Film “Dangerous Minds” Essay

After watching the film â€Å"Dangerous Minds,† I was in awe that it had given me an ‘extra’ motivation to thrive hard in finishing the course and eventually to become a well-respected educator in the near future. Lou Anne Johnson, who plays the main character in the story, turned out to be a beacon of light to her students when she became a full-time teacher to a group of hard-to-handle adolescents. Through her compassionate and caring attitude, Ms. Johnson was able to create an inviting atmosphere which is conducive to her student’s learning. She gave hope in an almost hopeless situation. She used non-traditional methods in order to captivate their attention and put them into the right studying attitude. Lou Anne utilized a reward system in order to challenge her students; she made use of chocolate bars and free theme park tickets to catch her high school student’s interest in learning which even caused them to learn how to use their library. She also presented their lessons in a manner her students can easily relate to. Ms. Johnson devised innovative lesson plans in order to maintain her class’s concentration on their topics. Although the administration was not in favor of this, she still insisted on continuing the new kind of approach in teaching. She proved that her students’ welfare is more important to her than the circulating policies of the school. The film demonstrated that everyone can teach, but not all can become a teacher. For a teacher not only teaches, but also inspires, leads and listens to the most intimate concern of her students. True enough, Lou Anne also tackled some of her pupil’s problems, wherein she made a home visit to his student (Raul) to inform his parents of how bright their son was in school. To his parent’s surprise, praises and upliftments were given by Ms. Johnson which changed his perspective in studying and even made him one of the achiever in their class. Without a doubt, the movie is a must watch. Not only to Education students but also to those who want to see the beauty in teaching. For being a teacher is definitely a noble profession. Kudos to all educators! Stand up and be proud!

The Current Housing Crisis in Maryland

Abstract The current housing crisis in Maryland has devastated much of the inner city of Baltimore and surrounding counties. The economic collapse of 2008 has left many Maryland residences unemployed or underemployed. The direct impact of the economic collapse has left homeowners wondering how they will pay their mortgages and keep food on the table. Maryland homeowners have been struggling to make ends meet. Some of the issues that are being faced have to do with the predatory lending practices of some mortgage lenders. President Obama signed an agreement to bailout some banks in hope to spare families from losing their homes.Those hopes did not pan out well. There was another bailout of $25 billion dollars allotted in Feb 2012 to help homeowners and reduce mortgages to the principal home values. Thus far the mortgage industry has done as little as possible to hold up their end of that bargain. We need to get educated and hold these predatory lenders accountable. The Current Housing Crisis in Maryland By a show of hands, how many people are in a financially challenging situation with paying their mortgage? Do you know that you may very well be a victim of predatory lending practices?You may be asking yourself what is predatory lending. Some of us are familiar with the term. For those who are not, I will explain what a predatory lender is and the effect they have had on our communities. Predatory lenders and the tactics they use to originate loans with unsophisticated buyers are unfair. We now have predatory legal and rescue services popping up everywhere with the defense that they are here to help us. I intend to provide you with information to free legal services and information to assist in the fight to hold the mortgage lenders accountable for what they are doing.I am a Baltimore City resident who is upside down in my mortgage. I owe more on my home than it is worth in today’s market. I am currently in the fight to have my mortgage lender do what is right by lowering my principle home value to a fair market price. I currently owe double what my home is worth. Many of us are upside down, have high interest rates or are currently in foreclosure. We are looking for relief from the banks that don’t seem to care much about where our families will sleep once we lose our homes. We need to embarrass them for the way they are treating minorities and low-moderate income families.Predatory lending practices are a huge contributing factor in the current economic crisis. Many families lost income and the home values have been declining drastically. Saving our homes from foreclosure is the main focus of many families in Maryland. I intend on exposing predatory lending practices that homeowners may not be aware of. The lack of strong regulations in Maryland has allowed unscrupulous mortgage lenders to take advantage of unsophisticated homeowners. Predatory lending has had a devastating effect on individuals and families.The term  "predatory lending† has been used to describe a broad range of loans that are not common in the prime market. These loans do not offer any benefit to the borrower. Some of the most common predatory practices are: †¢Excessive fees and points †¢Ignoring borrower’s ability to repay †¢Balloon payments †¢Interest only loans †¢Excessive interest rates †¢Concealing the true cost of the loan Federal regulators have warned banks that non-traditional mortgages such as interest-only loans may lead to a rash of defaults when the principal must be paid or interest rates increase.With such loans, the homeowners are not paying towards the principal on the loan, only the interest. Interest rate increases could have a devastating effect on the mortgage payment monthly. Adjustable rates have the same devastating effect on homeowners. The interest rate is not guaranteed and could fluctuate greatly on a per month basis. With adjustable mortgage loan terms home owners have no clue on what the loan would eventually cost them. This lending practice is a â€Å"set up to fail† proposition. Underemployment and lack of employment has been the peripheral nail in the coffin for many Maryland families.Many families have lost at least one household income and a few have lost both incomes. Income loss combined with the volatile housing market has crushed the American Dream for many homeowners. People who were able to find work after economic crisis, had to take drastic pay cuts which were not adequate to support their current needs. With the economic downturn families are left to pay for homes they cannot afford. This crisis occurred when the mortgage bubble burst. Many homes were being sold for much more than their fair market value.Once the bubble burst the home value depreciation was steep and sharp. People lost 20-40% of the equity in their homes. Although there are many programs available to help homeowners, the majority of them are unabl e to help homeowners who are under water on the mortgage due to the lost equity in their homes. Some foreclosures are voluntary. When the bubble burst, homeowners found themselves owing 100,000s more than the homes were worth. Those homeowners decided that paying off the mortgage was indeed a bad deal. So they just walked away from the properties.The new dagger in homeowners back is the rise in property taxes. The city government needs money so they have raised the taxed values of homes to bring in more money regardless if the home values are decreasing. Homeowners are losing their homes because their mortgage payments did not include an escrow for homeowners insurance and taxes. Once a homeowner becomes delinquent on their property taxes, they have to pay the past due amount in addition to the current amount due. For the Maryland residence that find themselves in foreclosure, please seek assistance sooner than later.Maryland laws do not demand that you are notified of the Intent to foreclose. Within your originating loan documents you signed either a â€Å"power of sale† or â€Å"assent to decree† which essentially is an ex parte order to sell your property if you are in default. In addition, the predatory lenders make it impossible to become current again once the mortgage is in default. They can add servicing fees such as late fees, force placed insurance, inspection fees, etc. to make it difficult to bring the account current. We as homeowners have the right to stay in our homes.Homes we have cared for over the years. The banks should not have the right to evict us without improving the foreclosure process so we have better and earlier notice and the opportunity to redeem prior to significant costs being incurred. They should reduce the loan principle to the fair market value, adjust interest rates and reevaluate the financial situation of the homeowners. The mortgage industry did a disservice to many of the homeowners in the room. Many of us were uninformed about the repercussions and pitfalls involved with interest only, variable rates and balloon payment loans.Predatory lending practices contributed directly to the economic crisis of the mortgage industry in Maryland. I would like to provide information to several pro bono legal services and housing resources: Pro Bono Resources Center of Maryland. (410)837-9379 or toll free (800)396-1274 www. probonomd. org 1. Civil Justice, Inc. www. civiljusticenetwork. org 2. Public Justice Center (410) 625-9409 for tenants who landlords are in foreclosure 3. Community Law Center (410) 366-7777 www. communitylaw. org 4. Maryland Hope (877) 462-7555 www. mdhope. dhcd. maryland. gov 5.Foreclosure Proceedings in Maryland (Brochure): http://www. msba. org/departments/commpubl/publications/brochures/foreclosure. htm There has been an ongoing investigation into the banking fraud and predatory lending scandal. President Obama signed another bailout of $25 billion dollars in Feb 2012 to help homeowners and reduce principle mortgage values. The bailout involved Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Ally Financial and JPMorgan Chase. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have yet to come on board however they do offer some homeowner assistance with modification of term and underwater loans.Many look at the bailout as another opportunity to reward the banks for the wrong doing they have done to the citizens and many communities. I was able to look at the bigger picture. This is a way to monitor how many loans are modified and how many principle values are reduced. By providing the bailout this time around there were defined stipulations as to what the funds are to be used for. North Carolina’s Banking Commissioner Joseph Smith will serve as the â€Å"independent monitor† to enforce the deals and their terms. The bailout does very little for the people who have already lost their homes. They are eligible to receive up to $2000.

An Essential Requirement for Effective Leadership Essay

An Essential Requirement for Effective Leadership - Essay Example The art of war, in turn, was governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These were: the Moral Law; Heaven; Earth; the Commander (leader) and method and discipline. The Commander (leader) stood for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness. These virtues gelled perfectly with the five cardinal virtues of the Chinese philosophy i.e. humanity or benevolence; uprightness of mind; self-respect, self-control, or "proper feeling;" wisdom and sincerity or good faith. It may be observed that in contrast to the virtues enunciated for a commanding leader the virtues of "wisdom" and "sincerity" are put before "humanity or benevolence," and the two military virtues of "courage" and "strictness" are substituted for "uprightness of mind" and "self-respect, self-control, or 'proper feeling' in this civilian version. Rosenthal explains in his Tao Te Ching's translation that while a sage leader is just, thoughtful, profound, kind, sincere and aims at competence in management while ensuring even pacing of his moves; additionally a wise leader would recognize that the nature is not contrived and all that which is required to be done is to be achieved .In order to save his energies a wise leader replaces desires with dispassion and lets all actions flow through natural energy. Such a leader knows that more is still required to be done and more actions should follow but he does not let such actions rush in with deliberate intent and in fact maintains no intention. To act without contrived intent is to act without contriving, which is natural way and the way of the Tao.As against this a Machiavellian system of governance implies being like, or befitting Machiavelli. In such a system governance acts in accordance with the principles of government analyzed in Machiavelli's The Prince, in which political expediency is placed above morality and the use of craft and deceit to maintain the authority and carry out the policies of a ruler is described. This system is characterized by subtle or unscrupulous cunning, deception, expediency, or dishonesty (The Random, 1997). Thus while the Chinese Confucianism emphasizes the virtues of honesty, justice, integrity, peace, humanity, etc. ;according to Machiavelli, if a prince always act only according to these virtues he will not last long. Machiavelli suggests that a prince at times must know how to be dishonest, when to use war for advantage, when to use tumults - even start it. Machiavelli also suggests that a prince must know how to act like a fox. Thus while Tao s tyle of leadership and the military leadership of Sun Tzu were both essentially aligned to a positive value system based in the Chinese philosophy the Machiavellian system was contrived ,expedient and the leadership was defined to conniving, self centered and narrow and totally focused on ends rather than means. In today's competitive and globalized commercial business the modern leadership styles have evolved around the more towards the Sun Tzu and Tao systems rather than Machiavellian system; the prime reasons being that all serious businesses

Accounting and Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Accounting and Finance - Essay Example Accounting and finance plays a crucial role in the modern era which is also observed to be strongly business centric. As accepted by majority of the experts, accounting and finance have been into operations since ages. As accepted by majority of the experts, accounting and finance have been into operations since ages. With a continuous development of the mankind and human civilisation the implication of accounting and its importance also have changed to a considerable amount. As stated by Elliott & Elliott (2007), â€Å"Accountants are communicators. Accountancy is the art of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers.† This statement provides a brief reflection of the role played by accountants and the implication of accountancy in the modern day phenomenon. Hereby, the paper intends to critically evaluate the statement with due consideration to the modern day perspective of accountancy. The discussion of the paper w ill initially aim at analysing the role of accountancy in the 21st century and later proceed with the intention to evaluate the similarities and dissimilarities between two major facets of modern accountancy, i.e. financial accounting and management accounting. The major users of these accounting methods will also be considered in the paper. Furthermore, it will aim at identifying the implications of these accounting standards. Conclusively, the paper will produce a comprehensive reflection of the learning outcomes from the paper. 2. Critical Discussion of the Statement It is of no doubt that accounting plays a central role in maintaining records of the financial transactions of businesses. It is often referred to as a process that encompasses a series of actions from collecting financial data on a regular basis to communicating the information to its users through financial statements. Thus, it emerges as a complex and broad concept to be defined concisely (Banerjee, 2010). Moreove r, it was also observed that accounting had a vital influence on the strategic decisions of the businesses which provided the concept with a managerial definition of a communicator. Emphasised on these characteristics of modern day accounting, experts have intended to categorise the concept in two parts, i.e. financial accounting and management accounting (Tyagi & Tyagi, 2003). Financial accounting is considered to be the pathway of gathering financial information and analysing the effects of such information on the managerial decisions of the business unit. As stated by Albrecht & Et. Al. (2007), financial accounting is particularly â€Å"concerned with reporting financial information to interested external parties†. In this regard, the accounting process emphasises on maintaining records of the financial transactions. It further concentrates on the analysis of the obtained information with the aim to assist the management in decision-making. The accounting process also tend s to identify various strengths as well as weaknesses possessed by the business units in financial terms. Through the implication of the accounting process, accountants concentrate on communicating the information with the assistance of variou9733436912s financial statements, such as balance sheets, cash-flow statements, annual income statements and others (Jagels & Ralston, 2006). Similarly, the concept of management accounting is referred to as the process to inform the management of a business regarding the financial status of the company. In a broader perspective, the accounting process intends to analyse the financial information strategically with the aim to relate the financial strengths along with weaknesses of the company with its strategic decisions. Notably, the decision can be related to the investment of working capital, future expansion of the product line or market area, mergers and acquisitions or even solvency (Albrecht & Et. Al., 2007). According to various profess ionals, management accoun

Advertising (Answer Question From Book , The New Account Manager.) Assignment

Advertising (Answer Question From Book , The New Account Manager.) - Assignment Example Previously, the advertising agency had the sole responsibility of managing al advertising activities for the company. 3. IMC stands for integrated marketing communications and it refers to the combined use of promotional methods such as PR, advertising, personal selling and sales promotion. The role of IMC for advertising agencies is to coordinate different promotional tools in order to reach a wide range of targeted consumers. IMC is helpful to consumers since they are able to select the information they want about different products and services from a wide range of sources. IMC plays a significant role for account managers since they are able to reach a wide range of different clients including the advertising agents. 4. An â€Å"org† shows the structure of the company or the organization. On the other hand, an operational chart outlines the map of people responsible for executing each task. These two are related in that an operational chart is derived from the org chart where tasks in each department are split to show each person responsible for doing them. 5. The basic logistical systems include different aspects that affect the operations of the company. In encompasses things like product processing, management of inventory and transportation or method of delivering the product or service to the customers. These factors are interrelated. 6. Above the line (ATL) advertising is specifically targeted at a large number of consumers and it utilises mass media to reach them. On the other hand, below the line (BTL) advertising specifically targets individual customers and it uses methods like coupons and personal selling to reach the targeted consumers. 7. â€Å"Orchestration† refers to the process of arranging different components or parts of something to make it complete. In a business, different sections are orchestrated in order to achieve the desired goals. On the

Profile and discuss one communications sector of a country of your Essay

Profile and discuss one communications sector of a country of your choice. ( India film industry Bollywood) - Essay Example Bollywood, the Indian film industry, is an important part of the global international communication system in the modern world. This paper is aimed at providing the profile of Bollywood, the Indian film industry and also in discussing various aspects of international communication related to this industry. International communication and films: International communication is considered as the inseparable part of human lives as it is playing an important role in developing various social, cultural, socio-cultural, economic, educational and other aspects of their lives. After the World War II, international communication has gained significant attention from all over the world. Since the middle of the 19th century, global communication started to gain greater amounts of focus by people (McPhail, 2011, p.1). According to McPhail (2011), â€Å"international communication refers to the cultural, economic, political, social and technical analysis of communication and media patterns and ef fects across and between nation-states† (McPhail, 2011, p.2). International communication is essential for the purpose of producing effective value judgments. The most important sources of international communication are online media services, print media services, news channels and films and theaters (Supadhiloke, 2008, p.109). The notion of international communication is closely related to the society as various societal imbalances and inequalities are revealed through international communication (Moby, 2003, p.10). Improvements in satellite, television and internet system are helping films to become an important medium of international communication. Modern technologies are getting transferred in developing countries from developed countries like UK and USA (Hallin, 1998, p.153). Film is considered as traditional media and the growing technological advancements are creating greater amounts of integration in favour of developing the international digital telecommunication ne twork (Madikiza and Bornman, 2007, p.16). With the help of film media and industries cultural aspects are commoditised (Madikiza and Bornman, 2007, p.32). However, several instances reveal that national cultures are becoming the victim of the film media as the most important way of communicating with the people nationally as well as internationally (like the Western society) (Golding and Harris, 1996, p.199). Numerous epic films which have been produced in different countries all over the world have raised the effectiveness of international communication all over the world with the help of greater popularity of these films (Curran and Morley, 2006, p.267). Indian film industry: Bollywood, the Indian film industry is effectively using various social, cultural, economic as well as political aspects which are creating various impacts on the lives of people of the country, in particular, and in the lives of people of the world, in general. Bollywood is the largest film industry in India (there are number of regional film industries in the country which are popularly known as Tollywood. The New York Times as well the Washington Post regularly publish reviews of Indian films which are released and shown in different multiplexes of New York, Toronto and other cities of the United States (Rao, 2007, p.57). More than 300 films are produced every year in Bollywood and large numbers of Bollywood films are exported to the United

Social Interactions (for Social Psychology) Essay

Social Interactions (for Social Psychology) - Essay Example On February 22, 2007, groups of people from Rangoon started to stage protests in the local markets. These people were only a minority, though. They started by putting up posters and shouting about the apparent abuse of the military government. The people protested on the oil price hike. They also clamored for continuous supply of electricity in the country. However, a few hours after commencement of the protests, the activists were sent to jail. However short-lived their protests were, they were able to ignite the minds of other Burmese people (Heart, 2007). The Burmese government has been run by their military forces since 1962. The country was then led by a military man named Ne-Win. The said military official enforced a Burmese version of Socialism. The government took control of major industries in the country. He argued that it was the best way to establish a economic stability for the country. The government policy worked on the concept of self-sufficiency. Soon, almost all he key positions in the local industry were occupied by military men. However, after just a few months the Burmese people found their economy falling even further. It was evident that their military men were not doing god in their new-found jobs .By 1988, Burmese people could no longer tolerate the state of their economy vis-Ã  -vis the increasing corruption brought about by monopolies and red tape in the government. The Burmese people staged protest actions in the hope of producing change in the government during those times.. They were not successful, howeve r. Shortly after the period of instability, the Burmese government which as still led by military men started to invite foreign investors to their country. After the era of being almost self-sufficient, the Burmese government decided to approach economic and political matters from the other side of the fence. However, military men still held key