Comparison of Islamic and State Schools

Comparison of Islamic and State Schools How Muslim parents make their decision of sending their children to Islamic schools or to State schools. The study of how Muslim parents decide to send their children to either Islamic Schools or public has now been studied for some time and it has provided different answers for different questions. This study has mainly been carried out because of the now increasing evidence if the cultural and political differences being seen as a result of the diverse cultures and religion in existence amongst people of different ethnicities in the world. For one to understand the strong differences that occur in peoples cultures and beliefs, it is critical to look at the origin of the process of acculturation in a particular community or society. Acculturation is the process whereby there is exchange of certain aspects of a culture between two different cultural societies. The acculturation process usually begins at childhood. This is because children are easily socialized in the norms that are involved in their culture and this affects their social outlook as they grow up. Education on the other hand is the transmission of information and knowledge from one generation to the next. Education is a basic of every person today to gain education. The Islamic culture encourages its members to seek knowledge. This is viewed to be one of the most precious things that one can acquire in life because it enhances intellectual growth. Education is an individual asset which no one can take away from another and which is necessary in going through life. In life and in Islam the greatest value of education is to enable one to provide good leadership mostly amongst the youth. The major objective of Islam is to enable the development of ones character and also ones Islamic personality and this is what is emphasized in many Islamic schools. Parents play a major role in educating their children. The initial education provided to children under the guidance of their parents is very important and shows the parents role. As children grow the society they grow around has a great impact in influencing the character of every individual child. However, the bad news is that Muslims have been evidenced to be the most illiterate in the world in a study conducted in all Muslim nations. This has led to many parents who value more unlimited education for their children to send them to schools abroad to the western countries. This has proved to be advantageous to their children but has also led to the introduction of unseen challenges to both the parents and the children. For example in Britain, the Muslims send their children to government schools and then they teach them at home or in the mosques. Consequently, like any other normal school in the world, in state schools children would often face problems like discriminating or bullying based upon their religious orientation. The damage whether it is psychological or physical can impact the behavior and can influence the Muslim students performance in the classroom. From the Muslim parents perspective, the knowledge that their children would receive is going to be through a secular perspective and this often will be open and unbiased towards any particular religion. As a result, there emerged two choices for Islamic parents to choose in educating their children. This is whether to send them to Islamic schools or to state schools. This problem started in the advent of the twentieth century and due to mainly Western influence and sometimes colonialism, Muslim parents sometimes preferred imparting only secular knowledge to their children. The weak students were mainly sent to religious schools known as Madrasas within their countries. However those who migrated to the west chose to take their children to both public and religious schools for a number of reasons. These reasons applied both to those in the west and those in the middle-east. One of the best and most popular reasons among Muslim parents for the reason as to why they send their children to Islamic schools is that it provides the perfect surrounding to learn the Muslim culture because of an Islamic surrounding and environment. For example, children in Muslim schools socialize with other children of the Islamic following and pray together in the Islamic way. They are more importantly exposed to modern vices that exist in urban and westernized schools such as fornication, alcohol and drugs. Moreover, Muslim schools are ideal centers to provide identity in the society for children. To prove this, some interviewed Muslim children attest that their parents would most likely send them to an Islamic school if there is the presence of one in their locality. This shows the preference of many Muslim parents. According to one Islamic based teacher in New York by the name of Yahiya Emerick states that Islamic Schools provide the children with the opportunity to be able to identify themselves with the Islamic community and its values and thus it provides a sense of belonging to the children and they feel that they belong to a certain community and proud to be identified with it. To support this view, the president of the Muslim Education Council in Virginia points out that these Islamic schools provide a sense of self-worth, pride and cultural identity that the children cannot acquire in a public or State school. His organization teaches mostly administrators and educators about Islam and the Middle Eastern culture. He also adds that the sense of identity comes from not only socializing with other Muslim children and praying together but also from memories of praying and reciting Islamic scriptures, listening to the Adhan and talking about the problems facing the Islamic society and this pr oved to be priceless for an Islamic individual in the future. However, there are many other reasons why parents sometimes prefer taking their children to Islamic school. For example is that for example if a parent realizes that his child is turning into being rude and unruly, the parent may result in looking for a quick solution to the situation at hand and decide to send his child to an Islamic school and this is estimated to be the case that has led about one third of the children in Islamic schools to be admitted there. This however has proved to be highly disadvantageous to Islamic schools because some of the children expelled from public schools because of gross misconduct are being dumped in Muslim schools. This is said to be the result of the attitude of most Muslim parents that the Muslim institutions are effective correction centers for their children instead of public schools which they see as having a higher probability of being a catalyst for their childrens bad behavior. This has sometimes led to some parents complaining sometimes that Islamic schools are being a bad influence on their childrens behavior at times but Islamic institutions have been quick to point out that the children didnt all come a being of good conduct in the society and some had come from public school. Another good reason why Muslim parent take their children to Muslim school is because they are more exposed to Islamic knowledge in Muslim schools. The former president of the young Muslims of Canada which is an organization based in Ontario, Taha Ghayyur says that a lot of Canadian born Muslim children have a lot of difficulty in studying Arabic writings and the Quran and because of their interaction with other cultures, they tend to have a little difference in their view to Islam in comparison to their Middle-Eastern brothers and sisters. However, there are a number of Islamic followers who also believe that the information mainly acquired in Islamic schools is much more limited as compared to that gained in Public schools. One of the people who support this view is Shabbir Mansuri who is the founding director if the institute of Fountain Valley which is a Council on Islamic Education based in California. Taking his example, he has three daughters of which only the youngest attends an Islamic school because Islamic schools were not available before when his two other daughters were growing up. He points out that in the case of his younger daughter, she has been able to recite the Surahs and scriptures from the Quran but he also sees that the Islamic schools have not made a difference in the understanding of the Quranic scriptures. This is considered to be one advantage of State schools because they help the children understand what they are studying, This and many other reasons give cause to the decision of enrolling their children in state schools. One reason for example is that in most public schools mostly in the west, state school education is usually provided free by the government. This is an economic consideration by most parents in the world. for example in the situation of Islamic parents living in the west, it is only when they grew in numbers and acquired more resources that they opened more Islamic schools starting from kindergarten to high school. As a result, it is estimated that in places like in Northern America alone, there are presently about three hundred Islamic schools which provide integrated education. In cases of where there were lower resources, the children were taken to state schools during the weekdays and to Islamic schools during the weekends. Another factor is that due to the high enrolment rates to public schools, there are a higher number of individuals from different social and economic backgrounds and this is not always a bad factor as and enables children to embrace people of different backgrounds. This is a point supported by many liberal Islamic families living in the West. Other factors which give an advantage to state schools over Islamic schools are that have sometimes better qualified and trained and certified teachers who provide standard teaching to the children. The teachers are mainly objective in impacting the required knowledge on the students and monitoring the students progress. This is the main reason that many Islamic parents sometimes send their children from the middle-east to the western schools. This can be evidenced by the children of the monarchs of Saudi Arabia and Dubai. In conclusion, it can be observed that the boundaries of knowledge are expanding on a daily basis and in the western world; Muslim parents are facing an ever-increasing challenge of deciding the right school for their children. It overall clear that the every parent would like to enroll his or her child in a school that provides academic excellence and spiritual growth but it is mostly the role of the parents to weigh the better option between Islamic schools and public schools. This is by putting their disadvantages and disadvantages together and considering what is best for their children. References Lawrence D., (2005). A Concise History of the Middle East . London; Westview Press Levy, Reuben (1969). The Social Structure of Islam. UK: Cambridge University Press. Ridgeon, L (2003). Major World Religions (1st ed.). London. Routledge Curzon publishers. Shahid A. (1998). Sex Education : An Islamic Perspective .London. Oxford University Press. Hamsa Y. (2002). Understanding Islamic Education and Elements of Success. Cairo: Alhambra Productions

Damien Cave Summary

COMM200-U406/02/13 Nicole Prince The article â€Å"On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies! † written by Damien Cave explains how as a society we are swayed by the flash of big corporations and in turn are loosing what real culture we have left. Damien Cave starts the article off with a scenario showing a man named â€Å"Thomas Frank†. As Frank walks by a heavily decorated Old Navy he shows his disgust saying †Oh God, this is disgusting†. Thomas Frank is a pioneering social critic, writing articles on how businesses adopted â€Å"cool anti-corporate culture†.As the article progresses we find that these businesses offer nothing more than poor quality merchandise at a low price, and the consumer is lured in by the promise of quality for less. Stores such as Old Navy and Ikea use marketing tricks to keep it's customer coming back for more. Ikea sets it's store up like a maze where the exit is placed only at the registers, the room models persuade the consumer they need everything they see. Old Navy hands out extra large shopping bags as a gesture of good customer service but can influence over spending.Damien Cave brings these issues up so that we the reader are aware of such trickery used by certain chain businesses. Society is so accustomed to these marketing schemes we don't realize we are replicating each others homes but in different variations; we can all buy the same sofa and not notice. We are lead to believe that we can find happiness in our belongings but that is far from the truth. This merchandise is poor in quality and can cause us to spend more in the end on replacements and repairs. These companies are scamming the general public into believing they are getting a deal and in return we are getting cookie cutter home decor.

Reorganizing the Woody Company Essay

Background Woody Company is a small sole-proprietorship that specializes in the manufacture of high quality bar stools. Currently, three types of bar stools are marketed with increases in standing orders currently reaching $750,000. Mr. Woody has decided to expand his organization to and aggressively pursue the market, but realizes that issues with defective wood from his suppliers, manufacturing quality defects and problems associated with late delivery of his finished product has impacted his profit margin (Bateman & Snell, 2007, p. 317). My assistance has been solicited to optimize the organizational structure, recommend pay structure and determine work allocation within the company. Organizational Structure A small company is, by definition, one that employs less than 500 employees (Hatten, 2007, p. 5). This is only relevant from the prospective that being a small business by definition allows for certain assistance from the Small Business Administration and tax code specifications. More importantly, the small business is a mindset of operation that will capitalize on the potential strength of flexibility and responsiveness that can only be exercised with a company that â€Å"can move fast, can provide quality goods and services to targeted market niches, and can inspire greater involvement from their people† (Bateman & Snell, 2007, p. 298). Mr. Woody has provided a mission and vision statement for his company that states the following: â€Å"To manufacture world-class products that are competitive in the world market in quality, reliability, performance, and profitability (and) to create a  culture where pride, ownership, employment security, and trust are a way of life† (Bateman & Snell, 2007, p. 317). What follows is a plan that will meet these expectations and provide opportunity for increased growth. Some of the agility that is afforded by keeping the focus of the company on remaining small is a greater ability to use a mechanistic structure that is able to remain responsive, promoting both a high involvement and a continuous learning environment, enhancing quality improvement standards and embracing lean manufacturing as a means to improve overall profitability. Figure 1 (p. 8) is the proposed organizational chart for Woody Company which I will use to illustrate work responsibilities covered later in this proposal. Although this structure may serve to contradict some popular beliefs that organic structures can be more responsive to changing company dynamics and market realities (Bateman & Snell, 2007, p. 292), a 2006 article in the Academy of Management Journal which studied the difference between mechanistic and organic structures contradicts this viewpoint. In this study Sine, Mitsuhashi and Kirsch prove that mechanistic structures promote â€Å"low role ambiguity, high levels of individual focus and discretion, low coordination costs, and generally high levels of organizational efficiency† (pp. 130-131). I submit that this type of organizational structure is precisely what Woody Company needs to build on existing successes. By following my model of reorganization, the benefits that can be seen in a more organic structure, such as an inherently increased amount of flexibility through coordinated decision making and individual employee empowerment, can and will be realized. Top-down investment in the continuous training of the employees of Woody Company, through the direct efforts of the Human Resource and Training Office is an investment that will pay rewards in not only employee loyalty, but also efficiency in all the operations. Focus on Communication Strategies Management focus on preventing or lessening communication barriers will serve to not only empower all employees, but also help improve processes which may  lead to greater efficiency and profits. One recommendation to potentially remove communications barriers is a daily operations walkthrough meetings each morning on the manufacturing floor by all managers. This not only improves situational awareness across the organization, but also provides the staff the opportunity to address concerns and raise issues that challenge management. Clear and open communications are a significant attribute to process improvement and come at a very low price. Implement Lean Manufacturing Another key influence to improving overall quality and efficiency is the hiring of a Lean Manufacturing Champion to ensure the lean process is effective. A Lean Champion is best defined in the January 2006 Manufacturing Today magazine as: â€Å"They [Lean Manufacturing Champions] set and maintain the goals of the improvement projects, making sure that they are aligned with the overall business priorities and objectives. Lean champions also act as coaches and teachers, educating the entire organization, including the supply base, on the importance of lean. They are also facilitators and negotiators, helping to smooth out internal manufacturing and organizational issues, and keep lean initiatives on track† (Weissman, 2006,  ¶ 4). Dedicating Woody Company resources on adapting Lean Manufacturing principles and actions will ultimately lead to greater process efficiency and quality which will lead to greater profits and growth potential. Lean principles are an investment in personnel and processes. Buy Quality Materials, Produce Quality Products through Automation Woody Company can take two steps in the manufacturing process to realize immediate improvements in the quality of goods produced. First, the company needs to re-evaluate their raw material supplier relationships. The purchasers for the company must procure only the finest in raw materials as a first step in reducing waste through not bringing defective materials into  the plant in the first place. This can be done by pre-screening suppliers and making sure that they meet standards of quality such that are proven through ISO 9000 certification. Analyzing history on dollars lost through defective raw materials can be translated into perhaps paying more in order to secure premium raw wood materials. The second method to improve quality should be a review of manufacturing processes with a focus on introducing computerized cutting, joining and measurement equipment. The cost associated with automating the manufacturing process can be offset through improved production capacity, more accurate fabrication, and greater flexibility in the types of wood products that can be manufactured. Using computer controlled equipment removes the human error element during production runs, and expands the potential product line opportunity to other areas of manufacturing. Figure 1 (p. 8) shows the manufacturing areas as Pre-Fabrication, Fabrication and Assembly and Finishing. The specialization of the staff in these modules builds on proven advantages mass customization (Bateman & Snell, 2007, p. 307), but does not necessarily mean that every order needs to be unique. The key is that specialization provides greater flexibility. Personnel resource allocations that I have recommended are based on my perception of the more labor intensive areas of the process, but personnel can and should be cross trained. Personnel allocations should ensure that each area of the p rocess contains at least some personnel that are skilled woodworkers, and that quality checks are implemented at each stage, to include as a final check, shipping and receiving. Pay and Bonus Plan Compensation of personnel at Woody Company should be based on responsibility, experience and proven performance. Consideration should be given to financial bonuses for employees who perform above and beyond expectations and rewards for the various teams in the company that have proven efficiency and demonstrated cost savings. Conclusion Woody Company needs to make strategic changes to increase market ownership  and profitability. Increasing manpower alone is a simplistic and perhaps ineffective solution. The appropriate action will rely on a willingness to focus on improving current competencies and develop capacity for increased areas of the wood furniture market. My recommendations are a starting point; now Woody Company needs to act in order to take the company to the next level. References Bateman, T, & Snell, S. (2007). _Management: The New Competitive Landscape (7th ed.)_. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Hatten, T. (2006). _Small Business Management: Entrepeneurship and Beyond (3rd ed.)._ New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. Knudson, B. (2007, September). Implementing A Vision. _Manufacturing Today_, _7_(5), 48-51. Retrieved January 6, 2008, from Business Source Complete database. Sine, W., Mitsuhashi, H. & Kirsch, D. (2006, February). Revisiting Burns and Stalker: Formal Structure and New Venture Performance in Emerging Economic Sectors. _Academy of Management Journal, 49_(1). 121-132. Retrieved January 5, 2008 from Business Source Complete database. Weissman, R. (2006, January). We Are the Champions. _The ManufacturerMagazine_ retrieved January 6, 2007 from http://www.themanufacturer.com/us/content/3947/We_are_the_champions

The Supernatural in William Shakespeares A Midsummer...

The Supernatural in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Consider the presentation of the supernatural in A Midsummer Nights dream. In what way does it reveal Shakespeares moral and philosophical concerns? How does Shakespeares stagecraft (setting, Characterisation, language, verse form etc) facilitate the consideration of his concerns? and how do we as a modern audience respond to the play as a piece of theatre? The main themes of A Midsummers Night Dream are the supernatural, dreams, nature and the difficulty of love. Shakespeares ideas are represented by his use of symbolism. If you look at the play in general at a glance it comes across as being benevolent. But if you†¦show more content†¦The exaggerated language of the people under the love spell that Oberon creates from the flower hit by cupids arrow shows how irresponsible and foolish love can be. When Titania first meets bottom she says on the first view to say, to swear, I love thee and Lysander announced instant love to Helena saying run through fire I will for thy sweet sake! Shakespeare also shows that true love overrides all other loyalties. When Titania falls in love with bottom she disowns the changeling boy, that she fell out with Oberon about. Shakespeare shows the reverse side of love through Oberon. Love can cause jealousy, hatred and dominance. The jealousy between Oberon and Titania caused disruption in the na tural world, and when Oberon falls out with Titania he wants to make a fool out of her. He does this by putting the juice of a flower which has been touched by cupids arrow on her eyes this makes her fall in love with the next living thing she sees. When Oberon puts this juice on Titanias eyes he says Wake when some vile thing is near! this shows he doesnt care how much he humiliates Titania as long as he gets revenge. Jealousy between the four lovers caused Helena and Hermia to brake their livelong friendship, and argue with each other and Lysander and Demetrius want to kill each other. Shakespeare tells us that jealousy destroysShow MoreRelatedManipulating The Supernatural : William Shakespeare s Othello And A Midsummer Night s Dream883 Words   |  4 PagesManipulating the Supernatural It is human nature to be drawn toward people that we can relate to. Because of this Shakespeare made his characters as relatable as possible to the audience members of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century and their views on life so he could generate more recognition for his plays. Throughout Shakespeare s plays, Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he appeals to the audience by relating to their human nature. 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