BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Case Study - 8

BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico - Case Study Example Ethical issues, in this case, identifiable include failure for other companies to learn from earlier case scenarios like the ExxonMobil case, and construct great preventive policies to avoid future spills. The people who have worked in this industry for 30, 40 years have a great role to play to avoid other leakages. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. In addition, companies should put preventive measures such that when such leakages happen, they do have massive effects on the natural system. The wells could as well be placed elsewhere other than in the deep waters. In fact, the size of the spillage does not matter, but what is of concern is where they happen and when they happen. The oil pipes should not be constructed in areas that in the event of a leakage, massive damage occurs. For instance, the BP Oil Disaster happened in a very vulnerable area and at a time when there are too many winds blowing it. In fact, the greatest issue, in this case, is the detrimental effect that this oil spill is going to have on the economy and ecology of the country. According to Geoffrey (2010), there are fears that the massive oil slick will have appalling effects on wildlife and birds along the Louisiana Coast and it could ruin one of the world’s fisheries, besides that it could also ruin vital wetlands. America’s Gulf State reputation is also under universal excoriation. The slow response to this catastrophe could cause diverse effects on the company, operating on the belief that such a disaster could never happen shows a lack of professionalism. This case of arrogance and neglect saw measures not being laid down. The characters thus operated on the principles of assumptions, and lack seriousness from all fronts. Victims and other groups have sharply accused the company of lacking preventive and more strict measures for disasters and taking the issue for granted at the initial stages of the disaster. In fact, accusations are coming from all level, including from President Obama to local people.  

Hard times by Charles Dickens Essay Example for Free

Hard times by Charles Dickens Essay The book Hard times, relates to the hard times that people were going through at the time of the industrial revolution, during the 1840s. the book was published in 1850, so that when Charles wrote the book, he was looking back on the events that occurred 10 years earlier. In his book Hard Times Dickens focuses on education and how children used to be taught. Dickens does not agree with the type of teaching that was going on in those times, and by making the characters of the story his object of hate, it makes them prime targets of ridiculing, and does so throughout the book. He describes how the educators insist on teaching fact, and fact alone, nothing but fact. This way he can put forward his views and feelings of this form of teaching, by ridiculing the characters and continually ripping them apart with criticism. The educators insist on teaching fact and pluck all the opinion from the tiny fragile minds that can be so easily moulded into fact filled objects. They scoop out every little fragment of imagination, not leaving the smallest detail to spare and replace it with fact, fact, fact, until they are over spilling with them. As if when filling an empty money box with pennies until it is full to the brim and over flowing, and when you take off the lid they all pour out, one after the other, penny after penny, fact after fact. Facts were ridged and solid, there was no room for interpretation, or another view on the matter, a fact could not be disproved, or argued against, a fact was a fact, and that was what the educators were trying to pour into the innocent little minds, once filled with imagination and opinion. Dickens chooses the names of characters very well. Such as Grad grind, this gives an impression of a strict, hard faced man stuck in his ways. Dickens is very descriptive which gives the reader an image of the characters, and yet at the same time he leaves other aspects to the imagination. The educators were filtering out the opinion and imagination, leaving room for only the facts to get through. This is what Dickens disliked about this form of education, he thought that each child should be independent, and have their own opinion of things and have a free imagination. Dickens himself was a very bright child, yet was denied the right to education, due to the conditions of the time, and the fact that his family were so poor. He left school at the age of 14 and went to work. This is the main reason why Dickens feels so strongly about education and he feels that people should do what they want to do not what they have to do, as he had to leave school in order to get a bit more money for his family. In chapter 2 we learn that the teacher Gradgrind has little, if any respect for the children as he refers to them by numbers, also he criticises on of the girls names. He forms the impression of a very narrow minded man with little consideration or respect for children. He is full of fact and stuck in his ways, he believes that because he has been taught facts that every one should be taught pure fact. Dickens doesnt like this way of learning, and continually ridicules it and the people teaching it. Dickens gets his points across through satire and comic exaggeration, he uses this to achieve humour and also as an extreme way of getting feelings across. During the Victorian times people had a very dim view of education, they did not think it was that essential for children to learn, however in the Victorian times it all came down to your social class. If you were upper class you would have had an education, however if you were lower class you would be considered very lucky if you went to school and even then you would have hat to have left school early to work to get that extra bit of money for the family. I thin these views existed because people had no idea of the importance and it all came down to your social class, also children were ill treated and expected to be seen and not heard. These views of education are very wrong as it is now important especially as we have more rights, and people are respected more.

Impact of Online Learning on the Education System

Impact of Online Learning on the Education System Topic Area Education for all Can online learning replace our current model of education? Introduction We live in a world where access to most resources (thanks to the internet) are just a click away. The only resource that seems to be struggling to reach to the majority of the world through this method is schooling or education. Is it possible for education to remove the walls around our schools? Can our current model of education be replaced by online learning? Global How has online learning affected our world? Online learning has been out there since search giants like Google, Yahoo and Bing were set up. The only difference between now and then is that earlier it was difficult to prove that you had knowledge about a subject because there was very little proof of what you knew unless you could demonstrate it. Earlier all organizations mandated proper certification or documents of qualifications. Its only now that online learning offers proper certification. And in accordance to that online learning is slowly getting accepted in companies and organizations with the proof of the certificate(s) achieved by doing so. Online learning offers courses on everything from counting on your fingers to university level Astrophysics. As of 2013, the number of people in Colleges 183 million Secondary School 568.5 million Primary School 713.6 million Total number of students 1.436 billion (20.5% of the total population in 2013) The laws that govern population growth entail that these numbers would have grown in the past 4 years and would be approximately 1.501 billion people (20.5% of 7.461 billion {total population}). According to EdSurge the number of learners on the big 3 online learning sites (edX, Coursera and Udacity) were a stunning 24 million. United States of America Several universities like Harvard even encourage their students to view video lectures so they can use the time for the lecture for doing something else and when they are free they can simply view the lecture. According to Udacity CEO, Sebastian Thrun, some 4 million registered users worldwide, and about 60,000 working on nanodegrees at anyone one time. In several schools in USA, the teachers use Khan Academy to aid/conduct their daily classes. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has put almost all of its courses online on MIT OpenCourseWare for all student regardless of their nationality, or the college/university they attend. This really helps students a lot since most of the material for math and science is almost the same as their universities/schools/colleges. India In countries like India where students are pushed to their mental and physical limits to achieve grades that yield are a 100 percent average or the equivalent, these certificates show another stairway to success to these students. Students now turn to websites like edX, Coursera, Udacity and Khan Academy to learn whatever they need to or in several cases want to. This also allows the students to excel in their studies, and get better career opportunities in their future, as online learning shows an effort to learn beyond what is expected of a student. The Rajasthan state government is going to add Khan Academy lessons as part of their day to day school curriculum to provide their students with a platform with universally accepted teaching-learning models and techniques. But due to other problems like poverty and availability of electricity (which I will address later) it is difficult to switch over to online education. China In China the number of universities and colleges offering online learning platforms has skyrocketed in the past years. 30 out 110 of Chinas well-known universities have an online learning platform. Chinas ministry of education has been encouraging a lot of students to take online courses, however no university is allowed to give out degrees. Another advantage to online learning is that you can view videos/lectures as many times as you need to. You can ask for help on forums on many online learning sites. Online learning also offers a lot of different perspective and immense exposure. Google was one of the first multi-national organisations to employ people not based on their qualifications or proof of knowledge/learning rather based on their skills and experience. There is an option for the learner to avail for the Honour Code Certificate but courses offering these certificates are extremely few and when a learner presents an honour code certificate as part of their CV or rà ©sumà ©, they are looked at with suspicion as the terms of the honour code are literally honouring your word. The reason honour code certificates and statements of achievement (based on the honour code) were stopped is because of misuse of the fact that there was no way to verify (branching out to Verified Certificates) that the person doing the course is the person whose name is on the certificate. On the other hand, verified certificates use a government issued ID to function and the name on the certificate has to match the one on the ID. This reduces chances of someone else doing your work for you. A problem with certification for online learning and online courses is that almost all the verified certificates on the most online learning platforms are now paid and the se prices are very high. A lot of the paid/verified certificates on edX are for $50 and quite a few of them are for a hundred dollars. As a matter of fact, Udacity has a minute number of free courses and all other courses on Udacity are paid. This makes it difficult for a learner to get these certificates because of the cost of these certificates. This reduces the number of learners completing the course, contary to what is said by edX when a user enrols into a course Its a proven motivator to complete the course. These prices can create a barbed-wire around the school we are trying to render wall-less. Another fact worth considering is, that in a lot of countries schooling/college is expensive and using free, online resources can help you save all that money. For the world as one, I think the developed countries (like the United States) should start by using online education to enhance and ultimately replace their current models of education. By doing so, they would set an example and would encourage other countries to be like them. National Is replacing the current model of education with online learning feasible in my country? According to the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment 27.5% of Indias population is below the poverty line, which is roughly 367.48 million people (Population of India à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 1,336,286,256 * 27.5/100 = 367478720). I believe, asking students/people who are underprivileged to learn using online resources, is inappropriate because having an internet connection is expensive and without one online learning is impossible. So its almost like saying the water is free but the way to get to the water is paid (and expensive). So I do not think it is feasible to replace my countrys current model of education with online learning. Local Is replacing the current model of education with online learning feasible for the students in my school/community? According to a survey I conducted among my friends on my social networking circles (Link to responses available in the bibliography below) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 98.3% of the people use the internet for learning something, studying and/or work. Most people use the internet for 5-8 hours a day. 22.4% of the people use google and/or other search engines to learn what they want to. 5.1% also use Khan Academy and use search engines. 1.7% use Khan Academy and similar websites for studying. 6.9% do the points mentioned above and also use edX, Coursera and similar platforms for studying. 3.4% use Khan Academy and edX/Coursera and other platforms for studying. 11.9% use the internet for college/university work and use all of uses mentioned above. 49.2% use all/some of the tools mentioned above and also work. Keeping the above points in mind I believe that my friends circle can depend on the internet for schooling/education or can use the internet to enhance this essential process. Personal As an individual I believe I can switch over to the Internet for my education as I have no problems with Internet access, and the colleges/universities I am considering for my further education accept and even encourage online learning and certification, which again is not a problem with me. I find that I can fit into that group of people who can and should turn to online learning. I find that using E-Books and E-Lectures is more convenient and environmentally friendly (using E-Books rather than books). I can also get my hands on to material that sometimes teachers in class might not be able to cover. I think that replacing the current model of education with online education is possible for me, although I might require a teacher to guide me at times. Personal Response My research and essay were partly inspired by Salman Khans (educationist) Ted Talk (in 2011) and I had turned to online resources for learning. Salman Khan tells us how the traditional academic model is not cut out for the extremes of the Bell Curve the students who find a topic/subject easy, and the ones who dont, but the system is rather suited for the average student. He says that, just like in Music or Martial Arts, you only move onto a further skill once youve mastered the basic. But as all of us know, most of our schools cannot compensate for the students who lag behind in a subject/concept and the class simply has to move on. He uses the cheese-block analogy and demonstrates to us how minor gaps in our knowledge can make the cookie crumble (the cheese in this case!). So I see myself working on Khan academy to do the best I can and learn all I can because according to Sal Khan You only need to know one thing You can learn anything. This will help me and can also inspire othe r people to be like me. Possible Future Scenarios The world needs to realise that traditional schools and curricula will not be able to cope with our rapidly changing world. Getting the world to accept online resources as instead of/to enhance our education, we need a little amount struggle to overcome the natural resistance to change that we have, monetary funding and support from governments of the world (in terms of providing cheap internet access and pushing learners to use online resources). After taking these steps the world would slowly but surely be a better place. The world can simply ignore the fact that online education holds the key to our future and would not embrace online learning, which would cause problems several other problems (like availability of space for schools, teachers and staff required to run the school and availability of books etc). It would also cause a rise in illiteracy and poverty (since it would restrict learning and schooling to schools and colleges only). Taking into account my research, I think that this scenario is not very likely to occur. The world can realise this fact now and can help our future generations to focus on keeping up high in the sky rather than getting out of problems like illiteracy and poverty. Considering what I learnt through the course of my research, this scenario is very likely to occur. The world can move toward Scenario 2 but might not be able to make enough progress due to problems like poverty, illiteracy and lack of access to the internet. This would cause these problems to grow further. This scenario is highly likely to occur. __________________________________________________________________ Bibliography https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number+of+students+in+the+worldhttps://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-09-08-udacity-coursera-and-edx-now-claim-over-24-million-students https://support.edx.org/hc/en-us/articles/215167977-Does-edX-offer-free-certificates https://www.google.co.in/about/careers/how-we-hire/http://www.tatatrusts.org/article/inside/rajasthan-tata-trusts-elearning-mouh http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/9/3/cameo-cheating-method-mooc/ https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/open-edx-building-and-running-a-course/en/named-release-birch/running_course/discussions.html http://socialjustice.nic.in/UserView/index?mid=76672 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_fipGX3VASNtGMSbY4uyMGgTY1QlpVwhH1pFuAGmT80/edit?usp=sharing (Responses for survey) http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education?language=en https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MTRxRO5SRA http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1966969/more-online-education-start-ups-china-expected-close-down-2016 https://internationaleducation.gov.au/News/Latest-News/Pages/Online-education-in-China.aspx https://internationaleducation.gov.au/News/Latest-News/Pages/Online-education-in-China.aspx http://www.whatsonweibo.com/10-hottest-chinese-online-education-companies-2016/ http://www.ted.com/talks/sal_khan_let_s_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores/transcript?language=en https://www.khanacademy.org/youcanlearnanything#

Critique of Kane and Abel :: Free Essay Writer

Critique of Kane and Abel Jeffrey Archer’s epic novel Kane And Abel could just as easily be two novels; one named Kane and the other Abel, such is the difference between the two characters. From the outset, we are aware of William Lowell Kane’s privilege and of Abel Rosnovski’s poverty. Both are born 15th April, 1905 as male members of the human race. These are the most obvious similarities shared by the two. Their contrasted births introduce us to two different personalities and two different histories, which fate is to overlap at critical moments. Abel is born in a forest in Poland. A young hunter, alert to the sound of screaming, rushes to the mother and child. Mother is dead and the hunter feels responsible for this child: â€Å"Suddenly the young hunter saw the woman, with her dress above her waist, her bare legs sprayed wide apart. He had never seen a woman like that before. He ran quickly to her side and stared down at her belly, quite frightened to touch. There, lying beneath the woman's legs, was the body of a small, damp, pink animal, attached only by something that looked like a rope......† Observe the difference of William’s birth: â€Å".....It never occurred to him, not even for a moment, that the baby might be a girl. He turned to the financial pages and checked the stock market: it had dropped a few points; that damned earthquake had taken $100,000 off the value of his own holdings at the bank, but as his personal fortune remained comfortably over $16 million, it was going to take more than a California earthquake to move him ..."Congratulations, Sir, you have a son, a fine-looking little boy." What silly remarks people make when a child is born, the father thought; how could it be anything but little? The news hadn't yet dawned on him - a son. He almost thanked God. The obstetrician ventured a question to break the silence. "Have you decided what you will name him?" The father answered without hesitation: "William Lowell Kane.....† Abel is born into a world which thereafter conspired to take his mother. William’s father is so unconcerned with the labour that it fails to stir him from his daily routine of studying the â€Å"financial pages†. The pressure for each baby is different. Abel is surrounded by the unconcealed despair and uncertainty which represent being poor.

The principle source of income for the state of New York

The principle source of income for the state of New York for 1998 is taxes. The priciple expenses of the stste of New York for 1998 are: Education is an expendature that should be increased. If education was increased children would get better jobs and better jobs pay more money which produces more taxes, taxes pay for better schools. More community centers with sports facilities should be created to get kids off the streets. Kids would have a place to go to have fun plus it would make alot of money all schools should be pdated with new computers to prepare students for entering the business community. The state should propose to start a partnership with computer companies and the board of education of education in purchasing the computers. The private companies would benefit from this because the more computers used the more computer orientated customers are created. A way to pay for expenditures is by cutting out the â€Å"pork barrel† pet projects by the legislatures. If the budget just passed there were 350 million â€Å"pork barrel† projects requested by the legislatures. If the government cut that in half it would pay for the increases I suggested. Conservative groups that believe the goverment play too much of a role in their lives of the voters would not be in favor of my proposals. In recent years there have been increasing numbers of strikes by public employees like teachers, transit, sanitation, and municipal workers. In many instances these acts were in violation of existing laws which prohibited such One reason why many states and federal government prohibited strikes is because of public safety. If the fire department was to strike lives would be at stake. Neighborhoods would would be burned down. Police shouldn't strike because crime would rise , traffic enforcement people wouldn't pay attention to light and possible riots. If sanitation had a strike it would cause a health hazard. The second reason is for business purposes and commerce. If the transit were to strike people wouldn't be able to go to and back to work. The banks handle the money of civilians. If teachers were to strike kids wouldn't get the ducation they need to get a good job and they might cause trouble on the On the other hand private bus services should be able to strike. Althogh some people may be hurt by this it does not affect the cities commerce. I do not believe that government employees should have the right to strike. They should sign a statement before they are hired because if they strike it puts the publics Arbitration should be the process that should be put in affect to settle disputes between the employees and the city. Te city chooses someone then the employees choose someone then they choose a third person. This panel determines the settlement of the contract of the employees strike. Striking has become a major problem in recent years because striking is the last weapon the employees have to defend their rights . For instance if workers are working in an unsafe environment they have the right to strike. In York there is a law which prohibits striking this is known as the Taylor Law. Punishment for striking could be dismissal or dock in pay. The principle source of income for the state of New York The principle source of income for the state of New York for 1998 is taxes. The priciple expenses of the stste of New York for 1998 are: Education is an expendature that should be increased. If education was increased children would get better jobs and better jobs pay more money which produces more taxes, taxes pay for better schools. More community centers with sports facilities should be created to get kids off the streets. Kids would have a place to go to have fun plus it would make alot of money all schools should be pdated with new computers to prepare students for entering the business community. The state should propose to start a partnership with computer companies and the board of education of education in purchasing the computers. The private companies would benefit from this because the more computers used the more computer orientated customers are created. A way to pay for expenditures is by cutting out the â€Å"pork barrel† pet projects by the legislatures. If the budget just passed there were 350 million â€Å"pork barrel† projects requested by the legislatures. If the government cut that in half it would pay for the increases I suggested. Conservative groups that believe the goverment play too much of a role in their lives of the voters would not be in favor of my proposals. In recent years there have been increasing numbers of strikes by public employees like teachers, transit, sanitation, and municipal workers. In many instances these acts were in violation of existing laws which prohibited such One reason why many states and federal government prohibited strikes is because of public safety. If the fire department was to strike lives would be at stake. Neighborhoods would would be burned down. Police shouldn't strike because crime would rise , traffic enforcement people wouldn't pay attention to light and possible riots. If sanitation had a strike it would cause a health hazard. The second reason is for business purposes and commerce. If the transit were to strike people wouldn't be able to go to and back to work. The banks handle the money of civilians. If teachers were to strike kids wouldn't get the ducation they need to get a good job and they might cause trouble on the On the other hand private bus services should be able to strike. Althogh some people may be hurt by this it does not affect the cities commerce. I do not believe that government employees should have the right to strike. They should sign a statement before they are hired because if they strike it puts the publics Arbitration should be the process that should be put in affect to settle disputes between the employees and the city. Te city chooses someone then the employees choose someone then they choose a third person. This panel determines the settlement of the contract of the employees strike. Striking has become a major problem in recent years because striking is the last weapon the employees have to defend their rights . For instance if workers are working in an unsafe environment they have the right to strike. In York there is a law which prohibits striking this is known as the Taylor Law. Punishment for striking could be dismissal or dock in pay.

buy custom The Effects of Competition essay

buy custom The Effects of Competition essay It was previously announced that the ministry of education in US, under which the program Race to the Top falls, will give guidance to the states that the program applies. This program looks forward to spending $ 4.35 billion of the federal cash. This cash goes to the improvement of the k-12 failing schools. It is an initiative that Obama administration unveiled in the recent past. This is particularly a significant boost to public failing school. Therefore, the idea that lack of funds will prevent a better establishment in the education syllabus is the thing of the past [Was this the main idea of the sentence?]. It seems to the critics that the $4.35 billion is a lot of money, but the reality is that it is not so much, compared to what the US spends on education [Was this the main idea of the sentence?] (Race 23). According to the statistics, in the year 2008-09 alone, the federal government was able to spend $ 667 billion on the k-12 failing education. It can be compared to the year 2006-07 expenditure on the k-12 education, where estimates are that $553 billion dollars were spent on this program. In this year, there is also a $ 100 billion federal spending as a stimulus bill on education, which guarantees better improvement of the k-12 service delivery. It also aims at educating those who resist the effectiveness of the program (Levine and Dayal 45-56). In the spirit to establish the Race to the Top, they targeted a number of reforms. Firstly, implementation of the rigorous k-12 education standards posed to a high quality design assessment. Its aim is to bring together the states in which the system applies by building academic standards that readily prepare students for college and career enhancement. It also looks forward to building critical thinking among scholars in their respective fields. Secondly, it aims at fostering the confidence in the education curriculum by ensuring that teachers remain in the classrooms. This is an efficient strategy in the sense that effective and proper utilization of teachers is taken care of. Also, this aims at improving the teachers facilitation and prior preparation. Besides, it ensures favorable compensation to teachers, as policy aiming at keeping the teachers in class. Lastly on this point, this aims at keeping and securing the confidence of teachers and basing them at where they are most tal ented to ensure maximum utility of their services and best rewards (Summers 111). In addition, it was intended to support data systems, which aimed to impute decisions and encourage transfer of instructions. This has realized the need for data process and management, as a drive to instructions transfer that are intended to pass information from one medium to another, in this case, teachers to students. In such way, the tracking of information is easy and effective to various bodies and stakeholders involved in the system. Again, it has seen the misery of struggling schools. Therefore, the educational institutions should focus on innovation, creativity and effective management, and prioritizing Race to the Top in order to improve their performance indexes and averages. Lastly, it aims at demonstrating and improving the education system by sustaining educational reforms (Race 27). This is particularly beneficial as it will bring together business leaders, trustees and various stake-holders to boost students achievements and eliminate the widespread performance gaps. The most crucial part of this aim is that it focuses on expanding the support for high performance, especially for high-performing public failing charter schools (Race 33). Now, in reality the k-12 education in America is down to pieces, and many of the students are losing the ground on career development. Various researches on the k-12 system in the American education system have proved that it is inadequate and unsupportive. According to these researches, the problem is not the schools or the teachers, but the system itself. The system is inadequate at every facet of it is operation (Levine and Dayal 45-56). Most of the American students do not make it to graduation once they enroll for their various facilities. Some of these students do not finish up their programs, because nobody is behind to motivate them to do a hard work. In case of any problems on the way, they opt to drop out of school and try luck somewhere else as a way to support themselves. One of the reasons for the schools failure is that teachers lack motivation and morale. The movie Bad Teacher depicts how these teachers engage in other activities to get more money to support their lives. For instance, the main character is a teacher who dares enough to seduce other teachers in order to receive money. She goes further and steals an exam to help her students cheat so that she got a high grading. This is not genuine and is a bad moral example to her students. The education in America is composed in such a way that those who triumph come from the privileged classes. From these perspectives, they have access to the best schools; they can have all the materials they require to comfortably do their assignments and homework. In case of research, they have enough funds to commit to their research work. This is unlike the students who come from poor family back-groups, who not only lack the knowledge and exposure encouragement, but also the relevant materials and funds to support themselves in their learning (Race 38). In the US, the issue of race has been a controversy for a long time whereby, the Blacks are sidelined and discriminated by the Whites. In the situation, where the Whites cannot share something with the Blacks, there has seriously been a division even to the utility of social amenities. This is especially explicit in the education sector, where the children of the White people have their own schools, different and separated from the Blacks and the Asians, though the Whites and the Blacks share the same curriculum and examination. Since, Blacks and Asians two are subjected to different learning environment and different learning facilities, they tend to perform differently; dismally when compared with their peers from white schools, and, in this case, the White children tend to do well, since they have all the facilities (Race 43). Another factor that has lead to poor performance among students is the issue of sex. The girls in schools have the tendency to drop out of schools before they graduate because of early engagement in social lifestyles. Various researches have cited that girls are more easily prone to sexual orientation than their male classmates in schools. Girls are more anxious to learn more new things and adventures than boys. Hence, as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat, they are vulnerably caught in this vicious cycle of curiosity and do not end up completing their education to graduation (Levine and Dayal 50-66). It is critically right that education somehow serves to reproduce power structures in society. For instance, there is a belief that in America, education has done more to the establishment of classes of people, than it has tried to narrow down thee discrimination gap among individuals in society. After graduation, each of the graduates tends to move to his/her own way. After some time each of these students will build his/her own career, some will pursue to be lawyers, some teachers, and others doctors. This is particularly significant in the sense that some are not privileged enough to continue with their careers in spite of being capable to do so. They lag behind, and those from well off families will continue with their studies, hence, perpetuating a class of people in the society. This means that the poor will continue to be poor, while those who are from royal families will continue to enjoy the benefits of education (Race 50). The main reason for the Race to the Top is the idea that it will reward only those states that raise their academic performance and qualification, improve the well fare of teachers and expand to the heights of a charter schools. This course will not be based on politics, social influence, or preference of a particular social class. This particularly aims at bringing various reforms in the education sectors, as a way of encouraging competition in the provision of the best services. According to president Barrack Obama, those states that embrace the reforms will be greatly rewarded (Levine and Dayal 79). This idea has come with some effects. In result of the proposal, many states changed their policies in order to suit into the new idea, as a way of remaining at competitive edge. Examples include: Illinois allowed more charter schools than it had previously did; Massachusetts ensured that students from low-performing schools shift to charters; and West Virginia proposed a merit criterion, whereby it included students performance, by factoring in the compensation criteria. To ensure that the idea was on the right track to achievement, states adopted the value added modeling aimed at evaluating the teachers. Some of the states that did not adopt the value added criterion to change their laws for eligibility. The Race to the Top ensured that all states adopt the common standards for the k-12 failing schools (Race 23). There have risen all sorts of criticisms in regard to the effectiveness of the Race to the Top. This criticism is well heard from the politicians, policy analysts, educators and leaders of education development and curriculum. They argue that the tests are inaccurate for teachers, since they have proved to be ineffective in the past. On the other hand, conservatives have said that it poses federal control of education on these schools. For instance, Texas refused to apply for the Race to the Top funding, arguing that they were not ready to place their childrens future in the hands of few bureaucrats and selfish interests groups that will draw their children away from Washington (Levine and Dayal 87). The opinion on the ground is that reforms being pursued here are unproven, since they have proved to be unsuccessful in the past. For instance, the former secretary of education, Dianne Ravitch, said that completion and responsibility in utility of funds for education were not working anymore. This is the implication that draws away from distributing and ensuring federal support to states. This means that civil rights groups will come into play to fight for its existence and success. In such way, the economic policy will lose its meaning (Race 53). In conclusion, Race to the Top is vastly turning out to be the most successful of all the federal education programs ever established (Carey 1). People are now requesting the same for higher education. Buy custom The Effects of Competition essay