Social Security Act of 1935: Causes and Effects

Social Security Act of 1935: Causes and Effects Social Security Act of 1935 Before 1935, there were no benefits for the old and other financially challenged persons in America. The only people liable to benefits after their service were veterans who received pensions. The remaining occupations had no benefits after their service (DeWitt, 2010). In every occupation there is a retirement age upon which the employee is considered unable to contribute positively towards the organization. As a result, when employees attain such status they are cut off as employees. Unfortunately, when one had not made savings during their service they would up in the streets as beggars. Alternatively, the elderly would ultimately become dependents especially if they had low wages during their active duty. The fortunate people were those who had been employed in high paying jobs and managed to make huge savings while they were working. Being dependent would mean that you either rely on your siblings or children to cater for your financial needs. In August 1935, Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act which improved life for the elderly in the society (Gareth and Derthick, 2007). The Act ensured benefits to elderly citizens in the US. As a result, United States of America become one of the first countries in the world to provide support for the elderly in their country. In life, there are complex challenges that are accompanied with old age, based on these challenges most people tend to avoid old people instead of helping them. The US stood out as one of the communities that would rather provide support to the elderly than to lock them out of national benefits. Therefore, this paper discusses  the Social Security Act of 1935, describing factors that led to the development of the legislation (history) including the amendments made to it. In addition it discusses its effects and relation to the American Economy. Social Security history The federal government of America had isolated itself from elderly benefits before the legislation of social security Act. Primarily this responsibility was handled by family members since they are the only social unit most reluctant to abandon their kin. Moreover, this responsibility was accustomed to the local and state governments Social security concerns from the federal government were initiated by the Great depression. During and shortly after the Great depression most Americans especially the elderly were exposed to harsh living conditions. The depression led to the increased unemployment rates ever in the US history (DeWitt, 2010). The elderly who had lost their jobs during this time had no chance of seeking employment elsewhere. In addition, the few remaining vacant spots were consequently filled by the younger work force who had also been sacked as a result of the Great Depression. In January 1935, Franklin Roosevelt decided to write to the congress seeking legislation for social security in the country. Despite of the positive influence that the legislation would have made on humanity, the bill was greatly opposed. Since the president was so eager to pass this bill, he lobbied several senators and even appointed six judges who consequently approved the bill. The president signed the bill seven months late after drafting the later to the congress and it became a law. Social Security Act of 1935 On 14th August 1935, America passed a bill which ended up in the development of social security system that provided benefits for the elderly unemployed, causalities of industrial accidents, unemployed persons, vulnerable mother, children and the physically handicapped. The Act was not specific to the elderly alone but also other economically challenged persons in the society as described. A society is composed of both negative and positive attributes of human nature. Whilst a society is made vibrant by the youth and the young adult through their workability, it should not disgrace the elderly or those unable to fend for themselves (Cogan and Mitchell, 2013). Both entities should coexist together in harmony supporting and encouraging each other where and when necessary. Social Security Act of 1935 is composed of 11 different titles which express support for the economically challenged America citizens. The first title entails grants to states for old-age assistance. The second title encompasses federal Old-Age benefits. Third, grants to states for compensation for the unemployed. Fourth is a grant to states for aid to dependent children. Fifth is grants to states to maternal and child welfare (Cogan and Mitchell, 2013). Sixth is title for public health. Seventh is title for social security board. Eighth is title to taxes with respect to employment. The ninth tile is to tax on employees of eight or more employees. The tenth title is grants to states for aid for the blind. The eleventh title is general provisions. These grants are contributed by both the government and the working population. Both employees and employers contribute differently towards these grants. The federal government then allocated the grants to states based on the quality of a state’s population based on the number of dependent children mothers, unemployed persons and the elderly. This statistics are extracted from the most recent census to aid the allocation process (Cogan and Mitchell, 2013). The social security board manages the collection of revenues attributed to social security funds. Amendments to the Social Security Act of 1935 The first amendment was instituted four years after the signing of the original amendment. In 1939, the act was modified and the beneficiaries were not only the retired worker but also the children and spouse of the retired worker. Initially, the benefits were solely allocated to the retired worker and it was upon them to utilize the benefits on their family. However, after sometime it was discovered that a portion of retired workers misused the funds from their benefit scheme. Instead of using the funds in enriching their lives they wasted the money on personal needs as irresponsible consumption of alcohol (King and Wayne, 2009). To minimize these, the federal government decided to recognize both the children and spouse of a retired worker and they were also affiliated to the retired worker’s benefit. The first amendment was later preceded with a series of changes until the 2008 during Obama’s reign, there have been addition to the social security trustees. For instance Medicare has been slotted together with social security (Hodges, 2013). Not only financial benefits are allocated to the beneficiaries but also medical benefits. This is as a result of current concern for high quality Medicare which is expensive. Therefore, dependent mothers and children were more likely to miss out. But with the amendments of the current administration the poor and the physically challenge would also have equal chances in obtaining high quality healthcare as the rich in the society (King and Wayne, 2009). Effects of the Act Production in any system is determined by the morale manifested by the working force. The standard age of retrenchment is not an indicator of senescence in human resource capability. Retrenchment is a tactic used by the government to create employment opportunities for the youth. Therefore, when people retire form civil service, they might still productive in their present locations (Cogan and Mitchell, 2013). Grants allocated to the old serves as an inspiration to these elderly population. This money can be used in establishing small scale enterprises which serve as injection to the economy. Grants allocated to dependent children helps these children obtain education and end up as positive resource for the economy. Education is a positive contributor to strong economy. In addition, education is directly proportional to the economic strength of a country. As a result, the US poses as the strongest economy in the world based on positive human resource which is due to high quality education in the country (Hodges, 2013). Children without education or those who lack other basic needs end up in the streets. Once on the streets they are more likely to indulge in criminal activities to meet their needs. Consequently, this result to increased crime rate which ruins an economy. When dependent mothers lack sufficient financial support it leads to strenuous consequences. The first problem is associated with delivery of pregnant mothers. Since they are not capableof financing safe delivery costs in hospitals, they would opt for unsafe birth avenues which are cheaper and require lesser or no paper work (Gareth and Derthick, 2007). Unfortunately, this might lead to the  death of either the mother or child or both. High mortality rates also negatively impact the economy. However, with grants being offered to states for dependent mothers and children in the United States as a result of the social security Act negative attributes associated with dependent mothers and children are lower compared to other regions in the world (King and Wayne, 2009). In conclusion, Franklin Roosevelt unveiled a formidable mechanism of ensuring that all members of the society are catered for. In addition, the system also contributes positively towards the economy. Despite the amendment made to the act the primary objective has been maintained. References DeWitt, L., (2010) The Development of Social Security in America, Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 70(3) Hodges, K., (2013), Debating Social Security: Understanding and Evaluating Perspectives on the Social Security Act of 1935, Academy for College Career Exploration, Baltimore City Public School System King, T. and Wayne, C., (2009), The History of Major Changes to the Social Security System, The CPA Journal May Issue Gareth, D. and Derthick, M., (2007), Race and social welfare policy: The Social Security Act of 1935. Political Science Quarterly 112(2) Cogan, F. and Mitchell, O., (2013), Perspectives from the President’s Commission on Social Security reform, Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 17(2)

Historical Analogy of the Democratic Party’s position in the Southern Region of America Essay

America’s Democratic Party is one of the country’s two major political parties. The organization has a long history, but when compared to the Democratic Party of 1792, today’s party is very different. The Democratic Party was founded in the 1790’s by Thomas Jefferson, who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson became the first Democratic President of the United States in 1800. Over next 70 years, as the organization grew, so did its support in the South. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, African Americans favored the Republican Party and its anti-slavery views, while the Democratic majority was Southern Whites, who were not in favor of political rights for former slaves (Grantham, 1992). In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican, was elected President with the help of African American Republicans, who were voting in a presidential election for the first time. During Grant’s presidency, the Radical Republicans introduced the15th Amendment, which stated that a right to vote could not be denied because of â€Å"race, color, or previous condition of servitude† (Carnes & Garraty, 2006, p. 434) Over the years, the Democratic Party has left behind many of its old principles and ideals, especially with today’s presence of African Americans in the party. The Democrats once maintained the support of White Southerners by backing Jim Crow laws and supporting racial Historical Analogy 2 egregation, but today, the majority of African Americans vote for the Democratic ticket (Aldrich, 1995). African Americans began to shift from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in the 1940s, despite the Democrats opposition to 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to â€Å"all persons born or naturalized in the United States† (Carnes & Garraty, 2006, p. 430). In the election of 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, added ci vil rights to his party platform. As a result, Roosevelt and the Democratic Party gained support from African American voters (Aldrich, 1995). Today, the majority of African Americans are registered as Democrats. John Kerry carried 89% of the African American vote in the 2004 presidential election, and African Americans continue to gain more political position in the Democratic Party (Wenner, 2004). In 2008, the Democrats nominated Illinois Senator Barack Obama, as its presumptive presidential nominee, solidifying Obama’s place in history as the first African American to be a major political party’s presumptive nominee for President of the United States. For almost a century after the end of the Civil War, the Democratic Party had a strong presence in the Southern region of America. From 1880 to 1960, the region was known as the â€Å"Solid South† because Democrats won by large margins in the area (Grantham, 1992). The Solid South began to come apart when President Harry S. Truman, a Democrat, began supporting the civil rights movement (Black & Black, 2003). Following Roosevelt’s path, civil rights was a part of Truman’s 1948 Democratic platform, used at the Democratic National Convention. Historical Analogy 3 As a result of Truman’s endorsement of the civil rights movement, which included adopting a resolution to condemn the Ku Klux Klan, many conservative Southern Democrats walked out of the National Convention and left the Democratic Party (Aldrich, 1995). The Democratic support of the civil rights movement significantly reduced Southern support for the Democratic Party and allowed the Republican Party to step in and gain a little success in the South. In the 1950s, the Southern Democrats, who opposed the Democratic Party’s support of the civil rights movement, formed the Dixiecrat Party, which was led by then-Governor of South Carolina, Strom Thurmond. When the Dixiecrat Party proved to be unsuccessful, Thurmond and many other former Southern Democrats switched to the Republican Party. â€Å"Thurmond, a tenacious champion of unreconstructed conservatism, abandoned the Democratic Party to become the first Republican senator from the Deep South in the twentieth century† (Black & Black, 2003, p. 1) The Republican Party’s strength in the South grew during the election of 1964. Although Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat won the election, he did not carry the five states of the Solid South, which included Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama (Aldrich, 1995). The Deep South states provided an electoral victory to the Republican candidate, Barry Goldwater. It was the first time since Reconstruction that a Republican carried the South in a presidential election (Carnes & Garraty, 2006). Johnson and the Democrats continued to lose support in the South by supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After signing the landmark legislation, Johnson said to his aide, Bill Moyers, Historical Analogy 4 â€Å"I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come† (Grantham, 1992, p. 12). As support for the Democrats in the South dwindled, in 1968 election Republican candidate Richard Nixon used â€Å"Southern Strategy,† to capitalize in the election (Carnes and Garraty, 2006, p. 810). Nixon used a method that attracted the former Southern Democrats, who were still conservative and supported segregation. With his strategy, Nixon defeated the Democratic candidate, Hubert Humphrey, in the election. The era of the Solid South proved to be over, with the Democratic candidate only carrying one Southern state in 1968 election (Dewey, 1992). The Republican’s strategy to win voters in the South alienated African American voters from the Republican Party and pulled in more Southern Whites, who did not support integration, which was favored by the Democratic Party. Over time, Southern White voters continued to support the Republican Party. Today the Democratic Party is no longer the dominant party in the South. The South is now considered a stronghold of the Republican Party. In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore received no electoral votes from the South, and neither did John Kerry in the following election in 2004 (Wenner, 2004). As the Democratic Party‘s strength weakens in the South, the opposite is happening in the Northern region of America. The Democratic Party was weak in North from the 1880s to the 1960s, when the organization controlled the South, but it is now strongest in the Northeast (Black and Black, 2003). In the 2004 election, all nine Northeastern states, from Pennsylvania to Maine, voted for the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards (Wenner, 2004. Historical Analogy 5 From supporting slavery in the 1800s to supporting its first African American presidential candidate in 2008, the Democratic Party has evolved. Despite going through name changes, leaders and incarnations over the years, the Democratic Party has retained its same basic values. It prides itself on being the party for the working people, but as Americaâ₠¬â„¢s view of who was entitled to be a referred to as the working people has changed, so did the views of Democratic Party.

Explore the Stages of Producing a Good Essay Essay

In this essay I will be discussing the different stages involved in producing a good college essay from start to finish. I will describe exactly what an essay is, how to break down and understand an essay title, how to prepare to write an essay, the key stages in essay development and the role of self reflection on the development of your essay writing skills. An essay is a major part of formal education and is used to access a student’s performance and show that they have researched and understood a particular subject or issue. It is a piece of writing with a particular structure and layout. â€Å"A short piece of writing on a particular subject, especially one done by students as part of the work for a course† (Cambridge Dictionary, 2009). â€Å"Usually it is written in a formal, academic style: the language is different from the way you speak†¦.it is not conversational† (Cottrell 2008:175). An essay title is given and this is used as a ‘question’ which must be ultimately answered throughout the essay. You are expected to stick to exactly what the essay title is asking for. Before starting an essay you need to make sure that you understand what it is asking you to do. â€Å"Every question has key words, and identifying them will help you decide what the assignment is about and what you have to doâ €  (The Open University 2007). Once you have a clear idea of what the essay title is asking for you can then look more closely at the resources available to you, such as books, articles, class notes, the internet, television and newspapers. You need to weigh up the relevance of the information you find and be selective. You need to ask yourself ‘Do I need the information?’ and ‘How will I use this information?’ (Cottrell 2008:176). It is important to record which recourses you found your information in to avoid plagiarism. All recourses used in the essay needs to be listed in a reference list at the end of the essay and allows the reader to refer back to these sources for themselves. Next you need to organise and plan your essay. â€Å"The Structure and organisation of your work is just as important as the content. What matters is not just what you know but the way that you organise it† (Cottrell 2008:182). The hard part is getting the information and ideas that you have gathered i nto a well organised and coherent state and then start the actual writing. Arrange the information that you have already sourced into topics, a spider diagram can be handy for this. Make a plan for the main parts of your essay, and note down the key ideas and information for each part. An action plan is good way of preparing your ideas and will help you map out your essay. A good essay flows logically from one point to another, preparing an action plan can aid this. It gives you the chance to plan out what you may put in your introduction and conclusion, what your main points will be and what you will focus on in each paragraph in the main body of your essay. An action plan can help you to develop your argument but also keeps you on track. â€Å"If you simply start writing, with your pile of notes at your side, and you haven’t given any thought to the organisation of the ideas and information, then you are very likely to end up with an essay that rambles and has no clear sense of direction† (Edinburgh Napier University, 2009). A first draft is a chance to quickly jot down your ideas using your plan. This is not a final version of your essay. â€Å"Don’t expect to write perfect text at the first go, you will need to spend time going back over and rewriting or reorganising your paragraphs† (The Open University 2007). Don’t worry about spelling or punctuation at this stage; this is just a chance to get your ideas down on paper. Sometimes after writing your first draft your ideas may have developed from those which you put in your initial action plan. This means that you would have to revise your action plan â€Å"If necessary, rework your outline plan as you proceed. You may rework your plan several times as your thinking becomes more sophisticated. This is part of the process of understanding a subject† (Cottrell 2008:186). At this point you should have a good picture of what you want in your final essay. You should check that the information you have is grouped and in a good logical order, then begin to write your final draft. You need to make sure that your final draft makes sense, reading it aloud can help with this. Ensure that you have used enough evidence and examples to back up your argument and make certain that your references are written correctly and that the source of your information is made clear. Check for punctuation, spelling and grammar mistakes, getting this right can help improve your marks. Finally check that it is neat and well presented. It is important as a student to be able to reflect on how you learn best; this can help you improve your essay writing skills. Cottrell believes that you should make constructive use of the feedback that you receive from your tutors but it is also of great benefit to be able to work out for yourself what is it you do well and what you need to improve. This is also called self-reflection. Your performance as a student is likely to improve if you set time aside to reflect on how you learn. In conclusion, to produce a good college essay you must always keep focused on what the essay title is asking for, present your ideas and information in a well structured, coherent way, ensuring that it flows logically from the introduction to the conclusion. Support your ideas or arguments with good relevant evidence and make sure that this is properly referenced. Lastly always present your essays appropriately in good written English.

75 Names of Unusual or Obsolete Occupations

75 Names of Unusual or Obsolete Occupations 75 Names of Unusual or Obsolete Occupations 75 Names of Unusual or Obsolete Occupations By Mark Nichol The English language abounds with word describing occupations and professions that are rare or obsolete or are otherwise unusual and hence obscure. Here is an incomplete but extensive list of such terms, along with brief definitions. 1. ackerman: a plowman or oxherder 2. alewife: a proprietor of a tavern 3. alnager: a wool inspector 4. arkwright: a carpenter specializing in wooden chests 5. bowyer: a bowmaker 6. brazier: a brass worker 7. catchpole: an official who pursues those with delinquent debts 8. caulker: someone who packs seams in ships or around windows 9. chandler: a candlemaker, or a retail supplier of specific equipment 10. chiffonier: a wigmaker 11. cobbler: a shoemaker 12. collier: a coal miner or a maker of charcoal (also, a ship that transports coal) 13. cooper: a maker or repairer of barrels, casks, and tubs 14. cordwainer: a shoemaker 15. costermonger: a fruit seller 16. crocker: a potter 17. currier: a leather tanner, or a horse groom 18. draper: a cloth dealer 19. drayman: a driver of a heavy freight cart 20. drummer: a traveling salesman 21. duffer: a peddler 22. eggler: an egg seller 23. factor: an agent or steward 24. farrier: someone who trims horse hooves and puts on horseshoes 25. fishmonger: a fish seller 26. fletcher: a maker of arrows 27. fuller: someone who shrinks and thickens wool cloth 28. glazier: a glassmaker or window maker 29. haberdasher: an owner of or worker in a store for men’s clothing or small items used for making clothes 30. hawker: a peddler 31. hayward: an official responsible for fences and hedges 32. higgler: a peddler of dairy products and small game (also, a haggler, or someone who negotiates for lower prices) 33. hobbler: a person who tows boats on a canal or river 34. hooper: a maker of hoops for barrels, casks, and tubs 35. hostler or ostler: one who cares for horses or mules, or moves or services locomotives (originally, an innkeeper, who also maintained stables) 36. huckster: a peddler (now refers to a con artist) 37. ice cutter: someone who saws blocks of ice for refrigeration 38. ironmonger: a seller of items made of iron 39. joiner: a carpenter who specializes in furniture and fittings 40. keeler: a crew member on a barge or a keelboat 41. knacker: one who buys animals or animal carcasses to use as animal food or as fertilizer (originally, a harness maker or saddle maker) 42. knocker-up: a professional waker, who literally knocks on doors or windows to rouse people from sleep 43. lamplighter: someone who lights, extinguishes, and refuels gas street lamps 44. lapidary: a jeweler 45. lector: someone who reads to factory workers for entertainment 46. log driver: someone who floats and guides logs downriver for transportation 47. milliner: a designer, maker, or seller of women’s hats 48. muleskinner: a wagon driver 49. peruker: a wigmaker 50. pinsetter: someone who sets bowling pins back up after each bowl 51. plowright: a maker of plows and other farm implements 52. plumber: originally, one who installed lead roofing or set lead frames for windows 53. porter: a doorkeeper or gatekeeper 54. puddler: a worker in wrought iron 55. quarryman: a stonecutter 56. raker: a street cleaner 57. resurrectionist: someone who digs up recently buried corpses for use as cadavers 58. ripper: a fish seller 59. roper: a maker of nets and ropes 60. sawyer: a carpenter 61. slater: a roofer 62. slopseller: a seller of ready-made clothing, as opposed to a tailor 63. stevedore: a dockworker 64. tanner: someone who cures animal hides to make leather 65. teamster: a wagon driver 66. thatcher: someone who makes thatched roofs 67. tinker: a repairer or seller of small metal goods such as pots and pans 68. turner: someone who uses a lathe to turn wood for balustrades and spindles 69. victualer: an innkeeper, or a merchant who provides food for ships or for the military 70. wainwright: a wagon maker 71. webster: a weaver 72. weirkeeper: a fish trapper 73. wharfinger: an owner or operator of a wharf 74. wheelwright: a maker of wheels for carriages and wagons 75. whitesmith: a worker of tin Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply withHow to Play HQ Words: Cheats, Tips and Tricks15 English Words of Indian Origin

Shelby Sun Tanning and Skin Essay

Shelby Sun Tanning and Skin Essay Shelby: Sun Tanning and Skin Essay Did you know more than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people are diagnosed annually (Polsky, 2012)? It has been found that ultraviolet radiation or sun exposure is the number one cause of skin cancer (Sun Exposure, Skin Cancer and Other Sun Damage, 2013). This same UV radiation are used in tanning beds and is just as risky. In addition to skin cancer, other negative risks of using tanning beds include eye damage, early aging and harmful infections. In April of 2005, Glenna Kohl detected a hard, golf ball–size lump near her groin at age 22 while working out at her college gym in Rhode Island. She then left the gym and went home to put ice on what she thought was a sports injury. After the lump had been there for a long period of time she decided to see a doctor. She had a biopsy done and later the doctor handed Glenna and her family a horrifying diagnosis: The lump ended up being melanoma, the deadliest of the three forms of skin cancer. The doctors believed this cancer was a result of too much sun exposure and indoor tanning. If melanoma are caught at an earlier stage, normally starting out as a small bump or mole on the skin, it is highly curable. Glenna’s had reached stage III, which meant the cancer had spread beyond the skin and into the lymph nodes. She battled this deadly cancer for four years and later died at age 26 (Goldberg, 2012). The indoor tanning bed was invented in Europe in 1906 by a German medical company named, Heraeus. This company created individual UV tanning lamps. They were originally created to help patients develop more Vitamin D to absorb Calcium. This therapy was especially helpful to those fighting bone diseases like Ricketts. It became a stylish trend in the 1920’s after two famous French women Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker sported tanned skin. A German scientist by the name of Friedrich Wolff decided to take tanning lamps to the next level and test the effect of artificial UV light on athletes i n the 1970’s. After noticing the side effect was a golden, healthy glow, it became extremely popular. After that, a mass of tanning beds were produced in Europe and today it is still a growing industry both in America and all over the rest of the world. From 1978 – 1988, tanning beds in the America were not under any government regulations, but now, federal law forces tanning salons and manufacturers to remain committed to the rules of skin cancer prevention (â€Å"SunTan†, 2013). Tanning beds have become increasingly popular over the last several years due to the heightened fashion of tanned skin. â€Å"UV light has been shown to increase the release of opioid- like endorphins, feel-good chemicals that relieve pain and generate feelings of well-being, potentially leading to dependency.† Because of this, dermatologists suggest that tanning may be addictive, especially when started at an early age and done frequently (Hornung,2013). The bronzed look tends to give people a sense of beauty and increases their self-esteem. Tanning also helps hide skin impurities like veins or dark spots. In addition, it also adds a youthful and healthy glow and makes one look more muscular and toned. Tanning beds has been known to tighten your skin and reduce cellulite as well. Plus, indoor tanning is quick and convenient , and can add color to your skin even in the cold winter months. While tanning makes people feel beautiful there are many potential health problems that could arise due to prolonged UV

Management Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management Information System - Essay Example The Watchiloo has been designed as an embedded player for social network sites to allow for users to access advanced features. The first part of the article shall analyze how these devices can be used to communicate with their advanced features. The article shall also cover different aspects that are involved with the use of these devices such as the number of users for each and their price range. The second part of the article shall cover strengths and weaknesses of this article. Finally, the article shall then cover writers' opinion on the articles and recommendation on what can be done to improve them. Introduction High definition television has brought about some change in the mode of social networking. Thus, with the invention of high definition television (HDTV), there has been remarkable change in video and audio conferencing. Several versions of high definition televisions currently exist in the market including internet enabled ones with built in wireless internet connectivi ty and others with port for wireless or wired connectivity. Since invention of live chat tools by Google and Microsoft, Google+ hangout on air and Skype respectively, there has been increased need to include more users in chat sessions than the logical one user when used in personal computers or smart phones2. Main Themes The main idea of these articles is to analyze and ascertain the extent in which integration between HDTV and chat- enabled devices that have been manufactured. In this article, I shall focus on two essential devices that have been manufactured for this purpose. It shall also cover some issues relating to these devices such as Working capability of these devices The number of users which they support Their price range and connectivity and Their multimedia capability features There has been the invention of Watchitoo device, which was launched for enterprise purposes, and the Tely HD designed for multiple users for home use. These devices according to review articles are ultimately designed to allow for live online streaming of calls, pictures and messages for multiple users using their HDTV sets at the comfort of their homes. The Watchitoo device can allow connection of up to 25 users to the device at the same time and enable them make audio or video calls simultaneously. The Tely HD has been designed to allow family members or small groups of friends to convert their HDTV sets into a live chat device. They are capable of making definition video calls through their HDTV at the comfort of their living room without crowding to a small screen3. In addition, an attractive feature with these devices is that apart from traditional feature whereby devices are independent in communication, these devices have been essentially designed to be fully integrated with already established social networking sites and tools. The Watchitoo has been embedded into users own networking site services like Facebook or Twitter. This allows the user to make video calls and invite friends to chat with them very easily through these sites. The Tely HD has been designed to communicate with all Skype enabled devices in the market. The user can make Skype calls to other Skype enabled devices including other Tely HD televisions, smart phone, personal computers and any other device with inbuilt Skype capability in these devices4.

School's Pastoral Structure and Pupil Achievement Essay

School's Pastoral Structure and Pupil Achievement - Essay Example According to the report findings  Pastoral Care, rather than the aggregate of actions or exercises that employ its practitioners over time, in essence is the underlying impetus for the care in its implementation. Effective Pastoral Care facilitates optimal education by cultivating open communication between students and practitioners as well as carers and parents. Through discrete consultation and positive attention to the student's personal learning style, pastoral care serves to augment the greatest prospects for quality realisation of each pupil's best. When a pastoral curriculum   succeeds in promoting good relations and feedback in the academic process among all participants, it is an operative element of successful education of the whole person.From this discussion it is clear that  significant research currently indicates that academic structures operating under the auspices of pastoral care can quite easily relapse into an academic exercise less focused on aspects of st udent welfare than issues of social management and organizational expediency, carving a considerable gap between lip-service and actuality.  Distortions of pastoral care transpire when perfunctory notions of education seize control of the comprehensive discipline. The upshot is a dichotomy between pastoral care and the academic curriculum where the educational ambience, frustrated by an obsession with control, intensifies an instinctive power struggle on the part of young people who on the whole are naturally prone to test the limits of independence.   A study of student attitudes toward pastoral care shows that on average pupils mistrust its nuances basically as a further assertion of school authority over their lives (Power 75). When government mandates hold teachers accountable for pupil performance the temptation is to assert more control in the classroom. The National Literacy Strategy intervention may authoritatively approve interactive whole-class teaching but by all indications such policies drive practitioners to more autocratic styles of instruction with little occasion for student discovery and development of intellectual insights. Legislative impositions, deliberated from the inside, tend to repeat time-worn educational models from sheer precedent (Watkins 3). A survey of pastoral curricula across schools in a single London borough distinguished four diverse types: tutorial-centred, tutorial aimed at individual and communal learning, the pastoral curriculum integrated into the responsibilities of the faculties, and, finally, a pastoral curriculum strongly established as the academic culture (Best 19). In his article "Pastoral Care and the Millennium," Ron Best regrets that the 1988 Education Act ironically discourages any real progress on a pastoral outlook for the National Curriculum that might have been designed to advance the very expertise and competence that furthers individual initiative in the context of social accountability (Collins and McNiff 27). In terms of evaluating academic merit, intangible values whose worth is easily ascertained, are cast into doubt and abandoned with neglect. Instead