Comparing “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and “a Life of the Senses”

Throughout the course of history, technology has changed us. It gave us a way to communicate in long distances. It gave us a way to produce goods faster and more efficiently. And it gave us the convenience to acquire knowledge with just one click of a button. However, there are bad effects as there are good. Nicolas Carr’s â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid? † and Richard Louv’s â€Å"A Life of the Senses†, discusses the different effects of technology on people. Carr’s essay, â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid? discusses technology’s effect in our way of thinking, while Louv’s essay, â€Å"A Life of the Senses† discusses the change in our lifestyle and our senses. From the get go, Carr says that â€Å"†¦I’ve had an uncomfortable feeling that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neutral circuitry, reprogramming my memory† (1). Sure enough, it actually has been. Most of us probabl y have had this feeling; a feeling like something was off. It becomes more apparent when we try to read a long essay, or a novel.We sit around and read a few paragraphs or a few pages, but not for long we â€Å"†¦begin looking for something else to do† (1). We come to realize that we can’t concentrate, we feel impatient and we find ourselves staring at an LCD screen, or maybe an LED screen, doing what we usually do: nothing. When a question arises about that essay we were about to read, we push a few keys, click a few link and voila! Here is a whole page in which we will exercise more of our laziness. We then start to wonder what causes this.Surprisingly, one of our most important means of communication and source of information is causing this. The Net, is chipping away our capacity for concentration and contemplation (1). Louv refers to this in his essay as the â€Å"know-it-all state of mind† (667). We browse and browse and browse and we skim everything we see. We want to acquire information and we want it immediately. This want to acquire information as fast as we can load the page, becomes a habit and changes us into something like the very machine we use to get all of this information.We are turned into something like our favorite search engine. It can get you answers fast, but it doesn’t understand any of it. As Louv and Carr would say, we are skimming at the surface but we don’t penetrate vertically. (667, 1) It’s scary to know that the Net made us developed a habit that turns us into robots, but it’s much scarier when we find out that it’s actually changing the way we think. We seek maximum speed, maximum efficiency, and maximum output just likeTaylor’s system mentioned in Carr’s essay. This system was created to boost production in factories, and is still used even now. It did us a lot of good economically, but without even noticing, this system has wormed its way to our brain s and made it our philosophy, or, as Louv quoted from Daniel Yankelovich, our religion. This faith is taking over our minds. It’s making us stupid in terms of our depth of understanding, but it doesn’t end there. The Net or technology as a whole is changing the way we live.Long ago, before the inventions of portable gadgets, people used to look out the car window, people used to go out with friends and kids used to play outside and exercise their imaginations, but now technology has changed everything. Instead of looking out in the horizon people stare at their small radioactive devices, throwing birds that need counseling at pyramids of sticks and stones built by green mutated pigs. Instead, of going out with friends they try and fit all their thoughts and feeling into a box that can only contain one hundred forty letters.Instead of playing outside they stay inside watching television, tinkering with their gaming consoles, and or trying to win the title â€Å"heavies t kid on earth. † People are missing out on all of the good things the outside world can give us. Their missing out the kind of fun I felt when my siblings and I played â€Å"Whoever counts the most cow wins. † I miss those days, and sure enough we’re all going start looking for it. And when we do, businesses are going to be there to â€Å"provide† you with a quick and easy way to fulfill this need.Industries soon get profit from â€Å"concocted nature† even when we can get it for free. We fall for it anyways, because even if the â€Å"nature† we see is just a simulation our brain thinks that it’s fine. Synthetic or real, it doesn’t matter, and I suspect that the system embedded in our brains is the cause of this. When we start to feel that we want something, we automatically think that we want it now, and the closest thing that can give fulfill this need is our computer, or, if were up to it, the mall. It’s just a much f aster and more efficient way to fulfill the current task.On the other hand, when we start looking at artificial nature we start to lose our appreciation and understanding for actual nature. For example, before all of the images of the Grand Canyon people used to at it in awe. They would explore it, admire it and speculate how all of it came about, but now, we take a picture, post it in a social media site, caption it with half-hearted praises and since there’s nothing more to see or say we turn around and drive away. We saw it and now it’s time to leave, just like another webpage. The system digs even deeper.To obtain something, you must first lose something. In this case, to obtain information faster we must lose our traditional way of learning by experience. As Louv quotes Edward Reed, â€Å"We are beginning ‘to lose the ability to experience our world directly. What we have come to mean by the term experience is impoverished; what we have of experience in dai ly life is impoverished as well’† (670). We rely so much on the information we know from the Net that we think we can do anything, well, as long as we can search the instructions online, or we can watch how to, via online streaming.We become uninterested in actually doing something, since we already â€Å"know† how to. We are left in the dark on how something actually works, because we don’t really need more than knowing how to turn something on. As a result, the most important means of gathering information is now missing. However, just like Carr and Louv I think that some of us are focusing on the negatives too much. We have exponentially advanced in terms of production, distribution, processing information and a lot more.My grandmother survived cancer because of technology, and God, knows that the internet has helped me many times in homework’s and projects. It’s the primary tool for students after all, well that and the library. Neverthel ess, it’s definitely not all bad. There may be some possibilities that we are turning into robots, but there may also be more chances that we’re just changing into something better. One can develop a machine to process information and someday it may be able to fully understand it, but people are not machines.We can process information and we can understand them; it’s just that we developed a certain affinity of getting what we need first rather than understanding. I think of it a testing period for a prototype of the perfect machine, but this time it’s a prototype of a perfect way of thinking. We may find a way to get something fast and fully understand it in the future, but for now we are evolving. If you still think that we are turning into nothing more than computer, always remember that computers can never feel, and no matter what we humans do, we will always feel.

Interesting Quotes About Idioms

citaty â€Å"People use idioms to make their language richer and more colorful and to convey subtle shades of meaning or intention. Idioms are used often to replace a literal word or expression, and many times the idiom better describes the full nuance of meaning. Idioms and idiomatic expressions can be more precise than the literal words, often using fewer words but saying more. For example, the expression it runs in the family is shorter and more succinct than saying that a physical or personality trait ‘is fairly common throughout one's extended family and over a number of generations. † (Gail Brenner, Webster's New World American Idioms Handbook. Webster's New World, 2003) ? â€Å"If natural language had been designed by a logician, idioms would not exist. † (Philip Johnson-Laird, 1993) â€Å"Idioms, in general, are deeply connected to culture. . . . Agar (1991) proposes that biculturalism and bilingualism are two sides of the same coin. Engaged in the intert wined process of culture change, learners have to understand the full meaning of idioms. † (Sam Glucksberg, Understanding Figurative Language. Oxford Univ. Press, 2001) ? Shakespeare's Idioms Shakespeare is credited with coining more than 2,000 words, infusing thousands more existing ones with electrifying new meanings and forging idioms that would last for centuries. ‘A fool's paradise,' ‘at one fell swoop,' ‘heart's content,' ‘in a pickle,' ‘send him packing,' ‘too much of a good thing,' ‘the game is up,' ‘good riddance,' ‘love is blind,' and ‘a sorry sight,' to name a few. † (David Wolman, Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling. Harper, 2010) ? Levels of â€Å"Transparency† Idioms vary in ‘transparency': that is, whether their meaning can be derived from the literal meanings of the individual words. For example, make up [one's] mind is rather transparent in suggesting the meaning ‘reach a decision,' while kick the bucket is far from transparent in representing the meaning ‘die. ‘† (Douglas Biber et al. , Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson, 2002) â€Å"The thought hit me that this was a pretty pathetic way to kick the bucket–being accidentally poisoned during a photo shoot, of all things–and I started weeping at the idiocy of it all. † (Lara St.John) ? The Idiom Principle â€Å"The observation that meanings are made in chunks of language that are more or less predictable, though not fixed, sequences of morphemes leads [John] Sinclair [in Corpus Concordance Collocation, 1991] to an articulation of the ‘idiom principle. ‘ He states the principle thus: The principle of idiom is that a language user has available to him or her a large number of semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they might appear to be a nalysable into segments (Sinclair 1991): 110) The study of fixed phrases has a fairly long tradition . . , but phrases are normally seen as outside the normal organising principle of language. Here, Sinclair extends the notion of phraseology to encompass a great deal more of language than it is commonly considered to encompass. At its strongest, we might say that all senses of all words exist in and are identified by the sequences of morphemes in which they typically occur. † (Susan Hunston and Gill Francis, Pattern Grammar: A Corpus-Driven Approach to the Lexical Grammar of English.John Benjamins, 2000) ? Modal Idioms â€Å"Modal idioms are idiosyncratic verbal formations which consist of more than one word and which have modal meanings that are not predictable from the constituent parts (compare the non-modal idiom kick the bucket). Under this heading we include have got [to], had better/best, would rather/sooner/as soon, and be [to]. † (Bas Aarts, Oxford Modern Engli sh Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2011)

Corporations with lots of cash and doing little spending Essay - 1

Corporations with lots of cash and doing little spending - Essay Example With companies lying about their true financial positions with series of financial scandals that followed after another, you cannot blame people if they distrust the financial infrastructure in this country. It will take time to regain that confidence. So it is not a wonder if companies and investors alike are very cautious in investing here in the United States. China on the other hand, does not have that problem. Their economy has been registering more than 10 % in GDP for more than 15 years with its financial market always on a steady rise. We also have to remember that China is an emerging market that came from decades of isolationist communist rule. That means that its market is relatively unexplored compared to the maturing market in the United States and Europe. In addition, a quarter of the world’s population is in China so we can only imagine how big the market is and along with it is the profit potential for business who will corner a share of that market. So if a certain economy or company has that much money lying around and has to reinvest, that money will naturally look for a market that yields higher return with relatively lower risk. It will not be a surprise if all roads for investors will lead to China given the potential of its market. Do not forget that our credit rating has also been just recently downgraded and t hat is not an incentive for investors to keep their money here. The case of San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge construction’s outsourcing of its massive cable, key sections of the iconic tower and deck to China that could amount to $400 million dollars may look unpopular and insensitive with a 12 % domestic unemployment, but it makes economic sense and sound fiscal policy for the State of California. It is more cost-efficient to have it sourced abroad than have it done domestically. Bob LaVenture, a District Director for the United Steelworkers Union admitted it himself that there is no way

How we can use writing by Charles Dickens to enhance our understanding Essay

How we can use writing by Charles Dickens to enhance our understanding of selected aspects of the historical geography of Victorian London - Essay Example Most of Dickens’s work is set in or around London, though there are other works that have been construed in settings that are more industrial. Reflections from Dickens’s work can be utilised in order to paint a geographical picture of London from the Victorian era. This technique of geographical survey has been on the rise and has produced unique observations that would have been otherwise secluded from public view. This paper will attempt to analyse the various views and descriptions presented by Dickens’s through his works as per the residential segregation in the city of London. The various facets of urban and social life expressed in the divisions of residential neighbourhoods will allow the creation of a reasonable picture as per Victorian London’s geography. This paper will emphasize on a number of works by Dickens’s including Oliver Twist (1838), Dombey and Son (1846 – 48) Bleak House (1852 / 53), Little Dorrit (1855 / 56) and Great Ex pectations (1860 / 61) but not Hard Times (1854) because the latter is based on an industrial setting that resembled Liverpool or Manchester more closely than it resembled London. Furthermore, the first three novels provide a continuous picture of London’s public geography under evolution. ... The rapid pace of industrialisation bolstered the economy on one hand and left millions in misery on the other hand. This image of misery has been a hallmark of Victorian literature and the ensuing geographical inferences gathered from it. Generally when Victorian literature or geography is thought about, it is presumed that industrial establishments with narrow crooked streets, two to three storied cramped living quarters, a lack of sanitation and open public places is being talked about. This generalisation is imposed on all Victorian metropolises from the era whether one talks about London, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow or other cities. However, this image of London is far from reality from the era as per the works of Dickens’s as well as according to geographical descriptions from the era (Banks, 1967) (Dyos & Wolff, 1973). In contrast to the images of long factory chimneys, London was not an industrial establishment at all. Instead, London was based on finance capitalism rather than industrial capitalism. The city and its geographical life were dominated by the â€Å"world of lawyers, bankers, brokers, merchants, clerks and governmental institutions† (Woudenberg, 1996). The writings of Dickens’s also reflect this reality as most of his work concerning London is overly consumed with descriptions of locales that do not exhibit the typical industrial metropolis settings. Most of Dickens’s work being studied for this paper provides active descriptions of locales such as (Collins, 1987): the City and Westminster; the Inns of Court area; the poorer regions towards the East such as Limehouse and Whitechapel; the Southern areas such as Lambeth, Southwark, Bermondery, Deptford; the shabbier living quarters of the clerks based in Somers and Camden Towns, Islington

Argumentative research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Argumentative - Research Paper Example In today’s world, teenagers should know about contraceptive options so if they choose to have sex, they can at least diminish their chances of pregnancy until the time they are ready to be parents. Abstinence-only programs are constantly being demonstrated to have a detrimental impact upon the lives of healthy teenagers. According to a study by Ceci Connolly (2004), â€Å"youngsters taking the [abstinence only] courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists.† Misleading or simply incorrect information such as the suggestion that simply touching another person’s genitals can cause pregnancy or that AIDS can be spread via tears and sweat has been found in programs utilized by at least 69 organizations throughout 25 states. Not only do these lies work to psychologically threaten teens for their future years, but these propagandizing techniques also prevents them from o btaining the knowledge that would protect them. (â€Å"Knowledge† 2006) Studies that rate the value of abstinence-only programs used in place of programs that emphasize abstinence but also teach contraception have unquestionably demonstrated that contraception should be taught to the country’s teenagers. ... Those groups opposed to sex education have forced their will on the bulk of society and its teens and unwanted children who have suffered for it. Sex education classes in America’s public schools which offer free condoms have been scaled back so as to not upset the vocal minority. Parents want their teens to learn safe sex including the importance of condom use but what is being taught at school falls very short. Parents merely want their kids to understand the potential dangers of intercourse and how to avoid them, just as parent would in any other aspect of their teen’s lives. â€Å"Contrary to common wisdom, when it comes to sex education, parents want it all, from abstinence to homosexuality,† said Steve Rabin, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation (Levine, 2000). Additionally, parents also want schools to discuss abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and the importance of using condoms. As with the other subjects parents wish to be covered in school, the more knowledge, the better off their kids will be. The study by the Kaiser Foundation surveyed over a thousand high school teens, parents and sex-education teachers in addition to more than 300 school administrators. Unfortunately, these vital aspects of sexual education are greatly lacking in high schools despite parental desires and in opposition to what studies have indicated is in the best interests of teen-aged kids. (â€Å"Sex Education† 2000) According to Ramon Cortines, former chancellor of New York City public schools, â€Å"Educators should teach what students need to know, not please the advocates or the politicians who scream the loudest† (Levine, 2000). Still, fundamentalist groups continue to

Adult Education Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Adult Education Organizations - Essay Example The research outlines some of the criteria for changes where most of them focus on the effectiveness of the prevailing leadership style. According to the article, change occurs for various reasons. For instance, in education, organizations or learning institutions may be looking for alternative means to improve the quality and strengthen their reputation. However, the study also recommends that a successful change initiation depends on certain criteria that lay the basis for the transformation of all organizations. One of the criteria for leading change is open communication that results in effective coordination between the staff and executive management. Nonetheless, the article suggests that the inclusion of people in the early stages of the decision-making process is also necessary for leading change. Another important criterion for effecting change is creating an environment that motivates the staff to accept the change. From the above criteria, it is evident that one of the met hods for initiating change in the educational sector is creating enthusiasm among the staff to accept the transformation. Creating enthusiasm is a way of motivating the staff to accept the changes. Another important method for implementing change is training the staff on important aspects of change management and initiation. The training focuses on equipping staff with the right knowledge on effective change management and implementation. The article strongly emphasizes on leadership as the primary determinant of change initiation and implementation.

Lowering of the Minimum Age of Drinking Assignment

Lowering of the Minimum Age of Drinking - Assignment Example Those who are for the lowering of the minimum age of drinking from 21 argue that teenagers still drink alcohol, and the teenagers have resolved to binge drinking into isolated and uncontrolled environments, resulting to behaviors that are more health and behaviors that are life-endangering. The opponents argue that teenagers are yet to reach an age that they can be able to handle alcohol responsibly, hence they are likely to harm or kill themselves or even others prior to 21. They point out that traffic facilities went down since the increasing of MLDA. Personally, I think the MLDA should not be lowered from 21 to 18. The three main reasons that have influenced my position are; MLDA 21 helped in reducing traffic accidents and fatalities, MLDA 21 assists in the prevention of underage binge drinking, and reducing the drinking age welcomes more use of illicit drugs among 18-21 years old. Drunk driving is a big problem in our civilization. Averagely, 17,000 people die every year in deaths that are drunk related. As the numbers have lowered slightly, drunk driving continues to be a very important public safety issue. Most importantly is the fact that drinking and driving are strongly related to the youth. According to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), in 2010 the highest drunk driving rates were established amongst those ages 21- 25 (23.4%), and 18-20 (15.1%). Past 25, the rates of drunk driving reduce. By lowering the age limit to 18, the 15.1% who drink prior to getting behind the wheels would significantly rise and the consequences will be fatal (Robin, G. D. 1991). Binge drinking is common amo ng the youths more so in college campuses.

Key Account Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Key Account Management - Case Study Example But these are strategies effective only during the initial stage. Once positioning is established, all efforts must then be centered at maintaining a course whereby profitability is promising, incidental to an effective reason to improve. This is where Key Account Management or KAM is most useful. Key Accounts are those that provide high revenue and critical asset, requiring strong leadership and excellent management skills. KAM is the most practical means of survival in this highly competitive market amidst increasing demand in current economic condition, a way to achieve longevity and create future growth, a way of preserving a good customer relationship. This essay emphasizes the Role of Key Account Management, as a tool and process that equips a company in acquiring and retaining large customer revenue fosters symbiotic mutually profitable and sustainable business relations resulting to a "win-win" situation. In a business that engages i... As such, the goals, missions, value, principles as well as the skills and capabilities inherent among sales personnel should be conveyed properly to every member of the organization. This should be initialized by the company head who takes responsibility relaying imperative matters to all levels of sales director who receives compensation dependent upon the generated sales profit. In his article Key Account Management Strategy, Jay Dwivedi said that "Salespeople learn only the hard way that many big companies really give them the business that they deserve based on the effort that they put in. Therefore, it is important to clearly identify what customers are "key" to your business and then serving them using a well thought out plan" (Dwivedi, n.d.). A good key account management entails constant check and update in terms of performance at least on a quarterly basis, taking into account the total revenue; percentage profits; growth rate of sales in existing product line; value of new products/services; order size distribution and average and price comparison with other customers in the same category. In his web article, the author furthered the importance of understanding, that while support from the corporate office is imperative, the actual development of key account management program is the effort originating from the local executives who know the overall whereabouts of the market. Since this program is constantly evolving in a manner similar to the rate of improvement of the product, continuous feedback from the customers is thus crucial to the alignment of the goals.

Reaction paper on religious Tolerance Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reaction paper on religious Tolerance - Article Example per will analyze the opinions expressed by two prominent authors on religious phenomenon and tolerance and explain their profound influence on my understanding of concepts like religion, morality and tolerance. In his article titled ‘This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning’, the author Andrew Sullivan expresses his opinions on various issues related to religion, inter-faith clashes and religious fundamentalism. Many of my opinions on religious phenomenon and tolerance have in fact been shaped on Sullivan’s views and arguments. Sullivan says that in principle, faith is a form of conflict with reason, which in effect implies that it is in conflict with science. He further says that the only ultimate truth is god and that science can never disprove this true faith as it rests on truth. Science or reasoning can thus never find reason for conflict with this truth. I also find his interpretation of religious evolution as an interesting observation on human civilization and development. The belief that god created the universe does imply that any explanation on its formulation cannot find reason to contradict its creator, in other words find fault with any faith as all of them reconcile to the truth that will always remain beyond our fullest perception and understanding. Sullivan undoubtedly encourages religious tolerance by taking a harsh stand on fundamentalism across all religions. He not only criticizes the justification of violence as a means of achieving religious ends, but also despises fundamentalism as an obstacle in introducing doubt into the faith and its reluctance to encourage human reason. In fact, the cornerstone of religious tolerance is to rid oneself of exclusion and pride and to treat mystery as the primary reality behind any religious pursuit. While this may uphold truth that cannot be proven empirically, it nevertheless does not provide room for any hatred against other faiths. In January 2008, the noted psychologist

Law of Contract Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Law of Contract - Case Study Example The requirement for the program is usually postpones or suspended for a limited period of time, and may require notice in order to rely on the contractual clause."1 Whether the bad weather can classified as force majeure making the delay acceptable is dependent upon the force majeure clause in the building contract that the parties entered into. Said clause should contain: According to the case of Paradine v Jane3, it is necessary to adhere to the strict and literal application of contractual terms. In that case the defendant refused to pay rent since he was no longer in possession of the land. The defendant was made to pay rent since the court ruled that there was no express or implied terms within their contract to grant a reprieve in such circumstances. In the event that the agreement between the parties does not clearly state or cover the issues at hand, the basic agreement contained in UK law regarding Force Majeure is found in the Standard Building Contract or SBC Item 13. The SBC states that a contractor is entitled to an extension of time in cases of "other relevant events such as exceptionally adverse weather conditions, specified perils, civil commotion or terrorism, strike and the execution by the UK government of any statutory power which directly affects the execution of the works after the base date."4 The performance of the obligation is deemed suspended until the passing of the force majeure and thus it will create the effect of extending the time allotted to finish obligation as discussed in the case of Tenneco Canada Inc. V British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority.5 Accordingly if the workers strike, a circumstance considered by the court as a force majeure, caused the direct cessation of the Tenneco's electric supply then Tenneco would be granted a reprieve from payment of the monthly demand charge on top of the electricity bill. But since the stoppage of work caused by the strike did not prevent Tenneco from using the electricity hence he must pay the consequent monthly demand charge. The obligation to pay was not deemed suspended. In the case of Snograss the inclement weather condition caused work stoppages and delays, hence the period to complete the obligation must be suspended pending the passage of the force majeure. This being the rule of law, Snodgrass contention is valid. The reason of force majeure causing the delay is valid. The additional time of 10 days it took Snodgrass to finish the first fifty bungalows is valid and reasonable. Hence the breach of contract is excused and the Newchestham Borough Council cannot terminate the same nor is it entitled to

Intrinsic Motivation Essay Example for Free

Intrinsic Motivation Essay Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is learning development in which people acquire a new language – more commonly known as â€Å"second language† in addition to their native tongue. The second language is often referred as â€Å"target language† or â€Å"L2†. In addition, second language denotes any new language learned after early childhood years. This means subsequently languages learned – i. e. third or fourth language is still referred to as second language. A number of personal and environmental factors may affect the decision to learn a second language. Examples of such factors include family influences, social groups or peers, teachers, school, age, and self-concept. An individual may pursue a study on acquiring a second language skill for various reasons and motivations. In a study of UK and European students, it has been stated that the reasons a student pursues a study a foreign language are the following: 1) to be able to develop a career advantage for opportunities in the future; 2) a students personal inclination to learn the language; 3) to be able to learn and appreciate to cultural differences; 4) for an enhanced comprehension of the culture where the language is used; 5) and to be able to reside in nations where the language is used. The current teacher booklet aims to help the SLA teacher increase the intrinsic motivation of SLA learners by presenting sundry topics, including attitudes and motivation in second language learning; clarifying erroneous beliefs about language learning; what the SLA teacher ought to focus on: sources of language anxiety; the learning environment as source of language anxiety; variables of self-confidence; socio-psychological issues of language anxiety and self-confidence; instructor-learner interaction and classroom procedures; and interpretation of educator beliefs on language learning. Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning In the book Attitudes and motivation in second language learning, Gardner and Lambert (1972) have identified Integrative Motivation and Instrumental Motivation as the common reason for a student’s desire to study a second language. In the context of language learning, a learner may pursue the study of English such as a second language because of one’s desire to work in abroad as well as for travel purposes. The learner’s practical rationale for acquiring a second language is referred to as instrumental motivation. On the other hand, a person may pursue the study of English language in order to successfully integrate within the community where one is currently living. The learner’s purpose can be referred to as integrative motivation. Following a learner’s utilitarian purpose, the clear benefit of acquiring English as second language is to have a competitive edge in the labor market. Such skills are very valuable as businesses are increasingly becoming global. In fact, professionals who are fluent bilingual speakers have the competitive edge compared to monolingual speakers. In addition, travel and migration of people has becoming a growing trend in recent years prompting a necessity to understand and integrate within the society which one lives in. Given that there a significant number of SLA learners, it is worthwhile to examine how the teacher may be able to increase the confidence and intrinsic motivation and lessen the anxiety of the SLA learner. Clarifying Erroneous Beliefs about Language Learning Horwitz, Horwitz Cope (1986) believe that the problem of anxiety and the accompanying erroneous beliefs about language learning, as discussed in their literature focusing on classroom anxiety, represent serious impediments to the development of second language fluency as well as to performance. In their discussion of clinical experience with anxiety as a barrier to second language development, they categorize this personality factor as that of apprehension, worry and even dread and anxious language learners often have difficulty concentrating, become forgetful, sweat, and have palpitations. Further, Chang, Horwitz, and Schallert (1999) report that there are generally two types or constructs of anxiety, which are related to second language learning in both speaking and writing. The report suggests that second language classroom anxiety refers to the anxiety felt by students in interacting with native-speaking students. It is the more general type of anxiety felt by most school students. On the other hand, second language writing anxiety refers to language-skill-specific anxiety felt by students. Chang, Horwitz, and Schallert (1999) suggest that these are two separate constructs and that anxiety levels in speaking or writing may be felt differently. Nevertheless, the report asserts that level of self-esteem is an important component for both constructs. In a research on English as Second Language, Huang (2004) reports that foreign students (i. e. Chinese) studying at North American universities have faired very well in TOEFL. While Chinese students have obtained very high marks, many still have difficulties in understanding academic lectures, taking notes, writing assignments and giving presentations. Further, this report would also illustrate that the two independent constructs reported by Chang, Horwitz, and Schallert (1999). Huang (2004) reports that the students in the study have proficiency in reading ability and grammar, and that listening and the speaking were the weakest. Moreover, the study also reports low level of confidence of foreign students in participation and interaction in classes due to this difficulty; thus, limiting their overall performance. Cummins (2000) supports that even though many have excellent English language skills in terms of social proficiency, many are still struggling with the type of cognitive academic language necessary for the success in the mainstream classroom. The Learner’s Willingness to Communicate Skehan (1989) further suggests that a learners willingness to communicate has also been related to anxiety. His research points toward some language learners attempting to avoid communicating in a second language due to fear of embarrassment over their current skill level in speaking the second language. Perhaps this is part of the reason why many second language learners, who study overseas, tend to remain connected to other foreign second language learners and avoid prolonged social contact with native-speaking peers. Though the reasoning behind each individuals level of willingness to communicate will likely vary based on the number of people present, the topic of conversation and the formality of the circumstances, avoiding discussion using the second language is a common anxiety among language learners. While many studies have shown the level of anxiety of second language learners increases because of erroneous personal beliefs of the students, most of studies assert that self-confidence is an important component in overcoming of both in classroom and writing anxieties. What the SLA Teacher Ought to Focus On: Sources of Language Anxiety Furthermore, Young (1991) provides a list of potential sources of language anxiety. In her review of the literature on language anxiety, Young asserts that language anxiety can have a variety of sources – that is, anxiety can be associated with the learner’s perceptions, teacher’s beliefs, as well as the instructional practice to second language learning. She argues that language can come from the following: a. personal and interpersonal anxieties, learner beliefs about language learning, instructor beliefs about language teaching, instructor-learner actions, and language testing. Personal perceptions and beliefs can have a great effect on the progress of language learning. These perceptions have been well-documented in the studies related to age and language learning. Hyltenstam (1992) asserts that age in relation to language learning is an important factor in achieving native-like fluency for second language learners. That is, younger students tend to learn the second language faster than their mature counterparts. On the other, self-perception of more mature learners tends to hinder in the development of second language skills, which can more appropriately termed as trait anxiety. For example, adults, who are pursuing study of a second language, may have a clear mission why they are pursuing such course and far more determination to persevere than their younger counterparts. However, a number of mature students, who enter a foreign language class, were victimized by various prejudices about second language learning. â€Å"I’m too old to learn† or â€Å"I’m linguistically challenged† are common erroneous beliefs that adult learners often succumb to. Ehrman et al (2003) suggest that the feelings of uneasiness, such as late start or a belief that one needs a special predisposition for learning learning, can be attributed to the barriers created by the student’s ego as one matures. Adult learners may perceive their performance in a foreign language classroom as unnatural or ridiculous in comparison to their experience in the first language acquisition process. Therefore, these factors often contribute to the apprehension and tension felt by adult learners in the context of second language learning, more specifically in the aspect of speaking, writing, and learning. In short, adult learners suffer language anxiety more as compared to their younger counterparts. Certainly, not all adult learners become paralyzed by negative emotions the moment they step into a foreign language classroom. However, it is a common perception of educators, who have lectured to a group of adults, that some non-native speaking students may be reluctant to participate, more especially when they realize or assume that other students are more fluent. Nonetheless, it is important to emphasize that this emotion is not alien to younger learners, but in the studies it have been well-documented that with age the tension and anxiety associated with learning a new language is stronger and more difficult to overcome. The Learning Environment as Source of Language Anxiety Furthermore, the learning environment can also be a source of language anxiety. MacIntyre and Gardner (1994) would denote this as situational anxiety. Hadfield (1992) has introduced the concept of classroom dynamics to describe everything that happens in and between the participants, both the teacher and the students. Heron further elaborates on the existential anxiety of students in a classroom setting. Moreover, Heron also lists three aspects of existential anxiety in relation to classroom dynamics: 1) acceptance anxiety, 2) orientation anxiety, and 3) performance anxiety. Acceptance anxiety would relate to apprehension of being judged in a foreign class. Often times, students as well as teachers may show approval and disapproval behaviors to others. Fellow students may show impatience or mock another as a sign of their approval or disapproval to their fellow students. This often manifest as a sign of competition for teacher’s approval among students in the classroom. Teachers may also exhibit judgmental attitude in their criticisms as well as their bodily movements to their students. The teachers may open criticize or mock a student in a class. A more subtle criticism can be observed when a teacher would correct an error of a student. Whether the teacher corrects the error explicitly, by providing the correction, or implicitly, by indicating the kind of error and giving the student the opportunity for self-correction, can make a difference in the student’s self-confidence. Orientation anxiety would relate to the personal understanding of the situational contexts of the discussion or what is going on. Teacher’s role in facilitating learning is undermined by the failure to manage classroom discourse. This leads for students to at times feel of being deprived of control. In a discussion, when turn stealing overrules turn taking, such feelings can occur. The student may feel the lack of control over his role in classroom interaction when he is late to answer a general question or the question is directed to another person. More often, students would find the teacher’s unclear or unsatisfactory explanation as frustrating and leaving a feeling of no control over the language as a system. Finally, the anxiety is further instilled with domineering and controlling teachers, who leaves students feeling they have no influence over what is going on in the classroom. Lastly, performance anxiety would relate to the apprehension or feeling of isolation in a class. The feeling of isolation may also express itself as a feeling of disregarded. The feeling of being alone among one’s peers is not uncommon in highly territorial classrooms in which students never want to change their seats or switch conversation partners. Moreover, this would relate to student’s anxiety to talk using the target language with fellow students in fear of being appearing stupid and judge as well. Hence, research reports would suggest that foreign students will tend to group with fellow non-native speakers and exhibit behavioral avoidance when studying in the mainstream English classes. Variables of Self-Confidence Self-confidence is a positive image yet realistic view of one-self and the situation. A confident person is someone who trust his own abilities, have a general sense of control in their lives, and believe that, within reason, they will be able to do what they wish, plan, and expect. According to Skehan (1989), available research does not show a single clearly-defined relationship between personality traits (such as self-confidence) and second language. He further points out that a major difficulty in investigating personality variables is that of identification and measurement, pointing toward a relatively new area of potential research needing attention. However, existing literature suggests that language anxiety can be correlated with students’ negative concepts of themselves as language learners, and negative expectations for language learning. With this in consideration, self-confidence levels can be viewed not only as a personality trait with complex factors affecting high or low confidence, but also as an outcome of high anxiety levels. This assumption is of considerable interest as anxiety tends to create negative self-perceptions about language performance and can then be tied directly to an increase in negative attitudes towards second language learning and a decrease in risk-taking and sociability. In different respect, overly high levels of confidence in language learning can have similar negative effects on language learning, hindering advancement in language proficiency as over-confidence, due to self-perceptions of high degrees of performance in oral/written communication or in positive socialization, can lead a language learner to believe that he or she has learned all there is to know about a language and lose sight of mastering higher complex linguistic skill in the SL. For example, an individual who sees that his or her skill level in the second language is superior to other SL learners who struggle with the SL, he or she might make substantial mistakes in grammar or comprehension, but remain completely unaware of their errors and thus not improve in the acquisition of the second language. Horwitz (1986) brings up an interesting concept regarding self-confidence by citing that language learning is a profoundly unsettling psychological proposition because it directly threatens an individuals self-concept and worldview. A bold statement, but it does indicate that language learning, as a whole, can be a major contributor to variable self-confidence levels based on how each individual interprets their learning in terms of culture, grammar, or any other related language learning aspect. Variable self-confidence levels in second language learners are profoundly impacted by a complex set of individualised variables that it would be difficult to label each and every possible contributor to self-confidence levels. Simply recognising self-confidence levels in SL learners as a result of language learning and of anxiety opens a variety of potential research methods to begin measuring cause and effect of variable self-confidence. Instructor-Learner Interaction and Classroom Procedures Young (1991) asserts that a learner’s beliefs about language learning can contribute to the psychological anxiety in students. Skills such as proper pronunciation, depth of vocabulary, and fluency may vary in importance for learners in relation to second language learning. Similarly, Horwitz also studied the effect of various learners’ perceptions to language learning. In fact, Horwitz reports that a number of foreign language students in his study may have unachievable personal goals and misconceptions about language learning. For example, a few respondents expressed their optimism in achieving native-like fluency in the second language in two years of study, while others expressed their belief that language learning is tantamount to learning how to translate. Clearly, these idealistic beliefs contribute to language anxiety, more evidently when their beliefs and reality clash. A very good example would be the overly optimistic goal of beginners to achieve native-like fluency in the target language in two years. Over time, the students would naturally tend to get frustrated to find the reality of their imperfect pronunciation even after a lot of practice. On the other hand, an instructor’s beliefs about language teaching can also be a source of anxiety among second language learners. The manifestations of instructor’s belief can more clearly be seen in the methodology or approach in which an instructor conducts the second language class. For example, most instructors, who employ the Grammar Translation Method to teach English, will undoubtedly argue that the most fundamental reason for learning the language is to give learners access to English literature, develop their minds through second language learning, and to build in students the kinds of grammar, reading, vocabulary, and translation skills requisite to pass any one of the variety of compulsory tests necessitated in educational institutions. These instructors often emphasize on the strict rules of grammar syntax and proper form in sentence construction. While the teacher believes that his role in class is to constantly test and correct student’s errors, some of the students might develop anxiety over their class performance. On the other hand, some instructors may choose to employ a different methodology in language teaching. Some instructors may choose to use Total Physical Response method for learners to enjoy the sessions and create a less stressful environment for the students. Practitioners argue that recreating the natural process for children first learning their native language will facilitate the learning of the second language in the same way. More importantly, it asserts that language learning method involves a substantial amount of listening and comprehension with a mixture of various physical response such as smiling, reaching, and grabbing. Thus, the aim was to lower the affective filter in order to accelerate language learning among students. Taking into account the beliefs of both learners and instructors as well as the sources of language anxieties felt by students in a classroom setting, it is also important to look into the dynamics of the learning environment. Hadfield (1992) has identified seven traits of a good classroom dynamics as shown in Table 1. Table 1: Traits of Good Classroom Dynamics 1. Student groups are cohesive and have a positive, supportive atmosphere. Group members are interested in each other and feel they have something in common. 2. The members of the group are able to compromise. They have a sense of direction as a group and are able to define their goals in group as well as individual terms. 3. Group members are not cliquey or territorial but interact happily with all members of the group. Members of the group listen to each other and take turns. 4. Individuals in the group are not competitive and do not seek individual attention at the expense of others. Members cooperate in completing tasks and are able to work together productively. 5. Group members are able to empathize with each other and understand each other’s points of view even if they do not share them. The members of the group trust each other. 6. The group has a sense of fun. 7. Group members have a positive attitude to themselves as learners, to the language and culture being studied, and to the learning experience. Interpretation of Educator Beliefs on Language Learning Many paradigms and principles in mentioned in existing literature in teacher cognition are generally by nature unobservable and researchers have defined such principles differently. Freeman defines the categories in teacher education as â€Å"knowledge, beliefs and perceptions that shape what the teachers know, and therefore what they do in their teaching. † The keywords in Freeman’s categorization would be knowledge, beliefs and perceptions. These keywords would therefore define the scope of the teacher’s competency in relation to language teaching. Ellis (2006) would further refine the three words to discuss the teacher’s biographical experience and how it contributes to their professional knowledge. Ellis (2006) proposes â€Å"knowledge, beliefs, and insights† as refinement of the Freeman’s categorization. Knowledge (cited after Woods by Ellis) would be related to facts and the â€Å"things we know†. Beliefs refers to the instructor’s â€Å"acceptance of a proposition †¦ for which there is an accepted disagreement. † Ellis further elaborates on this irony as â€Å"ESL students need explicit focus on grammar as well as communicative practice. † Lastly, insight would relate to the instructor’s â€Å"personal practical knowledge: knowledge which is experiential, embodied, and reconstructed out of the narratives of a teacher’s life†. Ellis (2006) further elaborates insight as â€Å"an understanding gained from personal experience that allows us to see how previously understood realities could be different. It illuminates something previously unseen, makes sense of something previously incomprehensible, or lends a new perspective on something taken for granted. † Conclusion Different language experiences will result to rich and diverse insights, which can be very useful to second language teachers. However, there is yet to be a methodical study of a knowledge database of the learning experiences of English second language teachers. Formal education would require and ensure teachers are equip with the knowledge about phonology, grammar syntax, bilingualism, and motivation and methodology, etc. In addition, beliefs about the theories within language learning are also formed in the process as teachers develop a technique or approach in second language teaching. More importantly, teachers gain insights from the personal experiences, particularly in teaching second language. These insights are gained from reflection and recognition the complex, interwoven, rich, and diverse nature of what teachers â€Å"know†. The contents of this teacher booklet all aim to give the SLA teacher some insight into the areas in which he exerts significant impact. If taken to heart, he will indeed be able to make a dent in language learning by lessening the anxiety of his students and increasing their self-confidence. References Chang, Y. S. , Horwitz, E. K. and Schallert, D. L. (1999). Language Anxiety: Differentiating Writing and Speaking Components. Language Learning, 49 (3), 417-446. Cummins, J. (2000). Immersion education for the millennium: What we have learned from 30 years of research on second language immersion. Retrieved on October 23, 2007 from www. iteachilearn. com/cummins/immersion2000. html Ehrman, M. E. , Leaver, B. L. Oxford, R. L. (2003). A brief overview of individual differences in second language learning. System, 31 (3), 313-330. Ellis, E. M. (2006). Language learning experience as a contributor to ESOL teacher cognition. Teaching English as Second Language or Foreign Language, 10 (1). Gardner, R. C. Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House. Hadfield, J. (1992). Classroom dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Horwitz, E. K. (1986). Student effective reactions and the teaching and learning of foreign languages. College of Education: The University of Texas at Austin, Texas. Horwitz, E. K. , Horwitz, M. B. Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70 (2). Huang, J. (2004). Voices from Chinese students: Professor’s use of English affects academic listening. College Student Journal, 38(2), 212-223. Hyltenstam, K. (1992). Non-native features of near-native speakers: on the ultimate attainment of childhood L2 learners. In R. J. Harris (ed. ) Cognitive processing in bilinguals, 351 367. Amsterdam: North-Holland. MacIntyre, P. D. Gardner, D. (1994). How does anxiety affect second language learning? A reply to Sparks and Ganschow. The Modern Language Journal, 79 (1). Skehan, P. (1989). Individual differences in second-language learning. London: Edward Arnold Young, D. J. (1991). Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: What does language anxiety research suggest? The Modern Language Journal, 75 (4).

Stewardship versus economic decision making in financial reporting

Stewardship versus economic decision making in financial reporting The main objective of financial reporting according to the IASBs Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements framework is that of providing adequate information in order to enable shareholders conduct economic decision making. This brought the debate of whether such objective neglected the importance of the stewardship assessment by the part of shareholders. In the past decade the IASB and the US FASB have been working on a joint project to develop a conceptual framework for financial reporting. Such conceptual framework has the aim of providing a base for developing harmonised, future accounting standards. In 2008, the boards issued an exposure draft of chapter one and chapter two of the conceptual framework with chapter one tackling the objectives of financial reporting. In the exposure draft that has been lately issued by the two boards, it was identified that the objective of financial reporting should be that of catering for all the decisions that capital providers make, including both resource allocation decisions and decisions made to protect and enhance their investments. Furthermore on the underlying exposure draft there is stated that information about the stewardship of an entitys economic resources should be considered as decision-useful information. Hence in this exposure draft it is clear that the two boards shifted from focusing solely on economic decision making, to general decision making, with stewardship being included in such broader definition. Although this move to focus on decision usefulness rather than specifically on economic decision making was a means to subsume stewardship in the objective of financial reporting, authors such as Andrew Lennard still argue that stewardship and decision usefulness should be recognised as separate objectives. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦stewardship contributes an important dimension to financial reporting, which should be reflected by specific acknowledgement in the objectives of financial reporting.  [1]   The majority of the authors who recognise stewardship as a fundamental objective in financial reporting, claim that financial statements should be prepared on the basis of historical costs. This ensures in providing a clear, factual account of the transactions that occurred during the year, over which management had control. Thus reporting on historical cost can aid shareholders accomplish their stewardship assessment needs better. On the other hand, to cater for decision usefulness, especially in terms of economic decision making, financial reporting would focus more on the forecasting of future cash flows. Such objective would be better addressed with valuations based on market values, since they better reflect the timing and certainty of future cash flows. This is leading to the emergence of valuation techniques based on current values, such as fair value. The adoption of fair value accounting is perhaps one of the most controversial issues currently being faced by the accountancy world. Both the IASB and the FASB have been working on this issue for the last couple years. Traditionally, financial reporting has been exclusively based on historical costs. The use of current values, such as fair value reporting emerged relatively recently, and was applied to only few selected areas. One of the areas where fair value had a major influence is in the measurement of financial instrument. Using market values to value Financial Instruments is deemed to be reliable (since markets in these items are well developed) and relevant (because the values of financial instruments can experience large fluctuations, thus historical costs depicts a very poor picture of current values). However, in the nearby future, fair value measurement is likely to be extended to other assets, especially in the light of the fact of the IASBs and FASBs perceived preferenc e for fair value measurement even where the market is not well developed. The IASB believes that fair value measurement under IFRS and GAAP is already consistent. Also, the IASB and the FASB will continue to work together to ensure that applying fair value in an inactive market is accounted for consistently  [2]  . Shareholders are divided into two main categories, private individuals and institutional investors. Although financial reporting is designed to cater for the needs of capital providers, due to the lack of knowledge commonly found within private individual shareholders, concerns may arise on what such private individual shareholders identify as useful, for their decision making. Need for the study: The dissertations objective is to identify the current needs of private shareholders and what they identify as valuable information. The dissertation shall then examine to what extent the focus on decision usefulness and the forecasting of future cash flows through fair value accounting shall aid private shareholders in satisfying their requirements. Research Methodology: The dissertation will be of a qualitative nature. The aim of such dissertation is to achieve a deep understanding of what local private shareholders value as relevant information, and to examine whether the emerging concept of fair value accounting will be providing such users more relevant accounting information. The aim of the study is not to generalise findings but to obtain rich description on the underlying topic. The method being taken into consideration to gather the qualitative data is the setting up of focus groups with shareholders. Such group discussions provide direct evidence about similarities and differences in participants opinions. Participants are not required to answer for every question enabling them to build on one anothers response. Furthermore by acting as a moderator I can ensure that the discussion is always kept on track. Finally, focus groups can be considered as a more plausible solution when compared to open ended interviews with shareholders. The response rate of shareholders to a focus group is likely to be greater when compared to a personal one on one interview, since the latter is perceived as more intrusive. The main limitation of using focus groups is perhaps the risk that people influence each others response. As a result the response of participants can be different than the response that would have been generated from a private one on one interview. Shareholders from two local, listed companies are going to be considered as the population sample. These companies are Bank of Valletta and HSBC. The choice fell on these companies because due to the recent changes to IAS 39 and IFRS 7, fair value measurement had a considerable impact on the banking sector. Thereby, due to such fact shareholders can be even more concerned and affected with the underlying subject. Two focus groups are planned to be set, one with BOV shareholders and one with HSBC shareholders, with groups ranging from six to twelve members. Shareholders list can be obtained from the Malta Financial Services Authority. The sampled population will exclude overseas shareholders, trusts and investment companies, thus focusing solely on local private shareholders. Chapters Overview: Introduction: firstly the stewardship versus economic decision making debate will be tackled, and its effects on valuation on financial reporting will be analysed. The dissertation shall then focus on the emergence of fair value as a measurement tool and its prospective usage. Furthermore fair value will be compared and contrasted with cost based valuation. The introduction will also include an examination of how each valuation method caters for the individual private shareholders requirements. Literature Review: literature review can be focused on two aspects being the debate of fair value measurement versus cost based measurement, and the debate of whether private shareholders use accounting information mostly for economic decision making, or to assess stewardship. Research Methodology: in this section I shall describe how the results were achieved, explaining how the data was collected and analyzed. This section shall contain the weaknesses and limitations of the research methods and methodology used. In the methodology I shall also include any problems that I anticipated and explain any steps taken to prevent them from occurring. Findings: this part of dissertation will contain the information generated from the focus groups. Results will be presented, interpreted and discussed in this section. Conclusion: this part will provide concluding insights on the research, and recommendations of other research questions that can be tackled to improve the research on the area. The main questions to be answered in this section are: what has been learnt from the results? How can this knowledge be used? What are the shortcomings of the research? Bibliography: Accounting Standards Board. (2007). STEWARDSHIP/ACCOUNTABILITY AS AN OBJECTIVE OF FINANCIAL REPORTING A comment on the IASB/FASB Conceptual Framework Project. UK: Accounting Standards Board. Alan Bryman, E. B. (2007). Business Research Methods 2 edition. UK: Oxford University Press. Doron Nissim, S. P. (2007). ON THE APPLICATION OF FAIR VALUE ACCOUNTING. Columbia Univesity. Lennard, A. (2008). Stewardship and the objectives of financial statements: a comment on IASBs Preliminary Views on an improved Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting. UK: Accounting Standards Board. RONEN, J. (2008). To Fair Value or Not to Fair Value: A Broader Perspective. Accounting Foundation , Sydney. Schmidt, S. (2004). Fair Value Accounting. US: Governors of Federal Reserve System. Whittington, G. (2008). Fair Value and the IASB/FASB Conceptual Framework Project: An Alternative View . Cambridge: University of Cambridge.

The concepts of microfinance and microcredit

The concepts of microfinance and microcredit Chapter 2.0: Literature Review Microfinance is the provision of financial services by certain institutions known as MFIs such as Cooperative Banks, Community Based-Saving Bank, Credit Unions, development bank to the poor, low income earners, self-employed and small businesses. Microfinance has been design to address issues of poverty to help those not having access to formal financial system.. According to MIX in June 2010 there was more than 1800 MFIs in over 100 countries, with 92.4 millions borrowers and 78.5 millions savers in the developing world. The concept of microfinance was created by Professor Muhammad Yunus founder of Grameen bank in Bangladesh. Microfinance includes a range of services such as microcredit, saving, insurance and funds transfer. Traditional banks do not provide facilities to low income earners; they provide services to people after assessing the profile of clients according to certain criteria such as pay, credit history and assets of the clients. According to Hernando De Soto (1989) a Peruvian economist poor people have no assets to provide as collateral to bank when taking a loan, therefore they are not liable to receive loans from banks. Since poor people do not have access to traditional banks they have to lend money with high interest rates from others sources such as pawnbroker and local money lender sometimes with 100% interest rate as borrowing from them is fast and flexible. Over the last 30 years MFIs have developed new methods with less collateral to offer small loans to low income earners and has grown rapidly in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America where there were few bank infrastructures and where in some cases more than 80 % of the population did not have a bank account. Grameen Bank and Banco Solidiario of Bolivia two popular have provided millions of loans to poor people and microentrepreneurs and and these has caused governments and NGOs to direct their resources to microfinance programmes. According to CGAP (2008), MFIs are funded by 33 donors of 21 investors such as DFI. Microfinance offers permanent financial facilities for education, health, personal emergencies, disasters, investment opportunities to the poor and it is used as a development tool. MFIs begin as non-profit organization increasingly they are now evolving as profit entities because MFIs are required to have a banking license for saving services. Some MFIs offers non- financial facilities such as health services and business development. In this review we will analyze and see how microfinance contributes to the economic development of a country and the review will be focused on creation of employment and the empowerment of women by microfinance. 2.1.1 Professor Muhammad Yunus The concept of microfinance was created by Professor Muhammad Yunus founder of Grameen bank in Bangladesh and noble price winner in 2006.He receives 76 other awards in different countries for his work. Yunus was awarded Americas highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom by President Barack H Obama for his contribution in poverty alleviation. Professor Yunus obtained a doctorate in Economics from Vanderbilt University found in Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. He stayed in the US for eight years as a student after his study as a professor in economics. In 1972 he came back to Bangladesh During the famine of 1974 in Bangladesh Professor Muhammad Yunus minor loans of USD27 to 42 poor families for them to buy and sell small articles to allow them to earn a living. The objective behind the loan was to reduce poverty in Bangladesh and poverty alleviation becomes his vision. Grameen bank was an idea generated by Professor Yunus the bank started as a project at the University of Chittagong as a pilot test to find different ways of providing credit to the poor in the rural area The Grameen bank offered its services to a village named Jobra near the university; the project was successful and had the support of Bangladesh central bank in 1979. The bank extends its services to Tangail district and to other areas of Bangladesh. In 1983 the Bangladesh Government turns the project into an independent bank and Professor Yunus had a grant from the Ford foundation to incorporate Grameen bank with the support of two bankers namely Mary Houghton and Ron Grzywinkski from Shore bank of Chicago. The Ford foundation was established in 1936 it is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental organization which help in social change, the organization help to reduce poverty and help in human advancement worldwide by offering subsidies and loans to certain organizations. Microfinance is also being criticized for its high interest rate, loan repayment and women exploitation but we cannot criticized whole system if there are drawbacks, the whole system can be reviewed for improvement at the right time and places since no system is perfect 2.1.2 Grameen bank Grameen bank is a Nobel Prize winner corporation founded on 2 October,1983 and since then has been proliferated in more than 65 countries, its headquarter is situated in Dhaka in Bangladesh and the bank is the largest MFIs in the country. Grameen is known for its solidarity lending system or banking and is also known as banking to the poor. Solidarity lending is the foundation of microcredit. The word Grameen is derived means village in Bangladesh, the bank incorporates the 16 decisions which is recited by bank borrowers and which they shall abide to them. The 16 decisions comprises the four principles of Grameen bank which are Discipline, Courage, Unity, and Hard work, and the other 15 decisions are resumed as to improve their standard of living and there is the element of togetherness to do social activities to improve their way of living. These sixteen decisions have a positive impact on the inhabitants of Bangladesh where more children have joined school. The bank has different s ources of funding; initially huge capital was obtained from donor agency at low rates. During the 1990s the bank has its bulk of capital from the Central bank of Bangladesh and recently from the sales of bonds subsidized by its government. In 1998 The bank make loan to poor people in the form of microcredit as a result of flood in Bangladesh, the repayment rate decreases but recovered afterwards, USD4.7 billions has been loaned in 2005and USD6 billion in 2008. Nowadays the bank has expand more and offers more loans to the poor and in 2006 it has up to 2100 branches in Bangladesh. Due to Grameens success more than 40 countries including the United States in 2008 where 12.6% of the population live below the poverty line have been inspired by the bank to make projects with the same perspective, only Africa which has lag behind. The World Bank has financed the projects. The bank is owned by the poor borrowers of the bank of which the majority are women as the borrowers own 94% of the equity and the remaining 6% is owned by the Government of Bangladesh. The bank has grown to a large extent between 2003-2007 in 2003 the numbers of borrowers have doubled and in October 2007 the number of clients was 7.34 Million of which 97% were women and had a staff of 24703, in 2504 branches over 81574 villages that is the branches have spread in more villages since they were situated in only 43681 villages in 2003 and the repayment rate. Since the banks start ed to operate it has USD6.55 billions as loans USD87 billion has been repaid and the bank claim repayment rate of 98.35% up from the 95% of 1998 but again the Wall Street journal in 2001claim that it doubted the 95% and the accounting standard used by Grameen bank. Grameen started to diversify in the 1980 where it develops into a multi facet group with profit and nonprofit group among which are Grameen fisheries foundation for fisheries project, Grameen Agriculture Foundation for irrigation project, Grameen fund and Grameen Trust.Grameen believe that the concept of giving charity will encourage charity whereas the concept of microcredit will help poor people to exit poverty and the bank invest in children education by providing scholarships and loans for higher education.In 2009 the bank has disbursed total cumulative amount of loans of USD8741.86 and total loans during the year USD 1150.54millions with a total deposits of USD1200.49 millions with number of groups of 1253160 with 79 70616 members. There are organization which has been created all over the world inspired by GB such as Grameen foundation, Grameen Trust, Grameen America, grameen credit agricole among others. 2.1.3 Microfinance in developed countries Poor people who lack access to finance are also found in rich countries such as in Amecica. Grameen started in America in the late 1980s. Southern Bancorp under the tutelage of Grameen give microcredit to entrepreneurs in Arkansas but make 30% losses at the start, afterwards the bank found out that people needed help to develop their working skills. Grameen in the US mostly financed those who already have a job, people selling toys, cleaning houses not those who will start from nothing. The head quarter of Grameen Foundation is situated at Washington D.C in the US; it is a non-profit organization which helps to eradicate poverty. It was inspired by Grameen bank in Bangladesh, but it is an independent organization. Professor Yunus is a member of the board of directors and gave Grameen Foundation its first grant Grameen foundation finance MFIs. Grameen America has been created to provide microcredit to micro entrepreneurs. It was created in January 2008 and it is found in Manhattan and Professor Yunus is the chairman of the board. The organization is trying to become sustainable to help other people in need, according to the organization anyone with a vision can receive financial services irrespective of their background. The objective of the organization is to reduce poverty to create a better future for families. Grameen America helped the poor communities of the US especially immigrants. 2.1.4 Microcredit Theoretical review According to Boudreaux and Cowen (2008) microcredit is a micro magic and makes the life of the poor becomes easier, it is an alternative to traditional lending of banks. Instead of giving charity to the poor, microcredit is a human way of providing finance to poor people as according to the Chinese proverb Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime, it is an investment in human capital. Microcredit is an innovation in the world of finance it is at the heart of microfinance, the concept did not exist before the seventies, and it is a small loan rarely exceeding USD200 and usually below USD50 made to the poor or people with low income with little or no collateral. Microcredit clients are those that are considered as near the poverty line, the loans allow micro entrepreneurs to generate an income for a better standard of living. Grameen bank based itself on three Cs namely Character that is the reliability of the people the Capacity to handle funds and the Capital which is the assets of the borrower such as savings. Microcredit is gaining more credibility in the finance industry and many large organizations are developing microfinance programs for future growth although at the start many were pessimistic about the future of microcredit in the financial system. 50% of the population in many developing countries is self employed and these loans of three months to three years with small interest rates and no collateral help poor people to become financially independent and help to reduce poverty. The microcredit programs helps people to achieve high repayment rate even sometimes more than that of traditional banking because of the system of peer support. In the case of the Grameen bank where there are solidarity groups and it is also known as social capital and is composed of 5 members and each member is responsible for each other success and repayment, but are not guarantees or liable if members default. Neverth eless the members make sure that each one is taking its responsibility to make repayment this act as a motivating factor for the members. Sometimes in real life when a member of the group defaults the other four collaborates together and contribute to pay on behalf of the defaulting member. The microcredit system of Grameen bank is based on Trust and there is no conventional contract between the bank and the borrowers, but the borrowers must have a small account with the bank known as group fund which acts as an insurance in case of an emergency. Women account for 97% of the microcredit client of Grameen bank and this help to empower women as they get access to resources and have a say in decision making since they become micro entrepreneurs. Grameen bank has records of 98% repayment rate from women which is in contradiction with Wall street Journal which says that there is one fifth of the total loan of the bank is overdue but Grameen bank claims in turn that the standard of living of the poor has increased that is they are respecting the 16 decisions of the bank and are able to make a repayment of around 4USD per week. Empirical review of microcredit Grameen bank develop several program for the poor of which one of them is the struggling members program in 2003 which is different from the 5 group member borrowing it consists of distributing interest free loans to beggars in Bangladesh where the banking rules do not apply and where the repayment period is arbitrary for USD1.5 about 3.4 US cents and if they borrower default they are already covered under an insurance paid by the bank itself. This type of loan encouraged the beggars to generate an income by the sales of cheap items, there is a record shown in the microfinance summit 2006 that loans taken by beggars are about USD 833,150 and the repayment is USD 496,900 that is 59.64% repayment rate which according to me is quite encouraging since it is more half of the money loaned. Certain developed countries such as in Canada have try to used the Grameen model but the project has failed due to certain factors such as the risk profile of clients, no taste for joint liability that is the no solidarity between the borrowers, high overhead costs therefore the project does not stand without subsidies in Canada which is contrary to the USA where microcredit has been successful. Sometimes microcredit is subjected to problem such as opportunism and asymmetric information. The first Grameen branch has made a loan of $1.5 million in the USA among which was 600 women and the repayment was very high up to 99%. People took the loan to sell items such as flowers, jewelry clothes and Grameen bank remains unshaken while others collapsed during crisis. Despite the global recession, The President Barack Obama announced the creation of $100 million funds to lend as microcredit to the western hemisphere. Microcredit programmes should be well designed according to the characterist ics of a country, other factors such as the background of the country, the stability of the banking sector,the poverty level, the opportunities and the challenges. 2.1.5 Micro Saving Apart from microcredit the need of financial users is increasing, there is demand from 19 million potential savers to have access to micro saving services. They need services that are flexible and adapted to them. Traditionally savings is done by people at home or by normal banks at a high cost which was not encouraging to the poor. Microfinance has brought services such as savings to poor people. Savings help people to feel safer and more stable, and help poor people to manage their money conveniently. Micro saving consists of small deposits, terms and interest rate that is flexible to clients at the same time banks used the money to make loans to poor people. In some cases micro saving is better than taking small loans since taking a loan is a debt and it becomes a responsibility or a burden if the interest rate of the loan is too high, therefore microcredit is more risky than saving. Saving is an asset for people whereas a loan is a liability; clients will prefer to have assets th an liabilities. Saving is a sacrifice for poor people but it is flexible and they earn interest instead of paying interest which is a source of income. Saving is a must and can helped people in times of need of illness, fire, flood and unexpected events 2.1.6 Credit Insurance In 2002 opportunity organization started to give micro insurance services. Its subsidiary MicroEnsure was the first institution offering micro insurance services and provide protection against many risks for the poor. Stakeholders and local insurance worked in collaboration with MicroEnsure to develop and match the needs of the poor. The insurance provided were affordable, they offered agricultural, medical, property and life policy providing a safety net in case of disasters with average premium of USD 1.5 for family with 5members. Medical policies covered even people already suffering from diseases and even those suffering from HIV viruses. Actually MicroEnsure is offering insurance in 5 countries to over 1million poor people and was one of the runner-ups of financial times in June 5 for sustainability award and receives a grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to expand itself in other countries. MicroEnsure operates in 9 countries and serve millions of people with credi t life, funeral, Health, Political violence, property , typhoon and weather index crop 2.1.7 Microcredit Summit The first microcredit summit was held at Washington D.C. on the 24 February 1997, 137 countries were present at the summit with 2900 participants. In the summit they launch a campaign to reach 100 million poorest families that is those people living below the poverty line, with those living with less than USD1.25 a day adjusted to the purchasing power parity (based on 2005 prices) all around the world within nine years especially to empower women as micro entrepreneurs. The objective was nearly achieved in 2005 and in November 2006 the campaign re-launched to 2015 with two new objectives was ensured that 175 millions poorest families especially women are obtaining credit for self employment and for business and financial services. The second objective is to ensure that 100 millions poorest familys worldwide increase to USD1 a day adjusted to the purchasing power parity from 1990 to 2015. The microcredit campaign is the project of the Educational fund from the USA an organization committed to end hunger and poverty around the world. The campaign group together people such as microcredit practitioners, donor agencies, international financial institutions, non -governmental organizations, advocates, and other people involved with microcredit for effective and efficient practices. In August 2008 the World Bank claim that approximately 280 million families live below the poverty line with less than USD1.25 daily. The four core themes of the summit are reaching the poorest, empowering women, building self sufficient and sustainable MFIs, ensuring that microfinance has a positive impact on the lives of the poor The forthcoming Microfinance Summit 2011 will be held in Valladolid, Spain, the summit is believed to improve the microfinance sector and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. A hundred countries and over 2000 participants are expected in the summit. In the agenda there will be the presentation of new products, job creation with microfinance and best practices among other issues will addressed. 2.1.8 Poverty It has been proved that microfinance is the tool to help poor family moved out of poverty and to contribute to the economy of a country by increasing their income generating capacity. Studies have shown with the microcredit provided by Grameen bank in Bangladesh 48% of the families below the poverty line have exit from poverty. According to some studies with microcredit 5% of the poor could exit the poverty line each year as it is an investment in human capital and improve peoples life. Microcredit is an opportunity for the poor to realize their dreams. Microfinance is a strategic tool to trim down poverty and help the poor to participate in the social and economic life of a country. 2.1.8 Employment Generation Microcredit helps in the generation of employment; therefore it helps in economic development and in a sustainable means of income. With the microcredit poor people are able to earn a living by selling low priced items or to even expand their businesses at the same time they become sustainable and create employment for other people .Microfinance is a mean of creating employment and improving the life of poor people. 2.1.9 Women Empowerment Microfinance more specifically microcredit is an instrument used for the empowerment of women it increase social welfare and enhances gender equity. Microcredit helps women to become economic actors in power that is becoming self reliance and economically independent. We have heard a lot about the role of women in microfinance, 94% of the borrowers of Grameen bank are women and 97% of the borrowers are owners in the equity of the bank, according to Rankin (2002) the reason behind this is because women invest more in the family than men because of their nurturing instincts and are more devoted towards their families. Women play a crucial role in the economic growth of a country by first improving their family life, their communities and countries. In the microfinance summit provisions are made for the poorest families around but especially for women as they form an important part of microfinance. Women are targeted because they are the one in the family to up bring the children and po verty of the women results in illiteracy of their children and other social problems. Mohhamud Yunus (1999) explains that women are more willing to work harder to raise their children and to move their families out of poverty, whereas when a destitute father earns an income his priorities will more around himself than for his family. In 2005 Kofi Anan promote the year as the UN microfinance year for empowerment of women. Studies have shown that women are good income earner and that women have a high repayment rate this is because solidarity group or social capital replaces securities required by traditional banks thus creating better credit worthiness. In Nepal with the Women empowerment program 68 % of the women are able to cater for the needs of the family by sending their children to school, buying and selling properties which normally was the duty of the husband. Access to microcredit has increase from 7.6 million in 1997 to 26.8 million in 2001 among which are 21 million women the access to loans enabled them to make economic decisions , to buy assets and resources and to become more independent. Social capital forms an integral part of empowerment of women and they work collectively for mutual welfare. According to Coleman (1988) social capital is an asset in the form of human relationship by the sharing of knowledge and resources within a group and World Bank (2009) define social work as a model of collective actions that create quality and quantity social interactions. Social capital helps women to feel united build trust, motivates them to work together to achieve in life. Women empowerment leads to self esteem, motivation, self empowerment, higher knowledge, good leadership, higher collective action, better decision making and ultimately better social position. Women empowerment also helps to fight violence against women. Although violence against women occurred in all social class but women living in poverty are more prone to domestic IPV and domest ic violence, but can at the same time increase the risks since in some cases empowering women is challenging the gender norms Benefits cannot be assumed in all contexts since empowerment is complex and depends on situation. There is also the problem of moral hazard since when women have access to the credit for a given purpose and they are using the money for other purposes. We will look at two among many microcredit stories of women the first one is that of Janet Deval from Haiti who was an illiterate women with a hearing problem she had five children, her husband refused to pay the school fees but she knew that education was important for the children. Janet sold goods in Hinche and pay for her children schools on her own. She started to take literacy classes at Fonkoze a microcredit institution in Haiti. Afterwards Janet knew how to write her name and could things that she couldnt do before since she was never sent to school. Later she took a loan from Fonkoze to be able to expand her business at the market to be able to continue to send her children to school, without the microfinance institution Janet would have been unable to read and write and to even expand her business therefore she would have been able to educate her children. The second case is that of Anastacia Abella from the Philippines, she lived as a squatter in Manila, she lived with her four children in a shelter made from scrap, the village have frequent blackout therefore she decided to search for jar in the garbage to make lamps, after decorating the lamps, she sell 150 of them each day and make a small profit. She took a loan at Opportunity international and she was to make 300 lamps a day, the loan allows her to make greater profit and be able to improve her standard of living. Empirical review Social capital is an important component of microcredit it is used as a tool in development programmes. Social A study was carried out by Forbes Marshall Co .Ltd a well known company in Pune, India as an initiative of CSR about the impact of social capital on social empowerment carried using primary data from 217 women all members of SHG by using random sampling from 60 SHG among which 34% came from lower social class and the rest middle lower class with average family members of 5 and the average age of the women was 30 years old. The number of years of association is 1-7 years. Data reveals that most of them entered a group for the first time and that most of them were aware of the SHG by existing members. The SHG met frequently for interactions.15 variables such as Access for awareness building and capacity building which was further divided into Access to education and training, access to loan and girls education were used using Likert scale to know the perceptions of women about the microfinance programs. To see the effectiveness of the microfinance programmes by the indicators more, sensitivity was used as the SHG were divided into 3 categories of less than 1year,1-3 years and more than 3years. The conclusion of the study was that the social capital created help in women empowerment the older the association the higher the social empowerment and the higher the awareness, the unity and decision making process, but the organization must give appropriate support and policies to the social capital such as capacity building programmes to help decision making. Microfinance programmes make use of physical resources and social capital for sustainable development and economic growth. Social capital should not be the only factor that helps in the empowerment of women; there must be a good policy and objectives behind the social group. Other tools such as experiments, interviews and other types of surveys or a combination can be used to assess the impact of social capital in microfinance programmes for the empowerment of women. In the study above 15 indicators have used to assess social capital but there be other indicators that can be assessed such as communication, trust among others. IMAGE studied the impact on womens empowerment on IPV in South Africa by using random cluster and qualitative data. A microfinance program and training were provided on gender norms, sexuality, HIV and domestic violence.9 indicators of which self confidence, financial confidence, and power to make decisions were used to measure women empowerment. Results about changes in the loan groups were collected and the results were that after 2 years womens empowerment reduced sexual violence by more than half. With adjusted risk ratio= 0.45; 95% confidence interval = 0.23, 0.91 It was observed that the 9 indicators improved and the study showed that women empowerment reduce IPV. 2.2.0 Sustainability of Microfinance Sustainability of MFI does refer to the profit making or the institution being able to sustain itself without the donors or funders. Sometimes to become sustainable MFIs lower their cost and increase their interest rate. According to Rahman (1999) the IR of loan from Grameen has been higher than that of traditional bank rate in Bangladesh. The increase in interest rate may sometimes hinder repayment, the increase should not be too high so that microfinance may serve its purpose. According to UNDP (2003) among the 147 MFIs reporting in the microfinance bulletin 62 are sustainable financially. Chapter 3.0 Microfinance in Mauritius Mauritius is a bank-based economy, there are 19 banks serving the country among which 5 are offshore banks, these commercial banks do not provide microfinance services but the banking sector is stable in Mauritius and therefore important since microfinance is the by-product of the banking system. Microfinance has emerged recently in the country and actually there is only DBM established in 1964, a state-owned bank which operates in the microfinance sector and other sectors of the economy. The head office is found in Port-Louis and 5 other branches among which one in Rodrigues. The DBM serves as a catalyst in the socio-development in Mauritius, the supply of microfinance in Mauritius is quite limited in terms of range of services and the number of people served as DBM provides only Microcredit to its clients since December 2006. Microfinance is used as a tool to fight agaisnt poverty, in Mauritius the poverty line is for a household income not exceeding Rs6000 monthly that is those in the vulnerable group. There are 3 types of microcredit loan scheme that are offered to clients the first one is the Booster microcredit loan for women entrepreneur in sectors such as finance, manufacturing sectors, agricultural, agri business, handicraft, Tourism, ICT and the services sector .Women entrepreneurs loaned by DBM must be registered with NWEC, SEHDA,AREU, IVTB or the Tourism Authority. The loan amount is Rs 100,000 with 9% IR with repayment rates of 5 years and moratorium period of up to 1 year. Normally when taking microcredit no collateral are needed but in this case promissory notes are required as security. Women which are eligible are laid off women workers in EPZ and sugar industry, those in existing business, small women entrepreneurs. Microcredit financing scheme offered to vulnerable groups and are microentrepreneurs with a maximum loan of Rs50000 and 5% IR/per annum and repayment period of 4years and 6 months moratorium and as security floating charge. Booster scheme for small entrepreneur for entrepreneurs to finance a category of activities such as kindergartens, e-commerce, ICT among others, with a maximum of Rs1500000 with a repayment period of 5years, moratorium of 1 year and 9% IR p.a and a limited number of clients are served. Microfinance in Mauritius is in an infancy stage since the financial facility offered is only limited to microcredit and only 3 types of loan are provided to clients and many people may not be aware of these services since they are new in the financial sectors.

A Comparison of Communism versus Capitalism Essay -- Compare Contrast

A Comparison of Communism versus Capitalism Communism versus Capitalism is a debate that has raged on for over two centuries. Whether to allow everyone equal opportunities and to do with those opportunities as they please or to mandate class equality in order to keep peace has in itself been the cause of wars. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels saw the working class of the world--the proletariat--being squashed by the greedy business owners--the bourgeoisie. In their view, the bourgeoisie owned too much and the proletariat had no chance to make their own fortunes. In Marx and Engels Communist Manifesto, they propose doing away with private property, nationality, and even countries in order to take power away from the bourgeoisie. However, according to Samuel Smiles, it is the laziness of the working class and the poor that put them in that position. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels would adamantly disagree. There is a different underlying thought in each idea that the authors rely upon for their argument. For Smiles it is the idea that everyone has all the opportunities in the w...