Themes of Language and Racial Identity in Native Speaker, By Chang-Rae

Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of America, but instead as an alien, outsider, and the like. Therefore, Asian Americans and other immigrants feel the need to mask their true identity and imitate the native language as an attempt to fit into the mold that makes up what people would define how a native of America is like. Throughout the novel, Henry Park attempts to mask his Korean accent in hopes to blend in as an American native. Chang-Rae Lee suggests that a person who appears to have an accent is automatically marked as someone who is not native to America. Language directly reveals where a person is native of and people can immediately identify one as an alien, immigrant, or simply, one who is not American. Asian Americans as well as other immigrants feel the need to try and hide their cultural identity in order to be deemed as a native of America in the eyes of others. Since one’s language gives away the place where one is native to, immigrants feel the need to attempt to mask their accents in hopes that they sound fluent ... ...silenced in this country, in order to have voice and be visible in society, one must strive to be a white American. They feel the need to embody and assimilate to whiteness because the white race has a voice and is seen, rather than silenced and unseen, in society. They are privileged with the freedom of not having to cope with the notion of being marked, silent, and unseen in society. This creates pressures for Asian Americans and immigrants to suppress their own cultural identities and assimilate to whiteness in an attempt to potentially be able to prosper and make a life for them in America. Asian Americans feel as though being who they truly are and express their unique cultural identities will alienate themselves even more than they already are. Chang-Rae Lee Works Cited. Lee, Chang-Rae. Native Speaker. NewYork: Riverhead Trade, 1996. Print.

Essentially, leadership is about people management

Mohandas Gandhi once admitted that â€Å"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.† Essentially, leadership is about people management. As a leader, one has to realize that the value of leadership is determined by the ability of the leader to deal fairly with the people placed under him. Interestingly, we can say that all men are leaders. This is because in one way or the other, we all occupy a position where someone is under us. However, it is sad to note that not all men know what leadership is truly about thereby making a mess of their positions. Therefore, in order to have an efficient society, it becomes imperative to have a platform where leadership can be addressed and people can be taught the rudiments of leadership. I consider The Leadership Development Program (LPD) organized by The Venetian to be such a rare platform. As an undergraduate, my academic background was in English and literature. During my years in college, I was selected to be the volunteer interpreter in international conferences, conventions, and trade shows. While I was discharging my duties, I realized how much I like to communicate with people and the heart I have for helping them. It was an eye-opener to the fact that I am naturally configured to fit into the hospitality industry. As a result, I decided to start my career in hospitality industry since I really like interacting people who have different perspectives and cultural back ground. As an integral part of my career aspirations, I hope to work in a hotel someday as Human Resource Personnel or any aspect that involves management. Dreams don’t just come true and success requires extra effort. Apart from this, I have come to discover that in order to be a leader, one must first follow and learn. This has made me embark on the quest of personal career enhancement. In order to accomplishment my vision I know this require me to enroll for a credible program where I can learn how to improve my leadership and managerial skills so that I can be of help to the customers that will come my way daily. This is what informed my decision to enroll for The Leadership Development Program organized by The Venetian. After going through the several leadership development programs that I could lay my hands on, I felt the one organized by the Venetian is the best. However, after I have carefully gone through the site and the programs offered, I needed nobody to tell me that this was what I have been looking for. What caught my fancy was the level of organization of the company. I was attracted to the site itself and the idea of being taught by the â€Å"executives of one of the world’s most successful hospitality and entertainment companies† made my stomach rumble. I also find the program appealing because of the fact that I will be able to get world class jobs with the affiliates of the company after the program. On the whole, I believe that I will find the program memorable as this is the big break I have been looking for. I know one day I will look back and be grateful I made the decision to enroll for the Venetian Leadership Development Program!

Private School vs Public School Essay

Many public school facilities are impressive others are mediocre. The same is true of private schools. In the public school system, the twin engines of political support and economic revenue base are critical. In private schools the ability to attract endowments and other forms of financial support are just as critical. Private school facilities reflect the success of the school’s development team and that of the school to continue to generate alumni support. Some private K-12 schools have facilities and amenities which surpass those found at many colleges and universities. Hotchkiss and Andover, for example, have libraries and athletic facilities on a par with those at Brown and Cornell. They also offer academic and sports programs which make full use of all those resources. It is hard to find comparable facilities in the public sector. They are few and far between. Public schools also reflect the economic realities of their location. Wealthy suburban schools will have more amenities than inner city schools as a rule. Think Greenwich, Connecticut versus Detroit, Michigan, for example. So, who has the edge? Let’s call it a draw, all things considered. Class Size: According to the NCES report Private Schools: A Brief Portrait private schools win out on this issue. Why? Most private schools have small class sizes. One of the key points of private education is individual attention. You need student to teacher ratios of 15:1 or better to achieve that goal of individual attention. On the other hand a public system has to take almost anyone who lives within its boundaries. In public schools you will generally find much larger class sizes, sometimes exceeding 35-40 students in some inner city schools. At that point teaching rapidly degenerates into babysitting. Teaching: Public sector teachers are generally better paid. Naturally compensation varies widely depending on the local economic situation. Put another way, it’s cheaper living in Duluth, Minnesota than it is in San Francisco. Unfortunately low starting salaries and small annual salary increases result in low teacher retention in many public school districts. Public sector benefits have historically been excellent; however, health and pension costs have risen so dramatically since 2000 that public educators will be forced to pay or pay more for their benefits. Private school compensation tends to be somewhat lower than public. Again, much depends on the school and its financial resources. One private school benefit found especially in boarding schools is housing and meals. Private school pension schemes vary widely. Many schools use major pension providers such as TIAA-CREF Both public and private schools require their teachers to be credentialed. This usually means a degree and a teaching certificate. Private schools tend to hire teachers with advanced degrees in their subject over teachers who have an education degree. Put another way, a private school hiring a Spanish teacher will want that teacher to have a degree in Spanish language and literature as opposed to an education degree with a minor in Spanish. Budgets: Since local property taxes support the bulk of public education, the annual school budget exercise is a serious fiscal and political business. In poor communities or communities which have many voters living on fixed incomes, there is precious little room to respond to budget requests within the framework of projected tax revenue. Grants from foundations and the business community are essential to creative funding. Private schools on the other hand can raise tuition, and they also can raise significant amounts of money from a variety of development activities, including annual appeals, cultivation of alumni and alumnae, and solicitation of grants from foundations and corporations. The strong allegiance to private schools by their alumni makes the chances of fund-raising success a real possibility in most cases. Administrative Support: The bigger the bureaucracy, the harder it is to get decisions made at all, much less get them made quickly. The public education system is notorious for having antiquated work rules and bloated bureaucracies. This is as a result of union contracts and host of political considerations. Private schools on the other hand generally have a lean management structure. Every dollar spent has to come from operating income and endowment income. Those resources are finite. The other difference is that private schools rarely have teacher unions to deal with. Advantages and disadvantages: There are many advantages and disadvantages to both public and private schools. As a parent, both options must be explored and the choice must be based on what is right for each particular child. Public schools often have a larger variety of subjects available, especially when it comes to electives. However, what is learned is somewhat decided by the state because public schools need to do well on standardized testing. Private schools, on the other hand, whether parochial or private have much more freedom of choice in curriculum and can choose to make their own assessments. Because of the individualized instruction, private schools tend to do generally better on standardized testing, that is, if they choose to use it. Private schools, many times, have more demanding curricula and have a higher rate of students who go on to attend college. Public schools are larger and also have larger class sizes. Public schools also have larger student-teacher ratios. According to a web site called Public School Review, â€Å"Private schools average 13 students per teacher, compared with an average of 16 students per teacher in public schools† (public school review). However, public schools have certified teachers. Private schools typically have teachers who are not state-certified and who may not have expertise in their subject matter. The biggest difference between public and private schools probably is that public schools are required to educate all students. They cannot deny any student admission. On the other hand, private schools have complete control about which they accept and can kick students out much more easily. Public schools are funded by tax revenue whereas private schools are funded privately. That means private schools cost money to attend called tuition. Taxpayers pay for public schools so the payment is included in what people pay. However in private schools, the payment is upfront for students to attend. Overall, there is no one right answer for which kind of school a student attends-public or private. The decision must be made for each individual student as there are advantages and disadvantages of both. Comparisons: Private school can be more beneficial than going to a public school. Private schools focus on preparing students for the next level of education; public schools are focused on test preparations sessions. Choosing the right school system for your child has a repercussion towards their future education. In the public school system the classrooms are overcrowded with students. Each class has an average of 27 to 30 students to it, which can limit the ability of one on one interaction with the teacher. A lot of the bullying issues come from the unstructured dress codes. This can create social divide to the less fortunate kids that can’t afford all the name brand items. In public school teachers are quick to say your child needs to be on medication if they are high strung, without knowing what other forms of issues might be occurring in the home. When parents try to discipline their child at home the school seems to always try to step in. Some things should be up to the parents to handle without haven to worry about the school stepping in. In the private school system when a child enters the school for the first time he or she will start out with a minimal class size with no more than 20 students. This allows more one on one time with the teacher, it also opens up more time for activities. The private school has a very strictly enforced dress code to eliminate animosity between the students. The schools are very family oriented with parents and students being involved with school activities. Teachers and parents are held to higher standards from the private schools. Teachers are expected to continue to grow and parents are obligated to maintain discipline of their children even in their absence. The testing that takes place at private schools is called Terra Nova, and kids are tested two or three times a year. Conclusion So, who comes out on top? Public schools or private schools As you can see, there are no clear-cut answers or conclusions. Public schools have their advantages and disadvantages. Private schools offer an alternative. Which works best for you? That’s the real question which you have to answer.

Power Politics Essay

â€Å"†¦what is happening to India today is not a problem†¦the issues †¦are not canses. They are huge political and social upheaval that are convulsing the nation. †   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Those are the exact words that Roy (24) had used to describe what is happening to the world that is beyond the realm of common human understanding: globalization led on and operated by â€Å"experts†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And just how will a common human understand when every time they try to, at the end of the day, they are relegated to being â€Å"just a citizen† who are, to experts, are â€Å"too emotional† and just lack the ability to eventually understand when explained to (if the experts even try to do the explaining part).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is the phenomenon characterized by experts who have acquired technical knowledge on certain matters take the matter into their own hands—not wanting to be questioned or contradicted and seemingly not encouraged to do their tasks with sympathy. They believe that they have all it takes to do it all, and be all, for all. The usual behavior of an arrogant little child who thinks he knows all he needs to know and thus scoffs at any questioning remarks on how he does his tasks, sneers at any suggestion or idea unlike his own, or flares up at any tap on his shoulder that gently reminds him that he is not of possession of every knowledge yet; a kind of behavior that is often times not tolerated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And that is what needed to be done. This arrogance should be broken down. And this could not be accomplished by mere taps on the shoulder anymore. A sterner reminder is needed; a reminder that even the too emotional and comprehension-challenged common citizen still has a say on how he lives his life—or at the very least, has the natural right to be made to understand.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Therefore, the author urges the humanity to speak, and speak loud, now or forever be made to hold their peace. Works Cited Roy, Arundhati. Power Politics (year of publication). 24-33.

Importance of employee performance management Essay

Importance of employee performance management - Essay Example 72). â€Å"Given the current challenges of the economic climate and high rates of unemployment, performance management and employee evaluation is likely to remain a hot topic† (Gliddon, 2004 cited in Newman, 2008, p. 172). In simple words, performance management of employees is a process of getting the most out of employees. In order to achieve this, organizations need to work on a range of factors that include but are not limited to employees’ motivation, continued learning, skill improvement, allocation of right jobs to the right people, fostering teamwork, and providing the employees with an environment where they can thrive with their capabilities. Performance management has probably never been as important in the organizational context as it is today since the workplace is more dynamic than ever before with new kinds of technology surfacing and being integrated into the work setup so frequently. Managers in the contemporary age not only face the challenge of keepin g updated with the latest advancements of technology and integrating them into the workplace, but they also have to take the required measures to enable the employees to make effective use of those technologies. This makes it a continuous process with great margin of trial and error, requiring great knowledge and experience to handle the intricate issues with respect to performance management. â€Å"If you are a manager, the progress principle holds clear implications for where to focus your efforts. It suggests that you have more influence than you may realize over employees’ well-being, motivation, and creative output. Knowing what serves to catalyze and nourish progress—and what does the opposite—turns out to be the key to effectively managing people and their work† (Amabile and Kramer, 2011). Discussion Why is performance management important? Performance management of employees in an organization derives its importance from the fact that it is a way to reinforce the decisions related to organizational personnel like those related to transfer, promotion, compensation and reward, training and skill development, planning of human resources, and development of the organization as a whole (Bhattacharyya, 2011, p. 58). The level to which each of these factors is considered important may vary from one organization to another but all of these factors govern the performance of employees in any organization. Besides the primary importance of the different factors in different organizations, performance management strengthens the relationship between the management and the subordinates, and improves motivation and flow of communication in the organization, thus improving its overall performance. From the perspective of human capital, performance management plays a very important role in the development of the human capital of an organization (Smither and London, 2009). The importance of performance management of employees in the organizat ions is elaborated with the help of some case studies below: Case Study 1 One of the prime motivations behind conducting performance reviews is eradication of bad performers from the organization. This is a case in which performance management helped in the identification and weeding out of a bad leader. Usually organizations tell their managers to establish a paper trial to justify the termination of an employee that is deemed a poor performer. In such cases,

National Income Determination Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

National Income Determination - Term Paper Example Two common measures of income are GNP (gross national product) and GDP (gross domestic product). GDP measures the total value of output (goods and services) produced by the factors of production located within the country's boundary in a year. The factors production may be owned by any one - citizens or foreigners. GNP is the total value of output (goods and services) produced and income received in a year by domestic residents of a country. It includes profits earned from capital invested abroad. While taking them both together we get, Economically speaking when the demand for commodity goes up; the production increases. Income leads to expenditure which again leads to production. Thus production, income and expenditure are mutually related; economic activities are related to these 3 stage. Based on this 3 methods are used to calculate national income National income's measurement is necessary for a country due to various purposes; it helps in projection of future course of economy, estimates economic development and how far have they been achieved, helps government to design suitable development policies, helps firms in forecasting the future demand of their product, tells the contribution of various sectors to national income and facilitates international comparison. Various problems rise while measuring national income. ... For e.g. we can not add kilograms of wheat, to meters of cloth, to tones of coal in physical terms. (G.F. Stanlake, 1995). Thus the only common measure is money. Secondly when goods and services have no market price values difficulties are encountered like in public services such as defense, law and order, education and health services. The solution adopted is to measure their values at cost. Then there are problems with the goods and services which people provide for themselves like farmers consume some of their own output or much of repair and improvement work is done by 'do it yourself' basis. Rough estimates are used in these cases in measuring national income. Double counting is yet other problem as the output of one firm are the inputs of other firm; two ways to tackle this is either by adding value of final product or totaling the values added at every stage of production. National output is measured at times in terms of factor cost, using market prices could be misleading thi s is another problem associated with measurement of national income. Measuring national income Three different methods are used based on different views of national income. Firstly the production method in which national income is viewed as the total output from domestically owned resources during the course of year. This is the most direct method where the output figures of all the firms in the country are taken. Exports are included but imported materials and services are excluded (this is automatically done as values added in the country are taken). This will give us GDP and to it add NPIA. Income method the second approach is viewed in terms of incomes earned by factors of production engaged in producing the national output. As the total product is valued at factor cost,

Peer review Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Peer review - Coursework Example why the University of Marion introduced the LessThanUThink campaign in order to sensitize students on the importance to focus on their studies rather than engage in irresponsible activities such as excessive alcohol consumption. The author should include the effects of alcohol on student performance and graduation rate. It is significant to note that as discussed in the proposal, the author gathered evidence from University students that they usually consume very large volumes of alcohol mostly during the weekends to get wasted. According to them, they do this for fun and an individual can end up guzzling up to over ten drinks in a night. However, this heavy drinking results in personal tragedy for college students and their families. Yes, the draft proposal persuades in the way the author has answered the problem of the proposal. The author has stated the reasons why the campaign was launched. The campaign in the University was successful since after the campaign was launched, it has assisted educate students when others engage in irresponsible drinking. There is no need for change or reorganization of the paper but the author should state the research design of the study and the methods they used to gather information about binge drinking in the University of Marion. The author was very keen and specific thus they avoided any form of repetitiveness. The most interesting part is the statistics about the past drinking behavior of students at the University of Marion. The statistics were shocking and needed immediate intervention to avoid further damage to the students and the reputation of the University. For example, I learned that about 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades