinent matters that affected their lives. As an example, Ellen spent most of her time enlightening the immigrants who had been subjected to harsh living conditions. To be precise, Ellen reading clubs, which could be utilized by every societal member. This reading clubsenlightened the societal members; hence, resulting in positive social change within the society. The second way in which Ellen is regarded as an important figure in the field of sociology is accredited to the social changes that were brought about by the Hull House, which they co-founded with her long-time friend Addams (Harmon, 2012).

The Hull House served as a significant place where various social reformers were born. To be precise, the Hull House acted as a place where people, especially women could converge to be given teachings on the essence of social reforms. The teachings carried out in the Hull House precipitated the eventual emergence of various women reformers who fought for women rights, which had been impeached on by males in the previous decades. In addition, the Hull House that was established by Ellen served as a nursing home for women who had fallen victim of domestic violence. Overall, Ellen utilized the Hull House to offer a wider array of teachings to women including teachings on how to curb poverty (Hamington, 2010). This is of the essence to the field of sociology because it shows how women were able to use teachings gained from Ellen to bring reforms in their lives.

On another note, Ellen sought to know the true meaning of religion, which remains one of the fundamental sociological factors that puzzle many. Upon exploring on the issue on religion, Ellen spent most of her time education the populations on the essence of religion. In fact, Ellen turned religion into a tool for enlightening the populations on various matters. It is imperative to note that by the use of religion, Ellen was able to influence mutual change amongst the populations (Cady & Webber, 2006). This is because of the high regard that people have and continue to have on religion. While it may be viewed that Ellen was more focused only on reducing women victimization, which was evident in the previous decades, she extended his quest for social reforms by advocating for the assimilation of the immigrants. This is substantive indicator on the importance of Ellen to the field of sociology.

Ellen’s most significant concepts (campaign against child labour and discrimination of women)

One of the pertinent issues that Ellen sought to resolve was child labour. Worth noting is the fact that the inception of the industrial revolution necessitated the availability of cheap labour. This resulted in the engagement of children in forced labour, which was certainly unacceptable. In line with this, Ellen joined hand with other reformers such as Kelley Florence to fight against the rising child labour (Harmon, 2012). On a similar note, Ellen participated strongly in reform agendas that aimed at improving the status of women in the society. In fact, she was among the prominent personalities who established the Women’s Trade Union League, awomen’s organization that supported the quest by women to develop trade unions advocating for their concerns.

As a leader of the Women’s Trade Union League, Ellen was in the forefront strategizing strikes and supporting women uprisings. However, this does not mean that Ellen did not support reforms that involved men. This was evident when she aided a strike that was launched by textile workers, most of whom were men. Her support for uprisings and strikes was not only limited to engaging in the strikes. She also provided food, and clothing for the striking workers. Furthermore, she gave motivational speeches, which encouraged the striking workers to keep fighting for their rights. Overall, Ellen advocated for legislative reforms, which were poised to bring to an end issues such as child labour, minimum wages, and long working hours and days (Hamington, 2010).

Reflection and conclusion

A reflection on the life of Ellen depicts a character that should be emulated by everyone. Her life brought about social reforms that have and continue to benefit various generations. One of the take home lessons derived from Ellen’s lifetime achievements is the fact that life changes do not happen in isolation nor spontaneously. Instead, achievements call for commitment towards attaining our life desires. In a nutshell, social reforms remain to be of much essence across various settings all over the globe. Social reforms create a

society where everyone is respected. This create a viable platform that can ensure mutual societal progress. There is no doubt that

Ellen’s contributions have and continue to remain important in the field of sociology (Cady & Webber, 2006).

References

Cady, G. S., & Webber, C. (2006). A year with American Saints. New York: Church Pub.

Hamington, M. (2010). Feminist interpretations of Jane Addams. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Harmon, K. E. (2012). There were also many women there: Lay women in the liturgical movement in the United States, 1926-59.

Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press.

society where everyone is respected. This create a viable platform that can ensure mutual societal progress. There is no doubt that

Ellen’s contributions have and continue to remain important in the field of sociology (Cady & Webber, 2006).

References

Cady, G. S., & Webber, C. (2006). A year with American Saints. New York: Church Pub.

Hamington, M. (2010). Feminist interpretations of Jane Addams. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Harmon, K. E. (2012). There were also many women there: Lay women in the liturgical movement in the United States, 1926-59.

Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press.

The Lifestyle of Ocelot Cats

Student’s Name

Institution

The Lifestyle of Ocelot Cats

The research paper regards the popularly known cat by the name ocelot. The cats are unique and have beautiful spots on their bodies. They are believed to have originated from Brazil as well as Argentina in South America and later spread to Mexico and other parts of the United States such as Louisiana and South Texas. Ocelot cat belongs to Felidae family, subfamily felinae, genus Leopardus and Leopardus pardalis species. The cat belongs to the same family with bobcat and puma having similar instinct, but they slightly differ in appearance. Ocelot cat portrays various ways of hunting which are unique from the one applied by the bobcat and puma as well as have different trivial prey. In this paper, the lifestyle of the ocelot cat is discussed into an in-depth extent in regards of their food habits in South Texas and its competition with a bobcat, the population in the Brazilian Atlantic forest as well as what it eats for survival and its adaptation to different feeding habits.

The ocelot cat feeds on various kind of food from which it hunts from the forest habitats. It mainly feeds on fresh hence have distinct predator’s characteristics like sharp claws, sharp sight as well as the capability of moving at high speed. It majorly depends on hunting where the primary preys are the rodents and the spiny tail iguana. The ocelot cat hunts various types of rodents whether small, medium or large as well as the spiny-tailed iguana provided it finds food to enhance survivability on the highly competitive habitat. Apart from the main preys mentioned above, the ocelot also hunts a wide variety of small animals such as rabbits, birds, frogs, crabs, fishes and small turtles among many other small mammals. As it is common that different animals have specific behaviors during different seasons, the ocelot cat also portrays different characteristics during various seasons and moon phases as well. There are differences in the appearance of the ocelot cats during the wet and dry seasons. Research shows that it is easier to spot the ocelot cats during the dry seasons compared to the wet time of year. The reason behind these findings is that during the wet season there if fast disintegration and appearance of the aunts as well as beetles which the ocelot cats feed on and staying on their territories where there are favorable conditions. It is normal that various predators hunt both during the day and at night which is different from ocelot cats which hunt during the night and varies in different moon phases. They tend to hunt more frequently during the full moon compared to the half and quarter moon phases. The ocelot cats are susceptible in a matter of securing their territories, thus tend to hunt a short range from their bases. The male cats are more prominent than the female cats where mostly males range between twenty to thirty inches tall while the females range between eighteen to twenty-five inches. Further research was carried out to determine the type of food the ocelot cats tend to feed most frequently. It was determined that small mammals and rodents be substantially eaten followed by the minute reptiles and lastly other organisms such as birds and insects.

In their habitats at Brazil Atlantic forest, ocelot cats do not face fierce competition as the top predators are either absent or few. This suggests that the ocelots like are living in a competition-free ecosystem. With the absence of top predators such as jaguars, the ocelots tend to take advantage of feeding on the abundant rodents which are available in large numbers. The ocelot cats are mostly found in closed-canopy forests, and they grow well in this surroundings. In the areas that have small forest coverage, the ocelots have small home ranges, and they have to move a long distance to hunt making it not suitable for their well-being. In areas where there are thin forests, there is a sparse population of the ocelot cats. Research shows that the reason behind the diminishing population in the area was as a result of a small number of other predators. Presence of other predators is essential in the balancing the food chain. The top predators are crucial in the reserves and the forest habitats to keep the food chain in place to which the ocelots are included.

In South Texas, the ocelot cats face considerable competition from the Bobcats that also inhibits the habitat. The ocelots mostly hunt the rodents but also hunts for the birds, spiny pocket mouse and the lagomorph. The case is same with the Bobcats, but the difference is that they feed on the abundant rodents while the ocelot at many times eats the small and medium-sized rodents. Research in consideration of the feeding habits of the Bobcats and the ocelot cats showed that to some extent they differ on the prey that they mostly feed on. The ocelot cats at widely feed on the rodents, insectivore, reptiles and Passeriformes more than the Bobcats. On the other hand, it was determined that the Bobcats feed on birds more than the ocelot cats. The feeding rate of both the ocelots and bobcats on the Lagomorph and Artiodactyl was revealed to equalize. In the South Texas forest habitat both the predators feed on the same kind of prey and the difference comes where ocelot cats feed more on small and medium-size animals while the Bobcats mostly feed on the large ones.

As discussed above, the ocelot cats hunts on a wide variety of prey for food and their feed is determined by the habitat by which they inhabit. A point of interest is that the ocelot cats and other predators are needed in adequate in the ecosystem to keep the food chain in balance. The major problem facing the ocelot cats in their habitats is the clearance of the forests where human beings tend to inhibit. Wildlife is a beauty to the region and the nation in general. Thus it is the publics’ responsibility to take care of the animals and forests where the ocelot build their territories.

Name:

Course:

Institution:

Date of submission:

The late 19th century and the early 20th century marked the rising influence of American foreign policy and its continued influence on the global matters. American imperialism was on the rise during this period and it had a lot of influence on global issue and even shifted the change of the global power from Europe to America. The United States sought to play a role in the global issues after the end of the American civil war and propagated the American imperialism agenda in many parts of the world in competition with the European imperialism. American imperialism was a term used to describe the cultural, economic, political and military philosophy that were adhere by the Americans and that they sought to spread into other states either directly or indirectly by supporting policies and laws of similar beliefs in other countries. The main aim of these philosophies was aimed at giving the United States direct or indirect control of those countries and furthers its foreign policy in the global stage.

The philosophy advanced by the Americans aimed at expanding their territories by ensuring that they had control over foreign territories away from home. The concept of the American imperialism can be traced back to the American-Mexican war that took place during the presidency of James K. Polk who invaded the Mexican territory illegally and took part of their territory. By the end of the 19th century, the economic power of the United States was very powerful and had surpasses a majority of the European powers as its agricultural, industrial and technological prowess continued to expand making the United States an emerging economic and political power that riffled former economic giants like Britain, Spain and France. Many historians belief that the continued expansion and growth of the United States was strategic because of its reluctance to take many colonies as the European powers did and instead choosing to focus on internal development and expansion of its industries and the devastating effects of the civil war.

The role of the United States in the global foreign policy was insignificant before the late nineteenth century when its role in commerce was recognized by the European powers. In recognition of the role the United States was playing in global issues especially commercial, the European powers upgraded their representatives to Washington from a minister to an ambassador. Sending an ambassador to Washington was recognition of the United States as a first-division nation that was characterized by high industrialization, leading role in global commerce and its political influence globally.

The onset of the twentieth century was a blessing to the Americans in terms of their foreign policy goals. The United States seemed ready to take a leading role in defining its foreign policy and the American policy was now well defined. The American policy at the onset of the twentieth century was defined by three major concepts that included the desire by white Americans to pursue white supremacy, the desire to promote national greatness and promote liberty and lastly the extent to which the American should allow for social and political change in its foreign territories. These three ideas formed the basis upon which the American political leaders could oversee the future role of the Americans in the global society and the future place of their country in managing the global issues. By the earl twentieth century, these ideas defined the American foreign policy and formed the basis upon which the American foreign policy was anchored.

The Americans unlike most of the European powers such as Britain and France that were willing to make military obligations to their allies, it refused to sign fixed military obligations to its allies. It instead focused on building its military by devoting a large portion of its budget to military spending. It is estimated that by the early twentieth century, the American government’s spending on military had increased by over 300 percent and to almost a quarter of the country’s budget.

The American imperialism could be seen through it numerous colonies that it took across the Caribbean and the Asian continents. For instance, the American occupation of Puerto Rico came after the Puerto Rican people had successfully fought the Spanish colonizers and was on the verge of attaining self-rule. The Puerto Ricans easily accepted the occupation of their territory by Washington as they believed that it would guarantee them more security from Madrid and help the progress quickly socially, economically and politically. This did not happen as the Americans turned to be the second colonizers of the island and ensured that the island was directly under the rule of Washington and the country no longer had the autonomy to engage in international trade independently.

The American imperialism agenda in Puerto Rico was championed by Davis who was a cross ally of the then president Roosevelt. Although Davis was essential in ensuring that there was free trade between the island and the American mainland, he promoted imperialism where there was a centralized system of governance with the president as the head. This form of governance was a disservice to Puerto Ricans as a majority of their resources were siphoned away into the American mainland in the form of raw materials for American industries. Davis Root was in charge of Puerto Rico considered the country not ready for self-governance just like those in Central America and believed American control over them would allow them learn the principles of self-control and the need for respect for the constitution.

The American colonization of the Philippines was after helping the Filipino people fight the Spanish and expel them. Many historians refer to the colonization of the Philippines b America as an attempt by the Washington leader to Americanize the Filipino people. The American people used a wide of agents to penetrate the Philippines society and establish their control after expelling the Spanish colonizers. Colonial leaders in Washington relied on on American investors, missionaries, philanthropists, teachers, military and physicians to Americanize the Filipino people and erode their culture.

Most of the Philippines were taught to belief that the American culture was superior than theirs and took western education at an alarming rate. The Philippines women adopted the American way of dressing and even went to school and were able to secure formal education that the Americans had introduced in the island. The Americans considered their role to spread the American way of life to their newly acquired state and they did not want to be portrayed as colonialists to the extent that they outlawed the use of the name in reference to the Philippines. The American government considered the island a war department and did not establish a colonial office as the British would have done. The Americans considered those who oversaw the operations of the Philippines as missionaries who were just spreading the American civilization to the remote island of Philippines as part of their global responsibility.

The impacts of the American colonization of the Philippines are easily visible in the Filipino society even today. A majority of the Philippine systems are a copy paste from the American way of life including the main national language that is English and the form of government that resembles the American federal system. The Philippines is one of the countries with highly educated people with manual laborers being a scarcity by the virtue of their Americanization although this proved not the answer to all the challenges that the island country faced. Many historians belief that the American colonization of the Philippines made the Filipinos Americanized without actually becoming real Americans in many aspects of their society as most of their traditions were lost and their national identity currently has roots towards the American society.

Although the American colonization and their spread of imperialism was based on their national aspirations of building a superior country that controls the rest and ensuring economic development, the strategy was less successful. Most of the previous American colonies still remain poor as a majority of their natural resources had been siphoned by the Washington although some social and political systems in such colonies are similar to the Americans’. The liberties of the American colonies were highly compromised although the United States at first seemed to criticize the deeds of the European powers of acquiring colonies. The collapse of the American imperialism was important as it eventually led to the decolonization of a majority of world states.

References:

Washington, George, and Continental Army. The American Revolution: 1775-1783. Vol. II. Boston: Little, Brown, 2014.

Deutsch, Karl Wolfgang. Political Community and the North American Area. Princeton University Press, 2015.Blount, James Henderson. The American occupation of the Philippines, 1898-1912. GP Putnam’s sons, 1912.Go, Julian. American empire and the politics of meaning: Elite political cultures in the Philippines and Puerto Rico during US colonialism. Duke University Press, 2008.

Your P Number

Module Code: HRMG3203

Name of the Module Leader

Name of Seminar Group Tutor

Date of Submission

Word Count: 767

Title of the Assignment: The Likely Convergence of HRM Practices in China and the US

As one of the most advanced Western Nations, the US exhibits the Variety of Capitalism strategy with regards to management of human resources. Precisely, the US is a liberal market economy (LME) that operates in various parts of the globe especially through its MNCs (Wheelahan and Moodie, 2017). On the other hand, China tends to adopt the Variety of Capitalism theory despite being one of the Eastern nations that operates under restrictive conditions and the rule of collectivism. Specifically, China has undergone significant developments on matters about human resource management (HRM), probably due to certain reasons such as its rapidly growing economy that has prompted an improved focus on MNCs as it (China) strives to determine and embrace the most suitable HRM practices to support its growing presence in the international market place (Liu, Burridge and Sinclair 2002). Therefore, HRM practices in China and the US are increasingly becoming similar owing to the rising pressure from MNCs and global pressure.

China and the US conduct performance appraisals each year to determine productivity of their employees and facilitate relevant processes such as job promotions, rewards and celebrations of overall employee achievements. Even so, workers in the US enjoy a highly-decentralized rewarding system that is based mainly on an individual’s qualification and performance levels (Gooderham, Nordhaug and Ringdal, 2006). Accordingly, big margins exist with regards to benefits between employees handling different positions. Fortunately, such significant variances act as motivators for better performance among employees. On the other hand, China evaluates productivity of its employees on a continuous basis at a personal level. Specifically, job descriptions serve as the main baseline for appraising workers in China. Even so, such type of performance appraisal in China resulted from the significant economic reforms that have transpired over the past couple of decades (Lamond and Zheng, 2010). Initially, China was concerned with performance of teams due to its focus on collectivism, but economic reforms have triggered the need for individual focus. Hence, appraisal systems in China and the US tend to converge.

Employees in both the US and China enjoy significant opportunities for learning and developing their careers owing to the high presence of necessary resources and facilities including substantial government funding and learning institutions such as universities and colleges. Accordingly, workers undergo rigorous vocational training and education sessions that attract more knowledge and skills needed for handling varied types of jobs. As a result, employees in the US and China experience low levels of uncertainty avoidance, thus most workers are not concerned with permanent jobs (Carraher, Buchanan and Puia, 2010). Instead, job mobility is common in the US and China because the workforces are well-equipped with vital skills and knowledge for handling different types of work. Even so, China has dramatically increased resources that are aimed at training and developing its employees (Akhtar, Ding and Ge, 2008: Cooke, 2009). Earlier on, China used to allocate limited resources on training and developing its employees. Therefore, a considerate degree of convergence exists with regards to employee development and training in China and the US.

However, a significant difference in power distance between China and the US greatly influence the degree of employee participations (Shi and Wang, 2011). Power distance in the US is low, hence, encouraging better engagement of all workers in generation of feedback for decision-making activities and improved understanding of their firms. On the other hand, traditional Chinese values tend to discourage employee participations while encouraging maintenance of harmony thorough the Confucian doctrine (Taormina and Gao, 2009). Accordingly, many employees in China may not have adequate understanding of their firms since they are primarily concerned with their jobs. Luckily, the increasing training and development programs as well as globalization and rise in MNCs continue to unravel the importance of engaging employees in developing their organizations (Habib, Zahra and Mushtaq, 2015). Hence, the otherwise initial high power distance would probably change to moderate and low power distance to encourage more lateral communications for better decision-making processes and comprehension of organizations by workers. Thus, China could be heading to a workplace environment where workers are encouraged to understand their firms well and contribute to their (organizations) development like in the US.

In conclusion, a significant degree of convergence exists with regards to HRM practices in the US and China. China is an Eastern country that has been facing significant influence from restrictive traditional values such as the Confucian doctrine and the focus on collectivism rather than individual employee. Luckily, it (China) has embraced considerate reforms that encourage appraisals and rewards at personal levels, allocation of more resources for training and development of employees and a shift toward better engagement of workers. The rising pressure from globalization and the growth of MNCs seem to facilitate the change in China’s HRM operations. Hence, China tends to work towards the institutional approach of Varieties of Capitalism concept like the US.

Reference List

Akhtar, S., Ding, D.Z. and Ge, G.L., 2008. Strategic HRM practices and their impact on company performance in Chinese enterprises. Human Resource Management: Published in Cooperation with the School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan and in alliance with the Society of Human Resources Management, 47(1), pp.15-32.

Carraher, S.M., Buchanan, J.K. and Puia, G., 2010. Entrepreneurial need for achievement in China, Latvia, and the USA. Baltic Journal of Management, 5(3), pp.378-396.Cooke, F.L., 2009. A decade of transformation of HRM in China: A review of literature and suggestions for future studies. Asia Pacific Journal of human resources, 47(1), pp.6-40.Gooderham, P., Nordhaug, O. and Ringdal, K., 2006. National embeddedness and calculative human resource management in US subsidiaries in Europe and Australia. Human Relations, 59(11), pp.1491-1513.Habib, S., Zahra, F. and Mushtaq, H., 2015. Impact of training and development on employees’ performance and productivity: A case study of Pakistan. European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 4(08), pp.326-330.Lamond, D. and Zheng, C., 2010. HRM research in China: looking back and looking forward. Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management, 1(1), pp.6-16.Liu, X., Burridge, P. and Sinclair, P.J., 2002. Relationships between economic growth, foreign direct investment and trade: evidence from China. Applied economics, 34(11), pp.1433-1440.Shi, X. and Wang, J., 2011. Cultural distance between China and US across GLOBE model and Hofstede model. International Business and Management, 2(1), pp.11-17.Taormina, R.J. and Gao, J.H., 2009. Identifying acceptable performance appraisal criteria: An international perspective. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 47(1), pp.102-125.Wheelahan, L. and Moodie, G., 2017. Vocational education qualifications’ roles in pathways to work in liberal market economies. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 69(1), pp.10-27.

Name:

Course:

Institution:

Date of submission:

The late 19th century and the early 20th century marked the rising influence of American foreign policy and its continued influence on the global matters. American imperialism was on the rise during this period and it had a lot of influence on global issue and even shifted the change of the global power from Europe to America. The United States sought to play a role in the global issues after the end of the American civil war and propagated the American imperialism agenda in many parts of the world in competition with the European imperialism. American imperialism was a term used to describe the cultural, economic, political and military philosophy that were adhere by the Americans and that they sought to spread into other states either directly or indirectly by supporting policies and laws of similar beliefs in other countries. The main aim of these philosophies was aimed at giving the United States direct or indirect control of those countries and furthers its foreign policy in the global stage.

The philosophy advanced by the Americans aimed at expanding their territories by ensuring that they had control over foreign territories away from home. The concept of the American imperialism can be traced back to the American-Mexican war that took place during the presidency of James K. Polk who invaded the Mexican territory illegally and took part of their territory. By the end of the 19th century, the economic power of the United States was very powerful and had surpasses a majority of the European powers as its agricultural, industrial and technological prowess continued to expand making the United States an emerging economic and political power that riffled former economic giants like Britain, Spain and France. Many historians belief that the continued expansion and growth of the United States was strategic because of its reluctance to take many colonies as the European powers did and instead choosing to focus on internal development and expansion of its industries and the devastating effects of the civil war.

The role of the United States in the global foreign policy was insignificant before the late nineteenth century when its role in commerce was recognized by the European powers. In recognition of the role the United States was playing in global issues especially commercial, the European powers upgraded their representatives to Washington from a minister to an ambassador. Sending an ambassador to Washington was recognition of the United States as a first-division nation that was characterized by high industrialization, leading role in global commerce and its political influence globally.

The onset of the twentieth century was a blessing to the Americans in terms of their foreign policy goals. The United States seemed ready to take a leading role in defining its foreign policy and the American policy was now well defined. The American policy at the onset of the twentieth century was defined by three major concepts that included the desire by white Americans to pursue white supremacy, the desire to promote national greatness and promote liberty and lastly the extent to which the American should allow for social and political change in its foreign territories. These three ideas formed the basis upon which the American political leaders could oversee the future role of the Americans in the global society and the future place of their country in managing the global issues. By the earl twentieth century, these ideas defined the American foreign policy and formed the basis upon which the American foreign policy was anchored.

The Americans unlike most of the European powers such as Britain and France that were willing to make military obligations to their allies, it refused to sign fixed military obligations to its allies. It instead focused on building its military by devoting a large portion of its budget to military spending. It is estimated that by the early twentieth century, the American government’s spending on military had increased by over 300 percent and to almost a quarter of the country’s budget.

The American imperialism could be seen through it numerous colonies that it took across the Caribbean and the Asian continents. For instance, the American occupation of Puerto Rico came after the Puerto Rican people had successfully fought the Spanish colonizers and was on the verge of attaining self-rule. The Puerto Ricans easily accepted the occupation of their territory by Washington as they believed that it would guarantee them more security from Madrid and help the progress quickly socially, economically and politically. This did not happen as the Americans turned to be the second colonizers of the island and ensured that the island was directly under the rule of Washington and the country no longer had the autonomy to engage in international trade independently.

The American imperialism agenda in Puerto Rico was championed by Davis who was a cross ally of the then president Roosevelt. Although Davis was essential in ensuring that there was free trade between the island and the American mainland, he promoted imperialism where there was a centralized system of governance with the president as the head. This form of governance was a disservice to Puerto Ricans as a majority of their resources were siphoned away into the American mainland in the form of raw materials for American industries. Davis Root was in charge of Puerto Rico considered the country not ready for self-governance just like those in Central America and believed American control over them would allow them learn the principles of self-control and the need for respect for the constitution.

The American colonization of the Philippines was after helping the Filipino people fight the Spanish and expel them. Many historians refer to the colonization of the Philippines b America as an attempt by the Washington leader to Americanize the Filipino people. The American people used a wide of agents to penetrate the Philippines society and establish their control after expelling the Spanish colonizers. Colonial leaders in Washington relied on on American investors, missionaries, philanthropists, teachers, military and physicians to Americanize the Filipino people and erode their culture.

Most of the Philippines were taught to belief that the American culture was superior than theirs and took western education at an alarming rate. The Philippines women adopted the American way of dressing and even went to school and were able to secure formal education that the Americans had introduced in the island. The Americans considered their role to spread the American way of life to their newly acquired state and they did not want to be portrayed as colonialists to the extent that they outlawed the use of the name in reference to the Philippines. The American government considered the island a war department and did not establish a colonial office as the British would have done. The Americans considered those who oversaw the operations of the Philippines as missionaries who were just spreading the American civilization to the remote island of Philippines as part of their global responsibility.

The impacts of the American colonization of the Philippines are easily visible in the Filipino society even today. A majority of the Philippine systems are a copy paste from the American way of life including the main national language that is English and the form of government that resembles the American federal system. The Philippines is one of the countries with highly educated people with manual laborers being a scarcity by the virtue of their Americanization although this proved not the answer to all the challenges that the island country faced. Many historians belief that the American colonization of the Philippines made the Filipinos Americanized without actually becoming real Americans in many aspects of their society as most of their traditions were lost and their national identity currently has roots towards the American society.

Although the American colonization and their spread of imperialism was based on their national aspirations of building a superior country that controls the rest and ensuring economic development, the strategy was less successful. Most of the previous American colonies still remain poor as a majority of their natural resources had been siphoned by the Washington although some social and political systems in such colonies are similar to the Americans’. The liberties of the American colonies were highly compromised although the United States at first seemed to criticize the deeds of the European powers of acquiring colonies. The collapse of the American imperialism was important as it eventually led to the decolonization of a majority of world states.

References:

Washington, George, and Continental Army. The American Revolution: 1775-1783. Vol. II. Boston: Little, Brown, 2014.

Deutsch, Karl Wolfgang. Political Community and the North American Area. Princeton University Press, 2015.Blount, James Henderson. The American occupation of the Philippines, 1898-1912. GP Putnam’s sons, 1912.Go, Julian. American empire and the politics of meaning: Elite political cultures in the Philippines and Puerto Rico during US colonialism. Duke University Press, 2008.

Name:

Course:

Professor:

Date:

The Little Prisoner: A Memoir

Stories of child abuse and neglect are usually heartbreaking, and ‘The Little Prisoner: A Memoir’ by Jane Elliott is no exception. So many children suffer horrific abuse at the hands of adults trusted to take care of them. Unfortunately, many of these children are too scared to come out and tell their stories due to threats and intimidation. Young children often do not know who to turn to, and adults take advantage of this innocence and naivety to abuse and neglect minors in their care. From the tender age of four, Jane Elliot was abused and neglected by her parents for seventeen years of her life until she managed to escape and build a life of her own. The most tragic part of the story is that Jane’s whole family knew of the abuse, but they never stood up for her. In fact, they sided with her abusive stepfather, claiming that he was family and therefore she should overlook everything he did to her.

Jane’s parents got divorced at an early age, and she went into foster care. However, she went back to her mother, who got married to a new man. Trouble soon started for Jane when her stepfather asked her to play ‘games’ with him, which were, in fact, acts of sexual abuse. This would go on for the next seventeen years, escalating as time passed. Jane was sexually abused, beaten up, threatened, controlled, and emotionally abused by her stepfather, while the rest of her family did nothing. Granted, they too experienced physical abuse in the hands of this man, but Jane had it so much worse. For seventeen years, the poor child endured horrific abuse, which is too much to bear for anyone, let alone a child. Eventually, at seventeen, Jane escaped her situation, encouraged by her boyfriend Steven and concerns for her daughter. Five years later, she gathered enough courage to report the abuse to the authorities. Unfortunately, her brave actions were met with hostility, and she received death threats and even a severe beating from her cousin. The story ends with Jane’s stepfather getting fifteen years in jail. Although the sentence represents some justice for Jane, it does not make up for the terrible things that happened to her.

Reading Jane’s book was gut-wrenching, and I had to stop several times to wipe away tears. The knowledge that the book is based on a real-life story made it even harder. The graphic nature of the abuse made me nauseous, and I could not believe that any human would treat a child like Richard treated Jane. The truth is that so many children suffer the same fate, and some never get justice for the horrific things done to them. Children are supposed to enjoy their innocent years happily, protected by their family and community. Jane never had this luxury; she was robbed of her innocence at four years. She was severely abused for almost two decades.

I cannot imagine the fear, pain, and loneliness that Jane felt growing up. Her own mother completely abandoned her and let her stepfather abuse her. The rest of her siblings also never spoke up for her. As a child, she expected her mother to protect her, but she had no one. It is a miracle that she survived as long as she did in the toxic environment. Jane suffered a lifetime of scars, and I am awed by her bravery in standing up for herself despite the threats she faced from her family. The stepfather eventually got a fifteen-year jail term, validating Jane’s efforts to get justice for her abuse. The justice system and other child protection agencies should do better to protect the lives of innocent children.

The Law of the Internet and Information Technology

Institutional affiliation

Students name

Date

Cyberlaw: The Law of the Internet and Information Technology by Brian Craig is a very abroad synopsis of how some variety of the differed legal situations hold their application to the Internet (Craig, B. (2013). Cyberlaw). It was known in 2013 so it has come to fairly for current events up to date. The book has enable to cover a good wide series of some topics such as sexting to ebay purchases gone bad, and from secrecy in email to the spam issues.in presentation of the existing cyberlaw, it has enable to help students with the common knowledge and understanding of some of the policy issues that are considered to be associated with the internet. A good diversity of some interesting cases have been enabled to be presented for the persons who loves reading to deliberate. The article has enable to go into MGM vs Grokster, so that it can be able to deliberate some issues in distributing the copyrighted ideas such as shows. It has discussed Tiffany vs eBay.in contribution from the article the author has covered some of the latest development activities in the cyberlaw that varies from legal cases through legislation to given regulations.

A General Office Memo

MEMORANDUM

To: Senior General counsel

From: The corporate legal department

Date: March, 2018

Subject: settle with Oracle

Senior General Counsel,

It has come to my concerned that google and oracle being billed as the main technology sample of the century. This memo is discussing the advantages and disadvantages of settling the lawsuit against the oracle rather than litigating claims. First of all, litigation takes a lot of time. Litigation process is a little bit complicated hence, It involves many steps and several stages before the main trial start. It takes some quite long time for the pre-trial stages come to an end. oracle is likely to receive her exact financial compensation more quickly than when taking through legal process because this will take a lot of time and trials that will later affect google company hence this will create faster payment upon agreement between the google and oracle.

Reduced Burden and Stress: Instead of consecutive appearance before the foreigners and to be consequently available throughout the legal process, settlements can allow for the lesser time and un necessary stress burden.

No Admittance to Wrongdoing: Settlements is going to encourage for google to pay for their mistake in this case without being in the position of admitting misconduct (Alliance, O. H. (2013). This will allow us not to be given trials that usually leaves some record of guilt.

Privacy: Settlement documents can be kept so safe and private when a case is totally settled, it is unlike court details that become more public record when a specific case is tasted for trial.

Predictability: Settlements in this case very much simpler for lawyers who has got enough experience to predict than just making jury decisions.

google is to have more strain on her own time by attending court proceedings such as hearing and trials that would take centuries and a lot of time. google would be in a position to have some steer that is clear of exactly what can sometimes be considered unpredictable juries. Another disadvantage is that google will have to pay the attorney costs and fees that are being charged.

The main reason for the settlement over the processes trial is that the oracle is being assured some of the compensation, hence if we take this case for trial we could possibly face chances of even loosing and absolutely walk away with nothing (Alliance, O. H. (2013).In addition throughout the process we shall have lost more including the fee that were to be paid to the lawyer and lost time that can be spent hence I support my recommendation that we should settle the oracle than google should defend lawsuit.

.

Bibliography

Craig, B. (2013). Cyberlaw: the law of the internet and information technology. Pearson Education/Prentice Hall.

Alliance, O. H. (2013). Android (operating system). Marketing, 4(5).

The Lives and Assassination of Abram Lincoln and Julius Caesar

Name

Professor

Course

Date

There are several men all over the world who are considered great due to the immense contributions they made towards making the world a better place or to improve the lives of their fellow countrymen. There some who gained fame and popularity in fighting for the rights of their people whom they felt were being oppressed by fellow countrymen. There are some who are considered great due to the style of leadership. There are some who are considered great for fighting for the independence of their countries regardless of the methods they used to fight for the freedom whether civil or armed combats.

Research Methods and design

Two of such people who have gained places as one of the great men in the world are Abram Lincoln and Julius Caesar. Even though the two great men came from two different countries and continents, they did share a lot in common from their style of leadership, how they interacted with the people, and even sadly the way and the reasons behind their deaths can be compared. This paper will look at the different aspects of their leadership of the two great leaders. To aid in the research I had to look for books with the history of the two great leaders so as to be able to ascertain their difference and similarity of character style of leadership, reasons for assassination and death of the two great leaders.

Julius Caesar and Abram Lincoln were born in different periods and countries thus their lives were a little different. According to some researchers Julius Caesar was born in the 100 BC in the city of Rome, at the time when Caesar was born Rome was an independent republic. The life of Julius Caesar was not smooth as he lost one parent at a very young age. Julius grew up and enlisted in the army he soon rose through the ranks and became a commander of his own troops. With the assistance of his great army Julius was able to conquer territories; the reason that pushed Julius to conquer more territories was the fact that he knew his name would be remembered forever. Within a few years the power that Julius wielded grew and by the 62 BC he had found his way to finally join the Praetor ship even though many of the senators did not like him as they considered him over ambitious and extremely dangerous (Jeffrey, 2005).

Just as Lincoln, the more Julius gained more power the more enemies he made even though the reasons might not have been the same. The senators saw Julius as a threat to them because of the changes that Julius was making in the country; Julius had the desire to control as much land as possible. He even introduced a very unique law that gave him power to have command of Gaul and Illyricum for a period of five years; on the other hand Lincoln was not power hungry as Julius was. Julius made much of his policies to favor him and not the country this can be proven from some of his quotes “It is more important for Rome than for myself that I should survive. I have long been sated with power and glory; but should anything happen to me, Rome will enjoy no peace. A new civil war will break out under far worse conditions then the last (Jeffrey, 2005).”

Julius death finally came and more surprising is that Julius was murdered by the senators and another similarity of the death of Julius and Lincoln was that both were murdered in a theatre. Due to his method of rule and his power hungry nature, about 60 senators finally conspired to murder Julius which they finally did by stabbing him in the back while he was at the theatre known as the Theatre of Pompey (Jeffrey, 2005).

Abram Lincoln was born on the 12th of February in the year 1809 in Kentucky, just like Julius Abram also lost a parent at a very tender age. Lincoln enlisted in the army just as Julius and rose through the ranks. Lincoln was elected as captain of his company who had enlisted to fight in the Black Hawk War. Unlike Julius who ascended to power by the use of the army, Lincoln had to fight it out in a debate with Stephen Douglas. In the seven consecutive debates both Douglas and Lincoln were able to agree on much of the issue but the issue they disagreed with being the morality of slavery. Lincoln was against slavery while Douglas was in support of slavery (Henderson, 2008).

Findings

Just like Julius, Lincoln also made enemies when he rose to power. Reasons for having enemies were because of some decisions that Lincoln made such as the release of all slaves that were in all the southern states. Most of Lincoln enemies were some people from the south who did not want to let go of the slaves. Just like Julius the people of America looked up to Lincoln to make vital decisions and for leadership. Lincoln finally died on the 15th of April 1865 this was after being shot a day earlier by John Wilkes Booth who was an actor while watching a play at the Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Unlike Julius who was stabbed severally by a many people Lincoln was killed by a single shot fired by one person. Both Lincoln and Julius had a child each at the time of their death (Henderson, 2008).

Conclusion

Even though both Lincoln lived at different times their policies were almost the same, even though the mode of application might have been different. The two leaders wanted change in their country but the changes they wanted might have been different and caused discomfort to a particular group of people. Some of the changes the two leaders wanted might have been responsible for their deaths but their legacy still lives on depending on some of the positive changes that they were able to bring.

Reference

Henderson, H. (2008). The Abraham Lincoln companion: a celebration of his life and times through a selection of remembrances, poems, songs, and tributes by relatives, friends, colleagues, and citizens, including important speeches and writings by Lincoln, along with a chronolo. New York: Omnigraphics.

Jeffrey, G., Petty, K., & Hadley, S. (2005). Julius Caesar: the life of a Roman general. New York: Rosen Central.

Student’s name

Instructor

Course

Date

The leadership of Rebecca Stevens Halstead

Introduction

Rebecca Stevens Halstead is one of the successful women in her career and she works very hard to makes sure that everything that she wants is done perfectly. She displays the qualities of a good leader and she forms a good relationship with the people being led. This comes first as a background of the values she learns at home whereby her mother tells her that should never quit because quitting is not her option but rather she should be courageous and know that everything is never easy and she has to keep trying every day. This is displayed at the point whereby she has entered the training for military and she feels like giving up, at this point she tells her mother and her mother takes her for a drive, and during the drive, she reassures her that everything is okay and she brings afresh the teaching she had taught her before that she should never quit. It is through this way that she gives the training another year and as the training goes on she finds herself already liking the process.

Therefore as she proceeds with her career she is seen as a very dependable person even though sometimes like the above example she feels not adequate and unable to do what she is supposed to do. It is also upon the people she depends on i.e. the parents and people at home as well as friends and the people she leads that she can live very well and show an excellent example of her life. This is because as she states at one point that she had to go through the training thinking of the love and the respect and the faith that the people at home had put into her that she could do it.

Part A

Authentic leadership theory

This theory focuses on whether leadership is genuine and if its intentions, goals, and desires of the leader are for the general good of what is being led or the people being led of they are for personal benefit and desire. It is upon the leader therefore to establish himself or herself and show the people being led the kind of leader he/she is. In this case, Becky can be considered an authentic leader. This is because she has her goals and intentions in place not for her good or benefit but for the good and benefit of the group she is leading as well as the good and the benefit of the country which she is served in her best manner possible. This leadership is based on personal beliefs and convictions which lead a person and therefore it turns out that if the personal beliefs and convictions about the good in the society as positive then there is a possibility of being a good leader. This concept applies to Becky very much as she saw the world as a place that needed change and positive minds as her parents had taught her. She also believed in never giving up and this was the same thing that she fed to her team which she led in the best manner possible.

This theory also states that authentic leadership is created or defined by both leaders and followers. This is true because authentic leadership is only visible through the people being led changing behaviour and becoming better people which happens with the two groups Becky leads. That is the 63d ordinance company and her role as a brigadier. Therefore her leadership was very visible from the inside to the outside and this made life good and better every day for the people being led.

Part B

Servant leadership theory

In this theory, we see that the leader becomes the servant in a way that he/she is there for the people who are being led. The leader listens to them and helps them to make good decisions in whatever they do. Becky can be said to have been this kind of leader. This is because she was always there for the people being led. She listened to them and almost had all the qualities and characteristics of a servant leader which include; listening empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, and foresight. she displayed these through the different ways she handled her juniors and how they interacted generally.

She states that “the best way to take care of people is to get to know them” (Groysberg et.al. 11). Therefore her leadership model can be said to have been that of learning about people and making sure they got what was needed at the time it was needed so that they could perform to their maximum. Throughout the 27 years she served her country she was able to get most of it in the best way possible and she had a lot of influence as she was a servant leader who never looked back but worked closely with the juniors. This is very evident when she took charge as the head of the 63d ordinance. Her first t step was to call for everyone in the company and get their views as well as their opinions before she began her journey of transforming the company. This is servant leadership because she listened to their concerns and got a plan to make sure that it was successful (Groysberg et.al. 7).

Part C

Transformational leadership

This is a kind of leadership that transforms the people and therefore this is exactly what Becky was concerned about. She was greatly concerned about changing the behavior of the people she was leading to make them better and like a family that she had to listen to them and attend to their needs as well as push them to the wall so that they can become better versions of themselves. This is especially seen when she had to deal with the general who was not an easy person to deal with. She called back all the members of her team and began retraining so that the general could have no reason for failing to sign off the deployment for her unit to go to Iraq (Groysberg et.al. 13). Therefore through her leadership, this whole team retrained so hard and she pushed them very much. After all the retraining the general signed off and the team was deployed to Iraq. This is a very clear sign of a transformational leader because if she just waited the possibility of the general have refused to sign the deployment was high and therefore it was her efforts to transform the team that made it excellent.

This transformational leadership of hers is also seen in the ordinance company. She was able to straighten almost everything that was not okay in the 63d ordinance company and therefore when she handed it over it was a fully functioning unit after she worked on it for about 2 years.

In conclusion, we can say that Rebecca Stevens Halstead is one of the women who have shown their leadership skills very openly and who stand out to be admired and taken as mentors and role models due to their nature of doing things and making everything perfect. Therefore it can be said that she was successful in her career in the military even though this had never crossed her mind but was the influence of her mother.

Works cited

Groysberg, Boris, and Deborah Bell. “Rebecca S. Halstead: Steadfast Leadership.” Harvard Business School Organizational Behavior Unit Case 411-050 (2011).