International Journal of Accounting and Financial Essay Example for Free

International Journal of Accounting and Financial Essay ABSTRACT The role of Indian mutual fund industry as significant financial service in financial market has really been noteworthy. In fact, the mutual fund industry has emerged as an important segment of financial market of India, especially in channelizing the savings of millions of individuals into the investment in equity and debt instruments. Mutual funds are seemingly the easiest and the least stressful way to invest in the stock market. Quiet a large amount of money has been invested in mutual funds during the past few years. Any investor would like to invest in a reputed Mutual Fund organization. Mutual funds are financial intermediaries concerned with mobilizing savings of those who have surplus and the canalization of these savings in those avenues where there is a demand for funds. These intermediaries employ their resources in such a manner as to provide combined benefits of low risk, steady return, high liquidity and capital appreciation through diversification and expert management. Reforms in the  Indian economic system and the opening up of the economy have been the reasons for the tremendous growth in the Indian capital market. This study analyzes the impact of different demographic variables on the attitude of investors towards mutual funds. Apart from this, it also focuses on the benefits delivered by mutual funds to investors. To this end, 200 respondents of Solapur City, having different demographic profiles were surveyed. The study reveals that the majority of investors have still not formed any attitude towards mutual fund investments. KEYWORDS: Mutual Fund, Investors, Solapur City INTRODUCTION Mutual fund is a pool of money collected from investors and is invested according to certain investment options. A mutual fund is a trust that pools the saving of a no. of investors who share a common financial goal. A mutual fund is created when investors put their money together. It is, therefore, a pool of investor’s fund. The money thus collected is then invested in capital market instruments such as shares, debentures and other securities. The income earned through these investments and the capital appreciations realized are shared by its unit holders in proportion to the no. of units owned by them. The most important characteristics of a fund are that the contributors and the beneficiaries of the fund are the same class of people namely the investors. The term mutual fund means the investors contribute to the pool and also benefit from the pool. The pool of funds held mutually by investors is the mutual fund. A mutual fund business is to invest the funds thus collected according to the wishes of the investors who created the pool. Usually the investor’s appoint professional investment managers create a product and offer it for investment to the investors. This project represents a share in the pool and pre status investment  Pritam P. Kothari Shivganga C. Mindargi  objectives. Thus, a mutual fund is the most suitable investment for a common man as it offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified, professionally managed basket of securities at relatively low cost. EVOLUTION OF INDIAN MUTUAL FUND INDUSTRY The formation of Unit Trust of India marked the evolution of the Indian mutual fund industry in the year 1963. The primary objective at that time was to attract the small investors and it was made possible through the collective efforts of the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India. The history of mutual fund industry in India can be better understood divided into following phases: Establishment and Growth of Unit Trust of India 1964-87 Unit Trust of India enjoyed complete monopoly when it was established in the year 1963 by an act of Parliament. UTI was set up by the Reserve Bank of India and it continued to operate under the regulatory control of the RBI until the two were de-linked in 1978 and the entire control was transferred in the hands of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI). UTI launched its first scheme in 1964, named as Unit Scheme 1964 (US-64), which attracted the largest number of investors in any single investment scheme over the years. UTI launched more innovative schemes in 1970s and 80s to suit the needs of different investors. It launched ULIP in 1971, six more schemes between 1981-84, Childrens Gift Growth Fund and India Fund (Indias first offshore fund) in 1986, Mastershare (Inidas first equity diversified scheme) in 1987 and Monthly Income Schemes (offering assured returns) during 1990s. By the end of 1987, UTIs assets under management grew ten times to Rs 6700 crores. Entry of Public Sector Funds 1987-1993 The Indian mutual fund industry witnessed a number of public sector players entering the market in the year 1987. In November 1987, SBI Mutual Fund from the State Bank of India became the first non-UTI mutual fund in India. SBI Mutual Fund was later followed by Canbank Mutual Fund, LIC Mutual Fund, Indian Bank Mutual Fund, Bank of India Mutual Fund, GIC Mutual Fund and PNB Mutual Fund. By 1993, the assets under management of the industry increased seven times to Rs. 47,004 crores. However, UTI remained to be the leader with about 80% market share. 1992-93 UTI Public Sector Total Amount Mobilised 11,057 1,964 13,021 Assets Under Management 38,247 8,757 47,004 Mobilisation as % of Gross Domestic Savings 5.20% 0.90% 6.10% Emergence of Private Secor Funds 1993-96 The permission given to private sector funds including foreign fund management companies (most of them entering through joint ventures with Indian promoters) to enter the mutal fund industry in 1993, provided a wide range of choice to investors and more competition in the industry. Private funds introduced innovative products, investment techniques and investor-servicing technology. By 1994-95, about 11 private sector funds had launched their schemes. Growth and SEBI Regulation 1996-2004 The mutual fund industry witnessed robust growth and stricter regulation from the SEBI after the year 1996. The mobilization of funds and the number of players operating in the industry reached new heights as investors started showing more interest in mutual funds. A Study of Investors Attitude towards Mutual Fund with Special Reference to Inversotrs in Solapur City Investors interests were safeguarded by SEBI and the Government offered tax benefits to the investors in order to encourage them. SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 was introduced by SEBI that set uniform standards for all mutual funds in India. The Union Budget in 1999 exempted all dividend incomes in the hands of investors from income tax. Various Investor Awareness Programmes were launched during this phase, both by SEBI and AMFI, with an objective to educate investors and make them informed about the mutual fund industry. Growth and Consolidation 2004 Onwards The industry has also witnessed several mergers and acquisitions recently, examples of which are acquisition of schemes of Alliance Mutual Fund by Birla Sun Life, Sun FC Mutual Fund and PNB Mutual Fund by Principal Mutual Fund. Simultaneously, more international mutual fund players have entered India like Fidelity, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund etc. There were 29 funds as at the end of March 2006. This is a continuing phase of growth of the industry through consolidation and entry of new international and private sector players. Indian mutual fund industry reached Rs 1,50,537 crore by March 2004. It is estimated that by 2010 March-end, the total assets of all scheduled commercial banks should be Rs 40,90,000 crore. The annual composite rate of growth is expected 13.4% during the rest of the decade. In the last 5 years there is an annual growth rate of 9%. According to the current growth rate, by year 2010, Mutual fund  India assets will be double FEATURES THOSE INVESTORS LIKE IN MUTUAL FUND If mutual funds are emerging as the favorite investment vehicle it is because of the many advantages. They have over other forms and avenues of investing parties for the investors who has limited resources available in terms of Capital and ability to carry out detailed reserves and market monitoring. These are the major advantages offered by mutual fund to all investors: Professional Management Mutual Funds provide the services of experienced and skilled professionals, backed by a dedicated investment research team that analyses the performance and prospects of companies and selects suitable investments to achieve the objectives of the scheme. Diversification Mutual Funds invest in a number of companies across a broad cross-section of industries and sectors. This diversification reduces the risk because seldom do all stocks decline at the same time and in the same proportion. You achieve this diversification through a Mutual Fund with far less money than you can do on your own. Convenient Administration Investing in a Mutual Fund reduces paperwork and helps you avoid many problems such as bad deliveries, delayed payments and follow up with brokers and companies. Mutual Funds save your time and make investing easy and convenient. Return Potential Over a medium to long-term, Mutual Funds have the potential to provide a higher return as they invest in a diversified basket of selected securities. Pritam P. Kothari Shivganga C. Mindargi Low Costs Mutual Funds are a relatively less expensive way to invest compared to directly investing in the capital markets because the benefits of scale in brokerage, custodial and other fees translate into lower costs for investors Liquidity In open-end schemes, the investor gets the money back promptly at net asset value related prices from the Mutual Fund. In closed-end schemes, the units can be sold on a stock exchange at the prevailing market price or the investor can avail of the facility of direct repurchase at NAV related prices by the Mutual Fund Transparency You get regular information on the value of your investment in addition to disclosure on the specific investments made by your scheme, the proportion invested in each class of assets and the fund managers investment strategy and outlook Flexibility Through features such as regular investment plans, regular withdrawal plans and dividend reinvestment plans, you can systematically invest or withdraw funds according to your needs and convenience Affordability Investors individually may lack sufficient funds to invest in high-grade stocks. A mutual fund because of its large corpus allows even a small investor to take the benefit of its investment strategy. Well Regulated All Mutual Funds are registered with SEBI and they function within the provisions of strict regulations designed to protect the interests of investors. The operations of Mutual Funds are regularly monitored by SEBI. DISADVANTAGES OF MUTUAL FUNDS Above I have mentioned the various advantages of Mutual Funds but it also suffers from a lot of drawbacks as the market is volatile and it is ever affected by national as well as international factors, these days we can see that crude oil prices in International market has become an important factor  in determining the market movement. Here are some disadvantages as cited by me and by survey: Fluctuating Returns Mutual funds are like many other investments without a guaranteed return: there is always the possibility that the value of your mutual fund will depreciate. Unlike fixed-income products, such as bonds and Treasury bills, mutual funds experience price fluctuations along with the stocks that make up the fund. When deciding on a particular fund to buy, you need to research the risks involved just because a professional manager is looking after the fund, that doesn’t mean the performance will be always good Diversification Although diversification is one of the keys to successful investing, many mutual fund investors tend to over diversify. The idea of diversification is to reduce the risks associated with holding a single security; over diversification (also known as diversification) occurs when investors acquire many funds that are highly related and, as a result, don’t get A Study of Investors Attitude towards Mutual Fund with Special Reference to Inversotrs in Solapur City the risk reducing benefits of diversification. At the other extreme, just because you own mutual funds doesn’t mean you are automatically diversified. For example, a fund that invests only in a particular industry or region is still relatively risky. For example: Sect oral Funds Cash and More Cash As you know already, mutual funds pool money from thousands of investors, so everyday investors are putting money into the fund as well as withdrawing investments. To maintain liquidity and the capacity to accommodate withdrawals, funds typically have to keep a large portion of their portfolios as cash. Having ample cash is great for liquidity, but money  sitting around as cash is not working for you and thus is not very advantageous. Costs Mutual funds provide investors with professional management, but it comes at a cost. Funds will typically have a range of different fees that reduce the overall payout. In mutual funds, the fees are classified into two categories: shareholder fees and annual operating fees. The shareholder fees, in the forms of loads and redemption fees are paid directly by shareholders purchasing or selling the funds. The annual fund operating fees are charged as an annual percentage usually ranging from 1-3%. These fees are assessed to mutual fund investors regardless of the performance of the fund. As you can imagine, in years when the fund doesn’t make money, these fees only magnify losses. Figure 1: Structure of Mutual Fund A mutual is a set up in the form of trust, which has sponsor, trustee, assets management company (AMC) and custodian. Sponsor is the person who acts alone or in combination with another body corporate and establishes a mutual fund. Sponsor must contribute at least 40% of the net worth of the investment managed and meet the eligibility criteria prescribed under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Mutual Funds) regulations, 1996. The sponsor is not responsible or liable for any loss or shortfall resulting from the operation of the schemes beyond the initial contribution made by it towards setting up of Mutual Fund. The Mutual Fund is constituted as a trust in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 by the Sponsor. Trustee is usually a company (corporate body) or a board of trustees (body of individuals). The main responsibility of the trustee is to safeguard the interest of the unit holders and also ensure that AMC functions in the interest of investors’ and in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Mutual Fund) Regulations 1996 the provisions of the Trust deed and the offer Document of the respective schemes. The AMC is appointed by the Trustees Pritam P. Kothari Shivganga C. Mindargi as the investment Manager of the Mutual Fund. The AMC is required to be approved by SEBI to act as an asset management company of the Mutual Fund. The AMC if so authorized by the Trust Deed appoints the Registrar and Transfer Agent to agent the mutual fund. The registrar processes the application form, redemption requests and dispatches account statements to the unit holders. The Registrar and Transfer agent also handles communications with investors’ and updates investor records. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Lenard et., al. (2003) empirically investigated investor’s attitudes toward mutual funds. The results indicate that the decision to switch funds within a fund family is affected by investor’s attitude towards risk, current asset allocation, investment losses, investment mix, capital base of the fund age, initial fund performance, investment mix, fund and portfolio diversification. The study reported that these factors are crucial to be considered before switching funds regardless of whether they invest in non-employer plans or in both employer and non-employer plans. Bollen (2006) studied the dynamics of investor fund flows in a sample of socially screened equity mutual funds and compared the relation between annual fund flows lagged performance in SR funds to the same relation in a matched sample of conventional funds. The result revealed that the extra-financial SR attribute serves to dampen the rate at which SR investors trade mutual funds. The study noted that the differences between SR funds and their conventional counterparts are robust over time and persist as funds age. The study found that the preferences of SR investors may be represented by conditional multi-attribute utility function (especially when SR funds deliver positive returns). The study remarked that mutual fund companies can expect SR investors to be more loyal than investors in ordinary funds. Walia and Kiran (2009) studied investor’s risk and return perception towards mutual funds. The study examined investors perception towards risk involved in mutual funds, return from mutual funds in comparison to other financial avenues, transparency and disclosure practices. The study investigated  problems of investors encountered with due to unprofessional services of mutual funds. The study found that majority of individual investors doesn’t consider mutual funds as highly risky investment. In fact on a ranking scale it is considered to be on higher side when compared with other financial avenues. The study also reported that significant relationship of interdependence exists between income level of investors and their perception for investment returns from mutual funds investment. Saini et., al. (2011) analyzed investor’s behavior, investors’ opinion and perception relating to various issues like type of mutual fund scheme, its objective, role of financial advisors / brokers, sources of information, deficiencies in the provision of services, investors’ opinion relating to factors that attract them to invest in mutual and challenges before the Indian mutual fund industry etc. The study found that investors seek for liquidity, simplicity in offer documents, online trading, regular updates through SMS and stringent follow up of provisions laid by AMFI. Singh (2012) conducted an empirical study of Indian investors and observed that most of the respondents do not have much awareness about the various function of mutual funds and they are bit confused regarding investment in mutual funds. The study found that some demographic factors like gender, income and level of education have their significant impact over the attitude towards mutual funds. On the contrary age and occupation have not been found influencing the investor’s attitude. The study noticed that return potential and liquidity have been perceived to be most lucrative benefits of investment in mutual funds and the same are followed by flexibility, transparency and affordability. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Mutual funds have their drawbacks and may not be for everyone. No investment is risk free. If the entire stock market declines in value, the value of mutual fund shares will go down as well, no matter how balanced the portfolio. A Study of Investors Attitude towards Mutual Fund with Special Reference to Inversotrs in Solapur City Investors encounter fewer risks when they invest in mutual funds than when they buy and sell stocks on their own. However, anyone who invests through a mutual fund runs the risk of losing money. All funds charge administrative fees to cover their day-to-day expenses. Some funds also charge sales commissions or â€Å"loads† to compensate brokers, financial consultants, or financial planners. When he invests in a mutual fund, they depend on the fund’s manager to make the right decisions regarding the fund’s portfolio. If the invests in Index Funds, they foregoes management risk, because these funds do not employ managers. Though these are the problems in the investment of mutual funds, in the recent days most of the investors preferred to invest their funds on mutual funds. In this background, the research has made an attempt to study the investors’ preference for mutual funds in Solapur City. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The present study is based upon the results of survey conducted on 200 mutual fund investors. The implications of the study are subject to the limitations of sample size, psychological and emotional characteristics of surveyed population. SCOPE OF THE STUDY This paper provides Future of Mutual Funds industry information as well as awareness level amongst people for Mutual Funds. Also this project report of Mutual Funds gives an outlook to management as to how the mutual funds are performing in the current market situation as a result what may be the future of this industry. This paper on mutual funds is informative the students who want to understand and undertake assignments in the industry. This study also facilitates the general people who can understand the importance and explore the new option for investment in Mutual Funds. Different financial institutions provide services that are both complementary to and competitive with each other. A well built financial system directly contributes to the growth of the country. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This study is descriptive in nature based on survey method. The study aims at finding out the attitude of the investors towards investment in mutual funds in Solapur city. This study was based mainly on primary sources. The primary data was collected from the investors of mutual funds with help of the questionnaire. The secondary data were collected from the books, records and journals. By adopting convenience sampling, 200 respondents were selected for this study. The essential data were collected with the help of questionnaire. The data collected from the period of January 2011 to April 2011. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Figure: 2 Showing Pattern of Investment Pritam P. Kothari Shivganga C. Mindargi From above figure it is clear that 75% investors are invested in open ended schemes where as 15% invested in closed ended schemes in mutual fund. Figure: 3 Reason for Investment in Mutual Fund From above figure it is clear that and 42% investors say that they invested money in mutual fund for tax assumption. 33% investors say that they invested money in mutual fund for higher returns. 16% investors say that they invested money in mutual fund for value creation in fund. 9% investors say that they invested money in mutual fund for other reason. Figure: 4 Showing the Reason of Investors that not Invested Money in Mutual Fund From above figure is clear that 50% investors say that they not interested to invest money in mutual fund. 33% investors say that they have imperfect knowledge in mutual fund, so they are not invested. 8.5% investors say that they invested in govt. bond. 8.5% investors has other reason so they not invested money in mutual fund. Figure: 5 Showing Type of Investment Investors Should be Preferred A Study of Investors Attitude towards Mutual Fund with Special Reference to Inversotrs in Solapur City From above figure it is clear that investors invest money in fixed deposits. 15 25% investors invest money in gold/real estates. 17% investors invest money in mutual fund. 8% investors invest money in bond/debentures. Remaining 17% investors invest money in shares. Figure: 6 Showing Returns Investor get from their Investment From above figure it is clear that 70% investors are gaining 5-15% returns from their investment. 23% are gaining 15-30% returns from their investment. 5% investors are gaining 30-45% returns from their investment. Remaining only 2% investors is gaining above 45% returns from their investment. Figure: 7 Showing Duration of Investment From above it is clear 80% investors are dealing in short term duration whereas 20% investors are dealing in long term duration. Figure: 8 Showing the Investors Experience in Mutual Fund Pritam P. Kothari Shivganga C. Mindargi From above figure it is clear that 73% investors say that they are having bad experience in mutual fund. 12% investors say that they are having good experience in mutual fund. Remaining 15% investors say that their experience is ok. FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS Findings †¢The trend for investment is changing rapidly besides the traditional pattern of investment and people today they are ready to undertake risk and also bear the volatility of changing mutual fund market scenario. †¢This shows that people with Middle Income Group are more attractive this market and are ready to bear the risk. †¢It is observed that 75% investors have invested open ended schemes that they want higher returns on their investment rather than investing in closed ended schemes in mutual fund. †¢It is observed that 42% investors have invested money for tax assumption.33% investors have invested money for higher returns in their investment.16% investors have invested money for value creation in fund. And remaining 9% investors have invested money for other reason. †¢It is observed that 50% investors have not interested to invest money in mutual fund.33% investors have imperfect knowledge so they not invested money in mutual fund.9% investors find govt. securities bond is better that’s way they not invested money in mutual fund. And remaining 8% investors have other reason so they not invested money in mutual fund. †¢It is observed that more businessmen were inclined towards investing in current account. The ladies were inclined to invest their money in Gold and jewelleries. Service class people and retired class people prefer more saving and fixed deposits People with high income. †¢It is observed that 70% investors have invested to getting returns in the range of 5-15% which shows in short span of time they are getting good returns and more than expectations. †¢It is observed that 80% investors have invested in short term duration which indicates the investors have not ready to invest in long term period due to various risks associated with long term duration of investment. †¢On asking how they get knowledge of mutual fund a large number of them attributed to print media. Even banks today follow the role of the investment advisors. Very few get any information from the e-media or Hence, AMCs must increase the awareness about their product through Electronic media (TVs, Cables, Radios etc.) as well as and should not just constrained itself to the print advertisement those who do not read newspaper. SUGGESTIONS Investor’s Point of View The question that entire customer, irrespective of the age group and financial status, think of is- Are mutual funds are a safe option? What makes them safe? The basis of mutual fund industry’s safety is the way the business is defined and regulation of law. Since the mutual fund invests in the capital market instruments, so proper knowledge is essential. Hence the essential requirement is well informed seller and equally informed buyer who  understands and helped them to understand the product (here we can say the capital market and the money market instruments) is the essential preconditions. A Study of Investors Attitude towards Mutual Fund with Special Reference to Inversotrs in Solapur City Being Prudent Investor One Should †¢Ask one’s agent to give details of different schemes and match the appropriate ones. †¢Go to the company records or the fund house regarding any queries if one is not satisfied by the agents. †¢Investors should always keep an eye on the performance of the scheme and other good schemes as well which are available in the market for the closed comparison. †¢Never invest blindly in the investments before going through the fact sheets, annual reports etc. of the company. Since, according to the Guidelines of SEBI The AMCs are bound to disclose all the relevant data that is necessary for the investment purpose of investors. Company’s (Mutual Fund Companies) Point of View  Following measures can be taken by the company for getting higher investments in the mutual fund schemes: †¢Educate the agents or the salesmen properly so that they can take up the queries of the customer effectively. †¢Set up separate customer care divisions where the customers can anytime pose their query, regarding the scheme or the current NAV etc. These customer care units can work out in accordance with the requirements of the customer and facilitates them to choose the scheme that suits their financial status. †¢Conduct seminars or programs about mutual fund where every information about the product is outlined including the risk factor associated with the different classes of assets. †¢Brokers should reduce the brokerage charges for intra day and delivery based so that the investor can save more amounts to generate extra investment for the investor as well as for the Mutual Fund companies. †¢Mutual Fund companies should try to increase the promotion and advertisement strategies for awareness of Mutual fund in solapur city. CONCLUSIONS The mutual fund industry is growing at a tremendous pace. A large number of plans have come up from different financial resources. With the stock markets oaring the investors are attracted towards these schemes. Only a small segment of the investors still in Mutual Funds and the main source  sources of information still are the financial advisors followed by advertisements in different media. The Indian investors generally invest over period of 2-3 years. Also there is a tendency to invest in fixed deposits due to the security attached to it. In order to excel and make mutual funds a success, companies still need to create awareness and understand the psyche of the Indian customer. REFERENCES Agapova, Anna, 2011, „The Role of Money Market Mutual Funds in Mutual Fund Families , Journal of Applied ‟ 1. Finance, Vol. 21, Issue. 1, pp. 87-102. Agarwal, Vikas; Boyson, Nicole M.; Naik, Narayan Y, 2009, „Hedge Funds for Retail Investors? An Examination of Hedged Mutual Funds , Journal of Financial Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 44, Issue 2, pp. 273-305. ‟ 2. 12 Pritam P. Kothari Shivganga C. Mindargi 3. A. Vennila, R. Nandhagopal(2012) â€Å"Investors’ Preference towards Mutual Funds in Coimbatore City European Journal of Social Sciences ISSN 1450-2267 Vol.29 No.1 (2012), pp. 115-125 4. Binod Kumar Singh (2011) â€Å"A Study on Investors’ Attitude towards Mutual Funds as an Investment Option† JOURNAL OF ASIAN BUSINESS STRATEGY, VOL. 1(2): 8-15 5. Badrinath, S.G Gubellini, S, (2011), „On the characteristics and performance of long-short, market-neutral and bear mutual funds , Journal of Banking Finance, Vol. 35 Issue 7, pp.1762-1776. ‟ 6. Dranikoff L, Koller, T. and Schneider, A, â€Å"Divestiture: Strategy’s Missing Link†, Harvard Business Review, May 2002, 80 (5). 7. Dr.Nishi Sharma (2009) â€Å"Indian Inverstors Perception towards mutual funds† Business Management Dynamics Vol.2, No.2, Aug 2012, pp.01-09 8. Gil-Bazo, Javier; Ruiz Verd, Pablo, 2009, „The Relation between Price and Performance in the Mutual Fund Industry , Journal of Finance, Vol. 64, Issue 5, pp. 2153-2183. ‟ 9. Hansen M and Nohria N, â€Å"What’s your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?† Harvard Business Review, MarchApril, 1999, 77 (2).1 10. Journal of Marketing, 32 (October), 65-68, 1968. 11. Rajeswari, T.R., and V.E. RamaMoorthy, 2001, An Empirical Study on Factors Influencing the Mutual Fund Scheme Selection by Retail Investors . Retrieved on May 2010 http://www.utiicm .com/Cmc/PDFs/ ‟ 2001/rajeswari.pdf. 12. Singh, Chander, 2004, „Performance of mutual funds in India – an empirical evidence , ICFAI journal of applied ‟ finance December, pp. 81-98. 13. Subbash C. Jain, â€Å"Marketing Planning and Strategy†, South Western College Publishing, Sixth Edition, 2000. 14. Singh, B. K. and Jha, A.K. 2009, „An empirical study on awareness acceptability of mutual fund , Regional ‟ Student s Conference, ICWAI, pp. 49-55. ‟ 15. Winer, C. Strategic Thinking: An executive Perspective, Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, 2000

Plan for Closing the Achievement Gap for Latino Students

Plan for Closing the Achievement Gap for Latino Students Chapter 1 Definition of the Problem The American education experienced long and sustained period of school reforms filled with significant challenges. The policymakers as well as the governors made the school reform movement their top project priority since the 1980s (Sindelar, Shearer, Yendol-Hoppey Liebert, 2006). The school reform movement undergone profound achievements in the past and continues to tackle significant challenges although it has achieved its goal in creating changes to school conditions, student performance, and institutional policy. The National Governors Association for Best Practices is looking into the achievement gap challenge facing the schools today (Grant, 2009). This requires creating new policies and developing old policies to close in the achievement gap problems happening in several states. The policy primer discloses the nature of the achievement gap problem, its history, and the different states efforts to solve the existing problem. The primer also discusses alternative solutions and strategies at state level including important issues and factors to avoid in implementing solutions. Understanding the achievement gap context The achievement gap context is all about the differences one sees between people coming from different race and class (Chubb Loveless, 2002). There is an increasing difference concerning the performance of students coming from the disadvantaged minority as compared to the performance demonstrated by white students of the same grade level (Chubb Loveless, 2002). This achievement gap is a clear issue of racism and the effects of the power of the privilege. Educational institutions, educators, and policymakers face genuine lack of understanding creating and developing schools that can cope up with the context of a diversified society. The challenge goes on with the creation of correct policy that could help close the achievement gap. Federal response to the urgent persisting achievement gap problem The No Child Left Behind Act or NCLB is an attempt by the Federal government to close the achievement gap (Chamberlain, 2004). The policy set forth a new accountability practice for American schools to set the same standards with detailed plan for testing performance to ensure students meet preset standards of the schools. The framework of the NCLB allows a student to transfer to other schools located at the same district if he fails to pass the test performance set by the school. It is the responsibility of the school district to provide persistently failing students supplemental services as well as choices to study at other schools operating within the same district (Chamberlain, 2004). The school needs to demonstrate adequate progress about the problems of persistently failing students. Failure to show progress makes them open for state law corrective action (Chamberlain, 2004). The schools focus their performance targets based on the conditions of the students with disabilities a nd coming from disadvantaged family background. This includes students coming from ethnic or minority group that possess limited English language skills and proficiency. However, well performing schools are still required to alter school practices, policies, and governance to accelerate and enhance the educational experience of the disadvantaged group of students. The state considers a school as well performing only when they become successful in bridging the achievement gap. The intervention of the new Federal law on the educational scene has created quite a stir among schools struggling to meet the new set of policies and criteria. How do you measure the achievement gap? NCLB Act is clearly a Federal strategy to challenge the achievement gap brought by the effects and challenges of inequality among students in the US. Schools measure achievement gap by comparing African-American test scores and academic performance with the Hispanic group and white Americans using standard assessment tests (Chamberlain, 2004). Survey statistics gathered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reflected a narrow gap between Hispanic and African-American 17 year old students reading scores for the period 1975 to 1988 (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). The gap becomes wider or somehow constant in the areas of mathematics and reading during 1990 to 1999. The NAEP charts on achievement gap raised concern over the intelligence and skills of the disadvantaged minority students. The Education Trust analysis on the NAEP data bothered policymakers. It concluded that the grade 12 level disadvantaged minority students performed similar to the level of the students studying four years behind them (Ferguson Mehta, 2004). The skills of the Latino and African-American 17 year old students are comparable to the skills possessed by the 13-year-old White students in the subjects of English, science, and mathematics (Ferguson Mehta, 2004). The educational attainment is another way to measure the achievement gap between races. The different ethnicities showed wider gap as to the highest educational level of attainment they had achieved in the past. The groups showed gaps in all discipline. Dropouts among African-American and Hispanic groups in high school are heavier even though the tuition fee rates are lower than those rates given to the Whites (Ferguson Mehta, 2004). The Whites show more effort in trying to get a college degree than the Blacks and Hispanic young adults. Policymakers and schools do not overstate the importance of achievement gaps but actually noted the big difference between Whites and other ethnic groups educational achievement specifically Hispanic and African-American groups (Chubb Loveless, 2002). The achievement gap is the outcome of local and national standard test measures between diversified groups of students mostly categorized by ethnicity and socioeconomic status (Chubb Loveless, 2002). The other forms of category applicable to the groups are their gender and ability. There are many ways that a school can measure the achievement gap between the groups such as test scores resulting from standardized test and average grades obtained by each group. The dropout rates, highest level of educational attainment, and population of college enrollees are other ways to measure the achievement gap between ethnicities (Strictland Alvermann, 2004). Although the results of this statistic survey came from different American states, the same thing is also happening with other countries. These achievement gaps noted across countries showed the possible effects brought by discrimination and social injustice. The government made a good move eradicating social discrimination. The move to bridge the achievement gap between ethnicities also responds to their effort to solve existing social discrimination at the same time. Eradicating the gap as a public policy would help eliminate the other problem of social discrimination. However, some people disagree that the core causes of the achievement gap come from a persons class, culture, or even biology. These people believe that policymakers can directly influence economics and education using progressive education based on multiculturalism. This idea is more effective in helping them achieve equality among ethnic groups. Identified factors causing the widening achievement gap Researchers do not have any clear idea about the real reason for the increasing achievement gap between ethnic groups. Structural as well as cultural factors played a major role to the widening discrepancy. Students lacking the cultural capital portrayed by the middle class are likely to show low academic scores and achievements especially if they experience little parental involvement concerning their education and home coursework (Strictland Alvermann, 2004). Annete Lareau stated that better resource students demonstrate more accomplishments in academics and life (Lareau, 2000). Other researchers believed that a persons ability to achieve more in life and academics largely depends on its socioeconomic condition and the classification of race from which he belongs. It is evident that students belonging to the disadvantaged minority suffer the adverse result of the achievement gap because they find themselves at a disadvantage position than the White students. Understanding the effects of the environment and culture to students performance The culture, traditions, beliefs, social roles, and environment of the student influence the students performance and are factors that need extra consideration and study when dealing with the core causes of achievement gap (Lareau, 2000). It would be for the researchers advantage that he should look into the lives, environment, economic condition, and practices of the disadvantaged minority to ascertain and identify specific cultural differences that can help explain the differences of the child-parent relationships between ethnic group families (Lareau, 2000). Cultural differences shaped the childs behavior and motivation to become achievers. The authors Jencks and Phillips argue that a child belonging to the Black family do not have much motivation and encouragement from their parents because of the lack of understanding about the benefits of education and obtaining academic skills (Jencks Phillips, 1998). The lack of awareness resulted to Black children going to school with little vocabularies than their White counterparts. Studies claimed that students with parental involvement such as homework assistance show more progress in school (De Carvalho, 2001). In comparison, the disadvantaged minority consists of single parents have to spend more of their time looking for money to cope up with their household economics and other needs rather than staying and getting involve with their childs homework (De Carvalho, 2001). The minority group also consists of parents that do not understand nor speak English well. The study points two major causes of the childs difficulty namely unavailable English speaker at home and lack of parental involvement for homework. Researchers highly believed that children from the minority group do not attend school because they are not willing to find themselves in comparison with the Whites and accused as behaving like the White children by their peers (De Carvalho, 2001). The children of the minority group simply lack the motivation and the understanding to pursue higher education because they do not see and believe the benefits and role of education in their future. They possess little understanding about the benefits that knowledge and higher education bring to their lives and how it could improve years of hard work (De Carvalho, 2001). The common minority behavior from lack of motivation to do better in school is plain rejection of the idea to achieve something more in their future. It is like giving up their potential and the ability to do more by not studying and working hard to make any progress in their social status as well as to receive higher wages. Furthermore, researchers found that schools often set up their performance measures based from the students knowledge as well as familiarity about the White group that belongs to the middle class cultural capital. It is obvious that the disadvantaged minority is not familiar about the middle class cultural capital background of the White group. Schools need to change their test for students performance and base it on their understanding of the subject matter. The test should be solely base on how they understand and perceive the subject they are taking. How structures of the institutions influence the students? Students coming from the disadvantaged minority group definitely go to schools categorized by the district as poorly funded schools (Danielson, 2002). Children belonging to low-income household attend poorly funded schools because it is the only affordable form of education. Schools belonging to the poorly funded school category have limited resources and employ teachers with less qualification (Danielson, 2002). Schools tried to solve the achievement gap between ethnicities by placing students in tracking education groups. The framework of the tracking education group assigns students within the same school into several groups base on their skills and academic abilities (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). The schools then tailored the teachers lesson plans to meet the varying requirements of the different sets of learners abilities (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). The strategy made dramatic progress to some learners. However, some schools based their grouping from the students cultural capital and socioeconomic status that results to the disadvantaged minority overly representing the lower educational group (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). This made schools placed the African-Americans and the Hispanic students into the lower educational group. Their perception about the minority group wrongly placed the African-Americans and the Hispanic students, which reflects practice of institutional racism (Ansalone Biafora, 2004). This confirms some researchers beliefs that the initiation of the tracking education groups implies the existence of racial segregation within the school system itself. Several studies performed on tracking education groups provided negative results. The implementation of the tracking education groups harmed the potential of the minority students to learn more skills because the teachers assigned to their groups are less qualified (Molnar, 2003). The curriculum design for the minority group is also less challenging and provides less opportunity for advancement in their academic fields. The peers as well as the teachers of the students belonging to the lower tracking educational group labeled them as slow learners. This greatly affected their self-confidence and motivation to continue their studies, which resulted to increasing minority school dropouts. Concerned psychologist claimed that the schools tracking groups outcomes might not be beneficial to all groups (Molnar, 2003). They cannot identify any lasting benefit to the grouping. Chapter 2 Rational The schools explanation over the creation of the tracking education widely varies. The goal to find applicable institutional and policy solutions to narrow the achievement gap gave birth to drafting education reforms. The categorization leads schools to provide remedial classes as well as tutoring sessions for identified less performing students. Strategies applied to narrow the ethnicities achievement gap The school provided tutoring sessions to the less advantaged and low performing students after school. They also offer remedial classes to help underperformers. The main problem noted with the categorization program is the pressure it gave to minority students. The program pushes minority students or underperformers to learn at a fast pace in an attempt to catch up with the performing groups usually comprise of their White counterparts. The catch up required more efforts from the teachers and gave much pressure to the students. The schools changed their categorization by race to grouping the students according to their ability. This new grouping criteria enabled schools to provide fair quality education for the students without considering ethnicity. The detracking scheme made schools and teachers perceive students equally (Burris Welner, 2005). This also made schools provide more teachers that are qualified to the different groups, design their curriculum appropriately, and provide more resources to the learners. Understanding the condition of the minority The Blacks and the Latinos usually describe the low-income minority of the United States (Aragon, 2000). These students usually come from poor families and comprise the less performing group in school. The schools can easily identify minority students based on their SAT scores. Minority students often obtain lower scores than their White peers (Aragon, 2000). The schools broke down their SAT scores according to their socioeconomic status. The results showed that the Blacks and the Latino students usually achieve lower SAT scores than the Whites. However, Asians still achieve higher SAT scores than their White peers who belong to the same family income level. The analysis of the authors Steven G. Rivkin and Eric A. Hanushek fully explained the core causes of the increasing achievement gap. In their book published last 2006, the authors discussed the effects of the schools effort to group the students according to their socioeconomics and ethnicity (Hanushek Rivkin, 2006). The racial concentration in certain groups created the unequal distribution of experienced teachers and the inexperienced teachers (Hanushek Rivkin, 2006). The study noted the increasing achievement gap in the grades 3 and grades 8 levels. Looking into the structure of the high performers that belongs to the minority group There are minority students who managed to excel in their grade levels. One great example of minority high performers is the students attending at Davidson Magnet School of Augusta, Georgia. The other school with minority high performers is the Amistad Academy located in New Haven, Connecticut. The schools strategically employ traditional and rigorous training instructions that include providing direct instruction to students. Researchers found direct instruction effective and efficient in developing the skill levels of the learners coming from the inner city of the research title Project Follow Through (Harris Graham, 2007). Black schools sometimes perform higher than their White counterparts do. The results of the annual test during the later part of the 19th century at Washington, DC can prove this claim. The Blacks performing higher than the Whites do continued until the middle of the 20th century. The M Street School gave quite a performance during this period by exceeding on the national standardized test. The author Carl L. Bankston III and his partner researcher Stephen J. Caldas claimed that the achievement gap causes the segregation of the schools in US (Caldas Bankston, 2005). The book titled â€Å"A troubled dream: The promise and failure of school desegregation in Louisiana† published in 2002 and the other book titled â€Å"Forced to fail: The paradox of school desegregation† published in 2005, clearly pointed that students benefit more when placed in the same school with high achieving students (Caldas Bankston, 2005). Their research also showed that students experienced academic disadvantage when they interact more with low achieving schoolmates. This proves their perception about the achievement gap as the core cause of school segregation. This means that parents played a major role and are greatly involve in the creation of school segregation for the fact that many parents even avoid sending their children to schools with larger minority student population (Caldas Bankston, 2005). Understanding the standards based form of education reform The standard based education reform based its classification by the education characteristics and income level of the student regardless of performance (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). Most schools in US decide to adopt the education reform. The policymakers believed that students regardless of race and gender have the potential to become achievers and receive higher pay levels. There is a need to study the content and context as well as the effects of the states education policy and compare them with the education policies of other nations. Improved performance is attainable using the standard based assessments with clear set of incentives such as examination for high school graduation (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). The student reforms of whole language, multiculturalism, affirmative action, block scheduling, desegregation, inquiry-based science, and reform mathematics were not successful in improving the achievements of the students. The recent NCLB legislation requires students to take annual testing and demonstrate progress at an acceptable rate every school year. The federal government imposed sanctions to schools with larger population of under performing students. Obviously, the schools having the greatest attendance of minority and poor students face the problems of coping up with the legislation and working on the skills of the students. Those who favored the traditional education claimed that the schools are not designing the education reforms in a constructive way because the reforms are not curriculum and student based. The IQ tests and the SAT are widely accepted as norm-referenced tests. Some people claimed the ACT as limiting chances for the minorities. Many people favored the standards based assessment because they have a clear definition and design of the criteria for the reference test (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004). The criteria are acceptable and regarded as free from any cultural bias. The students can easily pass the reference test criteria. In 2006, states like the Washington questioned the effectiveness of the approach. The assessment became a mandatory requirement for graduation. Terry Bergeson, a Superintendent, believes that students coming from the disadvantaged minority can compete and are capable of achieving higher scores (Thomas, 2005). However, these minority students need additional help to perform more. MCAS in Massachusetts showed higher percentage of graduating students for all races. In the Fairtest point, there are still many minority students dropping out and performing less than the Whites and Asians. Although the Washington state has narrowed the achievement gap, researchers cannot find any conclusive evidence that the standard based reforms are effective in closing the achievement gap. The author of the book titled â€Å"The Bell Curve†, Charles Murray, looked into the point gaps and its relative improvement (Locke, 1995). His analysis implied that the test is theoretically easy to pass but actually difficult to answer. The test consists of open-response questions that are mostly problem solving, reading, writing, and mathematics. Minorities who fail the test are about twice or even four times than the population of the students that achieve high scores of the testing history. In 2006, only one sophomore student belonging to the minority group passed the standard test. One needs to pass WASL to obtain a diploma. The tasks of keeping American public schools from educational failure depends on how fast policymakers and educators provide efficient policies and effective structure of framework for teaching that can respond to the students individual differences and capabilities. There is a rising need for educational institutions to meet projected challenges posed by changing demographic trends and requirements. The most crucial part is the transmission of societal values from diversified students of differing religion, philosophy, history, and political context. The lack of understanding of each ethnic group values and culture endangers the opportunity of any education reform to work for the learners. Chapter 3 Significance of the problem The American Indian group always ranked below the Latino and the African American students in terms of graduation rates and standardized test scores. The three groups always showed significant numbers concerning dropout rates. The achievement gap persists in the US history. The study published in the Education week revealed that American Indian or Alaska Native students graduation rate is about 47.4 percent. The foundation of the couple Bill and Melinda Gates funded the study. The statistics showed that American Indians were 30 points below their White peers, which means that about half of the graduating students belonging to the minority failed. The Council of Chief State School Officers report in 2006 declared that the low attendance of American Indian students across the country is a significant problem among the states specifically West Mississippi (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2006). The persisting problem about the achievement gap of the African Americans, Hispanic, Asian Americans, and Caucasian students present a challenge to the present structure of public education (Zajda, 2005). The gap narrowed a little during the 1970s and the 1980s and then started to widen again in 1990. The gap persists to widen until today (Vanneman, Hamilton, Anderson Rahman, 2009). There were about 22% grades 4 White students who scored below the basic NAEP test for reading in 2007. The report also showed about 50% Hispanic and 54% Black students who obtained scores below the basic NAEP. There were about 16% White students at grades 8 who scored below the basic mark required to pass the reading test. There were about 42% Hispanic and 45% Black students performing below the basic mark required to pass the reading test. The wide achievement gap reflected in their math scores also. Some people argued that district resegregation across the states reinforced the rising disparity problems. This is especially true in the northern and southern districts (Kozol, 2005). The White parents enroll their children in high quality suburban schools while the African-American as well as the Hispanic families enroll their children in racially isolated schools. These racially isolated institutions normally provide school instruction of very low quality and normally face other types of problems (Zajda, 2005). The California state is the most affected state in the US. Jack OConnell, State Superintendent, considers the task of helping the minority as moral, economic, and ethical imperative (Gerston Christensen, 2009). The California Department of Education (2009) revealed the state needs to prepare and train the students especially the African-American and the Latino to compete in the global economy. This would make California gain a competitive edge over world economic leaders. The success of the task largely depends on how well the students respond to the NCLB standardized test. Taylor (2006) is the main advocate of the Critical Race Theory. He tried to bring awareness about the racial minority and institutionalized oppression hidden under the Federal as well as state policies. Although the Federal government created the NCLB in an attempt to bridge the achievement gap, Taylor claimed that the Federal regulation puts too much pressure over the educators and students in trying to improve academic performance. Taylor claimed that the movement did not correctly address the issues stated in The Colors of Poverty by Lin and Harris. Taylor claimed that putting pressure to perform better does not respond to the racial segregation practices and policies. People and policymakers do not even understand the occurrence and the consequence of the practices nor do they have the ability to reverse its occurrence (Taylor, 2006). Understanding the context of differentiated instruction Differentiated instruction makes students the center of learning and teaching based from the theory that students come to school bearing different skills implying unique differences on their learning needs (Tomlinson, 1999). The varying degrees of differences may refer to their personal and educational context, community or environment background, and academic skills. The educators under the differentiated instruction design and employ several methods of instruction that can facilitate the learning experiences of the diversified students in the classroom effectively. The goal is to match students skills to the resource materials in a qualitative manner. The program includes blending the needs of the whole class with the design of their individual instruction using effective approaches and methods to expedite the processing of knowledge, input and output, of the learners. This requires constant assessment of the students progress by their respective classroom teachers. Policymakers considered the differentiated instruction movement as a proactive approach to educational issues facing practitioners today (Tomlinson, 1999). The proactive approach makes the students become more comfortable in pursuing their education. Educators refine and tailor their instructions according to the needs of the students. This also entails adjusting the curriculum to fit the students academic needs. Teachers committed to this approach understand that the students they teach shape their teaching style and practically believe that students create awareness on teachers how to shape them. The students personality and learning style necessarily influence the instructors teaching philosophy and methods (Tomlinson, 1999). This is the only way to get through them and seems the only possible way that they get to learn things. Creating a model for differentiated instruction requires student centered approach that supports the key elements of interest, readiness, and learning profile (Allan Tomlinson, 2000). The Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, declared that people receive and learn more things when they are ready to learn these things (Daniels, 2001), which is the theory behind the differentiated instruction movement. The differentiated instruction approach matches the individuals interest and methods of learning. This approach supports the student interest, which is one of the key elements of differentiated instruction. Jerome Bruner claimed that the moment a teacher gains the interest of the student is the specific moment that a student starts to learn and the learning experience becomes more rewarding (Tomlinson Allan, 2000). The American psychologist who wrote about the multiple intelligence theory, Howard Gardner, claimed that a human being is a unique individual that possesses different levels of intelligence and perceives learning in different ways. This led him to suggest that schools need to look into the possibility of providing individual-centered approach. The framework tailors the curriculum to the intelligence and preferences of the child (Tomlinson Allan, 2000). This suggestion fits to the different student learning profile key element of differentiated instruction. The context of differentiated instruction supports and integrates the learning styles of the students to the conditions of their brain development. This constructivist learning theory details and analyzes the various factors that influence the readiness, intelligence preferences, and the interest of the students that motivate and engage them to learn at school (Anderson, 2007). Kathie Nunley, an educational psychologist, stated that the movement for differentiated instruction is crucial to the classroom makeover from the 1970s homogeneous groupings to the present heterogeneous learners (Nunley, 2006). Educators using the differentiated instruction approach are able to ascertain and meet the differing needs of the students, help each student in their learning process, and exceed expectations from established standards (Levy, 2008). Tomlinson believed that the need to implement differentiated instruction came from the fact that learners are unique individuals that vary in different ways. The student population is also fast becoming academically diverse, which presents higher probability that diversity will continue for a long time. Pre-assessment criteria for differentiated instruction The most crucial part of the differentiated instruction program is the assessment, identification, and determination of the students skills and knowledge. Educators need to understand the level of their skills for identification and design of the instruction methods and approach. The students skill levels and knowledge base are crucial

How Come Hybrid Car Is Used In Malaysia Marketing Essay

How Come Hybrid Car Is Used In Malaysia Marketing Essay Introduction Hybrid car is all the rage nowadays, but lots have mistaken the hybrid for a solar car or an electric car. By definition, a hybrid car is an automobile that have one or more power source, for example an electric motor, battery and fuel cells [1]. To many surprise, the Hybrid car technologies was developed during the 1900s .In fact, the first working hybrid car used a petrol engine, to power the rotation of the dynamo at a constant speed, to charged up the accumulators. It was created by Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of Porsche [2]. Before the increase of the global fuel price [3], hybrid car is just one of the cars that are displayed during auto show as the car of the future. The demand grows and like a snowball effect in conjunction of the increase of awareness in Malaysian society on preserving the environment with the Go green campaign [4]. In the modern hybrid, it is the combination of a conventional  internal combustion engine  (ICE)  propulsion system and an  electric  propulsion system. To enhance it further, electric powertrain is added to increase efficiency, other efficiency-improving technologies which is added is the  regenerative braking, where the vehicles kinetic energy is converted into electric energy to recharge the battery, unlike conventional brakes that waste it as it dissipate heat. Some other hybrid technology uses their internal combustion engine as a motor generator to generate electricity by spinning an  electrical generator [5]. This process has two functions which are to power the car or recharge their batteries. Many hybrids have a similarities which is the start-stop system. The ICE is shut down during idle condition and restart again when the hybrid is moving reduce idle emissions  by  shutting down  the  ICE  at  idle  and restarting it when needed, thus this will produce less emission compared to the normal gasoline powered car. A hybrid-electric produces less emission from its  ICE  than a comparably-sized gasoline car. In other words, it increase efficiency and consume less fuel. Types of Hybrid Car There are 4 terms that are used to describe Hybrid cars: Full hybrid It is also known as a strong hybrid. It is a versatile vehicle that can run with either the engine, or just the batteries, or even the combination of both. For example the Hybrid Synergy Drive by  Toyota Prius,  Ford Escape Hybrid, and  Ford Fusion Hybrid  are cars that are using this technology. However there are downsides to it, as these cars can run on battery power alone thus it need a high capacity battery [6]. Thanks to advance technology, the full hybrid havs a function that allow user more option in choosing the power source of the car, either via the electrical power or mechanical. Mild hybrid It is also known as a hollow hybrid. Different to the full hybrid, a mild hybrid require both electrical and mechanical engine as the electrical power source cant sustain enough energy to power the vehicle. It only features some of the technology of the full hybrid for example greater fuel efficiency. A mild hybrid can be metaphoric describe as conventional vehicle with the start-stop system [7]. Power assist hybrids   The main working mechanism is the ICE. The ICE is used as a primary power source, to increase the torque of the electrical motor that is connected to the powertrain. The electric motor is located in between the engine and transmission, which operates during the engine turned over and also when the driver accelerates [8]. Plug-in hybrid It is a hybrid electric vehicle with  rechargeable batteries. The battery can be recharge when connected to an external power source. A plug in hybrid also share similar characteristic as other hybrids [9]. It has more electrical capacity compared to a mild hybrid and uses combustion engine as a spare when the batteries are out. How Hybrid Cars Work When you get into a hybrid car, youll definitely feel shock and at the same time impress on the quietness of the cars engine. The two most popular hybrid cars (Toyota and Ford) use the technology called internal combustion engine (ICE) [10]. ICE will start operating when the car is started and then it will shut down once the car is warmed up. This process only takes a short period of time. When the ICE is off, the car will operate using the electric motor. The amount of power to draw from ICE and pull from the cars electric motor depends mainly on how fast is the driving speed. The cars computer is in charge of determining this. The cars dashboard will show the driver when is the electric assist is working. Hybrid cars are classified into various types. They are the parallel hybrid such as Ford Escape Hybrid, mid parallel hybrid such as Honda Insight and power-split series-parallel hybrid such as Toyota Prius [10]. There are also Plug-in hybrid electrical vehicle such as Chevrolet Volt and also Fuel cell, electric hybrid such as Chevrolet Equinox [11]. All of these use different types of technology to achieve the same motive which is to be an environmental friendly vehicle. There are 5 main steps taken to achieve hybridization [12]. Firstly, the idle-off capability which acts like a switch of a refrigerator. This switch will automatically turn off when the refrigerators door is closed. By using the same concept, this feature will off the vehicles gasoline engine when the car is in static [11,12 ]. With this, no fuel will be consumed. This feature will also turn on the engine using a very short interval of time when the car is about to move. However, this process consumes large amount of power if compare with conventional vehicles. Secondly, the regenerative braking which uses the electric motor to stop the car. During this process, the electric motor acts as a generator [11,12]. It recovers part of the kinetic energy generated when the car is moving convert them into electric energy. This electric energy is stored in the battery so that it can later be use to slow down or even stop the car. This method comes with few disadvantages which are the vehicle must have a large electric motor which operates with high voltage so that it can capture the breaking energy efficiently and a large battery pack is needed to store the energy. However, this method can help to reduce the consumption of fuel of the vehicle. Thirdly, the power assist and engine downsizing method which truly fulfills the definition of hybrid vehicle [11, 12]. The general definition of hybrid vehicle is is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. Hybrid vehicle uses electric motor and gasoline engine to move [15]. This method actually reduces the gasoline engine demands. Because of this, a smaller size engine can be used and at the same time producing the same outcome as the normal size engine [13]. The fourth method is the electric-only-drive technology which let the vehicle move using solely the electric motor and battery pack [12]. With this, the electric side of the dual system can be fully utilized. This is the main reason why the hybrid vehicle can be operated in such low noise condition. This method is launched during low speed and the starting of the engine. Once the car reaches high speed, the engine will take over. Lastly is the extended battery-electric range which is also the final level of hybridization [12, 14]. This is a method where the motors capacity is extended by recharging its battery using a clean energy grid such as plug in. With this method it is possible for the vehicle to operate by using only the battery-electric up to 30 to 100 km. this is definitely a greener method. This methods performance plainly depends on how often the owner plugs in. Above are the brief explanations of the operation of hybrid vehicle. Overall, hybrid technology is definitely a more environmental friendly technology [16]. How come hybrid car is hardly used in Malaysia The Hybrids, a car that consume a tiny bit of fuel and uses both battery and fossil fuel as power source, with an everlasting battery, seems to be very attractive as gasoline prices shoot up past RM10.00 a gallon mark. The hybrid produce less harmful carbon gas thus it pollute less with 2 power source it also consume less fuel, thus it gives us the feel good factor. But is it just too good to be true if sense if you are simply trying to save money? Not yet. [17] However the Hybrids have a misconception that it is the way to save fuel, in fact its the opposite. It is likely that we could never get back our investment in the hybrid even if compared it with a SUV with high fuel consumption rate. Currently, is cheaper to get a smaller car rather than the hybrid at a high price. People have been reluctant to buy hybrid, especially because there are few reasons that show how much the new technologies will cost in the long run which are servicing, battery life, etc. [18] In addition, the higher purchase price really does scare many people off. If you were to compare a Toyota Corolla with a Toyota Prius, for example, some interesting figures come to light. The difference in price between the cars is nearly RM 19  707.79. You can fill a lot of petrol for that kind of money. But how does the difference work out? There are reasons why hybrid cars are expensive. The Toyota Prius has become the trademark or a symbolic car for those who are very passionate about preserving the environment. They willing to go the extra mile or in this case pay the extra dollar to prove how concern they are towards the environment. Unfortunately, if we view it in a more detail manner, the Prius is one of the main culprit of pollution the in United State. The pollution cause by a Prius is greater than a Hummer, a vehicle that most Prius owner sees as the devil. Before judging the hybrid and entering its dark side, we must understand the working mechanism of the hybrid. Thus we take Toyota Prius for example as it is the best selling hybrid car in the market. The Prius is powered by two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine that is used in average conventional car and a battery- powered engine that produces and output of 67 horsepower and a 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. The Toyota Synergy Drive system, the system which is installed in Toyotas hybrid to regulate its start-stop system, propels the car from idle up to 50km/h. It produce less efficiency as more energy are consume to get a car moving from idle position rather than a moving car as inertia plays a major role. Thus the start-stop system requires more fossil fuel to be burned. Another feature of the Prius is the rechargeable battery, which is recharge when break is applied and when the car is running above 50km/h as it would switch to fossil fuel power source. Thus it seems to be an ideal efficient car, right? [18] Sadly no if we put the building process of a Prius under the microscope, we can say that it would bring more harm than the Hummer. This is because the main component in the battery pack of the Prius is made of nickel, which will cost 3 times more damage than a Hummer towards the environment. The nickel plant in Ontario, Canada is dubbed as the dead zone as it damages all the environment surrounding it. The plant is located miles away from civilization as it is hazardous to living thing due to the emission of sulfur dioxide. Sadly, Toyota acquire 1000 ton of nickel from the plant to generate the battery pack for its Prius. The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside, said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper. However, there are more bad news as the nickel from the plant in Canada are shipped to its refinery across Europe and to China to transform the nickel into nickel foam , and finally end up in Japan, to complete its transition into a battery. This transatlantic journey across the world would defy the Prius label as an environmental friendly car as the production of its battery itself brings more harm than producing a conventional car. [18] Through a study by CNW Marketing called Dust to Dust, find that the total combined energy is taken from all the material to build the car and its expected lifetime. The Prius costs an average of RM5.20 per kilometer for driven over a lifetime of 150,000 kilometer which is the expected lifetime of a hybrid. This is compared to the Hummer, the Prius nemesis that only cost Rm 3.11 per kilometer with expected lifetime of 450,000 kilometer. This means that the Hummer is 3 times for efficient than the Prius. [18] The government role and public awareness The government plays a major role in shaping up the nation according to famous Chinese philosopher Confucius. Malaysia is heading towards being a developed nation by the year 2020, thus a lot of policies are been implemented inline of our nations goal to be a develop country in our own mould, without regarding the peoples interest at heart. One of the main government policies is the National Green Technology Policy . The aim for this policy is to tackle the current global warming issues by lessens the carbon emission without neglecting development and preserving the ecosystem [19]. This is in line with United Nation Climate Change Conference where Malaysia pledges to cut down carbon emission by 40 % [20]. This afford by the government have a domino effect on the public, thus creating a greater awareness in the country. This is further justified by various campaigns being launch nationwide to further educate and also implement the policy. One of the active campaign that was launch is the No plastic bag day that been launch by the Penang and Selangor state government [21]. By this policy, consumers are charge 20 cent for each plastic bag on every Saturday. This shows that even government with different political agenda could come together and agree that it is important to create awareness in this country. Cooperate giant like McDonalds too doing their part in the No plastic bag day [22]. With government policy implemented, and the increase of awareness among Malaysian on the importance of preserving the environment, the future looks good for hybrid cars. Although hybrid technology is not new and the initial response from Malaysian on hybrid car have been slow [23]. This is mainly due to high price of the car according a survey conducted by Bernama [24]. However, this problem has been eradicated during the 2009 national budget [25]. With the decrease of 100% on imported tax and 50 % on excite duty on hybrid cars [25]. This certainly would play a significant role in slashing the price of a hybrid to make it more affordable and at the same time it would create more alternative for drivers as the prices of the a hybrid car are now more competitive with the usual conventional fossil fuel powered car. To add to this effort, local automaker, Proton has announced its plan to move into hybrid technology. Proton is going to launch its concept of a hybrid car with enhancement b y its subsidiary Lotus, a t the Geneva Motorshow [26], highlighted their seriousness in developing hybrid car. This would translate to brighter future for hybrid car in the country. Conclusion It is up for debate if the hybrid will bring more harm [18] or will bring good [19] to mankind. The future of hybrid in our country however is looking good, although currently only one type of hybrid is on the market, the Honda Civic hybrid [30]. It will certainly gain momentum in a matter of time, as the younger generations are more environmental conscious, with their participation on environmental awareness activities like the No Plastic bag day [22]. It is a very encouraging trend, and hopefully the younger generation would implement it permanently rather than just a trend. This is important as the younger generations today are more involve in shaping up their future. Although the current price of the hybrid is out of the question for a peanut size salary of a fresh graduate, but the potential of a more affordable hybrid could be realize with the cooperation of the ASEAN government in implementing the AFTA (ASEAN free trade agreement) which could see the price of cars soaring down, especially the leading manufacturer of hybrid, Toyota is based in Thailand. Despite this, we also should not forgetting the effort made by our own local car manufacturer, Proton, who are currently developing their own hybrid with their subsidiary Lotus [26]. With the potential customers, the young one and also the old generation who are currently riding the wave of environmental awareness, are eager to get their hand on their own hybrid, and the relentless effort by local and international carmaker to further enhance the hybrid, adding to the fact of the government effort to promote and cutting the red tape for a greener Malaysia. It is a simple matter of a supply and demand. Thus, there are only one way for the future of hybrid cars in Malaysia, which is up. Analysis on Survey The survey we have conducted on the Future of hybrid car in Malaysia at http://www. surveymonkey.com/s/3YWCM3P. We have set 8 questions for the survey, with 4 of the questions are multiple choice, 2 rating based questions and 2 dialog/feedback type of questions. From the 18 respondent we received, it paints a clear picture of how the future of the hybrid car is looking for our country. Which of these are hybrid car? From the outcomes of this survey, it can be conclude that most Malaysian know what is hybrid car in general, with 77.8% of them know the Toyota Prius is one of the top selling hybrid in the market. With this, we can deduct that most Malaysian actually has the knowledge of the hybrid car model in the market. Honda Jazz hybrid will only be launched this coming autumn in Japan (in the range from October to November) [27]. Honda decided to launch this Jazz Hybrid is because of the high fuel demand by the consumers. Is there any difference between a hybrid car and an electric car? From the data collected above, we found that the public are aware of the difference between a hybrid and an electric car, although there are a lot of misconception that both a hybrid and an electric car is similar, but it does not affect our respondent who majority agree there are difference between a hybrid and an electric car with 88.9% of them agrees. Actually, both the electric car and hybrid car uses the technology that aim to decrease the fuel consumption. The main difference between electric car and hybrid car is that the electric car is 100% electric whereas the hybrid car uses both fuel and electric power to operate. The distance that can be travelled by an electric car totally depends on the amount of time that the car is plugged in and charged. This has limit the distance that can be travelled by the electric car. On the other hand, hybrid car can definitely travel a farther distance due to the gasoline power [28]. In your opinion, why are hybrid car still rare on the road in Malaysia? It seems that price is the main barrier, for the lack of hybrid cars in the country. Factors like high imported taxes play a role to make the hybrid car less affordable to the general public. For example a Prius cost almost the price of a Toyota Camry. Thus those who could afford it would rather opt for a more luxurious car. Other major factor is the lack of expertise in the country for maintenance of the car. A conventional car could be sent to an average workshop for maintenance, but a hybrid with its complex system, only authorized dealer could fix any problem that could occur. In other words it would increase the cost for drivers. It is indeed that the price of a hybrid car is much more expensive than a conventional car. As an example, conventional Honda Civic 1.8 costs around RM113k [29] whereas the hybrid type costs around RM130k [30]. This shows a difference of RM17k in price. This is why the price gives the deepest impact in why consumers choose to drive a conventional car. Do you think hybrid car could reduce the carbon emission? From the result, we realized that most people are also aware of the impact a hybrid car on the environment with 88.9% of them agree it could curb the carbon emission, and the advantage of the hybrid as we quote from the survey A hybrid would reduce fossil fuel consumption thus saving the environment. But the main drawback is the price of the fuel. It is obvious that hybrid car has the ability to reduce the carbon emission. This also depends on the car model. A Toyota Prius only emits 104g/km carbon dioxide which is a 55% reduction compare with a conventional car of the same class [31]. If the price of a hybrid car is as expensive as an ordinary car, would you consider it? In question 3, we found out that the main drawback of the hybrid car is the price. From the result of this question, the answer in question 3 is justified. It is shown that 61.1% of people would definitely switch to a hybrid car if its price is affordable. However, there are people who still want to stick with the conventional car. I believe that this group of people would prefer a more powerful car. So far, hybrid car model is still the family car type. It is less possible to drive a hybrid car and have the thrill of speeding or dragging at the same time. The main purpose of hybrid car is to be more environmental friendly. Excessive speeding would lead to high carbon emission. Because of this, the chance of having a high cubic centimeter (cc) hybrid car model is lesser. How well do you know about hybrid car? From the result obtained, it is obvious that most people have brief idea on hybrid car. This is a very good start for Malaysian to consider driving a hybrid car. However, there are still a small group of people do not have any idea on hybrid car. This problem can be solved if the car manufacturers promote hybrid car more frequently. We believe that if there are more people aware of the advantages of driving a hybrid car, the future of hybrid car in Malaysia would be brighter. Do you know any advantage of the hybrid compare to a normal fossil fuel car? 1. not very clear 2. Petrol consumption is better 3. it can save fuel when the the rpm is under some certain standards i guess 4. It use less fuel (better utilization of petrol) 5. It reduces consumption of fossil fuel, thus saving the environment 6. save fuel!!bla blabla bla 7. it will helps to green the earth 8. Yes, Its more environment-friendly. 9. Less carbon dioxide emission 10. less CO2 The above are the responds given by the public. Most of them agree that the hybrid the hybrid have an advantage over the conventional car. From their feedback, we can conclude that hybrid cars would help in conserving the environment, as it consume less petrol, emit less harmful carbon gases, and it would create a greater fuel efficiency, as the car could be powered via electric source too, lowering the dependency on fossil fuel. Is Hybrid car a way forward to our future? please state reasons 1. less pollution 2. Yes,bcos its a treb 3. Of cos. It indicates we can slowly not using fuel in transportation 4. Yes. It saves the environment 5. No, if possible, people should work towards full-electronic battery powered cars because if you want to save the environment, why do it halfheartedly. 6. mayb,definitely 7. Yes. To avoid global warming. 8. Yes. We should preserve our environment for the future. 9. Yes. new technologies 10. yes.. petrol is expensive Majority of our respondent would agree that the hybrid is the car of the future, although a few minorities are still skeptical about it. Their concern is the hybrid still needs the dependence on fossil fuel. Their preference is to create a full electric power car and also a few concerns about the chemical content inside the batteries used in the hybrid [18]. On a brighter note, the majority are ecstatic and optimistic that the hybrid could play a role in preserving our future. They site that is a way to contribute to avoid global warming and to have greater fuel efficiency as the price of fuel is expensive. References Retrieved on 29 March 2010 from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hybrid+car Retrieved on 29 March 2010 from http://www.hybrid-cars-guide.com/hybrid-car-background.html Retrieved on 29 March 2010 from http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/7/31/central/4424155sec=central Retrieved from on 29 March 2010 http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/29/merdeka/4582456sec=merdeka Retrieved from on 29 March 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_car Retrieved on 29 March 2010 from http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybridAnimation/fullhybrid/fullhybridoverview.html Retrieved on 29 March 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mild_hybrid Retrieved on 29 March 2010 from http://www.hybridcenter.org/hybrid-center-how-hybrid-cars-work-under-the-hood.html Retrieved on 29 March 2010 from http://www.calcars.org/vehicles.html Retrieved on 3rd April 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_electric_vehicle Retrieved on 3rd April 2010 from http://www.eartheasy.com/live_hybrid_cars.htm Retrieved on 3rd April 2010 from http://www.hybridcenter.org/hybrid-center-how-hybrid-cars-work-under-the- hood.html Retrieved on 3rd April 2010 from http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car3.htm Retrieved on 3rd April 2010 from http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car1.htm Retrieved on 3rd April 2010 from http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car2.htm Retrieved on 3rd April 2010 from http://www.free-engineering.com/road-hybridwork.htm Des Toups. (2006). Hybrid cars: Do they make sense for you? Moneycentral. Retrieved from http://moneycentral.msn.com Hermie. (2009, 9 July). Hybrids- A DANGER to the environment! Ecomoder. Retrieved from http://ecomodder.com/forum Retrieved on 8th April 2010 from http://www.csr-malaysia.org/news/malaysia/opportunities-new-green-businesses-20090724244/ Retrieved on 8th April 2010 from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/24/focus/5423934sec=focus. Retrieved on 8th April 2010 from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/12/nation/5666253sec=nation Retrieved from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/8/nation/6010041sec=nation on 8th April 2010 Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/8/business/1952401sec=business Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://kereta.info/why-hybrid-cars-are-getting-lukewarm-respone-in-malaysia/ Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/29/budget2009/20080829161149sec=budget2009. Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/2/business/5775010sec=business Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://www.post1.net/lowem/entry/2010_honda_cr_z_hybrid_2010_honda_fit_jazz hybrid_models_confirmed Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-electric-cars-and-hybrid-cars.htm Retrieved from http://www.carstandard.com/blog/84/malaysia-car-price-list.html on 9th April 2010 Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://paultan.org/2009/02/10/honda-civic-hybrid-gets-new-price-rm-129980/ Retrieved on 9th April 2010 from http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Hybrid_Vehicle_Emissions R Afroz et al., 2005, Willingness to Pay for Air Quality Improvements in Klang Valley Malaysia, American Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol 1 (3), pp. 194-201

Essay --

These days, all the new technologies and new media made people’s life easier but also it made it stressful so before we define happiness we need to understand the actual situation of our modern life. Researchers agreed that modern life especially in big cities such as London or New York has created a new type of living and working. However, this new lifestyle brought stress as well, due to long working hours, traffic jams and fewer hours to relax. Psychologists admit that in recent years more people living in big cities are taking anti-stress medication. Furthermore, the number of depressed, unhappy and anxious people has multiplied. So making people find happiness became an important task in our modern life. So at first, what is happiness? All the great thinkers and philosophers throughout history have debated about the meaning of happiness. Moreover, psychologists have effectively advanced to this debate by analyzing numerous of researches to determine happiness. In spite of these efforts made until this day, we do not have a proper definition of happiness. Aristotle (2011, 1098a13...

Jude the Obscure :: Jude the Obscure

Jude the Obscure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy presents the characters Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead, who violate the conventions of the repressive Victorian society while attempting to follow their natural instincts. By studying the novel, one sees that Hardy's intentions in doing this are to arouse the reader's sympathy for the characters, and to join in their ridicule of the codes of conduct they are breaking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The trial of Jude and Sue evoke a sympathetic response from the reader because the couple reflects the values which are prevalent in modern society. They suffer persecution for yielding to emotions which are no longer considered unacceptable or forbidden, as they were then. This portrays Victorian society as being cruel and unnatural, thus creating affection for the characters. Hardy understood the tendency for society to swing like a pendulum from one extreme to the other. He knew that the Victorian era would not last indefinately, and that future generations would become more liberated. This is beautifully illustrated in this reflection of Sue's: 'When people of a later age look back upon the barbarous customs and superstitions of the times that we have the unhappiness to live in, what will they think?’ (p.276) According to modern values, it is wrong to condemn people for following their pure and natural instincts, though they ‘have wronged no man, cond emned no man, defrauded no man.’ (p.378) Therefore, by predicting these shifts, and exposing the injustice of Victorian society, Hardy evokes sympathy in the reader for Sue and Jude.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hardy also uses the two characters to reveal that he finds the society in which they live ridiculous. He joins Sue and Jude as they laugh at ‘the artificial system of things, under which the normal sex-impulses are turned into devilish domestic gins and springes to noose and hold back those who want to progress. (p.279) In rare times of ‘Greek joyousness’ (p.366) Jude and Sue live by ‘Nature’s law’ and are able to enjoy, unabated, the ‘instincts which civilisation has taken upon itself to thwart.’ (p.413) It is during these times that the two are truly able to laugh at the conventions they have violated, as they are content and unaffected by the repercussions.

Explain the value that professional nursing organizations have in networking and in the legislative process. Provide a rationale for your response Essay

Professional nursing organizations range from general, such as the ANA, which represents the nursing profession and the interests of its members, to specific, which are those that represent a certain specialty, such as the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Professional nursing organizations can help nurses stay current in the field of study or specialty, network with other nurses, as well as many other professional and personal benefits. According to Guerrieri (2010), â€Å"Belonging to a professional nursing organization brings increased professionalism, autonomy, and self-regulation while offering additional benefits such as social interactions and peer support† (p.47). Networking is certainly one of the benefits offered by nursing organizations to its members, which may include conventions, online discussions, and forums. These social networks provide opportunities for â€Å"rapid knowledge exchange and dissemination among many people† (ANA, 2011, p.3). By connecting with other nurses, members may get a chance to hear how others are handling the same issues. Organizations can also contribute to professional growth through networking at local and national meetings. Moreover, members can serve as officers or committee chairs, which will aid in the development of leadership skills (Guerrieri, 2010). Clearly, networking opportunities offered by many professional nursing organizations are invaluable and can help in many areas such as education, career development, and even give a sense of belonging and encouragement through interactions with other nurses (Guerrieri, 2010). In addition to having a networking value, professional nursing organizations represent a public image of the nursing profession and its specialties. As such, the organization gains public’s trust in the profession and â€Å"the organization builds on this trust as it promotes awareness of public policy and advocates for patient welfare† (Guerrieri, 2010, p. 47). This also gives members opportunities to become more informed about health care policies and contribute to patient advocacy. By advocating for the nursing profession, professional organizations, along with their members, â€Å"educate the public, policy makers, healthcare administrators, and professionals on specific issues (Matthews, 2012, â€Å"Unity in advocacy†). Moreover, organizations lobby on behalf of all nurses at all levels of government on issues that directly affect its members, such as education and practice. Nursing organizations also use networking to get more people who support their views, thereby increasing the chances of success in the legislative process. Organizations also play an integral part in shaping health policy. By being members of professional nursing associations, nurses at every level have opportunities to get involved in the processes that shape nursing practice. As stated in the article written by Matthews (2012), professional organizations were â€Å"created by nurses for nurses to articulate nursing values, integrity, practice, and social policy† (Matthews, 2012, â€Å"The profession’s advocacy efforts†). References American Nurses Association. (2011). ANA’s principles for social networking and the nurse: Guidance for registered nurses . Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org Guerrieri, R. (2010, May). Professional growth: Learn, grow, and bloom by joining a professional association. Nursing2010, 40(5), 47-48. Retrieved from http://journals.lww.com/nursing/Fulltext/2010/05000/Learn,_grow,_and_bloom_by_joining_a_professional.14.aspx Matthews, J. H. (2012, January). Role of professional organizations in advocating for the nursing profession. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol17No01Man03

Rights and Status of Women

Overall, the rights and status of women have improved considerably in the last century; however, gender equality has been threatened within the last two decades. Blatantly sexist laws and practices are slowly being eliminated while social perceptions of â€Å"women's roles† continue to stagnate and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these social perceptions that challenge the evolution of women as equal on all levels. In this study, I will argue that subtle and blatant sexism continues to exist throughout educational, professional and legal arenas. Women who carefully follow their expected roles may never recognize sexism as an oppressive force in their life. I find many parallels between women's experiences in the nineties and Betty Friedan's, cofounder of the National Organization of Women, in her essay: The Way We Were – 1949. She dealt with a society that expected women to fulfill certain roles. Those roles completely disregarded the needs of educated and motivated business women and scientific women. The subtle message that society gave was that the educated woman was actually selfish and evil. I remember in particular the searing effect on me, who once intended to be a psychologist, of a story in McCall's in December 1949 called â€Å"A Weekend with Daddy. † A little girl who lives a lonely life with her mother, divorced, an intellectual know-it-all psychologist, goes to the country to spend a weekend with her father and his new wife, who is wholesome, happy, and a good cook and gardener. And there is love and laughter and growing flowers and hot clams and a gourmet cheese omelet and square dancing, and she doesn't want to go home. But, pitying her poor mother typing away all by herself in the lonesome apartment, she keeps her guilty secret that from now on she will be living for the moments when she can escape to that dream home in the country where they know â€Å"what life is all about. † (Fetzer, 57) I have often consulted my grandparents about their experiences, and I find their historical perspective enlightening. My grandmother was pregnant with her third child in 1949. Her work experience included: interior design and modeling women's clothes for the Sears catalog. I asked her to read the Friedan essay and let me know if she felt as moved as I was, and to share with me her experiences of sexism. Her immediate reaction was to point out that, â€Å"Betty Friedan was a college educated woman and she had certain goals that never interested me. † My grandmother, though growing up during a time when women had few social rights, said she didn't experience oppressive sexism in her life. However, when she describes her life accomplishments, I feel she has spent most of her life fulfilling the expected roles of women instead of pursuing goals that were mostly reserved for men. Unknowingly, her life was controlled by traditional, sexist values prevalent in her time and still prevalent in the year 2000. Twenty-four years after the above article from McCall's magazine was written, the Supreme Court decided whether women should have a right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade (410 U. S. 113 (1973)). I believe the decision was made in favor of women's rights mostly because the court made a progressive decision to consider the woman as a human who may be motivated by other things in life than just being a mother. Justice Blackmun delivered the following opinion: â€Å"Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also a distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. † (Goldman, 205) I feel the court decision of Roe v. Wade would not have been made in 1949. Even in 1973, it was a progressive decision. The problem of abortion has existed for the entire history of this country (and beyond), but had never been addressed because discussing these issues was not socially acceptable. A culture of not discussing issues that have a profound impact on women is a culture that encourages women to be powerless. The right of abortion became a major issue. Before 1970, about a million abortions were done every year, of which only about ten thousand were legal. Perhaps a third of the women having illegal abortions – mostly poor women – had to be hospitalized for complications. How many thousands died as a result of these illegal abortions no one really knows. But the illegalization of abortion clearly worked against the poor, for the rich could manage either to have their baby or to have their abortion under safe conditions. (Zinn, 499) A critic of the women's movement would quickly remind us that women have a right to decline marriage and sex, and pursue their individual interests. However, I would argue that the social pressure women must endure if they do not conform to their expected role is unfair. The problem goes beyond social conformity and crosses into government intervention (or lack thereof). The 1980's saw the pendulum swing against the women's movement. Violent acts against women who sought abortions became common and the government was unsympathetic to the victims. There are parallels between the Southern Black's civil rights movement and the women's movement: Blacks have long been accustomed to the white government being unsympathetic to violent acts against them. During the civil rights movement, legal action seemed only to come when a white civil rights activist was killed. Women are facing similar disregard presently, and their movement is truly one for civil rights. A national campaign by the National Organization of Women began on 2 March 1984, demanding that the US Justice Department investigate anti-abortion terrorism. On 1 August federal authorities finally agreed to begin to monitor the violence. However, Federal Bureau of Investigation director, William Webster, declared that he saw no evidence of â€Å"terrorism. Only on 3 January 1985, in a pro-forma statement, did the President criticize the series of bombings as â€Å"violent anarchist acts,† but he still refused to term the acts as â€Å"terrorism. † Reagan deferred to Moral Majoritarian Jerry Falwell's subsequent campaign to have fifteen million Americans wear â€Å"armbands† on 22 January 1985, â€Å"one for every legal abortion† since 1973. Falwell's anti-abortion outburst epitomized Reaganism's orientation: â€Å"We can no longer passively and quietly wait for the Supreme Court to change their mind or for Congress to pass a law. † Extremism on the right was no vice, moderation no virtue. Or, as Hitler explained in Mein Kamph, â€Å"The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence. † (Marable, 40-41) This mentality continued on through 1989 during the Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (109 S. Ct. 3040 (1989)) case. â€Å"The Reagan Administration had urged the Supreme Court to use this case as the basis for overturning Roe v. Wade. † (Goldman, 767) It is disturbing that the slow gains achieved by the women's movement are so volatile and endangered when conservative administrations gain a majority in government. To put the problem into perspective: a woman's right to have an abortion in this country did not come until 1973. Less than two decades later, the president of the United States was pushing to take that right away. It seems blatant that society is bent on putting women in their places. From the above examples, it appears American culture prefers women as non-professional, non-intellectual, homemakers and mothers. This mentality is not easily resolved, because it is introduced at a young age. Alice Brooks experienced inequality on the basis of her race and her sex. In her autobiography, A Dream Deferred, she recalls the reaction of her father when she brought up the idea of college to him: â€Å"I found a scholarship for veterans' children and asked my father to sign and furnish proof that he was a veteran. He refused and told me that I was only going to get married and have babies. I needed to stay home and help my mother with her kids. My brother needed college to support a family. Not only was I not going to get any help, I was also tagged as selfish because I wanted to go to college. † (Fetzer, 234) This is another example of women being labeled as selfish for wanting the same opportunities as men. Alice Brooks is seemingly a very courageous woman; having the ability to overcome any oppression she may encounter. She states that â€Å"women who succeed in male dominated fields are never mediocre – they are extraordinary achievers. † Her insight encapsulates much of the subtle sexism that exists today. I feel that no one can truly be equal in a society when only the â€Å"extraordinary achievers† are allowed to succeed out of their expected social role. This attitude of rising blatant and subtle attacks on women's civil rights is further exemplified in recent reactions to affirmative action plans. These plans have been devised to try to give women and minorities an opportunity to participate in traditionally white male dominated areas. However, we see the same trends in legal action for the use of affirmative action plans as we saw in the 1980's backlash against the Roe v. Wade decision. A few interesting points were presented in the case, Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara (480 U. S. 616 (1987)). Mr. Paul E. Johnson filed suit against the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency when he was denied a promotion, feeling the company's affirmative action plan denied him of his civil rights. Some interesting facts were presented in this case: â€Å"Specifically, 9 of the 10 Para-Professionals and 110 of the 145 Office and Clerical Workers were women. By contrast, women were only 2 of the 28 Officials and Administrators, 5 of the 58 Professionals, 12 of the 124 Technicians, none of the Skilled Crafts Workers, and 1 – who was Joyce – of the 110 Road Maintenance Workers. † (Goldman, 784) The above statistics show women have been considerably underrepresented at the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency. These numbers are not uncommon and are found throughout business. It is interesting to note the current popular perception is that affirmative action precludes white males from finding employment with companies that implement these plans. The truth is in the numbers, however. The fact that Mr. Johnson felt he was denied his civil rights because an equally qualified woman was given a promotion, instead of him, is just a small window into the subtle sexism that exists today. Most critics of affirmative action do not consider the grossly unequal numbers of men in management and professional positions. Secondly, it never seems an issue of debate that a woman may have had no other previous life opportunities in these male dominated areas. I do not intend to argue that affirmative action is good or bad, but only wish to point out that the current backlash against these programs is heavily rooted in sexism and racism. Often blatant violence or unfair acts against a group of people will cause that group to pull together and empower themselves against their oppressors. The women's movement has made large steps to eliminate many of these blatantly sexist acts in the last century. Now the real difficulty is upon us: subtle acts of sexism and the degrading social roles of women in today's conservative culture. Alice Brooks so eloquently described her experiences with inequality, stating, â€Å"the worst pain came from those little things people said or did to me. † (Fetzer, 236) As these â€Å"little things† accumulate in the experience of a young woman, she increasingly finds herself powerless in her relationships, employment, economics, and society in general. The female child has as many goals as the male child, but statistically she is unable to realize these goals because of the obstacles that society sets in front of her. Society and media attempt to create an illusion that women have every right that men enjoy. However, women will never be equal until the day female scientists, intellectuals, professionals, military leaders, and politicians are just as accepted and encouraged to participate in all of society's arenas as males.