Abstract and Executive Overview of Y2K Free Essays

What is the Y2K issue? This paper will describe the problems associated with Y2K and how Industry, Government, and Small Businesses are handling the problem. The first chapter introduces the Y2K issues. Chapter 2 will define how this affects the different businesses and Government agencies. We will write a custom essay sample on Abstract and Executive Overview of Y2K or any similar topic only for you Order Now Chapter 3 will develop an overall plan on how to attack the problem and recommendations. The majority of this paper will develop a plan on how each of the businesses and Government agencies should attack the Y2K problems. There should be a logical approach to planning how to investigate, test, validate, and if required, develop a contingency plan for Y2K. The job is to either form a team of personnel or hire a consulting firm to assess your situation. The team should employ the following steps: assess the system, renovate the system if necessary, validate the renovation if necessary, implement the renovation if necessary, test the renovation if necessary, and finally have a contingency plan in the event that renovating the system is not feasible and/or is too late. The only necessary or required action is to assess the system. This will be discussed in detail in my paper. The real issue is that less than a year remains before the year 2000 problems are here. The recommendation is to begin working this issue now. It may be too late, but that is when the contingency plan comes in handy. 2. What impacts are they†re to Government, Industry, and Small Business? 3. What can Government, Industry, and Small Business Do to Combat the Y2K Issues? There are actually more dates than just the year 2000 date. There are dates that can impact the leap year algorithms; Julian dates, fiscal year dates, calendar dates, and ASCII code dates. The top dates that need to be checked are: 1. 9 September 1999. This date can be read in code as 9999. In computer language, specifically ASCII code, this translates into a request for the processor to stop processing. 2. 1 October 1999. This is the start of the new Fiscal year for the Government (FY00). The algorithm for this may not be able to go from FY99 to FY00. 3. 31 December 1999. At midnight, the date rolls over to 1 January 2000. This problem can exist in two areas. The first is in the BIOS†s that exist for most desktop machines. The BIOS†s normally contain the clock and date data. The operator updates this data, when the system is first turned on and is continuously updated by the computer from then on. The problem is that older versions of BIO software recorded the date in two year digits (99, instead of 1999) so that once the date rolls into the year 2000, the BIOS†s can not understand the rolling of the year and moves it back to 14 Jan 80, the default year date. The other problem is in the application software that uses the two-year date. The application software uses algorithms to roll over the dates and can not roll to the year 2000 date. It normally has to be manually input to get to the new date. 4. 28 February 2000. At midnight, the date should roll over to 29 February 2000. This is determined in the software by an algorithm that checks to see if the current year is a leap year. If it is a leap year then it should roll to 29 February 2000, if it can not determine the leap year, then it will jump to 1 March 2000. 5. 29 February 2000. This is almost the same problem as 28 February 2000. It will try to calculate the fact it is a leap year and roll the date to 1 March 2000. If it can not determine that it is the leap year, it will either go to 2 March 2000 or it will provide an incorrect date. There are several other dates that are important, based on each application software package, and needs. Examples are, a bank computer uses COBOL software that does not calculate the dates well, FORTRAN software used in scientific research does not do dates well, and older versions of Microsoft software used the two-year digit dates. The different application software packages that are available for computers are beginning to fix the year 2000 problem in the next revision and/or update. The problems that are being encountered are that the updates may not be compatible with the data that goes with the application software. An example is that Microsoft Access 2.0 is not year 2000 compliant. To upgrade to a compliant version, the original data associated with Access 2.0 will not run on the upgrade version. In addition, the upgrade Access will not operate on the old versions of Microsoft Windows. Therefore, additional problems are beginning to come into focus with the year 2000 issue. Another issue is all the databases that are used. Relational databases use date fields as part of wildcard actions, used as sorting identification, as grouping actions, and as part of daily identification. Some specific examples are: simple databases, such as the window explorer allow you to view and sort files in a date/time field. If this date field were only two digits, then it would incorrectly sort the files (year 00 would be first rather than last). Another example is a large database that is used to match names with addresses and billing statements. This database would need to flag dates with the billing statements. If the dates were incorrect or not sorted correctly, then the billing statements would be invalidated. As discussed, there are several issues when dealing with Y2K. These issues have a direct impact on both Government and Industry. What impacts are they†re to Government, Industry, and Small Business? There are several impacts to Government, Industry, and Small Business. Dates that can impact the leap year algorithms; Julian dates, fiscal year dates, calendar dates, and ASCII code dates. These dates were discussed in chapter 1. Now we will discuss the ramifications to the new dates. For the Government, the dates will have a major impact across the board. Every Government agency, from Federal to City, will be impacted. The Federal Government uses computers on a daily basis and without them, the Federal Government would not be able to operate. Some specific examples are in the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice. The Department of Commerce utilizes computers to run the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) systems that are used to chase Hurricanes. The problem is that several of the computers are used to log different data and use date/time stamping with that data. This data is later analyzed to try and map hurricanes for the future. If the Y2K issues are not resolved, important data will be lost. The Department of Defense also uses computers to a very large extent. This is especially true for the DOD large complex machinery used to defend the country. There are very few parts of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines that do not use computers. Computers are the backbone to DOD and without them, there is a real fear that our armed forces would not be able to defend this country. The Department of Justice has an even worse problem. They are charged with keeping track of criminals and federal indictments across the country. Because of the complexity of the laws, if the computers used to keep track of indictments and criminal records are not Y2K compliant, then the Justice system could have criminals cleared of any wrong doing because of a simple date issue. It is well known that if the date or address were wrong on an indictment or a search warrant, anything found because of the indictment or warrant would not be used in court. Industry has the same basic problems that the Government would have. They rely on computers in almost every aspect of the business. From robotic assembly lines to employee payroll, all of industry relies on the computer to run its day to day operation. The problem that both industry and Government have is that there was no contingency to the Y2K issue. Both industry and Government have several backup systems. An example is that major banks will have the main frame computer in one location and a hot backup in a totally different location. Take Nations Bank. Nations Bank may have its primary mainframe computer, for all its checking accounts, here in town. There is a hot backup (a hot backup is a main frame computer that records the same exact information that the mainframe computer is recording, but it does not handle any transactions, just records the information) that is located in a different part of the country, say Colorado. In this way, if a major hurricane were to devastate Tampa, the hot backup would come on line take over the responsibility of the mainframe. In this way, vital information would not be lost. This was all thought out years before, but not Y2K. Y2K would impact both mainframes (the primary and the backup) and all the data would be corrupted. The problem with small business is that it relies on the computer to do many of its tasks that employees used to do. In small business, people were employed to handle payroll, marketing, office management, files, record keeping, and profit/loss ledgers. These people were replaced with the advent of the computer. Now any small business could operate without minimal employees. The office manager could now handle payroll, marketing, files, records, and ledgers right on the computer. The computer became the key piece of equipment for the small business. Without the computer, small businesses could not stay in operation. Look at a small business that provides hearing aids to the general public. Besides the payroll, this small business will keep all its customers accounts in a simple database. This database will be used to notify the business when the hearing aid needs servicing, additional hearing tests should be done, replacement batteries, and payment schedules. This is just the tip of the database. The database would also be used to send out flyers on new technology, discounts, and will serve as the business mailing lists. Without this computer, the small business would need to hire additional personnel and return to paper and pencil to operate. What can Government, Industry, and Small Business Do to Combat the Y2K Issues? For both Government and Industry, it will not be a problem to combat Y2K. There is work already being done to correct the problems. Both agencies, through consulting agencies and internal working groups, have developed a series of plans to combat the Y2K issue. The standard procedure is to first do an inventory and assessment on the agency. After the assessment is done, a renovation plan is developed to renovate the different systems. After renovation is completed, the system is placed into the validation phase, where it is tested using the different Y2K dates to ensure that no problems are encountered. After the testing is completed and the validation is verified, then the implementation phase is started. The implementation phase is to implement the system into action, and begin watching the system during the actual crossover dates. The cost to perform all of the plans and phases are high. On most major DOD systems, the cost ranges from $100 Thousand to over $5 Million. For industry, their costs are about the same. It does not matter if the agency does it internally or hires consultants to perform the work. The costs are normally high. These costs are absorbed in industry and/or in the Government by the consumer and/or taxpayer. Industry will pass the costs to the consumer by increasing its price on the product. The Government will either increase taxes or modify the budget to get the necessary funds to ensure Y2K compliance. The real problem lies with small business. The plans and phases that were developed by industry and Government must also be accomplished by small business. The problem is that small business does not have the money to expend on the Y2K issue. Small businesses do not have the overhead or capital to afford to test its systems and ensure that Y2K problems do not exist in its machine. Since most small businesses do not rely on consultants and do not have a computer expert on the payroll, then small businesses must rely on the software companies to ensure that the computer is Y2K compliant. Since they do not have the funds to try and make their systems Y2K compliant, then the small business must rely on Macintosh, Microsoft, and other large software companies to ensure that the software is compliant. This becomes a real issue for the small business. The major software companies have problems with ensuring that the software they are selling is Y2K compliant. An example is that Microsoft Windows 98 may be compliant, as far as the Y2K issue is concerned. But any other application software that is used with Windows 98 may not be compliant, making the system non-compliant. Microsoft can not be held responsible for other software packages built by other software companies. In addition, most software companies will not support older versions of its software. An example is that Microsoft will not support Windows version 3.1. This is based on the availability of newer versions of Windows being available to the consumer. So where does this leave the small business? The small business is in a delicate situation. The recommendation for small business is to work through the chamber of commerce and pool the resources that each small business has to get the support it needs. There is Federal and Local assistance available to help small business ensure that the Y2K issue is resolved prior to the actual dates. The real problem is that if the small business does not recognize that it has a problem, then it will not work to fix the Y2K issue in time. By combining their resources and working with the local chambers, a network of consultants could work together to fix the problem before the actual Y2K dates have come. The only other option would be to spend the money to go through the same plans and phases that the Government and Industry goes through to fix the Y2K issue. This cost would be too high for small business. The final option would be for the small business to cross his fingers and hope for the best. This would be the last option for the businessperson to work with. How to cite Abstract and Executive Overview of Y2K, Essay examples

Faust Essay Example For Students

Faust Essay The hero that never was In Faust,Johann Wolfgang von Goethe builds a dramatic poemaround the strengths and weaknesses of a man who under apersonalized definition of a hero fails miserably. A hero issomeone that humanity models themselves and their actionsafter, someone who can be revered by the masses as anindividual of great morality and strength, a man or womanthat never sacrifices his beliefs under adversity. Therefore,through his immoral actions and his unwillingness to respectothers rights and privileges, Faust is determined to be a manof un heroic proportions. It is seen early in the poem, thatFaust has very strong beliefs and a tight moral code that isdeeply rooted in his quest for knowledge. Sitting in his den,Faust describes his areas of instruction, I have, alas, studiedphilosophy, jurisprudence and medicine, too, and, worst ofall, theology with keen endeavor, through and through Itis obvious that through his studies he has valued deep andcritical thinking, however with the help of Mephisto, hewould disregard his values and pursue the pleasures of theflesh. Fausts impending downward spiral reveals the greedthat both Mephisto and Faust share. Mephistos greed isevident in the hope that he will overcome Fausts moralityand thus be victorious in his wager with God; also becausehe is the devil and that is what he does. For Faust, greedemerges because of his desire to attain physical pleasuresand therefore become whole in mind, body and spirit. Now Ill tell thee the graves to give us:Thou must begin to-morrowThe work of sorrow!The best place give to my mother,Then close at her side my brother,And me a little away,But not too very far, I pray!And here, on my right breast, my baby lay!Nobody else will lie beside me!Ah, within thine arms to hide me,That was a sweet and a gracious bliss,But no more, no more can I attain it!I would force myself on thee and constrain it,And it seems thou repellest my kiss:And yet tis thou, so good, so kind to see! If the grave is there,Death lying in wait, then come!From here to eternal rest:No further stepno, no!Thou goest away! O Henry, if I could go! But I dare not: theres no hope any more.Why should I fly? Theyll still my steps waylay!It is so wretched, forced to beg my living,And a bad conscience sharper misery giving!It is so wretched, to be strange, forsaken,And Id still be followed and taken! Be quick! Be quick!Save thy perishing child!Away! Follow the ridgeUp by the brook,Over the bridge,Into the wood,To the left, where the plank is placedIn the pool!Seize it in haste!Tis trying to rise,Tis struggling still!Save it! Save it! Nolet me go! Ill suffer no force!Grasp me not so murderously!Ive done, else, all things for the love of thee. Yes, the day comes,the last day breaks for me!My wedding day it was to be!Tell no one thou has been with Margaret!Woe for my garland! The chancesAre overtis all in vain!We shall meet once again,But not at the dances!The crowd is thronging, no word is spoken:The square belowAnd the streets overflow:The death-bell tolls, the wand is broken.I am seized, and bound, and deliveredShoved to the blockthey give the sign!Now over each neck has quiveredThe blade that is quivering over mine.Dumb lies the world like the grave!

Farmers of the Century free essay sample

Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign intention to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Mother Nature was also showing no mercy with grasshoppers, floods, and major droughts that led to a downward spiral of business that devastated many of the nations farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, numerous farms groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what the farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture.During the final twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the loss in value of silver as threats to their way of life, though in many cases their complaints were not valid. The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth, yet it hurt small shippers and farmers in many ways. We will write a custom essay sample on Farmers of the Century or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Extreme competition between rail companies necessitated some way to win business.To do this, railroads would offer rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their rails. This practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers, because often times railroad companies would charge ore to ship products short distances than they would for long trips. The rail companies justified this practice by asserting that if they did not rebate, they would not make enough profit to stay in business. So while the railroads felt that they must use this practice to make a profit, the farmers were justified in complaining, for they were seriously injured by it.A perfect example of this fact can be found in The Octopus by Frank Norris. In The Octopus a farmer named Dyke discovers that the railroad has increased their freight charges from two to five cents a pound. This new rate, Date up every cent of his gains. He stood there ruined. The railroads regularly used rebates and drawbacks to help win the business of large shippers, and made up this loss in profit by increasing the cost to smaller shippers such as farmers. As a result, many farmers, already hurt by the downslide in agriculture, were ruined.Thus, the farmers of the late nineteenth century had a valid complaint against railroad shippers since they were severely hurt by the unfair practices of the railroads. Near the end of the nineteenth century, business began to centralize, leading o the rise Of monopolies and trusts. Falling prices, along with the need for better efficiency in industry, led to the rise of such companies as Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil, which controlled a majority of the nations supply of raw steel and oil respectively.The rise of there monopolies and trusts concerned many farmers; for they felt that the disappearance of competition would lead to erratic and unreasonable price rises that would hurt consumers. James B. Weaver, the Populist Partys presidential candidate in the 1892 election, summed up the feelings of many Americans of the period n his work, A Call to Action: An Interpretation of the Great Uprising. He wrote, It is clear that trusts reader conflict with the Common law.They are monopolies organized to destroy competition and restrain tradeOnce they secure control of a given line of business, they are master of the situations]They limit the price of the raw material so as to impoverish the producer, drive him to a single market, reduce the price of every class of l abor connected with the trade, throw out of employment large numbers of personal effeminately increase the price to the consumerists main paeans of the trust are threats, intimidation, bribery, fraud, wreck, and pillage. However, the facts refute many of Weavers charges against the monopolies. While it is true that many used questionable means to achieve their monopoly, many Were not out to crush competitors. To the contrary, John D, Rockefeller, head of Standard Oil, competed ruthlessly not to crush other refiners but to persuade them to join Standard Oil and share the business so all could profit. Furthermore, the fear that the monopolies would raise prices unreasonably was never realized.Prices tended to fall near the end of the sasss and created what some have called a consumers millennium. Thus, the agrarian complaints against monopolies were not incredibly valid since the monopolies did very little harm to farmers of the time. Deflation and falling prices during the late sasss led to the most heated complaint of farmers and the Populist Party that grew out of agricultural discontent. Deflation had been running rampant during the latter half Of the sasss, as evidenced by the drastic fall in the value of wheat and cotton. To eight the deflationary trend, the Populists demanded a reversal of the Coinage Act of 1 873, which denominated silver. Here again, the farmers are wrong in the assessment of their problems. It is true that the countrys money supply was not adequate. United States government data from 1961 shows that though the countrys population between 1865 and 1 875 increased by nearly four million, the countrys money supply actually decreased. However, many farmers used the money supply to explain problems that indeed had very little to do with the money supply at all.This is best summed up in a quote from J. Laurence Laughlins article, Causes of Agricultural Unrest. He says, Feeling the coils of some mysterious power about them, the farmers[leave attributed their misfortunes to the Construction in prices, cause, as they think, not by an increased production Of wheat throughout the world, but by the Disparity of gold. History has shown that battle between gold and silver had little real meaning. The real battle was not between gold and silver, but instead what would be done to check deflation.William McKinley, in his 1 896 acceptance speech, said, Free silver would not mean that silver dollars were to be freely had without cost or labor [11th would not make labor easier, the hours shorter, or the pay better. Would not make the farming less laborious or more profitable. Farmers did not see that the silver would just lead to more problems. These facts prove that the farmers view of silver was not sound, thus invalidating their complaints about the nations financial system. The farmers of the late sasss had many reasons for being dissatisfied with their situation.Unfair railroad practices like rebates and drawbacks hurt them severely. Yet in some cases, these farmers complaints were not justified. Many of the fears they had about monopolies happened in very few occasions. In fact, prices went down in the latter part of the 1 asss. Finally, history has proven that their view of silver as a way to end deflation and the decrease in crop values was inaccurate. The farmers of the period, though, used these issues to change the shape of American politics and bring it to face to face with the problems the country was facing.

Super Size Me Essay Example

Super Size Me Essay Example Super Size Me Essay Super Size Me Essay Morgan Spurlock, was the age of 33 when he ventured on his quest to answer the question?   â€Å"What would happen to my body, if I ate exclusively at McDonald’s fast food restaurant, eating 3 full meals a day for 30 days?†Ã‚   Not only did he have to take in tremendous calories, but he also had to Super Size his portions, when ever asked if he would like to do so. The health conditions that Morgan Spurlock developed were a direct result from eating the high fat and calorie and foods that he ingested during that 30 day period. The fact that Morgan Spurlock was a of a young age, healthy and of average weight for his height, 185 1/2 pounds and 1.88 millimeters tall, before the experiment ever took place, gives us a place to start from.   From that point of his weigh in until the thirty day period ended, Morgan Spurlock had gained a whopping 24.5 pounds and his overall body mass index grew from 23.2 to 27 which made him overweight for his body structure. When Morgan Spurlock learned of the great number of people in America who suffered from being overweight, he launched a plan to investigate how America’s love for fast food affected their weight and health.   By starting at an average size, he very clearly confirmed that his belief that the fatty food, directly affected the diets of individuals who ate at McDonalds, repeatedly. McDonald’s breakfast launched Spurlock’s study, and by the second day he ate ingested his first meal that was Super Sized!   He ate a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, with the Super Sized fries and drink.   He reported that he was feeling uncomfortable while he was eating the meal and eventually vomited in the parking lot of McDonald’s.   He steadily ate the food and gained nearly ten pounds. Feelings of depression, which his girl friend, Alexandra Jamieson confirmed, participated in Spurlock’s experiment, said that Spurlock lethargy, and several headaches, learns that are lifted when he eats more of McDonald’s fast food.   One of his doctors said he was addicted to the unhealthy food.   Soon after, while continuing to eat the same food, he gained another ten pounds.   He now weighed in at 203 pounds and at the end of the month he weighed in at 210 pounds. When Morgan Spurlock begins to have palpitations in his heart, near the twentieth day of the experiment,   he went to see on of his physicians who was involved in his experiment.   He didn’t take any medications because he felt it would interfere with his experiment. One of the health problems that Morgan Spurlock was diagnosed with on completion of his experiment was liver problems.   Dr. Daryl Isaacs confirmed that Morgan Spurlock’s liver was pate and immediately advised him that he should stop the experiment or else he could suffer with a serious heart problem.   Dr. Isaacs told him that he would be like the character in a movie, where the person intentionally drank excessively, trying to kill himself.   Spurlock was very concerned about what the Pysician reported to him, but continued on with his mission of proving that fastfood is bad for your health. I’ll begin with the liver problem that Spurlock developed during his fast food eating frenzy.   When Dr. Daryl Isaacs examined Spurlock, he concluded that he had developed the pate liver.   Non alcoholic fatty liver disease is an accumulated deposit of fat into the liver without the use of alcohol as a contributor.   This fat causes the liver to swell.   Insulin resistance is believed to be a factor in this liver inflamation. The heart palpitations in which Spurlock experienced was due to the fact that he incurred high blood pressure from the high calorie, high fate, and no exercise routine that contributed to his heart palpitations.   (Merck Manual of Medical Information,1997) â€Å"Whether the heart palpitations are normal depends on answers to a number of questions, such as whether anything seems to bring them on, whether they started suddenly or gradually.†Ã‚   It was quite obvious when a person goes from a healthy life style and nutritional diet to a diet consisting only of McDonald’s fast food, where he is to only eat a salad, every tenth day, that he is going to incur health problems, as Spurlock most certainly did. (The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007) states that there is a need for an efficient daily diet to sustain a healthy heart.   High cholesterol, high fat, low nutritional value foods contribute to an unhealthy heart and body. (Roberta Larson Duyff, 2006) What we eat determines how healthy we are.  Ã‚   Spurlock’s study did prove beneficial and he was able to shed light on the importance of a healthy diet and the need for a healthy daily exercise routine.

Exchange Mergers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Exchange Mergers - Essay Example Mergers continued to occur in the 1970’s and 1980s but it wasn’t until the 1990s that mergers started to occur for a different reason. After 1990 mergers were being form to obtain operating efficiencies among two entities to compete against other players in an industry. Mergers have occurred in many industry including the airline, computer and retail industry. A particular business segment in which merger activity was not a common occurrence was among stock exchange institutions. There had been mergers in the past, but recently this segment of the financial services industry has been bombarded by multiple huge types of merger transactions among players in this industries including transaction across different international boundaries. This industry has changed and new alliances are changing the rules of the game. This paper studies the new tendencies of merging among stock exchanges and it describes the implication these new tendencies have in the Canadian exchanges and the investment atmosphere. A stock exchange is a place on which shares of stocks and common stocks equivalents are bought and sold, basically a marketplace for financial assets (Investorwords). There are numerous stock exchanges in different parts of the worlds such as Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, London, China, Europe among other locations. All these marketplace work independently but always have cooperated with each other when possible to satisfy the needs of clients when orders where placed for stocks not traded in their particular marketplace. The stock exchange business interest in the stock market is to have companies registered their stocks with their particular stock exchange to benefit from commission transaction of having companies participate in their particular exchange. The competition among exchanges became fierce and like other industries cost began to rise due to inflation and

Compensation (Human Resources) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Compensation (Human Resources) - Essay Example Incentive plans normally endow with compensation foundation on a formula, on accomplishment of concert objectives, on an unrestricted decision, or an amalgamation of these. An organization internally could be measured adjacent to the individual performance. These plans consist of stock-based strategy, which put forward stock options based on stock performance or finance policy, which suggest cash booty joined to congregate objectives. These plans recompense performance with the time period of 2 to 5 years. The key similarity among the Apple Inc and the Microsoft is in the efficient potential by both the company sales. Good sales incentives are provided to the employees in both the organization and the bonus provided by both the companies are depended on the profitability of the company. The company insists in the working hours for making it a success in the market. The differences in the company are in terms of the payment structure. The basic payment provided by Microsoft are high compared to that of apple inc† Microsoft is reportedly trying to hire away Apples retail employees by bribing them with... wait for it, better wages. People that have spoken to The Loop on condition of anonymity confirm that Microsoft has contacted a number of Apples retail store managers to work in their stores. In addition to "significant raises," the managers have also been offered moving expenses in some cases.† (Microsoft reportedly poaching apple retail staff, 2009). The dissimilarity in the strategies of the companies occurs due to certain reasons. The main idea in the planning of the strategy is based on the efficiency in the company’s operations, productivity and profitability. Various reasons are there in expecting the positive relationship in the organization. The level of the executive employees also plays a vital role in the organization size and the positioning of the strategy. The different contingency approaches

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